The construction inventory in (Exodus 38:1-31) is mostly numbers and measurements. But the Targum Jonathan inserts one of the most beautiful and surprising details in its entire translation, hidden inside a single verse about a bronze basin.
The bronze laver, used for priestly purification, was made "from the brasen mirrors of the pious women, who, at the season, came to pray at the door of the tabernacle of appointment, standing with their oblations, giving thanks and confession, and returning to their husbands, the mothers of righteous children, who had been purified from the uncleanness of their blood."
These women had donated their bronze mirrors, the very objects they used to make themselves beautiful. The Targum calls them "pious women" and describes their regular practice: they came to the Tabernacle entrance to pray, offer sacrifices, give thanks, and confess. Then they returned home to their husbands and bore righteous children. Their mirrors were melted down into the basin where priests would wash their hands before approaching God.
The Hebrew Bible mentions the mirrors in a single phrase. The Targum turns them into a portrait of female devotion that produced both the laver and the next generation of Israel.
The altar of burnt offering was "hollow with boards, and filled with earth." The grate beneath it caught "cinders and bones that fell from the altar," a vivid detail about the reality of constant animal sacrifice.
The financial accounting is precise. Twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels of gold. One hundred talents and 1,775 shekels of silver. Seventy talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze. The Targum specifies that every Israelite male over twenty contributed one half-shekel for the redemption of his soul, totaling 603,550 men counted. The service was by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron, and the construction was led by Bezalel with Oholiab at his side.