We are in chapter twenty-seven of Exodus with our word for today. חָצֵר enclosure, court, settlement, yard without walls, courtyard. It is used 192 times in the Old Testament, 8 times in our chapter. Our word is used in the sense of a courtyard of people’s houses. Exodus 8:13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, הַחֲצֵרֹ֖ת the courtyards, and the fields. 2 Samuel 17:18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man ... who had a well בַּחֲצֵר֖וֹ in his courtyard. And they went down into it. Solomon’s house had a courtyard. 1 Kings 7:8 His own house where he was to dwell, in the other חָצֵ֣ר court back of the hall, was of like workmanship. King Ahasuerus of Persia also had a court in his palace. Esther 1:5 And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days בַּחֲצַ֕ר in the court of the garden of the king's palace. Most of the uses of our word refer to the courtyard of God’s tabernacle. This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 27:9, 12-13, 16-19 You shall make the חֲצַ֣ר court of the tabernacle. On the south side the לֶחָצֵ֜ר court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side … And for the breadth of הֶֽחָצֵר֙ the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. The breadth of הֶֽחָצֵ֗ר the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits … For the gate of הֶֽחָצֵ֜ר the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. All the pillars around הֶֽחָצֵ֤ר the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. The length of הֶֽחָצֵר֩ the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of הֶחָצֵ֖ר the court, shall be of bronze. Solomon built temple court with more substantial material because it didn’t have to be mobile like the first one. 1 Kings 6:36 He built the inner הֶחָצֵ֣ר court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams. Jesus was betrayed by Peter in the temple courtyard. Matthew 26:69-75 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. The good news is that Jesus forgives and restores Peter as he does all of us who have accepted his grace and salvation. I’ll close with these great Psalms that remind us how great it is to be close to where God is. Psalm 84:1-2, 10 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints לְחַצְר֪וֹת for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God … For a day בַּחֲצֵרֶ֗יךָ in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and חֲצֵרֹתָ֥יו his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!