Tag: tabernacle

The stage has now been completely set, the lights are humming, the crowd has gathered, it’s time to fire this beast up. God speaks to Moses and tells him it’s time to erect the tabernacle. This happens on the first day or the first month of the year, which seems very unlikely to accidentally coincide with when the Israelites actually completed all the work. More likely is they got it done some time before that and God waited to provide the instruction as to when to put it together so that it matched the start of the year.

They are kicking off the new year in worship (the same time of year of the Passover celebration as well). I know we’ve kind of traded it out for college football, but firing up the new year with a reminder of God’s presence among us and a right prioritization of worship as it begins anew seems like a pretty good call. Also, note that all of this was to be completed on that day, meaning it shouldn’t take more than a day to get set up. Remember, this was a mobile operation, whenever God moved the nation was to follow, including the tabernacle. And when they stopped moving, this thing had to be set up quick. So, we get a run through here to confirm the design was up to the task and indeed it was.

There’s nothing surprising about what occurs. All that God had them build, Moses sets up. It’s not just him, even though the text says he did it, Moses would have enlisted some Levites help him out with certain things (the ark of the testimony had to be carried with two poles and the multiple layers of cloth over the Holy Place are certainly too unwieldy for one man to wrangle on his own). In either case, all of it gets set up and anointed (cleansed) for use. This includes the priests (more detail to follow in Leviticus).

Over and over again we are given confirmation that Moses does as God commands. Everything is up to snuff and comes together without a hitch. And so Moses finishes the work.

Once it’s all up, the cloud, the manifestation of God’s presence among the people, covered the tent of meeting (now the holy of holies, not that little tent outside the camp) and His glory fills the tabernacle. What does that mean? Could be a lot of things but most likely it’s something akin to what happened to Moses’ face before in God’s presence, except that it is so expansive that it “fills” the tabernacle. Even without further detail, we should be confident that this is something physical that the nation can see.

But Moses isn’t allowed to enter. Why not? This seems odd, Moses has been in God’s presence numerous times. He’s been on Mt. Sinai, he’s been in the tent of meeting outside the camp, he was the one dude who was allowed to handle the 10 Words and put them in the ark. What gives here? It’s relatively simple, God has now come to reside there. And, like we discussed earlier with the bell on the priest entering the holy of holies, you don’t just walk into Yahweh’s house. This is not unlike a builder constructing a new house for one of ya’ll. Sure, as it’s being built the man has full access, can come and go as he pleases, is trusted to move put the walls up and move the furnishings around and otherwise oversee the project. But, once you move in, he doesn’t get the key anymore and he can’t just walk in whenever he wants. This is Yahweh’s residence, you can’t just walk in, even if you’re Moses.

Now, what we find happens a lot is that God’s cloud sits above the tabernacle, not in it, which allows the priests to go about their day to day business without an issue. And besides, most of the time this cloud was out in front of the people, leading them. Whenever the cloud left the tabernacle and headed out, the people followed. When it stopped, the people set up the tabernacle and lived life until the cloud moved again. All relationships that had been broken with their rebellion in the golden calf incident have been set back to right. Yahweh is their God and they are His people, and He has forgiven their transgressions and is going to lead them in the promise we were reminded of in chapter 1, the one made to the man Israel and his children. The land of promise yet awaits them.

On to the tabernacle, or “dwelling place”. Here we have the symbolic home of God’s presence among His people. It was to be situated in the middle of the Israelite camps (entrance facing east). So, although in battle or travel, God’s presence went before His people, when they were at rest, His presence was to be in the very center, residing among them. And when they moved, He moved with them and settled again where they did.

Chapter 26 provides instructions for the “building” itself, designed to be quickly assembled and disassembled, while also withstanding the elements, protecting the sanctity of the elements and proceedings within, and being up to snuff as a place where YAHWEH would reside. Broadly, it was a rectangle with two disproportionate rooms. The first room, taking up 2/3 of the tabernacle and being closest to the entrance on the east was the Holy Place, which was 30′ x 15′ x 15′ and contained a food/utensil table, the lampstand and an incense altar.

The remaining 1/3 was the Holiest Place or the Holy of Holies which was separated from the first room by an ornate curtain that did not have a door (the High Priest would have to move one of the poles to the side to enter. This was intentionally prohibitive). The curtain was wide enough and tall enough that it was attached to both the walls and the ceiling coverings so someone could not see past it from any angle. Unless you’re the high priest, it’s not your business. The ark of the covenant was in there and it was a cube (15x15x15).

Everything was held up by a series of ladder-like pole structures that sit upon silver bases, the poles covered in gold (a single ounce of gold can be hammered out to nearly 100 sq ft of covering so, although it seems like they would have needed a lot of gold for this action, it wasn’t all that much. And, they got some from the Egyptians anyhow). Only exception to the gold and silver here was for the poles that held up the curtain that covered the entrance, no gilding was required and the stands were brass or copper. They were farther away from God’s presence so didn’t require the extra bump in style (same will be true for the elements in the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle.

The tabernacle had four coverings on it. One was a sweet, stylish cherubim-infused action that was the initial cover so that when you walked in the walls and ceiling had this ornate look to it. On top of that was goat hair, adding thickness and providing protection for the more delicate, stylish layer from the courser layers that were yet to come. To ensure covering, the goat hair layer was bigger than the style layer. On top of the goat hair layer was tanned ram skins. This adds weight and some protection from the elements (weight was important, you can’t have the Lord’s dwelling tumbling away). Finally, translations vary on the top layer but it’s quite likely the skins of sea cows (or dolphins or some other sea animal). This final layer provides waterproofing, protection from the sun, dew, frost, dust, and whatever else may come.

We should probably be careful not to look too far into the design elements. Just because God is specific doesn’t mean there is secret meaning to everything. Most of the design appears to be a combination of function (here’s why I need clasps and proper support and two rooms, etc.) and design (it’s gold because YAHWEH is a king, same reason why the fancy cloth faces in and the boring cloth faces out).

Finally, don’t miss the note in 26:30 that Moses appears to be privy to the whole design whereas this chapter is not hitting up every detail. Moses seems to know how things should look when they come out, there isn’t enough here in all instances to do that (some of the pole spacing, for example). The point is, God showed him what He wanted. The people weren’t creating something and offering it to God, God had designed something and was graciously inviting His people to be part of implementing it, much like how Jesus uses us today in being part of spreading the Good News of His Kingdom.