The Tabernacle Erected 40 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3 And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. 4 And you shall bring in the table and arrange it, and you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. 5 And you shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 6 You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, 7 and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8 And you shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court. 9 “Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy. 10 You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar may become most holy. 11 You shall also anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it. 12 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water 13 and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest. 14 You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them, 15 and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.” 16 This Moses did; according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. 17 In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. 18 Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars. 19 And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 20 He took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 22 He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil, 23 and arranged the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 24 He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, 25 and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26 He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, 27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 28 He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 29 And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, 31 with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. 33 And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. The Glory of the Lord 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. This is it! The culmination of the story of the Exodus! So what was the ultimate goal that God had set for His people when He said He wanted to set them free? It was not to lead them to the Promised Land, it was so that they could go out into the desert to serve Him and worship Him. God desired to be with His people that He had made an eternal covenant with and for them to know Him and to to have His relationship with them restored as He longs to fix all that sin has broken in our world, but it must be done in accordance with His nature and character including His justice and holiness. God made a way to come down and meet with His people since their sin prevented them from making it to Him to have communion with Him. We'll see the ultimate fulfillment of this in and through Christ.
The Tabernacle and all of its members and those who were priests in the Tabernacle were all consecrated to the LORD and His service. We then see instructions that the Tabernacle was set up exactly as the LORD commanded and they lit the lamps and burnt the incense and finished setting everything up in the courtyard--and then something amazing happened. The glory of the LORD in the form of the pillar of cloud filled the entire Tabernacle (much how we see the glory of the LORD filling the temple in the book of Isaiah). It so filled the Tabernacle that not even Moses could go inside. God would let His presence rest on and in the Tabernacle when it was time for His people to set camp, and His presence would move and lead them when it was time for them to break camp, and we see that the pillar of cloud became a pillar of fire by night, and it was always in sight of the whole camp because the Tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp within view of the whole nation.
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Making the Priestly Garments 39 From the blue and purple and scarlet yarns they made finely woven garments, for ministering in the Holy Place. They made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 2 He made the ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 3 And they hammered out gold leaf, and he cut it into threads to work into the blue and purple and the scarlet yarns, and into the fine twined linen, in skilled design. 4 They made for the ephod attaching shoulder pieces, joined to it at its two edges. 5 And the skillfully woven band on it was of one piece with it and made like it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 6 They made the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold filigree, and engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. 7 And he set them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 8 He made the breastpiece, in skilled work, in the style of the ephod, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 9 It was square. They made the breastpiece doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth when doubled. 10 And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; 11 and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 12 and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 13 and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in settings of gold filigree. 14 There were twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They were like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. 15 And they made on the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. 16 And they made two settings of gold filigree and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. 17 And they put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. 18 They attached the two ends of the two cords to the two settings of filigree. Thus they attached it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. 19 Then they made two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. 20 And they made two rings of gold, and attached them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 21 And they bound the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it should lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece should not come loose from the ephod, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 22 He also made the robe of the ephod woven all of blue, 23 and the opening of the robe in it was like the opening in a garment, with a binding around the opening, so that it might not tear. 24 On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 25 They also made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates all around the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates-- 26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate around the hem of the robe for ministering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 27 They also made the coats, woven of fine linen, for Aaron and his sons, 28 and the turban of fine linen, and the caps of fine linen, and the linen undergarments of fine twined linen, 29 and the sash of fine twined linen and of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, embroidered with needlework, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the Lord.” 31 And they tied to it a cord of blue to fasten it on the turban above, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 32 Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished, and the people of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did. 33 Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its utensils, its hooks, its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 34 the covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins, and the veil of the screen; 35 the ark of the testimony with its poles and the mercy seat; 36 the table with all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; 37 the lampstand of pure gold and its lamps with the lamps set and all its utensils, and the oil for the light; 38 the golden altar, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance of the tent; 39 the bronze altar, and its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin and its stand; 40 the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords, and its pegs; and all the utensils for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; 41 the finely worked garments for ministering in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for their service as priests. 42 According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. 43 And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them. Again, we could sum this up as "and they made everything as they were instructed," but first I'd like to post some pictures as I think pictures are probably worth 1000 words here. I'm not sure that we have exact depictions of what the priestly garments looked like, but most of the images on the internet seem to agree, so I'm going to assume these are correct. On the left is an image of the "regular" priestly garments. On the right is an image of the garments--first the special garments worn only on the Day of Atonement (the all-white linen garments) and then his everyday garments. So, why all the fuss about the clothes that the priests and high priest wore? Once again, they are part of the story that God is telling about making His people into a royal priesthood. We also see that the priests must be dressed in the correct clothes and have clean hands and feet before entering the presence of God. We must be dressed in the righteousness given to us by Christ and the vestments or garments given to us by God for the ministry which we are to perform--later in the New Testament, Paul will talk about this as "the armor of God" and compare it to a Roman soldier's armor, but it's not that hard to see it at work here in the vestments of the priests (with the exception that the priests didn't wear any shoes because they were walking on holy ground). We've spoken much of the symbols here and how they tie into the New Creation that we see in the book of Revelation. Compare the materials used here in the New Jerusalem with those that we see here in the garments of the priests (specifically the precious stones used to make them mentioned in verses 10-13 above): 15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:15-21). While I'm not 100% sure of this, I think these stones are probably the same one used as the foundations of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. There are some different names used for some of them, but I think that's probably differences between Hebrew and Greek and maybe even the translators choosing names for words that they weren't exactly sure how they translated in some places. If there is a one-to-one correspondence, then here's how the breastplate of the high priest might look using the names of the stones used in the book of Revelation. Again, that's a slight bit of conjecture on my part, but I believe it's God tying all the pieces together for us and the people that He made for Himself originally through the 12 tribes of Israel are the same people that He's calling from every tribe, tongue, nation and ethnicity through the 12 apostles. The work that God began in the Old Testament was not abandoned, but continued and fulfilled and brought to completion through Christ in the New Testament. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
So, in this way, I hope that I show you that there is one gospel that was given throughout the entire Scripture and one hope of Savior and a New Creation. One people that had been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb--just in the Old Testament it was faith in an act that had not yet happened ,and in the New Testament, it was faith in something that either happened before their very eyes or that has already happened in history. I believe in many ways that our brothers and sisters from the Old Testament had to have even more faith than us because they had not had the full revelation of God through both the Old and New Testaments and they still believed in a better sacrifice that was to come and the need for God to make a way to remove their intentional, volitional sin for which they could not make sacrifices or atonement, and they looked forward to a better priesthood where all of God's people would serve as priests as He had desired in Exodus 19 and a better kingdom that was not of this world as they desired for the communion that Adam and Eve had to be restored. All of this was always before them in the service of the priests and God looked at His priests and saw the gospel and the covenant that He had made and that He would ultimately fulfill. Even the turban that says "Holy to the LORD" is something that we are to be marked with and known by as God's people, and one day we will receive our special white garments that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, just like the High Priest's garments that were white but would be covered in the blood of the atoning sacrifices that were made for himself and the people, but until then we serve as a royal priesthood and wear the robes of blue and purple and scarlet as we identify with Christ in His suffering (these also happen to be the same colors as His bruised and beaten body) and we serve as not only priests, but ambassadors of a kingdom that is not of this world. Are you putting on your new identity every day? Are you putting on your priestly vestments and the full armor of God? Are you going out clothed in His righteousness alone? Are you coming to God dressed in anything else other than Christ's finished and all-sufficient work on the cross? If so, you might need to change your clothes before trying to approach God's Holy and Most Holy Place because we don't just waltz in dressed however we want--when the King sets a dress code for coming into His presence, you obey it. That is not to say that we physically need to wear these kinds of vestments, but that on the inside we should understand the symbolism of these vestments and the role that they played in reminding the priests and the people they served of who God is and what He had done for them and we should be doing the same thing as we minister here on earth before both the saved and the lost. Our lives should be a testimony of the work that God has done in and through us and all of His redeemed people throughout all of history--past, present and future. Materials for the Tabernacle 21 These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses, the responsibility of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22 Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses; 23 and with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men. 27 The hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent a base. 28 And of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. 29 The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels; 30 with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar, 31 the bases around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court. I wanted to cover this part separately from the building of the Tabernacle itself as that had to do with the obedience of the craftsman, but this passage gives us a look into the hearts of the people of God and their sacrificial giving because of their realization of who God is and what He has done--however, I would stop short of saying that this is evidence of any kind of true repentance of changing of their hearts because we know the end of the story, and this entire generation (save Joshua and Caleb) would die in the desert and not enter the Promised Land because of their wickedness and rebellion.
We see an interesting name for the Tabernacle to start off--the Tabernacle of the Testimony. That is not just a synonym for the Law, but it is about the Testimony of who God is and what He has done and it was that Testimony (in the form of the Law, the budding rod of Aaron and the omer of manna) that was kept symbolically in the Ark of the Covenant so that the people could look at it and remember what's inside--similarly, the people were to look at that Tabernacle and remember that it was important because of what was inside of it--the Spirit of God as well as the Ark of the Covenant (or the Ark of the Testimony) with the reminders of the words and works of God. Do people look at us that way since we also walk around with the Spirit of God living inside of us and carry His words and works inside of us and we too are tabernacles/temples of the living God? Are we visible representations of His Testimony (not our testimony)? We once again see that God assigned just the right people to the job and it was the job of the Levites to care for the Tabernacle and to be in its service, so there was a whole family of Levites, a "clan" if you will, that was responsible for helping to build and maintain the Tabernacle. They were assigned as workers to Bezalel and Oholiab and they learned everything they needed to do for building, upkeep and repair, but God gave specific giftings to these specific men both now and throughout time so that the sons of Ithamar, one of Aaron's sons that should have been qualified to serve as priests and maybe even high priest, would be assigned to the building and care of the Tabernacle--and it seems that he and his clan did this without grumbling or complaining about the role that he had been given. We'll see later in the book of numbers that this cannot be said for all the Levites as there will be a rebellion among some of them who become jealous and also want to serve as priests who offer incense before the LORD--something only the sons of Aaron were allowed to do. Let's just say that when we get there, we remember to not covet anyone else's role in the body of Christ or His mission that He has given them because He has equipped you for the work He has for you to do and your sin can affect your family and your entire tribe and nation. (see Numbers 16 if you want to know about the sin of Korah and what I'm talking about). Alright, now let's get onto the "accounting" part of the text as it seems that God instructed Moses and the Levites to keep an accurate record of everything that was donated--and I don't think it was for tax deduction purposes. With that said, I honestly don't know the exact value of a talent or a shekel because they are not weights or measures that have been well-preserved or that we use today. However, here are some estimates. It is supposed that each talent was roughly equivalent to the weight of a man (probably part of the expression we have of "worth his weight in gold.") That should give us an idea then about how much gold and silver and bronze is here for the amount measured in talents--roughly 50 kg per talent or about 110 lbs per talent. The shekel mentioned here is a "sanctuary shekel" and it's estimated to weigh 0.4 oz or that 10 shekels weigh approximately 4 oz. That would also make each shekel 0.025 pounds (sorry for those that use grams instead of pounds as I live in the USA so that's the easiest way for my audience to think about mass/weight). It's enough to say then that this was a massive donation of treasure from the people and we see that the Egyptians gave them all of this on their way out of Egypt to try and bribe God to stop sending plagues on their people--they had been slaves in Egypt with nothing and then one day God changed everything and they gained the riches of the wealthiest empire on earth as the Pharaoh realized all the riches in the world would do him no good if him and his people were all dead. He'd rather be poor and alive than dead. The people then had to realize that this money never belonged to them and was always given to God and was meant to be used for God's service. The treasure they received was no indication of how much value they had as individuals or even as a nation, but how much value God had--something that took 10 plagues for the Egyptians to figure out. But all of this does not compare to the riches that we God controls where the streets are paved in gold in heaven, and this is just a preview of the "real thing" that we'll experience someday in the New Heavens and the New Earth. If you want to get a glimpse of that you'll need to read the end of the books of Ezekiel and Revelation. Let's just say that those prophets couldn't put into words what they were actually seeing and could only describe what it was was like (description by simile and metaphor). It is too amazing for the tongue to describe, but it is the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us that where He is, there we may be also. But we know the most valuable thing in heaven won't be the gold or silver or bronze or precious stones--it will be the blood of the Lamb that was slain and offered on the Mercy Seat of heaven to make atonement once and for all for all who belonged to God and now belong to Christ. There is no price that could be paid in gold, silver, bronze or precious stones to purchase our redemption or salvation. Our infinitely costly sin against an infinitely good God needed to be paid off by an infinitely precious sacrifice--the lifeblood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What are you made of? When people look at you, does your composition reflect the worth and majesty and glory of God? Does everything you have belong to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or have you tried to build a large, expensive palace for yourself while you relegate God to a tent (this is the conviction that David had later when he thought that he should build a temple for God--we'll get to what God thought of the people living in paneled houses (palaces) when we get to the prophets. Just ask yourself if your life is glorifying God or glorifying you? Is your testimony that your full of and that is hidden in your heart about God or about you? Do people recognize that God is living inside of you and that you are full of His presence and His glory because it changes everything you are and everything you do, or do they still think you to be the same person who you were before but maybe that you just "found religion" to try and be a "better you."? Be careful because God is a jealous God and will share His glory with no other--not even you, and we know that the gospel is not about making us rich or famous, nor is it about making us healthy and wealthy, but it is God's story of how He has been at work to accomplish His purposes for His great glory from the very beginning. That's what the Tabernacle is all about and as Tabernacles of the Holy Spirit, that is what we are to be all about as well, until the day when Christ returns and we will be joined together with the rest of the Bride of Christ and we will be the New Jerusalem as it is the Bride of Christ, the Church that comes down from heaven and is the place and people where Jesus dwells among us forever and ever. Making the Altar of Burnt Offering 38 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. 2 He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. 5 He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards. Making the Bronze Basin 8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting. Making the Court 9 And he made the court. For the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10 their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side there were hangings of a hundred cubits; their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars, and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 13 And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 And so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. 17 And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. 20 And all the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze. Again, a very simple blog today as we see that Bezalel ("he" references all the way back to chapter 37, verse 1) also made all the courtyard and everything that went inside of it and all the clasps and pegs and rings and fittings as instructed. Everything was made just as the LORD had instructed Moses along with all of the pans, tongs, and other utensils that were needed for the sacrifices. We see that Bezalel paid attention to all the fine details, and it was all done through God's gifting and by the power of the Holy Spirit who was at work to build the Tabernacle then and is at work to build the Church today.
We covered the significance of most of these objects at the time God instructed them to be built, so, I don't think we need to cover them again, but remember that in all of this, we are seeing the gospel of that time, the gospel of the coming of Christ, the gospel of the Church age that we currently live in, and the gospel of the New Creation when we will "dwell in the house of the LORD forever"--a statement made at the end of Psalm 23 that many people miss. (See Psalm 23:6). Yes, we are promised that we will live in the heavenly temple of the LORD forever when it comes to earth and the New Heavens and the New Earth are made and heaven and earth are one Let's look at verse 3 of "This is My Father's World" (I'll post the hymn to my Facebook page after posting this blog): 3 This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father's world: the battle is not done; Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heav'n be one. Notice the last line? The ultimate goal is everything to return to how it was "in the beginning" when God said it was "very good." The Garden of Eden was really the first temple of sorts as Adam served as priest and king and walked and talked with God. It was Adam's job to represent God to creation (as king) and represent creation to God (as priest). It was even his job to be a prophet and to tell others (Eve) the words which God had spoken which she did not hear for herself (the prophet's message is one of "Thus saith the Lord."). So, we have seen in Adam that there was a federal head who was prophet, priest and king--Jesus would be the Second (and Last) Adam that would come to succeed where Adam failed. Until Jesus came though the Tabernacle and Temple were there to remind God's people that it was always God's plan to dwell among His people, but that sin had ruined that plan and that substitutionary atonement was needed not just to cover their sin, but to take their sins away and reconciliation was needed so that God and man could once again be united and have fellowship. This is the gospel! It is something that helps us look back into eternity past to see the plan God has always had before "the beginning, to help us look back in history to everything that God has done for us and our forefathers, something that helps us see what God is doing in our lives, and something that helps us look ahead to what God will do and something that helps us look far ahead into eternity for things that are yet to come in eternity future. Making the Ark 37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. 3 And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold 5 and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. 6 And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 7 And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, 8 one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. 9 The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim. Making the Table 10 He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. 12 And he made a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. 13 He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 14 Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 15 He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. 16 And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings. Making the Lampstand 17 He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. 18 And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 19 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 21 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. 22 Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 23 And he made its seven lamps and its tongs and its trays of pure gold. 24 He made it and all its utensils out of a talent of pure gold. Making the Altar of Incense 25 He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit, and its breadth was a cubit. It was square, and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. 26 He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And he made a molding of gold around it, 27 and made two rings of gold on it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. 28 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 29 He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer. We've already talked about each piece individually, so I won't do that again, but Bezalel first makes all the objects that are gold or gold-plated working from the inside-out (The Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place towards the Table of Showbread, Golden Candlestick, and Altar of Incense that were in the Holy Place) along with all of their accompanying utensils and dishes. Everything was made exactly as God had commanded--even the incense that had a specific recipe that was not to be used anywhere else or used for anything else and no other recipe would be allowed to be used in its place.
All of these items in the Holy Place and Most Holy Place focus on atonement--the central theme of the gospel. Even what we will study tomorrow--the objects of bronze that were in the courtyard--also focus on atonement, and you can't get away from the idea that there was a substitutionary atonement--the innocent, unblemished animal died in the place of the guilty, sin-stained individual. "22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Hebrews 9:22). That is what we see when we look at the Tabernacle--not a vengeful, wrathful God that is all about justice and killing and death--yes, He is all those things, but this is the same God with the same gospel of grace, love, and forgiveness that we think of as a "New Testament thing." The thing that's "new" and "better" about the New Covenant is that one Sacrifice was paid once for all. The penal, substitutionary atonement that was made not only covered our sins, but took them away, as Christ became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is what we should walk away from the Tabernacle seeing. A "Wow, this has always been the plan!," but also a "I'm glad that God always had an even better plan in store!" And His plan is to unite all who belong to Him in the New Heavens and the New Earth in a time of eternal worship where we will serve Him as members of a holy, royal priesthood. There will be no more Courtyard for sacrifices to be made but we will dine at the Table of Showbread together as Jesus will once again eat of the bread and drink of the cup again when He comes into His kingdom, and while the "little light of the world," the Church, will not need to shine their light as Jesus is the light of that city, the Golden Lampstand of the Church will stand before Him, and we will offer our praise at the Altar of Incense in Heaven, but we will even live in perfect communion with God with no veil between God and Man for Christ's body was that veil that was torn so that we could have access to God and we will live with Him in the New Jerusalem--the Most Holy Place because it is where God will once again dwell among men in His new creation, just like He had intended in the original creation, and we will be free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and the very presence of sin. Oh, how we long for that day, but we have much work to do today to be His ambassadors and share this message of reconciliation with the whole world. Let everything we say, do, and think be honoring and glorifying to God and be gospel-centered so that we speak and live God's most important message to man. We are now playing the role of the Tabernacle as the Holy Spirit lives in and through us and we are to display the story of the gospel in and through our lives for all to see and to know God and make Him known to all the world. Construction of the Tabernacle 35:30 Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer. 36 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.” 2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. 8 And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size. 10 He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. 11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole. 14 He also made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole. 19 And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins. 20 Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. 29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. 30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases. 31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames. 34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. 35 He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it. 36 And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. 37 He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework, 38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze. Lot's of text, but probably not a lot of commentary today. In short, you could say this passage (and a few others to follow it) could be summed up by saying, "And they built everything for the Tabernacle exactly as the LORD had instructed." But, there are a few additional points that I want to point out.
First is the fact that we see the Holy Spirit is active and gifting people with a supernatural gifting to accomplish this task, and He's not just working with one person at a time, and it's not only the gift of prophesy or tongues, but in this case the gifts associated with being an artisan or craftsman--things we don't normally think of in the realm of "spiritual gifts" and usually try to put in the classification of "talents" that are more "natural" giftings or "aptitudes" or maybe even learned trades that require you to go to school or receive some kind of training learn how to do, but these men seemed to just know exactly how to do everything and did it exactly right the way that God had instructed and we see no indication that they didn't get it right the first time. In fact the word "inspired" is used here that we normally associate with the inspiration of Scripture as someone wrote as the Holy Spirit moved them though they worked in concert, but the Holy Spirit is given credit as the main author--I think the same thing is true here that the Holy Spirit is about the work right now of making Tabernacles of God through us and preparing us (the people of God--all who are "in Christ") to be a part of the eternal Tabernacle that will be the New Jerusalem. I mentioned yesterday, but the craftsmen and artisans worked every day on whatever the people had provided by way of freewill offerings, but it got to the point where they had to tell Moses that the people were bringing too much and they needed them to stop because they had more materials than they needed for the work. Isn't that just like God to provide above and beyond our needs so that can give Him all the glory, but we don't really start to realize just how much He's given us until we start to lay it all down at His feet and realize that there is more than enough for His service. That is not to say that God is required to bless you physically or monetarily, but there also seemed to be an abundance of workmen to help the two project managers as they did not seem to come to Moses saying, "We need more help" or "The job is too large for us." The people who were gifted were asked to also make freewill offerings of themselves--of their talent and their time--to help build the Tabernacle as well. The people actually had to be restrained from bringing their freewill offerings--Oh that the Church today would have that kind of issue where the churches would say "It is enough, we have more than we know what to do with in helping to pay for gospel to go forth and in taking care of the widows and orphans and prisoners and homeless and all the others that God has put into our care." Could you even imagine that happening today where a message on sacrificial giving and stewardship wouldn't feel like a "guilt trip," but instead would feel like a "thank you" for being so obedient to the call of God? We see this in some places in Scripture like where the congregation in Macedonia saved up freewill offerings, though they were poor and destitute themselves, to help the church in Jerusalem because they saw that their brothers and sisters in Christ were in need and God laid it on their hearts to give out of their poverty and to trust Him for their daily bread and provision. Paul encourages others to be cheerful givers like them and lets everyone know of this good that they had done in secret, not hoping to gain any glory for themselves, but for the glory of God alone. That's pretty much it. The rest of the section, as mentioned before, speaks about them making everything for the actual tent coverings and the clasps and rings and frame for it. The next passages coming up have to do with making the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place and everything that went inside of them just as it had been commanded. There will then be a slight break at the end of chapter 38 to actually take inventory of all the contributions that had been made by the people to building the Tabernacle (just so that we get some kind of idea how much God had provided and how much of an undertaking this was and how it would have been impossible without His provision and gifting). The text turns last of all to the garments for the priests, both those that they would wear every day and the garments for the High Priest that he would wear only on the day of atonement. There is then a summary of all the work that was done by all who helped and how they made everything according to what the LORD had commanded. Finally, the book of Exodus will end with the erection of the Tabernacle and the glory of the LORD filling the Tabernacle so that the people knew to stay as long as the pillar of cloud stayed over the Tabernacle, but they would get up and move when the pillar of cloud got up and moved from the Tabernacle to lead them somewhere new. There is much more to the books of the Law (the Torah) and we'll come back to them as I'm guessing it would be a bit overwhelming to some to immediately jump into the book of Leviticus after Exodus, so I'll tackle the book of Job next which is probably our oldest book in the Bible since Job predates Moses and Moses seems to be indicated to be the author of the Torah (with the exception of the last few chapters of Deuteronomy which we believe were written by Joshua, as they describe the death of Moses and events after Moses died.) Most of what people know about the book of Job is simply in the first few verses of Job and they may know some of the last few verses of Job but they miss all the "good stuff" (and "bad stuff") that we need to talk about that's between those two pieces of bread (using a sandwich as a metaphor here). The book of Job can teach us a lot--not only about pain and suffering, but how the world doesn't operate by the principles that we imagine sometimes, it teaches us about who we are in the sight of God, and it shows us a lot of errant philosophies and worldviews that we still hare dealing with today that we need to watch out for--especially today. So, hand in there with me as we finish up the book of Exodus and then we'll come back to the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy after a short time in the book of Job. Contributions for the Tabernacle 4 Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 5 Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair, 7 tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 10 “Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12 the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the veil of the screen; 13 the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; 14 the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their cords; 19 the finely worked garments for ministering in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests.” 20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats' hair or tanned rams' skins or goatskins brought them. 24 Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord's contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 26 All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats' hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. God had provided Moses with the plans and with the project managers, but where would the labor force and the material resources come from? God had already made provision for all of that too! We see the call to the people to donate everything that God had instructed would be needed to make the Tabernacle and the people responded with a heart of generosity. Again though, where did they get this stuff to donate? They got it from the Egyptians when they were given the great wealth of Egypt to encourage them to leave and leave quickly after the tenth plague.
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:33-36) There it is! God had already given them everything He knew they needed to build the Tabernacle far ahead of time. But how had they used it so far? They had worn the earrings and other ornaments in the same way that their masters had in Egypt to show their wealth and their power now. They had used the riches of the Egyptians to make a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai like the ones that they had probably seen and maybe even worshiped while they were slaves in Egypt. This was not what God had wanted for His people, and we already saw the people remove their ornaments and jewelry as a sign of the removal of their pride after God had said He would not go up among them because they were a stubborn and stiff-necked people and He might consume them on the way up. In fact, the text tells us that they promised they would never again put on this jewelry for the rest of their journey through the wilderness to the land of Canaan (We'll see how that goes as we continue our study. Will they really put aside their greed that helped fuel their pagan worship, or will they keep it close to them so that they can come back to it for comfort like keeping a mistress even after getting married?) This is one of the "bright spots" in the history of Israel though. Their hearts appear to be in the right place, they want to give God everything He is owed to glorify His great name, and they simply desire to live in the presence of God and to not go anywhere where He won't go with them. For as much as we focus on what the Israelites (especially this generation of Israelites) did wrong, they got some things very right. Their contributions were so over the top here that Moses will actually have to ask them to stop bringing their contributions--but, again, it's not just the treasure they are bringing, but they are giving of themselves by giving their time and talent as well (all of which also belongs to God). So, what is there for us to take away from this passage today? First is the fact that God has a plan for everything He's provided for you, and that plan is not for you to glorify yourself or to use to worship false gods--it is meant to use in some way to bring glory and honor to Him. That "wealth" He has given to you may also come in the form of time and talent, it need not be physical possessions, but all of it comes from God and belongs to Him--even the wealth that we thought we plundered from those who had enslaved us. At certain points it is seems like the people got caught up in materialism and because they thought they owned the stuff (instead of remembering that God owned all) then it seemed like their stuff owned them. It's a dangerous trap that the flesh and the devil lay for us--as we seek to own more stuff it requires more and more of our time, talent, and even treasure and we end up worshiping our stuff and it ends up owning us. It is only through God's design of us being cheerful givers that we can fight off this urge to become materialistic. This is so large of an issue that Jesus talked about it in the Sermon on the Mount (this teaching is recorded in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13--"...You cannot serve God and money.") Since not every culture has "money," it's probably better to look at that word as "wealth" as some people are rich in land, cattle, etc--see the book of Job for instance as it appears that his wealth was measured by his land and the size of his herds and flocks. There is more to stewardship than the digits in your bank account, the size of your investment portfolio (stocks, bonds, etc) and how much money you have on you at any moment in time. God's timing is not our own and He often provides the means before we know the purpose. Trust Him to reveal the purpose that He has planned and prepared for that will glorify and honor Him and "lean not on your own understanding." What if people had not waited for God and wanted to build God a dwelling place with the things they had? Do you think it would have been anything like what God had designed to show the people that God would get up and move with them or do you think that they would have constructed a temple much like their pagan neighbors attached to a physical place where they thought God rested (maybe a Mount Sinai/Mount Horeb for instance) and they would believe that God's presence was limited to that physical place and that something about the place made God strong there.. That's the way the pagans believed, but God would come back in Joshua 1:9 and remind Joshua that "The LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Also, don't forget that, although they don't know this, the people are building a model of the gospel message for them to look at each and every time they set up, tear down, and worship at the Tabernacle--it was God's plan for His people there, it was God's plan for Jesus coming in the flesh, it's God's plan now for His Spirit to live in and through us as tabernacles and it's His ultimate plan for all of His people to one day live with Him in the Most Holy Place of The New Jerusalem. Remember that we always worship at a person and not a place and we worship both individually and corporately. The people gave freewill offerings here as an act of worship that was both individual and corporate and God would use those offerings to provide a framework for both individual and corporate worship for many generations to come. |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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