Exodus 26--The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle​
26 “Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 5 Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole.

7 “You shall also make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make. 8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. 9 You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. 10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.


11 “You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole. 12 And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it. 14 And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and a covering of goatskins on top.

15 “You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 17 There shall be two tenons in each frame, for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. 18 You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side; 19 and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons; 20 and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames, 21 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. 22 And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. 23 And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear; 24 they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners. 25 And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame.

26 “You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 27 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 28 The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. 29 You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. 30 Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.

31 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. 32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. 35 And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side.

36 “You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. 37 And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.

---

We've been looking for some time now at some of the instructions for the items used to worship God that were going to be located in the Tabernacle, but we have yet to discuss the Tabernacle itself.  What would house these objects?  Well, that's what we're going to look at today.

I won't go into all the details here as you can read them for yourself, but the engineering schematics given by the LORD here are meticulous.  So much so that probably anyone could take these design schematics and make a new Tabernacle right now.  The thing is, we no longer need the Tabernacle because we don't need to go to a tent like this to meet with God because He came down to meet with us in the Person of Jesus and then gave us the Holy Spirit who now indwells each and every believer and He "tabernacles" among us in that way.

I will point out some things that I see though as I read.  First, the linen curtains remind me of the colors that one would probably see during the crucifixion of Christ--scarlet, purple, and blue.  These are probably the colors of the bruised and beaten skin of Jesus that were covered in blood  This was the message on the "inside" of the Tabernacle from the beginning.

The outside of the Tabernacle was very "homely" and looked ordinary and wouldn't make anyone desire it--coverings of both goat skin and ram skin which were probably not the most desirable of materials.  It reminds me of Isaiah 53:2, which says, in part, "...he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him."  It is not the outward beauty or splendor that attracts us to Jesus or that others see in us that attract them to Jesus.  Quite the opposite!  It is what's on the inside that counts and where everything precious and beautiful lies, because that's where God is.

​We then see instructions for the frame, made again of acacia wood.  This is the same wood used to make all the pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle.  Again, great detail is put into building these supports and how to set them up.  We see that everything to do with the clasps and rings for the framing was silver with the exception of the crossbeams that would run through the Tabernacle and come in contact with the insdie--those had clasps and rings of gold.

Then comes the instructions for the veil.  I wish I could take a lot of time today to talk about the veil and how it was torn at the time of Jesus' death on the cross, but time does not permit me to do so.  Take time to study this wonderful tapestry that represented the body of Christ and how it veiled the glory of God and how there was a physical barrier keeping even the priests from entering the presence of God and hiding Him from them.  Jesus came to take the barrier away so that we could see God clearly and to give us free access to Him.  We do not see a veil in the New Jerusalem because we dwell in the Most Holy Place in the presence of the Lord there.

Last, but not least, there was a screen at the entrance of the tent--again made of the same colors of linen cloth and with fine needlework and it's frame and clasps and rings would also be gold because it would come in direct contact with the inside of the Tabernacle.

I'll share some videos on my Facebook page (for those that are friends with me there) from The Bible Project that speak of the design of the Tabernacle and how it points to Christ.  They are better at explaining it than I am.  For now, be thankful for the fact that we no longer have to go to a place to meet with God, nor do we have to wait for the Person of Christ to come to us, but we can "boldly approach the throne of grace" through the work of Christ and through the Holy Spirit that indwells us as believers.