The Court of the Tabernacle 9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. 13 The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 16 For the gate of 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. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of 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. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze. We see here the description of the place where the people gathered to worship and to bring their sacrifices. It was still part of the Tabernacle. It is a very large area and was meant to be large enough for all the men of the nation (at that time) to come together and hear what the LORD had to say, and the men were responsible to go home to their families and teach the truth to their wives and children. Later in the Temple that was much larger than the Tabernacle, there would be a "Court of the Men," a "Court of the Women," and a "Court of the Gentiles." The Court of the Gentiles was the place that got overrun by the money changers and people selling sacrifices when Jesus cleansed the Temple on two different occasions--once at the beginning of His ministry and the other at the end of His ministry--because He said His Father's house was to be a "house of prayer," and they had turned it into "a den of robbers (or thieves)." That area was meant for the nations of the world to come and seek God and the Jews had taken over it and shut out the Gentiles from having access. Perhaps that explains another reason why Jesus got so upset.
Even though this is part of the Tabernacle, the people gathered here are "far off" from the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God. This brings to mind Ephesians 2:11-22. Notice the language of being "far off" and being "brought near" and "brought together." I think Paul might have had this idea of the Tabernacle and the Temple in mind when writing this passage. 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. We also see a consistent pattern that God has set up with the hardware of bronze and silver and which poles and curtains go where. Again, the more I read this, the more I think, "Even though this was a lot of puzzle pieces, God made it really easy for them to put the puzzle together quickly." There was a lot of tear-down and set-up involved, but they needed to be able to move quickly whenever the pillar of cloud our pillar of fire moved, and there wasn't really any warning when that was going to happen. When God moves, you move, and you don't leave the Tabernacle behind. The main purpose of the Courtyard was to make sacrifices at the Bronze Altar and to provide yet another idea of the barrier that sin brings between us an God. Everyone (even the priests) had to enter through the blood of a substitutionary atonement system, and only God's "holy priesthood" (we are all called to be part of that now as Christians) could enter the Holy Place, but only the High Priest (that's Jesus) could enter the Most Holy Place (that's the presents of God the Father) to make atonement for his people. However, Jesus has now torn that veil and made a way for all of us to draw near to God by his once for all sacrifice. We no longer see the courtyard or the bronze altar in the "new temple" because the issue of sin has been dealt with and no more sacrifices need to be made. We who are present in the New Jerusalem no longer need to be kept far off from God's holiness because He has made all things new. We will be able to dwell in the presence of the LORD in the "Most Holy Place" without fear of dying from being in God's presence. Oh, what a glorious day that will be! Until then, let us keep the doors open (there was no lock on the door) for Jews and Gentiles alike to access the presence of God by way of the Bronze Altar of the cross of Christ, and let them come into the Courtyard to see what all the fuss is about and who this God is and what His people are about and let them taste and see that the Lord is good. Do not be like the people of Jesus' time that turn the gospel into a profit-making operation or try to shut out others from hearing the gospel because you give no space to them and make them feel unwelcome in your congregation. The book of James has quite a bit to say about showing favoritism and partiality this way. Everyone must approach God the right way--through the Courtyard by way of the Altar and through the Blood, but we should not be about the business of erecting barriers that God hasn't set up or that He has specifically torn down.
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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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