WHEN God, according to his promise, delivered Israel out of Egyptian bondage, he proposed to go with them and dwell in their midst. He therefore gave this instruction to Moses: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering; of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering." Ex. 25:2. Then follows an enumeration of the different kinds of material to be offered,—gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goat's hair, dyed ram's skins, badgers' skins, shittim wood, oils, spices, and precious stones. Then, as indicating the use to be made of these materials, the Lord said: "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Verses 8, 9.
From this it appears that the sanctuary which this people were to make, was to be the dwelling place of God among them. It would be an object of supreme interest to them. It would be the center of their worship; for they worshiped the true God, and where he dwelt, thither would all their devotions be directed.
From the material called for in its construction it is evident that the sanctuary was to be a building of extraordinary magnificence. A minute description of it and its furniture is found in Exodus, chapters 25–31, and is worthy of careful study. The walls of the building on the north, west, and south sides were formed of upright boards set in sockets of silver. These boards were of shittim, or acacia wood, each board being ten cubits in length and one cubit and a half-in breadth. As there were twenty of these boards on each side, the tabernacle was thirty cubits in length. The best critics inform us that the shorter cubit, of eighteen inches, was the one then in use by the Jews, as it was not until after their return from the Babylonian captivity that they occasionally used the larger, or Babylonian, cubit of twenty-one inches.
Calling each cubit eighteen inches would give forty-five feet, English measurement, as the length of the building. Josephus gives ten cubits, or fifteen English feet as the width. To strengthen the sides five bars of acacia wood were provided to run through rings of gold secured to the boards, the center bar running the entire length of the building. Both bars and boards were overlaid with purest gold, so that, as far as this part of the structure was concerned, it presented the appearance of solid gold.
The space inclosed by these golden boards, forty-five feet in length by fifteen in width, was divided into two apartments by a magnificent veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine-twined linen, inwrought with figures of cherubim of rare workmanship, and suspended from four pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and set in sockets of silver. The first, or outer apartment, was called the holy place. Ex. 26:33. The second, or inner apartment, was called the most holy place. If we may suppose that the same proportion was observed here that was followed later in the temple, to which this building at length gave place, two-thirds of the space, or thirty feet, was allotted to the first apartment, leaving fifteen feet for the second. Then the most holy place was fifteen feet square and fifteen feet high, the boards composing its sides being ten cubits in length, which would make the most holy place a perfect cube, fifteen feet in all its dimensions, while the outer apartment, or holy place, was thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high, the length being just twice the breadth. In the temple these dimensions were doubled. 1 Kings 6:16–20.20
Four sets of curtains formed the covering of the tabernacle. The first, or innermost, of these, as described in Ex. 26:1 and onward, was composed of fine-twined linen of various colors, ornamented with cherubim of cunning work. This, thrown over the top of the building and hanging down on the outside of the boards, would form a ceiling for both apartments of surpassing beauty. Above this were the coverings of goat's hair, ram's skins, and badger skins, for shelter and protection against all conditions of season and climate. The tabernacle, as thus constructed, remained over five hundred years, until the time of Solomon.
Around the tabernacle was a larger space, called the court. Ex. 27:9–18. It consisted of a double square, fifty by one hundred cubits, or seventy-five by one hundred and fifty feet. This was inclosed by hangings, or canvas screens, of fine-twined linen, suspended from pillars of brass, five cubits in height, provided with sockets of brass and hooks and fillets of silver. The pillars were set five cubits apart, and the inclosure was continuous, except on the eastern side, where an entrance was provided twenty cubits in width, inclosed with curtains of fine-twined linen of the most gorgeous colors. Ex. 27:9–18; 38:18.
It will be noticed that all the important dimensions of the court and the tabernacle were five cubits or some multiple of five cubits. Everything was constructed with strict regard to proportion and beauty, and of such material as would impress every beholder with the sense of the importance of these objects and the purity and sacredness of the worship connected therewith.
Around the tabernacle and its court the hosts of Israel pitched their tents, in four great bodies, over six hundred thousand strong. Numbers 2.
The tabernacle, as here described, was adapted to the circumstances of the children of Israel while journeying to the promised land; for it could be easily taken down when the camp was to move forward, and set up again where the pillar of cloud should indicate that the camp was next to halt. Ex. 40:36–38.
ITS POSITION.
The tabernacle was always pitched with the door toward the east. Num. 3:38. The Gentile world had apostatized to sun worship, prostrating themselves towards the east; but God so arranged his worship that those who were his followers, worshiping at his tabernacle, with their faces toward his presence, manifested by the shekinah in the most holy place, must turn their backs to the east, renouncing the worship of the sun and all idolatry. See Eze. 8:15, 16.
Could we roll the wheels of time backward some thirty-three and a half centuries, and from some commanding height in Horeb look down upon that broad valley covered with Israel's moving multitudes, and white with their canvas dwellings, the priests in radiant vesture, busy with their service, the smoke of sacrifices and the odor of incense ascending, and over all the glory of God, hovering in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, we should doubtless be prompted to exclaim, as Balaam did when the Spirit of God came upon him, and he heard the words of God, and saw visions of the Almighty, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" Here was the connecting link between earth and heaven; here was that people whom God had chosen to keep alive the knowledge of himself and of his truth in the world, moving on under his guidance to the promised land, prefiguring that vaster multitude which shall one day go up from all lands to the possession of the heavenly Canaan. Here was his organized worship, with its solemn and impressive forms set before the world. And of that worship, the tabernacle, this new-made sanctuary, was the life and center.
The important position which this building occupied in the economy of grace for that age, is stated by Paul in Heb. 9:1–5: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." Then follows a description of the tabernacle built by Moses at the command of the Lord at Sinai. This was the sanctuary of the first covenant. The tabernacle of Moses in process of time gave place to the temple, and was embodied in that till the time of Christ. The word "sanctuary" occurs in the Old Testament one hundred and forty-two times, and is in almost every instance applied to this building, in its tabernacle or temple form. It was no insignificant object. It was no trifle in the divine arrangement of that age. It was the Lord's sanctuary, the holy and sacred place, the dwelling place of the Most High among the children of men.