Exodus 38:21, commentary and pictures

Exodus 38:21 closes the record of preparing, building, furnishing, counting, and setting up the wilderness tabernacle in Exodus 25 to 40, after the instructions given to Moses in the mount and after the events of Exodus 19 to 32. It declares that the work was not left to human fancy but was done exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses on Sinai, with its dimensions, materials, and sum as directed. Here the sanctuary is first called the tabernacle of the testimony, because it housed God's testimony, the Ten Commandments, which gave their name to the tables, to the ark that held them, and to the tabernacle whose most holy place held the ark. The counting was carried out according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. God commanded it after redeeming Israel from Egypt that He might dwell among men and center their worship there, and it served as a manifold object-lesson of the plan of salvation, with all its rites pointing to the true tabernacle and to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God. When finished the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle in token that He accepted the people, yet it was only typical and shadowy until Christ's sacrifice at Calvary rent the veil and the earthly sanctuary passed away forever.

Context and Wording

This is the sum of the wilderness tabernacle in its preparing, building, furnishing, counting, and setting up, belonging to the Exodus 25 to 40 record and especially to chapters 33 to 40 and 35 to 39 and 36 to 38. That building account comes in chronological order after the instructions for the sanctuary and its furniture in Exodus 25 to 30, or 25 to 31, given to Moses in the mount and after the events of Exodus 19 to 32, and it records that those directions were explicitly complied with. The tabernacle it sums up was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus.

It was not left to human fancy but was built exactly according to the explicit directions and pattern shown to Moses in the mount on Sinai. Its dimensions, material, furnishings, and sum were exactly as directed, with wisdom specially given and with workmen specially endowed to carry it out. It was a marvelously beautiful structure made by explicit instruction after the shown pattern.

It was a two-apartment sanctuary with a holy place and a most holy place separated by a veil. Its sides and west end were made of boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold secured below by tenons fitted into sockets of silver each weighing a talent and above by bars through rings. The ark of the covenant and the tables of the Decalogue were in the most holy place, where the law of God rested beneath the mercy seat.

This is the first place where the tabernacle is called the tabernacle of testimony or tabernacle of the testimony. Testimony means the Ten Commandments, the law of God, so the name means the tabernacle of the Ten Commandments. The law gave its name to the tables on which it was written, to the ark that held them within, and to the tabernacle whose most holy place held the ark, because it housed God's testimony kept within the ark. The counting of the tabernacle and its construction was carried out according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

Purpose and Gospel Significance

God commanded Israel to make Him a sacred and holy sanctuary that He might dwell among them and with men, and to center their earthly worship there, which revolved around the Most Holy Place where the law of God rested beneath the mercy seat. After redeeming Israel from Egyptian bondage with a mighty hand and bringing them out from Egypt across the Red Sea, He gave directions for building and description of a marvelously beautiful sanctuary structure, a movable dwelling-place far from enemies in fulfillment of the command to make Him a sanctuary. It was built from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel by workmen specially endowed by God, with wisdom specially given to carry out the directions, exactly according to the explicit directions and divine pattern given to Moses in the mount on Sinai in its dimensions, material, furnishings, and sum, and not left to human fancy.

It was a great, multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites teaching the great plan of salvation to a people unfitted by slavery to comprehend God's salvation and required character. As part of the law given through Moses, which includes not only the Ten Commandments but also statutes and judgments and laws concerning the sanctuary, offerings, and sacrifices, it preserves the old dispensation's types and points to the substance of the new. This worldly sanctuary first pitched in the wilderness answered its purpose yet was only typical and shadowy, foreshadowing the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, with all its rites and ceremonies pointing to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The earthly tabernacle is called the tabernacle of testimony because God's testimony was kept within the ark, and the testimony is the law of God, whose presence makes an atonement, a priesthood, and a sanctuary necessary for sinful people. When the work was finished and the last curtain was hung on the court gate, the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. That inauguration and manifestation of God's glory showed that God accepted the people's repentance.

True worship centered in this worldly sanctuary, afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple, until Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, when the temple veil was rent and the earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever. He gives power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens. This calls for examining how the soul temple is adorned for His indwelling.