Exodus 39:1, commentary and pictures

Exodus 39:1 records that the cloths for service in the holy place and the holy garments for Aaron were made of blue and purple and scarlet, exactly as the Lord commanded Moses. It belongs to the detailed account of preparing, building, and fitting out the wilderness tabernacle according to the directions given in Exodus 25-31, which Moses inspected and found done as God had commanded before it was set up in the second year after the Exodus. The sanctuary was built precisely after the divine pattern shown on the mount, with God calling for free-will offerings and specially endowing the workmen, so that He might dwell among His redeemed people and teach them by forms and rites the plan of salvation, His heavenly temple, and Christ's priestly work. That exact obedience brought blessing and the manifestation of God's glory in acceptance, yet this earthly sanctuary was always typical of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, serving until Christ's sacrifice when with the rending of the veil it passed away forever.

Setting, Wording, and Details

Of blue and purple and scarlet were made cloths of service for ministry in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses, carrying out the prescribed materials and instructions. The making of those cloths and garments illustrates that the law given through Moses included ceremonial instructions about sanctuary, garments, offerings, sacrifices, and types as well as moral laws and the Ten Commandments. The ark with all its furniture and equipment was likewise done just as God directed, and that exact obedience brought blessing and glory down upon the congregation and the building when completed. The work was done according to the pattern God showed Moses on the mount, in dimensions, material, furnishings, and all.

The word for holy place is qodesh, meaning a holy place or sanctuary, here the tabernacle. Standing alone it designates the sanctuary or its holy places, the typical sanctuary where sacrifices were offered and priests served, in one of 105 such instances. Standing alone it never means holy city, holy land, or holy mountain, which require the added words city, land, or mountain to be expressed.

The verse belongs to the detailed account of preparing, building, and fitting out the wilderness tabernacle and carrying out the directions given in Exodus 25-31, described in Exodus 25 to the end of the book and especially in Exodus 33-40 and 36-40. That building and setting up comes in order after the events of Exodus 19-32 and immediately after the instruction concerning the sanctuary given to Moses in the mount. Moses inspected the completed work and found it as God had commanded. The account concludes with the tabernacle set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus, and the manifestation of God's glory in building and inaugurating the sanctuary and its services showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.

The tabernacle had sides and one end of closely joined upright boards set in silver sockets and held by bars through rings, roofed with curtains reaching to the ground. The east end was closed by hangings of fine-twined linen moved aside for entrance, and a curtain divided it into two apartments with the outer twice as large as the inner. Its inner curtain and magnificent ceiling were fine linen embroidered with cherubim and angels in blue and purple and scarlet. Its inner walls were overlaid with fine gold. The skill required to make the tabernacle, its furnishings, and its garments was possible in the ancient world, since fine linen work, goldworking, and finely wrought jewelry were known long before the Exodus.

Pattern, Purpose, and Foreshadowing

The sanctuary was built exactly according to the divine pattern God showed Moses on the mount, in dimensions, material, furnishings, and all. Moses was to ask free-will offerings of Israel for the building, and God specially endowed the workmen to build it. God commanded Israel to build the sanctuary in the wilderness, far from enemies, after leading them out of Egypt, so He might dwell among them and be with men. It was given so He might reveal His great love more fully, with worship centered on the holy of holies and the law beneath the mercy seat. This continued the unfolding plan of redemption beyond the simple service from Eden to the Exodus, when a lamb for sin was offered on a rough stone altar with the father of each family acting as priest and mediator.

After redeeming Israel from Egyptian bondage with a mighty hand, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted them to comprehend His great salvation and the character He required, God gave a great multiple object-lesson by forms and rites teaching the plan of salvation. The sanctuary made according to the pattern was designed to teach about God's heavenly temple and Christ's priestly work. As part of the law of Moses it shows that law included ceremonial instructions about sanctuary, garments, offerings, sacrifices, and types as well as moral laws and the Ten Commandments, through which the substance of the new dispensation can be traced from the shadows of the old. All its rites and ceremonies were object lessons pointing to the Lamb of God and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens.

The gold brilliancy of the inner walls represents the reflected light of God's glory in the New Jerusalem. The ceiling of finest and purest linen wrought with many angels in beautiful needlework represents the angels of heaven waiting upon the bidding of Jehovah. The cloths, garments, ark, furniture, and equipment were done just as God directed, and that exact obedience brought blessing and glory down upon the congregation and the building when completed. The manifestation of God's glory in building and inaugurating the sanctuary and its services showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.

This earthly, worldly sanctuary answered every purpose for which it was constructed, yet was always typical of and foreshadowed a better temple and more perfect service, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. First pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple, it was the center of true worship until Christ's sacrifice, when with the rending of the veil it passed away entirely and forever.