The Lord speaking to Moses here gives His direct instructions for erecting the tabernacle and setting everything in its proper order with its furnishings and priests for its appointed service. It belongs to the final account of carrying out all that was commanded for the sanctuary in Exodus 25-40, after the parts were finished and found made according to the pattern shown in the mount. The tabernacle was reared up on the first day of the first month in the second year after Israel came out of Egypt, nearly a year after the Exodus. When it was erected and anointed, the cloud covered the tent and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter, showing that God had taken possession of it as His dwelling place among His people. That movable sanctuary made exactly as directed became the center of Israel's worship, yet it was always typical of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, where Christ ministers, its services and furnishings shadowing His real atonement.
Erecting the Tabernacle
The verse opens the Lord's spoken directions to Moses for setting up the tabernacle, putting everything in its proper order, and erecting, consecrating and setting it apart with its furnishings and priests for its appointed service. It records the command that followed the completion and inspection of the sanctuary's parts, which were found made as directed and according to the command and pattern shown in the mount. It belongs to the final and concluding account of carrying out God's instructions for the sanctuary in Exodus 25-40 and Exodus 35-40, following the instructions given in the mount in Exodus 25-31. The concluding chapters give the directions and description for building the sanctuary, whose ark and furnishings were made as directed.
The tabernacle was reared up on the first day of the first month in the second year after Israel departed from Egypt, nearly a year after the Exodus. This was after Israel had been brought from under Pharaoh across the Red Sea to Sinai. As commanded, Moses spread the tent over the tabernacle, put the testimony, the tables of the ten commandments, into the ark, set the mercy-seat upon it, brought it in and set up the vail. He placed the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick with its lighted lamps in the first apartment, put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burnt sweet incense on it, and on the altar before the door offered the burnt offering and the meat offering with the other prescribed sacrifices as the Lord commanded.
After it was erected it was anointed with oil in preparation for the priestly ministry. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses was not able to enter, and the completed building and congregation received blessing and glory. This covering cloud and filling glory showed that God had taken possession of the tabernacle as His dwelling place among His people. Its services culminated in this manifestation as a sign that He accepted the people's repentance.
The setting up and arranging, including the ark, on the first day of the first month was about nine and a half months after the tables of the Testimony were given, showing that the storage of manna before the Testimony in Exodus 16 was described retrospectively. Exodus 40:1-2 cannot be read as placing Moses' entry into the tabernacle before it was built, for the order of chapters is not necessarily the order of events. Events must be read in their actual sequence, in which after Israel's transgression Moses received the ritual and judicial law to write in a book.
Sanctuary Meaning and Application
Exodus belongs to the worship division of the book called the going out for Israel's departure from Egypt, telling how the family that had settled in Egypt and grown more and mightier than the Egyptians, yet suffered bitter bondage and oppression, was delivered and made a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership under Moses the chosen leader, a complete code of laws, and an established form of worship. The sanctuary God asked Israel to make for Him was a holy, movable dwelling-place wrought in the wilderness far from enemies exactly according to the directions and pattern given in the mount, so that He might dwell among them, reveal His great love more fully, and have His temple with men with their Divine Deliverer ever with them. It was built so God could dwell among His people, and its design, construction, building and particulars followed what the Lord spoke to Moses.
When erected it became the center of Israel's worship under the typical system and the center of earthly worship, a holy place where God's glory was to dwell among Israel and where their worship was to center. This was shown when the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the Lord's glory filled it as God took possession of the tabernacle as His dwelling place among His people. There the ark was kept and the Levitical ministry before it continued for many generations. Its structure had two apartments, and worship focused on the most holy place, the second apartment, where the law of God, the two tables, rested in the ark beneath the mercy-seat and where the Levitical priesthood ministered.
The sanctuary served as God's dwelling through the wilderness and through the time of Israel's leaders, and the temple built by Solomon followed the same pattern and became the Lord's dwelling place among Israel when His glory filled it at its dedication. The tabernacle represented the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers, and its services represented His ministry there, while its furnishings and services taught spiritual truths. The mercy-seat covering the law shows that the perfect law required atonement for its transgression, while the ceremonial system taught how atonement is made; the earthly sanctuary and its services were shadows of the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's real atonement, which removes the sinner's guilt and not the law, picturing the pardoned receiving their inheritance and the impenitent being destroyed. This ancient sanctuary answered every purpose for which it was constructed, yet was always typical of and foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, its priests serving unto the shadow of heavenly things and all its rites pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away sin with power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens, until with the sacrifice of Christ the earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever.
God also desires to dwell in people's hearts, but Israel had not fully welcomed Him into theirs. The placing of the table and showbread when Moses set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath, because the tabernacle was set up before the later ceremonial command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given. The verse opens the closing part of God's separate set of laws for regulating Israel's worship, belonging with Exodus 29 to 31 and standing apart from the laws for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. This shows God gave distinct laws for worship and for civil rule with plainly designated natures and executors, illustrating that religion and civil government have essentially different purposes and must operate on entirely separate lines, civil government to control men by force during probation and true Gospel religion to persuade men and bring them back to God.
The Lord speaking to Moses here gives His direct instructions for erecting the tabernacle and setting everything in its proper order with its furnishings and priests for its appointed service. It belongs to the final account of carrying out all that was commanded for the sanctuary in Exodus 25-40, after the parts were finished and found made according to the pattern shown in the mount. The tabernacle was reared up on the first day of the first month in the second year after Israel came out of Egypt, nearly a year after the Exodus. When it was erected and anointed, the cloud covered the tent and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter, showing that God had taken possession of it as His dwelling place among His people. That movable sanctuary made exactly as directed became the center of Israel's worship, yet it was always typical of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, where Christ ministers, its services and furnishings shadowing His real atonement.
Erecting the Tabernacle
The verse opens the Lord's spoken directions to Moses for setting up the tabernacle, putting everything in its proper order, and erecting, consecrating and setting it apart with its furnishings and priests for its appointed service. It records the command that followed the completion and inspection of the sanctuary's parts, which were found made as directed and according to the command and pattern shown in the mount. It belongs to the final and concluding account of carrying out God's instructions for the sanctuary in Exodus 25-40 and Exodus 35-40, following the instructions given in the mount in Exodus 25-31. The concluding chapters give the directions and description for building the sanctuary, whose ark and furnishings were made as directed.
The tabernacle was reared up on the first day of the first month in the second year after Israel departed from Egypt, nearly a year after the Exodus. This was after Israel had been brought from under Pharaoh across the Red Sea to Sinai. As commanded, Moses spread the tent over the tabernacle, put the testimony, the tables of the ten commandments, into the ark, set the mercy-seat upon it, brought it in and set up the vail. He placed the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick with its lighted lamps in the first apartment, put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burnt sweet incense on it, and on the altar before the door offered the burnt offering and the meat offering with the other prescribed sacrifices as the Lord commanded.
After it was erected it was anointed with oil in preparation for the priestly ministry. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses was not able to enter, and the completed building and congregation received blessing and glory. This covering cloud and filling glory showed that God had taken possession of the tabernacle as His dwelling place among His people. Its services culminated in this manifestation as a sign that He accepted the people's repentance.
The setting up and arranging, including the ark, on the first day of the first month was about nine and a half months after the tables of the Testimony were given, showing that the storage of manna before the Testimony in Exodus 16 was described retrospectively. Exodus 40:1-2 cannot be read as placing Moses' entry into the tabernacle before it was built, for the order of chapters is not necessarily the order of events. Events must be read in their actual sequence, in which after Israel's transgression Moses received the ritual and judicial law to write in a book.
Sanctuary Meaning and Application
Exodus belongs to the worship division of the book called the going out for Israel's departure from Egypt, telling how the family that had settled in Egypt and grown more and mightier than the Egyptians, yet suffered bitter bondage and oppression, was delivered and made a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership under Moses the chosen leader, a complete code of laws, and an established form of worship. The sanctuary God asked Israel to make for Him was a holy, movable dwelling-place wrought in the wilderness far from enemies exactly according to the directions and pattern given in the mount, so that He might dwell among them, reveal His great love more fully, and have His temple with men with their Divine Deliverer ever with them. It was built so God could dwell among His people, and its design, construction, building and particulars followed what the Lord spoke to Moses.
When erected it became the center of Israel's worship under the typical system and the center of earthly worship, a holy place where God's glory was to dwell among Israel and where their worship was to center. This was shown when the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the Lord's glory filled it as God took possession of the tabernacle as His dwelling place among His people. There the ark was kept and the Levitical ministry before it continued for many generations. Its structure had two apartments, and worship focused on the most holy place, the second apartment, where the law of God, the two tables, rested in the ark beneath the mercy-seat and where the Levitical priesthood ministered.
The sanctuary served as God's dwelling through the wilderness and through the time of Israel's leaders, and the temple built by Solomon followed the same pattern and became the Lord's dwelling place among Israel when His glory filled it at its dedication. The tabernacle represented the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers, and its services represented His ministry there, while its furnishings and services taught spiritual truths. The mercy-seat covering the law shows that the perfect law required atonement for its transgression, while the ceremonial system taught how atonement is made; the earthly sanctuary and its services were shadows of the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's real atonement, which removes the sinner's guilt and not the law, picturing the pardoned receiving their inheritance and the impenitent being destroyed. This ancient sanctuary answered every purpose for which it was constructed, yet was always typical of and foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, its priests serving unto the shadow of heavenly things and all its rites pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away sin with power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens, until with the sacrifice of Christ the earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever.
God also desires to dwell in people's hearts, but Israel had not fully welcomed Him into theirs. The placing of the table and showbread when Moses set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath, because the tabernacle was set up before the later ceremonial command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given. The verse opens the closing part of God's separate set of laws for regulating Israel's worship, belonging with Exodus 29 to 31 and standing apart from the laws for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. This shows God gave distinct laws for worship and for civil rule with plainly designated natures and executors, illustrating that religion and civil government have essentially different purposes and must operate on entirely separate lines, civil government to control men by force during probation and true Gospel religion to persuade men and bring them back to God.