Divine Law was not given to the world for the first time when the Children of Israel received the Law at the hand of Moses. It was written of Abraham that he “kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws”1; and it is possible to deduce from Genesis a little of the structure of the Patriarchal system of ordinances and worship. Nevertheless, the Mosaic Law alone is recorded for us in detail, and this can only be because it has a direct bearing upon our own salvation, for “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”2
There are two aspects of the Law of Moses; the didactic and the prophetic. By the didactic aspect we mean what the Law taught immediately to those who received it; that is to say, a holy way of life, for “judgment, mercy and faith”3 are the “weightier matters of the Law.” By the prophetic aspect we mean the things which the Holy Spirit signified in the Law4 and which the Children of Israel could not, at the time of the giving of the ordinances, understand. For those who are interested in further study of the Law as a whole, two books are recommended: Law and Grace by W. F. Barling, which is concerned with the didactic side of the Mosaic system, and The Law of Moses by Robert Roberts, which deals largely with the prophetic aspect.5 In this and the following article, we shall be concerned with the structure and with the didactic and prophetic implications of the Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle was a complicated and, no doubt, very beautiful “House of God” constructed by Divine command as the centre of the religious life of the Children of Israel during their forty odd years wandering in the desert. Essentially it was a tent and the details of its structure are recorded twice6, the first section dealing with the specification and the second with the execution of the work. At first sight this may seem unnecessarily to prolong the account, but there is a reason. The Tabernacle was “a figure for the time then present”7 and in the double account there is a shadow of the Divine procedure: “first plan, then fulfilment; first prophecy, then history.”8 Furthermore, it appears that God may duplicate the record as a sign of its surety: “for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.”9
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Author: Jeremy Craddock
Keywords: Tent of meeting, Tabernacle, Construction of the tabernacle, Construction of the tent of meeting, Erection of the tabernacle, Erection of the tent of meeting, Holy of holies, Sanctuary, Ark of the covenant, Most holy place, Inner sanctuary, Materials of the tabernacle
Bible reference(s): Exodus 25, Exodus 26, Exodus 27, Exodus 28:43, Exodus 29:4, Exodus 29:10, Exodus 29:11, Exodus 29:30, Exodus 29:32, Exodus 29:42, Exodus 29:44, Exodus 30:16, Exodus 30:18, Exodus 30:20, Exodus 30:26, Exodus 30:36, Exodus 31:7, Exodus 33:7, Exodus 35, Exodus 36, Exodus 37, Exodus 38, Exodus 39, Exodus 40, Leviticus 1:1, Leviticus 1:3, Leviticus 1:5, Leviticus 3:2, Leviticus 3:8, Leviticus 3:13, Leviticus 4:4, Leviticus 4:5, Leviticus 4:7, Leviticus 4:14, Leviticus 4:16, Leviticus 4:18, Leviticus 6:16, Leviticus 6:26, Leviticus 6:30, Leviticus 8:3, Leviticus 8:4, Leviticus 8:10, Leviticus 8:31, Leviticus 8:33, Leviticus 8:35, Leviticus 9:5, Leviticus 9:23, Leviticus 10:7, Leviticus 10:9, Leviticus 12:6, Leviticus 14:11, Leviticus 14:23, Leviticus 15:14, Leviticus 15:29, Leviticus 15:31, Leviticus 16:7, Leviticus 16:16, Leviticus 16:17, Leviticus 16:20, Leviticus 16:23, Leviticus 16:33, Leviticus 17:4, Leviticus 17:5, Leviticus 17:6, Leviticus 17:9, Leviticus 19:21, Leviticus 24:3, Numbers 1:1, Numbers 1:50, Numbers 1:51, Numbers 1:53, Numbers 2:2, Numbers 2:17, Numbers 3:7, Numbers 3:8, Numbers 3:23, Numbers 3:25-26, Numbers 3:38, Numbers 4:3, Numbers 4:4, Numbers 4:15-16, Numbers 4:23, Numbers 4:25-26, Numbers 4:28, Numbers 4:30, Numbers 4:31, Numbers 4:33, Numbers 4:35, Numbers 4:37, Numbers 4:39, Numbers 4:41, Numbers 4:43, Numbers 4:47, Numbers 5:17, Numbers 6:10, Numbers 6:13, Numbers 6:18, Numbers 7:1, Numbers 7:3, Numbers 7:5, Numbers 7:89, Numbers 8:9, Numbers 8:15, Numbers 8:19, Numbers 8:22, Numbers 8:24, Numbers 8:26, Numbers 9:15, Numbers 9:18-20, Numbers 9:22, Numbers 10:3, Numbers 10:11, Numbers 10:17, Numbers 10:21, Numbers 11:16, Numbers 12:4, Numbers 14:10, Numbers 16:9, Numbers 16:18, Numbers 16:19, Numbers 16:42, Numbers 16:43, Numbers 16:50, Numbers 17:4, Numbers 17:13, Numbers 18:4, Numbers 18:6, Numbers 18:21, Numbers 18:22, Numbers 18:23, Numbers 18:31, Numbers 19:4, Numbers 19:13, Numbers 20:6, Numbers 25:6, Numbers 27:2, Numbers 31:30, Numbers 31:47, Numbers 31:54, Deuteronomy 31:14, Joshua 18:1, Joshua 19:51, Joshua 22:19, Joshua 22:29, 1 Samuel 2:22, 1 Kings 8:4, 1 Chronicles 6:32, 1 Chronicles 6:48, 1 Chronicles 9:21, 1 Chronicles 16:39, 1 Chronicles 21:29, 1 Chronicles 23:26, 1 Chronicles 23:32, 2 Chronicles 1:3, 2 Chronicles 1:5-6, 2 Chronicles 1:13, 2 Chronicles 5:5, Judith 9:8, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 24:10, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 24:15
Source: “The Tabernacle,” The Testimony, Vol. 32, No. 381, September 1962, pp. 299-302.
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