Exodus 26

Moses in Mount Sinai Receives God’s Revelation.

Moses In The Mountain With Yahweh For Forty Days and Nights (25:1-31:18).

After receiving the covenant and putting it into writing Moses was called by Yahweh to go up to Him into the Mountain. The Great Overlord wished to establish the necessary protocol for His people’s approach to Him. There through revelation Moses was to be given instructions concerning the provision of a Dwellingplace for Yahweh, with all its furniture, so that they could know that He ‘dwelt among them’. This was in order to confirm to Israel His gracious intentions towards them (Exodus 25:1 to Exodus 29:46), and which will enable them to reveal their continued loyalty and concern for His holiness (Exodus 30-31).

An Earthly Dwellingplace Is To Be Prepared For Yahweh’s Convenience (Exodus 25:1 to Exodus 29:46 )

The first act is to establish a Dwellingplace among them which will be a reminder that He is their Overlord. The preparation of the Dwellingplace falls into two sections:

1). That which expresses Yahweh’s sovereign activity towards His people and His provision of atonement (Exodus 25:1 to Exodus 29:46), and at the end of it He expresses His intention to dwell among them (Exodus 29:45).

2) This is followed by the provision of the means by which they can express their loyalty to Him, and can approach Him, through their representatives, in His throne room, and at the end of this He gives them the covenant as sealed by His hand (Exodus 30:1 to Exodus 31:18).

Yahweh as Suzerain Lord Sets Up His Throne and Palace Among His People (25:1-27:21).

Once the children of Israel had sealed the treaty with Yahweh He established His official presence among them. Previously He has been with them in the pillar of cloud and fire as Guide and Protector, and this would continue, but now He established Himself openly as their King. The ancient Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:7-11 - how far back its history went we do not know) would now be replaced by a more splendid model, The Dwelling-Place (mishkan, from shakan ‘to dwell’) in which would be the throne of Yahweh. (EVV translate Tabernacle, but the word mainly indicated a ‘dwelling-place’). At this stage this would necessarily be a tent because of their circumstances, but it seems to be suggested that that was how God intended it to be permanently (2 Samuel 7:5-7). Its transient nature was meant to indicate that it was not His permanent home. His permanent home was above. The future Temple would, in fact, seem to be a concession to man’s weakness for such things, illustrating the way in which men think, although it was in itself symbolic for it indicated that no Temple was worthy of Yahweh (1 Kings 8:27).

So from now on Yahweh would dwell among His people in a new way, and He would have His own splendid Tent to which they could direct their worship and their obedience, situated at the heart of the camp. But it is made clear that while sometimes they would see His glory on it He Himself would never be seen, nor must He be depicted in any form. That would be to make Him earthly and to degrade and limit Him. This Tent would contain the throne of Yahweh (the ark of the covenant) and the Testimony (the ten words and the covenant which He had made with them), but He Himself would be invisible.

However, great kings had many dwellingplaces, so this one is not therefore to be seen as limiting Yahweh. It was the one that He used in communication with His people, but it was not His sole home, although it was His sole home on earth. For even the heaven of heavens could not contain Him, how much less this tent (compare 1 Kings 8:27). The people knew that Yahweh was the God and Judge of all the earth, and could do what He would wherever He would (Exodus 15:11-12; Exodus 19:5; Genesis 18:25; 1 Kings 8:27), so that even Egypt with all its gods had been unable to prevent Him doing His will. They would not therefore see Him as limited to a tent.

However, as a totally new thing, specifically stated to be of heavenly design, it would help to unite these people of many races (including the mixed multitude - Exodus 12:38) into one unified people. They had all received the covenant together. Now together they would receive the dwellingplace of Yahweh to be in their midst, a dwellingplace designed by Yahweh Himself. It was an ever present reminder to them that God had personally met with them and made His covenant with them, and would be with them.

Its constructional techniques are paralleled elsewhere. Portable pavilions using practically the same constructional techniques as the Dwellingplace are well witnessed to in Egypt in 2nd millennium BC and even dating back into 3rd millennium. And it is noteworthy that a bas-relief dating from the period of Rameses II about 1285 BC showed the tent of the divine king set in the middle of the Egyptian encampment just as the tent of Yahweh was now set among His people. Moses would thus be aware of such tents.

We have already seen that the name Oholibamah (Genesis 36:0) means ‘tent of the high place’ which suggests a tent shrine, and it is interesting that such a tent shrine has been discovered at Timnah in the Negeb, the region of ancient Edom. Furthermore in the Ugaritic story of King Krt he is spoken of as practising certain rituals within a tent despite the fact that his was an age of roofed houses, and other Ugarit sources suggest that El had such a portable shrine or shrines. Such portable tent shrines were later in use among the Arabs.

So the idea of the tent shrine of the Great King was in itself nothing new, although it did have its own unique construction. What was new was that God’s presence was real and marked by invisibility. No image of any kind, which could be seen as representing Yahweh, was allowed. And yet it was a reminder that God was invisibly among them and aware of all that happened.

It may be that the basic plan of the Dwelling-place (Tabernacle), with its division into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, was patterned on similar Canaanite temples, for there would be Canaanite temples in Egypt to suggest such a pattern (at Baal-zephon (Exodus 14:2) for example) and the twofold division is hardly unusual. Every palace would have its throne room and ante room.

Besides the division conforms with what we have already seen of different levels of approach to Yahweh with:

1). Only Moses being able to fully enter His presence and enter into the cloud when summoned.

2). The elders being called to approach a certain distance but not the whole way.

3). The people having to keep their bounds and not being allowed on the mount.

The dividing curtain into the Most Holy Place (‘the Veil’) was symbolic of the cloud and was the bound past which even the priests and Moses may not go, (except the High Priest when summoned once a year on the Day of Atonement), and the curtain guarding the way into the Holy Place was in order to prevent the entry of the people. Thus the Dwelling-place conveys the same ideas as we have seen at Sinai. Its structure therefore fits well into that environment. And its tent structure fits well into the wilderness situation.

The Dwelling-place was also Yahweh’s ‘tent palace’ as Suzerain Lord with, as it were, its personal quarters for Yahweh that none may enter and the outer room for those who would approach Him. While He is the God of all the earth (Exodus 19:5; 1 Kings 8:27) it signifies that He was dwelling among them in a unique way as a result of the covenant of Sinai.

These changes were psychologically important. They would convey to the people the idea that God was among them in a new way as their Great King and demonstrate that they were now to enter into the realities of the promises. It was a continuing reminder of God’s deliverance from Egypt and of Hi covenant at Sinai.

This next section of the book may be analysed as follows:

a The people called on to make their offerings so that they can make a Sanctuary for Yahweh to dwell among them (Exodus 25:1-9)

b The Making of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh (of the Testimony) (Exodus 25:10-22).

c The Making of the Table of Shewbread (Exodus 25:23-30).

d The Making of the Lampstand (Exodus 25:31-40).

e The Making of the Dwellingplace (Exodus 26:1-30).

e The Making of the Veil (Exodus 26:31-35).

d The Making of the Screen (Exodus 26:36-37).

c The Making of the Brazen Altar (Exodus 27:1-8).

b The Making of the Court of the Dwellingplace (Exodus 27:9-19).

a The people called on to bring the Olive Oil for the Continually Burning Lamp (Exodus 27:20-21).

It will be noted that it opens and closes with the people called on to bring their contribution to Yahweh. In ‘a’ they bring their offerings, and in the parallel they bring their olive oil as a part of their tribute to Him. The furniture is then described. This commences in ‘b’ with the Ark which was to contain the covenant and from which Yahweh would speak to Moses. It emphasised that the covenant was of central importance to Yahweh’s dwelling among them. It was where He sat to receive homage. In the parallel was where the people came to pay homage to Him and confirm their response to the covenant. In ‘c’ we have the shewbread which represents the twelve tribes as constantly being presented before God in the Holy Place, and in the parallel we have the brazen altar where the people presented themselves and their offerings to God. In ‘d’ we have the the lampstand through which the people shine out constantly towards God, while in the parallel we have the screen which presents the people from actually coming into God’s presence. Central are the Dwelling-Place where God dwells among His people, and the Veil which reminds them that they cannot directly approach Him.

The Sanctuary furniture is described moving from the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies) which contained the Ark, through to the Holy Place which contained the Table and the Lampstand. All these were contained within the Dwellingplace, with the Most Holy Place being separated from the Holy Place by the Veil. The whole inner sanctuary was shielded from the court into which the people could come by the screen, and we then move on to the Brazen Altar, which was in the Court of the Dwellingplace, and was the plae where atonement could be made for them. The whole finishes with a description of the olive oil which fed the continually burning lamp and was provided by the people. It should be noted that all these items are a reaching out by Yahweh to His people, as well as being a reminder that, although continually in remembrance before Him, they are not fit to enter into His direct presence.

The making of the Veil may seem to be out of place in the order of things, but that is because it was secondary. It was not part of the holy equipment. It was rather a part of the screening from God. The writer sees the curtains, veil and screen all as one item, dividing up the Sanctuary in which the furniture was to be situated.

It will be noted that all the items are for representing Yahweh to His people, even the brazen altar, which is God’s opening of an access point to man. It is noteworthy that in the heavenly Temple of Ezekiel which descends on the unknown mount away from Jerusalem only the brazen altar actually has to be built as the physical access point to the spiritual temple. The altar of incense and the laver which are part of man’s approach to God will come later.

The Dwelling-place Itself (26:1-27:19).

Having described the main contents of the Sanctuary which represented the permanent blessing which came from Him in His presence, we now move on to the Dwellingplace proper.

The Dwellingplace was to be splendid in beauty. Its glory represented the glory of its King and His supreme righteousness. But it had to be patterned according to how God revealed it (Exodus 26:30). Nothing mundane must enter into its construction, and no ideas of man. It had to be kept pure in what it represented. The fine detail of its construction was a reminder of God’s detailed activity on behalf of His own (compare Ephesians 2:21).

The Dwelling-place was to be about thirty cubits by ten cubits made of large curtains flung over a framework, the Most Holy Place being a perfect cube, ten cubits by ten cubits by ten cubits, symbolising the perfection of God, and the Holy Place twenty cubits by ten cubits. These were then covered by goats’ hair, and then by rams’ skins dyed red and finally by dolphin or dugong skins.

The Tabernacle/Temple would finally be dispensed with when God found a more splendid and more fitting Dwellingplace, the living temple of His people (2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:20-22) who would submit at His throne, and receive the bread and light of life. And it would finally find its fulfilment in Heaven (Hebrews 8:2; Hebrews 9:24).