Transcription
Hello, we're going to be looking at Exodus 25 through 31 today. It's really a detailed pattern of the tabernacle. It seems, the conclusion of chapter 31, that this uh detailed pattern, almost an architectural design, was given orally by God to Moses while Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights receiving the written commands of God. And it makes an allusion to that at the close of chapter 31.
This pattern is so detailed that you would think we could just draw this tabernacle real easy. But though it's real detailed, there still is some ambiguity in exactly how it looked in many of its aspects. Let's look, if we could, at chapter 25. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution." Now, they are going to take a free will contribution. And you say, "Well, how did a bunch of slaves get gold and silver and precious jewels and large jewels to fit on this breastplate?" Well, remember back in Egypt where God put it in the hearts of the Egyptians to give the Israelis, as they left, gold and silver and jewelry. It was kind of a way of showing that the Hebrews spoiled the Egyptians, a way of military defeat without anybody firing a shot. And now this contribution is going to be turned into an offering for the tabernacle.
It's very interesting that as we have the pattern in chapter 25-31, we have almost the exact same, almost word for word, in chapter 35 through 40. But it's broken up by the golden calf experience of Exodus 32 through 34. So the same jewelry and gold that was used to make the tabernacle, that which was withheld or, you know, was kept, was used to make the golden calf. Oh my.
Notice it says, "From every man whose heart moves him, you shall raise my contribution." Now, this, this is of course voluntary. I really believe that God looks for voluntary gifts. This is exactly the New Testament principle of stewardship found in Second Corinthians chapter 8, verse 12. In Second Corinthians 9:7, I believe the ultimate that the Bible speaks about stewardship is found in Second Corinthians 8 and 9. You might want to look at that.
And this is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver, and bronze. Now, by bronze, we really mean copper mixed with tin, for what we know as bronze is not known at this period of time. There's a lot of copper mines we know down in the southern part of the Sinai desert. It seems that as we look at the way that these different things are described, that the gold is going to be that which is connected with the inter-shrine, the inner tent, the Holy of Holies, and the Holy Place. And then as we move out, some parts are going to be silver, not very many. And then as we move on further out to the outer tent wall and to the laver and to parts of the altar of sacrifice, it's going to be bronze. So it's like this preciousness of metal begins to show the holiness as we enter into this tent.
Notice it mentions here in verse 4, blue, purple, and scarlet material. Now, these words come from different languages. The word blue seems to come from Akkadian and mean a reddish purple. The word purple seems to be a Sanskrit term, and the term scarlet seems to be an Arabic term, like the color of cinnamon. Now, all of these colors, in my opinion, are not various shades, but seem to be a reddish purple, maybe even synonymous. If they are different colors, it's slightly different shades of color and not a radical different color.
Notice it says a fine linen. Now, this fine linen, we're going to learn, is twisted linen. They must have learned this as slaves in Egypt, and now they're going to weave the tabernacle of God. Notice it mentions here, and goat hair, a ram skin dyed red. Now, goat hair is the normal material used by Bedouins, even to this day, for their tents. If you've ever been to Israel, you've seen the black Bedouin tents. They're very good, they're waterproof. And so goat hair would be the normal.
Well, what is this ram skin dyed red? Well, we think that the ram skin would, uh, would seem to be another thing available to them in the desert, as goat's hair would. And this dyed red seems, from further etymological study, to mean the tanning process. So it means tanned would be a better way. And then my New American Standard Bible has "porpoise skins." I think some have "dolphin skins." A further etymological study on this word has seemed to found an Egyptian cognate or an Egyptian root that this may not be purple skins at all, because this other material is so common to a desert people. Even the acacia wood, of which they're going to build all the furniture, is a very common desert wood. It's a kind of a gnarly bush, but a very strong, beautiful wood, but something very common. So it seems highly unusual that God requires something so unusual as purple skins. We've learned that an Egyptian word very close to this means leather goods in general, and that's what I really think it is.
Notice it mentions they're going to mention the oil for lighting and spices for anointing and fragrant incense, and we'll deal that in some detail when we come to that particular place. Notice it mentions onyx stones. Now, again, the stones that are going to be mentioned, particularly on the breastplate and these onyx stones that go on the shoulder of the ephod, are very hard for us to identify. Flowers and and colors and gems seem to change not only from country to country, but from age to age within the country, and therefore we've really lost the ability to lock down what stones these are.
Notice it mentions two of these, uh, very beautiful pieces of garments of the high priest, the ephod and the breastplate, in verse 7. I will cover those in somewhat detail as we get into the section that deals with them. Notice it says, "In set them, construct a sanctuary." Now, the Hebrew sanctuary is from the Hebrew root that means to dwell. It's interesting to me that God wanted to dwell with his people. What a compliment! We have God with his people in Genesis 1 and 2. We have God reunited with his people in Revelation 20, 21-22. Matter of fact, the name for the Messiah in the book of Isaiah, Immanuel, means "God with us." God wants to be with us, hallelujah! But there is a holiness to God, and this tabernacle expresses the seriousness of sin and the progressive holiness as we move closer to God. So the word here is to dwell. With the rabbi is called that beautiful cloud that symbolized the presence of God, the Shekinah glory, which is also from the Hebrew word to dwell. Notice it says, "that I may dwell among them." And there's the thrust of that, and we see that several times. It's, uh, found in numerous times in this very passage, and you might want to outline those as we go through them.
Notice it mentions the path, the the tabernacle and its pattern. We get the name tabernacle more from the Latin. Originally, this thing is called the tent of meeting or the tent of the presence. It goes by several different titles, but the tent of meetings seems to be a good time, a good title. It's where God is going to meet man, as God dwells among them, and man can take care of his sin. Now, man's not going to come there every Sabbath, but going to come when he senses a need there to worship. Every Sabbath, and the pattern is going to be said every Sabbath. But all that, I don't know how many, 600,000 to 3 million, can't fit in this little bitty tent.
Now, notice it mentions then the pattern in all its furniture. Again, I want to tell you, this is a detailed pattern. Oh my, so detailed. In verse 10, it talks about the ark, and the ark is one of the central pieces of furniture. It is the inner shrine of the Holy of Holies. Now, if you could just picture with me this large tabernacle, and by the way, it would be very helpful at you to find some a book that has a picture of this. This is the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. This is volume 4, and we're on page 499, and it shows a very good pattern. It's looking at something like this in a book you may have, or a Bible encyclopedia or a Bible handbook will be very helpful as we discuss this. This is about a hundred cubits long and 50 cubits wide. Now, a cubit is the distance between a normal man's elbow and his longest middle finger. So it varies from 17 to 21 inches. The normal length is 18 inches, but we know in this construction of Solomon's temple that there is a royal cubit that's 21 inches. So there is some ambiguity about the exact size.
But we're going to start from the innermost shrine, this inner tent. It was a rectangle, and it's going to form a perfect cube. In the back, I guess a third of this inner tent, we call the Holy of Holies. It's going to be separated by a veil. Out in front, it's going to be some other furniture where the priests come every day. But this inner part, this especially holy place, this very dark place, no light in here, is where this Ark of the Covenant will dwell. Now, this is a different Hebrew word from from Noah's ark, but it means a little chest. You know, it's made of acacia wood. It's going to be two and a half cubits long, and so you can see it's a small chest, and it's going to have, it's going to be overlaid with gold, both outside and in. It's going to have a very special top. Look at verse 17. Call the mercy seat. That's not really a good translation. The word here means a covering. It is the place of covering or a covering lid. Same word is used for Yom Kippur, the Day of Covering, the Day of Atonement, in Leviticus 16. That's where this ark was used the most by the high priest, who entered behind the veil only once a year in a corporate sense of forgiveness of the entire community of God.
Now, this mercy seat was pure gold, and it had two cherubim on the top. Now, cherubim are an angelic order. Cherub comes from a Hebrew word we think means intercessor. Now, they're described somewhat differently. The most detailed description comes in the book of Ezekiel chapter 1, that strange vision of Ezekiel, and Ezekiel chapter 10, as he sees these in the temple. And then they're ascribed somewhat differently in Revelation chapter 4. Sometimes they have one face, sometimes they have four faces. Sometimes they have two wings, sometimes four wings. But whatever, two of these angelic creatures are kneeling down, facing each other, and two of the each of those wings meet in the middle. This became the symbolic place that God dwelt among his people. They, because of the Psalms, particularly 99:5, this was God's footstool as God rested in heaven. This is where the blood was sprinkled on this mercy seat. The Ten Commandments were put inside, later Aaron's rod that budded, later the jar of manna. Some even think the little golden hemorrhoids from the ark being stolen by the Philistines were in there, but most scholars say they were placed beside the ark.
Now, as the blood came down on this mercy seat, sprinkled by the high priest, the law inside, the blood covered the sin of the people. And so the law was kept from God's side. It's a symbolic thing, not a not a literal thing, but it's a beautiful symbolism about God's place of meeting man's sin.
Now, notice in verse 22, it says, "And there I will meet you." Meet you in a daily sense for sacrifice, meet you in a yearly sense for the corporate sin. Now, in verse 23, we have the table of, sometimes called showbread, but I think the table of the presence is better. It fits if you, if you, we're moving now into the Holy of Holies, the outer two-thirds of this inner shrine. And this table of showbread was on the north side. Now, this long tent faced to the east. That was the only opening. And so from the north and the south were a hundred cubits long, and then on the back, on the west, we have a 50 cubit solid curtain. And then in the east, there were two little panels and kind of a screen in between. Now, if you look at that, this table is going to be on the northern side of this inner shrine. It was not a very big table, but it held 12 loaves of bread, and rows of two, six. Now, we learned from Leviticus, this was very large bread, somewhere around seven quarts of flour, uh, two and a half pounds. This was changed every week. Some say it's, it was like the Chinese do of giving deity food, but I'm not sure of that. I think a better symbol would be that God provides food for his people. It was one loaf for every tribe. Um, this is what David ate that got Saul so mad at him from the priest of Nob.
Now, notice, if you wouldn't mention the lampstand, beginning in verse 31. Now, this lampstand, you said, "Well, what did it look like?" Well, it kind of goes by the Hebrew word menorah, which means lampstand. We learned something of the way this furniture looked from the Arch of Titus in Rome. And it's not from this period, but it's from Herod's temple that Titus destroyed. And he apparently made some pictures of these, uh, items in the inner shrine, and their own the Arch of Titus to this day. It was apparently a seven-pronged lampstand with a central shaft, three on each side. And on top of every one of these side threes was three almond buds, and on the center shaft was four almond buds. This is the light for the inner shrine. It only was done by clear oil that was, uh, beaten with a rod, not crushed. It was a very holy place, and that was the lampstand.
Notice if we come in chapter 26, it mentioned these curtains. And these curtains were, they were high enough that no one could see in, but they weren't like a barrier. They were, they were like to shield people's eyes from this holy place. And they're described in detail. They're made of the exact same colors and material the priestly garments are going to be made of. And that some of the inner, the outer curtains and inner curtains have some of the same color characteristics, though these inner curtains are going to have pictures of cherubim on them.
Notice it mentioned in verse 7 that the curtains of goat hair. Now, there has been some discussion, and I want to show you a possible picture. I like this one about what this looked like. Notice how brilliantly colored this is with this outer perimeter of skins. I'm not sure you can't tell from this description if it really was pointed like this to take the rain off, or if it was just a flat box. And to tell you the truth, we're not certain how many layers of skins there were, uh, on this. We know this goat hair of verse 7 is the normal black hair that Bedouin tents were made of. Some say that these porpoise skins and others mentioned here in verse 14 are really another layer of covering. In studying some of the books that try to describe the tabernacle, they see three different layers of this inner shrine with the goat hair being the the first covering after these fancy curtains of fine twisted linen, and then leather, two layers of leather beyond that.
But my friends, I really think another possibility might be, and I, I read this in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series, that maybe these refer to leather bags that the tent was rolled up in and placed in when they moved. And for their argument was very convincing to me. As you look at the the pole structure that that hung these curtains, Josephus says they were acacia wood, three inches thick, overlaid with gold. Now, it's not a real rigid, uh, structure. It's just like poles, like a tent, maybe something that wouldn't hold all this heavy weight of leather to leather coverings. So I really think that maybe it's true, they didn't rain off in the desert. They wouldn't have had to provide a sloping roof. Maybe it was a flat box, and these leathers mentioned in verse, chapter 26, verse 14, are the bags to carry them. Because every other piece of furniture describes how the poles went through it, and they could carry it. It was a portable tent of worship.
Um, okay, let's see. It mentions the bars down here in verse 26 and following. Mentions this veil of blue that hung between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, that cut this inner rectangle into a perfect cube where no light entered. A high priest only once a year. In the outer two-thirds, that had this table of showbread on the north, the lampstand on the south, and little later, we also had an incense altar right next to the veil, but that's not discussed until chapter 30.
Now, in chapter 27, we have the altar of acacia wood. And this is a large altar that was out front. Again, if you, if you look at a picture of this in in a map, you'll see the inner shrine was toward the back, toward the west of the tent, and then toward the front door was this large sacrificial altar. We know in Solomon's temple it was much bigger than that, but this is about seven and a half foot. And it was made some out of bronze and some out of other materials. It was the horns of this altar were the most holy part where the blood was smeared. Uh, it was the grating was bronze or copper and tin, and it was a very, uh, functional thing to burn parts of animals. Now, some animals were burnt completely, but most, the sacrifice, just the fat on the intestines, on the intestines, and and part of the organs were burned. And you can see it's complete description there. It also had poles so it could be carried.
Now, beginning in verse 9 of chapter 27, we talk about the court of the tabernacle. I have done an extensive outline on these chapters. I hope you get our outline. If not, please write to us, we'll make it available to you. It helps so much to outline this to describe it in detail. You kind of see it in your mind, but we don't see enough to be dogmatic. So it describes here the sockets and the boards that made all of this tabernacle. Notice in verse 20, it mentions the clear oil that was beat with the rod, not crushed. Unless it says, "shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations." One characteristic phrase through here is this, "shall be perpetual memorial, perpetual statute." And I think you ought to follow that through.
In verse, chapter 28, we meet Nadab and Abihu and Eleazar and Ithamar. Now, these are the sons of Aaron. Two of them are going to die because they offered strange fire on the altar, and you can see that in Numbers chapter 3, verse 4, and Numbers 20, you see how they were killed. And Eleazar took their place. Later on, they're going to be two priestly lines, Zadok and Abathar, and they're going to make their way back to Eleazar and Ithamar. The, the priesthood of Abathar is going to be expelled because of something they do in the reign of David. And Jeremiah comes from this exiled group of priests, and the high priest during the exile, and all that are Zadokian priests from Eleazar.
Notice it mentions the holy garments in verse 2, and then it mentions a kind of a summary of these garments in verse 4. There's going to be a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a tunic, a turban, and a sash. Now, the ephod begins in chapter 28, verse 6. It's going to be made of gold, woven in there, this blue, this purple, this red, okay, kind of like the curtains in the tabernacle. Now, this ephod was a woven thing. It had two stones, onyx, with six, six tribes on each one, and it was, it was a very beautiful thing. It had a breastplate that fit on the front of it with gold chains that hang down. And I've got a picture of that. I think it's so pretty. Let me see if I can find that. This is one of the best pics. These come from the Southern Baptist Children's Sunday School material. This is a beautiful picture, I think, of this ephod and the robe and the breastplate and the turban, the altar of sacrifice. And this is a picture, I think I'm going to blow it up for you so you can see it more clearly, but this is pretty accurate what this description is.
Now, on this breastplate were different stones for the different tribes, and behind it was a little pouch for the Urim and the Thummim. Now, we're not sure what that means. We think etymologically, the word Urim, we thought it meant lights and perfections, but further etymological study in the cognate languages of the Near East has produced an etymology that seems to be curse. I think it's something like in the Roman world that have a black, you know, you could vote for somebody, you put a black marble or white marble in, and somebody might pick into a bag and see if they got a white marble for good or a black marble for evil. I think maybe it was two kinds of rocks, and one of them had a symbol or a color that meant the curse, meant no, and one had a symbol or a color that meant yes. And that high priest determined the will of God by manipulating this Urim and Thummim that was kept on the heart of the high priest to know the will of God. It's a very detailed pattern, and you can look at it through chapter 28 where it's discussed. The Urim and Thummim is mentioned down in verse 30, and you can, can look at that.
Now, around the the robe of the high priest was a pomegranate, which was a symbol of fertility because they had so many seeds. We learned that from the Canaanite texts we have found, and also little golden bells. And the question is, why little golden bells? Well, when the high priest, that's who wore this garment, went into the Holy of Holies once a year, he took off these beautiful garments when he went in. No one else was in there. He took a first-fruits offering, and then he took an offering for the people. These little bells, when he, when the sacrifice was through, and he put the robes back on, these beautiful robes, the bells tingled, and the people knew that God accepted the sacrifice because if God hadn't, he'd strike that priest dead. Matter of fact, in later Judaism, they started tying a rope to his legs so in case he died in there, they could drag him out because who would want to go in there after him? Right? Nobody. Nobody.
Now, this, uh, let's see. That's described in chapter 28, verse 35. Notice that mentions "Holy to the Lord" is going to be on the high priest's miter, the front. Describes this priest, he represents the people to God. Notice the turban and the sash are mentioned in verse 39. Uh, the Talmud says this sash was 48 feet long. My goodness, it wrapped him like a grave clothes. It was that long. Wouldn't it? Let's see.
"You shall anoint them and ordain them." We're getting in verse 40 into this of exactly how you're to do it. They are to wear linen breeches in verse 42. The Canaanites did, and they were naked. Here is the modesty we see here. It's very important. You might want to see Exodus 20:26.
Now, in chapter 29, we have the sacrifices, uh, that are going to be offered to kind of initiate the priesthood. There's going to be a sin offering, a bull, mentioned in verses 10 through 14. You know it's a sin offering because no, they don't eat this, they burn it. Sign of a sin offering. They lay their hands on it, a sense of identifying with this sin offering. Then in verse 15, they have a ram. They lay their hands on it, and it's going to be completely burned. It's kind of like a dedication, a totally dedication. Then in verse 19 and following is another ram, and they lay their hands on it, kind of the ram of ordination or dedication. I want to mention the word in verse 17, "it is a sweet aroma to the Lord." As these, the smoke from these sacrifices went up, the people felt that God smelled this and was pleased, maybe like smelling barbecue or something. Later on, it came to be the idea that it was the prayers of the saints that rose up to God. It's not again the oriental ideal of us feeding God, but it is the idea that God is pleased with what we're doing because we're doing what He told us to.
A wave offering is in verse 24, where they held something up and waved it before the Lord. It was usually be eaten by the priests, but this one was burned. It wasn't later eaten. And in your notes, I've given you all the scripture texts for wave offerings.
Now, beginning in verse 38 through 46 is the daily sacrifice. We hear about so much in later Judaism. A lamb was slain in the morning and the evening. Later on, it was the time of the morning and evening sacrifice to be around 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. And that becomes very important to later Judaism. And here it's just called a continual, a memorial.
In chapter 30, and we wonder why it took so long to describe this incense altar, a little small thing. Now, Hebrews 9:4 says it's inside the Holy of Holies, but this seems to imply it's just outside. The high priest would put lots of incense on there on the Day of Atonement so the place would fill with smoke so he wouldn't see God and die. Normally, the priest put a little incense in there, and it's going to tell us exactly how to make this incense and all the ingredients, and say, "Don't anybody copy this." So this little incense altar is described, and it's right inside the Holy Place, right in front of the veil.
Notice again it tells down here some of the different things you're to put by weight. It's going to mention a shekel in verse 13 of chapter 30. Going to mention a hin in verse 24. These are the two books I would recommend most on the weights and measurements. Now, this is by Roland DeVoe. This is his Social Institutions, and this is his Religious Institutions. He'll give you the measurements, both liquid and dry, weight and metal. He'll describe the tabernacle. He'll do this. This is one of the most helpful books. It's extensively indexed. I hope you'll buy this for your Old Testament study. It will really help you. Roland DeVoe, Ancient Israel: Social Institutions, Religious Institutions. I think it'll be a great blessing to you.
Now, all these different things, I'm running out of time, so please make look at your notes. I tell you what they are. Some we just don't know. Different kinds of resins, different kinds of oils. Down here in verse 34, the first one is a fragrant oil. The second one is from a crushed body of sea animals, yuck, but it must have smelled good. And then two kinds of resins. Okay. In verse 35, all this was salted. Why? Well, some say to put salt made it burn easier. Some say it was for preserving it because he made so much at one time. And some say it's a symbol of the covenant because salt was always used with covenants. You might want to see Leviticus, uh, I can't even read my own writing, Leviticus 2:13, Numbers 18:19, 2nd Chronicles 13:5 for the place where salt is used in a sense of covering.
In chapter 31, are two gifted men. The first one, Bezalel, means "in the shadow of God." And his helper is mentioned in verse 6, which means, uh, "the father is my tent," and reference to God, obviously. It says they're filled with the Spirit. Now, does that mean in the New Testament sense? Well, I don't think really we should make that much of a distinction. They are gifted by God to to, uh, design these things and build them. They are to direct the other men who volunteer to help build them, and it's a very beautiful thing.
Notice in verse 12 and following, see that we see the purpose of the tent is connected with Sabbath worship. And again, Sabbath worship is very important. Verse 14 shows that you can be put to death for not doing it right, and it's to be a perpetual covenant throughout the generations. And here's the way Moses closed it out. Verse 18 of chapter 31 implies that all this was given to Moses orally on Mount Sinai, as the as the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God, an anthropomorphic phrase to show this is from God and not from man. It shows the holiness of God. It shows the availability of God, but it also shows that man has a need for forgiveness, but that he must approach God in the way that God has mandated. The symbolism through here is not spelled out. Many books have been written on what this all means, but be careful because the text itself does not say that. The book of Hebrews is a good commentary on this. The tabernacle is not mentioned much after this period.