Weekly passages: Exodus 35:1-38:20; 1 Kings 7:40-7:50; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; 1 Corinthians 3:11-18

This week's readings concern the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, to the exact pattern given to Moses by God. Nowhere else in the entire Bible are there such precise instructions given for building a physical object.

After all these years the details passed on to us are clear enough for us to build our own scale model if we wanted to. Because the details are so clear we must assume that God had a purpose in this.

The Design and its Purpose

God caused Moses and the skilled artisans to prepare a place where God would dwell among his people. The exact way in which God was to be approached was also clearly specified.

We do not know exactly what Moses saw when God showed him the pattern on the mountain, but it resulted in the physical reality of the Tabernacle, according to God's exact specifications (Ex 36:1).

As you read the passages, why not pause and consider prayerfully the symbolism of each aspect of the Tabernacle and its ministry, including:

• The way in from the world through the courts to the inner sanctuary and the presence of God
• The two altars, one for sacrifice and one for priestly intercessory ministry
• The raw materials used for construction - from basic wood, cloth and animal skins to bronze, silver and gold
• The colours of the materials
• The dimensions of each part
• The rituals for approaching God: from sacrifice, through washing, to faith to enter the Holiest Place
• The prescribed order of the Priesthood
• The manner of gathering the materials for the construction
• The preparation of skilled workers
• The exercise of free-will in giving and working
• The certainty that God had for completion of the ministry

Who would not have been impressed by the way the work was done and the ministry defined? Would we ourselves not have wanted to experience what the Israelites experienced?

God Journeying with His People

The Tabernacle became central to the community of Israel, as a pilgrim people journeying through the wilderness. It was portable and could be positioned in each new stopping-place so that the presence of God was always with his people.

Over the years of Israel's history, through all its peaks and its troughs, the history of this wilderness journey with God has been implanted into Jewish communal memory, not least because of the precise way that God instructed Moses. Restoration to a Jew means restoration of what was experienced in the wilderness – a pilgrim people living in faith with God at the centre.

A Symbol of Things to Come

Why not study carefully all the details concerning the Tabernacle and its construction that are laid out in Exodus - then, holding your finger in Exodus, also read the Book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 9 it is stated clearly that the wilderness experience, including the Tabernacle, were symbolic of the ministry of Jesus the Messiah among his people (see verse 9).

Surely this is why the details were so precise – they spoke clearly of Jesus. God has given us a visual symbol so that we might be better prepared to understand who Jesus is, his earthly ministry, our place in that ministry and his long-awaited return.

God has shown us an exact picture, perfectly ordered so that we might use this as a foundation on which to build, to approach him through the sacrifice of Jesus and so that we might also share in the priestly ministry. Was this one of the reasons why Moses recognised Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, seeing beyond the physical pattern to its fulfilment in the Son of God (Matt 17:3)?

Jesus is now the cornerstone (in metaphorical terms) of the fulfilment of the pattern of the Tabernacle and Temple. His people are joined to him in covenant community and ministry. The principles for building God's dwelling-place, made clear in Exodus, are now to be transferred to the spiritual ministry of the Temple made without hands (1 Pet 2:1-12), of which we are a part through faith.

Author: Clifford Denton