THE TABERNACLE
The book of Exodus divides logically into two large sections. The first section may be viewed as closing with the great song of Moses in chapter 15 where the triumph of Jehovah in delivering his people is celebrated. On the other hand, it could be seen as closing with the final stages of the march from the Red Sea to the foot of Sinai in chapter 18. In either case the first section of Exodus primarily concerns itself with the election of a chosen people, the sovereign acts of God's mighty judgment on sin, and Israel's redemption from bondage as prefigured in the death of the first born of the Egyptians and the gracious intervention of God in the Passover sacrifice on behalf of his chosen people.
The second section of Exodus may be said to begin with the arrival of Jethro at the Mountain of God and the appointment of leaders among the people of God in chapter 18. Or, the second section may commence with Moses' first meeting with God on Mt. Sinai in chapter 19. In any event the second great division of the book primarily concerns itself with the giving of the moral laws of God that define the covenant relationship of Israel with Jehovah and the plan and construction of the Tabernacle along with the institution of an attending priesthood.
Two great spiritual institutions then, the Law and the Tabernacle, dominate the second and final section of the book of Exodus. First, the written laws of God are given along with their applications to the personal, societal, civil and religious life of Israel. (Exodus 19-25) Hard following that, the design, construction and use of the Tabernacle and its various elements is shown to Moses on the Mount. This sanctuary is ultimately constructed and set up in the midst of God's people. (Exodus 25-31; 35-40)
The great shrine of the Tabernacle casts a large shadow over the life of the nation from its earliest days of wilderness wandering until the cataclysm of 70 AD when the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem and dismantled the temple. The temple, it should be remembered, had been the intended recipient of the various elements of worship first put forward in the portable Bedouin shrine of the Tabernacle. From the first God had designed that Israel should enter the land of Canaan and erect a "house" on Mount Moriah.
This was the vision of Abraham:
Abrahahm called the name of that place, "the Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."
Thus Moses sang:
"You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established..
And ultimately Jehovah confirmed:
Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. (Gen. 22:14; Ex 15:17;23:20)
In all, the elements of the Tabernacle as they embodied the moral truth of the Law of God, dominated Israelite worship for more than 1,500 years. These elements had the most profound impact on the historical period in which divinely inspired scripture was produced. Issues of the Tabernacle and the Temple cultus remain a volatile question in the religious life of the restored nation after it returned to Palestine in 1948. These issues continue to concern Christians, Jews and Moslems in the mounting cultural and religious tensions of our modern world.
The crucial relationship of the moral law of God with the ceremonial imageries of the Tabernacle are often overlooked. Umberto Cassuto rightly pointed out the vital link of the Law given at Sinai to the ongoing pattern of worship begun in the structures and ceremonies of the Tabernacle.
"The nexus between Israel and the Tabernacle is a perpetual extention of the bond that was forged at Sinai between the people and their God. The children of Israel, dwelling in tribal order at every encampment are able to see, from every side, the Tabernacle standing in the midst of the camp, and the visible presence of the Sanctuary proves to them that just as the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, so He dwells in their midst wherever they wander in the wilderness." (Exodus, p.319)
The provincial superstitions of henotheism, the belief that certain gods could only inhabit certain localities, had a powerful influence on the thinking of the early Israelites. For good or ill we see it from the fears of Abraham in Egypt to the doubts of Jacob in Paddam Aram. Though the God of Jacob reveals his transcendent power to Joseph, a foreign prisoner in Egypt, and will ultimately destroy the armies of the strongest nation on earth in the Red Sea, this superstition will raise its head again in the incident of the Golden Calf where the Israelites invoke the familiar gods of Egypt for fear that the God of Moses would be unable to sustain them. The Tabernacle was a powerful demonstration of the fact that Jehovah, the true and only God, was with this lowly remnant of redeemed slaves. It was a palpable demonstration of God's abiding presence with his people wherever they were.
The theme of God dwelling in the midst of his people constantly reoccurs in the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle in the Book of Exodus.
"And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.
"And there I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.
'…the tent of meeting before the Lord, (is) where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. And I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. And I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; … I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 25:8; 25:22; 29:42-46)
One of the more common Hebrew words for the Tabernacle, mishcan, is the nominal form of the verb "shacan" to dwell. From it comes the familiar though non-biblcial term "the shekinah glory", i.e. the abiding glory of God.
The triumphant fulfillment of the imagery of the Tabernacle is found in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He is ultimately the archetype to which the types of the Tabernacle point. Thus John carefully articulates the deity of Christ and his eternal presence in the midst of his people by saying "the word became flesh and dwelt (literally "pitched his tent" or "tabernacled") among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) The Tabernacle was a physical embodiment of the moral truths of God's holy law. The Tabernacle was a physical portrayal of the person and work of the invisible God. The Tabernacle points, as does the Law of Moses, to the person of Jesus Christ. This correspondence emboldened John to make the claim of his deity. This correspondence makes it clear why the writer of Hebrews saw the veil of the Temple, rent in two at the crucifixion, as the very flesh of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.
Hebrews 10:19-20
