Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:1

1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

We now turn from the details of the tabernacle structure to the dress and preparation of the priests that would carry out its duties. First of all, there were specific men appointed to the office of the priest. At this point it was to be Aaron and his sons. In all, there were only five of them, and we heard previously that there were 600,000 men who participated in the Exodus. If that means 600,000 households, and all of them were only to make a single offering in a year, then it would be approximately 329 households serviced per priest every day of the year.

Of course, eventually the priesthood would be expanded to the entire tribe of Levi, but even then, there is an even smaller bottleneck when we consider that there was only one altar in the tabernacle courtyard upon which to sacrifice animals. According to the numbers that we have, that one altar would have to facilitate 1,644 sacrifices per day for each household to make one offering per year.

And we have not even addressed special times of the year, such as the festivals, when everyone would be bringing an offering at once! In short, I don’t know how the logistics of sacrifices at the tabernacle worked. I don’t think we have all enough details to understand how the work was distributed so that every Israelite could make an offering when he needed to.

But presumably there was a robust enough system that it did work, and there were dedicated men whose whole labor would be carrying out these most sacred rituals, connecting every individual soul in Israel to God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:20-21

20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

We already heard about the seven lamps upon the menorah within the tabernacle, but today we learn about the oil that they would use. A wick would be placed into the oil that would absorb the oil up into its body. When lit, the wick would continually absorb up more oil as the previous oil was consumed in the flame. Being saturated by the oil, the wick would be able to tolerate the flame and not immediately turn to ash as it would if it were dry.

There is clear symbolism here, wherein the wick is our soul, the oil is the spirit of Christ, and the flame is the glory of God. Surrendering our lives to God’s glory is like being subjected to a fire, glorious and scorching at the same time, but we are able to tolerate its heat by the constant refreshing of His spirit. If the spirit in us is not refreshed, we will eventually run out and be left vulnerable to the flame. So, just as the priests were required to replace the oil “to cause the lamp to burn always,” we must continually seek spiritual refreshment to keep our spiritual flame forever alive. This brings to mind Jesus’s promise to be a fountain constantly springing up into everlasting life within us.

Another point that must be made is the requirement that the oil to be used was “pure oil olive beaten.” There were two ways of extracting the oil from olives. The first was to put them into a mill and grind them. This would extract a lot of oil quickly, but it would be filled with the sediment of the broken olives and particles from the stones used in the mill. The other method was to beat and bruise them in a pestle, after which the oil would flow out freely, extremely clear and pure.

Crushed olives, mixed with the sediment of the world, produces a cloudy oil. So, too, fragmented gospel, mixed with the trends of the world, produces an unclear vision. Pure truth takes precision and effort to extract. It includes beating out our misconceptions and bruising our ego, often flowing from our wounds. Of course, there is also symbolism of Christ as the olive that was beaten and bruised, and His spirit flowing out of his wounds for all of us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:18-19

18 The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

The dimensions of the entire courtyard are restated, and also we are told that the height of the curtain walls will be five cubits, the same as the width of each individual curtain. Five cubits is approximately 7.5 feet, so tall enough to conceal the interior courtyard from the outside view. However, it is only half of the height of the tabernacle walls which were ten cubits high, or 15 feet.

The effect of this would be that from a distance one would be able to see the wall, and then the top of the tabernacle floating above it. As one approached, and the angle to the top of the wall became steeper, the top of the building would descend out of view, but of course, after one passed through the outer gate, then they would be able to see the entire tabernacle, base to top.

Personally, that feels a lot like my own spiritual journey. I caught a glimpse of heaven from afar, and I start to move towards it, but then obstacles and doubts begin to cloud what I had previously witnessed. When I push on, though, even when I cannot hold the vision of heaven before me, I eventually press through the wall and it appears to me, fuller and truer than ever before.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:12-17

12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

13 And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

14 The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15 And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

17 All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.

Yesterday we heard of the north and south walls of the courtyard, which are the two long sides. Now we hear about the two shorter sides on the east and west. Each of these will be fifty cubits long, or 75 feet. Thus, the length of the courtyard is exactly double the width, and the width of the courtyard is about 4 times the width of the tabernacle that sits inside of it, once again allowing ample room to move around its perimeter.

As with the long sides, the short sides are to have 5-cubit long curtains, with pillars in between. On the east side, where one enters, there will be fifteen cubits of wall on each side of a twenty-cubit gate, divided into four portions, with four pillars in between. As mentioned yesterday, we are not explicitly told the color of the courtyard wall, but many assume that it was white. This gate, however, we are told will match with the curtains of the tabernacle: blue and purple and scarlet, decorated with fine needlework. Thus, the entry to the courtyard is marked with the design of the inner tabernacle.

This outer appearance of the interior pattern seems symbolic to me. Many the sinner has seen the pattern of God in his first steps back towards absolution. While the sinner may yet have a way to go to reach wholeness, he perceives that he is already on the road to paradise. This seems to be reflected in how one passes through a blue-purple-scarlet gate, even before having made their sacrifice, and even if they are not able to pass into the holy place, or the most holy place. They are still on the path that ultimately, through the end of this life and into the next, will allow them to pass into all of the Lord’s most holy places, and that truth is alluded to at the very first gate.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:9-11

9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:

10 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

The external wall around the court of the tabernacle would be a long stretch of linen, twenty sheets long, covering a distance of 150 feet. This means that the tabernacle itself would be less than a third of the courtyard’s full length. There would therefore be a great deal of room for gathering and performing sacrifices at the altar.

This outer linen wall is typically said to have been white, though I cannot find an official verification of that in the scriptures. Undyed linen is usually a white or off-white color, so perhaps the assumption is that it would have been that color by default. If so, it would have stood out brightly against the earthy tones of the wilderness and would have been an obvious symbol of purity. If it were white, that does raise the question of how the parts of the tabernacle were maintained, cleaned, and replaced. The bible account does not shine a light there, though.

The linen wall was not a single, unbroken sheet, but was interrupted twenty time by pillars. We are not told the interior material of the pillars, but one would assume shittim wood, as with every other component. Interestingly, we are also not told of any metal overlay upon the pillar. We are told that its sockets would be brass, to match the rest of the courtyard elements, and its hooks would be of silver, but it would seem that the body of the pillar was just bare wood. The transition from bare wood pillars to gold-overlaid pillars seems like a symbol of the change of the naked, natural man being clothed by God’s grace and atonement, just like Adam and Eve as they left the garden of Eden.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:6-8

6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

As with the Ark of the Covenant and the table of shewbread, the altar would have rings and staves. These staves were to be overlaid with brass, to match the metal of the altar, just as the previous staves had been overlaid in gold to match their respective counterparts.

The altar was considerably larger than either the table or the ark. It was probably quite heavy, even with its hollow interior. Of course, the length of the staves is not specified, and perhaps they extended far enough out for several men to lift each side. Presumably the rings on the side were very solid, so that they wouldn’t snap off under the weight.

There were other elements included as part of the tabernacle: the laver of water in the courtyard and the incense altar in the holy place, but we will not hear about these until chapter 30. For now, we are finished reading about the instruments of the tabernacle, and all that remains is to hear the description of the wall around the courtyard. We will move on to those with the next verses.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:2-5

2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.

4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.

5 And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

Yesterday we heard the dimensions and underlying structure of the altar in the tabernacle courtyard and now we hear how it was to be overlaid and adorned. First, we are told that four horns were to be erected on its four corners. These might have been in the shape of actual horns like one might see on an animal, or perhaps they were a vague, raised shape like a pyramid or an obelisk. There is no special symbolism described for the four horns, but we hear from later passages that the guilty would sometimes go and cling to them as a way of seeking sanctuary.

All of the altar, we are told, was to be covered in brass, the same as the sockets of the outer pillars of the tabernacle. Just as gold adorned everything within the tabernacle, the less-valuable brass will be used to adorn everything in the courtyard. Of course, of all the metals brass is one of the most visually similar to gold. They both share a particular yellowish-brown color. Thus, even while making the exterior portion of the tabernacle distinct from the interior, they do still appear to be connected. So, too, our journey to God goes through multiple stages, but all of it is part of the same process.

Finally, we are told of the instruments for the altar. There are, of course, two main components to the altar.

  1. The fire burning at the bottom, for which there were to be fashioned brass shovels and firepans.
  2. The animal to be burned in that fire, for which there were to be fashioned brass basins and fleshhooks.

Finally, mediating between these two is the brass grate that was to rest halfway down the interior of the altar. The animal carcass, of course, would rest upon this as it was burned, the animal not passing down into the coals, but the heat passing up into the flesh. The grate is therefore both a separator and a unifier. It is a symbol for Christ who stands between God and man, simultaneously keeping us separate from the divine justice that would condemn us, while also bringing us in contact with the divine grace that will redeem us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:1

1 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

We have finished for the time being with the tabernacle, and now turn our attention to the outer courtyard that the tabernacle would sit within. As with the tabernacle, we start by describing the instruments and edifices that were to be placed within the courtyard, the first of which being the sacrificial altar.

In today’s verse we hear the dimensions of the altar. It is a square, five cubits by five, or 7.5 feet on each side. It is three cubits tall, or 4.5 feet, which is a pretty ideal height for laying things down to be burned. As with all the other elements of the temple, its body would be composed of shittim wood. We will hear of its overlaying and adornment in tomorrow’s verses.

This altar would, of course, be used for the offering of every large animal. Later verses, such as Exodus 29:11, seem to suggest that the animal may not have been slaughtered and prepared upon the altar, but was only burned there. Therefore, the altar is not an instrument of death, but the instrument by which that which is already dead is transformed into smoke, which is obviously a symbol of spirit. It is a place where those that have perished are consumed by the fire of God in order to be transformed to a new and better state. It is a hopeful, joyful instrument.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 26:36-37

36 And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.

37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

Yesterday we heard of the inner curtain, dividing the interior of the tabernacle into two rooms, now we hear about the outer curtain, which would divide the entire tabernacle from its surrounding courtyard. This door would follow the pattern of the inner curtain and the ceiling, made of fine-twined linen dyed blue, and purple, and scarlet. Thus, all the interior would be uniform.

This curtain would be hung from five pillars, as opposed to the four for the interior curtain. The odd number of pillars suggest that they were spaced evenly across the entrance, and not grouped together on either side with a single wide entryway in the middle. To me that suggests that the interior curtain was similarly broken up by each pillar. This would mean there would be four divisions to pass through the outer curtain, and three divisions to pass through the inner. Alternatively, some depictions assume the external curtain had two pillars grouped on each side, with one support pillar in the middle, creating two divisions, and no support pillar for the interior curtain, creating just one division there.

Another similarity between the exterior and interior curtains is that their pillars would be made of shittim wood overlaid with gold, with golden hooks to hold the curtains. The interior curtains, however, were said to have silver sockets at their base, just like the boards that made up the walls, whereas these external pillars are said to have sockets of brass. It’s a small change, but the use of less-valuable brass suggests that these pillars were to be seen as part of the outer courtyard, rather than part of the tabernacle. We will hear how brass was the chief metal used for the instruments and structures of the courtyard, which seems to correlate to that the place being less sanctified than the tabernacle.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 26:34-35

34 And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

35 And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.

We have a brief two-verse interlude to describe the placement of the previously described instruments within the constructed tabernacle. The Ark of the Covenant is to go behind the curtain that divides the holy place from the most holy place and have its mercy seat affixed on top of it. Then the table of shewbread and the candlestick will be placed on the other side of the curtain.

When walking into the tabernacle, the priest will be on the eastern side, with the candlestick on his left hand (on the south side of the tabernacle) and the table of shewbread on his right hand (on the north side of the tabernacle). There may be some significance to that placement. The left hand has been traditionally associated with the conceptual, the creative, and the spiritual, which is better represented by the transcendent, immaterial quality of light. The right hand has been associated with order, structure, and certainty, which is better represented by the physical, deliberately-constructed quality of bread.

Even the shape of the candlestick with its odd angles and curves and the table with its squared corners and edges speaks to that duality of chaotic potential and ordered reality. Standing between them both would be the priest, representing man who has ever had a foot in both the conceptual and literal world. Opposite the man, and also resting between the conceptual and literal world, would be the veil and the Ark of the Covenant on the other side. This, of course, represents God. He is ahead of us, forward in the way that we want to go. To cross the tabernacle and reach him we must follow a straight path, keeping the conceptual left and the literal right in proper balance, which we will do so long as where we are walking is towards Him.