Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:20-30

20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up.

21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.

22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:

24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.

25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,

26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.

28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.

29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners.

30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.

We’ll progress through these verses quickly, given that they are repeating information that we have discussed previously. These are not word-for-word rewrites, however. The differences are small, but they are there. For example, verse 22’s detail that the two tenons were “equally distant” from one another was not included in the first description. Presumably, this detail means that the gap between each tenon was perfectly centered, and perhaps that there was an equivalent gap on the ends before reaching the tenons of the next board.

Was that design decision detailed by God, and just not recorded in the earlier chapter, or was there enough room for personal design decisions that Bezaleel was able to exercise his own judgment? We do not have a clear answer. What we do see, though, is that the recording of both the vision and the execution were two separate events. As I just said, the scribe did not copy word-for-word from the previous account. Each was observed and recorded individually, and so the great symmetry between the two speaks to how precisely the Israelites adhered to the Lord’s commands.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:14-19

14 And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them.

15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size.

16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.

18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.

19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that.

The previous post detailed Bezaleel’s creation of the linen covering, which was the innermost layer, the one that was visible from the interior. Today we hear about all the following layers: the ones of goats’ hair, rams’ skin, and badgers’ skin. These would be visible from the outside, and I would imagine that they effectively blocked out the sun, such that the only illumination would be from the seven lamps on the menorah.

Of course, the menorah was only on one side of the inner curtain, which means there would have been no direct light source for the most holy place, only whatever light leaked in. We do not know how thick the inner curtain was, so maybe light was able to pass through or maybe not. If the most holy place was quite dim, this might seem like a strange choice given the common connection between God and light; but there are a couple possible reasons why this feature could have been fitting.

One explanation could be that this would help the priest to disconnect from the material world. Cutting off his sight may have helped him to surrender his own perception and reason, encouraging him to listen to his spiritual senses instead. Another reason might have been to symbolize the great shroud of mystery that still surrounds God, even when we are at our closest to Him. His depth and breadth are simply unfathomable and imperceivable to us. A third possibility is that the room might have been illuminated, but not by a natural light source. If Moses’s face was made to shine from his visits into the tabernacle, perhaps there was a divine glow that originated in there.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:8-13

8 And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.

9 The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size.

10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another.

11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.

12 Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another.

13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.

I won’t step through every single detail, but notice that the dimensions and design being described in these verses are exactly what God originally dictated to Moses up in the mountain. The author of this record wanted to make sure that we knew that the Lord’s plan was executed exactly as He had given.

With my little experience in creativity, I understand that one of the most difficult challenges is being able to effectively translate the conceptual to the material. It’s easy to have an image in your head, but to actually draw it is something else. You can imagine the characters and their actions perfectly, but the scene still falls flat on the page. It is the work of a true master simply to be able to express exactly what he meant to express, and here we saw that God’s vision was so crystal clear that it could be adhered to perfectly.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:5-7

5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.

6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.

7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

I mentioned earlier that the Lord’s vision for the tabernacle was dependent on enough people willfully donating their possessions and time to make it a reality. He trusted that these people would come through, and as we see today, they more than did so. So great was the willful offering that they actually had to turn people away and prevent further donations.

It would seem that the people could have made an even greater tabernacle than what had been detailed. Perhaps the courtyard could have been bigger, perhaps there could have been two large sacrificial altars instead of just one, perhaps precious gems could have been incorporated into more of the architecture. But none of that was what happened. God had provided a vision, it was what it was, and it wasn’t going to be expanded further.

Indeed, simply adding more could have had a detrimental effect. When we reviewed God’s description of the tabernacle, we saw that everything seemed carefully chosen to be representative of an eternal principle. These symbolic lessons could easily have been obfuscated by simply throwing more stuff on top of it all.

There is a message here that while God does ultimately invite us to give our entire lives to Him, that doesn’t mean we are to exceed His parameters for any specific calling. In every moment, He will define what offering is proper, and it would be improper to do more. Take the law of tithing for example. I believe we are only to give a tenth as our tithe, no more and no less. Afterwards, if we feel like we’d like to contribute more to specific charities or ministries, we certainly may, but the tithe to the Lord itself has specific terms that we should not try to extend. It just is what it is, and it isn’t up to us to modify what the Lord has called for.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 35:4-9

4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying,

5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass,

6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,

7 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

8 And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,

9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

We have had verses that show God reinstated instructions from the time Israel was led out of Egypt and from the time Moses first ascended Mount Sinai, and today we see instructions repeated from the second ascension also. Thus, every major period of lawgiving has been touched in these verses, which I believe is meant to represent that all of the commandments from all of these periods were re-established.

What we specifically see repeated today is the invitation for the Israelites to donate their precious materials for the building of the tabernacle. Once again, this is to be a voluntary offering, only from those who can afford it and are moved to do so, not a general requirement for all.

We, the readers, are already familiar with these instructions, but so far as we know this is the first time that the Israelites heard them, given that Moses previously broke the tablets when he saw their idolatry. I wonder how the Israelites felt, being asked to give gold for the crafting of the tabernacle, when they had just previously given gold to the creation of their shameful idol. Perhaps they saw this as an awkward reminder, or perhaps as an opportunity for redemption.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 31:7-11

7 The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

8 And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,

9 And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,

10 And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office,

11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

God continues describing the tasks for those He has called and inspired to create the tabernacle. He runs through all the articles for the tabernacle that have been detailed in the previous chapters, which these artisans will fashion. The Ark of the testimony, the table of shewbread, the candlestick, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering, the laver of washing, all the clothing for the priests, the anointing oil, and the incense.

There is a principle in the scriptures that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). Long before this commandment came, God had been preparing the way for it to be fulfilled. He had been preparing the skills and experiences of the artisans, He had been preparing Israel to be freed from Egypt, He had been preparing the resources that had to be used. Thus, while God was asking for effort from these people to make the tabernacle a reality, the great brunt of the work had already been borne by Him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 30:17-19

17 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:

One last article of the tabernacle remains to be detailed: the laver for washing the hands and feet of the priests. This item was to be placed out in the courtyard, and keeping with the pattern of everything in the courtyard it was overlaid with brass. The laver was to be placed between the altar and the entrance to the tabernacle, showing the context in which it would be used: washing the priest as he moved from the former to the latter.

It is curious why we did not hear about the incense altar and the laver for washing in the previous chapters that detailed all the other articles of the tabernacle. There is no prevailing theory that I could find for why this would be. Perhaps there was some symbolic significance that is lost on our modern culture. Perhaps there is something in the cosmic laws of consecration that deems this order to be appropriate, but which is imperceptible to us. Perhaps these details were given by God in the mountain in a different order, but a clerical wrinkle saw it transposed here. Whatever the reason, now at last we have the description for the last temple piece. Tomorrow we will hear more of how it was to be used.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:6-8

6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.

7 It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together.

8 And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

Today we hear the details of the ephod and the girdle that the priests wore. The ephod, once again, was a sort of apron that was the priest’s outer layer of clothing, worn above the robe and coat. The girdle was a sash, bound around the waist to secure the layers of clothing against the body.

These two articles of clothing were to be made with linen, dyed in colors of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, woven together in a cunning pattern. There is an immediate connection between this and the inner curtains and walls of the tabernacle. Recall that the instructions for those included that they be made, “of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.” Also, just as the tabernacle followed that first layer with others of goats’ hair, rams’ skin, and badgers’ skin, similarly the priest had other layers with their robe and their coat.

These similarities in design would have had the aesthetic effect of binding the personage of the priest to the place of his duties. One could tell at a glance that the man belonged with the tabernacle because of their similar adornment. There is also a symbolic lesson, wherein it is suggested that the body of the man was the tabernacle of the Lord, meant to house the same holy and most holy places that the constructed building did. Paul made this very point in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.”

In fact, the one difference between the priest’s clothes and the curtains was that the clothes added the extra color of gold. This might suggest that the person was an even holier tabernacle than the physical edifice. While the Israelites would construct this new tabernacle, God had already constructed the human tabernacles, propping them up with bones instead of boards of shittim wood, covering them with human skin instead of badgers, topping them with human hair instead of goats. Man was made for the same purpose as the tabernacle, to be a house of the most holy of places. A sacred structure wherein resides the presence of the Lord.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 26:31-33

31 And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.

33 And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.

We go from the external structure of the tabernacle to internal. The veil being described in these verses would divide the interior of the tabernacle in two. Entering the front curtain (which we will get to shortly), the priest would enter a holy place, but it would be partitioned off from the most holy place by the second curtain which is described today.

This curtain was to be made of fine-twined linen that had been dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, and was to be decorated with cherubim needlework. This detail is exactly the same as what was said for the first layer of curtains that was laid over the top and sides of the tabernacle. That first blue-purple-scarlet linen layer would have been the only one visible from within, thus the ceiling and walls would all match this new dividing curtain.

Furthermore, verse 33 specifies that the position of this new wall-curtain was to be directly under the taches that divided the back half of the outer cover from the front half. I previously discussed possible meanings of those taches, and one of those was that they might have been were to there to provide a distinct separation in the ceiling from the holy place and the most holy. There would be no strand of cloth that ran from the walls and ceiling of the holy place into the walls and ceiling of the most holy place.

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 25:8-9

8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

Now we see what the offering of riches and valuables is for: to make a tabernacle for the Lord “that he may dwell among them.” If the people were willing to consecrate their very best to God, if they would show great attention in following his building instructions exactly, if they would dedicate their time and labor to building the place, then they would be able to create a sacred place where He could reside. I believe that more important than the valuables, the attention, and the effort, is the sacrifice. What would make this place worthy of God would not be the minerals or man-hours, it would be the heart and will that had been poured into it, prioritizing this cause above all other alternatives. That was what would make this place an acceptable receptacle for the Lord’s presence.

Or, at least, it would make it acceptable for the Lord’s purifying spirit to come and sanctify the place, and then that purification would be what made the place an acceptable receptacle for the Lord’s presence. See Exodus 40:34.

It is the same with our hearts also. When we perform our acts of faith, it is the faith that matters far more than the act itself. It is not what we sacrifice, but that we sacrifice. And the offerings of time and effort that we make to the Lord do not make us worthy of His name, but it does invite His spirit to come and sanctify our hearts so that then we are worthy of His name.