Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 26:15-17

15 And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.

16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board.

17 Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

We now discuss the body of the temple, the frame that the curtains will be laid over. The boards are to be constructed of the same shittim wood that is at the core of all the temple instruments.

This raises an interesting question. These boards were not of insignificant length: 10 cubits tall, which is approximately 15 feet. This means that to make a board of this length one needs a tree that grows straight and tall. The shittah tree can grow very tall, even over 60 feet, but it is known for having twisted and gnarled trunks. With careful selection, perhaps the Israelites were able to find angles in the tree from which sufficiently long boards could be extracted. Or perhaps they had to resort to special techniques to reshape curved portions, such as steam bending, or even they might have had to find ways to construct the boards from several composite parts, such as with scarf joints. I don’t actually know if the construction of these boards would have been a special challenge, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it required special thought and selection.

Whatever the process, they were to create dozens of boards that stood 10 cubits tall, a cubit-and-a-half wide, and each with “two tenons” at the bottom, which means the board was forked into two shafts at the base. As we will see in tomorrow’s verses, those forked ends would be perfect for inserting the boards into a solid foundation.

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 25:10-15

10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.

13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.

The first thing the Lord details for the tabernacle is the Ark of the Covenant that will be housed there. He gives precise measurements for its dimensions and dictates the materials that it will be made of. The body of the box and the staves will be made of shittim wood, which will then be covered in a layer of gold. The rings and the crown of the box will also be fashioned of pure gold.

Shittim wood is described as being strong and sturdy, close-grained and dense. Gold is a precious metal that is also a single chemical element, not a compound of different materials. Thus, the ark will have a structure of strength and resilience, carved to precise specifications. And over that precise structure shall be a layer of pure, natural beauty. There can be seen in this a representation of order being the foundation upon which beauty may thrive. This is a truth we can see repeated many times throughout our societies. A stable law provides the security for an artistic culture to thrive, a well-governed home gives its children the courage to dare, and a strong moral code is the basis for beautiful acts of charity. Order and beauty in one.