02.02. Its Erection.

Its Erection.

Moses, on behalf of the people, had drawn near to God, and had received the terms of the covenant (Ex. xx. - xxiii.) to be made between God and Israel; that covenant ratified by blood (xxiv.). Moses, by God’s command, went up to Him in the mount to receive the Tables of the Law (xxiv. 12). There in the midst of the cloud which covered Sinai, Moses remained with God forty days and forty nights, during which he received divine communications about the erection of a Tabernacle, and the institution of the Aaronic priesthood (xxv. xxxi.)

God had taken up Israel to be His people. He had redeemed them by the arm of His power at the Red Sea (Ex, xv. 13), in fulfillment of that promise to Moses, which He commissioned him to communicate to Israel (Ex. vi. 6). Redemption being now an accomplished fact, God would dwell among them. Now this was something quite new. In patriarchal days God had from time to time visited earth, but He had never dwelt upon it. As soon, however, as He had a redeemed people, He made known His desire and intention at once to dwell among them. The thought was His, for though, in the Authorised Version of Exodus xv. 2, the people are made to say, "I will prepare Him an habitation,’’ it seems better to translate the Hebrew there, as the Revised Version has done "1 will praise Him."*A Sanctuary the people looked for in the land (Ex. xv. 17), but God’s purpose was to have one in their midst in the wilderness, and about it He gave Moses full directions. He desired to dwell among them.

{*The A.V. can plead in support of its rendering the Targum of Onkelos, the Revised Version is in harmony with the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Peshito Syriac translations.}

What a thought is this. The Holy One would dwell in the midst of His people. We say His people; for redemption, which made them His people, had recently been effected. Now, this is a cardinal principle. God only dwells on earth in the midst of those whom He has redeemed; but He does dwell in their midst. Of old it was in the Tabernacle, and subsequently in the Temple. Now His people are builded together for His habitation by the Spirit (Eph. ii. 22). He dwells in the whole company of them by the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Trinity, who is personally present on earth. Redeemed by the arm of divine power, God dwelt in the Tabernacle in the midst of Israel. Redeemed by blood, the blood of Christ (Eph. i. 7), God makes His people now His habitation by the Spirit. In Israel’s history there was seen displayed what can flow from redemption. In Christian times we learn the privileges connected with redemption by blood. For God to dwell amongst His people is a wonderful favour. To form His dwelling place is a greater. How precious His redeemed ones are to Him. What delight He must have in them! To return. Moses on the mount with God learnt about the Sanctuary from God; and more, saw the pattern of it when up there with God. Hence, as the Hebrews reminds us (ix. 24), the earthly Tabernacle was not typical but anti-typical of the true one. Moses saw the heavenly one, the type to which the earthly one was to correspond.

It is manifest, then, that no one of the human race, unless taught as Moses was, could have devised the structure which was afterwards raised up, made as it was after the pattern, or type, showed to the law-giver in the mount. One must have known the type to have made the antitype. Its appearance, the materials, and colours of it, all were revealed by God (Ex. xxv. 3-7); metals, textile fabrics, skins, wood, precious stones, sweet incense, and oil, all these were to be pressed into service for the structure, or for the ritual connected with it. Of metals, gold, silver, and brass were used. Of textile fabrics, cloths of blue, purple, scarlet, and white, as well as of goats’ hair, were to be employed. The wood was to be shittim wood, or acacia, which grew in the desert, and was, therefore, nigh at hand; whilst onyx stones and other precious stones would be required. Olive oil, too, and certain spices were all specially noted, some to be used in preparing the anointing oil (Ex. Xxx. 23-25), others in preparing the sweet incense (34). In this work Israel was to be employed. The unwrought materials were to be presented by the willing-hearted, and the working them up for use was to be done by the wise-hearted. Room would thus be found for all who were willing to have part in the work, to do what God had never required before - to "make Me," He said, "a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Ex. xxv. 8). Minute were the directions, whether for the curtains and the boards of the structure, or for the vessels of the Sanctuary; size, shapes, colours - all were prescribed, leaving no room for man’s suppositions to work; for who could possibly know, but God, what would suit Him? Who, on earth, but Moses, had seen the pattern to which the Tabernacle was to be conformed? For God’s words were: "According to all that I show thee,* the pattern of the Tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Ex. xxv. 9). God showed Moses the pattern when in the mount with Him.

He desired to dwell in the midst of Israel, and could, because they were redeemed. But what were the people in whose midst He would dwell? Whilst God was setting before Moses that which He desired, the people began to manifest what they were, and the golden calf and its worship was the result (xxxii.). Did God change His mind consequent on their sin? No. He had redeemed them. On that ground He could dwell among them. Their sin did not alter that, though unsparing judgment on some had to be executed (xxxii. 27, 28, 35).

{*The sense is plainer if we omit, as we have done above, the word in italics, after.} So after Moses had been up again for a second forty days and forty nights, and had brought down new Tables of the Law, the construction of the Tabernacle commenced; and now for the first time he communicated to the people what he had learnt on his first sojourn on Sinai with God. How gracious on God’s part was this! He would give that people an opportunity of serving Him, and the privilege of having part in the erection of His Sanctuary amongst them. Privilege, we say, for God only asked an offering from willing hearts. Of this they now learned from the law-giver: "This is the thing which the Lord commanded saying, 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 (Ex. xxxv. 4, 5). Thereon follows the list of what was wanted (6-9). But more was needed than the materials. Who would work them up? Again the law-giver spoke: "And every wise-hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded " (10). Then follows the list of all that was required, even down to the pins, or pegs, and cords for the curtains of the court, and for those of the Tabernacle (11-19). The congregation, which had been summoned to hear what was required, now departed from the presence of Moses (20). The Lord’s offering was asked for. The favour was theirs to bring to Him what would be used in His service. Who would show themselves willing-hearted? Who would prove themselves to be wise-hearted? Soon was this settled. Let us read about it in the words of the law-giver:

"And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets,* all jewels of gold; and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers’ skins (or perhaps, as R. V., seal skins) brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord’s offering: and every man with whom was found shittim wood, for any of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun goats hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod and the breastplate; and spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses” (xxxv. 21-29).

{*There is a difference of opinion as to the proper translation of some of these trinkets. For bracelets would put brooches, for tablets would put armlets, more correctly.}

What a sight it must have been! The camp aroused into activity. People trooping to the appointed place with their offerings; the witness and fruit of willing hearts. The spinning wheels at work, the shuttles passing to and fro; the smith’s hammer dealing with the metals; the saws and planes making ready the boards; the jewellers setting the precious stones; men and women active and earnest in their occupations to get ready the Sanctuary in which Jehovah, their God, would dwell. All the offerings brought to Moses he distributed as materials to the workmen, the wise-hearted among them. Morning by morning the people brought them, till the wise men that wrought all the work of the Sanctuary came every man from his work, and told Moses that the supply for each item was more than enough (xxxvi. 4, 5). Then a proclamation was made announcing that, and the offerings ceased to be brought. Enough, and more than enough, was willingly, heartily offered (7). What joy must have reigned in the camp, and how cheerily must the workmen have gone about their work!

We have noticed the wise-hearted — the workmen, both men and women, this included. We must now mention the two specially set over the whole work. God chose them, and called them by name - the one Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah; the other, Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan; the former was skilled to work in metals, and in cutting stones and wood; the latter was an engraver, and skilled in textile work as well (xxxv. 30-35; xxxviii. 22, 23). No stint was there of offerings, as we have noticed; and God has put on record the weight of metals used in the Sanctuary and Court. Of gold, 29 talents and 730 shekels were offered, and accepted, equal in weight to 1 ton 4 cwt. 2 qrs. and 13 lb.; and in money value (we give it on the authority of the Speaker’s Commentary - pre-1900), assuming it was pure, to £175.075 13s. Of silver there were 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, equal in weight to 4 tons 4 cwt. 2 qrs. 20 lb.; and in money value to £38,034 15s. 10d. Of brass or bronze were used 70 talents and 2,400 shekels, representing a weight of 2 tons 19 cwt. 2 qrs. and 11 lb. The gold and the brass were the fruit of free-will offerings. The silver was obtained from the half-shekel, or bekah, paid by each male of 20 years and upwards as an atonement, in accordance with the law of Ex. xxx. 11-16. The camp, we have said, was aroused into activity. The willing-hearted and the wise-hearted were busy proving - the former, by that which they brought, their title to be so reckoned; and the latter, by their work, to be thus classed. But the stir of the daily toil ceased on each Sabbath day; the spinning wheels were then at rest; the shuttles lay unused; saws and planes were laid aside on that one day in seven - the Sabbath of rest unto the Lord. Is not this the reason why the reminder of Sabbatic observance prefaces the instructions to the people about the construction of the Tabernacle (xxxv. 1-3)? It was work for God to prepare the Tabernacle, but that was to be no excuse for the violation of the Sabbath. Instituted in Eden, the Sabbath was a sign given by God to Israel. Learning first about its observance on their way to Sinai, when the manna was given (Ex. 16.), they were reminded of it at Sinai by the fourth commandment (20.). Then, after Moses had received all the directions about the construction of the Tabernacle, and the institution of the Aaronic priesthood, God charged him to impress on the people the observance of that day (xxxi. 12-17). Accordingly, the law-giver, when about to instruct them in all that was needed for the Tabernacle, prefaces it by a reminder of the sanctity of the Sabbath.

What happy months these must have been, during which the preparations for God dwelling among them were proceeding - men and women earnestly, cheerfully, diligently at work! At length all was completed, and Moses surveyed it, and approved of it, for "they had done it as the Lord had commanded;" and then he blessed them (xxxix. 43). On the first day of the first month, a fortnight short of a year from the exodus, the law-giver reared up the structure, having first received a direct command from the Lord Jehovah to do it, curtained off the court in the midst of the camp, and, by divine directions, put each vessel in its place; and anointed the Tabernacle, and all its vessels, and the brazen Altar, and the Laver as well. Then the Lord took visible possession of the Sanctuary, "for the (not a) cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle; and Moses was not able to enter into the Tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle" (xl. 34, 35). But seven days more had to pass before all was in proper working order. The brazen Altar had to be dedicated, and the Aaronic priests had to be consecrated, and the fire to come down on the Altar (Lev. ix. 24), which was never to be allowed to go out (Lev. vi. 1-3). We must look into this ere taking a survey, as it were, of that which could be seen.