02.02. THE FRAMEWORK

THE FRAMEWORK THE general appearance of the Tabernacle was that of an oblong box, thirty cubits in length, ten cubits high and, including the comer boards of the back, ten cubits wide. (Exodus 26:15-30)

It was constructed of forty-eight boards of shittim, or, acacia, an incorruptible, wood, twenty on each side, six on the western end with two comer boards which lapped over.

Each board was covered with pure gold and had two tenons or fingers which dropped into or were mortised into two sockets of silver, weighing ninety pounds.

There were one hundred of these sockets or bases of silver, ninety-six for the boards and four under the pillars of the vail.

These boards were held in place by fifteen wooden bars covered with gold, five on the north and south side, and five on the end or back. Three long bars passed through rings horizontally from end to end of the construction. There were twelve short bars, four on each side and the end, two above and two below the larger middle bar. This constituted the main framework. The Tabernacle was divided into two distinct parts. The first was twenty cubits long, the second ten cubits. Each way its length and heighth and breadth were equal. The division was made by four pillars of wood covered with gold. The pillars had no capitals, they were cut sheer off. These were the pillars that had the four sockets of silver for base. A vail of white byssus linen with figures of the cherubim wrought in fine needlework in blue, purple and scarlet completely enclosed, shut in and concealed the smaller division.

It contained the Ark of the Covenant, a chest of wood covered with gold, and with a lid of solid gold called the mercy seat, out of each end of which was beaten an angel of gold, each angel bending face downward to the mercy seat in an attitude of representative interest and adoration. In this ark or chest and under the lid or mercy seat there were the tables of the law, eventually Aaron’s rod that budded and a golden pot with manna. This portion of the Tabernacle was called, “The Most Holy Place.”

It could be entered but once a year, on the Day of Atonement, and then only by the high priest with blood from the brazen altar––the blood of sacrifice. The outer and larger division (it was twice as large) contained the golden altar of incense, the golden candlestick and the golden table of shewbread. The entrance was at the eastern end through five pillars of wood covered with gold, having capitals of gold and sockets of brass. From these pillars hung a curtain of linen in white, blue, purple and scarlet, called “The door of the Tabernacle.” This division was called “The Holy Place.”

Over the framework was thrown an outer covering of badgers’ skins, under this another of rams’ skins dyed red, under that eleven curtains of goats’ hair. These were linked and looped together in two great breadths of five curtains each. Five were over the Holy Place. The sixth curtain was folded, doubled and hung down over the door in front. One-half of the second breadth covered the Most Holy Place, the other half fell down over the back. Innermost of all was an embroidered white linen curtain with figures of the cherubim wrought with needlework in blue, purple and scarlet.

All this formed the covering or clothing of the Tabernacle.

Surrounding this construction was a linen fence supported by sixty pillars of wood with silver tops and sockets of brass. There were twenty on each side, ten on each end. This fence inclosed and constituted the “court” of the Tabernacle. In it was the brazen laver at which the priests washed their hands and feet before entering into the Holy Place.

It was located near the door. At the eastern and open end of the court was the brazen altar of sacrifice: The gate of entrance was through four central pillars. On this was hung a curtain similar to the one at the door of the Tabernacle.

It was called “The Gate of the Court.” The Tabernacle and the court were held in place by linen cords fastened to pins of brass, and these driven deeply into the ground. The Tabernacle and Court were set in the midst of the people.

They pitched their tents about that center according to tribes and in an order fixed and commanded of God. The pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night rested upon the sacred building, upon The Most Holy Place, and shone within in shekinal splendor, between the wings of the cherubim above the mercy seat.

It was the light, the illumination and blinding glory of the place. When the Cloud came to a halt, no matter the locality nor condition of it, the people halted and according to manner ordained and by particular persons indicated of the Lord set up the Tabernacle and its Court. When the Pillar lifted and moved forward the Tabernacle was taken down, the people struck their tents and went forward, following whither the Cloud led. The Tabernacle was built exactly according to the plan shown to Moses in the Mount; as it is written:

“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.” (Exodus 25:9) Everything was done according to the will and regulation of God. No movement nor attitude was taken except by His command and by His specific direction. The framework of the Tabernacle, the boards, bars, pillars and sockets had a special relation to the Tabernacle as a whole. The Coverings, the Curtains, the Hangings, all depended on the framework.

If the framework could be overthrown, everything upon it would fall and be flung and twisted into inextricable confusion. The framework is a symbol of the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If the integrity of the Person of Christ, His essential being and character cannot be maintained, then every doctrine built upon Him falls down, the whole system becomes a confusion, a hopeless ruin. If the claims He made concerning Himself, if what the Apostles teach concerning Him are not true, Christianity, whether considered as a doctrinal or merely ethical system, breaks down. And it is just here––against the Person of Christ––that all the Satanic assault of the hour is concentrated, the denial of His pre-existent deity, His Virgin Birth, the sacrificial and atoning character of His death, His resurrection, His bodily ascension to Heaven, the fact that He sits upon the throne of the universe, immortal man and very God––the eternal incarnation of God. The one thing the unbelieving heart of the false teachers in the professing Church antagonizes, the thing these men who” have crept in unawares,” actually hate and would destroy if they could, is faith in the deity of Christ. They will accept any testimony about Him if by their subtle methods they can bring to pass the total rejection of Him as––absolute God. But let it once be established and unwaveringly held that Jesus Christ was very God, no less than the Lord God of the Old Testament, the Creator of the universe, then all miracles predicated of Him are seen to be logical, His deity self-evidently upholds and sustains them and those who would deny them are convicted both of moral and intellectual folly.

Let it be demonstrated that He was no more essentially divine than the best of men, it is impossible to credit Him even with the suggestion of a miracle whether it be in the deeds He wrought or of the hour of His birth, and those who believe in Him stand to be pitied as the most cruelly and wofully deceived of earth.

Study the Framework, follow it in its details and it will be seen that in it we have the symbolic, but inspired portrait of our Lord as real man and very God.