Tabernacle Tour Transcript
God’s Ground Plan for Salvation
Tabernacle Transcript as given by guide A.M.M. (2007 – 2009) (Additions 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), and by guide M.S. (2012), Israel
(I’m just a hungry beggar showing you where I found food [from a song by Jonny Fisher])
The measurements are all taken from the Book of Exodus starting in Chapter 25 and are in cubits.
This part of History (His Story) begins with God's promise to Abraham for a Nation, a Land, and a Seed. Gen.12:2,7; Gen.13:15; Gen.24:7; Gal.3:16. Abraham's descendants came out a nation from Egypt, they left Mt.Sinai to go to the Promised Land, and the Seed is the Promised Messiah.
Israel left as a nation from Egypt 430 years to the day; Deut.10:22; Ex.12:40-41, after they entered as Jacob's family of 70 people, Gen.46:27. The latter part of their stay they were slaves; and now they left as a wealthy nation. Thanks to the LORD God. Actually this was part of God's promise to Abraham; that He would make his descendants a great nation Genesis 12:2; they would be slaves for 400 years and leave wealthy, and return to the promised land, Genesis 15:13-16; Genesis 46:3-4.
God 'broke' them out of slavery in Egypt by sending 10 plagues against Egypt. God started before the plagues to demonstrate His Supremacy over Pharaoh by changing Aaron's staff into a 'tanin' (a type of crocodile). The magicians changed their rods to crocodiles but God's crocodile ate all of Pharaoh's crocodiles, Ex.7:9-12. The interesting thing is that the god that protected Pharaoh was the crocodile god. So God started by symbolically removing Pharaoh's protection. The plagues of Egypt were against the gods of Egypt (see extra study notes).
For those interested in such things; Moses rod turned into a 'nachash', which is a snake, at the burning bush, Ex.4:2-4.
After 9th plague (darkness; attacking Ra the sun god) and before Passover night Moses told the people to go to their Egyptian neighbors and ask for donations (gifts), Ex. 3:21-22; Ex.11:2-3. The Egyptians gave gold, silver, copper, precious stones, skins,materials, etc Ex.12:35-36, and it is later on, from this wealth, that theChildren of Israel gave to the LORD to build the Tabernacle, Ex.25:2-7; Ex.35:4-9, 21. The bible states that they plundered the Egyptians. Ex.12:35-36, so it must have been most of the free wealth of Egypt.
At the 10th plague the first born of Israel were saved by the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, and God said that they belong to Him and every first born from then on. Ex.13:2.
After the Passover meal God lead them to Mt.Sinai which took around 7 weeks (Pessach to Shavuot (Passover to Pentecost), when God gave the Law to Moses).
God Makes a Covenant
After the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea, Ex.14:21-31, where the nation experienced God's protection and guidance,(see the song they sang on Ex.15. they saw His power for themselves) they came to Mt. Sinai, Ex.19:2, and there God spoke with the Israelites through Moses, and made a covenant with them,; "out of all the nations of the world I have chosen you as a special people unto Me." Ex. 19:5; Deut.7:6. God’s agreement with them was;"If you listen to My voice and obey; I will be your God and you will be My people." Within this is His total provision for all their needs. God also told them to consecrate themselves and He came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses by voice in the presence of the people. Ex.19:10-11, 16-25; Deut.4:12. We see their terrified response to hearing God's voice! The people answered "yes, we will do all that you say" Ex.19:8; Ex.24:3. Then Moses was called up to meet the LORD face to face on Mt.Sinai, Ex. 24:12. This turned out to be 40 days and nights.
God Asks for a Dwelling Place
It is interesting how God asked for the Tabernacle. Moses received the measurements on Mt Sinai at the same time he received the law. It seems God showed him a vision of the heavenly Tabernacle; as we read, “as I showed you”, Ex.25:9, 40; Ex.26:30; Ex.27:8. God asked that Moses would build Him a place (Holy; sanctuary) so He could dwellwithinHis people, Ex.25:8. The Tabernacle with the people camped all around it is a picture of what God asked for.
In Hebrew it says Betocham (withinthem), not with or among. Because of sin, He could not come and live inside each person. The Tabernacle is the pattern He gave to deal with sin, that He Himself would come and fulfill. It is the Gospel message, God's Ground plan for Salvation. We see the ultimate fulfillment of that in John 17:20-21 when Christ prayed for the disciples and those who believe because of their testimony (so that includes all believers through the ages to now and beyond), "Father, as You and I are one, may they be oneinUs". Now Messiah has paid the price for our sin, He can come and dwellinus. We see another picture of this in the Tabernacle building itself.
Tabernacle Types and Patterns
The Tabernacle is also a parallel to the days of creation andShabbat,(Details in extra study notes; Insights from the Torah and the Messiah).
There are also many parallels with the Garden of Eden. Three of the main parallels are: 1.That Adam and Eve were thrown out toward the east after they sinned, Gen. 3:23-24. The Tabernacle was built facing the East Ex.27:13-16 (gate on the east side) Nu.3:38 (Moses and Aaron camped before the tabernacle). Some of the Children of Israel had beenworshipinggods to the East, (outside of the camp) Lev.17:7. I think it’s another strong example that there is only one God and when we come to Him we turn our backs on the east and the foreign gods and the ways of the world. Also the choice: You choose to worship the false or the true; you cannot do both. Both Moses and Joshua spoke to the people about this choice; Deut.30:15-20; Josh.24:14-25 choose for yourselves this day who you will serve…..
We see in the New Testament also Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21; You cannot drink the cup of The LORD and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.
2. Also in the Garden of Eden, God put Cherub angels and a flaming sword guarding at the East, to stop Adam and Eve coming back to the tree of Life.Gen.3:24. He asks for Cherub angels to be embroidered on the Holy of Holies curtain. Ex.26:31. In Heb.9:7-8 it states that this indicates the way into the Holy of holies was not yet made manifest. In other words, here is the picture that the Cherubim were still guarding the way. We will talk more about this at the end.
3. The first sacrifice was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve did not die physically because GOD took the life of an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve with the skin of the animal Gen. 3:21. Not just covering their nakedness after they lost their glory covering, but a picture that they were clothed in the life of the innocent that died instead of them.
People worshiped false gods toward the East (rising sun) and used the same animal species they sacrificed to God. Why worship foreign gods? To appease them, ask for things, out of fear, etc
God required a sacrifice because of their sin. This is a very big difference. God promised to provide all their needs; what He wants is relationship with His people. As we know, every person will die for their own sin, Gen.2:17; Deut.24:16. You can’t relate to a dead person, so God allowed an innocent life to die in the sinful persons’ place, (a life exchange: the innocent died instead of the guilty, and the guilty now has the life of the innocent). The person then is still alive and able to continue in relationship with God. Here we see Gods’ heart. Even in the Hebrew language we see this connection with the 3 root letters of Korban (sacrifice) the same as the 3 root letters of mehitkarev (to come close, approach). As stated above, God initiated sacrifice in the Garden of Eden and blood was shed as a kappara (attonment) instead of man dying for his own sin, Gen.3:21. After the flood, to Noah, God stated that the life was in the blood so it was not to be ingested. This is when God 1st gave mankind permission to eat meat as well as herbs and fruit, Gen.9:3-5. And again, to Moses, in Lev.3:17; Lev.7:26-27; Lev.17:10-16; Lev.19:26; Deut. 12:15-16 & 22-24; Deut.15:22-23. Donoteat or drink the fat or the blood. (It is interesting that our 2 main health problems today involve diseases in the blood and Obesity (eating animal fat,and/or altered fats)).
Breaking Covenant!
Up to that point, all the families could sacrifice to the LORD; as seen at Passover. Ex.12:3. The problem was, some took Egyptian gods with them and we read that they worshiped God but also sacrificed to foreign gods outside the camp, Lev.17: 7, (Nu.25:2-3 shows the wayward heart of man, turning again and again to the false, even when he has seen Gods’ Glory and provision) and finally built a golden calf idol (inside the camp) to worship. The people gave up waiting, and asked Aaron to build gods to lead them. Aaron takes their gold earrings and fashions a calf and actually says ‘these are the gods that brought you out of Egypt’ Ex.32:4. Then he builds an altar before the calf. Ex.32:1-6. This was only 6 weeks (40 days and nights) after saying “Yes” to God!
Moses Returns
Then when Moses returned and saw this he did not enter the camp but threw down the 1st stone tablets with the law at the foot of the mountain, and they broke. Ex.32:19 (the people had already broken them) and he called out ‘whoever is on the Lord’s side; come to me’ Ex.32:26. Only the Levite tribe stood with him and here we see God takes the tribe into service for Him, Nu.3:12-1341-48; Nu.8:5-26; Nu.18:2-6. This is one of the rare occasions that God allows Israel to be counted; King David was punished for counting Israel, 2 Samuel 24. God promised Abraham that his people would be countless as the stars in the heavens, Genesis 15:5. This time God was exchanging the 1st born men that belonged to Him because of being saved by the blood of the Passover lamb with the Levite men who had come to stand for the LORD. The 273 extra 1st born had to pay a redemption tax. Again a choice: GOD took thosewillingto stand for Him, instead of those whobelongedto Him.
Now the people can’t approach, Nu.18:22, and they must bring their offerings to God through a priesthood, Ex.28:1; Nu.18:1, 7 (Aaron and his sons were within the tribe of Levi). God forgave Aaron and the people after Moses had prayed for them, Deut.9:18-20
Choices
God also told Moses whom He had chosen to be the manager of the project; Batzalel (in the shadow of God) also like Betzelem Elohim (in the image of God), not only chosen, but given the talents and skill to do the job and to teach these skills, Ex.31:2-5; Ex.35:30-35. Also as his assistant; God had chosen Aholiav (tent of father or Father’s tent) and also given him talents and the ability to teach, and also put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, Ex.31:6; Ex.35:34-35. They took all the artisans from the nation, Ex.35:10; Ex.36:1-3, and built all the parts for the Tabernacle and its’ Holy items in about a year. Ex.19:1; Ex.40:17.
God asked that Moses receive offerings from those with awillingheart (not forced) Ex.25:2-7; Ex.35:4-920-29, thosewillingto work and to give. In fact we see the people gave so much that the craftsmen came to Moses and said they had more than enough. Moses had to ask the people to stop giving!! Ex.36:4-7.
Camping Arrangements
The Levites (3 families) camped around the Tabernacle with Moses, Aaron & his sons in front of the gate. There are still 3 tribes camping on each side out from the Levites, as Joseph became Menashe and Ephriam. (Additional information in extra study notes).
By the way, the nation of Israel did not wander aimlessly; they were led by God in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. When the pillar moved, they packed and followed after. Where it stopped they stopped and set up camp again until the next time it moved. (More details in Extra study notes).
Measurements
In those days they had no standard measurements (ruler) so they used a measurement known as the Cubit (Amah) which was the distance between the elbow and the tip of the longest finger. It was maybe Batzalels’ cubit? A man’s cubit is generally between 40 to 60 centimeters and this model has been built on a 50cm cubit; so more or less it is the size that the nation of Israel carried with them in the dessert.
Courtyard
The Courtyard was 100 by 50 cubits with only one entrance. Here we begin to see the prophetic outworking of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind. There is only one way in.Yeshua said “I am The Way” Jn.14:6. In fact He said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The way into The Holy of Holies is through 3 curtains. There is one way into the courtyard; one curtain into the Holy place past 5 pillars (like grace and truth); one curtain into the holy of Holies to Gods' presence where there is Life.
Only the Levite men and priests worked inside the courtyard. The people would bring their offerings and gifts to the gate, and from here the priests would present them to the LORD on the peoples’ behalf. Lev.1:5, 15; Lev.2:2,8,9,16; Lev.3:2 (and so on throughout the descriptions of the offerings and sacrifices). The Levites helped the priests and had to keep themselves pure before the Lord and serve Him. From all the offerings that the people brought to The LORD, He gave to the priests and their families as food, (except the sin sacrifice), Ex.29:31-34; Lev.2:3,10; Lev.6:16; Nu.18:8-20; and to the Levites He gave all the tithes of Israel, in return for their work of service, Nu.18:21,24,26-32.
What portions God asked for were to be totally burnt on the altar to Him.
Building Materials
Inside the courtyard we see curtains supported by wooden posts. The wood used in the Tabernacle is all Acacia wood. It is the desert tree you see in the area, usually alone and looking half dead (like us spiritually). GOD said to use it (that is what is available). It hardly gets any water which makes it a very hard, dense, and mostly twisted wood. It has very long spines to protect it from being damaged or eaten by grazing animals, yet it was taken and shaped. So they had to work hard at shaping it for service; straight posts and joining smaller planks to make largerpanels.The posts in the courtyard stayed as exposed wood but everything else was covered with Copper or Gold; depending on its' service. It is a picture of the LORD God taking our hard, rebellious, twisted and thorny lives (we grow thorns;emotional,psychologicalandbehavioraldefensesystems to protectourselvesfrom being hurt by others), and, as we allow Him to, shaping us for service, and covering us with linen and gold (robe of Righteousness). See what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Tim.2:19-21.
Altar
The Altar (Altar of Sacrifice or 'Brazen' Altar) was 5 by 5 cubits and 3 high. It was built of Acacia wood and covered with copper (in ancient cultures, copper represents judgment). It had 4 horns (1 on each corner), a grate ½ way up inside, and 2 acacia poles covered with copper as it was one of the Holy items that must be carried by hand whenever the nation moved from place to place, Ex.27:1-8; Ex.38:1-7. The Altar was covered with Copper as God prescribed. It remained the Copper altar after the 250 copper fire pots were beaten flat and also put on the altar, after God dealt with therebellionof Korah and his companions. Nu.16:36-40. (The translation of 'Brazen' is an English mistranslation. In Hebrew it is Nechoshet, copper).Also all the pans, shovels, basins, forks andfire panswere to be made of copper.
God specifically saidnosteps up to His altar, Ex.20:26, so they built a ramp. The priests had to work modestly and not expose themselves; their nakedness. Also it was God’s altar not a pagan altar with steps and depictions of gods around the steps. Even the stone altars they were to build, in the Promised Land, to the LORD were not to have steps. This has a very practical application too. They wore long robes and while carrying a sacrifice up stairs, it would be easy to step on the edge of the robe and fall down.