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One-sentence summary: God gives Moses very detailed instructions on how to make a tabernacle where He will dwell with His people (a large tent), inside of which will be an ark of the covenant where the testimonies (laws) will be, on top of which will be a mercy seat covered by a veil where God will speak with Moses face to face.
The Lord tells Moses to tell Israel to bring an offering to the Lord of gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins died red, badger skins, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and sweet incense, and stones for the ephod and breastplate. The Lord asks for a sanctuary to be built so that He may dwell among Israel according to the pattern He shows Moses regarding the tabernacle and its furnishings. He asks for an ark of acacia wood with specific measurements overlaid with pure gold inside and out, with rings without and poles overlaid with gold to carry it. Inside the ark will be the testimony and a mercy seat of pure gold and two cherubim of hammered gold at each end of the mercy seat, stretching out their wings, covering the mercy seat, facing one another and the mercy seat. The mercy seat will be on top of the ark and within the ark will be the testimonies (commandments on stone). God will meet with Moses from the mercy seat regarding all His commandments to Israel. Also, Moses should make a table of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold along with a frame with gold molding, with rings at the four corners for pole with wood overlaid with gold so that it may be carried. He should make gold pitchers, dishes, pans, and bowls and set the showbread on the table, along with a lamp stand of hammered gold with six branches coming out of its sides, three on each side, with three bowls like almond blossoms on either end. There should be seven lamps from it with the wick trimmers and trays made of pure gold. God says, "See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain."
The tabernacle will be made with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread designed with cherubim, having specified widths and lengths. Also, there should be curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle, eleven total. (It is VERY specific, with more detailed instructions given in the text.) Also, there should be a covering of ram skins died red for a tent and badger skins above that. And for the tabernacle, boards of acacia wood should stand upright with sockets of silver under each, with bars of acacia wood for the boards of the tabernacle, all overlaid with gold. There should be a veil of woven blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen designed with cherubim hung on the four pillars of acacia wood. Then, the ark of the testimony should be placed beyond the veil. and the veil will be a divider between the holy place and the most holy place (or the holy of holies.) The mercy seat will be in the most holy place with the table and lamp stands in the holy place. There should be a screen for the door of the tabernacle with fine blue, purple, and scarlet threads and fine linens along with pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold and sockets of bronze.
There should be an altar of acacia wood with horns on four corners overlaid with bronze and pans to receive the ashes made of bronze, with poles of acacia wood overlaid with bronze on the sides of the altar to bear it. The court of the tabernacle should be made a certain way as well, with hangings of fine woven linen and twenty pillars of bronze. The gate of the court should have a screen of woven blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen with four pillars. All of the utensils of the court should be of bronze. The children of Israel should bring pure oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamp burns continually. In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil before the testimonies, Aaron and his sons should tend it from evening until morning before the Lord, "as a statue (rule) forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel."
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
God had a VERY specific vision for His dwelling place, the physical things being a shadow of their counterpart in the spiritual realm, ultimate reality. If we study the tabernacle and God's instructions, we will better understand what God accomplished for us in Christ and what is ours in Him.
God likes beautiful things! But the most beautiful thing to Him is your heart! That is where He wants to dwell!