TABERNACLE, The
Tabernacle, The
This is variously styled the ‘tabernacle of testimony, or of witness,’ the ‘tabernacle of the congregation,’ or ‘tent of meeting.’ It was the place recognised by Jehovah, where, as dwelling among them, He met His people, and where in separation from the outer world His will was made known. It was to be made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount, and when it was completed Moses bore witness that it had been constructed as the Lord had commanded. It is worthy of notice that none of its details were left to the ingenuity of Moses: he had simply to carry out his instructions. We read in the N.T. that the things made were patterns of things in the heavens, but not the very image of them; they were patterns of things that were before God, which were not to be materialised.
The tabernacle with its sacrifices was God’s way of displaying Himself, and His way for man’s approach to Himself. Any one drawing near to the tabernacle would see first its court, a space enclosed with curtains hanging from pillars. This was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits broad. On entering the court by its one gate the first thing approached was the brazen altar. This altar was the place of approach for the people. The burnt offering was the ground of acceptance for a people on earth. The place of approach for the priestly family was the golden altar in the holy (place); but the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. Heb 9:8.
Between the brazen altar and the holy (place) stood the laver , at which the priests washed their hands and feet whenever they drew near to minister. The holy (place) contained the table of showbread on the north, the golden candlestick on the south, and the altar of incense ‘before the vail’ in the centre. Here the priests ministered daily, burning sweet incense: type of Christ’s intercession, and of the perfections of His Person and work, not seen here as meeting man’s need, but as for the delight of God, His Father. The lamps were burning ‘continually,’ but apparently only in the night: cf. Exo 30:7-8; Lev 24:2-3; 2Ch 13:11. The light typified the manifestation of God by the Spirit, the seven lamps being figurative of heavenly completeness. Twelve loaves were constantly on the table, typical of Israel in association with Christ before God, and of God’s bounty which will be administered through Israel (twelve loaves) to the earth in the kingdom. The holy (place), or ‘first tabernacle’ refers to the things of Israel. Inside the second veil was the holy of holies, in which was the ark (q.v. ) with the cherubim, typical of the throne of God. It figured the approach which Christians now have to the presence of God, because Christ has made a new and living way for them by entering in Himself as their great Priest. Heb 10:19.
||
| |
| |
| || |
| | | |
| | ARK | |
| | || | |
| | | | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| || |
| | | |
| | GOLDEN ALTAR | |
| | || | |
| | | | | |
| | | |
| | TABLE OF | |
| | GOLDEN || | |
| | || | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | |__| | | | |
| | CANDLESTICK |___| | |
| | SHOWBREAD | |
| | | |
||
| |
| LAVER |
| (_) |
| |
| || |
| | BRAZEN | |
| | ALTAR | |
| | | |
| |
| |
| |
PLAN OF THE TABERNACLE.
(Not to scale )
The tabernacle was a rectangle, measuring ten cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in length, which was divided into ten cubits for the holy of holies and twenty for the holy (place). The sides were formed of boards of acacia wood, ten cubits in height, set by tenons into silver sockets, each board having two sockets. The boards were kept together by horizontal bars throughout, and were all covered with gold. If the whole tabernacle be taken as typical of Christ, then the gold and the wood may point to His divinity and His humanity, or the gold may be taken as typical of divine righteousness. Internally all was gold and embroidered work: the wood was not seen.
The whole was covered with curtains, the innermost being of rich embroidered work of various colours; then curtains of woven goats’ hair; then coverings of rams’ skins and badgers’ skins – typical of entire preservation from outward evil. There were three distinct parts in the entire covering: the tabernacle, the tent, and the covering. Exo 35:11. The inner curtains, which were of such widths that the junctions of each set did not fall in the same place as the one next to it, formed the tabernacle (mishkan ); the set of curtains of goats’ hair were the tent (ohel ) of the tabernacle (see TENT); and the rams’ skins and badgers’ skins formed the covering (mikseh ). An embroidered hanging formed the door, or the first veil. Exo 25 – Exo 27 gives God’s approach to man; Exo 28 -Exo 30, man’s approach to God; and Exo 35 – Exo 40 the gifts for the tabernacle and its construction.
The tabernacle as a whole may be said to typify
1. God coming forth in a Man (His own Son) and on the basis of redemption, filling the universe with the light of His glory.
2. The provision made by God for approach to Himself by a redeemed people. Much light is thrown on the tabernacle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but what is there taught presents often a contrast rather than a comparison to what pertained to the earthly tabernacle.
The tabernacle may also be considered as God’s house, and thus a type of the saints in their present place. The temple was for the ordered and established kingdom. In Rev 21, after alluding to the kingdom and the eternal state, the Spirit goes back to the thought of the tabernacle.
The tabernacle was carried about during the forty years in the wilderness (see CAMP), and when the Israelites entered the land it was apparently placed first at Gilgal. Jos 9:6. Afterwards it was at Shiloh. Jos 18:1. While here it was forsaken of God because of the idolatry and wickedness of the people. Psa 78:60; Jer 7:12; Jer 7:14; Jer 26:6; Jer 26:9. The ark was taken by the Philistines and was not returned to the tabernacle; nor, when David removed the ark, did he restore it to the tabernacle, but placed it on Mount Zion. We next read of the tabernacle as being at Nob. 1Sa 21:1-6. Afterwards it was at Gibeon. 1Ch 16:39; 1Ch 21:29; 2Ch 1:3-6. When the temple was built, the tabernacle was brought up, with the ark and the holy vessels. The ark was placed in the most holy place, and the staves drawn out, for it had found its settled rest. The tabernacle gave place to the house, the latter glory of which will yet be greater than ever. 2Ch 5:4-9; Hag 2:9.
Amid the coming judgements, we read of “the temple [or shrine, that is, the holy place] of the tabernacle of the testimony” being opened in heaven, and out of the temple proceed the seven angels having the seven vials. Rev 15:5-6.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Tabernacle, The
Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the tent of Jehovah, called by the same name, as the tents of the people, in the midst of which it stood. It was also called, the sanctuary and the Tabernacle of the congregation. The first ordinance given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the Tabernacle, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed, when the people came to their own home, and “found a place” for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses’ first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. Exo 25:9; Exo 25:40; Exo 26:30; Exo 39:32; Exo 39:42-43; Num 8:4; Act 7:44; Heb 8:5. The description of this plan is preceded by an account of the freewill offerings, which the children of Israel were to be asked to make for its execution.
I. The Tabernacle Itself. —
Its name. — It was first called a tent or dwelling, Exo 25:8, because Jehovah, as it were, abode there. It was often called tent or tabernacle from its external appearance.
Its materials. — The materials were —
(a) Metals: gold, silver and brass.
(b) Textile fabrics: blue, purple, scarlet and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated; also a fabric of goat’s hair, the produce of their own flocks.
(c) Skins: of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger.
(d) Wood: the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the “burning bush.”
(e) Oil, spices and incense for anointing the priests, and burning in the Tabernacle.
(f) Gems: onyx stones and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high priest.
The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver and brass; wood, skins, hair and linen; the women wove; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices and incense; and the artists soon had more than they needed. Exo 25:1-8; Exo 35:4-29; Exo 36:5-7. The superintendence of the work was intrusted to Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, who were skilled in “all manner of workmanship.” Exo 31:2; Exo 31:6; Exo 35:30; Exo 35:34.
Its structure. — The Tabernacle was to comprise three main parts, — the Tabernacle more strictly so called, its tent and its covering. Exo 35:11; Exo 39:33-34; Exo 40:19; Exo 40:34; Num 3:25; etc. These parts are very clearly distinguished in the Hebrew, but they are confounded in many places of the English version. The Tabernacle itself was to consist of curtains of fine linen woven with colored figures of cherubim, and a structure of boards which was to contain the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place; the tent was to be a true tent of goat’s hair cloth, to contain and shelter the Tabernacle; the covering was to be of red ram-skins and seal-skins, Exo 25:5, and was spread over the goat’s hair tent as an additional protection against the weather.
The Tabernacle was an oblong rectangular structure, 30 cubits in length by 10 cubits in width, (45 feet by 15 feet), and 10 cubits in height; the interior being divided into two chambers, the first or outer, of 20 cubits in length, the inner, of 10 cubits, and consequently and exact cube. The outer chamber was the Holy Place, or first Tabernacle, Heb 9:2, containing the Golden Candlestick on one side, the Table of Shew Bread opposite, and between them, in the centre, was the Altar of Incense.
The inner chamber was the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, containing the Ark, surmounted by the cherubim, with the two tables inside. The two sides, and the farther or west end, were enclosed by boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, twenty on the north and twenty on the south side, six on the west side, and the corner-boards doubled. They stood upright, edge to edge, their lower ends being made with tenons, which dropped into sockets of silver, and the corner-boards being coupled at the tope with rings. They were furnished with golden rings, through which passed bars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, five to each side, and the middle bar passing from end to end, so as to brace the whole together.
Four successive coverings of curtains looped together were placed over the open top and fell down over the sides. The first, or inmost, covering was a splendid fabric of linen, embroidered with figures of cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet, and looped together by golden fastenings. It seems probable that the ends of this set of curtains hung down within the Tabernacle, forming a sumptuous tapestry. The second covering was a covering of goats’ hair; the third covering was of ram-skins dyed red, and the outermost covering was of badger-skins, (so called in our version; but the Hebrew word, probably, signifies seal-skins).
It has been commonly supposed that these coverings were thrown over the wall, as a pall is thrown over a coffin; but this would have allowed every drop of rain that fell on the Tabernacle to fall through; for, however tightly the curtains might be stretched, the water could never run over the edge, and the sheep-skins would only make the matter worse as, when wetted, their weight would depress the centre, and, probably, tear any curtain that could be made. There can be no reasonable doubt that the tent had a ridge, as all tents have had from the days of Moses down to the present time.
The front of the sanctuary was closed by a hanging of fine linen, embroidered in blue, purple and scarlet, and supported by golden hooks on five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, and standing in brass sockets; and the covering of goat’s hair was so made as to fall down over this, when required. A more sumptuous curtain of the same kind, embroidered with cherubim, hung on four such pillars, with silver sockets, divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It was called the Veil, (Sometimes, “the Second Veil”, either in reference to the first, at the entrance of the Holy Place, or, as below, the Veil of the second sanctuary;) Heb 9:3, as it hid from the eyes of all, but the high priest, the inmost sanctuary, where Jehovah dwells on his Mercy-Seat, between the cherubim above the ark.
Hence, “to enter within the veil” is to have the closest access to God. It was only passed, by the high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, in token of the mediation of Christ, who with his own blood hath entered for us within the veil which separates God’s own abode from earth. Heb 6:19.
In the Temple, the solemn barrier was at length profaned by a Roman conqueror, to warn the Jews that the privileges they had forfeited were “ready to vanish away;” and the veil was at last rent by the hand of God himself, at the same moment that the body of Christ was rent upon the cross, to indicate that the entrance into the holiest of all is now laid open to all believers by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Heb 10:19-20. The Holy Place was only entered by the priests daily, to offer incense at the time of morning and evening prayer, and to renew the lights on the Golden Candlesticks; and on the Sabbath, to remove the old shew-bread, and to place the new upon the table.
II. The Sacred Furniture and Instruments of The Tabernacle. — These are described in separate articles, and, therefore, it is only necessary to give a list of them here.
In the outer court. The Altar of Burnt Offering and the Brazen Laver. See Altar; Laver.
In the Holy Place. The furniture of the court was connected with sacrifice; that of the sanctuary itself, with the deeper mysteries of mediation, and access to God. The first sanctuary contained three objects: the Altar of Incense in the centre, so as to be directly in front of the Ark of the Covenant, 1Ki 6:22; the Table of Shew Bread on its right or north side, and the Golden Candlestick on the left or south side. These objects were all considered as being placed before the presence of Jehovah, who dwelt in the Holiest of all, though with the veil between. See Altar; Shew-Bread; Candlestick.
In the Holy of Holies, within the veil, and shrouded in darkness, there was, but one object, the Ark of the Covenant, containing the two tables of stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. See Ark of The Covenant.
III. The Court of The Tabernacle, in which the Tabernacle itself stood, was an oblong space, 100 cubits by 50 cubits, (that is, 150 feet by 75 feet), having its longer axis, east and west, with its front to the east. It was surrounded by canvas screens — in the East, called kannauts — 5 cubits in height, and supported by pillars of brass, 5 cubits apart, to which the curtains were attached by hooks and filets of silver. Exo 27:9; etc.
This enclosure was broken only on the east side by the entrance, which was 20 cubits wide, and closed by curtains of fine twined linen wrought with needlework, and of the most gorgeous colors. In the outer or east half of the court was placed the Altar of Burnt Offering, and between it and the Tabernacle itself; the laver at which the priests washed their hands and feet, on entering the Temple. The Tabernacle itself was placed toward the west end of this enclosure.
IV. History. — “The Tabernacle, as the place in which Jehovah dwelt, was pitched in the centre of the camp, Num 2:2, as the tent of a leader always is in the East; for Jehovah was the Captain of Israel. Jos 5:14-15. During the marches of Israel, the Tabernacle was still in the centre. Num 2:1. The tribes camped, and marched, around it, in the order of a hollow square. In certain great emergencies, it led the march. Jos 3:11-16.
Upon the Tabernacle, abode always the cloud, dark by day and fiery red by night, Exo 10:38, giving the signal for the march, Exo 40:36-37; Num 9:17, and the halt. Num 9:15-23. It was always the special meeting-place of Jehovah and his people. Num 11:24-25; Num 12:4; Num 14:10; Num 16:19; Num 16:42; Num 20:6; Num 27:2; Num 31:14.
During the conquest of Canaan, the Tabernacle, at first, moved from place to place, Jos 4:19; Jos 8:30-35; Jos 9:6; Jos 10:15, and was finally located at Shiloh. Jos 9:27; Jos 18:1. Here it remained, during the time of the judges, till it was captured by the Philistines, who carried off the sacred Ark of the Covenant. 1Sa 4:22.
From this time forward, the glory of the Tabernacle was gone. When the Ark was recovered, it was removed to Jerusalem, and placed in a new Tabernacle 2Sa 6:17; 1Ch 15:1, but the old structure still had its hold on the veneration of the community, and the old altar still received their offerings. 1Ch 16:39; 1Ch 21:29. It was not till the Temple was built, and a fitting house, thus prepared, for the Lord, that the ancient Tabernacle was allowed to perish and be forgotten.
V. Significance. — (The great underlying principles of true religion are the same in all ages and for all men; because man’s nature and needs are the same, and the same God ever rules over all. But different ages require different methods of teaching these truths, and can understand them in different degrees. As we are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Tabernacle was part of a great system of teaching by object lessons, and of training the world to understand and receive the great truths, which were to be revealed in Jesus Christ, and thus, really to save the Jews from sin. By Jesus dimly seen in the future, as we clearly see Him in the past.
(1) The Tabernacle and its services enabled the Jews, who had no visible representation of God, to feel the reality of God and of religion.
(2) The Tabernacle as the most beautiful and costly object in the nation, and ever in the centre of the camp, set forth the truth that religion was the central fact and the most important, in a persons life.
(3) The pillar of cloud and of fire was the best possible symbol of the living God, — a cloud, bright, glowing like the sunset clouds, glorious, beautiful, mysterious, self-poised, heavenly; fire, immaterial, the source of life and light and comfort and cheer, but yet unapproachable, terrible, a consuming fire to the wicked.
(4) The Altar of Burnt Offering, standing before the Tabernacle was a perpetual symbol of the atonement, — the greatness of sin, deserving death, hard to be removed and yet forgiveness possible, and offered freely, but only through blood.
(5) The offerings, as brought by the people were a type of consecration to God, of conversion and new life, through the atonement.
(6) This altar stood outside of the Tabernacle, and must be passed, before we come to the Tabernacle itself; a type of the true religious life.
(7) Before the Tabernacle was also the laver, signifying the same thing that baptism does with us, the cleansing of the heart and life.
(8) Having entered the Holy Place, we find the three great means and helps to true living, — the candlestick, the light of God’s truth; the shew-bread, teaching that the soul must have its spiritual food and live in communion with God; and the Altar of Incense, the symbol of prayer.
(9) The Holy of Holies, beyond, taught that there was progress in the religious life, and that progress was toward God, and toward the perfect keeping of the law till it was as natural to obey the law as it is to breathe; and thus the Holy of Holies was the type of heaven. — Editor).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
TABERNACLE, The
See also TEMPLE.
The Tabernacle amongst the Jews, during the times that their Church was not fully settled, was the symbol of God’s presence, and consequently of his protection: and of his Church, to whom the promises of protection were made, and confirmed by the symbol of his presence. So that the said tabernacle prefigured, and is therefore used in the Christian dispensation as the symbol of the Christian Church, as in favour indeed with God, and under his protection, but in an unsettled state and condition.
Farther, the tabernacle of the Jews, upon the account of the Shechinah, or glorious dwelling and appearance of God in it, was a type of the body of Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the godhead bodily, and who was therefore on earth the tabernacle of God with men.