Bible Timeline · About 1445 BC
The Tabernacle: God Moves In
At Mount Sinai God gave Moses plans for a portable tent where He would live among His people. Israel finished it one year after leaving Egypt, and the glory of Yahweh filled it. It held the ark of the covenant and was the center of Israel's worship for centuries.
Read it in the Bible: Exodus 25:1-31:18 Exodus 35:1-40:38 Leviticus 16:1-34 Hebrews 8:1-9:28 John 1:14
The tabernacle was a portable tent sanctuary where God lived among the people of Israel. God gave Moses the plans at Mount Sinai, the people built it, and it was set up on the first day of the second year after the Exodus, so about 1445 BC by the traditional count. When it was finished, the cloud of God's glory filled it. For the next four hundred years or so it was the center of Israel's worship, until Solomon built the temple. The whole thing was a picture of how sinful people can come near a holy God, and the New Testament says it points straight to Jesus.
Why Did God Want a Tabernacle?
God's reason fits in one verse.
And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8
That is the story of the whole Bible in a sentence. In Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve. Sin pushed people out of His presence. Now God was moving back into the neighborhood, right in the middle of the camp. The word tabernacle simply means tent or dwelling place. The Creator of the universe chose to camp with a crowd of former slaves.
God was specific. He told Moses to build it according to the pattern I show you, Exodus 25:9. Hebrews 8:5 says the tabernacle was a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.
Who Built the Tabernacle?
God named a craftsman from the tribe of Judah, Bezalel, and filled him with the Spirit of God for skill and artistry, Exodus 31:2 to 3. That is one of the first times the Bible says someone was filled with the Spirit of God, and it was for building and art. Oholiab from the tribe of Dan worked beside him.
The materials came as free will offerings from the people, including the gold and silver the Egyptians had handed them on the way out. Here is a moment you don't see in many church building campaigns.
After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more, since what they already had was more than enough to perform all the work. Exodus 36:6 to 7
What Did the Tabernacle Look Like?
The tabernacle had three zones. Each one was holier than the last, and fewer people could enter.
The Courtyard
A linen fence surrounded an open courtyard about 150 feet long and 75 feet wide, Exodus 27:18. There was only one gate, on the east side. Inside stood the bronze altar, where animals were sacrificed, and a bronze basin where the priests washed.
The Holy Place
The tent itself was covered with layers of fabric and skins. The first room was the Holy Place. It held a golden lampstand with seven branches, the menorah, a table with twelve loaves called the bread of the Presence, and a small golden altar where incense burned. Only priests could go in.
The Most Holy Place
A thick veil, woven with cherubim, hung across the back room. Behind it was the Most Holy Place, a perfect cube, and inside it stood the ark of the covenant.
What Was the Ark of the Covenant?
The ark was a wooden chest about 45 inches long and 27 inches wide and high, covered in gold, Exodus 25:10. Its lid was called the mercy seat, or atonement cover, with two golden cherubim facing each other, their wings spread over it. Inside were the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Hebrews 9:4 adds a jar of manna and Aaron's staff that budded.
And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites. Exodus 25:22
The ark was the throne of the invisible King. Where it went, God's presence went. What finally happened to it is one of history's great mysteries. It disappears from the Bible around the time Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that it rests in a chapel in Aksum, Ethiopia, though only one guardian monk is allowed to see it. Others think it was destroyed or hidden. We don't know.
What Did the High Priest and the Sacrifices Do?
God chose Aaron and his sons as priests. Aaron, as high priest, wore special garments, including a breastpiece with twelve stones carved with the names of Israel's tribes. He carried the people on his heart whenever he went before God.
The book of Leviticus explains how the tabernacle worked. It describes the main offerings: the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. The idea behind them is stated plainly.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Leviticus 17:11
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest went behind the veil into the Most Holy Place with blood, Leviticus 16. That was the only day anyone entered. Another goat, the scapegoat, was sent away into the wilderness, carrying the people's sins far from the camp.
What Happened When the Tabernacle Was Finished?
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34
The glory was so heavy that even Moses could not go in. From then on, when the cloud lifted, Israel packed up and followed. When it stayed, they stayed. The Levites carried the tabernacle through the wilderness. In the Promised Land it stood at Gilgal, then for a long time at Shiloh, Joshua 18:1, later at Nob and then at Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3. Solomon's temple finally replaced it, built on the same basic plan.
How the Tabernacle Points to Jesus
John opens his Gospel with a line that would make any Jewish reader think of the tabernacle.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
The Greek word for made His dwelling literally means pitched His tent. Jesus is God moving into the neighborhood again, this time in a human body. Hebrews 8 and 9 walk through the details. Jesus is the high priest. He is also the sacrifice. And He did not go into a tent made by hands but into heaven itself.
He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12
When Jesus died, the veil of the temple tore from top to bottom, Matthew 27:51. The way into God's presence was open. Hebrews 10:19 to 20 says we can now enter the Most Holy Place with confidence by the blood of Jesus. Paul says the believer's body is now a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19. And the story ends where Eden began, with God living among His people forever.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3
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Questions People Ask
What was the tabernacle in the Bible?
It was a portable tent where God dwelt among Israel, built at Mount Sinai from plans God gave Moses, Exodus 25 to 40. It had a courtyard, a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place where the ark of the covenant stood.
What was inside the ark of the covenant?
The two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Hebrews 9:4 says it also held a golden jar of manna and Aaron's staff that had budded. Its gold lid with two cherubim was called the mercy seat.
What happened to the ark of the covenant?
No one knows. It disappears from the biblical record around the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes it is kept in Aksum, Ethiopia, while others think it was destroyed or hidden.
How long was the tabernacle used?
From about 1445 BC, when it was set up in the second year after the Exodus, until Solomon's temple was built in the 900s BC. It stood at places including Gilgal, Shiloh and Gibeon.
Related
- About 1446 BCMount Sinai and the Ten Commandments
- About 1445 to 1406 BCForty Years in the Wilderness
- About 970 to 930 BC; temple begun about 966 BCSolomon and the First Temple
- AD 30 or 33The Crucifixion of Jesus