Instructions for the Sanctuary
Instructions for the Sanctuary
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Sanctuary Offerings
Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to collect an offering for me. From all whose hearts compel them, you’ll collect my offering. This is the offering you’ll collect from them: gold, silver, bronze, materials dyed blue, purple, and red, fine linen, goat hair, tanned ram hides, dugong hides, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and fragrant incense, onyx, and other gems for the settings of the ephod and the breastpiece.
“They must make me a sanctuary, and I’ll live among them. You must make it according to everything I’m about to show you, the pattern of the dwelling and of all its furnishings.”
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After the ratification of the covenant, Yahweh allowed the Israelite leaders to see him and even revealed his veiled glory to the people. But all of that happened at a distance, from the top of Mount Sinai. Yahweh’s true desire was to come down to live among his people. So he commanded Moses to prepare a sanctuary for him, a holy dwelling within the Israelite camp.1
First, Moses had to collect a freewill offering from the Israelites. Yahweh gave him a list of acceptable items, all of them valuable, and the people would give as their hearts led them. Most of the material likely came from the plundering of the Egyptians during the exodus.2 Yahweh wanted the people to voluntarily give back to him part of the wealth he had given them.
With these materials, Moses and those working under him would make the sanctuary representing Yahweh’s presence. They had to make it according to a specific pattern Yahweh would show Moses. While on Mount Sinai, Moses saw a vision of the heavenly sanctuary, and everything in the sanctuary was a copy of the true one.3 Yahweh lived among his people, but never literally in the dwelling. As King Solomon later said of the temple, “The sky, even heaven itself, can’t contain you. How much less this house I’ve built?”4
The Covenantal Chest
“They must make a chest out of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. Overlay it with pure gold inside and out and make a gold molding on it all around. Cast for it four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other.
“You must make poles out of acacia wood overlaid with gold and put them through the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles must remain in the rings of the chest. They must not be removed. Put into the chest the testimony I’ll give you.”
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Yahweh began his instructions for building the sanctuary with the most important item. In the holiest part of his dwelling, a golden chest would serve as his throne.5 From there, he would live among his people and rule over them. Since Israel had nothing that represented Yahweh himself, the chest became their holiest object.6 Only the high priest could approach it, and only once a year.7
The chest had two parts—a box and a lid. The box measured approximately 3′ × 2′ × 2′ and was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.8 Two poles, also made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, allowed the Israelites to transport it. These poles had to stay inserted through their rings permanently. After its consecration, no one could touch the chest9
Inside the box, Moses would put the testimony, the stone tablets containing Yahweh’s copy of the covenant. For this reason, the covenantal chest is also called the chest of the testimony. Yahweh would always have the covenant in his presence as he reigned over Israel from his throne.
The Atonement Lid
“You must make a pure gold atonement lid, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. Make two cherubs of hammered gold out of the two ends of the lid, one cherub out of each end. Make the cherubs out of the atonement lid on the two ends.
“The cherubs must spread their wings over the atonement lid, overshadowing it, and they must face each other and look toward the atonement lid. Put the atonement lid on top of the chest and put the testimony I’ll give you inside it. Then I’ll meet you there. From above the atonement lid, between the two cherubs on the chest of the testimony, I’ll tell you everything I command the Israelites.”
Image by Rev. Yves Langevin from Free Bible Images, CC BY-NC 4.0
The second part of the covenantal chest was a lid the same length and width as the box. The lid was made of pure gold and had a golden cherub on each end. The cherubs couldn’t be made separately and attached. Every detail had to be hammered out of the lid itself, a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
Modern depictions of the atonement lid almost always show two-winged humans, often kneeling, instead of actual cherubs. Biblical cherubs have four wings and four faces, and they stand upright as they carry and guard Yahweh’s throne. One set of wings covers their bodies, and the other touches the outstretched wings of another cherub.10 On the lid, the wings that touched stretched forward to overshadow it.
Between the cherubs, in the empty space above the lid and under their wings, Yahweh would sit enthroned and continue to meet regularly with Moses. The lid also served as the location where the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the atonement sacrifices on the Day of Atonement.11 That’s why it was called the kapporeth (“atonement lid”), from the Hebrew verb kaphar (“to ransom, atone”).
The Table
“You must make a table out of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding all around it. Make a panel a handbreadth wide all around it and a gold molding all around the panel. Make four gold rings and put the rings on the four corners at its four legs, close to the panel, to hold the poles for carrying the table.
“You must make the poles out of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The table must be carried by them. Make its plates, its incense burners, its pitchers, and its cups the drink offering will be poured into. You must make them out of pure gold. Place the bread of the Presence on the table before me continually.”
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Yahweh next commanded the construction of two pieces of furniture that would sit in the dwelling just outside the holiest place. The first of these, a table made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, would display the bread of the Presence, wine for the drink offering, and incense before Yahweh’s throne at all times. The utensils for these items were all made of pure gold.
The table of bread and wine represented Yahweh’s provision for the Israelites. Every Sabbath, the priests arranged twelve fresh loaves, representing the twelve tribes, in two rows. The loaves from the previous week were not offered to Yahweh but eaten by the priests on duty. The incense was burned as a replacement offering.12 The priests also poured a drink offering out from the pitcher into the cups. Though Scripture never says the priests drank this wine with the bread, this may be implied.
At a deeper level, the table elements point directly to Jesus. The twelve loaves called the bread of the Presence symbolize his physical presence among the people as Yahweh incarnate. The bread and wine that symbolized Yahweh’s provision became symbols of his body and blood provided for us.13 And the incense that was burned in place of the bread (the tribes) represents Jesus’s perfect atoning sacrifice.14 Having completed that task, he now sits continually in the Father’s presence.15
The Lampstand
“You must make a lampstand out of pure hammered gold. Hammer its base, main branch, cups, calyxes, and buds out of the lampstand. Extend six branches from its sides, three branches from one side of the lampstand and three branches from the other side, with three cups shaped like almond blossoms on one branch, each with a calyx and bud, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the next branch, each with a calyx and bud. Do this on the six branches extending from the lampstand.
“On the lampstand, make four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and bud. Make a calyx out of it under each pair of branches for the six branches extending from the lampstand. Make their calyxes and branches out of it, all of it a single work hammered out of pure gold.
“You must make seven lamps, which will be mounted to shine light in front of the lampstand. Its wick trimmers and firepans must be pure gold. Make the lampstand, along with all these tools, out of a talent of pure gold.
“Look and follow their pattern as you’re being shown on the mountain.”
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Yahweh also commanded Moses to make a lampstand entirely out of pure gold. It had a single shaft in the middle with six more branching off from it, three on each side. Each of these branches had decorative cups along it shaped like almond flowers with buds, so the lampstand looked like a blossoming almond tree.16 Like the atonement lid and its cherubs, the lampstand and its flowers had to be hammered out of a single piece of solid gold. Seven oil lamps and the needed utensils were made separately, all out of pure gold.
The lampstand and its lamps represented Yahweh’s guidance. The seven oil lamps were mounted on the seven branches of the lampstand so they faced forward to light the interior of Yahweh’s dwelling. The priests tended them from evening to morning.17 Just like the pillar of fire that provided light and guidance to the Israelites in the wilderness, the lampstand burned all night.18 There can be no darkness in Yahweh’s presence. As long as Israel continued to follow him and obey his commands, they would see clearly and never stumble.
At a deeper level, the lampstand points directly to the Holy Spirit as the internal guide of God’s people.19 The prophet Zechariah saw a vision of a golden lampstand with seven lamps that stood between two olive trees. When Zechariah asked what the vision meant, Yahweh declared, “Not by strength or by power but by my Spirit!”20 In Revelation 4:5, seven lamps that burn in front of God’s throne are explicitly identified as “God’s seven spirits.”
In Hebrew thought, seven is the number of completion. So the seven spirits represent the complete, united work of the Holy Spirit, which he accomplishes by working through individual believers, in the same way that the seven lamps constitute one lampstand.
The Dwelling Curtains
“As for the dwelling, you must make it out of ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and red with cherubs skillful designed into them. Each curtain must be twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. Make them all the same size. Sew five curtains together and sew the other five together.
“You must make blue loops along the edge of one curtain at the end of one set. Do the same along the edge of a curtain at the end of the other set. Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops along the end of the curtain in the other set, each loop opposite another. Make fifty golden clasps and connect the curtains together so the dwelling will be a single piece.”
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After describing three objects in the sanctuary that represented God and his care for the people, Yahweh described the construction of the next most important item. The dwelling itself consisted of ten curtains connected and draped over wooden frames.21 Just as the Israelites lived in tents in the wilderness, so would Yahweh.
Each of the dwelling’s ten curtains was woven from the highest quality linen and had a cherub design worked into it in blue, purple, and red. The curtains were divided into two sets of five and sewn together lengthwise, and fifty blue loops lined one edge of each set. When the Israelites set up camp, fifty golden clasps connected the loops to make a single tent covering for the dwelling. But when the Israelites moved, they could undo the clasps, making the curtains easier to transport.
The cherub design in the curtain served as more than a colorful decoration. Throughout the Bible, cherubs act as the guardians of God’s sacred objects.22 So the design served as a warning to anyone who would dare approach the sacred ground of Yahweh’s throne. To do so unbidden would risk incurring the wrath of the unseen forces the design represented.
- The Hebrew name for the sanctuary, hammishkan, means “the dwelling.” The English word tabernacle comes from the Latin translation. Osborn and Howard, Handbook on Exodus, 586.
- See Peaceful Plundering.
- Hebrews 8:5, 9:23–24.
- 1 Kings 8:27.
- 1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2.
- See The Second Commandment.
- Leviticus 16:2, 29–30.
- Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Exodus 25:10–22.
- 1 Chronicles 13:9–10.
- Ezekiel 1:5–11, 22–26; 10:15; see Cherubs.
- Leviticus 16:11–15.
- Leviticus 24:5–9.
- Luke 22:19–20.
- Isaiah 53:5–6, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Colossians 2:13–14, Hebrews 10:10.
- Hebrews 1:3, 12:2.
- The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “calyx” is uncertain. The calyx is the leaf-like part of a flower that protects the bud and sits under the flower once it blossoms.
- Exodus 27:20–21, 30:7–8.
- See The Pillar of Cloud and Fire.
- John 14:26, 16:13; Romans 8:14.
- Zechariah 4:6.
- Exodus 26:15.
- See Cherubs.