As the first round of instructions for the tabernacle draw to a close the book of Exodus goes through a series of things that on the surface seem disconnected. Instructions for a census to be taken. Instructions for the bronze wash basin. And ingredients for the holy oil and the incense. When we dig beneath the surface of these four topics, however, and compare then together we discover something fascinating. A topic comes to the front that is a bit counter intuitive to the modern mind. But once we see it, we can recognize this theme all through scripture.