Topic in the recorded discussionTime in the recordingIs the description of the Tabernacle a non sequitur between Moses on the mountain and the golden calf?0:01:46Two names for the Tabernacle0:04:55Holy Place and Most Holy Place0:13:55Israel’s Tabernacle is quite unlike the temples of the pagans0:17:23Bread of the Face (Presence of Heaven)0:22:45God Who makes science possible0:27:50Fear of the LORD = Faith0:30:12Rev. 9:20-21: Turning away from the Unseen One toward idols0:35:26Q: Does “sorcery” in Rev. 9:20-21 refer to illicit drugs?0:38:01John 6:30: Respond to the LORD’s call better than the nations do0:53:47Matt. 5:14-16: Light up the world with the LORD’s change in us0:55:29Ark of the Testimony: Protect the precious Word of God0:59:23Psalm 119:10-12: Your Word I have treasured in my heart1:05:59

The Tabernacle was not a very large building, but it was the focal point of the community from its inauguration to the time they entered the Promised Land.

According to Exodus 26:1–14, there were four different kinds of cloth coverings over the Tabernacle:

* Fine needlework of blue, purple, scarlet (red), fine linen (white) with gold angels.* Goat hair (white).* Ram leather dyed red.* Badger (sea cow?) leather (brown).

“You shall make a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver. You shall make five pillars of acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold, their hooks also being of gold; and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.”Exodus 26:36–37 NASB

The outer court made use of a lot of copper/bronze metals but inner courts were mostly silver or gold. Copper, bronze and silver can patina or tarnish, but gold never tarnishes, rusts or develops a patina. This is why gold was used for items in the Holy Place and Most Holy Place.

The Tabernacle was the most unique Temple on the Earth as it was the only worship center in the Ancient Near East that did not have a physical representation of the deity housed inside.

הַקֹּדֶשׁ haQodesh (Holy Place)

“You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies. You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.”Exodus 26:33–35 NASB

* Dimensions: 10 cubits wide by 20 cubits long (15 ft. x 30 ft., or 4.6 m x 9.2 m)* Described: Exodus 26:33, 35; Hebrews 9:2, 6* Every day, the priests entered into the haQodesh to serve the LORD.* Inside were:* הַשֻּׁלְחָן לֶחֶם פָּנִים Ha-Shulkhan Lekhem Panim (Table of Bread of the Presence/Face)* מְּנֹרָה Menorah (seven-branched golden lampstand)* מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת Miqtar Q’toret (Altar of Incense; Exodus 30)* פָּרֹכֶת Parokhet (veil) that separated the haQodesh from the קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים Qodesh haQadashim (Holy of Holies, Most Holy Place)

There’s a fun story in the Bible when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant and they stored it in the temple of Dagon (1Samuel 4–5). Every day the Ark was in the Dagon temple, the Dagon idol was knocked to the ground and laid low before the Ark. The Philistines quickly got the message and returned the Ark to the Israelites.

In John 1:1–14, we meet the Tabernacle of God in the flesh, Yeshua the Messiah. The physical Tabernacle and later the Temple were created to show us the Messiah.