Setting up the Tabernacle, Part 1
Exodus 40:1-15.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2#“On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3#And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. 4#And you shall bring in the table and arrange it, and you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. 5#And you shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 6#You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, 7#and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8#And you shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court.
9#“Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy. 10#You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar may become most holy. 11#You shall also anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it. 12#Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water 13#and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest. 14#You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them, 15#and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”
Dear New Israel,
All the components of the tabernacle had now been made to God’s specifications.
Set Up (vv. 1-2).
God instructed that the tabernacle be put up on the first day of the first month. This was highly symbolic, because it coincided with the month when the children of Israel had been set free from Egyptian bondage. The symbol of God’s presence with Israel was to be erected in commemoration of this day.
Set Within (vv. 3-11).
All the articles of the tabernacle were to be placed in designated positions, starting with the Ark of the Testimony, which was to be placed behind the veil. When the items were all in place, Moses was to anoint everything with oil and in this way, consecrate it.
Set Apart (vv. 12-15).
Aaron and his sons had been chosen as priests to God. Aaron was to be consecrated as priest and the same was to happen to his sons and to generations of their descendants after them.
God uses symbols and pictures to both remind and point us to his plan. By themselves, symbols are just objects. But if they point us to God and his plan for us, they become significant. The danger lies in our tendency to assign inherent importance to the symbol, thus shifting focus to the object. This becomes idolatry. The cross, the bread and wine of the Lord’s table and baptism are the only symbols left to us today. May they not obscure Christ, whom they point us to.
Pastor Chris’ Post Corona Quarantine Epistles to the Flock of AIC Ngong Road, at Home and Abroad, Vol. 4 No. 81.
Posted Saturday,
10/06/2023.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.