January 28, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Exodus 6:14-8:15; Matthew 17:14-18:6

Weekly Memory Verse: Galatians 5:25

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Exodus 40 (NASB95)
¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ³ “You shall place the ark of the testimony there, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. ⁴ “You shall bring in the table and arrange what belongs on it; and you shall bring in the lampstand and mount its lamps. ⁵ “Moreover, you shall set the gold altar of incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the veil for the doorway to the tabernacle. ⁶ “You shall set the altar of burnt offering in front of the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ⁷ “You shall set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ⁸ “You shall set up the court all around and hang up the veil for the gateway of the court. ⁹ “Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall consecrate it and all its furnishings; and it shall be holy. ¹⁰ “You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy. ¹¹ “You shall anoint the laver and its stand, and consecrate it. ¹² “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ¹³ “You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me. ¹⁴ “You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; ¹⁵ and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.” ¹⁶ Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did. ¹⁷ Now in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. ¹⁸ Moses erected the tabernacle and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and inserted its bars and erected its pillars. ¹⁹ He spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ Then he took the testimony and put it into the ark, and attached the poles to the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. ²¹ He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up a veil for the screen, and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²² Then he put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. ²³ He set the arrangement of bread in order on it before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴ Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. ²⁵ He lighted the lamps before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶ Then he placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil; ²⁷ and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸ Then he set up the veil for the doorway of the tabernacle. ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering before the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰ He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. ³¹ From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³ He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work. ³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; ³⁷ but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. ³⁸ For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.^[1]

A couple of things that stood out to me right away was first that it was all done according to the word of the Lord. Second, the anointing that took place.  The header in the NIV indicates that it is "Setting up the Tabernacle", the NASB indicates that it is "The Tabernacle Erected", both miss the point of the anointing of the Tabernacle and everything involved.

The Tabernacle was set up in the first part of the chapter, but that does not seem to be the focus.  That instruction seems to be functional as instruction that the tabernacle was set up, and all the implements of the tabernacle were put in place.  It was a thing up to this point, nothing special, just like assembling a bicycle, up to this point the tabernacle was nothing special, just a structure that was built according to the blueprints.

The question that is raised in my mind is why is the anointing so important? The promised Messiah means the "anointed one", which tells us that the anointing is much more than it appears on the surface.  Was this a point of dedication, meaning that anointing set all the implements and the tabernacle apart for the Lord?  Or did it have a deeper meaning?  The anointing changed the tabernacle from being a constructed thing, to being the dwelling place of God.  The priests were changed from being mere men, to being intercessors between men and a righteous God.  Anointing changed things, it changed the perspective and validated the purpose that God had for the Tabernacle.  Aaron and his sons became the designated priests of the Lord who were to work the tabernacle.  They changed from being just like everyone else to being set apart for the service of the Lord. 

To make a note regarding Moses working in the Tabernacle and in setting it up.  He was the brother of Aaron, and both of them were Levites.  Moses was not just favored before the Lord, he was also a Levite.  That may be one of the reasons that he was able to move the Levites to arms when he ordered the slaughter of three thousand at the golden calf.  Moses was faithful to follow the word of the Lord exactly, see verses 19, 21, 23, 25-26, 29 and 32.

I can't help but consider the way that Moses is a type of Christ in this passage.  He did all the work to get the people ready for God to dwell with men, and finished the work.  Jesus did all the work to prepare all of us to dwell with Him, finished the work, and left it up to our decision to accept His calling. 

God verified His call to build the Tabernacle by dwelling in it.  He dwelt in it constantly, thus dwelling among men during the forty years of wandering.  On that same note, considering verse 2, one year had elapsed between the times that Israel had left Egypt and the consecration of the tabernacle.  If Israel had not built the golden calf and turned from God, the forty years of wandering would have been eliminated and they would have moved into the Promised Land to possess it as they were promised.  God determined to allow the entire generation to die before allowing their children to enter the Promised Land. Please note:

^[2]

Genesis 5:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Genesis 6:9 (NASB95)
⁹ These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

Exodus 25:8 (NASB95)
⁸ “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

Exodus 40:34 (NASB95)
³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

1 Samuel 4:21-22 (NASB95)
²¹ And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.”

1 Kings 8:10-11 (NASB95)
¹⁰ It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Ezekiel 11:22-23 (NASB95)
²² Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. ²³ The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city.

John 1:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB95)
¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Ephesians 2:20-22 (NASB95)
²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.^[3]

I am going to close here, if you wish to add comments to the study, please feel free to write in.

Father, as we consider Your word today, give each of us the wisdom to follow Your will, and to seek out Your will in our daily lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner