Completion of the Tabernacle

The event

Much of the second half of Exodus — chapters 25 through 40 — is devoted to a single structure: the Tabernacle, a portable tent-sanctuary God commanded Israel to build so that, in his own words, "they may make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst" (Exodus 25:8). The instructions are exact down to the measurements of the curtains and the materials of the furniture, and the artisans Bezalel and Oholiab were specifically filled with the Spirit of God for the skilled craftsmanship the project required.

The Tabernacle's layout told a theological story in physical form: an outer courtyard with the altar of sacrifice, a Holy Place with the lampstand, table of bread, and altar of incense, and finally the Most Holy Place, separated by a veil, containing the Ark of the Covenant with its atonement cover — the place where God himself would meet with Israel above the cherubim. Every layer moved a worshiper closer to God's presence while also marking the seriousness of the barrier sin created between a holy God and his people.

When the work was finished, exactly one year to the day after Israel had left Egypt, "the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle," so overwhelming that even Moses could not enter (Exodus 40:34-35). It is a striking bookend to the whole book: Exodus opens with Israel enslaved and unable to approach Pharaoh, and closes with God himself taking up residence in the middle of the camp, his glory visibly present among the very people he had redeemed.

Dating

Exodus 40:17 dates the Tabernacle's completion precisely: the first day of the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt. On the traditional early-date chronology that computes to 1445 BC; a late-date chronology would shift the figure by roughly two centuries while preserving the same one-year interval from the Exodus.

Scripture references

• Exodus 25:1-9
• Exodus 35:1-40:38