Exodus 40:1-33 - Completion of the Tabernacle

Exodus 40:1-33

The Tabernacle Erected and Arranged

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 put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil. 4 You shall bring in the table and arrange the things that are to be set in order on it; and you shall bring in the lampstand and light its lamps. 5 You shall also set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the Testimony, and put up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 6 Then you shall set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 7 And you shall set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8 You shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen at the court gate.

9 “And you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it; and you shall hallow it and all its utensils, and it shall be holy. 10 You shall anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar. The altar shall be most holy. 11 And you shall anoint the laver and its base, and consecrate it.

12 “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle 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 to Me as priest. 14 And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. 15 You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

16 Thus Moses did; according to all that the LORD had commanded him, so he did.

17 And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. 18 So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. 19 And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 20 He took the Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

22 He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; 23 and he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 24 He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; 25 and he lit the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 26 He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; 27 and he burned sweet incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 28 He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle. 29 And he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 30 He set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing; 31 and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 32 Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.

Moses had directed the work to construct the multiple components of the tent of the tabernacle which was the mobile temple of Israel to worship and offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of God’s people.  The order of assembly of the individual parts was accord with the importance of each, beginning with the Ark of the Testimony that was a witness of the old covenant of works.  It was carefully placed behind the veil in the most holy place where the high priest was to enter to approach the mercy seat to plead for the people to be forgiven.  This pointed to the importance of the coming of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, whose mercy seat we now come near (Hebrews 9:11-12) to find help (Hebrews 4:16) as we face temptation and sin.  No more animal sacrifices can help us for a short time as before, for His sacrifice of His own lifeblood alone can cover us in never-ending atonement.  As the true and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15, 12:24) and Intercessor, He now lives forever (Hebrews 7:25) to stand between us and God’s judgment of wrath on our disobedience called sin.  Outside the veil we see the table of showbread to display the provision for the priests who serve there, with the lamp perpetually lit to show the light of the world to come when the veil would be torn away and the way was made to enter through Christ as the veil (Hebrews 9:19-20) to a reconciled relationship with the Father at last!  This is the new and living way to enter into the most holy place where God is.  Outside the screen of that sanctuary was the altar of sacrifice with the washing laver between the altar and there to ritually cleanse the priests on their way to enter the sanctuary.  All these elements of the tabernacle were sanctified along with Aaron and the priests and dressed accordingly to represent holiness and reverence for the LORD.  All this was put together as Moses finished the work given him to do with all care and attention God deserves.  Do we like serve our Lord in holiness, washing ourselves clean through continuous confession of sin when we fail (1 John 1:9) and with reverence of awe in our serving Him as we follow the Lord Christ?  He said, “follow Me,” and that we are to be holy as He is (1 Peter 1:16) as we keep the temples of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) in righteous order (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) to not impede our worship and ministry of the gospel and give proper worship of God’s glory in the beauty of holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 96:9-10, 13) until He comes to judge the world in righteousness.  May we then be found in His righteousness alone and about our Father’s work when He comes for us in clean and orderly temples to worship Him.  Do we follow to complete His work (Philippians 2:12-13) in these temples of our bodies as well as He works in us?  Let us aim to complete the work in our temples.  Amen!