THE EXODUS · Day 9 of 10
The Tabernacle
1 · READ THE TEXT
Exodus 25:1-9 & 40:33-38
Exodus 25:1-9
Open in the reader →1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. 3And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, 4And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 5And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, 6Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. 8And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
Exodus 40:33-38
Open in the reader →33And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
2 · UNDERSTAND
God devotes roughly fifty chapters of the Torah to the details of a tent. Why? The purpose is in verse 8: "then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them". The point was never the decoration, it was the living together. Everything is portable — God moves along with the people. And the craftsman Bezalel is the first person in the Bible described as "filled with the Spirit of God", and he is an artist working with metal, wood and cloth. The book ends with glory filling the tabernacle and the cloud guiding: they moved when it lifted, stayed when it settled. Direction, for Israel, was a daily matter.
3 · REFLECT AND ANSWER
Read the text again and answer calmly. Your answers are kept only in this browser.
- 1.What does this text reveal about who God is?
- 2.What does it show about people — and about you?
- 3.What will you do differently today because of it?
4 · LIVE AND PRAY
Practical application
Offer God a practical skill of yours today — cooking, fixing, organising, drawing — as service, not as a hobby.
Lesson prayer
Lord, dwell among us. Fill the work of my hands with your Spirit, as you did with Bezalel. Amen.
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