Tabernacle Of Moses

When Israel was in the wilderness, the Tabernacle of Moses was a symbol of the presence of God. The Tabernacle of Moses served as a prototype and shadow of the heavenly reality to come (Heb 8:5). The structure of the Tabernacle was thus designed to symbolize the active presence of God among His people (Hill and Walton 2000:97). The shape of the covenant worship was spelt out in the function and the furnishings of the Tabernacle.

1. Function of the Tabernacle
The Tabernacle was the focal point of Israel’s liturgical worship. The Tabernacle functioned as the dwelling place for God where His presence was manifested amongst His people. It was also a meeting place where the people assemble to meet God.

1.1 The Tabernacle as Dwelling Place
The
In Exodus 25:8, it was also referred to as the place where God would “dwell” among them, the Hebrew word here sakan has the meaning to inhabit or locate (Stuart 2006:565; Kaiser 1990:453). Then in Exodus 25:9, the place was referred to as a “pattern”, the Hebrew word here tabnit, carried the meaning of a model of the real thing (Kaiser 1990:453). In other words, the Tabernacle was modelled or patterned after a greater heavenly reality (Hebrew 8:5) (Stuart 2006:565). The Tabernacle was a model of God present amongst men. Finally in Exodus 25:9, the place was referred to as the “Tabernacle,” the Hebrew word miskan meant a place where God dwelt among His people (Averbeck 2003:809). So, the meaning of the Tabernacle as a dwelling place of God was
And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.

This idea also occurred in the Ugaritic to refer to an assembly or a place of assembly of the gods (Averback 2003:810). Against, such a background the Tabernacle could thus be seen as a place where Israel came together to meet God or where God met Israel. The Tabernacle was the place where Moses met with God and enquired of Him on behalf of the people.

2. Furnishings of the Tabernacle
The Book of Exodus gave a very detailed account of the construction of the Tabernacle. Exodus 25-31 explained how the items were to be manufactured, and then in Exodus 35-40 the construction process was narrated (Alexander 2002:192). The initial instructions listed the most important items first, whilst the second account recorded the order of the construction of the items (Alexander 2002:193). All of these revealed the importance God placed on the Tabernacle, and the care that Israel must take to construct everything according to God’s instructions. Israel must worship God according to God’s stipulations, and every item in the Tabernacle directed them towards this end. The structure showed a physical separation between the holy God and His people (Sailhamer 1992:298). Yet it was not meant to exclude, but to safeguard the proper approach to God (Sailhamer 1992:298). The