Verses 1-7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak 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. 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, 4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, 5 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, 6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.
When the Hebrew people left Egypt, they had to carry everything they decided to take with them. It is amazing that the people took with them all the items or materials that would be needed for the construction of the tabernacle. This provision was not by accident or by coincidence. God had a plan and He made sure that the people would have what was necessary to build the tabernacle, the place where He would meet with Moses.
Application: God only wanted offerings from people who gave willingly and from the heart. God has not changed. Today He still wants gifts or offerings from people who give willingly and from the heart. Giving to the work of the LORD with a grudging attitude is not what He wants. God doesn’t need the believer’s money or material things. He can create them. He wants obedience and a people who love Him and who want to serve Him with their whole hearts. Just as God made sure that the Hebrew people who wanted to give had the necessary resources to do so, He will make sure believers today have the necessary resources to provide offerings for the work of the LORD.
Verses 8-9 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9 According 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.
The Hebrew word for “sanctuary” is “miqdash” and it means a holy place, a sacred place, or a chapel. What Moses was to build already existed in Heaven and the exact dimensions and all the construction design and decorations were given to Moses in specific detail. This was to be a very sacred and holy place built on Earth.
Verses 10-15 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. 12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. 13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. 15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
Shittim wood is thought to be the wood of the acacia tree. A cubit was a measurement of distance roughly the length of a man’s forearm, or about 18 inches. Notice that the number 18 is composed of three sixes and that it is therefore representative of the number of sin or of man. The ark, or chest, was a rectangle in shape and basically 45 inches by 27 inches by 27 inches. It had a “crown” or border on the top and four rings attached at the corners so that it could be carried by two bars or wooden poles, all of which were coated with gold.
Verse 16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
The ark was to house the testimony of God. A testimony could be a written or spoken statement such as the book Moses was writing or the tablets of stone that God wrote. It could also be evidence or proof of the covenant between God and the Hebrew people such as the pot of manna that was later placed in the ark. It was to be a safe container that would be carried from place to place by the Hebrew people and that would be a visual object reminding future generations of what had transpired in the lives of the Hebrew people and of the covenant made in the wilderness.
Verses 17-20 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
There are many artists’ renditions of what the ark and the mercy seat looked like, but nobody knows for sure. Just taking the Scriptural information presented here, it seems that the mercy seat was flat and a little smaller than the ark so that it could be placed on top of the ark within the borders of the crown.
The cherubims were first referenced in Genesis 3:24 and they were guardians of the garden of Eden carrying flaming swords. The next reference in the Bible is the one above. So what does a cherub look like and what is it? Since there is no reference of Moses encountering a cherub, he would have had to been given their description from the LORD in order for him to make two images of them out of gold. They are angelic beings, and the golden replicas of these angels were to be visual guardians of the ark. They were also visual representations of the separation of man from God due to sin. Only Moses and then only the High Priest could access the Holy of Holies where the ark and mercy seat was kept. The rest of the people did not have access but relied on the priests as intermediaries.
Verses 21-22 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
The mercy seat was not a place for Moses or the priests to sit on. It was the place that God chose to meet with Moses. To have mercy means to not give the punishment that a person deserves. An official definitions is, “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” God has every right to punish sinful man. By meeting Moses in this place of atonement, God was being merciful to His people and the name would always remind them of this fact. The testimony that was to be placed in the ark was a further representation of God’s mercy.
Verses 23-28 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. 27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. 28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
This table was a rectangle in shape, approximately 36 inches long by 18 inches deep and 27 inches tall all covered in gold with a crown around it like the one on the ark and it was to also have rings and staves so that it could be moved. The crown was a sign of royalty and the tabernacle was to be a place for the King of kings and LORD of lords, so of course it would bear the symbols of royalty.
Verse 29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
All the extras used in the tabernacle were of gold. One has to wonder how much jewelry and other golden items the Hebrew people took from the Egyptians when they left Egypt in order for this tabernacle project to be completed.
Verse 30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
The Hebrew word for “shewbread” is “lechem” and it occurs 297 times and has been translated a “bread” 237 times. So it is pretty safe to assume that the shewbread was a product made from grain and it had to be baked fresh everyday and replaced by the priests of the tabernacle. According to Matthew 12:4, it was lawful for the priests to eat this bread, but not for anyone else to eat it. An interesting point is that the word, “lechem”, is only translated as “shewbread” 18 times in the Bible, all of which are in reference to the bread placed on the table in the house of God. (Notice the three sixes represented here.) The rest of the time it is simply translated as “bread”. An example of this is in verse 25 of Exodus chapter 23 in which the bread (lechem) was that of the people.
Verses 31-36 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: 33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. 34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.
The Hebrew word for “candlestick” is “manowrah”, from which comes the word menorah. Although menorahs are used in Jewish circles today, it was a specific design told to Moses by God and it was to be used in the house of God. It was a holy item to be used in worship, not an item to be sold in stores today for people to decorate their houses or their windows after dark. Knops are thought to be bulbs or knobs as seen in ornaments. The whole candlestick was to be made as one piece of metal and it was to be decorated with flowers of gold. Each branch was to have a bowl or cup and a decorative knob with flowers. The four bowls most likely held the olive oil used to burn the candlestick and one bowl would service two branches, with the last bowl serving the central shaft. This writer is not aware of any drawings or art work that depicts this candlestick accurately. It must have been a work of art and a very beautiful object.
Verse 37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
These were lamps that would light up the interior of the tabernacle, and most likely, they would be olive oil burning lamps.
Verses 38-39 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
Snuffdishes were firepans or trays that could safely contain a flame.
Application: Everything Moses placed in the tabernacle represented something pointing to Jesus Christ and the New Testament church. The tabernacle was a building that God had for His people. It was holy or set apart from all other structures. Later, it was a Temple built by King Solomon. Today, the individual believers make up the spiritual tabernacle or temple of God. No building is needed as the people of the church are holy and set apart from unbelievers. The ark held evidence of the agreement God made with His people. Today, there is no need for an ark or chest to hold objects of faith. Jesus Christ is the ark of the Christian church and His death, burial and resurrection contain the agreement under the New Covenant with His people today. The mercy seat with the cherubims is no longer needed as God had mercy upon mankind once and for all when He sent Jesus as the final sacrifice and atonement for the sins of all people everywhere. God no longer requires a specific place to meet with His people as He now dwells with every believer in the form of the Holy Ghost/Spirit which a person receives at the time of conversion and He speaks with every believer through His Word, His spirit and prayer. Believers are no longer separated from the presence of God by guarding cherubims, and no intermediary priest is needed as all people who want to can access the presence of God spiritually. The table is no longer needed that held the shewbread as Jesus Christ is the shewbread for believers today: the bread of life. The candlestick and lamps are no longer needed to light the priests way into and through the house of God to the holy place where the ark was kept as Jesus Christ is the light of the world and leads each believer through this dark world to Heaven and eternity. Each believer and church is to be a light to the unbelievers of this world. No flame is needed as God is a consuming fire. No vessels of service are needed as each believer is to present his/her body as a living sacrifice in the service of the kingdom of God. Think about it.