The Design
Before we can understand the fuller message of the Tabernacle, we need to get a bird's-eye view of its structure. We need to study, verse by verse, chapters 24 and 25, Exodus, and to follow closely the details which are mentioned there.
First we read about the Ark, which was in the inner Sanctuary of the Tabernacle (Exod. 25.10-22). How was it made? Imagine a box made of shittim wood, 2^1/2 cubits long, 1^1/2 cubits wide and the same height. A cubit is about 20 inches, so 2^1/2 cubits would be approximately 50 inches. This box, made of shittim wood, was overlaid with gold inside and outside. The cover, or lid, which was made of pure sheet gold, was God's ‘Mercy Seat’. Of one piece with this gold plate and overshadowing it were two cherubim, and it was from between these cherubim that God used to speak.
The inner sanctuary where this Ark was placed was called the Most Holy Place, and in front of this was another, larger room called ‘the Holy Place’. In the latter was a candlestick, an altar for incense and a table for shewbread (Exod. 25.23-39; 30.1-6). Dividing the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was the veil (Exod. 26.31-33).
Now mark carefully the coverings of the Tabernacle. In the Tabernacle the walls were boards, but the ceiling was not made of tiles or wood, but of curtains (Exod. 26.1). There were, in all, four coverings. The first layer, we are told, was made of ten lengths of fine twined linen, each 28 cubits long and 4 cubits broad (Exod. 26.1-6). These ten curtains were put together in two sets of five each, and were joined to one another by 50 blue loops and 50 gold taches. Thus they formed a single covering for the whole roof hanging down on each side. Together they formed “one tabernacle” over the sanctuary (Exod. 26.6).
The linen was interwoven with blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and cherubim were embroidered upon it. The same materials were also used for the veil and for the hangings at the door of the Tabernacle and at the gate of the court. We cannot stay for all the details, though we might learn much from the dimensions, from the 50 loops, from the gold taches and from the beautifully wrought cherubim. Every small detail has something to teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second set of curtains, which also hung down on this side and that side, forming the second covering of the Sanctuary, was woven of goats' hair, and each curtain was 30 cubits in length and 4 in breadth (Exod. 26.7-13). In this case there were not ten curtains, but eleven, and they were joined in two sets of five and six. Together they formed the “tent” of the Tabernacle. Here the taches were of brass, not gold, and this too had a meaning. Over this was a third covering of rams' skins dyed red, and on top of this again, was the last covering of badgers' skins (Exod. 26.14).
Thus we see, first of all, the woven linen “tabernacle” underneath; then a curtain “tent” of goat's hair; over that a covering curtain of rams' skins dyed red; and right over all a covering curtain of badgers' skins.
Generally, men use bricks or stones to build a wall, but in this case, we are told that the walls of the Tabernacle were made of boards of shittim wood covered with gold (Exod. 26.15-30). Each board was 10 cubits high, and 1^1/2 cubits wide. There were 20 boards on the north side, 20 boards on the south side and 8 boards on the west side. In other words the total length of the Tabernacle was 30 cubits, the height 10 cubits, and the width 12 cubits. Those were the dimensions of the Sanctuary. At the bottom of each board were two tenons which rested upon silver sockets. Presently we shall learn the meaning of these.
As we have seen, the inner part was called the Most Holy Place and the outer part was called the Holy Place. The priests could enter the Holy Place every day, to keep the lamps alight and the incense burning day and night and to change the shew-bread each week. But only Aaron, the High Priest, might pass through the veil to enter the Most Holy Place and even he could do so only once a year. Others could not enter there at all. Such a veil hung also, you will remember, in the later temple at Jerusalem, and it was the rending in twain of that dividing veil when our Lord died on the Cross that signified that the way into the Holiest is now open through the Blood of Jesus (Heb. 9.12).
Between the Tabernacle and the main entrance of the outer courtyard was an altar 5 cubits long, 5 cubits wide, and 3 cubits high, made of shittim wood, but covered with brass (Exod. 27.1-8), and near it there was a brass laver (Exod. 30.17-21). Do not think that they were using brass just to save gold. They had brought so much gold that Moses had said: ‘Do not bring more’. No I it was not to save gold, but again, for a special reason, that they used brass on the altar.
The outer walls of the courtyard were of white linen hung on pillars which stood in sockets of brass (Exod.27.9-18). The north and the south walls were 100 cubits long, and 5 cubits high and the west wall was 50 cubits long. The length of the east wall was also 50 cubits, but it had a gate in the centre 20 cubits wide, hung with embroidered linen.
The meaning of all these things you must seek in the Bible itself. The Bible is the best commentary we have. But concerning them all God said one thing to Moses very clearly: “Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount” (Exod. 25.40). Surely this says to us that, whether we understand all the details or not, they are meant to speak to us of heavenly realities. They have a message for us all.