Many people who read and study Pentateuch always wonder why all of these boring, minuscule and seemingly unimportant, irrelevant technical details of the Tabernacle take such a large portion of the Book of Exodus.
As I have pointed out on many occasions, the answer to this extremely important question is right in the original text.
Let's take a look at Exodus 25:8
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. [KJV]
8 And they have made for Me a sanctuary, and I have tabernacled in their midst [YLT]
8 Thus they will make for Me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle in their midst. [CLV]
8 wə‘āśû lî miqədāš wəšāḵanətî bəṯwōḵām: [tr]
8 וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃
This verse implies, that if we want to have God's presence to dwell[ושכנתי] among us, WE [ועשו] must build Him a proper Sanctuary [מקדש].
This means that all of these technical details are provided to us for a reason. This means that it is US who will have to build a place for God to dwell among us! This means that this is a matter of choice for us try to understand and use these instructions for a good cause.
It does not matter if it is going to be a Temple, a House, or a Tabernacle. What matters is that these particular specifications provided in the original text are included and accounted for in the design of this particular dwelling.
Human beings, unlike God, have to rely upon physical realities of the surrounding world and therefore if such dwelling is to be built, it would have to be in-line with the strict rules of architecture. That is why all of these technical details are so crucial.
In fact, the wording of the verse of Exodus 25:8 is not accidental. The word Sanctuary [מקדש] used in this verse has a connection with the verse of Genesis 28:17 (Jacob's Dream) and the word House[בית], which together form a well known expression - House of the Sanctuary [Beyth HaMiqdhash] [בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ] (i.e. 2 Chron 30:8).
In Gensis 28:17, The Tabernacle is described as The Heaven's Gate [ša‘ar haššāmāyim] (שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם), and this is essentially what it is!
Also, compare Exodus 25:8 to the verses of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 (particularly, 2 Samuel 7:7) and 1 Chronicles 17:1-15 (particularly 1 Chronicles 17:6).
As you can see from the aforementioned verses of Tanakh, The Tabernacle is the ONLY sanctuary, that is directly sanctioned by God Himself. Whereas, the Temple was only approved by God (even though with some degree of reservation) at the request of David, as David's reward for his righteousness, and was not directly sanctioned.
Another important conclusion that can be drawn from all the verses mentioned, is that in the original text of Pentateuch, The Tabernacle is referred to as (בית מקדש שכן ) "The House of Sanctuary of The Presence" (i.e Exod 25:8), whereas the Temple is referred to as (בית מקדש לשמי) "The House for the Sanctuary of The Name" (2 Sam 7:13 and 1 Kings 5:3).
Therefore, unlike most traditional opinions and interpretations imply, the Tabernacle is the only true permanent dwelling of the presence of God, even though it is portable and movable. And it is nothing compared to the immovable yet temporary dwelling such as the Temple made out of stone and mortar.
Just remember, that NO OTHER holy book of any other known religion includes similar, purely technical details for the House of God. This is due to the fact that in order to build the real Heaven's Gate, one would have to use very real, very much scientific, technical methods. And you cannot fake that !
In fact, the most significant practical application of the study and building of the Tabernacle is the benefits it may bring to everyday life. Just like the weapons of war or the Space Race brought practical and real advances in the civilian life (i.e Velcro computers, plastics, nuclear power plants e.t.c), so can the study of the structure and inter-workings of the Tabernacle can bring in the great advances in the very same civilian sector and improve everyday life of most people. This is because the Tabernacle, in the essence is a very complicated machine to allow the presence of God to physically dwell in our physical universe, and therefore the parts that the Tabernacle is made of and the principles it works by can also be very important to greatly advance what we call science.
Human beings, unlike God, have to rely upon physical realities of the surrounding world and therefore if such dwelling is to be built, it would have to be in-line with the strict rules of architecture. That is why all of these technical details are so crucial.
In fact, the wording of the verse of Exodus 25:8 is not accidental. The word Sanctuary [מקדש] used in this verse has a connection with the verse of Genesis 28:17 (Jacob's Dream) and the word House[בית], which together form a well known expression - House of the Sanctuary [Beyth HaMiqdhash] [בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ] (i.e. 2 Chron 30:8).
In Gensis 28:17, The Tabernacle is described as The Heaven's Gate [ša‘ar haššāmāyim] (שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם), and this is essentially what it is!
Also, compare Exodus 25:8 to the verses of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 (particularly, 2 Samuel 7:7) and 1 Chronicles 17:1-15 (particularly 1 Chronicles 17:6).
As you can see from the aforementioned verses of Tanakh, The Tabernacle is the ONLY sanctuary, that is directly sanctioned by God Himself. Whereas, the Temple was only approved by God (even though with some degree of reservation) at the request of David, as David's reward for his righteousness, and was not directly sanctioned.
Another important conclusion that can be drawn from all the verses mentioned, is that in the original text of Pentateuch, The Tabernacle is referred to as (בית מקדש שכן ) "The House of Sanctuary of The Presence" (i.e Exod 25:8), whereas the Temple is referred to as (בית מקדש לשמי) "The House for the Sanctuary of The Name" (2 Sam 7:13 and 1 Kings 5:3).
Therefore, unlike most traditional opinions and interpretations imply, the Tabernacle is the only true permanent dwelling of the presence of God, even though it is portable and movable. And it is nothing compared to the immovable yet temporary dwelling such as the Temple made out of stone and mortar.
Just remember, that NO OTHER holy book of any other known religion includes similar, purely technical details for the House of God. This is due to the fact that in order to build the real Heaven's Gate, one would have to use very real, very much scientific, technical methods. And you cannot fake that !
In fact, the most significant practical application of the study and building of the Tabernacle is the benefits it may bring to everyday life. Just like the weapons of war or the Space Race brought practical and real advances in the civilian life (i.e Velcro computers, plastics, nuclear power plants e.t.c), so can the study of the structure and inter-workings of the Tabernacle can bring in the great advances in the very same civilian sector and improve everyday life of most people. This is because the Tabernacle, in the essence is a very complicated machine to allow the presence of God to physically dwell in our physical universe, and therefore the parts that the Tabernacle is made of and the principles it works by can also be very important to greatly advance what we call science.
Therefore, it is up to US to build the dwelling for God's presence!
The dwelling of God is not going to magically appear out of nowhere or descent from Heavens in a ready-to-use state. In fact, it would not be even possible to build such dwelling without absolute, unconditional unity and collaboration between all of us.
The dwelling of God is not going to magically appear out of nowhere or descent from Heavens in a ready-to-use state. In fact, it would not be even possible to build such dwelling without absolute, unconditional unity and collaboration between all of us.
It is OUR responsibility to build proper, righteous dwelling for One God. No one else's !!!
Only then He will be willing to dwell in our midst. And since it is WE who are required to build Him His dwelling, all of these technical details of the Tabernacle description are essential and indispensable if we ever hope to accomplish this task.
We are very fortunate to have these specifications of the God's dwelling available to us. Therefore, it is critical to learn and properly understand them.
Only then, by building this Haven's Gate - The Tabernacle, we will acknowledge and prove to God that we indeed want and need His Presence to dwell among us!
Only then, by building this Haven's Gate - The Tabernacle, we will acknowledge and prove to God that we indeed want and need His Presence to dwell among us!
2 comments:
Александр, шалом!
Хочу попросить Вас перевести на русский статью "Важность Скинии", и поместить её на форуме levit1144.
И если Вы не против, я хочу поместить её в своём блоге.
Сегодня посмотрела видео "демонтаж ..." Мишкана и порадовалась за Вас и опять поплакала, так как представила себе всю грандиозность этого служения Богу.
Спасибо Вам за великий труд! Успехов Вам!
Аналемма 310311
Un gran proyecto, que Dios lo bendiga y le de la traduccion de estos comentarios. Algo que podria implementar al software seria la aparicion de ventanas con informacion y versiculos relacionados con el objeto que se esta observando en su programa, ya sea el tabernaculo, las murallas u otra cosa. Dios lo bendiga!
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