Exodus 25 King James Version (KJV)
25 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.
8 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.
10 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.
16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
17 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.
21 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.
23 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.
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.
30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
31 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 candlesticks 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.
37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
38 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.
Commentary
25:1-31:18 THE TABERNACLE AND THE PRIESTHOOD
Purpose of the tabernacle
The cloud on the mountain was only a temporary sign of God’s presence with his people. Now that Israel was beginning a new era, God gave the people a tabernacle, or tent, as a permanent sign that he dwelt among them and was part of them. He was the very centre of their national life. This tabernacle was known as the tent of meeting (39:32), for it was the place where God met with his people. It was also called the tent of the testimony (38:21), to remind the people that within it, in the ark, was the testimony of God, the law, that was to guide and control their lives.
Yet while God dwelt among his people, he also, in a sense, dwelt apart from them, for they were sinful and he was holy. They could not come to God directly. They had to come first to the priests and offer sacrifices, then the priests approached God on their behalf. The contrasts between the limitations of this old covenant and the perfections of the new covenant through Jesus Christ are presented in the New Testament book of Hebrews. But until God’s purposes were fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the laws and ceremonies of the old covenant helped people to understand God and to understand themselves.
God did not design these laws and ceremonies as a means by which people might earn salvation.
Rather they were part of the developing plan of God that showed people, stage by stage, how he was able to forgive those who trusted in him, yet be just in doing so. This revelation reached its climax in Jesus Christ, and on the basis of his death God could forgive all who had faith in him, even those who lived in Old Testament times (Rom 3:25-26; Heb 9:15).
Then, as now, people were saved only by faith in the sovereign God who in his mercy forgave them and accepted them. Faith, not understanding, was the requirement for salvation. A person’s understanding of how God’s work of salvation operated depended on how far the divine revelation had progressed in its movement towards completion in Jesus Christ. But in any era the repentant sinner who turned in faith to God could be forgiven.
Design of the tabernacle
The tabernacle was designed so that it could be easily put together, taken apart and transported, for the people of Israel took it with them on their journey to Canaan and set it up at camps along the way.
Simply described, the tabernacle consisted of a wooden box-like frame covered with a cloth and protected from the weather by a tent that covered the whole. In outward appearance it was a tent (which is the meaning of the word ‘tabernacle’). The timber framed structure hidden under this tent consisted of two rooms. The front room, which was entered through a curtain, was called the Holy Place and contained three pieces of furniture – a table, a lampstand and an altar for burning incense. A second curtain separated the Holy Place from the smaller rear room, which was called the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. This room was the symbolic dwelling place of God and contained the ark of the covenant.
This tabernacle-tent was set in a large court surrounded by a fence. In this enclosure were two articles, the most important of which was an altar on which all the animal and food sacrifices were offered. The other article was a laver, or large basin, in which the priests washed. The tabernacle complex was in the centre of the camp, with the people’s tents pitched in an orderly arrangement around it (see Num 2:1-31; 3:21-38).
As a structure, the tabernacle was entirely suited to Israel’s circumstances. A tent over a prefabricated frame was suitable for a travelling people, and its construction could withstand the desert winds. Many of its articles of furniture were fitted at the corners with rings, through which poles were placed to make the articles easy to carry. The wood to be used was plentiful in the region, did not warp or rot easily and was light, which helped further towards easy transport. Metals were of the kind that would not rust. Timber was overlaid with metal, bronze being used to cover articles in the open courtyard, and gold those inside the tabernacle-tent. Cloth hangings were suitable for the entrances and partitions of a tent.
The brilliance of the metals and the richness of the cloth hangings increased as one moved from the outer court, through the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place. This helped emphasize the glory and majesty of Yahweh, the King of Israel (cf. 28:2).
Materials given by the people (25:1-9)
All the building materials used in the tabernacle came from the voluntary offerings of the people, who at the time were enjoying a degree of prosperity because of their recent gains from the Egyptians and the Amalekites (25:1-7; see 12:36; 17:13). The people gave so generously that Moses had more than he needed and asked them not to bring any more (see 36:5-7). In order that the visible (symbolic) dwelling place of God might be a help and not a hindrance to the people’s spiritual growth, everything had to be built according to God’s instructions. The people were not to try to ‘improve’ God’s plan by introducing ideas they may have got from similar kinds of structures they had seen in Egypt (8-9).
Ark of the covenant (25:10-22)
The ark (GNB: covenant box) was a gold covered wooden box, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. (A cubit was about forty-four centimetres or eighteen inches.) It was the only piece of furniture in the Most Holy Place (see 26:34). Inside the ark were the two stone tablets on which the law was written, as a constant reminder to the people of Israel that the God who dwelt among them was also their law-giver (10-16; Deut 10:1-5). (Later Aaron’s rod and the golden pot of manna were also placed in the ark; see Heb 9:4.)
A specially sacred part of the ark was its richly ornamented lid, called the mercy seat. The two cherubim (GNB: winged creatures) attached to the top of the mercy seat apparently symbolized divine protection of the seat, the ark and the contents (17-21). This mercy seat appears to have been a visible throne for the invisible God. It was the place where God spoke with Moses and where the high priest made atonement for the sins of the people when he entered the Most Holy Place once a year (Lev 16:1- 19,29-31; Heb 9:7). The name mercy seat emphasized to the people of Israel that when they finally
reached the heart of their religion they were still sinners, dependent entirely upon the mercy of God for their salvation (22).
The table and the lampstand (25:23-40)
These two pieces of furniture were placed opposite each other against the side walls of the Holy Place (see 26:35). The table was made of wood overlaid with gold, and the vessels associated with it (used in the ceremonies of the Holy Place) were all made of gold (23-29). On the table were twelve small loaves of bread (called ‘presence bread’) arranged in two rows of six. Each Sabbath the priests placed twelve fresh loaves on the table and ate the old loaves (Lev 24:5-9). The symbolism of the presence bread is not explained. Possibly it was a reminder that the whole of Israel, in its twelve tribes, lived constantly in the presence of God. God was their provider, and the bread was a fitting and constant acknowledgment of this before him (30).
No dimensions are given for the lampstand. It weighed about thirty-five kilograms, held seven lamps, was made of one piece of gold, and was richly ornamented. Its trays and other utensils were also of gold. This seven-headed lamp provided continual light in the otherwise dark Holy Place, and was tended by the priests morning and evening (31-40; cf. 27:20-21).