UNROLL
The finished tabernacle at first light, seen from a low rise: a white linen courtyard with a colored gate on its east side, a low dark tent inside it and a bronze altar before the tent, the dark tents of the camp quiet all around, under a clear pale sky.

The Book of

Exodus 40

A year after Egypt, the tent is finished. Everything is ready. Will God come and live among them?

38 verses≈ 6 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–6Slaves in EgyptOppression and a deliverer
  2. 7–13The plaguesThe LORD against Pharaoh
  3. 14–18Through the seaRescued and led
  4. 19–24At SinaiThe covenant and the law
  5. 25–31A place to dwellThe tabernacle planned
  6. 32–40Broken and renewedThe calf, mercy, the gloryChapter 40

Setting Up the Tabernacle

Then the LORD said to Moses, “On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

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Close view: golden olive oil poured from a small clay jug onto the gold-covered horn of a small altar, glistening as it runs down.

As the LORD commanded

How to set it up

  1. Most Holy Place

    The ark behind the veil

    Put the ark of the Testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil.

  2. Holy Place

    The table and the lampstand

    Then bring in the table and set out its arrangement; bring in the lampstand as well, and set up its lamps.

  3. Gold altar; the entrance curtain

    Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the Testimony, and hang the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

  4. Courtyard

    The altar at the entrance

    Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

  5. The basin, filled with water

    And place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

  6. The courtyard and its gate

    Set up the surrounding courtyard and hang the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard.

  7. Anointing

    Anoint the tabernacle

    Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it along with all its furnishings, and it shall be holy.

  8. Anoint the altar: most holy

    Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it shall be most holy.

  9. Anoint the basin and its stand

    Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

  10. Priests

    Wash Aaron and his sons

    Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.

  11. Clothe and anoint Aaron

    And you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments, anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he may serve Me as a priest.

  12. His sons: a permanent priesthood

    Bring his sons forward and clothe them with tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may also serve Me as priests. Their anointing will qualify them for a permanent priesthood throughout their generations.”

In profile, golden olive oil poured from a small clay jug onto the bowed head of an old man in priestly garments, running down into his gray beard.

Moses did everything just as the LORD had commanded him.

So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year.

Reflect

Everything, just as commanded

Less than a year earlier Israel had danced around a golden calf. Now God gives Moses a list, and “Moses did everything just as the LORD had commanded him.” Nothing added, nothing left out, every piece in the place God gave it. Obedience is not how Israel earned God’s favor; He had already rescued them and forgiven them. It is how they made room for Him. Is there one thing God has made plain to you that you have been leaving half-done? Write it down, and write the first step.

Inside the Holy Place of the tabernacle: the seven flames of the golden lampstand burning low before the dark inner curtain, the table of bread in shadow.

Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. He arranged the bread on it before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him.

He also placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle and set up the lamps before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil, and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the LORD had commanded him.

Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. He placed the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the LORD had commanded him.

He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing; and from it Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet. They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

The east side of the courtyard at sunrise seen from outside: the long white linen wall broken in the middle by a wide gate curtain embroidered in blue, purple, scarlet and white, hung on four posts.

And Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he hung the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.

Courtyard · 100 × 50 cubitsNGate · EastTent of MeetingBronze altarBasinThe tent, enlarged · 30 × 10 cubitsArkTableLampstandIncense altarVeilScreenMost Holy PlaceHoly Place

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

Set up in order

From the inside out

Moses raised the tent first, then worked outward: the ark in the Most Holy Place behind the veil; the table on the north side and the lampstand on the south; the gold altar “in front of the veil”; the entrance curtain; the bronze altar; the basin; and last the courtyard and its gate. The order runs from God’s throne out to the people’s door.

Question

Quick question

Moses set up the tabernacle piece by piece, from the ark outward to the courtyard.

What did Moses place inside the ark before he brought it into the tabernacle?

The Cloud and the Glory

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out through all the stages of their journey. If the cloud was not lifted, they would not set out until the day it was taken up.

At nightfall over the quiet camp, a tall column of cloud stands above the tabernacle's tent, its upper part still pale in the last of the daylight and its heart glowing with steady fire, lighting the linen court and the tent roofs below.

For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34

Pray

God with us

Exodus began with slaves crying out in Egypt. It ends with “the glory of the LORD” filling a tent in the middle of their camp. God came to live among His people, and He led them every step. In Jesus He has come nearer still, and by His Spirit He lives in His people now. Thank Him that He is with you. Ask Him to lead you, and to make you willing to move when He moves and wait when He waits.

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Exodus 40

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A verse to carry with you

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34

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