The erection of the tabernacle.
At last the work of preparation was over. The work for which God had begun to give instructions more than nine months previously (Exodus 25:1) was completed. All the parts of the structure, pillars, curtains, boards, sockets, bars, taches, hooks, pins; and all the furniture, ark, altars, table, candlestick, laver, vessels, censers, tongs, ash-pans—were finished and ready. All had been inspected by Moses, and approved (Exodus 39:43); they answered to the pattern which had been shown him in the mount (Exodus 25:40). Still, however, Moses waited until he received from God:—
1. The order for erection.
2. Instructions as to details.
I. THE ORDER FOR ERECTION. "On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation" (Exodus 40:2). The order included:—
1. The act. "Set up the tabernacle."
2. The agent. "Thou"—i.e; Moses.
3. The time.
"The first day of the first month." Concerning the act there is nothing to be said. It was implied in the first order given, and lay at the root of every subsequent direction. The tabernacle could only have been devised in order to be set up. But concerning the agent and the time there was room for doubt. As to the agent: Bezaleel, the master craftsman, might have been chosen to erect what he had constructed; or Aaron might have been deputed to arrange the temple of which he was to be chief minister; or Moses and Aaron and Bezaleel might have been constituted a commission to carry out the work conjointly. But it pleased God to appoint Moses alone. For every enterprise it is best to have one directing mind, one ultimate authority. Otherwise there will be conflicting views, waste of time and energy, and commonly an inharmonious result. And Moses, who had alone seen "the pattern on the mount," was beyond all doubt the fittest director that could have been selected. As to the time: any day that was not a Sabbath would have been fairly suitable; but there seems an especial appropriateness in the selection of the first day of a new year. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecclesiastes 7:1). A new year should begin with a good work. What better work for such a day than the opening of a Bethel—a house of God—a "tent of meeting," where God himself was to be met 9 God, who is the first, should have the first. First fruits of all things should be given to him. Thus, New Year's-day is a natural holy day. It opens the year. It is thus the most appropriate for openings.
II. INSTRUCTIONS AS TO DETAILS. A certain order had to be observed. God determined the order. First, the tabernacle itself was to be erected (Exodus 40:2); then the ark was to be brought in and placed in the holy of holies (Exodus 40:3); then the veil was to be hung up (ib,). After this the furniture of the holy place was to be brought in—the table of shewbread (Exodus 40:4), the candlestick (ib,), and the altar of incense (Exodus 40:5). Next, the hanging at the entrance to the tabernacle was to be put up (ib,) Lastly, the outer court and its furniture were to be taken in hand. The laver and altar of burnt offering were to be set in their places (Exodus 40:6, Exodus 40:7); the pillars and hangings which enclosed the court were to be arranged, and the curtain hung at the entrance to it (Exodus 40:8). The general law which pervades the whole is the precedence of the more important over the less important. We do not know what time intervened between the delivery of these instructions to Moses and "the first day of the second year"; but probably the interval was not long. Moses would employ it in selecting a site, and in preparing the artificers and others for the day's proceedings. When the appointed day arrived, he applied himself to the work (Exodus 40:17). First, he stretched, by means of cords and tent-pins, probably on a light wooden framework, the tabernacle cloth of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen (Exodus 26:1-6). Then he laid down the "sockets" of silver in their places, fitted the boards into them by means of their "tenons," put in the bars which kept the boards together, and reared up the pillars for the veil (Exodus 40:18). After this he stretched the goats'-hair covering, which constituted the tent, outside and above the tabernacle cloth, and placed over the goats'-hair covering the rams' skins and the seals' skins (Exodus 40:19). So much constituted the erection of the tabernacle proper. Next he proceeded to the furniture; he brought in the ark and mercy seat, and, having placed them in the holy of holies (Exodus 40:21), set up the vail; thus completing it, and isolating it from the holy place. After this, he brought in the furniture of the holy place—the table, the candlestick, and the golden altar—and arranged it (Exodus 40:22-26). He then, and not till then, according to the direction given to him (Exodus 40:5), put up the hanging which separated the tabernacle from the court (Exodus 40:28). Finally, he proceeded to set in order the court. He put the altar of burnt offering and the laver into their places (Exodus 40:29, Exodus 40:30), carried the hangings alongside the court's four sides, and arranged the curtain at the entrance (Exodus 40:33). So, with a minute observance of the directions given, "Moses finished the work." Note the exactitude with which Moses followed all the directions given him, together with the liberty which he claimed and exercised:—
1. To determine the time of their execution.
2. To fill up particulars with respect to which no directions had been given.
1. Of the first, the deferring of the consecration by anointment of the tabernacle and its furniture, and of the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 40:9-15), is the crucial instance. It has been said that these may have taken place on the same day as the erection of the tabernacle; but the mode in which the narrative of the consecration is introduced in Le Exodus 8:1-5, no less than the separation of the narrative from that of the present chapter, implies an interval between the two events. Probably, by the time of the completion of the court, the day was far advanced, and it would have been impossible to perform all the ceremonies commanded (Exodus 29:1-36) in the remaining space.
2. Of the second, the emplacement of the table and the candlestick (Exodus 8:22, Exodus 8:24), the burning of incense (Exodus 8:27), and the offering upon the altar of burnt offering (Exodus 8:29) are specimens. Evidently Moses considered that "God's instructions were not always to be carried out with literal exactness, but sometimes with an enlightened spiritual freedom."