Exodus 25:1-9

Exodus 25-31. P The Tent of Meeting or Dwelling of Yahweh. To pass from the action and movement, and the jostling of old and new, in Exodus 25:19 into the group of Chapter s 25- 31 is like passing from the crosscurrents and broken waters of an open, storm-tossed bay into the calm and order of an enclosed harbour. It is explained by the theory, now generally accepted, that strange as it seems to our ideas we have here no ancient, much less contemporary, account of the planning of the Tabernacle in minutest detail, but the leisurely elaboration, by that school of scribes of which Ezra was the type and leader, of their view of what must have been in the mind of Moses, on the general assumption that the Temple at Jerusalem before its destruction, Ezekiel's sketch (Ezekiel 40-48), and Zerubbabel's reconstructed building could be taken as imperfect copies of the ideal once realised in the golden age of Moses. That, therefore, which to these scribes seemed to point most clearly to what they believed best for the Temple worship of their own times, they set down without hesitation as what actually was long ago.

The grounds for this view can only be barely indicated here. The practical conditions, quietly assumed, as to leisure, materials, labour, and skill, are all contradicted by the artless narratives of JE, and are incredible in themselves; e.g. the weight of metals required was eight and a half tons, and its value at present rates about £ 200,000. There was, indeed, a sacred Tent of Meeting, but it was utterly different in all respects from the splendid portable temple of P (see pp. 123f., Exodus 33:7 *). And the existence of this last is virtually excluded by those passages of Judges and Samuel where it must have been referred to. Further, the account, for all its minuteness, is quite incomplete as a specification of work to be done (cf. M- Neue, p. lxxx). The religious value, however, remains the same, while an insoluble historical difficulty is removed. Indeed, just because it is late, this account presents profounder religious ideas. These will be noted in their place. Only here and there is the inner meaning of the whole or the parts specified, but each main element will have had its symbolic idea, and will often also bear a typical application to that system which replaced shadow by substance (see Hebrews 8-10*, and commentaries by Westcott and Nairne). The best working out of the details as a whole is in A. R. S. Kennedy's article on the Tabernacle (HDB). M- Neile is also clear and full on all aspects. See further on Exodus 35-40.

Exodus 25:1 P ( 6 R). Appeal for Materials. Man's liberality must provide God's Dwelling, the materials of which must come by way of contribution (Exodus 25:1 a, not offering, but what is - taken off-' from some larger mass, Driver). The metals needed (Exodus 25:3 b) were gold, silver, and bronze (i.e. copper hardened by tin. the precursor of iron, not brass, i.e. copper and zinc) The spun and woven materials required costly dyes, violet and purple-red from Mediterranean shell-fish, and scarlet from an insect reared on the Syrian holmoak; and they included fine linen (not cotton, as mg. or silk) and goat's-hair (Exodus 25:4). Skins of rams and porpoises were needed for outer coverings of the tent (Exodus 26:14), and acacia wood for the framework (Exodus 25:5), as well as oil and spices (Exodus 25:6), and gems (Exodus 25:7). All were needed to make for Yahweh a sanctuary where He may dwell in their midst (Exodus 25:8).

The Godward-tending spirit of man, climbing upwards, has clung to the belief in some Real Presence of God in the world, and has found in sacred places points of attachment for this faith. In Exodus 20:24 f. we have an early stage of this belief. But the rude altars of earth or unhewn stone, set on ground fragrant with some gracious memory of a very present God, lost their simplicity. Countless high places were scenes of the degradation of worship into riotous pleasure-seeking, through the rivalry of local priesthoods. The reform under Josiah centralised worship at Jerusalem, and cleared the ground for the unchallenged and unique sanctity assumed in these Chapter s to belong to the One Dwelling of Yahweh in the midst of His people.

The general truth that God is the author of all wisdom and skill is here expressed in the statement that Moses was to make both the sanctuary and its furniture (i.e. fittings and utensils) according to a model shown him in the mount (Exodus 25:9). Driver recalls how Gudea, king of Lagash (c. 3000 B.C.), was shown in a dream, by the goddess Nina, the complete model of a temple which he was to erect in her honour: gold, precious stones, cedar, and other materials for the purpose were collected by him from the most distant countries. Any thing of beauty must be first seen upon the mount of vision before the artist can give it external form. The AV confused the two Hebrew names -ô hel and mishkan by the indiscriminate use of tabernacle. It is best to render the former always tent with RV (see Exodus 27:21 *), and the latter dwelling with RV mg., thus preserving the idea of Exodus 25:8 throughout the many repetitions of the title.