Exodus 36

This chapter is divided into eight sections.

1.       Verse 1-7 – Israel continues to bring free will offerings to the Lord until they are instructed to stop.

2.       Verse 8-13 – The 10 curtains of the tabernacle.

3.       Verse 14-18 – The 11 curtains of goats hair for the tent of the tabernacle.

4.       Verse 19 – The covering of rams’ skins dyed red and the covering of badgers’ skins.

5.       Verse 20-30 – The boards of the tabernacle.

6.       Verse 31-34 – The bars of shittim wood for the boards of the tabernacle.

7.       Verse 35-36 – The vail of the tabernacle.

8.       Verse 37-38 – The hanging for the door of the tabernacle.

Verse 1-7 – Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded. 2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: 3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. 4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; 5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

I.   Verse 1-7 – Israel continues to bring free will offerings to the Lord until they are instructed to stop.

Verse 8-13 – And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them. 9 The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size. 10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another. 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 12 Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another. 13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.

I.   It is important to understand proper Biblical interpretation, that is, that scripture interprets scripture, in order to understand how the tabernacle is constructed and what it all means.

A.     If we would begin to read these passages, without having other passages to interpret them, we would continue into a mass of confusion.

1.       For example, many models of the tabernacle show a tent shaped structure, with a ridgepole higher than sides.

2.       The Bible nowhere mentions a ridgepole, or any other structure that could remotely be taken to be a ridgepole.

3.       If we construct the tabernacle according to the scriptures, we find it has a flat roof, and is not a very pretty building at all.

4.       Thieves would certainly pass it by, not knowing that the true value of material wealth is inside the tabernacle.

5.       But more importantly, the true value of the tabernacle is in the symbols the material wealth represents. 

B.     To fully understand how the tabernacle is constructed, it is important to keep on reading, and let the Word of God tell us how the tabernacle is constructed.

1.       It is important to keep our minds and hearts open and willing to understand what God is saying.

2.       If we keep reading, praying and allowing God to instruct us from his word, we will soon fully understand the tabernacle construction, but if we stop reading and make up our minds because we think it ought to be a certain way, we will never understand.

C.     So it is in our lives.

1.       We must never make up our own minds as to how to act or react.

2.       We must always allow God to instruct us, following his instructions to the letter.

3.       This is the only way we will please our heavenly father.

II.   Verse 8-13 – The 10 linen curtains of the tabernacle.

A.     The ten curtains are each 28 cubits long and 4 cubits wide.

1.       The total length of the linen curtains when they are all coupled together is 40 cubits (10 linen curtains X 4 cubits wide = 40 cubits long X 28 cubits wide.

2.       Five curtains are joined together with 50 loops of blue, and the other curtains are joined together with 50 loops of blue, then there are 50 taches (a hook or clasp which is used to join the two curtains together) of gold which join the two curtains together.

3.       It is easy to see that the taches were used so the two curtains could be separated for moving, while the five curtains were permanently joined together.

4.       Below is a graphical representative of the linen curtains.

Verse 14-18 – And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. 15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size. 16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.

I.   Verse 14-18 – The 11 curtains of goats hair for the tent of the tabernacle.

A.      

FIX THE TWO COLUMNS ABOVE THAT HAVE THE WRONG COLOR LOOPS.  I DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.

Verse 19 – And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that.

I.   Verse 19 – The covering of rams’ skins dyed red and the covering of badgers’ skins.

A.     There is no mention made of how big the two coverings (the rams’ skins and the badgers’ skins) should be.

B.     I think it is proper to assume that the covering of rams’ skins dyed red is big enough to completely cover the tent of the tabernacle.

1.       The tent of the tabernacle is comprised of two things.

a.       The ten curtains of fine twined linen, coupled into one piece.

b.       The eleven curtains of goats’ hair, coupled into one piece.

c.       The goat’s hair covering was placed on top of the curtain of linen.

2.       The view from the inside of the tabernacle is very pretty, ornate and full of meaning.

3.       The view from the outside of the tabernacle is not very pretty, or appealing to the senses.

II.   The tabernacle is comprised of four coverings, counting from the inside to the outside.

A.     The coverings of the tabernacle.

1.       The first covering is the linen curtain.

2.       The second covering is the goats’ hair.

3.       The third covering is the rams’ skin.

4.       The fourth covering is the badgers’ skin.

B.     I think it is altogether fitting to state that God has commanded the killing of animals and using their skins for the two coverings of the tabernacle.

1.       There are those “political correct” individuals who would not have any animal killed for the benefit of God or man.

2.       These people are placing animals on the same level of importance as man, because they believe in evolution and not creation.

3.       They are blind to Biblical teachings, and therefore come up with all these crazy ideas.

Verse 20-30 – And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. 21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. 22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward: 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, 26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. 28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. 30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.

I.   Verse 20-30 – The boards of the tabernacle.

A.     The boards are made out of shittim wood.

1.       This is probably the Acacia seyal (the gum-arabic tree); called the "shittah" tree.

2.       Its wood is called shittim wood #Ex 26:15,26 25:10,13,23,28 etc.

3.       This species is like the hawthorn, a gnarled and thorny tree.

4.       It yields the gum-arabic of commerce.

5.       It is found in abundance in the Sinaitic peninsula.

B.     The drawing below represents the boards of the tabernacle.

C.     A top view of the boards of the tabernacle would look like either of the following illustrations.

1.       I don’t know if it would make any difference with of the above illustrations was actually used.

2.       It does seem to me that the first view is correct, because the tents of the tabernacle would fit over the boards better.

II.   There are apparently eight rings that join the sides and ends of the boards.

A.     There are two rings on each corner.

1.       There is a ring at the top of the boards, and

2.       Another ring at the bottom of the boards,

3.       Which hold the corners together.

Verse 31-34 – And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other. 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

I.   Verse 31-34 – The bars of shittim wood for the boards of the tabernacle.

A.     There are five bars on the north, west, and south sides of the tabernacle.

1.       Apparently, (according to verse 33) the middle bar on the north, west and south sides of the tabernacle, go through the boards the entire length of the tabernacle.

2.       The other four bars on each side of the tabernacle (except the east side) fit into rings, which are equally spaced.

a.       There would be a ring at the bottom and top of each board.

b.       Then another ring approximately 2 ½ cubits from the top and 2 ½ cubits from the bottom.

II.   The boards are overlaid with gold.

A.     There is no information as to what the rings are made out of.

B.     It is likely they are formed from gold when the boards are overlaid with gold.

Verse 35-36 – And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work. 36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.

I.   Verse 35-36 – The vail of the tabernacle.

A.     This is the vail that separates the holy of holies from the most holy place.

Verse 37-38 – And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework; 38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.

I.   Verse 37-38 – The hanging for the door of the tabernacle.

A.     This hanging is on the east side of the tabernacle, and serves as a door.