God Dwells Among His People

Moses gathers the people: six days of work, a Sabbath of rest; and then the invitation, "Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it." Men and women bring bracelets, earrings, rings, yarn, skins, wood, oil and spices. Women skilled in spinning spin blue, purple and scarlet yarn and goats' hair.

Every morning they bring more, until the craftsmen tell Moses, "The people bring much more than enough." Moses sends word through the camp to stop, "for the stuff they had was sufficient… and too much."

Bezalel, Aholiab and every skilled worker make the curtains, boards, veil, ark, table, lampstand, altars, basin, courtyard and priestly garments, exactly as commanded; the account repeats the instructions almost word for word. "According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it… and Moses blessed them."

On the first day of the first month of the second year, Moses sets up the tabernacle, places the ark, hangs the veil, sets out the bread and lamps, burns incense, and offers sacrifices. "So Moses finished the work."

"Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon." Whenever the cloud lifted, Israel set out; when it stayed, they stayed, "throughout all their journeys."

Creation and tabernacle

Many readers, Jewish and Christian, have noticed that the tabernacle account echoes the creation story. The instructions come in seven speeches ("And the LORD spake unto Moses"), and the seventh is about the Sabbath. At the end, "Moses did look upon all the work… and Moses blessed them" (39:43) echoes "God saw every thing that he had made… and God blessed" (Genesis 1:31; 2:3), and "so Moses finished the work" (40:33) echoes "God ended his work" (Genesis 2:2). The tabernacle is pictured as a small world, ordered and complete, where God can dwell.

Glory that fills a house

The same scene happens again when Solomon dedicates the Temple: "the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister" (1 Kings 8:10–11). Ezekiel later sees the glory leave the Temple before its destruction (Ezekiel 10) and return to a new temple (Ezekiel 43).

The Greek version of the building account

In the Septuagint, Exodus 35–40 is arranged differently from the Hebrew: the priestly garments come before the tabernacle structure, some sections are shorter, and some items are missing or placed elsewhere (the incense altar is absent from the building account). Scholars debate whether the Greek translator worked from a different Hebrew text, abbreviated freely, or whether the chapters were finished by a different translator. It is one of the largest differences between the Greek and Hebrew in the Torah.