Week 7

1/19/2025

Winter 2025

• Central Passage: Exodus 35-40; Leviticus 16; 19; 26

• Click here to see the Middle School Sunday school handout for Exodus. 

• Click here to see the Middle School Sunday school handout for Leviticus.

• Check out the Middle School Sunday School Resources page for other books of the Bible resources.

The passages for this week pertain to the building of the Tabernacle in Ex 35-40 and worshipping at the Tabernacle in Leviticus 16; 19; and 26. Admittedly, I meet the passages in the Bible that detail construction and adornment with as little enthusiasm as the genealogies in the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. Many Bible-believing Christians have made great efforts to show how every detail of the Tabernacle’s construction points to Christ. Perhaps more detailed analysis could lead to a more fruitful study in passages such as this. Maybe I would find it much more interesting to know that the bread of presence and the lampstand prefigure Jesus who is the bread of life and the light of the world (John 6:35; 8:12).

However, despite the earnest efforts of many faithful Christians to make as many connections as possible to Jesus with every small detail of the Tabernacle, the textual evidence is often lacking, including the example given above. The Bible often uses typology (shadows, patterns, and signs that point to their later fulfillment in Christ), but the inspired biblical authors did not care to use typology to show interesting historical coincidences. Rather, typology shows us consistent patterns of redemption that unify the story of the Bible. For instance, the prototype temple in Genesis 2 is the Garden of Eden; the type is the Tabernacle/temple where God’s presence dwells; and the antitype (fulfillment and fullest picture of the theme) is Jesus who dwelt among us (John 1:14) and will dwell among us in a redeemed creation. However, when people claim that every small detail of the Tabernacle’s construction resembles Christ, they are often closer to allegorizing the text, not showing how God’s story of salvation consistently connects His redemptive purposes.¹ For more information on typology and the Tabernacle, I cannot more highly recommend Chapter 8 in Urban Legends of the Old Testament in the Spurgeon Center.

So, how can we engage with this densely detailed passage? And why does God seem to care so much about adornment? God knows we are aesthetic creatures. Beauty is not a reflection of superficiality but creates transcendental longings in us. Charles Taylor said about art, aesthetics, and beauty, “Nature moves us; we have a deeper sense of meaning; we can’t see our ‘aesthetic’ responses as just another form of pleasurable reaction. They have a deeper significance” (A Secular Age, 596). Adornment evokes something in us, inspires us, and can consecrate us. If you have ever been to the dreary, messy, technologically outdated back offices of the Salem Post Office (with its dark blue undecorated walls), you might sympathize with our postal workers due to their aesthetically oppressive work environment where creativity and aspiration die. Forgive me if I sound harsh, but God understands that adornment is important and that beauty is a real thing that can deeply stir our affections. Beautiful, skillful adornment can instill reverence that consecrates an assembly of worshippers who need reminders of God’s beauty. Labor-intensive craftsmanship would have reminded Israel of their consecrated status with God in their midst. For this reason, God called Bezalel and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit to “devise artistic designs” with knowledge and craftsmanship (Ex 31:3-6). God’s creation is full of the synthesis of both function and artistry because God is beautiful and creative—and so is God-honoring worship.

As for the particular details of the Tabernacle, God intended them to communicate His covenant and story of salvation to Israel. The value of the materials increased toward the central Holy of Holies where God’s presence resided. The bread of presence, table, lampstand, and incense altar were Israel’s daily reminders that this was God’s house—He was in their presence. Furthermore, Tabernacle worship called their attention back to the God of creation. The lampstand resembled the Tree of Life from the Garden with six branches going out to the side and one in the middle (Ex 25:31-35). As the biblical authors associated life and light, so does this homage to the Tree of Life, a lampstand that they lit every day (Ex 27:20-21). The Tabernacle entrance (and the future temple) faced east, the same direction to which God exiled Adam and Eve.² The Cherubim on either side of the Ark (Ex 25:18-22) were reminders of the Cherubim that God placed to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen 3:24). The Ark, the footstool of God’s throne, contained the Ten Commandments, God’s law, just as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (God’s proto-law) governed the garden and creation (Gen 2:17). Leviticus 26:12 even uses the same Hebrew verb and stem that Gen 3:8 uses to refer to God’s walking [back and forth] in their presence. All of these details that reminded Israel of creation and Adam’s expulsion from God’s presence are God’s beautiful display of His story of salvation in which He calls sinners out of exile and back into His presence.

These themes of God’s presence, creation, rest, and deliverance are summarized by the final Sabbath command in Exodus (Exodus 35:1-3). This important sign of the covenant is repeated for the fourth and final time because God renewed His covenant with Israel in Exodus 34 following the Golden Calf incident. This commandment was more important to Israel than we often realize. It is the only commandment God gave with the reason being to imitate Him. Israel was to rest because God rested on the seventh day of creation. God didn’t rest because He was tired; He rested to claim creation as His dwelling place (cf. Psalm 132:13-14). Israel entered that rest because the God of creation dwelt in their midst. So, instead of looking for answers in historical coincidences behind the details of the Tabernacle (such as the four colors of the curtain representing the primary message of the four canonical Gospels), look at what the details beautifully communicate (to Israel first) about God’s plan to restore creation by calling His fallen image bearers back into His presence.

1. Though the difference between Typology and Allegory is difficult to discern at times, there are important differences. Typology is often guided by the biblical authors themselves. For instance, Matthew made numerous parallels between the life of Israel and the life of Jesus throughout his Gospel, showing that Israel's life foreshadowed Jesus' life. Typology also recognizes consistent biblical themes across the story of the Bible. It's much easier to link the details of the Tabernacle's construction and worship practices to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 because (1) Moses is the inspired author of both, and (2) the language, phrases, and imagery all have direct parallels to the garden. Allegory, on the other hand, may sometimes stumble upon spiritual truths, but it does so with improper biblical interpretation/hermeneutics. Allegorists often try to look for hidden meanings in the text that are not apparent. Typology analyzes literary themes, but allegory looks for baseless hidden meaning. For instance, The Epistle of Barnabas, likely written in Alexandria during the early second century AD, allegorically interprets the Old Testament. It claims that the command not to eat swine/pork really means to not associate with men who are like swine. The hidden spiritual meaning is more important to an allegorist than the historical, plain meaning or ethical intention of the text (Olson, The Story of Christian Theology, 49). Note: when people focus on historical coincidences of the Tabernacle, it often appears closer to allegory than typology, though it may not be as misguided as pure allegory. 

2. For more understanding on the eastward throughout the Bible, see the last paragraph for the Genesis 4 recap.