I’m reading the book of Exodus and I’ve reached the part were God has given them instructions about how to build the tabernacle. This can be quite a tricky section of the Bible to navigate and I’ve been thinking a lot about why its included in such detail within the scriptures.

First things first. What’s the tabernacle? The tabernacle was a portable shrine, it was the localization of God’s presence with his people, a visible symbol that he was their God. Here’s a handy picture I borrowed.

I often imagine how I would have felt if I was the one receiving this kind of detail from God. I would be writing it down as carefully as I could – it would be a special privilege. But does it really matter about the measurements? Was God really that concerned about these details? Why would He have been as specific it he didn’t matter?

There are a few reasons I have been thinking about.

Testing obedience – perhaps the reason God was so specific was because He wanted to see whether or not Moses and the Hebrew people would obey His instructions – could He trust them to carry out what He had asked them to do? I don’t think this is enough to explain why He was so detailed with His instruction but there could be a little of this going on.

There’s a science behind the numbers – maybe God knew things had to be a certain size in order to work. Maybe given the amount of people and the scale of the elements used, God just knew how big things needed to be in order to work well. I studied architecture and I still remember things like standard ceiling heights and door widths. These weren’t randomly decided numbers but they were chosen through research and testing – there are just the right size. Think about God’s creation and how carefully He placed planets in that if they were a little closer or further away they would burn up and freeze. Maybe these details just really matter to how the tabernacle would practically work.

Symbolism – this is the one that is most likely and the one that it is most written about. What we realise as we read about the tabernacle is that it is pointing towards something much bigger than a structure in the wilderness. That structure is important but it’s symbolism towards Jesus, the ultimate tabernacle can be seen throughout it. Here is a brief summary which I have borrowed from a post by Melissa McLaughlin

• Wall – Our sins separate us from God and show our need for Christ.
• Gate – Jesus is the only way in.
• Altar of Burnt Offering – Jesus is the final sacrifice.
• Basin – Jesus provides cleansing of our sins. He is the living water.
• Table with the Bread of the Presence – Jesus is the bread of life.
• Lampstand – Jesus is the light of the world.
• Altar of Incense – Believers carry the fragrance of Jesus.
• Ark of the Covenant – Jesus fulfilled the commands, delivered us from sin, provided for our greatest needs, met the demands for judgment, atonement and mercy needed for the forgiveness of our sins.

Even those these portions of Scripture can feel difficult to read, I love to try and wrestle with why God did this with His people and why those passages were included in the Bible. It’s such good practise for those of us who are followers to not just dismiss and move on but to dwell and ask questions.