In | The Tabernacle and Sinai

God’s presence has taken many forms in these first two books of the Bible. As God speaks from atop Mt. Sinai, He gives instructions for a tent that He will inhabit. How is this Tabernacle related to Mt. Sinai?

First, the Tabernacle perpetuates Mount Sinai. At the conclusion of the revelation at Sinai we read, “The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days” (24:16, RSV); when the Tabernacle was finished, “The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle” (40:34, NRSV). God’s presence, once on Sinai, is now over the Tabernacle.

Second, the Tabernacle intensifies Mount Sinai. At the peak of Mount Sinai Moses “entered the cloud” (24:18). But when the same divine glory enshrouded the Tabernacle, Moses “was not able to enter the tent of meeting” (40:35, RSV). At Sinai the divine presence is penetrable; at the Tabernacle the divine presence is initially impenetrable.

Third, the Tabernacle completes Mount Sinai. Sinai is a marriage, the start of a new relationship. Now the partners must start to live together. In Sinai God has said, “I have chosen you”; in the Tabernacle God has said, “I will dwell among the people of Israel, and will be their God” (29:43-46, RSV). Of course, it is precisely this divine presence that imparts sanctity to the Tabernacle, not the gold or expensive fabrics or presence of the Levites. The Tabernacle is holy only because it is the dwelling place of the holy God. If He leaves, all sanctity leaves.

The encounter that God had with Moses on Sinai was perpetuated, intensified, completed and extended in the Tabernacle. The terms of the encounter have become stricter in some ways, but the encounter has broadened to include, more than just Moses, the Israelite people.

Source and quotes from: Victor Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 2015, pp. 220-221.