The Story

Primary and Junior

Who will remind us about the tabernacle, its walls and coverings; the most holy place, the holy place and the court? Now we must learn what was in these different parts of the tabernacle.

In the most holy place was the ark with the Commandments in it, written upon the two tables of stone. The ark was a sacred chest made of shittim wood and covered with gold within and without. It was 2 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 cubits broad and high. (Remember that the cubit was the length from the elbow to the end of the fingers, about 18 inches. The ark then was 3 feet 9 inches long and 2 feet 3 inches broad and high.) There were four rings near the corners, two on the front side and two on the back, into which were put staves of wood covered with gold, by which the ark was carried. The ark had a crown of gold about the edge. The lid, which was called the mercy seat, was of solid gold, and from the two ends of it arose two cherubim. We may think of them as angel forms. They faced each other and stretched out their wings toward each other over the mercy seat. The presence of the Lord was felt and answers were given "from above the mercy seat." He was called, "Thou that dwellest between the cherubim." (Ps. 80:1) No one ever entered the most holy place but the high priest once a year.

The priests every day came into the outer chamber of the tabernacle. Standing at the curtained doorway, on the right hand (which was the north side, as the tabernacle faced the east) stood a table made like the ark of shittim wood covered with gold. (2 cubits long, 1 cubit wide, 1 1/2 cubits high; show me about how large it was.) It had a border and a crown around it and four rings at the corners, in which the staves were put for carrying the table. Upon this table were golden dishes and two piles of thin loaves of bread called showbread; six loaves were in a pile, with pure incense laid upon the top. The showbread was put in order upon the table every Sabbath; and that which was taken away was eaten by the priests in the holy place. (Lev. 24:5-9)

Opposite the table, on the left of one entering the tabernacle, was the "candlestick" or branching lamp of pure gold. It was no doubt in general form like the lamp sculptured on the Arch of Titus at Rome, which represents the triumph after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. It had a middle stem and three branches from each side. Under each pair of branches there was a knop or enlargement of the central stem, and the branches were wrought in the form of knops and almond flowers, each ending in a little cup for oil. The lamp was carried upon one bar. The people brought the best olive oil for the light, and the priests trimmed the wicks and filled the lamps every morning and lighted them every evening. So the holy place was bright while the most holy place was dark. (Lev. 24:1-4)

There was one other thing in the holy place of the tabernacle, just in front of the priest as he entered, from the court, the little altar of incense. It was of shittim wood covered with gold, a cubit square and 2 cubits high, with a crown of gold about it and horns, and two rings, one in each side, under the crown, in which the staves were put to carry it. Aaron burned sweet incense on this altar every morning when he trimmed the lamps and every evening when he lighted them. (Exod. 30:1-10)

In the court before the tabernacle was a much larger altar. It was made of wood covered not with gold but with brass or copper, and part of it was also of open work of brass. It was 5 cubits long, 5 cubits broad and 3 cubits high. There were horns at the four corners. All the vessels and instruments of the altar were of brass. There were rings in the sides in which the staves were put to carry it. This altar was not for incense but for burnt offerings which were made every morning and evening and at many other times. (Exod. 27:1-8)

Between the altar and the tabernacle was placed the laver of brass, which was made of the polished mirrors of the women. It was like a large basin resting upon a base. It was filled with water from which Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet before going into the tabernacle or offering sacrifices on the altar. (Exod. 30: 17-21)

Study Exod. 37; 38:1-8 in preparing the lesson, but the brief account of setting up the tabernacle (Exod. 40) is better for reading with the class.

1. What was in the most holy place? What was in the ark? What was the mercy seat?

2. What was in the holy place? What was the showbread?

3. What was in the court?

4. What must we do which is represented by the priests’ washing their hands and feet at the laver?

SPIRITUAL STUDY

The tabernacle represents every dwelling-place of the Lord: heaven, His dwelling in every good person, and the Lord's own Divine Humanity. Think first of the tabernacle as representing a human life in true order.

Begin with the court, which represents the outward life open to the view of the world. What does the laver mean where the priests must wash their hands and feet? It means the duty of making our life pure and right by the rule of the Divine commandments. The altar where burnt offerings were made shows us the duty of consecrating every faculty and ability to the service of the Lord. The offerings were killed at the altar to represent the entire giving up of our abilities as our own. When we give them to the Lord, a new life from within kindles them like the fire of the altar. (A. 10235, 10042)

Within this pure and consecrated outward life there are thoughts and feelings hidden from the world. Look into the tabernacle and see what they should be. All is beautiful and golden. There is the table of showbread, which represents our feelings of love for what is good, the bread which strengthens a person’s heart; and the bright light of the lamps is the clear understanding of what is true; and the altar with its sweet incense is the prayer and worship which rise to the Lord from our grateful heart. These feelings and thoughts are hidden from the world but we ourselves are conscious of them, and we ought to order them every week and every day before the Lord. (A. 9548, 10177)

Away in the centre of every good heart, hidden from the world, and largely even from one's own consciousness, there is a chamber where the Lord is immediately present and His laws become written upon the very heart. Here the holiest affections surround the Lord's presence like the cherubim with their outstretched wings. From this inmost region of the soul the Lord speaks in the voice of conscience; we hear it in the chamber of conscious thought, and we obey it in the outward life of the world. (A. 9485)

Again, if the tabernacle represents perfect life and character it represents the Lord, for His life with people is the only perfect life. He called Himself the tabernacle and temple. (John 2:19-22; Rev. 21:3, 22) The glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle at its completion was a prophecy of the greater glory which filled Him when His work on earth was done. (A. 414; R, 882)

LEADING THOUGHT - THE TABERNACLE

The Ten Commandments which were written by the finger of God upon two tables of stone are likewise called the "Covenant" and also the "Testimony" - for they testify or bear witness to the Divine Truth, and thus to the Lord. Indeed the "Testimony," having been given directly from the Lord, represented Him.

When we read the story of the newly born Moses in the ark of bulrushes, we learned of the splendid ark of shittim wood overlaid with gold, in which the Commandments or Testimony was kept. This ark, with the golden mercy-seat, or "propitiatory" over it, was called "the ark of the testimony" and also "the ark of the covenant." The tables of stone, with the precious Commandments written on them, were kept safe in this ark, which was nearly four feet long, and about two and a half feet wide, and of the same height.

But where was the ark kept? In a beautiful tent or tabernacle, which is carefully described in Exodus 26 and 27. It had two rooms, the inner room was called the "holy of holies," where the ark was kept, and where no one was allowed to enter, except the high priest, once a year. The other room was larger and was called the "holy" place, and contained the table of showbread, the candlestick or lampstand, and the golden altar of incense. Around the tabernacle was an enclosure, which was called the "court" and here, between the door of the tabernacle and the gate of the court, was the large brazen altar of burnt offerings, and the brazen laver, or wash-basin.

The tabernacle stood in the center of the encampment of the children of Israel. Directly around it the tribe of Levi, who had charge of it, encamped according to their families; and around these, the twelve tribes of Israel, all in their order.

We have seen that the "Testimony" represented the Lord. What then did the tabernacle represent? Heaven. As the testimony was in the tabernacle, and the tabernacle would not have been holy unless the testimony had been in it, so the Lord is in heaven, and heaven is not holy, it is not heaven, unless the Lord be in it.

But why were there three parts to the tabernacle - the "holy of holies," the "holy," and the "court"? Because there are three heavens.

The holy of holies represented the third, or celestial, or highest, or inmost heaven.

The holy represented the second, or spiritual, or middle heaven.

The court represented the first, or natural, or lowest heaven.

And everything belonging to the tabernacle, the furniture, the curtains, the boards, the hooks, the staves, the pins, as well as the number of planks, the number of curtains, the number of cubits in the various dimensions - every little or big thing that is told in the description, represented something that belongs to heaven. It would take a book to tell it all. Indeed, more than one volume of the Arcana Coelestia or Heavenly Secrets is devoted to explaining what it all means to the angels. The Lord has been so good and kind to us as to explain it; and you may learn at least a few of the most important things in this lesson.

The "Testimony" represented the Lord, and His Word of Truth. The table was made for the showbread, and the bread represented the same thing as did the manna which came down from heaven, and also as did the bread of the Holy Supper - namely, the food which sustains the life of the angels. The lampstand or candlestick, with its light, represented the truth which enlightens the minds of angels. The golden altar of incense represented the worship which the angels render to the Lord with their pious thoughts, as in their prayers and in the love for the neighbor which they show forth in accordance with the Lord's commandments. The brazen altar of burnt offerings represented the worship which the angels accord the Lord with their loving hearts.

Swedenborg tells us the special reason why the Lord desired to have a tabernacle reared to Him - for this tabernacle was used not only in the desert, but also after they entered the land of Canaan, where it was set up at Shiloh, and later in Zion, being used throughout a period of about five hundred years. Now, why should the Lord desire a tabernacle or tent, instead of a house such as a temple? Because the people whom the Lord had loved most of all, namely, the Most Ancients, who had lived during the golden age, had all lived in tents. Because the good life of this people was associated with tents, therefore genuine goodness and everything celestial is represented by tents or tabernacles.

In the work entitled Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love (n. 75), Swedenborg describes a visit which he once paid to these most ancient people, who are now all angels.

The Lord sent an angel to Swedenborg to be his companion on the way, for they had to make a long and hard journey, which took them for some time through a very dark forest, full of lurking dangers from giants and wild animals, and full of chances to go astray. But with the angel as his guide, they passed through safely and gradually went higher and higher, until at last they came on a high, sunlit mountain tableland. And here they found these most lovable and excellent angels still living in tents as they had done on earth. As far as the eye could reach, Swedenborg saw tents and tents. The inhabitants of the mountain called it "the camp of the Lord Jehovih," and they called themselves the "hosts of the Lord Jehovih." This will help you to understand why the Lord is called, in the Word, "the LORD of Hosts," or "Jehovah of Hosts." In the midst of the encampment was a hill, and from that came a wonderfully beautiful light that shone out in every direction. Swedenborg asked one of the inhabitants, what that light was and was told that it came from the sanctuary of the tent of their worship. He asked for permission to go near to see it, and this being granted, he found that it was built,, inside and out, exactly according to the description of the tabernacle which was built for the children of Israel in the desert. You may remember that the Lord showed the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses on Mount Sinai. (Exod. 25:40; 26:30)

Is it not lovely to know that when we read the description of this tabernacle we are reading the description of one that exists at the present day in heaven, and among the very best and most lovable of the angels? The Lord provided that the children of Israel should make such a tabernacle so that we may have the description of it in the Holy Word, and that we may picture to ourselves more fully the life of the angels in heaven. While Swedenborg was examining the tabernacle he asked, "What is inside in that sanctuary, from which there is such a great light?" And he was told, "It is a tablet, with this inscription, ‘The Covenant between Jehovah and the Heavens.’"

And so in like manner in the encampment of the children of Israel there was a great light that came from between the two cherubim on top of the ark where the Testimony was. The light came from the Lord’s presence.

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