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Sanctuary: God’s Dwelling Place in Israel
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house where He may meet with them. We should freely give enough
to accomplish the work, so that the builders may be able to say, as
the builders of the tabernacle did, “Bring no more offerings.”
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The tabernacle was small, not more than fifty-five feet long and
eighteen wide and high. Yet it was magnificent. The wood was from
the acacia tree, which was less likely to decay than any other wood
at Sinai. The walls consisted of upright boards, set in silver sockets,
and held firm by pillars and connection bars. All overlaid with gold,
they looked like solid gold.
Two Apartments Symbolize Two Phases of Ministry
The building was divided into two apartments by a beautiful
veil, and a similar veil closed the entrance of the first apartment.
These were of magnificent colors—blue, purple, and scarlet—with
cherubim woven in with threads of gold and silver to represent the
angelic host.
The sacred tent was surrounded by an open space called the court.
The entrance was at the eastern end, closed by curtains of beautiful
workmanship, but not as spectacular as those of the sanctuary. People
outside the court could see the building plainly. The bronze altar of
burnt offering stood in the court. All the sacrifices made by fire to the
Lord were consumed on this altar, and its horns were sprinkled with
the atoning blood. Between the altar and the door of the tabernacle
was the laver, the large bronze basin made from the mirrors that had
been the freewill offering of the women of Israel. The priests were
to wash their hands and feet at the laver whenever they went into the
sacred tabernacle or approached the altar to offer a burnt offering to
the Lord.
In the tabernacle’s first apartment, the holy place, were the table
of showbread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. The table of
showbread stood on the north, and it was overlaid with pure gold.
Each Sabbath the priests were to place twelve cakes, arranged in two
piles, on this table. On the south was the seven-branched lampstand,
its branches decorated with exquisitely-made flowers, all crafted
from one solid piece of gold. The lamps were never all extinguished
at one time, but gave their light day and night.