Columns, Curtains and Coverings

The detail of the Tabernacle extended not only to the specific items of furniture which were integral to the priestly service, but also to the framework and coverings of the Tabernacle. This was because the spiritual lessons of the Tabernacle were as clear in the framework of the whole as they were in its constituent parts.

This is perhaps seen in the layout of the Tabernacle, where the rectangular structure was made of two squares of 50 x 50 cubits. It would appear that at the centre of one square was the altar of brass, and at the centre of the other the Ark of the Covenant. Thus the very layout of the Tabernacle taught the spiritual lesson that the way to God demanded bloodshed and atonement.

Columns

There were two 'perimeter' walls to the Tabernacle. All the way around the outer court of the Tabernacle was a wall of linen, and around the sanctuary was a wall of gold.

The linen wall (Exodus 27:9-19)

The Tabernacle was one hundred cubits in length, and fifty cubits in width. On both sides along the length of the Tabernacle there were twenty pillars in sockets of brass, and along the breadth there were ten pillars on each side, making sixty pillars in all. It is perhaps not insignificant that sixty cubits was the length of the Temple (2 Chronicles 3:3). Interestingly also is the reference in the Song of Solomon (3:7) to Solomon's bed, around which were "sixty valiant men ... of the valiant of Israel". In the light of the spiritual meaning of the Song, where Solomon's resting-place is as significant in the Old Testament as the dwelling-place of God, there is at least an echo of the Tabernacle there. These sixty pillars were joined together ("filletted") with connecting rods of silver, and the curtained linen wall was five cubits high.

The white linen wall marked the outer boundaries of the Tabernacle, and placed a line of demarcation and separation all around the sacred place of God's dwelling. In approaching the Tabernacle, you were confronted with a wall of white. It was not a very solid wall -- this was a tent after all -- but it was a wall nonetheless, that spoke of purity and cleanness and holiness. Fine linen is, after all, the righteousness of the saints (Revelation 19:8), who will walk with Christ in white, for they are worthy (Revelation 3:4). Amid the dust of the wilderness, the erection of this white linen wall must have been striking.

Yet the fact that the wall was of linen, spoke of its impermanence. It was not built to last. It was not intended to be forever. It was a shadow, awaiting the appearance of the reality, a type, awaiting the appearance of the antitype, and a temporary arrangement awaiting the coming of the permanent. The walls of the Temple focussed on Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God, yet even the stones of the Temple could be torn down. At last, only in the finished work of Christ is there something permanent -- an arrangement which secures righteousness for us, and which enables us to approach God. It is a very interesting thing that in describing the Tabernacle, God moves from the Ark outwards: his interest is focussed on the Holiest of All and everything else exists for the sake of the Ark, yet on approaching the Tabernacle, one is aware not immediately of the Ark but of the white linen wall of separation running around the Court, and pointing to only one door of the court, one way of access into the presence of God.

John saw the church as the new Jerusalem, running around which was a wall 'great and high' (Revelation 21:12), a wall that spoke of separation and security. The same spiritual wall runs around the church; the 'ecclesia' is the 'called out' people of God, who are to be separate from the world although they are in it, as the Tabernacle, though in the wilderness, was marked out and separated. The wall of white pointed to the door; and the people of God, living lives of holiness and righteousness in obedience to God, point to the door. The greatest service the church may perform for the world is to be unlike the world, and to be like Christ.

The wall of gold (Exodus 26)

This wall consisted of a framework of 48 boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold, reflecting the design of the Ark of the Covenant. Each of these boards stood in sockets of silver and were held together with five bars on each of the closed sides of the sanctuary. The entrance to the Sanctuary had five pillars of gold with a linen curtain, and between the Holy Place and the Holiest of All was a four pillar division, and another curtain of linen.

The 48 boards were the same dimensions: 10 cubits by 1.5 cubits. They all stood upright, to form the walls of the sanctuary in which God's presence was. No one board was able, on its own, to fulfill that purpose. Each board needed every other board in order that the holy place of God's residence would be built. The church is made up of individual members, all of them made to stand, yet all of them bound together for a habitation of God. The church is the same. God dwells in her, and she is made of many individual members, who nonetheless are a unity. There is only one church, bound together by the Spirit of God. Interestingly, Exodus 26:28 speaks of one middle bar in the midst of the boards reaching from end to end -- hidden bars that joined the boards together. Such are the bonds which bind God's people -- they have bars in the midst of boards, bonds that run deep and run right through all the boards for binding God's people together.

Another interesting detail about the gold boards is the fact that they were set on silver sockets. Where did that silver come from? The answer is supplied in Exodus 30:11-16, where Moses was instructed to number the children of Israel. Every man over twenty years of age was commanded to bring half a shekel to the Lord "to make atonement for your souls" (Exodus 30:15). This "atonement money" (30:16) was paid individually (cf. Psalm 49:7-8 where we are reminded that no-one can pay the ransom money for the soul of another). Exodus 38:26-7 tells us that this money was then taken and used for making the sockets of the sanctuary. When Moses numbered the people, there were 603,550 men (Exodus 38:26). If each of these gave half a shekel, that totalled 301,775 shekels. There were 3000 shekels to a talent, and 100 talents were required for the tabernacle (96 sockets for the walls and an additional four sockets for the pillars which upheld the veil) -- see Exodus 38:27. Thus each socket represented the redemption value of 6000 people, and each board the redemption value of 12000 people (cf. the number sealed of every tribe in Revelation 7:1-8). The silver sockets represented the redemption of all of God's people, and this was the foundation of the sanctuary.

Spurgeon has an excellent sermon on these passages, entitled "Silver Sockets; or Redemption the Foundation". He draws our attention to the significance of the redemption money in the following passage:

"The foundation of the worship of Israel was redemption. The dwelling-place of the Lord their God was founded on atonement. All the boards of incorruptible wood and precious gold stood upon the redemption price, and the curtains of fine linen, and the veil of matchless workmanship, and the whole structure rested on nothing else but the solid mass of silver which had been paid as the redemption money of the people" (Jesus Christ: the History, Ceremony and Prophecy as told in the Old Testament, p284).

Curtains

Curtains were hung in three places in the Tabernacle, to signify doors, or points of entrance. One was at the outside, and is called the Door of the Court, one at the entrance to the sanctuary, called the Door of the Tabernacle, and one within the sanctuary, dividing the Holy place from the Most Holy Place, called the Veil.

These curtained entrances had one thing in common: they were made of blue, purple and scarlet. Thus:

Exodus 38:18 The gate of the court -- needlework of blue, purple and scarlet.

Exodus 26:37 The door of the tent -- of blue, purple and scarlet (hanging on pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and set in sockets of brass)

Exodus 26:31 A veil -- of blue and purple and scarlet (hanging on pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and set in sockets of silver).

The colours cannot be insignificant. Blue was a colour which the Israelites were to wear as a ribbon on the fringe of their garments to remind them that they were to be holy to the Lord (Numbers 15:37-41). Purple was a colour that spoke of royalty; scarlet was the colour of blood. The way to the presence of God -- through the gate of the court, through the door of the tent, and through the veil -- was marked off by a succession of curtains that bore hallmarks of holiness, of royalty and of bloodshed. The colours highlighted the nature of the salvation which the Tabernacle proclaimed.

But curtains divide. At the door of the court was a curtain that represented the only means of access to God. There was no other door, but the gate at the east side of the tabernacle. All must enter by the same way. Interestingly, it was also a wide gate -- a gate of 20 cubits, on 4 pillars (Exodus 27:16). No-one could come by the wall, but all could come by the door.

The door of the tabernacle also faced the east, but it shut out the Israelites and shut in the priests, who ministered in the Holy Place before the Lord. The significance of this second entrance is to be found in the principle of representation -- only the representatives of the people (ie the priests) could enter it. What was done had to be done for them, and not by them; and it had to be done by those who were divinely ordained to bear the interests of the people before God. So the gate of the tabernacle shut out the Israelites and let in the priests.

But there was a third barrier, also facing the east -- an inner veil, which shut out even the priests, and allowed access to only one figure, to the High Priest once a year. That veil was made in such a way that the colours abounded -- blue, purple and scarlet -- and in addition, an inwrought image of cherubim marked the entrance. The intricacy of the design reflected the glory of the designer, but it also symbolised the way that had been barred. In Eden, cherubim with a sword denied man access to the tree of life. In the Tabernacle, a veil, inworked with the image of cherubim denied all but one man access to the presence of God. But in God's grace, that one man did have access; and in God's time the only one, the God-man, the Mediator, would appear as our representative and Great High Priest of our profession, to enter through the middle wall of partition, and to give access to God. The beautiful veil was a dividing veil; but at last it had to become a rent veil, if we were to enjoy the blessing of God's fellowship and of God's covenant.

Coverings

According to Exodus, there were four coverings over the sanctuary.

The first was of linen. This was placed directly over the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and was the ceiling of the sanctuary. Linen is used in the Bible to represent righteousness, of which Isaiah says that God has covered his people with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:3). The linen curtain was also to be interworked with blue, purple and scarlet, as well as with the image of cherubim throughout.

This linen covering was made of 10 curtains, each measuring 28 cubits by 4. 5 curtains were joined together into one large sheet; the two sheets were then tied with rings, and draped over the tabernacle. According to Exodus 26:6, the ten curtains became one tabernacle -- a picture of unity in diversity.

Thus the ceiling over the heads of the priests who ministered in the Holy Place was of linen, with cherubim around them, as if the angels were desiring to look in to what was going on (1 Peter 1:12). Although their feet stood on the rough earth, they could lift their heads up to see the linen covering of white yet embroidered curtains.

Above the linen covering was one of goats' hair (Exodus 26:7). This covering was made of eleven curtains -- a number that seems to suggest sin, disorder and lawlessness. The goat was the animal for the sin offering on the Day of Atonement (Numbers 28:22 -- "one goat for a sin offering to make an atonement for you"). Five curtains covered the Most Holy Place, and this was joined with rings to the six curtains covering the Holy Place. Interestingly, the sixth curtain was to be folded back in the forefront of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:9). This eleventh curtain was the one which could be seen. We are always conscious of sin, yet the reality is that sin is covered. The covering was visible only from the outside. From the inside the priests could only see the linen-white righteousness.

The third covering was that of rams' skins dyed red (Exodus 26:14). Rams were offered for the sin offering, the burnt offerings and the peace offerings. Its significance to the patriarchs was that of substitution -- it was a ram which was slain on behalf of Isaac. This covering was placed over the goats' hair, and symbolised the fact that substitutionary blood was the only means by which contracted and actual guilt could be dealt with. Isaiah saw the conquering, returning warrior with glorious apparel, and asked "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?" (Isaiah 63:3). The answer was that he had trodden the winepress alone, and had shed blood for dealing with the sins of the people. No other covering was adequate to the task.

The final covering was of badgers' skins (Exodus 26:14), for a final protection from heat and storm. No recorded measurements are given. And from the outside, no attraction, no fine embroidery, no colour, no cherubim are visible either. There is no comeliness, no beauty. Many view the gospel in this way.

Perhaps the best way to have an understanding of the whole is to hear the conclusion of Spurgeon's sermon on the silver sockets:

"Aye, but though the ingots were heavy to carry, every Israelite felt proud to think that that tabernacle had a foundation of silver. You Amalekites out there cannot see the silver footing of it all; you Moabites cannot perceive it. All you can see is the badger skins outside -- the rough exterior of the tent. You say, "That tent is a poor place to be a temple; that gospel is a very simple affair". No doubt it is to you, but you never saw the silver sockets, you never saw the golden boards, you never saw the glory of the inside of the place lit up by the seven-branched candlesticks, and glorious with the presence of God. Brethren, redemption is our honour and delight" (Jesus Christ, p292).

And it is that redemption of which the Tabernacle speaks, both explicitly in its chief furnishings and priestly service, and implicitly in its layout, construction and coverings. May its redemptive message be our delight also, and may we be able to testify that one greater than the Tabernacle is here.

© Iain D. Campbell 2002