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The Tabernacle Erected and Its Equipment Installed

The L ord spoke to Moses: ²On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ³You shall put in it the ark of the covenant, and you shall screen the ark with the curtain. ⁴You shall bring in the table, and arrange its setting; and you shall bring in the lampstand, and set up its lamps. ⁵You shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and set up the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ⁶You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, ⁷and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸You shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court. ⁹Then you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it shall become holy. ¹⁰You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar shall be most holy. ¹¹You shall also anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it. ¹²Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, ¹³and put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them, ¹⁵and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests: and their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all generations to come.

¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the L ord had commanded him. ¹⁷In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. ¹⁸Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; ¹⁹and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ²⁰He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark; ²¹and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ²²He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain, ²³and set the bread in order on it before the L ord; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ²⁴He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁵and set up the lamps before the L ord; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ²⁶He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain, ²⁷and offered fragrant incense on it; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ²⁸He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ²⁹He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering as the L ord had commanded Moses. ³⁰He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³²When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the L ord had commanded Moses. ³³He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Cloud and the Glory

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the L ord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the L ord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; ³⁷but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. ³⁸For the cloud of the L ord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Exodus 40:2. On the first day of the first month I cannot at all approve of the opinion of those commentators who think that the tabernacle was only now set up. That it was already complete in all its parts before Moses went the second time into the Mount, we infer from the fact that the ark was then prepared in which the tables were deposited, as we shall see from the context. Besides, it has elsewhere ³⁹⁴³⁹⁴ See ante. been shewn by sound arguments, as I think, that it was pitched without the camp in token of divorce, from the time that the people had made the calf. What, then, is the meaning of the setting-up which is now spoken of? I reply, that it is said to have been set up, when ³⁹⁵³⁹⁵ “Lors qu’il a este assis en son droit lieu, et legitime, assavoir au milieu du peuple duquel il avoit este comme estranger;” when it was fixed in its right and legitimate place, that is to say, in the midst of the people, to whom it had been, as it were, a stranger. — Fr. it was brought back from its strange to its proper place. For then it was both anointed and honored by sacred oblations, whilst Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the performance of the priestly office. Since, therefore, it had not yet been duly placed in the middle of the camp, nay, rather had been removed from the people lest they should enjoy that pledge of God’s presence, its solemn dcdication is justly celebrated after the renewal of the covenant. This passage also confirms what I have said elsewhere, ³⁹⁶³⁹⁶ See ante. that this was the tabernacle which Moses pitched at a distance from the camp; for, by the addition of its title, he speaks as of something well known, “Thou shalt set up (He says) the tabernacle, viz., the tabernacle of convention.” Now Moses himself had already stated that this name had been given it by the mouth of God. He repeats, however, the same injunctions, not that He distrusted the memory of His servant, but that it might be more fully apparent that He was Himself the sole Author of the whole work, and also that it nlight obtain more reverence, since He had so often deigned to give initructions as concerning things of very great importance.

³⁹⁴ See ante.

³⁹⁵ “Lors qu’il a este assis en son droit lieu, et legitime, assavoir au milieu du peuple duquel il avoit este comme estranger;” when it was fixed in its right and legitimate place, that is to say, in the midst of the people, to whom it had been, as it were, a stranger. — Fr.

³⁹⁶ See ante.