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Summary
- The tabernacle was the portable tent sanctuary Israel built at Mount Sinai. God gave its design in Exodus 25–31, and Exodus 35–40 records how it was made.
- Its Hebrew name, mishkan, means “dwelling place.” Exodus also calls it the tent of meeting.
- It stood in a court of 100 by 50 cubits, about 150 by 75 feet. A veil divided the tent into the Holy Place, with the lampstand, table and incense altar, and the Most Holy Place, with the ark of the covenant.
- Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).
- The tent stood at Shiloh and later at Gibeon. It was brought into Solomon’s temple, and the Bible does not say what became of it after that.
- John 1:14 says the Word “dwelt” among us with a Greek verb meaning to pitch a tent, and the Letter to the Hebrews reads the tabernacle as a copy of the heavenly sanctuary Christ entered.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Exodus 25:8–9, 16, 22; 26:33; 35:21; 40:34–35; Leviticus 16:2, 34; 23:42; Numbers 1:51; 2:2; Joshua 18:1; 2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Kings 8:4; 1 Chronicles 21:29; Matthew 27:51; John 1:14; 6:35; 8:12; Hebrews 8:5; 9:4, 5, 7, 12; 10:20; Revelation 21:3). Other passages described: Exodus 25:10–40; 26:1–35; 27:1–18; 30:1–21; 40:17; Leviticus 24:5–8; 1 Samuel 4:10–11; 2 Chronicles 5:5; Hebrews 9:2–3, 6. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English-Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/
- Exodus 25:30 in the King James Version (“shewbread”) and the New King James Version (“showbread”). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+25%3A30&version=KJV;NKJV
- 2 Maccabees 2:4–7, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Maccabees+2%3A4-7&version=RSVCE
- Blue Letter Bible, Strong’s H4908, mishkan. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h4908/esv/wlc/0-1/
- Blue Letter Bible, Strong’s H7931, shakan. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7931/esv/wlc/0-1/
- Blue Letter Bible, Strong’s G4637, skēnoō. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4637/esv/mgnt/0-1/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1379. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P41.HTM
- “Tabernacle,” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tabernacle
- “Tabernacle,” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/tabernacle
- “Cubit,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/cubit
