The Tabernacle of Witness

In his talk before the Jewish council, when he was on trial for his life, Stephen said, “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.” Acts 7:44. It is in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus that we find this given; and clearly the remainder of that book is devoted to the description of the tabernacle its furniture, and the service pertaining to it.

The principal article in the tabernacle was the ark containing the tables of the law, the Ten Commandments. It was called “the ark of the testimony,” for the commandments are frequently called the testimonies of God. Testimony is witness, and the law is called the testimony, because it is a witness of God’s presence. “Love is the fulfilling of the law,” and “God is love,” therefore the law is God’s life. So the tabernacle that contained the witness, or the testimony, was called “the tabernacle of witness.”

It was from above the ark of the testimony, between the cherubim that were upon it, that God said He would meet with Moses and commune with him of all things that He would give him in commandment unto the children of Israel. Exodus 25:22. And it was there that the glory of God was specially manifested. In Psalm 80:1, we read: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!” And when Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, threatened to destroy Jerusalem, Hezekiah the king, in his extremity, went up into the house of the Lord, and spread Sennacherib’s defiant and blasphemous letter before the Lord; “and Hezekiah prayed, “O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear.” 2 Kings 19:14-16

 

It is in Exodus 25:8 that we find the reason why the tabernacle was built. God told Moses to have the people bring offerings of gold, silver, and brass, fine linen, etc. and said, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” In one sense this was a great honor; for, as Moses said, “What nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” Deuteronomy 4:7. Yet when we consider the matter further, the command to build the sanctuary, together with the statement of the reason why it was to be built, is one of the most sorrowful things to be found in the Scriptures. “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them!” What a sad thing! That God’s people, whom He had delivered from bondage for the express purpose of dwelling not simply among them, but in them, had to have a house made with hands in order that His glory might be seen among them. Thus the tabernacle was at once a witness of God’s presence and of the unfaithfulness of the children of Israel.

“The Most High dwells not in temples made with hands.” “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of