Exodus 26 - 30—The tabernacle and the Priesthood

Exodus 26 - 30—The tabernacle and the Priesthood!

Last time, we concluded with this statement:

(Ex 25:31) "You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. {32} "And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. {33} [more details follow] {39} "It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.

We’ve already made comment about this thought:

(Ex 25:40) "And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

Now let’s go to Exodus 26, and some highlights:

vv. 1-6: Curtains of linen

vv. 7 – 13: Curtains of goats hair

v. 14-coverings of rams skins

vv. 15-28: The boards and sockets

vv. 29-30: Overlay of gold

vv. 31- 35: The veil – Now some details:

(Exo 26:33-35 NKJV) "And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. {34} "You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy. {35} "You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.

http://www.tabernacleofmoses.org/

More is said later about the tabernacle, but the following parallels are made:

The Most Holy Place – Heaven—God’s throne.

The Holy Place – the church.

The table of showbread—the Lord’s supper.

The candlestick—the Bible—our spiritual light.

The altar of incense—prayers of the saints.

Exodus 27:

The Bronze altar – vv. 1-8

(It was here that blood was shed for sins)

(Heb 9:22-26 NKJV) And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. {23} Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

{24} For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself,

now to appear in the presence of God for us; {25} not that He should offer Himself often,

as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another; {26} He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world;

but now, once at the end of the ages,

He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

More details of the tabernacle follow:

The court of the tabernacle: 27:9-15

The gate of the court: 27:16-19

The Oil for the lamp: 27:20-21

The garments for the priests: 28:1-29

Then the Urim and Thummim: 28:30

(Exo 28:30 NKJV) "And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.

From Adam Clarke: Exo 28:30 -

“Thou shalt put in the breastplate - the Urim and the Thummim” - What these were has, I believe, never yet been discovered.

1. They are nowhere described.

2. There is no direction given to Moses or any other how to make them.

3. Whatever they were, they do not appear to have been made on this occasion.

4. If they were the work of man at all, they must have been the articles in the ancient tabernacle, matters used by the patriarchs, and not here particularly described, because well known.

5. It is probable that nothing material is designed. This is the opinion of some of the Jewish doctors. Rabbi Menachem on this chapter says, “The Urim and Thummim were not the work of the artificer; neither had the artificers or the congregation of Israel in them any work or any voluntary offering; but they were a mystery delivered to Moses from the mouth of God, or they were the work of God himself, or a measure of the Holy Spirit.”

6. That God was often consulted by Urim and Thummim, is sufficiently evident from several scriptures; but how or in what manner he was thus consulted appears in none.

“That God was often consulted by Urim and Thummim, is evident from several scriptures;”

(Num 27:21 NKJV) "He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him; all the congregation."

(Deu 33:8 NKJV) And of Levi he said: "Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,

(1 Sam 28:6-7 NKJV) And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. {7} Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor."

(Ezra 2:63 NKJV) & (Neh 7:65 NKJV) And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the Urim and Thummim.

These two verses may refer to the same event. The language is identical.

The Urim and Thummim seem to have been very special, but they remain a mystery. The Mormons make much of them.

The Urim and Thummim is mentioned in the Bible and, with added details about its use and significance, in latter-day scriptures. It is an instrument prepared by God through which revelation may be received. Abraham learned about the universe through the Urim and Thummim (Abr. 3:1-4). The Prophet Joseph Smith "through the medium of the Urim and Thummim…translated the [Book of Mormon] by the gift and power of God" (HC 4:537; D&C 10:1; JS—H 1:62). Servants of God who are allowed to use the Urim and Thummim have been known as seers (Mosiah 8:13), among whom were Abraham, Moses, the brother of Jared, Mosiah2, Alma1, Helaman1, Moroni2, and Joseph Smith.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism

Exodus 28: The Priesthood – A summary!

28:1 "Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

This is where we get the expression,

“Aaronic Priesthood”

It should also be clear that this is not all the tribe of Levi, so there were Levites,

and there were priests.

Here are the pieces of the priest special clothing. The chapter goes into detail about all of these items:

(Exo 28:4 NKJV) "And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.

Exodus 29: The Consecration of the priests

Exodus 30: The tabernacle and its use

and the altar of incense.

We mentioned the altar of incense earlier, but here is its actual description and its placement:

(Exo 30:6-10 NKJV) "And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. {7} "Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. {8} "And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. . . .{10} "And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."

So what is wrong with this picture?

Maybe nothing. My first impression was that it was wrong because of the blood on the horns, but: "And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD." (Ex 30:10)

The altar of incense has been said to be symbolic of the prayers of the saints. Why?

(Rev 5:8 NKJV) Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

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