God gives instructions for the tabernacle
25
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Tell the children of Israel to bring me an offering. You shall take my offering from everyone who gives it willingly from his heart.3 📚And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, and silver, and brass, 4 📚and blue, purple and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, 5 📚and rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and acacia wood, 6 📚oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense, 7 📚onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod 📖, and in the breastplate 📖.
8 📚“And let them make me a sanctuary 📖, so that I may dwell among them 📖. 9 📚You shall make it according to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle 📖, and the pattern 📖 of all of its articles.
The ark
10 📚“And they shall make an ark 📖 of acacia wood, its length two and a half cubits, its width a cubit and a half, and its height a cubit 📖 and a half. 11 📚And you shall overlay it with pure gold; overlay it on the outside and on the inside, and make a gold molding on it all around. 12 📚And you shall cast four gold rings for it, and put them on the four corners of it, two rings on one side of it, and two rings on its other side. 13 📚And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, so that the ark can be carried with them. 15 📚The poles are to be in the rings of the ark; they must not be taken away from it. 16 📚And in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give you.
17 📚“And you shall make a mercy seat 📖 of pure gold, its length two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half. 18 📚And you shall make two cherubim of gold. Make them out of hammered gold at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end. You must make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat, at its two ends. 20 📚And the cherubim are to have their wings stretched out above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces are to look toward one another. The faces of the cherubim are to be toward the mercy seat.
25:18-20 The cherubim were not images of God. At the time when the pattern was given for this tabernacle, God strictly forbade the making of any image of God (Ex 20:4). He certainly would not give here a command contrary to that. The cherubim were not put there to be worshiped, and they were never worshiped in Israel. The cherubim are mentioned in other places in the Bible (note at Gen 3:24). A design of the cherubim was woven into the veil that was placed before the holy of holies in the tabernacle (Ex 26:31-33). They may symbolize the glory and holiness of God, or indicate that there was a barrier for sinful men to come into God’s presence, that only the high priest (who was a symbol of Christ) could do so.⚜
21 📚And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. 22 📚And there, from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will meet with you and I will speak with you about all the things which I will give you as commandments for the children of Israel.
25:22 Ex 30:6, 36; Lev 16:2; Num 17:4. God met with the representative of His people at the place where the blood of the atoning sacrifice was offered (Lev 16:15-16). This signifies that the meeting place for God and man is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the way is by the blood He shed for sinners (Heb 10:19-23).⚜
The table
23 📚“You shall also make a table 📖 of acacia wood, its length two cubits, its width a cubit, and its height a cubit and a half. 24 📚And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make for it a gold molding around it. 25 📚And you shall make for it a rim around it, a handbreadth wide, and shall make a gold molding around it for its rim. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four corners by its four legs. 27 📚The rings are to be near the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28 📚And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. The table will be carried with them. 29 📚And you shall make its dishes and its ladles and its pitchers and its sacrificial bowls, for pouring drink offerings. You shall make them of pure gold. 30 📚And you shall set the Showbread 📖 on the table before me at all times.
The lampstand
31 📚“And you shall make a lampstand 📖 of pure gold. It is to be made of hammered work. Its base and its shaft, its bowls, its buds, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32 And six branches shall come out from its sides, three branches of the lampstand out from one side, and three branches of the lampstand out from the other side. 33 📚Three bowls made like almond blossoms with a bud and a flower are to be on one branch, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with a bud and a flower, and so in all the six branches that come out from the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand shall be four bowls made like almond blossoms, with their buds and their flowers. 35 And there shall be a bud under two branches of it, and a bud under another two branches of it, and a bud under another two branches of it, to all the six branches that go out from the lampstand. 36 📚Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it. The whole of it is to be one hammered work of pure gold.
37 📚“And you shall make its seven lamps. And they shall set up its lamps to give light in front of it. 38 📚And its snuffers and its trays are to be of pure gold. 39 He shall make it and all these articles out of a talent of pure gold.
40 📚And see that you make them according to their pattern, which was shown to you on the mountain.
25:40 God repeated this instruction given in v 9. God is showing in symbolic form the way of approach to Himself. He is setting forth the person and work of Christ. So everything had to be made exactly as He says.⚜