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| 1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every man that was wise-hearted, in whom Jehovah had put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work of the service of the sanctuary--according to all that Jehovah had commanded. |
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| 2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every man that was wise-hearted, in whose heart God had put wisdom, every one whose heart moved him to come to the work to do it. |
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| 3 And they took from Moses every heave-offering that the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it. And they still brought him voluntary offerings morning by morning. |
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| 4 And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came, every man from his work which they wrought, |
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| 5 and spoke to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work that Jehovah commanded to be done. |
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| 6 Then Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed through the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the heave-offering of the sanctuary! So the people were restrained from bringing; |
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| 7 for the work they had was sufficient for all the work to do it, and it was too much. |
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| 8 And every wise-hearted man among those that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of twined byssus, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of artistic work did he make them. |
Fine twined linen – Symbol of righteousness. T29, T30, T36
And blue – Symbol of faithfulness. T30
And purple – Symbol of royalty. T34
And scarlet – Symbol of the blood of the ransom. T34, T109
With cherubims – Symbol of divine love and power. T125
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| 9 The length of one curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits--one measure for all the curtains. |
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| 10 And he coupled five of the curtains one to another, and the other five curtains coupled he one to another. |
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| 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain at the edge of the coupling; he did likewise in the edge of the outermost curtain in the other coupling. |
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| 12 He made fifty loops in one curtain, and he made fifty loops at the end of the curtain that was in the other coupling: the loops were opposite to one another. |
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| 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains together with the clasps, so that the tabernacle became one. |
Taches of gold – Representing the divine nature. T18, T20
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| 14 And he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains did he make them. |
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| 15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of one curtain--one measure for the eleven curtains. |
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| 16 And he coupled five of the curtains by themselves, and six of the curtains by themselves. |
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| 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he on the edge of the curtain in the other coupling. |
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| 18 And he made fifty clasps of copper to couple the tent, that it might be one. |
Taches of brass – Copper, symbol of perfect human nature. T18
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| 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that2. |
He made a covering – No eye could penetrate it. Representing our "hidden life" in which we "walk by faith, not by sight." R237:3*
Of badgers' skins – As God covered the Tabernacle with unsightly skins, so the glories and beauties of spiritual things are seen only by the Royal Priesthood. T127
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| 20 And he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up; |
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| 21 ten cubits the length of the boards, and one cubit and a half the breadth of one board;
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| 22 two tenons in one board, connected one with the other: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. |
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| 23 And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward; |
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| 24 and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards, two bases under one board, for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons. |
Sockets of silver – Symbol of truth. T114
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| 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, on the side toward the north, he made twenty boards, |
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| 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one board, and two bases under another board. |
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| 27 And at the rear of the tabernacle, westward, he made six boards; |
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| 28 and he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear; |
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| 29 and they were joined beneath, and were coupled together at the top thereof into one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners; |
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| 30 and there were eight boards, and their silver bases: sixteen bases, under every board two bases. |
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| 31 --And he made bars of acacia-wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, |
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| 32 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle at the rear, westward. |
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| 33 And he made the middle bar in the midst of the boards reach from one end to the other. |
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| 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold; and made their rings of gold as receptacles for the bars; and overlaid the bars with gold. |
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| 35 And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus: of artistic work he made it with cherubim. |
He made a vail – The passing of the second veil represented the death of the human body. T21
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| 36 And he made four pillars of acacia -wood for it, and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four bases of silver. |
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| 37 And he made a curtain for the entrance of the tent of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus, of embroidery; |
The tabernacle door – Symbol of the death of the human will. T21
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| 38 and its five pillars with their hooks; and he overlaid their capitals and their connecting-rods with gold; and their five bases were of copper. |
The five pillars – The door posts at the entrance to the Tabernacle represented the "New Creatures in Christ"-the consecrated saints. The difference between these and the posts in the Court represents the difference between the condition of the justified believers and the sanctified believers. T114
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