Making a Place for God: The Tabernacle’s Components
PARASHAT VAYAK’HEIL (“he convoked”) begins the portion of Exodus known as the descriptive Tabernacle texts (Exodus 35–40) because they describe the implementation of the earlier instructions. God gives detailed instructions to Moses about the Tabernacle, its materials, and its personnel in Exodus 25–30, known as the prescriptive Tabernacle texts because they prescribe what is to be done. While the Golden Calf episode in Ki Tisa seems to interrupt the Tabernacle account, its overall message—that the people can sin and still have their covenant with God affirmed—may be an integral part of the Tabernacle concept. The Golden Calf incident indicates that the people seem to doubt God’s presence among them and God’s commitment to them. Only after that incident is resolved, with God and the people reconciled, can they proceed to build the shrine. The people now feel sure that God will be with them even if they do disobey God’s word.
The disobedience that marks the preceding parashah now contrasts sharply with the people’s willing complicity in carrying out the directives for building the Tabernacle. An introductory unit (35:1–36:7) reviews the Sabbath precept, describes the collection of donations, and designates the artisans who are to collect and use the materials. The next three units report the implementation of God’s commands to build the Tabernacle: the tent (36:8–38), its furnishings (37:1–29), and the courtyard with its installations (38:1–20).
Much of the information presented in the elaborate instructions for making the Tabernacle and priestly vestments (the prescriptive texts in Exodus 25–31) is repeated, at times word-for-word, in this parashah and the next. While the content of the accounts is almost identical, the order is significantly different. Instead of presenting the components in order of degree of sanctity—starting with the Ark and the other golden furnishings—the description of their fabrication proceeds according to technological logic: first the structure itself is erected (36:8–38), then the interior furnishings are made (37:1–29), and finally the courtyard and its installations are constructed (38:1–20). The descriptive texts are somewhat briefer because they omit information about how items are to be used, indicating an interest in fabrication rather than function. Another major difference is that in the descriptive texts Moses is much more prominent than Aaron—the dominant figure in the prescriptive passages. It is fitting that Aaron is less important following the Golden Calf episode, since he was considered complicit in the people’s sinfulness.
Although the priestly personnel apparently are all men, as are the chief artisans, women appear in this parashah as significant contributors of materials. They also are the ones who turn the raw materials of textile production into the requisite fabrics. Because woven fabrics are key components of the tent shrine, the skilled labor of female artisans (35:25–26) is integral to the construction of the Tabernacle (see also T’rumah, Another View; P’kudei, Another View). In addition, the surprising mention of “women who performed tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (38:8) hints at roles performed by women at the sanctuary.
—Carol Meyers
Outline—
I. INTRODUCTORY PROCEDURES (35:1–36:7)
A. Sabbath observance (35:1–3)
B. Donations for the Tabernacle (35:4–29)
C. Appointment of artisans (35:30–36:7)
II. BUILDING THE TABERNACLE STRUCTURE AS A PLACE OF GOD (36:8–38)
A. Coverings (vv. 8–19)
B. Frames (vv. 20–34)
C. Textile partitions (vv. 35–38)
IV. CONSTRUCTING THE INTERIOR FURNISHINGS (37:1–29)
A. Ark and its cover (vv. 1–9)
B. Table and menorah (vv. 10–24)
C. Incense altar (vv. 25–28)
D. Anointing oil and incense (v. 29)
IV. COMPLETING THE COURTYARD (38:1–20)
A. Altar and laver (vv. 1–8)
B. Enclosure (vv. 9–20)