A Place for God: Instructions for Building the Tabernacle
ALTHOUGH GOD is theoretically everywhere, the Israelites needed assurance of God’s constant accessibility and availability. They accomplished this—as did the other peoples of the ancient Near East—by constructing an earthly residence for God, one that would mirror the heavenly prototype in which God was presumed to dwell. With God in their midst in an earthly shrine, God’s power to protect the people and provide for their well-being would be guaranteed. Beginning with parashat T’rumah (“gifts”), virtually all of the rest of Exodus focuses on the portable shrine known variously as the Tabernacle (Mishkan) or Tent of Meeting (Ohel Mo’ed). Even though some of its structure and objects are reflected in today’s synagogue furnishings, the Tabernacle should not be compared to a synagogue. It was not a house of worship; and it was off limits to all but the upper echelons of the priesthood. Instead of being a place of communal worship, it was conceived of as an elaborate and costly residence for the divine presence. The word Mishkan comes from the root meaning “to dwell” (sh-k-n), which gave rise also to the well-known term Shechinah (see at 25:8).
The wealth of seemingly exact details in the instructions for the Tabernacle belies the fact that such a structure probably never existed. The early Israelites may have had a relatively simple tent shrine—perhaps the Tent of Meeting—that was later incorporated into the Jerusalem Temple during the monarchy. Memories of the original shrine likely were expanded as the Exodus Tabernacle account took shape centuries later, influenced by knowledge of the First and Second Temples. This is a highly constructed account, and very little of it seems to be historical.
The Tabernacle texts in Exodus—much like the sacred building texts of other ancient peoples—begin with elaborate instructions for making the Mishkan, its furnishings, and the priestly vestments (Exodus 25–31); some Bible scholars call these instructions the prescriptive Tabernacle texts. Much of this information is repeated in another lengthy section relating how the instructions were implemented (Exodus 35–40); its passages are called the descriptive Tabernacle texts. The Golden Calf cepisode (Exodus 32–34) separates these two pieces. It is helpful to remember that behind the mass of arcane details lies a yearning for God’s presence and an attempt to establish a relationship between divine immanence and transcendence, in other words, between God’s abilities to be “right here” and “everywhere” at the same time.
Aside from God and Moses, the only other actors in this parashah are the “people” who collectively provide the building materials. While women are not explicitly mentioned in this Torah portion, parashat Vayak’heil specifies that both women and men donated their possessions for the construction of the Mishkan (35:22, 29; 36:6) and that women were involved in producing textiles (35:25–26) and performing tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting (38:8). Such passages challenge the popular impression that this holy edifice is the result of exclusively male efforts.
—Carol Meyers
Outline—
I. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT BUILDING MATERIALS (25:1–9)
II. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT INTERIOR FURNISHINGS (25:10–40)
A. Ark and its cover (vv. 10–22)
B. Table and menorah (vv. 23–40)
III. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT THE TABERNACLE STRUCTURE (26:1–37)
A. Coverings (vv. 1–14)
B. Frames (vv. 15–30)
C. Textile partitions (vv. 31–37)
IV. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT THE COURTYARD (27:1–19)
A. Altar (vv. 1–8)
B. Enclosure (vv. 9–19)