This story shows just how good God is. I was at my Torah Club class, a weekly dive into the Torah Portions put on by First Fruits of Zion. What do you know, one of the teachers, Aaron Eby, starts talking about how the work of the tabernacle mirrors the creation pattern. My ears perked up, and I wrote down, as best I could, the connections that he made because they fit in perfectly with what I have been noticing.
One Day: In twelve of the fourteen verses in the Hebrew Scriptures that speak of curtains, they are in the tabernacle as a covering. The other two verses that speak of curtains refer to them as a tent curtain, even a garment of light, over the universe. These curtains could point to the Primordial Light of the first day.
Psalm 104:2: Who cover [Yourself] with light as [with] a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
Isaiah 40:22: [It is] He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants [are] like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
These verses solidify how the tabernacle mirrors the heavens, as stated in Exodus 26:30.
Day Two: Remember how the action verb of the second day is badal or to divide. The veil in the tabernacle divides between the Most Holy place and the holy place.
Exodus 26:33: 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 (badal) for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.
Day Three: On day three, God gathers the waters. The Hebrew word for the gathered waters is mikvah. The Greek often translates this word as baptism.
Genesis 1:10: And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Exodus 30:28: You shall make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it.
On the third day, Mr. Eby can see a connection between the laver that Moses placed in the tabernacle as a mikvah just like the third day of creation has the first mention of mikvah.
Day Four: God placed the luminaries in the heavens for signs and seasons and to rule over the day and night. They were also to divide the light from the darkness. The lampstand placed in the tabernacle is for light and can symbolize the instructions in the Torah or the Word of God. The Torah and it’s commandments are what the Priests/Judges use to divide between what is light and what is darkness. This lampstand is like the luminescence established on the fourth day of creation.
Exodus 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.
Proverbs 6:23: For the commandment [is] a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction [are] the way of life.
Day Five: This is pretty cool. Mr. Eby connects the birds created on the fifth day to the winged cherubim that adorn many aspects of the tabernacle. The cherubim are understood to be angels and I would suggest that the Priests who minister in the tabernacle are spoken of in angelic terms (Malachi 2:7). After Israel finished the tabernacle, they decorated it. Cherubim are the main decoration, they cover the Ark of the Covenant, and they are pictured on the tent covering. The Priests are what adorn the tabernacle. They literally work there all day, urryday.
Day Six: If you have been following my recreation patterns, you can see that God created Adam on the sixth day and also that he was a King and High Priest. We know this because the King did the High Priestly duties in the ANE, according to scholars. The High Priest is placed in the tabernacle, just like God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, on the sixth day. God created both of them to minister before Him.
Seventh Day: The work of building a dwelling was finished. Yeeeehaw!
Genesis 2:2: And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Exodus 39:32: Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did.
The building of the tabernacle is a beautiful recreation pattern that shows us just how important it is for us to create a space for the Holy One to dwell. The Scriptures keep pointing to the beginning and its purpose, which is, I want to be a part of your life. I created you for intimacy. I created you for love.
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