Tabernacle Furniture--Ark, Table, Lamp

Exodus 25-27:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2025-27&version=NIV1984

            There are so many things to comment on in the tabernacle, it’s hard to know how to get it all in.  As the pastor of a local church, I am tempted to comment on the sheer extravagance of the thing.  (Perhaps I’ll make it into a stewardship thought in a few chapters—when the offerings come in.)  We’ll have a chance to talk about God’s gracious presence in the tabernacle in a few days when we read about its completion.  For today, let’s focus on the furniture.

            Today, three pieces of furniture are described for the tabernacle.  The first is the ark.  Ark is not some technical word.  It simply means a box.  (That’s right, Noah floated on the waters in a ‘box.’)  The first hint that this ‘box’ is different comes when its cover is described.  It has an ‘atonement cover,’ or, as older translations have it, a ‘mercy seat.’  There are two substantial elements here.  First, the cover is going to be important in the forgiveness of sins.  We won’t know this until later, but on the day of atonement, the high priest will approach the atonement cover, and sprinkle it with the blood of the sacrifice to make atonement, that is, reparation, for the sins of the people.  Honestly, this could hardly be easier to connect to the great Christian hope, namely, that Jesus, the great and final sacrifice would pour out His blood before the Father on the cross and make atonement for the sins of all humanity.  The second aspect is that it’s seat.  Someone, presumably, sits on it.  That someone is the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth.  The ark is God’s ‘throne.’  He seats enthroned between the cherubim (Ps. 99:1), both in His ‘heavenly’ throne room (cf. Isaiah 6) and in His tabernacle.  The significance of this is that the God of heaven and earth dwells uniquely in the midst of His people Israel and the purpose of His dwelling there is to proclaim forgiveness and reconciliation through the blood of the sacrifice.  (More on that next week.)

            The second piece of furniture is a table with bread on it.  Bread is an important, basic food for much of humanity and human history.  The presence of this table is a reminder of several things.  First, it is a reminder that the Lord is the one who provides food to the people of the earth (Ps. 145:16) and that He is the one who has provides for Israel especially through the provision of manna.  More, the presence of the bread before the Lord reflects on Israel’s unique place in God’s purpose.  They are a sort of firstfruits to the Lord, the first portion of the harvest, already presented before the Lord as a new humanity.  I do think it’s significant, too, that Jesus declares Himself the Bread of Life, the bread from heaven.  He provides the life that never ends, the life that humanity most desperately needs, and He is the truly ‘new human,’ who ushers in the renewal of humanity through His death and resurrection.

            Finally, today’s reading describes a lampstand.  There are many resonances here, too.  The Lord’s first act of creation was to call light into existence.  He Himself lit the way for Israel as a pillar of fire in the Exodus.  So there is the enlightening presence of the Lord in play here.  More than that, Israel is called to be a light for the world.  In the same way, Jesus declares Himself the light of the world (John 1 and 3 and 8 and 9 and 12), and He calls His Church to be a light for the world, too (Matthew 5:14).

            These pieces of furniture, then, have great significance as metaphors for the greater story of God’s dealings with Israel and with humanity.  The tabernacle is a visual reminder that the God of Israel created the world and humanity, that He originally dwelt within and with that creation, and that His earnest desire is still to dwell with human kind.  The tabernacle and its furniture becomes a foreshadowing of Jesus, the ultimate dwelling of God with men, and of the final Christian hope, the restoration of paradise and the dwelling of God with men in eternity.