More Tabernacle Instructions

 Exodus 30-31

            Today’s reading finishes up instructions for the tabernacle and its accoutrements. One piece of furniture—the incense altar—will go inside the tabernacle; the other—the basin—will go in the courtyard. In a sense, they both have a practical as well as a religious function. The religious purpose of the basin is to keep the priests clean, which is a ceremonial not a hygienic purpose, and the religious purpose of the incense, explained later in the Scripture, is a reminder of the prayers of God’s people ascending before Him (see Psalm 141). The practical purpose is that the work of the tabernacle centered around animal sacrifice, and we can imagine that it was a smelly, messy business. The basin was literally for washing blood off the priests, and the incense altar masked the small. (Likewise, the detailed recipes for incense and anointing oil reflect the importance of fragrance.)

            One more thing today: Moses brought down “the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18). My study Bible has this interesting note: “In keeping with ancient Near Eastern practice, these were probably duplicates of the covenant document, not two sections of the Ten Commandments. One copy belonged to each party of the covenant. Since Israel’s copy was to be laid up in the presence of God (according to custom), both covenant tablets (God’s and Israel’s) were to be placed in the ark” (NIV Study Bible, fully revised, 2020). More on that tomorrow.