Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1937

Narrator: Chris Genthree

Building the Tabernacle Exodus 36:8-38⁸And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them. ⁹The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size. ¹⁰And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another. ¹¹And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. ¹²Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another. ¹³And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle. ¹⁴And he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. ¹⁵The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size. ¹⁶And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. ¹⁷And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. ¹⁸And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. ¹⁹And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that. ²⁰And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. ²¹The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. ²²One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. ²³And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward: ²⁴And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. ²⁵And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, ²⁶And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. ²⁷And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. ²⁸And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. ²⁹And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. ³⁰And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. ³¹And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, ³²And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward. ³³And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other. ³⁴And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. ³⁵And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work. ³⁶And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver. ³⁷And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework; ³⁸And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass. (Exodus 36:8‑38)

GOD chose two skilled men to direct the work of the Tabernacle, and gave wisdom to make all just the exact size and way, told to Moses on Sinai.

You will like to learn the size of the tent, —the measure used is a cubit, which is about the same as 11/2 feet to us. It was 30 cubits long, 10 cubits wide, and 10 cubits high, so was a large tent, but made so as to be taken apart and carried on the journeys, and was so used many years, and set up afterward in Canaan.

There were 20 separate boards, each overlaid with gold, for the south side; 20, for the north side; and 8, for the west end; the east end had pillars overlaid with gold with an embroidered curtain for the door. Each board was made to stand in a socket of silver, except the pillars at the entrance had brass sockets. The silver sockets were made from silver money paid by the men of Israel, a bekah, or half shekel (worth about 30 cents in our money). This was called the redemption price. Read in chapter 38:25-28 how many there were to pay

The boards were held together by bars of wood, also overlaid with gold, so no wood could be seen in the Tabernacle, all was covered with gold.

Ten linen curtains, embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet, joined by gold clasps, made the ceiling and hung over the sides; over the linen, were eleven larger curtains of goat hair fastened by brass clasps; then a covering of ram’s skins dyed red; and above all, badger skins. So all was well protected.

There were two rooms, separated by pillars, overlaid with gold, from which hung a very special curtain having a design as God had directed. It was called the veil. Each room had its own furniture, which we learn of in the next chapter.

ML 06/13/1937

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.