CONSTRUCTION AND HISTORY.—The first mention made in Scripture of the tabernacle as a holy place is in Exod. xxv., where are detailed the instructions which Moses received of the Lord vvhen he was with hint on the mount, concerning the construction and furniture of the sanctuary. In these Moses was enjoined to follow closely the pattern 0-Nan, ra 7rapaSei-ypa) showed to him • : by God. Whether we are to understand by this that God actually showed to Moses a maa'el of the fabric he commanded him to rear, or only caused the idea of it to rise up clearly in his mind, is a question of little moment, so long as it is admitted that the plan of the fabric originated with God, and was by him communicated to Moses. The state in which Moses found the Israelites on his descent from the mount pre vented the execution of this plan for some time ; and in the interval a temporary substitute was provided in a tent which Moses caused to be pitched at a distance from the encampment of the people (Exod. xxxiii. 7). It has been supposed by some that this was the tent of Moses himself ; but such a supposition seems inconsistent with the statement that it was at a distance from the camp, and that Moses went out to it and returned from it as did the rest (ver. 8, 9). To this tent the people went out when they sought to present themselves before God either in worship or to ask counsel of him. To Moses alone, however, appears to have been conceded the privilege of entering the taber nacle and enjoying immediate intercourse with God. To Joshua, his minister, the charge of keeping the tabernacle appears to have been en trusted (ver. 8-11).
After a season the tabernacle was erected ac cording to the divine design. The materials for , this erection were supplied by the free-will offer ings of the people. They were of the most costly kind, consisting of gold, silver, and copper, cloths of the richest colours and finest fabric, the coarser fabrics of goats-hair cloth, rams' skins dyed red, and acacia wood, for the construction of the taber nacle ; oil, spices, and sweet incense for the service of the sanctuary ; and precious stones of various kinds to adorn the vestments of the priests (Exod. xxv. 3-7). To construct the tabernacle out of the materials thus collected, the skill of Bazaleel and Aholiab, men specially endowed by God with the necessary qualifications, was put in requisition ; and under their directions, and by the labour of all the skilled artificers of the host, the work was accom7 plished (Exod. xxxv. 3o, ff.) The entire structure with all its furniture was finished by the end of the first year of their wandering in the wilderness, and on the first day of the second year the tabernade was set up and its services inaugurated with solemn pomp. The divine acceptance of the place which had been thus prepared for the habitation of the Lord was indicated by the settling down on it of a cloud, and the filling of it with the divine glory in such awful effulgence that even Moses dared not to enter the place (Exod. xl. 1, ff.) As Moses describes minutely the construction of the tabernacle, it is easy to form a general concep tion of its form and anangement. Josephus also describes it ("Intiq. iii. 6), but he adds little to what the Bible supplies. The same may be said of Philo (De Vit. Mous, Bk. iii.)
The tabernacle was an oblong rectangular struc ture, 3o cubits in length, to in height, and ro in width. This is the measurement given by Josephus, and it agrees punctually with that of Moses. The only point that occasions difficulty is the statement that the end boards were eight in number, which would give a width of 12 cubits. This, however, is easily explained. The measurements are of the inner side, and as the boards at the end would have to cover not only the space between the side boards, but also the ends of these, and as each board, according to Jewish tradition, was a cubit tbick, we thus account for the number of cubits stated (outside width ,---- 12 cubits ; thickness of boards = 2 cubits ; leaving Jo cubits for inside width). These corner boards were strongly coupled above and below to the sides, so as to be _flush with them, and to keep all together. The frame work of this structure was composed of acacia boards twenty in number on each side, and six at the west or inner end, with two corner boards, the east or outward end being left open. These boards were gilded ; and they were fastened at the base by means of tenons which fitted into silver sockets ; and they were kept together by means of bars of acacia wood, also gilded, which passed through rings of gold fastened in the upright boards. Thcse bars were five in number on each side ; but as to their arrangement there is some difference of opinion. Rashi thinks that the middle bar was twice the length of each of the other four, that it stretched from end to end of the side, and that the others were joiried in pairs so as also to stretch the whole length of the side. Thus there were on cach of the three sides,an upper bar, con sisting of two bars of equal length fitted to each other, an under bar the same, and a middle bar of one piece. This last Rashi thinks was made to pass through the centre of the boards, so as not to be visible from without—a statement which may or may not be accepted without affecting the other parts of this description. This view appears pre ferable to that commonly held, according to which all the five bars arc supposed to have been of equal length, and to have run parallel to each other. In that case the description of the middle bar as one that was to reach from end to end would lose its significancy, inasmuch as this would characterise all the bars. The arrangement described by Jo sephus, however, seems the most probable. He says : Through the golden rings gilded bars were passed to unite the boards, the head of each bar being let into the head of another by means of tenons, after the manner of vertebrx made by an artificer. But, for the back, one entire bar passed through all the boards, and into it were fastened the ends of the side bars by sockets, so that the whole was firm.' Something of this sort there must have been, else the back part of the structure would have been loose. An ingenious writer has recently started the hypothesis that the middle bar was a ridge-pole over which the coverings of the tent were hung (Smith, Diet. of the Bible, iii. i452); but a bar which is described as the middle bar, which passed njnpn iiria in the mida'le of (or between) the boards, could not be a pole passing above them, and forming the ridge of the roof.