TABERNACLE
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TABERNACLE
of the lawgiver enters into ever-closer fcllowsliip with the ininil of God (ver. 11), learns to think of him as '■ merciful and gracious" (xxxiv, G) ; in the strength of tliat thought is led back to the fultilment of the plan wliicli had seemed likely to end, as it began, in vision. (Jf this provisional tabernacle it has to be noticed that there was as yet no ritual and no priesthood. The peo- jile went out to it as to an oracle (xxxiii, 7). Joshua, though of the tribe of Ephraira, had free access to it (ver."!!).
Another outline law was, however, given; another period of solitude, like the first, followed. The work could now be resumed. The people offered the neces- sary materials in excess of what was wanted (xxxvi, b, G). Other workmen (ver. 2) and workwomen (xxxv, 25) placed themselves under the direction of Bezaleel and Aholiab. The parts were completed separately, and then, on the first day of the second year from the Ex- ode, the tabernacle itself was erected and the ritual ap- pointed for it begun (xl, 2).
The position of the new tent was itself significant. It stood, not, like the provisional tabernacle, at a dis- tance from the camp, but in its very centre. The mul- titude of Israel, hitherto scattered v/ith no fixed order, were now, within a month of its erection (Numb, ii, 2), grouped round it, as around the dwelling of the unseen Captain of the Host, in a fixed order, according to their tribal rank. The priests on the east, the other three families of the Levites on the other sides, were closest in attendance, the " body-guard " of the Great King. See Levite. In the wider square, Judah, Zebulun, Is- sachar, were on the east; Ephraim, Manasseh, Benja- min, on tlie west ; the less conspicuous tribes, Dan, Ash- er, Xa|)htali, on the north ; Reuben, Simeon, Gad, on the South side. When the army put itself in order of march, the position of the tabernacle, carried by the Levites, was still central, the tribes of the east and south in front, those of the north and west in the rear (ch. ii). Upon It there rested the symbolic cloud, dark by day and fiery-red by night (Exod. xl, 38). Wlien the cloud removed, the host knew that it was the signal for them to go forward (ver. 3G, 37; Numb, ix, 17), As long as it remained — whether for a day, or month, or year — they continued where they were (ver. 15-23). Each march, it must be remembered, involved the breaking- up of the whole structure, all the parts being carried on wagons by the three Levitical families of Kohath, Ger- shon, and ]Merari, while the "sons of Aaron" prepared for the removal by covering everything in the Holy of Ho- lies with a purple cloth (iv, 6-15). See Encami>jient.
In all special facts connected with the tabernacle, the original thought reappears. It is the place where man meets with God. There the Spirit "comes upon" the seventy elders, and they prophesy (Numb, xi, 24, 25). Thither Aaron and Miriam are called out when they re- bel against the servant of the Lord (xii, 4). There the ••glory of the Lord" appears after the unfaithfulness of the twelve spies (xiv, 10) and the rebellion of Korah and his company (xvi, 19, 42) and the sin of Meribah (xx, 6). Thither, when there is no sin to punish, but a difficulty to be met, do the daughters of Zelophehad come to bring their cause '• before the Lord" (xxvii, 2). There, when the death of Moses draws near, is the sol- emn "charge" given to his successor (Dent, xxxi, 14).
(2.) In Palestine. — As long as Canaan remained un- conquered, and the people were still therefore an army, the tabernacle was probably moved from place to place, wherever the host of Israel was for the time encamped — at Gilgal (Josh, iv, 19), in the valley between Ebal and Gerizim (viii, 30-35), again, at the headquarters of Gilgal (ix, 6 ; x, 15, 43) ; and, finally, as at " the place which the Lord had chosen," at Shiloh (ix, 27 ; xviii, 1). The reasons of this last choice are not given. Tart- ly, perhaps, its central position, partlv its belonging to the powerful tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of the great captain of the host, may have determined tlie preference. There it continued durincc the whole period of the judges, X.— I
the gathering-point for " the heads of the fathers" of the tribes (xix, 51), for councils of peace or war (xxii, 12 ; Judg. xxi, 12), for annual solemn dances, in which the women of Shiloh were conspicuous (ver. 21 ). There, too, as the religion of Israel sank towards the level of an orgiastic heathenism, troops of women assem- bled, shameless as those of IMidian, worshippers of Jehovah, and, like the UpoSovXoi of heathen temples, concubines of his priests (1 Sam. ii, 22). It was far, however, from being what it was intended to be. the one national sanctuary, the witness against a localized and divided worship. The old religion of the high- places kept its ground. Altars were erected, at first under protest, and with reserve, as being not for sacri- fice (Josh, xxii, 26), afterwards freely and without scru- ple (Judg. vi, 24 ; xiii, 19). Of the names by which the one special sanctuary was known at this period, those of the "house" and the "temple" of Jehovah (1 Sam. i, 9, 24; iii,3, 15) are most prominent.