MEASURE THE TEMPLE
CHAPTER 2
THE
TABERNACLE BOARDS
2. THE NORTH AND SOUTH WALLS
The biblical instructions of how the boards would be assembled for the
framework of Moses' Tabernacle are given in Exodus 26.15-30.
Exodus 36.20-34 is almost a repeat of that description, but it applies
to how the boards were assembled at the time the tabernacle was raised,
when all the tabernacle work was completed. This second Exodus reference
therefore confirmed that Moses had actually erected the tabernacle exactly
according to the pattern which God had given him.
| Exodus 26.15-21 |
Exodus 36.20-26 |
| Exodus 26.15 - And thou shalt make
the boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. |
Exodus 36.20 - And he made boards
for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. |
The word for board is from the root word "qeresh" or
"keresh", meaning "to cut" or "cut in pieces",
which suggests that the boards were cut out of the shittim (acacia) tree.
This may have been the only tree which grew in the desert, and the only
one practically available for building purposes. There are many varieties
of acacia tree. One variety yields a gum which is used for healing, another
type produces the ingredient for a tonic medicine; the leaves of another
are sensitive to environmental influences. The wood produced from the tree
is extremely durable, and regarded as incorruptible.
It seems fitting that such a wood should be used for the Tabernacle of
Moses, where God would communicate with man. In the wilderness of the desert,
God was man's only helpmate. God Himself is incorruptible, and can provide
the healing medicines - for mind and body of His people. So too, Jesus Christ
in the New Testament dispensation, was biblically referred to as the "Tree
of Life". |
| Exodus 26.16 - Ten cubits shall be
the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one
board. |
Exodus 36.21 - The length of a board
was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. |
| Based on the assumption of the "Sacred" or "Tabernacle
Cubit" of 22 inches, the length of the board ("standing up")
would make the height of the tabernacle walls above the tenons 10 x 22 inches
= 220 inches. The width of each board would be 33 inches. |
| The bible does not give the thickness of the boards, but the Jewish
Historian - Josephus - says in his writings "The Antiquities of the
Jews, Book 3, Chapter 6.3.116" that the thickness of the "pillars"
or "boards" was "four fingers". A "finger"
was 0.875 of an inch. So four fingers, would make each board 3.5 inches
thick. (Note: Josephus claims that it was necessary for the height of the
tabernacle to be equal to its breadth , and he gives a measurement of 10
cubits. In this study, I have not found this to be so - and boldly dispute
that statement.) |
 |
| Exodus 26.17 - Two tenons shall there
be in one board, set in order one against another; thus shalt thou make
for all the boards of the tabernacle. |
Exodus 36.22 - One board had two tenons,
equally distant one from another; thus did he make for all the boards of
the tabernacle. |
| Exodus 26.18 - And thou shalt make
the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. |
Exodus 36.23 - And he made boards
for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward; |
| Exodus 26.19 - And thou shalt make
forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board
for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. |
Exodus 36.24 And 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. |
| Exodus 26.20 - And for the second
side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards; |
Exodus 36.25 - And for the other side
of the tabernacle, which is towards the north corner, he made twenty boards, |
| Exodus 26.21 - And their forty sockets
of silver; two sockets under one board , and two sockets under another board. |
Exodus 36.26 - And their forty sockets
of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. |
|
Length and Height of Tabernacle's
North and South Walls:
Each wall contained 20 boards x 33 inches wide, so
Length of each wall = 660 inches (55 feet)
Perimeter of each Upright Wall in inches = 1760
or:
| 2 x (660 + 220) = 1760
The measure (22) of man ( 6) in God's Temple ? The number 2 is associated
with the Incarnation - God the Son - the second person of Jesus Christ in
the Trinity. Number 220 refers to Jesus as "High Priest" and the
"Lamb of God". |
| 2 x 880 = 1760
Regeneration , Renewal and Resurrection. The divine plan to lead wayward
humanity back to righteousness through much tribulation (880)
880 = The foundation of God stands "sure" - II Timothy 1.19;
and "Son" - Romans 8.29 (ref. of Bonnie Gaunt)
Exodus 26.29 tells us that the Tabernacle Boards were overlaid with
GOLD. We studied the significance of 880 in "The Tabernacle Gold"
section of Chapter 1 in this study. The gold speaks of God's Divine Glory,
Nature and Being. Gold is symbolic of the last spiritual experience which
is denied to man while in his present carnal state. But the entire structure
of the tabernacle of gold-covered boards, was grounded in sockets of Silver
- symbolic of the atonement and ransom moneys, and the price of a soul.
Man is refined like silver, and redeemed through the ministry of the Son
of God, here signified by the number "2"(Exodus 30.11-16). |
| 4 x 440 = 1760
The creation number (4). It is the number of things that have a beginning.
The number of matter, and material completeness. Jacob's Trouble, Jacob
the father of the 12-tribed Israel nation, he spent 44 years working in
a strange land for his wives, and in mental anguish over the loss of his
son Joseph. Life was not easy for Joseph; this number signified in the measurement
and construction of the Tabernacle Boards, indicates that things will not
be easy for his descendants either.
Bonnie Gaunt gives the gematria for the words: "perfect"
(the condition of the one, Jesus Christ, who shed his blood); and "mountain"
- the symbol of the New Jerusalem. |
| 20 Boards
In the bible this number often refers to a period of waiting, or of
expectancy. And this was just what Moses and the people were doing when
waiting in the Wilderness before being allowed to enter their Promised Land. |
From another viewpoint, if we were to raise either the north wall, or
south wall, to its vertical position above the ground, and move our hands
up the left side of the wall from the ground to the top of the wall, then
across the top to the right side of the wall, then down the right side of
the wall to the ground level, we would cover:
220 + 660 + 220 = 1100 inches
along each side of the table. If we add the north and south side walls
together (1100 + 1100) we arrive at 2200 inches, perimeter of both walls
above ground level. As revealed in the Introduction to this study "Measure
the Temple", numbers eleven and twenty-two often emerge when it is
time for man to be "brought to order", after he has been on a
path of imperfection and disintegration.
As the priests of God walk the length of the tabernacle, the golden walls
are a constant reminder of the responsibility of the priestly role that
God has given them.
| On the North Side of the Tabernacle: |
On the South Side of the Tabernacle: |
| The Tabernacle Table, inside the Tabernacle, was placed on the North
Side of the Tabernacle (Genesis 26.35) |
The candlestick, inside the Tabernacle, was placed on the South Side
of the Tabernacle opposite the Table (see Genesis 26.35 |
| Beyond the courtyard's North Wall were the camps of Dan, Asher and
Naphtali (Numbers 2.25-31) |
Beyond the courtyard's South Wall were the camps of Simeon, Reuben
and Gad (Numbers 2.10-16) |
| The outside camp of The Levite family of Merari (Numbers 3.35) was
on the North Side of the Tabernacle |
The outside camp of the families of the sons of Kohath were on the
South Side of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3.29) |
|
