The Four Vail Pillars 88 = Resurrection, Regeneration and Renewal 484 inches = Vail Perimeter (264+220+264+220) or (22 x 22) NOTE: 1. The height of the Tabernacle Walls is 10 cubits. Assuming the Tabernacle Cubit is 22 inches throughout this work, then the height of the pillars from ground level to the roof covering, would be 220 inches. 2. There is no indication as to whether the pillars are round or square. 3. There is no width measurement given for each pillar. 4. The Vail, which separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place, would measure at least 264" wide x 220" high. It is not known whether any allowance was made for a gathered fullness to the vail - probably not. 5. Assumption: The four pillars were placed across the 12 cubit Tabernacle width (12 x 22" = 264") with one pillar next to the north wall, one pillar next to the south wall, and the two central pillars placed evenly between the north and south walls.

The Priests were allowed to enter the Holy Place, but were not to go beyond the four pillars which held up the vail to hide the Most Holy Place. Only the High Priest was to enter there.

The four sockets of silver into which the four vail hooks were firmly entrenched would remind the priests of the "redemption money" and all that it represented, which was collected at the numbering of the Israelites - we referred to this silver in the chapter on The Tabernacle Treasury.

When the High Priest approached the inner vail held by the four pillars, he would be reminded that four has reference to all that God created, and of matter itself. Four is a number of material completeness. Before the Fall, Adam could speak to God in the "Garden" - he walked and talked with God. Since the Fall of Adam, that is when he disobeyed the laws of God, man could not approach God. When Moses built the tabernacle, God told Moses that he would communicate to the nation from within the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle. The vail separated man from God. The vail hid from man the presence of God in the Tabernacle. God's Glory is too powerful for man's physical being to look upon or withstand.

The Way to God was not revealed till the advent of Jesus Christ, who demonstrated that way. It was after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that the Bible tells us the vail was rent in two - split apart - the way was now open for man to approach God by following The Way demonstrated by Jesus Christ. And even Jesus Christ could not approach God after His resurrection, until He had been given His new resurrection body "glorified" by God.

Some 1550 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Moses built the Tabernacle according to the pattern that God gave him. How remarkable that the centred measurement of the two central Vail Pillars, between the two outside walls of the Tabernacle width, and which separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place, should measure the spacing of 88" - the number symbolic of resurrection, regeneration and renewal. The number eight and concentrations of it (8, 88, 888, etc.) lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Tabernacle furnishings will be researched later, but for now, as far as the Tabernacle furnishings are concerned, the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat were placed behind the vail in the Most Holy Place. Among the things stored in the Ark was the record of God's Laws and Covenants.

The Incense Altar, the Table, and the Candlestick furnishings and utensils were all kept outside the vail, that is, in the Holy Place, and these items require further in depth study too.

We will find that the measurement of the furnishings in relation to the Tabernacle Boards, and the Tabernacle Curtains, will give us clues to the corresponding placement on the floor-plan of the Tabernacle too.

The Five Door Pillars 66 = The number of MAN Man enters the Tabernacle through FIVE pillars of GRACE Perimeter of Door Curtain is 484 inches (same as the Vail)

When the Tabernacle was completed and erected, the members of the congregation were not permitted to enter the Tabernacle, only Moses and the Priests from the tribe of Levi. But as the priests entered, the five pillars would remind them that they could enter only by the Grace of God - five being the number of Grace of God towards man, and again appearing very much as a tabernacle number.

The brass sockets in the five door pillars, represent the judgment of man because of sin and disobedience to God. In Deuteronomy 28.23, God told the nation that if they were disobedient He would make the heavens as brass over them. Around 602 BC, about 950 years after the Tabernacle was raised by Moses, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon dreamed of an image which foretold the great kingdoms or empires of Babylon (his own kingdom), Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. The brass part of the image was symbolic of the Greek kingdom under Alexander the Great. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the kingdoms of the world to follow were symbolised by gold (Babylon), silver (Medo-Persia), brass (Greece), and iron (Rome) till the time of Jesus Christ, and then there would be further developments to be interpreted from his dream thereafter.

By the time of the Greek empire (that is, the "brass" empire), the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel had long been taken captive into Assyria and then dispersed across Europe, and the remaining two-tribed kingdom of Judah had been taken captive to Babylon, Jerusalem had been ransacked and the Temple of Solomon destroyed about 587 BC. Although many of the tribe of Judah returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple in 521-517 BC, this kingdom had been weakened and no longer had a king to rule. Indeed, because of the gradual decline of the nation into disobedience, God thereafter fulfilled his promise to "make the heavens as brass over them". Alexander the Great ruled one of the greatest empires ever known. By then, the Israel kingdoms were well and truly dispersed throughout the world, and by the advent of Jesus Christ, He said that "He came but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel".

Placement of the Door Pillars does not pose a problem, but for the Vail Pillars, we must refer to the CURTAINS which were joined together with "taches" as described in the book of Exodus 26.33 (see above text in this chapter). When we place the assembled curtains over the tabernacle framework, we will see where the taches are, and then we can place the pillars which divide the tabernacle into the two rooms called The Holy Place, and The Most Holy Place.

Further symbolism of the pillars and their placement will be considered later, too, after measuring and assembling the curtains which cover the Tabernacle.

Door Pillars

Note that all the nine pillars are made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, BUT 1. There are five pillars at the door (or entrance) to the tabernacle, but only four pillars to divide the tabernacle into two "rooms". 2. The five pillars at the door hang a "CURTAIN," but the four pillars dividing the tabernacle into two "rooms" hang a "VAIL". 3. The five pillars at the door have five sockets of BRASS for the gold curtain hooks, but the four pillars dividing the rooms have four sockets of SILVER for the gold vail hooks. 4. The five pillars at the door are described with CHAPITERS AND FILLETS, but there is no mention of chapiters and fillets for the four pillars which divide the rooms. The Hebrew word used for "chapiters" is "rosh", meaning "tops" or "heads" of the pillars. The Hebrew word for "fillets" is "chashugim", meaning "fastenings". Therefore it is not clear as to whether or not any of the pillars had decorative tops or bottoms. The "fillets" could have been the fastenings or sockets for the hooks. 5. There were cherubims (woven?) in the vail, but no mention of any cherubims woven into the door curtain.

Vail Pillars

As we build and assemble the Tabernacle we'll see that the pillars are that essential part of the structure which bring together the whole function and purpose of the Tabernacle for God's relationship with man. The Bible tells us that God chastises those whom he loves, just as any parent who loves and cares for the well-being of a child, knows that chastisement is part of the learning process for the young when they stray from the basic laws of love in family and community living.

The nine pillars of judgment provide an entrance to God's creation kingdom (the FOUR vail pillars), by the grace of God (the FIVE door pillars) through the Way of Jesus Christ who Himself said

The five pillars of grace, provide the framework to hold that door in place, and also provide extra support for the roof curtains as we shall see in the next section. So too, do the four vail pillars protect the fragile being of man in his present state from the all-powerful Glory of God, until man can attain that state of resurrected glory which was demonstrated as possible by the Lord Jesus Christ. The vail pillars also provide extra support for the weight of the roof curtains which drape across the top of the Tabernacle.

The stabilising role of the pillars in the Tabernacle structure is vital, and so it is important that their placement is correct on the floor-plan of the Tabernacle itself. The families of Levi's son Gershon are in charge of making and assembling the curtains, furniture coverings, and vails. When the curtains are completed, they will tie two sections together with "taches", and the four vail pillars will be placed under these taches to divide the Tabernacle into two rooms. Let's go see the families of Gershon as they make the curtains for the Tabernacle. Then we'll know where to place the pillars inside the Tabernacle.

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