Tabernacle (Portable Temple), Symbolism of

God commanded the children of Israel to build the tabernacle so that He “may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8).290 He revealed to Moses the tabernacle’s pattern together with its instruments, furniture, and sacred vestments. The tabernacle served ancient Israel for some 400 to 500 years and was erected in the wilderness, Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, Gibeon, and Jerusalem. After Solomon’s temple was built, the tabernacle no longer served Israel.

Image of tabernacle structure and altar of sacrifice in the courtyard.

The chief builders of the tabernacle were genuine artisans, Bezalel, of the tribe of Judah and Oholiab, from the tribe of Dan (see Ex. 31:1–11). The tabernacle complex consisted of a courtyard (measuring 75 feet by 150 feet) that was surrounded by a fence (height 7.5 feet) made of linen hangings. The tabernacle building (45 feet long by 15 feet wide) itself existed within the courtyard; it was a bipartite structure consisting of the holy place (30 feet long by 15 feet wide) and the Holy of Holies (a perfect cube, 15 feet on all sides). A veil separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies.

The tabernacle and all of its appurtenances signified a place of atonement par excellence. It was a Jesus Christ–focused space where sinful men and women could approach God with sacrifices and worship, and therein find peace and grace.

The tabernacle building itself brings to mind Christ’s body, the perfect tabernacle or temple (see Heb. 8:2). In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul called Jesus “a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” (Heb. 9:11), versus the actual tabernacle that the Israelites built. The very best temple builders created Jesus, the “perfect tabernacle”—Mary and God!