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January 14 - April 13, 2019
The very ones meant to extend God’s dwelling place throughout the earth are excluded from his presence.
One of the immediate consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God is the disruption of the harmonious relationship that exists between the man and the ground.
the disruption of the harmonious relationship that exists between th...
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The man’s punishment in Genesis 3:17–19 involves an ongoing struggle that will require him to toil arduously in order to provide food.
This ongoing tension is reflected in the naming of Noah (Gen. 5:29), for the hope is held out that he will in some way alleviate the pain of toiling the ground.
the hope is held out that he will in some way alleviate the pain of toiling the ground.
Close verbal links with Genesis 1 indicate that the flood narrative is deliberately structured in order to convey the idea that this is an act of recreation.32
The flood is not primarily an agent of punishment … but a means of getting rid of a thoroughly polluted world and starting again with a clean, well-washed one.33
God places obligations upon Noah and his family after the flood that are specifically designed to minimize the future defilement of the ground by people (Gen. 9:1–7).
Human beings set about building a city with a tower that will reach up to the heavens in order that humankind will not be dispersed throughout the earth. This reverses the divine plan, for God is interested in making the whole earth his residence by filling it with holy people.
God is interested in making the whole earth his residence by filling it with holy people. In marked contrast, the people of Babel34 attempt to access heaven and avoid filling the earth.35 Babel represents the antithesis of what God intends.
Babel represents the antithesis of wha...
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Confident in their own capacity to meet every challenge, the inhabitants of this human city view the Creator as irrelevant.
On one side we can see the human longings for community, achievement, civilization, culture, technology, safety, security, permanence and fame. But countering these aspirations we sense the moral judgment against idolatry, pride, self-reliance, the urge of material power and the human illusion of infinite achievement.
God graciously and mercifully embarks on a lengthy process designed to reverse this setback and bring to completion his creation scheme.
prior to the setting up of the tabernacle as God’s portable residence, various sacrificial sites existed that, according to Beale, were ‘impermanent, miniature forms of sanctuaries’
First, they are normally associated with theophanies that involve God restating the commission in Genesis 1:28 that human beings are to be fruitful, fill the earth and rule over it (see Gen. 9:1, 7; 12:2–3; 17:2, 6, 8, 20; 22:17–18; 26:3–4, 24; 28:3–4; 35:11–12; cf. 41:52; 47:27; 48:4; 49:22).
Secondly, linked to the theophany is the construction of an altar, sometimes on a mountain (see Gen. 8:20; 12:7–8; 13:4, 18; 22:9; 26:25; 33:20; 35:1, 3, 7).
Abraham constructs an altar on Mount Moriah. According to 2 Chronicles 3:1, Moriah is the location where Solomon later builds the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
While the various sacrificial sites mentioned in Genesis 12 – 50 are not viewed as permanent sanctuaries, they clearly foreshadow the tabernacle and temple.
Moreover, the promises given to the patriarchs build on God’s creation blueprint that the whole earth shall become his dwelling place as holy people populate it.
Understood as a footstool, the ark of the covenant extends the heavenly throne to the earth; this is where the divine king’s feet touch the earth.43 Consequently, the tabernacle links heaven and earth.44
The importance of the tabernacle is reflected in the number of chapters devoted in Exodus to describing its construction (Exod. 25 – 31, 35 – 40). Three aspects of this special tent link it to God’s plans for the earth.
First, as already noted, the tabernacle has features that associate it closely with the Garden of Eden. As divine sanctuaries, both are entered from the east and cherubim guard their entrances. The golden menorah that stood in the Holy Place may have been designed specifically to resemble the tree of life. Like Adam, the Levites are instructed to ‘serve (or minister) and guard’ the sanctuary (Num. 3:7–8; 8:26; 18:5–6).
Secondly, the tabernacle becomes the dwelling place of God on earth. Various features support the idea that God lived within the tent. The term used most frequently to denote the tabernacle is miškān, ‘dwelling’ (e.g. Exod. 25:9; 26:1; 27:9, 38:21; 40:9; Lev. 8:10; Num. 1:50–51; 3:7–8; 4:16; 5:17; 7:1; 9:15), and the furniture within it consisted of a chest, a table for food and a lampstand, items that point to its use as a home.
The extensive use of gold in the manufacture of these objects reflects the importance of the one for whom they were fashioned.
Another pointer to the tabernacle being a divine residence is the fact that Moses met regularly with God at the tent.
The further one moved away from the Holy of Holies, the less holy places became.
These differing levels of holiness are reflected in the objects, people, dress and accessibility associated with each part of the sanctuary. While other parts of the tabernacle were viewed as holy, they were so to lesser degrees, depending on their distance from the Holy of Holies.47 The intensity of holiness associated with the inner sanctum reinforces the idea that the Holy One of Israel was present there.
the ritual acts within the tabernacle reflected the presence of the divine king by catering to the various senses (...
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Taken together, the six regular rites performed inside the tabernacle … are at once seen to embrace almost all the human senses, and to cater, as it were, for almost all man’s possible needs. The incense provides for the sense of smell, the lamps for the sense of sight, while the loaves of bread are a symbol of the need for food. The bells attract the sense of hearing, the stones on the ephod and the breastpiece awaken the ‘sense’ of memory, and the diadem on the high priest’s forehead evokes the ‘sense’ of g...
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It does not necessarily mean that his presence was restricted to this location.
The tabernacle was much more than a symbol of God’s immanence. The various features noted above point to it being his dwelling place on the earth. Here his presence was experienced in a unique way.
Thirdly, the tabernacle was probably also viewed as a model of the cosmos.50
temples in the ancient Near East were often viewed as microcosms, models of the cosmos.51
this is conveyed through the use of fabrics that are blue, purple and scarlet in colour, representing the ‘variegated colors of the sky’.52 In line with this the lights of the tabernacle are designated by the Hebrew term mā’ôr, which is also used to denote the sun, moon and stars in Genesis 1:14–16.53
As overseer of tabernacle construction, Bezalel is filled (Exodus 31:3) with ‘wisdom’ (ḥokmâ), ‘understanding’ (tĕbûnâ), and ‘knowledge’ (da’at), precisely the same triad by which God is said to have created the world in Proverbs 3:19–20. To this is added that Bezalel is filled with ‘all crafts’ or ‘all works’ (kol-mĕlā’kâ), the very phrase used in Genesis 2:2–3 for ‘all the works’ that God completed in creation. Therefore, not only does the tabernacle replicate in microcosm the macrocosmic sanctuary of the entire created order, but these verbal resonances suggest that Bezalel’s discerning
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while the account of Genesis marks the creation of the world, the creation language of Exodus 39–40 heralds the new creation of Israel’s cultic life with its deity.55
As models of the ideal cosmos, the tabernacle and the temple are designed to remind people of God’s original purpose for the world.
the tabernacle and the temple are designed to remind people of God’s original purpose for the world.
tent and building metaphors are used in the Old Testament to describe the created world.57 The author of Psalm 104:2 states, ‘He stretches out the heavens like a tent.’58
From the limited evidence available to us it is difficult to judge whether the Israelites viewed the tent and building descriptions of the earth as metaphorical or real.
‘The temple was a small-scale model and symbolic reminder to Israel that God’s glorious presence would eventually fill the whole cosmos.’59
‘with the book of Exodus Israel enters into the cosmic plan which Yahweh laid out at the beginning of the world’.60
Yet, while the building of the tabernacle is a positive step towards the fulfilment of God’s creation blueprint, his actual abode is restricted to a relatively small area. Moreover, although the land of Canaan offers the possibility of a return to Edenic fruitfulness (cf. Gen. 13:10), it continues as an imperfect environment. At best it is a foretaste of something better still to come.61
The choice of Shiloh as the central location for the Lord’s sanctuary is in keeping with the expectation that the first monarchy of Israel would come from the tribe of Ephraim.62
The tragic significance of this event is conveyed by the wife of Phinehas when she names her soon-to-be-orphaned son ‘Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!”’ (1 Sam. 4:21).
The toppling of Dagon’s statue and the plagues that come upon the Philistines are powerful indicators that the Lord is in control (1 Sam. 5:1–12).
God’s choice of David as king is confirmed by his choice of dwelling place; the thrones of the Israelite king and the divine king are now located side by side in the same city.
Every category of structure, furniture, ritual, and human attendants is arrayed in a continuum, from the profane territory outside the sacred precinct, to the somewhat holy and pure character of the courtyard area with its bronze implements and its access to the public, to the holier and hence more pure and precious gold-adorned hêkāl, to which only certain priests had access, and finally to the inner sanctum, the place where God’s glory rests. The innermost room was the essence of holiness and thus off-limits to all but the chief priest, only once a year and only after he attained an
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