The Israelites were glad when they heard that Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai the second time with two stone tablets in his arms. They went out to meet him. Although he had been gone forty days and nights, this time they had not complained, nor wished to worship another god. But when they saw him coming they were afraid. They all turned back toward the camp.
Moses could not understand why they should be so frightened. He called to them, and the rulers of the people stopped. Then they turned around and went back again with Aaron to meet Moses. They told him why every one was afraid of him. They said, “The skin of your face is shining with a strange light, like the sun, and we can not look upon it.” Moses did not know that God’s glory was shining upon his face. But he put a veil over his face, and then all the Israelites came back and listened to his words.
God had given to Moses the rules that he wished the people to obey. These rules, or commandments, Moses wrote in a book. But the Ten Commandments, which God had spoken to the people in a voice of thunder, God himself wrote upon the two tablets of stone. When-ever Moses told the people about God’s words he wore a veil over his face, but whenever he talked with God he took the veil off.
Now the time had come when God wanted to let the people know that he was living among them, right in their camp. He wanted them to have a certain place where they might always worship him. He wanted them to build such a place, where the sign of his presence might dwell just as it dwelt in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
The Egyptians had temples built of stone, where they worshiped their gods. They had idols of gold and idols of silver and living animals in their temples, before which they bowed down and worshiped. This kind of worship is called idolatry.
God wanted the Israelites to be his own people. He wanted them” to act differently from other people. He wanted them to worship him only, because he is the only true God. So he told Moses about his plan to dwell among the people, and he showed Moses how to build the place for worship.
When the people heard about God’s plan to live among them, they were glad. They offered cheerfully to give the best of everything they had to help, build a place where they might worship the Lord, their God. They brought gifts of gold and of silver, of jewels, of wood, and of beautiful linen cloth. They brought also the skins of animals. And God chose two wise men, named Bezaleel and Aholiab, to teach other men how to use these gifts and make everything for the place of worship.
Now the people themselves were living in tent-homes. These dwelling-places they could easily move about from one camp to an-other as they journeyed toward Canaan. God told Moses to build the place of worship somewhat like a tent, with board walls and with cloth top, so that it could be taken apart and moved easily when the people moved their camp. This kind of place was called a tabernacle.
And God told the people exactly what kind of material he wanted them to use when they made the tabernacle. He told them what kind of furniture he wanted them to put inside the tabernacle. And he told them how to make the furniture and where to place each piece of it. The people were careful to obey all the words of the Lord. They worked faithfully and brought more gifts than were needed for the building. Even the women helped, for they spun beautiful linen cloth and made very pretty needlework.
When everything was finished, God told Moses to set up the tabernacle in the middle of the camp. And he chose the men of the tribe of Levi to take care of the tabernacle. Moses and Aaron belonged to this tribe. God told Moses to divide the whole tribe of Levi into three groups, one group for each of Levi’s sons. And God said these three groups should camp one on the north side and one on the south side and one on the west side of the tabernacle. Moses and Aaron set their tent-homes on the east side, or in front of the door of the tabernacle. After this time, when God chose men from the twelve tribes to go out to battle against their enemies he did not take any men from the tribe of Levi. He divided the tribe of Joseph’s descendants into two separate tribes, and these tribes were given the names of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. In this way he still had twelve tribes to go out to battle, and twelve tribes to camp, three on each of fhe four sides, around the place of worship.