GOD CALLS MOSES UP ON MOUNT SINAI AGAIN, AND PROMISES TO GIVE HIM TWO TABLES OF STONE WITH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WRITTEN UPON THEM. HE COMMANDS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO BUILD THE TABERNACLE, AND SAYS THAT AARON AND HIS SONS SHALL BE PRIESTS.
AND the Lord told Moses to come up on mount Sinai again. He said that he would give him tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written upon them. And Moses went up on the mount, and Joshua went with him; Joshua was his servant or minister. And there came a cloud and covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the cloud, and Moses went up into the cloud and stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. And the children of Israel saw the glory of the Lord on the top of the mount, like a bright burning fire there.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and told him that the children of Israel should build a tabernacle, or church, where they should worship him; and he showed Moses a pattern of this tabernacle like which they were to build it. It was to be very beautiful, and to have many beautiful things in it and around it, some made of gold, some of silver, and some of brass. There were to be curtains of fine linen also, with rich work embroidered upon them. It would take a great deal of gold and silver, of brass, and of linen, to make all these things; but God told Moses to ask the people for them, and whoever wanted to bring an offering to the Lord, might bring whatever he chose.
God commanded Moses to have an ark made, which was to be placed inside of the tabernacle. This ark was a chest, or box, made first of wood and then covered over with gold; both the inside and outside were covered with gold, so that the wood could not be seen. After it should be finished, Moses was to put into it the two tables of stone which God would give him.
A cover, also, was to be made for the ark, of pure gold, with two golden cherubim, or angels, upon it; one at one end, and the other at the other end. These cherubim were to have their faces turned toward each other and their wings spread out. The cover with the cherubim upon it, was to be called the Mercy-seat.
And a table was to be made of wood, covered over with gold, to stand in the tabernacle; a golden candlestick, also, which should burn and give light there.
And God told Moses how the tabernacle itself should be made. As the people were to carry it with them on their journey to the land of Canaan, it would have to be made in such a way that they could take it down and put it up again, something like a tent. The sides of it were to be of boards covered with gold; these boards were to stand on end and be fastened together. Over their tops curtains were to be spread, from one side to the other, for the roof. The door was to be a curtain hanging down in front; and there was to be another beautiful curtain, called the veil, hanging across the inside of the tabernacle, so as to make two rooms there. Moses was to bring the ark, with the mercy-seat upon it, into one of those rooms; in the other he was to set the golden table and the golden candlestick.
And he was commanded to make a wall, or fence, around the tabernacle, a little way off from it, that there might be a yard around it. This yard was called the court. And an altar was to be made, which should stand in the court, before the door of the tabernacle. It was to be made of wood first, and then covered over with brass, and was to be very large; because oxen and sheep and goats, were to be offered upon it. For until the Saviour should come into the world, and be offered up on the cross, the children of Israel were to offer up these animals on the altar, to show that he was coming.
And the Lord told Moses that Aaron and his sons should be ministers, or priests, at the tabernacle. Aaron was to be called the high priest, for he would be the chief one; his four sons were to be called priests.
Beautiful garments were to be made for Aaron; a linen cap, or turban, called a mitre, for his head, with a plate of gold fastened to its front, having these words written on it, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. This would remind Aaron that God commanded him to be holy. It would remind the people, also, whenever they read it, to honor him as God's high priest, Next his flesh Aaron was to wear a coat made of embroidered linen, with sleeves to it; this coat was to reach to his feet. Over the linen coat he was to wear a coat, or robe, of blue, that had no sleeves. Around the lower edge of this robe were to be hung pomegranates made of blue, and purple, and scarlet. Pomegranates are a fruit something like an orange. Those on the robe were not real pomegranates, but ornaments made to look like them. Between the pomegranates were to be hung golden bells.
And over the robe of blue Aaron was to wear a third coat. It was to be shorter than the robe of blue, and, like it, was to have no sleeves, but was to be of different colors it was called the ephod. On his breast Aaron was to wear the breast-plate. This was a square piece of richly embroidered cloth, with twelve precious stones set upon it. These stones were of the most beautiful kinds, such as the ruby, the sapphire, and the diamond. Aaron's dress was to be very splendid; and his four sons were to have dresses made for them also, but their dresses were not so beautiful as Aaron's, because he was to be the high priest.
And the Lord told Moses that, after the tabernacle should be finished, he should bring Aaron and his sons to the door of it. There he was to wash them with water. And he was to put on them the garments which had been made for them, and to pour oil on Aaron's head and anoint him. Afterward he was to offer up sacrifices for them. These things Moses was to do, so that Aaron and his sons might be consecrated, or made priests. for the children of Israel. And after they had been made priests, they were to offer up two lambs, every day, on the great brass altar, one in the morning and the other in the evening, for the sins of the people.
And God commanded Moses to make another altar, not of brass like that for the burnt offerings, but of wood covered over with gold. It was to be smaller than the brass altar, and was to stand inside of the tabernacle, in the room with the golden table and the golden candlestick. This altar was not to have animals burned upon it, but incense. Incense was made of the gum from a tree, mixed with some spices which the Lord told Moses of. When burned, it sent up a smoke that was sweet to smell.
We have read that the animals which were burned on the brass altar, meant, or represented, the Saviour. Now the incense, sending up its sweet smoke from the golden altar, is supposed to have meant the prayers of God's people, going up to heaven. Aaron was commanded to burn incense on the golden altar every morning and evening, at the time he should come into the tabernacle to trim and light the lamps on the golden candlestick.
And God commanded Moses to make a laver, or great basin, out of brass, to hold water. It was to stand in the court, outside of the tabernacle, and near the great brass altar.
After the Lord had given Moses all these commandments about the tabernacle, and the things that should go into it, he told him who should attend to making them. This was a man named Bezaleel, one of the children of Israel, whom the Lord said he had taught to work in silver and gold, in brass and precious stones, and to make all kinds of beautiful work. Another man named Aholiab was to help him. Beside these there were others whom God taught, as many as were needed to make all the things which God had commanded should be made.
And when the Lord was done talking with Moses, he gave him the two tables of stone with the ten commandments written upon them, which God had written there with his own hand.