Sunday Sermonette: Exiting Exodus

We've finally come to the end of the incredibly long, detailed, multiply repetitious tale of the tabernacle. This obviously seemed very important to the people who wrote it down (and wrote it down, and wrote it down . . . .) but it is not at all obvious why. In the final chapter it gets switched on, as it were. While this is said to happen on the first day of the first month, we don't know immediately when that actually is. The Jewish calendar has multiple "first months" for different purposes. Nisan is the first month of the ecclesiastical calendar, from which the dates of festivals are counted. Passover is on 15 Nisan. Tishrei, the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, is the civil new year, Rosh Hashana. Later in the chapter, however, we are told that this is the first month of the second year, i.e. it has presumably been a year since the exodus from Egypt (although it doesn't seem to add up to a full year) so this must be Nisan. In that case, however, Passover should be on the first of the month, not the 15th. In any event, this ceremonial opening of the temple is not, as far as I know, a continuing tradition.

At the very end of the chapter, they get on their way again. However, the story is put on hold for the entirety of the following book, Leviticus, in which nothing happens except dictation.

40 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ³ You shall put in it the ark of the covenant,^[a] and you shall screen the ark with the curtain. ⁴ You shall bring in the table, and arrange its setting; and you shall bring in the lampstand, and set up its lamps. ⁵ You shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant,^[b] and set up the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ⁶ You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, ⁷ and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸ You shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court. ⁹ Then you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it shall become holy. ¹⁰ You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar shall be most holy. ¹¹ You shall also anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it. ¹² Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, ¹³ and put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴ You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them, ¹⁵ and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests: and their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all generations to come.

Note that like many of God's promises, this was not fulfilled. The priesthood is no longer hereditary.

¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁷ In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. ¹⁸ Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; ¹⁹ and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ He took the covenant^[c] and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat^[d] above the ark; ²¹ and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant;^[e] as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²² He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain, ²³ and set the bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴ He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶ He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain, ²⁷ and offered fragrant incense on it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸ He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰ He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹ with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³ He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Cloud and the Glory

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; ³⁷ but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud^[f] by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

Footnotes:

1. Exodus 40:3 Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
2. Exodus 40:5 Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
3. Exodus 40:20 Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
4. Exodus 40:20 Or the cover
5. Exodus 40:21 Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
6. Exodus 40:38 Heb it