The Tabernacle study for Tuesday night April 29(last week) This is the first part of that session//
How many caught what David Ravenhill said last Tuesday evening during his address to the three who were being ordained ? He said words to the effect that anytime the subject of the tabernacle was to be taught, or was being taught that it was correct to start with the furnishings and from the inside(the Holy of Holies) and to work your way through to the outer court, not the other way around. God always comes to man first, not the other way around. Iv’e been saying all along the same thing and we have done just that, started from the Holy of Holies and worked outward,
So now we have come to another area where I have struggled with in regards to the construction of the Tabernacle itself…this gets a little complex here in Exodus because in ch. 25 it talks about the furnishings and then interspersed with the furnishings as you go into ch. 26 it speaks about the curtains and then the boards and the sockets that the boards fit into and then the veil . As we go further in ch. 27 it goes back to the furnishings, which we have already covered. However the first thing you do when building a new house is to put in a foundation, amen? So tonight we will look at the silver sockets…the foundation.
In preparation then, we will read ch. 27 of Ex. Vs., 15-37 The Tabernacle I’m reading from the NKJV
1 “Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have the same measurements. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the curtain on the selvedge of one set, and likewise you shall do on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. 5 Fifty loops you shall make in the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is on the end of the second set, that the loops may be clasped to one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle.7 15 “And for the tabernacle you shall make the boards of acacia wood, standing upright. 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the width of each board. 17 Two tenons shall be in each board for binding one to another. Thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And you shall make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. 19 You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, there shall be twenty boards 21 and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under each of the boards. 22 For the far side of the tabernacle, westward, you shall make six boards. 23 And you shall also make two boards for the two back corners of the tabernacle. 24 They shall be coupled together at the bottom and they shall be coupled together at the top by one ring. Thus it shall be for both of them. They shall be for the two corners. 25 So there shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver—sixteen sockets—two sockets under each of the boards. 26 “And you shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, 27 five bars for the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the far side westward. 28 The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end. 29 You shall overlay the boards with gold, make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlay the bars with gold. 30 And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain. 31 “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. 32 You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy. 35 You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side. 36 “You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. 37 And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; their hooks shall be gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.
I have struggled all week with this as to where the Lord wants us to go and I want His direction in it all and as you can see God is specific in His instructions to Moses an ultimately to Joshua as well.This is quite complex elaborate planning,,..

Now turn to Ex. 30:11-1611 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. 16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”


One more passage; Ex. 38:25-28, 25 And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a bekah for each man (that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone included in the numbering from twenty years old and above, for six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men. 27 And from the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil: one hundred sockets from the hundred talents, one talent for each socket. 28 Then from the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made bands for them.

The foundation of the Tabernacle consisted of eight large sockets of silver with a cavity made that the gold covered boards fit into. In total there were 100 of them because there were 48 boards with four pillars for the Veil. Each board needed two supports, one for each of the four pillars and someone has determined that would be 100 The weight of these sockets has been calculated at over six tons.
Where did they get the silver? Why did it have to be silver? And why so much? And of course …what does the silver represent? What does it typify?
But first before we loo into these questions we need to realize that this structure, the Tabernacle was being erected in th e desert on sand. Now if you are building a new building, let’s say an office complex which may include several stories, perhaps some shops, etc., first of all you would probably take your ideas to an architect to design such a structure and he in turn would take his plans and design to an engineer to plan a solid and proper foundation. The building is only as good as it’s foundation, amen? cont'd tomorrow