40 Fun Facts About The Tabernacle

What did Moses do when Israel brought more tabernacle materials than the craftsmen could use?

Moses told them to stop giving: a proclamation went round the camp that no man or woman should make anything more for the sanctuary, because the craftsmen already had more than enough.

Which word for a person blamed for others' wrongs comes from an animal released on the Day of Atonement?

Scapegoat was coined by William Tyndale for his 1530 Bible translation. Leviticus 16 describes the animal bearing the people's sins away into the wilderness.

What covered the tabernacle and signalled the Israelites to break camp and move on whenever it lifted?

A cloud rested over the tabernacle by day and looked like fire by night. Numbers 9 says Israel stayed put while it lingered, whether for two days or a month, and set out when it rose.

Which Hebrew name is given to the seven-branched gold lampstand that lit the tabernacle's Holy Place?

The menorah lit at Hanukkah is a nine-branched variant. The Temple's seven-branched one was carried off to Rome in 70 CE, a scene still carved on the Arch of Titus.

Which idol did Israel worship while Moses spent forty days on the mountain receiving the tabernacle plans?

A golden calf was cast by Aaron from the people's earrings, though the plans had just named him as priest. Moses ground it to powder, scattered it on water and made the people drink it.

Which king of Israel built the stone Temple in Jerusalem that finally replaced the portable tabernacle?

Solomon had the old tent and its sacred furnishings carried up to Jerusalem when the Temple was dedicated. His father had wanted to build it but was told his son would.

A gold jar of which food, eaten by Israel for forty years in the wilderness, was kept in the Ark?

Manna was kept so that later generations could see the bread that fed Israel in the desert. Exodus 16 says one omer of it, a single day's portion, went into the jar.

Which text was kept inside the Ark in the tabernacle's innermost room?

The Ten Commandments were the only thing left inside the Ark when it was carried into the Jerusalem Temple centuries later, 1 Kings 8 records.

Which boy, serving the priest Eli at the sanctuary, heard God call his name while lying near the Ark?

Samuel went to Eli three times, thinking the old priest had called him, before Eli worked out who was really speaking and told him how to answer.

How often could the high priest go behind the veil into the Most Holy Place, where the Ark stood?

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, he went in alone. Leviticus 16 warns that entering behind the veil at any other time would cost him his life.

The tabernacle's bronze basin was cast from which objects, given by women who served at the entrance?

Mirrors became the basin where Aaron and his sons had to wash their hands and feet before entering the tent or approaching the altar, so that they would not die.

Which direction did the tabernacle's entrance face, the side where Moses and Aaron pitched their tents?

East, toward the sunrise, was the open side, while the solid rear wall of frames stood at the opposite end. The priests' families camped right in front of the entrance.

Which craftsman, said to be filled with the Spirit of God, was put in charge of building the tabernacle?

Bezalel is credited in Exodus with constructing the Ark himself, and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Israel is named after him.

Which tree supplied the wood for the Ark, the table, the altars and the tabernacle's upright frames?

Acacia appears in the King James Version as shittim wood. The Ark, the table and the frames were all overlaid with gold, so little of the timber ever showed.

Which name is given to the twelve loaves kept on the gold table in the tabernacle and replaced each week?

Showbread, also called the Bread of the Presence, went to the priests once fresh loaves were set out. Only they could eat it, and only in a holy place.

Which winged beings, hammered in gold, faced each other on the lid of the Ark in the tabernacle?

Cherubim also guard the way to the tree of life in Genesis. God told Moses he would speak with him from the space between the two figures.

At the foot of which mountain, where Moses was shown its design, did the Israelites build the tabernacle?

Mount Sinai was Israel's camp for most of a year. The tabernacle went up on the first day of the second year after the Exodus, and the people marched on about seven weeks later.

Which ancient unit of length does Exodus use for the tabernacle's measurements, such as its 100-long courtyard?

The cubit was based on the forearm, from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. At about 18 inches each, the courtyard came to roughly 150 feet by 75.

By which other name is the tabernacle known in Exodus, because God spoke with Moses there?

Tent of Meeting was also the name of a simple tent Moses pitched outside the camp before the tabernacle existed, where anyone seeking God could go.

What do the Gospels say happened to the Temple veil, the tabernacle's successor, at the moment Jesus died?

It was torn in two from top to bottom, Matthew and Mark both say. Matthew adds that the earth shook and the rocks split at the same moment.

Which two sons of Aaron died at the tabernacle after offering unauthorized fire before the Lord?

Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire that came out from the Lord's presence. Aaron stayed silent, and he and his two surviving sons were told not to show the usual signs of mourning.

What did the high priest sprinkle seven times in front of the Ark's cover on the Day of Atonement?

Blood from a bull came first, for the priest's own sins, then from a second sacrifice for the people's. He applied it with his finger while incense smoke screened the Ark.

Which fruit, made of yarn, alternated with gold bells around the hem of the high priest's robe?

Pomegranates alternated with gold bells, whose sound let the priest be heard going in and out of the sanctuary, which Exodus says kept him from dying.

Each gemstone set in the high priest's breastpiece, worn over his heart, was engraved with the name of what?

A tribe of Israel was named on each of the twelve stones, set in four rows, so that the priest carried the whole nation with him whenever he entered the Holy Place.

In which town in the territory of Ephraim was the tabernacle set up once Israel had settled in Canaan?

Shiloh held the tabernacle through the period of the judges. Psalm 78 later says God abandoned the tent he had pitched there.

Which enemy people captured the Ark in battle after Israel's army carried it out from the sanctuary?

The Philistines set it in the temple of their god Dagon, whose statue was found face down before it the next morning. After seven months they sent it back.

Which fuel did the Israelites bring to keep the lamps of the tabernacle lampstand burning through the night?

Olive oil for the lamps had to be pure and pressed. Aaron and his sons tended them outside the veil from evening until morning.

Which New Testament book calls the tabernacle a copy and shadow of a sanctuary in heaven?

Hebrews argues that Jesus serves as high priest in the true tent, and recalls that Moses was warned to build everything to the pattern shown him on the mountain.

Which observance does Exodus command, on pain of death, right after its instructions for building the tabernacle?

The Sabbath is commanded at the end of the building instructions in Exodus 31 and again before work starts in Exodus 35, which adds a ban on lighting a fire at home that day.

Aaron's staff, later kept in front of the Ark, budded and blossomed overnight and produced which ripe nuts?

Almonds grew on it by morning, a sign that Aaron's family alone held the priesthood. The cups of the gold lampstand were shaped like blossoms of the same tree.

Which Levite clan carried the Ark and the sacred furniture on their shoulders whenever the tabernacle moved?

The Kohathites were given no carts, unlike the other two clans, because the holy things had to travel on their shoulders. Even they could not touch or look at them unwrapped.

Which pair of objects, kept in the high priest's breastpiece, was used to seek God's decision on a question?

Urim and Thummim have traditionally been translated as lights and perfections. Exodus says only that they sat over Aaron's heart, never what they looked like.

Which apron-like garment of the high priest carried two onyx stones on its shoulder pieces?

The ephod was woven with gold thread, and the breastpiece hung from it on gold chains. A later ephod made by Gideon in Judges 8 ended up being worshipped.

Which name do many English Bibles give the gold lid of the Ark, where two winged figures faced each other?

Mercy seat is the traditional English name, and some Bibles say atonement cover instead. It was pure gold throughout, unlike the gold-plated wooden chest beneath it.

The curtains forming the tent over the tabernacle's inner layer were woven from the hair of which animal?

Goats supplied the hair, which Exodus says the skilled women of the camp spun themselves. Eleven of these curtains covered the embroidered layer beneath.

What projected from each of the four corners of the bronze altar in the tabernacle courtyard?

Horns on the altar became a refuge in later stories: in 1 Kings, the prince Adonijah ran and took hold of them when he feared for his life.

Which tribe's banner led the way whenever the tabernacle was packed up and Israel set out on the march?

Judah set out first at the head of a three-tribe division of 186,400 fighting men, the largest of the four camps ringed around the tabernacle.

What stayed permanently threaded through the gold rings on the sides of the Ark, never to be removed?

Carrying poles of gold-covered wood let the Ark be moved without anyone touching it. Centuries later a man named Uzzah died after reaching out to steady it on an ox cart.

What did the high priest wear into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement instead of his jewelled vestments?

Plain linen garments replaced the gold and gems for that one rite. He bathed before putting them on and left them behind in the tent when it was over.

How did the high priest decide which of two animals was sacrificed and which was released on the Day of Atonement?

By casting lots, he marked one for the Lord and one for Azazel, an obscure word that some Bibles leave untranslated. The first became the sin offering for the people.