Exodus 37–40: The Tabernacle & The Glory of the Lord

Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 23: Monday

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34 LSB

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In Monday’s Bible reading is Exodus 37–40, the work of building the tabernacle, its furnishings, and making the garments for the priests is described and completed.

Everything is set and arranged by Moses, and he robes Aaron and his sons—all according to God’s plan and God’s time.

Thus Moses finished the work.

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Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had dwelt on it, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.

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Now throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

Exodus 40:33b–38 LSB

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In his sermon, “The Glory Cloud,” Ligon Duncan said:

“Now in these closing words of Exodus, two twin themes are evident — that is, two different sets of themes. First of all you see the theme of God’s awesome majesty, that He’s high and lifted up; and then, side by side with it, the theme of His nearness. He’s high and He’s lifted up, He’s majestic, He’s transcendent, but He’s near to His people. He’s imminent, He’s close to them. He’s present with them, and you see those things set side by side. And in connection with that second part of the first twin theme that He’s near to His people, as the passage describes to us the way that God is near to His people, you see another set of twin themes, and that is God’s favor. He’s near His people…

“…the glory cloud is a visible manifestation of the constant presence of God. He is constantly present in His divine providence. And there’s a staggering humility to what God is doing here. He’s condescending to dwell in this tent with Israel.”¹

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament teaches us that the tabernacle built by Moses was a copy of the true tabernacle.² Read through Hebrews 8–9 on into chapter 10.

Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

Hebrews 8:1–2 LSB

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For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy places year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Hebrews 9:24–26 LSB

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Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:19–22 LSB

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John writes in Revelation:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things passed away.”

Revelation 21:1–4 LSB

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Philip Ryken quotes Peter Enns as writing:

“[W]e, too, like the Israelites have been delivered and are waiting to arrive at our final destrination. We, like the Israelites, are poised to reach our rest. On this journey, we follow our holy Redeemer as he guides us to the Promised Land. Admittedly, there is no cloud overhead, but we have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us. He brings us to the goal of our salvation just as surely as the cloud guided the Israelites to their ultimate destination. The people of God should take great comfort in this. The God of Exodus is still guiding , God is present with his people wherever they go, for he still leads and guides them, not to Canaan but to a “better country — a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16).”³

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Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness: Illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible. Public Domain.
¹J. Ligon Duncan, “The Glory Cloud,” May 21, 2003. Retrieved 05 June 2023.
²See Exodus 9–12: Death & The Passover Lamb for Edmund Clowney’s explanation of type and antitype.
³Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved For God’s Glory (Crossway Books, Wheaton IL: 2005) 1163–1164.

I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.