Scripture Daily

Context No. 1152 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 26:1-6: in context

1“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. You shall make them with the work of a skillful workman. 2The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure. 3Five curtains shall be coupled together to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling, and you shall do likewise on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second coupling. 5You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling. The loops shall be opposite one another. 6You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains to one another with the clasps. The tabernacle shall be a unit.

God gives the plans for the tabernacle's inner covering: ten curtains of fine linen woven in blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, all made to the same measure. Five are joined into one set and five into another, and then loops and fifty gold clasps couple the two sets together, so that, the passage concludes, the tabernacle becomes a single whole, one unit.

It is easy to skim the loops and clasps, but the goal is stated plainly: the tabernacle shall be a unit, one whole made of many separate curtains. Ten individual pieces, each beautifully woven, are deliberately joined, looped and clasped together with gold, until they function as one covering over the dwelling of God. There is a picture here of how God's dwelling is made. It is not a single unbroken sheet; it is many distinct parts, each with its own weaving, joined by the clasps into one. The New Testament will speak of God's people the same way, many members, each different, fitted and joined together into one body, one temple, one dwelling for God by the Spirit. The unity is not uniformity; the curtains keep their individual identity, but they are clasped into one. And it takes the clasps, the deliberate connecting, to make the many into one; separate curtains do not become a tabernacle on their own. God's dwelling among his people has always been a joined thing, distinct parts made one, and the gold clasps that hold them are worth as much attention as the beautiful weaving. It is together, coupled into one, that they house the presence of God.

Am I letting myself be clasped together with other distinct members into the one dwelling God is building, or holding apart as a beautiful but separate curtain that houses nothing on its own?

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