Context No. 2425 of 4322 · Exodus

Exodus 26:7-14: in context

7“You shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a covering over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains. 8The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains shall have one measure. 9You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. 10You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which is outermost in the second coupling. 11You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 12The overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent—the half curtain that remains—shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13The cubit on the one side and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. 14You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

The instructions for the tabernacle move to its coverings: eleven curtains of goat's hair, joined by loops and bronze clasps into one tent, and over that a covering of ram skins dyed red and a layer of sea cow hides. Layer upon plain layer, the humble outer skins that would face the weather and the desert dust.

Inside, the tabernacle blazed with gold and fine linen and the presence of God. But what a passerby saw was this: goat hair and animal hides, a plain, weatherworn tent. The glory was real and it was hidden, wrapped in coverings no one would look at twice. It is a quiet pattern for how God often dwells, the holy housed under an unremarkable exterior. We are prone to judge by the outer skins and walk past, never guessing what glory the plain covering protects.

What or whom have I dismissed by its plain exterior, never suspecting the glory the ordinary covering might hold?

Sources

Exodus 26:14: You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.
Exodus 26:7: You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tabernacle.
2 Corinthians 4:7: But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.