Exodus 26:15-25: a reflection

15“You shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright. 16Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and one and a half cubits the width of each board. 17There shall be two tenons in each board, joined to one another: thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18You shall make twenty boards for the tabernacle, for the south side southward. 19You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. 20For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards, 21and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22For the far side of the tabernacle westward you shall make six boards. 23You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far side. 24They shall be double beneath, and in the same way they shall be whole to its top to one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. 25There shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

This passage gives detailed instructions for the wooden framework of the tabernacle: upright boards of acacia wood, each fitted with tenons, standing side by side, set into bases of silver. It is the skeleton of God's dwelling, the structure that would hold up the whole tent. To modern readers it can seem like dry construction detail, but every board, every socket, every joint was specified by God, because even the framework of his house mattered to him.

There is quiet meaning in the design. Each board stood upright, individually, yet was joined to the others by rings and bars into a single stable structure, and each rested not on the bare ground but on bases of silver, the metal associated in Israel with the price of redemption. Individual boards, upright and joined together, resting on a foundation of silver, formed the dwelling place of God. What might look like mere carpentry quietly pictures a people fitted together on a foundation of redemption to be God's home.

The New Testament takes up this image: God's people are being built together into a dwelling for God by his Spirit, like living stones or fitted boards. You are not meant to stand alone but to be joined with others into something God inhabits, each person upright and yet connected, all resting on the foundation of Christ's redeeming work. Ask God to make you a well-fitted part of his dwelling, standing firm, joined to others, resting wholly on the redemption that is your only sure foundation.

Lord, you built your dwelling from upright boards joined together on bases of silver, and you are building your people into a dwelling for yourself. Make me a well-fitted part of your house, standing firm and joined to others rather than standing alone. Let me rest wholly on the foundation of Christ's redeeming work, and dwell among your people, together, as your home. Amen.