Building the Tabernacle

So the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard from their leader, and they did not hold back from working as hard as they could. They brought silver and gold and bronze, and the best kinds of wood, such as would never rot; goats’ hair too, and sheepskins, some dyed blue and some scarlet, some with the bloom of purple and others white; wool dyed with the colors just mentioned; and fine linen, and precious stones, such as those who wear costly ornaments set in settings of gold. They also brought a great quantity of incense. For it was out of these materials that Moses built the tabernacle, which differed in nothing from a movable, traveling temple. When these things had been brought together with great zeal — for everyone was eager to further the work even beyond his means — he set master builders over the work, and this at God’s command; and they were the very ones the people themselves would have chosen, had the choice been left to them. Their names are written in the sacred books, and they were these: Bezalel the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and son of Miriam, their leader’s sister; and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. The people went on with what they had undertaken so eagerly that Moses had to restrain them, proclaiming that what had been brought was enough, as the craftsmen had told him. So they set to work building the tabernacle. Moses also told them, according to God’s direction, what its measurements and size were to be, and how many vessels it should hold for the use of the sacrifices. The women, too, were eager to do their part, with the priests’ garments and the other things this work would need, both for ornament and for the divine service itself. [a]

When everything was ready — the gold, the bronze, and the woven work — Moses, having first announced that there would be a festival and that sacrifices should be offered according to each person’s means, set up the tabernacle. He measured out the open court, 75 feet wide and 150 feet long, and set up bronze pillars 7½ feet high, twenty on each of the longer sides and ten across the width at the back. Each pillar also had a ring. Their capitals were of silver, but their bases were of bronze; the bases looked like the sharp points of spears, and were fixed into the ground. Cords were run through the rings and tied at their far ends to bronze pegs 1½ feet long, which were driven into the ground at every pillar and kept the tabernacle from being shaken by the force of the winds. A richly worked linen curtain went around all the pillars, falling in loose, ample folds from their capitals down to the bases; it enclosed the whole space and looked very much like a wall around it. That was how three sides of this enclosure were built. As for the fourth side, which was 75 feet across and was the front of the whole, 30 feet of it were the opening of the gates, where two pillars stood on each side in the likeness of open gates. These were made entirely of silver and polished all over, except the bases, which were of bronze. On each side of the gates stood three pillars, set into the hollow bases of the gates and fitted to them, and a curtain of fine linen was drawn around them. But for the gates themselves, which were 30 feet wide and 7½ feet high, the curtain was made of purple, scarlet, and blue, and fine linen, embroidered with many different kinds of figures, except figures of animals. Inside these gates was the bronze washbasin for purification, with a bowl of the same metal beneath it, from which the priests could wash their hands and sprinkle their feet. Such was the ornamental construction of the enclosure around the court of the tabernacle, which lay open to the sky. [d]

As for the tabernacle itself, Moses placed it in the middle of the court, facing east, so that when the sun rose it would send its first rays on it. Its length, when it was set up, was 45 feet, and its width 15 feet. One of its walls faced south and the other north, and the back faced west. Its height had to be equal to its width. There were also wooden pillars, twenty on each side, made rectangular, 2¼ feet wide and 3 inches thick. They had thin plates of gold fastened to them on both sides, inside and out. Each of them had two tenons set into its bases, and the bases were of silver, each with a socket to receive a tenon. The pillars on the west wall were six. All these tenons and sockets fitted each other so exactly that the joints could not be seen, and the whole seemed to be one entire, unbroken wall. It was also covered with gold inside and out. The number of pillars was equal on the opposite sides, twenty on each, and each of them was a third of a span thick, so that the full 45 feet was made up between them. But for the back wall, where the six pillars together made up only 13½ feet, they made two more pillars, cutting both of them out of a single width of 1½ feet, and placed them at the corners, finished as finely as the rest. Each pillar had gold rings fixed to its outer face, as though they had grown out of the pillars, standing in rows facing one another all around. Through them ran bars overlaid with gold, each 7½ feet long, which bound the pillars together, the head of each bar running into the next by a cleverly made joint shaped like a screw. For the back wall there was only one row of bars, running through all the pillars, and into it ran the ends of the bars from each of the longer walls, male and female so fastened at their joints that they held the whole firmly together. All this was joined so tightly so that the tabernacle would not be shaken, either by the winds or by anything else, but would keep itself still and immovable at all times. [f]

Inside, Moses divided its length into three parts. At 15 feet from the innermost end he placed four pillars, made exactly like the rest and standing on the same kind of bases, each a little apart from the next. The space within those pillars was the most holy place; the rest of the room was the tabernacle, which was open to the priests. This proportioning of the tabernacle’s measurements turned out to be an imitation of the system of the world. The third part, within the four pillars, where the priests were not admitted, is like a heaven set apart for God; while the space of 30 feet is like sea and land, where men live, and so this part is set apart for the priests only. At the front, where the entrance was, they placed pillars of gold standing on bronze bases, five in number. Over the tabernacle they spread veils of fine linen and of purple, blue, and scarlet, embroidered. The first veil was 15 feet each way. They spread it over the pillars that divided the temple and kept the most holy place hidden within, and this veil made that part invisible to everyone. The whole temple was called the Holy Place, but the part within the four pillars, where no one was admitted, was called the Holy of Holies. This veil was richly ornamented, embroidered with every kind of flower the earth produces, and woven through with every kind of varied design that could serve as ornament, except the forms of animals. Another veil covered the five pillars at the entrance. It was like the first in size, weave, and color. At the corner of every pillar a ring held it from the top down to half the height of the pillars, and the other half left an entrance for the priests, who crept in under it. Over this was a linen veil of the same size as the other. It could be drawn one way or the other by cords, whose rings, fastened both to the fabric of the veil and to the cords, served to draw it open and closed and to fasten it at the corner, so that it would not block the view of the sanctuary, especially on festival days; but on other days, and especially when the weather threatened snow, it could be spread out as a covering for the many-colored veil. That is the origin of our custom, since the temple was built, of drawing a fine linen veil over the entrances. The ten other curtains were 6 feet wide and 42 feet long, with gold clasps to join one curtain to the next, so exactly that they looked like one entire curtain. These were spread over the temple and covered the whole top, and the walls on the sides and at the back, to within 1½ feet of the ground. There were other curtains of the same width as these, but one more in number and longer, for they were 45 feet long. These were woven of hair, as finely as the woolen ones, and hung loosely down to the ground, forming a triangular front and gable over the gates, the eleventh curtain being used for this very purpose. Above these were still other curtains made of skins, which covered and protected the woven ones, both in hot weather and when it rained. Those who saw these curtains from a distance were greatly surprised, for they seemed no different in color from the sky. The curtains of hair and of skins reached down in the same way as the veil at the gates, and kept off the heat of the sun and whatever damage the rains might do. That is how the tabernacle was set up. [i]

An ark was also made, sacred to God, of wood that was naturally strong and could not decay. In our own language it was called eron. It was built in this way: its length was 3¾ feet, and its width and height were each 2¼ feet. It was covered with gold all over, inside and out, so that the wood could not be seen. It also had a lid joined to it by gold hinges in a marvelous way, fitted evenly to it all round, with no projections to keep it from closing exactly. Each of the longer sides had two gold rings, passing through the whole thickness of the wood, and through them gilded bars ran along each side, so that it could be moved and carried about as needed; for it was not drawn on a cart by animals but carried on the shoulders of the priests. On its lid were two images, which the Hebrews call cherubim. They are winged creatures, but their form is not like that of any creature men have seen, though Moses said he had seen such figures worked on the throne of God. In this ark he put the two tablets on which the ten commandments were written, five on each tablet, two and a half on each side of them. And this ark he placed in the most holy place. [k]

In the holy place he placed a table like those at Delphi. It was 3 feet long, 1½ feet wide, and 2¼ feet high. It had legs, the lower halves of which were finished feet like those the Dorians put on their beds, while the upper parts, toward the table, were worked into a square shape. The table had a hollow on every side, with a rim 3 inches deep that ran around like a spiral, on both the upper and the lower part of the body of the work. On each leg a ring was fixed, not far from the top, and through these ran bars of wood beneath, gilded, which could be taken out when needed. There was a gap where they joined the rings, for the rings were not complete circles but ended in sharp points before they came all the way round, one point fitting into the projecting part of the table and the other into the leg. By these the table was carried when they traveled. On this table, which stood on the north side of the temple, not far from the most holy place, were laid twelve unleavened loaves of bread, six in each stack, one on top of another. They were made of two tenth-measures of the finest flour, the tenth-measure being a Hebrew measure that holds about 3½ pints; and on top of those loaves were placed two gold bowls full of frankincense. After seven days other loaves were brought in their place, on the day we call the Sabbath, for we call the seventh day the Sabbath. As for the reason for placing loaves here, we will speak of it in another place. [m]

Opposite this table, near the south wall, stood a lampstand of cast gold, hollow inside, weighing about 125 pounds — what the Hebrews call a kinchares, which in Greek means a talent. It was made with its knobs and lilies and pomegranates and bowls, seventy ornaments in all, by which the shaft rose up from a single base and spread into as many branches as there are planets, counting the sun among them. It ended in seven heads in one row, all standing parallel to one another, and these branches carried seven lamps, one on each, in imitation of the number of the planets. The lamps looked toward the east and the south, for the lampstand stood at an angle. [o]

Between this lampstand and the table, which as we said were inside the sanctuary, was the altar of incense. It was made of wood, but of the same wood as the vessels already described, which was not subject to decay, and it was entirely overlaid with a plate of gold. It was 1½ feet wide on each side, and twice that in height. On it was a grate of gold standing up above the altar, with a gold crown surrounding it, and to it belonged rings and bars by which the priests carried it when they traveled. In front of the tabernacle stood a bronze altar, made of wood inside, 7½ feet square but only 4½ feet high, adorned like the golden altar, but with plates of bronze. It also had a bronze hearth of network, for the ground underneath received the fire from the hearth, since there was no base to receive it. Facing the golden altar were set the pitchers and the bowls, with the censers and the mixing bowls; and all the other vessels made for the sacred rites were of gold. Such was the construction of the tabernacle, and these were the vessels belonging to it. [p]