Exodus 25-27

01 Jun 2026 - Theology

A Willing Offering

Ancient Eastern Weddings:

1. Betrothal (Cup of the Covenant) - Genesis 12
2. Groom leaves to prepare the house - Exodus 1-12
3. Arrival of the bridegroom - Exodus 12
4. Bride is consecrated - Exodus 19:10-15
5. Shofar is sounded (bride’s entrance) - Exodus 19:16
6. Gather under the chuppah - Exodus 19:17
7. Presentation of the ketubah - Exodus 20-23
8. Exchange of wedding gifts
9. Consummation of the marriage
10. “Honeymoon” year (Deuteronomy 24:5)

We should expect that the next portion of Scripture would involve number 8, the exchange of wedding gifts. It turns out that there are instructions for many gifts exchanged in this portion of Scripture! The exchange of gifts will continue for the rest of Exodus, and also in the book of Leviticus.

Exodus 25

Exodus 25:1-2 - “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering [or “gift”]: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.”

Franz Rosenzweig commented that in Egypt the Israelites were slaves, forced to build cities for Pharaoh. But the Lord does not force them to build the sanctuary. The Lord tells Moses to accept the gifts, but only from those who wish to help and want to give. Slaves are forced to do things for their master. Free people do things because they choose to.

We read about one of the main gifts in this chapter:

Exodus 25:8 - “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”

The Lord does not say “so that I can dwell in it”, meaning inside the sanctuary. The Lord instead says, “so that I can dwell among them,” meaning among the Israelites. This sanctuary is more a gift for the people than it is a gift for the Lord.

The story of the sanctuary seems to be a single tale until we look closer. Sometimes the portable sanctuary built in the wilderness is called the Tabernacle (or Mishkan). Other times it is called theh Tent (or Ohel). At times, both words seem to point to the same thing, and at times they seem to specify two different places.

The Israelites did not go out and buy gifts to give to the Lord, rather they gave from what they already owned. These riches to build the sanctuary were most likely given to them by the Egyptians (see Exodus 11:2 and Genesis 15:14).

Exodus 25:21-22 - “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony [the Ten Commandments] that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.”

“In the details of the innermost chamber of the wilderness tabernacle, we read that ‘the cherubim shall have their wings spead out above, shielding the cover with their wings. They shall confront each other…’ They gaze at one another, but, even more important, they gaze through the emptiness between them, accentuating the formlessness of God. Here we are at the very center, the holy of holies. And, as anyone who has ever visited an ancient Near Eastern temple knows, that is the residence of the deity. But for the Jews, there is nothing.” ⁴

“The opposite of nothing is something. Life is filled with things. And every thing is surrounded by a boundary line separating it from other things. One thing after another is bounded by beginnings and ends, definitions and preconceptions. But only Nothing can embrace all being, infinite possibility, and, therefore, the presence of God. For this reason, one who expects nothing has no guarantees, just openness to every possibility.” ⁴

Exodus 26 and 27

The ark with the Ten Commandments and the throne from which God would commune with the people would be in a space called the “Holy of Holies”. A tent called the “Holy” would cover the Holy of Holies, the table for shew bread, and the menorah. An embroidered curtain would separate the Holy from the Holy of Holies. The Tabernacle itself, with everything in it, would be a wooden rectangle twice the size, covered with a tent of ram and dolphin skins.

At Mt. Sinai, the people could only go as far as the foot of the mountain, the priests and elders could go partway up the mountain, and only Moses could go to the top. In the Tabernacle (Mishkan), the people would be able to go into the Tabernacle, the priests into the Holy, and only Moses or the High Priest into the Holy of Holies.

Exodus 27:20-21 - “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.”

See Resources below for a YouTube video of an artists 3D rendering of what the Tabernacle construction could have looked like.

References:

1. The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
2. The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)
3. Tabernacle of Moses Construction 3D Animation
4. God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know