Exodus 40:16 says, “And Moses did according to all that Jehovah had commanded him; so he did.” Again and again the words “as Jehovah had commanded Moses” are repeated (vv. 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32). When I read this portion of the Word as a young person, I thought that it was too repetitious. It seemed to me that it would have been sufficient to say at the end that everything was done according to what God had commanded Moses. However, the fact that the words “as Jehovah had commanded Moses” are repeated again and again indicates something important.
Although the record in chapter forty is not very long, it is quite detailed. First we are told that “Moses raised up the tabernacle, and placed its sockets, and put up its boards, and put in its bars, and raised up its pillars” (v. 18). Then we are told that Moses “spread the tent over the tabernacle” and “put the cover of the tent over it from above” (v. 19). The curtains were placed above the boards to form the ceiling, and the layers of coverings were put on top of the curtains to form the roof. Thus, inside, the curtains formed the ceiling, and outside, the coverings formed the roof.
Verses 20 and 21 speak about the ark: “And he took the testimony and placed it into the ark, and he put the poles on the ark, and he placed the propitiatory cover upon the ark from above. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and he put up the veil of the curtain, and covered the ark of the testimony, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.” Verse 20 speaks of the cover of the ark as the propitiatory cover. The King James Version uses the expression “mercy seat.” According to the New Testament, the propitiatory cover is the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16), where God meets with His people. After the ark was placed in the tabernacle, the veil covering the ark of testimony was set up.
According to verse 22, Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. Then he set in order upon the table the loaves of bread. The bread is for feeding, for nourishing. Opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle, Moses put the lampstand, and he lighted the lamps before the Lord. Following this, Moses put the golden altar of incense before the veil. Then, as the Lord had commanded him, he burned upon it the incense of fragrant spices. At the incense altar the priests could pray and intercede for God’s people.
In chapter forty of Exodus, the bread is mentioned along with the table; the lighting of the lamps, along with the lampstand; and the burning of incense, along with the golden altar of incense. This indicates that we should not have a table without bread, a lampstand without light, or an incense altar without incense. As soon as the table was put in the Holy Place, the bread was arranged upon it. Likewise, as soon as the lampstand was put in place opposite the table, the lamps were lighted. Furthermore, once the golden altar had been set up before the veil, incense was burned upon it. Anyone entering the Holy Place could see the bread and the light and smell the incense. This indicates that in the Lord’s recovery we should not have outward things without the reality of those things. For example, we should not have baptism without the reality of the Lord’s death and resurrection, or the Lord’s table without the reality of the Body of Christ. If we do not have reality, we shall simply have empty forms.
Exodus 40:28 says, “And he put up the curtain of the door to the tabernacle.” Once this curtain had been put up, the entire tabernacle was finished. Therefore, verse 30 goes on to speak of the laver and the altar of burnt offering, and verse 33, of the raising up of the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and the hanging up of the curtain of the gate of the court. Then verse 33 concludes with the words, “And Moses finished the work.” At this point, all the work regarding the erecting of the tabernacle and the outer court was completed. In the following message, the last message in this Life-study of Exodus, we shall see that the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.