On the fourteenth day of the first month the children of Israel kept the Passover in Egypt. In the third month, they came to Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:1). There they stayed for nine months and received the revelation concerning God and the tabernacle through Moses. For several hundred years they had stayed in the darkness of Egypt, without light and without God’s word. Now, however, under the shining of the light, they lived according to God’s revelation and built the tabernacle according to the pattern revealed by God. On the first day of the second year, the tabernacle was erected and filled with glory (40:17, 34).
Exodus 40:17-34 says, “And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle....Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
After the completion and erection of God’s tabernacle, it was immediately filled with the glory of God. That was the first time in history of a large scale practical expression of God’s glory. God’s glory is God expressed. That day when the glory of God filled the tabernacle, it was indeed a great matter because God had gained a habitation on the earth. There is nothing more glorious than God getting a dwelling place on the earth.
God led His people out of the tyranny of Egypt and into the wilderness. He further brought them up to the mountain and revealed to them His economy. Finally, they built a tabernacle for God and God’s glory filled the tabernacle. However, although they had the tabernacle, they still did not have the solid building typified by the temple in the land of Canaan. Therefore, if the children of Israel intended to reach the ultimate goal of God’s calling, they needed to press on to enter into the good land. The distance from Egypt to Sinai is about one fourth of the distance from Egypt to Canaan. Therefore, God’s chosen people had to press on from Sinai until they entered into the land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey.
From the first day of the first month of the second year, when the tabernacle was set up, to the twentieth day of the second month, when the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai (Num. 10:11-12), within this period of over a month God spoke from within the tabernacle (Lev. 1:1). In Exodus God spoke on Mount Sinai; in Leviticus God spoke in the tabernacle. The latter indicates that God dwelt among His people and was closer to them. God not only redeemed His people, but He also called them to draw near to Himself. The meaning of “Leviticus” in Hebrew is “and He called.” Because God is holy, those who draw near to Him must also be holy. He wanted the children of Israel, His redeemed, to be sanctified through the offerings and the blood of the sacrifices and also by the atonement made by the priests, and then to draw near to Him to worship Him through the tabernacle.
God also wanted His redeemed people to serve Him. Therefore, God spoke to the children of Israel through Moses, instructing them concerning the setting up of the camps, the journeying of the camps (Num. 1, 10), the service in the tabernacle (Num. 3, 4, 8), and the things they were to do in their daily life (Num. 5—7). All things were to be done according to fixed regulations without any confusion.
Now the children of Israel became God’s army and journeyed on. On one hand, the cloud was leading in front of them (Num. 9:15-23); on the other hand, the tabernacle of God was among them. They were a peculiar people, because their food was different from the food of all the other people on the earth. They were priests serving God, and in their service every one had his own position and duty. However, their flesh still remained.
The Passover solved the problem of the sins of the children of Israel, and the crossing of the Red Sea solved the problem of the world. Their flesh, however, had not been dealt with. Therefore, some of them had an evil heart of unbelief in withdrawing from the living God (Heb. 3:12), and they always went astray in heart, not knowing the ways of God. Hence, within the thirty-eight years from the time they left Mount Sinai until the second time they arrived at Kadesh, they offended God and rebelled against God again and again—altogether eight times. On the third day of their journey at the place of Taberah, they began to murmur (Num. 11:1-3); they murmured again for food (Num. 11:4-35); they spoke against the leader appointed by God (Num. 12); they did not believe that God promised to give them the land of Canaan (Num. 13:1—14:38); they did not obey God’s righteous judgment (Num. 14:39-45); they did not obey the authority and the office arranged by God (Num. 16—17); they murmured because of thirst (Num. 20:2-13); and they murmured again due to the difficulty in the journey and the shortage of food (Num. 21:5-9). Therefore, God slew them, being disgusted with them, and He swore in His wrath that they would wander in the wilderness for forty years and not be allowed to enter into His rest until those who were after the flesh all fell in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:18). Eventually only Caleb and Joshua and the new generation entered into Canaan, the good land.
From Moses to Samuel represents the period of time from God’s redemption of Israel, His saving them out of Egypt, to Samuel’s ending of the age of the judges and his bringing in of the age of the kings. In Moses, the Bible shows us a complete picture of all God’s various work on His redeemed people. God redeemed them out of His condemnation through the Passover and saved them out of the bondage of slavery through His power, thus bringing them into the land of freedom. In this land of freedom, God supplied them with manna from heaven for their food and living water flowing from the rock for their drink, thus changing their constitution. Then He brought them to the place where He appeared to them, giving them the light of the law to expose their sin and weakness and having them build His dwelling place so that they could enjoy His presence and so that He could gain a glorious expression. Finally, He led them through all kinds of trials to prepare them to enter the good land promised by God.