Holiness Among Sinners (Exodus 40)
Exodus concludes with a bit of a downer, or maybe just a cliff-hanger. God commands His people to erect the Tabernacle, the tent where He will dwell with them. This is the big theme of the second half of Exodus. “If you will not go with us, YHWH, then what is the point?” Everything they have been commanded to do has been so that God may go with them; that He might live with them.
And just as before, we get a lot of precise, repetition. Moses doesn’t just say, “And the did as YHWH commanded.” He gives us details of the people’s obedience which makes for a tedious read, but shows us the precise nature of how the instructions were followed.
And, YHWH comes and inhabits the tent! But here is where we run into a snag. Moses is not able to enter the Tabernacle with YHWH’s presence there. How is this ever going to work? Spoiler, if you read on you get to the following:
“The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt…” Numbers 1:1
So, something happens between the end of Exodus and the beginning of Numbers that changes things. We have to read on to find out what that is…
And just as before, we get a lot of precise, repetition. Moses doesn’t just say, “And the did as YHWH commanded.” He gives us details of the people’s obedience which makes for a tedious read, but shows us the precise nature of how the instructions were followed.
And, YHWH comes and inhabits the tent! But here is where we run into a snag. Moses is not able to enter the Tabernacle with YHWH’s presence there. How is this ever going to work? Spoiler, if you read on you get to the following:
“The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt…” Numbers 1:1
So, something happens between the end of Exodus and the beginning of Numbers that changes things. We have to read on to find out what that is…
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