Context & Key Themes
Exodus 38, 39, and 40 bring the book to its climax. The bronze altar and basin are made, the court is constructed, the priestly garments are completed, and Moses inspects all the work — finding it done exactly as the Lord commanded. The tabernacle is erected on the first day of the first month of the second year. Moses anoints and consecrates everything. And then the cloud covers the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle, so that Moses cannot even enter. The themes are the completion of obedience, the divine approval that confirms faithful work, and the Lord taking up residence among His people at last.
Key Verses
“Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” — Exodus 40:33–34
“Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.” — Exodus 40:36–37
Summary
Chapters 38–39 — Completion of the Tabernacle
Bezalel makes the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood overlaid with bronze, five cubits square and three cubits high, with all its utensils. He makes the bronze basin from the mirrors of the ministering women. He builds the court with its linen curtains, bronze posts with silver hooks and bands, and the gate screen. He records the amount of gold, silver, and bronze used in the entire work: twenty-nine talents of gold, a hundred talents of silver — one beka per man counted in the census, 603,550 men — and seventy talents of bronze.
The craftsmen make the priestly garments: the ephod of hammered gold thread and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, the two onyx stones set with the names of the tribes, the breastpiece with its twelve stones, the robe of the ephod entirely in blue with pomegranates and gold bells, the woven tunics, the turban, the linen caps, and the sash. They make the plate of pure gold engraved Holy to the Lord and attach it to the turban. Moses inspects all the work and sees that they have done it exactly as the Lord commanded. Moses blesses them.
Chapter 40 — The Glory of the Lord
The Lord speaks to Moses on the first day of the first month: set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. Put the ark of the testimony in it and screen the ark with the veil. Bring in the table and set it. Bring in the lampstand and set its lamps. Put the golden altar for incense before the ark and set up the screen for the door. Put the altar of burnt offering before the entrance. Set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar. Set up the court and hang up the screen for the gate. Then anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it. Anoint the altar and all its utensils and consecrate it. Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve as priests.
Moses does all this on the first day of the first month of the second year. He erects the tabernacle, lays its bases, sets up its frames, bars, and pillars. He spreads the tent over the tabernacle. He puts the tablets of the testimony in the ark. He puts the mercy seat on the ark. He brings the ark into the tabernacle and hangs the veil. He puts the table in the tent of meeting on the north side outside the veil, and sets the bread in order before the Lord. He places the lampstand and sets up the lamps. He places the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil and burns fragrant incense on it. He puts up the screen for the entrance. He places the altar of burnt offering at the entrance and offers the burnt offering and grain offering. He sets the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and puts water in it for washing. Moses and Aaron and his sons wash their hands and feet from it when they go into the tent of meeting and when they come near the altar. He erects the court around the tabernacle and the altar. Moses finishes the work.
Then the cloud covers the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle. Moses is not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settles on it and the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle. Throughout all the people’s journeys, whenever the cloud is taken up from the tabernacle, the people set out. But if the cloud is not taken up, they do not set out. For the cloud of the Lord is on the tabernacle by day, and fire is in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
Reflection
Moses finished the work. Five words that close one of the great construction projects in human history. Everything God showed Moses on the mountain has been built. The pattern has been followed. The details have been honored. And the confirmation comes immediately and unmistakably: the cloud covers the tent and the glory fills it so completely that Moses — the man who spoke with God face to face as with a friend, who saw God’s back from the cleft of the rock, who spent eighty days on the mountain in God’s presence — cannot enter. The presence of God is so full that there is no room left.
This is the answer to the question the tabernacle was built to answer: can the holy God actually dwell among a sinful, stiff-necked people who have already broken the covenant once? The cloud descending on the finished tent is God’s answer. Yes. On these terms — with the ark, the blood, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the veil — I will come and live here with you. The entire elaborate system exists for this moment.
The cloud and fire that guided Israel through the wilderness from chapter 13 has now settled on the tabernacle. The pillar that went before them is the same presence that fills the tent. God has not changed location — He has come home to the home His people built for Him. And from this point forward, the movement of Israel through the wilderness is governed by the movement of the cloud: when it lifts, they travel; when it rests, they camp. The entire journey is navigated by the visible presence of the Lord. That is the ending Exodus was always building toward — not the parting of a sea, not the giving of a law, but the God of the universe taking up residence in a tent, in the middle of a camp, in the middle of a desert, among people who make golden calves and forget the sea by the third day. He comes to live with them anyway. That is the last word of Exodus. He came.