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Exodus 40 · a question people ask

Why does Exodus describe the tabernacle all over again?

In the text

Chapters 25 to 31 are the LORD telling Moses what to make; chapters 35 to 40 tell of it being made and set up, often in nearly the same words. The text doesn't say why it tells it twice. What it does stress is that the second matches the first. The LORD said, "According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it" (25:9), and "See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain" (25:40). At the end, "According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work" (39:42), and "Moses did so" (40:16). Hebrews gives a reason the pattern mattered: the priests "serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle" (Hebrews 8:5).

The verses

“According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.”
Exodus 25:9 · World English Bible
“See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.”
Exodus 25:40 · World English Bible
“According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded. They had done so; and Moses blessed them.”
Exodus 39:42-43 · World English Bible
“Moses did so. According to all that the LORD commanded him, so he did.”
Exodus 40:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 40

Exodus 40: The glory filled the tabernacle

Exodus 40 says "as the LORD commanded Moses" seven times, and it is Moses who lights the lamps, burns the incense and offers on the altar. "So Moses finished the work" has the same Hebrew verb and noun as God finishing his work in Genesis 2:2. The cloud that covered Sinai covers the tent, and Moses, who once went into that cloud, can't go in (40:35).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions