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Exodus 25:23-40
23“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 24You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. 25And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. 26And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. 29And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. 30And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly. 31“You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 33three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 34And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 35and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. 36Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 37You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. 38Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold. 40And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.



God now solidifies His intention to always remain with His people by asking them to build Him a home. That home will travel with the people until they reach the Promised Land and eventually they construct a permanent residence for Him during the time of Solomon. Like every one of our homes, His also required furnishings. As Moses receives the blueprints for this home, there are also instructions for the furniture.

First, there must be a dining room table. This special table became the place where the daily offering of what become known as “showbread” would be placed. Every day, 12 (one for each tribe) fresh loaves (like a modern day pita) were laid on the altar. When someone comes into your home, you offer them food. In this case, the people offered the food back to God.



Then there was the need for light. Thus God instructs Moses as to the plans for the Lampstand. This was lit every evening at dusk and burned through the night until morning.



At night the light from the seven oil lamps that the lampstand held would have made the tabernacle the brightest thing in the Israelite encampment, aside from some of the cooking fires, and certainly the brightest lit “living quarters” in the entire encampment since no individual family would have chosen to use the large amount of oil necessary to keep seven lamps lit in a single tent. In all probability, having the lights on meant then much the same thing that it means now: someone’s home. In this case, symbolically, “Yahweh was home” among his people.

Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 577). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.



The lampstand was a floor-standing, candelabra-like golden structure with six branches and a “trunk” made to resemble an olive(!) tree but with certain almond(!) tree features and intended almost certainly not merely to provide light for the tabernacle but could also point to Yahweh’s gift of life to his people.

 What must be remembered here is that God didn't need any of this stuff. It is all for us. We're the one's who need to remember to bring offerings of praise to Him on a regular basis. We're the one's who need to see His light. He is a holy God who deserves a great house, but more than that He is a loving God who provides for us even while we bring our offerings to Him.

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