Tabernacle - Plan

Plan

The Tabernacle during the Exodus, the wandering in the desert and the conquest of Canaan was a portable tent draped with colorful curtains called a "tent of meeting". It had a rectangular, perimeter fence of fabric, poles and staked cords. This rectangle was always erected when the Israelite tribes would camp, oriented to the east. In the center of this enclosure was a rectangular sanctuary draped with goat-hair curtains, with the roof made from rams' skins. Over the rams' skins was placed a covering of "tachash skins", a term of uncertain meaning which has been variously translated as badger skins, blue processed skins, beaded skins, etc. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, "The AV and JPS translation badger has no basis in fact."

"and great was the surprise of those who viewed these curtains at a distance, for they seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky" —Josephus (c. 94 CE)

Inside, the enclosure was divided into two areas, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These two areas were separated by a curtain or veil. Inside the first area were three pieces of furniture: a seven-branched oil lampstand on the left (south), a table for twelve loaves of show bread on the right (north) and the Altar of Incense (west), straight ahead before the dividing curtain.

Beyond this curtain was the cube-shaped inner room known as the "Holy of Holies") or (Kodesh Hakodashim). This area housed the Ark of the Covenant (aron habrit), inside which were the two stone tablets brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses on which were written the Ten Commandments, a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded and bore ripe almonds. (Hebrews 9:2-5, Exodus 16:33-34, Numbers 17:1-11, Deuteronomy 10:1-5.)

• Top view, parallel projection of tabernacle.

• Tabernacle Tent dimensions according to the Book of Exodus

• Tabernacle Tent and Courtyard dimensions according to the Book of Exodus