Stories From The Hebrew Bible
HOW THEY WORSHIPED GOD IN THE TABERNACLE
Stories From The Hebrew Bible
HOW THEY WORSHIPED GOD IN THE TABERNACLE
Now let us think about some of the services that were held at the Tabernacle, the tent where God lived among His people.
Every morning at sunrise the priests came to the great altar that was before the Tabernacle and they raked the fire and placed fresh wood on it, so that it would burn brightly. This fire was never allowed to go out. God had kindled it Himself; and the priests watched it closely and kept wood at hand, so that it was always burning.
Even while the altar was being carried from one place to another, the embers and live coals of the fire were taken to the new location for the altar without being allowed to die out. Then, from the embers of the old fire, a new fire was made on the altar.
Every morning and afternoon the priest took burning coals from this altar outside the Tabernacle and placed them in a bowl hanging on chains, so that, with the fire in it, the bowl could be carried by hand. This bowl with the chains was called “a censer.” Upon these burning coals the priest placed some fragrant gum called incense, which, when laid on the live coals, sent forth a strong and pleasant odor. The priest carried the incense in the censer into the Holy Place, and there laid it on the Golden Altar of Incense, which stood next to the veil.
About nine o’clock in the morning the priest brought a young ox or lamb; killed it and caught its blood in a basin. Then he laid the ox or the lamb on the wood which was burning on the altar in front of the Tabernacle. On the fire he also poured the blood of the slain beast. Then he stood by while the animal burned to ashes.
This was the offering, or sacrifice, for all the people of Israel together, and it was offered every morning and every afternoon. It pointed to the time when, just as the lamb died as an offering for the people, Jesus, the Son of God, would give His life on the cross, the Lamb of God, dying to take away the sins of the world. But of course, the Israelites of that time did not understand His meaning because they lived before Christ came.
Sometimes a man came to the priest with a lamb or an ox as an offering for himself. Such a lamb or ox was to always be a perfect animal and the best, without any defects, because God will only take from man his best. The man who wished to worship God led his lamb or ox to the entrance of the court, by the altar. There he laid his hands upon its head. Then the priest killed it and laid it on the burning wood on the altar and poured the animal’s blood on it. The man stood at the entrance of the court of the Tabernacle and watched it burn away.
Every day the priest went into the Holy Place and filled the seven lamps on the Lampstand with fresh oil.
These lamps were never allowed to go out. In other words, some of them must always be kept burning. While the lamps on one side were put out in order to be refilled, those on the other side were kept burning until these had been filled and lighted once more. So the lamps in the house of God never went out. This reminds us of Jesus, who long after this said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
Twelve loaves of unleaven bread were always standing on the gold-covered table in the Holy Place. Unleaven bread was bread made without any yeast. One loaf stood for each tribe of Israel. On every Sabbath morning the priests came in with twelve fresh loaves, which they sprinkled with incense and laid on the table in place of the stale loaves. Then, standing around the table, they ate the twelve old loaves. In this way the bread on the table before the Lord was kept fresh at all times.
God chose Aaron and his sons to be the priests for all Israel; and their children and the descendants who came after them were to be priests as long as the worship of the Tabernacle, and of the Temple that followed it, continued. Aaron, as the high priest, wore a splendid robe. A breastplate of precious stones was over his bosom; and a peculiar hat, called “a miter,” was on his head.
Aaron and his sons, along with Moses, belonged to the tribe of Levi. This was the tribe which stood faithful to God when the other tribes bowed down to the golden calf. The tribe of Levi was chosen to help the priests in the services of the Tabernacle. However, only Aaron and his sons could enter the Holy Place, and only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was; and he could enter only once each year.
