Editing Tabernacle (section)

==Description==

A detailed description of a tabernacle, located in [[:s:Bible (King James)/Exodus#25|Exodus chapters 25–27]] and [[:s:Bible (King James)/Exodus#35|Exodus chapters 35–40]], refers to an inner shrine, the [[Holy of Holies]], housing the ark, and an outer chamber with the six-branch seven-lamp [[Temple menorah]], table for [[showbread]], and an [[altar of incense]].<ref name="ODCC self">{{cite news |title=Tabernacle |editor-last=Cross |editor-first=F. L. |work=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005}}</ref> An enclosure containing the sacrificial altar and [[bronze laver]] for the priests to wash surrounded these chambers.<ref name= "ODCC self" />

[[File:Tabernacle.gif|thumb|Layout of the tabernacle with the [[Holy of Holies]]]]
Traditional scholars contend that it describes an actual tabernacle used in the time of Moses and thereafter.<ref name=CathEn/> This view is based on the existence of significant parallels between the biblical Tabernacle and similar structures from ancient Egypt during the Late Bronze Age.<ref>{{Cite book |title=On the Reliability of the Old Testament |last=Kitchen |first=Kenneth A. |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8028-0396-2 |pages=275–283}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Homan |first=Michael M. |year=2018 |title=The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context |website=TheTorah.com |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-tabernacle-in-its-ancient-near-eastern-context}}</ref>

The detailed outlines for the tabernacle and its priests are enumerated in the Book of Exodus:
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|25}}: Materials needed: the Ark, the table for 12 showbread, the menorah.
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|26}}: The tabernacle, the bars, partitions.
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|27}}: The copper altar, the enclosure, oil.
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|28}}: Vestments for the priests, ''[[ephod]]'' garment, ring settings, the [[Priestly breastplate|breastplate]], robe, head-plate, tunic, turban, sashes, pants.
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|29}}: Consecration of priests and altar.
* {{bibleref2|Exodus|30}}: Incense altar, washstand, anointing oil, incense.

Liane Feldman holds that there are contrasting descriptions of the Meeting Tent in the Pentateuch, where the Priestly source presents a large, ornate tent at the center of the Israelite community, while a non-priestly strand describes a smaller, simpler tent for Moses, which in her view demonstrates the composite nature of the Pentateuch and differing perspectives within it.<ref>The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source, From Creation to the Promised Land. World Literature in Translation. Berkeley; Los Angeles:  The University of California Press</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2025}}

Benjamin D. Sommer suggests that while the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was reserved for God’s presence, the main room featured a metal menorah with six branches on each side, potentially echoing the [[asherah pole|asherah]], which he thinks was used in the cult of [[Yahweh]].<ref>Sommer, Benjamin D. ''The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel''. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 47, 75.</ref>