(4.) Our Accommodating God: The Wilderness Tabernacle
(4.) Our Accommodating God: The Wilderness Tabernacle.
“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
An Accommodating Person is one who graciously changes plans for another’s benefit; who is willing to adjust in order to meet another’s needs; is open to adapting to changing circumstances; who is able to make concessions if needed; who makes allowances for others; who choose to oblige other and give them favors in order to be helpful; who is able to creatively shift from Plan A to Plan B if needed; who makes space for others to learn and grow; who welcomes others to fit into his own space; who makes reasonable exceptions to a general rule; who is comfortable in doing whatever it takes to be understood or to communicate effectively; who is willing to adjust expectations in light of reality; who is able to place limits on himself if it help others to flourish; who is able to step back in order to enable others to step forward.
Qualities of An Accommodating Person: Gracious; Humble; Sacrificial; Flexible; Observant; Farsighted; Insightful; Adaptable; Reasonable; Forgiving; Hospitable; Patient; Self-Effacing; Shrewd.
Our Accommodating God is willing, in His wisdom, to do everything described above, and then some. It seems to be in His nature to be an accommodating Soul, a part of His character since before Day One. God has been making concessions from before the creation of the universe, since creation itself was accomplished in the spirit of accommodation. God has also condescended to reveal His glory, agreed to His presence in the wilderness Tabernacle, made concessions to cultural realities in His Law, communicated in human language to produce holy Scripture, accommodated His word through His messengers, made Himself available through the Church’s sacraments, humbly revealed Himself with dreams and visions, and offered to us the ultimate accommodation… the Incarnation of His infinite Being to finite planet earth. God’s accommodations began before the beginning, during that eternal time before Day One, when Creator God filled everything, had always been present everywhere at the same time, and yet decided to make room for the universe. And the Lord has continued making concessions with His creation, with human beings, ever since. And that is the divine pattern to be found in our lives as well… to accommodate, to make space in our lives for God and for each other.
Tabernacle: “Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You. How much less this Temple I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27). When the Lord decided to instruct Moses and the chosen people to construct a special tent in the wilderness that He would call His ‘Dwelling Place,’ isn’t that a rather amazing accommodation to that insignificant tribe of unworthy people? Why was the Infinite willing to stoop to the finite in such a humble way? How was a Being outside of the universe and larger than the world able to remain content with establishing an intimate contact point with human beings in a portable tent and then later in a building made by a wicked, disobedient despot? As Rabbi Jonathon Sacks says in his commentary of Exodus, “God is vaster than the universe with its hundred billion galaxies, each with billions of stars. Does it not verge on blasphemy to build an earthly home for God?” And yet, that’s what Yahweh agreed to do, to accommodate His chosen people to an unimaginable degree, telling Moses, “They shall make a Sanctuary (‘Mishkan’) for Me, and I will dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8).
Built to Spec. Yahweh carefully ordered Moses to build the Tabernacle exactly to His specifications, for the Tabernacle was to be the portable Dwelling Place of Yahweh as the Israelites traveled in the Sinai wilderness. Fortunately, Moses was gifted in taking dictation, and he didn’t miss a thing… building materials, colors, dimensions, purpose of the furniture, everything. It was clear from the start that there was to be only one entrance, one gate, to the Tabernacle, just one way to offer sacrifices for forgiveness and to approach the Presence of the Lord. The gate was in the exact center of the eastern wall of curtains, complete with bright vivid colors, so it wouldn’t be difficult to find. All the other curtains comprising the borders of the courtyard were pure white linen and the gate was in technicolor. So the contrast must have been breathtaking. The actual design of the curtain gate is unknown. Knowing that the designer was specially inspired by God means that it was certainly spectacular.
Temporal and Eternal. The Tabernacle was designed and built with eternal imagery in mind, God’s mind. Everything about it suggested meanings that must have been beyond the Israelites. They understood enough to participate and honor the Tabernacle, but it’s clear that its full meaning could not be understood at that point in time. Rabbinic studies have compared the making of the Tabernacle with the creation of the universe. The universe began with an act of creation, and Jewish history began with creation of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was understood by the Jews as a sort of micro-cosmos representing the universe as a whole. It was an expression of Paradise regained, because once again the Lord God will dwell with mankind as He did in the Garden of Eden. “It has been taught that on the day the Tabernacle was inaugurated there was joy before the Holy One blessed be He, as on the day when heaven and earth was created.” (Rabbi Sacks’ commentary on Exodus).
A Shadow of the Future. For Christians, God intended the Tabernacle that pointed to a future reality, the spiritual reality of Christ’s sacrifice. The Tabernacle was following a specific heavenly pattern that was fulfilled in the incarnation of Jesus. This earthly Tabernacle was an expression of principles that were founded in heaven. “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not a part of this created world… The Tabernacle and everything in it were copies of things in heaven.” (Hebrews 9:11,23).
“The golden cherubim shall spread their wings above, overshadowing the Mercy Seat with their wings, their faces to one another; downward toward the Mercy Seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. With their wings above it, they will protect it… There I will meet with you, and from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Covenant, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” (Exodus 25:17-22).
The Mercy Seat. Isn’t it astounding that of all the places Lord Yahweh could have met personally with Moses and the High Priest, it was at the Mercy Seat? Isn’t it amazing that the Almighty God volunteered to condescend to our level at the Mercy Seat, and only at the Mercy Seat? Yes, God instructed Moses to make the gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant to be called the Mercy Seat, the “Kaporet,” situated between two cherubim in the Holy of Holies (Numbers 7:89). Yahweh demanded that the cloud and fire of His Presence be identified with His mercy. The weight of God’s glory rested on the Mercy Seat, where it always rests. The kaporet was the gold lid, also called the atonement cover, over the Ark of the Covenant, God’s Testimony. The Mercy Seat was in the center of the Holiest Place, which was in the center of their camp, and so the Mercy Seat was literally the center of everything in the wilderness journey. The Mercy Seat was the center of everyone’s attention, and so God’s quality of mercy was the very pinpoint of the center. When God revealed His mercy, whether through manna, quail, permanent clothing, or during Yom-Kippur, it is like the king in all His glory. “Once a year on Yom-Kippur, in the Tabernacle’s most sacred place, the Holy of Holies, the high priest would enter and drench the Mercy Seat with the blood of the animal sacrificed to make atonement for the people. This is the physical place where Yahweh met the high priest and where He forgave the sins of the people of Israel. The Mercy Seat prefigures the eternal mercy, grace and hope that alone came through Jesus the Messiah, through His shed blood, making atonement once and for all, placing the weight of humanity’s sins on Him.” (notes from the Complete Jewish Bible, Dr. David Stern). Directly above the Mercy Seat, God chose to present Himself, letting His voice be heard by Moses or the high priest. Yahweh identified Himself with mercy by His choice of resting place, sitting on His royal throne of Mercy. The kaporet was not an impressive royal throne of power. Yahweh’s power was exercised in His mercy. God’s mercy was what His power looked like, and His glory is reflected in His will of mercy. In so many ways, the Mercy Seat was a foreshadowing of the Cross, drenched in the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus to cover over, to conceal, to atone for the sins of the people. On His Cross, we see Jesus on our Day of Atonement. The Mercy Seat and the Cross revealed a judgment of mercy.
“And it came to pass, when Moses entered the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the Tent, and Yahweh talked with Moses. So the Lord Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:9,11); “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom Yahweh Lord knew face to face.” (Deuteronomy 34:10).
Perhaps there was no other biblical character that God accommodated more than Moses. And where was this intimate communication taking place? The wilderness Tabernacle, the visible home of the Divine Presence, where Moses the finite human met with the infinite God on a personal level.
Speaking without Seeing. Moses records in Exodus 33:9-11 that God would speak to him out of the pillar of cloud at the Tent of Meeting. “… and thus the Lord would speak to Moses face to face.” Notice that they would “speak” to each other, they didn’t actually “see” each other face to face. The picture that can be drawn here is the pillar of cloud containing God’s presence at the entrance to the Tent speaking to Moses through the haze of a cloud. And Moses was right there in front of the pillar speaking to the cloud, to the actual voice of God coming through the cloud. They weren’t seeing each other face to face, they were instead speaking in a real conversation, voice to voice.
God and Moses, Face-to-face. When God and Moses were said to have spoken to each other “face to face,” a few questions come to mind. God is said to be a spirit (John 4:24), and spirits do not have a human form. Since God is a spirit, He then has no body, no less a face. Besides that question, we find a little later in this same chapter Exodus 33, that God told Moses not to try to see His face, and that he wouldn’t survive the experience if he did (Ex. 33:18-20). God is implying here that His face, His whole Person, would overwhelm Moses’ human capabilities. A mere human being would not be able to tolerate the fullness of God’s glory. God’s full presence is heavenly, not earthly. We can only experience a portion of God’s glory, so Moses would be limited to the “back” of God’s presence, only a portion of His glory. God is a “consuming fire” (Ex. 24:17 and Heb. 12:29). So to approach God in His complete presence would be similar to our attempting a journey to the surface of the sun. We earthlings are simply not made to be able to do that. So God covered Moses’ eyes and passed by him as he was hidden in the cleft of a rock. At that, Moses could only sneak a peek at the “backside” of the Lord (v. 22).
Presence-to-Presence. Most Bible scholars would say that “face,” (Hebrew, ‘panim‘), is meant to be translated as “presence.” Face to face is a metaphor, a figure of speech, that means “presence to presence.” In other words, God and Moses were intimately present with each other. Face to face is a way of describing the strong bond of friendship that God and Moses enjoyed. Face to face is not meant to be taken literally. That phrase conveys a two-way relationship, with no third party involved. It meant one person able to personally communicate clearly and directly with another person. It’s not unlike another phrase we don’t use literally but we know what it means… a “heart to heart’ conversation. Of course our hearts are not actually interacting with each other. Face to face is similar to that, in which there is the implication of deep personal contact. Moses reported a similar figure of speech in Numbers 12:8, when the Lord said, “With Moses I speak mouth to mouth.” With Moses I can have a meaningful conversation, says the Lord. Face to face means it was a real exchange between them in real time, not in a vision or a dream. The conversation actually occurred in the context of reality, but it wasn’t literally face to face. If Moses looked at Yahweh God full in the face, He wouldn’t be merely radiating God’s light as he did so often. Moses wouldn’t need a veil, because he would have been burnt to a crisp.
“The universe is the space God made for humanity. The Tabernacle is the space human beings made for God. God fills the space we make for Him.” (Rabbi Jonathon Sacks).
Other Accommodations in the Wilderness Journey: Lord Yahweh made plenty of miraculous allowances to the freed Israelite slaves after their deliverance from Egypt, despite their ongoing tendency to argue, complain and bicker, including… enabling their escape by splitting the Red Sea; guiding them through their forty-year journey with a pillars of cloud by day and fire by night; bringing them to an oasis or two or three; purifying the water in a poisoned pond so it was drinkable; bringing forth a stream of pure water out of a rock on two occasions; feeding them in the middle of nowhere with manna and quail; making sure their footwear and clothes didn’t wear out all that time; strengthening them to defeat unexpected enemies in battle; holding back the surging waters of the Jordan River so they could finally enter the Promised Land.