As I was reading my way through Exodus, I noticed there was mention of the tabernacle and doing things with it before the chapters wherein is described the making of it. I thought that was odd. It meant that the chapters had not been arranged in chronological order as I preciously thought. That meant that there was some other order that was being used for an instructive purpose.
After some more thought, it seemed to me that the stories of the children of Israel’s sins had been lumped together and set before the stories of their faithful obedience to Moses’ (and God’s) instructions. This made me think that perhaps the stories had been arranged in a manner to create a type of the Fall of Adam.
Consider:
| Children of Israel | Garden of Eden/Adam and Eve |
| Stories of the people leaving Egypt, Creation of the Israelite people | Creation of man |
| The giving of commandments for the temple’s construction | The creation of a paradisiacal earth and the first commandments to Adam |
| The making of the golden calf while Moses was absent (The Fall of Israel) | the Fall of Man |
| The excuses of Aaron | Adam accounting to God |
| Moses’ plea for the people (Reminder of Christ’s atonement to prevent immediate destruction ) | Providing a Savior for man |
| Moses and Levites punishing the wicked people with death | Physical death |
| The tabernacle is moved outside the camp of Israel (Even though it wasn’t supposed to have been built yet) (God’s presence is removed ) | Spiritual death (rough correspondence to Adam leaving the Garden of Eden) |
| God to only show his back parts to Moses | Spiritual death (though attenuated for the prophets) |
| Moses puts a veil over his face when with Israel | Spiritual death and rejection of the higher law |
| Repetition of giving the commandments, giving the lower law | Giving the law of sacrifice |
| Command to gather offerings for making the tabernacle | Giving the law of sacrifice |
| People give offerings for tabernacle construction | Obedience to the law of sacrifice |
It seems the Book of Exodus, taken in a broad view, is meant to show how Israel was following the same pattern as Adam and Even had in the Garden of Eden. We also recognize that it has many elements of the temple narrative.
Cool, huh?
Continue reading at the original source →