"Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle---eleven altogether. All eleven curtains are to be the same size---thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. Join five of the curtains together into one set and the other six into another set. Fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent. Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the end curtain in the other set. Then make fifty bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the tent together as a unit. As for the additional length of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle. The tent curtains will be a cubit longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it. Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather." (Exodus 26:7-14) The curtains of goat skins are longer than the linen curtains on the interior of the tabernacle. This will provide extra protection for the inner part of the sanctuary. Just as this second layer of material is thicker and more durable than the linen inner layer, the clasps for the goat hair curtains are made of a harder substance. In yesterday's study the linen curtains were to be joined together with gold clasps, but today we see that the goat hair curtains will be joined together with bronze clasps. Overtop of the goat skin curtains will be placed a covering of dyed ram skins and over the ram skins will be placed a covering of another type of leather; some scholars believe the final covering mentioned verse 14 should be translated as "badger skins".
These multiple layers help to make the sanctuary weatherproof, not that much rain was going to fall in the Sinai Desert. But the sun was certainly going to beat down on the tabernacle, and if not for the multiple layers of various materials, the brilliant colors of the inner curtains would have faded quickly and the acacia wood frame would have dried out and become brittle and prone to breakage. Also the multiple layers probably kept out a lot of the fine dust and sand of the desert. Another function of four thick, dark layers was to create an insulative effect, making the interior dark and cool. This is why the Lord described the making of the lampstand before He described how to construct the tabernacle and its curtains. The sanctuary would be too dark for any of the priests to go about their work if not for the light from the lampstand. They are going to need to have their artificial source of light ready so they can use the sanctuary once it's set up.
The Lord has shown His skill as a talented interior designer and now we'll see He's also skilled at architecture as He explains the framing and layout of the tabernacle. "Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, with two projections set parallel to each other. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle and make forty silver bases to go under them---two bases for each frame, one under each projection. For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, make twenty frames and forty silver bases---two under each frame. Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, and make two frames for the corners at the far end. At these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both shall be like that. So there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases---two under each frame." (Exodus 26:15-25) Remember, the tabernacle is to be transported everywhere the Israelites set up camp during the forty years they'll spend in the wilderness. After they enter the promised land it will reside for about seven years at Gilgal and then for around three hundred years at Shiloh. But wherever the tabernacle is set up, it's to be set up according to the compass points, so to speak. The north side will always face north, the south side will always face south, the west side will always face west, and the east side will always face east.
Many outdoor reproductions, small scale models, and artistic renderings have been made of the tabernacle according to its description in Exodus 26. It's believed to have looked something like this.
The Bible indicates time and time again that the Lord knew everything about each one of us before He ever created the universe. Before He ever said, "Let there be light," He had already designed you and me. He had already decided when and where we would be born. He already knew what opportunities He would send our way. He designed each of us with the intelligence, skills, and talents we'd need to fulfill His plans for us. If He cared so much about the design and functionality of an inanimate object in the desert, how much more does He care about living human beings with eternal souls? Sweet friends, He made you exactly how He wanted you to be! Things like your looks and your build and even the smallest fragments of your DNA are exactly as He intended. You have the smarts and the talents necessary to do everything He'll ever ask you to do. You were born into the time period, the family, and the area of the world where He wanted you to be to fulfill His plans for you. Would we have chosen these things for ourselves in the way He has chosen them? Maybe or maybe not, but He knew what He was doing. He had a purpose and a plan for even the smallest aspects of us and, as the Bible says, He does all things well. (Mark 7:37) When we did our study of Genesis we found Him standing back to look at each phase of creation once it was completed and we found Him declaring it "good". So don't ever feel like you are less than anyone else. On the day the Lord laid out His plans for the creation of your life, He knew what He was doing, for He does all things well. On the day He brought you alive and breathing into this world, He looked at you and you were exactly what He wanted and He declared your design "good".
When you look in the mirror today, don't look for things you'd like to change about yourself. I know it's tempting, especially in our modern culture, to find fault with our appearance or to wish we could change this or that. It's common to want to compare our talents and skills to those of others and then to conclude like we are lacking. If you're a woman it's doubly tempting in our appearance-oriented culture to compare your looks to those of others and to wish you had so and so's hair color or so and so's figure or so and so's high cheekbones, and on and on. But you know what? This isn't a Biblical attitude we should have about ourselves. We can start training ourselves today to stop feeling like this. There's nothing vain or narcissistic about looking at ourselves in the mirror each morning and saying what King David said about himself, for he was able to look at himself and give glory to the God who made him: "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm 169:14a) So this morning, when you go into your bathroom and see yourself in the mirror over the sink, go ahead and say to the Lord, "Thank You, Lord, for I am fearfully (awesomely) and wonderfully made. I am exactly as You wanted me to be. I am not 'less than' someone else. I am not inferior to anyone else. You created Me exactly as You wanted me to be and then You stepped back and said, 'This is good!' I accept your opinion. My looks, intelligence, and talents are precisely what You wanted and if they are good in Your eyes then from now on they are going to be good in my eyes too. You don't do shoddy work, Lord. You don't do anything halfway. You put just as much thought into creating me as You put into creating anyone else. You put more thought into creating me than in creating the entire universe and everything in it. I know this because I am more precious in Your sight than all the stars in the sky. I am fearfully and wonderfully made and I agree with Your assessment that my design is good."
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