Exodus 36:38

Chapiters. That is, the capitals of the pillars.

The long and accurate repetition in the closing part of this book of the details of the construction of the tabernacle must have had a definite purpose. It shows the importance of the sanctuary and its every part in God’s plan of salvation. It also emphasizes the need of exact and strict obedience to the divine commands. If anyone might have been given the privilege of changing God’s directions in some slight degree, it would seem to be Moses; but no such prerogative is accorded him.

The exact correspondence of detail with detail teaches the lesson that what God commands is to be observed to the letter. These five concluding chapters of Exodus emphasize the extreme exactitude with which Moses and those under him carried out all the directions God had given. If “fifty taches” were ordered (ch. 26:6), “fifty taches” were made (ch. 36:13). If “five pillars” were commanded here (ch. 26:37), and “four pillars” there (ch. 26:32), the five and the four were constructed and set up accordingly (ch. 36:36, 38). If this curtain was to have a pattern woven into it (ch. 26:31), and that curtain was to be adorned with embroidery (ch. 26:36), the embroiderer and the weaver did so (ch. 36:35, 37). Nothing commanded was neglected. In only one or two cases (notably in ch. 36:38) small additions were made, if not to the orders given, at least to those recorded. The same spirit was later reflected by our Lord in His ministry (John 4:34; 17:4). God frowns upon any alteration of His commandments, any turning from them to the right or to the left, any deduction from them or addition to them. We cannot, we are not to attempt, to improve upon the gospel or God’s Word (Deut. 4:1, 2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5, 6).

The progressive manner in which the tabernacle was reared, first the erection of its framework, then the covering of the inner and outer curtains, and lastly the boards, bar, and veils, portrays the advancing work of sanctification in the experience of the believer. After his heart is surrendered through faith to Christ as his Saviour, there are added more and more Christian graces, till his whole life “fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord.” (Eph. 2:21, 22).