Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Comparison between the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacle of David

By Ben Temperley


Many people are familiar with or have heard about the Tabernacle of Moses constructed by the Israelites for use in their desert wanderings from Egypt to the Promised Land. However, many people are less familiar with the tabernacle constructed by King David. The author will attempt to clarify the differences between and significance of the two tabernacles.

First, a word of explanation may be helpful. The word tabernacle is not a commonly used word in today’s English. According to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, a tabernacle is a “tent” or a “dwelling place”. The Lord desired a place dedicated to worship. He instructed Moses on Mount Sinai to build a portable tent from which priests could perform worship and service before Him as the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. The heart of the Tabernacle of Moses was the Ark of the Covenant where God’s glory was manifested.

The Israelites eventually settled in Shiloh in the Promised Land and pitched the Tabernacle of Moses. Later, as a result of the wickedness of the priests, Eli and his sons, God allowed the Philistines to take the Ark from the tabernacle. This led Israel to set up the Tabernacle of Moses in Gibeon, three miles north of Jerusalem, without the Ark! Eventually, God brought judgment upon the Philistines causing them to return the Ark to Israel. However, David pitched a tent on Mt. Zion to house the Ark of God instead of placing it in the Tabernacle of Moses. Thus, the Tabernacle of David was established. From the time the Tabernacle of David was established until the Temple of Solomon was built (35 to 40 years later), there were two tabernacles in existence at the same time.

Author, Kevin J. Conner, argues that there are many applications for the Church today which are found in the Tabernacle of David. He illustrates some of these applications by comparing the Tabernacle of David with the Tabernacle of Moses and uses Old and New Testament examples in support of his premise. The author will share ten comparisons between the two tabernacles. First, the Tabernacle of David (TD) incorporated singers in the worship (1 Chr. 15:16-27; Col. 3:16). The Tabernacle of Moses (TM) did not except for a few at Mt. Gibeon. Second, the TD used instruments as part of the worship (1 Chr. 23:5; 25:1-7; Eph. 5:18-19), while the TM had none. Third, the Levites ministered before the Ark (1 Chr. 16:37; Heb. 6:19-20; 10:19-21) in the TD. Whereas, only the High Priest could minister before the Ark in the TM. Fourth, the TD had a ministry of thanking (1 Chr. 16:4, 8, 41; 1 Thess. 5:18). There was no such ministry in the TM. Fifth, the TD was filled with praise (1 Chr. 16:4, 36; Heb. 13:15). Praise was not part of the TM. Sixth, the TD included Psalm singing (1 Chr. 16:7; Eph. 5:18-19; 1 Cor. 14:26; James 5:13). Psalm singing was not part of the worship at the TM (Psalm 90 may be an exception). Seventh, clapping was part of the worship at the TD (Ps. 47:1), but not at the TM. Eighth, shouting was a part of the TD (1 Chr. 15:28; 1 Thess. 4:16). Shouting was not part of the TM except at Jericho in Joshua chapter 6. Ninth, dancing was instrumental at the TD (1 Chr. 15:29; Ps. 149:3; Lk. 15:25), but it was not at the TM (except in Exodus 15). Tenth, worshippers at the TD offered spiritual sacrifices (Ps. 27:6; 116:17; 1 Pet. 2:3-5; Heb. 13:15-16), not animal sacrifices like the TM .

In this brief comparison of the two tabernacles, the author hopes that the reader will understand some of the key differences between the two. The author also hopes that the reader will find applications for the Church today through careful study of the Tabernacle of David.

10 comments:

  1. Excellent overview here. Thank you for your study and for posting it here. I thought that the animal sacrifices ceased after the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, so this was helpful.

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  2. Great article, it seems to me a comparison can be made between the two tabernacles existing for 35 year period to Jesus' life and ministry. As everything in the old testament seems to directly or indirectly point to Jesus I think it isn't too speculative to say that the idea of two tabernacles existing for this short time foreshadows how two covenants existed during Jesus' life; the Mosaic and the Christian until the Mosiac tabernacle and covenant was ultimately destroyed or fullfilled in the building of the temple. It's interesting that the Ark would be in Davids tabernacle which would seem an awful presumption and infraction of God's law that goes uncorrected in the Bible if it wasn't for God's purpose of showing us His desire to bless this new tabernacle and ultimately this new branch of Judaism called Christianity. One more thing, Im wondering if the writer of this ariticle or anyone else can tell me why David built this tabernacle and wouldn't just move the tabernacle built in the desert at mount zion.

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  3. Great article, it seems to me a comparison can be made between the two tabernacles existing for 35 year period to Jesus' life and ministry. As everything in the old testament seems to directly or indirectly point to Jesus I think it isn't too speculative to say that the idea of two tabernacles existing for this short time foreshadows how two covenants existed during Jesus' life; the Mosaic and the Christian until the Mosiac tabernacle and covenant was ultimately destroyed or fullfilled in the building of the temple. It's interesting that the Ark would be in Davids tabernacle which would seem an awful presumption and infraction of God's law that goes uncorrected in the Bible if it wasn't for God's purpose of showing us His desire to bless this new tabernacle and ultimately this new branch of Judaism called Christianity. One more thing, Im wondering if the writer of this ariticle or anyone else can tell me why David built this tabernacle and wouldn't just move the tabernacle built in the desert at mount zion.

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    1. I had the same question when reading this. The question itself is profound. But obviously, God accepted David and his Tabernacle, maybe because David was a prophet, and loved to sing and praise God as a shepherd, he saw the importance of the praise, singing, and instruments. We already see before David that the band of prophets in Saul's case were praising God with instruments and singing. Maybe David had a vision something like John saw in heaven: angels and people worshipping God in endless choruses. A spiritual revival was taking place during Samuel's time and all this was part of it. If you have something more specific for an answer, I would love to hear it but I have nothing more to offer.

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  4. Thank you for this , so helpful.

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  5. this soo wonderful may God blessvyou for sharing

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  7. Your article is very insightful. What I find interesting is almost every author who write on the two tabernacles always mention the difference in worship by identifying singing, clapping, etc. I have not seen anyone who tackles why David did not to move all the articles of furniture from TM to TD.

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    1. Because tabernacle of Moses was old covenant and tabernacles of David was new covenant.TM refers old wineskins TD refers new wineskin Mathew 9:17

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  8. Was the tabernacle of David covered? If not wouldn't those people who looked at it die?

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