The Temple is a Body

THE TEMPLE IS A BODY

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19

Most people are familiar with this verse stating that your body is a temple. In fact it has become a well known saying bordering on a cliché meaning that you need to treat your body well and respect it. While this is true, it does not even scratch the surface of the meaning that Paul was trying to convey to us. 

This section starts with the question, “If it is true that the body is a Temple, then is the converse also true, that the Temple, or Tabernacle, is a body?” The Bible does not use words in a light-headed way.  It was the Elohim who spoke the world into existence with words in Genesis 1. And John 1 goes so far as to say that it was Jesus/Yeshua who was this Word. He was with God and He was God. Words are very important, and every one of them in scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit. So when I looked at the phrase, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,” it seemed legitimate to investigate the same in reverse. After all, there must have been a reason that Paul chose the words that he did in 1 Corinthians.

What I have found is that, Yes, the Tabernacle/Temple was most definitely designed as a body, and that the meaning conveyed in the journey to arrive at that answer is both fascinating and eye-opening in our understanding of who we are as members of the body of Christ/Messiah.

I’ll be focusing on the Tabernacle instructions that were given to Moses in Exodus 25-27 and 30, as they were the first and most complete descriptions we have. The Temple of David and Solomon, although it was based loosely on the Tabernacle design, has no indication that its design was ever divinely revealed to David or Solomon, nor was its design completely laid out in the Bible. The Temple of King Herod that was around at the time of Christ/Messiah has very little Biblical design information given, and was likely inspired more by politics than any divine command. Ezekiel’s Temple is given detailed divine instructions for its construction, but it is a future Temple that has not yet been built and certainly has different design and symbolic requirements that will not be revealed until its time. So we are left with the original Tabernacle as the best example to use for any meaning that has been revealed by Yahweh.

I’ll also be paying little attention to the actual physical assembly of the Tabernacle, how it fits together as an architectural unit. Many have done that, so I will not be focusing on what it actually looked like thousands of years ago. I do have some ideas of what it looked like, and believe it to be either round or oblong/oval. I can back that up even though many will disagree, but, in the end, it really doesn’t matter. Its actual shape doesn’t change one bit of what I’m looking into here. What we will see is that the Tabernacle is still very much with us today, so what it looks like currently is of far more importance. 

The instructions actually begin back in Exodus 24:12 just after Moses, Aaron and his sons, and the 70 elders ate a covenant meal with Yahweh. Yahweh tells Moses to “Come up to Me on the Mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stones and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.” This law and commandments are central to the entire design of the tabernacle, in a very literal way, for they will be placed inside the ark of the covenant, which is placed in the holy of holies in the center of the tent. Keep this in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the idea of a house (or temple or tabernacle) of worship was in no way unusual or unique to Israel. All of the surrounding nations had them, too, including Egypt, from which they were escaping. And that is really the main point of God giving these instructions. He is in effect saying, “you have seen the temples of Egypt, the gods that they represent, and the sacrifices that they require. I have seen your desire to worship physical things in a physical place. I will give you what you desire, but My ways will not be like the ways of the heathen. Here is what My temple will look like, and how you will be expected to worship and sacrifice to me.” 

Chapter 25 opens with Yahweh asking for offerings from Israel with which to build the tabernacle and all of its furnishings. “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.” Already Yahweh is separating Himself from the surrounding nations. Back in Egypt they saw firsthand how the Egyptians would be treated if Pharaoh (their gods’ representative on earth) wanted something built. There would be forced labor involved, no questions asked, and Israel likely would have been a big part of that labor. Yahweh is telling them here that He will not force anything on them. It will only take place with a willing heart. This apparently had a profound effect on Israel, because in Chapter 36: 5-7 they were offering so much that “the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done – indeed too much.”

Then we learn the purpose for this project in verse 8, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” He will come and live with them. What an offer! No other nation had their gods actually living among them. It was not possible because they did not exist. Yahweh’s very name means the self-existent one and He was coming to dwell among His people. This was a promise for both Israel at that time and also for the eternal future. How it would happen eternally was about to be laid out in the very design of the tabernacle He was building to dwell in. 

When a contractor is going to build a house, they generally start the design with thinking about the interior; what is going to be housed inside of it. They need an idea of the functional aspects. Where will the bathrooms and kitchen be? What kind of furniture is desired? What will the flow of traffic look like? Form follows function. During the construction phase it is reversed and the framework, exterior, walls and roof are done first, then the interior can be worked on. Yahweh used the same idea. Exodus 25-30 is the design phase and it is all about the function. He starts on the inside and works His way out. Exodus 36-38 is the construction phase and it starts from making the parts for the exterior structure and then moves inwards. We’ll be focusing on the design phase here.

The Ark

Exodus 25:10-16,

10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.

Yahweh starts His design then with the very interior, because it is the most important part of its function, the heart of the Tabernacle, which is the Ark of the Covenant. If we are going to start thinking of this Tabernacle as a body, then the heart seems like an obvious place to start, as it is also at the center of our body and has arguably its most important function. 

There is language indicating that the ark is a heart throughout this description. There are four corners with four rings with two poles for carrying it. The poles will have two ends going into the rings and two ends coming out. A heart has four sections with two veins coming in and two arteries coming out. The heart’s veins and arteries function is for carrying blood. What are the ark and its poles carrying? The 10 commandments (literally, 10 words). Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood”. So the 10 Commandments are the lifeblood! It gives life to this body that we are describing.

Jeremiah 31:33,

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

I’m going to take an aside here about the law because I believe it is important, but it will also relate to the body here and later. The 10 words were written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). The whole of the Law was not.  Exodus 34: 28 tells us only the 10 Commandments were written on the tablets of stone. This then begs two questions; who wrote the rest of the law and where was it kept? Deuteronomy 31:24-31 gives us both answers:

So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; 27 for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck.”

Moses wrote it. And that part of the Law was never meant to be written inside of the heart. It was put outside of the ark as a witness against them because of their rebellion and stiff necks.  We see the same language used by Paul in regards to the law being “wiped out” in Colossians 2: 13-14, 

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

These are the requirements that are on the side of the ark. The 10 commandments were written inside of the heart/ark and were not taken out of the way. This is a very important thing that is missed by both Christians who believe that the Sabbath and Holy days do not need to be kept, and by Christians who believe the whole body of the Law remains untouched. Satan attacks both sides of every issue, so discernment needs to be at the forefront of our studies and prayers.

To be clear, I am not saying that this law has no relevance anymore, because Yahweh does not change, and there is much evidence that even after Jesus/Yeshua’s death, His disciples continued to keep them. There is still tremendous benefit from both studying and keeping these laws where possible. But it certainly has no more penalty attached to it, which is a huge change. Paul says in Romans 5:13 “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” If this was the case before the law was in the world, it is also the case after it has been removed. There is still sin, it is just not imputed (charged to our account). The law has gone from being a curse because it is impossible to keep perfectly to being a blessing when keeping it with a heart that does so out of wanting to know Christ better.

Back to the ark…

The ark is covered with gold, as are many other parts of the Tabernacle described later. Gold has always been given its value from the fact that it does not corrode. This speaks to the incorruptibility of the heart after the law has been written on it. Even the wood that the ark is built from speaks to this incorruptibility. Acacia (shittim) wood is drought and fire resistant while living, and as a harvested wood it is very strong and both rot and insect resistant. It is God’s law that gives these characteristics to the heart. We may not think of fire or insect resistance as heart characteristics, but think of Isaiah 43: 1-2, “Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine….When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you,” and look back at the plague of flies upon the Egyptians, and how no flies came into the land of Goshen, for Yahweh set them apart to make a distinction. No, Israel was not yet incorruptible, but Yahweh was showing them what was to come, and this is where it would all start, with the creation of a heart made pure and incorruptible through the blood of the law flowing through it.

The Mercy Seat

Exodus 25:17-22,

You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. 20 And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

Mercy Seat is a pretty bad, or at least very non-literal translation. The Hebrew word for Mercy Seat is Kapporeth (Strong’s 3727), which comes from the same root as Atonement, meaning to cover. Basically in this context it just means a lid. Pretty boring. But we’re going to see something very exciting about this lid. Obviously it’s design is anything but boring with two large angelic beings with outstretched wings surrounding the whole thing. Most importantly, this is going to be where Yahweh will meet with and speak with Israel. When He finally makes His appearance there in chapter 40, He shows up as a cloud, the same pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night that has been leading them in the wilderness thus far. 

Think about this in terms of a human body. Surrounding the heart we have two long wing-shaped objects called lungs that are in charge of our breath. Our breath is moist air, just the same as a cloud is. On a cold day you can even see this breath when you breathe out as a cloud-like vapor. Our breath has multiple functions. It not only supplies oxygen to our blood in critical relationship with the heart, but is also responsible for our voice, our speech. It is not surprising that this “lid” to the ark has a critical relationship with it, and is also the place where Yahweh will speak with Israel. What will He speak about? “About everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.” Or, as Jesus/Yeshua said in Luke 6:45, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” He will speak about those things which are written in the heart, the blood, the commandments. This speech will be teaching and commenting on the application of those laws. You can think of them as “overflow” of the heart, and as stated in the aside previously, they would be written down by Moses and placed outside of the ark, as if overflowing it.

In Hebrew the word for breath is Ruach (Strong’s H7307). It is the same word that is used for the wind and the spirit. Its Greek counterpart is pneuma, the word used when talking of the Holy (set-apart) Spirit. Putting this all together we see this “mercy seat” as a picture of the residence of the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder then that Yahweh spoke all of creation into existence, breathed the breath of life into Adam, Yeshua spoke words of healing in the new covenant as acts of mini re-creation, casting out demons was performed through the spoken command of the disciples, causing them to proclaim “even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” If you look throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament, you will see that the acts of the Holy Spirit are always closely linked to speech in some way. During the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost in Acts 2, it was “tongues of fire” that landed on men and the gift of speaking in tongues was granted. Look at the list of gifts Paul talks of in 1 Corinthians 12: 8-11, and look at how many of these gifts rely on speech and words:

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings [always performed by the spoken word] by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles [again performed through speech], to another prophecy [defined as the speaking of the words of Yahweh], to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

It should also be no wonder then that He sat here in the lungs of the Tabernacle speaking to Israel about the commandments placed in the heart of the body.

Table of the Showbread

Exodus 25: 23-30,

You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold all around. 25 You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold molding for the frame all around. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four corners that are at its four legs. 27 The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table. 28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. 29 You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.

There are features both here and in other fixtures of the tabernacle that are of the same design as the ark, with rings and poles for carrying, made of the same wood and overlaid with gold. They speak to the same traits of incorruptibility and of having blood carried to them. All of our body requires blood, after all. 

To really understand what is going on here, we need to really get into the Hebrew language and see what some of these things are referring to. The best place to start is with the showbread. When I hear the term showbread, I personally get a little confused. Did Yah just put it there for show? Highly doubtful. In the Hebrew it is two words: Lechem (Strong’s 3899) meaning bread, and Paneh (Strong’s 6440) meaning “Face”. Face bread! Face, as in English, can refer to the face of a man, one’s countenance, one’s presence, the face of the earth or of the forward facing part of any object. In all forms it refers back to its basic meaning of “face”. It is used extensively in Exodus 33, which takes place after the instructions for the building of the tabernacle have been given, but before it is actually built. 

So Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. 12 Then Moses said to Yahweh, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence [Face] will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence [Face] does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20  But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And Yahweh said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

After Moses saw Yahweh’s Glory, in 34: 29-34 it is Moses own face that shines, so that he has to cover it with a veil while appearing to Israel. Moses then again shows up in the gospels during the transfiguration while the face of Yeshua is shining like the sun. 

Remember these shining faces when we get to the next section, as they will be explained more. But for now, there are a few more interesting details to explore.

The table itself has dimensions that are roughly the same ratio as the human head and neck. Perhaps this table is the head on which the face sits. 

There are some other items on this table/head, too – the dishes, pans, pitchers and bowls. First, I need to point out that I am certainly not attempting to analyze every point of information listed in these chapters of Exodus here. It is certainly all important, but not all of it may be relevant to the Tabernacle being a body. My focus is on the big picture design considerations, so I am only using the information given that speaks to that. So when thinking of these utensils on the table, at the risk of looking like I’m stretching things to make a point, I’ll just throw out the information I found and some possibilities it brings up, and you can make your own conclusions. 

When we look at the Hebrew for these utensils we do find some interesting things. At this point I was expecting other facial features like a nose, ears, mouth, eyes, etc, but that is not what showed up. The word for dishes just means a hollowed out container. Nothing too exciting to me. Pans is “kaph” (Strongs H3709) meaning the palm of the hand or other things so shaped, like the sole of the foot or a spoon. So a couple of body parts there. Next is pitchers, in Hebrew qasaw, translating to a cup, from the root meaning a cover. Again, not exciting. And finally bowls, which is menaqqiyth (Strong’s H4518) meaning “Bowl: From the shape of a bowl that holds liquids like a breast that holds milk,” (Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible) from the root word meaning breast. Now that is interesting. None of these have to do with what we would see on a face, yet if we consider one of the other meanings that face has we see all of them relating to the front-facing side of the body. The palm of the hand is considered its front (as opposed to the “back” of the hand), and the breasts are certainly on the front. 

Functionally these utensils are all for holding things. Think of the palm of the hand holding anything and the breasts holding the milk. Apparently they are for things other than just the showbread, which is the only actual food related item on the table. A plate or pan would be the only thing needed for the bread, but we have quite a variety of other things here, too, as if the table is set for a whole meal. I don’t have an answer and so can only speculate on why that would be, but it is interesting nonetheless. Perhaps we are seeing bowls of olive oil for dipping the bread and cups for wine, foreshadowing the Passover meal Christ shared with the disciples, the eating of His body and drinking of His blood. Maybe we’re looking at containers for the milk and others for some honey, bringing us into the promised land. Most certainly this bread refers to the body of Yeshua on some level.

One more thought before we move on. Proverbs 27: 19 “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” All parts of our body are interconnected. It is not a coincidence to use the analogy of the face to talk about the heart.

The Lampstand

Exodus 25: 31-40,

You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. 32 And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. 33 Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. 34 On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. 35 And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand. 36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold. 37  You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it. 38 And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39 It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. 40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

This is often called the menorah, which is its name in Hebrew meaning light, lampstand or candlestick. Again I’ll focus on the design considerations that speak to its function as part of the body. I mentioned in the last section to remember the shining faces of Moses, Yeshua and Yahweh. They are shining for a reason. They have been lit up by something. More information is given on the placement of the lampstand and the table for the showbread in chapter 26: 35. “You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.”

The lampstand is placed directly across from the table for the showbread, in order to shine its light on it, to light up the face. So what body part is the lampstand? Luke 11: 34 “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” It is the eye, and it lights up the face, as well as the whole body. In 25: 33 we see the shape of the individual lamps, “made like almond blossoms.” But the word blossoms is added to the translation. It’s not actually there, which is why it is italicized. Consistently throughout what it says is simply almonds. What shape is an almond? Whether still in the shell or the nut itself, it is shaped almost exactly like the eye, and has often been used as a poetic description of the eye for centuries. I had never seen a photo of the almond fruit before so looked it up and was fascinated to see that when it ripens, it splits open on one side to reveal the shell of the nut and it looks very much like eyelids surrounding the eye. 

The description also talks about “knobs” and “flowers.” The knobs are the the Hebrew Kaphtor (Strong’s H3730) which is an architectural term. Strong’s says of it, “Probably from an unused root meaning to encircle; a chaplet; but used only in an architectonic sense, that is, the capital of a column, or a wreath like button or disk on the candelabrum: – knop, (upper) lintel.” I’m thinking that these knobs encircling the almond bowls are modeled after the eyelids of the almond fruit and used on the lampstand as a capital atop the branches of the stand. 

The word for flowers is Perach (Strong’s H6525) meaning a bud, from the root word meaning “bursting out”. I love the imagery of “bursting out” for a how a flower bursts out in a showy display just like light bursts out from the sun, or from Yahweh’s face. 

The orientation of the lamps is to be “so that they give light in front of it.” Sounds like the placement of our eyes to me. Yahweh’s designs are used over and over in nature, almost as if He wants us to see something in them.  We saw earlier how the placement of the lampstand was in the south. The sun is another great light that is placed in the south, at least for those in the northern hemisphere, which includes the majority of the earth’s population, and certainly all of Israel.

Proverbs 19: 1-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2  Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3  There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4  Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5  Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.

It seems our whole earth, complete with the sun, moon and stars set in the firmament, may be a large scale picture of the same thing. Throughout time people have seen a face in the moon, and the fact that it reflects the light of the sun really brings the picture together. The moon is the bread and the face. The sun is the lamp and the eyes. Certainly there is a heavenly reality that all of this is picturing, and Yahweh is telling us about it with these visual images made with words. 

And it keeps coming back to the heart as well. If we just keep reading the above passage, in verse 8 it says, “The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart. The commands of Yahweh are pure, giving light to the eyes.” These of course are the commandments found in the heart of the ark, and they are what gives the light to the eyes, lighting up the lampstand so that it can light up the face. 

The Curtains

Exodus 26: 1-6

Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have the same measurements. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the curtain on the selvedge of one set, and likewise you shall do on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. 5 Fifty loops you shall make in the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is on the end of the second set, that the loops may be clasped to one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle.

The curtains will be the covering for the sides of the tabernacle. It is acting as the skin if you will, and it is covered in blue, red and purple, with designs of cherubim. Our own skin, if you look closely, especially in certain areas, is also covered in similar colors. We can see our blood vessels under the skin in a network of blue (no oxygen), red (full of oxygen), and purple (the color much of it becomes viewed through the skin). Why cherubim? We saw them used before in the lungs, so is there a common thread? One of the main purposes of the blood is to carry oxygen to the body, and that oxygen originated in the lungs. Cherubim are creatures of the air, being winged, so it seems we are looking at their symbolic purpose here. The cherubim of the lungs were representing breath of the holy spirit, so it appears that this spirit will be spread throughout the body. When we talked about the heart, we mentioned Leviticus 16 where it said “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Now we are adding another dimension to it. If the 10 commandments are the blood, then the cherubim are the oxygen that gives life to the blood. The life is in the blood. The cherubim are in the lungs and in the veins. 

Oxygen is really a life giving force to our bodies. We previously correlated the Cherubim to the Holy Spirit; now we can get more specific and call the oxygen the Holy Spirit that transports life through our blood. In Genesis 2 we see that Adam had no life until Yahweh breathed life into him, “And Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Here is a succinct summary of the process of oxygen in our bodies, taken from oxygen-review.com :

In the human body, oxygen uptake is carried out by the following processes:

Oxygen diffuses through membranes and into red blood cells after inhalation into the lungs. The heme group (that consists of an iron) of hemoglobin binds oxygen when it is present, changing haemoglobin’s color from bluish red to bright red.

A liter of blood can dissolve 200 cc of oxygen gas, which is much more than water can dissolve.

After being carried in blood to a body tissue in need of oxygen, O2 is handed-off to an enzyme (monooxygenase) that also has an active site with an atom of iron.

The enzyme uses oxygen to catalyze many oxidation reactions in the body (metabolism). Carbon dioxide, a waste product, is released from the cell and into the blood, where it combines with bicarbonate and hemoglobin for transport to the lungs. Blood circulates back to the lungs and the process repeats. 

[Emphasis in original]

This exactly describes the process I just covered, down to the colors of the embroidery in the curtains (bluish-red sounds like purple to me!). 

At some point in this study it seems appropriate to ask the question, “if the tabernacle is a body, whose body is it?” We’ve seen a few clues so far, but no direct answer. We’ve seen that whoever it is has the commandments written in their heart, the holy spirit in their lungs, and a face illuminated by the light in its eyes, which narrows it down to exclude the non-converted or pagan populations, but we would expect as much. So up until here it might be logical to say that it is pointing towards Yeshua/Jesus. Then we also saw the possibility, in the utensils on the table, of hands and breasts being mentioned. Could this be a female, or was the reading of breasts a little far fetched? We’ll have to gather some more information. 

Another thing to note with the curtains is that they are coupled together in two groups of five (verses 3 and 5). Five on one side and five on the other. If we look at our bodies we have five fingers and five toes on one side and five of each on the other. We are symmetrical creatures, and it appears that the tabernacle is too. 

Verse 6 says, “and couple the curtains together with the clasps.” The word “together” here in the NKJV is very easy to overlook, which I did. But then I saw the Literal Version from the Interlinear Bible, “And you shall join the curtains, each to her sister, by the hooks.” That’s quite a discrepancy. So I looked up the Hebrew words. The translation “together” is actually a combination of 3 Hebrew words. First, ishshaw (Strong’s H802), meaning a woman or wife. Second, el (Strong’s H413) an article meaning towards or to. And third, achoth (Strong’s H269) meaning sister. Literally we then have “woman towards sister”. It didn’t have to be worded that way, but Yahweh chose those words. These curtains of the tabernacle are certainly female, stronger evidence pointing towards a female body here. 

There’s one more connection I’d like to make. Psalm 122 is about David going up to Jerusalem to visit the house of God (the temple) and praying for its peace. It shares some pertinent information.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of Yahweh.” 2 Our feet have been standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3 Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, 4 Where the tribes go up, The tribes of Yahweh, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of Yahweh. 5 For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. 7 Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.” 8  For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” 9 Because of the house of Yahweh our God I will seek your good.

The word compact in verse 3 is chabar (Strong’s H2266), meaning “To bind by coupling together.”(Ancient Hebrew Lexicon) and is the same word in Exodus 26: 3 and 6 where the curtains are coupled together. Why would Jerusalem be coupled together? The context in verse 4 is that Jerusalem is coupled, or joined to the tribes, the 12 tribes of Israel, because that is where they go up to the testimony (the law that is in and beside the ark). Why is this pertinent? Because Jerusalem is also many times referred to as a woman. Could we be looking at Jerusalem for our identity?

A Covering of Goat’s Hair

Exodus 26: 7-13

You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains. 8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; and the eleven curtains shall all have the same measurements. 9 And you shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent. 10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain of the second set. 11 And you shall make fifty bronze clasps, put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 12 The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other side, of what remains of the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it.

With the first set of curtains, the wording states that they are making the tabernacle — enclosing or surrounding it; whereas this set is said to be “a tent over the tabernacle.” These are the next section just above the first ten linen curtains, and are made of goat hair. There are eleven of them so that they can be doubled up “at the forefront of the tent” and still only have ten sections exposed (ten being the number we get when coupling five fingers or toes on both sides). There is also a section on the opposite end that will “hang over the back of the tabernacle.” Again we have words relating this to the body. “Forefront” is a combination of three Hebrew words (Strong’s H413, H4136, and H6440) meaning towards, front, and face (the same word for face we saw with the showbread) – so it is towards the front of the face. The word for “back” in Hebrew is achor (Strong’s H268), meaning, “the part of the body that is behind.” Seeing as these curtains are made up of goats hair, I am getting a picture of a woman’s hair here. Only women had long hair in the Bible, as it was not proper for men to have such, and it seems that this hair is long. It is doubled over in the front of the face, as long hair is usually brushed or pinned back over itself to keep it out of the eyes. And it hangs down over the back and sides just like long hair. Song of Solomon 4:1 and 6:5 use goats hair as an analogy for His loves hair, “Your hair is like a flock of goats, Going down from Mount Gilead.” Although this analogy is far from what our modern culture would use to suggest beauty, it is evident that Solomon saw it as a perfect picture of beautiful hair. “Going down,” according to Strong’s is probably more accurately stated as capering, as goats do when playing. I like that picture better, personally, as I can visualize the way hair bounces and flies around when in motion. And Mount Gilead, of course picturing His love’s  head.

Ram Skins & Tachash Skins

Exodus 26:14

You shall also make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent, and a covering of badger skins above that.

Two parts, but very short and sweet. We’re not given much information so we only have a few descriptive words to go on. First, ram skins dyed red. 

The only reason I can think of for dying something red is to symbolize blood. It is also a covering. Relating these few clues to the body, they seem to point to the muscle, the flesh. Muscle is where the majority of our blood is pumped, so that when the skin is removed, muscle appears bloody red. Muscles also cover the entire body.

The second section calls for “a covering of badger skins above that.” It is highly unlikely that badger skins were used. The Hebrew word is tachash (Strong’s H8476) but refers to an unknown animal. Some translations call it a dugong, which is a sea cow or manatee. This seems even more unlikely for a people many miles inland in a desert. Strong’s says, “Probably of foreign derivation; a (clean) animal with fur, probably a species of antelope.” Antelope or other members of the deer family seem like the best option given because they are both clean and available. I can’t see Yahweh prescribing the use of an unclean animal for holy purposes. In researching the different species of deer/antelope in the region of the exodus I found that there is a species of deer that is called the “Red Deer,” named for the  reddish brown color of its hide, as opposed to the grayish brown found in most deer. It is still found throughout much of Europe and was historically found in the area of the exodus although it is now extinct in that region. I can’t say for sure this was the animal referred to by tachash, but it seems likely, because of how intricately linked it is to the red-stained ram skins, that these two parts are pointing to a singular function. And it seems obvious that the theme of the color red has to do with blood, and then linking that with the idea of a covering, we see the covering of Yeshua’s blood on our own selves. On a physical level, we could say that these two coverings are referring to multiple layers of muscle; ram skins to internal muscles and tachash to the superficial muscles, or something like that. However, regardless of their description of the human body, we need to focus on the covering of blood that forgives our sins. This is then one of the most critical details in this body!

The Boards

Exodus 26: 15-25

And for the tabernacle you shall make the boards of acacia wood, standing upright. 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the width of each board. 17 Two tenons shall be in each board for binding one to another. Thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And you shall make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. 19 You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, there shall be twenty boards 21 and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under each of the boards. 22 For the far side of the tabernacle, westward, you shall make six boards. 23 And you shall also make two boards for the two back corners of the tabernacle. 24 They shall be coupled together at the bottom and they shall be coupled together at the top by one ring. Thus it shall be for both of them. They shall be for the two corners. 25 So there shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver—sixteen sockets—two sockets under each of the boards.

If we are already looking at this structure as a body, it is a fairly easy thing to see these wooden uprights as ribs. But there are a couple of things that may not be obvious that will make it even more apparent. First is their number: 20 on each side. We do not have twenty ribs on each side. But we can look closer at what is said. Verse 17 said, “Two tenons shall be in each board for binding one to another.” The term for tenon (Strong’s 3027 – yad) literally means an open hand, and the phrase “binding one to another” is the same exact one we saw with the curtains that were coupled together; literally “woman towards sister,” or “each connected to her sister,” as the interlinear translation has it. So not only is this again pointing towards the female nature, but it also seems to point to these boards being paired up. 

There are different ways to imagine how this pairing can be accomplished in the design. The actual Tabernacle’s construction is far from a settled matter; there just is not enough detail given in the scriptures to make any dogmatic decisions. Yet there is a basic picture most people have of how it looked, being a rather rectangular box. There are, however, alternatives, and I would like to present one of them because it has helped me greatly to free my mind from the rectangular box and picture alternatives. I still maintain that the important basis to my study is to focus on the words that are given in Exodus, not the visual picture. But there is some importance in knowing that the design we are coming up with could actually be physically possible within the given instructions, especially given a radical rethinking of the standard ideas. 

There is a man by the name of Andrew Hoy who has done extensive work with a re-envisioning of the tabernacle structure based on the starting premise that the curtains could be coupled along the short sides instead of the long ones. What that does is to make the outer edge of the tabernacle much, much larger, which of necessity also changes the structure of everything else. Since exactly how the different parts are connected together is not given sufficiently in scripture, but only vaguely, there is no reason his method cannot be considered. In his design, the tabernacle becomes a giant, round, yurt-like structure. He is also a Hebrew scholar, and has found much of the language that gives rise to a rectangular shape has been mistranslated. I have studied his work and find his ideas to be very plausible even if I do not agree with all of his conclusions. You can look at his work at his website Project314.org. The 314 comes from the number Pi (3.14159…), which is arrived at from the dimensions of the courtyard when those curtains are coupled the same long way. 

I can agree with his idea for coupling the curtains, however I see no need to make the shape perfectly round. The descriptions in Exodus talk about distinct “sides” and “back corners,” language that is hard to use when talking about a perfect circle. But if you look at the oblong shape of the rib cage, there are certainly distinct sides as well as a differentiation in what would be the front and the back (or top and bottom), yet it still holds a mostly roundish shape. 

In Hoy’s design, he also notes the coupling of the boards, each to her sister, but takes it further and “couples” together 4 boards for each upright member, making only 5 uprights on each side. His engineering seems to work, but it does not take into account the possibility that these are representing the human rib cage with 10 ribs on each side. 

If we couple each board to her sister, and only to her sister (not her 3 sisters), then we will have the 10 true ribs per side our rib cages require. They will be coupled so that the lower part is vertical and the upper part will be angled towards the center of the structure like a pitched roof, mimicking the arched shape of our ribs. 

In addition to the forty boards for the rib cage, there are eight more boards mentioned; six for the west side and two more for the corners in the west side. The word for west (yam – Strong’s 3220) actually means “the sea.” But it can also be used to mean “towards the sea” meaning to the west, as the Mediterranean sea was to the west of the Israelites. Looking to the west, then, we find the very back side of the Tabernacle, or as I picture the orientation, the side of the torso that the head would attach. On this end of the rib cage there are two main additions, the collar bones and the shoulders. I believe this is what we are seeing in this western end. These six boards are uprights representing the shoulders – three each, perhaps showing the triangle of the scapula. Then there are two more boards for the “corners.” I see these representing the clavicles. They are “coupled together at the top and…at the bottom by one ring.” If we were to look at the ribcage and shoulders from above (minus the head) we would see a ring formed by the bones of the upper ribs, shoulder blades and clavicle forming a circular opening. How these eight boards and ring actually function in the tabernacle structure is unclear to me because the description in Exodus is vague. I’ve sketched out a number of ideas, all of which could work, but I cannot be certain to state “this is it!” Again, we are looking at meaning, not blueprints. 

The Bars

Exodus 26: 26-30

And you shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, 27 five bars for the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the far side westward. 28 The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end. 29 You shall overlay the boards with gold, make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlay the bars with gold. 30 And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.

These bars are the beams at the peak of the tabernacle that the boards connect to. Their job is to act as an attachment point to the boards to give strength to the structure. In our rib cage, this job is done by the sternum. All twenty of our ribs connect to it. The top part of the sternum is the manubrium, a roughly five sided shape to which the clavicles connect. So there would be five bars connected end to end on one side of the sternum, the same on the other side, and five on the western manubrium end which would support the eight boards of the western wings. There is also one middle bar going from end to end. This would be the very peak of the tabernacle and another structural piece giving rigidity to the fifteen bars that surround it. 

At some point I may add illustrations for how this looks (my interpretation of it), but for now I really want to stress these things as ideas, not an actual blueprint. Or maybe it would be better said that I am not creating the blueprint because it has already been made in the human body. In verse 30 Yahweh told Moses to build these things “according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.” We don’t know exactly what He showed Moses, but it was not just the words written down in Exodus. The word “show” or “shown” is Rah (Strong’s 7200), meaning “To see or perceive something or someone. Also to see visions,” [Ancient Hebrew Lexicon]. It seems that Moses was shown a vision. He literally saw what it was to look like, then was also given the words to write down. It is quite possible that Yahweh showed Moses a vision of a human torso! Moses was fasting for forty days, so another possibility is that while Yahweh was speaking, He told Moses to look down at his own very exposed ribs, telling him that this is what he is to build! Just a thought!

The Veil

Exodus 26: 31-35

You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. 32 You shall hang it upon four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy. 35 You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.

Here we are back to the region of the heart again. This veil has the same blue, purple and scarlet thread and artistic designs of cherubim as the curtains. The proximity of the veil to the heart only reinforces what I already stated about the cherubim representing the oxygen in our blood, and the function of the Holy Spirit. There are four pillars as well, again speaking to the four chambers of the heart. 

There is, of course, an analogous covering around our own hearts. The Pericardium is a protective layer surrounding the heart. According to healthline.com, it has the following functions:

• It keeps your heart fixed in place within your chest cavity. 
• It prevents your heart from stretching too much and overfilling with blood. 
• It lubricates your heart to prevent friction with the tissues around it as it beats. 
• It protects your heart from any infections that might spread from nearby organs like the lungs.

We can draw analogies to the purpose of the veil. 

• It will guard the ark with a barrier, keeping it in its place. As Exodus stated, “a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.”
• It will guard against others placing items inside the heart that are not meant to be there (overfilling), or from stealing from inside of it.  As Deuteronomy 4: 2 states “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it.” 
• Yahweh needs His privacy in there! Any outside interference (friction) would be unacceptable.
• It protects it from infection from nearby organs like the lungs. Could the lungs, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, infect the heart? If we are drawing spiritual analogies, we should realize that there are counterfeits for everything and the Holy Spirit is not an exception. Discerning of spirits was one of the fruits of the spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12, meaning that there are both good and bad spirits and we need to be careful which we breathe in. 

The best way to discern spirits is to test them according to Yaweh’s law. The Pericardium is the layer of protection separating out the good from the bad, discerning whether the breath that came in through the lungs matches those laws that are contained inside of the ark, keeping them from infection. 

This is the part of the temple that was torn in two when Yeshua died. We have to ask ourselves why would we want this protective layer torn? We wouldn’t ever want to let evil into the heart would we? That is absolutely correct. Yahweh also does not want to let evil into the heart of His Body. But the people He has been raising up and nurturing to become one with His son are inherently evil themselves! This is why the Father sent the Son to die to forgive and cleanse us. No longer would we be an unclean invader into the temple, we would be clean and welcome guests! And since we would be clean, there was no longer a purpose for that protective layer. It was torn in two and we had direct access to the heart of the Father, to His commandments, so that they could be written on our own hearts. This is the circumcision of the heart. The Pericardium was the foreskin of the heart, torn in circumcision at Christ’s death. 

The word for veil is paraketh (Strong’s 6531) meaning curtain or veil, in the sense of a dividing of space, but it comes from the root perek which means to break apart or fracture, as of flesh from a whip – cruelty, severity or rigor. Yes, the veil breaks apart or separates the space in the tabernacle, but I can’t help but think this word must have also been used with foreshadowing of the violent tearing, or fracturing of the veil when Christ died.

Screen Door

Exodus 26: 36-37

You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. 37 And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; their hooks shall be gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.

The word for this screen is masak (Strong’s H4539) meaning a covering, from the same root, sak, as the word sukkah, which is the word used for tabernacle when referencing the commanded Feast of Tabernacles. This masak is hiding the interior of the tabernacle from view from the outside. There is no other door mentioned in the construction. There would likely be an open section in the front (east end) of the tabernacle used for the entrance, with the screen placed inside, supported from 5 pillars blocking all view of the interior, specifically blocking the holy of holies, which if any outsider were to catch a glimpse of, they would immediately die. This type of entryway allows in air for ventilation, but not vision. 

Our interior organs are split into two sections: the thorax and the abdomen. In the thorax, or upper section, inside the ribcage, we have the heart and lungs only. The organs needed for sending oxygen throughout the body. Below are all the other organs: liver, kidneys, stomach, bladder and intestines. The dividing line is the diaphragm. 

The diaphragm has two main functions. First it is a barrier that completely separates the upper and lower organs. If anything were to pass from below into the chamber above, it would be catastrophic. As I am writing this, I know of one brother who is in the hospital with a perforated diaphragm and bowel. It is an extremely dangerous situation because, as you can imagine, material from the bowel can then enter the chamber of the heart and lungs. Think of the spiritual significance of this and you can start to understand the reason for the first function of the diaphragm.

Its second function is the muscle used for respiration, or breathing, expanding and contracting to bring in air to the lungs. This is the ventilation of the tabernacle. 

The attachment point of this muscle is – get this – to the lower 5 ribs, our 5 pillars on which to hang the screen. Below this connection are all of the organs that take care of expelling toxins and uncleanness from the body, and we’ll start looking there, outside the tabernacle, next. 

The Altar of Burnt Offering

Exodus 27: 1-8

You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. 2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. 8 You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.

In English, the word altar can be mean a table-like object used for wide ranging religious ceremonies or rituals, but in Hebrew (and probably most of the ancient world) an altar (mizbeach – Strong’s H4196) literally means a place of sacrifice. That is its sole function. 

The Exodus instructions contain a lot of information about its construction, but we need only to understand its function to make sense of it within the context of the body. 

There is one design consideration I’d like to note, however. No longer are we seeing a gold overlay, but a bronze one. We are outside of the purity of the inner tabernacle. This area outside is concerned with making things clean, but that purpose necessitates contact with things that are not clean, so gold is not used.

Functionally, this is where all of the killing occurs. It is a bloody place, located at the very entrance to the Tabernacle in the east. We can now squarely identify the body of the Tabernacle as that of a woman because a woman’s body also has a bloody location at its entrance. Before you think that can’t be what is being pictured here, let’s look at the function of each. In Genesis 3:16, woman is given a curse because of her sin. “He said to the woman, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception; you shall bear sons in sorrow, and your desire shall be toward your husband; and he shall rule over you.” This curse affected her conception and childbearing, of which her monthly period is an integral part. It is my belief that before the curse, women were meant to conceive and give birth without becoming “unclean” for one week of every month (see Leviticus 15:19) or for 40 or 80 days after childbirth (Leviticus 12). Have you ever thought of why Yahweh would call a woman unclean for something she has no control over and that is actually fulfilling His own command to be fruitful and multiply? It is because of the Genesis curse for sin! It was not meant to be so originally, and one day will no longer be so again. Paul mentions this curse in his first letter to Timothy, but adds that women will be “saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.” Why? It is a type of sacrifice to cover for her sin, if she does so with humility. This is how it relates to the sacrificial altar. The blood at the altar performs exactly the same function. Animals are being sacrificed as a covering for sin. In both cases, the woman’s body and the tabernacle altar, this blood ultimately points to the blood of Messiah poured out for the forgiveness of our sin, which most of us understand. But I think the link between menstruation and sacrifice needs to be made clear. 

Blood sacrifice of any kind was only ever necessary because of sin. The first sacrifice ever made was a direct result of it, and it was made by Yahweh Himself. Adam and Eve realized they were naked and hid themselves with fig leaves, But when Yahweh found them he gave them animal skins to clothe themselves. Those skins came from somewhere; an animal had to be killed to get them. They were a literal covering for sin. Think about that. But there is more.

Yahweh must have known that eventually men and women would forget about the need or significance of a covering sacrifice, so He gave the woman her monthly menstrual cycle as a constant reminder and wrote the meaning of it directly into her body. This cycle is intricately tied to the lunar cycle, but also to the Holy days that Yahweh later set forth in Leviticus 23. The beginning of a woman’s cycle starts with blood, a visible reminder, and each month starts with a new moon, a visible reminder. The first month also starts the new year on this day, while the seventh month has the memorial of Trumpets on the first day. The woman’s cycle continues until day 14 or 15 when ovulation occurs. The 14th of the first month is Passover, and the 15th starts Unleavened Bread. In the seventh month the 15th starts the Feast of Tabernacles. Both of these Feasts begin at the full moon and both Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles last for 7 days, which is the same amount of time that fertilization can usually occur in the woman’s body. Sometimes fertilization can occur as late as day 8, and in the seventh month we also have the Great Last Day or 8th Day on the 22nd day of the month. 

If you are not familiar with these Holy days, they are worth your time to research, as they outline the entire plan for the salvation of mankind. They are a set of convocations, or rehearsals (Hebrew miqra – Strong’s 4744) that each give us one act of the play. That this play is written into every woman’s body is an incredible testimony that the Creator has given us. The entire plan of salvation is given in one story and written in multiple ways for us to receive so as to be without excuse. It is written in the Holy Days, in the cycle of the moon, in the cycle of the woman, and in the sacrificial system which is typified in the altar of burnt offering set up at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the body. 

The Court

Exodus 27: 9-18

You shall also make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long for one side.  10 And its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets shall be bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. 11 Likewise along the length of the north side there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver. 12 And along the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. 13 The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. 15 And on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. 17 All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen, and its sockets of bronze. 

The court is made of fine linen, much like the curtains, however there is no instruction for blue, purple and scarlet thread, except for the gate of the court. Remember the colored thread represented the blood vessels running through the skin. Their absence says to me that this is not skin, and the court’s location outside of the tabernacle proper, surrounding it, says to me that we must be looking at clothing. It makes sense that a body would be clothed, for modesty’s sake if nothing else. The fact that the gate does have the colored thread just tells us that there is an opening in the garment, as every garment has, that naturally reveals some of the skin.

There is something else that tells us more about what these clothes are, while also giving us a big clue to the identity of the body of the tabernacle. Fine linen is used consistently in scripture to represent purity. Proverbs 31, in describing the virtuous wife, says, “She makes tapestry for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.”

Revelation 19: 7-8 also refers to a virtuous wife, a very specific one.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

So this linen is not just simple clothing, but represents the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation calls these saints the wife of the Lamb. The identity of our woman starts to come into focus!

Altar of Incense

Exodus 30: 1-10

You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width—it shall be square—and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. 4 Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh  throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. 10 And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.

This altar is also a place of sacrifice of burnt offerings, much like the previous altar, only this one is for burning incense. We’re back inside the tabernacle proper again, so again we see gold overlay. And again we’ll focus only on its function. Every morning and every evening Aaron will burn sweet incense on it to Yahweh, and will make atonement on it once per year. Leviticus 16: 12-13 tells us more about how it was used during the Atonement service:

Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before Yahweh, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. 13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die.

It’s placement is just outside the veil, facing the ark and mercy seat. It was necessary that the smoke of the incense would cover the mercy seat when Aaron went in so that he would not die. What is going on there? What is this smoke that it would save Aaron? Let’s get a few more clues from elsewhere in the Bible.

Psalm 141:1-2

A Psalm of David. Yahweh, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You. 2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

 

Isaiah 56:7

Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

What we are seeing with the burning of incense is prayer. Earlier we looked at the mercy seat and the smoke that arose from it and realized it was the breath of Yahweh, the Holy Spirit. The smoke that arises from the incense is the breath of this body which is the Tabernacle. These prayers are to be offered every morning and every evening. They mingle with the breath of Yahweh in two-way communication with Him, to become one in the Holy Spirit. This house or tabernacle is a house of prayer. The altar is the mind, or perhaps the brain if we want to look at it as an organ (it does have carrying poles like all of the other organs in the tabernacle after all), whose thoughts show the content of the heart. The word prayer literally means to plead. It is an outpouring of the heart to Yahweh, cries for help and mercy, and pleading for intercession for ourself and others. 

This altar is not for strange (foreign) incense, burnt offering, or grain offering (or food offering in some translations), or drink offering. It starts to make more sense, why fasting is done on the day of Atonement. No food or drink comes into the body so that the prayer is pure, worthy to mingle with the breath of Yahweh. Yeshua, in Matthew 26: 41 reminds us to “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” So we remove the parts of the flesh we can when we really need to be sure that our willing spirit is heard. Atonement is one of those times, as is any additional fasting done to help our prayer life. 

We know that with Yeshua’s sacrifice, the veil of the holy of holies was torn, so that we no longer need an intermediary to keep us from death when approaching the throne. Yet these ideas are still pertinent. The need for prayer did not cease, but is now needed more than ever, because it is not only once per year we can have direct contact with the almighty, but all day every day. At the very least, we should be offering it up every morning and evening as the incense was offered. 

Laver

Exodus 30: 18-21

You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Yahweh, they shall wash with water, lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.

The idea of washing in the old covenant is pervasive and  important. The way to show respect to any guest or traveler was to wash their feet. Washing was used throughout the Torah as a cure for “uncleanness.” Anything mentioned that made a person unclean, be it handling a dead body or leprosy or mold on a garment, at least part of the process of becoming clean was to wash in water. That washing makes you clean sounds like a bit of a no-brainer, but the biblical idea of cleanliness goes beyond getting the physical dirt off to include spiritual cleanness and that seems unique. Just as the physical body could be soiled, so could the spiritual one. These things were expounded on in the Torah so “that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean,” (Leviticus 10: 10). 

To be sure, the body we are building with the Tabernacle is a spiritual one, but it is built as a physical one in the image of the spiritual, just as mankind was created in the spiritual image of the Elohim. So the physical parts of the body are built into the Tabernacle, but so are the things that are necessary to maintain the proper functioning of the body for the purposes of holiness that it was created for. Clothing is not part of the actual body, but we saw the court serving as clothing because clothing is something that serves the proper functioning of the body. So the laver serves the purpose of bathing this body, both physically and spiritually. Isaiah had a prophetic description of the Israelites who would remain in Jerusalem during the captivity that displays this function beautifully. Isaiah 4: 2-6.

In that day the Branch of Yahweh shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped. 3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then Yahweh will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

Yahweh will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and do so in a way that is intricately tied to the idea of the tabernacle. What we are seeing with all this washing is the idea of baptism. When I first started studying the Bible seriously, I had a hard time understanding where baptism came from. It seemed out of the blue for John the Baptist to start his ministry in such a way. I could not understand why people wanted to be baptized by some preaching stranger when there seemed to be no precedent in the old covenant. Others tried to explain to me that the precedent was the ritual washings in the old testament, yet it didn’t seem the same thing to me. But I also didn’t really understand the idea of clean and unclean the way the Israelites did. Now that I’m understanding the role that cleanliness and holiness played, it is finally starting to make perfect sense that John the Baptist was really doing nothing new. He was just pointing out that people were unclean and needed to repent and be washed to become clean. This baptism (washing) would have been completely understood and accepted once people were convicted of their need for repentance because they had been taught their whole lives through the Torah that washing to achieve spiritual cleanliness was no different than washing to achieve physical cleanliness.

In John 3: 1-8, Jesus tells Nicodemus that you must be born of both water and the spirit.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Being born of water is the birth of the flesh. Water is that which gives earthly life. What happens when we are born of the womb? The mother’s water breaks. The child has been surrounded by it in the womb (the child’s world for 9 months), then comes out to breathe air. Ruwach. Pneuma. Yahweh’s breath; the words used to describe the Spirit. We breathe in for the first time at birth, a symbol of the breath of eternal life in the spirit that will happen when we pass through this world. Then what’s next? “The whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs,” we are told in Hebrews 8: 22. The symbolism is on many levels including even the earth (the whole creation) on which we are living, which is a womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid, with waters below and waters above the firmament! (Genesis 1:7)

When we are baptized we pass through the watery grave, dead to this world, alive to the next. Being completely immersed in water, we come out and have hands laid on us, just as a Father catches the child during birth. The Spirit is imparted and we take our first Ruwach or Pneuma. Then we are newborns suckling on the milk of the word until the day we are weaned, having gradually attained the ability to digest solid food and meat. When we finally die in the flesh from this world, we will also pass through the waters of the firmament to attain to the heavenly realm as children in the family of Yahweh. 

As we come out of the womb, we are also coming from darkness into the light. So, too, in baptism we are coming out of the darkness of sin into the light of Christ. Paul tells us it is the same difference between this world and the next: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13: 12). The pattern is all laid out for us in creation, so that we are without excuse! 

The need to be washed clean, then, is so important as to be designed into the functional hardware of the tabernacle and representing the womb of rebirth. It is the only process that can be used to cleanse one who has repented. It is this washing of baptism that offers new life, eternal life, free from sin. It is the womb that offers this baptism to the child entering the world so it can arrive in a pure, clean state. 

This water is mentioned elsewhere in scripture as well. John 7: 38, “The one believing into Me, as the Scripture said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. ” This just said, “as the Scripture said,” however there is no place in the old testament (the scriptures that Yeshua and John had) that said anything about living waters coming out of a belly (the Hebrew word for belly means abdominal region – some translations incorrectly say heart). Could the “scriptures” Yeshua referred to have simply been the design of the tabernacle? I think so. Because the water in the laver is indeed referring to the waters of life. These are the waters that came out of Yeshua’s side (part of His abdominal section) when it was split with the spear, which was also a foreshadowing of the waters of Revelation 22: 1 and 17, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” And “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” The throne of God was originally symbolized in the tabernacle, the waters of life flowing out of its entrance to make all who will partake clean. Isaiah 12: 2-3, “ ‘For Yah, Yahweh is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’ Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” 

Identity

There is much more to be said. I have not mentioned the holy anointing oil, which is used to set apart all parts of this body to Yahweh, and how the human body makes its own oils, similarly covering all parts of it. I have not talked about the composition of the incense itself and the herbs that make it up. Surely their individual properties will say much about the prayer we are to be offering. I have not talked about the garments for the priests, and their design similarities with the tabernacle, and what it all represents, which could be another volume on its own. But we have enough information now to make some conclusions as to who this tabernacle actually represents. 

We’ve already gotten a lot of good clues, but first, let’s make this even easier by quoting more of what scripture has to say about it.

Isaiah 33:20

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, A tabernacle that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, Nor will any of its cords be broken.

1 Corinthians 6:19,

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

2 Corinthians 6:16-17

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” 17 Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS Yahweh. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.” 18 “I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS YAHWEH ALMIGHTY.”

 

Ephesians 5: 22-23

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

 

Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 

 

Revelation 21:2-3

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

There are a few themes that come forward looking at these scriptures written by Isaiah, Paul and John. They equate the Tabernacle with Jerusalem, with the Church and with the Bride of Christ. 

Revelation 21: 2-3 is my favorite because it associates all four in one place. The word church is not mentioned there, but “with Men” and “His people” refer to the same concept. Let’s look at the “Church” for a minute. It is the  Greek word “Ekklesia” (Strong’s G1577) which literally means “called out.” Out of what? Out of the world (John 17 is a good place to read about this). Holiness is all about this concept, meaning to be set-apart out of the world. Called out and set-apart are the same thing. The church are the called out and set apart people of God. “His people” referred to in Revelation 21: 3 was quoted from Leviticus 26: 11-12 and is talking about exactly these called out and set apart people. The quote is referring to the reason for the building of the tabernacle, that Yahweh intended to dwell there among His people. John is telling what the ultimate fulfillment of this will look like calling it “the holy city, New Jerusalem,” and “a bride adorned for her husband.”

When we talked about the curtains we saw where Jerusalem was referred to as “a city coupled together.” I have heard others teaching that this coupling is about the two covenants, and I don’t think that is necessarily wrong, but the Bible often contains multiple layers of meaning. For our purposes here I will say that Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ who is coupled to her Husband, Yeshua/Jesus. A read through the book of Song of Solomon will give you a glimpse of the relationship between Jesus (the Beloved) and His Bride in very romantic, even sensual, language. The love and longing between them is forefront. And it all takes place in Jerusalem, with all of the “Daughters of Jerusalem” looking upon them. 

Ephesians 5 also takes us through the relationship between Christ and His people, but here His people are called the church (again, Ekklesia – called out ones). Paul really understood the relationship of Christ to the Ekklesia, which he calls a body, just as the tabernacle pictures. The Ekklesia is the body of which Christ is the head (verse 23). Our bodies do what the head instructs them to do. They submit willingly because they are of the same body, so have the same will. If the body resists what the head instructs, we call it illness. The head, in return, does not make unreasonable requests of the body, or require it to do functions that it cannot reasonably perform. I would not not tell my arms to lift 2000 lbs because they cannot do that. I would also not tell a part of the body to perform a function that belongs to another part of the body, such as telling my knee to taste some food, because the knee would not know how. This is what Paul tells us, “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh.” All our Head asks of us is to “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS Yahweh. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.”

Yes, our bodies are a temple/tabernacle, and we know this because Yahweh showed the pattern to His people at Mount Sinai. The nations around would have temples of wood and stone to house idols of wood and stone, but His people, His Bride, would have temples made of flesh, to house the living God. And this Bride, this temple or tabernacle, called the New Jerusalem is you and me! The tabernacle pictured in the Old Testament of the Bible is pointing to your very own body today!

The False Tabernacle

Of course, for every beautiful thing that Yahweh creates, the adversary crafts a counterfeit, and the tabernacle is no exception. The concept for this study came from putting together 1 Corinthians 6:19 (don’t you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit) with Ezekiel 36:26 (I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.) If that heart of stone was the commandments in the ark, then what else might the tabernacle be representing? 

One thing I noticed while considering certain parts of the tabernacle was that if I just used my mind to think hard about it, I would get off on a trail that led to the way of the flesh and it would just feel wrong. But when I would pray about it and let the spirit lead, a better way would appear. 

One example of this was with the entrance to the tabernacle. When looking at the entrance to a woman’s body, it is easy to start thinking of things in a sexual context (at least for men…). This would be where the priest enters in, which could be seen as a sexual act of sorts. Then he enters the holy of holies, which could be seen as a womb being impregnated. I have actually seen this analogy used elsewhere. Was it correct? Our bodies certainly have a sexual aspect to them, but there is also a reason that intercourse is treated as an unclean act biblically, and nothing unclean can enter the Holy of Holies. The idea didn’t sit well, but I couldn’t completely disprove it. I prayed about it and it immediately came to me that Jesus/Yeshua was born of a virgin. Intercourse was not part of it! He was clean in every way. If we are to be part of His body, we too should have nothing to do spiritually with sexual uncleanness. Is not the Bride also referred to as a virgin? 

This is when I realized the difference between the furniture inside the tabernacle and outside the tabernacle, separated by the screen door. Inside was completely clean and outside was for becoming clean. The upper organs maintain the oxygen, or life, in the body and the lower organs, separated by the diaphragm, cleanse the body of uncleanness. 

It is this lower part of our body that often becomes a false tabernacle. It is responsible for most of our strongest fleshly desires. Our stomach dictates our lives to a large extent. Do we live to eat or eat to live? Our sexual organs are also in the lower body and the lusts that they put our selves through can wreak all sorts of havoc. Both types of desire lead to indulgence and a lack of self-control, an essential fruit of the spirit. Religious practices have often been corrupted with temple prostitutes and fertility worship as an excuse for sexual indulgence and have used practices involving excessive alcohol consumption and gluttony during feast times. These things all originate in the region below the diaphragm.

Those individuals and religious leaders who have recognized problems in these areas have sometimes resorted to extremism on the opposite end of the spectrum. They have promoted asceticism and living lives of complete abstinence, even forbidding marriage. Both of these practices may have certain benefits in the short term and the Bible even promotes fasting and speaks of those who have become eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. These are both done for the sake of self-control. But in the long term there is a danger for those who maintain lifestyles of not just self control, but of constant self-denial. Their focus in such cases are actually retained on the stomach and/or sexual desire, as abstinence becomes their whole identity. Our proper focus is meant to be on the heart. Real self-control comes from the heart and nowhere else. When our Head told us how to behave, He wrote it on the heart, so that is where we look!

I am grateful for the clarity that this study has brought to me, as it reveals our proper identity in the body of Messiah, as well as the proper behavior that is fitting for one of such identity. It also gives perspective to clean and unclean, holy and unholy and an understanding of the created marvel that is our physical bodies, the true temples of the Holy Spirit and place of residence of our Creator.

Exodus 25:8-9

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

 

Jeremiah 31:33

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

 

Summary

Ark = Heart

Stone = Tablets/LawBlood

Mercy Seat/Cherubim = Lungs/Oxygen

Table of Showbread = Face

Lampstand/Light = Eyes

Curtains = Skin

Covering of Goats Hair = Hair

Ram Skins & Tachash = Muscles/Blood Covering

Boards = Ribs

Bars Sternum

Veil = Pericardium

Screen Door = Diaphragm

Altar of Burnt Offering = Menstrual Cycle

Court = Clothing

Altar of Incense = Prayers

Laver = Womb/Baptism