From the Burning Bush

The Origins of the

Tabernacle

to the Tabernacle in church

The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us. John 1:14

I am with you always, yes, to the end of time. Matt. 28:20

The Origins of the Tabernacle

Its long development from Mt. Sinai to Jesus in the Tabernacle

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and body (soma in Greek) as used in all accounts of the institution of the Eucharist.

One of the charges against Jesus at his trial was his claim to destroy this Temple and in three days to raise it up. St. John says that when Jesus made this prophecy he was referring to his own body (using the word soma). In other words, Jesus is identifying his own Body as the new Temple. But where is this New Temple Jesus Risen Body - to be found on earth? Jesus uses the very same word, soma, at the Last Supper, referring to his own Body which he is giving. In his writings, St. John uses the same word for the Eucharist as he does to describe the flesh of Christ at Bethlehem, the word sarx; in other words, he shows that the Child in the manger and the Eucharist are one and the same Jesus. Now we see that, from another angle, he is using the alternative word soma to underline another teaching: that the Body of Christ, given in the Eucharist, is indeed the New Temple. But a New Temple requires a New Priesthood - the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, the true Mediator between God and man and whose priesthood is eternal; the fulfilment of the hereditary priesthood of the Old Covenant. At the Last Supper when Jesus gave himself to us in the Eucharist, He also at the same time gave us His new priests, who would minister to that Eucharistic Body - Do this in memory of me. The vocation of all priests is above all to minister to the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, and to make present, through the power of Christ, the New Temple of the Lords Body on the altar at Mass, but also in the Tabernacles of all our churches. In the Holy Eucharist, God can truly dwell in the midst of His people - anywhere! Today we can understand that the practice of placing the Tabernacle in our churches is part of a continuous development of doctrine and liturgy. Foreshadowed by St. John - The Word was made flesh and pitched his tent [tabernacled] among us the Tabernacle contains Jesus, the New Temple among us. This is now not just in Jerusalem, but in every Catholic Church throughout the world. If St. John presents Jesus in the Tabernacle as the Lord of the Cosmos (all things came to be through him), we can also see how Christ is the Lord of History through this amazing development of His presence among us in the Old Testament and now in all the Tabernacles of the world. If Jesus replaces the Holy of Holies of the Tent of Meeting & the Jerusalem Temple, how could He be other than in the centre of our churches? The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist. Every parish church or chapel, no matter how humble, is therefore the place where the Church in all its fulness is present, because Jesus is present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity; our Master, our Lord and our God, and our personal Friend is present in the Tabernacle as the spiritual centre of the universal Church and the whole of humanity and the living heart of our churches (Pope Paul VI in Mysterium Fidei & The Credo of the People of God).

The Tabernacle, veiled in green, in a Catholic church.

In a Catholic Church, the Tabernacle occupies the place of greatest honour. This is because it contains the Blessed Sacrament, or in other words, Jesus Christ Himself under the appearance of bread. Thus, God dwells in the very midst of His people; something which He planned from eternity, and which was revealed in the Sacred Scriptures:

You will bring them and plant them on the mountain that is your own, the place you have made your dwelling, Lord. - Ex. 15:17 Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. - Ex. 25:8 I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will be their God. - Ex. 29:45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel. - 1 Kings 6:13 For the Lord has chosen Zion desiring this to be his home. Here will I stay for ever, this is the home I have chosen. - Psalm 132

The end of the book of Exodus: The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the glory of the Lord that filled the Tabernacle. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Tabernacle the sons of Israel would resume their march. For the cloud of the LORD rested on the Tabernacle by day, and a fire shone within it by night, for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey. (Exodus 40: 34-38) 3. Solomons Temple After their journeyings in the desert, the Israelites eventually entered the promised land under Joshua. The Tent of Meeting followed them. King David placed the Tent at the centre of Jerusalem, but it was his son, Solomon, who changed the Tent into the first Temple, and this was designed on the same pattern (c. 950 BC). This Temple was destroyed with the exile to Babylon in 587 BC. On their return, a second Temple was built by Zorobabel in Jerusalem 520-515 BC. This was desecrated at the time of the Maccabees c. 167 BC. 4. Herods Temple The third and greatest Temple, which replaced the second, was finished under King Herod. It was a magnificent building, one of the great wonders of the world at the time of Christ. It was this Temple around which much of the ministry of Jesus revolved, and whose sacred liturgy he fulfilled in His own Person. 5. Jesus is the New Temple - Tabernacled among us - I am with you always

I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. - Ezek. 43:7 Sing and rejoice daughter of Zion, for behold I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee. - Zech. 2:10
Thus, it is clearly revealed by God that He intends to dwell personally among His people; an intention which was fully realised in the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. Before this, though, there was long preparation as the plan gradually unfolded in the course of history. 1. The Burning Bush - I shall be with you (Exod 3:12)

The event of Moses encounter with God at the burning bush is well known from the scriptures (Exodus 1:1-15). Moses, though he did not yet know it, was being given a massive and courageous work to do by God. When Moses asked God: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt, God replies: I shall be with you and then He says After you have lead the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain. Then God reveals His Holy Name to Moses: I Am Who Am. There is an indication of a continuity in history here too, as He also reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The book of Exodus can be summed up thus: It consists of two parts, the first describing the redemption of Israel, and the second the consecration of Israel as the People of God. The first part closes with the Song of Moses, while the second part closes with the consecration of the Tabernacle, in which God was to dwell in the midst of His people, and to hold communion with them. (Alfred Edersheim, Old Testament Bible History, p.23) 2. Mount Sinai & the Tent of Meeting.

Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up...But he was speaking of the Temple that was his Body, - John 2:21, where Jesus cleanses the Temple in Jerusalem. The Greek word used for body here is soma: This is my Body which is given up for you, - Luke 22:19, where Jesus institutes the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The same Greek word is used: soma. The New Testament uses two words for the Eucharistic presence of Jesus: 1. flesh (sarx in Greek) as in John 6, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

It is clear from the Scriptures that on Mount Sinai, Moses was given the vision of the Tent of Meeting or Tabernacle by God. Indeed, he was told to build it according to the pattern shown [him] on the mountain (Exod 25:40). This pattern and the very experience Moses had on Sinai would be the basis for the design of the Tent of Meeting (c. 1230 BC) and later of the Temple of Solomon.

See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain, Exodus 25:40 On Mt. Sinai, God instructed Moses as to the building of the Tabernacle, the tent-like structure where He would dwell in the midst of His people. It was to have an outer courtyard, an inner Holy Place, and within that, the Holy of Holies screened by a veil, where eventually the Ark of the Covenant was placed. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies. This pattern followed the division of the mountain into its outer surrounds, the mountain itself, and the summit veiled in cloud, where only Moses was permitted to go.

Mount Sinai

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The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies. Here, the Lord of Hosts dwelt mysteriously with His people above the wings of the cherubim. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments, some manna (the bread from Heaven) and the staff of

The Temple of Solomon followed the same structure as the Tabernacle, with a public outer courtyard, the Holy Place for the Bread of the Presence, the lampstand and altar of incense, and the Holy of Holies in which was placed the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple was a fixed, stone building in Jerusalem.

The first Temple, built by King Solomon

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The Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert

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