Suzanne Rogers
Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishing exactly like the pattern I will show you (Ex 25:8, 9).
This is what the Lord commanded the Israelites to build as a dwelling place for His presence. He told them exactly what to use, the exact measurements of the structure, and how to use the structure once completed. As far as materials, there was a great variety of materials commanded to be used in the construction of this structure. There were 18 items used in all: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; red ram skins; hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil; spices for anointing oil and incense; onyx stones, and other gems. With these materials, the Lord instructed exactly what each furnishing would be like, from the Ark of the Covenant to the clasps that held the curtains on the poles.
The Lord chose two men to oversee the workmanship of His tabernacle, Bezalel and his assistant, Oholiab.
I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you (Ex 31:3, 6b).
He gave both these men the ability to teach trades, and each skilled man and woman began work on the tabernacle. Metal workers began to smelt down gold, silver, and bronze, purifying it. Woodworkers began stripping wood, measuring, cutting, and carving it. Shepherds took their flock and sheared goats and lambs. Leather workers started stretching and curing skins. And women started to spin, weave, and dye the beautiful cloth that was used on the tabernacle.
Murex Shell from the waters of the Mediterranean Coastal City of Tyre in Lebanon.
The dying of yam and cloth was not always a women’s job. All ancient crafts were family affairs and the best techniques and materials were trade secrets. With the rise of the new science of chemistry in the Hellenistic period, the secret formulas were made known (Jameieson 1976). The Bible never explains how the dying process took place, but dyed cloth was mentioned early in the Bible. The dying process must have had the same “rules” as today. When dyes are used, they must be able to “stick” to the cloth; otherwise, the cloth will not take the color. Some materials will not take the dye easily, and a mordant must be added to have the color stay fast. Not all materials need to be dyed, though.
Wool, the most common cloth in Biblical times, was easy to dye. Natural wool came in a variety of colors running from white and yellow through tans and brown (Jameieson 1976). Besides the natural colors, the common colors of dyed wool were purple, blue (violet), crimson, yellow, and scarlet. Three of these commonly dyed colors were used in the making of curtains for the tabernacle: purple, blue, and scarlet. The other color used was white.
The process of getting some of theses dyes was easy; for others, the process was a bit more difficult. The blue and purple dye colors were the hardest by far. Two types of mollusks were used, Purpura and Murex:
The pigment was secreted by a gland in the lining of the stomach. The shell was punctured and the fish removed in order to secure the dye. The juice, at first whitish, changed on exposure to yellowish or greenish and finally to red, amethyst or purple, according to the treatment. A modified color was obtained by first dipping the textile in a cochineal bath and then in the purple (Path 1939.)
BSpade 15:1 (Winter 2002) p. 32
The most expensive was the purple of the murex which required 250,000 mollusks per ounce! Hence the implications of great wealth in the saying “born to the purple” (Stigers 1976).
The red dye was slightly easier to obtain. It was made using cochineal insects. The modern dyer can obtain several shades from the cochineal insect by varying the mordants or assistants used with the dye. Pliny mentions the same fact as being known by the ancient Egyptians (Patch 1939). So there might have been families that knew this trade.
The red dyed rams skins had a slightly different method of dyeing than the cloth:
After the ram’s skin had been tanned in the sumac, it is laid out on a table and a solution of the dye, made by boiling dud (worms) in water, is rubbed on. After the dye is dry, the skin is rubbed with oil and finally polished. (Patch 1939)
When the Israelites left Egypt, they did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so the Israelites plundered the Egyptians (Ex 12:3–5, 36). The Israelites had nothing since they had been slaves. Therefore the Egyptian plunder was used to build the tabernacle.
The first color seen on the tabernacle was white. The whole tent complex was surrounded by white linen curtains. These curtains enclosed the Outer Court, which was approximately 46m long (150 ft), 23m wide (75 ft), and 2.3m tall (7.5 ft). On the east side of the complex was the entrance. This was a large curtain of linen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. It was held in place by silver hooks on poles. These outside curtains would have been highly noticed against the drab browns and blacks of the surrounding tents.
The next color seen was on the Holy Place/Holy of Holies. On the outside of the tent was the bright red of the ram’s skins. Underneath the red ram’s skins was 11 curtains of goat’s hair joined together with bronze clasps. Under the goat’s hair was ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman (Ex 26:1).
The Tabernacle showing the tents of the Levites camped next to and around the outer court.
When one walked into the Holy Place, the walls would have been of cherubim guarding and watching all that took place. It resembled the later frescoes and the even later tapestries as decoration.
The door to the Holy Place was very similar to that of the door to the Outer Court. It was blue, purple, scarlet and fine linen. “The Veil shall be a divider between the holy place and the Holy of Holies” (Ex 26:33). At the west end of the Holy Place was a beautiful curtain of blue, purple, scarlet and finely twisted linen. Like the Holy Place covering, it had cherubim worked into it.
We can attribute meaning to the colors represented in the tabernacle. According to Martyn Barrow, blue indicates heavenly and godly; purple signifies kingship; red signifies blood; and white signifies purity and a right humanity (1995). Although one can attribute meaning to these colors, there is no reason to think of them as exceedingly special. God had the Israelites use what was available and given to them by the Egyptians. A simple matter of using what was on hand.
Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:33–34).
Bibliography
Barrow, Martyn.
1995 Tabernacle Home Page. http://www.domini.org/tabernltabhome.htm.
Stigers, H. G.
1976 Color, Colors. Pp. 912–13 in Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. ed. M. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Patch, J. A.
1939 Dye, Dying. Pp. 883–84 in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol 2., ed. J. Orr. Grand Rapids: Erdmans.
Jameieson, H. M.
1976 Dye, Dying. P. 173 in Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol 1., ed. M. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Bible And Spade 15:2 (Spring 2002)