Building a Model Tabernacle

After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they camped in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai. Moses met with God on the mountain and received the tablets with the 10 Commandments. He also received the pattern for the construction of the tabernacle.

The tabernacle was to be God's dwelling place among His people. It was the place of sacrifice and it's structure and furnishings foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice and atonement of Christ.

The tabernacle consisted of a tent and its surrounding courtyard. The courtyard was enclosed in curtains. In the courtyard were 2 main articles: the altar of sacrifice and the laver. The altar of sacrifice was the place where the sacrifice was burned. The laver was a wash basin for cleansing of the priests before entering in to the Holy Place. The tent had 2 parts: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (also called the Holy of Holies). In the Holy Place was the Table of Shewbread where fresh bread was placed daily as a sacrifice to the Lord. Also in the Holy Place was the Altar of Incense where a particular blend of spices was burned for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Finally in the Holy Place was the Lampstand. It burned olive oil continually. At the back of the Holy Place was a curtain or veil, that led to the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place was only to be entered 1 time per year by the High Priest to make atonement for the sins of the people. The Most Holy Place held the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat as the lid. Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the tablets of the 10 Commandments, Aaron's rod that budded, and a jar of manna.

Although there are several great tabernacles for sale and a free paper model available on-line, we chose to design our own model.

Here are the basic materials and methods we used to construct our tabernacle model.

Materials:
Lid to a copy paper box
60 old fashioned clothespins
Fabric scraps in off-white, blue, purple, and red
Paper lunch bag
Craft sticks (regular and mini)
Gold paint
Bronze paint
Tacky glue
Gold pipe cleaner
Assorted wood pieces for the tabernacle furnishings
Small box with lid for Ark of the Covenant

We purchased all the wood pieces from A.C. Moore.

Assembly:

Altar: 1-3/4 in wood cube painted with bronze paint

Laver: A wooden drawer knob painted bronze, and then blue on top to represent water.



Table of showbread: 1 cm cube with a mini wooden sign glued on top and painted gold.



Altar of incense: 1 cm cube with a wooden wheel glued on top and painted gold.

Lampstand: Cut a gold pipe cleaner into 4 pieces. Wrapped 3 of the pieces around one straight piece in the center. Stuck gold beads on 7 ends of pipe cleaner. Stuck in wooden wheel (painted gold) for a stand.



Ark of the Covenent: Painted a small lidded box gold. Inside are 2 wooden tablets painted gray (could make out of clay), a Tinker toy end piece for the jar of manna, and a small twig from the yard for Aaron's rod.



Tabernacle: Constructed a frame from craft sticks. We glued a mini stick at the top between 2 regular sticks which were at an angle. We made 4 of those, then attached them together by gluing mini craft sticks along the top. We glued fabric on top of the frame and in the front making a doorway.



Courtyard: 60 wooden clothespins were painted gold and attached to the box. (20 to each long side, and 10 to the short sides). Glued fabric strips around the inside and outside of the clothespins.



We spent about a week on the project but not a lot of time on it each day. We spent most of the time painting pieces (especially the 60 clothespins!).