Tent Articles

Exodus chapters 36 through 39 list the articles of the Tent that Oholiab and team built under Moses' direction. The following table maps those articles to the tribes.

Tribe	Article	Scripture
Judah	Tent	2 Exodus 36:8 ⁸And all the skillful men among those who did the work of the tent made 10 curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; with cherubim artistically worked they made them.
Reuben	Ark	2 Exodus 37:1 ¹Then Bezaliel made the ark of shittim wood; the length of it was 2 and 1/2 cubits, and the breadth of it 1 and 1/2 cubits, and the height of it 1 and 1/2 cubits:
Gad	Table	2 Exodus 37:10 ¹⁰And he made the table of shittim wood; its length was 2 cubits and its breadth 1 cubit and its height 1 and 1/2 cubits;
Asher	Candle	2 Exodus 37:17 ¹⁷And he made the candlestick of pure gold; of cast work he made the candlestick; its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its buds, and its flowers were of the same;
Naphtali	Incense	2 Exodus 37:25 ²⁵And he made the incense altar of shittim wood; the length of it was 1 cubit and the breadth of it 1 cubit; it was 4-square; and the height of it was 2 cubits; and its horns were of the same.
Manasseh	Altar	2 Exodus 38:1 ¹And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood; 5 cubits was its length and 5 cubits its breadth; it was 4-square; and 3 cubits were its height.
Simeon	Basin	2 Exodus 38:8 ⁸And he made the laver of brass and its base of brass from the mirrors of the women at the door of the meeting tent.
Levi	Court	2 Exodus 38:9-11 ⁹And he made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, 100 cubits; ¹⁰their pillars were 20, and their bronze sockets 20; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. ¹¹And for the north side the hangings were 100 cubits, their pillars were 20, and their sockets of brass 20; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.
Issachar	Gate	2 Exodus 38:14 ¹⁴The hangings of the one side of the gate were 15 cubits; their pillars 3, and their sockets 3.
Zebulun	Rigging	2 Exodus 38:17 ¹⁷And the sockets of the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver; and the overlaying of their capitals of silver; and all the pillars of the court were overlaid with silver.
Joseph	Ephod & Breastplate	2 Exodus 39:2 ²And they made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 2 Exodus 39:8 ⁸And they made the breastplate, the work of an artist, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet material, and fine twined linen.
Benjamin	Robe	2 Exodus 39:22 ²²And they made the robe of the ephod of fine woven work, all of blue.
Dan	Plate	2 Exodus 39:30 ³⁰And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription like to the engraving of a signet, Holiness to Yahvah.

Notes on mapping

This map is fairly straightforward. Depending upon where you read in Exodus to establish this grid an item might be omitted or move a bit. I've followed the actual narrative of the construction given in chapters 36-39. A confirming list summarzing this process is given at the end of 39, but it absorbs the ephod, breastplate, robe and plate into a single line item titled "vestments."

2 Exodus 39:32-41
³²Thus all the work of the meeting tent was finished; and the children of Israel did according to all that Yahvah commanded Moses, so they did.
³³And they brought the tent to Moses, the tent and all its vessels, its rings, its clasps, its boards, its pins, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets,
³⁴And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the veil for the covering of the door,
³⁵the ark of the testimony, and its poles, and the mercy seat,
³⁶the table, and all its vessels, and the shewbread,
³⁷the pure candlestick, with its lamps, and with the lamps to be set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil for light,
³⁸and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tent door,
³⁹the altar of brass, and its grate of brass, its poles, and all its vessels, the laver and its base,
⁴⁰the hangings of the court, its pillars, its sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, its cords, its pins, and all the vessels of the service of the meeting tent,
⁴¹the vestments of the service to minister in the holy place, and the holy vestments for Aaron the priest, and vestments for his sons, to minister in the priest's office.

The other item worth noting here is that normally Manasseh seems to pick up the double portion and sometimes Joseph does additionally. In this case the double portion only seems to land on Joseph. That's a first as far as I know.

Observations

Reuben is the Ark, in the inner chamber. The Ark is where you meet with God in person and speak face to face. It's a place of intimacy. Reuben seems to have an intimacy theme. He's intimate with his father's wife, in that case not being selective enough about who to share his intimacy with. You can think about this inner room in the Tent as being the bedroom or bridal chamber. It's behind the curtain, it's private. Reuben's holiday is Passover, which is blood on the doorpost, a match to blood sprinkled on the cover of the Ark.

Gad is the Table. He's also the start of Unleavened Bread.

Naphtali is the altar of incense which matches his "goodly words" as per Jacob's blessing. Words or prayers are like incense. They have a scent. They are a sample of something. Like First Fruits, Naphtali's holiday, when the first cutting of the crop is sampled as a witness to the whole crop that will come in.

Manasseh is the bronze altar of burnt offering. It's metal network may play to the united states that make up the tribe. The ashes of the altar match those thrown into the air to create boils for Manasseh's plague and the boils Job has.

Simeon is the basin of water. Simeon has other water items on the grid such as the Water Gate and the plague of hail, which is frozen water.

Issachar is the gate into/out of the complex. He's the East Gate elsewhere in the grid. The gate on the Tent complex faced east so these are the same.

Zebulun is the rigging, the ropes, poles, bases, hooks, pegs and other items that hold the whole thing together. I say "rigging" because Zebulun becomes Greece and has various prophecies about shipping. Zebulun has a theme of origins which is picked up in the bases and poles and items that uphold or give foundation to the rest of the complex.

Joseph is both the ephod and the breastplate to pick up the double portion for Ephraim and Manasseh. It seems right to asign the Ephod to Ephraim and the Breastplate to Manasseh. The grid of stones on the breastplate may match the grid on the altar, Manasseh's other item.

Benjamin as the robe needs more study to confirm.

Dan is the golden plate that goes on the mitre. This probably plays to Dan's authority (as Judge) and his call to know and follow Yahvah carefully (which is essentially what the inscription "holy" means when you break down the spelling).

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Saturday, Benjamin 2, 13000