top of page
The 40-year travelling presence of God through the wilderness
After experiencing the ten plagues in Egypt, and the safe crossing through the Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea, the Israelites finally had their freedom after 430 years of slavery.
The Israelites witnessed the building of the Ark of the Covenant to house the two tablets that held the 10 Israelite laws and watched as the presence of El (God) rested down in between the wings of the cherubim. The Ark of the Covenant is the most sacred relic of the Israelites - a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an elaborately designed lid called the mercy seat.
Each time the Israelites stopped to rest, they would set up camp which included a tabernacle - a portable temple
Internally it was divided by a veil into two chambers, the exterior of which was called the holy place, also “the sanctuary” (Heb. 9:2) and the “first tabernacle” (6); and the interior, the holy of holies, “the holy place,” “the Holiest,” the “second tabernacle” (Ex. 28:29; Heb. 9:3, 7). The veil separating these two chambers was a double curtain of the finest workmanship, which was never passed except by the high priest once a year, on the great Day of Atonement. The holy place was separated from the outer court which enclosed the tabernacle by a curtain, which hung over the six pillars which stood at the east end of the tabernacle, and by which it was entered.
The order as well as the typical character of the services of the tabernacle are recorded in Heb. 9; 10:19–22.
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 650.
Proof of Exile Date: "The Black Obelisk is a pillar that Shalmaneser III of Assyria erected in 841bce to commemorate his victory over his enemies, including King Jehu of Israel.
"The date of the Black Obelisk is 841bce, which was apparently the first year of Jehu’s reign over Israel. According to 2 Kings 3:1; 9:1–8, 24, twelve years passed between the end of Ahab’s reign and the beginning of Jehu’s. Thus the date of 853bce can be established as the end of Ahab’s reign over Israel" and the date of Israel's exile.
Sharon Rusten with E. Michael, The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and throughout History (Wheaton, IL: Michael E Rusten, 2005), 31.
bottom of page