After the children of Israel repented from worshiping the golden calf, God told them to begin building the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place with them. The people willingly brought offerings of all the precious things the workmen needed – gold, silver, jewels, cloth. It took one year to build the tabernacle exactly as God told Moses.
Description of the Tabernacle:
When it was finished, the tabernacle was like a big tent divided by a heavy curtain. In the room in front of the curtain, the Holy Place, there were three things: a gold stand for seven oil lamps, a gold table with twelve loaves of unleavened bread on it--one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and a small gold altar where incense burned before God day and night.
In the room behind the curtain, the Most Holy Place, was the Ark of the Covenant, a wooden chest that Moses made at God's command. Inside it were the two stone copies of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. The top of this chest was pure gold with two gold angels spreading their wings and facing each other. And God showed His presence there in a special way with His people in a bright light that hovered over the chest beneath the angels’ wings.
Out in front of the tent there was a big altar for making sacrifices to God. And there was a basin of water so the priests could wash their hands and feet before they made the sacrifices.
Everything was very beautiful and everything was holy. God said if anyone except the priests touched the holy things, he would die. So around the tent and the altar was a fence of cloth on wooden posts.
Then God told Moses to dedicate his brother Aaron as the High Priest, Aaron's sons as priests under him, and other descendants of Levi to help with some of the work of the tabernacle and to carry it when the people traveled.
Making Sacrifices:
Every morning and evening the priests killed a perfect lamb and burned it on the altar. They also went into the front room of the tent, The Holy Place, to burn incense and light the lamps before God. And when a person sinned and broke one of God’s laws, he brought a lamb or a goat for a sin offering. The priest sacrificed the animal and poured out its blood at the altar. This is why God said, “Don’t eat meat with the blood in it. The life of the animal is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your own lives.”
There were several types of sacrifices, but God would only allow certain animals to be sacrificed: cattle, sheep, goats, or doves. And each had to be perfect, unblemished…no sick, old, or damaged animals…only the very best. Other animal sacrifices were not
acceptable to God and would not remove sin. The only way to remove the people’s sin was the way God made for them.
Day of Atonement:
One time each year, on the Day of Atonement, there was a very special sacrifice.
First, the High Priest chose two goats, one to kill and one to send away. Next, the High Priest sacrificed a bull and went behind the curtain into The Most Holy Place, in the very presence of God. He sprinkled blood on the gold cover of the chest to atone for his own sins first. Then, back outside, he sacrificed one of the two goats. He went behind the curtain again, and sprinkled the goat’s blood on the gold cover of the chest. This was to atone for the sins of all the children of Israel. Finally, he brought out the living goat. He put both hands on its head and confessed the sins of all the people. He was putting their sins on its head. Then a man took the goat away into the desert so far from the camp that it could never come back again. And the goat carried away all their sins on itself.
Disobedience:
In spite of everything, the people still disobeyed God, even two of Aaron’s own sons who were priests. They tried to burn incense in their way, not in God's way. So God sent fire from heaven and struck them dead right there in the tabernacle. Because they dishonored God and his holiness, their father Aaron was not allowed to mourn for them.