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Tabernacle

Hebrew מִשְׁכָּן. Literally "a dwelling". Also called Mishkan, Tent of Meeting.

The portable sanctuary of the wilderness: a tent inside a court of linen hangings a hundred cubits by fifty.

Length (court)
44.5–45.7 m (146–150 ft). Defined as 100 cubits. Inherits the disagreement over the cubit.
Width (court)
22.2–22.9 m (72.9–75 ft). Defined as 50 cubits. Inherits the disagreement over the cubit.
Length (tent)
13.3–13.7 m (43.8–45 ft). Defined as 30 cubits. The text gives the boards, not the tent: twenty boards a cubit and a half wide make thirty cubits along each side (Exodus 26:16–18).
Width (tent)
4.45–4.57 m (14.6–15 ft). Defined as 10 cubits. Reckoned from six boards across the back and two corner boards (Exodus 26:22–23). The corner boards are not described closely enough to be sure, and ten cubits is the usual reading.

The tabernacle is a tent that could be taken down and carried, pitched at the centre of the camp as the place where God would live among the people. A court of linen hangings, a hundred cubits by fifty and five high, surrounds it, with the bronze altar in front of the entrance. The tent is built of gold-covered boards under layers of curtains and skins, and a veil divides it into the holy place and the most holy place, where the ark stands. When David proposes a house for God, the answer is that God has always moved around in a tent. Solomon's temple keeps the same plan at twice the size.

The tabernacle and Solomon’s temple, in plan Floor plans drawn to one scale, east to the right. The tabernacle's court of linen hangings, 100 by 50 cubits, with its gate on the east, the bronze altar, and the tent, 30 by 10 cubits, with the most holy place at its west end and the ark inside. Beside it, Solomon's temple, 60 by 20 cubits with a porch across the front and the inner sanctuary at the west end, with the tabernacle's tent outlined inside it: the temple doubles its plan. A tennis court is drawn to the same scale for size. the tabernacle’s court: 100 × 50 cubits44.5–45.7 m × 22.2–22.9 m146–150 ft × 72.9–75 ftthe tent: 30 × 10 cubits13.3–13.7 m × 4.45–4.57 mreckoned from its boards; the goldsquare is the most holy placethe bronze altargateSolomon’s temple: 60 × 20 cubits, and a porch26.7–27.4 m × 8.89–9.14 m87.5–90 ft × 29.2–30 ftthe tabernacle’s tent, to the same scale:the temple doubles ita tennis court, for size020 meast is to the right; both entrances face it
The court and the tent are given in Exodus 26–27, the temple in 1 Kings 6. The tent’s size is reckoned from its boards, and its place in the court and the altar’s are the usual reconstruction, since the text gives no distances between them. Solomon’s house keeps the tent’s plan at twice the size, with the most holy place still at the west end.

Where it appears

See also

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