Tent worship center
Tent worship center
aka The Tabernacle
The Casual English Bible says the Tent Worship Center, also known as the Tabernacle, was a portable temple that the Israelites carried with them during their wanderings in the wilderness.
The Tabernacle was the center focus of their worship, and it played a crucial role in their religious and cultural identity. This is where they went to pray and to offer sacrifices to God.
Temple in a tent
The Bible describes the Tabernacle as a large tent, set up with its entrance facing the east.
Israelites divided the tent into sections. There was the Holy Place, where only the priests could go. They performed various rituals there, such as burning incense and lighting candles. There was also the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. This was the most sacred room, reserved for the High Priest.
Parked inside: Ten Commandments
Israelites kept the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments, in the Holy of Holies. The Bible describes the Ark as a symbol of God's covenant with Israel, and it was treated with great reverence and respect.
The Tabernacle was the site of all the main religious ceremonies, including sacrifices, offerings, and festivals. The Bible explains that the rituals were one way of helping maintain a connection with God and honoring His commands.
Temple à la cart
The Casual English Bible explains that Israelites built the Tabernacle to be portable. This allowed the Israelites to carry it with on carts as they journeyed through the deserts and badlands south of what is now Israel.
They made the worship center with of durable materials, including hard acacia wood and animal hides.
Replacing the tent with a temple
As the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, the Tabernacle was eventually replaced by the Temple in Jerusalem. However, the Tabernacle remains an important symbol of God's presence and the Israelites' journey through the wilderness.
Map Egyptians catching quail
Road to the Promised Land
Desert road to Promised Land
Map Exodus – Grumbling at “Pushy Complainers” Spring
Map Exodus - Grumbling at "Pushy Complainers" Spring
Map route of Exodus. Grumbling at "Pushy Complainers" Spring
Grumbling at "Pushy Complainers" Spring
Israelite route to the Promised Land
Map of Exodus: Out of Egypt to the Promised Land
Map of Exodus: Out of Egypt to the Promised Land
Out of Egypt to the Promised Land
Exodus Map
Exodus map of Moses and Hebrews leaving Egypt. The map shows a possible route Moses took when he led the Hebrews to freedom. Many Bibles say Moses and the Hebrews crossed the “Red Sea.” But the Hebrew words are yam suph, “sea reeds.” Later in the story, Moses and the Hebrew refugees will escape through a path God makes in this body of water. Scholars usually track Moses and the Hebrews escaping Egypt by walking southeast, out of the Nile Delta fields. That's toward the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula. They would have passed through lake regions along what is now the Suez Canal. This connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. These lakes and ponds reportedly had reeds growing along the banks, like the ones the Bible says grew along the Nile River and helped anchor Baby Moses in a basket (Exodus 2:3). Compare with other Bible versions at Bible Gateway.Mount Sinai
Horeb is a Hebrew word that can mean “dry,” “desolate,” or “desert.” But here, it reads more like a name. Most Bible scholars say it’s an alternate name for Mount Sinai—much like “Zion” is another name for “Jerusalem.” Some say the mountain is in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Others say it’s in what is now Saudi Arabia, where the people of Midian lived.Sinai, Land of God
Two Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions from about the 1400s BC, around the time some scholars say Moses lived, said the mountainous territory of the Sinai was the “land of the Shasu of Yahweh.” “Shasu” was what Egyptians called the nomads and herders from what is now the areas of Israel, Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Jordan. Yahweh, translated “LORD” in all capital letters, was God’s name (3:14). The inscription might mean the Sinai was the land of nomads who worshipped God or who were known by the name of God—perhaps as “the people of God.” These inscriptions are the two oldest references outside the Bible to anyone worshiping Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, who were ancestors of today’s Jewish people.Out of Egypt to the Promised Land