And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Let them make me a sanctuary, х miqdaash (H4720)] - anything consecrated (Numbers 18:29); but here a hallowed place, a sanctuary. The command to erect such a sanctuary affords a clear proof, if any were needed, that the primitive place of worship, called "the presence of the Lord," had been completely obliterated; and although in the patriarchal history many spots are mentioned which, by the experience God's servants had there of His presence and blessings, were Bethels to them, there was no fixed or permanent place in which He manifested Himself by the visible symbols of His presence. In the contemplated sanctuary He was to do so (Exodus 29:45); and however marvelous or apparently incredible that might seem (1 Kings 8:27), this typical inhabitation of the tabernacle, and subsequently of the temple, was but a prelude to His tabernacling with men in the person of His incarnate Son (John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 21:3).
In one sense the tabernacle was to be a palace-the royal residence of the King of Israel, in which He was to dwell among His people, receive their petitions, and issue His responses. But it was also to be a place of worship, in which God was to record His name and to enshrine the mystic symbols of His presence.