According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
According to all that I show thee, after the pattern х tabªniyt (H8403)] - model, fashion (cf. 2 Kings 16:10). A question naturally arises, whether the pattern exhibited to the eyes of Moses in the mount was a heavenly original, or merely an external, perhaps miniature, form or likeness (Acts 7:44) - or whither, from the use of the present participle here, "I show thee," it is not to be considered strong mental perception or vision of the structure to be reared, as the representation of the temple was made to Ezekiel. Both are probably included; and while, in reverting to the time when his divine instructor was speaking to him, the present tense might be used, yet in rehearsing the directions given him, it was past time, and therefore he commonly employs the preterite (Exodus 26:30; Exodus 27:8) in his record of what he saw on the mount.
It is commonly regarded as a fact that Moses was favoured with the sight of a real model-an etherial tabernacle, in the opinion of Jewish writers, and even of some Christian commentators, who found on the apostle's phraseology (Hebrews 8:5) "the example and shadow of heavenly things." But God does not dwell in such a tabernacle that the earthly structure reared by Moses could be said to be a facsimile of the heavenly one; and allowing that it was, then the material tabernacle must have been the shadow, while the heavenly one was the substance-a plain contradiction to the doctrine of Paul, that "the body," or substance Christ (Colossians 2:17) - i:e. typical of the actual substantial inhabitation of the Deity in the body or humanity of Christ.
That which was shown to Moses in the mount was х tabªniyt (H8403), tupos (G5179)] a faint adumbration or similitude of the tabernacle; and as this could not be Christ Himself, who is the substance of heavenly things, not a mere resemblance of them, it follows that "the example and shadow of heavenly things," spoken of by the apostle, means nothing else than "the pattern" shown to Moses on the mount.
Of the tabernacle, х hamishkaan (H4908). This word and 'ohel (H168) are used to describe the sacred tabernacle; but the difference between them is this, that while the latter denoted the exterior and framework, mishkaan (H4908) referred to the interior-the proper dwelling]. The proposed erection could be, in the circumstances of the Israelites, not of a fixed and stable, but of a temporary and moveable description, capable of being carried about with them in their various sojournings. It was made after "the pattern" shown to Moses-by which is now generally understood, not that it was an unheard of novelty, or an entirely original structure-for it is ascertained to have borne resemblance in form and arrangements to the style of an Egyptian or Assyrian temple-but that it was so altered, modified, and purified from all idolatrous associations as to be appropriated to right objects, and suggestive of ideas connected with the true God and His worship.