the dwelling of God is with people

Exodus 29 and 30

There is much scholarly discussion that such elaborate ceremonies as are described in this section, and through this part of Exodus, must come from a later time and have found their way into the text here. That would explain how such highly developed ritual would be described in a time when Israel was basically in formation in the desert. It is not necessary to engage in such speculation, however, to get the essential point made at the end of chapter 29: Whatever is done is intended to point to the presence of the Lord with the people:

"So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.
– Exodus 29:44-46

The furnishings, the vestments, the rituals – they are all part of the language and culture of the time that the Lord used to point to his presence. He uses what the people can relate to in order to remind them of a purpose and destiny beyond those things. Those things become idols when they are allowed to have value in and of themselves.

The actions of the Lord with Moses (e.g. the burning bush) and Pharaoh (plagues; the deliverance of Israel at the sea parting) were to point to the author of the actions, that both would know the “I Am” (3:14). The law was then given to the Israel as a written expression of life as the people of the “I Am.” Now we must see all the detail of the religious life of Israel as part of that movement, however obscure and confusing those details may be to us.

With the next chapters, the story line resumes.

Prayer:
Lord, in a time when we have witnessed a mosque stockpiled with weapons becoming a battleground, keep our place of gathering and everything associated with it focused on you, and pointing to you in every way. Through Christ. Amen