What does all this architectural and interior design detail of the Tabernacle and its furniture mean? What is God showing us? How does this involve us personally? There is a physical building and objects, but every detail is a picture of spiritual reality and the transformation God wants to do in each of us. and it holds lots of meaning. Each item had a function, as does each person in God’s dwelling place — His people.
Exodus 35-36 is a repetition of the previous chapter about the design of the Tabernacle. It doesn’t emphasize the size or measurements of the Tabernacle, but the finer details. These chapters are all about the work or nonwork in the context of building God’s Tabernacle.
When the people of Israel passed the second test, by being patient while Moses was on the mountain for the second 40 day period, they were ready to start building the Tabernacle. Do we wait for God to work on our hearts before the rest of God’s work for us to be “built” as God’s temples?
In Exodus 31, we meet the two men (beside Moses) whose work and talent were used to make the Tabernacle which began as the “pattern shown on the Mountain” a living, functional reality. However, he gives them a reminder that they are still supposed to keep the Sabbath, no exceptions. They can’t break the sabbath, even for the sake of building the Tabernacle or they will be “cut off from their people.”