Have you ever read the Bible with graph paper and a pencil? Try it!
There are many places in the Old Testament where the Bible provides so much information that with just a little attention to detail, you can produce drawings to scale. For example, call each line segment one cubit. Then count ten lines for this or twenty lines for that, and you can draw Noah’s Ark in dimensions that accurately reflect what God described to Noah. The same is true for the tabernacle, the temple, and everything contained therein[1]. You may have to make a few guesses, or free-hand the curved lines or the more artistic flourishes and sculptures. But you learn about God’s word and God’s creativity even in that.
In chapters 26 – 30 of Exodus, God gave Moses verbal design plans, verbal blueprints if you will, for the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle, the altar, the clothing of the priests, and recipes for various oils and incenses.
As I write this, I am seated next to a steel file that once held hundreds of blueprints. Each massive drawer is designed to store drawings that are four feet wide and three feet deep. Exodus 26 – 30 contains enough information to fill an entire drawer with drawings.
Notice how easy it would be to sketch the bronze altar from chapter 27. For reference, think of the bronze altar as something akin to the modern fire pits people put in the center of an outdoor deck, before circling up around the fire pit to sit in deck chairs. (Though at 7.5 feet square, the altar is about twice the size of most fire pits.)
The bronze altar would hold fire on hot coals in the center, and air would flow up from the bottom through the grating mentioned in verse 4. And because the nation is still traveling in the wilderness, the altar, like everything else in the tabernacle, would be portable:
“And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze … You shall make for it a grating network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it” Exodus 27:1-8.
The bronze altar “was the first thing the Israelites saw as they entered the tabernacle courtyard. Here sacrifices were continually made. Its vivid presence constantly reminded the people that they could only come to God by means of the sacrifice.”[2]
There is an interesting difference between the Old Testament and the New. In contrast to the Old Testament, a draftsman sketching Bible drawings on graph paper would find very little to go on in the New Testament. We know Jesus was born in a stable, but the Gospel writers give no indication what the stable looked like. The baby was laid in a manger, but the dimensions are not recorded.
The Last Supper happened in an “upper room,” but in spite of the traditional locations everyone visits in the Holy Land, no one is entirely certain where any of these places are or what the layout of the upper room might have been. Even many of the details of the empty tomb are a matter of speculation. We know Jesus was crucified, but we do not have measurements for the cross. In fact, we know the bronze altar from Exodus 27:1 was made of acacia wood. We know Noah’s ark was made of gopher wood, Genesis 6:14[3]. But what type of wood was the cross made of? No one knows. Why not? Why did God give us blueprint-quality details for so much of the Old Testament, then leave us guessing about the New?
We do not need the dimensions of the stable, the manger, the upper room, the cross, or even the empty tomb. We have Jesus, the Lamb that was slain for our sins. Jesus—who is, in fact, the Temple (John 2:21).
Do you realize that?
What need have we of a temple drawing when Jesus Himself is the temple?
And where those living under the Old Covenant relied on images, such as the constant stream of sacrifices on the bronze altar to remind them that their sin could only be atoned by blood, those of us living under the New Covenant no longer need such visual reminders. We have the Spirit of God rather than pictures. The Spirit bears witness in our hearts: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” Romans 8:16.
The writer of Hebrews says it best:
“The old system of Jewish laws gave only a dim foretaste of the good things Christ would do for us. The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but even so they could never save those who lived under their rules … Those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their disobedience and guilt instead of relieving their minds. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why Christ said as He came into the world, ‘O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so You have made ready this body of mine for Me to lay as a sacrifice upon Your altar. You were not satisfied with the animal sacrifices, slain and burnt before You as offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do Your will, to lay down My life, just as the Scriptures said that I would.’ … He then added, ‘Here I am. I have come to give My life.’ He cancels the first system in favor of a far better one” Hebrews 10:1-9.
Dear God, thank you for the Old Testament. Thank you for the elaborate sacrificial system, with its priests, buildings, furniture, incense, oils, rituals, sacrifices, and the laws governing every aspect of life in ancient Israel. Thank you for choosing the Hebrew people and blessing the world through them. Thank you for the extraordinary Biblical record with details so thorough even a non-artist with graph paper can produce decent drawings of so many aspects of your saving work, from Noah’s ark to the ark of the covenant. And thank you most of all for Jesus who died on the cross, once for all time, one sacrifice to end all sacrifices, one payment to cancel the debt we owed. May we focus on Jesus and His word more earnestly than the artists who built the tabernacle, the temple, and everything inside. We love you.
AΩ.
[1] Could you find such drawings online? Absolutely, and you can even purchase someone else’s scale models. But you will learn a lot more crafting such drawings or models yourself. It is when you deeply engage the scripture that God reveals the greatest insights.
[2] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, KJV, Tyndale House, Carol Stream, 2004, p173, nExod 27:1.
[3] Full disclosure: No one knows what is meant by “gopher wood,” some arguing the tree became extinct following the flood.
Household Words: 