The Boards and Sockets
Exodus 26:15 And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. 17 Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. 19 And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards: 21 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. 23 And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 24 And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. 25 And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Every part of our being is being pointed through the Cross of Calvary which is the only way to redemption. This shittim wood is now encompassing our life to protect it from almost every angle: there is only one way of entry which is through the east gate of creativity.
The wood stands on refined silver - the works of the cross which are now the works on which God’s people’s lives stand and are not tainted by the world around them, and the tenons are the strong connections that God’s people have with each other in Jesus Christ.
The orientation of the court is always the same. All of the people, including the priest had to enter from the east and travel toward the west. The west is the strength of God while the east is His creativity. When God’s people travel east toward Him they are searching for understanding, when they travel west toward Him they are seeking His grace. There is a balance in the center of God’s children where they understood His grace, and the abundant life can be received.
26 And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 27 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. 28 And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. 29 And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. 30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
There are to be four bars on the outsides and one through the middle of the boards of wood. These bars are what hold the strength of the boards together and in order; therewith, creating a synergy that cannot be broken. It is God’s understanding strength being given to His people that instructs and empowers them who are being told and shown how to live in this way which is received by His gifting the ability to see and hear what He means.
