God's desert dwelling

Kibbutznik Michael Lavie never expected that his life would be connected to the Tabernacle in which the Divine Presence dwelt.

Lavie is director of Timna National Park in Israel's southern Negev, and was instrumental in bringing a replica of the original Tabernacle to the park - unusual for a secular Israeli and kibbutz pioneer.

He admits that the Tabernacle is very inspirational to him. ’Although I am not religious, I am Israeli. I like to read in my own way and like to travel with the Bible open. This [Tabernacle] is meaningful on a spiritual level.’

His grandfather, a rabbi in Rehovot in central Israel, built a replica of the Tabernacle in his yard when Lavie was a child. For his bar mitzva, Lavie had to read the portion of Exodus that included the technical instructions for building the Tabernacle.

’I was very depressed because while my friends were reading more interesting verses, mine was very technical. But after so many years, when I found myself bringing the Tabernacle to Timna park, I was thinking: ’Why in Timna park?’ I started reading Exodus and Leviticus. Only then did I realize how fascinating the story of the Tabernacle is.’

Teaming with Herbby Geer, a Baptist in nearby Eilat involved in tourism, Lavie contacted the German owners of the replica, which had already been touring in several European cities. The two arranged transportation of the 75’ x 150’ structure, including altar, priests and Ark of the Covenant, to the environment of the original Tabernacle — the Negev wilderness.

Reinforcing the Tabernacle’s link to that area, Lavie stresses that much of the copper used in the Tabernacle’s construction, as well as its vessels, was likely from Timna. At the time of the Exodus, the Egyptians mined copper there.

Also, the acacia trees mandated for much of the Tabernacle work are also native to the region.

Timna Park, five kilometers from Yotvata (where the Israelites camped), is a natural place for the Tabernacle, according to archeologist Assaf Holtzer, director of the Desert Studies Center.

Holtzer, who worked as an archeologist at the Timna mines, lives in Kibbutz Samar, next to Timna. He insists that the biblical description of Yotvata as ’a land of many rivers’ where the Israelites camped with the Ark accurately fits just one place in the southern Negev. Nearby Ein Radiyan is the only water source that justifies the description.

According to Holtzer, the Timna Tabernacle is a faithful replica of the original as described in Exodus and Leviticus. The European designers didn’t try to incorporate rabbinical interpretations.

’As a basic method to such questions, the right idea is to stay strict to the facts. Stick to what you know. All the other ideas and interpretations are fine, but it should be clear that they are not based on the original data.’

Great pains were taken to ensure the replica reflects the biblical instructions. For example, the altar in the forecourt contains a ramp leading up to it, consistent with the Exodus 20:26 exhortation that the priests must not go up stairs ’so that your nakedness not be exposed.’

Tabernacle instructions were based on the cubit, which was the length from the elbow to the longest finger — 40 to 50 centimeters (15 to 25 inches). The builders of this Tabernacle compromised, using a 45-cm. cubit.

Since the Israelites broke camp 42 times in their 40 years of wandering, the Tabernacle’s long wall panels are equipped with bars and rings to make for efficient disassembly, movement and reassembly.

Interestingly, the laver or basin located next to the tent had no scriptural instructions as to construction. Cami Byerly, who leads tours in English, French, Spanish and Hebrew, suggests that measurements are lacking because the laver represents God’s love for His people. ’Jeremiah 2 says God is the source of living water. That’s why it has no measurements; it’s immeasurable!’ she declares.

The showbread is found inside the priestly tent, also called the ’Holy’ or Sanctuary. This bread was for the priests alone, who ate the former week’s loaves when they brought fresh ones each Sabbath. But I Samuel 21 records that David and his men ate the fresh bread when they were starving and suffered no ill consequences.

Twelve pieces of the flatbread, each about 10 inches in diameter, sit on a golden table about 36 by 18 inches. Among Byerly’s responsibilities has been telling an Eilat baker how to prepare the showbread.

’It took some explaining, but now he just loves doing it,’ she says.

Across from the showbread is the menora, which was to be fashioned from a single piece of gold. It features three candlesticks on each side of a central shaft. The priests ’tended the lampstand continually’ according to Leviticus 24.

The incense altar, on which the High Priest sprinkled blood on the Day of Atonement, stands before the Holy of Holies as directed by Exodus 40.

Near the menora and incense altar are priest manikins — one of them depicting the High Priest. He wears shoulder boards and a breastplate, both containing replicas of gems listing the names of the tribes of Israel so the nation would be ’on his heart and on his shoulder’ in accordance with Exodus 28. The High Priest also wears a gold plate on his forehead inscribed with ’Holiness to the Lord’ in Hebrew.

Eventually one arrives at the Holy of Holies, which was entered only on the Day of Atonement and solely by the High Priest. It holds the Ark of the Covenant.

This reproduction of the Ark, like the original, is topped by two cherubim whose wings touch. The gold-covered wooden box contains replicas of the Ten Commandments, a plate of manna and Aaron’s blossomed staff.

Since scholars don’t know exactly what manna is, Byerly put coriander seeds in a container, as Exodus 16:31 describes the miraculous food as ’white, like coriander seeds.’

Byerly laughs when people note that original materials weren’t used. She explains that thousands of pounds of gold would have been required, and she would need an army to protect it.

The tour concludes in the Holy of Holies. ’Most people, when they pass the veil and go into the Holy of Holies, hold their breath. They stop for a minute, go in and inhale deeply and sigh. Most people just love it.’

Byerly herself is visibly moved when she mentions that people often become teary at that part of the presentation.

I ask if she or the tourists cry.

’We’re all crying.’