“These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses… All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary. The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary. The hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent a base. And of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels; with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar, the bases around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.” (v21a,24-25,27-31)
It’s interesting how detailed the Israelite records are – not only did they perform a census of 603,550 men age 20+ (v26) they also measured and weighed all of the materials used in the tabernacle’s construction. There are enough details recorded in the Bible that we could draw a rendering of the tabernacle (and many artists have) or if we had to, we could attempt to recreate it (which I would not recommend, yet someone did it anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mFGsLEpKKk).
According to the account in this chapter, and my rough math, the materials used in the tabernacle’s construction at today’s prices would roughly cost $64,744,740.00 CAD for the gold, $2,396,093.50 CAD for the silver, and $6,993.54 CAD for the bronze – a total of $67,147,827.04 CAD just for the metals, not counting the wood, fabrics, and precious gems. I don’t know about you, but I could not afford that mortgage (and I hope that tabernacle replica didn’t use those materials, because you could feed a small country for that much money).
The reason I figured all that out is this – our God is a God of abundance and sovereignty, and He deserves the best house available here on earth. That’s why He built the tabernacle through Moses, the temple through Solomon, and we His temple through Jesus. Sorry, what did I just say? Yes, He created the best house here on earth through Jesus – us, the sanctified body of Christ.
Similar to the cost of building the tabernacle, we could not possibly pay the ransom price of our own sin. Thankfully, God took care of the purchase price through Jesus on the cross: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19-20). Upon receiving Jesus’ payment for our sin and God’s forgiveness, we became righteous vessels in which God’s Spirit can dwell.
The best part? I don’t need $67 million dollars – just a repentant heart before a generous and loving God.
Father God, thank you so much for who You are. Thank you for the outpouring of Jesus’ blood, which enabled the outpouring of Your mercy, grace and forgiveness. Thank you for ransoming and cleansing our sinful hearts and restoring them to a holy and righteous dwelling place for Your Spirit. May we be Your body the church, and proclaim Your name among the nations. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training