The Construction Of The TabernacleSample

THE SILVER THE FOUNDATION OF THE TABERNACLE

The word "tabernacle" simply means "tent" or “dwelling”. It was a rectangular building about 45 feet (13.8 m) long by 15 feet (4.6 m) wide with two rooms: the first Holy Sanctuary and the second Holy Sanctuary, also called the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. 

The foundation consisted of one hundred bases of silver (Exod. 38:27). These bases were arranged as follows: forty to the south (Exod. 26:18, 19); forty on the north side (Exod. 26:20, 21); sixteen to the west (Exod. 26:25), and four on the front (east) of the Holy of Holies - the four pillars on which the veil hung which separated the Holy Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies (Exod. 26:31, 32). 

When the silver bases were placed in rows together, they were probably attached to each other by a method known as a dovetail joint. Each base was connected to the next base and together they formed a foundation that was strong enough to hold the three golden walls of the tent in an upright position. Each silver base weighed a talent (60 kg) (Exod. 38:27) bringing the total weight of the hundred silver bases to 6 tons.

These bases of silver were placed on top of the desert sand. The upright acacia wood boards covered with gold (the walls of the tent), fitted on top of the silver bases in sockets. The whole building - the tabernacle itself - rested on pure silver, a foundation of silver bases.