From temple to tabernacle

I think about the children of Abraham and Sarah, wandering around the desert for forty years, eating manna while they longed for milk and honey, stumbling over shifting sands while they yearned for the promised land. They had a tabernacle, a dwelling place for God that they set up and took apart.

Then, when they settled into their destination, they began to build more solid structures—political, judicial, and religious structures. They went from a system of judges to the reign of kings. Their second King, David, made plans for the tent to be taken down and the Temple to be erected. Since David’s hands were too bloody from war, he didn’t build it. But his son, Solomon, did. He replaced the canvas with blocks and the tent pegs with columns.

Of course, Solomon’s Temple didn’t stand forever. When the Babylonians conquered Israel, they destroyed the temple. Even that magnificent structure did not stand eternally. Which is a good thing for us to remember.