Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 25:8

"And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." — Exodus 25:8 (ASV)

THE SANCTUARY AND ITS CONTENTS.

Let them make me a sanctuary. —The enumeration of the gifts (Exodus 25:3–7) has been subordinate to this. Until now, Israel had had no place of worship, no structure dedicated to God. God now brings this state of things to an end by requiring them to “make Him a sanctuary.”

In Egypt, they had seen structures of vast size and extraordinary magnificence erected in every city for the worship of the Egyptian gods. They were now to have their own structure, their “holy place,” their “house of God.” However, as they were still in a nomadic condition, without a fixed abode and continually shifting their quarters, a building, in the ordinary sense of the word, would have been unsuitable.

They would soon have had to leave it or forgo their hopes of Palestine. God therefore devised for them a structure in harmony with their condition—a “tent-temple”—modelled on the ordinary form of the better Oriental tents, but of the best materials and of an unusual size, yet still portable. It is this structure, with its contents and its adjuncts, which forms the main subject of the rest of the book of Exodus and which is now minutely and elaborately described in six consecutive chapters (Exodus 25-30).

That I may dwell among them. —(Exodus 40:34–38). Though God dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48), is not confined to them, cannot be comprehended within them, yet since it pleases Him to manifest Himself especially in such abodes, He may be well said to “dwell there” in a peculiar manner. His dwelling with Israel was not purely spiritual. From time to time, He manifested Himself perceptibly in the Holy of Holies, where He dwelt continually and could be consulted by the temporal ruler of the nation.