Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 40

Though the work was now complete, and all the parts of the Tabernacle made ready, Moses did not immediately proceed to erect it. As when he first went up into Sinai (Exodus 24:16), so now, he waited for a Divine summons, a distinct command fixing the time for him to do what he knew he had to do. There is an importance and a fitness in times and seasons, which the Great Father often reserves to Himself the right to determine (Acts 1:7).

Moses felt this, and waited, until after a time the summons came. God fixed for the erection the first day of the first month (Exodus 40:2)—that is, the New Year’s Day of the first year of freedom. At the same time He gave directions fixing the order in which all should be done, and determining the position of the various articles of furniture which the Tabernacle and its court were to contain (Exodus 40:4–8).

On the first day of the first month. —The Israelites had left Egypt on the fourteenth day of the first month, Abib (Exodus 12:6). They had reached the wilderness of Sinai in the course of the third month, Sivan, and encamped in front of Sinai shortly after (Exodus 19:1–2). The two long absences of Moses in the Mount had occupied nearly three months and were separated by an interval probably of several days. It must have been the sixth or seventh month before the work was commenced, and very late in the year—the eleventh or twelfth month—before it was accomplished. Hence, the new year was now approaching, and, as it was approaching, its first day was naturally chosen as most fit for the inauguration of the new structure.

The tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. —Rather, the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. The words mishhan and ‘ohel are in apposition, not in regimen. (So also in Exodus 40:6.)

Thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony. — The most precious of the objects which the tabernacle was to contain was to be placed in it first. Then immediately it was to be covered up with the veil.

The table. — The “table of shewbread” is thus commonly designated. (Exodus 37:10; Exodus 39:36; Exodus 40:22).

And set in order the things ... — The twelve loaves are the “things” specially intended . Whether the frankincense is also alluded to (Leviticus 24:7) may be doubted. It was perhaps an addition to the earliest ritual.

The candlestick. — See Exodus 25:31-37.

And light the lamps. — Not necessarily at once, but at the close of the day. .

You shall set the altar of gold ... before the ark. —Not inside the veil, but outside, in the Holy Place; nearer, however, to the veil than either the table or the candlestick. (See Note 1 on Exodus 30:6.)

The hanging of the door —i.e., the curtain at the entrance to the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:36; Exodus 36:37, and other similar verses).