Hebrew Word Study – Inside – tavek – תָּוֶךְ Taw Beth Kap 

Exodus 25:8: “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

Tomorrow, in our Torah study online class on Zoom, we will address an interesting question. This is a question asked by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the UK. He explained that there were only 31 verses to describe the entirety of the act of creation by God. Yet, when it comes to describing the building of the Tabernacle, it goes on and on for hundreds of verses. 

I personally extend this question as a Gentile to ask why the tabernacle is mentioned at all. It doesn’t even exist today, and what value is there to know and understand the intricate details of every object, its size, shape, and material it is made out of? Let’s just get on with some information on the miracles of God and how he protected and blessed his people. After all, isn’t that why we read the Bible in the first place, to learn all the goodies that God wishes to bless us with? 

I believe Exodus 25:8 is our key to understanding why the tabernacle is important to us as 21st-century Gentile Christians. God is saying that he was a sanctuary that he may dwell among THEM. The word among them is b’tocham, which is a third-person masculine plural and appears to be grammatically incorrect. Sanctuary, the subject of the sentence, is singular. The pronoun “them” is the predicate and is plural. In Hebrew, the number of the subject must match the predicate. 

This grammatical anomaly is to tell us that God did not just dwell in the tabernacle but also among His people as well. In fact, the word b’tocham comes from the root word tavek, which means not only among, but in the midst of, and is used 9 times in the Old Testament for inside. God wanted this tabernacle as a platform to enter into the very lives and physical bodies of His people. God may be everywhere, but He is omnipresent and will live inside each one of us, provided we invite Him into our lives. He won’t if we do not invite Him, it has to be our choice, and that is why hundreds of verses are devoted to the platform for God to enter our bodies and just 31 verses for the creation. Living inside us is far more important to God than the world and universe He created. 

How is all this possible? Why a platform? What is the platform today, and how does it relate to the tabernacle? That we will discuss tomorrow morning in our Torah study. I would really hope that you consider joining us. All live meetings are also recorded to view at any time. You can sign up at www.hebrewwordstudy.com

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