Exodus 25:8 (WEB)
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Exodus 25:8, 11 (KJV)
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
Key words
- מִקְדָּשׁmiqdash · Hebrew
- 'sanctuary,' a holy place set apart.
- שָׁכַןshakan · Hebrew
- 'dwell.' The root of mishkan (tabernacle) and of the later term Shekinah for God's dwelling presence — and the verb used of the cloud that 'abode' on the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35).
- זָהָב טָהוֹרzahav tahor · Hebrew
- 'pure gold' (v. 11), laid over the ark 'within and without' — pure on the inside as well as the outside.
Why it matters
God commands a sanctuary so that he may dwell among his people, and at its heart is the ark, overlaid with pure gold inside and out. Pitre's argument from the lesser to the greater begins here: if the wooden box that held the tablets had to be pure through and through because God's presence rested on it, how much more the woman in whom God himself would dwell in the flesh. Mary's purity is the fitting holiness of the new dwelling place of God.