Exodus 40:2

On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
first	הָרִאשׁ֖וֹן ha.ri.Shon	H7223	first · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
day	בְּיוֹם be.yom-	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
first	בְּאֶחָ֣ד be.'e.Chad	H259	properly · preposition + cardinal number, feminine singular absolute
month	הַחֹ֥דֶשׁ ha.Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
up	תָּקִ֕ים ta.Kim	H6965	to rise (in various applications · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
tabernacle	מִשְׁכַּ֖ן mish.Kan	H4908	a residence (including a shepherd's hut · noun, common masculine singular construct
tent	אֹ֥הֶל 'O.hel	H168	a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) · noun, common masculine singular construct
congregation	מוֹעֵֽד mo.'Ed	H4150	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 26:30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exodus 13:4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.
Exodus 12:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exodus 40:17-19 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.
Numbers 1:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in th…
Numbers 7:1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments t…
Exodus 26:1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning…
Exodus 26:7 And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 40:1-15

The materials and furniture of the tabernacle had been viewed severally and approved, and now they must be put together. 1. God here directs Moses to set up the tabernacle and the utensils of it in their places. Though the work of the tabernacle was finished, and every thing ready for rearing, and the people, no doubt, were very desirous to see it up, yet Moses will not erect it till he has express orders for doing so. It is good to see God going before us in every step, Psa 37:23. The time for doing this is fixed to the first day of the first month (Exo 40:2), which wanted but fourteen days of a year since they came out of Egypt; and a good year's work there was done in it. Probably the wor…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 40:2

The first day of the first month - It Is generally supposed that the Israelites began the work of the tabernacle about the sixth month after they had left Egypt; and as the work was finished about the end of the first year of their exodus, (for it was set up the first day of the second year), that therefore they had spent about six months in making it: so that the tabernacle was erected one year all but fifteen days after they had left Egypt. Such a building, with such a profusion of curious and costly workmanship, was never got up in so short a time. But it was the work of the Lord, and the people did service as unto the Lord; for the people had a mind to work.

John Gill on Exodus 40:2

On the first day of the first month,.... Which was the month Nisan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; which was the month the children of Israel came out of Egypt, out of which they had now been a whole year, excepting fourteen days: shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation; the tabernacle, which had a tent or covering over it, to which the people were gathered at times for religious service.

John Calvin on Exodus 40:2-35

Exodus 40:2. On the first day of the first month I cannot at all approve of the opinion of those commentators who think that the tabernacle was only now set up. That it was already complete in all its parts before Moses went the second time into the Mount, we infer from the fact that the ark was then prepared in which the tables were deposited, as we shall see from the context. Besides, it has elsewhere [394] been shewn by sound arguments, as I think, that it was pitched without the camp in token of divorce, from the time that the people had made the calf. What, then, is the meaning of the setting-up which is now spoken of? I reply, that it is said to have been set up, when [395] it was bro…

The Church Fathers

Why did God command Moses to erect the tabernacle on the first day of the first month? Because at that time he created the world. The sprouting of the trees attests to this fact. For Scripture says, "Let the earth sprout forth grass for fodder, and sow seed according to its kind and its likeness, and fruit-bearing trees that produce fruit, with its seed within it in its likeness, according to its kind upon the earth." When spring begins, the meadows bloom, the fields grow like waves, and the trees germinate their fruit. So too in this very season God set Israel free from slavery under the Egyptians and the archangel Gabriel brought the holy virgin the good news of her mysterious childbearing. In this same season the Lord Christ underwent his saving passion. Most fittingly, the Lord God of all ordered the tabernacle to be erected on the first day of the first month because it was the image of the entire world, and also so that the people would prepare for the feast of Passover, which the law commanded the Jews to celebrate as the first feast. At that time, they were going to celebrate this feast for the first time in the desert, for this was the second year after their deliverance from slavery.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS 72

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Abib · Tabernacle set up in — Tabernacle set up in
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Tabernacle first set up — Tabernacle first set up
Month · .Tabernacle set up in — .Tabernacle set up in
Tabernacle · First reared, on the first day of the second year after the exodus — First reared, on the first day of the second year after the exodus
Types · .The sanctuary a type of the heavenly sanctuary — .The sanctuary a type of the heavenly sanctuary
Types Of Christ · Tabernacle — Tabernacle

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Exodus 40:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary