Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

In the last chapter, we saw that ---

So... does this limited access reflect the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel?
Remember now... in Genesis 17:8, God promised that Israel would inherit the 'promised land' as an "everlasting possession".
Does Israel's limited access to the tabernacle somehow reflect the fulfillment of that promise?

No.
Everything in the tabernacle's symbolism suggests quite the opposite...

As the tabernacle's symbolism clearly shows, currently, the common people have no direct access to its 'promised land' at all, let alone "everlasting" possession of it.

But what about the priests?
As we've seen, they do have access to the area within the tabernacle...
So... have they been granted "everlasting possession" of the tabernacle's 'promised land'?

No... I'm afraid not.

Although the priests were allowed a certain level of access to the tabernacle
in order to fulfill their responsibilities on behalf of the people, guess what?

They were also required to periodically leave it.

This applied to the entire priesthood, including even the High Priest himself... All of them were required to periodically leave the tabernacle entirely and return to the "outer court" for 'cleansing'... This was required on an ongoing basis, over and over again, year after year after year. 44

This being the case, it would seem the priests
have not gained "everlasting possession" of the tabernacle's two rooms either.

Overall then...
Given the common people's lack of direct access to the tabernacle,
and the entire priesthood's need to leave the tabernacle for repeated, ongoing 'cleansing',
it should be obvious that ---

the Law and its sacrifices are not enough to establish
"everlasting possession" of the promised land.

And as you may have realized,
this does not bode well for Israel's upcoming entry into the 'promised land'...
Remember ---

Point being that as our story continues,
Israel is eventually going to leave the 'wilderness' and will try to take possession of this 'room'.

Unfortunately, as our 'roadmap' suggests, Israel's upcoming attempt is doomed to failure.
As we have just seen, the tabernacle shows that Israel is not yet equipped to take "everlasting possession" of it.

Now... look at the following passage ---

Deuteronomy 4:26-27 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. (v.27) And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you".

Here, God underscores the tabernacle's symbolism by telling Israel outright that they are not going to attain "everlasting possession" of the promised land (or the 'everlasting relationship with God' that the land represents) using the Law and animal sacrifices alone.

This will become considerably more obvious as our story progresses...

NEXT CHAPTER

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