The Tabernacle is known in Hebrew as the Mishkan "Residence" or "Dwelling Place." It was a
portable dwelling place for God (Yahweh) from the time of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. The English word "tabernacle" come from the Latin tabernaculum meaning "tent." perimeter fence of fabric, poles, and cords. This rectangle was always erected when they would camp, oriented to the east. In the center of this enclosure was a rectangular sanctuary draped with goats'-hair curtains, with the roof made from rams' skins, Inside, it was divided into two areas, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These two compartments were separated by a curtain or veil. Entering the first space, one would see 3 pieces of sacred furniture: a seven-branched oil lampstand on the left, a table for twelve loaves of show bread on the right (north) and straight ahead before the dividing curtain (west) was an altar for incense-burning. Beyond this curtain was the cube-shaped inner room known as the Holy of Holies. This sacred space contained the Ark of the Covenant. Canaan, they set up the Tabernacle on Mount Shiloh. There it stayed until God requested a permanent place (2 Samuel 7:4-6). Although David himself was not allowed to build this temple, because he was a man of war, God promised that his son would build it. After David died at Jerusalem, his son King Solomon built the first temple known as Solomon's Temple, incorporating all the elements of the Tabernacle into the newly built temple in Jerusalem.
