"You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. There shall be two tenons in each frame, for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side; and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons; and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames, and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear; they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners. And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame. "You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.
Exodus 26:15-30
The boards, sockets and bars constituting the framework of the Tabernacle are next described. The resting of the boards on sockets of silver is suggestive, especially when it becomes clear from 30:11-16 and 38:25-28 that the sockets were made from the ransom silver. It is thought that Peter makes a reference to this in 1 Peter 1:18, 'not with corruptible things, as silver and gold', and the association of ideas is fruitful for spiritual application. It is difficult also not to see in the framework of the Tabernacle a picture of the Church as well as of Christ, and in this connection one very practical lesson stands out, in the way in which the various component parts are said to fit together. 'Ye are the body of Christ', says Paul, 'and members in particular', and one of the marvels and mysteries of every true fellowship is the way in which the most diverse types of people harmonise in an enriching unity of love and purpose, with each making his distinctive and unique contribution to the whole. It is Denney who says: 'It is worth mentioning that, as a synonym for Christian, the word "saint" is never applied in the New Testament to an individual. The ideal of God's people cannot be adequately realised in, and ought not to be presumptuously claimed by, any single person'. Only together will God's people realise the meaning, and show forth the reality of sainthood (cf Ephesians 2:21, 22; 3:18; 4:16).