OF TENTS AND STARS
A Sarah and Danny Adventure
By Heidi Cooper
“Mom, why does the Bible talk so much about the tabernacle? It goes on and on about hooks and pillars and tells the same story at least three times!” Sarah worked impatiently at the sewing project her mother was determined for her to finish.
“That’s a good question. About half the book of Exodus is about the tabernacle.” Mom carefully placed a few more stitches in her own sewing project.
“I know they built it and worshipped there, but why is it so important?”
“Well, YHVH dwells in the heavens. The Bible tells us that His home is in the heaven of heavens. But when He freed His people from slavery in Egypt, He wanted to be with them. He wanted them to really feel a part of His family. So He asked them to build Him a home on earth.”
“Wow, so He told them what kind of house He wanted! Oww! This needle is too sharp! I just poked my finger again!” Sarah did not like this sewing business, and couldn’t wait to be rid of it.
“Let me see. Oh it’s just a little poke. You’ll be fine. Yes, He picked the kind of house He wanted. But actually He picked a tent.”
“Why would He pick a tent, when He could have had a big wonderful house?”
“Really, Sarah! It took over 2000 lbs. of gold to make it! Isn’t that a pretty nice tent?”
“Well, yeah. Our tent isn’t made of gold. It’s made of green canvas. But I would still want a big house.”
“But there’s something special about a tent. When we look outside at the stars, we see a picture of a tent.”
“No, we don’t! We see a big empty sky with shiny lights.” Sarah was frustrated with her sewing and with her mother.
“Sarah, do try to put your stitches in a straight line. It’s important to do your best. In Bible times, most everyone lived in a tent at some point in their lives. They put goat hair on the roof. It had little tiny holes in it. During the day, the light would shine in through those little holes and look like stars. When it rained, the goat hair swelled and sealed up the holes. They didn’t even get wet.”
A light suddenly went on in Sarah’s brain, and for just a moment, she forgot how much she hated sewing. “You mean we are living inside YHVH’s tent! Wow! I never thought about it like that.” Sarah threw her sewing on the table and ran to find her brother.
“Danny, guess what! We live inside YHVH’s tent! Let me show you!” And she busied herself building a tent out of a sheet and some chairs. When she was all done, she and Danny crawled inside, and looked at the little lights shining between the threads of the fabric.
“See, Danny! The stars are the holes inside the roof of His tent!”
And so it is that YHVH chose to make His special dwelling inside a tent. Next time you look up at the stars, picture yourself inside His tent and thank Him for sharing His wonderful home with you.
Click here to download the illustrated, printable PDF of this story.
