See also Ark of the Covenant; Holy of Holies; Temple, House of the Lord

A house of the Lord, the center of Israel’s worship during the exodus from Egypt. The tabernacle was actually a portable temple and could be taken apart and reassembled. The children of Israel used a tabernacle until they built the temple of Solomon (D&C 124: 38).

God revealed the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses (Ex. 26-27), and the children of Israel built it according to that pattern (Ex. 35-40). When the tabernacle was complete, a cloud covered the tent, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Ex. 40: 33-34). The cloud was a sign of God’s presence. At night, it had the appearance of a fire. When the cloud stayed over the tent, the children of Israel camped. When it moved, they moved with it (Ex. 40: 36-38; Num. 9: 17-18). The children of Israel carried the tabernacle with them during their wanderings in the desert and in their conquest of the land of Canaan. After that conquest, the tabernacle was located in Shiloh, the place that the Lord had chosen (Josh. 18: 1). After the children of Israel built the temple of Solomon, the tabernacle entirely disappeared from history.

The Lord and Isaiah used the tabernacle as a symbol of the cities of Zion and Jerusalem at the time of the Lord’s second coming (Isa. 33: 20; Moses 7: 62).