Exodus 26:17
“There shall be two tenons in each board, joined to one another: thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle.”
What does Exodus 26:17 mean?
The tabernacle's wooden framework needed to hold together securely as God's people moved through the wilderness, so each board was crafted with two carefully designed joints (tenons) that locked into matching slots in the support structure. This verse is Moses recording God's specific instruction for construction, emphasizing that strength and stability came from proper fitting together, not from random assembly. The repetition of "thus you shall make for all the boards" shows that this same careful method applied throughout, making the whole sanctuary equally sturdy and reliable. For readers today, there's something reassuring about how God cares about the details of what holds us together, whether that's the physical framework of a holy space or the foundations of our own lives.