The Presence of the Lord in the Midst of the Camp: In Exodus 40 (v. 34), “the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” for the first time. As Moses set up the tabernacle, in accordance with the Lord’ instructions, God fulfilled the original intention to deliver and dwell with this chosen people. The outline of the chapter follows a chiastic structure:

A vv. 1–8: the Lord said to set up the tabernacle, in sevenfold detail
B vv. 9–16: the Lord said to anoint; Moses did everything
A′ vv. 17–33: Moses set up the tabernacle, in sevenfold detail
B′ vv. 34–38: the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle

This structure sets a general pattern of the Lord’s instruction (A) and Moses’ response (A′). The order of the verses of (A) and (A′) matches exactly. The Lord specified the placement of an item in the…