[193]The tabernacle was constructed of two parts. It was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high, built of boards and then covered over with a tent of three thicknesses of material. The first division of the tabernacle was called the Holy. It was 15 feet wide and 30 feet long. The second or rear apartment was known as the Most Holy, it being 15 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high--an exact cube. The tabernacle was situated inside of a court or yard, which court was 75 feet wide and 150 feet in length. The fence enclosing this court was made of linen curtains, suspended from hooks which were fastened on wooden posts, the posts being set in copper sockets at the base. [194]On the atonement day the high priest took a bullock, which must be without spot or blemish. Inside of the court he killed the bullock, took its blood in a vessel went from the court into the Holy and from there into the Most Holy, and sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat which was in the Most Holy. Then he went back and slew a male goat, which likewise must be without defect, and did the same thing with its blood. This was known as the atonement sacrifice. (See Leviticus 16:1-34) It was an offering for sin, made for the people of Israel, but in fact foreshadowing the great sin-offering that is to take away the sin of the world. [195]St. Paul plainly tells us that the things here done foreshadowed better things to come. (Hebrews 10:1) God required in the law that the Jews should keep this day of atonement and offer these sacrifices through the high priest once each year. We remember that God had promised to Abraham: "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed". So St. Paul says that the law "was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator"; and that the law was a schoolmaster to bring the people unto Christ. (Galatians 3:19,24) In other words, Jehovah was teaching the children of Israel concerning the great sin-offering that must be made on behalf of mankind and he was using them to make living pictures; and the record of the events concerning them has enabled all students of the Bible since to see how Jehovah foreshadowed the redemption and deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin and death. To foreshadow means to foretell something coming; and this shows how important the great ransom is to mankind, that God would take so much time and go into so much detail to teach the people by these pictures. Hence this should encourage us to study the subject earnestly that we might see, understand, and appreciate it. RANSOM PROMISED