Before we answer that question, we wanted to introduce ourselves. Our names are Gus & Jose. We live in South Florida and have been friends for as long as we can remember, so long that we are more than friends - we are family. Even though we are "adults", we still consider ourselves VERY "young at heart." We love almost any activity you can do outdoors (running, biking, golf, football, volleyball, surfing, skateboarding, motorcycling, jet-skiing, snow skiing (not in Florida), etc...) - but you get the idea. We also love indoor activities - (building scale models - of course, LEGO, puzzles, reading, playing guitar, drums , movies, music, working on our houses - sometimes and spending time with our friends).
At the center of our lives is our loving God Jehovah. We take time and make it a priority to read and study the #bible, as well as, help others learn and understand the lessons found in this sacred book. We fully understand that it's the best life one can have. Since we were young we have always been fascinated by the amazing accounts found in the bible. Now that we are older, we comprehend at a deeper level the lessons #Jehovah God has written in there for our benefit.
One day at a family bible study, we were reading Noah's account in the book of Genesis. We researched different books and references, we looked at illustrations and we thought wouldn't it be nice if we had a true scaled model of the ark. Not only could we touch and feel it, but we could get a sense of scale - how big it was compared to Noah and the animals, the amount of work it would have taken to build, the work of taking care of the animals during the flood and the great faith Noah had in Jehovah to embark in this project. Out of that, our dear friends, is how Ancient Bible Models started.
As we started designing the ark, so many questions filled our minds. How did they start building the ark? How thick was the wood? Was the door at the bottom, the middle or the top? Were the animals full grown or babies? What floor were the animals on? Did they have stairs or ramps? Did they bring water with them? Some questions we could find answers to and some we couldn't. It became evident from the start that Jehovah must have given Noah A LOT more detailed instructions than the ones written in the Bible. But we recognized that Jehovah put the perfect amount of information for us to benefit and extract lessons that would build our faith and help us serve him wholeheartedly. We also started thinking what other structures that were designed by Jehovah God himself we could scale down and build models of. The Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple quickly came to mind and... that was as far as we got. So we decided to start with those. Either way, we knew that if these models helped us, they would also benefit others. We thought of how amazing it would have been if our parents would have had one of these when we were younger. We hope that young ones and young at heart adults get to experience that feeling.
We Wondered.....
As far as observations and interesting facts, here are a few that we found as we were researching and designing the ark and the tabernacle.
The Ark
1. Bible scholars believe the wood that Jehovah specified the ark be built from is known today as cypress or a similar tree - a wood that is resistant to water and decay. A wood that shipbuilders would later use because of these qualities. Not only that but he asked him to cover the ark inside and outside with tar, making it waterproof. We are all here today thanks to Jehovah instructing Noah and Noah doing what he was instructed. He did just so.
2. Noah's father, Lamech died 5 years before the flood. His grandfather, Methuselah died the same year the flood began. That means that they were alive during the construction of the ark. Had they lived a little longer most likely they would have also survived the flood. His mother and his siblings most likely died during the flood. That also means that Noah had to endure the death of family members while constructing the ark and the death of family members during the flood.
The Tabernacle
1. Not only was it physically in the center of the Israelite camp, it was also the center of true worship for the Israelites. Their whole lives revolved and depended on Jehovah. We feel the same way today.
2. The copper basin and the copper altar. Why was everything made out of gold (the columns, the tabernacle frames, the lamp stand, the ark and other items) , but the basin and the altar made of copper? There is not an answer in the bible for this, but we found some interesting facts. Copper is approximately 1/2 the weight of gold, so it could have been that these large items needed to be lighter so they could be carried. But a bible scholar once pointed out that most likely Jehovah's holy spirit helped the priests carry the ark due to its weight. Another interesting fact we found is that copper is a natural antimicrobial material. Recent studies have shown that copper alloy surfaces kill E. coli. Over 99.9% of E. coli microbes are killed after just 1–2 hours on copper. So these (2) items, one used for cleaning (the basin) and one for sacrifices (the altar) which was full of bacteria due to the blood of the animals, were made out of copper- an antibacterial material. We can see Jehovah's wisdom in keeping his people safe.
3. Exodus 38:8 says that the copper basin was made from mirrors. How can that be? Aren't mirrors made out of glass? Well, not these mirrors. Ancient hand mirrors were sometimes made of polished stone, though they were generally made of metal, such as bronze or copper, and later of tin, silver, and even gold. It was probably not until the first century C.E. that mirrors of glass were introduced. Since the ancient mirrors were generally made of molten metal, they had to be highly polished in order to have good reflecting surfaces.
4. In Exodus 36:20-30 Moses describes Jehovah's design of the tabernacle's panel frames. He mentions they were 10 cubits high x 1.5 cubits wide. He then mentions that each frame would be inserted into the (2) silver pedestals. The bible doesn't mention how high each silver pedestal was. Some bible scholars draw them about 1 cubit high, others draw them about 1/4 of cubit high. So which height was most likely used? The answer is found in the width of the tent cloths embroidered with cherubs. The complete tent cloth once assembled (it was put together from 10 separate pieces) would have measured 40 cubits long by 28 cubits wide. The tabernacle was 10 cubits high x 10 cubits wide. If you laid the tent cloth on the tabernacle it would be short 1 cubit on each side. By the pedestals being 1 cubit high there would be no gap between the tent cloth and the silver pedestals.
These are a few of the many interesting facts we have found, we hope you enjoyed them. We will keep sharing more in future postings. We want to thank you for subscribing and also for purchasing some of our models. We hope you enjoy building them and learning from them as much as we do.
We are currently working on Solomon's Temple and hope to have it ready soon. We will post progress pictures as to how it's coming along. In the meantime stay safe and keep sharing the good news of God's Kingdom.
Your Friends,
G&J
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