Exodus 40:17

17 So the Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month during the second year after they left Egypt.

Exodus 40:17 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 40:17

And it came to pass in the first month, in the second
year
Of the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt;

on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up;
so that this was in the spring of the year, about the vernal equinox, on a new year's day, that this was done, which was beginning the year well: it was within a fortnight of a year after their coming out of Egypt, and when they had been about five months and a half in building the tabernacle; for such a time it seems they were in doing that, and which, considering the many things to be done, and in the winter season, it shows great dispatch. Where was the place, in which the tabernacle was reared up, is not said: it is F4 observed, that near the southwest corner of that part of Mount Sinai, which is called Mount Episteme, there is a little hill called Araone by the Arabs, and by the Greeks the tabernacle of the testimony, where they say Aaron was consecrated, and first performed the offices of the priesthood: probably, says a learned man F5, on this hill was placed the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses was ordered to place without the camp afar off; but he seems to mistake the tent of Moses, or however the little tabernacle erected before the grand one was made, for this tabernacle in ( Exodus 33:7 ) which he seems to refer to; it is more probable that it was now reared up in the midst of the camp of Israel, see ( Numbers 2:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Pocock's Travels, p. 147.
F5 Clayton's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 350.

Exodus 40:17 In-Context

15 Pour the special oil on them in the same way that you appointed their father as priest so that they may also serve me as priests. Pouring oil on them will make them a family of priests, they and their descendants from now on."
16 Moses did everything that the Lord commanded him.
17 So the Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month during the second year after they left Egypt.
18 When Moses set up the Holy Tent, he put the bases in place, and he put the frames on the bases. Next he put the crossbars through the rings of the frames and set up the posts.
19 After that, Moses spread the cloth over the Holy Tent and put the covering over it, just as the Lord commanded.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.