Paul echoes this situation when he talks of shedding our temporary mortal tabernacle for the permanent mantle of immortality (2Cor 5:2-4).

26        All the details given show that the tabernacle was to be a moveable structure that could be dismantled and moved easily thus showing that Israel were not to view the wilderness as a permanent resting place. This would have to wait for the tie when the temple was built and the staves were taken out of the ark.

26:6     Notice it is ‘one tabernacle’ – clearly they were making one tabernacle so why emphasise that it is one? Clearly because we see in the one tabernacle the perfect fitting together of many elements – a foretaste of how we, the ecclesia, should be.

26:12 Pure gold is a very soft metal. The construction of the tabernacle was designed to enable it to be erected and dismantled and moved around at God’s will. If we were making a tabernacle for durability we would probably have used a harder metal to overlay the boards However the tabernacle was designed to reflect God’s glory. God is an ideal material for this, despite it being soft and easily damaged. So are we. We likewise are designed to reflect God’s glory but our ‘appearance’ is easily marred by the knocks of life but we are the material of God’s choosing to reflect His glory. Clearly the lesson is that we should realise the fragile nature we bear – that it is all too easy to damage that reflection of God’s gory in the knocks of life and so try to avoid contact with those elements which will do so.

Exo 26:5-6 - there are numerous mentions of 5 and 50 in this chapter. 5 is thought by many to be a number representing grace or mercy. There were 5 sacrifices (Gen 15:9) of heifer, goat, ram, dove and pigeon; David chose 5 stones, etc. The 50th year is a jubilee of liberty and freedom (Lev 25:8-31,39-41,54) - the number 50 may represent mercy and grace to a multitude and perhaps points to a freedom from sin and death upon Christ's return. 

26:36‘curiously wrought’ is the way in which Jesus in spirit is described – Psa 139:15 - in the Psalm. Here we learn something about messiah in the hangings for the tabernacle.

Psalm 80 - This Psalm speaks of the purchasing of Israel out of Egypt in a similar way to which Isaiah speaks of the vineyard in chapter 5
:8 vine Isaiah 5:2
:12 broken down hedges Isaiah 5:5
:13 waste Isaiah 5:6
:15 vineyard Isaiah 5:1
:16 burned with fire Isaiah 1:7

79:5 Against the background of the destruction the Psalmist cries 'How long …' which is the cry (Revelation 6:10) 'of the souls under the alter' who clearly are the faithful. Do we sigh and cry for the abominations done (Ezekiel 9:4) or are we complacent about the state of God's land - our inheritance?

80:1 We have an interesting contrast with God being presented both at the 'shepherd' and Him that 'dwellest between the cherubim' On the one hand He is the one who takes care of His flock, on the other he is the one clothed in majesty - also see Exodus 25:22

79:8 In saying that they were ‘brought very low’ The Psalmist is seeing the fulfilment of the curses of Deuteronomy 28 in their experiences (See Deut 28:43)

80:2 These three tribes all resided on the West of the tabernacle (Num 2:18,20,22) so this is not an arbitrary grouping of three tribes.

Psalm 79  This Psalm was written at the time of Israel's exile and expresses a deep faith and confidence that God will punish their captors.

Psa 79:5  How long?  David while being pursued by Saul asks the same question four times. Psa 13:1-2

Psalm 80  A prayer for the restoration of Israel's faith, and for the political reunion of the nation.

The reference to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh (80:2) is positional.  They occupied the western side of the four-square tribal placement (Num 2:18-24). Thus the appeal to Yahweh for help in Ps. 80 was urgent - please help us before the sun sets this day.

The passage about God's vine brought out of Egypt (Psa 80:8-19), together with Isa 5:1-7, obviously gives rise to Christ's comments in John 15:1-14 about Him being the true vine. This is similar to Hos 11:1, where God's Son brought out of Egypt is primarily speaking of Israel the nation, but also of Jesus, God's Son.  The vine is Israel and Jesus.

79:8 - time after time we see that the faithful men of old understood perfectly that their salvation was by God removing their sins and forgetting them permanently, and that this is a result of our recognition of our low place before the greatness of God the creator.  Although this concept is not called grace until the New Testament, it is clear that the faithful of the Old Testament understood this was the way of their salvation.

79:10    The Psalmists cry to God appeals to His desire that men would recognise Him as supreme – hence ‘where is their God?’ being the cry of His enemies would stir Him into action that he might be acknowledged.

Psa 80:3,7,19 a link to the priestly blessing Num 6:24-26

80:13 The wild beasts devouring the land echoes Lev 26:22

80:12 In speaking of the breaking down of the hedge – or Israel – the Psalmist is speaking about the same thing that Isaiah spoke of lager – Isa 5:5

v.9 Whilst the people cry 'blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord' the leaders oppose them asking Jesus to restrain them. However one of the last things that Jesus says to the leaders is that the time will come when they will use the same words. Matthew 21:9 23:39 Mark 11:9 Luke 13:35
v. 27 - 33 In turning the question of authority round Jesus is not avoiding the issue at all. he is focusing the minds of those who were questioning him on the testimony of the one who had spoken of him. Unless the priests and scribes were willing to acknowledge the authority of John then there was not point in continuing the discussion.

Looking again at the last week of Jesus' life I thought that this table of days in Mark might be of interest

Using the gospel of Mark as a basis it is possible, with relative certainty, to slot the other gospel records into this framework and thereby establish clearly what happened on each of the days of the week that culminated in the crucifixion of Jesus.

In the Olivet prophecy, which was spoken on the mount of Olives [Mark 13:3]. During that discourse Jesus also says 'behold the fig tree' [Luke 21:29]. Is Jesus actually pointing to the very fig tree he cursed a couple of days ago when he says this?

V.8 After the children of Israel left Marah (bitter) they came to Elim where there were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees (Exo 15:27).  There is much symbolism here which should be evident. Palms were a symbol of righteousness (Psa 1:1-3, 92:12).  They decorated Solomon's temple (2Chron 3:5) and figure prominently in Ezekiel's temple (Eze 40:16,22,26,31,34,37, 41:18,19,20,25,26). The righteous will display them before Christ in the future (Rev 7:9).

Such is the symbol that was strewn before Jesus (John 12:13), the righteous branch (Isa 11:1).

The fig tree represented Israel (v.13).  The Lord hoped to find fruit on the tree but did not.  Because the tree was unfruitful it was cursed (vs.14,20,21).  And so was Israel.  However, it was not the season for figs.  The Lord's curse, therefore, seems harsh. 

However, there was an expectation for Israel, and for ourselves, to bear fruit at all times (2Tim 4:2).

11:13    Jesus was looking for 'the first ripe fruit' spoken of in Mic 7:1. Both Israel and the tree, which represented them, were barren. The curse upon the fig tree would be restated later upon the nation.

11:2 Notice that the colt had never been ridden before. It had not been ‘broken’. The colt represented human nature which no man so far had been able to tame. Jesus’ riding the colt showed that he had tamed human nature.

11:9   Psa 118 was a Psalm sung by the Jews at Passover time. In the past they would sing it without their being a deliverer. Now the Passover lamb was entering Jerusalem – but neither  the leaders nor the common people did not recognise it!

11:17 In saying ‘my house .. for prayer’ and ‘ye ... of thieves’ Jesus draws together two passages – Isa 56:7, Jer 7:11 – both of which were spoken to Israel in Jerusalem just before times of great trials of the inhabitants of that city. Isaiah spoke to Hezekiah when the Assyrians came against the city. Jeremiah spoke at the time of the Babylonian invasion.

The people on the road had done their homework. Isaiah 9:9 speaks of Israel's king coming to Jesrusalem riding on a donkey. None of them missed this symbolic act. And naturally they assumed that the rest of the chapter would be fulfilled too; namely the removal of the Roman occupier.

11:24 Of course Jesus is not saying that God will give us whatever we want. The implication is that we will only ask for things which are ‘according to God’s will - 1John 5:14 - for that is how those whose sins have been forgiven should think.