And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.
Well.. I guess there’s only one verse concerning these coverings. I’ve always wondered about these coverings, especially the badgers’ skins. Apparently, so has everybody else because there’s nothing out there on this. All the commentaries say about the same thing: to keep out the weather. The rams’ skins dyed red are a type of Christ; the sufferings of Christ; the blood of Christ. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not belittling it or saying it isn’t so. I’m just looking for something a bit different. Something we can relate to being that we are the temple of God, or the tabernacle of God. So all bets are off! My guess is as good as theirs.
Why did God command that they be dyed red? It’s simple. God likes the color red. Do you know God? Do you know his favorite color? It’s Red. Wouldn’t you decorate your dwelling place in the color that you preferred? God likes red. That is why when you cut yourself, red blood comes out. The blood is important to God and he colored it red. If God’s favorite color was green, you’d probably bleed green. (Leviticus 17:11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Red is also the color that God prefers to work with. (Isaiah 1:18) Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Red is God’s universal color for mercy and protection. Rahab the harlot asked the spies that they would show her and her family kindness and deliver their lives from death. And the spies agreed and said (Joshua 2:18) Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. When the destroyer passed over the land of Egypt, only one thing would stay the hand of death upon the firstborn. That was the crimson blood upon the lintels and the door posts. (Exodus 12:23) For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. Red was the color of the stop sign, to stop the judgement of God from coming.
The water used for purification back in the times of the tabernacle and the temple was made of water and the ashes of a special sacrifice. It was an heifer that was slain outside the camp and wholly burned. Guess what color that heifer was? (Numbers 19:2) This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: That’s right! She was red.
Even David, a man after God’s own heart, the mighty King of Israel, when God chose him, he was red. (1 Samuel 16:12) And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. That word ruddy means red; and the bible says that ruddy is purdy! Now, God said specifically that (16:7) the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. Be it as it may; but he did choose the red one.
I’m just saying that God likes the color red. And he said that he wanted his tabernacle, his dwelling place, covered with rams’ skins and he wanted them dyed red. So, what’s the lesson in all this, being that (1 Corinthians 6:19) Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Here it is: If God said dye it red, then DYE IT RED! It’s his temple, isn’t it? Shouldn’t he have it the color that he wants. The rest of verse says (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) And ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. It’s not your temple. It’s his temple. It ought to be covered and adorned as he sees fit. And to glorify God is to do it the way God wants it. Now I’m not saying you need to paint yourself red or stay in the sun all day. I’m just saying that God is very particular in some things. And some things God wants done a certain way. I suppose that if it didn’t matter, then he would have said so.
The funny thing is that even that covering was covered up. So even though he wanted it a particular color, he was going to cover it up anyway with the badgers’ skins. So what are you saying preacher? It’s not to please everybody else, the church, the world, or whoever. It’s to please God. It’s between you and God. He is (Matthew 6:6) Thy Father which seeth in secret. I’m done.