The Temple and 1260 days of Bible Prophecy

The 100-square cubit veils that hung at the entrances
 to the tabernacle and the Most Holy Place within the tabernacle

Was there a tabernacle platform?

The tabernacle was made for symbolic purposes mainly. I personally do not believe that the tabernacle had a foundation, but that it humbly rested on the ground. The humility of the tabernacle is its most obvious symbolism. Jesus, likewise, humbly "tabernacled" among us, rather than in the glory of the Solomon-temple pattern---which speaks of His glorious second coming. 

However, the fact that the first curtain hung above the ground by one cubit implies that a foundation was indeed missing, and would eventually be laid. Hence, the fact that the overhanging linen curtain hung off the ground by one cubit was Bible-Prophecy that we are pilgrims in the earth, and like Abraham, we look for a city, "with foundations, whose architect and builder is God," (Heb. 11:10). We eventually see this foundation laid in that glorious city in the book of Revelation,  (21:13-21), the climax of Solomon and Ezekiel's temple, but only hinted at in the tabernacle. Therefore, to me it is more likely that if one lays a foundation (platform) in the tabernacle, he is correctly filling in the Bible-Prophecy element of tabernacle symbolism, but it is not the actual replica as it stood. He has a Bible-Prophecy representation, but not an actual; in my opinion, anyway. 

The two outer coverings overtop the two curtains

 

I know that there is uncertainty as to the size of these two outer coverings. It makes sense to me, though, that if the first two materials used were 1320 sq. cubits, then the remaining would be the same, since no other definite figures are given. But I am open to other possibilities, such as increasingly larger coverings, which would make the outer covering at 1720 sq. cubits (430 x 4), increasing in regular increments based on the first increase of 200 sq. cubits between the linen and the goat skin curtains (at 1120 and 1320 respectively). An interesting possibility, especially since the latter temples were surrounded by priestly rooms (very similar to the surrounding tabernacle coverings), and they increased evenly in area as one ascended the 3 floors, (1Kgs. 6:5-6).

 

Conclusion

The purpose of the tabernacle/temple study is to show a correlation between biblical time frames and tabernacle/temple measurements. Whereas there may be a few areas of debate as to the exact measurements to use, the overall point is not lost. For instance: Solomon's temple was 36,000 cubic feet; Zerubabbel's had an area of 3,600 sq. feet, (Ezra 6:3); and the heavenly one in the book of Revelation has 144,000,000 sq, cubits, (360 x 400,000), etc. 

Other examples are:

"In the 480th year after Israelites had come out of Egypt,"  (i.e., 12 x 40 years )
Solomon began to build the temple, (1Kgs. 6:1). 
Solomon's temple was 36,000 cubic cubits, 
built by 3,600 foremen, (1Kgs. 6:2; 2Chron. 2:2). 
The Most Holy Place was inlaid with 600 tons of gold,
the weight of 36,000 golden nails, (2Chron. 3:9).
Plus a great many other such examples. 
And that is the purpose of this particular web site. It is not to get enamored in details. 
I prefer to leave the working out of fine detail to the more capable,
and keep to that which is relatively clear.

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