Did you say otter skin?

 
Many years ago, as a young pastor, I was re-reading the Old Testament passage about the wanderings in the wilderness of the Hebrew children. As I was reading I came across the passage that told about dismantling the tabernacle for each move in the desert. One of the interesting things was the coverings that went over each piece of furniture in the tabernacle to protect it for traveling. I suddenly stopped reading and said, "Otter skins?!"

The otter lives in/near water. And of course, the Hebrew children were in the desert - way in the desert. To even have otter skins, some of the men would have had to make a trip to the coast to catch otters. So this was a big undertaking. But my main shock was the need to cover the furniture with otter skins in the desert. The main thing value of otter skins is that they are waterproof. So what was the necessity of covering everything with this waterproof material in the desert?

This question haunted me for years. I could not seem to get an answer to this elusive question. How do you search out something like that? I didn't know where to begin, except to ask other pastors and scholars. No one seemed to have an answer. They had just accepted it, thinking that it wasn't all that important. But I knew that everything in the Bible was important. So I kept searching and wondering.

Many years later, I was reading in the Psalms and came across a verse that stopped me in my tracks. It was the long-evasive answer to my question about otter skins in the desert. Psalm 68:7, 8 reads, "O God, when You went out before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, The earth shook; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel (nkjv)." Wow! There was my answer.

When it was time to move, the pillar of cloud (fire at night) that stood over the tabernacle would lift, indicating to all the people that it was time to pack up and move. As they began to move, the cloud (fire) would go before them, leading the way. And as it lifted up in the heavens and pushed itself through the atmosphere, it shook out the water. Rain! Rain! That is why the furniture was covered with waterproof material. Wow!

That is why I love the Bible so much. It not only is truth for me, it also has mysteries for a mystery-lover. When they say that the Bible is everything; it truly is. What fun reading! What marvelous discoveries are waiting to be found.