According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכָּן, romanized: miškān, lit. 'residence, dwelling place'), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (Hebrew: אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, romanized: ˌʔohel-mōˈʕēḏ, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of Yahweh used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. According to Numbers 4:1-35, Moses was instructed at Mount Sinai to construct and transport the Tabernacle with the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness and their subsequent conquest of the Promised Land.
Based on 1 Kings 6:1, biblical literalists hold that after either 480 (according to the Masoretic Text (𝕸)) or 440 years (according to the Septuagint (LXX)), Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as God's dwelling-place.
The main source describing the tabernacle is the Book of Exodus, specifically Exodus 25–31 and 35–40. Those passages describe the Holy of Holies, a sanctum sanctorum to Yahweh. It was created by the parochet, a curtain or veil suspended by four pillars. The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant, with its cherubim-covered mercy seat. An outer sanctuary (the 'Holy Place') contained a gold lamp-stand or candlestick. On the north side stood a table, on which lay the showbread. On the south side was the menorah, which held seven oil lamps for light. On the west side, just before the veil, was the golden altar of incense. It was constructed of four woven layers of curtains and forty-eight 4.6 m (15 ft) tall standing wooden boards overlaid in gold and held in place by its bars and silver sockets. The altar was richly furnished with valuable materials taken from Egypt at God's command.
Historically, according to scholars like Mark S. Smith, William G. Dever and archaeological discoveries, the Tabernacle was based on similar tent shrines from other cultures in the ancient MENA such as Canaan (now the Levant), Babylonia (now in Lower Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt. These portable shrines would house respective deities, with this custom both predating and surrounding the ancient Israelites. The Midianite tent shrine of Hathor at Timna Valley in southern Palestine, which is being excavated by the Madain Project, is an example.