Exodus - Chapter 38

In this chapter we see a new aspect of the contents of the tabernacle - the history of the materials used.  The basin for washing is made from bronze; and the bronze is taken from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.  (Before glass mirrors were invented mirrors were made from highly polished bronze).

As it says in I Corinthians, Chapter 13, "now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."

The source of the bronze - the mirrors - reminds us that while we may see the links to Jesus throughout the tabernacle, we are at best seeing puzzling reflections, with a partial and incomplete understanding.