על חיי משה, ספר ב ט״וOn the Life of Moses, Book II 15
א׳
1[71] While he was still staying on the mount, he was being instructed in all the mysteries of his priestly duties: and first in those which stood first in order, namely the building and furnishing of the sanctuary.
ב׳
2[72] Now, if they had already occupied the land into which they were removing, they would necessarily have had to erect a magnificent temple on the most open and conspicuous site, with costly stones for its material, and build great walls around it, with plenty of houses for the attendants, and call the place the holy city.
ג׳
3[73] But, as they were still wandering in the desert and had as yet no settled habitation, it suited them to have a portable sanctuary, so that during their journeys and encampment they might bring their sacrifices to it and perform all their other religious duties, not lacking anything which dwellers in cities should have. It was determined,
ד׳
4[74] therefore, to fashion a tabernacle, a work of the highest sanctity, the construction of which was set forth to Moses on the mount by divine pronouncements. He saw with the soul’s eye the immaterial forms of the material objects about to be made, and these forms had to be reproduced in copies perceived by the senses, taken from the original draught, so to speak, and from patterns conceived in the mind.
ה׳
5[75] For it was fitting that the construction of the sanctuary should be committed to him who was truly high priest, in order that his performance of the rites belonging to his sacred office might be in more than full accordance and harmony with the fabric.