Temple and tabernacle

I have often thought of the only notable difference between the tabernacle and the Temple to be the settled nature of the latter symbolising the rest that God through David provided for the people (if only a shadow of the reality). A more careful reading of the bible reveals my ignorance. In fact the anointing of David, and YHWH’s covenant with him is also central to the building of the temple. There are a number of ways this is demonstrated, and here are a couple I have picked up in recent reading.

1. The link to the king’s palace

One of the main differences between the tabernacle and the temple is that the king’s house is part of the temple area. 1 Kings 6:1 begins the record of the building of the Lord’s house, and this does not end until 7:51, which says that "all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished." Between 6:1 and 7:51, though, the writer tells not only about the temple but about Solomon’s palace and other buildings that Solomon built for himself (7:1-8). The description of Solomon’s palace comes right in the middle of the passage talking about building talking about building the "house of Yahweh." The means that Solomon’s house and the temple are both parts of something called the "house of Yahweh." Nothing like this has happened in Israel before.

(p.156, Leithart, Peter J., A House for my Name: A Survey of the OT)

2. The two massive pillars at the entrance

It is possible that the two pillars that flanked the entrance of Solomon’s temple were large incense altars, perhaps symbolic reminders of the divine presence in the wilderness by means of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Exod. 14:24; 33:9-10; Deut 31:15). But the two pillars also may have had yet another symbolic function. Since the Hebrew form of the name Jachin ("he will establish") appears also in 2 Sam. 7:12-16 ("he will establish David’s throne forever"), and Boaz ("in the strength of") appears in Ps. 21:1 ("in the strength of Yahweh shall the king rjoice"), it is possible that the pillars were also symbols of the relationship between the king and Yahweh. The pillars, located in the front of the royal chapel, may have functioned as symbols of the authority of the Davidic dynasty.

(DeVries, LaMoine F.; "Jachin and Boaz" in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)