As in Biblical times, the Samaritans still exist today in the West Bank in Israel. Now only a few hundred in number, the Samaritans consider themselves to be the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses and original high priest of the Tabernacle. Aaron's family was promised the "covenant of everlasting priesthood" by God in Numbers 25: 11-13. The Samaritans therefore teach that, while Aaron's priesthood stood in covenant with God, the later priesthood of Eli was an illegitimate one, and the entire kingship of Israel was illegitimate with it. It is the Tabernacle, then, and not the Temple in Jerusalem, which they believe was the single most holy place for the Jewish people.

The Tabernacle is, for this community, the beginning and end of God's relationship with humanity. It was set up on Mt. Gerizim by Joshua, and will be reinstalled on Mt. Gerizim in the messianic age. The Samaritans believe that the tent, its vessels, and even the holy fire on its altar, were hidden away after the death of Uzzi, the eighth High Priest in the line of Aaron. While the Tabernacle remains hidden, the Samaritan people continue to worship and offer animal sacrifices on Mt. Gerizim even today. It is believed that with the coming of the Messiah the tent will be brought out from hiding, and with it all cosmological order will be restored and perfected. The Tabernacle is so sacred that only with its reinstitution can the Law of Moses be fully understood and enacted.

Interestingly, the elevated importance given to the Tabernacle has made it the only religiously sanctioned object of artistic expression in Samaritan culture. Unlike the wider Jewish tradition, the Samaritans interpret the second commandment, which forbids idolatry, as a prohibition against artistic representation of the Divine in any form. The Tabernacle is the one exception.

Beginning as early as the seventh century the Samaritans established a tradition of drawing elaborate Tabernacle charts. The Hebrew lettering, the objects and the composition of their drawings tell the story of their theology. On the veil of the illustrated Tabernacle the names of all the Tabernacle priests are carefully inscribed in ancient Hebrew script to document their cherished ancestors. The rods of Aaron and Moses are strategically placed within the holy of holies, to emphasize the significance of the lineage of Aaron and the uniqueness of Moses' prophecy. The fire drawn on the altar is a special fire, which existed once in ancient history and will someday burn again. And the charts are meticulously decorated with Hebrew letters, reassuring any viewer that the mathematic specifications of the Tabernacle correlate to God's intricate and absolute plan for His people. To the Samaritans then, the Tent of Meeting is more than a mythic object of reverence; it is a record of the past and a promise for the future.

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