Exodus 26:33
Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The veil hung from the clasps at the center seam of the inner curtains divides the tabernacle into its two rooms. The ark goes behind the veil in the Most Holy Place. The placement instruction creates the theology of the two-room structure: the priestly ministry of daily service (lampstand, table, incense altar) occurs in the outer room; the presence of God over the mercy seat is in the inner room, accessible only through the veil that the high priest passes once a year. Hebrews 9:7–8 says the high priest entered the second room once a year, indicating that access to the presence of God had not yet been fully opened. The veil is the symbol of that limitation.