2 tabernacles and 2 arks?

Actually, the Bible is often repetitive like this. The Ten Commandments are given in Exodus 20 and repeated in Deut 5. Many of the things described in Leviticus are re-described in Numbers and Deut. Looking elsewhere:
- I and II Chronicles repeat the history in I Samuel-II Kings
- Several of the Psalms say basically the same thing
- Many statements in Proverbs are repeated multiple times
- There are four gospels
- Many of Paul's writings to different churches are very similar

I think God did this intentionally because he knew how hard it would be for the Bible to be preserved through the centuries. If stuff is said more than once, it makes it harder for it to be corrupted.

Referring back to the incident when Moses came down from the mountain, at that point no tabernacle had been built yet.

I went back and checked Exodus 19-40, and thing I will note is that the Bible is not explicitly clear on how much transpired before the golden calf incident and what order it occurred in. Exodus 24:3-4 refers to Moses already having written down God's words and laws before the content presented in Exodus 25-31. What Moses wrote down in Exodus 24 could be just the content of Exodus 20-23 or it could have also included chapters 25-31.

I have heard another theory that Moses did not organize or edit his own writings. Under this theory, his writings were organized into the five books we now have after his death. If there is an merit to this theory, an argument could be made that Moses wrote two copies of the directions for building the tabernacle, and both of them were included in Exodus. But that is pure speculation....

Scholars have wondered for hundreds of years why Exodus 36-38 repeat Exodus 25-27.

The author of this article presents the two sets of instructions as Command and Implementation. The original command given earlier in the text, and the implementation to obey the command coming later. Because of how important the tabernacle was to P (the Levitical source according to the Documentary Hypothesis).

My own thoughts: There's a good reason to be so meticulous and spend so much energy about the tabernacle, it points to a single central place (even though it is a moveable place) wherein the Divine Presence is found; contrast this to the problem of the "high places" mentioned in the Old Testament, and the eventual building of a Temple in Jerusalem. By establishing a central locus of divine worship rather than multiple shrines it centralizes Israelite religion that is, quite obviously, beneficial to the priestly descendents of Aaron.

That is to say, the Temple receives far more legitimacy by pointing to the fact that there was a single tabernacle revealed by God to Moses, and thus undermining anything else; thus establishing a more central and legitimate place of the priesthood.

-CryptoLutheran

The Outlier said:

In Exodus 24, the phrase "chisel two stone tablets like the first ones" is there, indicating that He did have to make them twice. Im wondering what else had to be made twice.

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Since Moses smashed the first two stone tablets, they had to be restored. Other than that there are no "2 tabernacles and 2 arks". Nothing else was destroyed and there is no mention of anything else having to be restored.

The Outlier said:

There is a Bible study I am involved it at work during the lunch hour, and we are doing the book of Exodus. We are at the chapters after the golden calf, and the chapters seem to repeat old information regarding the tabernacle specifications, the ark specifications and the articles in the tabernacle. My question is, were the tabernacle and the things in it destroyed during the chaos that ensued when Moses came down from the mountain and people were destroyed for disobedience? That would explain why the boox goes over the same information twice, but I don't remember the passages saying the tabernacle was destroyed during this incident.

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Has anyone carefully compare the chapters before and after Exodus 32-33 about the description of the tabernacle? I have never done that. It would be nice to have some one explain the similarity and the difference between the two.

But I think there were no tabernacle yet when they built the golden calf. So, nothing should have been destroyed.

The Outlier said:

Except this time, the same verses are repeated in the same book, hence my question.

1. Exodus 25 (regarding the ark, the table, the lampstand) is repeated in Exodus 37 (regarding the ark, the table the lampstand)
2. Exodus 26 (regarding the tabernacle) is repeated in Exodus 36 (regarding the tabernacle)
3. Exodus 27 (regarding the altar) is repeated in Exodus 38 (regarding the altar)

This, to me is too much repetition in one place to be just a reinforcement of the same information, especially in a historical passage. In between the passages, we have chaos ensuing from the golden calf incident. That is why I am wondering if any of the articles were destroyed when God struck people down after they built the calf.

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Repetition of verses with exactly the same words is a pretty common feature in the OT, particularly in the Pentateuch. I do not know what does it mean. But it MUST mean something, Jews are not stupid.