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Exodus Chapter
Twenty-five
Exodus 25
Chapter Contents
What the Israelites were to offer for making the
tabernacle. (1-9) The ark. (10-22) The table, with its furniture. (23-30) The
candlestick. (31-40)
Commentary on Exodus 25:1-9
(Read Exodus 25:1-9)
God chose the people of Israel to be a peculiar people to
himself, above all people, and he himself would be their King. He ordered a
royal palace to be set up among them for himself, called a sanctuary, or holy
place, or habitation. There he showed his presence among them. And because in
the wilderness they dwelt in tents, this royal palace was ordered to be a
tabernacle, that it might move with them. The people were to furnish Moses with
the materials, by their own free will. The best use we can make of our worldly
wealth, is to honour God with it in works of piety and charity. We should ask,
not only, What must we do? but, What may we do for God? Whatever they gave,
they must give it cheerfully, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver, 2 Corinthians 9:7. What is laid out in the
service of God, we must reckon well bestowed; and whatsoever is done in God's
service, must be done by his direction.
Commentary on Exodus 25:10-22
(Read Exodus 25:10-22)
The ark was a chest, overlaid with gold, in which the two
tables of the law were to be kept. These tables are called the testimony; God
in them testified his will. This law was a testimony to the Israelites, to
direct them in their duty, and would be a testimony against them, if they
transgressed. This ark was placed in the holy of holies; the blood of the
sacrifices was sprinkled, and the incense burned, before it, by the high
priest; and above it appeared the visible glory, which was the symbol of the
Divine presence. This was a type of Christ in his sinless nature, which saw no
corruption, in personal union with his Divine nature, atoning for our sins
against it, by his death. The cherubim of gold looked one towards another, and
both looked downward toward the ark. It denotes the angels' attendance on the
Redeemer, their readiness to do his will, their presence in the assemblies of
saints, and their desire to look into the mysteries of the gospel. It was
covered with a covering of gold, called the mercy-seat. God is said to dwell,
or sit between the cherubim, on the mercy-seat. There he would give his law,
and hear supplicants, as a prince on his throne.
Commentary on Exodus 25:23-30
(Read Exodus 25:23-30)
A table was to be made of wood, overlaid with gold, to
stand in the outer tabernacle, to be always furnished with the shew-bread. This
table, with the articles on it, and its use, seems to typify the communion which
the Lord holds with his redeemed people in his ordinances, the provisions of
his house, the feasts they are favoured with. Also the food for their souls,
which they always find when they hunger after it; and the delight he takes in
their persons and services, as presented before him in Christ.
Commentary on Exodus 25:31-40
(Read Exodus 25:31-40)
The candlestick represents the light of God's word and
Spirit, in and through Christ Jesus, afforded in this dark world to his
believing people, to direct their worship and obedience, and to afford them
consolations. The church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison
with what it will be in heaven; but the word of God is a light shining in a
dark place, 2 Peter 1:19, and a dark place indeed the world
would be without it. In verse 40 is an express caution to Moses. Nothing
was left to his own fancy, or to that of the workmen, or the people; but the
will of God must be observed in every particular. Christ's instruction to his
disciples, Matthew 28:20, is like this, Observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you. Let us remember that we are the temples of the
Holy Ghost, that we have the law of God in our hearts, that we are to live a
life of communion with God, feast on his ordinances, and are the light of the
world, if indeed we are followers of Christ. May the Lord help us to try
ourselves by this view of religion, and to walk according thereto.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 25
Verse 1
[1] And
the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Doubtless when Moses went into the midst of
the cloud, and abode there so long, he saw and heard glorious things, but they
were things which were not lawful or possible to utter; and therefore, in the
records he kept of the transactions there, he saith nothing to satisfy
curiosity, but writes that only which he was to speak to the children of
Israel. Probably there never was any house or temple built for sacred uses,
before this tabernacle was erected by Moses. In this God kept his court, as
Israel's king, and it was intended for a sign or token of his presence, that
while they had that in the midst of them they might never again ask, Is the
Lord among us or not? And because in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, even
this royal palace was ordered to be a tabernacle too, that it might move with
them. And these holy places made with hands were the figures of the true, Hebrews 9:24. The gospel-church is the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, Hebrews 8:2. The body of Christ, in and by which
he made atonement, was the greater and more perfect tabernacle, Hebrews 9:11. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, as in a tabernacle.
Verse 2
[2] Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of
every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
Speak unto the children of Israel that they
bring me an offering — This offering was to be given willingly,
and with the heart. It was not prescribed to them what or how much they must
give, but it was left to their generosity, that they might shew their good-will
to the house of God, and the offices thereof.
Verse 4
[4] And
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
Blue, and purple, and scarlet — Materials of those colours.
Verse 5
[5] And
rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
Shittim-wood — A
kind of wood growing in Egypt and the deserts of Arabia, very durable and
precious.
Verse 8
[8] And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
A sanctuary — A
place of public and solemn worship; that I may dwell among them. Not by my
essence, which is everywhere; but by my grace and glorious operations.
Verse 9
[9]
According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the
pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
According to all that I shew thee — God shewed him an exact plan of it in little, which he must conform to
in all points. And God did not only shew him the model, but gave him also
particular directions how to frame the tabernacle, according to that model, in
all the parts of it. When Moses was to describe the creation of the world, tho'
it be such a stately and curious fabrick, yet he gave a very short and general
account of it; but when he comes to describe the tabernacle, he doth it with
the greatest niceness and accuracy imaginable: for God's church and instituted
religion is more precious to him than all the rest of the world. And the
scriptures were written not to describe to us the works of nature, (a general
view of which is sufficient to lead us to the knowledge of the Creator,) but to
acquaint us with the methods of grace, and those things which are purely
matters of revelation.
Verse 10
[10] And
they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the
length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a
half the height thereof.
The ark was a chest or coffer, in which the
two tables of the law, written with the finger of God, were to be deposited. If
the Jewish cubit was, as some learned men compute three inches longer than our
half-yard, (twenty one inches in all) this chest or cabinet was about fifty-two
inches long, thirty-one broad and thirty one deep; it was overlaid within and
without with thin plates of gold; it had a crown, or cornish of gold round it;
rings and staves to carry it with; and in it he must put the testimony. The
tables of the law are called the testimony, because God did in them testify his
will; his giving them that law was in token of his favour to them, and their
acceptance of it was in token of their subjection to him. This law was a
testimony to them to direct them in their duty, and would be a testimony
against them if they transgressed. The ark is called the ark of the testimony, Exodus 30:6, and the tabernacle, the tabernacle
of the testimony, Numbers 10:11. The tables of the law were
carefully preserved in the ark, to teach us to make much of the word of God,
and to hide it in our inmost thoughts, as the ark was placed in the holy of
holies. It intimates likewise the care which divine providence ever did, and
ever will take to preserve the records of divine revelation in the church, so
that even in the latter days there shall be seen in his temple the ark of his
testament. See Revelation 11:19.
Verse 17
[17] And
thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the
length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
The mercy-seat was the covering of the ark,
made exactly to fit the dimensions of it. This propitiatory covering, as it
might well be translated, was a type of Christ the great propitiation, whose
satisfaction covers our transgressions, and comes between us and the curse we
deserve.
Verse 18
[18] And
thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in
the two ends of the mercy seat.
The cherubim (Cherubim is the plural of
Cherub, not Cherubims) were fixed to the mercy-seat, and of a piece with it,
and spread their wings over it. It is supposed these were designed to represent
the holy angels, (who always attend the Shechinah, or divine majesty,) not by
any effigies of an angel, but some emblem of the angelical nature, probably one
or more of those four faces spoken of Ezekiel 1:10. Whatever the faces were, they
looked one towards another, and both downwards towards the ark, while their
wings were stretched out so as to touch one another. It notes their attendance
upon the Redeemer, their readiness to do his will, their presence in the
assemblies of saints, Psalms 68:17; 1 Corinthians 11:10, and their desire to look
into the mysteries of the gospel, which they diligently contemplate, 1 Peter 1:12. God is said to dwell or sit
between the cherubim, on the mercy-seat, Psalms 80:1, and from thence he here promiseth
for the future to meet with Moses, and to commune with him. Thus he manifests
himself, willing to keep up communion with us, by the mediation of Christ.
Verse 23
[23] Thou
shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length
thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height
thereof.
This table was to stand not in the holy of
holies, (nothing was in that but the ark with its appurtenances) but in the
outer part of the tabernacle, called the sanctuary or holy place. This table
was to be always furnished with the shew-bread, or bread of faces, twelve
loaves, one for each tribe, set in two rows, six in a row. As the ark signified
God's being present with them, so the twelve loaves signified their being
presented to God. This bread was designed to be, a thankful acknowledgment of
God's goodness to them in giving them their daily bread, a token of their
communion with God; this bread on God's table being made of the same corn as
the bread on their own tables. And a type of the spiritual provision which is
made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are made priests to
our God.
Verse 31
[31] And
thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the
candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his
flowers, shall be of the same.
This candlestick had many branches drawn from
the main shaft, which had not only bowls to put the oil and the kindled wick in
for necessity, but knops made in the form of a pomegranate and flowers for
ornament. The tabernacle had no windows, all its light was candle-light, which
notes the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while the sun of
righteousness was not as yet risen, nor had the day-star from on high visited
his church. Yet God left not himself without witness, nor them without
instruction; the commandment was a lamp, and the law a light, and the prophets
were branches from that lamp, which gave light in their several ages. The
church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison with what it will be
in heaven: but the word of God is the candlestick, a light burning in a dark
place.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
25 Chapter 25
Verses 1-9
Make Me a sanctuary:
God dwelling with men
I.
The
dwelling of God among us in Christ Jesus, when it is a reality, and not merely
an idea or a phrase, imports and of necessity secures the passing away from us
of the things we have most reason to fear. When God comes to dwell among us,
which can only be by dwelling in us individually, sin goes from us, in its
guilt and its predominating power.
II. God comes thus
to dwell with men, for the development of character, and for the nourishment of
all goodness. The putting away of sin is but the negative part of salvation.
The presence in its place of truth and duty and love and obedience--this is
what makes a saved man.
III. For how long does
God dwell with men? Deep philosophy as well as high faith sanctions the
conclusion that the God of grace, who makes covenant with man and dwells with
him, is “our God for ever and ever,” and that He “will never leave us or
forsake us.” (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The holy tent
I. We should mark
that God makes himself dependent on the will of man. “Let them make Me.” This
is true, not only of material wealth, but of man’s nature.
1. God wants human nature, He seems to covet to have the affection of
our life, and yearns to be looked to by the creature He has made. Let us not
cheat Him, for we shall rob ourselves most of all.
2. God may be thwarted by man.
II. In this Divine
conception of the Church, there is a place for the rich. It is not impossible
for rich men to be good men. It is not easy, but still it can be done. God has
given them a place. “This is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold.”
God would not have accepted planks from those who had gold, and so God will
not accept industry in His service in the place of wealth.
III. Labour has its
place. There was a great deal of timber required; the wood of the acacia tree
was used for the framework. Here was work which the poorest could do. Is it not
so to-day? In building the Church, what room for a holy industry!
IV. Woman has her
rights here. We read in Exodus 35:24-25, of women that were
wise-hearted, who did spin with their hands, etc. Influence of Christian
mothers. Sunday-schoolworkers. Mothers’ meetings. Let woman do her work well.
We must have her work, or we cannot finish ours.
V. There is room
for genius. “Precious stones” are required. The onyx stones, and other jewels,
took up but small room, but they added beauty and splendour to the rest. God
does not create genius every day. Many rhymers, but few poets.
VI. Still, we must
not forget that the meanest is acceptable, if it is the best we can bring.
There are times when cleverness is baffled, and wealth is powerless. But see to
it God has your best. Acacia wood will not be accepted in the place of anything
else. But if the axe and saw are your talents, by all means use them.
VII. Our best and
our all is of no avail without the atonement. Alms and deeds are only safe as
they rest upon Christ’s merits. (T. Champness.)
The Tabernacle and priesthood
I. The Tabernacle.
1. Its general character.
2. Its contents.
II. The priesthood
for the Tabernacle.
III. The symbolic
meaning of both Tabernacle and priesthood.
1. Scriptural evidence of the symbolic character of these.
2. Some of its symbols explained.
3. The priesthood a symbol.
Lessons:
1. The importance and duty of studying the Old Testament in order to
understand the New Testament.
2. The marked superiority of the Christian over the Mosaic
dispensation.
3. Our weightier responsibilities over those of old.
4. The all-sufficiency of Christ as Redeemer, Priest, and Friend.
5. Our paramount duties--to accept, trust, and obey Him. (D. C.
Hughes, M. A.)
The Tabernacle
I. The grand purpose
of the Tabernacle was that the Israelites might realize God’s presence with
them.
1. The unity of God had been lost in the gradual transference of
separate and independent sovereignty to every attempted representation or
localization of the Deity. This evil, God now corrects by the strict
confinement of His localization to one spot.
2. The conception of the Deity had been demoralized through the forms
in which men sought to represent God. And so the God of Israel refuses to allow
any image or outward representation of Himself.
II. The
manifestation of God’s presence was secured by the construction and furniture
of the Tabernacle.
1. The ark was constructed out of the freewill offerings of the
people.
2. The Tabernacle in its costliness was, in all the circumstances of
the case, wonderfully appreciative of the Divine Majesty.
3. The Tabernacle was constructed in all respects according to Divine
pattern. (W. Roberts, M. A.)
Nature and design of the Tabernacle
I. Its nature.
1. It was a simple structure. The materials of which it was composed
were costly indeed. There was also much of artistic grace and beauty wrought up
into its composition, and yet, compared with the splendid cathedrals etc. which
men have erected, how simple and unpretending!
2. It was a structure of Divine origin. Indebted for nothing to the
force of man’s creative faculty. God planned it.
II. Its design.
1. In reference to the Jews.
2. In reference to ourselves.
The Tabernacle a symbol of holier things
1. The Tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. It tells us God is
great. It was a costly Tabernacle. The value of the structure was probably not
much less than £300,000. There was mystery. The Israelites were not to enter
the Tabernacle, but only the priests. Only the high priest could enter into the
Holy of Holies, and that but once a year. Thus God surrounded Himself with an
impenetrable veil of mystery. It has been said, “God is the greatest mystery in
the universe.” But, if there is mystery, there is mercy. There was also
justice, holiness, and majesty.
2. The Israelites no doubt looked upon the Tabernacle as the palace
of their King. The furniture was palace furniture, and the priests were
ministers of state.
3. The Tabernacle was set up in the wilderness. In all our wanderings
God is with us.
4. The Tabernacle was the first religious structure, in which Jehovah
condescended to dwell. Symbol of Divine grace. Erected in midst of sinners.
5. God’s presence is the cause of holiness and it alone removes the
curse. God came down to dwell with His people, not because they were holy, but
to make them so. No place is holy without God. That place--wherever it may
be--is holy if God is there.
6. The Tabernacle was a place of worship. It was called “the tent of
the congregation” (Exodus 40:22). They had a property in it.
It was the palace of their King. It was the house of their God. There they came
to confess their sin. There was no other place of the kind. It was the one Tabernacle
for all the tribes, and for all the individual members of those tribes.
7. The Tabernacle was not a model for our imitation, but “a shadow of
heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5). The substance having come,
we need, not go back to the shadow. In the Tabernacle we have “the figures of
the true” (Hebrews 9:24). In the gospel we have
reality. Its blessings are everlasting. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the
life. He is the truth of every figure, the way to a holy God, and the life of
all who believe. (R. E. Sears.)
The Divine purpose in the erection of a Tabernacle
This introductory sentence of the symbolical dispensation involved
much. It reiterated the great promise given at the fall, that man, although
lapsed, should not be left unaided; that there should be, in the fulness of
time, an interference on his behalf of the most remarkable character; and that,
to prepare men’s minds for its reception, it should, first of all, be presented
in a figure.
I. God dwelt in a
Tabernacle. In this a glorious reality was foreshadowed (John 1:14; Timothy 3:16; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 2:14).
II. In that
Tabernacle He dwelt amongst His people Israel. Christ is the great centre round
which all His people are grouped--those nearest to Him, the family within the
veil; the glorified ones, who, having finished their service here below, are at
rest--while the outer circle is the Church militant, that portion of the family
which is still in the midst of tribulation and conflict. But He is the great
centre. To Him all eyes, all hearts are turned; from Him all supplies are
derived. The one see Him in actual fruition and enjoyment; the other realize
Him by faith. (J. Ridgeway, M. A.)
The Tabernacle of the testimony
So many things of a covenant form and character required to be
placed under the security and covering of a covenant habitation, a habitation
having relation to both God and His people. The Lord Himself had said, “I will
dwell among them.” Here was His habitation. Look at the model after which it
was formed (verse 40). God was His own architect, nor were there any deviations
in after thought from His original plan: the design was perfect. But why such
exactness in relation to this temporary residence, this wilderness habitation
of the Lord of the whole earth? A prefiguration of the body of Christ was
intended, His assumption of our form and flesh, and which was an act of
condescension, a veiling of the glories of His Godhead, a coming down to dwell
in concealment. The personal assumption of our nature, therefore, made it of
moment that what was to contain the inhabitation of Deity, like the body of
Christ, curiously wrought, as it is said, in the lowest parts of the earth, should
be of a form, and be put together exactly as God Himself had given the model to
Moses in the mount. It was especially of God. In the spiritual worship of the
gospel of Christ, and in the doctrines of grace, nothing is suffered to be
misplaced, nothing left to be introduced. There is a show of wisdom in
will-worship, an appearance of reverence and humility, but none in reality. If
we worship God, we must worship Him, after His own instructions, and, under
whatever dispensation, in spirit and in truth. The design was God’s, but the
execution of the work was man’s.
1. Many hearts were in the work. As soon as required to be
constructed, the people had a heart to it and well they might since it was
bringing God nearer to them, and more visibly with them than He had been. How
interesting the union of hearts in such a work, men and women, and, we might
think, even children too, wise and willing in the work of the Lord! Delightful
was it to have their hearts in what had, from eternity, employed the heart of
God, His whole will and understanding, His counsels, grace, and love. How are
our hearts affected towards the spiritual temple that is rising in this world
of sin? Sweet the frame of mind David was in when he said (1 Chronicles 29:14, etc.). Their
hearts were their offerings: there were no niggardly restraints of
covetousness. At what expense are many to support the pride of life, and to
maintain the superfluities of naughtiness! The day is coming when they will
bitterly lament the misapplication of wealth, and the want of a heart, in their
fulness, for a ready yieldance to God.
2. Many hands, as well as many hearts, were in the work (Exodus 35:26). And how delightful is it
to see the spiritual temple rising, and each employed as skill given him! Where
there are hearts, hands will not be wanting. We see many employed about the
great building God has in progress, and what has set them to work but love? It
is this that is the great moving power in the machinery of those many
institutions which are in truth the bulwark and glory of the land. (W.
Seaton.)
The Tabernacle entire
We think the Tabernacle in its entireness was emblematical of--
1. The incarnation. The glory of Jehovah filled it.
2. The Church. Unity in diversity, and diversity in unity.
3. The believer. As respects both his
4. The millennial kingdom (Revelation 21:3-4). (W. Mudge.)
Design and use of the ceremonial law
1. It served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was
reminded by it in all his relations, even the most significant and external, of
God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life.
2. It required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the
first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of
redemption. The law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore
would awaken a longing after the Redeemer.
3. It served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between
the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented.
4. Many things in the Ceremonial Law served, by impressions on the
senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people.
5. One principal object of the Ceremonial Law lay in its symbolic
meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of
vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to
their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their
power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order
to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak
at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The Ceremonial Law was not the
opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect
form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only
formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large
capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. (E.
W. Hengstenberg, D. D.)
The basis of symbolism
The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was
the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings were the basis of the
sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we
discover the links that connect the Ceremonial Laws given by Moses with the
primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we
have the genesis of the Tabernacle and Temple. At the beginning the minister of
sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office
passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of the blood by Abel and
the offering by fire of Noah, we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The
Sabbath ordained in Paradise became the central institute in the sacred times
appointed by Moses. (E. P. Humphrey, D. D.)
The Tabernacle a tent
The Tabernacle was a tent; it was a costly building, but still it
was a tent; it was God’s tent in which He lived and walked with His people in
the wilderness (Exodus 25:8; Numbers 9:15; 2 Samuel 7:6; Acts 7:38-50). As His people were dwelling
in tents, God would have a tent, and would live with them as their Guide and
their Guard, their Father and their King; but afterward, when they were settled
in the land of Canaan and dwelt in celled houses, He permitted them to build
Him a house at Jerusalem, which He then filled with His presence as He had
before filled the Tabernacle. As God dwelt in the Tabernacle and afterwards in
the Temple, and as men must then come to the Tabernacle or to the Temple to get
to God, so God dwells in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19), and all who
would come to God must come to Christ: in no other way can any one get to God (John 14:6; John 6:37). Moreover, as there was but
one Tabernacle, so there is but one Christ, and none can be saved from the
wrath to come but those who come to Him; and as a man must come out of the camp
to get to the Tabernacle, so a man must come out from the world, must be
separated from it in spirit, before he can be really in Christ. (G. Rodgers.)
The edifice of the Tabernacle
Moses received on Sinai not only a command to make the Tabernacle,
but plans and specifications according to which the work was to be executed.
Its ground-plan was a parallelogram forty-five feet in length, and fifteen feet
in width. The material was of shittim, a species of acacia, the timber of which
has a rich black colour like ebony, and is eminently light, solid, strong, and
smooth. The frame of the Tabernacle consisted of forty-eight pieces of this
acacia wood standing on end. Eight of them were at the rear, and twenty on each
side; the front being left open to be covered with a curtain. They were each
fifteen feet long, and, unless the two outside pieces on the rear end were
exceptions, twenty-seven inches wide. The description of the corner planks is
obscure, but favours the opinion that each consisted of two pieces fastened
together at a right angle; so that it was a corner-plank not merely because it
stood at the corner, but because it formed an angle. On the lower end of each
of the planks, two tenons were wrought, to correspond with mortises in the sills
on which it was to stand. Possibly there were also tenons and mortises on the
edges where the planks came together; but of this we have no certain knowledge.
Such a connection of one plank with another, by tenon and mortise, would give
greater strength to the frame, but might not be necessary in addition to the
horizontal bars which bound the planks together. There were five such bars on
each side, and five on the rear, made of acacia wood, and overlaid with gold.
These gilded planks when erected, stood on a base, or sill, of silver, which
extended perhaps a little way both outward and inward, from the wall termed by
the planks, and was divided into twice as many pieces as there were planks; so
that each of the latter stood on two separate pieces of the base, one of its
two tenons being inserted into a corresponding cavity in each division of the
base. Besides the planks which formed the wall of the Tabernacle, there were
four pillars, to support a curtain across the interior of the building,
dividing it into two apartments, and five pillars to support another curtain
over the entrance at the east end of the edifice. The four pillars for the
partition-curtain stood on sills, or socket-pieces of silver, and the five for
the entrance-curtain on sills of copper. The wooden frame of the Tabernacle
having been prepared, it was necessary to cover it with suitable hangings, or
curtains. Of these there were four layers; the innermost so far excelling the
others in importance, that it was sometimes denominated “The Tabernacle,” as if
all else appertaining to the edifice were subsidiary to this. The frame,
indeed, seems to have been chiefly designed to give support to the beautiful
drapery with which it was covered. In the conception of a Hebrew travelling
through the wilderness from Sinai to Canaan, the Tabernacle where Jehovah dwelt
was of cloth, as was his own habitation. It was, indeed, of a more beautiful
fabric than the other tents of the encampment, which were doubtless of goats’
hair, like those of the nomadic inhabitants of the same region at the present
day, while the Tabernacle of God was of fine linen variegated with brilliant
colours. The several parts of the sanctuary having been constructed, it still
remained to make an enclosure for the court in which it was to stand. The
prescribed dimensions of this area were one hundred and fifty feet for the
length, and seventy-five feet for the width. It was to be enclosed with
hangings of cloth made of fine white linen, not interwoven, like the curtains
of the Tabernacle, with figures and colours, but, so far as appears, woven
plain. That portion of it, however, which covered the entrance-way at the east
end of the court, was variegated with colours of blue, purple, and crimson. The
height of these hangings was seven feet and a half; and they were suspended on
pillars by means of silver hooks, the pillars standing on sills of copper. The
distance between these pillars was equal to the height of the hangings, i.e.,
seven and a half feet. They were connected by a silver rod, or fillet,
extending from one capital to another. The Tabernacle was to stand near the
western end of this enclosure, and midway, doubtless, between its northern and
southern curtains. A large area was therefore left in front of the edifice for
the performance of those rites of worship which were appropriate to the place.
(E. E. Atwater.)
The oneness of the Tabernacle
(see Exodus 26:6). It is to be one
Tabernacle--not in the sense of singleness and uniqueness, as if God had
forbidden more than one Tabernacle to be constructed for His service--but in
the sense of a real and profound unity. By the golden taches or clasps binding
together the curtains which covered it, the whole structure was made one tent
or tabernacle, and all its parts and objects were united. Unity is the
hall-mark which God stamps upon all His works. It is His autograph written in
the stars of heaven and in the flowers of the field, attesting that they all
proceed from the same Mind. The universe is a great kaleidoscope which He is
perpetually turning round, in which a few simple elements are exhibited in
endless diversity; in which the variety is not more wonderful than the unity.
1. In unfolding this sublime lesson, let us look, in the first place,
at the illustration of it which the Tabernacle itself afforded. This remarkable
structure was one in regard to its parts. Each vessel has its own distinct use,
and each can be viewed apart from the others; and yet in every act of priestly
service, all are joined together, and are in active operation at the same time.
It needs the combination of the whole to make a complete and perfect act of
worship, just as it needs the harmomous action of all the members of the body to
constitute the act of living. And just as the golden taches link the curtains
of the Tabernacle together, and make of them one covering for one structure, so
the smaller golden vessels attached to the golden candlestick, the altar of
incense, and the shewbread table--the tongs, snuff-dishes, spoons, and
censer--linked together the different vessels of the sanctuary into one
ministration, forming in this way one golden chain of service simultaneously
carried on in the presence of God in behalf of Israel.
2. The words of the Lord to Moses have a wider reference than to the
immediate object which called them forth. They may be applied to nature. It may
be said that the Tabernacle pointed back to the creation. It was a symbol of
the great world of nature, as at once manifesting and concealing God. It was,
indeed, as a Rosetta stone, to explain to man the spiritual hieroglyphics in
the typology of nature, which had become dark and insignificant to him when he
sinned and fell, that God devised the clearer typology of the Tabernacle, and
set the cherubim, which were the symbols of creation in connection with the
redemption of man, above the mercy-seat in its holiest place, and embroidered
them on the veil that divided the outer from the inner sanctuary. There was no typical
object or service in the Tabernacle which might not have been seen in nature if
man had not lost the key of interpretation. If the creation be thus a greater
Tabernacle, in which all the objects are meant to show forth the praise of God,
and to symbolize His work of grace, we should expect to find in it the same
unity, the same oneness of design and harmony of all parts, that we see in the
Jewish Tabernacle; and this is what we actually find. This is the great lesson
which modern science has taught us so effectually.
3. But not only did the Tabernacle repeat in miniature the whole
creation as God’s dwelling-place, it also more especially typified the new
creation--the Church of God. Under all the varying dispensations of His grace,
God’s Church has been one The Jews were in the outer court because the way into
the holiest was not yet made manifest. Gentiles, by the new and living way
opened up through the rent veil of Christ’s flesh, have entered into the inner
shrine. But Jews and Gentiles alike are now united in one communion and
fellowship in Christ. The Saviour the Jews looked forward to in rites and
sacrifices, we look back to in the ordinances of the gospel. The religion that
was veiled to them has been unveiled to us. They saw the types and shadows; we
behold the living and glorious realities. Over all is the tabernacling of the
same God; and the Church of Jews and Gentiles is “built upon the foundation,”
etc.
4. The Tabernacle was the Bible of the Israelites. God taught them by
its object-lessons in their childhood and pupilage in the wilderness. But that
age of shadows and symbols has disappeared; man has passed from the childhood’s
stage of education into the higher school. We have been trained for a clearer
perception and a fuller possession of the truth. God has given to us His own
written Word, in which His thoughts are woven with man’s thoughts, making of
the whole Book the speech to the world of Emmanuel, God with us.
5. Man’s body is a tabernacle--the greatest of all temples. It is
fearfully and wonderfully made, the very highest possible form of organization,
the masterpiece of creation. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
Means of interpretation
There are means of interpretation by the aid of which one
may decipher the symbols of the Hebrews as correctly as Champollion deciphered
the hieroglyphics of Egypt.
I. First in the
table may be placed the parallelism between the mosaic system, as otherwise
ascertained, and its symbolic representation. The writings of Moses, like the
Greek translation of the Rosetta stone give a clue to the meaning of what
otherwise might be illegible.
II. Another key of
interpretation is found in the scriptural explanation of symbols. For instance,
in the Apocalypse incense is explained as symbolizing the prayers of the holy;
and fine linen is explained as meaning, when used for garments, that those thus
arrayed were holy.
III. The design of
the Tabernacle as declared in the directions for its construction, equipment,
and services, is a key to its significance. If the edifice was a symbol it
signified that Jehovah dwelt among the Israelites. It represented His true
habitation, wherever and of whatever nature it may be, and the spiritual
intercourse between Him and those who worship. Moreover, it was equipped in
such a manner as to provide for ministrations expressive of atonement,
restoration to favour, assurance of reconciliation, and acceptable service; and
was thus both a sign and a seal of the covenant relation and of the presence of
Jehovah.
IV. The scriptural
appellations of the Tabernacle are a means of interpretation.
V. The symbolism
Of nature is an important means of interpretation.
VI. Another means
of interpretation is the artificial symbolism of the ancients. Kings wear
crowns, and sit on thrones; and so crowns and thrones indicate royalty. Among
the ancients purple was worn by those in authority, and so became the badge of
power and distinction. The temples of the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Chaldeans,
and the Egyptians, were built with an adherence to certain forms, proportions,
and repetitions, which leaves no room for doubt that their sacred architecture
was significant, and that with some difference in the ideas expressed, and some
variety in the mode of expressing the same ideas, they employed the relations
of geometry and arithmetic to represent the objects of their religious thought.
Colour was employed for the same purpose. The three kingdoms of nature--animal,
vegetable, mineral--were also made to subserve this artificial symbolism. (E.
E. Atwater.)
Gold, and silver, and
brass.
Symbolism of minerals
Gold, silver, and jewels have in all ages and countries been
regarded as significant of wealth, rank, power. The use of the precious metals
for money has, however, rendered it impossible that they should exert in modern
times as much influence on the imagination as when used only as insignia.
1. It is quite certain that in the time of Moses gold had not been
coined, and was not often used, even by weight, as a medium of exchange. There
is a warrant in nature as well as in the universal custom of antiquity, for
this employment of the most splendid of the metals to illustrate the highest
possible dignity and glory; for it never fails to excite in the mind of the
beholder feelings of admiration and awe. Hence, as an emblem, it was among
metals what purple was among colours, and found its most appropriate place on
the persons and in the habitations of kings and gods. The dedication of a large
amount of gold to the service of religion was, therefore, not peculiar to the
Hebrews. It was the universal custom of the age thus to do homage to the
objects of worship. But, as Mosaism allowed no images of Jehovah, the symbolism
of gold must be confined to His habitation and its furniture. It is worthy of
observation, then, that the God of the Hebrews dwelt in a golden house.
2. If the Tabernacle of Jehovah was splendid by contrast between it
and the ordinary tents of the surrounding encampment, it seems to have been
designedly rendered still more splendid by the ordained distinction between the
Tabernacle and its court. For while the walls of the dwelling and all its
utensils were of gold, so that (with the exception of the sill) no other metal
was visible within, the furniture of the court must, according to the
specifications furnished to Moses, be of copper. The significance of copper
seems to depend chiefly on its rank among the metals, being more esteemed than
iron, and less so than silver and gold. As a metal of honour and beauty, it was
an appropriate material for the utensils of Divine service, and by its
inferiority to gold furnished a background on which the latter seemed more
splendid by contrast. Its resemblance to gold deepened the symbolic
significance conveyed by the exclusive use of one of the metals in the court,
and of the other within the habitation.
3. Between the copper outside and the gold inside, silver was the
mediating metal, being found both on the sill of the sanctuary and on the caps
of the pillars around the sacred enclosure, to indicate by another sign that
the house was higher in honour than the area in front, so much higher that its
sill was of the same material as the crowning ornament of the court. Silver was
at that time in common use as money; if not in the shape of coin, certainly of
bullion, which, when weighed, was current with the merchant (Genesis 23:16). Now, this silver which
had been wrought partly into the sill of the Tabernacle and partly into the
caps of the pillars around the court, had been used as money. Indeed, it came
into the possession of Moses in half-shekels, which the people had paid as
“atonement money,” “every man a ransom for his soul” (Exodus 30:12; Exodus 30:16). The services of the court
culminated in redemption, and not till they were redeemed could the people,
even representatively, enter the sanctuary. The shining silver on the top of
the pillars of the enclosure was “a memorial to the children of Israel before
Jehovah to make an atonement for their souls” (Exodus 30:16), i.e., a
permanent reminder that their sins were expiated; and the sill of the
sanctuary, into which the greater part of the ransom-money had been molten, was
a token that in consequence of their redemption God dwelt among them, and
received them to His fellowship. The silver, “as an expiation for souls,
pointed to the unholiness of Israel’s nature, and reminded the people
continually that by nature it was alienated from God, and could only remain in
covenant with the Lord, and live in His kingdom, on the ground of His grace
which covered its sin.” May not the apostle have had this ransom-money in mind
when he said to the people of the new covenant, “Ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ”?
(E. E. Atwater.)
Gifts of materials for the construction of the Tabernacle
Many chapels are burdened with a load of debt occasioned by the
bad habit of congregations building, either wholly or in part, with borrowed
money. But the Hebrews acted more nobly than such builders, for they collected
by voluntary contributions the entire materials with which the sanctuary was
constructed ere they began to build (Exodus 25:1-9; Exodus 35:4-9; Exodus 35:20-30). Their free-will
offering for the work of the Tabernacle is, in many respects, the most splendid
one that was ever given for the purpose of raising a place of worship. (W.
Brown.)
Gold
Foremost in the procession of willing-hearted offerers came
men and women bringing “bracelets, and ear-rings, and seal-rings, and tablets,”
all of gold (Exodus 35:22), till the heap comprised
many thousands of articles, and weighed no less than 29 talents and 730 shekels
(Exodus 38:24), equal to 43,865 ounces,
the value of which at the present day is f180,000 sterling. (W. Brown.)
Silver
Gold was contributed by men and women, but silver by men only.
This, however, was not on account of the women, who cheerfully gave their gold
ornaments, refusing to part with their silver ones, but because silver was to
be taken from none but adult males, who were required to give half a shekel
each as a ransom for the soul (person) (Exodus 30:11-16). The sum of the silver
brought was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, or 301,775 shekels (Exodus 38:25-27), which proves that every
one of the 603,550 men comprising the Hebrew encampment paid the price of his
redemption. This was done, however, not by compulsion, but freely; the silver
as well as the gold was to be a free-will offering (Exodus 25:2-3). The whole was equal to
150,887 ½ ounces, and would now realize £40,000 sterling, Silver appears to
have been the only metal used as money by the Hebrews, at least up to the
period of the Exodus, and this circumstance no doubt accounts for the ransom
price being paid in silver (Genesis 23:15; Genesis 37:28). (W. Brown.)
Brass
Gold and silver were the most precious metals, but brass (copper)
was also needed for the work of the Tabernacle, and those who possessed it--and
amongst them might be some who had no gold to bestow--brought 70 talents and
2,400 shekels (Exodus 38:29), equal to 106,200 ounces.
The original word rendered brass in the text is from a Hebrew root signifying
to shine. (W. Brown.)
Typical import of materials
1. Gold. Type of the Divine glory of the Lord Jesus as Son of God.
2. Silver. The preciousness of the Lord Jesus as the Ransom for the
sinner.
3. Brass. The power of the Lord Jesus to endure the cross, because He
is God.
4. Blue. The manifestation of God as love, in the ways and death of
Christ.
5. Purple. The manifestation of the God-Man, God manifest in the
flesh.
6. Scarlet. The manifestation of the true dignity and glory of man as
seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
7. Fine linen. The righteous man exhibiting to the eye of faith “the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
8. Goats’hair. The memorial of the death of the Lord Jesus as the
offering for sin.
9. Rams’skins dyed red. The outward aspect of Christ as the Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. Born in this world to die.
10. Badgers’skins. The outward aspect of Christ, as having no form nor
comeliness to the heart of the natural man.
11. Shittim wood. The Lord Jesus, the incorruptible Man. “That holy
thing,” the Son of God.
12. Oil for the light. The Lord Jesus as the light; filled with the
Spirit.
13. Spices for anointing oil. The graces of the Spirit in all their
fulness manifested by the Christ.
14. Spices for sweet incense. The fragrant graces of Christ made
manifest on the cross, and perpetuated in His intercession.
15. Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and the
breastplate. The glory and brilliancy of the Heavenly One reflected also in His
saints. (H. W. Soltau.)
Offerings accompanied with devotion
Almost every hill in Mongolia is adorned with a cairn of stones on
the very top. This cairn is a thing of the Mongolian religion. When it is
determined to erect one, men, women, and children turn out and gather stones,
repeating prayers over each stone; and thus the raised heap represents much
devotion on the part of the gatherers. Oh, that all contributions in Christian
lands for Christian objects were raised in the same way. Gifts are good, but
gifts accompanied by heart-felt devotion are better. (S. S. Chronicle.)
The pocket converted
John Wesley used to say that he never believed in a man’s
conversion until his pocket was converted.
A Divine plan for building
There is a beautiful story told of the plan by which Strasburg
Cathedral was made. The architect, Erwin von Steinbach, who was given the
commission to build it, was greatly troubled lest he should not get his plan
sufficiently noble. He had a daughter named Sabine, who was skilful in drawing,
and one night, after they had wept together over the plans, she said to her
father, “Don’t despair; God will help us.” After she fell asleep she dreamed
that a beautiful angel came, and when she had told her story, said; “You shall
make the plan for the minster.” The angel and Sabine then set to work, and soon
the plan was done. When she awoke she uttered a loud scream, for there was a
paper before her covered with wonderful drawing. Her father exclaimed, “Child,
it was no dream. The angel really visited you, bringing the inspiration from
heaven to help us.” He built the cathedral after the plan, and it was so
beautiful that the people really believed the story. (Great Thoughts.)
Blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine linen.--
Symbolism of colour
The symbolism of colour in the Tabernacle was confined to the
curtains of the edifice and the garments of its priesthood, both of which were
of fine-twined linen, blue, purple, and crimson. The four colours indicated all
inhered in the same material subjected to different processes of manufacture;
the fine thread of the byssus being in one process bleached to the greatest
possible whiteness, and in the other three dyed with blue, purple, and crimson.
1. That white linen was employed as a symbol, appears from many
passages of the New Testament, where its significance is declared and
explained. It was a representative of light, resembling it somewhat in colour (Matthew 17:2), but more in brightness (Luke 9:29; Luke 24:4; Mark 9:3), and purity (Revelation 19:8; Revelation 19:14; Revelation 15:6).
2. The Hebrew word rendered “blue” is primarily the name of a
shell-fish, and derivatively of the dye yielded by it. If Moses would represent
that Jehovah, whose dwelling is in heaven, had come down to earth to dwell with
His covenant people, how could he do it better than by employing in the
habitation made with hands the azure hue of the visible heaven? If he wished to
teach that the priests, and the sacrifices they offered were an “example and
shadow of heavenly things,” how pertinent would it be to weave into their
official attire threads of that cerulean tint, which in his day communicated
such thoughts to the eye as are now conveyed to the ear by the audible
pronunciation of the word “heaven”!
3. Cloth of purple was much prized by the Greeks and Romans, who
included under this appellation a wide range of colour, extending from red
slightly tinged with blue to shades in which the blue was predominant; the dye
being in all cases derived from shell-fish. In the earlier days of Rome, purple
had been worn only by magistrates as a badge of office; but the progress of
wealth and luxury was afterward so great, that the first of the emperors
thought it necessary to put restriction on the use of it in order to preserve
the significance of the ancient symbol; and eventually certain fabrics of this
colour, including those held in highest estimation, were entirely interdicted
to the Roman citizens, and reserved for the exclusive use of the imperial
household. In the employment of purple as a mark of official distinction, the
Romans followed the custom of some, if not all older nations (see Judges 8:26; Daniel 5:7, margin). Not only kings,
emperors, and their subordinates in civil authority, wore this colour, but
sometimes priests, as a mark of honour to their office and the deities they
served. Even the images of the gods were adorned with raiment of purple. The
appearance of this colour, then, in the curtains of the Hebrew Tabernacle
marked that central edifice as the habitation of the Ruler of the encampment.
The purple in the garments of the priests indicated that they belonged to the
royal household, and were officers of the King.
4. The two Hebrew words which taken together are rendered “scarlet,”
denote a colour derived from an insect called by naturalists coccus ilicis, found
in large quantities on certain species of the oak. The Arabic name of the
insect is kermes, the root of our word “crimson.” The only natural
object to which the tint is applied in the Old Testament is the lips (Song of Solomon 4:3). It seems probable
(see Genesis 38:28; Leviticus 14:4-7; Numbers 19:6; Joshua 2:18) that this colour was used as
a symbol of life; deriving this significance from blood, which was itself the
vehicle and representative of the vital force. (E. E. Atwater.)
The colours
1. Blue, being the colour of the heaven, as it appears to man looking
up into it, may be regarded not unnaturally as speaking of God. The Israelites
were bidden to have fringes on the borders of their garments, and upon the
fringe of the borders a ribband of blue (Numbers 15:38), doubtless to be a
perpetual reminder to them in their daily life that, they were the people of
God.
2. Scarlet, or red, is the colour which, after blue, occurs most
frequently in connection with the Tabernacle. As blue speaks of God the
Creator, so red, or scarlet, speaks of the world, or of man the creature.
3. Purple is formed from the intermingling of scarlet and blue, and
thus corresponds to twelve among numbers, which is the result of three
multiplied into four, and is, therefore, the colour of the Incarnation. In the
Tabernacle, purple appears side by side with blue and scarlet in the interior
hangings, in the veils, and in the vestments of the high-priest. When we
remember that the Tabernacle, as a whole, was a type of the Word who
“tabernacles in us” (John 1:14), we shall not, I think, find
it difficult to acquiesce in the suggestion of a devout and learned writer,
that “the purple appears to have foreshadowed the hypostatical union, i.e.,
the union of the Divine and human natures in the person of our Lord.” It
would seem to have been selected to reveal the intimacy and perfection of this
union; and the constituent colours of purple, red, and blue, to have been set
in juxtaposition with it, to teach that, although the two natures are thus
combined in Him, yet are they not absorbed in each other, as if the Divine had
been lost in the human, or the human in the Divine, but ever remain to
co-exist, notwithstanding their most perfect union.
4. The three colours already spoken of were conjoined with the
whiteness of fine linen. White is symbolic of cleansing from sin (Isaiah 1:18; cf. Revelation 7:14; Psalms 51:7). White is also symbolical of
perfect dazzling holiness (Daniel 7:9; cf. Revelation 6:2; Revelation 14:14; Revelation 19:11; Revelation 20:11). In the Tabernacle the
fine white linen would tell of the purity and holiness which results from that
union of the Divine with the human which was already indicated by the three
colours with which it was conjoined. The great lesson, therefore, which
everywhere met the eye of the worshipper in the fine linen hangings of the
outer court, and in the blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen of
the veils, and sacerdotal vestments, was none other than this, “Ye shall be
holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” (E. F. Willis, M. A.)
Goats’ hair
Goats’hair formed part of the free-will offerings of the
Israelites (Exodus 35:23). Many of the goats of the
East have black hair, of which cloth is made for tent coverings, but there are
some species of goats which have fine white silky hair, among which is the
Angora goat, and not a few writers are of opinion that it was hair of this sort
with which the tent of the Tabernacle was made. (W. Brown.)
Rams’ skins
The Israelites, being rich in flocks and herds, would have
no difficulty in supplying rams’skins. Those brought by the Israelites (Exodus 35:23) were dyed, and probably
tanned. “Leather of this very description (says Dr. Thomson) is still sold in
Syrian towns. From time out of mind the southern part of Syria and Palestine
has been supplied with mutton from the great plains and deserts in the north,
east, and south; and the shepherds do not ordinarily bring the females to
market. The vast flocks which annually come from Armenia and northern Syria are
nearly all males. The leather, therefore, is literally ‘rams’ skins dyed red.’”
(W. Brown.)
Badgers’ skins
The Hebrews brought badgers’ (tachash) as well as rams’skins. It
is generally admitted that “badger” is a wrong interpretation of the Hebrew word
“tachash,” but the learned are not agreed as to what animal is intended. Some
are of opinion that it was a fish, and others that it was a quadruped; but
whether it swam the ocean or ranged the forest, it was likely a large and
powerful creature, since its skin was used for the sacred tent’s outer
covering, which doubtless required to be of a tough and strong nature. This
would not, however, prevent the skins from being made suitable for ornamental
purposes. Sandals formed of these skins appear to have been worn by ladies when
dressed in the most costly and splendid attire, and decked with the most
precious ornaments; “I have shod thee with badgers’ skins” (Ezekiel 16:10); so there can be little
doubt that the outer covering or roof of the Tabernacle was not only strong,
but also beautiful and ornamental. It is not improbable that the shoes or
sandals of the Israelites were also made of this material; and if they were, it
was as effectual in defending their feet as it was in preserving the Tabernacle
from those influences that might have been hurtful to it. “Thy foot did not
swell these forty years?’ (W. Brown.)
Verses 10-16
Make an ark.
The ark
I. The veil, by
which the ark was hidden from view. This veil of the Tabernacle was the same as
that which subsequently hung in the Temple, and was rent in twain when our Lord
expired on the Cross. We may look at it from two points of view, considering
what it symbolized when it was an unrent veil, and what the rending of it
signifies. The unrent veil was a symbol of darkness and difficulty. To the Jew,
it shut out his view of heavenly things, and obstructed his way of approach to
them. That veil was a concealing thing. All that stood behind it was
effectually hidden from sight. But that Most Holy Place represented heaven. And
thus, by the unrent veil, as St. Paul says: “The Holy Ghost thus signified, that
the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest” (Hebrews 9:8). That unrent veil was a
darkening thing. It was at the same time an obstructing thing. It barred the
entrance to the heavenly place. The holiest and best of God’s people could not
pass within that veil. The high-priest alone might enter, and he but once a
year. But what does the rent veil signify? of course the opposite of that which
the unrent veil represented. Jesus, we know, came as “the light of the world.”
He is the revealer of secrets; the unraveller of mysteries.
II. The place in
which the ark stood. The dimensions of this part of the Tabernacle were those
of a cube. The measure of its sides, its ceiling, and its floor was all the
same. The cube is the most perfect of all forms, the natural emblem of
perfection. And as the form of this place denoted its perfection, so did the
material of which it was composed. Gold, pure gold was the material. This met
the eye on every side. Gold is the purest and most precious of the metals. In
its way, too, gold stands as the symbol of perfection. When we say of a thing
that it reaches the golden stage, we say that which expresses the highest idea
of its development. And then the furniture of this hallowed place spoke the
same language. This told of perfection too. And what was this? One object alone
met the eye here. This was that great central object of interest in this whole
sacred structure--that keystone of this arch--that sun in the midst of this
grand system--that gem in the heaven-formed ring of these hallowed
services--the ark of the covenant.
III. The structure
of the ark. This ark was a symbol of Christ. The constituent parts of it seemed
to represent the two natures of our Saviour. The wood of the ark aptly
emblemized the human nature of Christ. The tree from which this wood was
obtained had its growth in the wilderness. And so in the development of His
humanity, it was declared of Christ that “He should grow up like a root out of
a dry ground.” The acacia wood was incorruptible. It was not subject to decay.
And it is just so with the humanity of Christ. That humanity experienced no
decay in life; it was the subject of none in death. He saw no corruption in the
grave. He will see none for ever. And in like manner the gold of the ark
represented Christ’s Divinity.
IV. The contents of
the ark. The two tables of the law were preserved in the ark. This was a very
significant fact. It illustrates two important truths. It proclaims the perfect
righteousness and the absolute security of the children of the covenant. In
conclusion: How striking are some of the points of contrast between the Jewish
and the Christian ark. The one was composed of created materials. The time had
been when the wood and the gold, wrought up into the form of the ark, had no
existence. The other, as to the most important part of His being, at least, was
constituted “from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the world
was.” (R. Newton, D. D.)
The ark of the testimony: the transient symbol of an eternal truth
I. The ark may be
taken as symbolical of the Divine presence, or the Divine plan in human life.
It was a visible form of an invisible power.
1. In the ark, for example, you find law. See, too, the peculiar
place occupied by law: the ark is in the Tabernacle; not only in the
Tabernacle, but in the most sacred part of that sacred place; not only in the
holiest part of the holy house, but actually in the midst of the ark is found
the immutable law of God. Thus we have law at the very centre and heart of
things! That which is at the heart of things is right: not something fickle,
eccentric, tantalizing; but law, righteousness, God!
2. But, happily, the ark represents something more than law; and every
reflective man will acknowledge that in the system within which we live, there
is a mystery for which some gentler name than law must be found. The lid of the
ark was the seat of mercy. It signified propitiation, favour, mediation, ground
and medium of communion with God. Study that tender symbol a moment, if you
please. Law, in coming up from the centre, comes through the lid or covering of
mercy; it is, so to speak, attempered, or it would come like a sword, or a
fire, or a judgment terrible in righteousness. On the other hand, starting the
movement from the outside, in our appeal to law we go through the medium of
mercy. We do not, dare not, challenge the law in its own name or on its own
merits. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified.” Our
approach is through mercy, and our daily prayer is, “God be merciful unto me a
sinner.”
II. We now pass
onward to notice a few remarkable points in the history of the ark. In doing
this, we shall be more careful about the spiritual teaching than about the mere
chronology of that history, and thus we shall secure closer continuity of
doctrine and illustration.
1. As our song is to be of mercy and judgment, it will be grateful to
us first to see how the mercy of the Lord was revealed amongst His people (see Numbers 10:1-36). Unquestionably there is
a law of movement. We must go forward. How? Into darkness? Into danger? Into
thickening mysteries that bring with them sevenfold darkness, and trouble that
makes the soul afraid? No; we are offered guidance, defence, and rest!
2. As we have thus seen the goodness of the Lord, we may now behold
also His severity, as shown here and there in the history of the ark. Fall of
Jericho, Dagon, Bethshemesh, Uzza. Will man attempt to eke out the failing
strength of Omnipotence? Doth it become us to watch the stars lest they fall,
or to open the clouds at dawn lest the sun should miss his way? Shall we
appoint ourselves the special guardians of the truth, and surround it with our
defences, lest God should have no foothold on His own earth?
III. We now come
still more closely to practical applications. Here and there in the course of
the study we have indicated one or two modern bearings of the subject, which
admit of obvious amplification. Let us look at one or two others. The
Israelites had a visible symbol of the Divine presence so long as they retained
the ark in their midst. It was something to look at--something for the heart to
stay itself upon in the time of fear and trouble. But look at our own case. Are
we not left without a centre that can be seen, and without a locality
sanctified above all other places? Have we not fallen on mean times--all poetry
dead and gone, all music hushed for ever? To such questionings the Scriptures
give a distinct reply. They tell us that ours are the brightest and noblest of
all the days of time (see 2 Corinthians 3:7-8; Jeremiah 3:16). The local has become the
universal, and all things are inscribed--“Holy unto the Lord.” That law and
mercy are still at the heart of things is a truth which is acknowledged in some
form even by others than Christian believers; but by Christian believers it
ought to be ardently and gratefully maintained as at once the glory and the
security of life. And yet we are not left without a visible sign of God’s
presence. So long as we have the Bible we have the ark of the covenant. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
The ark
Of all the appurtenances of the Tabernacle, the highest in the
estimation of the Hebrews was a chest of acacia wood three feet and nine inches
in length, two feet and three inches both in width and in height, plated within
and without with gold, which they called the ark. Around it was a band of gold
called a crown. This name would seem to indicate that the band was wrought in
imitation of leaves and flowers, a crown having originally consisted of such
materials, and having retained the semblance of them when the perishable
chaplet gave place to the unfading gold. The specifications do not state how
far from the base of the ark this crown was attached; and some have assumed
that, as a crown, it must necessarily have been placed at the top. It
may however have been merely an ornamental band of gold, wrought in imitation
of leaves and flowers, and attached just above the rings and staves, by means
of which the ark was borne from place to place. The rings just mentioned were
of solid metal, like the ornamental cincture, and four in number, one at each
corner. They held in place two staves of acacia wood overlaid with gold, by
means of which the Levites might bear the ark on their shoulders. The lid of
the ark was of pure, solid gold; and two cherubs of the same material stood
upon it, one at each end, face to face, and stretching forth their wings over
the ark. The position and attitude of these figures make it, necessary to infer
that they were of small size; but their exact measure is not known. This golden
cover was called the mercy-seat, or throne of grace; and is sometimes mentioned
by this name, as if it were something independent of the ark. More frequently,
however, it is in some way connected with the sacred coffer beneath. It was in
particular what the whole Tabernacle was, the dwelling-place of Jehovah, the
place where He would meet His people; it was the point in which the
significance of the whole institution centred. Within the ark were deposited,
according to the direction given to Moses, the two tablets of stone on which
Jehovah had written with His own finger the words of the Ten Commandments.
There has been a difference of opinion on the question whether the ark
contained anything more than the two tablets of stone. From statements in Exodus 16:33-34 and Numbers 17:6-10, it appears that Aaron’s
rod and the pot of manna were deposited near, but not within, the ark. But this
does not forbid the supposition that afterward (see Hebrews 9:4-5) they were kept within the
ark, till, in some way unknown to us, they were lost. On such an hypothesis,
the passage in 1 Kings 8:9, which testifies of what
was the case on the day when the ark was deposited in the Temple, has a deeper
significance than if the ark had never contained anything but the tablets of
stone. The appointed place for the ark of the covenant was in the holy of
holies; where it probably stood in the middle of the chamber, with the longer
sides toward the east and the west respectively, and the cherubs looking
northward and southward toward each other. (E. E. Atwater.)
The ark
Was the ark a treasure chest? In Christ dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead. Was it a small chest? Christ made Himself of no reputation, and
took upon Him the form of a servant. Was it made after a heavenly pattern?
Christ came down from heaven. Was it made of wood? Behold the Man! Was it made
of incorruptible wood? Behold the purity of His character! Was it overlaid within
and without with gold? Behold your God! God was in Christ. The Spirit of the
Lord was upon Him. Had it a crown of gold round about? Behold your King! Had it
rings and staves that it might be moved from place to place? “I will give to
Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.” Were the staves always to be in the
rings? Christ is always ready to bless and to save. “The Lord was ready to save
me.” The staves in the rings give a warning to the careless. Privileges
despised may soon be removed. (R E. Sears.)
And shalt make upon it a
crown of gold round about.
The crowns of gold around the holy vessels of the tabernacle
There is nothing insignificant in God’s universe. Everything that
He has made has a meaning and a purpose. There is not a curl in a cloud, or a
curve in a leaf, or a tint on a blossom, but has a reason for it, and speaks of
its origin. We may be sure that the Jews at the time read in these objects
moral and spiritual truths that had a direct practical bearing upon their daily
religious life. I wish to deal in this manner with one of the details in the
construction of the Tabernacle, to which attention is not usually directed,
because it seems a very insignificant and unimportant feature. You place under
the microscope a single hair of cotton-wool, which to the naked eye is so fine
as to be little more than visible. In this magnified fibre you see a peculiar
twist, produced by its mode of growth in the cotton-pod. You would think that
twist of no consequence or meaning, and yet it is by means of this peculiarity
that the fibre can unite with other fibres, and form together a thread strong
enough to be woven. Without this apparently accidental irregularity on the
surface of a hair, it would be impossible to spin cotton thread or to weave
cotton cloth; and thus one of the staple manufactures of one of the greatest
nations in the world would not have come into existence, and mankind would have
lacked the principal material of their clothing. You see about the end of June,
hanging out of the ears of the green corn when it is in flower, slender white
filaments tipped with a powdery substance. These are the vital organs by which
the grains of corn are formed and filled; and without their agency, the whole
produce of the fields would fail, and there would be no bread for man. As it is
with these details of nature that seem so insignificant, and yet in reality are
so important, so it is with the crown of gold that was round about the ark, and
the table of shewbread and the altar of incense, which seems at first an
insignificant detail. It was purposely designed by God, and is full of meaning
to us. Now what did this feature mean? The word translated “crown” in the text
occurs only in connection with the holy vessels of the tabernacle. It means
literally a border or rim of wreathed work; and it comes from a root which
signifies to bind together. This border or rim was put upon the top of the ark,
and of the table of shewbread, and of the altar of incense, projecting a little
beyond the sides of these vessels, in order that the objects placed upon them
might not slip off. Usually there was no danger of this when the vessels
remained in their appointed places in the stationary Tabernacle. But from time
to time the Tabernacle had to be taken down when the Israelites required to
remove their camp and journey to another place in the wilderness. These vessels
had therefore to be transported along with them. But there was this significant
distinction between them and the rest of the furniture and frame work of the
Tabernacle--that while the other articles were removed in waggons by means of
oxen, the holy vessels had to be carried by the hands of man. For this purpose
they were furnished with rings at their sides, through which staves were
passed, by the help of which the Levites bore them in front of the cavalcade,
without daring to touch them. It may be asked why was it of so much consequence
that the objects belonging to the sacred vessels should be kept unmoved in
their proper places? Look first at the mercy-seat or lid of the ark--why must
it not be displaced in the slightest degree? The ark, we know, contained the
two tables of stone, on which was inscribed the law which promised life on
condition of obedience, but threatened death without mercy against transgression.
At Sinai the Israelites entered into a solemn covenant with God which bound
them to obedience, and bound God to punish disobedience. But, as we all know,
the covenant was speedily broken. The Israelites who, in their ignorant
self-confidence, had resolved that “all that the Lord hath said will we do,”
almost immediately sinned grievously against the Lord, so that Moses broke the
first tables of the law, and the law, as the Apostle Paul said, “was found unto
death.” It ended in the ministration of condemnation. But while the Israelites
thus bound judgment upon themselves, God devised an expedient by which the
failure and ruin might be remedied. In the midst of wrath He remembered mercy:
He commanded the ark to be formed in order that the tables of the law might be
put into it, and it might thus shut out of sight the ministration of death. The
law was to be carefully preserved, but it was to be no less carefully
concealed, so that its ministration of death should not break out in vengeance.
The cover of the mercy-seat was put over the ark, so as exactly to fit it. By
this expressive symbol it was indicated that mercy triumphed over
judgment--that mercy is the deepest element in every judgment, and the end for
which it is graciously designed; the first sentence against our fallen first
parents being the key to all other judgments. God, while inflexibly just, could
still pardon the sinner. But if by accident or intention the lid of the
mercy-seat were to be displaced, the law would have no cover or concealment; it
would break forth and carry out without hindrance the threatened punishment of
sin, and all Israel would be destroyed, for they had all sinned, and broken
God’s commandments. We are told that on one occasion the inhabitants of
Bethshemesh looked into the ark while it rested on a great stone in their
fields, and many of them were smitten to death in consequence of their
unhallowed curiosity. They had removed the mercy-seat and so let loose the law
to carry out its threatened vengeance against sin without restraint. Equally
important was the use of the crown of gold round about the table of shewbread.
That table symbolized the provision which God made for the spiritual wants of
His people. The twelve loaves upon it indicated that each tribe had its own
portion prepared for it before the Lord, of the same weight and of the same
size. The bread was changed from week to week; for, after remaining during that
period in the presence of the Lord, it was afterwards partaken of by the
priests, who were thus specially strengthened and refreshed for their service
in the Tabernacle. But it was ever the same bread. It was called the
“continual” shewbread, because it was always before the Lord. And the object of
the golden crown or raised rim round about it, was to keep the shewbread
securely in its position on the table, so that it might not fall to the ground,
or have its place--which was carefully arranged--altered in the least degree,
through the stumbling of the Levites who bore it on their shoulders in their
journeys through the wilderness. Unchanged by the wanderings of His people,
unhindered by their frequent murmurings and backslidings--the crown of gold
around the table of the shewbread kept the bread securely in its place. The
mercy-seat kept on the ark by its golden crown indicated God’s unchanging
mercy; and the shewbread, kept in its place by the golden crown of its table,
indicated God’s unvarying care for His people. The crown of gold around the
altar of incense was also most significant. The altar of incense was not for
sacrifice, for no victim was offered upon it; it was ordained in order that the
fragrance of sweet spices might constantly ascend from it to God. It indicated
not atonement for sin, but the cleansing of the sinner from sin, and his
acceptance before God. It was ministered to by the priests only. But it was
most closely connected with the brazen altar of burnt-offering outside, to
which all Israel had access; for it was through the death of the victim that
the sinner was accepted, and through the blood of atonement that he had
communion with God. The coals of fire that were put on the incense altar to
burn the fragrant spices, were previously taken from the altar of
burnt-offering on which the victim had been reduced to ashes. The golden vessel
was, therefore, of especial importance, because it indicated the highest
priestly ministration. The crown of gold which encircled it at the top was
meant to keep the coals of fire and the holy spices on it from being scattered
or displaced. Morning and evening and all the night long the priests had to
burn incense before the Lord. During the journeys of the Israelites the coals
were to remain burning, and the spices were not to be removed. The incense
offering was to be continuous and uninterrupted even while the altar was being
carried by the Levites from one place to another. There was to be no cessation
of the service during the transit. From its top a cloud of fragrance was to
rise up constantly to heaven, typifying an ever active unceasing ministry in God’s
presence. The office of the golden crown was, therefore, to enable the altar to
fulfil this important function, to keep the materials of the offering in their
proper position while the altar was stationary, or while it was being carried
on the shoulders of the Kohathites. Were the live coals to be extinguished, or
to fall off the altar, were the cloud of incense to cease travelling onwards
with the host of Israel, then there would be no Divine intercession on their
behalf. Their murmurings because of the difficulties and privations of the way
would have nothing to screen them from the judgment of heaven. The crown of
gold around the holy vessels might seem of no use when the Tabernacle was
stationary and all its furniture fixed. And yet its very existence testified
silently of the faithfulness of God. Looking upon this interesting and
significant feature of all the holy vessels, the priests realized that God was
not a capricious Being, moved by impulse in regard to the provision which He
made for the wants of His people, but was the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever; that the qualities of grace in Him were eternal qualities, and not merely
assumed for the occasion. His provision of grace was not one called forth by
the necessity of the time, but was pre-ordained and prearranged from all
eternity. But it was on the march that the active use of the golden crown was
called forth. When the vessels were in transit, the crown was indispensable to
keep their contents in their places. It was when they were journeying from
place to place that the Israelites required most to realize the uninterrupted
grace of God, for it was then that they were most inclined to stumble and fail,
because of the difficulties and privations of the wilderness. Now, what is the
use to us who live under the Christian dispensation of this interesting feature
of the Old Testament ritual? It means to us now that God remains true to His
original purpose of grace; and that His idea in the creation and redemption of
man will yet be realized. God never forsakes the work of His own hands. The
Christian Church corrupted its ways and went to awful lengths of worldliness
and ungodliness, but still His long-suffering faithfulness opened a vision of
hope in the darkest days. Around all the symbols and tokens of His grace is the
golden crown of His faithfulness to the primeval promise that the seed of the
woman shall bruise the head of the serpent; and He looks forward steadfastly to
a time, far over the gulf of ages, when a great salvation shall compensate for
all the misery of the world, and Christ shall see of the travail of His soul
and be satisfied. And to the individual believer is it not an inspiring thought
that the golden crown is still around the mercy-seat; that it is kept ever
unshaken amid all his stumblings and backslidings by God’s unchanging purpose
of love? Mercy that endureth for ever has been established on the ground of
everlasting righteousness. You who believe in Christ are not under the law, but
under grace; and God is not merely pitiful and merciful, but faithful and just
to forgive all your iniquities. How comforting, too, is the thought that the
golden crown is ever around the table of shewbread, securing and maintaining
unshaken all your blessings in Christ! Having given you His own Son, God with
Him will freely give you all things. And lastly, how comforting is the thought
that around the altar of incense is ever the golden crown; assuring you that
the sweet savour of Christ’s name, and the very person of the once crucified
but now glorified Redeemer, are ever a fragrant memorial on your behalf in the
presence of God! Jesus Christ ever liveth to make intercession for you. (H.
Macmillan, D. D.)
Verses 17-22
Put the mercy-seat above upon the ark.
The ark and the mercy seat
It was a leading and distinctive feature of Jewish worship
that no image was to represent Jehovah, and yet the Jews were taught that the
omnipotent God resided, specially in the Tabernacle, or Temple, of their
nation, and special rites and prohibitions guarded it, as if the great King
were indeed there.
1. The Jewish holy of holies was empty of any image of Deity, and was
entered by the high-priest alone, and by him only once a year. The centre of
interest in the room was the ark of God, a chest of acacia wood, about four
feet long and two feet six inches broad and deep. It contained the tables of
testimony, the written agreement or covenant between God and the people of Israel.
2. That was not all. The lesson taught at Sinai was not all that the
Jewish ark taught, for the ark had a lid or covering known as the “mercy-seat.”
Inside the ark and below was the law; above and upon the ark was that vacant
space associated, through the sprinkling of blood, with the covering or
forgiving of the people’s transgressions; and with this seat of mercy and
pardon above, rather than with the seat of law below, the presence of God was
associated. The material arrangements taught the Jews great spiritual lessons:
The mercy-seat; its symbolic substance
Although there is but one piece of beaten--or very pure and
malleable gold--yet the plate, or lid of the chest, is obviously distinguished
from the cherubim; and therefore let us treat them severally.
I. It is obvious
that the deposit of the tables in the body of the ark is no guaranty of their
protection and safety, so long as there is no cover to it. The precious
contents are still exposed, though nearly surrounded with golden walls. But
place on it this plate of solid gold, of adequate thickness, and of length and
breadth fully commensurate with the chest itself, and of course with the tables
within, and you complete the idea of protection and safety. What then does this
shield of protection physical represent in the typical or symbolical substance?
The answer cannot be mistaken; Jesus Christ is the Protector and Fulfiller of
law. He only does all things well. Thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. He is the Lord our Righteousness.
1. The law prohibits certain things from being done; and it must be
specially noted, that the Decalogue presents law to us in the negative form
chiefly; eight of the Ten Commandments are formal negations, yet involving
substantial affirmatives. A ninth also, viz., the Fourth Commandment, is
largely a negation. The Fifth alone is purely affirmative. In this form our
Redeemer fulfilled all law; He did no evil, nor was guile found in His mouth.
2. But the Divine law is not a mere negation. Law is positive. It
requires active exercise of all the talents bestowed, and it exhibits positive
benefits as the rewards of active obedience. Thus did our Redeemer fulfil law.
The only positive word of the ten, He observed rigidly--He was obedient to His
parents until He began to be about thirty years of age. Equally full and
complete was His compliance with all positive requirements of law. As is the
mercy-seat to the material substance of the tables, so is Christ to the moral
and spiritual substance of the inscribed law.
II. We proceed with
the cherubim. “The generic meaning of the Hebrew word cherub, the plural of
which is cherubim, is not settled with.certainty. Some critics refer it to an
Arabic source, and infer the meaning to be nearness, contiguity--hence, a
minister or servant; and thus cherubim are the servants of God. Others deduce
it from two Arabic words which signify ‘as‘ or ‘like to a boy’ “They are most
probably correct who form the word from a Hebrew term that means to ride
(raukab) by an interchange” of two of the letters. We have the original and the
derived word brought into immediate connection in Psalms 18:10. “The Jehovah rode upon a
cherub, and did fly.” With a very slight modification, the word here
translated, rode, is used to signify the car or vehicle of the cherub, in 1 Chronicles 28:18. What then are
the Mosaic or Sinaitic cherubim designed and adapted to set forth?
1. They spring from the mercy-seat, are a unit with it, and are
upheld by it. Here are symbolized--
2. They have the human form and face. These proclaim the intelligence
and kindly sympathies of the men who minister in holy things.
3. They have the lion-face--the courage necessary to meet and defy
danger and death.
4. They have the ox-face--patient endurance of labour and toil.
5. They have the eagle-face--symbol of intelligence and lofty aims.
6. They have the wings, which spread out over the mercy-seat, and
betoken their readiness and ability to waft to all the world the glad tidings,
that the law has been fulfilled and justification secured to all who believe in
their jewel-crowned King.
7. They have their faces turned downward to the mercy-seat and the
law it covers. This indicates their chief study of these things, into which the
angels desire to look.
8. Their faces are turned inward, which teaches the restrictions and
limitations of that dispensation; whereas those of Ezekiel and John turn
outward and in all directions; because the times referred to by their ministry
are aggressive; the Sinai restrictions of the Abrahamic covenant--that middle
wall of partition is broken down and the Abrahamic covenant goes forth to make
Abraham the father of many nations, the heir of the world. (George Junkin,
D. D.)
The gospel under the law
I. We have here
the very core of the symbolical ordinances of the Jewish Church. At this point
all the interest of the dispensation is concentrated. The days of that people’s
life as a spiritual community all array themselves around that day, when their
high-priest, their daysman--who represented their nation in shadow, as Christ,
in substance, represents the world--entered that inner sanctuary with the
incense of his people’s prayers and the blood of his people’s sacrifice, and
received commission from the Lord God who dwelt between the cherubim, to lay
the sins of the nation on a victim, who should bear them into the wilderness
away. Here, then, is the focus of the spiritual power of the dispensation, I
mean its power to order man’s spiritual relations with all things and with God.
And hither, to this mercy-seat above the ark, we are to look--if my principle,
that this is a typical people, typical of you and me, be a right one--for those
elements of the good word of God to the men of that dispensation, which relate
it to the universal gospel of God to man and to all worlds--God’s method of
“reconciling all things to Himself.”
II. Let us pass
within the shrine, and behold what it has to reveal.
1. What is the supreme symbol here? The last, the highest, the crown
of the whole, is the mercy-seat. And this appears to me to mean more,
infinitely more, than a promise of forgiveness, upon certain terms. The fact
that with the mercy-seat God completed and crowned the symbolism of the Jewish
dispensation; that He only felt it fit to be His habitation and organ of
expression when that mercy-seat was set there over the ark; that till then it
was a mere shell of a dispensation--as Adam’s body was a mere shell of a man
until God had breathed into his nostrils the breath of life--but that when the
mercy-seat was set, it became capable of entertaining the Divine glory, and
became, in fact, inspired; this fact, I say, is the broad, grand declaration to
Judaism of the essential nature of God. It was the utterance to that age, of
the word which by ten thousand half-articulate voices has been uttering itself
to man since the first days of the creation, and has now become fully
articulate in Christ--God is love. The truth is the same for them and for us;
the substance of the proclamation is the same; the difference lies here, they
heard the word, and saw the glory, but “Hereby know we the love of God, because
He laid down His life for us.”
2. Beneath the mercy-seat, within its bosom, as it were, was the ark
of the testimony, and in it the word of the law. The image here reveals a
harmony--the tables of stone in the ark, the mercy-seat above it, crowning it,
and the glory of the Lord enveloping the whole. The two ideas are
inseparable--mercy and righteousness--when we connect them with the Divine
name. “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed
each other,” in every manifestation of the love of God to man.
3. The third lesson of the symbol, perhaps the highest, is to be
gathered from the contemplation of its unity. We have considered it in its
parts, but it is essentially one. An ark, with a mercy-seat above it, the
cherubim shadowing both, and the Divine glory, the light which was the sign of
God’s personal presence, bathing the whole. It tells us that mercy only crowns
us fully with its benediction, when the Divine testimonies are hidden within
the heart. Man is the true Shekinah. The glory shines from him when the Word is
enshrined within him. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth.” In Him it is no law of words addressed sternly to the
understanding, but a law of life shrined lovingly within the soul. (J. B.
Brown, B. A.)
The mercy-seat
There was no seat in the Tabernacle for the priests, because their
work was never done. They stood to minister in the holy place. “And every
priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this Man (Christ), after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:11-12). The: only seat there
was belonging to the Tabernacle was the mercy-seat, the throne of God really,
where mercy reigned. Mercy signifies goodness bestowed on the unworthy and
undeserving. The mercy-seat represented Jesus Christ, “whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation” or mercy-seat, “through faith in His blood, to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins” (Romans 3:25). Jesus is the true
mercy-seat or throne of grace, where “grace reigns through righteousness unto
eternal life” (Romans 5:21). This is the throne we are
urged to approach boldly, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in
time of need (Hebrews 4:16). God has two thrones, a
throne of mercy and a throne of judgment. He now sits on the throne of mercy,
dispensing mercy and grace to every one that comes to Him. That seat will soon
be removed, and the judgment seat will be put in its place, and God will sit
upon it to judge all men according to their works. (G. Rodgers.)
The mercy-seat
Our mercy-seat, our reconciliation-residence is Jesus, the Divine
Saviour, the God-man mediator. And all the typical teachings of this branch of
our subject may be drawn out in the attempt to answer one question, viz.: What
sort of a mercy-seat have we in Christ?
I. In replying to
this inquiry, I desire to show that we have in Christ, in the first place, an
authorized mercy-seat. He who occupies this mercy-seat is “a just God and a
Saviour.” No violence is done to any principle of honour, or of justice in the
government of the universe by the dispensing of grace from this mercy-seat. The
Divine law is magnified and made honourable. Every attribute of the Divine
character is vindicated.
II. But I observe
secondly of the mercy-seat which we are bidden to approach in Christ that it is
an encouraging mercy-seat. Christ, in the glory of His finished righteousness,
is the medium through which God looks at all His believing children. He sees
them only “in the face of His anointed.” Hence it is said of believers in
Christ that “they are righteous” in God’s sight, “even as He,” etc. Christ “is
righteous.”
III. But thirdly I
observe respecting this mercy-seat that it is full of privilege foe the
present. Suppose you were travelling in a foreign land. You are cut off from
intercourse with all whom you most love on earth. There is only one channel
through which you can hear from home, and obtain the supply of all that is
necessary to meet your daily wants. How precious that channel of communication
would be to you! How you would prize it! How anxious and careful you would be
to keep it open! The thought of having it interrupted, or cut off, would be insupportable
to you. Yet this is but a faint image of the Christian’s position here in the
world, and of the relation of the mercy-seat to Him.
IV. There is only
one other point of view from which we may glance at the mercy-seat, and thus
contemplated it shines before us as bright with hope for the future. Hitherto
it has always been true of Jehovah that, “verily He is a God that hideth
Himself.” But the time cometh, when of all that pertains to the character and
work of God, it may be said, “There hath been nothing hid that will not be made
manifest.” “What we know not now we shall know hereafter.” The true Shekinah
upon the mercy-seat will have no single dark point connected with it. Over all
its outspread surface the cloud will be lighted up with the splendours of
Divinity. You have often seen a mass of clouds in the western sky, unillumined
by the sun’s rays, as the day was drawing to a close. You know how dark and
unattractive that mass appeared. But presently you see the sun pass behind it,
and what a wondrous transformation is wrought in its appearance! How radiant
the whole mass becomes! How every point in it glows and sparkles with the
splendours of the sun that shines through it! So will it be with the cloud upon
our mercy-seat. When Jesus was on earth the coarse garments of humanity were
upon Him. Then the shekinah cloud was dark. But the redeemed shall look upon
that cloud again amidst the glory of the heavenly kingdom. Then all darkness
will have passed away. The sun of uncreated Deity will be pouring all its
brightness through it. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The mercy-seat
I. The design of
the appointment. “And there I will meet with thee.” Meeting with God--communion
with God; and instruction from God--these are in the text the declared purposes
of the solemnities observed before the ark, and they are also the great objects
to be always associated with the public assemblies of the Christian Church.
II. Some of the
peculiarities of this institution.
1. It was altogether of Divine appointment.
2. Another significant fact is that the name “mercy-seat” is manifold
in its meaning. By St. Paul, in Romans 3:25, the mercy-seat is called a
propitiation. The mercy-seat is the place of propitiation, whither the
sacrificial blood was carried, and the red showers were cast around by God’s
high priest. “There I will meet with thee,” saith the Divine word. Only through
a sacrifice can God be approached. The mercy-seat is also called a “covering,”
because, as it concealed in the thick darkness the contents of the ark, it so
became an emblem of the completeness of the process of Divine forgiveness (Psalms 32:1). The Hebrew word for the mercy-seat
is Capporeth, derived from Caphar, a covering, the word which, in Genesis 6:14, represents God as directing
Noah to pitch the ark within and without. About eighty times the word is used
in the Old Testament, and is rendered in our version atone, or atonement. Thus
early, even, as the ministry of Noah, the doctrine of shelter through
substitution was preached to the world. The position occupied by the mercy-seat
is equally significant; it was “upon the ark,” within which was contained the
handwriting of God--the covenant; the promises of God, and His requirements.
III. The spiritual
blessings which were typified by the mercy-seat.
1. To the mercy-seat we must resort to obtain the assurance of the
forgiveness of sin.
2. To the mercy-seat we repair in all times of trial and distress. So
long as communion with God is unimpaired we have a specific for all human woe.
3. Thither also we repair for renewed supplies of grace and strength.
We can only rightly perform our work for the Lord, as we obtain from Him fresh
impartations of heavenly power.
4. It is thither that we must by faith bear the wants of the Church
and the world. (W. G. Lewis.)
The mercy-seat
I. Consider the
typical properties of the mercy-seat.
1. It was intended as a covering to the ark, the latter being
overlaid, and the former made of pure gold. In the ark, covered with the
mercy-seat, were deposited the two tables of the law, given to Moses at Mount
Sinai. This rich and splendid symbol afforded a striking representation of the
incomparable worth and excellence of the Saviour, who in due time should become
the true propitiatory. The way of salvation by the cross of Christ, agrees with
the strictest principles of justice; and to justice and equity it is frequently
ascribed, as well as to the richest grace (Psalms 1:5-6; Isaiah 1:27; Romans 3:25).
2. As the mercy-seat covered the ark, so the cherubims of glory
covered, or as the apostle expresses it, overshadowed the mercy-seat. To this
the apostle Peter seems to allude, when he speaks of the angels as looking with
eager expectation into the wonders of human redemption (1 Peter 1:12). The holy angels love
the Redeemer, worship Him, and rejoice in the reconciliation of sinners to God
through Him.
3. The mercy-seat, and cherubims overshadowing it, formed a glorious
throne, in which the Shekinah or visible presence of the Deity resided; and
hence the Lord is said to dwell between the cherubims (Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 37:16). Thus all the gracious
manifestations of the Divine nature are through the Redeemer.
4. The most solemn acts of worship, under the Levitical dispensation,
had a more immediate reference to the mercy-seat. All of which prefigured the
substitution of Christ in the sinner’s stead, the necessity of His atonement,
and the bearing away of the sins of His people which were laid upon Him.
5. The mercy-seat was the fountain of all good to Israel; from hence
proceeded their choicest blessings. There it was that God gave an audience to
His people, and a favourable answer to their prayers, through the medium of an
intercessor; and though they were not permitted personally to approach, yet all
their supplications were directed towards it. Nor can a word of mercy or of
peace be heard, or any prayers be answered, but through Christ, who is our
mercy-seat.
II. The privileges
connected with the mercy-seat, as the medium of approach to God: “There will I
meet with thee, and I will commune with thee.”
1. “I will meet with thee,” saith the Lord. Not as He once met Moses
at the inn, and sought to slay him; nor as the angel met Balaam, with a drawn
sword in his hand; nor as the Lord once threatened to meet with Ephraim, as a
bear bereaved of her whelps. But as an affectionate parent or tender friend,
which implies a drawing nigh on one part, and sensible manifestation on the
other.
2. “I will commune with thee.” Communion generally denotes that
tender intercourse which one person has with another; and here it is expressive
of that sacred fellowship which subsists between God and His people. This puts
the greatest honour upon the creature, and discovers the most amazing
condescension on the part of God. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Lessons
1. Is there a mercy-seat? and may we bring our sins, our wants, and
sorrows to it ? Oh, let us avail ourselves of the inestimable privilege. A seat
of mercy in a fallen world! how does this bespeak the character and benignity
of God! Why will ye die?
2. Is it possible to realize communion with the Holy One in our
present lapsed and miserable condition? There will I commune with thee, is the
promise of His grace. Let then the children of God seek the closest intimacy
with, the Father of their spirits. The glorious brightness of the eternal
Godhead is attempered to our enfeebled powers in the human sympathies of the
man Christ Jesus. His bosom is the bosom of a friend.
3. Will the Lord open unto us His word, and reveal unto us the
purposes of His love? Yes; He will do so, if ye will wait in meditative and
prayerful expectation upon Him (Psalms 62:5).
4. Amidst the painful bereavements and separations we are often
called to experience here, may we entertain a well-grounded confidence of a
blessed re-union in eternity? Assuredly we may. All Israel had but one seat of
mercy: God in Christ is also the sinner’s friend and the mourner’s comforter.
In meeting Him, we meet each other in Him. All the sun’s bright rays of light
centre in a common focus: all believers are but the several radiations of a
single Saviour, and all will converge to that central Lord again. (W. Mudge.)
The cherubim
The etymology of the word cherub being lost, the name
renders us no assistance in the interpretation of the symbol. It is noteworthy,
however, that Ezekiel applies to similar composite figures the appellation
“living creatures”; and St. John a similar designation, unfortunately
translated “beasts.” Following this clue, we inquire if there is anything in
the composite form itself to carry us onward in this line of interpretation.
The cherubs of the Tabernacle are not described in the specifications, but
mentioned as if the form were already so well known as to need no delineation
for the sake of the general reader. Doubtless the artists were furnished with
minute directions. The living creatures seen by Ezekiel are described by him
with considerable amplification (Ezekiel 1:5-25). They were compounded of
four animals--ox, lion, eagle, man,--each excelling in some one life-power. The
combination suggests a being, real or ideal, uniting in himself the qualities
in which these four different manifestations of life are severally eminent. The
human form is the ground-work of the composition; and the additions to it are
suggestive of an improvement on man by adding to his faculties those in which
other animals are his superiors; as, e.g., the power of vision and
motion peculiar to the eagle, the strength of the lion, and the submission of
the ox. The cherubs seen by St. John in the Apocalypse were different in
appearance from those described by Ezekiel, each having for its ground-form one
of the four animals already mentioned; but the recurrence of these four,
notwithstanding this diversity, confirms the deductions already stated. The idealization
of earthly creatural life by the combination of its highest manifestations was
projected into shape as a composite animal figure, not constant in form, but
varying as one element or another prevailed in the ideal conception. The
presence of all these four animal forms in the visions both of Ezekiel and of
John, renders it probable that the four were wholly, or in part, contained in
the cherubic figures of the Tabernacle. Was, then, this idealization of life
designed to represent beings actually existing in the high grade of life, or
did it point backward to what man was before the fall, and forward to what he
is to be in the restored paradise? There is no passage of Scripture which
indisputably teaches the actual existence of beings represented by these
composite animal figures. In most cases, cherubs appear in scenes which are
plainly symbolic or poetic. The passage in Genesis 3:24, properly understood,
affirms of the cherubs only that they were placed in the east of the garden, or
near its entrance, for doubt- less Eden, like the Tabernacle in the wilderness,
fronted the rising sun. The inference is that they were placed there to have
the same significance as they had in the Tabernacle, in the Temple and in the
Apocalyptic vision of heaven. If, under the Mosaic and Christian dispensations,
these composite figures symbolized humanity redeemed, sanctified, and
glorified, probably they had a parallel meaning when employed in the symbolism
of earlier times. What they signified in the Tabernacle and in the Temple being
the very point to be illuminated, we pass at once from the first scene in the
history of redemption where they appear, to the vision of heaven in which a
Christian Hebrew beheld these symbolic beings before and around the throne of
God (see Revelation 5:9-10). What clearer evidence
than this do we need that the composite animal figures of Hebrew symbolism
represented humanity raised from its death in Adam to fulness of life in
Christ? They were “living ones” because Christ having died for them, and risen
again, had made them partakers of His life. (E. E. Atwater.)
The cherubim
That it cannot be the angels, who are intended by these mysterious
representations, is rendered perfectly clear when you consider that they were
part and parcel of the ark itself. They were not something placed upon it, or
added to it, but they were something made of it, or for it. They were beaten
out of the very materials of the ark itself. The same gold which covered the
mercy-seat was wrought out into the form of the cherubim. This could have no
significancy as applied to the angels. They are indeed “ministering spirits unto
the heirs of salvation,” but they stand in no such intimate relation to the
covenant of redemption as is indicated by the position which the cherubim
occupied. There can be no question on this point. It is not the angels who are
represented by the cherubim. To whom then, or to what do they refer? They are
doubtless to be regarded, not perhaps as actual existences at all, but as
symbols of the glorious qualities or attributes of Christ our Saviour, in
carrying on the great work of our redemption, and of attributes or qualities
which His ransomed people shall share with Him in the glory of His heavenly
kingdom. Let us look then at the qualities indicated by the four-fold faces of
the cherubim.
1. The first is the face of a man. This stands before us as the natural,
and admitted index of knowledge, or intelligence. And this we know is a quality
or attribute which Christ, in His position as our Redeemer, the crowning glory
of our ark of the covenant, possesses in the fullest measure. “In Him are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
2. But the cherubim are representative of our humanity in its
glorified state. And looking at it from this point of view we may gaze upon the
“face of a man” in this mysterious symbol till it seems to have a voice and
utterance, and to speak to us in eloquent terms of the grand disclosures, the
marvellous unfoldings, of what are now hidden things, awaiting us in that
bright world to which we are hastening.
3. The second face which the cherubim bore was “the face of a lion.” Two
qualities are here indicated, viz., courage and majesty. Now the great Captain
of our salvation, in the campaign which He undertook, when He resolved to put
down the rebellion which had broken out in this province of His Father’s
dominions, afforded the grandest exhibition of this noble quality which the
world or the universe has ever witnessed. And this quality is a characteristic
of redeemed humanity as well as of Him who redeemed it. It applies to true
Christians even now. “The righteous are bold as a lion,” says the wise man. But
it will apply to them much more truly hereafter. It is said of them that--“they
shall have boldness in the day of judgment.” But “the face of the lion” was
indicative of majesty as well as courage. This is the halo round Christ’s
character--the radiance formed by this shining forth of His own glory. He is
“the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person.”
But this is a quality, too, which will mark the condition of the redeemed, in
the glory of their future state. True, with them it will not be an inherited,
but an imparted quality. In themselves, of their own, they have nothing
attractive, or majestic. But they do have that imparted to them, by their
glorious Lord, which makes them so.
4. The third face which the cherubim bore was “the face of an ox.”
The quality which this represents is, manifestly, that of strength for service.
This, we know, is a glorious attribute of our Divine Redeemer. It is one which
He possesses, too, in absolute perfection. But it symbolized the same quality
as marking the condition of His people in that glorious kingdom to which it is
His gracious purpose eventually to bring them. It is the covenant privilege of
the redeemed, even now, in the imperfection of this fallen state, to be “strong
in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” They “take hold of His strength,”
and this enables them to mount up with wings as eagles, to “run and not be
weary, to walk and not faint.” But the ark, and the cherubim upon it, point us
onward to the heavenly world. It is a quality, or property, of redeemed
humanity in the glory of the resurrection state to which the symbol now before
us refers. There will then be bliss in every service, and rest in every motion.
5. The last face associated with this mysterious symbol was “the face
of an eagle.” Now, one of the things for which an eagle is remarkable, is its
keenness of vision. And all the power, or quickness of vision, which the eagle
possesses is but a symbol of a corresponding attribute of character pertaining
to Christ. His eyes are in every place. “He seeth the end from the beginning.”
He knoweth our necessities before we ask.
6. But how does this apply to the redeemed in the glory of their
future state (see Hebrews 6:5)? which certainly refers to
faculties, attributes, or qualities, mental, moral, or physical, to be
possessed by the redeemed of Christ amidst the glory and blessedness of the
world to come. Again, when I read Isaiah 33:17, I feel that, if I am a
believer in Jesus, I have here a promise, in symbol, of such an enlargement of
perceptive faculty and power of vision as quite passes my capacity at present
to comprehend.
7. But quickness of motion, or speed of flight is another
characteristic quality of the eagle. And this we know is a quality which
strikingly marks the character of Christ in carrying on the work of our
redemption. It was so when He was on earth. What He did for those who sought
His gracious intervention, He did quickly. This quality marks His character
still. It is only by the practical development of it that He can make good His
word when He engages in one place to be to all His people “a very present help
in trouble”; and in another to be always “a God at hand, and not afar off”; or
when, in still another place, His promise runs--“Before they call I will
answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” It is clearly manifest
how “the face of the eagle” upon the cherubim points to this feature of our
Lord’s character.
8. But what bearing has this on the position of the redeemed in
glory? I answer, a very natural and necessary bearing. It teaches us that
quickness of motion, or speed of flight, will be a characteristic of that
state. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The cherubim
It is very instructive to observe that the first time we read
about the cherubim is in Genesis 3:24, where they are seen with
flaming swords guarding the way to the tree of life, and ready to destroy any
man who might be bold enough to try and force his way through to that tree; and
the next time we read of them is in (Exodus 25:1-40), where they are guarding
the throne of mercy; and here, blessed be God, they hold no flaming swords in
their hands, but they are bending over the mercy-seat, and looking at the blood
sprinkled there. They are not looking under the mercy-seat; there was the law,
the ministration of death. They do not turn their faces eastward and look out
at the people; had they done so, they would have beheld a multitude of sinners:
but they look at that which conceals and covers up the ministration of death.
Their eyes are fixed on the propitiation for sin--on that which is an atonement
for sin. They are looking at Jesus; there they find their joy and rest. And I
would look where they look: my mind would be occupied with that which gives joy
to the highest rank of angels, the ministers who stand nearer to the throne of
God than any other beings in the universe. (G. Rodgers.)
There I will meet with
thee.--
Meeting with God
I. To the Jews,
God set apart one special place for sacrifice, one special place for closest
communion, and he who wanted some direct oracle from God must go to that spot
to get his answer. The oneness continues, but now it is not oneness of spot,
but it is oneness of path. And there the spot lies, at the end of the path--it
is one path. All the oneness of the types of the Mosaic law go to make the
oneness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as on that one grand spot, “between those
cherubims,” God declared He would meet and commune with Israel, so now, at that
one spot, Christ, God covenants that He will meet with you, and commune with
you. Christ is God’s mercy-seat. Christ is the gold of His Deity, and the wood
of His humanity, and all to enshrine, to keep the law, the law for man. In
after times, two other things were placed in the ark, of which we will not
speak now--the rod of Aaron, emblem of the eternal priesthood of Christ, and
the pot of manna, showing that Christ is the bread and the nourishment, the
sustenance of His people in the journey of life.
II. It was upon
such a mercy-seat, God said, “I will meet with thee, and commune with thee.”
You see, then, that your interviews with God, your holy communings, depend upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. According to your views of Christ, according to your
nearness to Christ, so will be your experience here in private of communion
with God. Accustom yourself to lay out in order the ark, and all that went to
make that mercy-seat, and that glory, and those communings. And the more you
lay out in order before your mind the attributes, and the glory, and the work
of Jesus, the more you will hear still small voices, the more you will enjoy
those “times of refreshing,” the more God will reveal Himself to you as He does
not to the world, the more you will “acquaint yourself with Him, and be at
peace.” If you have not real communion with God, the reason lies simply
there--Christ is not in His place--the ark is not set up--you are not honouring
Christ--you have low views of Christ--you have been looking at wrong things--you
are expecting communion apart from your Saviour.
III. There could be
no true throne of God in the world, if mercy were separated from justice. But
now it is just in God to be merciful, because of the deep things that that ark
tells us. Therefore if any of you are worshipping God in fear, if there are any
downcast and depressed, any who think they hear condemning sounds, any to whom
God presents Himself in the light of a Master, One whom they fear, remember,
God sits upon a mercy-seat. It is in mercy He communes with you. He has no word
but mercy. Judgment is a strange word. He loveth mercy--mercy dwells with
God--it is all mercy. Go to Him for mercy, let it be a poor sinner communing
with his God upon a mercy-seat. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Community between God and man
I. That in Christ
we meet with God as a Being of immutable rectitude. In Christ the moral law
was--
1. Perfectly embodied;
2. Powerfully enforced.
II. That in Christ
we meet with God as a Being disposed to exercise clemency.
1. Christ is the highest expression of God’s mercy.
2. Christ is the greatest demonstration of God’s mercy.
3. Christ is the mightiest agent of God’s mercy. The messenger of
infinite love.
III. That in Christ
we meet with God as the Lord of angelic intelligences. (Homilist.)
The mercy-seat
I. In the
mercy-seat, or in Christ, we meet the law of god.
1. Christ gives a new view of law.
2. Christ introduces a new relation in reference to law.
3. Christ creates in His people an affection for the law.
II. In the
mercyseat, or in Christ, we meet the mercy of god.
1. The atonement of Christ is the medium for the exercise of mercy.
2. The atonement of Christ is the evidence of the value of mercy.
III. In the
mercy-seat, or in Christ, we meet the glory of god.
1. This may be applied to the very essence of God.
2. Christ in the Scriptures is represented as reflecting the moral
attributes of God.
IV. In the
mercy-seat, or in Christ, we meet the angels of god. (Caleb Morris.)
Condition of communion with God
Birds cannot converse with men unless they had a rational nature
put into them, nor can men converse with God unless, being made new creatures,
they partake of the Divine nature. Communion with God is a mystery to most;
every one that bangs about the court doth not speak with the king; all that
meddle with holy duties and, as it were, hang about the court of heaven, hath
not communion with God; it is only the new creature enjoys God’s presence in
ordinances, and sweetly converses with Him, as a child with a father. (T.
Watson.)
Set upon the table shewbread.
The table of shewbread
I. The first
lesson we learn here is taught us by the nature of the bread upon the table.
This we know, on the very best authority, was a symbol of Christ. Jesus taught
us this distinctly and clearly when He said, “I am the Bread of Life.” That
bread upon the table points to Jesus. How apt a type, or emblem of Him, it was!
The bread was a prepared substance. A compound substance. A necessary
substance. As suitable as necessary.
II. Our second
lesson is furnished by observing the way in which this bread was manifested.
Two things were required to this end, viz., the light which shone from the
golden candlestick, and the table to lift up, or elevate the bread so that it
could be distinctly seen. If the candlestick were not lighted, and casting
forth its illuminating beams, the bread might be upon the table, but darkness
would envelope it. The officiating priest could never see it. And so it is only
the light of revelation, the illuminating influence of the Holy Ghost, which
can make manifest Christ, the true bread from heaven, to the souls of famishing
sinners.
III. The third
lesson it teaches us is suggested by the abundance of the supply placed upon
it. The table bore twelve loaves. There was one for each of the tribes. No part
of God’s family was overlooked, or neglected, in the symbolical provision thus
made for their necessities. And what was true, in this respect, of the symbol,
is equally true of the thing symbolized. Jesus, whom the bread upon the golden
table represented, is an infinite Saviour. The resources of His sufficiency are
exhaustless.
IV. We are taught a
lesson by the time for the renewing of the bread upon it. By an ordinance of
God this was always to be done upon the Sabbath. Thus God would put honour upon
the Sabbath, and associate it, in the minds of His people, with the thought of
obtaining the supply of their spiritual necessities.
V. We learn a
lesson from the continual freshness of the bread set out upon it. Christ never
grows old. His people are often weary of other things; they grow weary of
themselves--weary of their sins and sorrows, and weary of the world and its
vanities--but they never, never grow weary of Jesus. Having once eaten of the
bread which He gives, which He constitutes, it is literally true that they
“never hunger” for the husks the world can offer.
VI. We gather our
sixth and last lesson from the covering of frankincense which we see spread out
over the top of the bread. When we remember that these loaves were a figure of
Christ, and that frankincense is a token of that which is pleasing, or
grateful, we seem to have exhibited, in beautiful symbol before us, the
acceptableness of Christ and His work to the Father. (R. Newton, D.D.)
The table in God’s house
“Table,” gives us the idea of fellowship, social intercourse,
friendship, satisfaction; all which we find in the house of God. “Truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” What a sacred
privilege it is to eat bread in the presence of God. And not only to eat in His
presence, but to eat the “Presence Bread.” “He shall eat the bread of his God,
both of the most holy and of the holy.” At God’s table there is social
intercourse. The saints commune one with another and all commune with God. “We
are all partakers of that one bread.” Sweet is the intercourse of God with His
people at the table of His grace. It is a proof of friendship. “I have eaten my
honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat O friends;
drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” Here we find sacred satisfaction. “I
will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.” “They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.” “The meek shall
eat and be satisfied.” “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.” There is
no stint where God is the host. In His house there is bread enough and to
spare. He fills our cup to overflowing with consolation, and with joy. Those
who dwell in God’s house will never come to an empty table, nor find God absent
from His throne of mercy. “Surely goodness”--to supply my wants--“and mercy,”--to
pardon my sins--“shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord for ever.” (R. E. Sears.)
The tables of grace and glory
The incorruptible wood may be an emblem of grace, the gold an
emblem of glory. God’s table on earth is the table of His grace. His table in
the heavenly world is the table of His glory. If we are guests at the table of
grace, we shall be entertained at the table of glory. Grace is glory began.
Glory is grace perfected. Grace is the earnest of our inheritance. Glory is the
possession of the estate. By grace we are prepared for glory. When the work of
grace is completed, we shall hear the welcome, “Come up higher.” By faith we
sit at the table of grace. At the table of glory faith will be changed to
sight. Both tables are furnished with the same provision. Christ the true Bread
of Life is the spiritual food of the believer on earth: and in heaven we shall
eat the same Divine celestial Bread. “The Bread of God” is the nourishment of
the spiritual life; and it is the joy of the eternal life. (R. E. Sears.)
The table of shewbread
Made of acacia wood, and plated with gold, it was three feet long,
one foot and six inches wide, two feet and three inches high. Around its verge
was an ornamental cincture of solid gold, similar to that which adorned the
ark. Beneath this was a border of wood four inches and a half wide, plated, of
course, with gold, and adorned with another crown of gold. The table was
furnished with golden rings at the corners, and with staves which were put
through these rings when the table was to be carried on the shoulders of the
Levites, but removed when the tabernacle had been erected in a new encampment,
and the bearers had deposited their burden in its appointed position. The rings
were attached at the same height as the wooden border; but the specifications
do not intimate how far above the ground this was affixed. (E. E. Atwater.)
The shewbread, etc
.:--The table was furnished with two dishes for bread, two for
frankincense, and probably two for wine. Twelve flat loaves of bread in two
piles, constantly stood on it, fresh loaves being brought every Sabbath, and
the loaves which were removed being eaten by the priests only. The number of
the loaves doubtless indicates that the whole covenant people, the twelve
tribes of Israel, were to participate in this offering to their covenant God.
On the top of each pile was a dish of frankincense, and near by were cups of
wine, as seems probable from the description of the dishes as suitable to pour
with (Exodus 25:29 margin). The Septuagint
calls them bowls and cups; and the Jewish tradition is, that they contained
wine for a libation or drink-offering, such as accompanied every food-offering
at the altar in the court. The table of shewbread was in some sense an altar,
being the appointed place where certain offerings to Jehovah were to be placed
before Him. The materials of these sacrifices were the same as those of the food-offerings
and drink-offerings in the court. Corn and wine, or bread and wine, being the
product of the life-work of the Hebrews, represented, in the symbolism of the
Tabernacle, the fruit of work in the higher sphere where one labours not for
perishable food, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life. This is the
true bread from heaven of which wheat, manna, and other kinds of food, are
figures; it is not only the life-product of those who have been born again, but
their chief enjoyment, the sufficient reward of all their labour. Knowing,
however, that God has even more desire for the sanctification of His people
than they themselves have, they wish Him to enjoy with them the fruits of this
spiritual husbandry. It is this fellowship of God with His people in the
enjoyment of their sanctification which the shewbread represents. (E. E.
Atwater.)
Significance of the golden table
May not the golden table point to the abundant supply of good
things prepared in the heavenly temple, for all those whom Christ will make
kings and priests unto God for ever? There a table is spread before His face,
that is continually furnished with new wine and heavenly manna, with which the
ransomed of the Lord will be refreshed, and made glad: “In Thy presence is
fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (W.
Brown.)
The shewbread
The bread was made of fine flour (Leviticus 24:5-9), and was unleavened.
Twelve cakes, in piles of six each, always stood on the table; hence it was
called the perpetual bread. It was also named the bread arranged in order, the
meaning of which is obvious. Its more significant name we will notice
presently. On the top of each pile was placed frankincense, probably in the
cups we have spoken of. It is thought by some that this frankincense was burned
once a week, when the bread was being renewed; and by others that it was ever
burning, which does not appear very likely, as the quantity consumed would be very
great; but there may have been some means by which it was very slowly consumed,
and kept always burning; in that case the holy place would be ever fragrant.
The bread was called the “shewbread” (Hebrew, “bread of faces,” or “presence
bread”) because it was before the symbol of God’s presence--the veil only
intervening. The bread was renewed every Sabbath by fresh loaves; those which
were removed belonged to the priests, and could be eaten only by them, and in
the holy place and nowhere else. All thank-offerings were holy--this one was
peculiarly so: “It is most holy unto Him of the offerings made by fire”. (Leviticus 24:9). Only the shewbread and
the incense offerings were presented in the holy place; all the other offerings
were brought to the brazen altar in the court. The ceremonies connected with
all the sacrifices were soon over, except in the case of the shewbread, which
was a ceaseless offering. The bread was ever on the table before the Lord. (W.
Brown.)
The shewbread
This bread was made of fine flour. Fine flour is bread-corn
which has been bruised until it is smooth and even. Christ is the bread-corn
bruised, and in Him there is no roughhess or unevenness. In us there is much
unevenness; we are soft and smooth one day, and changed and rough the next. But
it was not so with Christ. The circumstances in which He was placed were ever
changing, yet He remained always the same--unchanged and unchangeable. Leaven
is the emblem of evil: it is a corrupt and a corrupting thing (Matthew 16:6-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9). Christ was before God
during the whole of His life, as the bread was before God in the Tabernacle
seven days. The number seven is the symbol of perfection; it is a complete
period. And as God discovered no leaven in the bread during the time it was
before Him on the table, so He found no evil in Jesus during His life on earth;
and as the bread was taken from the table and given to the priests, so Christ
is given to the saints, the spiritual priests, that they may live on Him. He is
our food, our daily bread. And as we must have bread every day on our tables,
whatever else of sweet or savoury food we may have beside, so we must have
Christ to feed upon every day. We may have many other things and many other
friends, but we cannot do without Christ. No one can be healthy and strong who
does not get good food; and no soul can be truly healthy that does not feed on
Jesus Christ. To eat a book is to consider it well, and to eat the flesh and to
drink the blood of Christ is to consider Him with faith and love; it is to
receive Him into the heart. This is the soul-refreshing, soul-satisfying, and
imperishable food of the Father’s house. Feeding on this blessed food will keep
us from longing after the husks that swine feed on. In Christ God has provided
a feast for fainting and famishing souls; and hungry souls thankfully receive
Him, but others turn away. None but priests could feed on this bread (Matthew 12:4; Mark 2:26). And a man must now be a
priest before he can enter into the true Tabernacle and eat the food of the
Father’s house. Not even the priests could eat the shewbread outside of the
Tabernacle: they must eat it in the holy place (Leviticus 24:9). So a man must be holy to
find full enjoyment in Christ. Happiness and holiness are twin sisters, and
they travel side by side: they are never separated, so you cannot have one without
the other. The more we feast on this heavenly bread, the holier and happier we
must become. Eating and drinking are acts which one cannot perform for another.
The food may be very good, but it does not minister strength and nourishment to
my body till I eat it; by this act I make it my own. So we must receive Christ
by faith, receive Him for ourselves. (G. Rodgers.)
A candlestick of pure gold.
The golden candlestick
I. This light
shines because it is light, without effort, spontaneously. If the lamp is
kindled it will shine; and so this emblem has its beautiful felicity in that it
points, as the highest definition of all Christian men, to the effortless,
spontaneous irradiation and streaming out from themselves of the fire that lies
within them. Like a light in an alabaster vase, that shines through its
transparency and reveals the lovely veining of the stone, so the grace of God
in a man’s heart will shine through him, turning even the opacity of his
earthly nature into a medium for veiling perhaps, but also in another aspect
for making visible the light that is in him.
II. The light was
derived light; and it was fed. We have a priest who walks in His temple and
trims the lamps. The condition of the light is keeping close to Christ, and it
is because there is such a gap between you and Him that there is so little
brightness in you. The candlestick was really a lamp fed by oil; that symbol,
as Zechariah tells us, stands for the Divine influence of God’s quickening
Spirit.
III. The light was
clustered light. The seven-branched candlestick represented the rigid, formal
unity of the Jewish Church. In the New Testament we have the seven candlesticks
diverse, but made one because Jesus Christ is in the midst of them. In this
slight diversity of emblem we get the whole difference between the hard
external unity of the ancient Jewish polity and the free variety in unity and
diversity of the Christian Church, with its individual development as well as
with its binding association. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The candlestick
Look at the text as typical of Christ and His Church.
I. Perfection of
light. He was “the true Light,” etc. (John 1:9). He came to shed light on every
important subject; to let us know--
1. What God is, “in the face of Jesus Christ.” To let us know--
2. What man is--in his sin, his spiritual relations, his wants, his
destiny, etc. To let us know--
3. The future--to bring to light life and immortality.
II. Perfection of
union. Branches united to one stem, and both of same material. (The Study.)
The candlestick
It was composed of a main shaft, with its connecting
branches.
1. If these branches represent the Church of Christ, the central
shaft may well be regarded as representing Christ Himself. From Christ the
Church springs, and by Him it is supported, as the outspreading arms of the
candlestick are by its central shaft. The Church is united to Him, and
sustained by Him.
2. Notice next the branches of the candlestick. These sprang from the
central shaft, and were of the same material with each other, and with it. So
it is with Christ and His people. “He who sanctifieth, and they who are
sanctified are all of one.”
3. Notice next the ornaments upon the candlestick.
Lessons:
1. The necessity of a Divine revelation. Without the light of the
candlestick, darkness, the most profound, must have filled the Tabernacle. And
just such would have been our condition, spiritually considered, without the
light of Divine revelation. Reason, the natural sun in the mental world, can
shed no light upon the soul’s concerns. There is no window in the soul through
which the light of this natural luminary can shine. The priest in the sanctuary
could only see his way and discharge his duties by the help of light from the
candlestick, and this was light from heaven, a Divine revelation. And it is
only by the aid of such a revelation that we can see our way in reference to
spiritual things.
2. The benefits of such a revelation. We perceive this the moment we
look around us, in the holy place, and observe what the light of the
candlestick discloses to our view. See, over against it stands the golden table
with its shewbread. The candlestick, with its heavenly light, enabled the
priest, as he entered the holy place, to see where to find this bread. He could
not have seen it without this light. And so it is only the light of Divine
revelation which reveals Christ, the heavenly bread, to souls that are
hungering and perishing for the want of it.
3. The perfection of this revelation. Seven lamps. (R. Newton, D.
D.)
The golden candlestick
The candlestick of the Tabernacle was to burn continually in the
holy place (Leviticus 24:2); continually let us
question ourselves with respect to our attainments, state, and prospects. In
individuality of character let each one ask--
1. Have I seriously and deliberately sought the illumination of my
understanding in the things of God from above? I read, “If thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as
silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand
the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:3-5). Do I thus cry and lift
up my voice in supplication for heavenly wisdom? And is God’s Law really better
to me than thousands of gold or silver? The blessing is annexed to the precept;
can I expect the one without a compliance with the other?
2. Am I walking in the light and comfort of the Holy Ghost? As both a
Teacher and a Comforter is the Spirit given. Does He lead me in the way
everlasting (Psalms 139:24), and cheer me with tokens
of good (Psalms 86:17)?
3. Do I realize the constant inspection of the Son of Man amidst the
congregations of His people? He walks among the golden candlesticks. Is the
preacher free from all unbecoming fear of his fellow-mortals on the one hand,
and is there no lurking latent aiming after worldly popularity on the other?
Does the hearer listen as for life, cultivating a child-like spirit before the
Lord, and cherishing no needless or refined fastidiousness about voice or
manner in the teacher? (W. Mudge.)
Of the golden candlestick
The pure gold signified how excellent the Word of God is: More to
be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold (Psalms 19:10). We are not curiously here
to seek the difference of the knops, branches, and flowers, but only to rest in
the general--that the candlestick signified the Word. The candlestick had seven
branches; it signified the divers gifts bestowed upon His Church by the Word,
and John alludeth to the seven branches of this candlestick: “And in the midst
of the seven candlesticks one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment” (Revelation 1:13). This was but typus
arbitrarius, or an allusion; for the golden candlestick was not made to be
a type of the seven Churches of Asia, but it is only an allusion to it. So “the
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life” (Proverbs 11:30), here is an allusion
only, that it is like to the tree of life. The oil which was in this
candlestick was pure oil. “Command the children of Israel that they bring unto
thee pure oil olive, beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn
continually” (Leviticus 24:2). This pure oil is called
golden oil, or gold for the purity of it, because the oil was bright, clear,
and glistering, like gold (Zechariah 4:12). So “Gold cometh out of
the north” (Job 37:22);that is, fair and clear
weather. It was beaten oil, to signify with what pain and travail the Word is
prepared, and with patience preached and made to shine in His Church. The Lord
commanded to make snuffers of pure gold for the snuffing of the lamps, and
snuff-dishes to receive the snuff. He would have the snuff taken from the
light, to signify that He would have the Word kept in sincerity and purity; and
He would have the snuffers of gold, to teach them to be blameless and holy who
are censurers and correctors of others; and He would have the snuff-dishes of
gold, to teach them that the covering of the offences of their brethren was a
most excellent thing. Lastly, in what manner the priests dressed the lamps.
When the lamp was out he lighted it, and when it was not out he dressed it.
When the middlemost lamp was out he lighted it from the altar; but the rest of
the lamps every one he lighted from the lamp that was next; and he lighted one
after another, to signify that one Scripture giveth light to another; and they
say in the Talmud that the cleansing of the innermost altar was before the trimming
of the five lamps; and the trimming of the five lamps before the blood of the
daily sacrifice; and the blood of the daily sacrifice before the trimming of
the two lamps; and the trimming of the two lamps before the burning of incense.
That the priests should order and trim the lamps signifieth how Christ and His
ministers should continually look unto the purity of doctrine and preaching of
the light of the gospel from evening to morning in the dark place of this
world, “until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts” (Revelation 1:13; 2 Peter 1:19). (John Weemes.)
The candlestick a type of Christ
I. It was the only
thing that held the light which enlightened the sanctuary! From Christ all the
light of grace comes for the benefit of His Church.
II. It had seven
lamps (verse 37), to signify that perfection of light that is in Christ.
III. It was placed
in the sanctuary. So is Christ as a glorious light placed in His Church.
IV. It had an
upright stem, which bore the many branches issuing from it.
V. The branches
were adorned with bowls, knobs, flowers, etc. So are Christ’s ministers adorned
with many graces.
VI. Aaron dressed
those lamps and renewed their oil daily. So our High Priest is the only
enlightener of His faithful ministers.
VII. The candlestick
had snuffers and snuff-dishes of pure gold; which might figure forth the good
and godly discipline of the Church whereby evil persons who hinder its glory
are taken away. (B. Keach.)
The golden chandelier
This consisted of a main shaft with three branches diverging from
it on each side. It was made wholly of gold. If hollow, it could hardly have
been beaten into shape with the hammer, but must have been cast, perhaps in
separate pieces, and afterwards soldered together. The weight of it, including
the lamps and a few small utensils used in trimming them, was a Hebrew talent,
or about one hundred and thirteen pounds troy; which in gold coin would be
equivalent to £5,500. There was a threefold ornamentation in the chandelier,
repeated four times in the main shaft, and thrice in each of the branches,
described as a bowl, a knob, and a flower, and by some supposed to represent
the cup-shaped calyx, the round fruit, and the open blossom of an almond tree.
The word translated “flower” signifies, however, a stem; and the order in which
the triad is arranged indicates that the first was the flower, the second the fruit,
and the third the stem. The three pairs of branches came out of the main stem
at the three places of junction between its four sections of calyx, fruit, and
stem. On the upper extremities of the chandelier were seven eye-shaped, or
almond-shaped lamps; the wick of the middle lamp projecting from its west end,
and the wicks of the others from the end of the lamp nearest to the main shaft.
These lamps were not fastened to the chandelier, but so placed upon it that the
priest could remove them when he came in the morning to extinguish and trim
them, and in the evening to light them for the night. But, though not fastened
to the stand as a part of it, they had each its appointed place in the row, and
never exchanged places. It seems so natural that the row of lamps should have
been parallel with the south wall of the Tabernacle, near which it stood, that
almost all writers have passed over the testimony of Josephus to the contrary;
who is careful to state that “the lamps looked to the east and to the south,
the candlestick being placed obliquely.” (E. E. Atwater.)
Significance of the lamp-stand
The light emitted by the lamps may have been sometimes
useful to the priests in their ministrations; but their aggregation on one
stand, and the significant seven by which the number of them is determined,
indicate that they were placed here to assist in the representation of
religious thought. Their position with reference to the table suggests the
possibility that the light was, in its symbolism, the complement of the
shewbread. With this hint in mind, we ask, What is it of which light is the
natural emblem? Sometimes it is used for knowledge, and especially for the
knowledge of God and His relations to man. Knowledge is light; and to impart
knowledge is to enlighten. But the import of light in Scripture extends beyond
the sphere of the intellect into that of the conscience, covering the domain of
duty as well as of verity. The children of light are those who obey, as well as
perceive, the reality of the invisible and eternal. Hence those who are the
light of the world not only impart knowledge to the ignorant, but reproof to
the erring. In short, light in Hebrew symbolism, includes holiness, as well as
knowledge. The offering of light which the covenant people brought as an
accompaniment to the fruit of their life-work was the symbol of sanctified
character. The two symbols are mutually complementary. The prayers and the alms
of a good man come up as a memorial before God; and his example, by holding
forth the word of life, diffuses an assimilating influence. But this light of
holiness man is as unable to produce of himself as is a lamp to shine without
oil, and oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit; so that the oblation of light
which the covenant people presented to Jehovah in the Tabernacle contained in
itself a declaration that they were sanctified by the indwelling Spirit of God.
The same idea was again brought to view in the number of the lamps; seven
representing a transaction between God and man, and therefore in Mosaism
standing for the covenant itself. The illumination was effected by the
co-operation of the infinite and the finite; and the lamps were seven because
that is the sum of the numerical signatures of the two parties united in
producing the light. The lamp-stand served not merely to bear the lamps, but to
assist in the symbolism. It represents the covenant people, the organized
community, who by the example of their obedience shine for the illumination of
the world. The seven branches indicate that it is not a merely human
institution, but that God is in the midst of it. (E. E. Atwater.)
The light of Christ
“A friend told me that the electric light was so much under
control that a gentleman had it in his scarf-pin at a meeting to discuss the
utility of the new light. When he stepped on to the platform, the gas was
lowered; he then touched two little springs placed on each side of his body,
and the brilliant light shone out under his chin, giving light to all around.
In a similarly brilliant manner the light of Christ should radiate from every
part of living Christians; their eyes should shine with it, their tongues
sparkle with it, their hands should be gentle, and their feet should be swift
to let others know about Jesus, the Light of the world.”
Increasing luminousness the duty of Christ’s Church
It should grow as rapidly in this grace as it does in any
other. The world has advanced in nothing, perhaps, more marvellously than in
the betterment of its light-producing contrivances. The improvement made during
the last century is very marked. Mankind’s lamp one hundred years ago smoked
almost as much as it shone. Its wick, being round and bulky, brought up more
oil than could be consumed. The first change was to a flat thin wick. This gave
a wider surface for the air to act upon. Those particles of carbon which had
previously passed off as soot were changed from smoke to flame. The lamp became
still more brilliant when the Argand burner was invented. This is cylindrical
and hollow. Through its centre rushes a current of air. The flame is thus both
enlarged and intensified. The chimney, afterwards added, caused a stronger
draught and a fiercer combustion. Mr. Gurney went a step further when he
arranged to substitute a current of pure oxygen for common air. The light
produced resembled sunshine, and when introduced to the House of Commons,
superseding the two hundred and forty wax candles previously used, rendered it
unprecedently bright. Then came coal-gas, and now, last of all, has blazed upon
us the electric light, which is veritable lightning. (J. Brekenridge.)
A blended radiance
The seven-branched candlestick of the ancient Tabernacle
and Temple represented the rigid, formal unity of the Jewish Church. We go to
the New Testament, and instead of one hard, external unity, represented by that
upright stem, and its three arms on each side, we have the seven candlesticks,
diverse, but made one because Jesus Christ is in the midst of them. And in that
slight diversity of emblem we get the whole difference between the hard,
external unity of the ancient Jewish polity and the free variety in unity and
diversity of the Christian Church, with its individual development as well as
with its binding association. But for all that, the Church is one light. The
rings of light in our gas-stands are pierced with a great number of little
holes round each circle, but when you light each tiny jet they all run into
one. So the highest form of Christian witness is not when a man starts off from
his brethren and sets himself alone in a corner, but when he is content to
blend his radiance with his brethren’s radiance, and not to mind about his own
prominence so long as he contributes to the general light of all. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
The golden candlestick
Christ and the Church are both seen here. The base and stock, or
main pillar, represent Christ. The branches represent the Church of Christ.
Jesus was bruised, and His people are bruised. Christ was made “perfect through
suffering” (Hebrews 2:10). And the people of God have
to be bruised (Philippians 3:10). It was the duty of the
high priest to trim the lamps twice every day, when he came with his golden
snuffers and removed any dead material which hindered the light from shining.
So Christ, our High Priest, walks among His golden candlesticks, and He has
often to apply the snuffers, and to cut off something which hinders the lamp
from sending forth its light as it did in times past. When the high priest came
with his snuffers he brought the oil-vessel at the same time; so when Christ
removes a something which we love, but which hinders us from giving forth that
light which ought to shine out from us, He gives us more of the oil of the Holy
Spirit’s power and grace, so that our afflictions may really make us brighter
and better Christians. We read about snuffers and snuff-dishes in connection
with the candlestick, but not a word is said about an extinguisher. No
extinguisher was needed, because the light was never to go out. Our High Priest
never comes to us to put out our light; He would have it burn on all the time
we remain in the wilderness. Let the Christian remember this, and never mistake
the snuffers for the extinguisher. As the candlestick faced the table of
shewbread, and so enabled the priests to find their food, it may represent the
light of the Holy Ghost which shines on Christ, the true bread. The table is
prepared, the food is there, but without the light of the Spirit we shall never
find it. We should thank God as much for the Spirit as for the Son, for one
will be of no use to us without the other. (G. Rodgers.)
Their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
Heaven’s teaching on earth’s duties
I. That nothing is
too trivial for God to notice.
II. That we should
speak to God about ordinary work, even in our seasons of highest spiritual communion.
III. That even
slight deviations from God’s directions are forbidden.
IV. That what we
are called upon to do has far more depending upon it than we suppose. (A.
Rowland, LL. B.)
Purpose in life; a lesson to the young
I. The necessity
of a deliberate purpose in life. When an architect, or builder, or engineer,
undertakes the construction of a house, the first thing he does is to get
perfect his plans, and to be sure they are correct, so that he knows well what
the future house, or bridge, or railway, will be like. If he went at his work
in a haphazard manner, it would end in failure and disappointment. So with
life.
II. This purpose of
life should be formed on the model shown us by God.
1. The highest life is the holiest life, for it is nearest to the model
set us by God.
2. The plan by which we are to mould our temporal concerns is already
given us. Look at Mount Sinai for laws to obey; at the Mount of Olives for
loving directions: at the Mount of Transfiguration for anticipation, hope of
glory; at Mount Calvary for forgiven sin. (Homilist.)
The pattern in the mount
I. Moses did his
work from a plan, and did not get his plan from his work. Reality is prior to
the show of itself. There are no planless seeds. A far-reaching plan is the
best one. Calculation is better than caprice. We are wiser in the long reach of
thought than in the short reach. We are lost in the woods because we have no
room for a long look. You say life is short. Better live on the short arc of a
long circle than describe a little circle with the same line. Immediate results
are meagre results. Plan solidifies. Power is measurable by purpose.
Shiftlessness is a name for aimlessness. To-morrow depends on to-day, but
to-day depends on to-morrow also. Past and present sustain each other. Plan
gives moral safeguard. Adam fell because he had nothing to do, and the first
act in the redemptive scheme was to set him to work. Satan recruits his ranks
from the vagrants. The apostles were working men. The drifting boat drifts down
stream. Young aimlessness is the beginning of old iniquity. Employment is a
subsidiary means of conversion. Character, purpose and apprenticeship are not
far apart.
II. Moses brought
down his pattern from the mount. There is a celestial way of doing earthly
things. Earthly success is a quotation from overhead. Our ideals are from
patterns in the mount. There is something in them we never put into them.
Whence are our ideals? We have never seen a perfect thing. What do we mean by
using the word? We must go with Moses to the mount for the answer. In nothing
do men have so much faith as in their ideals, and there is nothing which it is
so hard to explain. We do not make laws, but find them. We cannot enact truth
any more than gravity. There may be a myth about Sinai, but it is one we were
bound to invent if it never was reality. The problem of life is to make the
ideal real. Once it was done in Galilee. The two meet in Jesus. (C. H. Parkhurst,
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》