'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. On the first
day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle
of the tent of the congregation. 3. And thou shalt put
therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with
the vail. 4. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set
in order the things that are to be set in order upon it;
and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the
lamps thereof. 5. And thou shalt set the altar of gold
for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put
the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. 6. And thou
shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the
door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
7. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the
congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein.
8. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang
up the hanging at the court gate. 9. And thou shalt take
the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all
that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels
thereof: and it shall be holy. 10. And thou shalt anoint
the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels,
and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most
holy. 11. And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot,
and sanctify it. 12. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his
sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and wash them with water. 13. And thou shalt put upon
Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify
him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.
14. And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with
coats: 15. And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst
anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in
the priest's office; for their anointing shall surely
be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
16. Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord
commanded him, so did he.'--EXODUS xl. 1-16.
The Exodus began on the night after the fourteenth day of the first
month. The Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month;
that is, one year, less a fortnight, after the Exodus. Exodus xix. 1
shows that the march to Sinai took nearly three months; and if to this
we add the eighty days of Moses' seclusion on the mountain, we get
about six months as occupied in preparing the materials for the
Tabernacle. 'Setting it up' was a short process, done in a day. The
time specified was ample to get ready a wooden framework of small
dimensions, with some curtains and coverings of woven stuffs. What a
glad stir there would be in the camp on that New Year's day, when the
visible token of God's dwelling in its midst first stood there! Our
present purpose is simply to try to bring out the meaning of the
Tabernacle and its furniture. It was both a symbol and a type; that is,
it expressed in material form certain great religious needs and truths;
and, just because it did so, it pointed onwards to the full expression
and satisfaction of these in Christ Jesus and His gifts. In other
words, it was a parable of the requisites for, and the blessings of,
communion with God.
Note, then, first, the general lesson of the Tabernacle as a whole. Its
name declares its meaning, 'the tent of meeting' (Rev. Ver.). It was
the meeting-place of God with man, as the name is explained in Exodus
xxix. 42, 'where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee.' It is
also named simply 'the dwelling'; that is, of God. It was pitched in
the midst of the camp, like the tent of the king with his subjects
clustered round him. Other nations had temples, like the solemn
structures of Egypt; but this slight, movable sanctuary was a new
thing, and spoke of the continual presence of Israel's God, and of His
loving condescension in sharing their wandering lives, and, like them,
dwelling 'within curtains.' It was a visible representation of a
spiritual fact for the then present; it was a parable of the inmost
reality of communion between man and God; and it was, therefore, a
prophecy both of the full realisation of His presence among men, in the
temple of Christ's body, and of the yet future communion of Heaven,
which is set before us by the 'great voice ... saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men.'
The threefold division into court of the worshippers, holy place for
the priests, and holiest of all, was not peculiar to the Tabernacle. It
signifies the separation which, after all nearness, must still exist.
God is unrevealed after all revelation; afar off, however near;
shrouded in the utter darkness of the inmost shrine, and only
approached by the priestly intercessor with the blood of the sacrifice.
Like all the other arrangements of the Sanctuary, the division of its
parts declares a permanent truth, which has impressed itself on the
worship of all nations; and it reveals God's way of meeting the need by
outward rites for the then present, and by the mediation of the great
High-Priest in the time to come, whose death rent the veil, and whose
life will, one day, make the holiest place in the heavens patent to our
feet.
The enumeration of the furniture of the Tabernacle starts from the
innermost shrine, and goes outward. It was fit that it should begin
with God's special abode. The 'holy of holies' was a tiny chamber,
closed in from light, the form, dimensions, materials, and furniture of
which were all significant. It measured ten cubits, or fifteen feet,
every way, thereby expressing, in its cubical form and in the
predominance of the number ten, stability and completeness. It will be
remembered that the same cubical form is given to the heavenly city, in
the Apocalypse, for the same reason. There, in the thick darkness,
unseen by mortals except for the one approach of the high-priest on the
day of atonement, dwelt the 'glory' which made light in the darkness,
and flashed on the gold which covered all things in the small shrine.
Our lesson does not speak of cherubim or mercy-seat, but specifies only
the ark of the testimony. This was a small chest of acacia wood,
overlaid with gold, and containing the two tables of the law, which
were called the testimony, as bearing witness to Israel of God's will
concerning their duty, and as therein bearing witness, too, of what He
is. Nor must the other part of the witness-bearing of the law be left
out of view,--that it testifies against the transgressors of itself.
The ark was the centre-point of the divine revelation, the very throne
of God; and it is profoundly significant that its sole contents should
be the tables of stone. Egyptian arks contained symbols of their gods,
degrading, bestial, and often impure; but the true revelation was a
revelation, to the moral sense, of a Being who loves righteousness.
Other faiths had their mysteries, whispered in the inmost shrine, which
shunned the light of the outer courts; but here the revelation within
the veil was the same as that spoken on the house-tops. Our lesson does
not refer to the 'mercy seat,' which covered the ark above, and spoke
the need for, and the provision of, a means whereby the witness of the
law against the worshipper's sins should be, as it were, hid from the
face of the enthroned God. The veil which is referred to in verse 3 was
that which hung between the holy of holies and the holy place. It did
not 'cover the ark,' as the Authorised Version unfortunately renders,
but 'screened' it, as the Revised Version correctly gives it. It blazed
with colour and embroidered figures of cherubim. No doubt, the colours
were symbolical; but it is fancy, rather than interpretation, which
seeks meanings beyond splendour in the blue and purple and crimson and
white which were blended in its gorgeous folds. What is it which hangs,
in ever-shifting hues, between man and God? The veil of creation,
embroidered by His own hand with beauty and life, which are symbolised
in the cherubim, the types of the animate creation. The two divisions
of the Tabernacle, thus separated by the veil, correspond to earth and
heaven; and that application of the symbol is certainly intended,
though not exclusively.
We step, then, from the mystery of the inner shrine out to the
comparatively inferior sacredness of the 'holy place,' daily trodden by
the priests. Three articles stand in it: the table for the so-called
shew-bread, the great lampstand, and the golden altar of incense. Of
these, the altar was in the midst, right in the path to the holiest
place; and on the right, looking to the veil, the table of shew-bread;
while on the left was the lampstand. These three pieces of furniture
were intimately connected with each other, and represented various
aspects of the spiritual character of true worshippers. The holy place
was eminently the people's, just as the most holy place was eminently
God's. True, only the priests entered it; but they did so on behalf of
the nation. We may expect, therefore, to find special reference to the
human side of worship in its equipments; and we do find it. Of the
three articles, the altar of incense was in idea, as in locality, the
centre; and we consider it first, though it stands last in our list,
suggesting that, in coming from the most holy place, the other two
would be first encountered. The full details of its construction and
use are found in Exodus xxx. Twice a day sweet incense was burned on
it, and no other kind of sacrifice was permitted; but once a year it
was sprinkled, by the high priest, with expiatory blood. The meaning is
obvious. The symbolism of incense as representing prayer in frequent in
Scripture, and most natural. What could more beautifully express the
upward aspirations of the soul, or the delight of God in these, than
the incense sending up its wreaths of fragrant smoke? Incense gives no
fragrance nor smoke till it is kindled; and the censer has to be
constantly swung to keep up the glow, without which there will be no
'odour of a sweet smell.' So cold prayers are no prayers, but are
scentless, and unapt to rise. The heart must be as a coal of fire, if
the prayer is to come up before God with acceptance. Twice a day the
incense was kindled; and all day long, no doubt, it smouldered, 'a
perpetual incense before the Lord.' So, in the life of true communion,
there should be daily seasons of special devotion, and a continual
glow. The position of the altar of incense was right in the line
between the altar of burnt offering, in the outer court, and the
entrance to the holiest place; by which we are taught that acceptable
prayer follows on reconciliation by sacrifice, and leads into 'the
secret place of the Most High.' The yearly atonement for the altar
taught that evil imperfection cleaves to all our devotion, which needs
and receives the sprinkling of the blood of the great sacrifice.
The great seven-branched candlestick, or lampstand, stood on the right
of the altar, as the priest looked to the most holy place. Its meaning
is plain. It is an emblem of the Church as recipient and communicative
of light, in all the applications of that metaphor, to a dark world. As
the sacred lamps streamed out their hospitable rays into the desert all
the night, so God's servants are lights in the world. The lamps burned
with derived light, which had to be fed as well as kindled. So we are
lighted by the touch of the great Aaron, and His gentle hand tends the
smoking wick, and nourishes it to a flame. We need the oil of the
Spirit to sustain the light. The lamp was a clustered light,
representing in its metal oneness the formal and external unity of
Israel. The New Testament unity is of a better kind. The seven
candlesticks are made one because He walks in the midst, not because
they are welded on to one stem.
Consistency of symbolism requires that the table of shew-bread should,
like the altar and the candlestick, express some phase of true worship.
Its interpretation is less obvious than that of the other two. The name
means literally 'bread of the face'; that is, bread presented to, and
ever lying before, God. There are two explanations of the meaning. One
sees in the offering only a devout recognition of God as the author of
material blessing, and a rendering to Him of His gifts of outward
nourishment. In this case, the shew-bread would be anomalous, a
literality thrust into the midst of symbolism. The other explanation
keeps up the congruity, by taking the material bread, which is the
result of God's blessing on man's toil, as a symbol of the spiritual
results of God's blessing on man's spiritual toil, or, in other words,
of practical righteousness or good works, and conceives that these are
offered to God, by a strong metaphor, as acceptable food. It is a bold
representation, but we may quote 'I will sup with him' as proof that it
is not inadmissible; and it is not more bold than the declaration that
our obedience is 'an odour of a sweet smell.' So the three pieces of
furniture in the holy place spoke of the true Israel, when cleansed by
sacrifice and in communion with God, as instant in prayer, continually
raying out the light derived from Him, and zealous of good works,
well-pleasing to God.
We pass outwards, through another veil, and stand in the court, which
was always open to the people. There, before the door of the
Tabernacle, was the altar of burnt offering. The order of our chapter
brings us to it last, but the order of worship brought the worshipper
to it first. Its distinctive character was that on it the blood of the
slain sacrifices was offered. It was the place where sinful men could
begin to meet with God, the foundation of all the communion of the
inner sanctuary. We need not discuss mere details of form and the like.
The great lesson taught by the altar and its place, is that
reconciliation is needed, and is only possible by sacrifice. As a
symbol it taught every Israelite what his own conscience, once
awakened, endorsed, that sin must be expiated before the sinner and God
can walk in concord. As prophecy, it assured those whose hearts were
touched with longing, that God would Himself 'provide the lamb for the
burnt offering,' in some way as yet unknown. For us it is an intended
prefiguration of the great work of Jesus Christ. 'We have an altar.' We
need that altar at the beginning of our fellowship with God, as much as
Israel did. A Christianity which does not start from the altar of burnt
offering will never get far into the holy place, nor ever reach that
innermost shrine where the soul lives and adores, silent before the
manifest God between the cherubim.
The laver, or basin, was intended for the priests' use, in washing
hands and feet before ministering at the altar or entering the
tabernacle. It teaches the necessity for purity, in order to priestly
service.
Thus these three divisions of the Tabernacle and its court set forth
the stages in the approach of the soul to God, beginning with the
reconciling sacrifice and cleansing water, advancing to closer
communion by prayer, impartation of light received, and offering of
good works to God, and so entering within the veil into secret
sweetnesses of union with God, which attains its completeness only when
we pass from the holy place on earth to the most holy in the heavens.
The remainder of the text can only be glanced at in a sentence or two.
It consists of two parts: the consecration of the Tabernacle and its
vessels by the anointing oil which, when applied to inanimate objects,
simply devoted them to sacred uses, and the consecration of Aaron and
his sons. A fuller account is given in Leviticus viii., from which we
learn that it was postponed to a later period, and accompanied with a
more elaborate ritual than that prescribed here. That consists of three
parts: washing, as emblematic of communicated purity; robing, and
anointing,--the last act signifying, when applied to men, their
endowment with so much of the divine Spirit as fitted them for their
theocratic functions. These three things made the 'sanctifying,' or
setting apart for God's service, of Aaron and his sons. He is
consecrated alone, in order that his primacy may be clearly indicated.
He is consecrated by Moses as the higher; then the sons are consecrated
with the same ceremonial, to indicate the hereditary priesthood, and
the equality of Aaron's successors with himself. 'They truly were many
priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of
death,' and provision for their brief tenure of office was embodied in
the consecration of the sons by the side of the father. Their
priesthood was only 'everlasting' by continual succession of
short-lived holders of the office. But the prediction which closes the
text has had a fulfilment beyond these fleeting, shadowy priests, in
Him whose priesthood is 'everlasting' and 'throughout all generations.'
because 'He ever liveth to make intercession' (Heb. vii. 25).