the two tables of testimony. This testimony was Jehovah's declaration from the thick darkness (p) of the mount on which he descended in smoke and fire, and would remain a monumental witness of his wrath against sin. The ark or chest, made of the most durable wood, and overlaid within and without with gold, was a becoming shrine in which to preserve inviolate the sacred tables of divine testimony. The most holy God is jealous (NP, comp. Exod. xx, 5) for the honour of his law. Over the ark, and thus covering the testimony, was placed the capporeth (2), or mercyseat (Exod. xxv, 21; xxvi, 34), to be sprinkled with blood on the great day of atonement (Lev. xvi, 11-17). This was a most significant symbol of mercy covering wrath. Made of fine gold, and having its dimensions the same as the length and breadth of the ark (Exod. XXV, 17), it fittingly represented that glorious provision of Infinite Wisdom and Love by which, in virtue of the precious blood of Christ, and in complete harmony with the righteousness of God, atonement is made for the guilty but penitent transgressor. The Septuagint translates nie, capporeth, by iλaorýolov, which word Paul uses in Rom. iii, 25, where he speaks of the "righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ," and "the redemption (ảñoλúTowσs) which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth an expiatory covering (iλaornotov), through faith in his blood," etc. The divine provision for the covering of sin is the deepest mystery of the kingdom of grace. "It must be noticed," says Cremer, "that according to Exod. xxv, 22, and Lev. xvi, 2, the Capporeth is the central seat of the saving presence and gracious revelation of God; so that it need not surprise that Christ is designated iλaσrýgɩov, as he can be so designated when we consider that he, as high priest and sacrifice at the same time, comes έv tų idíų alμatı (in his own blood), and not as the high priest of the Old Testament, ἐν αἵματι ἀλλοτρίῳ (with blood not his own) which he must discharge himself of by sprinkling on the Capporeth. The Capporeth was so far the principal part of the Holy of Holies, that the latter is even termed 'the house of the capporeth' (1 Chron. xxviii, 11).”1 The two cherubim, placed at the ends of the mercyseat, and spreading their wings over it, were objects too prominent to be without significance. In Eden the cherubim appear with the flaming sword to watch (i) the way of the tree of life (Gen. iii, 24). In Ezek. i, 5-14 they appear as "living creatures" (nin), their composite form is described, and they are represented as moving the mystic wheels of divine providence and judgment (vers. 15-21). Över their heads was enthroned "the

The Cherubim.

1 Biblico-Theological Lexicon, p. 306.

appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah" (vers. 26-28). In Rev. iv, 6–8 they appear also as living creatures (5a) "in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne." Whatever the various import of these figures, we note that they everywhere appear in most intimate relation to the glory of God. May we not believe that they were symbols of the ultimate glory of redeemed humanity, conveying at the same time profound suggestions of the immanent presence and intense activity of God in all creature life, by which (presence and activity) all that was lost in Eden shall be restored to heavenly places in Christ, and man, redeemed and filled with the Spirit, shall again have power over the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (comp. Rev. ii, 7 and xxii, 14)? Though of composite form, and representing the highest kinds of creature life on earth (Ezek. i, 10; Rev. iv, 7), these ideal beings. had preeminently the likeness of a man (Exek. i, 5). Jehovah is the God of the living, and has about the throne of his glory the highest symbols of life. Both at the gate of paradise and in the Holy of Holies these cherubim were signs and pledges that in the ages to come, having made peace through the blood of the cross, God would reconcile all things unto himself, whether things upon the earth or things in the heavens (Col. i, 20), and sanctify them in his glory (Exod. xxix, 43).' Then the redeemed "shall reign in life" (ev Son Baoiλevoovoi) through Jesus Christ (Rom. v, 17.)

The Holy Place

As the Holy of Holies symbolized Jehovah's relations to his people, and intimated what he is to them and what he purposes to do for them; and as its symbols of mercy covering wrath showed how and on what terms he condescends to meet and dwell with men; so, on the other hand, the holy place, with its golden altar of incense, table of showbread, golden candlestick, and and its symbols. ministering priests, represented the relation of the true Israel toward God. The priests who officiated in this holy place acted not for themselves alone; they were the representatives of all Israel, and their service was the service of all the tribes, whose peculiar relation to God, so long as they obeyed his voice and kept his covenant, was that of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod. xix, 5, 6; comp. 1 Pet. ii, 5, 9; Rev. i, 6; v, 10). As the officiating priest stood in the holy place, facing the Holy of Holies, he had on his right the table of showbread, on his left The Table of the candlestick, and immediately before him the altar Showbread. of incense (Exod. xl, 22-27). The twelve cakes of showbread kept continually on the table symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel continually presented as a living sacrifice before God (Lev. xxiv, 5–9). The golden candlestick, with its seven lamps, placed opposite the

Candlestick.

table, was another symbol of Israel considered as the Church of The golden the living God. As the showbread represented the relation of Israel to God as a holy and acceptable offering, the candlestick represented what this same Israel would do for God as causing the light of the Spirit in them to shine forth. To all thus exalted may it well be said: "Ye were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth), proving what is well pleasing unto the Lord" (Eph. v, 8-10).

But the highest continual devotion of Israel to God is represented The Altar of at the golden altar of incense, which stood immediately Incense. before the veil and in front of the mercyseat (Exod. xxx, 6). The offering of incense was an expressive symbol of the prayers of the saints (Psa. cxli, 2; Rev. v, 8; viii, 3, 4), and the whole multitude of the people were wont to pray without at the hour of the incense-offering (Luke i, 10). Jehovah was pleased to "inhabit the praises of Israel" (Psa. xxii, 3), for all that his people may be and do in their consecrated relation to him expresses itself in their prayers before his altar and mercyseat.

Great Altar

the court.

We need not linger in detail upon the symbolism of the court of the tabernacle, with its altar of burnt offerings and its and Laver in laver of brass. There could be no approach to God, on the part of sinful men, no possible meeting or dwelling with him, except by the offerings made at the great altar in front of the sacred tent. All that belongs to the symbolism of sacrificial blood centred in this altar, where the daily offerings of Israel were made. No priest might pass into the tabernacle until sprinkled with blood from that altar (Exod. xxix, 21), and the live coals used for the burning of incense before Jehovah were taken from the same place (Lev. xvi, 12). Nor might the priest, on penalty of death, minister at the altar or enter the tabernacle without first washing at the laver (Exod. xxx, 20, 21). So the great altar continually proclaimed that without the shedding of blood there is no remission, and the priestly ablutions denoted that without the washing of regeneration no man might enter the kingdom of God (comp. Psa. xxiv, 3, 4; John iii, 5; Heb. x, 19–22). All those blessed relations, which were symbolized in the holy place, are possible only because of the reconciliation effected at the altar of sacrifice without. Having there obtained remission of sins, the true Israel, as represented in the priests, draw near before God in forms of holy consecration and service.

The graduated sanctity of the several parts of the tabernacle is very noticeable. In front was the court, into which any Israelite

holy places.

who was ceremonially clean might enter; next was the holy place, into which none but the consecrated priests might go to The graduated perform the work of their office, and, especially to offer sanctity of the incense. Beyond this, veiled in thick darkness, was the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest entered, and he but once a year. This graduated sanctity of the holy places was fitted to inculcate and impress the lesson of the absolute holiness of God, whose special presence was manifested in the innermost sanctuary. The several apartments were also adapted to show the gradual and progressive stages of divine revelation. The outer court suggests the early patriarchal period, when, under the open sky, the devout fathers of families and nations, like Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham, worshipped the God of heaven.' The holy place represents the period of Mosaism, that intermediate stage of revelation and law, when many a type and symbol foreshadowed the better things to come, and the exceptional entrance of the high priest once a year within the veil signified that "the way of the holies was not yet made manifest" (Heb. ix, 8). The Holy of Holies represents the Messianic æon, when the Christian believer, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus (Heb. x, 19), is conceived to "have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem " (Heb. xii, 22).

ical suggestions of the

action on the day of Atone

The profound symbolism of the tabernacle is further seen in connexion with the offerings of the great day of atonement. Once a year the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for himself and Israel, but in connexion with his work symbolico-typon that day all parts of the tabernacle are brought into notice. Having washed his flesh in water, and put on High Priest's the hallowed linen garments, he first offered the burnt offering on the great altar to make atonement for ment. himself and his house (Lev. xvi, 2-6). Then taking a censer of live coals from the altar he offered incense upon the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud covered the mercyseat, and, taking the blood of a bullock and a goat, he passed within the veil and sprinkled the mercy seat seven times with the blood of each (Lev. xvi, 12-16). All this, we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, prefigured the work of Christ for us: "Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation [not material, tangible, or local], nor through the blood of

1 For a somewhat different conception of the import of the holy places, as representing periods of revelation, see Atwater, Sacred Tabernacle of the Hebrews, pp. 369-271.

goats and calves, but through his own blood entered in once for all into the holy places (rà ayia, plural, and indefinitely intimating more than places merely), having obtained eternal redemption. For Christ entered not into holy (places) made with hands, patterns of the true, but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. ix, 11, 12, 24). The believer is, accordingly, exhorted to enter with confidence into the holy places by the blood of Jesus, and to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Heb. x, 19, 22). Whither our high priest has gone we may also go, and the position of the cherubim over the mercyseat and in the garden of Eden suggests the final glorification of all the sons of God. This is the inspiring and suggestive doctrine of Paul in Eph. i, 15; ii, 10, where he speaks of "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” and “that ener‐ gy of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly” (¿v tois ¿ñovpavíos, in the heavenlies, not heavenly places merely, but fellowships, powers, glories); and then goes on to say that God, in like manner, quickens those who were dead in trespasses and sins, makes them alive with Christ, raises them up and makes them sit together in the same heavenly regions, associations, and glories into which Christ himself has gone. Thus we see the fullest revelation of the means by which, and the extent to which, Israel shall be sanctified in Jehovah's glory (Exod. xxix, 43).' Then, in the highest and holiest sense, will "the tabernacle of God be with men, and he will tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them" (Rev. xxi, 3). In the heavenly glory there will be no place for temple, or any local shrine and symbol, "for the Lord, the God, the Almighty, is its temple, and the Lamb" (Rev. xxi, 22).

1 The profound expression, in Exod. xxix, 43, may well be compared with that of Jesus, in John xvii, 24, which, according to the best-authenticated text, reads: "Father, that which thou hast given me (ô dédwкáç μo), I will that where I am they also (Kȧkεivo) may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou didst love me before the foundation of the world." The pleonastic construction here seems to have a designed significance. The whole body of the redeemed is first conceived as a unit; it is Christ's inheritance, regarded as the Father's gift to him. It is the same as the Tãv ô dédwкév μoi, all that which he has given me, in John vi, 39. But as the thought turns to the individual beholding (comp. "I shall see for myself," etc., Job xix, 27) on the part of the redeemed the plural (kåkɛīvot) is resumed. Thus Alford: "The neuter has a peculiar solemnity, uniting the whole Church together as one gift of the Father to the Son. Then the kakɛivo resolves it into the great multitude whom no man can number, and comes home to the heart of every individual believer with inexpressibly sweet assurance of an eternity with Christ."-Greek Test., in loco.