Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 24:1
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
1 3. These vv. agree almost verbatim with Exo 27:20 f. The care of the lamps is also enjoined in Exo 25:31 ff.; cp. Exo 37:17 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The oil for the lamps of the tabernacle and the meal for the showbread were to be offerings from the Congregation, like the meal for the Pentecostal loaves, Lev 23:17. It appears that the responsibility of keeping up the lights rested on the high priest, but the actual service might be performed, on ordinary occasions, by the common priests. Compare margin reference.
Lev 24:5
Each cake or loaf of unleavened bread Lev 2:11 was to contain about six pounds and a quarter (see Exo 29:40 note) of fine flour. The material was the same, both in quality and in quantity, with that of each one of the wave-loaves of Pentecost Lev 23:17. In the service of the temple the preparation and arrangement of the cakes was committed to the Levites 1Ch 9:32; 1Ch 23:29; 2Ch 13:11.
Lev 24:6
Two rows, six on a row – Rather, two piles, six in a pile. On the table, see Exo 25:23-30.
Lev 24:7
The frankincense as a memorial (like the handful of the meat-offering, Lev 2:2), was most likely cast upon the altar-fire as an offering made by fire unto the Lord, when the bread was removed from the table on the Sabbath-day Lev 24:8; 1Sa 21:6. The frankincense was put into small gold cups, one of which was placed upon each pile of bread. (See Exo 25:23-30 note.)
Lev 24:8
Being taken from the children of Israel – Each cake represented the offering of a tribe.
Lev 24:9
See Lev 2:3 note. It could have been only by a stretch of the law that Ahimelech gave a portion of the showbread to David and his men, on the ground that they were free from ceremonial defilement. 1Sa 21:4-6; Mat 12:4.
The showbread was a true meat-offering (see Exo 25:29). The special form in which it was offered, especially in its being brought into the tabernacle and in its consisting of twelve loaves, distinguish it as an offering made on behalf of the nation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXIV
Pure olive oil must be provided for the lamps, 1, 2.
Aaron is to take care that the lamps be lighted from evening
to morning continually, 3, 4.
How the shew-bread is to be made and ordered, 5-8.
Aaron and his sons shall eat this bread in the holy place, 9.
Of the son of Shelomith, an Israelitish woman, who blasphemed
the name, 10, 11.
He is imprisoned till the mind of the Lord should be known, 12.
He is commanded to be stoned to death, 13,14.
The ordinance concerning cursing and blaspheming the Lord,
15,16.
The law against murder, 17.
The lex talionis, or law of like for like, repeated, 18-21.
This law to be equally binding both on themselves and on
strangers, 22.
The blasphemer is stoned, 23.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the Lord spake unto Moses,…. After he had delivered to him the laws concerning the purity of the priests, and the perfection of the sacrifices they were to offer, and concerning the feasts the people were to keep, he spoke to Moses of some other things which concerned both people and priests:
saying; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The directions concerning the oil for the holy candlestick (Lev 24:1-4) and the preparation of the shew-bread (Lev 24:5-9) lose the appearance of an interpolation, when we consider and rightly understand on the one hand the manner in which the two are introduced in Lev 24:2, and on the other their significance in relation to the worship of God. The introductory formula, “Command the children of Israel that they fetch (bring),” shows that the command relates to an offering on the part of the congregation, a sacrificial gift, with which Israel was to serve the Lord continually. This service consisted in the fact, that in the oil of the lamps of the seven-branched candlestick, which burned before Jehovah, the nation of Israel manifested itself as a congregation which caused its light to shine in the darkness of this world; and that in the shew-bread it offered the fruits of its labour in the field of the kingdom of God, as a spiritual sacrifice to Jehovah. The offering of oil, therefore, for the preparation of the candlestick, and that of fine flour for making the loaves to be placed before Jehovah, formed part of the service in which Israel sanctified its life and labour to the Lord its God, not only at the appointed festal periods, but every day; and the law is very appropriately appended to the sanctification of the Sabbaths and feast-days, prescribed in ch. 23. The first instructions in Lev 24:2-4 are a verbal repetition of Exo 27:20-21, and have been explained already. Their execution by Aaron is recorded at Num 8:1-4; and the candlestick itself was set in order by Moses at the consecration of the tabernacle (Exo 40:25).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Laws Concerning the Lamps. | B. C. 1490. |
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. 5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
Care is here taken, and orders are given, for the decent furnishing of the candlestick and table in God’s house.
I. The lamps must always be kept burning. The law for this we had before, Exo 27:20; Exo 27:21. It is here repeated, probably because it now began to be put in execution, when other things were settled. 1. The people were to provide oil (v. 2), and this, as every thing else that was to be used in God’s service, must be of the best, pure olive-oil, beaten, probably it was double-strained. This was to cause the lamps to burn; all our English copies read it lamps, but in the original it is singular in v. 2–to cause the lamp to burn; but plural in v. 4—he shall order the lamps. The seven lamps made all one lamp, in allusion to which the blessed Spirit of grace is represented by seven lamps of fire before the throne (Rev. iv. 5), for there are diversities of gifts, but one Spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 4. Ministers are as burning and shining lights in Christ’s church, but it is the duty of people to provide comfortably for them, as Israel for the lamps. Scandalous maintenance makes a scandalous ministry. 2. The priests were to tend the lamps; they must snuff them, clean the candlestick, and supply them with oil, morning and evening, Lev 24:3; Lev 24:4. Thus it is the work of the ministers of the gospel to hold forth that word of life, not to set up new lights, but, by expounding and preaching the word, to make the light of it more clear and extensive. This was the ordinary way of keeping the lamps burning; but, when the church was poor and in distress, we find its lamps fed constantly with oil from the good olives immediately, without the ministry of priest or people (Zec 4:2; Zec 4:3); for, though God has tied us to means, he has not tied himself to them, but will take effectual care that his lamp never go out in the world for want of oil.
II. The table must always be kept spread. This was appointed before, Exod. xxv. 30. And here also, 1. The table was furnished with bread; not dainties nor varieties to gratify a luxurious palate, but twelve loaves or cakes of bread, Lev 24:5; Lev 24:6. Where there is plenty of bread there is no famine; and where bread is not there is no feast. There was a loaf for every tribe, for in our Father’s house there is bread enough. They were all provided for by the divine bounty, and were all welcome to the divine grace. Even after the revolt of the ten tribes this number of loaves was continued (2 Chron. xiii. 11), for the sake of those few of each tribe that retained their affection to the temple and continued their attendance on it. 2. A handful of frankincense was put in a golden saucer, upon or by each row, v. 7. When the bread was removed, and given to the priests, this frankincense was burnt upon the golden altar (I suppose) over and above the daily incense: and this was for a memorial instead of the bread, an offering made by fire, as the handful of the meat-offering which was burnt upon the altar is called the memorial thereof, ch. ii. 2. Thus a little was accepted as a humble acknowledgment, and all the loaves were consigned to the priests. All God’s spiritual Israel, typified by the twelve loaves, are made through Christ a sweet savour to him, and their prayers are said to come up before God for a memorial, Acts x. 4. The word is borrowed from the ceremonial law. 3. Every sabbath it was renewed. When the loaves had stood there a week, the priests had them to eat with other holy things that were to be eaten in the holy place (v. 9), and new ones were provided at the public charge, and put in the room of them, v. 8. The Jews say, “The hands of those priests that put on were mixed with theirs that took off, that the table might be never empty, but the bread might be before the Lord continually.” God is never unprovided for the entertainment of those that visit him, as men often are, Luke xi. 5. Every one of those cakes contained two tenth-deals, that is, two omers of fine flour; just so much manna every Israelite gathered on the sixth day for the sabbath, Exod. xvi. 22. Hence some infer that this show-bread, which was set on the table on the sabbath, was intended as a memorial of the manna wherewith they were fed in the wilderness. Christ’s ministers should provide new bread for his house every sabbath day, the production of their fresh studies in the scripture, that their proficiency may appear to all,1Ti 4:1; 1Ti 4:5.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
LEVITICUS- TWENTY-FOUR
Verses 1-4:
This text repeats the instructions given in Ex 27:20, 21. The “lamps” were those on the seven-branched “golden candlestick” or lampstand, Ex 25:31-40; 39:17-24. This instrument furnished the light for the holy place, in which the priests ministered daily.
The oil for the lamps was to be of pure olive oil, made from berries that had been picked from the tree. Berries which were picked up from the ground were likely to have dirt or twigs among them, thus contaminating the oil.
The oil was to be extracted from “beaten” olives, not “pressed.” The reason: oil extracted by pressing often contained bits of the olives, and was discolored. The oil for the holy lamps was to have no impurities.
Aaron or his sons were to dress the lamps each morning, and to light them each evening, Ex 27:1; 30:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Sanctuary Light; The Shewbread; Blasphemy Punished
SUGGESTIVE READINGS
Lev. 24:1-4.Cause the lamps to burn continually. There is a Light whose radiance never dims, whose glow never palesself-luminous and eternally lustrous; that is the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (Joh. 1:9). But our illumined lives, made by grace to shine even amid the beauty of Gods sanctuary, these need constant fostering and care, or their glory would wane. Because the virgins slept, neglecting to trim their lamps, their lights faded; and their sudden cry on awakening was, Our lamps are going out! (Mat. 25:8). There is a human responsibility in this matter of keeping our lights burning (Luk. 12:35), and we must bring the pure oil by which the flame is fed. Self-watchfulness and prayer for grace are inevitable if Christian character is to shine continually.
Lev. 24:5-9.Bake twelve cakes and set them upon the pure table before the Lord. Every tribe was to be represented in this sacred food laid before the Lord, none exempted. Jehovah asks from the Church in its entirety, from all within His Church, that His table be spread with the sacrificial offerings of their love, that He may feast thereupon with satisfaction and delight. If He gives riches of salvation to man, we may return Him the offerings of our sanctified lives: they gave their own selves unto the Lord (2Co. 8:5). Nor may these sacrifices of righteousness be fitful and intermittent; the loaves must be set in order before the Lord continually (Lev. 24:8), even as the devotion of our affections and services must be unceasing, a life-long consecration. Such fulness and constancy in our piety renders it most holy unto Him of all the offerings
Lev. 24:10-16.The Israelitish womans son blasphemed the Name of the Lord, and cursed. An unwise marriage issued in an evil result. This youth of half blood, in a quarrel with a man of Israel, vented his malignity in uttering some vile blasphemy against the Holy Name which the Israelite so solemnly revered. A special revelation of the mind of the Lord was sought, in order that this new sin in Israels midst might be judged aright, and every one who heard the blasphemy was summoned to join in the administration of punishment (Lev. 24:14). Surely, if he that despised Moses law died without mercy, terrible must be the doom of those who insult the grace of God in Jesus, and slight His redemption! (Heb. 10:28-29). If words of impiety were sufficient to bring death upon an offender, what shall be the consequence of a life of disobedience and of persistent ungodliness! See Rom. 2:8-9. Let us guard against anger; it impels to outbursts of wickedness. And let our souls guard jealously the majesty of the Divine Name.
Lev. 24:17-22.Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. This was the Mosaic rule of equity: a wrong was punished by demanding its equivalent. Our Lord gave a more gracious law to His followers, whose mission in the world was to expound and foster the spiritnot of revenge, nor even of exact justice, but of forgiveness and love. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil (Mat. 5:38-39). Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.
SECTIONAL HOMILIES
Topic: CONTINUOUS LUSTRE OF A GODLY LIFE (Lev. 24:1-4)
Darkness might brood over the outer world, but light must continuously glow within the sanctuary. Outside of the Church of Christ there may spread the gloom of error, the night dreariness of delusion; but within the sanctuary the light of the knowledge of the glory of God must shine undimmed. Even so, though men in sin dwell in darkness and love darkness rather than light, within the Christian soul there must always shine the marvellous light of the Spirits illumination and of the Gospel truth.
I. A BEAUTIFUL LIGHT BEARER: what an ideal picture of the Christian!
He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick (Lev. 24:4). A golden candlestick hung with burning lamps! [See Addenda to chapter, Light-bearers.] Here note
1. A Christians intrinsic worth. The candlestick was of pure gold. God thus images the preciousness of a redeemed and sanctified life. Worth of character, individual nobleness, must be the basis of a beneficent ministry for others.
2. A lustrous mission. On every branch was hung a lamp. Christians live not for themselves, not even to exhibit their own graces. A candlestick, however precious its metal and exquisite its workmanship, is intended tonot hold attention to itself, but to hold up the light, to show light.
3. Ceaseless luminosity. There are lights, set up for mariners, which gleam and wane; their stream of lustre is not perennial. But the lamps in the sanctuary burned on with ceaseless glow, with unvarying radiance. Piety should maintain its steadiness, not flicker, not burst into splendour at favoured seasons and then wane. Your light burning.
4. Every grace aglow. In some Christians only one beautiful quality is conspicuous, while all other graces are obscure. But every branch of the candlestick should bear a lamp, and each lamp should be alight.
II. SANCTITY REQUISITE FOR A CLEAR LIGHT.
They shall bring pure oil olive, beaten for the light.
1. Christian grace is divinely pure. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Oil is the Scripture symbol of the Spirit, and pure oil marks the essential sanctity of each endowment of the Spirit of God. No other source exists whence man can derive what is unalloyed. This is the only pure spring of good; all others are unclean. How pure is every bestowment which Gods Spirit imparts: knowledge, feeling, energy, enjoyment, aspiration, hopeall unalloyed, unmixed with ingredients of evil!
2. Christian life emits clear lustre. As we are, so we produce. A clean fountain yields clean waters. Pure oil produces clear burning lamps. If our minds are spiritually illumined there will be no emission of error: error indicates a human admixture with the Divine enlightenment. So with emotion; the fruit of the Spirit is love. If we shed forth an unlovely and unloving spirit it intimates the presence of deleterious intermixtures. We need to close the lamps, into which the Spirits pure oil is poured, against all impurities, or our light will not be clear.
III. THE STEADY LIGHT OF TESTIMONY.
From the evening unto the morning, before the Lord continually. The golden lamp diffused its light without intermission, clear and constant.
1. The High Priests responsibility. Aaron shall order it, etc. No secondary hands had charge of the light. It was not left to inferior priests. Ministers of the sanctuary may wish and endeavour to keep Christian life alive and Christian lustre radiant in the Church, in the souls of believers; but they fail. Mans work is full of peradventures and frustrations. And there must be no risk in the maintenance of the Sanctuary light. If left to one of the minor priests, or assigned as a trust to many, neglect might ensue. Aaron himself, therefore, was charged with this office of keeping the light continually burning. He typified Christ; and our Lord walketh amid the golden candlesticks ever nourishing the life and lustre of His Church.
2. The continuous testimony of the Church. Every age has seen the True Light shining amid the darkness of error and the delusions of the world. Though virgins slumber who should watch, though indifference to Truth mark the guardians of the sacred light, yet on, age after age, the light has shone, increasingly clear; for Christ keeps the lamps nourished, and will not let the lustre expire. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.
(a) Here is the guarantee of the Church fulfilling her Lords design. Ye are the light of the world; holding forth the word of life.
(b) In this lies the hope of the constancy of the Christian life. Christ nourishes the flame.
Topic: THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE (Lev. 24:5-9)
In the Tabernacle we have a type of the more perfect Tabernacle, in which Deity sojourned during the IncarnationGod manifested in the flesh. For the physical form of Christ was what the Mosaic Tabernacle was, a shrine of the Divine indwelling, in which He came in nearness and grace to men, holding communion with us.
The table on which the loaves of shewbread were laid was made of acacia wood overlaid with plates of pure gold, symbolic of those sacred and divine qualities of Christs person and character, which form the basis of all accepted offerings. Only as ourselves or our gifts are laid upon Christ can they be allowed a place before the Lord. Here, then, we have the key to the meaning and suggestiveness of the shewbread: a consecrated people resting on the perfections of Christ.
I. CONSECRATION MUST DEPEND FOR ITS ACCEPTANCE UPON THE PERFECTIONS OF CHRIST.
These loaves represented the twelve tribes of Israel, all dedicated to the Lord; laid before the Lord; surrendered entirely to Him. Every one should be devoted to Him, fully and absolutely His.
Is consecration sufficient of itself to ensure Jehovahs acceptance? Far from it. It is the altar that sanctifieth the gift; and it was the golden Table, Christs pure and glorious perfections, whichbecoming the basis on which the consecrated offerings restedrendered these loaves an accepted presentation.
No acceptance apart from Christ. Full acceptance for all who place themselves upon Christ.
II. CONSECRATED OFFERINGS MUST BE ALWAYS OUR CHOICEST AND BEST.
On the Golden Table no common bread might be placed. The profanity that presumes on Christs perfections, and presents before the Lord faulty things, will ensure rebuke. Christs grace adds all the element of acceptableness to what we bring; but God will not accept aught that we bring which is not the purest and noblest we can present. Thou shalt take fine flour. These loaves represented, therefore,
1. The dedication of what was choicest. Are any powers too noble, any attainments too exalted, any affections too pure to be yielded to Him?
2. A generous largeness in the act of consecration. The loaves were of double size: Two-tenth deals shall be in one cake (Lev. 24:5). Annanias and Sapphira offered part of the price, and were rejected for their cupidity and grudging. Lay lavishly on Gods altar of your beat.
III. CONSECRATION REQUIRES TO BE PERPETUALLY RENEWED.
Every Sabbath fresh loaves were to be substituted.
1. There is no finality in our devotion. It must be repeated, continued; perennially fresh.
2. Sabbath obligations are as imperious as Sabbath privileges are precious. We may not greet the holy day for what bliss we can gain or enjoy, without greeting the day by attempting the re-consecration of ourselves and our services to the Lord. Leave the things which are behind; come with renewed zeal and love and devotion before the Lord.
3. Each renewal must be sanctified by our prayers, and the merits of Christ Jesus. That burning of incense symbolises prayer rising from the offererfor prayer hallows our gifts: but it also betokens the sweet savour of Christ, without which nothing rises as a fragrant offering to the Lord.
Topic: THE LAMPS OF THE TABERNACLE (Lev. 24:1-4)
Israel had to constantly appear in the Tabernacle to present sacrifices and observe ceremonies; it was essential, therefore, that light should be supplied by which divine service might be conducted. The golden candlestick was hung with its seven lamps.
I. THEY WERE SYMBOLICAL OF THE POSITION AND PRIVILEGES OF THE HEBREW NATION.
(a). The light shone in the midst of darkness. However dense the night might be around the Tabernacle, light was within shining upon the altar, lighting up the holy place. So, where the darkness of moral night enwrapped surrounding nations, Israel had the light of the knowledge of God.
(b). The light was derived from a divine source. The lamps were lighted from the sacred fire upon the altar. Israel did not obtain knowledge of divine things from surrounding nations, but direct from Jehovah. Their light was supernatural divine revelation, a lamp unto the feet, light unto the path in the probation and pilgrimage of life.
(c). The light of the best and purest kind. Candlestick was of pure gold. Oil was the finest, even good for food. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God incomparable, inestimable.
II. THEY WERE TYPICAL OF THE CHARACTER AND WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
(a) In their Purity, (b) Preciousness, (c) Manifoldness, (d) Unity. The Priests had to keep their lamps supplied, for churches need constantly the unction of the Holy One supplied by the Great Head of the Church. Churches are to give light, and save life. Christians are to be lights in the world.
The lamps were outside the veil that enclosed the Holy of holies; so the Church is outside the veil of Heaven, but near and preparatory for it.
No nobler ambition of position than this to live and walk in the light of God. Those who refuse the light, and walk in darkness, secure for themselves despair and death. For the righteous there is reserved light for the eventide, in eternity they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever.F.W.B.
Topic: THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD (Lev. 24:5-9)
Directions, for the construction of the table upon which the shewbread was to be placed, are recorded in the 25 of Exodus. In this chapter we have directions given for making the shewbread, which was to be placed before the Lord continually. The shewbread, being the Bread of the presence of the Lord, was a memorial
I. OF THE NEARNESS OF ISRAEL, TO THE LORD.
The twelve loaves, made of fine flour, and placed In two rows upon the pure table, outside the veil of the testimony in the Tabernacle, corresponded with the twelve stones in the breastplate of the High Priest, which contained the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and showed, when he went into the most holy place, not only how near the people were to his own heart, but also how near they were to the presence and power of Jehovah. The bread, brought by the people, represented the staff of their life, their strength, and stay; and the Lord, by admitting and adopting those representations, showed how near He allowed Israel to draw to Him. Bread, representing their life, was perpetually in the Divine presence, and the weekly renewal of the loaves denoted that God permitted the perpetual enjoyment of His presence.
II. OF THE UNITY OF ISRAEL BEFORE THE LORD.
The bread was of one kind and size, and placed on one table, though divided into twelve cakes. So, though Israel was divided into twelve tribes, they were one in the presence of the Lord; and not one of them would ever be despised, so long as they obeyed His commandments, and drew near to Him at His appointed meeting place. The Lord had set apart the nation for himself; they were, therefore, one great family, a special religious community, of which He was sole and supreme Head.
III. OF THE DEPENDENCE OF ISRAEL UPON THE LORD.
Some have suggested that the constantly replenished bread upon the table was a memorial of the manna, to remind Israel how mercifully and miraculously they were fed in the wilderness. Doubtless, the loaves would tend to remind them of that great fact; but they would also remind them how, in Canaan, they were constantly dependent upon the Lord, who crowned the year with His goodness, and gave them the finest of the wheat. The loaves were a slight return and acknowledgment of their constant obligation to the Divine bounty. The shewbread may be regarded as an emblem of the pure, sufficient, and satisfying bread of heaven, which, if a man eat, he shall live for ever.
IV. OF THE DEDICATION OF ISRAEL TO THE LORD.
Pure frankincense was put upon each row of loaves; two vessels of wine were also placed beside them, as an accessory to the service, to be poured out withal, when the incense was offered. Under the old dispensation, bread and wine are always spoken of as means and emblems of bodily strength and cheerful service; and those elements on the table before the Lord denoted the complete dedication of the tribes to His service, while the ascending incense would represent the prayers of the people, the rising of their grateful and gladsome hearts to Heaven. The perpetual presence of the bread symbolized perpetual consecration to the Theocratic King.
V. OF THE ACCESSIBILITY OF ISRAEL TO THE LORD.
The Tabernacle was the Divine dwelling-place, and the acceptance of twelve loaves from the people to lie before the Lord, and to be called the Bread of His presence, showed that He took the people into His friendship and favour. Sabbath after Sabbath, as the incense ascended, the people would rejoice, that through mediation and intercession their offerings were accepted. God is not only pleased with the faith and love, the praises and prayers of His people, but also with their almsdeeds. Let us present an offering to the Lord, pure, wholesome, valuable, and constant, perfumed with the merits of the sacrifice of our Great High Priest; thus shall we enjoy the presence of the Lord, and pass the days of our pilgrimage in His favour and fear.F. W. B.
Topic: BLASPHEMY AGAINST GODS HOLY NAME (Lev. 24:10-16)
This is the earliest Scripture record of blasphemy; and, as a newly-developed form of sin, it is treated with rigour for its complete suppression. Yet notwithstanding the swift judgment which overtook this first blasphemer, this is not the last Scripture instance of blasphemy.
The provocation or motive to this act of the Israelitish womans son seems to have been mere malignity of thought against God and His people, a wish to wound reverent minds by reviling the Name they revered.
Swearing is a sin that hath more malignancy in it against God, by how much the less is the temptation to it, says Burroughs; and adds, I verily believe that if God had never made the Third Commandment, there could never have been so many oaths in the world; but it springs from a mere malignancy of spirit in man against God because He has forbidden, for no profit can arise from the practice.
Yet, while no profit comes to the blasphemer, great ill and grief are thereby caused to others. Dr. Scudder was returning from India with his son, and the lad was shocked to hear from an English passenger on the steamboat Gods name used in dreadful blasphemy. Accosting him, the doctor said, This boy has been born and reared in a heathen country and a land of idolatry; but, in all his life, he never heard a man blaspheme his Maker until now. (See Addenda to Chapter, Profanity).
I. THE HISTORIO INTEREST OF THIS INCIDENT.
This act of blasphemy, and the judgment which it called forth on the sinner,
Brought out clearly that the Name of the Lord was Israels most solemn trust. The people evidently felt this, by the horror which the revilers conduct awakened throughout the whole camp; and by their anxiety to learn how Jehovah regarded the indignity. And this was emphasized by Gods sentence of doom upon the blasphemer. A crime must be great which evokes such condign punishment. That Holy Name was to be guarded with jealous awe. The event showed, therefore, how emphatically God will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
2. Introduced the significant custom of avoiding the very use of the Name of the Lord. The Jews interpreted this command (Lev. 24:16) as prohibiting the utterance of the divine Name under any circumstances, and consequently they never after pronounced the word JEHOVAH. When blasphemy was uttered, the person hearing it laid his hand on the head of the transgressor, to indicate his sole responsibility for the guilty act; and then tore his own robe as a symbol of his shame and alarm. Certainly this may admonish us against an undue freeness in the use of the august Name either in pious speech or effusive prayer.
II. THE HEINOUS QUALITY OF THE CRIME.
1. The crime defined. Blasphemy is calumny and insult against the holy God, uttered with the intention to defame Him. It not only expresses the hatred of Him in the speakers own heart, but aims at awakening in his hearers mind an equal loathing of Jehovah and all His claims. It is held up in Scripture as an assault upon the dignity and sanctity of Gods name: Psa. 74:18; Isa. 52:5; Rom. 2:24.
Real blasphemy consists in intended and direct insult upon Gods honour and holiness. But relative blasphemy consists in the unconscious and indirect effect of a mans words or acts, as, e.g. the uttering opinions or sentiments which dishonour Gods name and discredit His word. To allow ones lips to utter with irreverence and familiarity the august Name is near akin to the sin of wilfully maligning Him.
2. The root of the sin. This must be traced to the vileness of the human heart, and its natural enmity to God (Comp. Mat. 15:19). It should be noticed also as being the outgrowth of folly and pride (see 2Ki. 19:22; Psa. 74:18). Of all sins, blasphemy is an indication of a mind mad with impiety.
3. Its great offensiveness to God and man. How hateful to God is evident from the penalties inflicted[see Lev. 5:16 and comp. Isa. 65:7; Eze. 20:27-32; Eze. 35:11-12; Mat. 12:31-32]how hurtful to man is manifest from Psa. 44:15-16; Psa. 74:10; Psa. 74:18; Psa. 74:22. They who revere this glorious and fearful Name, THE LORD THY GOD (Deu. 28:58) are distressed at its profanation.
Louis IX. of France branded swearers lips with a hot iron for this offence, and when some complained that the punishment was too severe, he replied, I could wish that by searing my own lips I could banish all profanity from my realm.
III. FACTS EXPLANATORY OF SUCH BLASPHEMOUS SPEECH.
The sin of profanity points to:
1. An ungoverned tongue. Speech should be held under control. The tongue may be set on fire of hell. Allow unbridled speech, and profanity easily grows. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.
2. Passionate contention and strife. Little do men anticipate to what extremes passion will carry them when they enter upon controversy or strife (Pro. 17:14).
3. An unsanctified heart. This man was not a true Israelite: not by birth, not by sentiment. He did not share in the nations solemn fear of God. Unless a clean heart and right spirit is in us, evil may easily get dominion over us.
a. How beautiful the assurance of SolomonHe that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend! If such purity of heart and grace of speech win an earthly monarchs favour, certainly the King divine will seal with favour now and eternally such qualities of character and conduct.
b. How winning is that Name which in our Christian dispensation we are called to cherish! It is the name of Jesus. And the Father gave it His Son to be a Name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Php. 2:9-10); and it is given under heaven among men (Act. 4:12) to be loved as the sweetest sound on mortal tongue, and the pledge of grace and bliss.
Topic: BLASPHEMY OF SHELOMITHS SON (Lev. 24:10-15)
This incident in the career of Israel is similar in character to that of the two sons of Aaron, who offered strange fire upon the altar, thereby insulting the name of the Lord, degrading His sanctuary, and meeting with sore retribution. When Israel left Egypt, a mixed multitude of camp followers proceeded with them into the wilderness. They encamped outside the tents of Israel, and only occasionally entered the sacred enclosure. A son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, had an altercation with a man of Israel, and when striving with him in the camp blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. Moses at once sought to learn the mind of the Lord concerning such an offence; and the offender was stoned. The sentence was strictly and solemnly carried out, for the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses. From this incident we learn
I. THAT THE NAME OF JEHOVAH COULD NOT BE BLASPHEMED WITH IMPUNITY.
In all the oldest MSS. the Name stands alone, without the words of Jehovah. The Hebrew name of God was peculiarly solemn; the Jews, afraid to pronounce it, employed the word Lord instead. Jehovah meant the underived, infinite, and eternal existence of deity, and was the incommunicable name by which He made His august might and majesty known. It was enthroned above all the names of heathen deities, and enshrined the Divine Glory. Around it was set a sacred fence. To blaspheme it was a sin of the deepest dye. The Jews have always been marked, even in their most degenerate days, by reverence for the great name of Jehovah. Alas! how the name of the Lord is profaned and blasphemed to-day. Because of swearing the land mourneth. Though blasphemers are not now stoned, yet over their heads hangs the sword of His righteous retribution, threatening them with everlasting shame and contempt.
II. THAT THE SANCTITY OF THE CAMP COULD NOT REMAIN DEGRADED BY THE PRESENCE OF A BLASPHEMER.
It is evident that blaspheming in the camp was a very rare thing, for no sooner had the son of Shelomith uttered his oaths than the people arrested him, and demanded that he might be appropriately punished. This shows their jealousy for the honour of the divine name, and for the moral safety and purity of society. Let us beware, lest the name of the Lord Jesus be profaned, lest He be crucified afresh and put to an open shame. The camp of Israel and the Church of the living God, cannot be profaned without incurring the divine displeasure.
III. THAT THE SIGNAL AND SEVERE PUNISHMENT COULD NOT BE INFLICTED UPON THE BLASPHEMER WITHOUT ACCOMPANYING APPROPRIATE SOLEMNITY.
The sentence was to be executed outside the camp, in the presence of witnesses who heard the words spoken; they were to lay their hands upon the head of the doomed man, to show that he bore his own guilt, and was devoted to expiate it. As we see him publicly and solemnly stoned, we learn how fearful a thing sin is, and how fearful it is to fall into the hands of the living God, except we do so in penitence and prayer. We also learn(a) The danger of anger. (b) How one sin leads to anotherF. W. B.
OUTLINES ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 24
Lev. 24:2.Theme: THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.
That part of the temple exclusively claimed by Jehovah was lighted by a candlestick with seven lamps, which were kept continually burning. This candlestick might possibly be intended to represent Christ as the light of the world, but certainly shadowed forth His church in
I. ITS PRIVILIGES.
I. Christ declared that the candlestick represented His church (Rev. 1:20). Consider
(1.) Of what it was composed. Pure gold (Exo. 25:31-38). Symbol of the divine nature of which saints are made partakers (2Pe. 1:4).
(2.) How it was supplied. With purest oil; symbol of the unction of the Holy One which we have received (1Jn. 2:20; 1Jn. 2:27), for the enlightenment of our minds and sanctifying of our souls.
(3.) For what purpose it was used. To shine in darkness, that all who were engaged in Gods service might fulfil their duties aright, and that God might be glorified in them (Rev. 1:12-13).
2. The priestly attendant prefigured Christ.
This is affirmed on Christs own authority (Heb. 4:14-15).
(1.) He is constantly employed in inspecting and trimming the lamps.
(2) Not a saint escapes His watchfulness; He sees all our declensions and needs.
(3.) He interposes to correct their dulness, and to restore them to their wonted splendour (Joh. 15:2).
ITS DUTIES.
The duties of the saints are
1. To shine; that Gods power and grace may be magnified among men, and that their fellow-creatures may be benefitted by their instructions, example, and influence (Mat. 5:14-16).
2. To be receiving more grace from Christ, In order to their shining with yet brighter luster.
He has the residue of the Spirit (Mal. 2:15); and of that fulness we must all receive even grace for grace (Joh. 1:16). Comp. Zec. 4:2-4; Zec. 4:11-14.
(a) An important inquiry. Are you as lights shining in a dark place? Judge yourselves.
(b) A solemn admonition. If we would not have our candlestick removed we must repent every known defect and seek to be pure as He is pure.
(c) An encouraging reflection. He will not quench the smoking flax (Mat. 12:20). Thou wilt light my candle, etc. (Psa. 18:28.)C. Simeon.
Lev. 24:4.Theme: THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.
The high priest caring for the golden candlestick, a type of Christ in His care for the churches (Zec. 4:2-6; Rev. 1:12-20), God is Light. Light, the firstborn of creation. Light, the beginning of work of grace in soul of man. Christ the Light of the world, a light to lighten the Gentiles, glory of Israel. The lamps before the Lord continually, so churches ever under His eye and care. Consider(a) how the light of the lamps was derived; (b) it was cheering; (c) it was revealing; (d) it was beautiful; (e) it was constant; (f) it was precious; (g) it was essential. Trace analogy in light vouchsafed to Christian church and Christly souls.F.W.B.
Lev. 24:5Theme: THE SHEWBREAD.
The mystery of the shewbread is applied by some to Christ, who called Himself the true bread. But the circumstance of the flour being taken from all the children of Israel, and made into twelve cakes, denotes that those loaves represented the twelve tribes i.e., the Church of God.
I. THEIR SOLEMN DEDICATION TO GOD.
For a memorial, as an offering made by fire unto the Lord. As such, His eyes are upon them continually; and as the frankinscense was to God an odour of a sweet smell, so they are accepted by Him.
II. THEIR PERIODICAL RENEWAL.
While one generation is passing away another comes in to supply their place. Never shall Gods people be removed but others shall be ready to succeed them. There are always souls prepared to be baptised from the dead.
III. THEIR ULTIMATE DESTINATION.
The saints when their appointed period here is fulfilled, pass into the possession of Christ, the Great High Priest. The Lords portion is his people (Deu. 33:9). Christ will claim His people as His peculiar treasure.
It is the duty of Gods people, therefore:
1. To consecrate themselves entirely to God, as being made and set apart absolutely for Him (Isa. 43:21).
2. To occupy themselves in prayer and intercession.
As the loaves represented before the Lord all Israel, so Christians should regard themselves as required to make supplications, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving for all men.
3. To wait patiently their removal hence.
All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my charge come.C. Simeon.
Lev. 24:8Theme: SPECIAL TIME FOR SERVICE
Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord.
Forms may exist without formality. Continuous worship does not preclude special seasons for service. The Sabbath a peculiarly holy and consecrated day. The house of God a specially consecrated place. Special seasons for attention to divine things, (a) prevent forgetfulness, (b) arrest attention, (c) secure freshness, (d) awaken inquiry. The bread was never allowed to get mouldy or stale. The frankincense upon each row upon the golden table symbolic of prayer, purity, and praise. In Christian service and worship renewal of strength, refreshment in service, replenishment of sacrifice essential to acceptable worship and spiritual profit. At all times, especially on the Lords day, there must be renewed consecration to Him before whose presence we bow.F. W. B.
Lev. 24:13-15.Theme: EVIL CONNEXIONS.
I. THE DANGER OF UNGODLY CONNEXIONS.
As a caution against intimacy with the ungodly we are told that evil communications corrupt good manners, and the companion of fools shall be destroyed. Whereas in the marriage union such connexion is peculiarly dangerous, because its influence is incessant.
1. Injurious to the person himself. It cannot be productive of happiness, or piety. Comp. 2Co. 6:14-15.
2. Injurious to their offspring. It sorrowfully happens that when parents are divided in relation to religion the children yield most to the influence of the ungodly parent.
II. THE DANGER OF UNGODLY HABITS.
1. The habits of this young man were bad, a son of wrathful nature and reviling habits.
2. The consequences proved fatal to him. Little did he anticipate the issues of his evil habits. Sin bringeth forth death.
(a) Check strife and anger in ourselves,
(b) Arrest blasphemy in others.
C. Simeon, M.A.
Lev. 24:10-16.Theme: SLAYING THE BLASPHEMER.
The narrative shows
I. THE EVIL RESULTING FROM CONNEXION WITH THE UNGODLY, whose father was an Egyptiansaid by the Rabbins to be the man whom Moses killed.
II. The danger ARISING FROM INDULGENCE IN PASSIONATE ANGER: Strove; the blasphemy was uttered in a quarrelsome passion.
III. THE BLASPHEMY which, in this case, RESULTED FROM SUCH INDULGENCE.
Cursed the Holy Name of Jehovah; which, the Israelite claimed, belonged to none but Israelites.
IV. THE PUNISHMENT WHICH ALL LIKE SIN MERITS.W. Wayland, B.A.
Lev. 24:16.Theme: BLASPHEMY.
And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.
A flaming sword here guards the sacred name of Jehovah. Not only were holy services to be rendered to Him, but reverent thoughts entertained of Him, whether uttered or unexpressed. Why were contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Gods name considered as heinous?
I. Because Gods Name reveals and represents Him. As the Eternal, Infinite, Self-existent. Almighty, Only God.
II. Because to blaspheme Gods Name, indicates the lowest depths of human sinfulness. The blasphemer is capable of doing every other kind of evil without compunction.
III. Because such wickedness exerts a most baneful influence upon others. When contempt is thrown upon the divine name, obedience to divine laws is discouraged, the seeds of rebellion to divine authority are sown.
IV. Because the Divine Name is worthy of all honour and blessing.
V. Because God has justly branded the sin with intensest hatred; and attached to it hopeless doom.
No sin had denounced upon it a severer judgment by the Son of God. How needful that we constantly offer the prayer, Hallowed be thy name.F.W.B.
Lev. 24:22.Theme: THE INEXORABLENESS OF THE LAW.
He shall have one manner of Law.
To maintain order in the wilderness among the tribes of Israel, it was essential that punishment should not be tardy in its movements, but summary in its infliction. The people needed to be held with a tight rein, chastised with a strong hand. The law of retaliation was,
I. Strictly just. Only fair that punishment should be of the kind and extent of the crime, for crime is an offence against man and society, the sin of the crime is taken cognizance of by God, He only can forgive it.
II. Highly salutary. It would check tendencies to opression, robbery and cruelty. Self-love and fear, where principle was absent, would deter from wrong doing for which severe retaliating punishment would ensue.
The law anticipated and foreshadowed the golden rule, Whatsoever ye would that men should etc., for the people would seek to do only such things as they would, should retaliation be done to them.
Under the Gospel, magnanimity supplants retaliation. The beau-ideal of Christian manhood is, lamblike innocence, and dovelike gentleness, patience, love.F. W. B.
ILLUSTRATIVE ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 24
LIGHT BEARERS. The ancient Insignia of the Waldennian Church was a candlestick, with a light radiating its rays across the surrounding darkness, and encircled with seven stars; with the motto, Lux lucet in tenebris. Anything more appropriately descriptive of the position and history of the Church, it would be impossible to conceive.
PROFANITY. A good old man was once in company with a gentleman, who occasionally introduced into conversation the words, devil, deuce, etc., and who, at last, took the name of God in vain, Stop, sir, said the old man, I said nothing while you only used freedoms with the name of your own master, but I insist upon it that you shall, use no freedoms with the Name of mine.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. HOLY LAMPS AND SHOWBREAD 24:19
a. THE HOLY LAMP 24:14
TEXT 24:14
1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2
Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
3
Without the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, shall Aaron keep it in order from evening to morning before Jehovah continually: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations.
4
He shall keep in order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before Jehovah continually.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 24:14
562.
Who was to supply the oil for the lamp?
563.
What is meant by pure olive oil beaten?
564.
How often was the lamp to be trimmed?
565.
The light in the holy place was there continuously. Is this true?
566.
Was the candlestick to be kept clean? Is this the meaning of Lev. 24:4?
PARAPHRASE 24:14
The Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for an eternal flame in the lampstand of pure gold which stands outside the veil that secludes the Holy of Holies. Each morning and evening Aaron shall supply it with fresh oil and trim the wicks. It will be an eternal flame before the Lord from generation to generation.
COMMENT 24:14
S. H. Kellogg has given us some very splendid comments on these verses. We offer them here to our readers:
First (Lev. 24:1-4) is given the direction for the ordering of the daily light, which was to burn from evening until morning in the holy place continually. The people themselves are to furnish the oil for the seven-branched candlestick out of the product of their olive yards. The oil is to be pure, carefully cleansed from leaves and all impurities; and beaten, that is, not extracted by heat and pressure, as are inferior grades, but simply by beating and macerating the olives with water, a process which gives the very best. The point in these specifications is evidently this, that for this, as always, they are to give to Gods service the very best, an eternal principle which rules in all acceptable service to God. The oil is to come from the people in general, so that the illuminating of the Holy Place, although specially tended by the high priest, is yet constituted a service in which all the children of Israel have some part. The oil was to be used to supply the seven lamps upon the golden candlestick which was placed on the south side of the Holy Place, without the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting. This Aaron was to order from evening to morning before the Lord continually. According to Exo. 25:31-40, this candlestickor, more properly, lampstandwas made of a single shaft, with three branches on either side, each with a cup at the end like an almond blossom; so that, with that on the top of the central shaft, it was a stand of seven lamps, in a conventional imitation of an almond tree.
The significance of the symbol is brought clearly before us in Zec. 4:1-14, where the seven-branched candlestick symbolises Israel as the congregation of God, the giver of the light of life to the world. And yet a lamp can burn only as it is supplied with oil and trimmed and cared for. And so in the symbol of Zechariah the prophet sees the golden candlestick supplied with oil conveyed through two golden pipes into which flowed the golden oil, mysteriously self-distilled from two olive trees on either side of the candlestick. And the explanation given is this: Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. Thus we learn that the golden seven-branched lampstand denotes Israel, more precious than gold in Gods sight, appointed of Him to be the giver of light to the world. And yet by this requisition of oil for the golden candlestick the nation was reminded that their power to give light was dependent upon the supply of the heavenly grace of Gods Spirit, and the continual ministrations of the priest in the Holy Place. And how this ordering of the light might be a symbolic act of worship, we can at once see, when we recall the word of Jesus (Mat. 5:14; Mat. 5:16): Ye are the light of the world . . . Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
How pertinent for instruction still in all its deepest teaching is this ordinance of the lamp continually burning in the presence of the Lord, is vividly brought before us in the Apocalypse (Lev. 1:12-13), where we read that seven candlesticks appeared in vision to the Apostle John; and Christ, in His glory, robed in high-priestly vesture, was seen walking up and down, after the manner of Aaron, in the midst of the seven candlesticks, in care and watch of the manner of their burning. And as to the significance of this vision, the Apostle was expressly told (Lev. 24:20) that the seven candlesticks were the seven Churches of Asia,types of the collective Church in all the centuries. Thus, as in the language of this Levitical symbol, we are taught that in the highest sense it is the office of the Church to give light in darkness; but that she can only do this as the heavenly oil is supplied, and each lamp is cared for, by the high-priestly ministrations of her risen Lord.
FACT QUESTIONS 24:14
577.
In what sense was the oil to be pure and beaten?
578.
What principle is here given?
579.
Why was the oil supplied by the people?
580.
Zec. 4:1-14 explains the significance of the symbol. What was it?
581.
Was Israel to be a light to the world? Explain,
582.
Rev. 1:12-13 gives us the application of the Golden Lampstand for our life. What is it?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXIV.
(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses.The regulations about the annual festivals and the ritual connected with them are now followed by directions with regard to the daily service and its ritual.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
This Is The Word Of Yahweh.
Lev 24:1
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’
Once again we are assured that these are Yahweh’s words through Moses.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 24:14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
Lev 24:14
Deu 17:4-7, “And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.”
Lev 24:20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
Lev 24:20
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Of the Oil and the Showbread
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 2. Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. v. 3. Without the veil of the testimony, v. 4. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually. v. 5. And thou shalt take fine flour, wheaten flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof; two-tenth deals v. 6. And thou shalt set them in two rows, v. 7. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, v. 8. Every Sabbath he, v. 9. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
A connection between Lev 23:1-44, and Le Lev 24:1-9 is found by Keil in the fact that the oil for the holy lamps and the shewbread were offerings of the people, a sacrificial gift with which Israel was to serve the Lord continually. “The offering of oil, therefore, for the preparation of the candlestick, and that of fine flour for making the loaves to be placed before Jehovah, formed part of the service in which Israel sanctified its life and labour to the Lord its God, not only at the appointed festal periods, but every day; and the law is very appropriately appended to the sanctification of the sabbaths and feast days prescribed in Lev 23:1-44.” But it is better to consider the whole chapter parenthetical between Lev 23:1-44, and Lev 25:1-55, the first part having been suggested by the list of days on which holy convocations were to be held, because it is connected with the temple or tabernacle service; the second part (the blasphemer’s death) being inserted because it chronologically happened shortly after the law as to holy convocations and festivals had been pronounced.
Lev 24:1-4
The ordinance on the lamps contained in the first three verses is repeated from Exo 27:20. The oil to be used for the lamps was to be pure oil olive, that is, oil made of picked berries, without any intermixture of dust or twigs; and it was to be beaten instead of “pressed,” because when the berries were crushed in the olive-press, small portions of them became mixed with and discoloured the oil, which was, therefore, less pure than when the fruit was simply beaten and then left to drain. The lamps were to burn continually; that is, from evening to morning every night. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation; that is, in the holy place, as distinct from the holy of holies. Aaron, either personally or by his sons (see Exo 27:21), was to dress the lamps every morning, and light them every evening (Exo 30:7). The lamps were upon the seven-branched candlestick, which is called the pure candlestick, because made of gold. The light of the seven-branched candlestick symbolized the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, which should illumine God’s Church (Zec 4:2-6; Rev 1:12, Rev 1:20).
Lev 24:5-9
The shewbread, or bread of the face, that is, of the presence, was to be made of fine flour, that is, of wheat, and to consist of twelve cakes or loaves, to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, each loaf containing upward of six pounds of flour. The loaves were placed upon the pure table before the Lord; that is, on the golden table of shewbread within the sanctuarywhich stood not far from the vail which partitioned off the holy of holiestoward the north, as the candlestick was toward the south. The loaves were set, not, probably, in two rows, six on a row, as they could have hardly stood in that position on so small a table as the table of shewbread (which was only three feet by one foot and a half), but in piles, six in a pile. Upon them, or more probably between the two piles, were placed two vials or cups filled with frankincense (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 3.7, 6). The shewbread was renewed every sabbath day, with much ceremony. “Four priests,” says the Mishna, “enter, two of them carrying the piles of bread, and two of them the cups of incense. Four priests had gone in before them, two to take off the two old piles of shrewbread, and two to take off the cups of incense. Those who brought in the new stood at the north side facing southwards; those who took away the old, at the south side, facing northwards. One party lifted off and the other put on, the hands of one being over against the hands of the other, as it is written, Thou shalt set upon the table bread of the Passover always before me” (‘Men.,’ 11.7). The loaves that were removed were delivered to the priests for their consumption within the tabernacle, the whole quantity amounting to seventy-five pounds of bread per week. It was this bread which, in the pressure of necessity, Abimelech gave to David and his men (1Sa 21:4-6). At the same time that the old loaves were changed, the frankincense was burned on the golden altar of incense for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. There is nothing in Scripture to prove whether the loaves were leavened or unleavened. As being the meat offering of the tabernacle, we should expect them to be unleavened, like the meat offering of the court, but there was a reason why the meat offering of the court should be unleavened, which did not operate in the case of the shewbread. A part of the ordinary meat offering had to be burnt on the altar of burnt sacrifice; therefore it could not be leavened, because no leaven might be burned on the altar; but the shewbread was not burnt on any altar, and consequently it need not for that reason be unleavened. The two Pentecostal loaves, which were offered to the Lord by waving instead of burning, were leavened. The probabilities derived from Scripture appear to be equally strong on either side. Josephus states that they were unleavened (‘Ant.,’ Lev 3:6, Lev 3:6; Lev 10:1-20, Lev 7:1-38).
HOMILETICS
Lev 24:1-9
The lamps of the seven-branched candlestick burnt throughout the whole night in the tabernacle; and the shewbread was constantly set forth upon the golden table. They may be taken to symbolize:
1. The constant illumination vouchsafed by God to his Church through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
2. The spiritual food constantly supplied by him in his Church to those who come in faith to have their wants supplied.
1. I. ILLUMINATION BY THE SPIRIT WAS PROMISED BY CHRIST. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (Joh 14:26). “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (Joh 16:7-13).
II. THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISE COMMENCED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST. “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, add having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear” (Act 2:33).
III. THE ILLUMINATION IS PERMANENT THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF A PERMANENT MINISTRY. “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ” (Eph 4:8-12).
IV. CHRIST ABIDES BY HIS SPIRIT IN THE MIDST OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS.
“I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man” (Rev 1:12, Rev 1:13). “These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks” (Rev 2:1).
V. ANY BRANCH OF THE CANDLESTICK WHOSE LIGHT IS EXTINGUISHED WILL BE REMOVED. “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Rev 2:5).
2. I. CHRIST IS THE SPIRITUAL FOOD OF HIS CHURCH. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true Bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the Bread which came down from heaven Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves I am the living Bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Joh 6:32-51).
II. CHRIST‘S SACRIFICE UPON THE CROSS SUPPLIES THE FOOD ON WHICH BY FAITH WE ARE TO FEED. ” We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle” (Heb 13:10).
III. ONE MEANS OF OUR THUS FEEDING UPON HIM IS THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD‘S SUPPER. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:26-28).
IV. HE SUPPLIES THE NEEDS OF THOSE THAT THIRST AS WELL AS OF THOSE THAT HUNGER. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Rev 21:6). “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).
V. HE FEEDS HIS PEOPLE NOT ONLY BY SACRAMENTS BUT BY THE WORD OF GOD PREACHED BY HIS MINISTERS. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4). “Take heed therefore unto yourselves” (the Ephesian elders), “and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God” (Act 20:28). “He gave some, pastors and teachers” (Eph 4:11). “He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep” (Joh 21:15-17). “The elders which are among you. I exhort Feed the flock of God which is among you” (1Pe 5:1, 1Pe 5:2).
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Lev 24:1-4
Everlasting light.
cf. Rev 1:12-20; also Psa 43:3. The holy place, like the most holy, had no windows, and consequently required illumination. This was secured by the golden candlestick, with its seven lamps. These were to be always emitting some light. If all the seven lamps were not lit during the daytime, one or two of them were. The idea carried out was that there should be in God’s sanctuary everlasting light.
That the candlestick was taken as the symbol of God’s truth is evident from Psa 43:3, “Oh send out thy light, even thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” In fact, God’s essential nature as light was exhibited by the Shechinah in the holy of holies; then in the golden candlestick, we have the light mediated in the holy place in such a way as would suffice for the illumination of the ordinary priests at their sacred ministries. God’s arrangement, therefore, for the dissemination of truth in this dark world of ours is what the golden candlestick is intended to convey. Rev 1:12-20 throws clear light on the symbol. The Churches established in the world by God are the lamps () which he intends to shine till the dawn of the eternal day.
I. NOTICE THE UNITY OF ALL TRUE CHURCHES. For the seven lamps were united in the one candlestick, just as all true Churches are one in Christ. There is no incorporation necessarily implied, but this is also to be encouraged by every legitimate means. If unity in Christ be a real thing, it will show itself in some way or another before men.
II. THE OIL FOR THE LIGHT WAS TO BE BEATEN. The olives were to be placed in a mortar and beaten, and then the oil which flowed off without further pressure, the purest possible, was to be used for the light. God’s truth is communicated to men in such a form that they must diligently cooperate with God before the benefit is obtained. No careless handling of truth will suffice. We must beat the olives well before we get the needful oil. Ministers must be diligent in their preparations, Christians of all classes must “search the Scriptures,” if the requisite oil for the light is to be obtained. God might rain down oil from heaven, and save us a heap of trouble, but he would rather put it into the olive berries, and ask us to pound it out from these. Similarly, he has put in his Word “things hard to be understood,” as well as things that are simple, to the end that we should diligently study it and get the sacred oil.
III. THE WICK HAD TO BE CAREFULLY TRIMMED, AND WHEN NEEDFUL SNUFFED. It was the high priest’s special duty, in which, however, the other priests assisted. And is this not to indicate the work undertaken by Jesus Christ, who as High Priest walked among the golden lamps? (Rev 1:12). A beautiful parallel passage is presented in Mat 12:20, where it is said, “smoking flax [i.e; ‘a wick’] shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” There may be pain in the process often by which our High Priest gets his wicks trimmed and luminous, but there is also mercy and tenderness ineffable. How often does he hold his hands around the expiring wick, and blow it gently into a flame again! Blessed are his dealings, when as the result his people, and especially his ministers, are made to shine as “lights in the world.” Regarding the snuffers in this connection, we may quote an old and quaint writer. “The Lord,” says Weemse, “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 offenses of their brethren was a most excellent thing.”
IV. THE LAMPS WERE LIT FROM THE ALTAR. That is to say, it was Divine fire which made the oil luminous. God is light, from him cometh all real illumination. So it is only when the Saviour baptizes men with fire, it is only when the Holy Ghost lights up the sacred page, it is only when the Spirit cooperates with the Word, that the truth appears in its brightness unto men. An earnest ministry is that which gives itself to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, prayer calling down the Divine fire which makes the entrance of the Word give light. Then may the lamps be expected to burn brightly and to light up the night of the world till the day dawns.R.M.E.
Lev 24:5-9
The weekly offering.
cf. 1Co 16:2; 1Ti 5:17, 1Ti 5:18. Along with the everlasting light from the golden candlestick, there was to be in the holy place a presentation of bread, which was made on the sabbath and lay before the Lord on the prescribed table all the week, becoming the property and support of the priests when they brought the fresh loaves on the succeeding sabbath. The loaves were to be twelve in number, to correspond to the tribes of Israel; they were arranged in two piles, upon the top of which there was placed a little incense, which was duly fired and thus ascended to heaven. The incense sanctified the offering. Now this “bread of the face,” as it was called, bread intended for the Divine presence, was the dedication on the part of the people of the staple of life, first to God, and secondly to the support of his priests. As previously observed, it was the perpetual meat offering. Here it is interesting to notice it as a “weekly offering” prescribed in the Old Testament economy. What Paul urges on the Corinthians (1Co 16:2), “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come,” is the exact counterpart of the shewbread. The Lord’s day is to be the time for a weekly offering for the support of his cause.
I. WE ARE SURELY TAUGHT HERE HOW SYSTEMATIC OUR OFFERINGS SHOULD BE. There should be a regularity about them like the return of the holy day. It is only when this periodicity characterizes them that the Lord’s cause is likely to be properly supported. A weekly offering is much more likely to be successful than a monthly, or quarterly, or annual offering. Liberality is to be a weekly exercise, like the ordinances of our holy religion.
II. OUR OFFERINGS SHOULD BE SANCTIFIED BY THE INCENSE OF PRAYER. This is only to say that liberality should be a religious act, part of our religious service. Then are we likely to be conscientious in discharging our obligations, when we carry our gifts into the presence of God. As Jesus stood over against the treasury in the temple, and saw the extraordinary liberality connected with the widow’s two mites, so is he watching our offerings at his shrine, noticing whether they are generous and cheerful or given with a Nudge, observing whether they are perfumed with incense or rendered obnoxious by worldliness and ostentation. It will tend to purify our liberality to envelop it in prayer.
III. GOD‘S OFFICERS SHOULD BE REGARDED AS RECEIVING THEIR SUPPORT FROM HIS TABLE. That is to say, they are to be regarded as receiving their support from God, not directly from the people. It is this element of sanctity in the service of liberality which saves the dignity of the Lord’s officers, and prevents them from being beggarly dependents upon the people. Conscientious people lay their offerings before God, and then God’s officers receive their portion as from their Master in heaven. “And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’;” and they shall eat it in the holy place.
IV. THE WEEKLY OFFERING SHOULD BE THE OUTCOME OF AN EVERLASTING ENGAGEMENT WITH GOD. “Every sabbath (the priest) shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.” That is, liberality is to be no spasmodic outburst, but a steady outcome of an engagement that is perpetual. God has laid his people under such obligation by his rich provision in the gospel, that we feel we can never adequately discharge it. Hence week by week our offerings are laid upon his altar, and we recognize the arrangement as a lasting one.
Amid all the changes of times and of Churches, here have we sound principles of Church finance. It is to the religious spirit of the people we must ultimately commit the interests of God’s cause. When they bring regularly, prayerfully, perpetually, and at the same time realize that the Church officers are God’s servants and depend upon God’s altar, then is there no fear of any failure. God will stand between his servants and his people, and secure the interests of both.R.M.E.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Lev 24:1-4
The lighting of the sanctuary.
The face of Moses is glorious in the light of the gospel.
I. THE CANDLESTICK WAS AN EMBLEM OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. (See Rev 1:20.)
1. The candlestick in the holy place was one.
(1) So is the Church of God a unity. Christ has not two mystical bodies (Col 1:18). He has not two brides (Eph 5:23). It comprehends the whole body of the faithful.
(2) It is unscriptural as well as invidious for any denomination to style itself “The Church.” Denominations are not even “Churches,” though often so misnamed; they are, at best, but divisions of the grand army of the saints.
2. It carried seven lamps.
(1) These are called “candlesticks” (Rev 1:20). The reason is that visible Christian corporations, which are called “Churches “in the plural (see Act 9:31; Act 15:41; Act 16:5), are types of the more perfect unity.
(2) “Seven” is a definite, put for an indefinite, number. It is the numeral for perfection, and likewise stands for many (see 1Sa 2:5). So the seven Churches of Asia, to which the candlestick is compared, are to be taken as representing the multitude of the Churches of Christendom. These are, indeed, countless, if, as Chrysostom says, “where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus there is a Church.”
3. The candlestick was of pure gold. This was to express the preciousness of the saints.
(1) They are precious to God. He has redeemed them with the blood of Christ. He has prepared for them a heaven of inconceivable magnificence.
(2) They are precious to the world. They are its light. They are its salt. The light in them, like salt, is purifying and preserving, as well as illuminating (Mat 5:13-16.)
II. THE LIGHT IN THE CHURCHES IS THE WORD OF GOD. This may be taken in kindred senses.
1. God’s Word written.
(1) This is no uncertain light, as that of mere reason is.
(2) It is no false light, as that of tradition often is. For, however pure it may have been at its source, it soon becomes corrupted in transmission.
2. The personal Word of God.
(1) The presence of a personal Teacher in the living Spirit of Christ is a priceless blessing.
(2) Such an Interpreter is infinitely better than popes or Councils.
(3) Christians are still the disciples of the personal Jesus. They should cultivate in prayerfulness the simplicity and docility becoming such (see Joh 7:17).
III. THE OIL THAT SUSTAINS THE LIGHT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT‘S GRACE. No wonder it must be “pure oil olive beaten for the light.”
1. Jesus had the Spirit without measure.
(1) The fullness of the Godhead bodily was in him. So was he anointed with the oil of gladness immeasurably above his fellows.
(2) Thus was he constituted the Christ, or Anointed One.
2. Of his fullness we receive grace.
(1) Christians, therefore, with propriety have their name from Christ. Those who first gave that name in derision little knew its propriety (see 2Co 1:21; 1Jn 2:20, 1Jn 2:27).
(2) This anointing is illuminating. So we learn in these references from John. It enlightens the Christian himself. It enables him to illumine others.
IV. THE OIL WAS FURNISHED BY THE WORSHIPPERS.
1. There is a sense in which believers bring the Holy Ghost.
(1) They do this by their faith. When the faith of the people is constant, the lamps of the Churches “burn continually.” What an honour to the faithful!
(2) Through unfaithfulness the candlestick (or lamp) may be removed (see Rev 2:5; also Mat 21:43). How great is the responsibility of professors!
2. The Holy Ghost is nevertheless the Gift of God.
(1) This is true of his type. Who but God could put oil into the olive?
(2) So of the Antitype. Accordingly, in Zec 4:2, Zec 4:3, the oil is represented as feeding the candlestick immediately from the olive. The figure is explained thus, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zec 4:6).
V. AARON AMONG THE LIGHTS REPRESENTED CHRIST AMONG HIS CHURCHES,
1. This we have from the nature of the case. The high priest was, generally, a type of Christ. So in this particular.
2. We have it also by special revelation (see Rev 1:13).
VI. THE CANDLESTICK WAS WITHOUT THE VAIL.
1. The Churches shine in this world.
(1) The sanctuary was the type of the kingdom of the heavens upon the earth. Here the candlestick was placed.
(2) Every Church member should realize that he has his light from God that he may diffuse it (Mat 5:14-16).
2. The Shechinah was within the vail.
(1) There is no need of a candle in that bright Presence (see Isa 60:19, Isa 60:20; Rev 21:10, Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5).
(2) The seven Churches are there lost in the one Church, which flames with the glory of God. If there are before the throne “seven lamps of fire,” they are explained to be the “seven Spirits of God,” or Holy Spirit, whose light is “sevenfold” or perfect (Rev 4:5; Isa 30:26).J.A.M.
Lev 24:5-9
The bread of the presence.
As there was light on the candlestick in God’s house, so was there bread on his table. It was called the “shewbread,” literally, “bread of faces,” or of the presence, viz. of Jehovah. Let us consider
I. ITS DESCRIPTION.
1. It was composed of fine flour.
(1) Christ is compared to a corn of wheat, viz. before it is ground, and while the life is whole in it.
(2) So is he compared to bread. This is corn whose life is sacrificed in the treatment to which it is subjected. Jesus calls himself the Bread who gives his life unto the world (Joh 6:33).
(3) The very manner in which corn loses its life to become nourishment, it being bruised and burnt, describes the sufferings of Christ in body and spirit from the hands of man and of God.
(4) Bread is the staple in food. As without it there is no feast, so without Christ there is no true joy. As with it there is no hunger, so have we in him a satisfying portion.
2. It was measured in tenths.
(1) Ten is the number for riches; and Christ, as the Rich One, is called a Tenth (see Isa 6:13). All the holy bread was measured in tenth-deals, to point to the “measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:7, Eph 4:13). The riches of eternity are ours in him (see Homily on the Feast of Expiation).
(2) But why two tenth-deals to each cake? Perhaps light may be let in upon this by noting that, on the sixth day, two omers, or tenths, of manna were gathered to prepare for the sabbath (Exo 16:22). It was on the sabbath that the bread of the presence was replaced.
(3) This correspondence further identifies the typical import of the presence-bread with that of the manna. Note in addition that, as the manna came from God out of heaven, this bread is distinguished as that which comes from the Divine presence; and the true Bread of Life came from heaven (Joh 6:33, Joh 6:38, Joh 6:40, Joh 6:50, Joh 6:51, Joh 6:58).
3. The number of the loaves was twelve.
(1) Here was a loaf for every son of Israel. “There is bread enough in our Father’s house.”
(2) This number was continued after the revolt of the ten tribes (2Ch 13:11). This fact suggests that the number is also typical in relation to the spiritual Israel; a view confirmed by the application of the number twelve to the New Testament Church. Thus upon the head of the sun-clothed woman is a coronet of twelve stars, obviously in allusion to the twelve apostles of the Lamb, who are described as twelve angels at the twelve gates of the mystical city, and whose names are inscribed upon its twelve foundations (Rev 12:1; Rev 21:12, Rev 21:14, Rev 21:21).
(3) Twelve also is the number of the Lamb himself. He is the true Tree of Life, having twelve manner of fruits, corresponding to the twelve months in the year (Rev 22:2). So the one Bread of the Presence is distributed into twelve loaves. And “we being many are one bread” in him (see 1Co 10:17).
(4) This association of the months with the loaves opens a very interesting field of investigation. Is there not a great year of the world to be measured by soil-lunar time (see Gen 1:14)? King, in his ‘Morsels of Criticism,’ has a dissertation concerning the sabbath and a sabbatical era, in which he unfolds from the sabbatical intercalation of the Levitical system a more perfect adjustment of lunar to solar time than the Gregorian. Intercalations on the principle of the Jewish sabbatic period will in 400 years adjust the solar and lunar time within one hour and forty minutes. In fifteen such periods, or 6000 years, the adjustment will leave only one hour to be accounted for. But every 144,000 years, which is the square of 12 in thousands, and a number very remarkable in the measures of the New Jerusalem, things are brought right to a second (see Rev 7:1-17; Rev 14:3, Rev 14:4; Rev 21:17).
II. WHAT WAS DONE WITH IT.
1. It was placed upon the table before the Lord.
(1) It was “before the Lord,” for the Shechinah was separated from it only by the vail. The glory sometimes streamed out through the vail, as it did through the flesh of Christ on the mount of transfiguration.
(2) it was then set in two rows of six over against each other. The purpose seems to have been to show how the tribes of the spiritual Israel will feast together in the fellowship of heaven.
(3) It was in a sense there “continually,” for it was replaced with new every sabbath. The Jews say, “The hands of those priests that put on were mixed with those that took off, that the table might be never empty.”
2. A memorial of it was burnt.
(1) It was “an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” But how? Was it not eaten by the priests? When the cakes were removed the frankincense was burnt. This was the memorial of the whole; in this the whole was accepted as a burnt offering (comp. Le Lev 2:2). This will explain the expression in the words of the angel to Cornelius, “Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God” (Act 10:4).
(2) But was this memorial burnt upon the table? We have no reason to think so. It was probably burnt upon the golden altar, which was the altar of incense. Note: the communion table ought never to be spoken of as an altar. It was from the table, not from the altar, that the priests ate the bread of the presence.
(3) The spiritual priesthood alone have a right to partake of the true Bread of the Presence, and feast in fellowship with God.J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Lev 24:1-4
Ourselves as lights.
There can be no doubt that the seven-branched candlestick in the holy place was typical of the Hebrew Church as the source of heavenly light. We therefore reach the subject of
I. LIGHT DIVINELY KINDLED. All light must be of God, who himself is light (1Jn 1:5). He has sought to illumine the human world in more ways than one.
1. He has given us the light of our spiritual natureour reason, our conscience; “the spirit of man is the candle (lamp) of the Lord” (Pro 20:27).
2. This should have sufficed to us, but it did not; and God gave the revelation of himself in his Law. Amid the surrounding darkness there was light in Israel. The brightly burning lamp in the holy place represented the holy nation, the instructed people, with whom were the oracles of God, into whose minds the truth of heaven was shining.
3. Yet this did not suffice, and God gave the Light of the world, his only begotten Son. “That was the true light which, coming into the world, enlighteneth every one.”
4. And he came that he might leave in the world the light of the Christian Church; those to whom and of whom he could say, “We are the light of the world.” “As he was, so are we in this world,” sources of heavenly illumination, of inward purity, of Divine wisdom.
II. ITS TRUE CHARACTERISTICS. These are:
1. Purity: they were to bring “pure oil olive beaten.” The light which is to shine in our words and from our character is to be such that there shall be the least possible admixture of error and corruption.
2. Fullness: we read of “the lamps” (plural), and we know that there were seven of these (Exo 25:31, Exo 25:32)a complete, perfect number. The truth we are to make manifest is not only to be pure, but full. We must declare the “whole counsel of God ;” the severe as well as the gracious, the less pleasant as well as the more acceptable, the deeper as well as the more superficial, the ethical as well as the doctrinal, aspects of the truth of God.
3. Constancy: they were “to cause the lamps to burn continually” (Lev 24:2), “from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually” (Lev 24:3). Whether all day and all night long, or only (as seems more probable) through the night, the lamps were to burn all the appointed time without ceasing to shine; there was to be no fitfulness or unsteadiness about the light which shone “before the Lord.” So our words and our deeds are to be continually reflecting the light of heavenly truth. In our work and in our play, in things sacred and in things secular, at home and from home, consciously and unconsciously, we are to be “bearing witness unto the truth,” we are to be “shining as lights in the world.”
III. ITS MAINTENANCE. “Aaron shall order it.” “He shall order the lamps.” The Jewish priest was to take every care that the lamps burnt brightly and continually.
1. The Christian minister has to see that he does his part in “ordering the lamps.” He must preach such truth and give such counsel as shall feed the fires of the soul most effectively.
2. Each Christian man must do his part also. Every one of us must
(1) watch to see when the light is low;
(2) replenish the spirit with sacred truth, that truth which nourishes and sustains the soul in the life of God;
(3) seek from heaven those Divine influences which shall be as oil to the flame and make it
” to his glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze.”
Lev 24:5-9
The lesson of the loaves.
In this act of worship the Jews made weekly acknowledgment of the goodness of God to them and of their dependence on him; they presented to him a suitable offering of those things he had given them; and they silently pleaded for God’s continued remembrance of them and their necessities. The lesson of these loaves, of this “bread of presence,” is therefore
I. THAT GOD‘S GIFTS TO US ARE SUCH AS TO DEMAND OUR CONTINUAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The Hebrew priest was to place before the Lord bread, the source of strength (Psa 104:15); wine, the source of gladness (Psa 104:15); and frankincense (Lev 24:7), the source of sweetness. He was to renew these presentations every sabbath day “continually” (Lev 24:8), and the table was never to be without them. This was a constant acknowledgment by the nation, through the act of the priesthood, of its dependence on God for all the good gifts received at his hand. We also, in our way, are to make continual acknowledgment every sabbath day in the sanctuary, every day at the family altar, and in the chamber of devotion, of our absolute dependence on God, for
(1) our strength,all things that minister to our health and vigour of body, mind, spirit, being due to his providing love; for
(2) our gladness,all those comforts and enjoyments, all those happy memories and inspiring hopes which make the music of our life, which infuse joyousness and elasticity into our nature, coming from his bountiful hand; and for
(3) the sweetness of our life,all the tender affections, the delicate delights which belong to pure and holy love, being the gift of his kindness also.
II. THAT WITH OUR SENSE OF WHAT WE OWE TO GOD IT IS SUITABLE THAT WE PRESENT SOME OFFERING TO HIM. Of that which made Israel strong, the priest presented bread; of that which made it glad, wine; of that which was sweet, frankincense.
1. Our strength is in mental power, knowledge, gift of speech, bodily vigour, wealth; of these we should give a goodly share to the cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ.
2. Of our joy and gladness we should give to God our offering in gratitude, in thankful thoughts and in the voice of praise.
3. Of the affection which constitutes the sweetness of our life we are to give a large measure of love to him whom we have not seen, but whom we know as our Divine Redeemer and unchanging Friend.
III. THAT, SO DOING, WE MAY EXPECT RESPONSIVE BLESSINGS FROM HIM. This was to be done “for a memorial” (Lev 24:7), i.e; a “bringing to remembrance of the worshipper for his good.” Jehovah was “continually” reminded of the devoutness of his people by the “bread of presence.” He was thus continually appealed to, by that silent prayer, to “remember them for good.” And as long as that act of worship in the holy place truly represented the spirit of the people, as long as it was their act, through the priests, of acknowledgment and consecration; so long was the Divine Sovereign well pleased with his subjects, so long was he ready to enrich and bless them. As long as we, instead of ascribing to ourselves the strength, joy, and sweetness of our lives, are honouring our God and Saviour for his goodness and grace therein, as long as we are cheerfully and generously giving to him and to his cause of that which he has given us; so long may we reckon on his gracious smile and look for his abundant blessing.C.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Lev 24:1-4
The lights in the sanctuary.
Pure oil furnished by the people. The high priest responsible for the maintenance of the lamps. Pure oil, pure lamps, pure candlestick, before the Lord continually. The main lessons are these
I. PROGRESSIVE, CONTINUAL SANCTIFICATION of God’s people provided for by his grace.
1. By the supply of the Spirit, the pure oil.
2. In and through the lamps that is, the individual and positive manifestation of the spiritual life.
3. In connection with the golden candlestick, and in dependence on the ministry of the high priest; that is, by means of the Church and its ordinances, in so far as the manifestation and public maintenance of the light of life are concerned. Yet, as the people themselves provided the pure oil, we are reminded that personal sanctification is not dependent solely on public ordinances; but the Spirit worketh as he will (Joh 3:8).
II. DIVINE FAITHFULNESS AND LONG–SUFFERING in the midst of the true Church. While the night is over them, the light still burns. While outside the temple there is gloom, within the sanctuary there is hope and promise.
III. TYPICALLY, THE PRESSED OIL AND BEATEN GOLD of the candlestick point to the connection of the work of the Spirit with the sacrificial work of Christ. The light of sanctification proceeds from the death of Christ, and is maintained by the priesthood of Christ.R.
Lev 24:5-9
The shewbread, or bread of the Presence.
Corresponding with the number of the tribes, and representing them; a national offering; a meat offering, with frankincense, drink offering, and salt. Taken from the people, eaten by the priests, every sabbath, for a memorial, by an everlasting covenant; “furnishing a striking figure of Israel’s condition in the view of Jehovah, whatever might be their outward aspect. The twelve tribes are ever before him. Their memorial can never perish. They are ranged in Divine order in the sanctuary, covered with the fragrant incense of Christ, and reflected from the pure table whereon they rest beneath the bright beams of that golden tamp which shines, with undimmed luster, through the darkest hour of the nation’s moral night.”
I. The perfect UNITY and completeness of the Church as before God.
1. As compared with the broken, external, visible unity.
2. As maintained by the Spirit and merit of Christ.
3. As hereafter to be manifested when there shall be no more temple, but the glory of God and of the Lamb are the temple of the heavenly Jerusalem.
II. The SAFETY and blessedness of God’s people. Their memorial is before him.
1. Proceeding from the sanctuary, i.e; all blessedness the outcome of spiritual blessedness.
2. Committed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head of the true Israel, the Lord of the temple, in whom “all the promises are Yea and Amen.”
3. Appealing to faith. The loaves were there to represent the continued life of the people; faith alone saw the reality.R.
Lev 24:2-4
The candlestick.
To many the regulations of Leviticus seem a cryptograph to which they have no key. To others, an inscription of old date with no reference to present concerns. Yet, dull-eyed must we be if we can discern no lessons for ourselves in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. The Hebrew can be translated into modern English, the Law stated in terms of the gospel. The tabernacle was the meeting-place of God with his people. It was his house, where his servants ministered and his guests were entertained. Light was needful therein,the great requisite of life, without which men grow pale and plants sickly, work ceases, and festivity is impossible. Let us consider the candlestick with its light.
I. AS SETTING FORTH THE CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
1. The characteristics of light.
(1) Its beauty. Naught excels it; it is splendour itself, and invests other objects with radiance. “God is light.” What a combination of hues constitutes the pure white ray!
(2) An emblem of knowledge. “Thy Word is a light unto my path.” “To the Law and to the testimony: if they no light in them.” Light is the revealerindicates our position and prospects. The wisdom of God is infinite; an inscrutable blaze that baffles the strongest vision. He devises plans for every emergency. Whilst men argue concerning the possibility of some works, he calmly does them; yea, whilst they prove (!) that no God exists, he is occupied in balancing the worlds, directing the course of the ages, hastening the day when all shall perforce know him.
(3) Typical of joy. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Illuminations are a worldwide method of rejoicing. The notions some hold concerning God as a hard Taskmaster, a Judge of severe countenance, a Father who never smiles, are not Biblical representations. We read of “the glorious gospel of the blessed (happy) God.” Joy is an emotion that loves to communicate itself to others, and from the throne of God issues a stream of untainted happiness to enrich the lives of his children.
2. The burning lamps showed the constant wakefulness of God. The people retired to their couches for repose, darkness brooded over the camp, bat the holy place was unaffected by the shadows of the night. God never slumbers nor sleeps. It may not have occurred to the Israelites that God heard prayer from o’er the compass of the globe; but, in order to be the God of the whole earth and to listen to the petitions of all its inhabitants, it follows of necessity that God has no couch in his sanctuary, for he resteth not. Whilst the day is closing in the one hemisphere it is beginning to dawn in the other. “In him is no darkness at all.”
3. The candlestick indicated perpetual existence. “A statue for ever in your generations.” Aaron might pass away, but the candlestick continued to give light in the tabernacle. Men die, God survives. As we behold the same sun and moon that gladdened the eyes of our forefathers, so it is the same God that hears our prayers and blesses us with the light of his countenance.
II. As SETTING FORTH THE RELATIONSHIP AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PEOPLE.
1. Their privileged condition as favoured with a special revelation of the being and character of God. They were the only nation to possess such a candlestick made “after the pattern showed in the mount.” All the heathen constructed deities and images of Deity according to their own judgment, taste, and caprice. The night during which the lamp burned was a fit emblem of the moral state of the world lying outside Israel. The Israelites were blessed with the light of the Law; “to them were committed the oracles of God.” In the symbols of the Law was taught the way of salvation, to be completed by a coming Mediator. So in Jesus Christ we have “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” At the Feast of Tabernacles, when according to custom large golden lamps were lit at dark in the temple court, our Lord termed himself “the Light of the world.” We have the Spirit of God to illumine our consciences, to show unto us the things of Christ. We read in the Revelation of the seven burning lamps before the throne, which are the sevenfold Spirit of God. In Zechariah’s vision of the candlestick he saw the bowls supplied with oil from two olive trees, representing the continued grace furnished by the Spirit of God, keeping alight the knowledge of God in days of the Church’s decline. And we have the Word of God, “a light shining in a dark place.” Let not this light condemn us as did the sacred candlestick removed to Belshazzar’s palace, where its rays revealed the fingers of a man’s hand writing the monarch’s doom. “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
2. Their duty to minister to the glory of God. The people were permitted, yea, expected, to bring the oil for the lamps, as they had previously offered the gold for the candlestick itself. They were to keep the light of God burning in the world. It is incumbent on Christians to support the ministry and the operations of the Church, that there may be a continual testimony to the existence and majesty of the Eternal. God requires us to render the best service at our command. It must be pure. The candlestick was of gold, as were the tongs and snuff-dishes, and the oil was of finest quality, free from dust, not crushed, but beaten. If preparing a meal for one we lightly esteem, little trouble is taken, but where we delight to honour our guest, what anxiety is displayed in all that concerns the banquet! Our devotion must be regular. The lamps were lit each evening, trimmed and dressed every morning. That the full light did not shine during the day is evident from 1Sa 3:3. Josephus, however, says that three of the lamps burnt all day long. The lamp is said to “ascend,” it rises to heaven as a tribute of adoration to God. We may think of him as viewing his world, and expecting light to arise from different quarters where his children dwell. But how often must disappointment accrue! No morning perusal of his Word, no evening worship. A mother on her birthday delights to turn over the letters from her children, that greet her upon her plate, but if one familiar handwriting be missed, what a shadow darkens her joy! The chill that creeps over her heart seems to nullify the gladness which the tokens of remembrance cause. Let not God have to sigh over our neglect. All is accepted through the priesthood. No Levite or layman must enter the holy precincts, the priests represent and are supported by the people. Jesus Christ is our means of access to the Father; through him our service is acceptable. To venture to draw nigh in our name is presumption; it sets at naught the solemn regulations of the Most High, and it will receive the rebuke it merits. The Son of man must walk in the midst of our golden candlesticks, or else we know not that they are in accordance with the Divine mind; and only thus can we hear the exhortations that shall prevent the candlestick from being removed out of its place because of failure to discharge its proper functions.S.R.A.
Lev 24:5-9
The shewbread.
The furniture and ministry of the tabernacle are most clearly understood in import, if it be remembered that they have a double reference. Like the clouds of the sky, one aspect is towards heaven, the other towards earth. In the ordinance of the shewbread, we may see imaged truths relating to God, and truths with more immediate reference to the position and duties of his people.
I. GOD AS THE PRESERVER OF LIFE. Food was essential to the conception of the tabernacle as the house of God. Unless he minister to the needs of his servants, they perish for lack of sustenance. “My Father giveth you the true Bread from heaven.” The shewbread is literally the “bread of my face,” or presence. Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, appears continually before the presence of God. God is never unprovided with entertainment for his guests. He is able also to supply the wants of all his people. Twelve loaves indicate that every tribe is remembered. As we think of the shewbread, let it point us to him who pointed to the Bread upon the table of the last Supper and said, “This is my body.” He was truly of the finest of the wheat, no corruption marred his perfection. He was prepared to be the Bread of the world by many sufferings, just as the flour of the shewbread underwent numerous poundings and bruisings.
II. THE PEOPLE CONTRIBUTING THE BREAD OF GOD. A parent bestows an allowance upon his children, and is none the less pleased when they devote a portion of it to purchasing some offering of regard to present to him. So from God do we derive all we possess; it is really his, and yet he graciously accepts as our gift to him what we consecrate to his service. This shewbread represented the result of toil in tilling, sowing, and reaping. The Israelites were expected to offer of the best of their property. Only fine wheaten flour is accepted to be placed upon the table. Love should secure this attention if naught else suffices. All the people are bound to be represented before God. The twelve cakes testified that God was reverenced and served by all the tribes. The duty one of perpetual and unceasing obligation. It recurred every week, and devolved on each succeeding generation. The continual observance of God’s statutes is the token of the covenant. The shewbread perfumed with incense. The loaves were accepted indirectly by God, being consumed by his consecrated servants, but the incense was burned as God’s special memorial. Prayer hallows every offering, without it our deeds and gifts lack the religious spirit that is the real honouring of God. And prayer should ever be in the Name of Christ, whose merits impart fragrance to our unworthy presentations. We must not rest satisfied with our former religious deeds. The offering of last week needs to be repeated, else it will grow stale and be offensive to God. With every day, in fact, should come a rededication. As our physical frame is in constant flux, so is it with our thoughts and emotions; they are really new, and must in their turn be laid before God.S.R.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
SECOND SECTION
Of the Holy Lamps, and the Shew Bread
Lev 24:1-9
1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the [omit the] congregation, shall Aaron1 order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. 4He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.
5And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6And thou shalt set them in two rows [piles2], six on a row 7[pile], upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense3 upon each row [pile2], that it may be on4 the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 8Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9And it shall be Aarons and his sons; and they shall eat it5 in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Lev 24:3. The Sam. and LXX. here insert and his sons from Exo 27:21.
Lev 24:6-7. The Heb. , referring etymologically to an orderly arrangement, means either a row or pile, and is used in both senses. The size of the loaves, however, containing each about six pounds and a quarter of flour, as compared with the size, of the table, two cubits long by one broad, makes it more probable that pile was intended here. Josephus (Ant. III. 6, 6; 10, 7) expressly says, that this was the arrangement.
Lev 24:7. The LXX. adds and salt, which is probably to be understood in accordance with Lev 2:13, or the salt may have been used in making up the loaves.
Lev 24:7. . The force of the preposition is questioned. Both the senses on and for are true in themselves. The incense was placed upon the piles, according to Josephus (ubi sup.) in golden cups, and it was also burned for the bread as a memorial. The latter sense, however, is sufficiently expressed by the words for a memorial.
Lev 24:9. The pronoun, wanting in the Heb., is supplied in the Sam. and in 8 MSS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The commands for the holy lights and the shewbread here follow in a special communication, to complete the provisions for the typical holiness of the Hebrew cultus. The former has already been given, almost verbatim in Exo 27:20-21, prospectively in connection with the provisions for the whole service of the sanctuary. Now the command is actually given, and in Num 8:3 its fulfillment is recorded. The phraseology of Lev 24:2, Command the children of Israel that they bring, with that in Lev 24:8, taken from the children of Israel, shows that both the oil and the flour for the shewbread were of the nature of oblations, gifts to the Lord from the people continually. Lev 24:2-4 relate to the oil and the lamps; Lev 24:5-9 to the shewbread.
Lev 24:2. Pure oil olive beatenpure in being freed before the berries were crushed from all leaves, twigs, dust, etc.; and beaten in contradistinction to pressed in the oil-presses. By this beating the oil of the best quality flowed out nearly colorless. Continually, Lev 24:3, refers to the perpetuity of the ordinance, not to the uninterrupted burning of the lamps; for according to the previous part of the verse, Aaron was to order it from the evening unto the morning, and according to Exo 30:7-8, he was to dress the lamps in the morning and to light them at even. The pure candlestick of Lev 24:4, like the pure table of Lev 24:6, refers to the pure gold with which they were made, and which was of course kept free from all stain.
Lev 24:5-9. Fine flour always means of wheat. The frankincense, as a gift from the people, must necessarily be the natural gum, and is to be distinguished from the compound incense which was burnt daily upon the altar of incense. Lange (see below) is inclined to admit the opinion of Knobel that the loaves of shewbread were leavened; Josephus, however (Ant. III. 6. 6; 10, 7), distinctly asserts the contrary and nearly all Jewish and other authorities agree with him. Since the bread was brought into the Holy place (which was not the case with the Pentecostal bread) it almost certainly came under the general law of the meat offerings, which excluded the use of leaven (Lev 2:11). Clark. It may be added that the shewbread was changed only once a week, and leavened bread, exposed to the air, could hardly have been kept in condition for eating so long. The loaves were twelve in accordance with the number of the tribes of Israel. They were most holy, so that when removed from the table they might be eaten only by the priests in a holy place. The action of Abimelech therefore in giving them to David (1Sa 21:4-6) was a clear violation of the law, and is justified by our Lord (Mat 12:4) on the principle that there are cases of urgency which override the technical provisions of the statute.
Lange: The holy candlestick, with the shewbread, here makes the tabernacle the inner centre of all consecrations, the holy place , which moves forth and spreads far into the holy land; and the innermost principle of this centre is the name of Jehovah which comes to be spoken farther on.
On the holy candlestick see the particular directions, Exo 25:30; Exo 37:17, and Num 8:2; comp. Zec 4:2. But it is mentioned here the second time, not because according to the first command only Aaron was fitted for the function; but because it here forms the soul of the cultus, as farther on, in Num., it becomes the very climax of the theocratic political life, the light of the nation. Even less here than before can one speak of the lamp of good works. There is a strange propensity to place human attributes in place of Divine in the very house of God, even as far as to the Cherubim in the holy of holies.6 The candlestick is the sevenfold figure of the revelation of Jehovah, the type of the Seven Spirits, Revelation 1. But it must be noticed that the congregation had to furnish the anointing oil [Salbl, i. e., the oil for this sacred use, not the oil for anointing the priests,F. G.], for the congregation was to be the substratum of all illuminations, not the priesthood alone. In like manner is the command significant that the lamps were to be lit forever and ever.
The shewbread is called bread of the presence, of my presence (Exo 25:30) in that they lay before the presence of Jehovah, who, in a symbolical sense, here holds a meal with His priests (see Rev 3:20) as they in the first place represent the twelve tribes of the holy people. On this account, then, the loaves were twelve, and since they were arranged in two ordered rows of six opposite six loaves (differing from the twelve precious stones of the breast-plate) they were called also the loaves of the ranging together, the table of the succession and similarly. Keil, p. 158. [Trans, p. 452. Keil thinks that the loaves were placed in rows, but does not mention these names. On the arrangement, see Textual Note 2 on Lev 24:6.F. G.]. And since it is known that leaven in itself contains nothing evil, although like honey it might not be placed upon the altar, the supposition of Knobel (Keil to the contrary) has nothing hazardous, that the shewbread was leavened. Undoubtedly it is to be considered that among the later Jews they were unleavened; but against this must be weighed the fact that they formed an important constituent of the food of the officiating priests who ate them as a most holy thing, after they were carried out, and that these loaves were never actually offered, but only hallowed to Jehovah, while their offering was signified by the incense which went with them as a memorial (Lev 24:7, Azkara). The view that the incense was not strewed upon the bread, but placed beside it in golden shells, is certainly strengthened by the purpose of incense, which was burned as an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. It is the sacrifice of prayer which is especially associated with the priestly communion, a Grace said before the Lord in the highest sense.
The supposition of Knobel and others that the table, with shewbread and kindred things, represented the house of God as an imitation of a human house, is a flat travesty of the holy house into that which is common; it rests upon a misunderstanding of the religious symbolism of the house of God, and in it the sleeping chamber, e.g., the bed, and similar things must be missed. [To define the exact boundaries between anthropomorphic language and representations on the one hand, and pure statements of truth and pure symbolism on the other, is extremely difficult, and will probably always remain impossible, while man is still compelled to use so much of anthropomorphic terms even in the most abstract and philosophical discussion of Divine things. Undoubtedly the Hebrew mind was gradually led up to the conception of Divine realities by the exaltation of human expressions, and hence occur such forms as the food, the table, the house of the Lord; in grosser minds these would have been associated with grosser ideas, while for those of higher spiritual elevation, there was just enough of symbolism in these terms to enable them, by their means, to rise above them to more spiritual and exalted conceptions. To this it was essential that the human imagery should be imperfect and wanting in many particulars.F. G.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
I. The symbolism of the seven-branched candlestick is applied in the Apocalypse to the Holy Spirit. Meantime in its perpetual burning during the night there is also the subordinate teaching that from the worship of God all darkness and obscurity are to be banished by the influence of that Spirit. To this the people are themselves to contribute by bringing the purest oil for the feeding of the lamps. The Holy Spirit ever works upon man through that which is in man, and man may receive the Divine Guest in his heart, or may grieve Him and quench His holy influence.
II. In the shewbread, as the culmination of all oblations, is expressed on the one hand the consecration to God of all that belongs to man by placing bread, the staff of human life, continually before His presence; and on the other, the condescension of God to communion with man in making these loaves the food of His priests. The incense, burned as a memorial, represented the Divine acceptance of the gift, and, as Lange has suggested, symbolized the prayer with which the priests must draw near to this communion. It is further to be noted that this was not the sacred incense of the sanctuary, but the frankincense of the peoples offering. As the loaves represented the twelve tribes, so this frankincense represented the peoples prayers; and in this symbolic act of communion, the priests on Gods behalf pratook of the food, as in the case of the sin offering.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Lange: The proper maintenance for the candlestick in the house of God. The table of the Lord in the Old Testament and in the New Testament forms. The Lord at His table: 1) as the Bread of heaven; 2) as the Host; 3) as the Guest.
In the worship of God light and clearness are ever to take the place of darkness and obscurity. The clear shining of the Holy Spirits direction is always to be sought in all approach to God, and to this end the pure oil is to be furnished by the people for the lamps; an honest and good heart is to be prepared for the Spirits dwelling.
Through the grace of God man becomes a partaker of the table of the Lord. This must be accompanied with the incense of prayer. It was to be a statute for ever, a perpetually recurring act of communion with God.
Origen: The light of the Jews grew dim as the oil of their piety failed; the foolish virgins were excluded from the marriage when their lamps were gone out for the want of oil; so Christians must furnish the oil of earnest effort after holiness, that the flame of the Spirit may burn in their hearts, so that men may see their good works, and that their lamps may be burning when the Master comes.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 138
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK
Lev 24:1-3. And the Lord spake unto Closes, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil-olive beaten, for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.
TO engage actively in the service of God is a duty that should not be delayed: nor should any expense or trouble that may be incurred, be regarded as any obstacle to the performance of our duty. The tabernacle being erected, and the sacred vessels prepared, an order was given that the appointed services should instantly commence; and the people were directed to bring such things as were necessary for the maintenance of divine worship. That part of the tabernacle which was covered in, consisted of two parts, the holy place, and the holy of holies. In the former of these, the daily services were performed: the latter was never entered but on one day in the year. The part devoted to the service of God was lighted by a candlestick with seven lamps, which were kept continually burning [Note: Doubts indeed have been entertained whether they were kept alight by day; because some passages of Scripture seem to intimate that they were not: see Exo 30:7; 2Ch 13:11; 1Sa 3:3 but the order that they should burn continually, seems plain; and the occasion for it was perpetual; and, above all, Josephus, who could not but know the practice of his day, affirms that three lamps were kept burning by day, and all of them by night.]. The whole furniture of the tabernacle, no less than the tabernacle itself, was typical: some things were more illustrative of Christ and his character; and others more applicable to the Church: and some things referred to both. It is possible that the candlestick might be intended to represent Christ as the light of the world: but we are sure that it shadowed forth his Church; and therefore without Hesitation we shall consider it as typically representing the Church;
I.
In its privileges
The Church was justly exhibited under that figure
[Of what materials and form the candlestick was, we are distinctly informed [Note: Exo 25:31-38.]. That it was designed to represent the Church, is declared by Christ himself [Note: Rev 1:20.]. And, if we consider of what it was composed, and how it was supplied, and for what purposes it was used, we shall see a striking correspondence between the Church and that. It was formed of pure gold; in which respect it characterized the saints, who are not polished over for the purpose of glittering in the sight of men, but are really renewed in the spirit of their minds, and made partakers of a divine nature [Note: 2Pe 1:4.] It was supplied with the purest oil; which fitly represented that unction of the Holy One which we have received [Note: 1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27.], for the enlightening of our minds, and the sanctifying of our souls Its use was obvious: it was to shine in darkness, that all who were engaged in the service of their God might fulfil their duties aright; and that God might be glorified in them [Note: Rev 1:12-13.]. Such lights are the saints to be in the midst of a dark world, that through their instrumentality others may be directed into the way of peace, and be constrained to glorify their heavenly Father ]
The priest, whose duty it was to trim the lamps, prefigured Christ
[This is a point on which there can be no doubt, it being affirmed on the authority of Christ himself [Note: Heb 4:14-15.]. He is constantly employed in inspecting and trimming the lamps: there is not a saint on whom his eyes are not fixed, and whose declensions, however secret, he does not behold When necessary, he interposes, by his providence or grace, to correct their dulness, and to restore them to their wonted splendour [Note: Joh 15:2.] ]
Whilst the Church was thus characterized in its privileges, it was also shadowed forth,
II.
In its duties
The duties of the saints are,
1.
To shine
[It is justly observed by our Lord, that no man lights a candle, to put it under a bushel or a bed; but sets it in a candlestick, that all who are in the house may see the light. It is not for themselves alone that the saints are endued with the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, but for God, and for their fellow-creatures; for God, that his power and grace may be magnified on earth; and for their fellow-creatures, who are to be benefited by their instructions, their influence, and their example [Note: Mat 5:14-16.] Our responsibility in this respect is not sufficiently considered. But if we are stewards even of our earthly possessions, and bound to lay them out for God, much more are we stewards of the manifold grace of God [Note: 1Pe 4:10.], and bound to administer freely unto others what we ourselves have freely received [Note: Mat 10:8.] ]
2.
To be receiving more grace from Christ in order to their shining with yet brighter lustre
[It is from Christ that the Holy Spirit must be derived. It is He who has the residue of the Spirit [Note: Mal 2:15.]. The Father gave not the Spirit to him by measure [Note: Joh 3:34.], but in all his immeasurable fulness; and out of that fulness must we all receive, even grace for grace [Note: Joh 1:16.]. This is strikingly represented by the prophet Zechariah, who, speaking apparently of the civil and ecclesiastical governors of his Church, Joshua and Zerubbabel, represents Christ In reality for he is both the King and Priest of his Church) as the inexhaustible source of that golden oil, which is continually communicated by him to every lamp in his sanctuary [Note: Zec 4:2-4; Zec 4:11-14.] By prayer and faith we must keep that communication open, and entreat him, that, as he has given us life, so he would give it us more abundantly ]
We would take occasion from this subject to suggest to you,
1.
An important inquiry
[Are you Christians indeed? If this question be too indefinite, then I ask, Are you as lights shining in a dark place? Surely this matter is not difficult to determine. You may easily see Whether you are living like the world around you, or whether you are reproving others by the brightness of your example. This idea is proposed by our Lord under the figure of a broad and a narrow way; the one easy and much trodden, the other difficult and unfrequented; the one terminating in destruction, the other leading to everlasting life. St. Paul expresses the same in language more accommodated to our text [Note: Php 2:15-16.]. Judge yourselves, Brethren, in reference to this matter: and never think that you are Christians indeed, unless you have an evidence in your own souls, that, through the influences of the Holy Sprit, you are exhibiting alight, which both instructs and condemns the world around you.]
2.
A solemn admonition
[If we profess ourselves to be the Lords people, let us consider somewhat more distinctly what we profess. As lamps in Gods sanctuary, we profess to be of pure gold, truly, inwardly, substantially holy, and formed altogether according to the pattern which was shewn to Moses in the mount [Note: Num 8:4.]. What that pattern was, we are at no loss to say: it is set before us with all possible clearness in the person of Jesus Christ. Let every one of us reflect on this, and search into our own hearts to see whether there be in us this resemblance? The inquiry before instituted is a comparison of ourselves with, others: the inquiry I now propose, is a comparison of ourselves with that great exemplar, the Lord Jesus Christ. We should examine, not whether we resemble him in those actions which he performed as a prophet, hut whether the same mind be in us, as was in him [Note: Php 2:5.]. Our views, our principles, our habits, the great scope and end of our lives, these are the things that are to be inquired into, if we would have a solid evidence in our own souls that we are the Lords. We must be like Him, here as well as hereafter, if we would be with him for ever. He himself warns us what will be the consequence of allowing ourselves in any deviation from the path of duty [Note: Rev 2:1; Rev 2:5.]: and therefore, if we would not have our candlestick removed, let us repent of every known defect, and seek to be pure as He is pure, and perfect as He is perfect.]
3.
An encouraging reflection
[How often has our great High-Priest, when he has seen us burning dim and languishing, revived us by seasonable communications, or merciful rebukes! Truly we are living witnesses for him, that he will not quench the smoking flax [Note: Mat 11:20 not extinguish the wick, the flame of which has been blown out.] May we not then hope, that he will yet bear with us, and administer to us whatever, in a way of influence or correction, we may stand in need of? Surely we may look up to him with joyful confidence, and say with David, Thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness [Note: Psa 18:28.]. Many are the storms to which we are exposed in this dreary wilderness, which threaten our extinction; but he is able to preserve us: and as he has made it our duty to burn continually, so he will give us supplies of his Spirit for that purpose: he will keep us by his power through faith unto everlasting salvation [Note: 1Pe 1:5.]. He will keep the feet of his saints; but the wicked shall be silent in darkness [Note: 1Sa 2:9.] ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
This chapter is a continuation of certain laws relating to the temple service, particularly of the order to be observed in the burning of the lamps, and supplying the show-bread. This Chapter is rendered the more remarkable, in that it hath introduced in the body of it, a short historical relation of Shelomith’s son being convicted of blasphemy, who is in consequence thereof stoned.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! do not overlook in those verses the account which is given of the lamps always burning. Doth not this represent to us the unceasing light which is kept up by the HOLY SPIRIT in his churches; by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. Isa 4:4 . The Reader will not forget, what was said on this same subject in Exo 27:20-21 . And let us further observe, on these verses, that the oil which was ordered for this use was to be pure. Yes! Everything that is typical of the HOLY GHOST’s divine agency, must be pure, as he is pure. And it is not an object of small moment further to observe on those verses, that the children of Israel were to provide the oil, and Aaron to apply it. Means of grace are with us; but JESUS, our great High Priest can only make them subservient to the purpose intended. Ordinances are precious things, but if the LORD of ordinances be not in them, the lamp of grace will not burn. Dear LORD! I would say for myself and Reader, do thou keep alive thine own work in my heart, that in times of languishing, and a decay of spiritual ministry, or ordinances, the HOLY GHOST may sweetly convey to my soul his holy oil of grace. See Zec 4:2-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
X
THE LAMP OF GOD, BREAD OF THE PRESENCE, DEATH OF THE BLASPHEMER, PENALTIES FOR MURDER, AND GREAT LAW PRINCIPLE
I now discuss chapter 24 of Leviticus, and the special themes of that chapter are: (1) The Holy Light, or The Lamp of God, Lev 24:1-4 ; (2) The Bread of Presence, more commonly called the shewbread, Lev 24:5-9 ; (3) The Death of the Blasphemer, Lev 24:10-23 ; (4) The Penalties for Murder killing a beast, domestic animal, maiming a man; (5) The Great Law Principle; Breach for Breach, Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth, and Christ’s comment on it. THE LAMP OF GOD
1. The first question is: What scripture enables us to understand the seven-branched, golden lampstand, what are its material and form, position, immediate purpose, light supply, caretakers, and symbolism?
Ans. Exo 25:23-40 , tells us of the form, material and position of both the lampstand and the table of the shewbread, according to a divine pattern given to Moses for both of them. Then Lev 24:1-9 , tells us how the oil of the lamp and the bread for the table were prepared, and gives direction for their renewal. Exo 37:10-24 , tells us how they were constructed, according to the previous directions of the Almighty. Exo 26:35 ; Exo 40:24 , explain their relative position in the Holy Place the lamp on the south side, and the table on the north side, with the golden altar of incense between. Then Num 8:1-3 , tells how this lamp was first lighted. Then Exo 27:20-21 , tells that they must burn all night long, from evening to morning, and Exo 30:7 , prescribes that they must be trimmed and filled with oil every morning by the high priest. Num 4:4-15 , tells us how the lamp must be borne on marches, carried by Kohathites. In 1Sa 3:3 , this lampstand is called the Lamp of God. The lampstand in Solomon’s Temple had ten lamps instead of seven (1Ki 7:49-50 ) and was carried as spoil into Babylon and kept by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 52:19 ). The lampstand in the Temple restored by Herod, that is the Jewish Temple, was like the one in the tabernacle, having seven lamps and not ten. That was in the time of Christ and it was carried as spoil to Rome by Titus after the destruction of Jerusalem, and a pillar of a part of the arch still stands, on which is carved a vivid representation of the bearing of that lampstand to Rome. The symbolism of the lampstand may be learned from the following scriptures: Zec 4:1-14 ; Rev 1:12-13 ; Rev 1:20 ; Rev 2:5 ; Rev 11:3-4 . Now, that answers the first question, viz.: What are the scriptures that enable us to understand this lampstand? Now, if you will master this answer with great care, it will save you a great deal of trouble and investigation, both scriptural and historical.
2. What observations may be made on these passages of Scripture?
Ans.
(1) The people themselves must furnish and prepare the olive oil and the minister must serve in keeping the lamps in order. The object of that is to show that there is always something for each one to do, even in a case of a matter of God’s grace.
(2) The second observation is that the candelabrum, or chandelier, represented originally the united congregation of all Israel giving forth light from God, and illuminating the whole outer court containing the altar of sacrifice and the laver, with its brightness. In other words, that light brought out clear visions of the sacrifice of expiation and the washings that followed. The prayer that the incense represented and the shewbread with its significance, that will be explained directly,
and inasmuch as it also shone upon that great woven, triple colored veil that hid the most holy place, it indicated that the true source of light was from within the most holy place.
(3) The third observation is, that according to Zechariah, the olive oil represented the grace of the Holy Spirit that keeps the light, which Israel casts forth, always alive. In the vision he saw this lampstand and the question came up in his mind, “Whence comes the supply of oil that keeps these lights shining?” and then he saw on either side of it an olive tree, and from the olive tree went a pipe that mysteriously conducted the oil from the olive tree into the bowls of the lamps, and in connection with that it is said, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, is anything accomplished.”
(4) The fourth observation is in the New Testament. According to Revelation, each lampstand represented a particular church of Jesus Christ, and each light of the seven represented a particular member of the church. When John saw that vision of the seven of those golden candlesticks, each one of them with seven lights, he saw forty-nine lights grouped on seven lampstands, and Jesus explained to him that the seven lampstands of seven lights are to represent the seven churches in Asia. All of the churches represented the light that shines upon the world. That is the object of the book of Revelation and that is the key passage in the book; that this whole world shall one day be illumined by the light that passes out from the churches of Jesus Christ. Those who have read my book on Revelation will never forget the promises and the glorious perpetuity of the church and when the power comes that sustains the church, of which Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world; let your light so shine before men, that, seeing your good works, they may be constrained to glorify God.” Now as Aaron continued every day to trim and resupply the oil in those lamps so in that picture of symbolism there is a picture of Jesus Christ in the dress of a high priest, moving among the churches, keeping the lamps trimmed and burning, and the Holy Spirit supplying the means of light. Jesus speaks of it immediately, and he says, “Hear ye what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
(5) The last observation is the important lesson on the grouping of the lights on one lampstand versus individualism. See Christ’s words: “No man when he lighteth a lamp putteth it under a bushel, or under the bed, but he puts it on a lamp stand.” The lesson is, when God commanded the light to shine out on the darkness of the world, he made it our duty when we make a profession of religion, to put our light with the other lights, group them. In other words, its great teaching is on the obligation of the converted man to become a member of the church and not try to run the life of a free lance, as many of them try to do. Group the lights! Now there is a law of physics that what one thousand men can’t do working one at a time, twenty men can do by uniting their forces. So if all the lights were scattered over the wide world, there never would be a light much more than a glowworm, but if they are gathered together, they can be seen. If you were to divide the sun into its atoms and distribute them over space, you might produce a kind of a milky way, but never such a great light as when all these atoms are gathered into one great orb. The teaching is, group your lights.
THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE 3. What was the material of the bread?
Ans. Fine flour baked into a loaf without leaven.
4. What was the number of the loaves of the shewbread?
Ans. Twelve loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. And these twelve loaves were put upon that table; the shewbread on the table stands in two rows, six there and six there, just to your right as you enter the holy place.
5. What accompanied it?
Ans. On each was a little golden cup or spoon holding frankincense representing prayer. The order for the building, the constructing, or fashioning rather, of these little golden spoons or bowls, you find in the scripture from Exodus that I gave you.
6. How often were these loaves of bread to be removed?
Ans. They stayed there just a week, but every sabbath the high priest removed them.
7. What disposition was made of this material of bread and these bowls of frankincense when they were removed once a week?
Ans. The priests were allowed to eat the bread which had been before God a week; nobody else was allowed to eat it. They could only eat it after it had been replaced by fresh bread. They kept the frankincense as a memorial and it was then burned and went up before God.
8. What is the meaning of that bread?
Ans. It means continual consecration of united Israel to the service of God. The continual putting in of a fresh supply when the bread was not fit to remain shows that it was to be continual; that under the consecration to divine service we stand continually in the presence of God, hence the name of the bread, “the bread of the presence,” or “bread of the face” literally. And the meaning of frankincense is (“frankincense,” call it incense if you want to call it that) that it always represents prayer. In other words, that there can be no consecration unless there is prayer, no continued consecration without continued prayer.
9. What is the meaning of the grouping of the loaves? Why wouldn’t one loaf serve? Why twelve?
Ans. It represents the united consecration of the whole people versus individualism, or going off at a tangent.
10. What was the symbolism of this bread of the presence? What did it indicate or foreshadow?
Ans. Christ in his entire consecration of obedience to God through which we obtain our redemption, so that he could say, “I am the bread of life; I am the bread that comes down from heaven.”
11. What historic incident in connection with the showbread is cited by our Lord?
Ans. The incident concerning David when he fled from Saul; hungry, starving, he came to where the high priest was and where the tables were, and being hungry he ate of the shewbread which was for the priest to eat, that is, he ate the bread when it had been removed and fresh bread substituted. In other words David got into that supply of removed bread and he ate it. And the Lord said “Thou shalt have mercy,” or, in other words, that there were exceptions to the letter of the law, just as the sabbath law, “Thou shalt do no work.” The Lord said, “The priests work on the sabbath day and there is no objection.” The command of God is that nobody but a priest can eat the shewbread, but if you can violate the sabbath law by taking the sheep out of the ditch, you can execute mercy to a starving man by allowing him to eat of the shewbread.
THE BLASPHEMES 12. State the history of the blasphemer, his sin, punishment, and what the punishment.
Ans. We come to one or two items of history in this book of Leviticus. For example, the death of Aaron’s sons when they offered strange fire and here the death of this blasphemer. The case here is this: An Israelite among them was the son of a Jewess who had married an Egyptian. This halfbreed got into a fight with one of the full-breeds and as he did not have so much religion as the full-breed, he cursed the name, the holy name of Jehovah, while he was fighting. That was blasphemy. He was instantly arrested and his case brought before God; and God said that every man that was a witness to this transgression must come and lay his hands on his head and then the witnesses stoned him to death.
13. Etymologically, to what kind of offense is blasphemy limited?
Ans. According to its etymology, it must be an offense of the speech. Look up the meaning of that word blasphemy, and you will see that it must be an offense of speech. It must be something said; it must be something evil against God. Now, literally, that is blasphemy.
14. What wider meaning does it bear?
Ans. As Dr. Greenleaf, in his “Testimony of the Evangelists,” shows, blasphemy, as thousands of other words, took on a broader application than Just that definition. In other words, one could blaspheme in thought if he thought evil against God; if he painted, carved or indicated in an irreverent way; had an evil thought without saying a word. All this is in the development of the word and becomes, quite naturally, a part of its meaning.
OTHER PENALTIES 15. What was the penalty for murder? Maiming? Killing a beast?
Ans. These three offenses are mentioned in this connection. Having shown that the blasphemer must suffer capital punishment by stoning, then in that connection it is stated that if a man kills his neighbor, he should suffer death, and then adds: “If you maim your neighbour; if you put out his eye, he may put out your eye; if you cut off his nose, he may cut off your nose; if you break his leg, he may break your leg.” If he maimed him, whatever the maiming that he did to him was to be done to the offender. That is the law of the state showing what must be done to the offender. And the third offense was the killing of a beast, not for food, not for sacrifice but if one went out and tried to bridle a horse and he jerked his head away and he got mad and got a gun and killed the horse, that is what it means. The penalty in this case was, he must make good. He must put another horse of equal value in the place of one that he killed.
16. How is the system of Mosaic penalties expressed in a legal phrase and Christ’s comment on it?
Ans. The legal phrase, “A breach for a breach, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” that is, whatever injury you inflict that should be inflicted on you. What was Christ’s comment on that, and did he in the New Testament revoke that law? Let me quote it to you and see. It commences: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, A breach for a breach, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, Resist not evil, and if one smite you on the right cheek, turn the left cheek and let him smite you there, and if one compel you to go a mile, go two.” Christ says just before that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it, and this injunction about the eye for eye and the tooth for the tooth expressed the most equal justice possible, but it was prescribed by the state, and here were the Jews applying it individually. Now Christ, speaking to them individually, finds that they had taken the administration of justice into their own hands, and that rather than do that, they had better turn the other cheek. Dr. Broadus in his comment on the Sermon on the Mount, brings out very clearly those Hebrew laws that seems to express impossibility. He shows what they rather mean in such cases.
17. What is the meaning of the phrase, “must bear his iniquity”?
Ans. This referred to that blasphemy, a violation of the law of God. “Now he must bear his iniquity,” what is the meaning of this? Always throughout both Old Testament and New Testament that means he must pay the penalty of the offense, and so in its application to Christ, when it is used in Isa 53 : “He bore the iniquity of man,” that means the payment of the penalty, or as Peter expresses it in his letter, “He bore our sins on the cross,” that is, he paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. Now don’t forget the meaning of that word “bear.” Trace it through both Testaments, and see that it means, “pay the penalty.”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Leviticus Chapter 24
CHAPTER 1.
THE DUTIES OF THE SANCTUARY.
Lev 24:1-9 .
After the Feasts comes a new section of this third book of Moses, which we now propose to consider. It consists of a rather miscellaneous group of particulars not yet laid down in the book.
The first words treat of the provision for the candlestick and the table before Jehovah continually.
” 1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel that they take unto thee pure beaten olive oil for the light to light the lamp continually. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, shall Aaron dress it from evening to morning before Jehovah continually: an everlasting statute throughout your generations. 4 Upon the pure candlestick shall he arrange the lamps before Jehovah continually “
” 5 And thou shalt take fine wheaten flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof; each cake shall be of two tenths. 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the pure table before Jehovah. 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon [each] row; and it shall be a bread of remembrance, an offering to Jehovah. 8 Every sabbath day he shall arrange it before Jehovah continually on the part of the children of Israel: an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be Aaron’s, and his sons’; and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it [is] most holy unto him of Jehovah’s fire-offerings: an everlasting statute” (vers. 1-9).
It is important for us to feel the part which God devolves on His children and expects from them, unless He be indifferent to His honour or their blessing. So it is here with His people. What a privilege and responsibility for the sons of Israel! They could not enter the holy place: the covering or curtain forbade it save for the priests. But on all the children of Israel lay the charge of providing pure olive oil beaten for the light of the sanctuary outside the veil of the testimony to cause the lamps to burn continually.
The meaning of the type is plain. That light was the exhibition of God in Christ who is the True Light. Light He was on coming into the world which lay in darkness; He was the light of men; He sheds His light on every man. There the Fathers are as dark as the Friends; for nothing can be more preposterous than that every man is lighted. On the contrary, every one, as man, is still darkness: so the apostle declares even of the elect in their natural state. And so terrible is this spiritual darkness that even the presence of the divine light did not dispel it, as darkness yields to light naturally: the darkness in that case did not apprehend the light. Nor is it without moment to see that it is on His coming into the world that the light so manifests every man. The common rendering, as in the A.V., is both grammatically and dogmatically false. It would require the article to mean “that” cometh. As anarthrous, it must mean “on coming.” Yet “on coming” has no distinctive force here, save as said of the true Light; but as predicated of Him, it is full of interest and instruction. Said of man, it not only adds nothing beyond that he is a man, who must therefore have already come into the world; but it might impart the strange notion that man is thus enlightened on his coming into the world, which yields no good sense.
Here however it is the same Light, yet not as when on earth He was “the light of the world.” He is the light shining in the sanctuary, the light of God for those who have priestly title to enter there during the darkness which rests on the Christ-rejecting people. For as we are told in the detail of ver. 3, “in the tent of meeting Aaron shall order it from evening to morning before Jehovah continually.” It is the function of the high priest (and we know Who He is that thus acts in heaven itself), not in the hand-made holies or the figures, but in the true. We know also what the oil denotes which caused the light to burn. It was the Holy Spirit given without measure. It was in that Spirit that the Lord met the tempter; in that Spirit that He was anointed for His service of every kind; in that Spirit that He offered Himself spotless to God. So was He raised from among the dead; so when risen did He charge the apostles whom He had chosen; so the Revelation speaks of Him as having the seven Spirits of God, not only in dealing with the churches, but in view of the crisis of judgment that follows to bring in and rule the world-kingdom. It was His perfection as Incarnate never to speak or act otherwise where we who have the same Spirit so often and sadly fail. Here we have Him under the figure of the candlestick displaying the light on high.
Again, the pure table with its twelve loaves of fine flour represents Him as the heavenly food of the priests, Him Who was also the manna that came down for the people on earth. And as the spiritual fulness was aptly couched under the seven lamps of the candlesticks, so the twelve loaves pointed to the human or administrative fulness of Christ. We readily see the same principle in Israel, in the twelve apostles, in the complement of Israel and of Judah in the Revelation, in the gates etc. of the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Jesus was also the bread of life as man; and if Israel see this not yet, any more than the light of heaven, we whom by grace He made priests delight in both. For what nourishment is there not in that glorified Man whom we henceforth know and feed on (2Co 5:16 , 2Co 5:17 )?
Nor must we omit to take into account the pure frankincense upon earth now, for a memorial, our acceptance in all the grace of Christ, the fragrance before God. We see the sabbath too here, as it followed the manna, as historically shown in Exo 16 . It is on Christ that rest for us depends, not on the Spirit in us, which is our help and power; but He, Christ, is our peace before God. Only the priests eat of Him thus, and they only in a holy place. “For it is most holy unto him of the fire-offerings of Jehovah:” a statute for ever, as was the ordering of the candlestick, both figures of Christ in God’s presence.
We cannot but see, if we believe the testimony of God, how rich as well as suited to need and condition is the provision of His grace in Christ. We are met, when outside in the folly and wretchedness of sin, by mercy that adapts itself to wants so extreme; and in truth we want every thing that is good, evil ourselves and delighting in it, yet not without shame and compunction and remorse. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. The grace of Christ, while manifesting to us our ruined and guilty estate, attracts and wins us to God, by His suffering for our sins.
But thus brought into the peace of heavenly light, we learn at first to our wonder that we are made priests to God, more wonderful, considering what He is and what we are, than that we should also be made kings. And there we, made free of the true Sanctuary, have the joy and blessing of Christ as its light in all fulness. There too we have the gracious provision for the sustenance and refreshment of the new man, in that plentiful store of heavenly food which He as the golden table thus spread is meant to furnish those whom grace has called into this place of nearness before Him. This is not what is called “the mystery concerning Christ and concerning the church;” but a precious part of Christian privilege that accompanies it, as made known in the Epistle to the Hebrews and in the First Epistle of Peter.
CHAPTER 2.
BLASPHEMY JUDGED WITH OTHER EVIL
Lev 24:10-23 .
In marked contrast with the provision for the full light of Christ to shine uninterruptedly in the sanctuary, till the morning without clouds, during the night, and in connection with the pledge of blessing for all Israel, stands the public insult to Jehovah, which is here recounted with His judgment on it.
” 10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, but who [was] son of an Egyptian man, went forth among the children of Israel; and this son of the Israelitish [woman] quarrelled with an Israelitish man together in the camp. 11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses (and his mother’s name [was] Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan). 12 And they placed him in ward, that they might decide at the mouth of Jehovah. 13 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 14 Lead the blasphemer outside the camp; and all that heard shall lay their hands upon his head, and the whole assembly shall stone him. 15 And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, Every one when he curseth his God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah shall certainly be put to death: all the assembly shall certainly stone him; as well the stranger as the homeborn, when he blasphemeth the Name, shall be put to death. 17 And he that smiteth any man mortally shall certainly be put to death. 18 And he that smiteth any beast mortally shall make it good, life for life. 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour as he hath done, so shall it be done to him, 20 breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him. 21 And he that smiteth a beast [mortally] shall make it good; and he that smiteth a man [mortally] shall be put to death. 22 Ye shall have one law; as the stranger, so the homeborn; for I [am] Jehovah your God. 23 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they led the blasphemer outside the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the children of Israel did as Jehovah commanded Moses” (vers. 10-23).
The first portion of the chapter is the clear type of Christ, not only as the light of the heavenlies during the dark night for Israel on earth, but as the pledge by-and-by of their twelve-tribed fulness through the grace of Christ. Here we have not the shadows of good things to come, but the sad fact of Jehovah’s name blasphemed meanwhile on the earth, where the responsibility lies to be His witness in reverence and righteousness and truth. Here is the sample, alas! in this one man of Israel after the flesh, the son of an Israelitess and an Egyptian father: an unhallowed union, the fruit of which reviles the holy Name. No doubt all flesh is as grass; but Israel was to be holy to Jehovah. And surely this is the most weighty step a woman (symbol of a state) takes in this life naturally. But Shelomith married an Egyptian, one of that oppressing world out of which Israel was brought with a high hand by Jehovah.
It is not that sin of idolatry for which they were to be swept off the land into Assyria; and especially even the royal tribe, when it apostatised, into Babylon. Here it is defiance, cursing the true God, or blaspheming Jehovah. This became emphatically true, when, weaned meanwhile from idols, they disdained and blasphemed the Name in the Messiah, Himself also Jehovah their God. Therefore are they given up nationally to a worse than Babylonish captivity. They are under the curse of Him they reviled, and the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost (1Th 2:16 ).
Therefore also, as they despised Him who suffered for sins, all their other sins, as in the verses that follow, come up against them. They have not even the temporary relief in the blood of calves and goats offered for their transgressions. They have in God’s righteous judgment neither king nor prince, sacrifice nor statue, ephod nor seraphim. But the heavenly reality, the dead but now risen Christ, in the tabernacle not made with hands, is the sure token that more than all they lost they will find provided by Jehovah in the mercy that endures for ever, when they shall say, Blessed He that cometh in the Name of Jehovah. For repent they surely will, as it is the promise of divine grace, and turn again, that their sins may be blotted out; so that there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of Jehovah, and that He may send the Messiah that has been fore-appointed to them. He is now in the Sanctuary above, where the heavens received Him, after His atoning work was done, till times of restoring all things, of which God spoke by His prophets since the world began. The security is on high where only faith’s eye can reach; but it is unfailing before God, and awaits the moment when the gathering out of every nation as well as out of Israel is complete to join the Lord in the air. Then renewed dealings follow on to form a godly remnant of Jews, His missionaries to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all the nations before the end come, when the day of Jehovah ensues for the judgment of the quick throughout all the habitable earth, and He shall reign over Israel in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever, that is as long as earth endures.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
spake. See note on Lev 5:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 24
Now the beginning of chapter twenty-four, God commands them to bring olive oil so that they might keep the lamps burning continually in the tabernacle.
Then God explains the shew bread. He gives the formula by which it should be made, and how it should be laid out in two rows of six upon the golden table there in the tabernacle. How it was to be changed once a week. The bread that was then being removed was to be eaten only by the priest. It was a holy bread because it had stood there before the Lord. Each loaf representing one of the tribes of Israel. Then after the week of sitting there on the table it was to be eaten by the priest.
Now a situation arose in verse ten where there was an Isrealitish woman, who had an Egyptian husband, and her son was in a fight. While he was in this fight, he blasphemed the holy name of Jehovah, in cursing this fellow. Several people heard him, and they reported it to Moses. And so he was arrested and he was put in jail until they could get the mind of the Lord on what should be done concerning him.
Now this to me is interesting. Here is a situation that has arisen, “What shall we do?” So they put him in the jail until they could determine what God wanted to be done. So they waited upon God, that God would direct what should be done concerning this man who had blasphemed the name of Jehovah. They put him in the ward, which is the jail that the mind of the Lord might be shown unto them. I like that, waiting upon God.
You know, I think one of the facets of the early church that made it so successful is that they were actually so yielded to the direction of the Holy Spirit. They looked to the Holy Spirit for guidance in all things. I think that one of the great weaknesses of the church today is that we think that we know everything. After all, we’ve been to seminary, and we’ve been educated, and we’ve taken our best minds to develop all of these church programs, and surely we can work it out now in committees. After all you’ve got efficient committees, why do you need the Holy Spirit? We really don’t look to the Holy Spirit anymore for guidance and direction. So often we move impulsively. But the early church was governed and guided by the Holy Spirit.
So Paul said, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”. We read that the Holy Spirit said, “Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the ministry wherein I’ve called them”( Act 13:2 ). We see how the Holy Spirit was directing the activities for the early church. I believe that that is one of the keys to the success of the early church. I think when we come to the place where we can confess, “God, I don’t know how. I don’t have the answers. Lord, we need Your help.” We start seeking again the guidance of the Holy Spirit to direct its functions and the activities of the church; we’re going to see again the power of God working in His church. I love it that they would wait to get the mind of the Lord. Oh what is the mind of the Lord in this situation?
I’m convinced that God is desiring to reach each community with His love with a message of salvation. Not only is He desiring to reach each community, I’m convinced that God has a plan to reach each community. I think in going into a community, the most important thing is to get the mind of the Lord, “What is God’s plan to reach this community?” I think that we make a mistake when we try to develop a plan that would be a national plan because each community has its own individual little characteristics, but yet I believe that God has a plan to reach each community. And what we need is to be open to the plan of God, to get into harmony with what God is wanting to do. Because that’s all that God is looking for, people who are in harmony with what He is desiring to do. “For the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth to shew Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards Him.” Looking for people whose hearts are in tune with what He is wanting, in order that He might invest in them His power to reach out into that community.
So I am really not behind the national programs of evangelism as such or worldwide programs thinking that we have one program that’s gonna be adaptable for the whole world. I think that we need to seek the mind of the Lord in each community in each area. We notice that Paul didn’t follow a pattern in going into new communities. He went in to sort of feel the thing out. He got the feel of it before he began his ministry. Some of them he went into the synagogue, some of them he just started talking to people on the street. Getting the mind of Christ, so vital.
So they got the mind of the Lord. The Lord said, “Those that heard the guy swear, take him out of the camp, let them put their hands upon his head, and then let people stone him to death.” Blaspheming the name of Jehovah.
Then God went on to say,
If any man kills any man [verse seventeen] he shall surely be put to death. If you kill another man’s beast, you’re to make it good; beast for beast. If you cause a blemish in your neighbour; as he has done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him. He that kills a beast, he shall restore it: and he that kills a man, he shall be put to death. Ye shall have one law that is operating, whether a person be a stranger, or one of your own country men ( Lev 24:17-22 ):
In other words, there was not to be any kind of favoritism shown in the justice system, one law for all. I think that that’s the greatest weakness of our judicial system today is that there isn’t one law for all. It all depends on which judge you’re standing before, and it all depends on what kind of a mood he’s in. Whether you get a six-month suspended sentence or five years of hard labor. The judge has just had a big fight with his wife and is angry and upset; man, he’s liable to really lay it on you. If it’s getting close to Christmas time, he might be in a jovial mood and say, “Oh well”, you know. The sentence; that isn’t real justice. That’s the problem with our judicial system. If you’re very wealthy and can afford the great attorneys and all then you can get off. It’s not fair; it’s not right. I do not believe in our system of justice today.
I think that there’s much lacking in our whole judicial processes. They need much improvement. It would be well if we had a governor who was wise enough to make decent appointments. Well, I mean when his appointees are calling up and making obscene telephone calls to people, and when they are growing marijuana in their own yard, and when they’re avowed homosexuals, what can you hope for? How can you expect there to be a true system of justice? I’m gonna move on cause I could get in trouble real quick.
Now it’s interesting when the law says “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth”, et cetera. That Jesus said, “Now you heard that it hath been said, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”( Mat 5:38 ), so forth. But I say unto you the law of Christ is love, forgiveness, the better part is that of love and forgiving. God help us. But because we are not all able to come up to the standard of Jesus Christ, there are limitations that have been placed and it should never be more than a breech for a breech, never more than an eye for an eye, never more than a tooth for a tooth. “You knocked out my tooth? Let me give you a tooth sandwich brother.” You know you don’t want to just hit one, you want to get his, you know, the mouthful if you can. We want to take revenge over and beyond, and so the limitations were put. But even better than that is the forgiving love. “Oh well what difference does it make?” God help us to come to the standard of Jesus Christ. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
As this chapter is read, it seems at first to be out of place or out of order. Yet undoubtedly it is not so. The fact that we may not be able clearly to see the connection does not warrant its omission or give us any ground for placing it elsewhere.
In it provision was made concerning the oil and the shewbread. It would seem that the ingathering of harvest being complete and the feast thereof arranged for, in the giving of the laws they were thus reminded of the claims. of God on their produce, especially in the two matters which indicated their responsibility of light bearing and their privilege of communion.
Here also we have a fragment of history. It is the story of the blasphemer upon whom punishment fell. It may be that it was inserted here because of its occurrence during the period of the promulgation of the laws.
In any case, the point emphasized is that if for any reason a stranger take up his abode within the circle of the divine government, he is amenable to the laws thereof. Among the people under the Kingship of Jehovah taking His name in vain was a most heinous offense, and the man guilty thereof suffered the extreme penalty.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Light and Bread and the Holy Name
Lev 24:1-23
The words Before the Lord are twice repeated in the opening paragraph. The pure lamplight, emblematic of the influence of a religious life; and the showbread, set on the golden table, emblematic of lives of obedience and devotion, which are well-pleasing to God, are both said to be before the Lord. We are reminded of the command to Abram, Walk before me and be thou perfect; and of the words of the dying Jacob, The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk. This implies the continual consciousness of the presence of God. We all possess what may be termed a sub-consciousness, which lies beneath our ordinary sense. Let that be God filled!
What a pitiable condition that half-breed was in! May we be Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile! How they reverenced the very name of God. See 3Jn 1:7.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
2. Priestly Duties: The Light and the Shewbread
CHAPTER 24:1-9
1. The light (Lev 24:1-4)
2. The shewbread (Lev 24:5-9)
This chapter is not disconnected from the preceding one as some claim; nor is it the work of a redactor as the critics teach. It is most beautifully linked with the dispensational foreshadowings we found in the feasts of Jehovah. Between Pentecost and the blowing of the trumpets there is, as stated before, a long period of time. When the church was formed, after the sheaf of the firstfruits had been waved, Israel was nationally set aside and night settled upon them. Maintained by the high priest, a light was to be kept shining continually from evening till morning; it was the light of the golden lampstand with its lamps. The lampstand typifies Christ and the high priest also is a type of Christ. Here is a hint of the testimony which shines forth in Christ and through the heavenly priesthood (the church) during the night, the present age. But Israel also will some day shine forth and be a light-bearer (Zec 4:1-14).
Then there was the shewbread. They were set in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. Shewbread means literally bread of the face, that is, the bread before God. Pure frankincense was also put upon them. No doubt, dispensationally, we have in the shewbread another picture of those who are now His people (the church), while the twelve loaves also typify Israel as a nation.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Reciprocal: Num 8:2 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 24:1. After the foregoing particulars relating to the annual festivals and assemblies, and all things prepared for the tabernacle service, he proceeds to remind the Israelites of executing the orders before given, about providing at the public charge all materials for the daily service; and in particular a sufficient quantity of oil for the lamps of the golden candlestick, which were to burn continually in the holy place without the veil, the priests in waiting being obliged to keep this candlestick clean and pure, and to trim and supply the lamps morning and evening.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 24:2. Cause the lamps to burn continually. The heathens also had lamps in their temples. In France it is amusing to see a dim light glimmering through the church windows; and truly it is hardly decent to leave such good company as Mary and Peter without a candle.
Lev 24:10. Whose father was an Egyptian. Exo 12:38. We read that a mixed multitude emigrated from Egypt with the Israelites, and left the yoke of their oppressors behind. These mixed marriages produced an ill- educated race.
Lev 24:11. Blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. It is supposed, after the affair was decided by the magistrates, and according to the law of God, that the man cursed the Lord. Hence it was the foulest of blasphemy. Others suppose that he merely invoked the curse of God to alight on his opponent.
Lev 24:14. Lay their hands upon his head. This most solemn ceremony was in fact an appeal to God and man, that the evidence was true; and an invocation, if not true, that the guilt and punishment might recoil on their own heads. It was also a transfer of the guilt on the head of the guilty, and the witnesses cleared themselves and the country of blasphemy against the Lord. The paucity of these punishments teaches princes to mitigate the just severity of the laws. But instead of this, we let all blasphemy go unpunished.
Lev 24:20. Breach for breach. This is also a gentile law, called among the Romans, Lex talionis.
REFLECTIONS.
The God of light and love, in whom is no darkness, would not suffer his sacred pavilion to be a dark and gloomy habitation, but always illuminated and joyful with the light or fire which fell from heaven, burning on the candlestick. Hereby it was made a figure of heaven, where the Lord God and the Lamb are the light of the place: and of the light of the gospel, whereby he illuminates a dark and benighted world. Christian churches are peculiarly Gods ever-burning lights, reflecting the glory of his righteousness and truth. The people being here anew commanded to supply the oil, and Aaron to keep the lamps burning, may teach us that the people should most willingly supply whatever is wanting to the cause of God; and that ministers so encouraged should constantly display the light of truth and a good example, to the glory of God and the joy of his people.
In civil society sins and calamities daily occur, and it is the object of discipline and of law to eradicate them whenever they appear. Having had frequent occasion to notice marriages with irreligious persons, here is another sad case, arising probably from a bad education. The Egyptian father of the blasphemer had habituated the ears of his unhappy son to licentious language, which led him to destruction in the day of provocation: and how can children be properly educated when the head of the house is an alien from God?
The contention of the above men seems to have occasioned a repetition of the law respecting murder and retaliation. How many in this age, who kill their neighbour with murderous usage, when they have an advantage in private battle, escape with a verdict of manslaughter! It would be wise in juries to consult the safety of their own conscience, as well as the preservation of a murderer: for God will revise the decision of human courts. Let young men learn to avoid the children of anger and strife; many being thereby hurried into a vortex of mischief and destruction, which they little suspected in the earlier stages of vice. Above all, let them abhor and detest the diabolical language of blasphemous men. To invoke the curse of God to descend on a brother, is all that a fiend could do: and how is a wretch of this description capable of sustaining the relation of friendship with his neighbour. His looks and language are a terror to the wise and good.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Leviticus 24
There is very much to interest the spiritual mind in this brief section. We have seen in chapter 23. the history of the dealings of God with Israel, from the offering up of the Pascal Lamb, until the rest and glory of the millennial Kingdom. In the chapter now before us, we have two grand ideas – namely, first, the unfailing record and memorial of the twelve tribes, maintained before God, by the power of the Spirit, and the efficacy of Christ’s priesthood; and, secondly, the apostasy of Israel after the flesh, and divine judgement executed thereon. It is the clear apprehension of the former that will enable us to contemplate the latter.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive, beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.” (Ver. 1-4) The “pure oil” represents the grace of the Holy Spirit, founded upon the work of Christ, as exhibited by the candlestick of “beaten gold.” The “olive” was pressed to yield the “oil,” and the gold was “beaten” to form the candlestick. In other words, the grace and light of the Spirit are founded upon the death of Christ, and maintained, in clearness and power, by the priesthood of Christ. The golden lamp diffused its light throughout the precincts of the sanctuary, during the dreary hours of night, when darkness brooded over the nation and all were wrapped in slumber. In all this we have a vivid presentation of God’s faithfulness to His people whatever might be their outward condition. Darkness and slumber might settle down upon them, but the lamp was to burn “continually.” The high priest was responsible to keep the steady light of testimony burning during the tedious hours of the night. “Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning, before the Lord continually.” The maintenance of this light was not left dependent upon Israel. God had provided one whose office it was to look after it and order it continually.
But, further, we read, “And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two-tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.” (Ver. 5-9) There is no mention of leaven in these loaves. They represent, I doubt not, Christ in immediate connection with “the twelve tribes of Israel.” They were laid up in the sanctuary before the Lord, on the pure table, for seven days, after which they became the food of Aaron and his sons, furnishing another striking figure of Israel’s condition in the view of Jehovah, whatever might be their outward aspect. The twelve tribes are ever before Him. Their memorial can never perish. They are ranged in divine order in the sanctuary, covered with the fragrant incense of Christ, and reflected from the pure table whereon they rest beneath the bright beams of that golden lamp which shines, with undimmed lustre, through the darkest hour of the nation’s moral night.
Now, it is well to see that we are not sacrificing sound judgement or divine truth on the altar of fancy, when we venture to interpret, after such a fashion, the mystic furniture of the sanctuary. We are taught, in Hebrews 9, that all these things were “the patterns of things in the heavens;” and again, in Hebrews 10: 1, that they were” a shadow of good things to come.” We are, therefore, warranted in believing that there are “things in the heavens” answering to the” patterns” – that there is a substance answering to the “shadow”. In a word, we are warranted in believing that there is that “in the heavens” which answers to “the seven lamps,” “the pure table,” and the “twelve loaves.” This is not human imagination, but divine truth on which faith has fed, in all ages. What was the meaning of Elijah’s altar of “twelve stones,” on the top of Carmel? It was nothing else than the expression of his faith in that truth of which the “twelve loaves” were “the pattern” or “the shadow.” He believed in the unbroken unity of the nation, maintained before God in the eternal stability of the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whatever might be the external condition of the nation. Man might look in vain for the manifested unity of the twelve tribes; but faith could always look within the hallowed enclosure of the sanctuary, and there see the twelve loaves, covered with pure frankincense, ranged in divine order on the pure table; and even though all without were wrapped in midnight’s gloomy shades, yet could faith discern, by the light of the seven golden lamps, the same grand truth foreshadowed – namely, the indissoluble unity of Israel’s twelve tribes.
Thus it was then; and thus it is now. The night is dark and gloomy. There is not, in all this lower world, so much as a single ray by which the human eye can trace the unity of Israel’s tribes. They are scattered among the nations, and lost to man’s vision. But their memorial is before the Lord. Faith owns this, because it knows that “all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.” It sees in the upper sanctuary, by the Spirit’s perfect light, the twelve tribes faithfully memorialised. Hearken to the following noble accents of faith:” And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God night and day, (nukta kai emeran) hope to come.” (Acts 26: 6, 7) Now, if King Agrippa had asked Paul, “Where are the twelve tribes?” could he have shown them to him? No. But why not? Was it because they were not to be seen? No; but because Agrippa had not eyes to see them. The twelve tribes lay far beyond the range of Agrippa’s vision. It needed the eye of faith and the gracious light of the Spirit of God to be able to discern the twelve loaves, ordered upon the pure table in the sanctuary of God. There they were, and Paul saw them there; though the moment in which he gave utterance to his sublime conviction was as dark as it well could be, Faith is not governed by appearances. It takes its stand upon the lofty rock of God’s eternal word, and, in all the calmness and certainty of that holy elevation, feeds upon the immutable word of Him who cannot lie. Unbelief may stupidly stare about and ask, Where are the twelve tribes? or, How can they be found and restored? It is impossible to give an answer. Not because there is no answer to be given; But because unbelief is utterly incapable of rising to the elevated point from which the answer can be seen. Faith is as sure that the memorial of the twelve tribes of Israel is before the eye of Israel’s God, as it is that the twelve loaves were laid on the golden table every Sabbath day. But who can convince the sceptic or the infidel of this? Who can secure credence for such a truth from those who are governed, in all things, by reason or sense, and know nothing of what it is to hope against hope? Faith finds divine certainties and eternal realities in the midst of a scene where reason and sense can find nothing. Oh! for a more profound faith! May we grasp, with more intense earnestness, every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, and feed upon it in all the artless simplicity of a little child.
We shall now turn to the second point in our chapter – namely, the apostasy of Israel, after the flesh, and the divine judgement thereon.
“And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel and this son of an Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses . . . . . . And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be showed them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him . . . . . . . And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the comp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Ver. 10-23)
The peculiar place assigned by the inspired penman to this narrative is striking and interesting. I have no doubt whatever but that it is designed to give us the opposite side of the picture presented in the opening verses of the chapter. Israel after the flesh has grievously failed and sinned against Jehovah. The name of the Lord has been blasphemed amongst the Gentiles. Wrath has come upon the nation. The judgements of an offended God have fallen upon them. But the day is coming when the dark and heavy cloud of judgement shall roll away; and then shall the twelve tribes, in their unbroken unity, stand forth before all the nations as the amazing monument of Jehovah’s faithfulness and loving-kindness, “And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song, he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call Upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” (Isa. 12) “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet hare now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed in your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 11. 25-36)
Passages might be multiplied to prove that though Israel is suffering the divine judgement because of sin, yet “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” – that though the blasphemer is being stoned without the camp, the twelve loaves are undisturbed within the sanctuary. “The voices of the prophets” declare, and the voices of apostles re-echo the glorious truth that “all Israel shall be saved;” not because they have not sinned, but because “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Let Christians beware how they tamper with “the promises made unto the fathers.” If these promises be explained away or misapplied, it must, necessarily, weaken our moral sense of the divine integrity and accuracy of Scripture, as a whole. If one part may be explained away, so may another.
If one passage may be vaguely interpreted, so may another; and thus it would come to pass that we should be deprived of all that blessed certainty which constitutes the foundation of our repose in reference to all that the Lord hath spoken. But more of this as we dwell upon the remaining chapters of our book.
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Leviticus 24. Four Additional Ordinances.
Lev 24:1-4. The Holy Lamp (P).
Lev 24:2 f. is partially identical with Exo 27:20*a section which may not be in its right place. The candlestick with seven lights (cf. lamps, Lev 24:4) is represented on the Arch of Titus; 1Ki 7:49 mentions ten candlesticks; Lev 24:2 f. probably represents the earlier custom of one lamp (cf. 1Sa 3:3).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
CONTINUAL LIGHT (vv. 1-4)
Here Moses is told to command the children of Israel that they bring pure olive oil for the seven lamps, never allowing the supply of oil to lapse, so that the lamps would burn continually (vv. 1-2). For the light from these was to light up the lampstand itself. In the holy place the light was always to shine upon Him who is the Sustainer of the light, the Lord Jesus. The light speaks of testimony, and Christ is always the Object of all testimony for God. The light is maintained by the constant supply of the oil (the Spirit of God), while the wicks are there, not to be displayed, but to burn, just as believers are to burn for the Lord, not to display themselves. In fact, the wicks must be often trimmed so that the light might burn brightly, a reminder of the self-judgment that we find constantly necessary. The more brightly the light shines, the less we shall see of the wick. If the wick has not been trimmed, this will draw one’s attention more to the wick than to the light, and the smell of the wick will draw attention too!
The light does not speak of a publicly declared testimony, as the trumpets do, but rather of the constant testimony of our daily conduct, which we are not to allow to lapse. It was also priestly work to trim the lamps (vv. 3-4). just as the Lord Jesus deals with us to produce self-judgment, which will be spontaneous if we ourselves practice our proper priestly functions. That is, we shall fully cooperate with Him in this necessary work.
CONTINUAL COMMUNION (vv. 5-9)
The priests also were in charge of keeping the table furnished with bread. The table pictures Christ as the Sustainer of fellowship or communion, and the twelve loaves of bread, changed every week, while symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel, are at the same time significant of all the saints of God today, all privileged to enjoy the fellowship of the Father and the Son in unity.
Is this fellowship only occasional? By no means. Fresh bread was to be arranged on the table every Sabbath day (v. 8). Thus, our fellowship with God and with His saints is to be continual, never allowed to become stale. Just as the priests were responsible for this, so, if we are functioning as priests, we shall always be in communion with the Lord.
The bread was placed in two rows, six in a row (v. 6), for fellowship is necessarily between two parties. Frankincense was also to be put on the loaves (v. 7). Frankincense means whiteness. It speaks of the Lord Jesus in the perfect purity of His humanity, which will impart proper, godly character to our communion.
When replaced, the bread that was removed each Sabbath day was then to be eaten by Aaron and his sons. It was not for all Israel, but for the priestly family. Today, all believers are priests (1Pe 2:5), so that they are identified with Christ. our Great High Priest in communion together, enjoying that which reminds us of Himself and His great work of sacrifice and suffering for our sake. For one week the bread was to be displayed, but not eaten. This display was the testimony of what true fellowship is, though not the actual partaking. But at the end of the week the priests were to eat it, thus figuratively in a practical way entering into the blessedness of communion with God through His beloved Son. We today may learn in God’s word what is the meaning of fellowship, but we need also to feast on Christ Himself, the bread of life.
CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS AGAINST GOD (vv. 10-23)
Following the verses that have spoken of the pure light and pure fellowship of the sanctuary, a shocking contrast meets us in this section. A fight takes place between two men, and one of them (whose mother was an Israelite, but his father Egyptian) blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed (vv. 10-11). Though Israel has not even realized it, this is just what the nation has done when they rejected the Lord Jesus. They blasphemed and insulted the Son of God. Though the priests in Israel had a favored place in the temple of God, as verses 1-9 have shown, yet they showed utter contempt for the Lord of that temple when He came among them. (Luk 22:63-65).
The offending man was put in custody, for there was to be calm deliberation as regards judgment of the case. Then the Lord told Moses to take him outside the camp, where the witnesses were to lay their hands on his head, as bearing witness to what had been done. Then all the congregation was called upon to stone him to death (v. 14). This was solemn, humiliating work, but the law was absolute. Being under law, there was no alternative. Though today, under grace, no such sentences are to be carried out, yet we must not think that the evil is any less serious than at that time. Of course, God hates the evil just as He did then, but He now patiently bears with it until the time of judgment will come.
The Lord however gives plain orders that anyone who blasphemed the name of the Lord must be put to death (vv. 15-16). At the same time He adds to this other serious judgments. A murderer was to be also put to death. Israel became guilty of this also in their murder of the Lord Jesus.
If one killed an animal belonging to another, he must make this good by giving him an animal of the same value. If one harmed another physically, he was to receive the same treatment himself, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth (vv. 19-20). This is righteous law pure and simple, justice without mercy. For a second time it is insisted that an animal killed required restitution, but the killing of a human called for the death penalty (v. 21). Of course animals were killed in sacrifice, but these were the property of the offerer.
Any stranger who lived among the Israelites was subject to the same law as all others (v. 22). This would surely remind us that any stranger who comes to partake of the privileges of fellowship in any assembly is thereby subject to the same discipline as all others.
Verse 23 tells us that the sentence of death was carried out in the case of the man who had blasphemed the name of the Lord. The people stoned him to death as God had commanded.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
D. The preparation of the holy lamps and showbread 24:1-9
The connection of these instructions with what precedes is this. The Israelites were not only to offer themselves to Yahweh on special days of the year, but they were to worship and serve Him every day of the year. The daily refueling and burning of the lamps and the uninterrupted presentation of the showbread to Yahweh represented the daily sanctification of the people to their God. [Note: For other explanations of the placement of chapter 24 in Leviticus, see John R. Master, "The Place of Chapter 24 in the Structure of the Book of Leviticus," Bibliotheca Sacra 159:636 (October-December 2002):415-24.]
The Israelites donated the oil for the lamps (Lev 24:1-4). It symbolized them ". . . as a congregation which caused its light to shine in the darkness of this world . . ." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 2:451.] These lamps burned through the night, and the priests refilled them daily (cf. 1Sa 3:3; 2Ki 25:30). In this offering Israel offered its life to God daily for consumption in His service of bringing light to the nations (cf. Zechariah 4; Isa 42:6).
The flour for the twelve loaves of showbread, one for each of the tribes of Israel, was likewise a gift of the people that represented their sanctification to God (Lev 24:5-9). The flour represented the fruit of the Israelites’ labors, their good works. It lay before God’s presence continually in the holy place. The addition of incense to the bread (Lev 24:7) represented the spirit of prayer (dependence) that accompanied the Israelites’ sacrifice of work. The priests placed fresh loaves on the table of showbread each Sabbath day. Josephus wrote that there were two piles of six loaves each. [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 3:6:6. See also Bill Mitchell, "Leviticus 24:6: The bread of the Presence-rows or piles?" The Bible Translator 33:4 (October 1982):447-48; and Schultz, p. 116.]
"The devoted service (i.e., faithfully and rightly bringing offerings) of God’s people (i.e., people with their offerings, leaders with their actions) ensures that the way to God is illuminated and that provisions from him will continue." [Note: Ross, p. 442.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE ORDERING OF THE LIGHT IN THE HOLY PLACE
Lev 24:1-4
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, shall Aaron order it from evening to morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.”
First (Lev 24:1-4) is given the direction for the ordering of the daily light, which was to burn from evening until morning in the holy place continually. The people themselves are to furnish the oil for the seven-branched candlestick out of the product of their olive yards. The oil is to be “pure,” carefully cleansed from leaves and all impurities; and “beaten,” that is, not extracted by heat and pressure, as are inferior grades, but simply by beating and macerating the olives with water, -a process which gives the very best. The point in these specifications is evidently this, that for this, as always, they are to give to Gods service the very best, -an eternal principle which rules in all acceptable service to God. The oil is to come from the people in general, so that the illuminating of the Holy Place, although specially tended by the high priest, is yet constituted a service in which all the children of Israel have some part. The oil was to be used to supply the seven lamps upon the golden candlestick which was placed on the south side of the Holy Place, without the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting. This Aaron was to “order from evening to morning before the Lord continually.” According to Exo 25:31-40, this candlestick-or, more properly, lampstand-was made of a single shaft, with three branches on either side, each with a cup at the end like an almond blossom; so that, with that on the top of the central shaft, it was a stand of seven lamps, in a conventional imitation of an almond tree.
The significance of the symbol is brought clearly before us in Zec 4:1-14, where the seven-branched candlestick symbolises Israel as the congregation of God, the giver of the light of life to the world. And yet a lamp can burn only as it is supplied with oil and trimmed and cared for. And so in the symbol of Zechariah the prophet sees the golden candlestick supplied with oil conveyed through two golden pipes into which flowed the golden oil, mysteriously self-distilled from two olive trees on either side the candlestick. And the explanation given is this: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” saith the Lord. Thus we learn that the golden seven-branched lampstand denotes Israel, more precious than gold in Gods sight, appointed of Him to be the giver of light to the world. And yet by this requisition of oil for the golden candlestick the nation was reminded that their power to give light was dependent upon the supply of the heavenly grace of Gods Spirit, and the continual ministrations of the priest in the Holy Place, And how this ordering of the light might be a symbolic act of worship, we can at once see, when we recall the word of Jesus: {Mat 5:14; Mat 5:16} “Ye are the light of the world. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
How pertinent for instruction still in “all its deepest teaching is this ordinance of the lamp continually burning in the presence of the Lord, is vividly brought before us in the Apocalypse,” {Rev 1:12-13} where we read that seven candlesticks appeared in vision to the Apostle John; and Christ, in His glory, robed in high priestly vesture, was seen walking up and down, after the manner of Aaron, in the midst of the seven candlesticks, in care and watch of the manner of their burning. And as to the significance of this vision, the Apostle was expressly told (Rev 1:20) that the seven candlesticks were the seven Churches of Asia, -types of the collective Church in all the centuries. Thus, as in the language of this Levitical symbol, we are taught that in the highest sense it is the office of the Church to give light in darkness; but that she can only do this as the heavenly oil is supplied, and each lamp is cared for, by the high priestly ministrations of her risen Lord.