Exo 24:9 to Exo 31:18 Instructions to Build Tabernacle (Ceremonial Law) In Exo 24:9 to Exo 31:18 God instructs Moses on the details of the building of the Tabernacle. In the description of the building of the articles, the Lord begins with those of the inner sanctuary, the ark of the covenant and mercy seat, then the altar of incense, followed by the table of showbread and the candlestick. Thus, the construction of these articles are arranged in a logical order, from the innermost sanctuary to the outermost. Perhaps one reason for this order is the fact that the order of the erection of the Tabernacle begins with the innermost articles and expands outward to the hangings of the outer court, as described in Exo 40:1-33. Thus, the order of the construction of the Tabernacle follows the order of its erection.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Instructions Concerning the Building of the Tabernacle – In Exo 25:1 to Exo 31:18 the Lord gives Moses instructions concerning the building of the Tabernacle and its articles, as well as the priestly garments. According to Heb 8:5, the Lord showed to Moses this pattern visually, probably while he was on the Mount, for God told Moses to make everything according to the pattern that He showed Moses on the mount. The Lord revealed it to him audibly as recorded in this section of the book of Exodus.

Heb 8:5, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount .’

It is important to note that God gave Moses general instructions on the building of this Tabernacle and of the making of the priestly garments. But God left it up to the creativity of the craftsmen, being inspired under their anointing, to design the details of each item they made. In the same way, God will give us instructions for our lives, but He often allows us to make the decisions about many of the details as we are inspired by the Holy Spirit each day.

Here is a proposed outline of Exo 25:1 to Exo 31:18:

The Offerings for the Sanctuary Exo 25:1-9 The Furniture of the Tabernacle Exo 25:10-40 The Ark of the Covenant, Mercy Seat & Cherubim Exo 25:10-22 The Table of Shewbread & its Accessories Exo 25:23-30 The Candlestick Exo 25:31-39 Concluding Statement Exo 25:40 The Building to House the Articles of the Tabernacle Exo 26:1-37 The Altar of Burnt Offering Exo 27:1-8 The Court of the Tabernacle Exo 27:9-19 The Care of the Lampstand Exo 27:20-21 The Garments for the Priesthood Exo 28:1-43 Introduction Exo 28:1-4 The Ephod Exo 28:5-14 The Breastplate of Judgment Exo 28:15-30 The Robe, Mitre, Girdle & Linen Breeches Exo 28:31-42 Concluding Statement Exo 28:43 The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons Exo 29:1-35 The Consecration & Service of the Burnt Altar Exo 29:36-46 The Altar of Incense Exo 30:1-10 The Ransom Money Exo 30:11-16 The Bronze Laver Exo 30:17-21 The Holy Anointing Oil Exo 30:22-33 The Incense Exo 30:34-38 The Appointment of Craftsmen Exo 31:1-11  

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Altar of Incense

v. 1. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of shittim wood shalt thou make it, of the same Arabian acacia wood which was to be used for all the wooden appointments.

v. 2. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be; and two cubits shall be the height thereof; the horns thereof shall be of the same. It was also ornamented with small. hornlike projections, the symbols of power.

v. 3. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, that is, its plate, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about, a heavy, decorated molding of gold, similar to that on the ark and on the table of showbread. Since the entire altar was so completely covered with gold, it was often designated simply as the golden altar, Exo 39:38; Exo 40:5-26; Num 4:11.

v. 4. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it, rings set solidly into the material of the altar; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

v. 5. And thou shalt make the staves, the carrying poles, of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

v. 6. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the Ark of the Testimony, so that it occupied a position between the large candlestick and the table of showbread, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. The altar of incense was thus brought into a direct and intimate relation to the mercy-seat, so close to the Most Holy Place that it could be considered as a part of its equipment in the wider sense, 1Ki 6:22; Heb 9:4.

v. 7. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning; when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it, that is, when he trims and cleans the lamps of the large candlestick.

v. 8. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, putting back the lamps in place at the time of the evening sacrifice, Exo 29:41, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations, as regularly as the sacrifice of burnt offering was made, Exo 29:42.

v. 9. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, such as was not ordered for that purpose by Jehovah nor such as was not made according to His precept, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat-offering, the unbloody sacrifices of baked or fried cakes; neither shall ye pour drink-offering thereon.

v. 10. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations, namely, on the great Day of Atonement; it is most holy unto the Lord. The altar of incense thus served a double purpose: it was in use daily for the offering of incense, the aromatic substance whose odor was pleasant to the Lord, since it signified the prayer of the saints; and it served on the great Day of Atonement for the dedication of the blood of expiation, before the high priest entered the Most Holy Place. We Christians also let our prayers rise to the Lord like incense, that is, in the name of Jesus Christ the Savior, knowing that they are pleasing to the Lord for His sake.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. This chapter has the appearance of being one in which accidental omissions are supplied. The natural place for a description of the altar of incensepart of the furniture of the holy place (Exo 30:6)would seem to have been Exo 25:10-40, where we have the descriptions of the ark, the mercy-seat, the table of shew-bread, and the candlestick; the natural place for “the ransom of souls,” the earlier part of the same chapter (Exo 25:3), where the silver is required which was to be collected in this way; the natural place for an account of the bronze laver, Exo 27:1-21; where the bronze altar, near which it stood, is described; the natural place for the composition of the holy oil, Exo 29:1-46; where its use is commanded (Exo 29:7, Exo 29:21); and the natural place for a description of the perfume the same as for the altar on which it was to be offered. Whether Moses made the omissions in writing his record, and afterwards supplied them in the present chapter, or whether Divine wisdom saw fit to give the directions in the order in which we now have them, cannot be determined. Hitherto certainly no sufficient reason has been shown for the existing order, which hence appears accidental. The altar of incense was to be in many respects similar to the altar of burnt-offering, but of smaller size and richer material. Both were to be “four-square,” and both of shittim wood cased with metal; but the former was to be taller, the latter shorter, than it was broad; and while the latter was to be cased with bronze, the former was to have a covering of gold. The place for the altar of incense was the main chamber of the tabernacle, a little in front of the veil; and its purpose was, as the name implied, the offering of incense to almighty God. This was to be done by the officiating priest, twice a day, morning and evening, and in practice was performed before the morning, and after the evening sacrifice.

Exo 30:1

An altar to burn incense upon. The offering of incense was an element in the religious worship of most ancient nations. In Egypt frankincense was especially used in the festivals of the god Ammon;. and on one occasion an Egyptian sovereign sent a naval expedition to Arabia for the express purpose of bringing frankincense and frankincense trees to Egypt, in connection with the Ammon feasts. The Babylonians burnt a thousand talents’ weight of frankincense every year at the great festival of Bal (Herod. 1.183). The Greeks and Romans offered frankincense, as a rule, with every offering; and in the early ages of Christianity it was made the test of a Christian whether he would do this or no. What exactly the religious notion was which underlay these acts, or whether it was the same everywhere, may be questioned. In the Mosaic religion, however, there can be little doubt that, in the main, incense symbolised prayer. (See Psa 141:2; Luk 1:10.) Of shittim wood. Compare above, Exo 27:1.

Exo 30:2

Four square shall it be. Like the altar of burnt-offering. See the comment on Exo 27:1. Two cubits shall be the height thereof. Altars of this small size are often represented on ancient vases and other remains. The horns thereof. It seems to be assumed that an altar must have horns. Those of the altar of incense were to have the blood of certain sin-offerings smeared upon them (Le Exo 4:7, Exo 4:18). Shall be of the samei.e. “shall be of one piece with the top of the table”not projections added to it. Compare Exo 27:2.

Exo 30:3

Thou shalt make unto it a crown of goldi.e; a border, or moulding, all round the top, to prevent anything from falling off. Compare what is said of the table of shew-bread, Exo 25:24.

Exo 30:4

By the two corners. Rather, “on its two sides.” The ensuing clause is redundant. All that is meant is, that the altar should have two rings onlynot fourone at each side, directly below the moulding. As it was so small, two rings were enough. For the staves. Rather, “for staves.”

Exo 30:5

The staves were to be of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, like those used for carrying the ark (Exo 25:13) and the table of shew-bread (Exo 25:28).

Exo 30:6

Thou shalt put it before the vail. It might have been doubtful from what is said here, which side of the veil the altar was to be placed. The doubt is precluded by the narrative of what Moses actually did in Exo 40:21-29, which makes it clear that the altar was placed with the golden candlestick and the table of shew-bread, outside the veil, in the “holy place,” and not within the “holy of holies.” Where I will meet with thee. See above, Exo 25:22.

Exo 30:7

Sweet incense. Literally, “incense of perfumes.” For the composition of the incense, see Exo 30:34-38. When he dresseth the lamps. The lamps of the golden candlestick were to be trimmed and cleaned, their wicks looked to, and fresh oil added, if necessary, every morning, immediately after daybreak. See the comment on Exo 27:21. The duty devolved on the priests.

Exo 30:8

At even. Literally, “between the two evenings.” (See the comment on Exo 12:6.) The offering of incense by the high priest twice a day, at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice, indicated that prayer was needed as constantly as expiation, and that neither might for a single day be intermitted. A perpetual incense. “Perpetual,” in the sense that it was to be burnt twice a day, as long as the religion lastednot in the sense that it was to be kept burning constantly.

Exo 30:9

By strange incense is meant any which was not prepared according to the directions given in Exo 30:34-38. None such was ever to be offered. Nor was the altar to be used for burnt-offering, meat-offering, or drink-offering. For burnt-offering it was manifestly unfit; but the prohibition of the others seems to show a determination to keep its use markedly distinct from that of the brazen altar in the court, which was to receive all that was offered either for expiation, or for self-dedication, or in gratitude. On the sole exception made to this general law, see the comment on the next verse.

Exo 30:10

Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in the year. Once in the year, on the great day of atonementthe tenth day of the seventh monththe high priest, after burning incense within the veil, and sprinkling the blood of a bullock and a ram towards the mercy seat, was to take of the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar of incense “to make an atonement for itto cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel” (Le Exo 16:18, Exo 16:19). This was not making it an altar of expiation, but merely expiating it. There was, however, another use for the altar, where it seems to have served for an altar of expiation. When the high priest had sinned in his official character, and offered a sin-offering for his cleansing (Le Exo 4:3-12), or when the whole congregation had committed an offence through inadvertence, and did the same (Le Exo 4:13-21), the high priest was to put of the blood of the sacrifice on the horns of the altar of incense, “for the expiation of his own sin and the sin of the people” (Keil). In these two cases, the altar of incense served the purpose of the altar of burnt-offering, on which was put the blood of private sin-offerings (Le Exo 4:22 -35). It is most holy. There seems to be sufficient reason for considering the altar of incense as, next to the ark and mercy seat, the most sacred object in the furniture of the tabernacle. This precedence indicates the extreme value which God sets upon prayer.

HOMILETICS

Exo 30:1-10

The symbolism of the Altar of Incense.

We have seen that the ascent of incense signifies the mounting up to heaven of the grateful odour of man’s earnest and heart-felt prayers. The altar, therefore, symbolises the heart which offers such prayers,

1. IN ITS MATERIALS. The altar is of acacia wood and goldthe one a symbol of soundness and strength, the other of purity. Prayer, to be acceptable, must proceed out of a true hearta sound, honest, sincere, strong heartnot one that is weak and unstable, one thing to-day and another to-morrow; but one that is consistent, steady, firm, brave, resolute. And it must also proceed out of a pure heart. The gold of the altar was to be “pure gold,” refined till every atom of the native dross was purged away. And the heart of the worshipper should be refined similarly. There is much native dross in the hearts of all men. The discipline of life, the furnace of affliction, under God’s blessing, does much to purge the dross. But something of it always remains. One only was absolutely pure. We must approach God through the intercession of Christ, and then our incense will mount up from a golden altar heavenwards.

II. IN ITS SITUATION. The altar was “by the ark of the testimony”directly in front of the mercy seatvery close to the Divine presence, therefore. Prayer brings us into the presence of God. The heart that is drawn upward, and fixed in worship and adoration in its Creator and Redeemer, feels itself near to him. Near, very near; yet still separated by a veil. The eyes of the body cannot pierce that impenetrable curtain, which shrouds the invisible world from our eager, curious gaze. The heart itself cannot so lift itself up as to rise out of the present conditions of its mortal, finite nature, and really enter the empyrean. There is still a veil between man and the spiritual world. Through death only can he pass beyond it.

III. IN ITS HORNS, WHICH WERE SYMBOLS OF POWER. Great is the might of prayer. By means of it the heart has power with God, can wrestle with him, as Jacob did; and as it were, force him to bless it (Gen 32:26). The parable of the importunate widow illustrates this power. Let us follow her example; let us persist, let us besiege God with our prayers, for ourselves, for others, and we shall prevail with him; at length he will hear us. It has been questioned in these “last days” whether prayer is ever answered; and tests have been proposed, by which men have hoped to demonstrate its inefficiency. But God will not be tested. “Thou shelf not tempt” (i.e. “try” or “test”) “the Lord thy God.” He does not undertake to answer faithless, or even doubting, wavering prayers. The promise is”Whoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mar 11:23).

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 30:1-11

The Altar of Incense.

See below, Exo 30:34-38.J.O.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 30:1. Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon After the account we have given of the former altars, there is nothing difficult in the description of this; which was a little more than half a yard square, and as high again as it was broad. From being covered all over with pure gold, it was commonly called the golden altar, Num 4:11. It appears from other passages of Scripture, that the priest took fire from the brazen altar, and put it into a golden censer; and then placed this censer with the fire upon the golden altar, to burn incense upon it. See Lev 10:1. Num 17:13. The sweet incense which was to be burnt every morning and evening on this altar, is minutely described at the close of this chapter; which, doubtless, was used to perfume the sanctuary, and to prevent that otherwise offensive smell which would have arisen from the sacrifices. The use of incense in sacred rites was very general among the heathens. In the hymns of Orpheus, the incense appropriated to each heathen deity is constantly mentioned; and, of the Egyptians in particular, from whom Orpheus borrowed his philosophy, Plutarch (de Is. & Osir.) tells us, that they offered incense to the sun, rosin ( ) in the morning, myrrh at noon, and, about sun-set, what they called kyphi. Aaron, as chief, Exo 30:7 and the other priests in their course, Luk 1:8-9 were to offer the sacred incense; to point out to us the figurative and spiritual meaning of which, we find that the people in the court of the temple and tabernacle were at prayers, while the priest burnt the incense, Luk 1:10. And, in Rev 8:3 we read that an angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne: So that this action of the high-priest shadowed forth the intercession of CHRIST, the High-Priest of our profession, offering up the prayers of his servants before the throne of God, as the smoke of the incense ascended before the mercy-seat; representing the propitiousness of God to sinful men, and his readiness to receive those prayers and confessions which are offered up in faith and love through the mediation of Him who is perfect in holiness. Psa 141:2. It should be observed, that this altar, Exo 30:6 was to be placed in the sanctuary before the vail, exactly opposite to the mercy-seat, between the table of shew-bread and the candlestick.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

5. The Altar of Incense. Exo 30:1-10

The reason why the directions concerning the altar of incense are given so late is seen in the design of it, which puts it among the things directly connected with the ritual worship; also in the fact that it marks the last point in the movement of the priest towards the Holy of holies, the highest point in the ritual before the entrance into the Holy of holies. This eminent position is even indicated in the circumstance that, being slender in form, gilt all over, adorned besides with a golden rim, furnished with golden rings, even with golden staves to carry it with, it stands at the middle of the veil of the Holy of holies, bearing a direct relation to the mercy-seat. For this reason we would rather find a theological idea than an archological error in that passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 9:4) which puts it in the Holy of holies. For this is the altar which by its incense symbolizes the prayer of the high-priest (Rev 5:8; Heb 5:7). On the day of atonement (according to Lev 16:13) the incense is to be carried into the Holy of holies and fill the whole room. The morning and evening sacrifice on the altar of burnt-offering are here to find their higher expression in the fragrant incense which Aaron has to offer morning and evening in the holy place; and it is not without significance that this incense is intimately connected with those sacrifices. In the morning he is to burn incense when he trims the lamps, and in the evening when he lights them; for without illumination and the light of knowledge even his prayer does not attain its higher form of sacerdotal intercession. The incense, moreover, is to be a perpetual one before Jehovah, and so to continue throughout the future generations. This implies the exclusion, in the first place, of common incense, for not all prayers are true prayers, e. g. those of selfishness and fanaticism; secondly, of the burnt-offering, for here the material point is the offering of the heart, not mortifications of the body; finally, of meal-offerings and drink-offerings, for prayer requires abstemiousness. Finally, the altar of prayer is to have its horns sprinkled once a year with the blood of the sin-offering as an atonement. This doubtless was simultaneous with the sprinkling of the mercy-seat, but had not the same meaning. The expiation is offered to the mercy-seat; the altar of incense is covered with the expiation newly dedicated by it.

6. The Assessments for the Temple. Exo 30:11-16

It should be here observed that in this section there is no reference to the temporary work of building the tabernacle, but to those things which enter into the regular ritual service which is to continue through future time. It is therefore certainly an error when Keil and Knobel start out with the notion that the shekel or half-shekel of the sanctuary is to be expended once for all on the erection of the tabernacle. The tabernacle itself was to be built from voluntary contributions (Exo 35:5), not from legally imposed taxes, and in this voluntary way more was given than was needed (Exo 36:5 sqq.). Moreover, the designation of the use of the money, [for the service of the tent of meeting, Exo 30:16], does not mean: for the work of the building, but: for the perpetual service of God in the building. This is implied also in Luthers translation [and in the A. V.]. Moreover, it is said, that this tax is to be collected from the Israelites when the census of the adult males is taken. But such an enumeration did not take place till after the tabernacle was erected (Num 1:1-18).1 These enumerations, too, had to be repeated from time to time. The question is easily solved when we reflect on the continuous pecuniary demands made by the sacrificial service. Besides the personal occasions for special offerings (Leviticus 1 sqq.), a perpetual sacrificial service was ordained. For this service (Exo 29:38 and in this place.), which is to be distinguished from the great offering at the dedication of the tabernacle (Numbers 7), and not less from the consecratory offerings or heave-offerings for the priests (Exo 29:9 sqq.). a legally-imposed tax for the temple was necessary; for the priests had themselves no means for it. This explains also how this contribution serves for expiation (Exo 30:12); it did not do this directly, but because it served for the permanent expiation of the people by means of the offerings. In this connection it is important to observe the directions, that only adult men make the contribution for this expiation, and that every man, as representative of the whole congregation of the people, without distinction of poor and rich, contributed the same amount, viz. half a shekel. As a consequence of the census this tax had also to be paid by the Levites. The sacred shekel, different from the common one, is afterwards more exactly defined; and as the half-shekel amounted to 13 groschen [i. e., 31 cents, or 1 shilling and 3 pence; but vid. note on p. 91], the tax could not fall heavily on any man able to bear arms. Only it is to be remarked, that the taxationas well as the census itselfis imposed on the adult members of the political congregation of the people. By this payment the consecrated congregation of the people is distinguished from a people in the unconsecrated state of nature. is the term applied to the payment on account of the use for which it was designed. So also the enumeration is indirectly an enumeration, or review, which Jehovah institutes with His people. It is true that in the voluntary gifts of silver for the building of the sanctuary the precept concerning the half-shekel was taken as a standard.2

7. The Laver. Exo 30:17-21 (Exo 38:8)

The command concerning the copper laver is not, as some would think, to be regarded as a supplementary direction: it is connected with the foregoing as being the last thing through the medium of which the regular services of the tabernacle were carried on. The expiation which the Israelites have to pay for with the half-shekel applies to the Levites and priests (comp. Mat 17:25, where no exception seems to be made). Besides this there were special expiations for the priests, when they were consecrated, and on the day of atonement. But all this was not sufficient to make them appear as pure men in reference to their daily deportment. They were obliged on penalty of death to wash their hands and feet, when they were about to enter the inner sanctuary, or even only to approach the altar of burnt-offering to minister. This washing symbolizes a purification from the daily (even unconscious) defilements. Later the Pharisees applied the practice of washing the hands also to preparation for the daily meals (Mar 7:3 sqq.); and little as Christ sanctioned this ordinance, He yet made the washing of the feet a highly significant transaction before the Passover meal and the first Lords supper.As to the base () of the laver in particular, the passage Exo 38:8 has led to extended discussions. The expression , etc., may mean from [of] the mirrors, as the LXX. and Vulg. translate. This explanation is reduced to an ascetic or pietistic form by Heng-stenberg, who says that what heretofore had served as a means of gaining the good-will of the world was henceforth to become a means of gaining the good-will of God. According to this, then, there ought to be no mirrors in pious households, and especially none in a pastors robing-room. We would confidently [with Bhr] render: [provided] with womens mirrors, were it not that brass itself had been used for metal mirrors, and that might also mean as, in the character of, according to which the passage would mean: to serve as mirrors for women.3Observing here again the general connection, we see that the topic is not the erection of the tabernacle, but life in the tabernacle as marked by the sacred utensils permanently belonging to it. Furthermore, it is clear that reference is made to crowds of women who were to come into the court. Keil, it is true, observes with regard to the character of these women: The are indeed, according to 1Sa 1:22, women; not washer-women, however, but women who devoted their lives to pious exercises, etc. But, it may be asked, might not the pious exercises consist just in the washing of the sanctuary and keeping it clean? Or could not the women who did the washing be pious women? Luther, it is well known, thought otherwise. Knobel remarks, with entire correctness, that before the erection of the tabernacle there could be nothing said of women coming into the court of the tabernacle; but he adds a most singular explanation of the passage. Furthermore, we must ask, what could here be the use of the expression, out of the mirrors of the women, since it is related beforehand that all the materials for the building and its furniture were furnished voluntarily and in the mass?4 The LXX. seem first to have invented this ascetic notionone which in the connection has no sense at all. As to this connection, however, we are to observe that this base sustained the laver of the priests. If now they had to cleanse themselves in preparation for their service, is it not to be expected that a similar command was imposed on the women who kept the court in order? To be sure, they could not wash themselves in the court, at least not their feet, from considerations of modesty; and they did not need to do it, since they did not have to touch the altar. But they were quite fittingly reminded of their duty to appear comely by the mirrors of the base,5 on which the laver rested, and in which the priests were to cleanse themselves. It is easy to see that this use of the base was for the purposes of symbolic admonition rather than of the toilette. We also find it more natural that the mirror, at its first appearance in the Scriptures, should receive this higher symbolic significance, according to which the law is also called a mirror, than that it should at the outset be proscribed with the remark, that henceforth the pious women used no more mirrors. In its spiritual sense the washing of the priests is also a perpetual ordinance.

8. The Holy Anointing Oil. Exo 30:22-33

In the case of the anointing oil, it is at once obvious that it is not designed to be used simply at the erection of the tabernacle. In the first place, direction is given of what materials and in what proportions it shall be compounded; next, the use of the oil is stated, i. e., to anoint the several parts of the sanctuary; finally, there is enunciated the sternest prohibition against any imitation of this sacred anointing oil for common use. The number four being the mundane number [the four points of the compass], the union of four fragrant spices with olive oil indicates that the sanctuary is to be dedicated with the noblest of the worlds products, as combined with the oil of unction, the spirit of the sanctuary. If one were to look for pairs of opposites, myrrh and cinnamon might be taken as related to one another; so calamus and cassia. It might be said of the myrrh, that it denotes that fine, higher kind of pain which enables one to overcome natural pain; cinnamon denotes the warmest feeling of light and life; the bitterness of calamus might also be noticed; but the significance of the cassia is difficult to determine. With this ointment everything in the sanctuary is anointed, Aaron not excepted. But it is pronounced to be a most severe and punishable offence for common men to aspire to make this composition (this reconciliation) of the spiritual perfumes of the world and the spiritual oil of the sanctuary. On the anointing oil vid. Bhr, Symbolik II., p. 173. The correct method of preparing it is called a sacred art.

9. The Holy Incense. Exo 30:34-38

As in the anointing oil four kinds of spices are combined with oil as the base of the ointment and are subsidiary to it, so it is here the pure frankincense which constitutes the base; but the spices combined with it are three in number. Inasmuch as the incense certainly symbolizes prayer (Psa 141:2), we may naturally look for three principal occasions of prayer. The first and noblest resembles the spontaneous exudation of trees, suggesting the breathings of prayer prompted by the higher life. The second substance is a pulverized shell of a mollusksomething obtained by crushing; the meaning of this is readily understood, vid. Psa 51:19 [17]. According to modern authorities, when burnt alone it (the onycha) has a bad odor; but everywhere, e. g., in India, it is made the fundamental ingredient of incense, and imparts to the materials of the incense their real strength (Knobel). The third substance, galbanum, being used as an antidote to the most diverse injurious forces, seems fitted to denote the divine remedial force in the soul, as being liable to be irritated by the most manifold injurious influences. Says Knobel: I had the sacred incense of the Hebrews prepared in the laboratory of Prof. Mettenheimer in Giessen; I tested it, and found its odor strong, refreshing, and very agreeable. In this case the ingredients are of equal weight; the rigorous prohibition of imitation for common use is the same. This may symbolize that prayer is not to be used for selfish or worldly purposes. It is incorrect, with Knobel, to say that the incense consists of the same number of ingredients as the anointing oil.

Footnotes:

[1][Keil and Knobel infer from Exo 38:26 that a census was taken before the tabernacle was finished, and that the one mentioned in Numbers 1 is the same thing more formally executed and recorded. The identity of the numbers in Exo 38:26 and Num 1:46 seems to favour this supposition.Tr.]

[2][This refers to the above-mentioned correspondence between Exo 38:26 and Num 1:46. Lange apparently makes the former describe the voluntary contributions of the people for the construction of the tabernacle. But if it was, it is singular that a purely voluntary contribution, when summed up, should have proved to amount to exactly one-half a shekel for each adult male.Tr.]

[3][This certainly is not a satisfactory explanation. Not to mention that grammatically it is the least probably, it is almost inconceivable that it should be said, that the laver was made of brass in order that it might serve as a mirror for the women who ministered at the tabernacle! If Hengstenbergs interpretation partakes of a pietistic spirit, surely this is the opposite extreme. Knobel renders , etc., by Anblicken, i.e., views, or figures, of women marching up to the door of the tabernacle. He adds: Probably they were Levite women who at particular times presented themselves in a sort of procession at the sanctuary, in order there to wash, to clean, to furbish. But we can hardly agree with him that such figures were appropriate on the vessel which was for the priests to wash from. Grammatically too this rendering is open to the same objection as that of Bhrs viz. that cannot naturally to rendedred with, in the sense of accompanied by or furnished with. Keils statement, that never signifies with in the sense of outward addition, is too strong (comp. Psa 66:13); but certainly that is a rare use of the preposition. The translation, made the laver of brass.of the mirros etc., is the easiest; but it is not necessary in adopting it to adopt Hengstenbergs theory of the significance of the thing.Tr.]

[4][The use of the observation was to state a fact. And this supposition is in no way interfered with by the circumstance that the contributions for the tabernacle were made voluntarily.Tr.]

[5][Lange understands that only the base, not the whole laver, was made to serve for this purpose. The attempt made in what follows to meet the obvious objection to his theory, viz. that the use attributed to this copper base is quite out of keeping with the tenor of the narrative, is rather strained. The symbolic use certainly cannot exclude the literal use. The declaration, therefore, must stand that the base (or the whole laver) was made in order to serve for the purpose of mirrors for the attendant women. But if the symbolic use was the chief or only one, why confine it to the women? Did not the priests need such admonition as Well as they?Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

H.The vision or the ideal of the tabernacle. The ordering of the ark and of the house of the covenant; of the living presence of the law and of the dwelling-place of the law-giver

Exodus 25-31

I. Contributions for the Building. Preliminary Condition

1And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart 3[whose heart maketh him willing] ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, 4And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats hair, 5And rams skins dyed red, and badgers [seals] skins, and shittim [acacia] wood, 6Oil for the light, spices for anointing [the anointing] oil, and for sweet [the sweet] incense, 7Onyx stones, and stones to be set in [set, for] the ephod, and in [for] the breast-plate. 8And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 9According to all that I shew thee, after [thee,] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments [furniture] thereof, even so shall ye make it.

II. The Structure itself. The Place of Worship
1. The Ark

10And they shall make an ark of shittim [acacia] wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 11And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown [moulding] of gold round about. 12And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners [feet] thereof; and two rings shall be in [on] the one side of it, and two rings in [on] the other side of it. 13And thou shalt make staves of shittim 14[acacia] wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them [to bear the ark with]. 15The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. 16And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. 17And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18And thou shalt make two cherubims [cherubim] of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them in [at] the two ends of the mercy-seat. 19And make one cherub on [at] the one end, and the other cherub on [at] the other end: even of [of one piece with] the mercy-seat1 shall ye make the cherubims [cherubim] on [at] the two ends thereof. 20And the cherubims [cherubim] shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look [with their faces] one to another: toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims [cherubim] be. 21And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims [cherubim] which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

2. The Table

23Thou shalt also make a table of shittim [acacia] wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown [moulding] of gold round about. 25And thou shalt make unto it a border of an [a] hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown [moulding] to the border thereof round about. 26And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in [on] the four 27corners that are on [belong to] the four feet thereof. Over against [Close by] the border shall the rings be for places of [for] the staves to bear the table. 28And thou shalt make the staves of shittim [acacia] wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. 29And thou shalt make the dishes [plates] thereof, and spoons [the cups] thereof, and covers [the flagons] thereof, and bowls [the bowls] thereof, to cover [pour out] withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. 30And thou shalt set upon the table shew-bread before me alway.

3. The Candlestick

31And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers shall be of the same [of beaten work shall be made the candlestick, its base and its shaft: its cups, its knobs, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it].2 32And six branches shall come out [coming out] of the sides of it: three branches of the candlestick out of the one side [one side of it], and three branches of the candlestick 33out of the other side [side of it]: Three bowls [cups] made like unto almonds [almond-blossoms] with a knop and a flower in one branch [in one branch, a knob and a flower]; and three bowls [cups] made like almonds [almond-blossoms] in the other branch, with [branch,] a knop [knob] and a flower: so in 34[for] the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls [cups] made like unto almonds, with [almond-blossoms,] their 35[its] knops [knobs] and their [its] flowers. And there shall be a knop [knob] under two branches of the same [of one piece with it], and a knop [knob] under two branches of the same [of one piece with it], and a knop [knob] under two branches of the same [of one piece with it], according to [for] the six branches that proceed 36[come] out of the candlestick. Their knops [knobs] and their branches shall be of the same [of one piece with it]: all it [all of it] shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they shall light [set up] the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38And the tongs [snuffers] 39thereof, and the snuff-dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure 40gold shall he make it [shall it be made], with all these vessels [instruments]. And look [see] that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

4. The Dwelling (the Tent)

Exo 26:1. Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of [curtains: of] fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with [scarlet, with] cherubims [cherubim] of cunning work [the work of a skilful weaver] shalt thou make them. 2The length of one [each] curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one [each] curtain four cubits: and every one of the 3[all the] curtains shall have one measure. The five [Five of the] curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other [the other] five curtains shall be coupled one to another. 4And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one [first] curtain from the selvedge [at the border] in the coupling [the set of curtains]; and likewise shalt thou make in [so shalt thou do with] the uttermost edge of another curtain [the edge of the outmost curtain] in the coupling of the second [in the second set of curtains]. 5Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second [in the second set of curtains]; that the loops may take hold one of [the loops shall be opposite one to] another. 6And thou shalt make fifty taches [clasps] of gold, and couple the curtains together [one to another] with the taches [clasps]; and it shall be one tabernacle [the tabernacle shall be one]. 7And thou shalt make curtains of goats hair to be a [for a] covering [tent] upon [over] the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. 8The length of one [each] curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one [each] curtain four cubits: and [cubits:] the eleven curtains shall be all of [shall have] one measure. 9And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double [fold together] the sixth curtain in the forefront [front] of the tabernacle [tent]. 10And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling [first set of curtains], and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second 11[is the second set]. And thou shalt make fifty taches [clasps] of brass, and put the taches [clasps] into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may [and it shall] be one. 12And the remnant [excess] that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the back-side [back] of the 13tabernacle. And a [the] cubit on the one side, and a [the] cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it [tent,] shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. 14And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers skins [of seal-skins above]. 15And thou shalt make boards 16[the boards] for the tabernacle of shittim [acacia] wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one 17[each] board. Two tenons shall there be in one [each] board, set in order one against [equally distant from one] another: thus shalt thou make for [do unto] all the boards of the tabernacle. 18And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on [for] the south side southward. 19And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his [its] two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his [its] two tenons. 20And for the second side of the tabernacle on [for] the north side there shall be twenty boards: 21And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22And for the sides [rear] of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. 23And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides [in the rear]. 24And they shall be coupled together [be double] beneath, and they shall be coupled together3 above the head of it unto one ring [and together they shall be whole up to the top of it, unto the first ring]: 25thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And they [there] shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board. 26And thou shalt make bars of shittim [acacia] wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 27And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides [the rear] westward. 28And the middle bar in the midst [middle] of the boards shall reach [pass through] from end to end. 29And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: 30and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And thou shalt rear [set] up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was [hath been] shewed thee in the mount.

5. The Veil

31And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims [linen: with cherubim, the work of a skilful workman] shall it be made. 32And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim [acacia] wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon four sockets of silExo Exo 25:33 And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches [clasps], that thou mayest bring [and shalt bring] in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy [the holy of holies]. 34And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place [holy of holies]. 35And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 36And thou shalt make an hanging [a screen] for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needle-work 37[the work of the embroiderer]. And thou shalt make for the hanging [screen] five pillars of shittim [acacia] wood, and overlay them with gold; and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

6. The Altar of Burnt-offering

Chap. Exo 27:1 And thou shalt make an [the] altar of shittim [acacia] wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be four-square: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. 2And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his [its] horns shall be of the same [of one piece with it]: 3and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his [its] pans [pots] to receive his [to take away its] ashes, and his [its] shovels, and his [its] basins, and his [its] fleshhooks, and his [its] firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass [copper]. 4And thou shalt make for it a grate [grating] of network of brass [copper]; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen [copper] rings in 5[on] the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath [below, under the ledge of the altar], that the net may be even to the midst [and the net shall reach up to the middle] of the altar. 6And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim [acacia] wood, and overlay them with brass [copper]. 7And the staves [staves thereof] shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it [in bearing it]. 8Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was [hath been] shewed thee in the mount; so shall they make it.

7. The Court

9And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine-twined linen of an hundred [linen a hundred] cubits long for one side: 10And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass [copper]; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [rods] shall be of silExo Exo 25:11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred [hangings a hundred] cubits long, and his [its] twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass 12[copper]; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [rods] of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits [hangings fiftycubits long]: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 14The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits [Fifteen cubits of hangings shall be on one side of the gate]: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits [fifteen cubits of hangings]: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging [a screen] of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, wrought with needle-work [linen, embroidered work]: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. 17All the pillars round about the court [of the court round about] shall be filleted with silver [joined with rods of silver]; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass [copper]. 18The length of the court shall be an [a] hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits, of fine-twined linen, and their sockets of brass [copper]. 19All the vessels [furniture] of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court shall be of brass [copper].

III. The Persons and Things occupying the Building. The Ritual Worship
1. The Oil for the Lamp

20And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten [beaten olive oil] for the light, to cause the [a] lamp to burn always [continually]. 21In the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting] without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order [trim] it from evening to morning before Jehovah: it shall be a statute forever unto [throughout] their generations on the behalf of [on the part of] the children of Israel.

2. The Clothing of the Priest and of his Sacerdotal Assistants

Exo 28:1 And take thou [bring thou near] unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priests office [that he may be a priest unto me], even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aarons sons. 2And thou shalt make holy [sacred] garments for Aaron thy brother for glory [honor] and for beauty. 3And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted [all the skilful-hearted], whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom [skill], that they may make Aarons garments to consecrate [sanctify] him, that he may minister unto me in the priests office [that Hebrews 4 may be a priest unto me]. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered [checkered] coat, a mitre [turban], and a girdle: and they shall make holy [sacred] garments for Aaron thy brother, and [and for] his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priests office 5[that he may be a priest unto me]. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 6And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine-twined linen, with cunning work [linen, the work of askilful weaver]. 7It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at [have two shoulder-pieces joined to] the two edges thereof: and so it [and it] shall be joined together. 8And the curious girdle of the ephod [the embroidered belt for girding it], which is upon it, shall be of the same [same piece], according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. 9And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave [engrave] on them the names of the children of Israel: 10Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest [and thenames of the six remaining ones] on the other stone, according to their birth. 11With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with [according to] the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set [inclosed] in ouches [settings] of gold. 12And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders [shoulder-pieces] of the ephod for stones of memorial unto [as memorial stones for] the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial. 13And thou shalt make ouches [settings] of gold; 14And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them [pure gold; like cords shalt thou make them, of wreathen work]: and fasten [and thou shalt put] the wreathen chains to the ouches 15[on the settings]. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment, with cunning work [the work of a skilful weaver]; after [like] the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt 16 thou make it. Four square it shall be being doubled [It shall be square and double]; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. 17And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be [stones: a row of sardius, topaz, and emerald shall be] the first row. 18And the second row shall be an emerald, [carbuncle], a sapphire, and a diamond. 19And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 20And the fourth row a beryl [chrysolite], and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall set in gold in their inclosings. 21And the stones shall be with [according to] the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like [names: like] the engravings of a signet; every [signet, every] one with [accordingto] his name shall they be according to [be for] the twelve tribes. 22And thou shalt make upon the breast-plate chains at the ends [like cords] of wreathen work of pure gold. 23And thou shalt make upon the breast-plate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breast-plate. 24And thou shalt put the two wreathen 25chains of gold in [on] the two rings which are on the ends of the breast-plate. And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches [put on the two settings], and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod before it [onthe front of it]. 26And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breast-plate, in [on] the border thereof which is in [toward] 27the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides [shoulder-pieces] of the ephod underneath, toward [on] the fore-part thereof, over against [close by] the other coupling [the coupling] thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod [the embroidered belt of theephod]. 28And they shall bind the breast-plate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace [cord] of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle [the embroidered belt] of the ephod, and that the breast-plate be not loosed from the ephod. 29And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before Jehovah continually. 30And thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aarons heart, when he goeth in before Jehovah: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually. 31And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof [And its opening for the head shall be in the middle of it]: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it [its opening], as it were the hole 33of an habergeon [like the opening of a coat of mail], that it be not rent. And beneath upon [And upon] the hem of it [its skirts] thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem [skirts] thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: 34A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem [skirts] of the robe round about. 35And it shall be upon Aaron to minister [for ministering]: and his sound [the sound thereof] shall be heard when he goeth in unto [goeth into] the holy place before Jehovah, and when he cometh out, that he die not. 36And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave [engrave] upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. 37And thou shalt put it on a blue lace [cord], that it may be [and it shall be] upon the mitre [turban]; upon the forefront [front] of the mitre 38[turban] it shall be. And it shall be upon Aarons forehead, that Aaron may [and Aaron shall] bear the iniquity of the holy [sacred] things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy [sacred] gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah. 39And thou shalt embroider [weave] the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre [turban] of fine linen, and thou shalt make the [a] girdle of needle-work [embroidered work]. 40And for Aarons sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets [caps] shalt thou make for them, for glory [honor] and for beauty. 41And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate [ordain] them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priests office [and they shall be priests unto me]. 42And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their [the flesh of their] nakedness; from the loins even unto [loins unto] the thighs they shall reach: 43And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto [come into] the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his [and unto his] seed after him.

3. The Consecration of the Priests

Exo 29:1 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priests office [to be priests unto me]: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, 2and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered [mingled] with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them. 3And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams. 4And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], and shalt wash them with water. 5And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breast-plate, and gird him with the curious girdle [embroidered belt] of the ephod. 6And thou shalt put the mitre [turban] upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre [turban]. 7Then shalt thou [And thou shalt] take the anointing oil, and pour itupon his head, and anoint him. 8And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them. 9And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets [bind caps] on them: and the priests office [priesthood] shall be theirs for [by] a perpetual statute: 10and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought [bring the bullock] before the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting]: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. 11And thou shalt kill the bullock before Jehovah, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting]. 12And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom [at the base] of the altar. 13And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above [lobe above] the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them, and burn themupon the altar. 14But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin-offering. 15Thou shalt also take one [the one] ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put [lay] their hands upon the head of the ram. 16And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. 17And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him [his inwards], and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. 18And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt-offering unto Jehovah: it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire [a fire-offering] unto Jehovah. 19And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put [lay] their hands upon the head of the ram. 20Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 21And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons garments with him. 22Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump [the fat tail], and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above [lobe of] the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration: 23And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before Jehovah: 24And thou shalt put all [the whole] in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah. 25And thou shalt receive [take] them of [from] their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a [upon the] burnt-offering, for a sweet savor before Jehovah: it is an offering made by fire [a fire-offering] unto Jehovah. 26And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aarons consecration [of Aarons ram of consecration], and wave it for [as] a wave-offering before Jehovah: and it shall be thy part. 27And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the shoulder of the heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the [of] consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: 28And it shall be Aarons and his sons by a statute for ever from the children of Israel; for it is an [a] heave-offering: and it shall be an [a] heave-offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their [Israel of their] peace-offerings,even their heave-offering unto Jehovah. 29And the holy garments of Aaron shall be 30his sons after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them. And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days [Seven days shall he of his sons who is priest in his stead put them on], when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting] to minister in the holy place. 31And thou shalt take the ram of the [of] consecration, and seethe [boil] his flesh in the 32[a] holy place. And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation [tentof meeting]. 33And they shall eat those things wherewith the [wherewith] atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but a stranger shall not eat thereof, 34because they are holy. And if aught of the flesh of the consecrations [consecration], or of the bread, remain unto [until] the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. 35And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron and to his sons, according to all things which [all that] I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.

4. Consecration and Design of the Altar of Burnt-offering

36And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin-offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an [by making] atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37Seven days thou shalt make an [make] atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever 38toucheth the altar shall be holy. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar: two lambs of the first year [a year old] day by day continually. 39The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: 40And with the one lamb a tenth deal [part] of flour mingled with the fourth part of an [a] hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an [a] hin of wine for a drink-offering. 41And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat-offering of [shalt offer with it the same meal-offering as in] the morning, and according to the drink-offering thereof [and the same drink-offering], for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire [a fire-offering] unto Jehovah. 42This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting] before Jehovah; where I will meet [meet with] you, to speak there unto thee. 43And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle [and it] shall be sanctified by my glory. 44And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priests office 45[to be priests unto me]. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may [might] dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God.

5. The Altar of Incense

Exo 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim 2[acacia] wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; four-square shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same [of one piece with it]. 3And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto [for] it a crown of gold round about. 4And two golden rings shalt thou make to [for] it under the crown of it, by the two corners [upon the two flanks] thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal [with]. 5And thou shalt make the staves of shittim [acacia] wood, and overlay them with gold. 6And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth [trimmeth] the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8And when Aaron lighteth [setteth up] the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it [burn it], a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations. 9Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt-sacrifice [burnt-offering], nor meat-offering [meal-offering]; neither shall ye pour [and ye shall pour no] drink-offering thereon. 10And Aaron shall make an [make] atonement upon [for] the horns of it once in a [the] year with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon [for] it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto Jehovah.

6. The Contributions for the Sanctuary (Poll-tax)

11And Jehovah spake unto Moses saying, 12When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after [according to] their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto Jehovah, when thou numberest them; that there be [maybe] no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 13This they shall give, every one that passeth among [over unto] them that are numbered, half a shekel after [according to] the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs): an [a] half shekel shall be the offering of [unto] Jehovah. 14Every one that passeth among [over unto] them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto Jehovah [Jehovahs offering]. 15The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a [the half] shekel, when they give an offering unto Jehovah [give Jehovahs offering], to make an [make] atonement for your souls. 16And thou shalt take the atonement money of [from] the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting]; that it may be [and it shall be] a memorial unto [for] the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make an [make] atonement for your souls.

7. The Laver

17And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 18Thou shalt also make a laver of brass [copper], and his foot also of brass [its base of copper], to wash withal [in]: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting] and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat [from it]: 20When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire [afire-offering] unto Jehovah: 21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

8. The holy Anointing Oil

22Moreover Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 23Take thou also unto thee principal spices [the chief spices], of pure [flowing] myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24And of cassia five hundred shekels, after [accordingto] the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an [olive oil a] hin: 25And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment [a holy anointing oil], an ointment compound [compounded] after the art of the apothecary [a perfumed ointment, the work of theperfumer]: it shall be an [a] holy anointing oil. 26And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith [therewith the tent of meeting], and the ark of the testimony, 27And the table and all his vessels [its furniture], and the candlestick and his vessels [its furniture] and the altar of incense, 28And the altar of burnt-offering with all his vessels [its furniture], and the laver and his foot [its base]. 29And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever [whosoever] toucheth them shall be holy. 30And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priests office [to be priests unto me]. 31And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an [a] holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. 32Upon mans flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it [and ye shall make none like it with its33proportions]: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even [he shall] be cut off from his people.

9. The Incense

34And Jehovah said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight [an equal part]: 35And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection, after the art of the apothecary, tempered together [make of it an incense, a perfume, thework of the perfumer, salted], pure, and holy: 36And thou shalt beat some of it very small [it fine], and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. 37And as for the perfume [And the incense] which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to [for] yourselves according to the composition [with its proportions]: it shall be unto thee holy for [unto] Jehovah. 38Whosoever shall make [make any] like unto that, to smell thereto [thereof], shall even [he shall] be cut off from his people.

IV. The Architects. The Master-workman Bezaleel and his Vocation. Sacred Art

Exo 31:1, And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner [kinds] of workmanship, 4To devise cunning [skilful] works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass [copper], 5And in cutting of stones, to set them [stones for setting], and in carving of timber, to work in all manner [kinds] of workmanship. 6And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they make all that I have commanded thee: 7The tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle [tent], 8And the table and his [its] furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his [its] furniture, and the altar of incense, 9And the altar of burnt-offering with all his [its] furniture, and the laver and his foot [its base], 10And the cloths [garments] of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priests office [aspriests], 11And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

V. The Condition of the Vitality of the Ritual. The Sabbath

12And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you. 14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore [And ye shall keep the sabbath]; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth [profaneth] it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days may work be done; but in [on] the seventh is the [a] sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah: whosoever doeth any work in [on] the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations for [as] a perpetual 17covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. 18And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing [speaking] with him upon mount Sinai, two [the two] tables of [of the] testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exo 25:19. , etc. Literally, From the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim. This is understood by some to mean: rising up from the mercy-seat. But the simple hardly conveys that notion; it has, perhaps, somewhat of its original import, part, so that the direction is to make the cherubim a part of the mercy-seat, i.e., of one piece with it.Tr.]

[Exo 25:31. The change proposed in the punctuation is one required by the Masoretic accentuation, as well as by the sense, though adopted by only a few commentators (Knobel, Do Wette, Bunsen). When it is said, its base and its shaft, etc., shall be made of the same, the question arises, the same with what? For the several specifications include the whole of the candlestick. The direction thus would be to make all the several parts of the candlestick of the same piece with the candlestickwhich is senseless.Tr.]

[Exo 26:24. The A. V. rendering (favored also by Kalisch, Gesenius, Glaire, De Wette, Frst, and Canon Cook) assumes to be a contracted form of . But it is singular (if this is the case) that both forms should occur in the same verse, and more singular still that there should be the same conjunction of the two forms in the parallel passage Exo 36:29. So long as at the best the obscurity of the description is not relieved by such an assumption, it seems much more reasonable to take in its natural sense of perfect, whole, and elucidate the meaning, if possible, on that assumption.Tr.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The origin of the tabernacle is twice recorded in Exodus: first, (considered from its divine side) as a command of God, or (considered from its human side) as a vision or ideal (the tabernacle which God showed Moses on the mount), 2531; secondly, as the historical fact of the execution of the building of the work commanded by Jehovah, but interrupted by the history of the golden calf, 3540.
The tabernacle is not merely a place of worship; but, as being the house of the ark of the covenant or of the tables of the law, and as being the house of the Lord of the covenant who manifests Himself in the Holy of holies, it is first of all the centre of the whole legislation and the residence of the lawgiver Himself, who holds sway between the cherubim over His law, and will not let it become a dead ordinance, but makes sure that from out of the Holy of holies it shall grow into a living power. Hence, therefore, the history of this institution properly stands in Exodus, not in Leviticus. Jehovah has redeemed His people out of the house of bondage, and brought them to His holy house, which is at once palace, temple, and court-house, or public gathering-placethe house in which Jehovah meets with His people.

The tabernacle has been called a nomadic temple. It is indeed the preliminary form of the temple, but itself continued, after the people ceased their wanderings, for a long time to change its location in Israel until Solomons temple was built. As the prototype and opposite of garish heathen temples; as the historical model of the Israelitish temple in its three principal historical forms (temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod); as the religious model, or outline, the type of Christian places of worship; and as the symbol of the proportions of the kingdom of God, both outwardly and inwardly considered; accordingly, as the fundamental form of every real sanctuary, the tabernacle preserves an imperishable significancealmost more significant in its naked simplicity than with its ornamentation and wealth. When the outward glory of the temple is gone, God will rebuild the tabernacle of David (Amo 9:11-12).

The tabernacle as Moses idea, which indeed he owes to divine revelation, characterizes Moses as also a great and original man in Hebrew art. Bezaleel was only the artist or master-workman who carried out the idea, working according to Moses plan; and even Michel Angelo, who chiselled the figure of Moses, worked, as architect, according to the theocratic outline which had been introduced into the world through Moses.
Of the numerous treatises on this sanctuary comp. besides Bhr (Symbolik des mosaischen Kultus I. p. 53 sqq.) and Keil (Bibl. Archologie 1, 17 sqq.), especially Leyrer in Herzogs Real-Encyklopdie, Art. Stiftshtte, which gives a condensed view of all the opinions and conjectures which have been propounded respecting its structure and significance. The latest monograms are: Wilh. Neumann, Die Stiftshtte in Bild und Wort gezeichnet, Gotha, 1861 (rich in fantastic hypotheses derived from the discoveries at Nineveh), and C. J. Riggenbach, Die mosaische Stiftshtte mit drei lithogr. Tafeln. (Basel, 18624). Vid. Knobel, Commentary, pp. 249257. Popper, Der biblische Bericht ber die Stiftshtte, etc. (Leipzig, 1862). Wangemann, Die Bedeutung der Stiftshtte. Wissenschaftlicher Vortrag, etc. (Berlin, 1866). Also Winers Reallexicon and Zellers Biblisches Wrterbuch. [To these may be added, besides Smiths Bible Dictionary and Kittos Cyclopedia, Kurtz, Sacrificial Offerings of the O. T.; Haneberg, Die religisen Alterthmer der Bibel (Munich, 1869); T. O. Paine, Solomons Temple (Boston, H. H. & T. W. Carter, 1870); and E. E. Atwater, History and Significance of the Sacred Tabernacle of the Hebrews (Dodd & Mead, New York, 1875).Tr.]

I. General view of the ideal plan of the building. Exo 25:1 to Exo 31:11

External Prerequisites. Building Materials. Assessments for the Building. Exo 25:1-9.

a. The Divine Side of the Dwelling

1. The Ark of the Covenant, with the Mercy-seat and the Cherubim, as the chief thing in the whole Building, Exo 25:10-22. Object of it: the continual, living Revelation of God. Exo 25:22. The Holy of Holies.

2. The Table of Shew-bread (of Communion with God, consecrated to God, Exo 25:30), and the Candlestick with its Appurtenances (the Divine Illumination in accordance with the Ideal, Exo 25:40), Exo 25:23-40.

3. The Sanctuary. Divine and Human. The Tent, or the Dwelling itself, Exo 26:1-30. Conformed to the Ideal, Exo 26:30.

4. The Veil to distinguish and divide the Holy of Holies from the Sanctuary, Exo 26:31-37.

b. The Human Side of the Dwelling

1. The Altar of Burnt-offering. Chap. Exo 27:1-8. Conformed to the Ideal, Exo 27:8.

2. The Court, Exo 27:9-19.

c. Functions Connected with the Building

1. Bringing of the holy Oil, and the Preparation of the Candlestick, Exo 27:20-21.

2. Equipment of the Priest, the High priest and his Assistants, Exo 28:1-43. Object of it, Exo 28:35; Exo 28:43.

3. Consecration of the Priests and the Sacrificial Functions of the Priest, Exo 29:1-46. Object, Exo 29:43-46.

4. Altar of Incense, and its Use, Exo 30:1-10.

5. Assessment for the Sanctuary as a Continual Memorial for the People, Exo 30:11-16.

6. The Brazen Laver in the Court for the Priests to wash from, Exo 30:17-21.

7. The Anointing of the Holy Things. The most holy Ointment, Exo 30:22-33.

8. The Most Holy Incense, Exo 30:34-38.

d. The Master-workmen

Exo 31:1-11.

*****Conclusion.The fundamental condition on which the meeting between Jehovah and His people ideally rests: the Sabbath, Exo 31:12-17. The addition of the Directions concerning the Tabernacle to the completed written Law, Exo 31:18.

II. General view of the actual construction of the building

Foundation: The Sabbath as Prerequisite to the Tabernacle. Exo 35:1-3 (Exo 31:14-17).

1. The Assessments for the Building, and the Preparation of the Material made under the direction of the Master-workmen, Exo 35:4 to Exo 36:7 (Exo 25:1-9; Exo 31:1-11).

2. The Work on the Dwelling, Exo 36:8-38 (Exo 26:1-37).

3. The Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy-seat, and the Cherubim, Exo 37:1-9 (Exo 25:10-22).

4. The Table, with its Appurtenances, Exo 37:10-16 (Exo 25:23-30).

5. The Candlestick, Exo 37:17-24 (Exo 25:31-40).

6. The Altar of Incense, the Incense, and the Anointing Oil, Exo 37:25-29 (Exo 30:1-10; Exo 30:23-38).

7. The Altar of Burnt-offering, Exo 38:1-7 (Exo 27:1-8).

8. The Brazen Laver, and the Court, Exo 38:8-20 (Exo 27:9-19).

9. The Reckoning of the Material used, Exo 38:21-31.

10. The official Garments of the Priests, Exo 39:1-31 (Exo 28:1-43). The Consecration of the Priests, and the Ordinance of the Sacrifices, Exo 29:1-46.

11. The Presentation of the Constituent Parts of the Dwelling, Exo 39:32-43.

12. The Erection of the Dwelling, and the Heavenly Consecration of it by means of the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, the Sign of the Veiled Presence of the Glory of the Lord, chap. 40.

Knobel calls attention to the exact reckoning in Exo 38:21 sqq. and the extraordinary circumstantiality and diffuseness which is found in no other narrator to the same degree. So extended a repetition does not occur elsewhere in all the Old Testament. As to the diffuseness, the O. T. everywhere gives details when the sanctuary is concerned, as becomes the symbolical significance of the sanctuary and the religious spirit of the Israelites, vid. 1 Samuel 4-7; 1Ki 5:1 to 1Ki 9:15; 2 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 2-7; Ezekiel 40-47; the whole of Haggai; Zechariah 3, 4. It is taken for granted that here in every individual feature there is to be recognized the reflection of a religious thought. As to the repetition, however, stress is to be laid on the general consciousness of connection between ideal and real worship, as well as the special consciousness that the real tabernacle was built exactly according to the idea of it. Moreover, the second account is not a mere repetition of the first. In the presentation of the idea, the master-workmen come at the end; in the narrative of the actual erection of the building, at the beginning,quite in accordance with the relations of real life. In the execution of the work of the tabernacle the sacerdotal garments are described, and even the calculation of the cost of the buildingthe church account, so to speak. So the denunciation of a severe penalty on the manufacture, for private use, of the holy anointing oil and of the incense, is one of the means used to prevent the profanation of a legally prescribed system of worship. Even the hinderance in the execution of the work prescribed in the mount, occasioned by the golden calf, is not without meaning. How often it is a golden calf which hinders the execution of pure ideal ecclesiastical conceptions! Here, however, is everywhere manifested this feature of revelation, that the idea must become fact, and that the fact must answer to the idea.

We make five general divisions in the things commanded: I. The Prerequisitethe Materials. II. The Precept concerning the Structure itself. III. The Persons and Things occupying the Building. IV. The Architects and their Work. V. The Condition of the Vitality of the Institutionthe Sabbath.

Footnotes:

[1][Exo 25:19. , etc. Literally, From the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim. This is understood by some to mean: rising up from the mercy-seat. But the simple hardly conveys that notion; it has, perhaps, somewhat of its original import, part, so that the direction is to make the cherubim a part of the mercy-seat, i.e., of one piece with it.Tr.]

[2][Exo 25:31. The change proposed in the punctuation is one required by the Masoretic accentuation, as well as by the sense, though adopted by only a few commentators (Knobel, Do Wette, Bunsen). When it is said, its base and its shaft, etc., shall be made of the same, the question arises, the same with what? For the several specifications include the whole of the candlestick. The direction thus would be to make all the several parts of the candlestick of the same piece with the candlestickwhich is senseless.Tr.]

[3][Exo 26:24. The A. V. rendering (favored also by Kalisch, Gesenius, Glaire, De Wette, Frst, and Canon Cook) assumes to be a contracted form of . But it is singular (if this is the case) that both forms should occur in the same verse, and more singular still that there should be the same conjunction of the two forms in the parallel passage Exo 36:29. So long as at the best the obscurity of the description is not relieved by such an assumption, it seems much more reasonable to take in its natural sense of perfect, whole, and elucidate the meaning, if possible, on that assumption.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The communion between the Lord and his servant Moses, is not yet finished, concerning the ordination of the tabernacle furniture, and service; but is continued through this Chapter. Instructions are here given respecting the altar of incense, and of the ransom money: of the laver for the priests to wash in: of making the oil for anointing; and of the spices to be burnt on the golden altar.

Exo 30:1

Did not this altar to burn incense upon, represent the person and merits of Christ? Rev 8:3-4 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Census and Its Religious Aspect

Exo 30:12

I. This first census of which we have any recorded history took place more than three thousand years ago. It was taken in the wilderness, and in a very different way from that in which our census is taken.

From the grouped tribes every man of twenty years of age and upwards was called out, and afterwards passed over to the crowd of the ‘numbered’. No women or children were numbered. Women and children owe even more than men to the influence of Jesus Christ. Then each man had to pay a half-shekel, about thirteenpence-halfpenny, at the express command of God, to be devoted to religious purposes. The census was the solemn recognition of the separate individuality, the responsible manhood of every full-grown Israelite.

II. The payment of the half-shekel was an acknowledgment of his obligation to sue for the mercy of Heaven and to do the will of God. When you fill up your census-paper remember that you are a sinful being before you are anything else. Do you not realize the necessity of paying the half-shekel, of ransoming your soul? The census expresses the solidarity of our interests. All humanity is one great organism, one colossal man, as Pascal says, of whom Christ is the Head. No one can say that he is so insignificant that it does not matter whether he goes to the devil or not. Nobody will be left out because of his poverty or crime.

Hugh Price Hughes, The Sermon Year Book, 1891, p. 362.

Reference. XXX. 12. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Exodus, etc., p. 168.

Exo 30:15

The tribute to be paid for the ransom of the soul was half a shekel, about fifteenpence of our money. The rich were not to give more nor the poor less; to intimate that the souls of the rich and poor were alike precious.

Matthew Henry.

Reference. XXX. 15. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Exodus, etc., p. 170.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Priest and His Consecration

Exodus 29-30

We now study the consecration of the priest himself. Strange if God has constructed a tabernacle, given a specification for an ark, detailed the shape and colour of the priestly robes, and omitted to say anything about the priest himself. Let us see how the case stands both historically and spiritually.

We have already seen that the priest did not officially appoint himself; in no sense did he rush into the priest’s office; nay, more, at the very time of his appointment to the sacerdotal function he was absolutely unaware that the dignity was about to be conferred upon him. This we saw in our comment upon the twenty-eighth chapter and the first verse: “And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.” His sons were also appointed to the same high dignity. There is nothing in this appointment that should startle students of history. It is an appointment which is taking place every day in every circle and department of progressive human life. God appoints all men to their places. The conferring of honour is an expression of the Divine sovereignty. We do not know for what purpose we have come into the world until that purpose is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That we have come for some purpose is a thought which should make us sober, watchful, expectant; that should touch our every thought with the solemnity and urgency of prayer. The uppermost question should be, “Lord, what was I made for? What is the fire which burns upon the altar of my life?” You, it may be, have been called to be great intercessors, having power Divinely given to hold the Almighty in long converse about human life, human sin, and human destiny, and may have the wondrous faculty which is best expressed to the dulness of our minds by the act of turning back the Divine purpose, when it is one of destruction, and begetting in the Divine mind a purpose of clemency and mercy. These things are of course, in the very necessity of the Deity; but our relation to them is sometimes best expressed by an accommodation of language which permits the Almighty to be represented as if he had been overthrown by human plea, and turned to more compassionate moods by human intercession. Others have been consecrated poets, painters, preachers, tradesmen; but every man is consecrated in the Divine purpose. We can have nothing common or unclean; nothing secular; nothing that is disregarded by the Almighty. If he thought it worth while to make us, he suffers no loss of dignity by appointing us, directing us, taking care of the life which he filled with the pulses of eternity. How we fall into recklessness, and fear, and many a snare by the evil thought that the Almighty had no purpose in making us, has never spoken of us in the radiant cloud which he has gathered around him like the walls of a sanctuary, but has left us poor, blind, homeless orphans without centre, outside the infinite gravitation which binds the universe to his heart You mock God by such wildness of conception. He gathereth the lambs in his bosom. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. There are vessels of honour and vessels of inferiority, but the great house is our Father’s, and every one of us has a place in it and an appointment to fulfil, and blessed is he who with loving obedience and consent falls into the rhythm of the Divine movement, singing morning, noon, and night, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Then is life a revolution round the eternal throne, and every life an opportunity for reflecting the Divine lustre upon lives that may be below it. There is a heredity of a spiritual kind, a succession priestly, artistic, philanthropic, evangelistic. Men are set in bands, classes, groups, why not say they are fashioned into constellations? every great grouping of stellar light and beauty having its appointed place, and though all the constellations fly so fast their wings never overlap, and there is no tumult in the infinite hurrying. We are called to this place because to this faith. To realise it is to be calm to seize that doctrine is to have bread to eat at all seasons, and a vision of heaven even when the darkness of the night is sevenfold.

A very solemn view of life is presented by this incident. Aaron was unaware what was passing in the cloud. Our life is being secretly planned for us. Up in the cloud the Lord is talking about his children on the earth. He is naming them by name, appointing coats and garments, ephods, crowns, mitres, and functions of usefulness and dignity for them. We cannot hear the converse, but we are the subjects of the marvellous talk. What is to become of the old man, and the little child, and the traveller whose journey will be done tomorrow, and the warrior who lifts his great sword for the last stroke in the Master’s name? We are being spoken of. Said One: “I go to prepare a place for you.” God would seem to have but one thought: love to man, redemption of the creature who bears his likeness. Wait until you get the message from the mount. We may begin to feel, before we hear the actual words, that we are about to be called to some great destiny, there are premonitions. Some of us have experienced almost miracles of prescience; we have felt the inspiration before it has fully seized us. Blessed are those servants who rise morning by morning expecting the day’s message for the day’s own work. Let your attitude be one of expectancy, and let the expectancy be like a prayer that pierces without violating the sacred cloud.

Notice, in the next place, the most important thought that has yet come before us. The consecration of the priest is identified with what we may imperfectly describe as the creation of sin. Mark, not the commission of sin with that we have been but too familiar; but its Divine creation. That is a startling term, but my meaning of it is justified by the Bible itself. A time had come in human history when actions had to be spiritually defined, classified, and set in a new relation towards the personality and government of God. This will throw light upon many a mystery in the book of Genesis. In Genesis there was no sin as we now understand that pregnant term. That is a key to the Divine administration in the book of Genesis. Murder in the days of Cain and murder after the giving of the law were two different things. If we omit to use that all-opening key we shall feel ourselves in the book of Genesis in the midst of confusion which defies settlement into order. You blame Jacob for coveting the birthright of Esau, forgetting that there was no covetousness when Jacob did so. Covetousness, in the now legal sense of the term, was an after-creation. We must not take back with us sentiment which has been established and cultivated by the law into the book of Genesis, and judge antediluvian and patriarchal times by a standard of which they knew nothing. To get a right seizure of the genius of the book of Genesis, you must in mind detach that book from all the other books, and read only according to the immediate light of the particular time. It was bad for Cain to commit murder it would be unpardonable for us to commit it. God did not treat the murderer Cain as he would treat a murderer of the present day. What was punished in those ancient times was the broad and vulgar crime about whose horribleness there could be no doubt, and the punishment was as broad as the crime. The two must be studied in their relation and harmony. How did God punish antediluvian and patriarchal crime? By floods of water, by tempests of fire. Wondrous is the adjustment of the answer to the aggravation! Deceit, covetousness, self-seeking, meanness, lying, and many other vices, had not in the book of Genesis been defined, and consequently were looked upon in many cases as necessary weapons of defence. The word kill would, in its highest sense, have to be explained to the persons to whom it was addressed. The word lying or falsehood would have to be expatiated upon and made clear, by expository and illustrative remark, to the individuals who first heard the word. They lied that they might win; they employed deceit as they would employ a weapon of defence, or an instrument of assault, a shield, or a spear. There is what may be called a chronological morality in the sense which is now present to our minds: hence the wondrous speech of Christ “It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you,” that is the sum total of my meaning. After this interview upon the mountain, all human actions received a new definition. The spiritual element was introduced. Murder, incest, violence, rudeness of behaviour all these are left behind among the vulgarities of the age to which they first belonged. But now we begin to come into the heart, into the innermost places of the thought, yea, before the thought has shaped itself into expressibleness, criticism Divine is brought to bear upon it, and so brought that the trembling, fearing heart exclaims, “Thy word is exceeding powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow.” This is the meaning of development. That great process can never be got rid of; it is the central line in revelation as it is in nature. The apostolic argument goes wholly in this direction. Look at Rom 4:15 : “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” Where was the law in many a case which has startled and confounded us in the book of Genesis? There was no law as that term is now understood. With this view accords the testimony of 1Jn 3:4 : “Sin is the transgression of the law.” But the Apostle Paul has just said, “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” See how this is confirmed by Rom 3:20 : “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” The most distinctively illustrative statement upon the matter is made by the Apostle Paul in Rom 7:7 this expresses the whole thought: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” So then the law created sin in its legal and spiritual sense. Until the law is revealed to a man he does not know precisely what he is doing in the judgment of God. He must learn what life is; he must have revelations addressed to him upon morality, even though he be prepared to resent the notion of revelation upon transcendental spiritual realities.

Mark how the history accumulates, how grandly it masses itself into unity and significance. The moment when sin was enlarged and defined and made matter of law, a new agency was needed. Up to this time there has been no priest, as that term is historically understood. There was a marvellous Figure, half-God, half-man, a Symbol rather than a person, that seemed to point to mysteries yet to be revealed himself the greatest of mysteries, for that Melchisedec had no beginning and no end, neither father nor mother, neither beginning of days nor end of life. But now we come into concrete instances, and out of our own ranks is a man selected who was to be separate from us legally and functionally for ever. Is this poetry to be lost upon us? Is this sublime development to draw up out of our view without leaving its appropriate impression, infinite in meaning and in solemnity? These are the lines which prove the inspiration of the Scriptures. A new definition of life, action or conduct, is made up in the mount, and let us suppose there is no action upon the earth to correspond with it, not “What an oversight!” but “What an offence!” would then be our exclamation. But as God becomes narrower in his judgments, more penetrating, more critical, more discriminating, he adapts himself to the new morality, the more spiritual conception and criticism of conduct. Grace and Law were both in the mount, even Moses and the Lamb were both there! Then came the mystery of sacrifice, blood, expiation, atonement, daily sacrifice, continual shedding of blood, piercing criticism into every action of the human life, a great tumult, an infinite mystery charged with intolerable pain.

Before the law was made known to the people the atonement was provided for sin. Behold, then, the goodness of God! Whilst the people were at the base of the mountain, not knowing what was being done, an atonement was being provided for the sin which would follow upon a revelation of the more critical and spiritual law. Is there any line in all the holy testimony which enlarges this thought and glorifies it? Verily there is: “The Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world.” The Atonement was not an after-thought, a mere expedient devised in reply to a set of circumstances which the Divine omniscience had not foreseen. Before the sin was committed, the Cross was erected; before the sinner had defied his Maker, his Maker had become the sinner’s Saviour. Who can outrun the love of God? “Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.” Sin is not an accident something that has come into the universe without being expected. It was foreseen from the beginning; Grace was ahead of it, and God will overthrow it Instead of being surprised into despair by our sin, let us be surprised into praise by God’s prevenient love.

In the Christian dispensation both the law and the priesthood are abolished. Sinai is but a hill left for the tourist, as the brazen serpent is but Nehushtan, a piece of brass intended to be used for common purposes, and the mantle of Elijah is now but a perished rag. We have come to another point in the Divine development of events; now we have new heavens and a new earth. “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” “We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” That is the Christian position. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We, too, have a Divinely-appointed Priest “No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that was called of God, as was Aaron; so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an highpriest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” There is one Mediator between God and man. The Aaronic thought is completed in the Christly intercession. We now come not to man, but to God through the appointed way. Jesus Christ is Priest, Jesus Christ is Advocate. “This Man, because he continueth for ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.” From the beginning to the end the line is one heightening, broadening, glorifying, until it is lost in the ineffable lustre of the upper kingdoms.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXV

THE FEAST OF THE COVENANT, THE ASCENT OF MOSES AND JOSHUA INTO THE MOUNTAIN, THE BREACH OF THE COVENANT, THE COVENANT RESTORED BUT MODIFIED

Exo 24:9-34:35

1. What is this lesson and its outline?

Ans. The lesson is from Exo 24:9 to the end of that chapter, with a mere glance at the next seven chapters, 25-31, and then 32; it covers three full chapters, nearly all of another chapter, and a glance at seven other chapters. I will explain to you about that glance as we go along.

The outline of the lesson is:

The Feast of the Covenant, Exo 24:9-11 .

The Ascent of Moses and Joshua into the Mountain, Why and How Long, Exo 24:12-31:18 .

The Breach of the Covenant, Exo 22:1-6 .

The Covenant Restored but Modified, Exo 32:1-34:35 .

We commence at the first item of the outline, viz.:

The Feast of the Covenant. That part of the lesson is Exo 24 and commences at Exo 24:9-11 . Let us read that: “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu [two sons of Aaron], and seventy of the elders of Israel [and we learn from Exo 24:17 that Joshua, the minister or servant of Moses, was along. That makes seventy-five persons [: and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: and they beheld God and did eat and drink.” That is the feast of the covenant.

2. What of the custom after ratifying a covenant and an example from Genesis?

Ans. Nearly always just after a covenant was ratified the parties to the covenant partook together of a meal to show their fraternity and communion. The Genesis example you will find where Laban and Jacob made a covenant. The covenant is prepared, they agree to enter into a covenant, they put up a token of the covenant, they build an altar, they make sacrifices, they ratify the covenant in the blood of that sacrifice. Then they sit down and eat a meal together, which is the feast of the covenant. You will find all of that in the Genesis account of Laban and Jacob. So here a covenant having been proposed, an agreement to enter into it made, a preparation for it, the terms of the covenant given as stated in their threefold characters, that covenant carefully read, an altar erected, sacrifices offered, the blood of the covenant sprinkled upon the altar and upon the people, and so ratified, then follows this feast of the covenant.

3. What are the provisions used at the feast in such cases?

Ans. The provisions are the bodies of the peace offering. There are two offerings, viz.: the burnt offering, which has to be burned up, then the eucharistic or thank offering. That thank offering furnishes the material of the feast after the covenant is ratified.

4. Who was the representative at this feast with God and a New Testament analogy?

Ans. The representatives here are: First, Moses, then his servant Joshua, his army chief; second, the high priest and his two sons that is five; and third, the seventy elders of Israel. All Israel did not meet God and partake of a feast, but the representatives of Israel in the persons of Moses, Joshua, Aaron and his two sons, and the seventy elders, who meet God and partake of this feast. Now the New Testament analogy is that the Lord’s Supper which was to memorialize the sacrifice of Christ was participated in by representatives of the church, the apostles. The apostles were there, but not there as individuals. They represented the church just as they represented the church in receiving the Commission, so that it was simply a church observance even at the time of its institution.

5. What of the communion in this feast and the New Testaments analogy?

Ans. The communion is not the communion between Moses, Aaron, and the elders, that is, it is not a communion with each other, but it is a communion with God, and the New Testament analogy is as Paul expresses in his first letter to the Corinthians: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion, or participation, of the blood of Christ?” and yet how often people misrepresent the idea of that communion, as when A, B, and C commune together to show their fellowship for each other, or a man’s communing to show his fellowship for his wife. The word means “participation” and the one in whom is the participation is God: “The loaf which we bless, is it not a participation, the communion of the body of Jesus?” So here these representatives of all Israel communed with God a little way up the mountain, not far.

6. The record says that they saw God. What kind of a sight of God did they see, and what other cases in the Old and New Testaments?

Ans. They did not see any form or likeness of God. Moses is very careful to say that “no man can see God and live.” He is careful to say in Deu 4 that at Sinai they saw no similitude or likeness. Now, in Isa 6 he (Isaiah) sees God as they saw him, that is, he sees the throne; he sees the pavement; he sees a great many things about the throne, the angels, the cherubim and the seraphim, but he doesn’t see any likeness of God, though he hears God talking. Precisely so you find it in Eze 1 . He sees the chariot of God, four cherubim, their wheels, their wings, and their faces looking every way, but he doesn’t see the One in the chariot, and so it is in Rev 4 where John is caught up to heaven and he sees the very same thing, this very pavement, and the throne, the cherubim, the angels round about the throne, and he sees something that represents the Holy Spirit, and he sees something that represents Jesus Christ, a precious stone which represents God, but he doesn’t see God.

7. Apply this thought to transubstantiation and consubstantiation in our feast, as the Romanists and Luther taught.

Ans. The Romanist says, “This is the very body and the very blood of Christ; you can see it and you can taste it.” And the consubstantiation advocate, Luther, says, “The bread is not the body of Christ and the wine is not the blood of Christ, but Christ is there this way: You take a knife and put it in the fire and take it out of the fire when it is red hot, and you have the same metal, but you have something there that was not there before, viz.: heat, you can touch it and feel the effect of that heat burning.” You can take cognizance of that kind of a presence, but in this analogous communication with God they saw no similitude, no form.

8. Explain that part of the feast where it is said that “God laid not his hand on the elders of Israel, though they saw him.”

Ans. It means that God did not slay them. The declaration is often made, “Whoever sees God shall die.” They can’t bear the sight of God. But the kind of a sight of God that these people saw, they were able to see without having the hand of God laid on them, and what a beautiful lesson! Before the covenant was made, when the trumpet sounded and the darkness came and the earth quaked and the lightning flashed, and that strange, awful voice speaking the ten words, the people were scared almost to death; they wanted a mediator, somebody to come between them and that awful Being. But knowing that a covenant had been established and had been ratified by the blood of a substitute, they can see God in the sacrifice of the substitute and not die; see him in perfect peace, just as you, before you are converted, look upon God as distant and unapproachable, but after you see him in Christ in the covenant, the terror of God is taken away and you can sit there just as if eating a meal with a friend.

9. Give again a complete outline of the covenant.

Ans. The complete outline of the covenant is:

(1) God’s proposition of a covenant and their agreement to enter into a covenant;

(2) Their preparation for the covenant;

(3) The three great terms of the covenant;

(4) The ratification of the covenant;

(5) The feast that follows the covenant. Will you keep that in mind? You need to be drilled on that every now and then, so that when anybody asks you where there can be found a copy of the Sinai covenant and all the parts of it, you can answer: “It commences with Exo 19 , and closes with Exo 24 .” That is the whole thing in all its parts.

The Ascent of Moses into the Mount, Why and How Long? This is the second item of the outline. That is found immediately after what we have been discussing, commencing at Exo 24:12 . “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there”: that means, Moses, you are to be there quite awhile; “and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.” And Moses rose up, and his servant Joshua; and Moses went up into the mount of God. And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the midst of the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.” Now here are the questions on that:

10. Why is Moses, after the covenant is ratified and the feast is held, taken up into the mount? (He and Joshua alone go).

Ans. He is carried up to receive the same law which had been spoken orally, now in writing “which I have written.” And what he went up particularly to get was the two tables or the Ten Commandments, and in God’s own handwriting that he might keep them as a witness. “The tables of the Testimony” is the name of them. Moses wrote a copy that the people learned, but that particular copy was God’s own autograph. That was put up and preserved as “tables of the testimony.”

11. What is the meaning of “tables of stone,” “the law,” and “the commandment”?

Ans. The tables of stone I have just described. But what was the law that Moses goes up after? You would miss that if you had to answer it off-hand, and the commentators all miss it. They don’t get in a thousand miles of it. You will find that it was what he received when he went up there a special law, and that special law was that the sabbath, God’s sabbath, should be the sign of the covenant. You find that at the end of this section that we are now on. So the law he went after was the law of the sign. Then what was the commandment he went after? The Commandments are all given in seven chapters (25-32) and every one of them touches the law of the altar. We will glance at the outline of that directly.

12. Why were these tables of testimony and this sign of the covenant and these laws concerning the altar given to Moses?

Ans. The lesson says, “That thou mayest teach them.”

13. Who was to represent Moses in the camp while he was absent in the mount?

Ans. Aaron and Hur.

14. What reminder of a New Testament incident is in these words of Moses: “Tarry ye here for us until we come again”?

Ans. It is Jesus in Gethsemane, when he let the representatives stop, and said, “Stay here while I go yonder and pray.”

15. What was the visible token that God was present with Moses, and why that token?

Ans. Exo 24:16-17 : “And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Now, why is that last word, or clause, “In the eyes of the children of Israel”? That was a token to them not to get impatient. “When you begin to say, ‘Moses stays a long time,’ you look up there at that cloud on top of that mountain, how exceedingly glorious it is, you may know that Moses is right in that cloud communing with God.”

16. How long was Moses up there in that cloud before God spoke to him, and why did he speak to him on the particular day that he did?

Ans. Moses was up there six days. God called him up there: “Don’t you get impatient. Here is the test of your faith. You wait. I have called you up here, to have an interview and to receive certain things, and you wait; be patient.” Now on the seventh day, that is, the sabbath, which was the sign of the covenant, God spoke.

17. How long was Moses in the mount, and what is the New Testament parallel?

Ans. Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights, and the New Testament parallel is that after Christ was sacrificed for the ratification of the covenant and they had eaten the feast of the covenant and Christ was risen from the dead, he remains with them forty days, instructing them. That is just exactly what God is doing with Moses. Just as Jesus uses forty days after his sacrifice in careful instruction of his disciples, so God after this sacrifice and ratification of the covenant, takes Moses up into that mountain for forty days of continued explanation.

18. Give, for the present, a mere summary of what Moses received on the mount, set forth in the seven chapters, 25-31.

Ans. Just now all we want is a summary and the reason we don’t want to go into the details is that we take that up in the next chapter in connection with what follows. But all you want to know now is the outline. The outline is:

(1) He received the tables of the testimony;

(2) He received the law of the sign;

(3) He received the commandments as follows:

(a) The commandment upon the people to furnish voluntary offerings for what was to be made;

(b) The making of the ark with the mercy seat on it where God was to be met; the making of a tabernacle for the shewbread; the making of the candlestick; the making of a tabernacle or tent with its subdivisions and its marvelous veil between the divisions; and the court and the oil that was to supply the lampstand or candlestick;

(c) The garments for Aaron, the high priest, when he officiated before God;

(d) The law of the consecration of Aaron to the office of high priest;

(e) The law of the consecration of the altar by which approach to God was to be made;

(f) The law of the daily sacrifice;

(g) The law of the golden altar, or the altar of incense, and bow it is to be offered. Incense is to be offered twice a day just like the lamp is to be lit twice a day and the sacrifice is to be offered twice a day in the morning Aaron goes to trim the lamps as the morning offering and the ascent of the morning cloud of incense representing the going up of the prayers of God’s people, and in the afternoon he goes to light the lamp, and there is the evening sacrifice and the going up of the incense;

(h) The atonement or ransom money and what that signifies;

(i) The laver, that was to be between the altar and the mercy seat, and what it was to be used for;

(j) The marvelous recipe of the anointing oil that was to be poured upon the head of a prophet or a priest or a king or a sacrifice;

(k) The perfume that was to be put at the place of entrance, indicating that they were to meet the fragrance of God right at the threshold of entrance or approach to him;

(l) The inspiration of the artificers of all this work. Just as an apostle was inspired to do his work, so certain men were here named that were inspired to do this work called for in all these things;

(m) That sabbath for a sign which I have already mentioned.

The Breach of the Covenant. This is the third item. Where do you find that breach of the covenant? In chapter 32. We are coming to awful things now. The most interesting thing in the Old Testament: “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow shall be a feast to Jehovah. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”

19. Give the seven elements of this breach of the covenant.

Ans.

(1) The rejection of Moses and of God and a demand for other gods to be made: “Make us gods.”

(2) This god, of course, being man made, was an idol.

(3) The form of the god was the Egyptian god, Apis, calf or ox, the Egyptian god that died of the murrain through one of the miracles of Moses.

(4) They built an altar of worship and of sacrifice.

(5) They offered both burnt and peace offerings.

(6) They had a feast to follow this covenant they were making with this new god, and,

(7) Stripping off their clothes, naked, they go into a drunken orgy and practice all of the beastly and infamous lusts that characterized that worship in Egypt and in other idol worshiping countries. Paul says, “The people sat down to eat and rose up to play,” and then adds, “Be ye not fornicators and adulterers as they were.”

20. What was God’s announcement to Moses and what were the purposes announced concerning Israel and the raising up of a new people?

Ans. God saw that breach of the covenant that had just been made. The answer is this, commencing with Exo 32:7 : “The Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and have said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and now, behold it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” That is the terrible announcement. They have broken the covenant. “I will instantly destroy them; I will raise up a new people from Moses. He will be the basis of the new people.” Now before they get out of this trouble there will be four intercessions of Moses.

21. What was the first intercession of Moses and its result?

Ans. I quote it, commencing at Exo 32:11 : “And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” So the first thing was to stop instant destruction of that people. The result: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” He didn’t kill them right then, but he at least suspended that terrible bolt of divine wrath that was about to fall upon them.

22. What did Moses and Joshua see on their return to the camp?

Ans. All the above happened before Moses came down from the mount. Joshua says, “I hear a great shout down in the camp. There must be an army or there must be a battle.” Moses says, “No, that is not the shout, neither of men on the battlefield, nor of men crying for mercy. That is the shout of singing; those people are singing down there.” And they came down and saw that calf; they saw their naked and beastly orgies; they saw the whole hideous sin which the people had committed.

23. What was the first token that the covenant was broken?

Ans. Moses took the tables of the testimony and broke them all to pieces right in the sight of the people. “You do not need these tokens any more. I have brought you in the handwriting of God the witness of the covenant; you broke it; let the token be broken.”

24. What, in order, are the other things done in that camp by Moses when he got down there?

Ans. Moses was not a man to go down there and hold his finger in his mouth. When he sees that thing he is stirred. Let us see now what, in order, were the things that he did. First, he took that calf and burned it until it pulverized; then he mingled the ashes of it in water and made the people drink it. Second, he shook his finger in the face of Aaron and said, “What have these people done unto you that you led them into this sin? I went up in that mountain to meet God; I left you as my representative. Now what have these people ever done to you that you should lead them into this?” And Aaron pleads the baby act if ever a man did in the world. He says, “Well, they they they said, ‘Make us a god,’ and I told them to bring me the earrings and I put the earrings into the fire and there came out this calf; the fire did it.” An old father who, when his boy came home disappointed and broken in health and knowing nothing, after several years away at school, said, “All that money I put into the fire of education and there came out this calf.” Third, Moses said unto them in the camp, while naked and half drunk they stood before him not daring to open their lips, “Whoso is on the Lord’s side, let him stand by me. I am going to draw a line. Somebody in this great camp surely is on the Lord’s side.” And the Levites came. You remember when Jacob pronounced the prophecy of blessing on his children he gave a big slice to Levi. When Moses goes to pronounce a blessing he is going to pronounce a great honor on Levi, and he is going to assign as a reason what Levi does this day. That whole tribe lined up on the side of Moses. They didn’t stand up there just as a show. “Now, if you are on the Lord’s side, draw your swords and wade into that crowd. Don’t stop if it is your brother, or father, or mother, no matter how close kin to you. There must be a penalty inflicted for this awful sin,” and Levi pitched in and slew three thousand. Fourth, he began to take steps toward saving those people from temporal and eternal destruction, and that brings us to the next question:

25. What was the second intercession of Moses and God’s reply?

Ans. Moses said, “You have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord: peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.” Now you come to the next intercession of Moses: “And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said [and this is the greatest piece of intercession that ever took place on earth except in the case of Christ], Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” Only one other man ever said anything like that, and concerning this same stiffnecked people, and that was Paul, “I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren’s sake.” Moses, in other words, offered himself as a substitute for the people: “Don’t, don’t destroy them! Destroy me!” It was a grand proposition. Now, what did God say to that intercession? “The Lord said to Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me,, him will I blot out of my book. I will not blot you out for them. The soul that sinneth it shall die. Therefore now go, lead these people unto the place of which I have spoken unto them; behold mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.”

26. What of the effect of this upon the people?

Ans. They mourned and laid aside their ornaments and did not put them on from Mount Horeb onward.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XXVII

THE TABERNACLE

Exodus 25-31; Exodus 35-40

This chapter covers thirteen chapters of Exodus, and, of course, I can only touch them in places. These chapters are 25-31; 35-40.

1. Was there a temporary tent before this tabernacle was built?

Ans. You will find in Exo 33:7-11 , that there was a temporary tent and on one occasion it was moved outside of the camp.

2. What were the names of the tabernacle and the reasons therefore?

Ans. First, the “tabernacle of testimony, or witness,” Exo 38:21 ; Num 17:7-8 . Those two names mean the same thing. The tabernacle of testimony, or of witness; and the reason of this is that this tent was the depository of the testimonials; anything that was to be kept for a testimony was to be kept in this tent; for example, in it were the tables of testimony or God’s autograph on the two tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments. That copy was kept as a witness; then in it was the book of the covenant, that is, those chapters, Exo 19:1-24:9 . That part is called the book of the covenant. That was in Moses’ handwriting. Then there were the records made by Moses, that is, the Pentateuch, the entire Pentateuch was put in the tent and kept in there; then Aaron’s rod that budded was put in there and a pot of the manna and later the brazen serpent that Moses erected. All of these were memorials. Now the tent that held these testimonials was called the tabernacle of the witness, or the testimony. That accounts for one of its names.

Next name, it is called the “temple of the Lord.” You will find this name in 1Sa 1:9 , and 1Sa 3:3 ; the reason of that name is that there God was approached and propitiated and worshiped and that gave the name “temple.”

The third name is the “house of the Lord,” because he occupied it. He was the dweller in it. As a Shekinah he dwelt in there symbolically between the Cherubim on the mercy seat and hence it was called the “house of the Lord.”

The fourth name is “sanctuary,” that is on account of its holiness. It was holy unto God; the most holy place, the holy place and the whole ground, or campus, was set apart to sacred purposes, hence, the sanctuary.

The fifth name for it was the “holy oracles”; that applied, of course, only to what is called the “most holy place”; that is very frequently in the Bible called the oracle of the temple, the most holy place. It is so called in Psa 28:2 , and in 1Ki 6:5 . Now, it obtained this name because there God spoke. An oracle is to give an answer to questions propounded. There God spoke, and it was also called the oracle, because in it were kept the written words of God, the place of the oracle; the book of the Pentateuch was kept in there. Now, the references here are very numerous on this oracle question. In 2Sa 16:23 ; in Act 7:38 , and in Rom 3:2 are some references to this most holy place as the oracle: “What advantage then hath the Jew? Much every way, but chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God.” There the oracles mean the same thing as the Bible, that is, as their Bible grew in volume it was kept in that place; that was the oracle for their Bible.

Now, I repeat the names of this tabernacle: (1) The tabernacle of the testimony, or witness; (2) the temple of the Lord; (3) the tabernacle is called the house of the Lord; (4) the sanctuary; (5) the oracle.

3. What can you say about the pattern of this tabernacle?

Ans. It was God’s pattern, copy, shadow, or type of a true sanctuary in heaven, that is, there is in heaven a true sanctuary, a true holy place, a most holy place, and as the poet Campbell says, “Coming events cast their shadows before,” so that reality in heaven casts its shadow before in the form of this copy or type. And when the real thing came of course the shadow disappeared. Anyone walking from a light casts his shadow before him, and the shadow will get to an object first; now when the substance gets there, the shadow is gone. I give you some very particular references on this word pattern, what it means and about God’s being the author of it. He furnishes the complete plan and every detail of the specifications. Not only for this sanctuary but for its successor, the Temple, and for the Temple’s successor, the church on earth, and for its successor, the church in glory. I give you some scriptures in point: Exo 25:40 ; Exo 26:33 ; Exo 27:9 ; Exo 39:32 ; Act 7:44 ; Heb 8:2 ; Heb 8:5 ; Heb 10:1 .

All of those refer to this sanctuary that Moses built as having been made according to a pattern which God furnished. Moses was commanded to see to it that everything be made according to the pattern. Now to give you an illustration that will come more nearly home to you, I got an architect to draw me a plan of a house to live in near the Seminary in Fort Worth. He drew four floors, that is, four floor plans; two side elevations, a front and a rear elevation; then a long list of specifications as to material, how that material was to be used, and the bill of the lumber, and of the brick and of the stone, and everything in it was put down. Now when I went to let that contract the contractor entered into a contract to build it according to the plans and specifications. If he had varied a hair’s breadth from what that architect put down, I could have held him liable.

I make this remark to you in order to correct some loose thoughts. People that insist upon sticking to God’s plans and specifications on the tabernacle and on the Temple, will deny that he has any plans and specifications on their successor, the church, and that nearly anything will do for a church, and that they can put things in nearly any sort of an order; they can commence with communion on the outside before a man is ever converted, and as a means to conversion; they can baptize him before he is converted, or they can dispense with it altogether. It is one of the most appalling signs of the times, that there is such looseness with reference to God’s positive institutions. It is a thousand times more important that the church be strictly continued and followed in all God’s plans and specifications than it was with this tabernacle, and yet there was not one-eighth of an inch variation in the measurements of this tabernacle. You may settle it that God is a God of order and not of confusion. This tells us here about certain tables and it tells us how those tables were to be constructed, and what was to go on them, and just where they must put them and just how they were to use them. Some people take the table of the church and put it outdoors and just call up Tom) Dick, and Harry to come and partake; a thing that you wouldn’t dare to do in my house; you couldn’t say where my table should be put. I do that. We certainly ought to allow God the same privilege about his table. You could not invite guests to my house, to dine; I must do that. We ought to allow God that privilege. You are the judge of what you put on your table, and we should let the Lord tell us what to put on his table. Then don’t go and invent a hundred things to tack onto what God has specified.

4. What were the materials of this sanctuary and their value?

Ans. There are eight kinds of materials specified. I will commence with the costliest. There are quite a number of very precious stones, jewels, some of them of exceeding great value and beauty. They are enumerated. The next was gold. The pattern tells you just exactly what gold must be put in it. Some of it was simply threads of gold. The gold must be beaten out very thin and then cut into the finest threads of gold and work these threads into the cloth. And the plans must not be varied from by one single thread of that battered gold.

Then the next material used was silver. It specifies in every particular where that silver was to be used. And the next was brass, and then it tells just what should be made of brass, whether the outside mold, or the brazen altar, or some brazen socket in which a pole or post rested.

The fifth material was the acacia wood, very common in that wilderness, and it was a very hard wood, hence exceedingly durable for building purposes of any kind. Now, it is a notable fact that this old tent had a good deal of acacia wood in it in certain places; it was existing up to the time that Solomon built the Temple, all the posts around it, all of acacia wood. When I read about it I am reminded of what a little boy in North Texas said with reference to bois d’arc. He said a bois d’arc fence would last through two eternities; that he and his daddy had tried it several times. In other words, it doesn’t wear out at all and it doesn’t rot. I know a bois d’arc fence now that is ninety-one years old, and it is just as sound as a silver dollar. So that acacia was the kind of wood to be used. The wood that went into the ark of the covenant consisted of a base of wood and then there was a covering of gold, and the wooden base of that ark was there in that Temple nearly a thousand years later when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple. I mention that to show you how much better it was for those people to follow God’s specifications about the wood. Suppose they had put in something that would have rotted in about two years.

The sixth element of material was the various kinds of cloth. This cloth would either be what is called fine twined linen, finished linen made out of the flax, or it was a coarse cloth made of goat’s hair or it was woolen cloth, or it was made out of skins what is called badgers’ skins, though probably not badgers’. It was more likely to have been the skins of sea animals and that skin was impervious to water when the animal was in the water, and remained impervious to water. They needed cloths for all things, for the girdles, and for the different classes of garments that are specified and for the veils. The seventh element of material was olive oil, pure beaten olive oil. That was to be for the lamps, and the eighth and last specification of the material was spices, perfumes that were to be for anointing. For instance he gives a prescription of the holy anointing oil, with olive oil as a base, and his directions will tell you just what spices to put in it and precisely what proportion; so many parts of one and so many parts of another. And they are not only commanded not to vary from that but they were never to make that holy anointing oil to be used for any secular purpose whatever. A king on his throne couldn’t have as much made as would stick to his little finger.

The question says, give the materials and their value. Unfortunately we have no means of valuing all the materials that were used. There is one place in your lesson that gives you the weight, troy weight, of the gold, silver, and brass, and I can tell you what that was: 3,350 pounds, troy weight, of pure gold; 11,526 pounds, troy weight, of pure silver; 8,112 pounds of brass. The measure is given. A shekel was a weight or measure as well as a piece of money. They give it in shekels and these shekels converted into pounds, troy weight, and you can convert these pounds, troy weight, into dollars and cents so far as gold and silver are concerned, into the present worth.

5. How was this vast amount of materials obtained?

Ans. Every bit of it was by voluntary contribution. Chapter 25 commences with the word of God to Moses to call upon the people to make an offering for the sanctuary. But God declines to take any offering unless it is a free will offering; it must be on the part of the willing heart. And when you turn over to read about how David got the material for erecting the Temple it is a most thrilling part of the Old Testament; the biggest contribution the world ever saw was collected. It is a fine thing to preach on, and a good suggestion to preachers when building a sanctuary for the Lord to take contributions from the willing heart.

6. Who were the artificers that made all these things, and how were they qualified to make them?

Ans. Some of the work was very delicate and required the greatest possible skill and nicety in construction. Exo 31:2 : “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiad the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee.” Only two of them are mentioned by name.

7. What arts were implied in building this tabernacle?

Ans. Well, you can see that they couldn’t have cloths unless there were weavers and they would not have different cloths unless they had industries, and that precious stones couldn’t be cut unless there was lapidaries; and wood couldn’t be carved so beautifully unless there were skilled men in wood carving, and the structure couldn’t be planned and carried out unless there were architects. Then there bad to be the most exquisite work on the high priest’s garment there was to be on the bottom or border a row of pomegranates and bells, a pomegranate and a little bell, then a pomegranate and a bell, and so on all around it. It bad to be the most perfect thing. Whenever the high priest moved the bells would ring, and he couldn’t stop when he was performing the ceremonies in the most holy place. If the bells stopped ringing he would die instantly; and the people ‘would keep praying on the outside as long as they heard the bells on the high priest’s garments ringing. That shows that the high priest rings out to God the petition that they send up, and that shows the intercession. The bells in heaven upon his robe are always ringing, so he is praying for you all the time.

Now you see that to have the instruments to do all these things implied manufacturers; the jeweler’s tools, the carving tools, and the brass; they must have foundries. Think of the number of arts, and what a tremendous change had taken place in these people after they went into Egypt. They were nomads, ranch people, cowboys till then; when they got to Egypt they learned agriculture, city building, architecture, all sorts of fine work, and now it is all brought out with them, and when they go to leave Egypt, the Egyptians are so glad to get rid of them, God put it in the hearts of the Egyptians to bestow on the Jews gold and silver and jewels, and that is where all this gold and silver comes from that they are using now to build the tabernacle.

8. Define the whole space of the court.

Ans. Here the student should make a diagram and let that diagram show the relative places of the entire court, the heights of the curtain wall around that court and the gate of entrance and where the altar, i.e., the brazen altar, is placed, and where the laver is placed, and how they got into the holy place and then into the holy of holies. And he should show in that diagram just where Moses’ place was, and where Aaron’s place was, and the places all around that diagram of the court where the Levites were, and which of them on this side and which on that side, and then show the tribes camped around it; what three tribes on the north side, what three on the south, on the east and on the west. If you want to see a diagram so that you will have nothing to do but copy it, get (and every reader of this book ought to have what I have urged them to have) the Rand-MeNally’s Atlas by J. L. Hurlbut. You ought to read what it has to say about every lesson that we have. And if you have the Hurlbut Atlas it gives you just the picture that I have drawn mentally and orally, showing the length, breadth, and height of the court; showing you where the gate is on the east; showing you just where Moses was to be, where Aaron was to be, where the Levites were to camp, and where the other tribes were to be placed all around it; how big the tabernacle was, how big each division was, and how big the most holy place was in cubic measurement. The question is, Define the whole space of the court.

9. What are the tent divisions, and the sizes of the divisions?

Ans. The tent was divided into two divisions, the holy place and the most holy place, and they were separated by what is called the veil of the Temple, but it came to be a tremendous thing in the Herodian Temple seventy feet long and thirty feet wide, and four inches thick, and so woven that ten yoke of oxen couldn’t tear it, and yet when Jesus died it was rent in twain from top to bottom. The sizes are given in the Atlas.

10. What were the contents of the most holy place?

Ans. There were just two things in there, and don’t you ever put anything else in there. These are the articles, viz.: the ark, which is one thing, and the mercy seat which rested right on top of it; of course, the mercy seat which rested right on top of it had its propitiatory place where the atonement was made, and the Cherubim of pure gold (of course, there were things in the ark the witnesses: the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod, the brazen serpent, and so on). But two things are in there the mercy seat, which is on top of the ark: a chest with its contents inside, and the mercy seat resting on it.

11. How was the most holy place lighted?

Ans. There was no light in it, but clouds of darkness: “a thick pavilion of darkness is my habitation.” Whenever you get to the church in glory the expression, “There is no temple, there is no altar or shrine,” doesn’t mean the general structure about the shrines, just as the mercy seat on top of the ark constituted the shrine. When you get to the church in glory there is no shrine there. Why? Because the Lord God and the Lamb are the light thereof. Now down here in this tabernacle there was a shrine, the Cherubim) and the Shekinah signifying the presence of God.

12. Who enters, and how often, into the most holy place?

Ans. The high priest only, and that only one time a year. Nobody could ever see the outside of what was in there. They couldn’t see the outside of the ark nor the outside of the mercy seat. It was always carried, but it was carried covered. And the tent was first put up upon arriving at a camp and after the tent was put up the bearers of the ark carried it on the inside, and when they went out Aaron alone uncovered it. He was the only one that ever saw it.

13. What were the contents of the holy place, where were the contents set up, and what did they represent?

Ans. Just three things were in there. There was the seven-branched golden candlestick; the light of that lamp was never allowed to go out at night. It was trimmed every morning and lighted every evening just before dark. That candlestick or lampstand was just one lampstand. The one that was in the Temple when Titus captured Jerusalem was carried to Rome as a trophy. Another thing in there was a table, and on the table six loaves of bread in one place and six loaves of bread in another place and a cup; in the third place, there was a little altar called the golden altar in contradistinction from the big one on the outside, the brazen altar. This altar was covered with gold and on that was the frankincense, or incense; the material is frankincense, and it became incense, going up when it was burning in a beautiful smoke and very fragrant. Now as you enter that division from the east, the right hand will be the north. Which one of the things do you out on the north? Do you put a table, a candlestick, or a golden altar? Which one do you put to the south, and which one in the center right opposite the veil that has to be lifted aside by Aaron once a year? The Atlas shows all this.

What do those three things represent?

Ans. They represent the blessings of salvation by grace like the food and the spirit of prayer, as communicants get those spiritual blessings. That bread also represents the twelve tribes shewbread that is, it is bread for exhibition, very sacred, nobody was ever allowed to eat it. David did eat a piece once when he was very hungry and Jesus excused him under the circumstances (he was starving) though “He did eat the shewbread which was against the law.” Now we have found out the contents of the holy place, and how they were set up, and what they represented.

14. Who enters the holy place (not the most holy place) and how often?

Ans. Not the Levites but the priests. The Levites had the run of the court) Aaron the most holy place, the priests the holy place, every day.

15. What are the contents of the court and their respective positions and signification?

Ans. In the open court around the tent there were these things: (1) Near the east gate of the court was the brazen altar, the altar of burnt offering and sin offering. That was the altar of sacrifices. (2) Between that altar and the entrance into the holy place was the laver, a vessel containing water used by the priests in the ablutions necessary to the performance of their duties.

16. Who entered this court and how often?

Ans. Aaron and his sons that constituted the priesthood, and the Levites the whole tribe of Levi that served in the matters of the public worship. They all entered this court. Some of them were in there every day. There were daily offerings, one every morning and one every evening; so that was open all the time to Aaron or his sons or the Levites having special work to perform in there.

17. Where did the people come?

Ans. They came to the gate in the east; they didn’t get inside the gate except in case of their offerings. They brought their offerings to the altar before the tent of meeting.

18. Who were the ministers in the sacrifices and how were they set apart? Divide their respective duties of the court.

Ans. Your lesson tells you all about that: that the ministers consisted of Aaron, the high priest, the priests, and the Levites; just exactly how each one of them was to be consecrated to office; the ritual, etc. Aaron does certain things, and he alone; the priests, certain things, and they alone; the Levites, certain things, and they alone.

XXVIII

THE TABERNACLE (Continued)

1. What was the high priest’s apparel, its use and meaning?

Ans. Your book has a great deal to say about the clothing of the high priest but I shall confine my answer to only two articles of that apparel, viz.: the mitre and the ephod. The mitre was a headdress; towering, and on the front of it just over Aaron’s forehead was a golden plate fastened to the mitre, and on that inscribed, “Holiness to the Lord.” He was never allowed to exercise his high priestly functions unless he had that mitre on.

Now, the other portion of his dress that requires very particular mention is the ephod. The ephod was a garment, a vestment that had a hole cut in it like you see cowboys have in their blankets. It was put on by putting it over the head and the head coming up through that hole, and it came down to the knees. There was an inner robe of course, but I am talking about the ephod. It was carefully hemmed and embroidered around that hole so it wouldn’t tear, just as a buttonhole is, to keep it from widening. At the bottom of the ephod were the pomegranates and little bells that I have told you about. And the bells were to ring all the time that the high priest was performing his functions. It was death to him if they stopped, and their sound was the indication to the people that the high priest’s work was going on and they, on the outside, would pray as long as they heard the bells ringing. That is the ephod proper.

But that ephod had a breastplate, just a span square, at the shoulders; on the ephod was a hook, an ouch, on each side. This breastplate was just a span wide and on it four rows three in a row of very valuable jewels and each jewel had inscribed on it the name of one of the twelve tribes. So that whenever Aaron acted officially he carried over his heart, as a representative, the whole nation of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel were there, carried on his heart.

The breastplate had two gold chains. The upper part of it had rings and the gold chains went up and fastened to the ouch, or hook, on the shoulder piece of the ephod. Having put on the ephod, he would then take up the breastplate by the two gold chains and hook it to the clasps on the ephod. That would let it drop down on his breast. Then the sides of the breastplate had rings and they were fastened to other hooks on the ephod and that kept it from falling forward, kept it in place.

Now, besides the twelve great jewels that represented the twelve tribes of Israel there were two other jewels, called the urim and thummirn. They went on the breastplate. I am not quite sure but that they were under the breastplate on the inside. The names, urim and thummirn, mean light and perfection. The use of the two particular jewels was to communicate with Jehovah. When the cloud would come down and rest over the tent to signify that Jehovah wanted to have a talk, the high priest would come into the holy place, and the communication would take place. Now, the two jewels Aaron would look at and how, I don’t know and nobody else knows, but through those jewels as a medium, he would understand the communication that had been given to him. Hence a high priest’s method of communicating with God was always through the urim and thummirn. Moses didn’t do it that way, because he was a prophet. God spoke to him direct. But the high priest could only communicate with God through the urim and the thummirn. If he lost those jewels he couldn’t talk with God.

Now, the ephod carrying the breastplate and the two precious stones, the urim and the thummim, was strictly an official robe; so that you often find in the accounts in the Old Testament the expression, “Get me the ephod.” “What do you want with the ephod?” “I want to communicate with God.” The ephod was the robe of communication. You read in the life of David that he went to where the high priest was and told him to put on his ephod and answer him certain questions. Well, the high priest put on the ephod, went up to the door of the holy place, propounded David’s question, looked at the urim and the thummirn, understood the answer, and gave it to David. You read in the book of Judges that Gideon when he assumed to be king had an ephod made so that he could communicate with God. And you read in the prophet Hosea that Israel shall be a long time without a king, without an ephod, and without a prophet. They shall have no means of communicating with God. That is the condition of Israel this day. They have no Temple; they have no high priest; they have lost the urim and thummirn; they have no ephod; no way of communicating with God. Since they reject Christ, the only means of communication, they are shut off. So that the particular thing about the breastplate and its urim and thummirn is that it was a God-appointed means of communicating with the people through the high priest. He adopted a different method when he spoke with the prophets. A prophet was higher than a priest. The prophets communicated with God directly. There are other things about Aaron’s dress, all the details of which had a meaning, but these are the great meanings of the dress of the high priest.

20. What were the regular times of service in this tabernacle?

Ans. Here were the regular times: The daily services every morning and every evening; the sabbath services, that is, once a week; the monthly services, the monthly sabbaths, and the annual sabbaths. Those were the great festivals, three great festivals, and then the Jubilee sabbaths, and in connection with it there came the great Day of Atonement. Those were the regular times of service, but there were provisions for special times of services that I will not now discuss.

21. What the offerings and their meanings?

Ans. I have to answer it so elaborately when I come to Leviticus, I only give now in general terms these offerings: Sin offerings, burnt offerings, eucharistic, or thank offerings; in a burnt offering, all of it had to be burned up. Now, a sin offering had to be burned, but every burnt offering was not a sin offering. I give you this example: If a man wanted to consecrate his whole life to God and brought an offering, that was a burnt offering. Now, that offering had to be burned to ashes on the brazen altar, to signify that God accepted that entire consecration. The sin offering was also burned. Nobody could eat a part of a sin offering. But certain parts of the eucharist, or thank offering, or peace offering, or meat offering could be eaten. Moses ate a certain part, and Aaron and his sons a certain part, and the Levites certain parts.

22. What was the ritual?

Ans. The ritual is that set of rules that told them just how everything was to be done. Almost the whole book of Leviticus is ritual and the larger part of Numbers. For instance, it tells just how every particular offering must be offered. The ritual is the system of rules prescribed, the service and the order of the service in all of its parts.

23. What was the place of the sanctuary in the camp and order of encampment around it?

Ans. I will answer that question more fully when we come to the book of Leviticus. We will suppose Israel is on a march and the cloud stops. As soon as the cloud stops Aaron and Moses stop. As soon as they stop, those carrying the furniture of the most holy place, that is, the ark and mercy seat, set it down there covered. And then the tent is put over it, and then all the arrangements are made about the various articles of the holy place and the court. Then the fence is put up, i.e., the court fence. Now, the Levites come in and camp on three sides, and every tribe knew just where it was to camp one on the north side, one on the east, one on the west, and so on.

24. When was this tabernacle completed and what was the order of setting it up?

Ans. In Exo 39:42 , we have this statement: “According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it.” Exo 39:42 of that chapter says, “Then was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished and they brought all the material together before Moses.” Now, the other part of the question was: The order of its setting up? That is explained to you in Exo 40:1-8 ; Exo 40:17 , “And it came to pass in the first month in the second year [that is, since they left Egypt], on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle.” Then it tells how the tent was put up: “Then Moses took and put the testimony into the ark,” brought the ark into its place and then all the other things into their places in order.

25. When was it anointed?

Ans. It was anointed after the setting up, and Exo 40:9-11 , tells about that anointing, that is, setting it apart. And this is what it says on that, “And thou shalt take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is therein and shall hallow it; and all the vessels thereof and it shall be holy, and thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt-offering and all its vessels and sanctify the altar and it shall be an altar most holy.” “Thou shalt anoint the laver; thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons and make them put on their official robes and anoint them. Thus did Moses.”

26. When was it filled?

Ans. As soon as it was set up and was get apart, and anointed, the record says (Exo 40:34 ), the cloud came down and filled the tent and the glory of it was such that Moses couldn’t enter it. Then God says, “My glory sanctifies this tent.” When we get to Lev 18 , we learn that the tabernacle was sprinkled with blood as well as anointed with oil. Now, you will see from a careful reading of the last chapter of Exodus that a great many commandments are given, telling how things are to be done. Go to Leviticus and Numbers to find out how these orders given in the last chapter of Exodus are carried out. They are prescribed here and they tell you how it is to be done; the orders are given, but in Leviticus and Numbers they are carried out.

27. How dedicated?

Ans. Now, although the cloud had filled the tent, you don’t learn how that house was dedicated until you get to Num 7 . Nearly all of Leviticus and about a third of Numbers ought to be studied with the last part of Exodus. I am going to close what I have to say on this by giving you a little subsequent history of this tabernacle. It went with the children of Israel through all their wanderings. When Joshua got over into the Holy Land he set it up at Shiloh and after awhile it was moved to Nob. There it was in David’s time; then it went to Bethel; then in Solomon’s time it was at Gibeon. David erected a new tent. He didn’t make a new ark of the covenant and new altars and things of that kind, but he did make a new tent when he brought the ark up and put it in Jerusalem. Then he sent to Gibeon later on and that old tent that stood empty at Gibeon was brought but not set up, but just rolled up and when the Temple was built it was put in a chamber of the Temple and preserved, how long, I don’t know.

28. Give the parallels of a later date.

Ans. Well, just as that tabernacle was first prepared fully in all its materials, and these materials were brought together in one place, just so it was done with the Temple. So that when they started to put up the Temple they do so without the sound of hammer. Everything was so carefully prepared before it went up. Just as the church in glory will go up when the time comes. Every living stone will be thoroughly complete: body there, glorified; soul there, sanctified; no work to be done that day. It just goes into place by assembling. In my sermon on the church you will find just how the church in glory will be finally set up, and how that when our Lord built his church, John the Baptist prepared some of the material, which Jesus accepted; and Jesus prepared some of the material. But not all the work of the church was completed until Christ died. When he died he said, “It is finished.” The church was completed.

But that church was not anointed until the day of Pentecost, just as the old tabernacle had to be anointed and the smoke came and filled it. So the church that Jesus built stood open after he left it. He was the guide in it. He was the Shekinah as long as he lived, but when he went away it stood open until the day of Pentecost, when, as Daniel says, the most holy place was anointed. The Spirit came down and filled that house just as the cloud filled the house that Solomon built, and the house that Moses built.

29. What was the position of the cloud with reference to this tabernacle and its signals?

Ans. The normal place of the cloud was up in the air above the tabernacle. If the cloud moved, they moved, and they kept right under it. That was the normal place. If the cloud stopped, they stopped. So that one of the cloud’s signals was its moving, or its stopping. Another one of the cloud’s signals was its coming down and resting on the tent. That signified a communication was desired with the people through the priests. Then the high priest put on his ephod with his urim and thummirn, and went in to receive the communication. If a communication was wanted with Moses, he needed no ephod, since he was a prophet and talked direct with God.

30. What was the value of that cloud for light, shade, defense and guidance?

Ans. All night the cloud up in the air was one great pillar of fire, brighter than all the electric lights of New York City. Night couldn’t come up and touch them. Just think of it being forty years that they never saw the night. Then in the daytime the cloud spread out as a shade and kept the burning sun off them. The heat didn’t smite them for forty years. Then the cloud by its movements infallibly guided them just exactly where to go. They didn’t have to make any inquiries concerning the road they were to follow. They were to follow the cloud. They didn’t have to ask about how soon to start next morning. They were just to wait on the cloud. If it didn’t move, they were to stay right there if it was a year. The whole question was settled as to guidance by the cloud. How was it as a defense? Well, as enemies came, if the enemies were in the rear the cloud moved to the rear and got between them and the enemies with the black face of it toward the enemies. It had a black face and a light face. It would turn the light face toward the Israelites. It did that way when Pharaoh came up after them, and it looked to him like the blackest night the world ever saw, coming right between him and the Israelites, and it stayed there; Pharaoh couldn’t see through the black part of the cloud that was throwing light over Israel, and the Israelites passed through the Red Sea; as soon as they were across the cloud rose up and went on ahead of the Israelites, and Pharaoh following when he got into the midst of the sea, he and his army were swallowed up.

31. What was the value of the sanctuary as a center?

Ans. It was absolutely essential to hold this crowd together. Put three million people out and no center of unity and they will disintegrate; they will go in every direction, but no matter how many the people nor how far out the columns had to spread in marching and the herds had to go in grazing, all they had to do at any time was to look up; away yonder they could see, if in the daytime, the pillar of cloud, if at night, the pillar of fire.

32. What was the value of the sanctuary as an oracle?

Ans. An oracle is a supernatural voice that answers questions and tells you what you are to do.

33. Where was the oracle and what was it?

Ans. The most holy place is many times called the oracle, not because it was the oracle, t)ut because it was there that the oracle spoke. Nobody can estimate how much is the value of an infallible oracle. A case would come up that Moses would not know what to do. “Well, I will go and ask the oracle. I will ask God. God will tell me what to do.” In the New Testament Jesus says, “While you are now asking me questions [they were firing questions at him all the time, and right then in that very discussion of his, Philip says, “Lord, this,” and Thomas says, “Lord, this” and Jude says “Lord, this”] when the other Advacate comes, you shall ask me nothing. You will ask him. You will ask the Holy Spirit. I am going away and you think you will have nobody to answer your questions?” Disciples are interrogation points. They ask questions all the time and often very foolish questions, but Jesus patiently listened and answered, but when he went away that was the thing that troubled them: “Who will answer our questions?” “In that day when the Holy Spirit comes, you will ask me nothing. Just ask him,” says Jesus.

34. How was a communication signified?

Ans. If it was the high priest that was to ask a question, he would put on the ephod with the urim and thummirn and come to the Holy Place, and if the cloud was willing to hear him it would settle down and talk to him, and the same way with Moses, only Moses didn’t use the urim and thummirn.

35. How was the answer obtained and give examples?

Ans. If it was a priest wanting it, the answer was obtained through the urim and thummirn; I will give you some examples: 1Sa 23:9-12 ,-1Sa 28:6 ; 1Sa 30:7-8 ; Hos 3:4 . All these are cases when questions were brought, the methods by which they were brought and how answers were obtained.

36. What was the relative value of this tent and all the other tents?

Ans. A great many tents were necessary for three millions of people. I will let the psalmist answer that question. He says, “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the tents of Israel.” That tent was worth all the rest of them put together. Without that tent the others would not stand. It was not only the center of unity and the place where the oracle spoke and by which they were defended and guided, but it was the place of God’s presence.

37. What description and explanation the best?

Ans. About the best I know is found in Rand-McNally’s Atlas of the Bible. If you had that book you could turn to a certain page and see the picture of the whole tabernacle, see the diagram showing you just how every tribe camped, where Moses stood, where Aaron stood, etc.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Exo 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: [of] shittim wood shalt thou make it.

Ver. 1. An altar to burn incense upon. ] Shadowing Christ, as perfuming and presenting the prayers of saints, Rev 8:3 ; Rev 5:8 and obtaining answer thereto “from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.” Rev 9:13

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exodus

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE

Exo 30:1 .

Ceremonies are embodied thoughts. Religious ceremonies are moulded by, and seek to express, the worshipper’s conception of his God, and his own relation to Him; his aspirations and his need. Of late years scholars have been busy studying the religions of the more backward races, and explaining rude and repulsive rites by pointing to the often profound and sometimes beautiful ideas underlying them. When that process is applied to Australian and Fijian savages, it is honoured as a new and important study; when we apply it to the Mosaic Ritual it is pooh-poohed as ‘foolish spiritualising.’ Now, no doubt, there has been a great deal of nonsense talked in regard to this matter, and a great deal of ingenuity wasted in giving a Christian meaning-or, may I say, a Christian twist?-to every pin of the Tabernacle, and every detail of the ritual. Of course, to exaggerate a truth is the surest way to discredit a truth, but the truth remains true all the same, and underneath that elaborate legislation, which makes such wearisome and profitless reading for the most of us, in the Pentateuch, there lie, if we can only grasp them, great thoughts and lessons that we shall all be the better for pondering.

To one item of these, this altar of incense, I call attention now, because it is rich in suggestions, and leads us into very sacred regions of the Christian life which are by no means so familiar to many of us as they ought to be. Let me just for one moment state the facts with which I wish to deal. The Jewish Tabernacle, and subsequently the Temple, were arranged in three compartments: the outermost court, which was accessible to all the people; the second, which was trodden by the priests alone; and the third, where the Shechinah dwelt in solitude, broken only once a year by the foot of the High Priest. That second court we are concerned with now. There are three pieces of ecclesiastical furniture in it: an altar in the centre, flanked on either side by a great lampstand, and a table on which were piled loaves. It is to that central piece of furniture that I ask your attention now, and to the thoughts that underlie it, and the lessons that it teaches.

I. This altar shows us what prayer is.

Suppose we had been in that court when in the morning or in the evening the priest came with the glowing pan of coals from another altar in the outer court, and laid it on this altar, and heaped upon it the sticks of incense, we should have seen the curling, fragrant wreaths ascending till ‘the House was filled with smoke,’ as a prophet once saw it. We should not have wanted any interpreter to tell us what that meant. What could that rising cloud of sweet odours signify but the ascent of the soul towards God? Put that into more abstract words, and it is just the old, hackneyed commonplace which I seek to try to freshen a little now, that incense is the symbol of prayer. That that is so is plain enough, not only from the natural propriety of the case, but because you find the identification distinctly stated in several places in Scripture, of which I quote but two instances. In one psalm we read, ‘Let my prayer come before Thee as incense.’ In the Book of the Apocalypse we read of ‘golden bowls full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.’ And that the symbolism was understood by, and modified the practice of, the nation, we are taught when we read that whilst Zechariah the priest was within the court offering incense, as it was his lot to do, ‘the whole multitude of the people were without praying,’ doing that which the priest within the court symbolised by his offering. So then we come to this, dear friends, that we fearfully misunderstand and limit the nobleness and the essential character of prayer when, as we are always tempted to do by our inherent self-regard, we make petition its main feature and form. Of course, so long as we are what we shall always be in this world, needy and sinful creatures; and so long as we are what we shall ever be in all worlds, creatures absolutely dependent for life and everything on the will and energy of God, petition must necessarily be a very large part of prayer. But the more we grow into His likeness, and the more we understand the large privileges and the glorious possibilities which lie in prayer, the more will the relative proportions of its component parts be changed, and petition will become less, and aspiration will become more. The essence of prayer, the noblest form of it, is thus typified by the cloud of sweet odours that went up before God.

In all true prayer there must be the lowest prostration in reverence before the Infinite Majesty. But the noblest prayer is that which lifts ‘them that are bowed down’ rather than that which prostrates men before an inaccessible Deity. And so, whilst we lie low at His feet, that may be the prayer of a mere theist, but when our hearts go out towards Him, and we are drawn to Himself, that is the prayer that befits Christian aspiration; the ascent of the soul toward God is the true essence of prayer. As one of the non-Christian philosophers-seekers after God, if ever there were such, and who, I doubt not, found Him whom they sought-has put it, ‘the flight of the lonely soul to the only God’; that is prayer. Is that my prayer? We come to Him many a time burdened with some very real sorrow, or weighted with some pressing responsibility, and we should not be true to ourselves, or to Him, if our prayer did not take the shape of petition. But, as we pray, the blessing of the transformation of its character should be realised by us, and that which began with the cry for help and deliverance should always be, and it always will be, if the cry for help and deliverance has been of the right sort, sublimed into ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek.’ The Book of Ecclesiastes describes death as the ‘return of the spirit to God who gave it.’ That is the true description of prayer, a going back to the fountain’s source. Flames aspire; to the place ‘whence the rivers came thither they return again.’ The homing pigeon or the migrating bird goes straight through many degrees of latitude, and across all sorts of weather, to the place whence it came. Ah! brethren, let us ask ourselves if our spirits thus aspire and soar. Do we know what it is to be, if I might so say, like those captive balloons that are ever yearning upwards, and stretching to the loftiest point permitted them by the cord that tethers them to earth?

Now another thought that this altar of incense may teach us is that the prayer that soars must be kindled. There is no fragrance in a stick of incense lying there. No wreaths of ascending smoke come from it. It has to be kindled before its sweet odour can be set free and ascend. That is why so much of our prayer is of no delight to God, and of no benefit to us, because it is not on fire with the flame of a heart kindled into love and thankfulness by the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The cold vapours lie like a winding-sheet down in the valleys until the sun smites them, warms them, and draws them up. And our desires will hover in the low levels, and be dank and damp, until they are drawn up to the heights by the warmth of the Sun of righteousness. Oh! brethren, the formality and the coldness, to say nothing of the inconsecutiveness and the interruptedness by rambling thoughts that we all know in our petitions, in our aspirations, are only to be cured in one way:-

‘Come! shed abroad a Saviour’s love,

And that will kindle ours.’

It is the stretched string that gives out musical notes; the slack one is dumb. And if we desire that we may be able to be sure, as our Master was, when He said, ‘I know that Thou hearest me always,’ we must pray as He did, of whom it is recorded that ‘He prayed the more earnestly,’ and ‘was heard in that He feared.’ The word rendered ‘the more earnestly’ carries in it a metaphor drawn from that very fact that I have referred to. It means ‘with the more stretched-out extension and intensity.’ If our prayers are to be heard as music in heaven, they must come from a stretched string.

Once more, this altar of incense teaches us that kindled prayer delights God. That emblem of the sweet odour is laid hold of with great boldness by more than one Old and New Testament writer, in order to express the marvellous thought that there is a mutual joy in the prayer of faith and love, and that it rises as ‘an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.’ The cuneiform inscriptions give that thought with characteristic vividness and grossness when they speak about the gods being ‘gathered like flies round the steam of the sacrifice.’ We have the same thought, freed from all its grossness, when we think that the curling wreaths going up from a heart aspiring and enflamed, come to Him as a sweet odour, and delight His soul. People say, ‘that is anthropomorphism-making God too like a man.’ Well, man is like God, at any rate, and surely the teaching of that great name ‘Father’ carries with it the assurance that just as fathers of flesh are glad when they see that their children like best to be with them, so there is something analogous in that joy before the angels of heaven which the Father has, not only because of the prodigal who comes back, but because of the child who has long been with Him, and is ever seeking to nestle closer to His heart. The Psalmist was lost in wonder and thankfulness that he was able to say ‘He was extolled with my tongue.’ Surely it should be a gracious, encouraging, strengthening thought to us all, that even our poor aspirations may minister to the divine gladness.

Now let us turn to another thought.

II. This altar shows us where prayer stands in the Christian life.

There are two or three points in regard to its position which it is no fanciful spiritualising, but simply grasping the underlying meaning of the institution, if we emphasise. First, let me remind you that there was another altar in the outer court, whereon was offered the daily sacrifice for the sins of the people. That altar came first, and the sacrifice had to be offered on it first, before the priest came into the inner court with the coals from that altar, and the incense kindled by them. What does that say to us? The altar of incense is not approached until we have been to the altar of sacrifice. It is no mere arbitrary appointment, nor piece of evangelical narrowness, which says that there is no real access to God, in all the fullness and reality of His revealed character for us sinful men, until our sins have been dealt with, taken away by the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us. And it is simply the transcript of experience which declares that there will be little inclination or desire to come to God with the sacrifice of praise and prayer until we have been to Christ, the sacrifice of propitiation and pardon. Brethren, we need to be cleansed, and we can only be delivered from the unholiness which is the perpetual and necessary barrier to our vision of God by making our very own, through simple faith, the energy and the blessedness of that great Sacrifice of propitiation. Then, and then only, do we properly come to the altar of incense. Its place in the Christian life is second, not first. ‘First be reconciled to thy’ Father, ‘then lay’ the incense ‘on the altar.’

Again, great and deep lessons are given to us in the place of our altar in regard to the other articles that stood in that inner court. I have said that there were three of them. In the centre this altar of incense; on the one hand the great lampstand; on the other hand the table with loaves thereon. The one symbolised Israel’s function in the world to be its light, which in our function too, and the other with loaves thereon symbolised the consecration to God of Israel’s activities, and their results.

But between the two, central to both, stood the altar of incense. What does that say as to the place of prayer, defined as I have defined it, in the Christian life? It says this, that the light will burn dim and go out, and the loaves, the expression and the consequences of our activities, will become mouldy and dry, unless both are hallowed and sustained by prayer. And that lesson is one which we all need, and which I suppose this generation needs quite as much as, if not more than, any that has gone before it. For life has become so swift and rushing, and from all sides, the Church, the world, society, there come such temptations, and exhortations, and necessities, for strenuous and continuous work, that the basis of all wholesome and vigorous work, communion with God, is but too apt to be put aside and relegated to some inferior position. The carbon points of the electric arc-light are eaten away with tremendous rapidity in the very act of giving forth their illumination, and they need to be continually approximated and to be frequently renewed. The oil is burned away in the act of shining, and the lamp needs to be charged again. If we are to do our work in the world as its lights, and if we are to have any activities fit to be consecrated to God and laid on the Table before the Veil, it can only be by our making the altar of incense the centre, and these others subsidiary.

One last thought-the place of prayer in the Christian life is shadowed for us by the position of this altar in reference to ‘the secret place of the Most High,’ that mysterious inner court which was dark but for the Shechinah’s light, and lonely but for the presence of the worshipping cherubim and the worshipped God. It stood, as we are told a verse or two after my text, ‘before the veil.’ A straight line drawn from the altar of sacrifice would have bisected the altar of incense as it passed into the mercy-seat and the glory. And that just tells us that the place of prayer in the Christian lift is that it is the direct way of coming close to God. Dear brother, we shall never lift the veil, and stand in ‘the secret place of the Most High,’ unless we take the altar of incense on our road.

There is one more thought here-

III. The altar of incense shows us how prayer is to be cultivated.

Twice a day, morning and evening, came the officiating priest with his pan of coals and incense, and laid it there; and during all the intervening hours between the morning and the evening the glow lay half hidden in the incense, and there was a faint but continual emission of fragrance from the smouldering mass that had been renewed in the morning, and again in the evening. And does not that say something to us? There must be definite times of distinct prayer if the aroma of devotion is to be diffused through our else scentless days. I ask for no pedantic adherence, with monastic mechanicalness, to hours and times, and forms of petitions. These are needful crutches to many of us. But what I do maintain is that all that talk which we hear so much of in certain quarters nowadays as to its not being necessary for us to have special times of prayer, and as to its being far better to have devotion diffused through our lives, and of how laborare est orare -to labour is to pray-all that is pernicious nonsense if it is meant to say that the incense will be fragrant and smoulder unless it is stirred up and renewed night and morning. There must be definite times of prayer if there is to be diffused devotion through the day. What would you think of people that said, ‘Run your cars by electricity. Get it out of the wires; it will come! Never mind putting up any generating stations’? And not less foolish are they who seek for a devotion permeating life which is not often concentrated into definite and specific acts.

But the other side is as true. It is bad to clot your religion into lumps, and to leave the rest of the life without it. There must be the smouldering all day long. ‘Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing.’ You can pray thus. Not set prayer, of course; but a reference to Him, a thought of Him, like some sweet melody, ‘so sweet we know not we are listening to it,’ may breathe its fragrance, and diffuse its warmth into the commonest and smallest of our daily activities. It was when Gideon was threshing wheat that the angel appeared to him. It was when Elisha was ploughing that the divine inspiration touched him. It was when the disciples were fishing that they saw the Form on the shore. And when we are in the way of our common life it is possible that the Lord may meet us, and that our souls may be aspiring to Him. Then work will be worship; then burdens will be lightened; then our lamps will burn; then the fruits of our daily lives will ripen; then our lives will be noble; then our spirits will rest as well as soar, and find fruition and aspiration perpetually alternating in stable succession of eternal progress.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of acacia wood shalt thou make it. It’s to be eighteen by eighteen, and forty-five inches high ( Exo 30:1 ).

This is a little altar that was set in the holy place, before the veil that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies.

Overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides round about, and the horns thereof; [So it’s a little altar only of gold, and it’s to burn incense, a sweet smelling savour again before God.] And the rings in it so that they can carry it with the golden staves that are through it. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning; when he dresses the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations ( Exo 30:3-8 ).

So along with the putting of the oil in the lamp stands to keep them burning morning and evening, there was also the putting of the incense on this little altar. So in this Holy of Holies there was always this sweet smell of incense burning and the lamps that were burning. It was just unto the Lord, there perpetually.

And ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall you pour drink offerings thereon. [It was just a little incense altar, nothing else on it.] And Aaron shall make an atonement [or a covering] upon the horns of it once a year with the blood of the sin offering of the atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it [Yom Kippur actually, the day of atonement.] throughout your generations: it is the most holy unto the Lord. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When you take the census of the children of Israel after their number, then shall you give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when you’re numbering them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them. This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, a half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) and a half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. And every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than a half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, thou shalt make a covering for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement [or covering] money for the children of Israel, appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make a covering for your souls ( Exo 30:10-16 ).

So they did not actually take a census, as such; they were forbidden by God to number the people. But once a year, every man above twenty years old had to give a half shekel. So they’d count the half shekels and they’d know how many people there were, but no census because that was forbidden, but this was the way of taking the census actually. Every man gave a half of a shekel, which was to actually purchase the land from the offering, and to keep things, you know, functioning there. The rich were not to give more; the poor were not to give less. It was a half shekel for everybody. No favoritism because a person was rich, just everyone giving the same amount.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water in it ( Exo 30:17-18 ).

So this big bathtub, a brass tub for the washing of the priests. And that was before the-as they’d come into the gate of this little enclosure, the first thing was this little brass tub to wash in. Then next a brass altar, and then the tabernacle itself where they would go in.

For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet: And when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord ( Exo 30:19-20 ):

So here again is an occupational hazard; if they forget to wash before they go in, they get wiped out. Now this could be what happened to Aaron’s sons. It could be that they just got excited when they saw the fire of God, and ran in there without washing and got wiped out. Or it could be that they had been drinking some wine and were under false stimulus, because later on after they died God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron that neither he, nor his sons should drink any strong drink when they offer the Lord, lest they die” ( Lev 10:9 ). So a very hazardous job being a priest in those days.

So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever, Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, [Now this is the anointing oil and how they were to make it.] Thou shalt also take thee principal spices, myrrh five hundred shekels, sweet cinnamon, two hundred fifty shekels, and sweet calamus two hundred fifty shekels, Cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil an hin: [A hin is about six quarts, and a shekel is about sixty-five cents worth. So sixty-five cents worth of myrrh, or sixty-five times five hundred.] Thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compounded after the art of the apothecary: [the druggist] it shall be a holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation with it, and the ark of testimony, And the table and all the vessels, the candlesticks, and all the vessels, the altar of incense, The altar of burnt offering with vessels, and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: and whatsoever touches them shall be holy. And thou shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil unto me throughout all your generations. Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall you make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever will compound anything like it, or whosoever puts any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people ( Exo 30:21-33 ).

Now as I was first reading through the Bible and I was reading of this oil and all, I thought, “Oh, that would be interesting to go ahead and put together these spices and make some of this oil,” until I got down to the verse thirty-two and then I decided not to do it.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, [I’m not gonna even try their names.] and make a perfume after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put it in before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: and it shall be unto you most holy. As for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. [So a separate oil, a separate perfume only to be used for God.] Whosoever shall make anything like unto the smell of it, shall be cut off from his people ( Exo 30:34-38 ).

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

We may come to the description of the altar of incense. It is significant that in the earlier description of the Holy Place, with its furnishing, this altar was not named. It was specifically the altar of priesthood, instructions concerning which were not given until the priest was prepared for service. It completes and crowns the symbolism of the Holy Place. The table of shewbread represented communion with God, the lampstand spoke of testimony to the world, and now the golden altar speaks of the offering of adoration.

Provision was now made for the taking of the sum of the children of Israel and the process was a recognition of redemption. Everyone was to provide a half shekel of silver. The rich man’s value was expressed by the half shekel, as was also that of the poor man.

Instructions concerning the laver follow. It was to stand at the entrance; in it the priests were to wash before they entered the Holy Place. For continued service in holy things repeated cleansing is necessary. Finally, we have in this chapter instructions concerning the anointing oil and incense. In each case these were compounded of precious things, all of them having significance and suggesting that the best graces of the soul are to merge with the sweetness of the anointing from on high. Very solemn are the injunctions that neither the sacred oil nor the holy incense was to be used in any way for personal gratification.

They are symbols of the soul’s relation to God at its highest and must not be degraded.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Altar of Incense

Exo 30:1-10

It seems late in the story of the Tabernacle that the incense-altar should be only mentioned now; but it is not unsuitable, because intercessory prayer, which it represents, is the crown and climax of the religious life. When our Lord had finished His sacrificial death, He passed into the heavens to make intercession for us. In Rev 8:3-4, r.v., the veil is lifted, and we are allowed to behold Him, standing by the golden altar in heaven, and adding much incense to the prayers of all saints. What a wealth of prayer is ever passing through those gracious hands and that loving heart! Joh 17:1-26 is the Golden Altar of Scripture; let us often worship there. But, alas, these earthly altars soon get defiled, even by our prayers, and need the blood that speaketh peace. All our prayer requires the blood of at-one-ment.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 30:6-10

The altar of incense was made of acacia wood, and stood about a yard high and eighteen inches square. Incense was burnt upon it every morning and evening, and it was used for this purpose only. The altar and incense were symbolic-

I. Of the prayers of God’s people. (1) In prayer we speak to God and tell Him the thoughts of our minds, the feelings of our hearts, the desires of our spirits. The incense smoke ascended, arrow-like, in a straight and most direct column to heaven. Our prayers ascend immediately and in the directest way to the heart and ear of God. (2) In prayer we stand very near God. The altar of incense was placed “before the mercy-seat.” (3) The pleasant odour of the incense is symbolic of the acceptableness of prayer.

II. Of intelligent, unceasing, and reverent prayer. (1) The burning of incense is intelligent prayer. It took place in the light, and our prayers should be presented to God intelligently. (2) Unceasing prayer. It was a perpetual incense before the Lord. (3) Reverent prayer. “Ye shall burn no strange incense thereon; it is most holy unto the Lord.”

III. Of prayer offered in Christ’s name. Aaron sprinkled the golden horns with the blood of atonement. This act is typical of the offering of prayer in the name of Christ.

IV. Of the power of prayer. The horns of the altar symbolise power. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

D. Rhys Jenkins, The Eternal Life, p. 387.

Reference: Exo 30:7, Exo 30:8.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1710.

Exo 30:8

This altar of incense had a very distinct meaning, and there are large lessons to be drawn from it.

I. The incense is a lovely, significant, and instructive symbol of prayer. (1) It teaches that prayer is the ascent of a man’s soul to God. (2) That the prayer which ascends must be the prayer that comes from a fire. (3) The kindled incense gave forth fragrant odours. When we present our poor prayers, they rise up acceptable to God in curling wreaths of fragrance that He delights in and that He accepts.

II. Notice the position of the altar of incense in relation to the rest of the sanctuary. It stood in the holy place, midway between the outer court, where the whole assembly of worshippers were in the habit of meeting, and the holiest of all, where the high-priest alone went once a year. Whoever approached the altar of incense had to pass by the altar of sacrifice, and whoever was on his way to the holiest of all had to pass by the altar of incense. These things teach us these plain lessons: (1) That all prayer must be preceded by the perfect sacrifice, and that our prayers must be offered on the footing of the perfect sacrifice which Christ Himself has offered. (2) That there is no true fellowship and communion of spirit with God except on condition of habitual prayer, and they that are strangers to the one are strangers to the other.

III. The offering was perpetual. Morning and evening the incense was piled up and blown into a flame, and all the day and night it smouldered quietly on the altar; that is to say, special seasons and continual devotion, morning and evening kindled, heaped up, and all the day and night glowing.

IV. Once a year Aaron had to offer a sacrifice of expiation for this altar that bore the perpetual incense. Even our prayers are full of imperfections and sins, which need cleansing and forgiveness by the great High-priest.

A. Maclaren, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 234

Reference: Exo 30:11-16.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1581

Exo 30:12

The word which is here rendered “ransom” is afterwards rendered “atonement.” The atonement covered or removed what displeased God, and thus sanctified for His service. Our notion of atonement under the law should ordinarily be limited to the removal of the temporal consequences of moral or ceremonial defilement.

The sum of half a shekel was the tax that every man had to pay as his ransom, and as this is the single instance in the Jewish law in which an offering of money is commanded, it seems highly probable that it was not a ransom for the soul so much as a ransom for the life which the Israelite made when he paid his half-shekel. On all occasions in which the soul, the immortal principle, is undeniably concerned, the appointed offerings are strictly sacrificial.

Consider:-

I. The ransom for the life. Our human lives are forfeited to God; we have not accomplished the great end of our being, and therefore we deserve every moment to die. The Israelites paid their tax as a confession that life had beneforfeited, and as an acknowledgment that its continuance depended wholly on God. We cannot give the half-shekel payment, but we should have before us the practical remembrance that in God’s hand is the soul of every living thing.

II. The rich and the poor were to pay just the same sum. This was a clear and unqualified declaration that in the sight of God the distinctions of rank and estate are altogether as nothing; that, whilst He gathers the whole human race under His guardianship, there is no difference in the watchfulness which extends itself to the several individuals.

III. If we understand the word “soul” in the ordinary sense, the text is a clear indication that God values at the same rate the souls of all human beings. Every soul has been redeemed at the price of the blood of God’s Son; the Mediator died that the soul might live; and if rich and poor acknowledge by a tribute that from God is the life of the soul, it is right that they should acknowledge it by the same tribute. Rich and poor must offer the same atonement for the soul.

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2566.

References: Exo 30:19.-Parker, vol. ii., p. 321. Exo 30:22-38.-B. Isaac, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 395. Exo 31:1-6.-J. Spencer Bartlett, Sermons, p. 284. Exo 31:1-11.-Parker, vol. ii., p. 251. Exo 31:6.-J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. ii., p. 368.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 30 The Altar of Incense and the Worshippers

1. The altar (Exo 30:1-10)

2. The atonement money (Exo 30:11-16)

3. The brazen laver and the unction of the Spirit (Exo 30:22-33)

4. The incense (Exo 30:34-38)

This is a beautiful chapter, filled with blessed lessons. We have before us instructions concerning true, priestly worship. The brazen altar was of shittim wood, but this altar is of shittim wood covered with pure gold. The altar of brass tells of the work of Christ on the cross when judgment fell upon Him. There we learn in faith that our sins and guilt were fully met. The golden altar typifies Christ as entered into heaven. He is an altar there likewise, a place of sacrifice, but not a bleeding sacrifice. As believers we are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1Pe 2:5). By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips confessing His name. The altar of incense stands for this true, heavenly worship. There is a warning not to offer strange incense. In Leviticus (10:1-3) the additional warning is against strange fire. Strange incense is that kind of worship which is called ritualistic; a mere outward form, which puts a man in the place of leader in worship. Strange fire is a soulical, emotional worship, which is destitute of the Holy Spirit, who alone gives power to worship.

And those who come as true worshippers must be redeemed. This is seen in Exo 30:11-16. Here is a confession of the fact that all are lost, all on equal footing, and all need redemption.

The brazen laver is mentioned next. This was for the washing of the hands and feet, symbolical of the washing of water by the Word, the cleansing from daily defilement. This is so blessedly illustrated in the washing of the feet of the disciples by our Lord. We must be cleansed, self-judged and self-denied, separated from evil, if we are to be true worshippers before the altar of incense. No real communion with God is possible save on the ground of personal holiness. Later we shall find that the laver was made of the looking-glasses of the assembling women (Exo 38:8). The Word of God is the true looking-glass where we see ourselves as we are, and then go to Him who is our laver for cleansing.

The holy anointing oil is the type of the Holy Spirit. He is needed for worship in the Spirit. A closer examination of the principal spices and their possible meaning, we must pass over. Notice that this oil was not to be poured upon mans flesh, neither shall ye make any other like it (Exo 30:32-33). The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The flesh is so corrupt that the Holy Spirit can have nothing to do with it. And how much the Spirit and His real work is counterfeited in these days.

The ingredients of the incense are also given. It is typical of the wonderful fragrance Christ is to God. His life on earth, His obedience, His death on the cross, His presence in Glory, all He is and all He does are of unspeakable fragrance and value to God.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

incense

Altar of incense, type of Christ our intercessor Joh 17:1-26; Heb 7:25 through whom our own prayers and praises ascend to God; Heb 13:15; Rev 8:3; Rev 8:4 and of the believer-priest’s sacrifice of praise and worship Heb 13:15.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Samaritan inserts the first ten verses of this chapter after Exo 26:32.

an altar: Exo 30:7, Exo 30:8, Exo 30:10, Exo 37:25-28, Exo 40:5, Lev 4:7, Lev 4:18, 1Ki 6:20, 2Ch 26:16, Rev 8:3

to burn incense: Where so many sacrifices were offered, it was essentially necessary to have some pleasing perfume to counteract the disagreeable smells that must have arisen from the slaughter of so many animals, the burning of so much flesh, the sprinkling of the blood. No blood was ever sprinkled on this altar, except once a year, on the grand day of expiation. It was called also the golden altar – Num 4:11, and the incense was as constantly burnt on it every day, as the morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb was burnt on the brazen altar.

Reciprocal: Exo 31:8 – the altar Exo 35:15 – the incense Exo 40:26 – General Lev 10:1 – put incense Lev 16:13 – And he Num 3:31 – the altars 1Ki 6:22 – also 1Ki 7:48 – the altar 1Ch 6:49 – Aaron 1Ch 28:18 – the altar 2Ch 4:19 – the golden 2Ch 13:11 – sweet incense 2Ch 32:12 – one altar Isa 65:3 – altars Eze 41:22 – altar Luk 1:11 – the altar Rev 8:4 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

OF BLUEPRINTS AND BEZALEL

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE (Exo 30:1-10)

Of what material and for what purpose was it made (Exo 30:1)? Its size and shape (Exo 30:2)? Its furnishings (Exo 30:3)? The means for its removal (Exo 30:4-5)? Its location (Exo 30:6)? How often and at what time was the incense to be offered (Exo 30:7-8)? What prohibition was placed on its use (Exo 30:9)? How does Exo 30:10 bear on the iniquity of the holy things?

Although no sacrifice was offered on the altar of incense yet the worship there was acceptable only because of the sacrifice previously made at the brazen altar. These two altars were connected as one by the fact that the live coals which consumed the sacrifice on the brazen altar also burned the incense before the altar of incense.

This incense symbolized prayer, thanksgiving and obedience accepted through the intercession of the high priest. The offerer of the sacrifice, having been reconciled to God at the brazen altar and cleansed or sanctified as shadowed forth by the laver, soon to be spoken of, is here at the altar of incense seen to be accepted of God and adoring Him in consequence.

See Psa 141:2; 1Ti 2:8; and especially Rev 5:8; Rev 8:3-4. The fact that the altar was before the Lord is significant. Although the veil interposed between it and the ark, nevertheless God speaks of it as if nothing intervened, thus showing its intimate relation to the ark, the mercy seat and the divine presence. So prayer brings us into closest communion with our heavenly Father.

We have spoken of the relation of the two altars, the significance of which lies in the fact that in the brazen altar we have Christ typified in His atoning sacrifice, and in the incense of the golden altar we have Him typified in His intercession. The incense (intercession) is thus bound up with, and finds its efficacy in, the altar (His sacrifice). Compare Rom 8:34; Heb 9:25. Efficaciousness in prayer, therefore, is always in conjunction with the work of Christ for us. In Revelation 8 incense was offered with the prayers of the saints. It is the incense, therefore, typifying Christs intercession, which makes the prayers of the saints acceptable to God.

SUPPORT OF THE WORSHIP (Exo 30:11-16)

The numbering here referred to took place as recorded in Num 1:3. What accompanied the numbering, and how did it become a testimony of their actual condition of guilt before God (Exo 30:12)? What penalty attached to failure in this case? Amount of ransom (Exo 30:13)? (The approximate value of the shekel was 60 cents.) Upon whom did the obligation rest, and upon what scale (Exo 30:14-15)? For what purpose was the money used (Exo 30:16)?

THE LAVER (Exo 30:17-21)

What next was to be made, of what material and for what purpose (Exo 30:18)? Where placed? What parts of the priests persons were to be washed (v.19)? (Notice the word thereat, indicating probably that water was removed from the laver into a smaller vessel for this purpose.) When (v.20)? What penalty attached to a failure to comply (Exo 30:21)?

This washing symbolized the soul purity of those who might approach God. (See Joh 3:5; Eph 5:25-26; Tit 3:5.) The laver represents not the regeneration of the believer in Christ so much as it does his daily renewal in Christ. As Moorehead says, there is a bath which requires no repetition, being accomplished once for all (Joh 13:10 RV). Regeneration is never repeated (1Co 6:11 RV). But the believer comes into daily contact with the worlds defilement, and is polluted by his own remaining corruption. How is he to be kept clean? How is interrupted communion to be re-established? By washing the disciples feet Christ gave an illustration of the way in which this might be done. This act was a type of His intercession on our behalf continually (Joh 13:1-17; 1Jn 2:1).

This purpose is set before us in the laver, for Aaron and his sons were bathed upon their entrance on the priests office, which acts were not to be repeated in the same way or for the same purpose. Their acceptance and consecration in that sense were final and complete from the beginning. But each time they entered the sanctuary to perform their office they must wash their hands and feet. It was for this the laver was provided.

So at the altar our sin is judged and forgiven, and at the laver our sin is washed away from our persons. Jesus Christ in His atoning death and prevailing intercession is the glorious antitype of both.

BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB (Exo 31:1-11)

These are two of the most interesting of the secondary characters in the Old Testament.

They who did the mechanical work on the Tabernacle and the garments of the high priests work so sacred and important in Gods eyes must have had the consciousness of His being very near to them, and they to Him. Humanly speaking, what a nervous strain must have been their experience continually! Yet how did God provide against this, and at the same time for the perfect execution of His will (Exo 31:3)?

Note the lesson here of the way God provides for the execution of His will and His work in the spiritual realm, whom he chooses He anoints and equips in every necessity for His work. That these two men had the natural gifts for such employment were not enough, but these gifts must be imbued with power from on high.

Oh that every preacher, teacher and Christian worker might appreciate this, and put himself in that attitude before God where he might attain the equipment!

THE SABBATH LAW (Exo 31:12-17)

Why do you suppose his reference to the Sabbath is found here? Was it to prevent even so holy a work as the building of the tabernacle to be done on that day?

What does God call the Sabbath in Exo 31:12? What is meant by the closing words of Exo 31:17? God does not require rest and refreshment as we do, but may He not experience delight from the accomplishment of His work and the contemplation of its excellence?

THE END OF MOSES MISSION ON THE MOUNT (Exo 31:18)

Note this verse and compare it with Exo 24:12. How sacred the words: written with the finger of God! Certainly no material finger is referred to, but there was a putting forth of power for the purpose which effected the result just the same.

QUESTIONS

1. What truth is illustrated in the order in which this revelation is given?

2. What does the altar of incense symbolize?

3. The significance of the two altars?

4. The symbolism of the laver? And the anointing oil?

5. How does God provide for the execution of His work?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Exo 30:1-6. Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense thereon The altar of incense was to be about a yard high, and half a yard square, with horns at the corners, a golden cornice round it, with rings and staves of gold for the convenience of carrying it, Exo 30:1-5. It doth not appear that there was any grate to this altar for the ashes to fall into, that they might be taken away; but when they burned incense, a golden censer was brought, with coals in it, and placed upon the altar, and in that censer the incense was burned, and with it all the coals were taken away, so that no coals or ashes fell upon the altar. The altar of incense in Ezekiels temple is double to what it is here, (Eze 41:22,) and it is there called an altar of wood, and there is no mention of gold, to signify that the incense in gospel times should be spiritual, the worship plain, and the service of God enlarged. It was placed before the veil, on the outside of that partition, but before the mercy-seat, which was within the veil. For though he that ministered at that altar could not see the mercy-seat, the veil interposing, yet he must look toward it, and direct his incense that way, to teach us, that though we cannot with our bodily eyes see the throne of grace, that blessed mercy- seat, yet we must in prayer by faith set ourselves before it, direct our prayer, and look up.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 30:6. Before the veil. This altar, formed like the ark, of the incorruptible wood covered over with pure gold, represented the Son of God in human nature; and the incense typified his intercession. The former was placed within the sanctuary, the latter in the court without; for his sacrifice was offered on earth, his intercession is in heaven. But it was not fixed within the most holy place; because the continual intercession of Christ was to be represented by the daily burning of incense, morning and evening, by the other priests, as well as the highpriest. Such situation would therefore have interfered with the solemn institution of the annual entrance of the highpriest alone within the veil, on the day of atonement, which had a very important signification.

Exo 30:8. Perpetual incense. Christs one offering has its efficacy every day, from the beginning to the end of the world: his intercession is unremitting and perpetual, which is thus represented. Their dressing and lighting the lamps prefigured the preaching of the word, which could only be rendered effectual by the intercession of Christ, conferring the blessing in answer to prayer.

Exo 30:9-10. Make an atonement upon it. The application of the blood of atonement to the altar of incense, designated that the intercession of Christ derives all its efficacy from his sufferings; and therefore they must confine that altar to its prescribed use; for we need no sacrifice but Christ alone.

Exo 30:13. A shekel is twenty gerahs. Rabbi Ramban, who died about the year 1260, procured a silver shekel at Ancona, of the time of the kings of Judah, weight about half an ounce, having a branch of the almond tree on one side, and an urn on the obverse. The letters were written in the Samaritan character, Shekels of Shekels, on the side of the urn, and Holy Jerusalem on the other. Some shekels have been found, having around the almond branch, Shekel of Israel. Their value is about half a crown of English money.Half a shekel is the offering of the Lord. The LXX read , half of the half shekel. This sum, paid yearly, was employed in forming the silver sockets for the sanctuary, Exo 38:25-27; but more frequently, it is believed, in purchasing sacrifices and other requisites for public worship. This seems to have been the tribute that was demanded of Christ. Mat 17:24. Other contributions were voluntary, according to the ability or liberality of the offerer; but this was the ransom of their souls, and was to be the same sum for all above twenty years of age, whether rich or poor. Those who refused to pay it could have no interest in the sacrifice, and might expect to be visited with the plague, Exo 30:12. The souls of all are of equal value, equally forfeited by sin, and equally need a ransom. Christ is equally the near kinsman, the Goel or Redeemer of men; and the sprinkling of his atoning blood is freely dispersed on all the people.

Exo 30:18-21. Laverfor Aaron and his sons. The laver of brass was a large cistern, in which was continually kept a quantity of water; and perhaps the foot was a bason which received the water out of the cistern by a cock, or some other contrivance, for their immediate use. For the priests, though washed at their consecration, were to wash their hands and feet every time they officiated, on pain of death; intimating the continual guilt they contracted in their daily employments, and converse with the world. Joh 13:11.

Exo 30:23-25. Holy anointing oil, compounded of the most valuable ingredients, with which the priests, the altar, and almost every thing in the sanctuary were to be anointed. It was likewise poured upon kings, judges, and prophets, on their being appointed to office. This unction was emblematical of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, without which we cannot profitably attend on any divine ordinance, or officiate with acceptance in any sacred service. It is Christ who anoints and seals his ministers and people, to whom is given an unction from the Holy One, the odour of which is grateful to men, and wellpleasing to God.The anointing oil which Moses was commanded to make, according to a given prescription, was not to be used for common purposes, nor was any one allowed to imitate it; still greater is the sin of hypocrisy, and the guilt of despising the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit, which these anointings prefigured.

Exo 30:34-38. Take sweet spices. This was the incense burnt upon the golden altar: they who take occasion from the doctrine of Christs intercession and grace to indulge in sin, and they who make intercessors of saints and angels, alike violate the spirit of the restriction here annexed.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exodus 30-31. Ps. Priestly Supplements.These two chapters form an appendix to Exodus 25-29. The golden incense altar finds no place in Exodus 25 or Exo 26:33-36 or Leviticus 16 (where the annual rite of Exo 30:10 is ignored). Instead we hear of censers in Lev 16:12 and Num 16:6 f., while the great altar in the court is called the altar, as if no other were recognised. Similarly Exo 30:30, requiring the unction of Aarons sons, betrays itself as later than the series of passages in which the High Priest alone receives it, being often indeed called the anointed priest. Hence these features, mention of the incense altar, reference to anointing of priests, and distinctive naming of the brazen altar or the altar of burnt-offering, are all marks of secondary elements, wherever they occur. From their contents or phraseology the other sections of Exodus 30 f. betray themselves as supplements.

Exo 30:1-10 Ps. The Altar of Incense (cf. Exo 37:25-28, Exo 40:26).This altar was to be of gilded acacia wood, 18 inches square and 3 feet high, with horns at the corners, and a gold rim round it, with gold rings for the bearing poles (Exo 30:1-6), and it was to be placed in front of the veil in the holy place. Incense was to be burnt on it (Exo 30:7 f.) every morning and every evening (Exo 30:7 f.) when Aaron fixeth on the lamps between the evenings (Exo 12:6*). No other sort of offering, and no unauthorised incense, was to be used (Exo 30:9) on it. And an annual rite of atonement (see Drivers note) with the blood of the sin-offering, was prescribed (Exo 30:10, see above).

Exo 30:11-16 Ps. The HalfShekel Ransom-Money.There was a primitive dread of counting persons and things (cf. 2 Samuel 24). So whenever a census was made, a ransom of half a shekel (say Isaiah 4d.) was to be required from every person, rich or poor, the standard being the sacred shekel, perhaps the old Hebrew shekel, equal in weight to the Phnician (Exo 30:12-15). The money was to go to the upkeep of worship (Exo 30:16). The annual Temple tribute (Mat 17:24*) was based on this ordinance. Perhaps the levy of one-third of the smaller Persian shekel (say 8d.) in Neh 10:32 was the origin of it, the increased amount showing the growth of devotion to the Temple worship amongst the post-exilic community, after Nehemiahs time.

This passage implies the completed sanctuary, and the census (Numbers 1), and so is out of place here. The binding obligation upon all members of a religious community to contribute towards the cost of worship is still very imperfectly recognised among Christians.

Exo 30:17-21 Ps. The Bronze Laver (cf. Exo 38:8, Exo 40:30).This passage is an obvious supplement, for it should have come after the law of the altar (Exo 27:1-8) in the order followed in Exo 38:8, and, unlike the preceding laws, this has no note of design or size. It is, moreover, a fragment, as its opening should be And thou shalt make. In Solomons Temple there were ten large movable lavers, as well as a molten sea (1Ki 7:38 f.). The single laver was to stand on a bronze base between the tent and the altar, so that the officiating priests might wash their hands and feet and so be clean and safe when entering into the sanctuary itself or serving at the altar. The parallel ancient ceremony of handwashing (Lavabo) at the Communion has symbolism as well as decency in its favour: holy things demand holy persons.

Exo 30:22-22 Ps. The Anointing Oil (cf. Exo 37:29 a, Exo 40:9-11).This passage is another late supplement, giving minutely the costly composition of the holy anointing oil (Exo 30:23-25) to be applied, not only to Aaron, but to his sons, and to the tent and its fittings (Exo 30:26-30). The ceremony of unction is an old and widespread religious practice, to mark consecration, and endowment with Divine powers (cf. Isa 61:1). If, in later Israel, unction was extended from the high priest to other priests and to the sanctuary, in the English Church we find a converse processunction, which used to be applied at baptism and confirmation and to the sick, being now restricted to the king. Prophets as well as kings seem in ancient Israel to have sometimes received anointing (1Ki 19:15 f.). This law comes from a time when priests alone came into consideration; for not only may the oil not be put to common use even for priests, or even its composition imitated, but it must not be applied to any layman on pain of excommunication (Exo 30:31-33).

Exo 30:34-38 Ps. The Incense (cf. Exo 37:29 b).In early days it was the sweet smoke from the burning victims on the altar that was meant by the term Ketoreth. But Orientals are passionately fond of perfumes, and as civilisation became more elaborate it was natural that the ceremonial use of incense should be introduced into worship. In still later times it became a beautiful symbol of acceptable prayer (Ps. 14:12, cf. Rev 5:8). Knobel, Driver states, had this recipe made up at Giessen, and found the product strong, refreshing, and very agreeable.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE GOLDEN ALTAR OF INCENSE

(vs.1-10)

Before this chapter the Lord has given instructions concerning the tabernacle, its court and all the furniture both outside and inside, except the altar of incense and the laver. Two full chapters intervene before these are considered. The reason for this may be that, as regards the altar of incense, true worship (of which it speaks) comes after the sacrifices being made and the priests consecrated (that is, believers put in their place as priests). As to the laver, it is mentioned too only after the priests are consecrated, for it was used for the daily washing of their hands and feet.

The altar for the burning of incense stood in the holy place (not the holiest) just in front of the veil. It was made of acacia wood and overlaid, not with copper (as was the altar of burnt offering) but with gold. No animal offerings or grain offerings were put on this altar, but only incense which was burned on it to produce a sweet odor. This speaks only of worship, the worship arising spontaneously in hearts renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Its measurements were one cubit square and two cubits high. We have noted that the ark had one-half cubit involved in all three of its dimensions (Exo 25:10), indicating that the throne of God is beyond our understanding in every way. The table of showbread had the one-half cubit involved only in its height (Exo 25:23), implying that our fellowship is limited in regard to others all around us, but toward God it is to be precious beyond our understanding. But the altar of incense had no one-half involved in its dimensions, for this speaks of worship which believers give, and this is definitely limited. Worship has its sweet influence on those around us (one cubit in each direction), but twice that upward toward God.

The golden altar itself speaks of Christ as the Sustainer of our worship, His perfect Manhood indicated in the acacia wood, His eternal deity in the gold. The border at the top is called “a crown” in the KJV (v.3), and rightly so, as Strong’s Concordance confirms. It reminds us of the Lord Jesus at present “crowned with glory and honor” (Heb 2:9), worthy of the profound worship of all His own.

Two gold rings were to be placed, one on either side, under the border. It was not necessary to have four rings, as in the ark, because of its smaller size. The poles for carrying it were also made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.

The altar was close to the veil, its back toward the veil. Thus in the outer sanctuary there was the table of showbread on the right side as one entered, the lampstand on the left and the altar of incense straight ahead. Emphasis is therefore placed on communion (the table), testimony (the lampstand) and worship (the altar). We see these three in Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Joh 12:3-12. Lazarus sat at the table with the Lord (communion), Martha served (testimony) and Mary anointed His feet (worship).

Just as there was to be a continual burnt offering, so incense was to be burned on the altar both morning and evening, therefore called “perpetual incense” (v.8). This was to be done along with the trimming of the lamps. The connection of these is important too. Our lamps of testimony must be trimmed by self-judgment continually, so as to burn always with fresh brightness, and our worship is to be continually new and fresh.

Warning is given as to not offering “strange fire” on the altar, or burnt offering, meal offering or libation (drink offering) (v.9). The only incense allowed to be offered was what God prescribed (ch.30:34-36). One might like the smell of something else, just as people are often influenced greatly by the sight of lovely ornaments, vestments, stained glass windows, sounds of beautiful music, with feelings of subdued awe and wonder, and they feel they have been transported into a state of inspired worship. But such things can be totally misleading, for we should stop to realize that people’s thoughts are not in this way centered on the beauty of the person of the Lord Jesus. God knows what is true worship, and human feelings and opinions have no place. God showed His thoughts of this when Nadab and Abihu (Aaron’s sons) offered strange fire (Lev 10:1-2). They were themselves immediately consumed by fire. The incense speaks of the fragrances of the Lord Jesus: nothing can substitute for this before God.

However, once a year Aaron was to put blood on the horns of this altar. This was the blood of the sin offering shed on the great day of atonement (Lev 16:1-34), with its blood brought in by Aaron to be sprinkled before and on the mercy seat, then also on the horns of the golden altar and on the altar (vs.18-19). Thus, atonement was made on the altar (Exo 30:10). In this way there was a continual reminder that worship is based on the value of the blood of Christ shed on Calvary.

THE SILVER RANSOM MONEY

(vs.11-16)

When the children of Israel were numbered in a census, then each individual was required to pay to the Lord one half shekel as a ransom for himself (vs.12-13). It is called “atonement money” in verse 16. We may wonder as to why atonement was made by the blood of the sacrifice offered, yet besides this atonement money was required. This special individual requirement was to press home upon every person that atonement costs something. Of course a half shekel is nothing in comparison to the price the Lord Jesus paid in giving Himself. But the rich were not to give more, nor the poor to give less than a half shekel. All are on precisely the same basis in the matter of atonement.

This included only those who were twenty years of age and older. No doubt this was in consideration of the fact that those younger, not yet employed, would lack the means of paying. The money would however be used to pay the expenses of the service of the tabernacle.

Spiritually, this had only a typical meaning, for 1Pe 1:18 tells us, “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold.” Yet this requirement of the half shekel of silver establishes the fact that silver is symbolical of atonement. This was “a memorial,” therefore a reminder of the cost of redemption. We know today that redemption costs us nothing, but the cost to the Lord Jesus was beyond our understanding, as the one half shekel implies, — “the half was not told me” (1Ki 10:7).

THE COPPER LAVER

(vs.17-21)

We have before seen that on entering the courtyard, one immediately faced the altar of burnt offering, just as we must first come face to face with the cross of Christ. There the question of our sins is met, God is glorified and believing sinners forgiven by virtue of the one sacrifice of Christ.

But the copper laver stood between the altar of burn offering and the entrance to the tabernacle. It did not signify cleansing by blood: this was seen in the altar of burnt offering. Cleansing by blood takes place once and for all, as is emphasized in the one offering of the Lord Jesus (Heb 10:12-18). The laver was the place of many washings by water, washings of the hands and feet of the priests.

Of course, under law there were many sacrifices on the burnt offering altar, all of these typical of the one sacrifice of Christ, so that Heb 10:1-39 shows the great contrast now as regards the value of Christ’s one offering in comparison to the many Old Testament offerings. this is cleansing judicially by blood from the guilt of our sins.

However, the laver speaks of moral cleansing by the water of the Word of God (Eph 5:26). Each time a priest entered the tabernacle he was required first to wash his hands and feet. Previously, when the priests were consecrated, their bodies were washed with water (Exo 29:4). This speaks of the washing of new birth, done only once (Heb 1:22), a general washing that makes a moral difference in the individual. Yet a believer, though in principle thoroughly cleansed, is in circumstances where his feet become defiled through contact with the evil around him, and therefore often needs his feet washed (Joh 13:5-10). Hands are not mentioned in the New Testament, but if believers wash one another’s feet (symbolically) their hands will be cleansed by the water (Joh 13:14).

The laver was made of copper, but no dimensions are given. Chapter 38:8 informs us that it was made from the mirrors of serving women. Thus the condition of the priests’ feet would be reflected as they came near. So the holiness of God (of which copper speaks) faithfully reveals our true condition, and the water of the Word cleanses away the defilement that holiness has exposed.

This washing was imperative, whether a priest was going in to do service in the tabernacle or whether he was offering a sacrifice on the copper altar (v.20). Attempting to do such service without washing would be punishable by death (v.21). How careful we should be to give due respect to the holiness of God in all matters of worship and service.

THE ANOINTING OIL

(vs.22-23)

The oil symbolizes the Spirit of God (Zec 4:2-6; Zec 4:12), He by whom the Lord Jesus was anointed at the River Jordan (Mat 3:16), and by whom all believers of this present age are anointed (1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27). This anointing oil, however, was not confined to olive oil, but was compounded of special spices mixed with olive oil. These fragrant spices speak of the fragrances of the Lord Jesus, of which the Spirit of God bears beautiful witness. We must fully believe that all of them are deeply important, whether or not we understand their significance. Myrrh, the first ingredient, is obtained by an incision in the tree, and it exudes in drops, like drops of blood of teardrops. It is sweet-smelling, but bitter to the taste. Therefore it symbolizes the sufferings of Christ, He enduring the bitterness of the cross, and we reaping the sweetness of its results.

As well as myrrh, there were included in the making of the anointing oil sweet smelling cinnamon, sweet smelling cane and cassia. These are all typical of other fragrances that are found in the Lord Jesus, to which the Spirit of God bears witness. Likely involved in these are the eternal deity of His person, His perfect Manhood and His walk of pure devotion to God, though we may not be able to distinguish which spice speaks of what virtue in this all-glorious son of God.

The anointing oil was to be used to anoint the tabernacle itself, the ark, the table, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and its utensils, and the laver and its base (vs.26-28). Also the same oil was used to anoint Aaron and his sons (v.30). Thus, everything connected with the things of God was consecrated and set apart for the one purpose of glorifying the God of glory. Today too, the Church, together with all it bears witness to, is consecrated to God. Also, the priests were anointed, as is every believer today — anointed by the Spirit of God, to be God’s sole possession. This anointing originally took place at Pentecost (Act 2:1-47), but it remains true for every child of God at present.

The oil was not to be poured upon man’s flesh (v.32) because there is a total contrast between “the flesh” and the “the Spirit.” The Spirit of God is not given to improve the flesh. In fact it is by the Spirit that the believer is enabled to totally judge the flesh. Also, nothing was to be made even similar to this anointing oil. Men may conceive limitations of the work of the Spirit of God that seem plausible, but there is no substitute for Him. Rom 8:1-39 and 1Co 2:1-16 are very clear in this matter.

If one compounded anything like it, he was to be cut off in death (v.33), or if one put the anointing oil on a stranger, he was to suffer the same fate. For “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co 2:14)

THE INCENSE

(vs.34-38)

Appropriately, following the anointing oil (the unction of the Spirit) is the instruction concerning the incense, which speaks of worship. The ingredients of this again draw attention to the Lord Jesus. The first spice is stacte, which means “to drop,” as words drop from the lips, reminding us of “the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth” (Luk 4:22) — words that flowed out from His heart. The second spice, onycha, means “fingernail,” telling us of the very details of the work of the Lord’s hands, another reason for our adoring worship. Galbanum has a double meaning. “fatness” and “lamentation.” The fat of the offerings was always devoted to God, and speaks of the devotedness of the Lord Jesus to His God and Father. Along with this, “lamentation” speaks of His sorrow, for as One who was totally devoted to God, He suffered the cruel reproaches of men. “Frankincense” means “white,” and speaks of the purity of the Lord Jesus in His lovely separation to God.

Such fragrances seen in the Lord Jesus cannot but draw out the worship of believing hearts: indeed this is the true material for worship. It was also to be salted (v.35) for salt, crystallizing at right angles, speaks of righteousness, another indispensable ingredient.

Some of the incense was to be beaten very fine (for the finest details of the fragrance of Christ are valuable to God), and put before the ark of the testimony in the most holy place, where God would meet with Israel (v.36). It was “most holy,” for God finds pure, real delight in the worship of His saints who present to Him that which speaks of His Son.

This incense was for God, therefore no one was to make for themselves anything like it. This would be the principle of seeking worship for ourselves, as many false christ do. Anyone in Israel guilty of such perversion of the incense should be cut off from his people in death. This incense was to be burned on the altar of incense (ch.30:1).

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

30:1 And thou shalt make an altar {a} to burn incense upon: [of] shittim wood shalt thou make it.

(a) Upon which the sweet perfume was burnt, Exo 30:34.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The altar of incense and the incense offering 30:1-10

The place of this altar in the tabernacle has been a problem for some readers of the Book of Hebrews. Heb 9:4 can be understood as describing its location as being inside the holy of holies with the ark. The writer of Hebrews probably meant that the veil, not the holy of holies, had the altar of incense and the ark of the covenant connected with it (Heb 9:3-4). These pieces of furniture were on either side of the veil. Describing it this way clarified that the writer meant the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies. Old Testament passages say that the incense altar was inside the holy place with the golden lampstand and the table of showbread (cf. Exo 30:6; Exo 40:3-5; Exo 40:21-27). Most commentators on Exodus locate it in the holy place. [Note: E.g., Cassuto, p. 391; Keil and Delitzsch, 2:208; Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 472; Hyatt, p. 292; Cole, p. 205; Ellison, p. 162; Maxie D. Dunnam, Exodus, p. 327; Hannah, p. 154; and Durham, p. 399. This is also the position of the writers of the articles on the tabernacle and the temple in The New Bible Dictionary, the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, and the Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia.] Furthermore, Lev 16:2 and Heb 9:7 say that the high priest went into the holy of holies only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Another view is that the altar of incense was in the holy of holies. [Note: J. Dwight Pentecost, A Faith That Endures: The Book of Hebrews Applied to the Real Issues of Life, pp. 139-40.]

The priests would offer incense on this altar each morning and each evening, and the incense would burn all the time. The priests presented the daily burnt offering and the daily incense offering together each day. Both were demonstrations of constant uninterrupted devotion to God. Students of Exodus have almost universally recognized the incense offered as a symbol of prayer that ascends to God (cf. Rev 5:8). It was a sweet aroma in His nostrils and was essential to the maintenance of the divine-human relationship.

"Morning and evening prayers have been the habit of all ages. With the one we go forth to our labour till the evening, asking that our Father will give us His God-speed and guidance and protection. With the other we entreat forgiveness and mercy." [Note: Meyer, p. 375.]

"He who offers no sacrifice in his prayer, who does not sacrifice his self-will, does not really pray." [Note: Ibid., p. 387.]

The horns of this altar (Exo 30:10), as well as the horns on the altar of burnt offerings (the brazen altar), probably symbolized strength. [Note: Margit Sring, "The Horn-Motifs of the Bible and the Ancient Near East," Andrews University Seminary Studies 22:3 (Autumn 1984):334.]

Once a year Aaron applied the atonement blood on this altar to cleanse it afresh for another year (Exo 30:10). The description "most holy to the LORD" means the altar could not be used for any other purpose than what is stated here.

The directions concerning the sanctuary conclude with this section.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XXX.

INCENSE.

Exo 30:1-10.

The altar of incense was not mentioned when the tent of meeting was being prepared and furnished. But when, in the Divine idea, this is done, when all is ready for the intercourse of God and man, and the priest and the daily victims are provided for, something more than this formal routine of offerings might yet be sought for. This material worship of the senses, this round of splendour and of tragedy, this blaze of gold and gold-encrusted timber, these curtains embroidered in bright colours, and ministers glowing with gems, this blood and fire upon the altar, this worldly sanctuary,–was it all? Or should it not do as nature ever does, which seems to stretch its hands out into the impalpable, and to grow all but spiritual while we gaze; so that the mountain folds itself in vapour, and the ocean in mist and foam, and the rugged stem of the tree is arrayed in fineness of quivering frondage, and it may be of tinted blossom, and around it breathes a subtle fragrance, the most impalpable existence known to sense? Fragrance indeed is matter passing into the immaterial, it is the sigh of the sensuous for the spiritual state of being, it is an aspiration.

And therefore an altar, smaller than that of burnt-offering, but much more precious, being plated all around and on the top with gold (a “golden altar”) (Exo 39:38), is now to be prepared, on which incense of sweet spices should be burned whenever a burnt-offering spoke of human devotion, and especially when the daily lamb was offered, every morning and every night.

This altar occupied a significant position. Of necessity, it was without the Most Holy Place, or else it would have been practically inaccessible; and yet it was spiritually in the closest connection with the presence of God within. The Epistle to the Hebrews reckons it among the furniture of the inner shrine[41] (Heb 9:4), close to the veil of which it stood, and within which its burning odours made their sweetness palpable. In the temple of Solomon it was “the altar that belonged to the oracle” (1Ki 6:22). In Leviticus (Lev 16:12) incense was connected especially with that spot in the Most Holy Place which best expressed the grace that it appealed to, and “the cloud of incense” was to “cover the mercy-seat.” Therefore Moses was bidden to put this altar “before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat” (Exo 30:6).

It can never have been difficult to see the meaning of the rite for which this altar was provided. When Zacharias burned incense the multitude stood without, praying. The incense in the vial of the angel of the Apocalypse was the prayers of the saints (Luk 1:10; Rev 8:3). And, long before, when the Psalmist thought of the priest approaching the veil which concealed the Supreme Presence, and there kindling precious spices until their aromatic breath became a silent plea within, it seemed to him that his own heart was even such an altar, whence the perfumed flame of holy longings might be wafted into the presence of his God, and he whispered, “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense” (Psa 141:2).

Such being the import of the type, we need not wonder that it was a perpetual ordinance in their generations, nor yet that no strange perfume might be offered, but only what was prescribed by God. The admixture with prayer of any human, self-asserting, intrusive element, is this unlawful fragrance. It is rhetoric in the leader of extempore prayer; studied inflexions in the conductor of liturgical service; animal excitement, or sentimental pensiveness, or assent which is merely vocal, among the worshippers. It is whatever professes to be prayer, and is not that but a substitute. And formalism is an empty censer.

But, however earnest and pure may seem to be the breathing of the soul to God, something unworthy mingles with what is best in man. The very altar of incense needs to have an atonement made for it once in the year throughout their generations with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement. The prayer of every heart which knows its own secret will be this:

“Forgive what seemed my sin in me,

What seemed my worth since I began;

For merit lives from man to man

And not from man, O Lord, to Thee.”

FOOTNOTES:

[41] For it is incredible that, in a catalogue of furniture which included Aaron’s rod and the pot of manna, this altar should be omitted, and “a golden censer,” elsewhere unheard of, substituted. The gloss is too evidently an endeavour to get rid of a difficulty. But in idea and suggestion this altar belonged to the Most Holy. That shrine “had” it, though it actually stood outside.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary