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By Patrick Fairbairn
Published by Smith & English, 1854
BOOK THIRD.
CHAPTER III.
SECTION SIXTH.
P. 318-333.
As the Most Holy Place was peculiarly for God in the Tent of Meeting, so the Holy Place was peculiarly for the people, who occupied it by representation in the priesthood. Into this apartment the priests went every day to accomplish the service of God, having freedom at all times to go in and out. It might, therefore, be justly regarded as their proper habitation; and the furniture and services belonging to it would with equal propriety express their relation to God, as those of the Most Holy Place expressed the relation of God to them. We shall find this fully borne out by a consideration of the several particulars. The first of these is--
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE.
Its position appears to have been the nearest to the vail, which formed the entrance into the Most Holy Place, and indeed immediately in front of it. "Thou shalt put it before the vail, that is, by the ark of the testimony; before the mercy-seat, that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee" (Ex. xxx. 6). The meaning of the direction obviously is, that this altar was to be placed directly before the vail, in close relationship to it, and in the middle of the apartment; and this for the reason, that being so placed, it might the more readily be viewed as standing in a kind of juxtaposition to the mercy-seat. Hence also in Lev. xvi. 18, it is called "the altar that is before the Lord," being as near to his throne as the daily service to be performed on it admitted. In regard to its form and structure, it was to be a cubit square, and two cubits in height; made of shittim-wood overlaid with gold, with jutting points or corners called horns, and a crown, or ornamented edge of gold. That it was an altar, determines it to have been for sacrifice of some sort, or offerings to God; but not offerings of blood, which had to do with sin and atonement. The only altar for these was without the tabernacle, where the worshipper must have been reconciled and purified, before he could obtain admission as a guest into the Lord's house. And when admitted there, as his intercourse with God must now be of a closer kind, being the intercourse of one who had already come into a friendly relation to God, so the kind of sacrifice presented on this altar we naturally expect to form a symbolical expression of the innermost desires and feelings of a devout spirit. On this account, also, it probably was, that of all the articles belonging to the Holy Place, the altar of incense alone was sprinkled with blood on the day of atonement; as being the highest in order of them all, and the one that held a peculiarly intimate relation to the mercy-seat; hence most fitly taken to represent them all.
The incense, for the presentation of which before the Lord this altar was erected, was a composition formed of four kinds of sweet spices, stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense--of which the latter alone is known with certainty. The composition was made, we have every reason to think, with the view of yielding the most fragrant and refreshing odour. The people were expressly forbidden to use it on any ordinary occasion, and the priests restricted to it alone for burning on the altar---that there might be associated with it a feeling of the deepest sacredness. It possessed the threefold characteristic of "salted (not tempered together, as first in the LXX., and from that transferred into our version, Ex. xxx. 35; see Ainsworth there, and Bahr, i. p. 424), pure, holy "that is, having in it a mixture of salt, the symbol of uncorruptness, but otherwise unmixed or unadulterated, and set apart from a common to a sacred use. And the ordinance connected with it was, that when the officiating priest went in to light the lamps in the evening, and again when he dressed the lamps in the morning, he was to place on this golden altar a pot of the prescribed incense with live coals taken from the altar without, that there might be "a perpetual incense" ascending before the Lord in this apartment of his house.
The meaning of the symbol is indicated with sufficient plainness even in Old Testament scripture, and in perfect accordance with what might have been conjectured from the nature and position of the altar. Thus the Psalmist says, "Let my prayer be set before thee, as the incense" (cxli. 2), literally, Let my prayer, incense, be set in order before thee, implying that prayer was in the reality, what incense was in the symbol. The action also in Isaiah vi. 3, 4, where the voice of adoration is immediately followed by the filling of the temple with smoke, proceeds on the same ground; as by the smoke we are doubtless to understand the smoke of the incense, the only thing of that description to be seen there, and which, then, as an appropriate symbol, accompanied the ascription of praise by the seraphim. Passing to New Testament scripture, though still only to that portion which refers to Old Testament times, we find the people without engaged in prayer, while Zacharias was offering incense within (Luke i. 10), doing in word, what he was doing in action. And in the book of Revelation the prayers of saints are once and again identified with the offering of incense on the golden altar before the throne (Rev. v. 8; viii. 3, 4). [1]
That the devotional exercises, the prayers of God's believing people, should have been symbolized by this offering of incense, may possibly wear in the view of many a somewhat arbitrary appearance. Yet there is a very natural connection between the two, which persons accustomed to the rites of a symbolical worship could have had no difficulty in apprehending. For what are the odours of plants and flowers, but the sweet breath, in a manner, which they exhale? The outgoing, the efforescence of that fragrant life that is in them? And taking prayer in its largest sense, which we certainly ought to do here, as consisting in the exercise of all devout feeling and spiritual desire toward God--in the due celebration of his adorable perfections-,-in thanksgiving for the rich and innumerable mercies received from his bountiful hand--- in humble supplications for his favour and blessing--if we understand prayer in this wide and comprehensive sense, how can it be more suitably regarded than as the breath of the divine life in the soul? What is it but the pouring out before God, and to God, of the best and holiest affections of the renewed heart? What but the soul's going forth to unite itself in appropriate actings with the great centre of Being, and to devote its own inmost being to him? Of such spiritual sacrifices, it is saying little, that the presentation of them at fitting times is a homage due to God from his redeemed offspring. The permission to offer them is, on their part, a high and ennobling privilege, in the exercise of which they rise to sit in heavenly places with Christ, and occupy the lofty position of princes with God. Nor when done in sincerity and truth, can it ever fail, on God's part, to meet with the warmest reception and most favourable regard. In such breathings of childlike confidence and holy affection, he takes especial delight; and the fragrant odours arising from incense of the sweetest spices, could not be more grateful to the bodily sense, than are the pure and fervent aspirations of a devout spirit to the mind of a gracious God.
But it ought ever to be considered what kind of devotions it is that rise with such acceptance to the sanctuary above. That the altar of incense stood before the Lord, under his immediate eye, intimates that the adorations and prayers he regards, must be no formal service, in which the lip rather than the heart is employed; but a felt approach to the presence of the living God, and a real transaction between the soul and Him. That this altar, from its very position, stood in a close relation to the mercy-seat or propitiatory, on the one hand, and by its character and the live coals that ever burned in its golden vials, stood in an equally close relation to the altar of burnt-offering, on the other, tells us, that all acceptable prayer must have its foundation in the manifested grace of a redeeming God, and draw its breath of life, in a manner, from that blessed work of propitiation, which he has himself provided for the sinful. And since it was ordained that a "perpetual incense before the Lord" should be ever ascending from the altar--since injunctions so strict were given for having the earthly sanctuary made peculiarly and constantly to bear the character of a house of prayer, most culpably deaf must they be to the voice of instruction that issues from it, if they do not hear enforced on all who belong to the spiritual temple of an elect church, such a lesson as this--Pray without ceasing; the spirit of devotion is the very element of your being; your beginning and ending are alike here; all, from first to last, must be sanctified by prayer; and if this be neglected, neither can you fitly be named a house of God, nor have you any ground to expect the blessing of Heaven on your means of grace and opportunities of usefulness.
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD.
This table was made of the same materials as the other articles in the tabernacle---of the same height as the ark of the covenant, but half a cubit narrower in breadth--and as the table was for a service of food, a provision-board, it had connected with it what, in our version, are called "dishes, spoons, covers, and bowls," the usual accompaniments of such a table among men. It is proper to notice, however, that these names scarcely suggest what is understood to have been the exact nature and design of the articles in question. What on such a table could be the use of spoons or covers, it is impossible to understand. The rendering, accordingly, of these parts of the description may with good reason be inferred to be erroneous, and in regard to the latter of them, most certainly was so. Of the four subsidiary articles mentioned (Ex. xxv. 29), the first (***) were probably a sort of platters for carrying the bread to and from the table, on which also it might stand there; the second (*** from *** the hollow of the hand), some sort of hollow cups, or vessels, possibly for the frankincense (the LXX. have expressly censers); the third and the fourth (***) and (***), with which the latter in Ex. xxv. 29, and the former, in Numb. iv. 7, have coupled with them, the additional expression "to pour withal," (not "to cover withal," as in our version), were most likely the vessels appropriated for the wine, and are probably rendered with substantial correctness by the LXX. by words corresponding to "bowls and cups." That we cannot fix more definitely the form and use of these inferior utensils, is of little moment; as we can have no doubt, that they were simply such as were required for the provisions and services connected with the table itself.
Turning, therefore, to the provisions here mentioned, the main part, we find, consisted of twelve cakes, which, when placed on the table, were formed into two rows or piles. The twelve, the signature of the covenant-people, evidently bore respect to the twelve tribes of Israel, and implied, that in the symbolical design of these cakes, the whole covenant-people were equally interested and called to take a part. These cakes, as a whole, were called the "shew-bread," literally "bread of faces or presence." The meaning of the expression may, without difficulty, be gathered from Ex. xxv. 30, where the Lord himself names it "shew-bread before me always;" it was to be continually in his presence, or exhibited before his face, and was hence appropriately designated "shew-bread," or "bread of presence." The table was never to be without it; and on the return of every Sabbath morning, the old materials were to be withdrawn, and a new supply furnished. Why precisely on the Sabbath, will be explained, when we come to speak of the Moadeem or stated feast-days.
It has been thought, that something more must have been intended by the peculiar designation "bread of presence," than we have now mentioned, since, if this were all, the altar of incense and the golden candlestick might, with equal propriety, have been called the altar and candlestick of presence--which, however, they never are (Bahr). But a special reason can easily be discovered for the peculiar appropriation of this epithet to the bread, viz. to prevent the Israelites from supposing, what they might otherwise, perhaps, in their carnality, have clone, that this bread was, like bread in general, simply for being eaten; to instruct them, on the contrary, that it was rather for being seen and looked on with complacency by the holy and ever-watchful eye of God. They would thus more easily rise from the natural to the spiritual use, from the symbol to the reality. The bread, no doubt, was eaten by the officiating priests each Sabbath; not on the table, however, but only after having been removed from it, and simply because, being most holy, it might not be turned to a profane use, but must be consumed by God's familiars in his own house. As connected with the table, its design was served by being exhibited and seen, for the well-pleased satisfaction and favourable regard of a righteous God; so that it is not possible to conceive a fitter designation than the one given to it, of shew-bread, or bread of presence. [2]
But in what character precisely was this bread laid upon the table? We are furnished with the answer in Lev. xxiv. 8, where it is described as "an offering from the children of Israel by a perpetual covenant;" a portion, therefore, of their substance, and consecrated to the honour of God. It was, consequently, a kind of sacrifice; and, as the altar of God was in a sense his table, so this table of his in turn possessed somewhat of the nature of an altar; [3] the provision laid on it had the character of an offering. Hence, also, there was placed upon the top of each of the two rows a vessel with pure frankincense (Lev. xxiv. 7), which was manifestly designed to connect the offering on the table with the offering on the altar of incense, and to shew, that they not only possessed the same general character of offerings presented by the people to the Lord, but also that there existed a near internal relationship between the two: "Thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row for the bread, for a memorial (a calling to remembrance, viz. of the covenant-people before the Lord), an offering of fire unto the Lord." Now, the offering of incense was simply, as we have seen, an embodied prayer; and the placing of a vessel of incense upon this bread was like sending it up to God on the wings of devotion. It implied, that the spiritual offering symbolized by the bread, was to be ever presented with supplication, and only when so presented could it meet with the favour and blessing of heaven. Thus hallowed and thus presented, the bread became a most sacred thing, and could only be eaten by the priests in the sanctuary: "for it is most holy (a holy of holies) unto him, of the offerings of the Lord, made by fire by a perpetual statute."
It is also to be borne in mind, with the view of helping us to understand the symbolical import of the stew-bread, that there was not only frankincense set upon each row, but also a vessel or possibly two vessels of wine placed beside them. This is not, indeed, stated in so many words, but is clearly implied in the mention made of bowls or vessels for "pouring out withal," or making libation with them to God. Wine is well known to have been the kind of drink constantly used for the purpose; and the simple mention of such vessels, for such a purpose, must have been perfectly sufficient to indicate to the priesthood what was meant by this part of the provisions. Still, from the table deriving its name from the bread placed on it, and from the bread alone being expressly noticed, we are certainly entitled to regard it as by much the more important of the two, the main part of the provisions, and the wine only as a kind of accessory, or fitting accompaniment. But these two, bread or corn and wine, were always regarded in the ancient world as the primary and leading articles of bodily nourishment, and were most commonly put as the representatives of the whole means of life (Gen. xxvii. 28, 37; Judges xix. 19; Ps. iv. 7; Hag. ii. 12; Luke vii. 33; xxii. 19, 20, &c.) And from the two being placed together on this table, with precisely such a prominence to the bread as properly belongs to it in the field of nature, it is impossible to doubt, that something must have been symbolized here, which bore a respect to the divine life, similar to what these did in the natural.
But the things presented here, we have already stated, possessed the character of an offering to the Lord: if spiritual food was symbolized, it must have been so in respect to him; and how, it will naturally be asked, could his people present any thing to him that might with propriety be regarded as ministering nourishment or support to the all-sufficient God? Not certainly as if he needed anything from their hands, or could derive actual refreshment from whatever they might be capable of yielding in his service. But we must remember the relation in which Israel stood to God, and he again to Israel--their relation first in respect to what was, visible and outward, and then we shall have no difficulty in perceiving, how fitly what was here presented in that lower region, shadowed forth what was due in respect to things spiritual and divine. The children of the covenant were sojourners with God, in that land which was peculiarly his, and on which his blessing, if they only remained faithful to the covenant, was perpetually to rest. On their part, they were to obtain bread and wine in abundance for the comfortable support of their bodily natures, as the fruit of their labours in the cultivated fields and luxuriant vineyards of Canaan. And even in this point of view, they owed a return of tribute-money to God, as the absolute Lord and sovereign of the land, in token of their holding all in fief of him, and deriving their increase from the riches of his bounty. This they were called to render in their tithes, and first-fruits, and similar offerings. But as the table of shew-bread was part of the furniture of God's house, where all bore a religious and moral character, it is with the spiritual alone we have here to do, and with the outward and natural only as the symbol of that. The children of the covenant had most of all a spiritual relation to fill, as the occupiers of God's territory and the guests of his house; they had a spiritual work to do for the interests of God's kingdom, and in the doing of which they had also from his hand the promise of fruitfulness and blessing. How was such a result to appear? What here corresponds to the bread and wine obtained in the province of nature? What but an increase of righteousness, for which the spiritual mind ever hungers and thirsts, and which, the more it grows in the divine life, the more must it desire to have realized. But as the divine life exists in its perfection with God, he must also supremely desire the same; he must seek for a becoming return of righteousness from his people, as if it were refreshment to his nature; and with such a spiritual increase, they must never leave his house unfurnished. Had they been the subjects of an earthly king, it would have been their part to keep his table replenished with provisions of another kind, suited to the wants of a present life. But since God is a Spirit, infinitely exalted above the pressure of outward necessities, and seeking what is good only from his love to the interests of righteousness, it is their fruitful obedience to his commandments, their abounding in whatsoever things are just, honest, pure, lovely, and of good report, on which, as the very end of all the privileges he had conferred, his soul ever was, as it still is, supremely set. These are the provisions which, as labourers in his kingdom, they must be ever serving on his table; and on these his eye ever rests with holy satisfaction, when sent up with the incense of true devotion from the humble and pious worshipper. Hence in Ps. l. 13,14, he repudiates the idea of his requiring such gross materials of refreshment as the blood and flesh of slain victims, while he earnestly desires, v. 14, 23, the spiritual gifts of a pure and holy life. Sacrifices of any kind were acceptable only in so far as they expressed the feelings of a righteous soul.
If the whole community of Israel had entered aright into the mind of God, they would, in the ordinance of the shew-bread, have seen this to be their calling, and laboured with holy diligence to fulfil it. It was in reality done only by the spiritual portion of the seed, who too frequently formed but a small portion of the whole. To such, however, Cornelius is plainly represented as belonging, even though he had not yet been admitted to an outward standing in the community of the faithful, when, in the language of this ordinance, it is said of him, that "his alms-deeds and his prayers came up for a memorial before God"--for a memorial, or bringing to remembrance of the worshipper for his good, the very description given of the object of the shew-bread and its attendant incense. For God never calls his people to serve him for nought. He seeks from them the fruits of righteousness, only that he may send them in return larger recompenses of blessing. And every act of grace, or deed of righteousness that proceeds from their hands, does for them in the upper sanctuary the part of a remembrancer, putting their Heavenly Father, as it were, in mind of his promises of love and kindness. What encouragement to be faithful! How does God strew the path of obedience with allurements to the practice of every good and pious work! And in proportion to his anxiety in securing these happy results of righteousness and blessing, so must be his disappointment and indignation, when scenes of an opposite kind present themselves to his view. Of this a striking representation was given by the symbolical action of our Lord, in blasting the fig-tree, on which he went to seek fruit, but found none (Matth. xxi. 19), and in the parables of the barren fig-tree in the vineyard, and of the wicked husbandman to whom a certain householder let out his vineyard (Luke xiii. 6-9; Matth. xxi. 33-43; comp. also Isa. v. 1-7).
It is scarcely necessary to add, that the lesson taught in the ordinance of the shew-bread speaks with a still louder voice to the Christian, than it could possibly do to the Jewish church; as the gifts of grace conferred now are much larger than formerly, and the revenue of glory which God justly expects to accrue from them, should also be proportionally increased. We accordingly find in New Testament Scripture the strongest calls addressed to believers, urging them to fruitfulness in all welldoing; and every doctrine, as well as every privilege of grace, is plied to the purpose of inciting them to run the way of God's commandments. So much is this the characteristic of the Gospel, that its highest demands on the obedience of men come always in connection with its fullest exhibitions of grace to their souls; and nothing can be more certain, than that, according as they become subject to its influence, they are effectually taught to "deny themselves to all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world." [4]
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.
This is the only remaining article of sacred furniture in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle. Its position was to be on the south side, opposite the table of shew-bread, the altar of incense being in the middle, and somewhat nearer to the veil of separation. It was not so properly a candlestick, as a stand or support for lamps. It was ordered to be made with one erect stem in the centre, and on each side three branches rising out of the main stem in regular gradation, and each having at the top a place fitted for holding a lamp, on the same level and of the same construction with the one in the centre. The material was of solid gold, and of a talent in weight; so that it must have been one of the costliest articles in the tabernacle.
In the description given of the candlestick, nothing is said of its height, or of the proportions of its several parts. Both in the stem, however, and in the branches, there was to be a threefold ornament wrought into the structure, called "bowls, knops, and flowers." The bowls or cups appear to have been fashioned so as to present some resemblance to the almond-tree (Ex. xxv. 33), as, in the passage referred to, they are called "almond-shaped cups."
The knops or globes are supposed by some, in particular by Bahr, to have been pomegranates; but the word used in the original is not that elsewhere employed for pomegranates, and there is no valid ground for holding such to be the meaning of the term here. That they were some sort of rounded figures is all we can certainly know of them. And from the relative position of the three, according to which the flowers come last, it seems out of place to find in the candlestick a representation of a fruit-bearing tree, with a trunk, and on each side three flowering and fruitful branches. We should at least proceed on fanciful ground, did we make anything depend for the interpretation of the symbol on this notion; and for aught we can see to the contrary, the figures in question may have been designed simply as graceful and appropriate ornaments. Its being of solid gold, denoted the excellency of that which it symbolized; and the light it diffused being sevenfold (seven being the signature of the holy covenant, hence of sanctification, holiness) denoted that all was of an essentially pure and sacred character.
In the lamps on this candlestick Aaron was ordered to burn pure olive oil; but only, it would seem, during the night. For in Ex. xxvii. 21, he is commanded to cause the lamps to burn "from evening to morning before the Lord;" and in ch. xxx. 7,8, his "dressing the lamps in the morning," is set in opposition to his "lighting them in the evening." The same order is again repeated in Lev. xxiv. 3. And in accordance with this, we read in 1 Sam. iii. 3, of the Lord's appearing to Samuel "before the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord"--which can only mean early in the morning, before sunrise. Josephus, indeed, mentions, that the custom was to keep the lamps burning night and day; but this only shews, that the arrangement in the second temple varied from the original constitution. The candlestick appears to have been designed in its immediate use to form a substitute for the natural light of the sun; and it must hence have been intended that the outer vail should be drawn up at break of day, as in ordinary tents, so far as to give light sufficient for any ministrations that might require to be performed in the sanctuary.
This symbol has received such repeated illustration in other parts of Scripture, that there is scarcely any room for difference of opinion as to its fundamental import and main idea. In the first chapter of Revelation, the image occurs in its original form, "the seven golden lamps" (not candlesticks, as in our version, but the seven lamps on the one candlestick), which are explained to mean "the seven churches." These churches, however, not as of themselves, but as replenished by the Spirit of God, and full of holy light and energy; and hence in the 4th chapter of the same book we again meet with seven lamps of fire before the throne of God, which are said to be "the seven spirits of God"--either the One Spirit of God in his varieties of holy and spiritual working, or seven presiding spirits of light fitted by that Spirit for the ministrations referred to in the heavenly vision. Throughout Scripture--as we have already seen in ch. iii, of this part--oil is uniformly taken for a symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is so, not less with respect to its light-giving property, as to its qualities for anointing and refreshment; and hence the prophet Zechariah, ch. iv. represents the exercise of the Spirit's gracious and victorious energy in behalf of the church, under the image of two olive trees pouring oil into the golden candlestick--the church being manifestly imaged in the candlestick, and the Spirit's assisting grace in the perpetual current of oil with which it was supplied. Clearly, therefore, what we see in the candlestick of the tabernacle is the church's relation to God as the possessor and reflector of the holy light that is in him, which she is privileged to receive, and bound to give forth so constantly, that where she is there must be no darkness, though all around may be enveloped in the shades of night, She must ever appear to be dwelling in a region of light, and act under God as the bountiful dispenser of it to others.
But what exactly is meant by darkness and light in this relation? Darkness, in a moral sense, is the element of error, of corruption and sin; the rulers of darkness are the heads and instigators of all malice and wickedness; and the works of darkness are the manifold fruits of unrighteous principle. Light, on the other hand, is the element of moral rectitude, of sound knowledge or truth in the understanding, and holiness in the heart and conduct. The children of light are those who, through the influence of the Spirit of truth, have been brought to love and practise the principles of righteousness; and the deeds of light are such as may stand the examination and receive the approval of God.
When of God himself it is said, that "he is light, and in him is no darkness at all," it implies, not only that he is possessed of all spiritual discernment so as to be able to distinguish with unerring precision between the evil and the good, but also that this good itself, in all its principles of truth, and forms of manifestation, alone bears sway in his character and government. And so, when the Apostle writes to believers (Eph, v. 8), "Ye are light in the Lord, walk as children of the light," he immediately adds, with the view at once of explaining and of enforcing the statement, "for the fruit of the Spirit (or of light, as it is now generally read) is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth;" these are the signs and manifestations of spiritual light, and only in so far as your life is distinguished by these, do you prove and verify your title to the name of children of light.
The ordinance, therefore, of the golden candlestick, with its sevenfold light, told the church of that age, tells the church, indeed, of every age, that she must bear the image of God, by walking in the light of his truth, and shining forth in the garments of righteousness for the instruction and edification of others. Our Lord virtually gives a voice to the ordinance, when he says to his disciples: "Ye are the light of the world; let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good works may glorify your Father in heaven." Or it may be heard in the stirring address of Isaiah, pointing to Christian times: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord has arisen upon thee." As much as to say, Now, since the true light has come, since He has come who is himself the life and the light of men, it is day with thee; therefore, not a time to slumber and take thy rest, but to be up and doing in thy Master's service. Self-pleasing inaction, or unhallowed enjoyment, is no privilege in God's kingdom. He has brought to thy hand the richest talents of grace, not that they may be wrapt up in a napkin, but faithfully laid out for the glory of him who conferred them. Arise, therefore, and shine; reflect the light which has shone from heaven upon thy soul; give forth true and living manifestations of that glory, which the Spirit of glory has poured around thy spiritual condition: And as that light is all holy light, and that glory peculiarly consists in the revelation of God's pure and blessed character in the face of Jesus Christ, this high calling is fulfilled only in so far as the life and the power of godliness manifest themselves in thy walk and conduct.
In the preceding discussions regarding the Holy Place, we have avoided referring to the interpretations of the older typologists, or the views of commentators. It would have taken us too long to expose every error, and it seemed better to notice none till we had unfolded what we conceive to be the correct view of the several parts. And this, we trust, has appeared so natural, and is so fully borne out by the language of Scripture, that the contrary opinions may be allowed to remain unnoticed. Indeed, nothing more is needed than to look at them, to see how uncertain and unsatisfactory they commonly are, even to those who propound them. Bahr, indeed, speaks dogmatically enough, although his fundamental error regarding the general design of the tabernacle, formerly referred to, carried him here also for the most part in the wrong direction. But take, for example, what Scott says in his commentary regarding the shew-bread, which may be paralleled by many similar explanations: "They (the cakes) might typify Christ, as the bread of life and the continual food of the souls of his people, having offered himself unto God for them; or they may denote the services of believers, presented before God through him and accepted for his sake; or, the whole may mean the communion betwixt our reconciled Father and his adopted children in Christ Jesus, who, as it were, feast at the same table," &c. What can any one make of this diversity of meaning? When the mind is treated to so many and such different notions under one symbol, it necessarily takes in none distinctly; they become merely so many perhaps's; and instead of multiplying the benefit and instruction of the ordinance, we only deprive it of any certain sound whatever.--The ground of most of the erroneous interpretations on the furniture and services of the Holy Place, lay in understanding all directly and peculiarly of Christ. And this, again, arose from not perceiving that the Tabernacle was intended to symbolise what concerned the people as dwelling with God, not less than what concerned God's dwelling with them. It is not to be forgotten, however, that viewing him as the Head, the Pattern, and Forerunner of his people, everything that was here shadowed forth concerning them, is true in a higher and pre-eminent sense of him. His prayers, his work of righteousness, and his exhibition of the light of divine truth and holiness, take precedence of all that in a like kind ever has been, or ever may be, presented by the members of his body. But as Christ's whole undertaking is something sui generis, and chiefly to be viewed as the means of salvation and access to Heaven, provided by God for his people,--as under this view it was already symbolized in the furniture and services of the Most Holy Place, it is better and more agreeable to the design of the tabernacle, to consider the things belonging to the Holy Place as directly referring only to the works and services of Christ's people.
1. In the last of these passages the incense is said to have been offered "with the prayers of saints," whence some have inferred that the two were different, that the incense symbolized only Christ's intercession, and not the prayers of saints (See, for example, Symington on Atonement and Intercession of Christ, p. 364). But then in ch. v. 8, the incense is expressly called "the prayers of saints." And it is the usual style of the Apocalypse to couple the symbol with the reality, as, besides the instance before us, the golden candlesticks and the churches, the white linen and the righteousness of the saints, &c.
2. We have no intention of entering into any express refutation of Bahr's view--who understands by the shew-bread, that (spiritual) bread by which one comes to see the face of God, the proper food and nourishment of a divine life--as we conceive it to be entirely arbitrary, and utterly at variance with what is said of it, as an offering, and an offering from the people to God. Bush, however, follows closely in the footsteps of Bahr, and might, we think, in this as in some other cases, have given his master a little more specific acknowledgment of his obligations to him. As for Baumgarten's opinion, we scarcely know what he precisely means.
3. Sicut enim ara mensa Dei, ita mensa Dei ara qusedam erat, araeque plane vicem praestabat.--0utram, De Sac. L. I. c, 8, § 7.
4. The provisions of the table of shew-bread were evidently of the same nature, and possessed the same moral import with the meat and drink offerings; and some additional remarks will naturally fall to be made when we treat of these, which may be regarded as supplementary to what has been written here.