Exercitation 22

The Building of the Tabernacle. Moses Writing and Reading the Book of the Covenant. Considerations of the particulars of the fabrick and utensils of the Tabernacle. Omitted. One Instance insisted on. The Ark. The same in the Tabernacle and Temple. The Glory of God in what sense. The principal sacred utensil. The matter whereof it was made. The Form of it. The End and use of it. The Residence and Motions of it. The Mercy-Seat that was upon it. The matter thereof. Of the Cherubims. Their Form and Fashion. The Visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel compared. Difference in them, and Reason thereof.

The People having received the Law in the Wilderness, and therein a Foundation being laid of their future church-state and worship, which was to continue until the Times of Reformation (Hebrews 9:10), they had also by God's direction a place and building for the seat of that worship assigned to them. This was the Tabernacle erected in the Wilderness, suited to their then moving state and condition; into the room whereof, the Temple built afterwards by Solomon succeeded, when they had attained a fixed station in the Land of Promise. Our Apostle respecting the ordinances of that Church, as first instituted by Moses, which the Hebrews boasted of as their privilege, and on the account whereof, they obstinately adhered to their observation, insists only on the Tabernacle; whereunto the Temple and its services were referred and conformed. And this he does principally, Chapter 9, verses 1–5: Then verily the first Covenant had also Ordinances of divine Service, and a worldly Sanctuary. For there was a Tabernacle made, the first wherein was the candlestick, and the Table, and the Shew-bread; which is called the Sanctuary. And after the second Veil, the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all, which had the Golden Censor, and the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round about with Gold, wherein was the Golden Pot that had Manna, and Aarons Rod that budded, and the Tables of the Covenant: And over it the Cherubims of Glory shaddowing the Mercy Seat.

The preparation for the directions which God gave for the building of this Tabernacle is declared, Exodus 24. The body of the people having heard the Law, that is, the ten Words or Commandments, which was all they heard (Deuteronomy 9:10), (what God spake to them was written in the Two Tables of stone) they removed to a greater distance from the Mount (Exodus 20:18, 19). After their removal, Moses continued to receive from the Lord, that summary of the whole Law which is expressed, chapters 21, 22, 23. And all this as it should seem, at the first hearing, he wrote in a Book from the mouth of God. For it is said, chapter 24, verse 4, that he wrote all the words of the Lord. And verse 7, that he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people.

The Jewish Masters suppose that it was the Book of Genesis that is there intended. For say they, the rest of the Law was not yet written, namely, before God himself had written or engraven the Ten Words on the Two Tables of Stone. But this is a fond imagination; seeing the Book which Moses read contained the form and tenour of the Covenant made with that people at Horeb, and is expressly so called, and as such, was then solemnly confirmed and ratified by Sacrifice. It may therefore be supposed, that there is a Prolepsis used in the recording of this story, and that indeed the confirmation of the Covenant by Sacrifice, which was accompanied with the Reading of the Book, was not until after the third return of Moses from the Mount, with the renewed Tables. But this also may well be doubted, seeing this Sacrifice was prepared and offered by the young Men of the Children of Israel, verse 5, that is, the First Born, whose office was superseded upon the Separation of Aaron and his Sons to the Priesthood, which God had designed before that last descent of Moses from the Mount. We must therefore leave things in the order wherein they are set down and recorded. It appears therefore that Moses wrote the Law as he received it from God. This being done, he came down and read it in the ears of the people. And he proposed it to them, as containing the terms of the Covenant that God would have them enter into. This they solemnly engaged to the performance of, and thereby had their admission into a new church-state. This being done, the whole was confirmed by Sacrifice, and the sprinkling of blood, to prefigure the great confirmation of the New Covenant by the blood of Christ, as we shall see afterwards.

Things being thus settled, Moses goes up again into the Mount, to receive directions for that worship of God, which he appointed and enjoined to them, in that church-state whereunto they were newly admitted. And here in the first place, the Lord instructs him in the frame and whole fabrick of the Tabernacle, as that which was an eminent Type of the human nature of Christ, and so indispensably necessary to the solemn worship then ordained, as that no part of it could be rightly performed but with respect thereunto. This therefore with all the parts and utensils of it should now come under consideration. But there are sundry reasons for which I shall omit it in this place. As 1. The most material things belonging to it, must necessarily be considered in our Exposition of those places in our Apostle, where they are expressly insisted on. 2. Many things relating to it, as the measures of it, some part of the matter whereof it was made, divers colours used about it, are very dubious, and some of them so absolutely uncertain, that the Jews themselves can come to no agreement about them; and it is not meet to enter into the discussion of such things, without more room and liberty, than our present design, will allow to us. 3. Many learned men have already travailed with great diligence and skill in the discovery of all the several concernments of the Tabernacle and Temple, from whom the Reader may receive much satisfaction, who has a mind to enquire into these things. Add to all this, that the writing of this part of these Discourses, is fallen upon such a season, as affords me very little encouragement, or assistance to enlarge upon them. Only that the Reader may not go away without a taste in one instance of what he might have expected in the whole, I shall choose out one particular utensil of the Tabernacle, and give an account of it to him. And this shall be the Ark and its Attendencies.

§ 5 The Ark was the only furniture of the most Holy Place; the most sacred and holy of all the utensils of the Tabernacle and Temple. And it was the same in them both, as is evident (1 Kings 8:4, 6). It was the repository of the Covenant; for so the Law written by the finger of God in Tables of stone, is often called metonymically, and being anointed (Exodus 40:9), became [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], holiness of holinesses, or most holy, a type of him who was to fulfill the Law, and establish the Covenant between God and Man, being thereunto anointed as the most holy (Daniel 9:26). It was also the great pledge of the presence of God in the Church; from where it is not only sometimes called his Glory (Psalm 78:61), he gave [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], his glory, beauty, majesty into the hand of the enemy, when the Ark was taken, whereon the wife of Phineas cried, [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], Where is the Glory? (1 Samuel 4:21), because therein the glory departed from Israel (v. 22), but in its presence also, glory was said to dwell in the land (Psalm 85:9), [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] because therein the Shechina, or Chabod, or glorious presence of God, dwelt and abode among his people. Yes, it has the name of God himself attributed to it, by reason of its representation of his Majesty (Psalm 24:7, 9, 10).

We call it by the same name with the great vessel wherein Noah, and the seed of all living creatures were preserved. But their names are far distant in the original both in sound and signification, this was [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], Aaron, a chest, it may be from [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], a certain wood whereof such chests were made; that was [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], Tebah, the name of any vessel in the water great or small, though made with bulrushes (Exodus 2:3).

§ 6 It was, as the principal, so the first utensil of the Tabernacle that God appointed to be made (Exodus 25:10), and therein was as the heart from which, by a communication of sacred holiness from the presence of God, all other things belonging to the worship of the whole were spirited and as it were enlivened. And immediately upon its entrance into the Temple, the visible pledges of the presence of God therein appeared to all, and not before (1 Kings 8:8, 9, 10, 11, 12).

§ 7 The matter whereof it was made, was [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] (Exodus 25:10), Shittim wood, or boards of the [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] tree, mentioned (Isaiah 41:18). What wood it was, it is altogether uncertain, although it seems sure enough to have been none that grew in the Wilderness where the people were at the erection of the Tabernacle. For these Shittim boards were reckoned among the stores of silver and brass, and such other things as they had brought with them into the Wilderness (Exodus 35:25), and that expression, [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] Every one with whom was found Shittim-wood, intimates the rarity of it, and that it may be, it had been preserved by them for sundry generations. There is indeed a place called Shittim, and Abel Shittim, mentioned (Numbers 25:1 and chap. 33:49), not probably from these trees. However it was in the plains of Moab whereunto the Israelites came not until forty years after the making of the Ark. Farther then, we know nothing of the Shittim-tree, or of this wood; for whatever is discoursed of it, as it has been discoursed by many, is mere conjecture, ending in professed uncertainty. Only it seems to have been notable for firmness and duration, as continuing in the Ark apparently 900 years, even from the making of it to the destruction of the Temple by the Chaldeans. And it may be was returned to the second Temple, not perishing absolutely until the Covenant with that people expired 600 years after the Captivity. But herein it had the advantage of preservation from all external causes of putrefaction, by its inclosure on all parts in a covering of gold.

The form of the Ark was of a long square chest, of small dimensions, two cubits and § 8 an half in length, one and an half in breadth, and so in height also (Exodus 25:10), that is, according to the most approved estimation of their measures, near four foot long, and two foot and some inches broad and high; and farther exactness or accuracy about these measures is of little certainty, and less use. How the boards of it were joined is not mentioned. Over-laid it was with pure gold, beaten gold, pure and immixed, [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] intus & extra, undequaque, on all the boards of it, both within and without, so that no part of the wood was anywhere to be seen or touched. Round about it, that is, on the edge of the side upwards, it had ([⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] upon it round about) [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] a diadem, or a fringe of gold-work, such as encompassed diadems or crowns. And this [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] or diadem, was put only on the Ark, the Mercy-seat, and the Altar of Incense, intending expressions of rays of gold, as coming from [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] to scatter abroad in the manner of rays and beams, which (Hebrews 1:3) is called [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], the brightness of glory. And hence the Rabbins speak of a three-fold crown, of the Ark, Altar and Table; of the last for the King, of the midst for the Priest, of the first for they know not whom, as Rabbi Solomon expressly. Indeed all representing the three-fold offices of Christ, for whom the crowns were laid up (Zechariah 6).

At the four corners, on the outside, were annexed to it four rings of gold, on § 9 each side two. Through these rings went two staves or bars, wherewith the Ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites (Exodus 25:11, 12), for the neglect of which service strictly enjoined them (Numbers 7:9), God made a breach on Uzza in the days of David (2 Samuel 6:7).

The end therefore God appointed the making of this Ark, was to put therein § 10 [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] the Testimony (Exodus 25:16), that is the two Tables of stone engraved on all sides with the ten Commandments, pronounced by the ministry of angels, written with the finger of God. Besides this, there was in it nothing at all, as is expressly affirmed (1 Kings 8:9; 2 Chronicles 5:10; Deuteronomy 10:2, 5). The appearance of a dissent from hence in an expression of our Apostle, chap. 9, shall be considered in its proper place.

This Ark made at Horeb (1 Kings 8:9), that is, at the foot of the mountain where the people encamped, finished with the rest of the Tabernacle on the first day, of the first month, of the second year of the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 40:13), being, as we have shewed, the visible pledge of the presence of God among them, as it was placed with its Tabernacle in the midst of the people while they were encamped in the Wilderness, the body of them being distributed into four Hosts to the four quarters of Heaven (Numbers 2.), that a blessing from there might be equally communicated to them all, and all might have an alike access to the worship of God; so it was carried in their marching in the midst of their Armies, with a pronunciation of a solemn benediction when it began to set forward, and when it returned to its Repository in the most holy place (Numbers 10:35, 36). This was the ordinary course in the removals of the Ark. In an extraordinary manner, God appointed it to be carried before all the people, when the waters of Jordan were divided by his power, whereof that was a pledge (Joshua 3:15), which the people on their own heads going afterwards to imitate in their wars with the Philistines, received a sad reward of their temerity and boldness (1 Samuel 4).

From the Wilderness the Ark was carried to Gilgal (Joshua 5:10), from there removed with the Tabernacle to Shilo (Joshua 18:2). Some suppose that after this it was occasionally removed to Mizpeh, as (Judges 11:11; 20:1, 27; 21:1, 2), because it is said in those places, that such things were done before the Lord in Mizpeh: but that expression does not necessarily infer the presence of the Ark and Sanctuary in that place. Yes, the context seems to intimate, that it was at another place distant from there, as v. 26. they went up from the place of the Assembly in Mizpeh to the house of God, where the Ark was. In Shechem also it is supposed to have been, from the Assembly that Joshua made there, chap. 24.1. upon the close whereof, he fixed a stone of memorial before the Sanctuary, v. 26. But yet neither does this evince the removal of the Ark or Sanctuary. For Shechem being not far from Shilo, the people might meet in the Town for convenience, and then go some of them with Joshua to Shilo, as is most probable that they did. From Shilo it was carried into the field of Aphek against the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:2), and being taken by them, was carried first to Ashdod, then to Ekron, then to Gath (1 Samuel 5), from there returned to Kiriath-jearim (1 Samuel 6), to the house of Abinadab (1 Samuel 6), from there to the house of Obed-Edom (2 Samuel 6), from there to mount Sion in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6), into a place prepared for it by David. And from there was solemnly introduced into, and enthroned in the most holy place of the Temple, built by Solomon (1 Kings 8:6, 7). In the mean time, whether occasionally, or by advice, the Tabernacle was removed from Shilo, and that first place of the solemn worship of God altogether deserted, and made an example of what God would afterwards do to the Temple, when his worship therein also was neglected and defiled (Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9). In the Temple of Solomon it continued either to the captivity of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar took away all the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 36:10), or to the captivity of Zedekiah, when he carried away all the remaining vessels, great and small, v. 18. Of the Talmudical fable concerning the hiding of it by Josiah, or Jeremiah, with the addition of its supposed restoration at the last day, in the second Book of Maccabees, I have spoken elsewhere. Whether it were returned again with the vessels of the house of the Lord, by Cyrus, is uncertain. If it were not, it was an intimation that the Covenant made with that people was waxing old, and hasting to an expiration.

§ 12 The things that accompanied this Ark in the most holy place were upon it the Mercy-seat; on the ends of it two Cherubims. The Mercy-seat as to its making, form, use, and disposition, is declared (Exodus 25:17); it is called [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩] Cipporeth; [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩] signifies to hide, to cover, to plaister over, to shut, to plaister with Bitumen or pitch. In Pihel, to expiate sin (Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 4:10). If the name of the Mercy-seat be taken from the word in Kal, it signifies only Operimentum, tegumentum, tegmen, a covering, and so ought to be rendered. If it be taken from the sense of the word in Pihel, it retains the signification of Expiation, and consequently of pardon and mercy. So it is by ours rendered a Mercy-seat, and that with respect to the rendering of it by the Apostle, [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩] (Hebrews 9), as by the LXX in this place [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩], the Propitiatory placed on the Ark, wherein what respect was had to the Lord Christ, the Apostle declares (Romans 3:25), and largely in our Epistle, chap. 9.

§ 13 Its matter was of pure gold, and for its dimensions, it was just as broad and long as the Ark whereon it was laid, chap. 32.17. And this Mercy-seat or covering of gold seems to have lain upon the Ark within the verge of gold or Crown that encompassed it, being itself plain without any such verge or Crown; for it was placed [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩] upon the Ark just over it, v. 20. and so was encompassed with its Crown, the glory both of Justice and Mercy, of Law and Gospel, being the same in Christ Jesus.

§ 14 At the two ends of this Mercy-seat were placed two Cherubims, one at the one end, the other at the other; both of Gold, and, as it should seem, of one continued work with the covering it self. The name of Cherubims has prevailed for these figures or images from the Hebrews; partly because it is retained by our Apostle, who calls them Cherubims of glory, [in non-Latin alphabet], (Hebrews 9:5) and partly because the signification of the word being not well known, it cannot properly be otherwise expressed; for which reason it was retained also by the LXX. They were of those things which our Apostle, chap. 9.23. terms [in non-Latin alphabet]; examples, expressions, or similitudes of things in Heaven, whose framing and erection in reference to the worship of God is forbidden under the name of [in non-Latin alphabet] (Exodus 20:3): The likeness of any thing in the heavens above. The first mention of Cherubims is (Genesis 3:24): God placed Cherubims; which seems to intimate, that the proto-types of these figures, were heavenly ministers, or angels, though Aben-Ezra suppose, that the word denotes any erected figures or appearances whatever. Others of the Jews, as Kimchi, think the word to be compounded of [in non-Latin alphabet] caph, a note of similitude, and [in non-Latin alphabet] a child, to signify, like a child, being so called from their form and shape. But this answers not to the description given afterwards of them in Ezekiel, much less with the same appellation given to the winds and clouds (Psalms 18:10). The word has a great affinity with [in non-Latin alphabet] a chariot; so are the angels of God called his chariots (Psalms 68:17), and David so calls expressly the Cherubims that were to be made in Solomon's Temple (1 Chronicles 28:18): gold for the pattern, [in non-Latin alphabet] hammercheba hacherubim, where the allusion is open; the chariot of the Cherubims, and Ezekiel describes his Cherubims as a triumphant chariot, chap. 10. It is not therefore unlikely that their name is derived from [in non-Latin alphabet] which signifies to ride, or to be carried, to pass on swiftly, expressing the angelical ministry of the blessed spirits above; if they were not rather mere emblems of the power and speed of God in his works of grace and providence.

These Cherubims are said to be [in non-Latin alphabet] that is, not molten, but beaten, even and § 15 smooth, and seem to have been one continued piece with the Mercy-seat, beat out with it and from it. There is no more mention of their form but only that they had faces and wings. Of what sort those faces were, or how many in number were their wings, is not expressed.

In Ezekiel's Vision of the living creatures, which he also calleth Cherubims, chap. § 16 10.2. there is the shape of a man ascribed to them, they had the likeness of a man, chap. 1.5. faces, ver. 6. feet, ver. 7. hands, ver. 8. sides, or body, ver. 8, 11. each of them also had four faces; of a Man, a Lion, an Ox, and an Eagle, ver. 10. and each had four wings, ver. 23. In John's vision in the Revelation, seeming to answer this of Ezekiel's Cherubims, from the eyes that his living creatures were full of, and the appearance of their faces, they had each of them six wings, answering to those of the Seraphims in the Vision of Isaiah, chap. 6.2.

The Jews generally affirm, that these visions of the glory of God by Isaiah and Ezekiel § 17 were the same, and that Ezekiel saw nothing but what Isaiah saw also; only they say, that Ezekiel saw the glory of God and his Majesty, as a country man who admires at all the splendor of the Court of the King, Isaiah as a Courtier, who took notice only of the Person of the King himself. But there are many evident differences in their visions. Isaiah calls the glorious ministers of God [in non-Latin alphabet] Seraphims, from their nature, compared to fire and light; Ezekiel [in non-Latin alphabet] Cherubims, from their speed in the accomplishment of their duty. Isaiah saw his vision as in the Temple; for although from those words, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple, Aben-Ezra and Kimchi suppose, that he saw the Throne of God in Heaven, and only his train of Glory descending into the Temple; yet it is more probable that he saw the Throne it self in the Temple, his train spreading abroad to the filling of the whole house. For he calls the Temple, the Throne of his Glory (Jeremiah 14:21), and a glorious high Throne, chap. 17.12. that is, a Throne high and lifted up, as in this place. Ezekiel saw his vision abroad in the open field, by the River of Chebar, chap. 1.3. Isaiah first saw the Lord himself, and then his glorious attendants; Ezekiel first the chariot of his glory, and then God above it. Isaiah's Seraphims had six wings, with two whereof they covered their faces, which Ezekiel's Cherubims had not; and that because Isaiah's vision represented Christ (John 12:41) with the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews, which the angels were not able to look into (Ephesians 3:9, 10), and were therefore said to cover their faces with their wings, as not being able to look into the depths of those mysteries; but in Ezekiel's vision, when they attended the Will of God in the works of his Providence, they looked upon them with open face. Therefore from the diversity in all these visions, it appears, that nothing certain concerning the form or wings of the Cherubims made by Moses can be collected. Most probably they had each of them only one face directly looking one towards the other, and each two wings, which being stretched out forward over the Mercy-seat, met each other, and were mere emblems of the Divine presence and care over his Covenant, People and Worship.

And this was the whole furniture of the most holy Place in the Tabernacle of § 18 Moses. In that of the Temple of Solomon, which was more august and spacious, there was by God's direction two other Cherubims added. These were great, and large, made of the wood of the Olive tree, over-laid with Gold, and they stood on their feet behind the Ark Westward, with their backs towards the end of the Oracle, their faces over the Ark and Mercy-seat Eastward, toward the Sanctuary; their wings extending twenty cubits long, even the whole breadth of the house, and meeting in the midst, their inward wings were over the Ark (1 Kings 6:23, 28; 2 Chronicles 3:11, 12, 13).

§ 19 And this was that appearance of his glory, which the Lord God of Israel granted to his Church of old; which though it were beautiful and excellent, as appointed by himself, yet was it but carnal and worldly, in comparison of the heavenly and glorious mysteries of the Gospel; especially of him, who being obscurely shadowed out by all this preparation of glory, was in himself the real brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person, as shall further be declared on chap. 1:3.