Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/354

322 law, and there he would give audience, as a prince on his throne; and thus he manifests himself willing to be reconciled to us, and keep up communion with us, in and by the mediation of Christ. In allusion to this mercy-seat, we are said to come boldly to the throne of grace, (Heb. 4. 16.) for we are not under the law, that is covered, but under grace, that is displayed; its wings are stretched out, and we are invited to come under the shadow of them, Ruth 2. 12.

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

Here is,

1. A table ordered to be made of wood overlaid with gold, which was to stand, not in the holy of holies, (nothing was in that but the ark and its appurtenances,) but in the outer part of the tabernacle, called the sanctuary, or holy place, Heb. 9. 2. v. 23, &c. There must also be the usual furniture of the sideboard, dishes and spoons, &c. and all of gold, v. 29.

2. This table was to be always spread, and furnished with the show-bread, (v. 30.) or bread of faces, twelve loaves, one for each tribe, set in two rows, six in a row: see the law concerning them, Lev. 24. 5, &c. The tabernacle being God's house, in which he was pleased to say that he would dwell among them, he would show that he kept a good house. In the royal palace it was fit that there should be a royal table. Some make the twelve loaves to represent the twelve tribes, set before God as his people, and the corn of his floor, as they are called, Isa. 21. 10. As the ark signified God's being present with them, so the twelve loaves signified their being presented to God. This bread was designed to be, (1.) A thankful acknowledgment of God's goodness to them, in giving them their daily bread, manna in the wilderness, where he prepared a table for them, and, in Canaan, the corn of the land. Hereby they owned their dependence upon Providence, not only for the corn in the field, which they gave thanks for in offering the sheaf of first-fruits, but for the bread in their houses, that, when it was brought home, God did not blow upon it, Hag. 1. 9. Christ has taught us to pray every day for the bread Of the day (2.) A token of their communion with God; this bread on God's table being made of the same corn with the bread on their own tables, God and Israel did, as it were, eat together, as a pledge of friendship and fellowship; he supped with them, and they with him. (3.) A type of the spiritual provision which is made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are made priests to our God. In our father's house there is bread enough, and to spare, a loaf for every tribe. All that attend in God's house shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of it, Ps. 36. 8. Divine consolations are the continual feast of holy souls, notwithstanding there are those to whom the table of the Lord, and the meat thereof, (because it is plain bread,) are contemptible, Mal. 1. 12. Christ has a table in his kingdom, at which all his saints shall for ever eat and drink with him, Luke 22. 30.

31. And 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. 32. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candle stick out of the other side: 33. Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower; so in the six branches that come out of the candle stick. 34. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same; all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38. And the tongs thereof, and the snuff-dishes thereof shall be of pure gold. 39. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.

The next thing ordered to be made for the furnishing of God's palace, was, a rich stately candlestick, all of pure gold, not hollow, but solid. The particular directions here given concerning it show, 1. That it was very magnificent, and a great ornament to the place; it had many branches drawn from the main shaft, which had not only their bowls; (to put the oil and the kindled wick in,) for necessity, but knops and flowers, for ornament. 2. That it was very convenient, and admirably well contrived both to scatter the light and to keep the tabernacle clean from smoke and snuffs. 3. That it was very significant. The tabernacle had no windows by which to let in the light of the day, all its light was candle-light; which intimates the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while the Sun of righteousness was not as yet risen, nor had the