For the pattern itself, expositors generally agree, that on the top of the mount God caused to appear unto Moses, the form, fashion, dimensions, and utensils, of that tabernacle which he was to erect. Whether this representation were made to Moses by the way of in-
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| VER. 5.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 45
ternal vision, as the temple was represented unto Ezekiel, or whether there were an ethereal fabric proposed unto his bodily senses, is hard to determine. And this 1235, “exemplar,” or “pattern,” our apostle here calls “ heavenly things.” For to prove that the priests served only unto “the resemblance and shadow of heavenly things,” he produceth this testimony, that Moses was to “make all things ac- cording to the pattern showed him in the mount.” And this pattern, with all that belonged unto it, is called “heavenly things,” because it was made to appear in the air on the top of the mount, with re- spect unto that which was to be made beneath: or it may be called
_ “heavenly,” because it was the immediate effect of the power of
God, who worketh from heaven. But supposing such an ethereal tabernacle represented unto Moses, yet it cannot be said that it was the substance of the heavenly things themselves, but only a shadow or representation of them. The heavenly things themselves, in the mind of God, were of another nature, and this pattern on the mount was but an external representation of them. So that here must be three things intended: Ist. The heavenly things themselves; 2dly. The representation of them on the mount; 3dly. The tabernacle made by Moses in imitation thereof: wherefore this tabernacle and its worship, wherein the Levitical priests administered their office, was so far from being the shadow of the substance of the heavenly things themselves, as that they were but a shadow of that shadow of them which was represented in the mount.
1 know not that there is any thing in this exposition of the words that is contrary unto the analogy of faith, or inconsistent with the design of the apostle; but withal’ I must acknowledge, that these things seem to me exceeding difficult, and such as I know not how fully to embrace, and that for the reasons following :—
Ist. If such a'representation were made unto Moses in the mount, and that be the “ pattern” intended, then the tabernacle with all its ministry was a shadow thereof. But this is contrary unto our apostle in another place, who tells us that indeed all legal institutions were only a “shadow,” but withal that the “substance” or “ body was of Christ,” Col. ii. 17. And it is the body that the shadow doth im- mediately depend upon and represent. But according unto this exposition, this figure or appearance made in the mount must be the body or substance which those legal institutions did represent. But this figure was not Christ. And it is hard to say that this figure was the body which the tabernacle below was the shadow of, and that body was the shadow of Christ. But that Christ himself, his mediation and his church,—that is, his mystical body,—were not immediately represented by the tabernacle and the service of it, but somewhat else that was a figure of them, is contrary unto the whole dispute of the apostle in this place, and the analogy of faith.
46 ‘AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. VIII.
2dly. I do not see how the priests could minister in the earthly tabernacle as an example and shadow of such an ethereal taber- nacle. For if there were any such thing, it immediately vanished after its appearance; it ceased to be any thing, and therefore could not be any longer a “heavenly thing.” Wherefore, with respect thereunto, they could not continue to “serve unto the example of heavenly things,” which were not.
3dly. No tolerable account can be given of the reason or use of such a representation. For God doth not dwell in any such taber- nacle in heaven, that it should be thought to represent his holy habi- tation; and as unto that which was to be made on the earth, he had given such punctual instructions unto Moses, confirming the remem- brance and knowledge of them in his mind by the Holy Spirit, by whom he was acted and guided, as that he needed no help from his imagination, in the view of the representation of such a fabric.
4thly. Whatever Moses did, it was “for a testimony unto the things which were to be spoken afterwards,” Heb. in. 5. But these were the things of Christ and the gospel; which therefore he was to have an immediate respect unto.
The sense of the words must be determined from the apostle him- self, And it is evident,—
1st. That “the heavenly things,” unto whose resemblance the legal priests did minister, and “the pattern showed unto Moses in the mount,” were the same. Hereon depends the whole force of his proof from this testimony.
2dly. These “heavenly things,” he expressly tells us, were those which were consecrated, dedicated unto God, and purified, by the sacrifice of the blood of Christ, Heb. ix. 23.
3dly. That Christ by his sacrifice did dedicate both himself, the whole church, and its worship, unto God. From these things it follows,—