This is a brief description of the utensils of the most holy place. The ark, which was as the heart and centre of the whole, was placed at the west end of it, with its ends towards the sides of the place, the face as unto the entrance, and the back part unto the west end. Before it was placed the pot of manna, and the rod that budded, as afterwards; at one end of it was placed the book of the law. In the ark was the testimony, or the two tables of stone with the law written in them by the finger of God, and nothing else. When they were put into it, it was covered with the mercy-seat, and that sha- dowed with the wings of the cherubim. At the entrance into it was the golden altar of incense, with the golden ‘censer; which although, as our apostle shows, it did in its use principally respect the service of this part of the tabernacle, yet could not be placed within the veil, because the high priest was not to enter himself until he had raised a cloud of incense, through which he entered.
The apostle having given this account of the sanctuary in both
Manav parts of it, and what was contained in them, adds, “ Of tors viv atysy Which we now cannot speak particularly;’ or rather, xurt wipes. “Concerning which things it is not now a season to speak particularly,” or of the several parts of it, one by one. And the reason hereof was, because he had an especial design to manage, from the consideration of the whole fabric,—the service of the high priest in it; which the particular consideration of each part by itself would have too much diverted him from. Howbeit he plainly inti- mates that all, and every one of them in particular, were of singular consideration, as typical of the Lord Ohrist and his ministry. For unto this end doth he reckon them up in order. Only it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost not to give unto the church a particular application of them in this place, but he hath left it unto our humble
VER. 3-5. ] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 213
diligence to seek after it out of the Scripture, according unto the ~ analogy of faith, and such rules of the interpretation of those mys- teries as himself giveth, in the ensuing declaration of their nature, use, and end in general. This, therefore, I shall briefly endeavour; yet so as, according unto the example of the apostle, not to divert from the especial design of the place,
As was said before so must I say again, expositors either pass by these things without any notice, or indulge unto various conjectures, without any certain rule of what they assert. Those of the Roman church are generally so taken up with their fourfold sense of the Scripture, literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical,—wherein for the most part they know not how to distinguish one from an- other,—that they wrest this and the like passages unto what sense they please. I shall keep myself unto a certain rule, and where that will not guide me, I shall not venture on any conjectures.
When Ezekiel had his vision of God in the administration of his providence, he says of it, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lorp,” chap. i. 28. And we may say of this holy place with its furniture, ‘This was the appearance of the like- ness of the glory of the LorD in the administration of grace.’
Why God would in this manner, by these means, represent him- self and the glory of his grace absolutely, we can give no reason but his own holy will and infinite wisdom. But this we find he did, and that with great solemnity. For first he made a glorious represen- tation of it immediately by his own power in the mount. He showed a pattern of it in the mount; which was not only an exemplar of what he would have framed here below, but expressive of the idea in his own mind of good things to come. And thereon he gave command that it should in all things be made exactly according unto that pattern, enabling certain persons with wisdom, skill, and understanding so to do. And some things we may observe con- cerning the whole in general.
1. The nature of the things themselves, or the materials of the whole, being earthly, and the state of the church unto whose service it was allotted being imperfect, and designed so to be, two things did necessarily follow thereon :—
(1.) That sundry concernments of it, as the outward shape, form, and dimensions both of the tabernacle and all its utensils, were accommodated unto the present state of the church. Hence were they made outwardly glorious and venerable; for the people being comparatively carnal, were affected with such things. Hence were they all portable also, at their first institution, to comply with the state of the people in the wilderness; whence alterations were made in all of them, excepting the ark and mercy-seat, on the building of the temple. In these things, therefore, we are not to seek for any
214 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP, IX.
mystical ‘signification, for they were only in compliance with present use. They served, as the apostle immediately declares, unto the use of “carnal ordinances,” which were to continue unto the time of reformation only.