The problem that presented itself to the mind of P was this : Under what conditions may the Divine promise of Ezk 37*'' ('my dwelling shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people ') be realized ? This we t;ike to be the supreme idea of the priestly code, the realiza- tion of the presence of God in the midst of His people (Ex 25' 29**). This thought, a.s we have seen, is expressed in the characteristic designation ' the dwelling,' given by P to the most essential part of the sanctuarj' which is to be the concrete embodiment of the thought.
The Divine dwelling must be in accordance with the Divine character. Now, in the period from Deuteronomy to the close of the Exile, the two aspects of the Divine character which the inspired teachers of the time place in the forefront of their ti-ac-hing un the unity and the holiness of J". Each of these attributes has its necessary cor- relate. The unity of J" requires the unity or centralization of His worship, which is the keynote of Deuteronomy. The holiness of J" demanus the holiness of His people, which is the recognized keynote of the Law of Holiness (Lv 19 li'.). The crowning result of the discipline of the Exile ma}- be summed up in the simple formula ' one God, one sanctuary,' a thought which dominates the priestlj' code from end to end. That there should be but one sanctuary in the wilderness, a symbol of the unity of J", is therefore for P a thing of course, requiring neither justitication nor enforcement.
With regard to the other pair of correlates, a holy tJod and a holy people, the whole ceremonial system of the priestly code expends itself in the effort to give expression to this twofold thought. The centre of this system is the tabernacle and its priesthood, and every ellort is made to render the former a visible emljodiment of the holiness of the God who is to be worshipped in its court. We have seen (§ iv. ) the precautions taken by Ezekiel to guard his nfw sanctuary from profanation ; the same thought is prominent in H (Law of Holiness), and is impressively exhibited in the arrangement of the desert camp in P. Between the tents of the twelve tribes and tha throi"* of J" there intervene the cordon of the tents of the tribe of Levi, the court.
and the Holy Place — into which priests alone may enter, — all so many protecting sheaths, to borrow a ligure from plant-life, of the Most Holy Place, w here J " dwells enthroned in ineffable majesty and almost unapproachable holiness.* Once a year only may the high priest, as the jieople's repre- sentative, approai h within its precincts, bearing the blood ot atonement. Not only, therefore, is the one tabernacle the symbol of J'"s unity, it is also an eloquent witness to the truth : ' Ye shall be holy, for I, J", your God am holy ' (Lv 19-). Yet these precautions are, after all, intended not to exclude out to safeguard the right of approach of J'"s people to His presence. The tabernacle was still the ' tent of meeting,' the place at which, with due precautions, men might approach J", and in which J" condescended to draw near to men. It is thus a witness to the further truth that man is called to enjoy a real, albeit still restricted, com- munion and converse with God.
One other attribute of the Divine nature receives characteristic expression in the arrangements of P's sanctuary. This is the perfection and har- mony of the character of J". Symmetry', harmonj', and proportion are the three essentials of the [esthetic in architecture ; an<l in so far as the aesthe- tic sense in man, by which the Creator has qualihed him for the enjoj'uient of the beauty and harmony of the universe, is a part of the Divine image (Gn 1**'-) in each of us, these (jualities are reflexions of the harmony and perfection of the Divine nature. The symmetry of the desert sanctuary has already been abundantly emphasized. The harmony of its design is shown in the balance of all its parts, and in the careful gradation of the materials employed. The three varieties of curtains (§ iv.) and the three metals correspond to the three ascending degrees of sanctity which mark the court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy respectively. In the dwelling itself we advance from the silver of the bases through the furniture of wood, thinly sheathed with gold, to the only mass of solid gold, the propitia- tory, the seat of the deity. As regards the projior- tions, Hnally, which are so characteristic of the tabernacle, we find here just those ratios which are stUl considered ' the most pleasing ' in the domain of architectural art, viz. those ' of an exact cube or two cubes placed side by side . . . and the ratio of the base, perpendicular and hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, e.ff. 3, 4, 5 and their multi- ples' (see art. 'Architecture ' in Eiici/r. Jirit.^). The perfect cube of the Most Holy Place is universally regarded as the deliberate attempt to express the perfection of J"'s character and dwelling-place, the harmony and equipoise of all His attributes. The similar thought, the perfection of the New Jeru- salem, ' in which no truth will be exaggerated or distorted,' is expressed by the fact that ' the length and breadth and height of it are ecjual ' (Rev 21").