The ' symbolism of numbers ' in the measure- ments of the tabernacle, of which so much has been written, is too firmly established to admit of question (for general principles .see art. NuMliER). "The sacred numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, their parts (U, 2, 2i, 5) and multiples (6, 9, 12, 20, 2S, 30, 42, 48, 50, 60, 100), dominate every detail of the fabric and its furniture.t In all this we must recognize an ear- nest striving to give concrete expression — in a manner, it is true, which our Western thought finds it ditlicult to appreciate — to the sacred har- monies and perfection of the character of the Deity for wnose 'dwelling' the sanctuary is destined.
* For ' the fundamental sense of unapproachabUnfSM which Is never atmcnt from the notion of J"*s hoHuesD,' see Holinrhs, TOl. ii. p. 31)7'.
t The curious student will easily detect these measuremenU and numbers in the previous sections.
668
TABERN^ACLE
TABERNACLES, FEAST OF
On the other hand, that the author of Ex 25-'29 intended to give expression to ideas beyond the spliere of J"s relation to His covenant people, or even within that sphere to invest every detail of material, colour, ornament, etc., with a syniholical Bignificance, we do not believe. Following in the wake of Plilo (op. cit.) and Josephus [Ant. III. vii. 7), the Fathers, and after them many writers down to our own day, among whom Bahr stands pre- eminent, have sought to read a whole philo.'iophy of the universe into the tabernacle. Now it is de- si^'ned to unfold the relations of heaven and earth and sea, now of body, soul, and spirit, and many wonderful things besides. Happily, the taste for these fanciful speculationa has died out and is not likely to revive.
Quite apart from the authors of such far-fetched Byuibolisms stand several of the NT writers, who see in the tabernacle the foreshadowing of spiritual realities. Once and again the terminology of St. Paul betrays the influence of the tabernacle {e.g. the laver of regeneration. Tit 3° RVm). For the author of the Fourth Gospel the tabernacle on which rested the Divine glory in the cloud pre- figured the incarnate Word who 'tabernacled (^irvi}- i/uaef) among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father ' (Jn 1"). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, again, the tabernacle, its furniture, and ministering priesthood supply the unknown author with an essential part of his argument. With 'singular pathos,' to borrow Bishop Westcott's apt expression, he lingers over his description of the sacred tent and all its arrangements. Yet, like tlie whole Levitical cere- monial, it was but the shadow of the heavenly substance (8^), a 'parable for the time present' of ' the greater and more perfect tabernacle ' (9") which is heaven. Into this tabernacle Jesus Christ has entered, our great High Priest, by whom the restricted access of the former dispensation is done away, and through whom ' a new and living way ' has been opened of free access into the ' true ' Holy of Holies (9'-'^), even the immediate pre.sence of God. Last of all, in the Book of Revelation we have the final consummation of the kingdom of God portrayed under the figure of the tabernacle : ' Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle {trKtifiijei) with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them ' (Rev 21' — for v." .see above) — in which the final word of revelation takes up and repeats the sublime ideal of Ezekiel and tlie priestly writers. ' In this representation of the New Jerusalem culminates the typology of the OT sanctuary' (Keil).
LlTERATDRE. — Works on the tabernacle are le^on, but there is no monograph from the sUiniipoint of the foregoing article. The student nmsl start from a careful study of the text of Exodus and of the more recent couimentaries, such as DiUmann- Ryssel, Straok, Holzinger, Baentsch. The commentary in the International Oriticiil Series by the writer of this article is in preparation. The critical problems are treated by Popper, Der bihl. Bericht Mber die Sti/lshiitte, 1SU2 ; Graf, Die ijcKcliichtl. Biicher d. AT, 61ft., 1806; Kuenen, Hczatertch ; Wellhausen, Prole'jomena ; and more recent writers (see § ii. above). In addition to the relevant sections in the Archceolojies of Ewald, lianeberg, Keil, Benzinger, Nowack (vol. ii.), the articles should be cx>nsuUed in the Bible Dictionaries of Winer, Riehm, and PRE'i (by RijKenbach), all under 'Stiftahiitte" ; artt. 'Taber- nacle'and 'Temple' (the latter especially) in Smith's DB. The more important monographs are by Neumann, Die Stijtuhiitte, 1861; Riggenbach, Die llomisehe Sli/lnliulte", 1867; Schick, Stil'lsliiitle und Tcmpfl, 1898; and (in Knglish) Brown, Tlie Tdheniacle', 1899. The most exhaustive treatment of the tabernacle, its arrangements and its significanfe, is Biihr'e Sirml)Olik d. ilomiselien Cidtus, 2 vols. 1S37-39 (Hd. i. 2nd ed. 1874), full of fanciful ideas. On somewhat different lines is Friederich, Si/inioia- li. Slog. Sli/tehulle, imi. Sound criticisms of both, and an ottenipt to reduce the symbolism to saner limits, characterize Keil's full treatment in vol. i. of his Arcliievlnjiy (Eng. tr.ji See also Westcott, Epietle to the Hebrews, 18.S9, Essay on ' The general significance of the Tabernacle,' p. 233 if. ; Ottley, Aspects o/ the OT, espt p. 261 IT, 'The sj-mbolical sig- niflcancc,' etc A. R. S. KENNEDY.