HOMILIES BY VARIOUS .AUTHORS. Chap. xxv., vers. 31-40; chap. xxvii., vers. l 7....!.24.-The ca1n.dlestick. .As the shew-bread was a symbol of what Jehovah gave to his people in one way, so the lighted candlestick in all the preciousness of its m&t.erial &Dd elaboration of its workmanship was a symbol in another way. And even as the shew-bread was in magnitude only as a crumb of all the great supply which God gives in the way of food, so the candlestick even in full blaze was but as a glimmer compared with all the light which God had gathered and arranged in various ways to guide and cheer his people. But glimmer though the light of the C&Ddlestick might be, it was quit.e enough to act as o.n inspiring and encouraging symbol for all who, seeing, were able to understand. From that place between the cherubim, shrouded as it was in awful sanctity, there radiated forth abundance of light for every one in Israel who was disposed to profit by it. In heathen- dom the perplexed went long distances to consult renowned oracles, only to find that for all practical purposes they might just as well have stayed at home. There was a great boast of illumination; but the reality turned out ambiguous &Dd delusive. But here is the seven-branched C&Ddlestick (seven being the perfect number) to indicate tha.t God would assuredly give all needed light to his people. On one side stood the shew-bread, and over against it the light. So we need God's guid&Dce to show us how to use what materials he puts in our hands for our support. It is only too easy for man, following the light of a coITUpted nature, to waste, e.buse, and degrade the choice gifts of God. Consider the vast quantities of grain that instead of passing through the h&Dds of the be..ker to become food, pass through the hands of the brewer and distiller to become alcohol In all our use of the resources which God has placed in our hands, we must seek with simplicity of purpose and becoming humility for God's light, that we may be assured of God's wilL God has placed us in the midst of such profusion that we may use it for him and not for self. And is not a lesson taught us in this respect by the very C&Ddlestick itself? It was made of gold. The Israelites at this time seem to have had great store of gold; and left to their own inclinations, they gave it for shaping into a.n image to be worshipped. Now, by causing this candlestick to be made of gold, Jehovah seemed to summon his people to give their gold to aid in supporting and dif- fusing his light. What God gives may be a curse or a blessing, just according to the spirit in which we receive and use it. We can desire no nobler office than to be our- selves as lamps, doing something to shed a.broad that great, true light of the world, which ra.die.teti from the person of Christ. He who is living eo as to make Christ better knowr, amid the spiritual darkness of the world has surely learnt the great lesson that God would teach to all ages by this golden candlestick in his sanctuar7 of lid.-Y. CU. lXVI. 1-37.J THE llOOK of EXODUS.
EXPOSITION.
CHAPTER XXVI. side, thence depending, either inside or out- side (Bahr, Keil). The former supposition Vers.1-87.-TuE TABERNAOLE. The sacred appears the more probable. Pine twined furnitU1e which the tabernacle we.s to contain linen is linen the threads of which are formed having been described, with the exception of of several fine strands twisted together. This is often the ease with Egyptian linen. Ou the "alto.r of incense "-the description of blue and purple and 1earlet, see the com- which is reserved for eh xxx. (vers. 1-10)- ment upon eh. xxv. 4. Cherubima of ounning direetions were next given for the sacred work. Rather, "cherubim, tbe work of a struehu:e itse!I. This was to consist of three skilled weaver." Figures of cherubs were to me.in thing&-1. A quadrangular eaclosure be woven into the hangings in the loom itself, aot embroidered apon them afterwards. thirty cnbits long by ten broad, open e.t one Ver. 2.-Eight and twenty cubits. This is end, e.nd on the other three sides enclosed by the exact length required for e. rectangular boards of acacie.-wood ovede.id with gold- tented roof over such a space, which should de- called the mia/1/ccin, or" the dwelling-place," scend ( as tent roofs usually do) within about in our vers.ion usually tre.nsle.ted " tabernacle." !even feet of the ground. The comparison made 1n vers. 12, 13, between the fine linen covering 2. A tent of goat's he.ir, supported npon poJ.es-, of the mishJcti.n and the goats' hair covering of and stretched by means of ropes e.nd tent- the "tent," implies that the one was directh· pegs in the ordinary manner over the mishkcin. :ander the other, and the.t both were arranged This is called the 'ol1el-which is the nsual ID the same we.y. The breadth of four cubits.