HOMILIES BY V.A.RIOUS .AUTHORS. Ven. 1-2S-Thefun,,i.shing of the taber,111.cl~ L ALL WAS ACCOMPLIBBED AS Go» BAD COIOUNDED. 1. Successfully. It might have been fee.red that though the taber- nacle was erected there would be some failure in this more delicate and ornate work; but all is perfectly executed even to the smallest details. In the work of him whom God has called by name there will be no failure. His work will be presented faultless, and every word which God has spoken will be fulfilled. 2. Faithfully: as they failed in nothing, so they added nothing. In God's wo~k there must be no alloy of human devices. In worship, ordinances, life, our sole gwde must be God's comme.ndment. ll. THE CONTENTS OF THE TABEBNACLE I THE FOURFOLD ADOB..'OU!:NT OF THE BELIEVER'S LIFE. 1. The ark, the meeting-place of righteousness and peace. The hes.rt in which God's Jaw is set, on which the atonement rests, and which is bathed in thP. glory of the Divine love. There is, in a word, living faith. 2. The table of sh~~- bread: -& yielded life, the sacrifice presented before Go4 of ~y,. soul, ~d -~pmt. 3. The ce.udlestick: "ye are the light of the world." (1) There 1s life, which in the measure it exists is like Christ's, the light of men. It shows the reality and power of God's grace. (2) There is labour in word and doctrine. God's mind and will are understood.. 4. The incense altar, the uplifting of holy desire and intercession for all m.en. Are these things found in us? They _me.l; 1:'e· It is the work to which Christ ioaB been cilled, and he is waiting to accomplish 1t m us.-U. Vera. l-25.-17ie Mk, the table, and the oandlati&. See Homily on eh. :u:v. 10--40.-J. 0. Va 2f-.29.-'J?u altar cf tnct'fMlt. See &mily on eh. xxx. 1-11 ; 34-38.-J, 0. CH. J.J.J:Vlll, 1-8,] TllE BOOK OF EXODUS.
J<~XPOSITION. CHAPTER XXXVIII. cnre to bring them with them ont of Egypt. The sncritice of them for o. sacred purpnsr is Vcrs. 1-8.-TnE FURTHER P!IOOREBB o-r rntlier to be a.scribed to their own sell-denying TTIE WORK-THI! CONST~UOTION OP TIIE FUR- piety tha.n to auy command issued by Moses NITURE FOR TIIE ooonT.-Vers. 9-20.-AND (Spencer). Whioh auembled. Literally. OF TUE COURT IT9El,F. Ou the completion of "who co.me hy troops." Women assembled themselves by troops at the entrance of the the taberno.cle, Bezaleel and his usistants "tent of meeting" set up by Moses (eh. x.xxiii. turned I.heir attention to the court and its fur- 7), as at a later date we find Hannah ( 1 Sam. niture ; o.nd construoted, first, the altar of i. 9-12) and other women who were lees burnt offering (vers. 1-7); secondly, the worthy (ib. ii. 22) doing. The women who bronze !aver (ver. 8); a.nd thirdly, the hang- showed this zeal were thos~ that made the sacrifice of their mirrors for God's service. ings, pillars, connecti11g-rods, hooks and pins There is no reason to suppose (with Eengsten- for the circuit of the court (vers. 9-20). berg and others) that they constituted a regu- Vere. 1-7 correspond to vers. 1-8 of eh. lar " order." xxvii. ; ver. 8 corresponds to ver. 18 of eh. Ver. 10.-Their fillets. Rather, "theil xxx. ; a.nd nrs. 9-20 eorrespoud to vers. 9- eonnecting--rods," &a in eh. xxvii. 10. Ver. 17.-Theoverlaying of their chapiten 19 of eh. xxvii. of Bil-.:er. This is additional to what is re- Ver. 3.-The pots. This translation is bet- corded in eh. xxvii., and 1s parallel to what we ter t.han that of eh. x.xvii. 8, which is "pans." find related of the tabernacle pillars in eh. Buckets er scuttles to convey the uhes from xxxvi. 38. l'i.lleted with silver. Rather, the altar to the ash-heap (Lev. i. 16) &re in- "connected with silver rods." Compare eh. tended. x.xvii. rz. Ver. 8.-0f the looking-glasses of the Ver. 18.-The height in the breadth waa women. This interesting fact has not been l.ve cubits. Tbe height of the hangings all previously mentioned. Bronze plates, circnl&r ~ound the court was. required to be five cubits, or oval, admitting of a high polish, were used or seven and a-half feet (eh. x..i:vii. 18). It by the Egypti~ women, as mqrors from a appears by the expression here used-" in the very early date, a.nd may be seen in the breadth "-that the material wo.s woven of ex.- Egyptian collection of the British Museum. actly this width. They have he.ndles like those of our fire- Ver. 19.-Their ahapiten. This age.in is screens, generally also of bronze. lt was additiona,1 to the directions given Comp&re natural that the Hebrew women shonld pos- the comment 01;1 ver. 17. sess similar a.rticlea, a.nd shonld have taken
HOMILETICS. Ver. 8,-The triumph of female piety over female vanity. Hebrew women were, it must be presumed, much like other women in their natural dispositions, and therefore not without their share of personal vanity. The fact, that in all the haste of their suclclen departure from Egypt they had not omitted to carry with them their metal mirrors, is indicative of this. The mirror was the most valued of toilet articles, aud the most mdispensable for effecting that end, at which almost all women aim-the mabng the best of those adv11,ntagcs of persona.I appearance which nature has vouchsafed to them. It is difficult to imD,gine any material sacrifice to which a woman would not more readily have consented than the loss of her mirror. Yet we know that the ~acrifice wa,; made by large numbers; for the !aver was a vessel of considerable size. Let us consider then, 1. The motive of the act; 2. the antecedent conduct which led up to it; 3. the reward which it obtained. I. THE MOTIVE OF THE ACT. No other motive can be conceived of than true piety. Piety loves to make offerings to God. Piety does not count the cost. Piety, the giit of grace, can triumph over nature; transform a poor vain worldling into a saint; make no sacrifice seem a bard one. It must have been piety which made these women give their mirrors, either, 1. In addition to their personal ornaments (eh. xx.xv. 22), or 2. In default of them. Some after offering their ear-rings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, and the like, may havo desired, from pure love of God, to give more, and casting about to con- &ider what more they could give, may have bethoui;ht them of their mirrors. Otheri• THE BOOK 01~ -EXODUS. [cH, ll.ll.ll.Vln. 1-21;