The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 370

in the furniture of the holy place--the table, the candlestick, and the golden flltar- and 11rro.nged it (vers. 22--26). He then, and not till then, according to the direction given to him (vcr. 5), put up the hnnging which separated the tabernacle from tho court (ver. 28). Finally, he proceeded to set in order the court. He put the altar nt° burnt offering and the !aver into their places (vers. 29, 30), carried the hnngir,g~ alongside the court's four sides, and arranged the curtain at the entrance (ver. 33). :-;,., with a minute observance of the directions given, "Moses finished the work." Note -the exactitude with which Moses followed 1111 the directions given him, together with the liberty which he claimed and exercised :-1. To determine the time of their execu- tion. 2. To fill up particulars with respect to which no directions had been given. 1. Of the first, the deferring of the consecration by anointment of the tabernacle an,t its furniture, nnd of the consecration of Aaron and his sons ( vers. 9-15 ), is the crncial instance. It hllB been said that these may have taken place on the same day as the erection of the tabernacle; but the mode in which the narrative of the consecration is introduced in Lev. viii. 1-5, no less than the separation of the narrative from that ,,f the present chapter, implies an interval between the two events. Probably, by the time of the completion of the court, the day was far advanced, and it would have been impossible to perforru all the ceremonies commanded (eh. x.xix.1-36) in the remaining; space. 2. Of the second, the emplacement of the table and the candlestick (vers. 22, 24), the burning of incense (ver. 27), and the offering upon the altar of burnt offering (ver. 29) are specimens. Evidently Moses considered that "God's instructions were not always to be carried out with literal exactness, but sometimes with an enlightened spiritual freedom." Vers. 18-33.-The sanctification of material things. Objections are raised to the entire idea of a holiness in things. Holiness, it is said, being a personal quality, cannot reside in things, or be co=unicated to them, or be rightly predicated of them. God is holy; angels are holy; some men are holy; but nothing else. To imagine a holiness in things is superstition. This is to effect a complete severance of matter from spirit-to dig an abyss between them-to regard them as asymptotes, which cannot ever touch one the other. But if God became incarnate, if "the Word was made flesh" (,John i. 14), then that matter which constituted the body of Christ, most certainly became holy. And if that matter, why not other matter? Why not the food which he "blessed and brake, and gave to his disciples n? Why not the drink which he called " his blood"? If there is a contact between matter and spirit, and some spirits are holy, then it is readily intelligible that the matter which comes into contact with them may be, in a certain sense, holy also. And this is, beyond all doubt, the language uf the Scriptures. We hear of "holy ground" ( eh. iii. 5), " holy places" ( eh. xxvi. 33), "holy garments" (eh. :x.xviii. 2), "holy oil" (eh. xxx. 31), "a holy perfume" (ib. 35), etc. .Things materia·1 may become holy in various ways, e.g.- I. BY BEING 'l'AKEN INTO Goo. Christ took our nature upon him, joined for ever the Manhood to the Eternal Godhead, and so gave to his own body an eternal sanctifica- tion of the highest possible kind, which renders it most holy. JI. BY BEING BROUGHT INTO CONTACT WITH HIM. The Cross of Christ, the crown of thorns, the nails, the soldier's spear, the raiment, the vesture, the napkin which was about his head when in the grave, became hallowed by association with him, and must ever be regarded by all Christians as holy. lf the garment shown at Treves were indeed • what it professes to be-a garment once worn by Christ-it would well deserve the name, by which it is commonly called, of the "holy coat." As it is, we have no suffi- cient evidence of any existing piece of matter, that it ever came into contact with our Lord's blessed body; but, if we had, any such piece of matter would be "holy." III. BY DESIGNATION FOR A HOLY PUl\POSE. It is in this way especially that build- ings, garments, vessels, cloths, and the like, are "holy." They are intended for and serve a. holy purpose-are employed in the worship or service of Almighty God. It is felt on 1111 hands that such things-ought to be set apart from secular uses, reserved for the sacred end to which they have been desiguated, and applied to that only. Now, in e11Bes of this kind, it does not appear to be inappropriate that the designation should be by a ·material act; and certainly no more significant act than anointing with oil is possible. For oil is symbolical of the Holy Spirit; and as. it is by the Holy Spirit that 400 THE BOOK OF EXODU~ [OB. U. 1-33. - - - - - - - - - - - - ----------------- indh·iduals ~re AAncti6ed, not only pereon&lly but officially, eo BS to be media !'f gmce to othe!'R. so 1t may_ well be conceived that even in11.nim11te thingii ma.y become ch11.nnel11 of frnc,e 11.nrl h\~s1:o,g t-0 men, thr?ngh an effluence froJ?l t~e Mme :-pirit. 'l'he Holy Spmt doe~ not d1sda1n e.11 contACt w1t.h m11tter. At the begmnmg of craation ho "moved," or rath_e~ brooded," upon the_ face of the w11tem" (Gen. i. 2). At the bAptism of Jlll!U8, t.be :--pm! was seen "de!<eeudmg like a dove, 11nd lighting on him" (llfe.tt. iv. 16). At Pentecost_ he_ s~ow~ bimse_lf in the form of "tongues of fire" (Act.a II. 3). In every CC?nsecratton 1t 1s quite po~s1 ble th11t be may beRr 11. pa.rt, though in general he shrouda hLm.Belf, and doei, not let his presence be perceived.