The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 371

HOMILIES B't VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ven;. 1--83.-The erection of the tabentocle. l. THE 'I'I'lm. 1. It reminded them of their deliverance from Egyptie.n bonde.ge; "this month sh11ll be unto you the beginning of months" (eh. xii. 2). God's dwelling-place is ever erected amid the adoring remem- brance of his redemption. "The love of Christ constraineth us." 2. It was & con- aecration of the year upon which they were entering. It struck the key-note of the after time. The joy of the new year wa.s to rise into the greater juy of the new life. The joy which ha.llowa all time is that of reconciliation to, and union with God. ' II. THE ORDER OF OONBTRUCTION. 1. The tabernacle wa.s first erected in which God wa.-; to be served. The duty to serve God is confessed before the power is attained •Jr the wa~· understood. (1) The emblem of the law in its strength and weakness. (2) Tht story of all the saved. 2. 'l'he tabernacle is next furnished, and the altar aad laver and outer court set up. The means &.'1! given of reconciliation and service. It is not enough to be convinced of duty. God must be waited upon for power. His we.y must bet.a.ken. « No other foundation can any man lay." 3. All things are e.nointed with the holy oil. The spirit hallows and energizes all the means of grace which God has given. 4. The priests also are anointed; we, too, must be so in order to serve, an<i we shall be if we come, as they did., into the midst of what God ha.s -provided and mnctified for man's redemption. Ill. THE ERECTION OF TRE TABERNACLE WAS FOLLOWED BY 1TB IHllEDIATE USE. So llOOn as the shew-bread table was placed, the bread was set in order upon it. The lamps were immediat.ely lighted. He burnt sweet incense upon the altar be.fore the veil. On the altar of sacrifice he offered burnt offering and meat offering. At the laver "Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their feet." Belief should follow fa.st upon the heels of knowledge. God has sent forth his salvation, not to be the subject of intellectual interest and theological speculation, but to touch and change the heart. The bread of life has been given t.o feed the perishing, not merely to be examined, weighed, analysed.-U. Ver. 10.-Tlie aJ,t,a,,- most holy. There is a difference at once perceptible between the words of sanctifying in ver. 9, and the words of sanctifying in ver. 10. Whereas the tabernacle and all therein are declared as holy, a special sanctity is somehow attached to the altar of burnt offering. "It shall be an altar most holy." The reasonable explanation of this is, not that there was any special sanctity in the altar of burnt ofiering itself, but that from its exterior position it was in great danger of being treated thoughtlessly, and therefore needed special attention to be called to it. Hence we are led to note the existence of a similar distinction among such things as we are bound to treat in a reverent and careful manner. Certain persons, things, and places are of sucl:. a kind as to be their own protection. Perhaps it is still true to some extont, thougl doubt.less it WM; much more felt in former times, that there is a divinity which dotl hedge a king. Men of coarse and &C&ndalous tongues manage to put a check on them llelves in the presence of women and child:t1c. Some are still alive who remember the horror and indignation excit.ed by the resurrection-men of fifty or sixty years ago, and how litt.1£: watch-houses were built in some churchyards, and men took it in turns to l{WlTd by night the rmting-plaoes of their beloved de.ad. But th06e who would shrinlr wit.I:. loathing from thf' bare po,;i;ihility that they could be guilty of such deseuatiun aro rn. :n. 1-33,] TfIF, BOOK OF EXODUS. •101