The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 411

I. W"E ARE SURELY TAUGHT HERE HOWSYSTEMATIOOUR OFFERINGS SHOULD BE. There should be a regularity about them like the return of the holy day. It is only when this peliodicity characterizes them that the Lord's cause is likely to be properly supported. A weekly offering is much more likely to be successful than a monthly, or quarterly, or annual offering. Liberality is to be a weekly exercise, like the ordinances of our holy religion. ll. OUR OFFERINGS SHOULD BE SANCTIFIED BY THE INOENSE OF PRAYER. This is only to say that liberality should be a religious act, part of our religious service. Then are we likely to be conscientious in discharging our obligations, when we carry our gifts into the presence of God. As Jesus stood over against the treasury in the temple, and saw the extraordinary liberality connected with the widow's two mites, so is he watch- ing our offerings at his shrine, noticing whether they are generous and cheerful or given with a grudge, observing whether they are perfumed with incense or rendered obnoxious by worldliness and ostentation. It will tend to purify our liberality to envelop it in prayer. • III. GoD's OFFIOERS SHOULD BE BEGARDED AS RECEIVING THEm SUPPORT FROM ms TABLE. That is to say, they are to be regarded as receiving their support from God, not directly from the people. It is this element of sanctity in the service of liberality which saves the dignity of the Lord's officers, and prevents them from being beggarly depend- ents upon the people. Conscientious people lay their offerings before God, and then God's officers receive their portion as from their Master in heaven. "And it !!hall be .Aaron's and bis sons';" and they shall eat it in the holy place. IV. THE WEEKLY OFFERING SHOULD BE THE OUTCOME OF AN EVERLASTING ENGAGE- ME1''T WITH Gon. "E¥ery sabbath (the priest) shall set it in orde, before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant." That is, liberality is to be no spasmodic outburst, but a steady outcome of an engagement that is perpetual. God has laid his people under such obligation by his rich provision in the gospel, that we feel we can never adequately discharge it. Hence week by week our offerings are laid upon bis altar, and we recognize the arrangement as a lasting one. Amid all the changes of times and of Churches, here have we sound principles of Church finance. It is to the religious spirit of the people we must ultimately commit the interests of God's cause. When they bring regularly, prayerfully, perpetually, and at the same time realize that the Church officers are God's servants and depend upon God's altar, then is there no fear of any failure. God will stand between his servants and bis people, and secure the interests of both.-R. M. E. Vers. 1-4.-71le lighting of the sanctuary. The face of Moses is glorious In the light of the gospel. I. THE CANDLESTIOK WAB AN EMBLEM OF THE CHUBOH OF GoD. (See Rev. i. 20.) 1. The c:andlestick in the holy place was one. (1) So is the Church of God a unity. Christ bas not two mystical bodies (Col. i. 18). He bas not two brides (Eph. v. 23). It comprehends the whole body of the faithful. (2) It is unscriptural as well as invidious for any denomination to style itself" The Church." Denominations are not even "Churches," though often so misnamed; they are, at best, but divisions of tho grand army of the saints. 2. It calf"fied seven lamps. (1) These are called" c1mdle- sticks" (Rev. i. 20). The reason is that visible Christian corporations, which are called "Churches" in the plural (see .Acts ix. 31; xv. 41; xvi. 6), are types of the more perfect unity. (2) "Seven" is a definite, put for an indefinite, number. It is the numeral for perfection, and likewise stands for many (see 1 Sam. ii. 6). So the seven Churches of .Asia, to which the candlestick is compared, are to be taken as representing the multitude of the Churches of Christendom. These are, indeed, countless, if, as Chrysostom says, "where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus there is a Church." 3. The candlestick was of pure gold. This was to express the preciousness of the saints. (1) 'l'bey are precious to God. He bas redeemed them with the blood of Christ. He has prepared for them a heaven of inconceivable magnificence. (2) They are precious to the world. They are its light. They are its salt. The light in them, like salt, is purifying and preserving, as well as illuminating (Matt. v.13-16.) II. THE LlGBT DI THE CHUROHEB IB THE WORD 011' Gou. This may be taken in CH, XXIV, 1-9,] THE BOOK OF LEVITIOUS, 377