The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 416

graph to which they have no key. To others, an inscription of old date with no reference to present concerns. Yet, dull-eyed must we be if we can discern no lessons for ourselves in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. The Hebrew can be translated into modem English, the Law stated in terms of the gospel, The tabernacle was the meeting-place of God with his people. It was hie house, where bis servants ministered and his guests were entertained. Light was needful therein,-the great requisite of life, without which men grow pale and plants sickly, work ceases, and festivity is impossible._ Let us consider the candlestick with its light. I. As SETl'ING FORTH THE CHABAOTEB AND ATTRIBUTES OF GoD. 1. TM clw.racteriatica of light. (I) Its beauty. Naught excels it; it is splendour itself, and invests other objects with radiance. "God is light." What a combination of hues constitutes the pure white ray I (2) An emblem of knowledge. "Thy Word is a light unto my path." "To the Law and to the testimony: if they , , . no light in them." Light is the revealer-indicates our position and prospects. The wisdom of God is infinite; an inscrutable blaze that baffles the strongest vision. He devises plans for every emer- gency, Whilst men argue concerning the possibility of some works, he calmly does them; yea, whilst they prove (!) that no God exists,'he is occupied in balancing the worlds, directing the course of the ages, hastening the day when all shall perforce know him. (3) Typical of joy. "Light is so,vn for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Illuminations are a worldwide method of rejoicing. The notions some hold concerning God as a bard Taskmaster, a Judge of severe countenance, a Father who never smiles, are not Biblical representations. We read of "the glorious gospel of the blessed (happy) God." Joy is an emotion that loves to communicate itself to others, and from the throne of God issues a stream of untainted happiness to enrich the lives of his children. 2. 'l'he burning lamps showed the constant wakeful- ness of God. The people retired to their couches for repose, darkness brooded over the camp, but the holy place was unaffected by the shadows of the night. God never slumbers nor sleeps, It may not have occurred to the Israelites that God heard prayer from o'er the compass of the globe; but, in order to be the God of the whole earth and to listen to the petitions of all its inhabitants, it follows of necessity that God has no couch in his sanctuary, for he resteth not. Whilst the day is closing in the one hemisphere it is beginning to dawn in the other. "In him is no darkness at all." 3. The candlestick indicated perpetual existence. "A statue for ever in your genera- tions." Aaron might pass away, but the candlestick continued to give light in the tabernacle. Men die, God survives. As we behold the same sun and moon that gladdened the eyes of our forefathers, so it is the same God that hears our prayers and blesses us with the light of his countenance, II. As BETTING FORTH THE RELATIONSHIP AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 1. Their privilege,l condition ~favoured with a special revelation of the being and character of God. They were the only nation to possess such a candlestick mnde "after the pattern showed in the mount." All the heathen constructed deities and images of Deity according to their own judgment, taste, and caprice. The night during which the lamp burned wns a fit emblem of the moral state of the world lying outside lsro.el. The Israelites were blessed with the light of the Law; "to them were committed the oro.cles of God." In the symbols of the Law was taught the way of salvntion, to be completed by a coming Mediator. So in Jesus Christ we have" the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." At the Feast of Tabernacles, when nccording to custom largo golden lamps were lit at dark in the temple court, our Lord termed himself "the Light of the world." We have the Spirit of God to illumine our consciences, to show unto us the things of Christ. We read in tho Revelation of the seven burning lamps before the throne, which are the sevenfold Spirit of God. In Zechariah's vision of the candle- stick he saw the bowls supplied with oil from two olive trees, representing the continued grace furnished by the Spirit of God, keeping alight the knowledge of God in days ol the Church's decline. And we have the Word of God," a light shining in a dark place." Let not this light condemn us as did the sacred candlestick removed to Belshazzar's palace, where its rays revealed the fingers of a man's hand writing the monarch's doom. "The word that I have spoken, the samo shall judge him in the last day." 2. Their duty to minister to the glory of God. 'l'he people were permitted, yea, expected, to bring the oil for the lamps, as they had pr-,viously oll'ered the gold for th11 382 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [OH, XXIV, 1-9,