The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 168

that the " table of the face " has no counterpart in heaven, we may reply that it is not neolled, becnuse His servants " see his face" and feast upon His presence (Rev. xxiv. 4). Similarly heaven has its mercy-seat-the Fount of Mercy dwe'lls there-its cherubim and seraphim (Isa. vi. 2; Rev. iv. 7; cf. Ezek. i. 10), and its golden censer (Rev. viii. 8, 6). It has no ark-the covenant is writ in the hertrt of tile Eterno.I, as He now writes it on the hearts of men (Heb. viii. 10). But it hn.s its throne (Rev. iv. 2 et passim), and tile ark was the throne of God (cf. Iso.. vi. 2). III. IN ITS SERVICES, Here we must distinguish between (1) the service of the holy place, ancl (2) the service of the Holiest of all. As to the former, it must here suffice to say that it centred round the altar of incense. Morning and evening, year in, year out, incense was burnt upon the golden altar. And we ha.ve already seen that incense is offered in heaven. As to its meaning, lessons, &c., we have spoken elsewhere (pp. 199,200), Let us turn, therefore, to the worship of tho most holy place, And here we observe- I. The cherubim of glory overshadowed the mercy-seat (Heh. ix. 5). They were, as it were, choirs on either side of the place of the Presence. Now the cherubim were symbolical representations of all created existences (see note on eh. vi. 29) from the highest to the lowest. But especially diil they shadow forth the highest forms of intelligence, the celestial beings who surround the Lord of glory; they were earthly counterparts of the heavenly seraphim (Isn.. vi. 2), and so they pourtrayed, as far as was possible, the worship of the heavenly hosts. It is true they were silent-they could not be otherwise-but still they conveyed the idea of ceaseless contemplation, of the most profound and reverent homage, of awestruck adoration, Indeed, we only understand who.t they symbolized by comparing the shadow with the substo.nce, For we find that heaven has its cherubim. The "foUl' beasts (,wa) round about the throne, full of eyes before and behind" (Rev. iv. 6-8), are clearly the "very substance" of those things of which Isaiah's and Ezekiel's winged creatures (Isa. v:i. 2; Ezek. i. 10 ; x. 14) were the likeness, and of which Solomon's cherubim were the copies. The silent, stately cherubim consequently were adumbrations of the mysterious hierarchy who ceaselessly praise the Un- created Light and lead the worship of the skies (Rev. iv. 8-11; v. 81 9, 14), "raising thoir Trisagion ever and aye." 2. The high priest entered the most holy place once a year. The ceremonio.l of the day of atonement (Levit. xvi.) foreshadowed, as we are expressly told in Heb. ix., the entry of oUl' great High Priest into heaven itself. The Jewish high priest, l'Obed in spotless white vestments, passed through the veil of blue o.nd purple o.nd sco.rlet (Exod. xxvi. 81) into the holy oracle, with the blooil of calves and goats, &c. Even so our unspotted Lord, "the High P:tiest of oUl' profession" (Heb. ii. 1), passed through (not into, 01EX71Xv0arn) the blue heavens (Heb. iv. 14) into the presence of the Eternal, with His own blood (eh. ix. 12). And o.s the high priest presented the tokens of death-as he sprinkled the bloou (which is the life of the flesh) seven tirnes before the mercy-seo.t eastward (Levit. xvi.15), o.nd so in figure pleacled the meritorious deo.th of Him who shoulcl come to put away sin, so cloes our great Iligh Priest present his pierced and wounded form-He stands before the throne aR a "Lamb as it had been slain" (Rov. v. 6)-and pleads His passion, the death of One who has come, for the salvation aucl life of the worlcl. It may be that, like the high priest, He utters no articulate words ; it may be that, like him, He simply appeOll'S as the representative of ma.n to show the tokens and pledges of atonement; or it mo.y be that as the incense was burned when the blood was sprinkled, so His powerful intercession, of which the incense was a type, isjoineil to the silent plending of His wouncls. But whichever way it is, it is clear that the ritual of the holy of holies has its blessed counterpart in the ritual of the Lcavon of heavens. Vere. 23-53.-The Prayer of Dedication. In how many and variod wnys is Solomon a typo of the Divine Solomon, the true Son of David (see pp. 63, 77, &c.) Even in thls respect they o.re alike-that ea.eh has "taught us how to pray 11 (Luke xi, 1 sqq.) 168 THE FIRST BOOR OF KINGS. [on. vtu. 1-60,