glcalSe^^ 
 
 Macgregor, James, 1830-1894 
 Exodus 
 
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 NEW YORK, SCRIBNER AND WELFORI). 
 
EXODUS, 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, COMMENTARY, AND 
 SPECIAL NOTES, ETC. 
 
 / BY 
 
 Rev. JAMES MACGREGOR, D.D., 
 
 SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE NEW COLLEGE, 
 EDINBURGH. 
 
 Part II . 
 The Consecration. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 SPECIAL NOTES ON COMMENTARY. 
 In addition to Notes initial to sections and subsections. 
 
 The first " congregational " service of song, 
 
 Effect produced on Israel by new outward conditions, 
 
 Strategies of war against heathenism, 
 
 Natural basis for supernatural revelation, 
 
 Balance of miracle and doctrine, . 
 
 The Second Table of the Law, . 
 
 Sabbath legislation, .... 
 
 The Sabbath in Exodus, .... 
 
 Imperial and provincial moral law, 
 
 '* Permission" of evil, in two cases, 
 
 Distinction between "sin" and "crime," 
 
 The "settled " look of things in the wilderness civil law 
 
 The festival system, ..... 
 
 Conquest of Canaan— the " fear " sent before, . 
 
 The whole Tabernacle fabric, ... 
 
 The meaning of the whole Tabernacle, by Prof. A. B. Davidson 
 
 The words Sanctuary, Tabernacle, Tent. 
 
 The " ark " and the " mercy-seat," 
 
 The Kapporeth, . 
 
 The Tabernacle "meeting," 
 
 Elevation of the structure. 
 
 The minute antiquities, , 
 
 The " coupling," 
 
 The number five, 
 
 "Sweet savour," . 
 
 CHAP. VEK. 
 XV. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 xvii, 
 
 xviii. 
 
 xix. 
 
 XX. 
 XX. 
 XX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 xxii. 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 XXV. init. 
 
 XXV. init. 
 
 XXV. 7 
 
 XXV. 9 
 
 XXV. 17 
 
 XXV. 22 
 
 xxvi. init. 
 
 xxvi. init. 
 
 xxvi. 1-6 
 
 xxvi. 9- 1 1 
 
 xxix. 17 
 
THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 OF THE CONSECRATION. 
 
 This Part, like the first, has three heads— ist, the approach to Sinai, 
 chaps, xv.-xviii. ; 2nd, the covenanting there, xix.-xxiv. ; 3rd, the 
 Tabernacle building. A connected view of this part of the movement, 
 in its connection with the geography of Sinai, is given in the Intro- 
 duction (pp. 42-48). The episode of Jethro's visit may, in point of 
 time, have extended into the period of the repose of Sinai. The 
 historian, who is not merely a journalist or annalist, may have desired 
 to give the whole about this visit in one view, and to pass from the 
 important constitutional measure adopted on the suggestion of a man 
 before proceeding to record the covenanting and the building, in 
 which all went at the bidding of divine revelation. 
 
 Apart from Jethro's visit at the close of the Approach, and from 
 the Song of salvation at the beginning of it, this portion of the history 
 exhibits a full sample of probation or trial : — in connection with 
 Israel's then condition of helpless wandering, there was probation of 
 man (De. viii. 3), especially through the wonderful sustaining and 
 forbearing goodness of God ; so that in effect there was probation, or 
 trial of God the Redeemer (i Co. x. 9) through man's disloyal dis- 
 content. The trial of man was especial through the supernatural gift 
 of means of his life in the body, — the manna, and the water from the 
 rock ; a life which God sweetened by healing the bitter waters ; and 
 shielded, through the victory over Amalek the strong. 
 
 The discussions about routes to Sinai, and about particular places 
 on the route, may mislead " the simple " among those whom they are 
 intended to guide, by creating an impression that, since learned men 
 differ about the places, there perhaps is an uncertainty about the 
 history. The fact is, that there are more routes than one in Sinai, 
 and nowhere else on earth, that would sufficiently meet the require- 
 ments of the history. And the questions about which the doctors 
 differ have really to do with the certainty or the meaning of the 
 teaching : — they are only questions about the one of several paths 
 
10 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XV. I. 
 
 Chap. XV. i. HTHEN sang Moses and the children of Israel 
 
 -L this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, 
 
 I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; 
 
 2 the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The 
 
 Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my 
 
 salvation : he is my God, and I will prepare him an 
 
 that a man took on his way to church, or the one of several streets 
 that a military procession took on its way to "the palace of the 
 king." 
 
 The Song of Moses the servant of God, Re. xv. 3 (xv. 1-21). The expression 
 of the Apocalypse may not imply that this song in Exodus is to be sung in 
 heaven. By cornmon consent of judges, it is the sublimest hymn that has been 
 heard on earth. Its Mosaic authorship, though not intimated in the history, has 
 been generally regarded as certain by those who believe the history. It has a 
 distinct footing of its own, irrespectively of the authorship of Exodus, (i) The 
 language is archaic, in a manner suggestive of early origin. (2) The structure of 
 the composition, though exhibiting the type of Hebrew poetry, is less elaborate 
 than the structure of such compositions in the following ages. (3) The matter 
 and spirit of the song are such as might have been expected from a Moses, in the 
 first rapture of adoring wonder, joy, and praise, when the great deliverance has 
 been experienced this hour. (4) The colouring is that of an eye-witness, who still 
 sees what he describes. And (5) it is really inconceivable that there should have 
 been more than one man capable of producing this great song for the occasion. 
 
 The art of song may well have been learned by Moses in Egypt (the gift of 
 song was never learned from man — Ps. xl. o^—poeta nascitur { Jn. i. 12)) ; and his 
 Israelites must have so far been acquainted with it that they could be prepared for 
 singing this song within the— say — two or three days of their stay at the point of 
 Passage, before beginning their march through the wilderness. The women's 
 part is illustrated by the Egyptian monuments. It consisted in the singing of a 
 refrain, with accompaniment of instruments and appropriate bodily movement, in 
 pauses of the song, which was sung by the men. Miriam's refrain (ver. 21), 
 consisting of the opening words of the song, would thus come in at intervals : the 
 placing of which cantons be only matter of conjecture. Thus at the close of 
 ver. 13 there is a natural pause of transition from what is in substance retro- 
 spective to the second part of the song, which is distinctively prospective. And 
 commentators have exercised their judgment (cp, i Co. ii. 15) in marking sub- 
 divisions within these divisions, which may have given so many occasions for the 
 refrain, in pause of transition from one to another of them. The whole is in 
 praise of Jehovah, on occasion of His delivering Israel, in a most wonderful 
 mighty work of mercy and judgment, through the Red Sea. 
 
 1-13. The first part of the song, retrospective, begins, vers. 2-5, with 
 expression of the direct spontaneous feeling occasioned by a first view of 
 Jehovah's wonder in the actual destruction of the pursuers for the salvation 
 of His people; and thence (vers. 6-13) passes on, still in view of that great 
 work, to a more reflective representation of what is folded in its greatness. 
 In this first part there are two incidental indications of contemporaneousness 
 of the composition with the event which was the occasion of it :— (i) The 
 powerfully vivid description of what took place in the actual passage bears an 
 aspect of being the utterance of an eye-witness of the tragedy of Egyptian 
 experience in the sea. The great emphasis laid on the effect of Jehovah's 
 victory relatively to " the gods," is what would be natural on the part of an 
 
XV. 9-] THE SONG OF MOSES. II 
 
 3 habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The 
 
 4 Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's 
 chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea : his chosen 
 
 5 captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths 
 have covered them : they sank into the bottom as a stone. 
 
 6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power : 
 thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 
 
 7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast over- 
 thrown them that rose up against thee : thou sentest forth 
 
 8 thy wrath, 7vhick consumed them as stubble. And with the 
 blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the 
 floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were con- 
 
 9 gealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will 
 
 author fresh from view of Egyptian idolatry, the most imposing in its outward 
 grandeur, of temples and other monuments, that the world has ever seen. (2) 
 The order of the names of peoples in vers. 13-15 (note). 
 
 1-5. Uftio the Lord. This beginning of all song, for Israel and for mankind, 
 is the keynote of the actual psalmody of Christendom through all ages ; and 
 the song is taken up in heaven, by the rational universe, eternally. Hath 
 triumphed gloriously : the Heb. has here a peculiar power of simple 
 repetition, as if,— My song is of Jehovah, glorious ! glorious ! Rider: not 
 in saddle, but in chariot. Throws : flung, like a stone out of a sling (if a 
 horse j/rm^ forward suddenly, the man in the chariot may — experto crede—bi 
 fiung out as from a catapult). The Lord in ver. 2. The Heb. h/ah, here 
 first occurring, poetical abbreviation for " Jehovah.'" Prepare Hijii an habita- 
 tion: rather, give Him glory. My father s God : response to His own word, 
 iii. 6, 13, in making Himself known to Moses and to Israel. Man of war 
 (Ps. xxiv. 8) : anthropomorphism, peculiarly appropriate on this occasion of 
 His triumph (xiv. 14, 30). He is on His way to be renowned as " the Lord 
 of hosts" ("Jehovah of the armies"). His nafne : dttur digniori ("the 
 crown to the worthiest, said dying Alexander the Great " — cp. Re. v. 2, 4, 9) ; 
 He now has won for Himself the "name" of Jehovah, that is, "the Only 
 God, Living and True, Israel's Redeemer." His chosen captains (under 
 xiv. 7) : cp. " his paladins " (Charlemagne's were lost at Roncesvalles). 
 Cast : hurled. Drowned : plunged, so that they lay, not dead, but in the 
 death agony, beneath the water. So, as a stone (in ver. 10, as lead) : heavily 
 laden with armour, they could not float for an instant. 
 
 6-10. Wrath— stubble (xiv. 24, 28) : the wrath here is a " consuming fire " 
 (2 Thess: ii. 8). Sentest forth : not simply, flashing through the cloud-like 
 lightning, but directed like a sword {right hand, ver. 6). Blast— nostrils 
 (" scattered by the breath of God " — said Professor Aytoun to his class, about 
 the Armada). Here perhaps the expression is not metaphor of poetry ; but 
 (cp. ver. 10) resumes the historical description of the strong east wind{\\w. 21). 
 Only, here the wind must have turned, to send back the waters which had 
 stood as "an heap." Heap — congealed [wnditx xiv. 21 on wall). To make 
 the water literally as ice here would be, not accurately scriptural, but un- 
 scripturally prosaic (the "ice" is in the commentator's head). The enefny 
 said : the words here put into his mouth are not in the stately rhythm of the 
 
12 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xV. lO. 
 
 pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil ; my lust shall 
 be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand 
 
 10 shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea 
 
 1 1 covered them ; they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who 
 is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? who is like thee, 
 
 ] 2 glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? Thou 
 stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 
 
 13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast 
 redeemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy 
 
 14 holy habitation. The people shall hear, and be afraid: 
 sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 
 
 song as a whole, but as of eager utterance, — panting, gasping : a picture of 
 breathless rage in pursuit. Lust: lit. soul, perhaps better, — soul's hunger, 
 of hatred (and not only a thiefs greed). Destroy them: marg. repossess, 
 weakens the sense, by anticlimax, bringing the greed to the front again. 
 Blow — wind (under ver. 8) : the zvind is the only second cause alleged here 
 or in xiv. — e.g. no word of a tide. 
 
 II, 12. Gods, here specially appropriate (cp. xii. 12). It was over the gods 
 of Egypt that this final triumph was achieved ; and the strength of idolatry 
 on earth was really broken for all time that morning ("fulfilled," as set forth 
 in Jn. xvi. 10, cp. 14). Holiness : becomes defined, as moral quality, by the 
 moral law in the ark of the testimony (see notes in xxv., etc.). It is the 
 attribute of His attributes (Ps. xxx. 4), even the loveliness of His love (Re. 
 XV. 12). And hence, fearful in praises. Awe, ^^ the fear of the Lord," 
 qualifying filial confidence of affection, is at the root of Bible religion. The 
 sentimentalism of some songs which are sung in the worship of Him is 
 unscriptural irreverence — really "twaddle" where that is profane (cp. Is. 
 vi. 1-5). Doing wo7tders := '^]ehoydh the Thaumaturgist ; " so that Chris- 
 tians making light of miracle deny the Living God of Israel. The " mighty 
 works " of God show Him in His terribleness, not only of resistless power, 
 but of judicial resentment of moral evil : — witness the Red [Sea and the 
 resurrection to final judgment. The earth: here, the sea — part of the 
 telluric system — is represented as operative like an earthquake, instantly 
 swallowing up. 
 
 13-16. Hast led^hast guided. The vision of the past here unfolds into 
 vision of the future : — winter blossoms into summer (so that spring of new 
 creation is here). That future is in the Covenant of Jehovah (He. xiii. 8), 
 "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." How far the vision of the 
 future is given by direct revelation, or how far the foresight is insight, we do 
 not know. Palestina : a Greek form, would be better, Philistia. The Heb. 
 is PelAsheth, "the Philistine country." N.B. the order of the names of 
 peoples (the word in ver. 14 is i^\\xx.)— Philistines, Edom, Moab, Canaan. It 
 is another incidental proof of the contemporaneous authorship of the song 
 — this is the order in which, that day — the peoples would rise to view of the 
 future (see initial note). To Israel 07i that day (xiii. 17), the Philistines were 
 nearest in view ; as they have been avoided, what is next in view, on route 
 from Sinai to Canaan on the east side, is Edom (which will covenant with 
 Israel about a passage through its territory) ; beyond which, northward, is 
 
XV. 19-] THE SONG OF MOSES. 1 3 
 
 1 5 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed ; the mighty men 
 of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them : all the 
 
 1 6 inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread 
 shall fall upon them: by the greatness of thine arm they 
 shall be as still as a stone ; till thy people pass over, O Lord, 
 
 17 till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Thou 
 shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine 
 inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for 
 thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands 
 
 18 have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. 
 
 19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with 
 his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the 
 
 Moab (which, seeking help of Balaam, will meet Israel in battle, — namely, 
 the "man of war," ver. 15) ; and finally, after the passage of the Jordan, 
 comes Canaan (of the wars of Joshua), To one writing after the conquest, 
 the order would be different : Philistia, if mentioned at all (it does not show 
 in Joshua's wars), would be named last. Dukes (Ge. xxxvi. 15, etc.) may 
 appear to have, within the period of the forty years' wandering, become 
 superseded by one king (Nu. xx. 14) ; — another indication of contempo- 
 raneous authorship of the song. Mighty men : may be simply, men fit fol 
 war— and perhaps boastful— as they sometimes are, "thrasonical" Goliaths. 
 Melt {cp. Josh. V. I, and Pharaoh's hardness). A stone: not the stojie in 
 I Sa. XXV. 37, but rather the sto7te or lead, here in vers. 5, 10 : only, dead 
 now, not only sinking. The future (there) foreseen in the song is involved 
 in the (now accomplished) manifestation of Jehovah. That which in this 
 forecast appears, "foreshortened," as all at once accomplished, really 
 extended over a generation of Joshua's campaigning. The " seven nations " 
 of Canaan, though from the outset under the influence of a "fear," which 
 was presentiment of doom, fought stoutly (cp, i Sa. iv.). Still Israel's 
 victory was won before the battle was begun ( i Jn. v, 4). Thy holy habitation 
 (ver. IT,)— people pass over. These expressions have been arbitrarily made 
 to mean, Jerusalem with its temple, reached long after Israel's crossing 
 Jordan. The expressions fairly admit of a less specific construction, in 
 accordance with the condition of mind at the exodus time. The singer sees 
 rejoicing, as Jehovah's habitation, His dwelling with His people, which may 
 be in Sinai ; and correspondingly, the passing over is, their transition to that 
 home, it may be, in the Passage of the Red Sea. Or the habitation may 
 be, Canaan, the Rest, the predestined home, in view of this "day of 
 espousals " (Jer, ii. 2). 
 
 17-21. Vers. 17, 18 are the conclusion of the song; ver. 19 is a resump- 
 tion of the narrative. The mountain. Some regard this as a description of 
 Palestine, which comparatively is a mountain land : cp. the " get them up'' 
 in i. 10. The mountainous aspect of Palestine must have been familiarly 
 known to Moses, though he should never have seen it. No_ doubt Sinai, _ too, 
 was a mountain land, a wonderful sanctuary of God's building and (iii. 5) 
 consecration. But the iiiheritance (i Pe. i. 3, 4) seems to look forward to 
 Canaan. 18. End and effect of the whole work, "that God may be all in 
 all," Jehovah's reigning (cp. i Co. xv. 27, 28). For the horse— sea. 
 
14 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XV. 20. 
 
 waters of the sea upon them : but the children of Israel went 
 on dry land in the midst of the sea. 
 
 20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a 
 timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out after her 
 
 2 1 with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, 
 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; the 
 horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 
 
 Therefore Israel sang : so in Re. xv. 3, etc. Miriam, we suppose to be the 
 sister in ii. 4 ; now a very aged woman, — of a long-lived family. Here she 
 shows the Levitical fire, and no doubt a religious zeal ; but we come to learn 
 afterwards (Nu. xii, I, etc.) that if she was gold, it had need of fire, may be 
 a ^^ strange fire" — witness Nadab and Abihu her nephews. The beginning 
 of a great career of woman, in Israel and in Christendom, is now in her as a 
 prophetess (see the last named in Lu. ii. 36. Note on Prophecy in Introd. 
 pp. 75-78). In Ge. XX. 7 we see propihecy apart from office, as arising out of 
 personal intimacy with God, and resulting in mediation — still Abrariam was a 
 mediatorial person. In Samuel's time the word "seer" had long been in use, 
 where "prophet" came into use after wards. The word "prophet," "prophecy," 
 as representing authoritative communication of the mind of God by man, is in 
 free use in the Pentateuch : which fits into the view, that the Pentateuch is 
 of a primaeval time, very long before Samuel's. Titnbrel (seen on monu- 
 ments) is like " tambourine." Its clangour went with the women's voices 
 into the refrain. Thus nothing was wanting to the full effectiveness of the 
 utterance, by a nation newly born, of this magnificent song of redemption, 
 on that first day of the history of nationality. 
 
 Exercise 31. 
 
 1. Ps. xc. is entitled "a prayer of Moses the man of God." Suppose it to 
 
 have been uttered on Pisgah, and specify the things which Moses may 
 have in his view in the various parts of it, with reference (i) to Egypt, 
 (2) to the wilderness, (3) to Canaan. 
 
 2. In Re. XV. there is given the Song of Moses and of the Lamb, (i) What 
 
 Lamb was especially connected with the original Song of Moses, and how 
 does it appear that this was Christ ? (2) Take the veil off Moses' face 
 (2 Co. iii. 18) , so as to show, in the heart of his original Song, the thing 
 which God is praised for in this new Song in Re. xv. 
 
 3. The original Song of Moses exhibits the true type of Israelitish song, and 
 
 Christians are Israel. For the composition or the criticism of a hymn, 
 what does the Mosaic Song show as to (i) the Person who is the theme of 
 Christian song? (2) His works which are to be in the song? (3) His 
 attrihites which are to be in it as appearing in those works ? 
 
 Note on this first " congregational" service of song. The congregation is 
 Israel (cp. the Song "of Moses," Ps. xc). i. It here appears as the highest act of 
 a nation's homage to God, the King and Redeemer. So the Hebrews of the New 
 Dispensation naturally regard (He. xiii. 5) "the fruit of their lips giving thanks 
 to His name," as offering "sacrifice to God." This is a worthy conception. 
 The notion of a musical performance, /^r the gratification of the people, is most 
 unworthy ; cp. the criticism on a Unitarian prayer, ' ' one of the most eloquent 
 prayers ever addressed to a Boston audience." So the canon of criticism here is, 
 not. Does it please the people? but (Phi. ii. 8-10), Does it praise Christ? {N.D, 
 —What PHny found, in the worship of Bithynians, was a Hymn "to Christ as 
 God. ") The song is the only part of public worship in which the congregation are 
 
XV. 21.] THE MARCH. 1 5 
 
 active. They now are priests on earth (cp. He. iv. 14) — the priests (i Pe, ii, 5) — 
 and this is their offering of sacrifice. But it is a "sacrifice to God," 2. Appar- 
 ently even in the great excitement of those exodus days, the people must have 
 practised the song previously, so far as to be able to join all together in the 
 singing of it on the march. The only other personal exercise of theirs in worship, 
 on those great days, that we are made to see in the history is their celebration of 
 the Passover. The practice of sacred song, for the purpose of making the public 
 offering of the congregational ' ' sacrifice to God " as good as it can be made, is 
 " a becoming thing." 3. Those who have charge of the words to be sung ought 
 surely to be careful not to allow the service to be debased by expressions not 
 becoming the praise of Him who is " glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing 
 wonders." Sentimental twaddle, sung by a congregation, is essentially carnaliz- 
 ing and paganizing. Fletcher of Saltoun, "the patriot," said, "Allow me to 
 make the songs of a people, and I do not care who may make their laws." Lord 
 Hailes said that Blind Harry's "Wallace" was "the Bible of the Scots." What 
 sort of nation will our " Songs of Zion " make? Are they " of Zion " f Some of 
 them have a look of Rome, and some of Racow. 
 
 The March (xv. 22-xvi. 36). Of this march the history does not allow us to 
 think as if a compact army had been proceeding straight on to an objective point. 
 Even the vast "army" of six hundred thousand must have moved in bodies not 
 very firmly coherent in their connexion ; and of the movement of the two millions 
 we can think only as something like the progression of a season ; though no 
 doubt the Hebrew genius for organization, powerfully aided by external pressure 
 of the circumstances, maintained a really vital connexion of headquarters at the 
 resting-places with all Israel to the remotest extremities. It is evident that the 
 history, which specifies only three resting-places in the first month of the move- 
 ment, is not intended as an iti7ierary, to enable us to follow the Israelites from 
 stage to stage. It is fitted only to show us, by selected samples of their action 
 and of God's dealing with them, what suffices for enabling us thus far to 
 comprehend the history of the institution of the kingdom of God here, within 
 that " wonder-year " which, beginning with the Passover, is now so far on its 
 way to a completion in the Tabernacle. Regarding the line of march, until the 
 final movement inland to the mount of legislation (iii. 12), the expert witnesses 
 are not fully agreed. That need not disconcert us, any more than if witnesses 
 had not fully agreed as to the exact line of a ship's movement over the ocean. 
 (See Introduction, pp. 42-45, and initial note to xv.) We may assume that the 
 starting-point, represented by the song of Moses, was the spot now known as 
 Ay2m Mousa, or " Moses' well," some little distance from the Red Sea point of 
 Passage, But from that starting-point there are several routes, with a general 
 direction toward the central mount of meeting, on any one of which the movement 
 may have taken place. And the changes on the face of the land, with uncertainty 
 about the names of places, make determination of the question between those 
 routes to some extent conjectural. But there seems to be a subsidence of disputa- 
 tions toward a settled opinion, that the Elirn of our text is now represented by 
 Wady Ghurundel, which gives us a central point upon the line of movement, 
 about a mile and a half inland from the eastern side of the Red Sea. And in the 
 important opinion of those who had charge of the Sinai Survey, the Wilderness 
 of Sin was what, farther along the coast in the direction of the promontory 
 Ras Mahommed, is now known as El Markka, a space of thirteen miles by three 
 between the Red Sea and the mountains. The only other point specified in the 
 history, Marah, is now credibly identified with the district or spot named 
 Howarah, about thirty-six miles from Ayun Mousa, which, in an arid, broken 
 country, would take three days of journeying of such a host, and which places us 
 within six miles of Wady Ghurundel beyond. Here, again, the provisional or 
 conjectural identification will amply suffice for our purpose, namely, to obtain a 
 framework for the historical picture which is the real subject of our study. 
 
1 6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xV. 22. 
 
 2 2 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea ; and they went 
 out into the wilderness of Shur ; and they went three days 
 in the wilderness, and found no water. 
 
 23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the 
 waters of Marah, for they were bitter : therefore the name of 
 
 The memorable march is made peculiarly memorable for all time by the 
 beginning of those " murmurings, " provocations, tempting God while being tried 
 or proved by Him, through which especially it is that the exodus - Israel is 
 instructive to the generations following (He. iii. iv. and in the Psalms). That 
 same people, which sang the magnificent song of salvation so magnificently, was, 
 as God here says (xv. 25, 26, xvi. 4), proved, or tested, as to the quality (De. viii. 3) 
 of their adherence to Jehovah, whom they had owned and praised with such 
 enthusiasm. The testing process began with their experiencing some of the 
 inconveniences or hardships incidental to that condition of freedom into which 
 the Lord had brought them. It was completed through His graciously bestowing 
 upon them, in miracles, the gifts they really needed. And the result of the 
 testing process, in both its forms, was to show that they, so wondrously favoured 
 with the outward privileges of free men of the Lord, really in their heart of 
 inward life were slaves. First, the true man is shown by his cheerful endurance 
 of the difficulties and the distresses of the situation. Israel, at once beginning to 
 murmur, thereby showed himself a petulant slave. Further, with reference to 
 the gift of the manna, God imposed certain conditions, which could easily be 
 complied with, as to the manner of their using His bounties. Conformity to such 
 conditions, freely and with loyal heart, is in the very nature of a true free man 
 (Ja, ii. 8). Israel, as soon as tried, showed that he had not in him this true 
 nature of the new condition, but was really slavish in his heart of life ; by violation 
 of the easy convictions, for no real reason, but apparently in the mere wanton 
 insolence of a slave let loose. A Sybarite, murmuring because the rose leaf under 
 his head is crumpled — that a ransomed son of God ! The selfish ungodliness on 
 the part of professing Christians, which now is found not unfrequently murmuring 
 or mutineering, under similar conditions, is no new thing. It is the leading 
 feature of that beginning of emancipated Israel's probation in the wilderness. 
 Saved from Pharaoh, they had to be saved from self. Are there selfish Christians? 
 (See Mat. xxv. 28-46.) 
 
 1st, To Elim (xv. 22-27). The title of this subsection might be, the trial 
 by water, and that of the greater subsection following, the trial by bread. At 
 Elim, the destination of this first part of the movement, they probably rested 
 three weeks. Marah, their first real resting-place, was reached apparently 
 on the eighth day after their Passover observance in Egypt ; so that the statute 
 and ordinance (ver. 25) to the murmurers was on that eighth day which com- 
 pleted the first Octave of days in their national existence. 22, So : ought 
 to be, and (under i. i) : it is simply the historical V\ Shur (Ge. xvi. 7), 
 also known (Nu. xxxiii. 6-8) as the wilderness of Etha?n. It included 
 vaguely the region between Egypt and Palestine ; and its name of Ethavi 
 may have been especially connected with its Egyptian *' edge " (Nu. xxxiii. 6), 
 where Etham was situated (cp. "Wimbledon Common," or "Braes o' 
 Doune "). The three days' journey was the distance they had requested 
 Pharaoh's leave to go into the wilderness. A host like theirs could not 
 scatter in search of minor springs of water. 23. Marah: "bitterness," 
 may have been an old name. The water found at Ilowarah (initial note to 
 this section) still is brackish. A traveller, tasting it, said, " Marah " (meaning 
 the Bible name) ; his Arab guide (understanding him to refer to the present 
 
XV. 27-] TPIE MARCH. I7 
 
 24 it was called Marab. And the people murmured against 
 
 25 Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the 
 Lord ; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had 
 cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet : there he 
 made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he 
 
 26 proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to 
 the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is 
 right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, 
 and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases 
 upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians : for I 
 am the Lord that healeth thee. 
 
 2 7 And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, 
 and three score and ten palm trees : and they encamped 
 there by the waters. 
 
 quality) said, "Yes, niarah it is" (bitter). 24. Murmured: N.B. \h& first 
 separate action of this people now set free ! — grumbling (cp. John Bull). 
 Moses (cp. xvi. 7, 8). It was really against Jehovah (cp. Mat. x. 40). 
 Their turning it against the helpless minister of the Lord was an aggravation 
 of meanness in their mutineering. 25. No tree is known to have ever been 
 in Sinai that was even supposed to have that virtue, of making bitter water 
 sweet. This work was a pure and simple miracle. It would be peculiarly 
 significant to an Israelite, accustomed to the sweet waters of the Nile, and 
 having seen how they might be turned into a thing awful and revolting. 
 Observe, that a merely natural history not only contradicts Moses, but leaves 
 Israel in Egypt ; it thus does not account for the thing in question, namely, 
 Israel's freedom. There He proved them : tested them. The meaning is 
 shown by ver. 26 to be instituted this mode of trying them. A statute {choq) 
 has in general usage a more comprehensive meaning than ordinance {mish- 
 path), as e.g. decree (general order) is more comprehensive than jtidgment 
 (decision in a particular case). But here the words are simply combined for 
 cumulative impressiveness. 26. This is a particular illustration of the general 
 "covenant of works " under which Israel was to be kept in tenure of Canaan's 
 temporal blessings. The Egyptians were remarkably healthy. The diseases here 
 probably do not mean those which are historically known as "natural plagues " 
 characteristic of Egypt. The reference, more probably, is an allusion to the 
 Ten Plagues (see " plague" threatened in xxx. 13). The peculiar use of the 
 word "diseases" here would thus be, to serve as a transition to the healings 
 of which the sweetening of the Marah water was a symbol. Health 
 (Ex. xxiii. 25), restored life in its fulness of purity and strength, is a leading 
 aspect of the result to man of redemption by God's grace (Ps. ciii. 3). Thus 
 the N. T. word for Saviour, Soter, is "Healer" (Germ, der Heiland)-, 
 as also the Lat. Salvator ; and our "holiness" is "wholeness" — haleness. 
 27. Elim ("terebinths " or " palm-trees ") : Wady Ghurundel (initial note on 
 this section). Wells : ought to be springs ; djy the waters, means, abund- 
 ance of them. The place now supposed to be the ancient Elim has now 
 springs, with some palm-trees and acacias and tamarisks. With this, of 
 course, is associated correspondingly good pasturage. It must have been a 
 "quiet resting-place" grateful to Israel — accustomed to rich well- watered 
 
 B 
 
iS THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xVI. T. 
 
 Chap. XVI. i. And they took their journey from Elim ; and all 
 the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the 
 wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 
 fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out 
 
 2 of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the 
 children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the 
 
 3 wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, Would 
 to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of 
 Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, afid when we did eat 
 bread to the full! for ye have brought us forth into this 
 wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 
 
 4 Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread 
 from heaven for you ; and the people shall go out and gather 
 
 Goshen — after this first experience of "the wandering" in the parched 
 desert. 
 
 2nd, At Sin (xvi.) (for the locality see initial note to this section). This more 
 complicated trial by bread brought into view a more complicated baseness of 
 Israel, such that Moses (ver. 20) was zvroth. It is noteworthy that the Lord 
 showed no such feeling ; the forbearance on His part is remarkable, considering 
 that ' ' the Holy One " is He to whom such baseness is most abhorrent. 
 
 I. All the congregation: there thus was a mustering of them from the 
 whole region. Between Elim and Sinai (mount). Not necessarily in a 
 straight line ; but, in the line of actual route. The Sinai here, the mount of 
 legislation, is spoken of as a known mount. It now seems to be identified as 
 the present y^(^^/ Mousa, not the mount now known as Sinai. Fifteenth day : 
 the departure^ no doubt, dates from the Passover observance ; so that Israel 
 as a nation is now exactly a month old. 2. (i) Unanimous, (2) now, against 
 both the servants. 3. The pietism here is very shameful. Still more is the 
 spirittcal choice here manifested of the condition of a crouching slave on 
 account of his bellyful; showing what their "god" is (Phi. iii. 19). Flesh- 
 pots, etc. Egypt was a land of plenty ; and the Israelites are nowhere said 
 to have suffered stint of food there. To kill: with so large a host leaving 
 Egypt in haste, there can hardly have been a full month's provision of bread. 
 There may to some have been a real natural danger of perishing of starvation. 
 The more thoughtful, looking forward, might see an outlook very black. 
 Though Sinai, before the barbarous destruction of trees, must have had far 
 greater capabilities than at present for supporting man and beast, it probably 
 never was capable of supporting two millions of human beings along wiih 
 flocks and herds (see Introduction, pp. 43, 44). Israel brought much wealth 
 from Egypt, witness the superabundance of free-will offerings for erection of the 
 tabernacle. But there were no arrangements for purchase of commodities 
 from surrounding peoples, with whom contact might at first be formidable to 
 wealth-laden fugitives — as contact with a sword-fish is to a whale. Th^re 
 was occasion for grave solicitude or thoughtfulness : — but ?mirmziring': the 
 slave's resort! 4, 5. Bread fi'om heaven (cp. Jn. vi. 31-33, etc.). The 
 Bupematuralism is the point here : hence, raining it (under ver, 8), sending 
 it from the sky. The claim of Christ is, to be t?ie heavenly bread, the 
 
XVI. 12.] THE MARCH. 1 9 
 
 a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they 
 
 5 will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that 
 on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in ; 
 
 6 and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And 
 Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At 
 even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out 
 
 7 from the land of Egypt. And in the morning, then ye shall 
 see the glory of the Lord ; for that he heareth your murmur- 
 ings against the Lord : and what are we, that ye murmur 
 
 8 against us? And Moses said. This shall be, when the Lord 
 shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning 
 bread to the full ; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings 
 which ye murmur against him ; and what are we ? your mur- 
 murings are not against us, but against the Lord. 
 
 9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congrega- 
 tion of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord : 
 
 10 for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as 
 Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of 
 Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, 
 the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 
 
 II, 12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard 
 the murmurings of the children of Israel : speak unto them, 
 saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye 
 
 substance, of which the manna was a shadow. But this shows that the 
 shadow (the bodily food) was supernatural, as He is (the spiritual food). 
 (See Introd. p. 80, on Israel's witness to the miracle.) The proving was to 
 be through this supernatui-al thing. That is, it was to be tried whether 
 (De. viii. 3) they would really trust their lives to God Almighty (i Pe. iv. 19), 
 in reliance simply on His word, in the absence of ordinaiy means of living. 
 A further and more definite trial was to be (cp. xv. 25, 26) by means of His 
 "ordinance," prescribing the manner of their using the gift, (i) On ordinary 
 days there was to be (ver. 18) for them a day's provision bestowed for the day 
 (cp. "our daily bread"). (2) For the Sabbath (ver. 22, etc.) there was to be 
 a double portion bestowed on the sixth day. A certain — day: lit. day's 
 maker for day. Proz'e my law : in De. viii. it is, "whether they will or will 
 not have Him for their God." 6. Even : lit. between two evenings (under 
 xii. 6, etc.). 7, Glory: this may be only, in the gift of the manna; but 
 seems to mean, the sensible manifestation (cp. Jn. ii. 11) in ver, 10. 8. Flesh : 
 in this history, as a rule, when there is record of the Lord's communication of 
 a thing to Moses, there is not record of his delivering it to the people, and 
 vice versd. Thus here, as there is mention of his intimation to the people 
 about the flesh, there is no mention of his having received that from the 
 Lord: it is assumed. Against the Lord {MndiQv -ky. 2$). 9, 10. Conie near — 
 they behold (cp. Zech. xii. 10): this was His only reproach. 11-13. The 
 common quail, at that season, comes to the peninsula in great flocks across 
 the Red Sea. Arriving faint with fatigue, and falling rather than lighting to 
 
20 
 
 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVI. 1 3. 
 
 shall be filled with bread ; and ye shall know that I am the 
 
 1 3 Lord your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails 
 came up, and covered the camp ; and in the morning the 
 
 14 dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay 
 was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there 
 lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the 
 
 15 ground. And when the children of Israel saw //, they said 
 one to another. It is manna : for they wist not what it was. 
 And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord 
 hath given you to eat. 
 
 16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather 
 of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every 
 man, according to the number of your persons ; take ye every 
 man for them which are in his tents. 
 
 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some 
 
 18 more, some less. And when they did mete // with an omer, 
 he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered 
 
 the ground, it is easily caught by the natives, who hold it in esteem as food. 
 There was extraordinariness in the number now sent to Israel ; and the super- 
 natural, making miracle, was further manifest in the prediction. Apparently 
 the quail supply was for Israel not, so to speak, a staple or stated provision 
 from heaven, but only an occasional luxury, which (Nu. xi.) might be a 
 punishment. The manna was, in a sense, to be always relied on (" thy bread 
 shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure"). 14, 15. Manna: Heb. 
 man. In that part of the peninsula there is, about the beginning of May and 
 onward, a natural gift of manna, resembling what now was seen upon the 
 ground, either from the atmosphere in moist weather (cp. rain in ver. 4) or 
 otherwise (a different kind) exuded from a sort of tamarisk tree. The manna 
 which God sent to Israel was a really different thing in its nature : as appeared 
 (i) from its being sent to Israel luhei-ever they were in the peninsula, whereas 
 the Sinai manna belongs only to this one spot ; (2) the heavenly manna was 
 baked into bread ; the Sinai manna cannot be, but may be formed into a 
 medicine or condiment like honey or candy ; (3) the aiiioiint of Sinai manna 
 known to be sent at one season is immeasurably less than what was required 
 for a real effectual provision to that whole people in a time of need. Regard- 
 ing the etymology of the word, there is a question — a logomachy — as to which 
 there is no real means of authoritative determination, (i) Some think that 
 man is the form of the pronoun "what" in a question, *' What is this?" 
 (2) Our version is now corroborated by the discovery of an Egyptiati word the 
 same as man (for the thing) ; so that the Israelitish, "This is manna," repre- 
 sents their wondering bewilderment on seeing in Sinai something like that 
 thing — the "manna" — they had known in Egypt (see under ver. 31). But 
 N.B. the real point in the history is what is said by Moses : — whatever 
 may be the connected fact in natural history, the essential fact here is, a 
 siipernattiral gift of bread (like Christ). 1 6-2 1. The thing: the test here, 
 under the "statute and ordinance " aforesaid (xv. 26). The 07Jier (ver. 36) 
 was about a pint and a half or two pints of our measure. The supernatural 
 
XVI. 2$.] THE MARCH. 2T 
 
 little had no lack ; they gathered every man according to his 
 
 19 eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the 
 
 20 morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses ; 
 but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred 
 
 21 worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And 
 they gathered it every morning, every man according to his 
 eating : and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 
 
 22 And it came to pass, t/ia^ on the sixth day they gathered 
 twice as much bread, two omers for one man : and all the 
 
 23 rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he 
 said unto them, This ts that which the Lord hath said. To- 
 morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord : bake 
 
 testing then appeared on ordinary days in two ways, (i) No matter how 
 much or how little they took home, on measuring it they found not more nor 
 less than an omer for every individual in a tent (a man who had been greedy 
 would thus be quietly rebuked for unbelief). (2) And especially if they tried 
 to hoard it they were rebuked by its corrupting {as when the sweet Nile 
 was — to heathens — turned into a loathsome, frightful thing). The super- 
 naturalism here was especially evinced by what took place on the seventh day. 
 Wroth (under ver. i). 22-30. (On the sacred number seven, see under 
 xxiii. 10-13.) The abrupt incidental introduction of the seventh day Sabbath 
 here, appears to imply an acquaintance on Israel's part with the primaeval 
 divine institution. (On Fourth Commandment, see xx. initial note.) There 
 is no trace of a weekly Sabbath-keeping in the Egypt of the monuments. In 
 the patriarchal age — witness Jacob's engagements with Laban — the number 
 seven (under xxiii. 10-13) appears as a term of time. But there does not 
 appear a formal Sabbath-keeping. It hardly could appear in the patriarchal 
 condition, where there was no public worship, such as is now coming to be in 
 Israel : on a sheep-farm, out of reach of church, the face of life on a Lord's 
 day is not visibly much different from that on a common day. On the other 
 hand, there are traces of a lingering tradition in the memory of the peoples 
 though the observance was not among them. Hesiod says, "the eighth day 
 is holy." Every eighth day is marked as "holy" in an ancient Chinese 
 calendar, though the reason of that mark was forgotten in the time of Con- 
 fucius. And there is a distinct recognition of the seven days' week, and even, 
 it is said, there is the name of " Sabbath" in recently-discovered Babylonian 
 inscriptions of a time before Abraham. The rulers — told Moses. Incidentally 
 there here comes into view the existence of administrative organization. The 
 "rulers" were the natural chiefs in the tribes (not, the "elders"). Appar- 
 ently they did not simply come to report progress in the business manner 
 acquired in Egypt ; but were wonder-stricken with there now being a dotible 
 provision on this day. What the Lord hath said: this may mean, not 
 creating the Sabbath constitution, but appointing (making "statute and 
 ordained") the adoption of this institution into Israel's national life. The rest 
 of the holy Sabbath : lit. a rest of an holy Sabbath. The Sabbath law was 
 thus declared, beyond the fourth commandment, as a specifically national con- 
 stitution on two other great occasions in this year (xxiii. 12 and xxxiv. 21, 
 notes). Unto the Lord: like the redemption of the first-born, this consecra- 
 
2 2 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVI. 24. 
 
 that which ye will bake to-day^ and seethe that ye will seethe ; 
 and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until 
 
 24 the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses 
 bade ; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm 
 
 25 therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a 
 sabbath unto the Lord : to-day ye shall not find it in the 
 
 26 field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, 
 which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 
 
 2 7 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people 
 
 28 on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And 
 the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my 
 
 29 commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath 
 given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth 
 day the bread of two days : abide ye every man in his place ; 
 
 30 let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the 
 
 31 people rested on the seventh day. And the house of Israel 
 called the name thereof Manna : and it was fike coriander 
 seed, white ; and the taste of it was like wafers made with 
 honey. 
 
 32 And Moses said. This is the thing which the Lord com- 
 mandeth. Fill an omer of it, to be kept for your generations ; 
 that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the 
 wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 
 
 33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer 
 full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be 
 
 tion of a portion means, a solemn acknowledgment of Jehovah as Lord of all : 
 withholding the tribute in disowning the sovereignty. Not find it : He then 
 showed, what always is the fact, that a man is no gainer by robbing God 
 (Mai. iii. 8 and note under xxxiv. 24). How long? In every way they went 
 on showing, when tested, that they were not true servants of God, but slaves 
 let loose. Sabbath desecration was overt ungodliness. Abide^place. The 
 conventional measure of a "Sabbath-day's journey " is supposed to have taken 
 its origin here — the farthest distance from any part of the camp to the 
 tabernacle. A sect of Jews, construing this injunction literally, made a man 
 remain all through the day exactly on one spot M'ithout movement — a 
 fatiguing "rest " for some ! So the people rested: observe this great institu- 
 tion sinking into the nation's life (Ps. i.)j notwithstanding the perversity of 
 the men of that day. Manna (under ver. 15): the description of the super- 
 natural manna here again shows that it was in appearance as the Sinai manna. 
 Miracles of God are in the style of His natural works (not "monsters"). In 
 this connexion (ver. 28) conimandments has reference to the ordering of the 
 manna, and laws, to the abiding constitution of the Sabbath. 32-36. Fill 
 an ofner (Introd. p. 91). On question whether this was literally in the ark, 
 see note under xl. 20 : the process of the deposition for keeping, at the 
 bidding of Moses, through Aaron, before the Lord, before the Testimony, is 
 
XVI. 36.] THE MARCH. 23 
 
 34 kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, 
 
 35 so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. And 
 the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they 
 came to a land inhabited : they did eat manna until they 
 
 36 came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. Now an omer 
 is the tQr\\.h. part of an ephah. 
 
 described with an impressive solemnity. Apparently it must afterwards have 
 been placed m the Ark of the Testimony (He. ix. 4), along with the Moral 
 Law on the Tables of Testimony, under the ("Mercy-seat") Kapporeth : a 
 perpetual protestation on God's part of the supernatural sustentation of 
 man's redemption life. (On the value of this as a nations evidence, see 
 Introd. p. 91.) This cannot have been done till after the completion of 
 the Tabernacle. The statement in ver. 35, like the last sentence of Exodus, 
 cannot have been written before Moses was at the close of his life. As com- 
 pared with Josh. v. 12, there is a vagueness in its intimation of the point of 
 time at which the manna ceased, which harmonizes with the view, that 
 Exodus was written before that point was reached, but close upon it. 
 Joshua makes the time to have been ^yiz.Q.\\.y forty years , excepting the month 
 between the first Passover and the first giving of the manna. The word for 
 pot occurs only here : the thing might be some sort of casket. It had dis- 
 appeared from the ark (i Ki. viii. 9) at the time of building Solomon's 
 temple. 
 
 Exercise 32. 
 
 I. Water, (i) Give another case of miraculous gift of water. (2) Give three 
 O. T. passages in which water represents the true spiritual life of man. 
 (3) Give three N. T. passages, ditto. 
 
 a Bread, (i) In the Sinai manna, show points of natural fitness to represent 
 an extraordinary gift of bread from heaven. (2) In the process through 
 which ordinary bread comes to us, show what physical connexion there 
 is with the material heaven. (3) What is the thing which, according 
 to Christ Himself, makes for man the blessedness of being filled with 
 bread ? 
 
 3. The Sabbath, (i) "To the Lord ;" what does this show as to the state- 
 ment, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath"? (2) Does the state- 
 ment, "The Sabbath was made for man," show that it is for man to 
 break ? Illustrate from the case of a present of a watch from an elder 
 brother (the Sabbath is a time-keeper). 
 
 Note on the efl'ect produced on Israel by the new outward conditions.— We 
 have seen the immediate effect to have been, the manifestation of a carnal slavish- 
 ness in heart on the part of one emancipated into the state of freedom in sonship. 
 That is a beacon (He. iii., iv.) of warning against reliance on our enjoyment of 
 outward privileges ; and a striking disproof, at the hand of the Israelites 
 themselves, of the "theory" (Introduction, pp. 52, 53) that their peculiar history, 
 of pure and lofty monotheism among polytheistic idolatrous "pollutions," may be 
 accounted for by a peculiar natural religiousness in the seed of Abraham, But, 
 further, it reminds us of the fact, that it may take a long time for leaven to leaven 
 the lump. Though there should have been in the exodus of Israel a far larger 
 proportion of real believers than there was in Sodom, yet it may have been very 
 small : Caleb and Joshua must have been a very small proportion of that number 
 which would have survived in the ordinary course of nature. And again, in an 
 individual believer, the leaven of true life may have been but a very small proper- 
 
24 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVII. I. 
 
 Chap. XVII. i. And all the congregation of the children of 
 
 Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their 
 
 journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and 
 
 pitched in Rephidim : and thei-e was no water for the people 
 
 2 to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and 
 
 tion of the whole "mass" of manhood. Bishop Selwyn {Life), speaking about 
 Polynesian heathens converted to Christianity, holds it unreasonable to expect, 
 that one who yesterday was a cannibal heathen shall to-day be all at once a com- 
 pletely rounded Christian gentleman. "It takes three generations to make a 
 gentleman." Completely formed religious character may thus in a community be 
 the slow work of generations. A man may come to inherit a complete framework 
 of character, which is in itself of great value, though in him it should be only as 
 a skeleton of Ezekiel's vision. The outward form of a society, with ordi- 
 nances, now coming into existence in Israel, may thus be most precious, though 
 not for a transmission of Hfe, yet for the formative education of character 
 (i Pe. ii. i-s). 
 
 3rd, The toattle (xvii.). Rephidim we shall suppose to be Wady Feiran. It is 
 (xix. i) within one stage of Sinai ; and on the march to it there were three stages 
 (Nu. xxxiii. 12-14), Before thus striking into the heart of the central mountains, 
 Israel had spent two Sabbaths at Sin on the coast. At Rephidim they suffered 
 from thirst, whose capabihty of torture is represented by the only expression of 
 physical suffering emitted by the Son of Man upon the Cross. Again they mur- 
 mured, and now in such a manner that their great leader thought his life in peril 
 from their rage. He laid the matter before God, who answered with the miracle 
 of water from the rock of Horeb. That was their preparation for the battle. The 
 Amalekites, their own kinsmen through Esau the brother of Jacob, appear to have 
 been in commanding occupation of that region of the peninsula extending from 
 the Egyptian settlements on the north-west to the southern border (Ge. xiv. 7) of 
 Canaan. They, with Abrahamic governing faculty, may have organized many 
 loose fragments of humankind into unity. It was (and is) the (Bedouin) habit in 
 theregion, at this spring season of the year, to migrate with their flocks from the 
 plains to the mountains, for pasture in the approaching summer droughts. Amalek 
 appear to have been awakened to jealousy by the invasion of Israel's millions, 
 formidable as locusts. The most recent describer (1888) says that on the very 
 field of batde there is what seems a perennial stream (Amalek's life). There was 
 (ver. 9) a deliberate mustering concentration, and (De. xxv. 17, 18) a tactic of 
 assailing Israel in the rear, where his laggard men were faint and weary. The 
 battle was fiercely contested, extending through the day. It brought to the front 
 Joshua, apparently always the stainless hero (under xxxiii. 11), then in his prime of 
 life, the great future leader in Jehovah's war of conquest. And it gave occasion 
 for the memorable illustration, through the prayer of Moses visibly prevailing, of 
 the sovereignty of Jehovah as the Lord of Hosts. As for Amalek, the first of the 
 nations to set themselves in open antagonism to His people and His cause, they 
 were placed under doom of extirpation as a people, — a doom which, visibly 
 descending in the times of Saul and David, was finally executed (i Chron. iv. 43) 
 by a party of Simeonites in the reign of Hezekiah. They are not named on 
 Egyptian monuments ; but are probably included in the description of Mentu, 
 Avith whom the Egyptians before this time had been at frequent if not chronic war. 
 
 I. Accoj'ding— commandment : lit. itpon the mouth — at the bidding. This, 
 no doubt, was intimated (xiii. 21, 22) through the Pillar. A^o — drink: there is 
 running water in W. Feiran, which occasionally runs dry (see initial note 
 here). The tortures of thirst are aggravated by the tantalizing resemblance of 
 wady courses to rivers ; and in this case there may have been the added rage 
 
XVII. 9-] THE BATTLE. 2$ 
 
 said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said 
 unto them, Why chide ye with me ? wherefore do ye tempt 
 
 3 the Lord ? And the people thirsted there for water ; and the 
 people murmured against Moses, and said. Wherefore is this 
 t/iat thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our 
 
 4 children, and our cattle, with thirst? And Moses cried unto 
 the Lord, saying. What shall I do unto this people ? they be 
 
 5 almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, 
 Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of 
 Israel ; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take 
 
 6 in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there 
 upon the rock in Horeb ; and thou shalt smite the rock, and 
 there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. 
 
 7 And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And 
 he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, 
 because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because 
 they tempted the Lord, saying. Is the Lord among us, or not ? 
 
 8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 
 
 9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go 
 
 of disappointment. CMde : the word here is stronger than that for simply 
 nmrmuring ; — mere whining complaint now giving place to assault of angry 
 accusation, which, on the part of an excited selfish multitude, might (ver. 4) 
 run into fatal excess. Teinpt : try, — same word as that for prove in xv. 25 
 and xvi. 4. This '* Meribah " tempting was (Ps. Ixxxi. 7, i Co. x. 9, where 
 a various reading is "the Lord") typical of a series of ''provocations" to 
 Jehovah in their wilderness dealing with Him. Otir cattle : these now come 
 into view — a very important matter. Three millions of sheep were lost by 
 drought not long ago in one colony of the British Empire. 4-7. They — stone 
 me: lit. but a little and they stone me. First mention of this manner of putting 
 to death. Before the people : here probably, not, at their head, but ahead of 
 them, — so as to be out of reach ot outrage. Take — elders : to be witnesses; 
 — so the Apostles were *' witnesses " of Christ's works (Act. i. 21, 22). The 
 rod: then, smote water with a plague ; now, will smite rock for a blessing. 
 The rock : with definite article. The rock may have been some remarkable 
 rock known about. It is not now known, though a rock is shown as the one. 
 Horeb (" parched"), so particularized, must have been one particular moun- 
 tain (on that route, presumably). Meribah : chiding. Massah : temptation. 
 These new names remained. The tradition about water following Israel 
 through the wilderness from this rock has no foundation, and is in efiect con- 
 tradicted by Nu. XX. II. What is said in i Co. x. 4 to have followed them 
 is not the water, but " a spiritual rock " (Rev. Vers.), which *' was Ciirist." 
 The curious heathen reproach against primitive Christians about ^'j-j-- worship 
 has been traced to an earher reproach against Jews, apparently connected 
 with a story about Moses being enabled to discover water through guidance 
 of wild asses (Tacitus). 
 
 8-16. Then came Amalek : and Amalek came (initial note to this sub- 
 
26 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVII. 10. 
 
 out, fight with Amalek : to-morrow I will stand on the top of 
 
 10 the hill, with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did 
 as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek : and 
 
 1 1 Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And 
 it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel 
 prevailed ; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 
 
 1 2 But Moses' hands ivere heavy ; and they took a stone, and 
 put // under him, and he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur 
 stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other 
 on the other side ; and his hands were steady until the going 
 
 1 3 down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his 
 
 14 people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto 
 Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it 
 
 section). 9. Joshtia : his name at this time was Hoshea. He did not 
 receive the new name till later (Nu. xiii. 16, 8). Exodus thus cannot have 
 been written as it now stands before the closing part of Moses' life ; but the 
 process then may have been only a revision for definitive transmission. Joshua, 
 of the afterwards great tribe of Ephraim, was at this time forty-seven years 
 old (in xxxiii. ii he is made " a young man," which makes the historian an 
 aged \(\2c^l). Choose ozU : but a small proportion of the half-million could 
 light in a comparative gorge, though with some fighting ground, IVie hill: 
 here, a somewhat lofty elevation, commanding the view. The traveller sees 
 a choice of these. Rod of God: the suggestion that this was to be for signal- 
 ling to the soldiers, has no warrant in Scripture, and seems intrinsically 
 absurd— had the soldiers all telescopes, and eyes behind their heads? A 
 marshal's baton is not for signalling. IO-12. Hur, probably the grandfather 
 of Bezaleel, of Judah's tribe, is in this history the most highly honoured private 
 person (xxiv. 14). He must have been a most rarely venerable man. The 
 holding up of Moses' hands must have been in prayer. Merely holding up 
 the hands for a protracted period is a muscular exercise trying to a youthful 
 athlete; and the tension of long-sustained, real prayer — "etFectual, fervent, 
 availing much "—is a strain upon spiritual force. The suggestion, that Aaron 
 and Hur held up allernately a hand each, is perhaps a perilous extreme of 
 prosaicalism. But the history commands our recognition of the fact as im- 
 portant, that in that crisis, most conspicuously, there was a whole day's toil 
 of three aged men in holding up the fainting flesh of manhood in a particular 
 attitude. It does not appear that the rod was held up in the hand or along 
 with it. Perhaps the appeal was only for a Gerizim descent, not for an 
 Ebal, though this had to come. What we see most clearly is the Power of 
 Prayer : namely, the Omnipotence of God, commanded by the supplicating 
 impotency of man (Mat. xvii. 20). At the same time, we know that it is an 
 authorized (cp. Ps. ii. 2) mediatorial pleading, and can understand that the 
 agony of its prevalency is directly intercessory (He. ix. 25 ; see the great 
 Mosaic intercession, xxx. 14, xxxiii.) for those who have left Egypt at God's 
 call. 
 
 14-16. Here there is a threefold memorial, i. Write — in a hook: the 
 first mention of writing (book is seen in Ge. v. i) : though it now is known 
 (Introd.) that Moses and others must in Egypt have been quite familiar with 
 
XVII. 1 6.] THE BATTLE. 27 
 
 in the ears of Joshua ; for I will utterly put out the remem- 
 
 15 brance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an 
 
 16 altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi : for he said, 
 Because the Lord hath sworn, that the Lord will have war 
 with Amalek from generation to generation. 
 
 writing in every manner of prose and verse. The lit. translation is, " in the 
 Book ; " from which it is an obvious suggestion that there was being kept 
 (see Introd. pp. 57-63), in the business-like Egyptian manner, a recoj'd of 
 important matter into which this great event was to be entered ; and thus 
 indented on the mind of the new captain as a nota bene (cp. David's dying 
 charge to Solomon his successor) affecting his future campaignings. Some 
 other suggestions are roundabout ways of saying that the meaning is, "write 
 this in writing'" — a meaning which, in a divine revelation, has a look of 
 platitude not commanding acceptance. But nothing will get rid of the 
 essential fact, that here and now there is being prepared by Moses, on the 
 spot and at the time, a record of the event, because it is important that the 
 event should be remembered after this. The act of writing is here_ mentioned 
 (as in xxiv. 4, 7 and xxiv. 27), because in this case the act of writing is part 
 of a solemnity — of ''protestation." That reasoning \io\x\6. make Moses write 
 a Book of Exodus in his sleep. 2. The Altar : The first we see rising since 
 Jacob's time. (See note on Altar under xxvii. 1-8.) The altar of Scripture 
 always means unworthiness of man, and pardon and salvation from redeem- 
 ing grace of God. Along with that general meaning we here see the specialty 
 of the name, Jehovah-nissi: Jehovah my banner. So Constantine the 
 Great, exercised about attempting to place Christianity on the throne of their 
 heathen Roman Empire, saw, in a vision or dream, the form of the Christian 
 Cross, with the inscription, touto nikd, "conquer by this " (cp. i Jn. v. 4). 
 3. The memorial of doom upon Amalek: The Heb. text of ver. 16 is 
 doubtful. Our Received Version of the first clause is conjectural. And there 
 is very weighty opinion in favour of the view, that the clause ought to read, 
 "a hand is upon the throne of Jah." This would be the heathen hand of 
 Amalek, forcibly opposing the sovereign purpose of Jehovah, "deforcing" 
 His officers, and bringing upon themselves the last clause as an awful Nemo 
 nie i?fipune lacessit (cp. Uzziah touching the ark of God). 
 
 Exercise 33. 
 
 1. Who was the greatest captain of the tribe of Judah, and who the next to 
 
 him? 
 
 2. (i) Name four heroes of the tribe of Benjamin. (2) Quote a song in praise of 
 
 two of them. (3) Quote a sentiment of two of them on behalf of restraint 
 of wrath. 
 
 3. Name a decisive battle in religious wars, (i) of England, (2) of Germany, 
 
 (3) of Christendom. 
 
 Note on the Strategics of war against heathenism. The Chief Commander's 
 plan for invasion of Canaan is spoken of in the Introd. and under xiii. 17-19 ; 
 and the precursory work of God in sending " fear " into the heathen heart is the 
 subject of a special note at the close of xxiii. To complete the view, we will 
 glance at the "fulfilment " in the true Joshua (cp. He. iv. 8, and observe that 
 "Jesus " is the same word as "Joshua "). The Plan of Campaign for the world's 
 liberation from the tyranny of evil came completely into view after Christ's resur- 
 
28 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVIII. I. 
 
 Chap. XVIII. i. When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' 
 
 father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and 
 
 for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel 
 
 2 out of Egypt ; then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zippo- 
 
 rection (Lu, xxiv. 44-46 ; Mat. xxviii. 18-20). (i) Old Testament prophecies, 
 demonstrably emitted before the event, show that the future of the world's 
 peoples had been seen and foreordained by Jehovah, the God of Israel. (2) The 
 world was prepared for the propagation of " the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt, 
 xxiv. 14) "in all the world," "unto all nations," e.g. Jerusalem was the best centre 
 upon earth for sending the "word of the kingdom," in Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin, to mankind from the crucified "King of the Jews." And Rome, the 
 great road-maker, had completed the task, to which she was called from the reeds 
 of the Tiber, about the time of the cry, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord" 
 (Is. xl. 1-6), for the consolation of humanity. (3) When all was thus ready, there 
 came the "mighty rushing wind" of Pentecost (cp. under xviii. 23-26); and 
 Christendom, a new creation, came into being at the sound of a word, 
 
 The Episode of Jethro's visit (xviii.). A true episode is an eddy, or side- 
 stream belonging to the main-stream. And this visit, while further illustrating 
 the relation of God's visible kingdom to what lies outside of it, affects not only the 
 personal and the domestic history of the great legislator, but also, and for aU 
 time, the constitutional history of Israel. In the office of rule, this proposal of 
 Jethro, for separation of the legislative from the judicial function, may be fairly 
 described as original in the ancient world ; and in relation to the vital interest of 
 this people it certainly is most important, and well serves to prepare them for the 
 Sinaitic legislation ; as a ship may have her sails in preparation for a wind. 
 
 Regarding the person of this Jethro, and his relationship to Moses, see under 
 iii. I. The narrative of this visit is given so as to be rounded in completeness, as 
 if it had been drawn up as a separate document, now inserted in the history (see 
 Introd. p. 62). It thus does not exactly dovetail into what we have elsewhere 
 learned about Zipporah, and may carry down the account of the visit to a period 
 later than the commencement of the giving of the law (see initial note on the 
 second part of Exodus — end of chap. xv. ). The interview may have taken place 
 after the victory over Amalek, either before the Sinai mount of meeting was 
 reached, or — generalizing the meaning of " Horeb the mount of God" — in the 
 earliest days of the Sinaitic repose. As that Sinai was reached (xix. i) on the first 
 day of the third month from the exodus departure, while (xvi. i) Sin was reached 
 on the fifteenth of the second month, and Israel remained at Sin over two 
 Sabbaths, there remain for the transition from Sin to Sinai only about a week, 
 of which, we have seen (initial note on preceding subsection), three must have 
 been spent in the journeying to Meribah, while one was occupied with the battle ; 
 so that there can have been only two or three days between the battle and the 
 people's reaching Sinai. Whether the whole time of the visit is to be placed 
 within these two or three days, or is to be regarded as running into the initial days 
 of the Sinaitic repose, is an indeterminate question, which plainly has nothing to 
 do with the substantive meaning of the narrative. 
 
 I. Father-in-law: ch$then ; which here probably means brother-in-law 
 (see under iii. i). Heard: in a region occupied by nomadic Shemites 
 copious in leisure and in speech, it is matter of course that he should have 
 heard, what then must have been filling the very air, the substance of the 
 strange events as outlined here. The point of the matter as regards him is, 
 that this is a great matter j^r him, and for other connections of Moses. And 
 (ver. 11) he may, wishing to know truth about God, take a deep interest in 
 the demonstration, which thus has been constituted, of the truth of the 
 
XVIII. lO.] JETHRO'S VISIT. 29 
 
 3 rah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two 
 sons; of which the name of the one tvas Gershom; for he 
 
 4 said, I have been an ahen in a strange land : and the name 
 of the other was EHezer ; for the God of my father, said he, 
 was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 
 
 5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his 
 wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at 
 
 6 the mount of God : and he said unto Moses, I thy father-in- 
 law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two 
 sons with her. 
 
 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did 
 obeisance, and kissed him ; and they asked each other of 
 
 8 their welfare : and they came into the tent. And Moses told 
 his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and 
 to the Egyptians, for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had 
 come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered 
 
 9 them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the 
 Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the 
 
 10 hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said. Blessed be the 
 Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, 
 
 Mosaic religion, or of the religion of the Israelites. 2. After — back: lit. 
 after her dismissal. The occasion referred to may have been that recorded 
 in iv. 24-26. The word here for dismissal occurs in two other places (i Ki. 
 ix. 16 5 Mic. i. 14), where it seems to warrant the harsh construction naturally 
 suggested by the present occurrence of it. 3, 4. Gershom : see under iv, 26. 
 EHezer^ — *' my God (is) help," — we may suppose, is the one who was circum- 
 cised on that cccasion, when Moses had obtained recent assurance that the 
 Pharaoh whom he once had cause to fear was dead. 5. The wilderness — 
 mount of God. The expressions here resemble those in iii. i ; and hence an 
 air of indefiniteness, as if simply intimating that Jethro came over from 
 Midian to the Sinaitic peninsula toward Horeb. The suggestion of a meet- 
 ing at a spot fixed by previous appointment thus appears the opposite of 
 happy. 6. And he said. Some have a strong feeling of impropriety in the 
 first person here, so as to be disposed to change the Heb. text, in order to 
 have, "they said," or, "some one said." No such reason warrants tamper- 
 ing with a text. And the text as it stands admits of the construction, that 
 Jethro sent a message to that effect, as Zebedee's children said a thing 
 through their mother. An " ancient version " containing the proposed 
 emendation is likely to be an ancient (priggish) translator wishing to make 
 Jethro not speak with "impropriety." 7. The Mosaic action here is that of 
 duly receiving an honoured guest who is a great personage in that region. 
 They — welfare: this rendering is rather weak. The literal meaning is, 
 "They exchanged the Peace be With Von." The tent: assuming the en- 
 campment (cp. "They went into the house"). 8. Told: here is 
 recounted ; gave the full particulars of the things Jethro had heard about 
 in a general way. Travail: labour. 9-1 1. The use of the word Lord 
 
30 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVIII. II. 
 
 and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people 
 
 1 1 from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the 
 Lord is greater than all gods : for in the thing wherein they 
 
 12 dealt proudly he was above them. And Jethro, Moses' 
 father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God : and 
 Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with 
 Moses' father-in-law before God. 
 
 13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to 
 judge the people : and the people stood by Moses from the 
 
 14 morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law 
 saw' all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing 
 that thou doest to the people ? why sittest thou thyself alone, 
 and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even ? 
 
 15 And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people 
 
 1 6 come unto me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, 
 they come unto me ; and I judge between one and another, 
 and I do make thetn know the statutes of God, and his laws. 
 
 1 7 And Moses' father-in-law said unto him. The thing that thou 
 
 1 8 doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, 
 
 (Jehovah) here, seems to make Jethro a sudden convert. (On the religions 
 relationship of those kindred Shemites to the covenant people, see initial 
 note on ii. 23-25.) Now I^gods. This might mean only, that Jehovah is 
 the foremost of many gods. But it may mean, with Nebuchadnezzar, that 
 He is the true God, Most High. For in — was above them ; the He was, 
 which is conjectural, is probably mistaken : a better meaning, and quite 
 close to the original, is in the Revised Version, "Yea, in the thing wherein 
 Ihey dealt proudly against them," — referring to Pharaoh's high-handed 
 pursuit, and the event, " intending murder, he committed suicide." 12. The 
 sacrifices, too, are {Zebeck) of the sin-offering kind. Jethro, sacrificing for 
 the Israelites, is visibly admitted by them into communion of religion, that 
 is, owned by them as a worshipper of the true God. Feasting upon the 
 sacrifices was common. It was only in the exceptional case of holocaust, 
 "whole burnt-offering," that the main part of the sacrifice was not made a 
 feast. 13-16. 7"/^<? wfrr^z£/ ; the day after the feast. Sat — j-/<?^^; these were 
 the attitudes, respectively, of the judge and of the parties in a case. Froj?i 
 — evenitig. It is supposed that there may have been disputes about the spoils 
 of Amalek. Many "cases" of dispute may have arisen in the ordinary com- 
 merce of life (as we can see in the civil laws, xxi.-xxiii.). How a chief 
 magistrate could in a real sense administer justice to a whole people we 
 cannot well understand, though it was a sort of conventional undertaking of 
 "paternal government." Moses, seriously aiming at reality in the business, 
 was on the way to kill himself. Inquire of God. This does not mean, con- 
 sulting him as an oracle ; but it probably means that they had a profound 
 confidence in his wisdom as one intimate with God. The statutes have 
 reference to particular practices or courses of action ; the laws, more to 
 general principles of active life. I7> 18. Thou wilt . . , this people. To be 
 
XVIII. 22.] JETHROS VISIT. 31 
 
 and this people that is with thee : for this thing is too heavy 
 for thee ; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. 
 
 19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and 
 God shall be with thee : Be thou for the people to God-ward, 
 
 20 that thou mayest bring the causes unto God : and thou shalt 
 teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the 
 way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. 
 
 21 Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, 
 such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; and 
 place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of 
 
 22 hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them 
 judge the people at all seasons : and it shall be, that every 
 great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small 
 matter they shall judge : so shall it be easier for thyself, and 
 
 kept standing all day waiting for judgment is, of course, wearing to the health. 
 But " delay of judgment " is a most formidable evil to the whole community, 
 threatening its vital interests, social and economical. "The law's delay" is 
 by Hamlet placed among the things that make one think of suicide. 19, 20. 
 Jethro's counsel is given in a truly winning as well as impressive manner. He 
 assumes that Moses will be ruled in the matter only by what he thinks in 
 accordance with the mind of God. His first suggestion here is, that Moses 
 should substantially restrict himself to, in our phraseology, the legislative 
 part of government. God-zuard : in a position of mediation, on their behalf, 
 looking into " the bosom of God," where, Hooker says, *' Law hath her seat." 
 A very noble conception of leadership. Ordinmices in ver. 20 : the same 
 Heb. as for statutes in ver. 16. The ways are the general courses of pre- 
 scribed duty, and the works, the particular things to be done along those 
 courses. But Jethro's intention is only to say : — do not you deal with the 
 detailed cases, but only with prescribing for the people's guidance, and for 
 the settlement of cases. Then, for the judicial ^^zxX. of government, dealing 
 with actual cases, follows the counsel in vers. 21, 22. Some have calculated, 
 that with so many kinds of officials, the total number would be many 
 thousands. Moses and Jethro knew quite well what they were about, and 
 these alarmists do not know that. Probably the numerical division outlined 
 by Jethro was familiar to those Shemites (cp. the Saxon "hundreds"), 
 representing a natural constitution, of a patriarchal community expanding 
 into a nation ; and now in Israel's case requiring only public sanction, 
 which Moses gave, on the footing (De. i. 13, 15) of election by the people 
 themselves. The "tens" might be ten "heads of households." The inter- 
 vention of the " fifties " might perhaps be necessary to stop the multitude of 
 small appeal cases from drowning the "hundreds." The number of cases 
 going, by appeal from the "thousands," to Moses or any other chief 
 magistrate, might be very small, and often of such a nature — " leading cases" 
 — that the decision of them would be equivalent to a new act of legislation. 
 The prescription of magistratical qualification in ver. 21 is memorably 
 good : business ability, religious conscientiousness, veracity, disinterestedness 
 — 01 si sic ovines ! To a community meekly organized under such admini- 
 strators, laws from heaven would be as rain on the mown grass, or showers 
 
32 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XVIII. 23. 
 
 23 they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this 
 thing, and God command thee so^ then thou shalt be able to 
 endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in 
 
 24 peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, 
 
 25 and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men 
 out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, 
 rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and 
 
 26 rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: 
 the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small 
 matter they judged themselves. 
 
 2 7 And Moses let his father-in-law depart ; and he went his 
 way into his own land. 
 
 that water the earth. The word for rulers, here and in ver. 35, is that in 
 i. II for masters {ta.sk- masters). It is a general expression for official 
 authority. 23-26. Moses here is personally admirable in his open-minded 
 accessibility to profitable suggestion. 27. //is own land: this sends Jethro 
 away to some considerable distance. Observe that Israel was in order, the 
 best order that men could think of, as a ship is prepared for a favouring 
 breeze, when there came (see note on the strategics at close of xvii. ) as a 
 mighty rushing wind (Act. ii. ) the Sinaitic legislation, with its principles and 
 precepts to fill the prepared sails. 
 
 Exercise 34. 
 
 1. Give an account of the history of Moses' family after this. 
 
 2. Write an account of the last recorded interview of Moses with Hobab. 
 
 3. Give the following cases of persons drawn towards God's kingdom through 
 
 contact with Israel : (i) a general ; (2) a widow ; (3) an emperor. 
 
 Note on the natural basis for supernatural legislation. — The writer 
 of Exodus would not insert this document merely on account of its personal 
 connexion with Moses and other individuals. And, in fact, the visit served a 
 most important purpose in preparing Israel for profiting by the laws from heaven ; 
 as a ploughed and fenced field is prepared for profiting by sunshine and rain, 
 as well as by seed, — which in this case is " the word," "the word of God," "the 
 word of the kingdom : " the three synoptical Gospels give these three expressions 
 in their respective reports of Christ's explanation of the parable of the sower. 
 Those who desire the supernatural legislation to take full effect ought to aim at 
 having as good a natural basis as may be ; such as an orderly, well-disciplined, 
 well-informed mind. Christians therefore have a specifically Christian interest 
 in the prosperity of the general culture of the community, and especially in the 
 general education of the people. But the natural basis, without the supernatural 
 legislation, is like that ploughed field left unsown. It will soon become a wasted 
 soil, or be overrun with weeds. The immediate connections of Jethro may have 
 been, at that juncture, perhaps externally better fitted in their free nomadic 
 condition for taking on such organization as he had suggested than the 
 Israelites were, newly come out of the semi-childhood of slavery. And in a very 
 interesting obvious manner, they were "not far from the kingdom of God." 
 But from that point of seemingly close union, when their fortunes appeared 
 blending with Israel's, as the head waters of two streams — Tigris and Euphrates — 
 may be found interlacing (like twins in one cradle) near the watershed, they 
 separate, and flow away from one another, as the Columbia river and the 
 
XIX.] PREPARATION FOR THE COVENANT. 33 
 
 Mississippi flow into two oceans which have a vast continent between them. And 
 a visible cause is, that those other Shemites did not receive the supernatural 
 legislation, the ordinances and the laws, the definite positive constitution. In 
 Christendom it is a natural impossibility that such an experiment should now be 
 witnessed. For there is no one of its peoples that has not the supernatural 
 revelation in some real sense as part of its constitution. But a purely secular 
 education approximates to the condition of that House to Let, which was 
 ' ' empty, swept, and garnished. " 
 
 The Covenanting at Sinai, Chaps, xix.-xxlv. — The giving of 
 the Law is one of the greatest events in the history of the world. 
 In character it corresponds to the great miracle of Pentecost, though 
 its supposed date of the fiftieth day {pejitecost means " fiftieth ") is 
 doubtful. And within the system of the Old Testament revelation 
 of God for the life of man, " the law '' is the proper name of that 
 fundamental revelation, in respect of which Moses (De. xxxiv. 10) is 
 the great original prophet, relatively to those who follow. "The 
 prophets," down to John the Baptist (Mat. xi. 13), are only as the 
 planetary stars reflecting a sun, or streams that issue from a fountain. 
 In the Mosaic movement itself this is a culminating point (Ex. iii. 12) 
 of meeting between heaven and earth, in which the emancipated 
 people, elect of mankind, for the great redemptive purposes of God 
 in the world, enter into covenant with Jehovah the Redeemer. 
 
 The preparation (xix.). The Israelites, through the winding gorge past 
 Rephidim, reached that spot, at the heart of the wild granitic mountain system, 
 which may well be regarded (iii. 5) as the Holy Place of a wonderful Sanctuary 
 (xv. 17) of nature. Geographical discussions, which here have been extremely 
 copious and confusing, have at last so far yielded light from smoke, as to give 
 warrantable confidence in fixing on the place of Israel's camp, in front of that 
 "mountain which might be touched," in the centre of the Sinaitic nucleus known 
 as " Horeb, the mount of God." It is Er Rahah, strangely situated amid the 
 crowding pressure of giant mountains contending for the narrow space ; a 
 really spacious plain, somewhat sloping from north to south, about two miles in 
 length and half a mile in breadth. The people, encamped there, we may regard 
 as a " congregation," seated in a church, and looking toward the pulpit at the 
 southern extremity. The camp is surrounded by those awful mountains, as a 
 roofless church, whose walls are far higher than the loftiest mountain in Britain, 
 and which the congregation have entered, through the Rephidim and other 
 gorges meeting there, as through the mysterious lobbies of a vast natural temple. 
 If there be not room enough for the two miUions on this Rahah plain, there is 
 room for what overflow there may (be, as on the right and the left sides of 
 the body of a cruciform church, in the two minor plains of Deir and Leja, sloping 
 into Rahah at its north end, so that Israelites in them will always be within sight 
 of that southern extremity where we have placed the pulpit. Expert measurers 
 have pronounced the accommodation sufficient ; and (says Rawlinson) an eminent 
 engineer has declared, that there is no other spot on the face of the earth so well 
 fitted for the purpose of a nation's assembling on a business to be transacted by 
 means of sight and sound. 
 
 The pure clear air of that region, in the middle months of summer, with the 
 sharply defined forms of an "alpine" scenery, where there is nothing vague, is 
 most favourable to distinctness of vision. And as for the transmission of sounds 
 in the stillness of such an atmosphere of seclusion, we have long been familiar 
 with hearing about the European Alps, how shepherds can converse with one 
 
 C 
 
34 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xiX. I. 
 
 Chap. XIX. i. In the third month, when the children of Israel 
 
 were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came 
 
 2 they mto the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed 
 
 from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and 
 
 had pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped 
 
 another across a valley where they are a mile or so a^art. There was, however, 
 to that Sinai ' ' great congregation " no call for natural wonders of the human 
 voice. That which it was necessary for the people to hear with intelligible distinct- 
 ness could be easily conveyed to them, with such an organization as we have seen 
 (xviii.), from Moses through their elders. And those grander sounds, which were 
 as the Cathedral music, afterwards heard by Elijah there (i Ki. xix.), giving sublime 
 accompaniment of heaven to the "still small voice on earth," not only could easily 
 reach them all, but in a sense have reached us. Of the utterance of the Ten 
 Words by God Himself, who can speak? 
 
 That pulpit at the southern extremity we have supposed to be ''the mount 
 which might be touched." The south wall beyond it is Jebel Mousa ("Mount 
 Moses"), which blends on the horizon with kindred peaks of that part of the 
 Sinaitic group, some rising to 9000 feet above the sea. But the pulpit, Rds 
 S-dfiafeh, is a promontory advancing north into the plain, so far in front of Jebel 
 Mousa that the Israelites can see it, not only in prominent distinctness against the 
 background of mountain wall, but above their level on the horizon ; as a church 
 close at hand seems to rise above the hill that is at some distance behind it. 
 Rds SUfsafeh bears this further resemblance to a pulpit, that it rises sheer 
 perpendicular from the plain on which it looks north ; so that an Israelite 
 approaching to the base of it might almost feel as if it were overhanging him and 
 threatening to fall upon him. In this respect it is one of the natural wonders even 
 of Sinai. If there be no other such meeting-place on the face of the earth, there 
 certainly is no other such pulpit as that on which rested the cloud-wrapped 
 presence of Jehovah, and from which He spoke.'with accompaniment of thunders, 
 lightnings, and earthquake, and with signal trumpet, of no human maker, sound- 
 ing long. 
 
 Correspondingly to the railed platform in front of a pulpit, the mountain was 
 "bounded" or fenced, so that it might be actually touched, on the part of 
 Israel, by no living thing but Moses, then acting (He. iii. 6) as the Servant- 
 Mediator between God and man. There has been found, as if to make a natural 
 platform, some little space forward from the base of Sufsafeh, a diluvial depression, 
 which has the effect of making the space between it and the rock into a natural 
 platform, as if the lawn in front of a house were "bounded" by a low ha-ha 
 fence. But this, if it showed, does not appear to have counted, on the great 
 occasion ; for (ver. 12) Moses was expressly commanded to place an artificial barrier 
 between the people and that base, and to further guard it with a penalty of death 
 for intrusion upon its sacredness. 
 
 I. Month — day. It is not absolutely certain that this means exactly the first 
 day of the third month, but it is in the highest degree probable. Wilderness of 
 Sinai, here, of course, is something more definite than Sinaitic peninsula. 
 It has (ver. 2) to be, that portion of the wilderness which is adjacent to the 
 Sinai mountain of legislation. 2. For — Rephidim : the for stands for z/' 
 (under i. i). Rev. Vers, makes the vers, to run: "And when, . . . 
 and_ were pitched . . . there Israel camped." Passing over the episode of 
 xviii. , the narrative of xvii. is here resumed. Before the mount : say con- 
 fronting Sufsafeh (see initial note here). There they entered into their 
 First National Covenant. 
 
XIX. 6.] PREPARATION FOR THE COVENANT. 35 
 
 3 before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the 
 Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus 
 shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children 
 
 4 of Israel ; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and 
 how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto 
 
 5 myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and 
 keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto 
 
 6 me above all people : for all the earth is mine. And ye shall 
 be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These 
 
 1st, Moses meets God (3-6). 3. Unto God, Not, that he went to the 
 summit, o«/ <?/" which the Lord called unto him. He went forward from the 
 plain where the people were, and up on the mountain before them. This, it 
 may be supposed, was by an appointment (cp. iii. 12), of which we have no 
 account. Saying, the articulate speech of God, on this mountain, is a 
 circumstance most memorably impressive. It is (ver. 6) not to be assumed 
 that the people heard the words which are recorded as spoken to Moses. 
 Jacob — Israel. The description, hot(se of Israel, is of rare occurrence, except 
 in Isaiah. The use of it here by Abraham's God, while it gives a certain 
 tenderness of solemnity to the address, precisely connects, at the connecting 
 link of settlement in Goshen, the Abrahamic patriarchy with the Israel of 
 Egyptian sojourning : — it thus resumes all the past, from the time when first 
 the Covenant promise was given. 4. Ye — Egyptians : what He has done in 
 redeeming them (cp. xx. 2) is now a grand motive to their loyally serving 
 Him ; as Cromwell said, that he had got good wages beforehand. Eagles' 
 wings: see the beautiful picture in De. xxxii. ii. The thing appears most 
 vividly in the actual Passage of the Red Sea. The two aspects of the 
 deliverance represented by the eagle are, its wonderfulness and its tender- 
 ness. Unto myself: the home (Ps. xci. i, that had been waiting for them — 
 Lu. XV. 11-24). 5. Now therefore: proposed "application of redemption" 
 (cp. Ro. xii. i). If ye — indeed: lit. if obeying ye obey: emphasis of 
 iteration, — if you do it thoroughly, with strenuous true heart of loyalty. My 
 Covenant. As "the mystery " of God's pleasure includes "mysteries," so 
 His Covenant regarding Israel is a great complex whole, presenting various 
 aspects of covenanting (He. i. i). Here, from the connexion, especially 
 with what follows, we understand that it has a special reference to Israel's 
 occupation of Canaan, and all that is folded in the enjoyment of that Rest. 
 Keeping the Covenant, on their part, abiding on the footing of it, is consti- 
 tuted by their continued compliance with the terms of it, conformity to the 
 conditions of it, discharge of the obligations arising from its nature or pre- 
 scriptions. Israel, now formally called into covenant, is advanced from the 
 childish condition to the dignity of acknowledged maturity of manhood, 
 invested with the toga virilis of nationality. A peculiar people ( i Pe. ii. 9). 
 This distinctively Biblical expression implies, to begin with, that the people 
 is very precious (Is. xliii. 4). But especially it means, that this is the 
 people which is distinctively God's own (Ex. iv. 22, 23). For all the 
 earth is mine. Hence the significance of peculiar. Victoria, if she be 
 empress of India and the Colonies, is the Queen of England in a manner 
 quite distinct. And a king, though his children be his subjects, has no other 
 subjects that are his own as his children are his own. 6. A kingdom of 
 
36 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xiX. 7. 
 
 are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 7 And Moses came, and called for the elders of the people, 
 and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord 
 
 8 commanded him. And all the people answered together, 
 and said. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And 
 Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. 
 
 9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a 
 thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with 
 thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words 
 of the people unto the Lord. 
 
 priests (i Pe. ii. 5 ; Re. i. 6). All Israelites are the priests (to be represented 
 by Levites) ; and they are kingly as well as priestly in their standing. The 
 motto of the Clan Gregor — Is rioghail mo dhream — "my race is kingly 
 loyal " — is thus a seeming plagiarism. The Israelitish Covenanters are of 
 mankind the nearest to God, with a liberty of access to Him that is the 
 privilege of them alone. And, on the other hand, through the medium of 
 their kingly priesthood, blessing (i Pe. iii. 9) is to come from heaven to man- 
 kind. An holy nation. Holiness is here not mere outward separation 
 (xx. 5, 6), but purity (cp. He. vii. 6; Phi. ii. 15) of heart and life; so that 
 (Ps. ex. 3) the Redeemer's army, countless as the dew of the morning, are, 
 in their holiness, beautiful bright as the dew in the sunrise (cp. Re. xxii. 3 
 and I Jn. iii. 2). The purity is the healthy outshining of that love which is 
 " the fulfilling of the law," "keeping the commandments of God." And the 
 collective community of those who are thus robed and crowned is the nation, 
 dm laos, of God (see on this " nation " and xxxiii. 14, 15, note) as if there 
 were no other ; mankind being otherwise (spiritually) but a confusedly heaped 
 or scattered debris of humankind. Unto— Israel : it is through the elders 
 (ver. 7). 
 
 2nd, He deals with Israel for God. (7-9) cp. xxii. 27 and xxiv. 1-8, 
 the elders, cp. a7id all the people answered together. The process seems to 
 have been, that the elders laid the matter before the people separately, 
 perhaps in small groups, until the whole community understood and 
 acquiesced ; and thereupon there was a solemn simultaneous intimation of 
 acquiescence by the whole as with one voice. The intimation from such a 
 multitude, though it should have been only by an Amen ! or by a silent sign, 
 must have had in its aspect a singular grandeur of impressiveness. Before 
 their faces : our translators here, by retaining the literal form of a common 
 Hebraism, bring to view what was emphatic in the actual process, — namely, 
 a clear and distinct formality of transacting, as we say, "in black and 
 white." All that the Loi'd hath spoken. In vers. 5, 6, there are no expressly 
 specified acts of duty. The people by implication here bind themselves to 
 accept the word of Jehovah as the rule of their life. The Lord said^ 
 Moses told. There thus was a coming and going on the mediator's part. In a 
 thick cloud. As in the Pillar. He was to come thus to Moses, that the 
 people may hear xvhen I speak with thee, and believe thee fo7-ever. They 
 might — like Paul's companions on occasion of the Damascus appearance to 
 him— not catch the articulations, so as to know what was said to Moses ; and 
 yet recognise the sound, proceeding from the clouds, as that of an articulate 
 
XIX. 15-] PREPARATION FOR THE COVENANT. 37 
 
 10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and 
 sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their 
 
 1 1 clothes, and be ready against the third day : for the third day 
 the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon 
 
 12 Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people 
 round about, saying. Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not 
 up into the mount, or touch the border of it : whosoever 
 
 13 toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death : there shall 
 not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot 
 through ; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live : when 
 the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 
 
 14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, 
 and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 
 
 15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; 
 come not at your wives. 
 
 voice, so as to know that God had spoken to Moses, and ever after believe in 
 him as a prophet. Or, as in the case of the Ten Words, they might, to the 
 same effect, of establishment of the authority of Moses in their minds, 
 distinctly perceive the meaning of what was uttered by the voice from the 
 cloud. The thick cloud, as a veiled presence of Jehovah, does not (cp. Mat. 
 xvii. 5) necessarily imply ^axy pectiliar degree of impurity in the Israel that 
 was there and then : but rather, represents the inaccessible majesty of God in 
 His relation to all men always. 
 
 3rd, The people's preparation for GocPs own spoken word (lo-i^), cp. i Ti. 
 i. 16. The third day here is emphasized, simply because two days are to be 
 given to sanctification. Wash their clothes: this and other things were 
 significant of a special preparation of the heart (cp. He. x. 22). In Egypt 
 such purifications went to an extreme, which tended to make a religion of 
 the form. What is now prescribed to Israel is within the limits of obvious 
 natural decency correspondingly to the occasion, so as to keep clear of falsetto 
 unreality. Washijzg the clothes is a prescription suitable to all men, who 
 may not have means of procuring new clothes for such an occasion. (A man 
 in his working-clothes newly washed is a very pleasing sight at church. ) Will 
 come down. This, in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai, would be, 
 an appearance of the thick cloud {\er. 9), perhaps at first (ver. 16), only on the 
 summit oi S^lfsafeh, but (vers. 17, 18) when the decisive moment of the meet- 
 ing came, enveloping that whole southern Sinai mount as with a "glorious 
 in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." Set botmds (see initial note). 
 The extreme severity of the "fencing" here, the mercilessness of the vindica- 
 tion of the sacredness of God's mountain (cp. Ps. xv. i, etc.), is fitted (cp. 
 
 XX. 20) to create and sustain that moral and spiritual feeling (Hab, ii. 20) of 
 reverential awe toward divinity, holy in majesty; that "fear of God " which 
 is the wholesome fountain of just thought and seemly action. The brutish 
 profaneness of irreverence is strikingly illustrated by the prohibition to touch 
 the criminal :— he thus is not only as a beast in his death, but such that it 
 would be polhition to touch him — even with a death-stroke of judicial resent- 
 ment. Here is Jehovah's Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo. This might empty 
 of their " vulgar" selves those who go to meet the Redeemer (Ee. iii. 17, 18). 
 
38 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xiX. 1 6. 
 
 16 And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that 
 there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon 
 the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so 
 
 17 that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And 
 Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with 
 
 1 8 God j and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And 
 Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord 
 descended upon it in fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended 
 as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked 
 
 19 greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, 
 and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God 
 
 20 answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon 
 
 The trumpet : the Heb. word here represents, not the straight trumpet, but 
 the cornet ("horn" like) form, which at that time in Sinai may have existed 
 as the ram's horn "blower." But in connexion with this great occasion, the 
 actual trumpet is known to us only from the sound of it ; which was not only 
 loud but /^^zo-'protracted, as if outsounding the heavenly thunders into silence. 
 That was the true muezzin, call to prayer, and signal for attention to the 
 word of God. Only once again can the universe hear anything like that 
 sound, — in the "voice of the archangel, and the trump of God." To those 
 who listened, tremblingly expectant, the mysteriousness in the question 
 — what is the trumpet, articulation of God amid a chaos of natural noises — 
 may have added to the awe with which, as if in a dissolving world, they 
 waited for His word. The seeming contradiction of ver. 13 to ver. 12 is 
 explained thus: — (i) the "going up" in ver. 13 is only, going on to the 
 platform, outside of the barrier ; (2) that it was permitted when the trumpet 
 sounded long (this particular sound of the trumpet being a signal, of permis- 
 sion now, to approach so far). 
 
 4th, Jehovah^s coiiiing to speak (16-25). ^6. Third — morning: comp. 
 resurrection of Christ. 17. A movement forward, as if to do reverence to 
 the king (Ps. ii. 12). They stood : the individuals who so stood would be 
 the foremost of the approaching mass. At the nether post : at the "foot." 
 Not (vers. 12, 21) 07i the mount: — if Siifsateh was this mount (a perpen- 
 dicular cliff), they could not place themselves " on " it. The foremost came 
 " on to" the foot of the mount (base " platform," as near as the "barrier" 
 or "bound" permitted, ver. 12). 18. This (as in Ps. civ. 32 and cxliv. 3) 
 is not like the gradual overspreading of Sinai with the obscurity of a storm 
 that moves along earth's face : it is a sudden taking possession, as if in a 
 moment, of the touch upon Sinai by the Lord's descending : — the whole 
 mountain system was completely dominated (as if) by volcanic eruption, of 
 smoke - darkened flame. At ver. 16, where the people are only being 
 summoned to make ready for the meeting, the mustering terrors appear as if 
 held in some measure of restraint. But in ver. 18, where they have come to 
 the very point of meeting, the terrors are let loose, as when yEolus opens his 
 cave to emission of the storms. At ver. 19 that awful sound of trumpet 
 appears to command a certain stillness, — physical nature subdued into silence; 
 such that now it is possible for spoken utterance to be comprehended, like 
 the captain's orders in a hurricane at sea, — God responding wonderfully. 
 
XIX. 25.] PREPARATION FOR THE COVENANT. 39 
 
 Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount : and the Lord called 
 Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 
 
 21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, 
 lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of 
 
 22 them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to 
 the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon 
 
 23 them. And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot 
 come up to Mount Sinai : for thou chargedst us, saying, Set 
 
 24 bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And the Lord said 
 unto him. Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, 
 thou, and Aaron with thee : but let not the priests and the 
 people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he 
 
 25 break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the 
 people, and spake unto them. 
 
 heard clear and articulate, '* deep answering unto deep." At ver. 20, the top 
 of the mount, to which Moses now is called, is apparently distinct from (or in, 
 or on) Moicnt Sinai, to which Jehovah has descended; as ("Olivet" from 
 "Bethany," Act. i. 12, cp. Lu. xxiv. 50) a particular spot is distinct from the 
 whole ground. This again is suggestive of one particular spot — e.g. top of 
 Sufsafeh— in which the manifested "presence" was concentred, as (later) in 
 the Holy of Holies, and (earlier) in the burning bush (so in xx. 21).^ The 
 charge in ver. 21 is powerfully significant : especially of Jehovah's jealous 
 regard for the sacredness of His awful manifested presence ; but also of the 
 capabilities of brutishly carnal audacity that are in man. The breaking 
 ihrotigh unto the Lord to gaze, brings to view profane curiosity, in a densely 
 thronging mass : those in front are not only drawn forward by their own pro- 
 fanity of lust, but impelled by those behind, thrust into breaking through the 
 sacred bound, and thus opening a floodgate of violated majesty in wrath 
 upon them all. 22. There was at this time in Israel no official priesthood. 
 The acting priests (ver. 6) on this occasion would be those having a 
 naturally representative headship, like Noah and Job, or men deputed for 
 the occasion from the " kingdom of priests." Here the point is, that they are 
 not to presume upon their office entitling them to a profane familiarity with 
 God (cp. a minister thoughtlessly "doing duty"). 23. The charge regard- 
 ing the priest brings to a climax the demonstration of the sheer impossi- 
 bility of the people's meeting God, — while yet the meeting -^ax to be. The 
 solution of the problem is in ver. 24. Mediation ; and still the point holds 
 firm, for both priest and people, on peril of their lives, to remember that — 
 
 Great fear, in meeting of His saints, 
 Is due unto the Lord. 
 
 Exercise 35. 
 
 1. " Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." In His wonderful works, point 
 
 out illustration oi contrast io the Sinaitic wonders, relatively (i) to elemental 
 storm, (2) to the voice of God, and (3) to the life and death of man. 
 
 2. Christ will say, " Depart from me, ye cursed." (i) Is there anything in His 
 
 death corresponding in its nature to such a " work of the law" ? (2) Any- 
 
40 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 
 
 thing in His baptismal profession ? (3) Anything in His character as the 
 Son of God ? (Say, in every case, what thing. ) 
 3. Describe in your own way, (i) the route from the Red Sea to Sinai, (2) the 
 situation there. 
 
 Note on the balance of miracle and doctrine, here and elsewhere.— In 
 Egypt, while there is doctrine, miracles are the great thing (Ps. ciii. 7). In the 
 apostolic ministry, where there are miracles, doctrine is the great thing. In the 
 personal ministry of Christ there seems to be an equipoise ; while " His word was 
 with power," and "never man spake like" Him; on the other hand, His 
 "works" were unparalleled (Jn. xv. 24, cp. vii. 31), and they were within the 
 framework of the stupendous miracles of His resurrection and of the Incarnation. 
 At Sinai, too, there seems to be equipoise : the history is equally of revelation and 
 of demonstration ; and while the revelation is of supernatural redemption, the 
 redemption itself is revelation of the Living God, and the law of nature is written 
 supernaturally, on "fleshy tables " as well as on stone. 
 
 The Ten Words of Moral Law (xx.). This name (xxxiv. 28 and De. iv. 13, 
 X. 4), in Greek, Decalogue, is in our common use made ' ' The Ten Command- 
 ments." " Commandments" is the New' Testament name for them (Mat. xix. 17 ; 
 Ro. xiii. 9) ; {not an O.T. name for them), and the Heb. word for "words" in 
 this name sometimes has the meaning of commandments or prescriptions. They 
 are collectively spoken of under a variety of other names, — such are the law, the 
 covenant, the two Tables of the Testhnofiy. But the name which the Old Testa- 
 ment most frequently gives them is, The Testimony. This collection of them is 
 distinguished from all other legislative forms of words in these respects : — (i) They 
 were spoken by the voice of God ; (2) They were written by His finger on tables of 
 stone, and by His authority were kept in the inside of the Ark of the Covenant ; 
 and (3) The law which they declare was originally written by Him on the heart of 
 man as first created, and is to be new-written by Him on the heart of men in the 
 new creation of redeeming grace. 
 
 What this means is, that they are distinctively MORAL LAW : or, declaration of 
 duty that arises, not from changeable circumstances in the condition of men, but 
 from the unchanging nature of the constitution of man in his relations to God 
 and his neighbour. Theologians (Shorter Cat. ) have found it possible to include, 
 under the various heads of duty represented by the Ten Words, the whole natural 
 duty of man. Among those who believe in the universal and permanent divine 
 obligation of these Commandments, there will hardly be any serious difference of 
 opinion as to their exhaustiveness in intimation of heads of human duty. And 
 those who do not see that they are completely exhaustive may be allowed without 
 disturbance to discover duties of natural obligation that cannot be brought under 
 any category of the Decalogue. The really serious question is, not regarding 
 their extent of domain, but regarding the nature of their dominion :— are they of 
 the nature of moral law, such as to be of permanent universal obligation ? ^ 
 
 That they are distinctively moral law, such as to bind all men at all times, and 
 not Hke the Ceremonial Law (only for Jews before Christ), or the Civil Law (only 
 for Romans under the empire), has been the opinion of the great mass of men 
 believing in the Bible religion under the New Testament as well as under the Old. 
 And this opinion is founded, not only on the peculiar manner in which the Ten 
 Words were dehvered and preserved by God, and spoken of by Christ and His 
 Apostles, but also on the character of the Commandments within themselves. 
 The subject of them is natural duty, arising, not from especial circumstances of 
 place and time, such as those of the Jews in Palestine or of the Romans in the 
 first five centuries of our era, but from the nature of man in his unchanging 
 relations to his fellow-men and to God, substantially the same in all generations 
 wherever the sun shines. 
 
 That in the Fourth Commandment (on "the Sabbath," see under xvi. 10-13) 
 
XX.] 
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 41 
 
 there is a positive element as well as a moral substance, is fully admitted. It is 
 admitted that the law of nature does not require that the day of rest should be at 
 the close of the week ; but that the transposition of it to' the beginning of the 
 week leaves the precept as well fitted as before to work in the constitution of man, 
 through the continually recurring period of the week of seven days. And of those 
 who maintain the substantial morahty or naturalness of the precept, there are 
 some who think that the seven-days period is only positive, not natural ; though 
 obligatory, because expressly prescribed by God. According to their view, the 
 proper substance of the precept, arising out of the nature of man's constitution, is 
 only the consecration to rehgious rest and worship of some stated portion of our 
 time whether it be one day in seven, or whatever it may be found to be. But as 
 to the essential question now in our view, of the morality of the Decalogue, or the 
 permanent universal obligation of its precepts, all classes of Christians, Eastern 
 and Western, Protestant and Romish, have concurred with the Jews, both ancient 
 and modern, in recognising the Decalogue as a code of natural laws, and in main- 
 taining the perpetual moral obligation of the Ten Commandments in general and 
 of the Fourth Commandment in particular. 
 
 In Scripture there are two editions of the Decalogue (see Introd. p. 90, Tables 
 of the Law, and relative notes under xxxi., xxxiii., and xxxiv.), both by Moses as 
 editor or reporter. The one in Deut. v. has some material variations from the 
 one in our text ; in particular, in the reason annexed to the Fourth Command- 
 ment, and in the order in which house and wife are placed in the Tenth. The 
 generally received view as to this matter among believing students of the Bible 
 is, that the Exodus edition is the original one, which God wrote on the stone 
 tables ; and that in the Deuteronomy edition Moses used freedoms, which would 
 not cause the meaning of the precepts to be misapprehended, and which would 
 not occasion any doubt as to the divine authority of the law on the part of those 
 who believed that Moses himself received it from the hand of God : — men who 
 knew that the Exodus edition was the first, would not be thrown into any doubt 
 as to the question which was the first by hearing the Deuteronomy edition. 
 Some hold that the Deuteronomy edition is the original, and that the Mosaic 
 liberties were taken with the Exodus edition. This, it may be pleaded, would not 
 mislead men ; since, in the same way, the (previously given) Deuteronomy words 
 would prevent them from falling into mistakes, and the two Tables were in the 
 ark for final appeal in case of need (but who was allowed to see what was in the 
 ark?). Yet a third opinion is, that neither of those two editions gives what God 
 wrote on the Tables ; but that — as in the case of other tables of laws intended for 
 the memory of peoples — He wrote only some short " words," hke those in the 
 Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth " Commandments ; " and that the amplifications 
 beyond this, as in the Second and the Fourth, and the details beyond " covet" in 
 the Tenth, are only explanations of the Law, — which no doubt are binding as 
 having the legislator's authority, like the "Interpretation Clause" of an Act of 
 Parliament. This variety of opinion as to the exact wording of the Decalogue in 
 its original utterance and writing by God, does not necessarily imply a difference 
 of opinion as to the substantive character of the precepts. It may mean only a 
 difference regarding the way and manner in which they came to be in Scripture as 
 they now are. But, in fact, men's views of this matter have sometimes been 
 regardless of the authority of Scripture, our only source of real information about 
 the matter. 
 
 Another question is, how the Ten Words are to be classified or grouped. This is 
 not determined by express authority of Scripture. While intimating that the 
 Tables were two, it does not say what part of the Decalogue was written on the 
 one Table and what on the other. And though we had known what was on each 
 Table, that would not have conclusively shown us what is the true division of the 
 code : it might only mean, that so much of it was on a second Table because there 
 was not room for it on the first. And, in fact, the proposed divisions have arisen 
 from the views which men have taken of the specific natures of the various 
 
42 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 
 
 precepts, or of the distinctive characters of the duties prescribed in those 
 precepts. 
 
 We shall here leave out of account the opinion of some, that " the preface to 
 the Ten Commandments " (given in Ex. xx. 2) really is one of the " Ten Words." 
 The question is, how to classify what follows into two groups making ten. 
 Relatively to this question there is a twofold previous question as to the meaning 
 of particular precepts, (i) Some slump into one commandment, against idolatry, 
 what we have as the First Commandment (against having a false God) and the 
 Second Commandment (against using images in worship of God). (2) Some 
 break up our Tenth Commandment (against coveting) into two ; — one, against 
 coveting a neighbour's wife, and the other, against coveting his house, etc. This 
 is made difficult for them by the fact that it is only in the Deuteronomy edition 
 that the wife is placed before the house. In the Exodus edition the house is put 
 first. This implies no disparagement of the wife ; the law presumably means : 
 Do not covet the dwelling, nor anything that it contains. What it contains may 
 be more honourable than itself (as the ark was more venerable than the Tabernacle). 
 This would make one law against coveting. If we split up the law into two, 
 because a wife is different from a house, then we might split it up into six, 
 because all the other things specified are different from both and from one 
 another ; or, indeed, into sixty, because there are sixty different kinds of things 
 that may be coveted. The question about idolatry may seem only verbal. In 
 fact it has been, for more than half the Christian world, a hinge of practical 
 determination regarding the vitally important matter of worship, and, con- 
 sequently, of the whole system of distinctively religious fife among the peoples. 
 
 We will assume that our " first Commandment " and our " second " are two of 
 the Ten Words, and that our "tenth" is only one of them. Some have pro- 
 posed to make the divisions 3 and 7 : the 3 being deemed a sacred number, 
 in connexion with the constitution of the Godhead ; and the 7 having a 
 sacredness in connexion with the creatures in covenant relation to God. 
 Others have regarded the law as consisting of two fives (" pentads ") : corre- 
 spondingly to the two hands, representing the totality of man's practical capability, 
 summed up in the two pentads of fingers (see note on thtimb under xxix. 20, and 
 on the number five under xxvi. 10). This would place the law about parents on the 
 same level with the four which directly refer to God ; for which a justification is 
 sought in the fact that parents and magistrates are, in respect of authority and 
 title to reverence, an image of the sovereignty which is worshipped in God. The 
 distribution with which we are most familiar, into foui- commandments directly 
 regarding God, and six directly regarding man, proceeds upon what plainly is the 
 fact on the face of the precepts themselves. In fact, the first four (as numbered 
 by us) do refer directly to God as the Being to be worshipped ; — (i) the object of 
 the worship ; (2) the form of it ; (3) the spirit of it ; (4) the time of it. And, in 
 fact, the remaining six do not refer directly to God, but refer directly to man. 
 But it is well to remember that this classification and numbering of the Ten 
 Words is not expressly prescribed nor formally exemplified in Scripture. 
 
 Relatively to the Decalogue, " the two great commandments " (Mat. xxii. 35-40) 
 do not, as has been foolishly imagined, supersede the morahty of the old Law. 
 They are the morality of the old Law as set forth " rightly" by a Jewish lawyer 
 (Lu. X. 25) in answer to the question of Christ, — "What is written in the law? 
 howreadest thou?" When Christ says of them, that "on these two command- 
 ments hang all the law and the prophets " (Mat. xxii. 40), the meaning is, that 
 they are the soul or spirit, without which a body is lifeless (Ro. xiii. 10), and 
 ready to dissolve in corruption (Mat. xxiii. 27). They represent the prijiciple of 
 Bible morality ; while the Ten Words are its code of ethical precepts. The 
 precepts point the main heads of prescribed appHcation of the principle. And 
 the principle itself, in the terms of the two great commandments, is first declared, 
 not by Christ in the new dispensation, but by Moses in the old (De. vi. 5 ; 
 Lev. xix. 18). And if a body without a soul be a corpse, a soul without a body is 
 
XX. 5-1 ^'HE DECALOGUE. 43 
 
 Chap. XX. i, 2. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the 
 Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of 
 
 3 Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no 
 
 4 other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
 graven image, or any likeness of atiy thing that is in heaven 
 above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 
 
 5 under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, 
 nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, 
 
 a ghost. It is in the precept that the principle has a career, of peace hke a river, 
 and of righteousness like the waves of the sea. The two together constitute the 
 system of Bible morality : hke gravitation and the stars. 
 
 Exercise 36. 
 
 1. Give other illustrations of a principle along with details making one whole 
 
 system. 
 
 2. If the law be of nature, how can it be supernatural, and for what use? 
 
 3. Why should the Decalogue be spoken of as "The Testimony," "The 
 
 Covenant " ? 
 
 I. God spake. The employment of angels, referred to in connexion with 
 the mediation of Moses by Stephen (Act. vii. 53) and by Paul (Ga. iii. 19), is 
 not here alluded to. All these: down to the close of ver. 17, as appears 
 from the change of person in ver. 18. 2. This (see initial note here) has by 
 some been taken along with ver. 3 as part of the First Commandment. It 
 no doubt has a special bearing on idolatry. But the principle of it, in 
 accordance with (Ex. xix. 2-9) the fundamental covenant relationship of 
 Israel to Jehovah, really applies to all His commandments. That principle 
 is, that Israel are under obligation to serve Him in adoring love (ver. 6) 
 on account of what He is to Israel, (i) as God the Creator, (2) as Jehovah 
 the Redeemer. 
 
 First Commandment. 3. Other gods : alien and strange. Before me: 
 lit. before my face. When taking after other gods Israel in following ages 
 might, like Aaron with the golden calf, profess to hold by Jehovah at the 
 same time (" God and mammon"). But He here said from the outset that 
 to have any other god in any way is an open outrage on His being, as the 
 Redeemer, the only God living and true. Thou. The singular person is 
 Israel, and, the Israelite. While the collective implication gives impressive- 
 ness to the personal application, on the other hand the personality oi the 
 address to every man distributively carries the matter home to the individual 
 conscience and heart. 
 
 Second Commandment. 4-6. On proposed amalgamation of this precept 
 with the first, see initial note here. Gj'aven imnge is the individual for the 
 species. A molten image is in its nature the same thing, relatively ^ to 
 worship, as a graven one ; and a picture the same as a statue. The thing 
 condemned is material likeness of anything, etc., as employed for worship 
 (ver. 6). Romanists say that they do not worship the dead thing, but 
 employ it as a help to realize the invisible presence. Heathens made the 
 same apology to primitive Christians (witness Athenagoras : The Evihassy). 
 Romanists make a distinction between dulia, which alone they give to 
 creatures, and latria, which they give to God alone. But (i) dzilia 
 
44 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 6. 
 
 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 
 
 6 third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and 
 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and 
 
 7 keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of 
 the Lord thy God in vain : for the Lord will not hold him 
 
 8 guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the 
 
 ("service") is the highest thing we can give to God, and {2) dulia is the 
 word employed by Christ in saying, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
 and Him only shalt thou serve. " Undet- the earth : below the level of the 
 land : the meaning is — no likeness of anything whatever in the world or 
 universe. The Egyptians worshipped images of almost every sort of thing. 
 Jealous God : here begins the scriptural custom of representing God's relation 
 to the soul as conjugal; so that idolatry is "adultery." It is meant to 
 represent on His part an affection of union (Mat. xix. 5) mysteriously pro- 
 found and tender (Eph. v. 25-32). ll)x^ feeling \% not unworthy of God. 
 That thing in it which, on a man's part, is morally good is good in God 
 supremely as He is the Good Supreme. And so is the moral indignation, 
 which is one aspect of that feeling in its goodness. Fathers tipon the children. 
 That, under the government of God, the children suffer in consequence of 
 their fathers' iniquities, is simply a fact in the history of the world, and a most 
 powerful motive to good conduct on the fathers' part (Act. xvi. 31). The 
 fact has a special pertinency to the present subject of the manner or form of 
 worship ; because the form of worship is a thing in respect of which children 
 are most likely to follow the bad example of their parents ; if this generation 
 lapse into idolatry or other superstition, the following generation will all but 
 certainly be bo}-Jt idolatrous or superstitious. The children of thieves may be 
 terrified into honesty. Mercy : mercy of God is a thing seriously beheved in 
 only as disclosed in the Bible revelation. Thousands : has been made to 
 mean literally, thousands of generations, — as compared with "the third 
 and fourth generations." That is an injurious overstrain into prosaicalism. 
 The meaning in fairness is, boundless fulness of mercy (Is. Iv. 7, etc.). 
 Love me. Here comes into view the true principle of "keeping my com- 
 mandments" (see last paragraph of initial note here). Those who keep 
 God's commandments love Him (Jn. xv. 10). Christ (Mat. xxii. 34) makes 
 "love," branching out into two great commandments, to be the whole soul 
 of Bible morality. Paul similarly (Ro. xiii. 10) makes "love" to be "the 
 fulfilling of the law." That hate uie. Impure worship betrays hatred of God 
 (Ro. viii. 7). It is a way of avoiding Him, darkening the window through 
 which comes the light of His manifested presence. Now, to avoid is to show 
 "aversion," which is a face of hatred. But the hate me goes deeper. The 
 absence of light is darkness : where there is not love, there is hate. 
 
 Third Commandment (see note on profanity under xxx. 32, 33). This pre- 
 cept has been made to prohibit only calling God to witness in false swearing 
 (perjury). But in the present connection the Hebrew expression, natively 
 susceptible of such a construction, really cannot have a meaning short of the 
 generality which it has in our Version. Light use of divine names was very 
 common among heathens, even educated men. Though among us profane 
 swearing is deemed unworthy of a gentleman, on account of its outrage on 
 ordinary feelings of decency, ungodly men have little feeling of the outrage on 
 God's honour involved in the coarse impiety. And there may be the impiety 
 
XX. II.] THE DECALOGUE. 45 
 
 9 sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, 
 
 10 and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of 
 the Lord thy God : /;/ // thou shalt not do any work, thou, 
 nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
 servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 
 
 1 1 gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 
 — unhallowed familiarity with sacred things — where there is not the vulgarity 
 of coarseness. 
 
 Fourth Commandment, (i) The thing prescribed is res^. God's rest (cp. Ps. 
 cxxxii. 14 and Re. iii. 20). On the Creator's part (Ge. i. 28, ii. 2, 3) the 
 repose (in the remarkable expression, refreshed, in xxxi. 16, and note) on the 
 creature is complacent, beneficent, conservative (= providence " preserv- 
 ing"). Correspondingly on man's the repose is on the Creator, now 
 Redeemer : folding in it, satisfaction, restoration, experienced blessing (Is. 
 Iviii. 13, 14, and Ps. xcii., "for the Sabbath Day"). It is to rest in His 
 heart that the Son of God invites His brethren of mankind (Mat. xi. 27, 28). 
 It is the Decalogue Rest ("the Sabbath") that the Son of Man "is Lord 
 of" (Mk. ii. 27, 28). Accordingly this "pearl" of days is the one 
 " trampled under foot" — when (Nu. xi. 1-6) it is cast before swine. Labour 
 — work. Labour is toilsome work. Work here is ordinary business of any 
 sort. It is wholesome : six days of it in seven are good for man. The 
 remaining day might be devoted to aesthetic culture or secular recreation. 
 God has willed it for another purpose : religious rest, for the soul of man and 
 the honouring of God. (2) An unbeliever said, that he had never had any 
 doubt of the divinity of the Fourth Commandment ; that no nation of selfish 
 mankind would have cared so tenderly for the l^odily rest of slaves and beasts. 
 Luther and Calvin, in their view of the natural grounds of the law, laid 
 stress on the due refreshment of working-men. Moses (De. v. 14) made this 
 a special reason why the householder should keep Sabbath (that servants 
 might have rest). A London 'bus conductor said, that he never saw his 
 children but when they were asleep. As for dumb sentient creatures, God 
 cares for them (Ps. civ. 21) ; so will a godly man (Mat. v. 45, 48). The 
 tempting seasons, of sowing and reaping, are to make no difference (under 
 xxx. 21) : the greedy farmer, who saves his corn, does not "regard the life 
 of his beast " (Prov. xii. 10). All. Vroi. M.\\\ex {Labour Lightened not Lost) 
 said, that physiological man is an eight-day clock : if work be allowed to 
 invade the resting day, he is living on the capital of his life. At a Confer- 
 ence of Librarians of Great Britain, one opposed opening Libraries and 
 Museums on the Lord's Day for this reason, that man needs the religious rest 
 for the life of his soul. (3) For— hallowed it. To say that the Sabbath is not 
 made holy by God from creation, is to contradict Ex. xx. ii, as well as Ge. 
 iii. 3. And the fact of His having done so, as a reason for man's keeping 
 the day holy, applies equally to all men in all ages and nations. (4) Six 
 days. The duration of the days does not affect the reasoning : the point is, 
 man's life is to be conformable to that "pattern" {type, in He. viii. 5, see 
 under xxv. 9). In the time of the great Church Fathers, an opinion much 
 in vogue among them was, that creation took place in an instant ; so that 
 the history in Ge. i. is not chronological in meaning, but logical ; in chrono- 
 logical form for orderly exposition of what was done at once. It now is 
 known that the world's origination extended over a vast period ; so that the 
 
46 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 12. 
 
 sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : 
 
 wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
 1 2 Honour thy father and thy mother ; that thy days may be 
 
 long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 13, 14 Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 15, 16 Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness 
 17 against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's 
 
 house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his 
 
 "days" of actual creation must have been aeons (cp. "the day of the Lord," 
 "Abraham saw my day"). But the point of the hebdomadism always 
 remains : in some sense, God's creative week inckided six working days 
 followed by rest; let man's life be an "image" oi thai {it maybe a miniature^ 
 as man himself is only an infinitesimally small miniature image of God, Ge. 
 i. 26). (5) Ronemher (cp. "Remember thy Creator"). There is a ten- 
 dency to forget (Ps. ix. 17). The heathen remembrance of this institution is 
 only as a palaeozoic fossil (see under xvi. 23) : scattered fragments of what 
 now is dead, valuable as evidencing what once lived among mankind. 
 Remember thus has the force of, keep it alive. Seventh. The great mass of 
 Christians have understood that, if there be the period of seven days, rounded 
 by a day of religious rest, the nature of the prescribed week remains un- 
 changed though the place of the day is now at the beginning of the w^eek, 
 while in Israel (" wall of partition") it was at the close. The appointment 
 of " the Lord's Day " (Re. i. 10) in memory of the resurrection of Christ (new 
 creation, 2 Co. v. 17) has intrinsic appropriateness, and results in a real 
 Sabbatis7n (the Gr. in He. iv. 9). To say that the appointment is by 
 authority of "the Church," is to bring in the Church to a legislative office 
 which has no warrant in Scripture (Mk. vii, 7). The authority, no doubt, 
 is that of Christ through His apostles (Mat. xxviii. 19). 
 
 The Second Table (12-17). In application of the principle, Love thy 
 neighbour (Ro. xiii. 8, 9), the precepts point to various interests M^hich we 
 are to respect. First, Fifth Commandment, 12, is the honour due to 
 parents. Mother : woman is honoured in Israel alone of ancient civilised peoples 
 (I Pe. iii, 7). Magistrates, too, are to be honoured (i Pe. ii. 17), and public 
 ministers of religion (i Ti. v. 17). The reverential affection due to creature 
 superiors is limited by "the claims of the Supreme ; " so that if we have 
 to choose, we are to obey God rather than man. The Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, 
 and Ninth Commandments, 13-16, guard, respectively, life, purity, property, 
 and reputation (cp. the first four, regarding respectively, object, form, spirit, 
 and time of worship). Regard for life may call, e.g., for sanitary legislation, 
 improvement of machinery, so as ultimately to reduce the hours of labour /(?r 
 day to eight. Capital punishment is not necessarily regardless of life, but 
 may be a guard on the sacredness of life. Ftirity : in this relation Christ 
 (Sermon on the Mount) points to the heart ; and incestuous marriage is 
 placed by God (Lev. xviii. ) under the head of " abominations " of heathenism. 
 Property does not mean that "a man may do what he will with his own." 
 It means, that it is his "own " {propriuni), not another's ; and that those who 
 fear God will in this relation " regard man," — as the unjust steward did not 
 (Lu. xviii. 4). If any one wish for cominunism, God allows him to com- 
 municate (He. xiii. 16) abundantly, to give oy^diy all that he has (Act. iv., v., cp. 
 
XX. 17-] THE DECALOGUE. 47 
 
 man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor 
 any thing that is thy neighbour's. 
 
 Act. XX. 35). Reputation, also, is by Christ guarded in the heart. A mau 
 is not made truthful by the formality of an oath. But " an oath for con- 
 firmation " is sanctioned by God's example as well as law. The thing always 
 is, truth in love (Eph. iv. 15); which may wound, but has a weapon-salve. 
 Detraction is almost as hateful as flattery. No one can permanently love any- 
 thing untruthful: it is rotten (Eph. iv. 22, 29 — where observe "the old 
 man : " not only the hero Odysseus was an unscrupulous liar ; the Patriarch 
 Abraham was not always scrupulously truthful). The Tenth Commandment 
 is origi7ial, in comparison with heathen morality, as legislating for the 
 fountain of action in the desires, where (Ro. vii. 7) it laid the grasp of 
 criminating law on the conscience of Paul the Magnanimous. In De. v., 
 relatively to neighbour's wife the word is not covet but desire : showing that 
 coveting is nnlaivfiilly desiring. One may honestly desire a neighbour's 
 book, and accordingly beg, or borrow, or buy it from him. This precept in 
 going to the heart with its prohibition of coveting, corresponds to the Second 
 Commandment in its going to the heart with implication of loving. They 
 combine in showing that "the law is spiritual;" — as when, at some spot in 
 a beautiful strip of green on brown hill-side, we perceive the water that is 
 trickling down, behind the turf, as the true life of the whole. 
 
 Note i. On the Second Table.— The matter of duty to man is so simple, 
 that we might suppose there would in relation to it be no need of positive revela- 
 tion of the law of nature. But (i) the legislation (i Pe. ii. 12-iii. 11) gives a 
 career to religion, making all the natural life of man to be a domain of religion 
 (i Co. vii. 24). (2) It gives a great support to natural law, by bringing in religion as 
 motive to obey its precepts : thus the Heidelberg Catechism, like Ex. xx. 2, 
 places the Ten Commandments under the head of Our Gratitude, co-ordinate 
 with the two other heads of Our Ruin and Our Redemption. The "second" is 
 "like unto" the first. The heathens, losing hold of God {'' x€i\^\oxv" —religare 
 — is what draws and binds us to Him), really had not in them the soul of neigh- 
 bourly duty. And (3) even as to the body of it, or material outward part, to a 
 surprising extent, the plain practical morahty of nature had died out among 
 them. "Thou shalt not covet," the guard upon the heart, without which (Jn. 
 xii. 6) a Christian is " a knave in grain," had not place in their morality. It is 
 not as a stumbling patriarch, but as a model hero, that Odysseus w^as a con- 
 summate liar. The Spartans deemed it a virtue to be a successful thief, Menelaus, 
 on his way home from Troy, made a competency by raid of robbery on Egypt ; 
 and all the ' ' glorious " career of Rome was filibustering. Impurity was shame- 
 less and not infamous ; it was practised as worship in temples ; and abominations 
 that now are nameless were indulged in even by honoured public teachers of 
 morality {e.g. Sophocles and Socrates). As for sacredness of life, hifaiiticide, at 
 the discretion of parents, was substantially universal in the heathen world. 
 Reverence for parents was far from generally being inculcated, as it is among the 
 Chinese, whose "days" have been "long in their land." The mot iier could 
 not be honoured where the wife and women were degraded. And even the 
 " patriotism " was but a sort of parochial selfishness. For the heathens did not 
 "honour all men." The "Greeks" despised all who were not Greeks as "bar- 
 barians." The Roman hostis, natively meaning " stranger," came heathenishly 
 to mean "enemy." The servant (bond) was not a brother-man, but a useful 
 though troublesome thing. The circumcision and the Passover, Baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper, have changed all that. For Redemption is a restoration (see 
 the civil laws in xxi.-xxiii.,— especially regarding slaves, women, and strangers) 
 
48 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 1 7. 
 
 to unity of mankind, in affection as in origin and species ; so that he who loves 
 God loves his neighbour also (i Jn. iv. 19-21). 
 
 Note 2. On Sabbath Legislation.— Outside of the Decalogue, which is 
 Catholic human in its aspect, there was under the Old Testament very important 
 ' ' Sabbath " legislation — regarding, e.g. , the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year, and 
 the special Sanctuary services of the weekly Sabbath, That legislation, visibly 
 Jewish in its type and scope, appears (Col. ii. 16) to have undesirably continued to 
 influence some Christians after it was abrogated by the closing of the Old 
 Dispensation. And it might be difhcult to judge with warrantable confidence 
 from the specifically Old Testament legislation what would be best for securing 
 the due enjoyment of the Sabbath or Moral Law under the New Testament. 
 Of the alleged gloom of the Old Testament Sabbath, in the experience of men who 
 were t7'ue Israelites, the Old Testament itself cofitains not a trace. Bixt the Old 
 Testament discipline as a whole was characterized by a particularism of specifica- 
 tion in ordinances that is out of keeping (Mat. ix. 17, cp. Act. xv. 10) with the 
 comparatively free spirit of the New. To be bidden to do everything piecemeal 
 is not good for a grown man. But where there is avoidance of multifarious 
 regulation, there has to be some general understanding, on the part of individuals 
 and families for their own guidance, of Christians for their common Church 
 action especially of pubhc worship, and of nations in the public interest which 
 nations have in their trust. The nation, though it be not a missionary institute, is 
 bound in its own public action not to violate God's law ; so that, for instance, 
 there ought to be no ordinary business of the nation done on the day of holy 
 rest. Also, the nation is entitled, if not bound, to protect those who wish to 
 enjoy the holy rest in the sacred stillness of the day ; so that, for instance, there 
 may be prohibited by law forms not only of business but of recreation, that are 
 lawful on common days. The nation is entitled, in allowing such enterprise as 
 the trade in railways, to stipulate that the proprietors shall not carry on their 
 lucrative business in a manner fitted to injure or to undermine the institution of 
 the people's day of rest, which God has made for man. Legislation on such a 
 footing may be vexatious and oppressive if it run into dictation beyond the call 
 of public duty and interest. But so may legislation about any matter upon any 
 footing. The thing in question is good law — not bad. 
 
 Note 3. On the Sabbath in Exodus.— i. It has a great place in the 
 
 legislation, such as to make it appear that in the legislator's opinion this institu- 
 tion is of very great importance for the true life of man. 2. Irrespectively of 
 the Fourth Com7nandment, the history shows the weekly Sabbath as a funda- 
 mentally vital constitution of Israel as a nation in covenant with God : first, 
 at the formation of the Covenant (xxiii.), and then (xxxiv.) at its renewal, God 
 Himself gave it a foremost place in relation to Israel's true life through all time. 
 This is without any allusion to the Fourth Commandment, though the Decalogue 
 had been first published in that very season at Sinai. And before this pubhcation 
 the Sabbath law had appeared (xvi.), in connection with the manna, not as a 
 new constitution, but as a previously existing constitution, which can at once be 
 applied, without any explanation, to regulate the manna proceedings. The 
 history here is consistent with the view that Sabbath-keeping had been a settled 
 habit of Israel in Goshen, or at least was well known to the people there, as 
 brought down by the patriarchs along with their tradition of creation. 3. The 
 Fourth Commajidnient thus appears as having a distinct place and foundation 
 in the moral law, though historically connected with the distinctively national 
 constitution of Israel. Judging from Exodus, we might conclude that the 
 Sabbath of Israel would have existed though there had been no Decalogue, and 
 that the Fourth Commandment would have been given for mankind though there 
 had been no Sabbath of Israel. The Jews in later ages came to be known by this 
 ' ' sign " as the Sabbatarian people. But Jehovah had from the outset made 
 
XX. ly.] THE DECALOGUE. 49 
 
 Himself knovm as a distinctively Sabbatarian God. The "sign" was His 
 (xxxi, 13) before it was theirs. And even the specifically Israelitish national 
 Sabbath is seen as rising out of the old immemorial relation of God to the 
 Patriarchs, and to primaeval mankind from the creation of the world. The 
 Sabbath thus has two foundations, in the history of God's kingdom and in the 
 moral law. 
 
 Note on imperial and provincial moral law.— The law of the family and 
 that of the Sabbath are not merely positive laws, or prescriptions ordained in 
 connexion with some condition that is not simply human, but really natural, since 
 the conditions out of which they rise are in the constitution of man, and are 
 coextensive with man's existence on earth in time. But they differ from other 
 moral laws in this respect, that they can have no place excepting in time and upon 
 earth ; inasmuch as the conditions in which they live and move and have their 
 being do not exist except in this visible world and life : in heaven they neither marry 
 nor are given in marriage ; and in eternity there is no periodicity of working and 
 repose, but eternal rest (which is service) or eternal unrest (which may be idleness). 
 It is inconceivable that in any state of existence there should not exist the con- 
 dition which gives occasion for the Third Commandment, prescribing reverence 
 toward God, or that which occasions the Ninth Commandment, prescribing 
 truthfulness toward man. Those laws, correspondingly, which apply to all 
 conceivable states of man, we may describe as imperial moral laws ; while those 
 which apply only to the state of man in time on earth may be described as 
 provincial. These provincial laws— of the Sabbath and of the family — were 
 declared in Paradise to form the home and the week of man (which meet in the 
 true ideal "Saturday Night"). They now are enshrined, side by side, in the 
 heart of the Decalogue, which is God's "testimony." It is found that they are 
 the Jachin and Boaz pillars of a regenerate society in the new kingdom of God 
 among men. There consequently is a ceaseless antagonism of worldly interest, 
 rooted in antipathy of worldly feeling against them : — overt or covert assaults 
 upon the purity of the family constitution, or the integrity of the Sabbath 
 institution, are characteristic of a worldliness which, taking some interest in the 
 Bible religion, really dislikes it where it comes home "to men's business and 
 bosoms." And it is especially in the case of these provincial laws that we perceive 
 the great value of supernatural revelation of law that is natural. The imperial 
 laws are to some extent like the laws of sound reasoning, which cannot be quite 
 forgotten even by the most illogical ; while the provincial laws are, in comparison 
 with these, like the dictates of good taste, which may be completely overborne, 
 giving place to vulgarism, unless there be a perfect model or "pattern" 
 (cp, Ex. XXV. 9) before men's eyes, independent of their depraved fancies. 
 Practically, the law of the family and of the week are not safe except under 
 shield of divine revelation. 
 
 Exercise 37. 
 
 1. Distinguish between moral and positive law, illustrating from the Decalogue. 
 
 2. State three proposed modes of classifying the Ten Commandments. 
 
 3. What about the proposal to break our Tenth Commandment into two ? 
 
 4. Distinguish between principle and precepts of morality, and illustrate from 
 
 the Decalogue. 
 
 5. Give names of the Old Testament Moral Law, and describe its place. 
 
 Epilogue in xx. 18-26 to the narrative in xix.-xx. 17. This section is by some 
 placed ia, the Book of the Law, spoken of at xxiv. 4, 7, as the first part of the 
 legislation- recorded in chaps, xxi.-xxiii. That legislation is all of one kind, civil 
 law, specifically different from the prescription in our text, which is of an 
 exclusively religious character. The nature of what is here recorded seems to 
 place it peculiarly in close relation to the immediately preceding narrative. An 
 
 D 
 
50 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XX. 1 8. 
 
 1 8 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, 
 and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking : 
 and, when the people saw //, they removed, and stood afar off. 
 
 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will 
 
 20 hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And 
 Moses said unto the people, Fear not : for God is come to 
 prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye 
 
 21 sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near 
 unto the thick darkness where God was. 
 
 22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto 
 the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with 
 
 23 you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, 
 neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 
 
 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt 
 sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, 
 
 altar (xvii.) and a sacrifice (xviii.) came into view after the great event of the 
 victory over Amalek. And the Lord's reminder here, of the far grander event of 
 His self-revelation in giving the Moral Law, is almost formally in continuation 
 of the spoken intercourse of the people with Him, then through Moses as the 
 Mediator. 
 
 18-21. Here the terrors appear as if resumed after a pause for the 
 utterance of the Ten Words ; and the people, under the renewed power of 
 those terrors, go far back from the sacred mountain. The near presence (cp. 
 Job xlii. 6) of God gives them a feeling of need of mediation, such as has 
 previously (xix. 23, 24) been provided for their want. Moses now intimates 
 to them, what had been made known from the outset of the march from the 
 Red Sea passage (xv. 25, xvi. 4), that a purpose of Jehovah in these terrors 
 is to prove them (they are already being brought, ver. 19, into salutary 
 j-^^-knowledge). But he now adds, that it is a purpose also, that the fear 
 of God may be before their faces : that is, that the fearfulness of God, as 
 majestic and awful in His glory of holiness, should be ever in their viezv as 
 a regulative influence in their heart and life. Sinai has stamped its impress 
 oa the spiritual character of the people of God through all following ages 
 to this hour. That species of adoring love to God, which is meant by the 
 " fear" of Him, has had no real existence in the religious life of heathenism. 
 The return of Moses to thick cloud (under xix. 26) renews our impression of 
 there being on this occasion, on the part of God, manifested supernaturally 
 not only a general occupation of that Sinai mountain, but a more specially 
 manifested presence at a particular spot (cp. in the Sanctuary, the relation 
 of the Holiest to the Holy Place). 22-26. The preamble here is like a 
 repetition of the preface to the Ten Commandments. But it refers expressly, 
 not to their past experience of Deliverance from Egypt, but to what now has 
 taken place in their experience of Sinai mountain. The Lord now employs, 
 as 2^fnlcriim for launching this people upon their new career of living unlo 
 God, the express articulate revelation of Himself by Jehovah in spoken 
 words : cp. the resurrection of Christ, as at the day of Pentecost and all 
 through the apostolic age, the mainspring of all activity in and for the 
 
XX. 26,] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 51 
 
 thy sheep, and thine oxen : in all places where I record my 
 
 25 name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if 
 thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it 
 of hewn stone : for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast 
 
 26 polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine 
 altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. 
 
 kingdom of God. Has there ever been any real movement of living unto 
 Him ayzV/^^«/ such revelation ? A deistical movement ? No deistical religion 
 has ever lived among a people. But now He has a further special purpose 
 in appealing to what they have so recently seen, what they have perceived 
 with their bodily senses, — namely, prevention of idolatry, namely, of the use 
 of images as prohibited in the Second of the Ten Words. It is to us almost 
 inconceivable that a rational being should be an idolater. But idolatry had 
 a fatal fascination for the chosen people, with all their outward light of 
 revelation, down to the ruin of the remaining part of Israel in the Babylonish 
 captivity. And now, newly come out of Egypt, the very hotbed of an all- 
 embracing idolatrous polytheism, they had need of being strongly forewarned 
 and forearmed against this sin which did so easily beset them. Accordingly, 
 Jehovah leads them to mark, in what they saw, not only the supernatural 
 revelation of His mind, but the transcendency of His being, His eternal 
 power and Godhead as manifested in and through that revelation. That 
 will show them the tinzuorthiness of the thought of worshipping the Eternal 
 God with works of sinful human hands (so in Is. xl. 18-26, xliv. 9-20). The 
 references to the altar (see on the abiding Altar of Burnt Sacrifice under 
 xxvii. 1-8), with its sacrifices, are apparently for this especial purpose. That 
 an altar ought to be only of earth, or of unhewn stone, was an impression 
 even among heathens, and was faithfully adhered to in Israel's erection of 
 altars according to the mind of God; for the "brazen altar" was really a 
 framework or envelope, in which the earthen altar was contained. A general 
 purpose served in this way, as also in the prescription of the animal 
 sacrifices, was to show that in the offering there was no production of man's 
 hand, but only what had been produced by God Himself in creation and in 
 providence. But a special purpose, besides, was accomplished by the pro- 
 hibition of the use of tools in shaping stones ; namely, to prevent the 
 possibility of their sliding into shaping the stones into figtires that might be 
 incentive to a carnal idol-worship. The instruction about steps here has 
 nothing of censure on steps as steps. That, too, was only a farther provision 
 for securing that reverence, the "great fear," which is becoming in the 
 worship of the Most High, and which might be interfered with by any 
 suggestion of offence to natural feelings of propriety or decency. 
 
 The Booli of the Covenant (xxi.-xxiv.) is the first book ever publicly read in 
 the kingdom of God. The record of the writing of it is given (xxiv. 4) along with 
 the record (ver. 7) of what took place immediately after the receiving of it in the 
 audience of the people ; to which (cp. xix. 7, 8) they responded, ' ' All that the 
 Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." The only thing we certainly know 
 about the contents is (ver. 4), that "Moses wrote all the words of die Lord," after 
 (ver. 3) He had "come and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the 
 judgments ; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words 
 which the Lord hath said will we do." "Judgments" is the description which 
 our history gives of the collection of civil laws in chaps, xxi.-xxiii. Whether there 
 
52 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXI.-XXIV. 
 
 may not have been, in addition to tiiese, in that Book of the Covenant, "the 
 words of the Lord " in the Moral Law, as well as those which He uttered in the 
 Preparation, we have no means of really ascertaining. But there is no reasonable 
 doubt that in that Book there were written the judgments recorded in the three 
 chapters of civil law to which we now have come. And (see Introd. pp. 60, 61) it 
 may be reasonably assumed that this " Book" included chaps. xix.-xxiv. 
 
 These laws apparently are more or less a reproduction of what had been in 
 some way known before. Probably they include a sort of simple codification of 
 what had grown into the possession of Israel as traditionary consuetudinary 
 law, both during the Egyptian sojourning and back to the first beginning of 
 their history in the -Patriarchal Age. They may thus in part contain an inherit- 
 ance of artless administrative wisdom and justice through Abraham from beyond 
 the Flood. And now they are completed and adjusted to the existing and 
 prospective condition of Israel by authority of God, and solemnly accepted from 
 Him by the infant nation as at the foundation of their national covenant with 
 Jehovah. What we are to look for in these laws is, not the elaborated ideal 
 constitution of a commonwealth such as might conceivably exist in heaven, but 
 "rudiments" of the sort of practical direction regarding neighbourly rights and 
 duties which was suitable to the condition of Israel in that place and time. 
 What really is most interesting for us is, not the legal information or instruction 
 to be obtained here, but the historical instruction, which may be derived from 
 those laws, regarding the condition of that Israel of the exodus for which they 
 were 'given under the fatherly care of God the Redeemer. 
 
 In the giving of these laws Moses stood in a twofold relation to the people. 
 First, at the suggestion of Jethro, he has committed the handling of actual cases 
 to select men all through the tribes and their divisions and subdivisions, and 
 reserved himself for deahng with general questions, and with difficult cases 
 coming to him by a last appeal. And the present collection of " Judgments " 
 {judicia) we may perhaps regard as a first-fruit of that study of his, issued for 
 the purpose of giving to his judges, great and small, some coherent view of the 
 kind of grounds to be proceeded on in cases that may come before them ; while 
 at the same time the peoples, through the publication of the laws, will be educated 
 for giving intelligent assent to the decisions of the judges, and for saving the 
 judges much labour by deciding the cases in their own mind, so as not to need 
 to go to law about them (because agreeing with their adversary quickly while they 
 are in the way). This, then, would fall to be regarded as "the maiden effort," 
 in systematic legislation, of by far the greatest human legislator that the world 
 has ever seen. But beyond that (though through it) and above it, so as wholly to 
 eclipse it, Moses, we remember, is a prophet. One leading effect of the wonderful 
 and terrible manifestation of Jehovah in the people's view has been (xix. 9) to 
 show them this Moses in such intimacy with God that they shall believe him 
 for ever. And now, when he solemnly recites to them ' ' the words of the Lord, 
 and all the judgments," they receive these, not as the words of man merely, but 
 as the word of God. Of course they can see, better than we can, that much of 
 what they hear has before now been familiar to them, and that the human wisdom 
 of Moses has been exercised upon it all. But not the less they receive it all as 
 oracular, divine. The gold has been lying about before ; now it is collected and 
 coined into currency of the kingdom. Old coins have been gathered in. All has 
 now been passed through the mintage of the royalty of heaven. Everything has 
 upon it the image and superscription of heaven's King, "who maketh all things 
 new" (Re. xxi. i, 5). 
 
 A lawyer would find that the distinct "judgments " in the collection, amounting 
 to so many laws, are more than sixty in number. And perhaps he might arrange 
 them under three heads, of laws regarding persoii, laws regarding property, and 
 laws miscellaneous (not reducible to any one class). We, studying brevity, will 
 avoid ambitious technicality of commentation De Jure Civili. 
 
 Laws affecting person (xxi. 1-32). The condition of society here provided 
 
XXI. 2.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 53 
 
 Chap. XXI. i. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt 
 
 2 set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years 
 
 he shall serve ; and in the seventh he shall go out free for 
 
 with laws is extremely simple : there is nothing to be seen nor heard of that does 
 not exist in the most elementary social condition of mankind. The ox has a large 
 place, as perhaps is to be expected in the hve-stock of a people newly from 
 Goshen. Far more striking and profoundly interesting is the fact that the 
 beginning and the close of this chapter is about slaves. The striking thing is, not 
 their existence ; for bond-service was almost the only kind of service known in the 
 ancient world. The impressive specialty here is, protection for the slave, in the 
 statute-book of the nation, by authority of God its King. One of the saddest things 
 in the history of mankind is that, over all, among the ancient peoples, the slave 
 had no protection, but was at the absolute discretion of his owner for any 
 outrage, though it should be worse than death. Here, in the first morning of the 
 history of the first-born of nations, the first page on the statute-book is occupied 
 with protecting slaves. That, for Moses and his people, is a good beginning. 
 And (cp. Ro. viii. 29) it is auspicious for the future nationalities, of which this is 
 the " first-born." 
 
 Also, there is guardian care for woman. We have seen that woman is placed 
 for " honour," along with man, in the highest place next to God, at the heart of 
 the Moral Law, which is to be placed as His testimony in the heart of the heart 
 of His Most Holy Place. That, not quite strange in Egypt, will be more and 
 more a thing unheard of elsewhere — that woman should be honoured (i Pe. iii. 7, 
 cp. ii. 17) in a world that lies in wickedness. But the woman whom we now see 
 here is not a wife and mother, honoured queen of the household, but a female 
 slave. She is in a position which to us is startling strange ; that, apparently, of 
 a sort of secondary wife. We may wonder that Moses suffered such a thing to 
 exist. The Son of Man has borne him witness (Mat. xix. 8), that it was on 
 account of "the hardness of their hearts." Under the discipline of Moses and 
 the prophets, such things had ceased to be in Israel long before the "day" of 
 Christ. But it pleased God to accompHsh that result, not by an inconceivable 
 miracle abruptly turning Egyptian slaves all at once into full-formed free civilised 
 men, but (Pro. iv. 18, cp. i Co. xiii. 12) by a gradual process of education 
 through revelation, as the eye is trained through twilight to endure the full 
 daylight of noon. 
 
 Among the miscellaneous laws we shall find (see initial note to xxii. 16, etc.) 
 some utterances that are not properly laws, dictating the matter of particular 
 duties, but rather, civilising maxims of a simple, popular philosophy, such as the 
 first founder of an infant nation might go dropping among the rude unformed 
 people, seed-thoughts of a future civilisation, and for the present serving to_ soften 
 the manners by insensibly influencing the thought, which waters the affections at 
 the root of life; cp. the "gnomic" saws of the Wise Men of Greece, and the 
 homely maxims of "Poor Richard" (Franklin). One of those planting and 
 watering thoughts was, — You Israelites were strangers and slaves in Egypt : be 
 kind to strangers and slaves. They had been educated for sympathy in the 
 school of suffering (He. iv. 15) ; and so, for qualification, as a royal priesthood 
 (i Pe. ii. 9), to be effectively mediatorial people. Here it is an escaped slave 
 who, through the statute-book of emancipated slaves now forming a free nation, 
 begins the first publication of civil law to a nation with a provision for protection 
 of slaves. 
 
 The Hebrew servant (1-6). By adoption (xii.) a stranger could become 
 as a born Israelite. This servant was " bought." So in effect is the servant 
 among us who contracts for a term : — he sells his freedom for that term. 
 Here the servant "sold" himself (cp. **sold-ier ") ; some might fall into 
 
54 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXI. 3. 
 
 3 nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by him- 
 self; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 
 
 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him 
 sons or daughters ; the wife and her children shall be her 
 
 5 master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant 
 shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children ; 
 
 6 I will not go out free : then his master shall bring him unto 
 the judges ; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the 
 door-post ; and his master shall bore his ear through with an 
 awl ; and he shall serve him for ever. 
 
 7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she 
 
 8 shall not go out as the men-servants do. If she please not 
 her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he 
 let her be redeemed : to sell her unto a strange nation he 
 
 involuntary servitude; e.g. through bankruptcy (Lev. xxv. 35, 39). i. The 
 Israelitish servant h'a.d privileges : — (i) by circumcision, he was one of the holy 
 nation, the royal priesthood (xix. 6); (2) by Passover (xii.), he vi^as one of 
 his owner's family, eating of the same redemption lamb (cp. case of Onesimus 
 and Philemon). 2. He had /tope: the worst element of slavery, hopelessness, 
 for him did not exist. His service could not extend beyond six years — thus 
 like a long apprenticeship. The occurrence of a jubilee year would break the 
 term. Jacob served twice seven years for love. 3. The condition had attrac- 
 tions. He did not jieed to marry a slave, so as to have slave offspring. He 
 could remain with wife and children, sharing their condition. In any case 
 the marriage bond was not dissolved. — As for the female slave, "given " for a 
 wife, Moses did not in this law create this peculiar constitution, but guarded 
 against abuses under it. A slave — such an one as Eliezer of Damascus, 
 Ge. XV. — might choose to remain in the servile condition (the H^eb. word for 
 judges here is lit. "gods;" cp. Jn. x. 35). But the expression may mean 
 only — see xviii. — that they went to God (plur. form, elohim). To remain 
 "for ever," probably excepted a year of jubilee occurring. Boring the ear is 
 spoken of as if a well-known custom of ancient peoples in this case. It 
 meant obedience: see on the priest's ear in xxix. 20; cp. ^^ obey not the 
 gospel." 'BQingJixed to'the door, — or, if that was not convenient, to the post, 
 — meant, permanency of the condition. N.B. — Christ, for our emancipa- 
 tion, thus took on Him "the form of a servant," Phi. ii. 6, 7 (He. x. K, cp. 
 Ps. xl. 6). W V i, P 
 
 The maid-servant (7-1 1). The case supposed is that of a man's taking 
 her on trial for a wife, perhaps (see initial note here) a kind of secondary 
 wife, to himself or to his son. She, a poor man's daughter, thus had a 
 chance of a great position of honour. In the worst event, what this law does 
 h io protect hex so izx — (i) that she is not to be "sold" away from Israel, 
 but to be redeemed, — that is, her friends have a choice of buying her back 
 from bondage, (2) If she once be a wife, she cannot be displaced by another 
 from any of the conjugal rights of a wife. (3) If she become the wife of his 
 son, he has to hold her as a daughter. If he do not these things : the real 
 meaning may be, "if he do not arrange by means of some one of the things " 
 — either her redemption, or her being bought by another Hebrew, or lier 
 
XXI. 13.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 55 
 
 shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with 
 9 her. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall 
 
 10 deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he take 
 him another wife^ her food, her raiment, and her duty of 
 
 11 marriage, shall he not diminish. And if he do not these 
 three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. 
 
 12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put 
 
 1 3 to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him 
 
 being married to his son. Go free ivithotit money: her father not refunding 
 what was paid for her. In ver. 8, dealt deceitfully with her, means, has not 
 carried out the contract of betrothal ; and, let her be redeemed, give an 
 opportunity to any who may choose to buy her out. In any case, he is never 
 to have power to make her a mere domestic drudge. SeUing daughters was 
 a well-known practice in the ancient world. The Mosaic law here is all in 
 mitigation of the sad common lot, and protection of the feeble. 
 
 Note on the "permission" of evil in these two cases. —The only thing 
 which God may with propriety be said to " permit" is sin. It is not consistent 
 with Scripture, nor with the nature of things, to say that bond-service as such in 
 all cases involves sin. Slave-owners were members in unquestioned good stand- 
 ing in the Apostolic Church ; and the Hebrew servant bound six years was 
 abstractly in the same position as the British servant bound six months. The Old 
 Testament system as well as the New made effectual provision for immediate 
 amelioration of the condition, and ultimate emancipation from it, through the 
 principle of spiritual equality and brotherhood in standing, along with provision 
 for educating the servile class into the intellectual as well as moral maturity of 
 full-formed manhood. The case of polygamy and kindred evils, of which we 
 obtain a side-glance in this section, is of a different character. In the essence of 
 that, there always is what we now regard as an element of moral evil ; an 
 unnatural connection of the sexes which is injurious to society, and specially 
 detrimental in its essence to womanhood. Yet it is striking that this was borne 
 with on account of "the hardness of men's hearts." The Old Testament pro- 
 vided effectually for the ultimate righting of the wrong ; through the principle of 
 the spiritual equality of the sexes as having rational souls, and by authoritative 
 declaration (Ge. ii. 24, cp. Mat. xix. 3-6) of monogamy as the true normal original 
 condition. The effectiveness of that provision is seen in the New Dispensation, 
 where polygamy completely disappears, and for ever. And under the Old Dispen- 
 sation men were in various ways made to feel the essential intrinsic unhappiness 
 of polygamy. Still, under the old it was allowed to live on, or to die a very long, 
 slow, lingering death. Perhaps we may be able to see some reason for this. But 
 on the face of the matter we here see another case of, what appears in so many 
 cases, God's permitting sin to exist. The question, why should there be a divine 
 ]5ermission of sin ? we will not discuss. We will simply obsei-ve the fact, of which 
 the whole world is full, that He really does permit sin. The Creator permits what 
 the king condemns. 
 
 Capital Crimes (12-17). It is notable that the protection of the slave 
 should have come before the vindication of the sacredness of life. The 
 sentence, 12, states generally the principle (Ge. ix. 6), that the murderer 
 shall not live, charging the nation with unfailing execution of this doom. 
 The principle, 13, does not apply except in the case in which the murder is 
 deliberate and premeditated. God's delivering one into another's hand, — as 
 if showing the king's " warrant " for execution, — is here explained by the pre- 
 
56 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXI. 1 4. 
 
 into his hand ; then I will appoint thee a place whither he 
 
 14 shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously upon his 
 neighbour, to slay him with guile ; thou shalt take him from 
 mine altar, that he may die. 
 
 15 And he that smiteth his father or his mother, shall be 
 surely put to death. 
 
 16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be 
 found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. 
 
 ceding clause as meaning, that the opportunity of slaughter has come in the 
 course of providence unsought, so as perhaps to present a temptation which 
 may be pleaded in extenuation. The appointment of a place to which the 
 slayer might flee was in Canaan carried out (Josh. xx. 7, 8) by means of the 
 six Levitical Cities of Refuge, three on each side of the Jordan, so placed that 
 every spot in Canaan was within a day's journey of some one of them. An 
 ancient custom, a survival of {judicial constitution of) patriarchy, made the 
 nearest relatives of one slain by a private hand chargeable with avenging the 
 shed blood. In the case of deliberate planned murder, the whole community 
 takes the place of that individual avenger. With reference to the violent 
 death of Bishop Patteson, Bishop Selwyn {Life) notes, that such action of 
 cannibal heathens may not be in "cruelty" or mere savagery; that these 
 Polynesians hold themselves, as a people, collectively bowid to punish an 
 outrage by a white man in the person of any white man they may get into 
 their power. But in the case now in view the nation shields the slayer. In 
 the City of Refuge he had a sanctuary of safety until the matter should be 
 investigated by those in authority there ; and his life was forfeit only if they 
 found him worthy of death. The sentence, 14, defines particularly the case 
 in which no such provision shall be available. The presiunption, of our pro- 
 ceeding hy guile {lying in wait^ ver. 13), consists in the high audacity of this 
 crime, coolly assutning the power of destroying life ; as contrasted with the 
 case of one who may reckon it a lamentable mischance that there is thrust 
 upon him the fatal opportunity which he deems a call in Providence. It 
 here appears why the Cities of Refuge were Levitical (some other arrange- 
 ment to the same effect was probably made for the wilderness time). God's 
 altar \vz.s a sanctuary, though not always inviolable (i Ki. i. 50, ii. 28) (as 
 the Red Comyn found). The divine presence was — as is joyfully owned in 
 the Psalms — thus regarded as a Refuge ; which presupposes propitiation 
 (witness He. xii. 29). The very high place given, 15, to parentage in the 
 Sinaitic legislation is shared by the mother, in whose person here again 
 woman is "honoured" (i Pe. iii. 7) as man is. A learned and able com- 
 mentator states that the severity of punishment for this offence is without 
 parallel in criminal legislation. An old Scottish law made the same offence 
 to be punishable by death " without mercy." Yet Canaan and old Scotland 
 are the two famous lands of song {i.e. the two happy lands). Perhaps pro- 
 found reverence for parentage is near akin to godliness, which makes a 
 people to be happy. An irreverent rising generation has a dark outlook into 
 an unhappy future (cp. xxxi. 14 with note, and note on the severity of God 
 under xii. 29-36). As for man-steaHng, we remember that Joseph's bones 
 were in the camp, and this may be a late confession of offence ancestral. 
 They may have often, in thinking of him, felt the enormity of the offence. A 
 
XXI. 20.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 57 
 
 1 7 And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely 
 be put to death. 
 
 1 8 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a 
 stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed ; 
 
 19 if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he 
 that smote hi7n be quit : only he shall ]}2iy for the loss of his 
 time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. 
 
 20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, 
 and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 
 
 stolen man would be sold far away out of knowledge of home and friends, 
 Israel knew the misery of bondage in a strange land of heathens. So did 
 white Christians in Algiers, until British sailors pulled that nest of pirates 
 down. N.B. — With guardianship so trenchant, the condition of the servile 
 class in Israel might not greatly differ, except in (inglorious childish) 
 immunity from care, from that of unskilled labourers in Britain. The 
 return, 17, to lese ;;/a;>j^i?' of parentage exhibits this law as looking to the 
 heart. Essentially the crime here is one of sentiment. And so in large 
 measure is the crime in man-stealing. But murder, the highest crime con- 
 ceivable, analogue of atheism, is essentially a feeling in the heart ; as has 
 been pointed out (Sermon on the Mount) by that Son of man who is to judge 
 us all. 
 
 Unintentional crimes of anger (18-27). If a sea captain run his vessel 
 to wreck through carelessness, or a sleeping sentinel be an open gate of 
 ruin to a citadel, there is criminality without intention. But in the cases 
 now coming before us there is the element of wrath, which may be malicious, 
 and which in any case has to be sternly kept within bounds — as if man had a 
 ** tame " tiger about his house. 18, 19. The stojte or ihejisti?, here regarded, 
 not as lethal weapon, but as exculpatory evidence thus far, that manifestly there 
 was no studious preparation to inflict a serious injury on the person, as when 
 the stroke is with a dagger or club. The thought of damages will cool the 
 blood of any man who is not insane with passion ; — as for an avaricious man, 
 though he be fierce in courage as a lion, the thought will chill the marrow in 
 his bones. Thus " private vices " may be " public benefits " — a truth which 
 can be abused by a false-hearted Mandeville {Fable of the Bees). The bare 
 damages awarded to those who are hurt will not encourage tJie?n to put them- 
 selves into harm's way, perhaps provoking a blow, in order to make money 
 out of their neighbour's infirmity of hot blood. 20, 21. The great attention 
 bestowed on the slave class, while it fosters a good heart of royal priesthood 
 in the holy nation, at the same time shows that the servile condition is 
 natively undesirable, as involving naked exposure to maltreatment ; it is the 
 sick that are "attended to" by this physician Law. The rod, symbol of a 
 slave's punishment, is seen on Egyptian monuments, and was felt by Israel in 
 Egypt. The restraint on passion here is a humbling fact. A farmer— in 
 Christian Scotland ! — may leave his servant to die untended in an outhouse ; 
 if anything go wrong with his horse, he sends for the farrier. "There is a 
 great deal of human nature in man." The law here had to contend with the 
 prevalent view, that a man was absolute owner of his slave ; and it thus 
 could deal only with aggravated cases of outrage upon natural human feeling, 
 as when our law punishes "cruelty to animals," or a parent is punished for 
 
58 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXI. 21. 
 
 2 1 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be 
 punished : for he is his money. 
 
 22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her 
 fruit depart /r^;;^ her^ and yet no mischief follow : he shall be 
 surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay 
 
 23 upon him ; and he shall pay as the judges deferi7tme. And if 
 
 24 any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for 
 
 25 eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for 
 burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 
 
 26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his 
 maid, that it perish ; he shall let him go free for his eye's 
 
 27 sake. And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his 
 maid-servant's tooth ; he shall let him go free for his tooth's 
 sake. 
 
 outrageous maltreatment of a child. Paul knows (Act. xvi. 39) that to 
 "beat" a Roman citizen is, even for magistrates, a severely punishable 
 crime; and if he thrice was beaten with rods, he felt the shameful outrage 
 on his manhood. It is understood that the law in the present case refers 
 only to the case of an alien slave ; that an Hebrew bond-servant was, in 
 respect of personal treatment, by law on the same footing as a free man. 
 Observe that here woman is seen exposed to maltreatment. And what 
 perhaps is worse, woman is often the person who inflicts it, being the one in 
 charge of the domestic discipline. 22-25. I'^ ^^^''is case, perhaps the sufferer 
 has thrust herself into a quarrel to separate the combatants ; if not — as once 
 happened in a painful experience to Macnab of Macnab — taking part with 
 her husband. It was a rule of " chivalry," that combatants shall discontinue 
 their fighting at the bidding of a child, a woman, or a priest. The injury to 
 the woman's person in the present case may not have been intended. But 
 " the redding-stroke " is proverbially dangerous. Her presence and condition 
 ought to have caused a termination or adjournment of the fighting. And the 
 unchivalrous continuance — as of fighting brutes — may cost three lives. The 
 mischief here, as in Ge. xlii. 4, is a euphemism for fatal result, — to the 
 woman. The lex talionis, forbidden (Mat. v. 38) to private personal revenge, 
 is a maxim of passionless public justice. It was ascribed to Rhadamanthus, 
 judge in the unseen world. That means, that it is generally approved by men's 
 inner sense of right. This it is as representing the principle, that the kind 
 and amount of punishment ought to be in proportion to the character and 
 degree of injury inflicted. In strict literalness it would never be carried far ; 
 for instance, to take away one eye of a one-eyed man would be to blind him, 
 and throw a helpless burden on the community in the place of a useful 
 member of society. When the literal punishment was commuted into a 
 money fine, the formula still remained as a guide in estimating the due 
 amount of the fine. According as— judges (a peculiar word for /z/^^j here). 
 That is, it was for the husband to raise the action, and for the judges to 
 determine in the case. 26, 27. A further guard against maltreatment of 
 slaves. The eye is the most important member that can be lost, and a tooih 
 is the least important. The meaning of this law is, that any real bodily 
 mutilation makes the servant free. 
 
XXI. 31 -J THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 59 
 
 28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die : then the 
 ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten ; 
 
 29 but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were 
 wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been 
 testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that 
 he hath killed a man or a woman ; the ox shall be stoned, 
 
 30 and his owner also shall be put to death. If there be laid on 
 him a sum of money, then he shall give, for the ransom of his 
 
 3 1 life, whatsoever is laid upon him. Whether he have gored a 
 
 Personal injury through an ox (28-32). In the wilderness an Israelite 
 had not other property through which an injury of this sort could visit him 
 or his neighbour — e.g. no (runaway) horse. The ox, though not pastured 
 there now, could be pastured there then ; and might be needed for what- 
 ever cropping or other agriculture the Israelites carried on in places of the 
 wilderness. In connection with him there is here fresh illustration of the 
 high regard which the Sinai code has for the sacredness of human life. The 
 stoning of the ox to death was, like the manner (under xix. 13) of punishing 
 intruders on the sacred mountain, itself an outward sign of abhorrence on 
 account of the violation of the sanctuary of manhood ; and the feeling thus 
 exhibited, of its being an accursed thing by which the violence had been 
 done, is most vividly exhibited in the prohibition to eat the flesh of it. The 
 great severity of the owner's punishment reminds us, that Cain was deeply 
 criminal in the heart of saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" and that 
 a shipowner, who, in sending a rotten ship to sea, is only thinking about 
 making money, is {teste Mr. Plimsoll) a murderer before God though the 
 crew should not be drowned. The criminality was shown by the form of 
 proceeding ; but in this case, while the general rule is (as in Nu. xxxv. 32) 
 that there shall be no commutation— "satisfaction" — for life in case of 
 murder, the criminal's forfeited life could be redeemed by a ransom payment 
 in money, the amount of which perhaps would be fixed by agreement or 
 arbitration. The word here for a sum of money is Kopher (as in Nu. 
 xxxv. 32) ("covering"), the Old Testament word for propitiation or atone- 
 ment ; and the use of it here is interesting as an illustration of the Bible 
 meaning of ransoming or redeeming by means of an atonement (see note on 
 Kapporeth under xxv. 17, and under xxix. 33 on atonemmt). This was 
 blood-money, the equivalent of life, covering the forfeited life of the criminal, 
 and so saving it. It does not appear that coined money was in use yet, as it 
 was not in Abraham's time (Ge. xxiii. 16). Money vciytx. 11 means simply 
 property. The shekel in ver. 32 is a weight (as our pound originally was), 
 and was a conventional unit of value, as an ounce of gold may be among 
 miners, or as a chalder of corn is among Scotch farmers paying tithe (In 
 xxii. 17, pay money, is lit. shekel (weigh) money, like " Shovel out money "). 
 The thirty shekels were to be the payment for a slave's life ; which reminds of 
 the price paid for betraying to death one who took on Him the form of a 
 servant though He was natively in the form of God (Phi. ii. 6-10). The 
 "redemption half-shekel" (xxx. 11-16, notes) had a wholly different mean- 
 ing. For a child's life the procedure was to be as for a man's : thus showing, 
 in contrast to heathenish infanticide (under i. 16 — where observe that Moses 
 had special cause to legislate for protection of infants), that the thing which 
 
6o THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXI. 32. 
 
 son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment 
 32 shall it be done unto him. If the ox shall push a man-servant 
 or a maid-servant; he shall give unto their master thirty 
 shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 
 
 is precious in a man is that which also is in the child, namely, the rational 
 soul, the image of God (Ge. ix. 6). The slave's life — relatively to this point 
 — was valued only as worth service: which illustrates the disadvantage of a 
 slave's condition, as (i Co. i. 26-28) among the "things which are not." It 
 thus is not to be counted here as a derogation from the manifested sacredness 
 of life. But the permission of a commutation in this case is in accordance 
 with the spirit of these laws, which have a leading regard to criminal intention, 
 or criminal ^attention, as an element in relation to criminality. 
 
 Note on the distinction between "sin" and " crime."— In our use of lan- 
 guage it represents an important difference in the nature of the things, which 
 is illustrated by the difference between civil and spiritual jurisprudence. What 
 the civil law has to do with is the overt action as affecting a neighbour's interest. 
 What the Church has to do with is the state of the heart, as manifested in the 
 overt action. Thus the Church court may have to censure, as a scandalous sin, 
 action— ^..?-. profanity — which the civil law takes no notice of, because it does not 
 affect the temporal interest of others. And the Church court may in certain cases 
 have no censure for an action — e.g. "rebellion" — which the civil court may 
 punish as a capital crime. But still, even the most frivolous crime is not imputed 
 by the civil court without some regard to the intention, or ^attention, as con- 
 necting the hand with the heart ; it would not, e.g., punish a man for what he 
 does in his sleep, say, in somnambulism ; nor hold Mary Lamb a murderess 
 because, when out of her mind, she stabbed her mother to death. The fact that 
 the Church discipline deals only with scandals, manifested sinfulness, as "offence " 
 or stumbling-block to the brethren, is not to our present point, — it arises from a 
 distinct kind of consideration. 
 
 Exercise 38. 
 
 1. Give a case of a crime which is not a sin, and one of a sin which is not a 
 
 crime ; and explain, how in each case it is as you represent. 
 
 2. Criticize this argument, as a whole and in details : — African blacks are 
 
 Ham ; and God's curse on Ham is slavery : therefore John and Jonathan 
 were bound to steal African blacks in order to make money by the sale 
 of them. 
 
 3. "Slaves cannot breathe in England." Yet there were thralls in the Saxon 
 
 times. What has so changed the quality of the air, and how ? 
 
 4. Describe the whole process in a trial for life on account of ox-goring. 
 
 Laws regarding property (xxi. 33-xxii. 15), Both in the editions of the 
 Bible and in the Commentaries on it there is in connexion with these laws a 
 certain amount of art employed for exhibition of the connexion of the parts of 
 the collection. The critical apparatus which thus has arisen is a scaffolding 
 which may obscure the building. The building, the Book which we are studying, 
 is simply the text, considered apart from all such machinery as even the chapters 
 and verses, and thus reads like a law document, such as a will or an Act of 
 Legislation, which indeed it is. Looking thus at the Bible itself, we have seen 
 that in fact the laws up to this point are occupied with guarding the person 
 against injury. We now see that, in the section we have marked off, they are 
 occupied with protection of man's property. The moral element of intention, or 
 zwattention, is still kept in view as qualifying the action. But the specific lust is 
 now, not of anger, but of greed. And the punishment correspondingly is made to 
 
XXII. 3-] I'HE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 6 1 
 
 33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, 
 
 34 and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein ; the owner 
 of the pit shall make // good, and give money unto the owner 
 of them ; and the dead beast shall be his. 
 
 35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die ; then they 
 shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the 
 
 36 dead ox also they shall divide. Or if it be known that the 
 ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not 
 kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead 
 shall be his own. 
 
 Chap. XXII. i. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill 
 it, or sell it ; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four 
 sheep for a sheep. 
 
 2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, 
 
 3 there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen 
 upon him, there shall be blood shed for him ; for he should 
 
 crucify that lust, making the man heavily a loser by the transaction in which he 
 seeks to be dishonestly a gainer. We thus have passed from the domain of the 
 Sixth Commandment to that of the Eighth. The classes of cases are, criminal 
 carelessness, theft, ti-espass, and breach of trust. 
 
 Criminal carelessness (xxi. 33-36). 33, 34. The pit here is a water-hole, 
 cistern, or well, which a man may restore by opening anew, or open by digging 
 for himself. When it is not in the course or act of being used, it ought to be 
 covered by being closed over as with slabs, or fenced round. If through 
 neglect of this a neighbour's ox or ass be made useless, the owner of the pit 
 shall be punished for his carelessness so far that the neighbour is no loser. 
 But as there is no serious immorality manifested, there is no graver fine. 
 35, 36. The appended case may be one of pure accident ; and if so, the two 
 neighbours, as blamelessly in a common misfortune, fairly divide the loss. 
 But if one of them be blameable, in having let loose a vicious beast, he shall 
 bear the loss, the scaith as well as the scorn (unjust man). 
 
 Theft or robbery (xxii. 1-4). Here there is overt action of appropriating 
 what is another's, that communism which in the extreme case is answered by 
 a revolver or the hangman. The mildest punishment is, ver, 4, that the 
 thief has to pay back double ; which will make the private person injured to 
 be zealous for the law. That is in the case in which, while the crime is 
 perpetrated, yet the property is to the fore. If, ver. i, the matter have gone 
 so far that the property is made away with, the punishment is doubled, or 
 more, if it be an ox that has been stolen. To the question, why is the 
 punishment heavier for an ox than for a sheep? it has been answered, because 
 the theft of the larger animal shows the greater audacity ; and also — what 
 seems a weak reason — because it is more grievous to the lawful owner. ( What 
 is ? does he love his ox more than his sheep ?) The central case involves the 
 additional grave criminality of violating the sanctity of a neighbour's house 
 (cp. xix. 12, 13), which is his inner "castle" or outer body. Breaking up 
 here should be breaking in, or through : burglary, — say, by making a 
 hole in a wall or tent curtain. That is a crime worthy of death, which the 
 
62 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXII. 4. 
 
 make full restitution ; if he have nothing, then he shall be 
 
 4 sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand 
 alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double. 
 
 5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and 
 shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field ; 
 of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vine- 
 yard, shall he make restitution. 
 
 6 If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of 
 corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed there- 
 with ; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. 
 
 7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to 
 
 householder may inflict if the outrage be in darkness. When the sun is 
 risen, the wolf can be seen coming or going, and the neighbours are stirring. 
 There is not that extreme urgency of necessity which would warrant a private 
 person's extemporaneous infliction of death — rather than allow the outrageous 
 'ivro7ig\.o be done. That there shall be blood in such a case means, — to kill 
 the tliief would be murder, calling for the slayer's blood, or, for the Avenger. 
 The amount of the ficll restitution here is not defined : it comes under the 
 general rule, ver. 4. If that be not in the thief's purse, it has to be taken 
 out of his bones. He cannot be a slave for more than six years. The sen- 
 tence thus is, not more than six years of penal servitude. The early penal 
 codes of England and other countries have been far more severe under this 
 head than the Mosaic. That is natural among peoples who have Mammon 
 for their god. But even when Jehovah was worshipped in spirit, bad 
 neighbours were made to feel that "honesty is best policy" (bringing moral 
 reasoning down to a thief s level). 
 
 Trespass (5, 6), in the leading case, ver. 5, has in it the meanness of 
 making a depredator out of the hunger of an innocent beast, which the owner 
 starves. The lower animals have no ambition ("moral proud-flesh" — Gr. 
 hubris) for forbidden fruit. This ravaging of a strange cornfield or vineyard 
 is presumptive proof that the creature is not well fed at home. In any case, 
 the owner is responsible for the damage to what he ought to guard as his 
 neighbour's property at the critical season. (See in Shorter Catechism^ What 
 is required in the Eighth Commandment ?) Though that which he has spoiled 
 should have been poor stuff, the spoiler has to replace it with his best. Sic 
 semper tyrannis ! The companion case, ver. 6, is much more grave. The 
 hunger may consume a whole district ; the ravager has been known to pursue 
 a swift horse many miles. A tramp, throwing away a lighted match, 
 burns a noble forest, growth of centuries, with perhaps a settlement of hard- 
 working honest men in its bosom. It is not long since in one case it took all 
 the law's force to keep the people from tearing that kindler to pieces. In 
 Sinai he may have thought only of cooking a meal for himself. But he did 
 not think of his neighbour's peril, in this dry season, with thorns around. 
 The dishonesty of his heartlessness will cost him dear. But so it should ; 
 this law is a schoolmaster that means to make the teaching felt where it 
 is needed ; making rogues bear the cost of their schooling into honesty. " The 
 law is good." 
 
 Trust (7-13). There were no banks; and a man sometimes — say, going 
 on a journey — had to place his property for keeping — e.g. in a neighbour's 
 
XXII. 14.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 63 
 
 keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house ; if the thief be 
 
 8 found, let him pay double. If the thief be not found, then 
 the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to 
 see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. 
 
 9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for 
 sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which 
 another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall 
 come before the judges ; and whom the judges shall condemn, 
 
 10 he shall pay double unto his neighbour. If a man deliver 
 unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, 
 to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man 
 
 1 1 seeing // .• then shall an oath of the Lord be between them 
 both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's 
 goods ; and the owner of it shall accept thereof^ and he shall 
 
 Y2 not make it good. And if it be stolen from him, he shall 
 
 13 make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in 
 pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not 
 make good that which was torn. 
 
 14 And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be 
 hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it ; he shall 
 
 hand. 7-9 : the case of moveable property not in animals. Stuff here has 
 this general meaning: it is lit. vessels — that sort of property — e.g. the 
 Egyptian "spoils." This would include fine cloths, from needle and loom, 
 as well as jewellery of gold and silver. In any case, his neighbour has 
 accepted the trust. If the goods be stolen, and the thief be found, there 
 shall be double restitution out of his purse (or his bones, ver. 3). Otherwise, 
 the trustee has to clear himself before the judges (here again, ht. the gods, 
 under xxii. 28) of the suspicion of a prete7zded lohhery ; as when a man burns 
 his house in order to get compensation from the Insurance Office for his goods 
 (which perhaps were not in it). Alt manner of trespass : In all cases of 
 alleged loss of trust property by dishonesty of others. Which — his : lit. 
 which he saith, that this here is the thing. The owner says, The property 
 was not stolen, it is to the fore. If that be found not true, he has to pay 
 double : that is, lose his goods, and pay as much as the value of them for 
 defaming his neighbour. If the trustee be found fraudulent, he is dealt with 
 as a thief. 10-13. As to live stock. Die — hurt: natural tear and wear 
 of cattle stock. Driven — seeing it : mysterious disappearance (a suspicious 
 look of mystification). The oath "of purgation" has to be taken in proof 
 of honest loss. (In the case of live stock, the losses might well be honest.) 
 If—stoleti. In this event oi prcvcntible loss he is presumed not to have been 
 duly careful ; since he did not watch, let him catch — and refund his loss 
 from the (affluent?) thief if he can. Torn: he was in this case watchful: 
 witness the carcase, which the wild beast has not been suffered to destroy. 
 At least there can be no suspicion of his having made away with the property ; 
 it is here, though mangled. 14, 15, The borroiver is a trustee, though it be 
 for his own use. If the thing suffer detriment, let that fall on the custodier 
 
6^ THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXII. 1 5. 
 
 15 surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he 
 shall not make // good : if it be an hired thing, it came for 
 his hire. 
 
 16 And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and He 
 
 or user. If the owner be with it : e.g. if he have gone to give a day's plough- 
 ing with his oxen. Hired: e.g. if he charged so much for a week's use of 
 his plough (which includes liability to damage). 
 
 Exercise 39. 
 
 1. Illustrate from the above cases the principle, — "Omission is commission," 
 
 2. Illustrate from the above cases the maxim, — "Who does by another does 
 
 it himself. " 
 
 3. Illustrate from the above cases the presumption, — "Who excuses himself 
 
 accuses himself." 
 
 4. Illustrate from the above cases the truth, — "Godliness hath the promise of 
 
 this life." 
 
 Note: the "settled" look of things here is not like our impression of the 
 wilderness wandering. But Israel in Sinai was not a wandering Jew, restless as 
 the sea. Water holes — witness Beersheba— were a very serious business in the 
 wilderness, more than anywhere else. There is some possibility of " settlement " 
 in Sinai now, and there was much more then. Against the laot cliffs of Sinai, 
 the vine can be raised in a season ; and the fencing, which could be penetrated by 
 a stray ox, was not so elaborate as in the Gospel parable (ideal). There must 
 have been much cropping on arable patches, wherever the tribe or "house of 
 fathers " squatted for a season. With Egyptian spoils, etc. , the matter of deposit 
 must have often been perplexing. Finally, the laws here are not extemporized for 
 the occasion, but are an inheritance, adjusted to the occasion, and with an 
 outlook to the future. N.B. — Is there a trace of previous residence in Canaan- 
 anachronism ? 
 
 Miscellaneous civil wisdom (xxii. x6-xxiii. 9), What we here have is 
 (see initial note on Book of the Covenant, xxi.-xxiv., last paragraph) a 
 collection of precepts and maxims not regularly classified, which may have partly 
 come down as an accumulating stream of tradition from the early patriarchy, 
 or grown out of experience and reflection in Egypt, and may have been delivered 
 by Moses in his decision of cases in Israel's recent course of life. Though not 
 systematically codified, they are separately applicable to the condition of Israel at 
 the time, and conjointly are fitted to regulate the people's life to the same general 
 effect as the preceding code. In their nature they are, to a considerable extent, 
 regulative ethical maxims, dealing with life in its fountain of the affections, rather 
 than statutory prescriptions of outward action in particular cases. Though 
 logically not reducible to our plan, rhetorically they are fitted for our purpose, of 
 giving a desirable tofie and tenor to the course of Israel's life. The selection for 
 that purpose by Moses gave occasion for the exercise, through his mediation, of 
 the fatherly wisdom of that Legislator who " knows what is in man," And with 
 reference to the purpose of the selection, the collection is seen to form two 
 parts ;— I. xxii. 16-31, regarding especially the action of man individually, in 
 exercise of goodness and mercy ; and II. xxiii. 1-9, regarding especially the action 
 of man socially, as affected by claims of justice. 
 
 Part I.: xxii. 16-31. The duties here are ** of imperfect obligation;" 
 that is, they are not binding in human law so that they can be enforced by 
 penalties or other compulsitors, but arise out of that principle of benevolence 
 (cp. Mat. V. 45) which impels a person to seek the welfare of sentient 
 
XXII. 1 8.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 65 
 
 1 7 with her ; he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her 
 father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money 
 according to the dowry of virgins. 
 
 1 8 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. 
 
 creatures, especially of man (philanthropy). It finds occasion in supporting 
 the helpless and shielding the friendless. And, with no penal sanction in the 
 statute law of man, it here has a remarkable penal sanction from the holy 
 heart of God. The "wrath of God" (Ro. i. 18) is here/or the first time in 
 Bible history revealed directly by Himself against "ungodliness and 
 unrighteousness of men." The crime, which is thus branded as a Cain, is 
 failure in respect of due regard to the widow and the fatherless. The same 
 spirit of law is further exhibited in the precept regarding a stranger, and in 
 the provisions with reference to the poor. The miscellany thus is of the 
 humanely generous character which appears in the preceding code, in which 
 (Ex. xxi. 2, etc.) we saw that the first act of civil legislation for this new-born 
 nationality was protection for slaves. There is an impression that the Old 
 Testament legislation was somehow severe in the sense of being inhuman 
 (see special note on the severity of God, under xii. 21-36). The fact is, that 
 it was in the heart of it very tenderly considerate of humanity ; so that it 
 might be characterized as peculiarly and distinctively "humane," in the noble 
 sense of the term. If it had a terror of God's wrath, that was a tenderness 
 for the widow and orphan, the stranger and the poor. The severe penal 
 sanctions of the law were fitted to serve the salutary purpose of preventing 
 the tenderness from sinking into the ignobleness of sentimentalism, really not 
 "humane." (The wild primrose flourishes highly under cover of the rough 
 prickly furze.) 16-20. The miscellany of offences here has a general aspect 
 of "abomination," deepening and darkening from step to step. 16, 17. 
 Betrothal was a contract of espousals, which made the two to belong to one 
 another though not actually married ; and (De. xxii. 23, 24) seduction 
 {entice would better be seduce) of an espoused virgin was punished with death 
 of both the criminals. Endow, dowry. At that time and at present in some 
 heathen lands, the " dowry " was money paid by the husband to the wife's 
 father, as if he had purchased her ; a degradation to woman incidental to 
 the general conditions arising out of polygamy. The prescription in the text 
 is for the remedying of a particular evil, making the best of a bad business, 
 and as far as possible throwing the burden on the chief transgressor. The 
 father might be unwilling to have him in his family at any price, and here 
 obtains power of law to keep him out, while receiving compensation for the 
 damage to the family estate. 18. Witch. The Hebrew word, which here is 
 feminine, is masculine in De. xviii. 10 (as if "wizard"), the only other place 
 where our Version has ^' witch." 
 
 Note on witchcraft (see note on demonology under vii. 13). — There is some 
 variety in the Hebrew use of relative words ; but generally witchcraft (which 
 appears to have been practised by women rather than by men) was (like our 
 present day spiritualism) a professed dealing in supernaturalism without 
 authority of the living God. In the case of the witch of Endor, it assumed 
 the form of necromancy, resembling some practices specifically of our modern 
 "Spiritualism." In Egypt and elsewhere it might pass into "natural magic," 
 and in some cases may have dwindled into the petty trickeries of vulgar 
 "conjuring." All supernaturalism without the living God natively tends to 
 wreck of the mind as well as ruin of the soul. It was mercilessly punished and 
 
 E 
 
66 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXII. 1 9. 
 
 19 Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. 
 
 20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, 
 he shall be utterly destroyed. 
 
 21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for 
 ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 
 
 22, 23 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If 
 thou afflict them in anywise, and they cry at all unto me, I 
 
 24 will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I 
 will kill you with the sword ; and your wives shall be widows, 
 and your children fatherless. 
 
 25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by 
 thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt 
 
 stamped out even by the sounder - minded heathen communities — Greek and 
 Roman. In Israel it was not only a sin against God, the Lord of nature, but a 
 crime against Jehovah, the head of the theocracy, and as such w^as punishable 
 with death. But in this text we note the absence of the rigorous, " shall surely 
 die." And in the apphcation of this law there may have been some consideration 
 of mitigating circumstances, such as gross ignorance or partial insanity ; so that 
 the extreme penalty might reach only those found "contumacious," — ^irreclaimably 
 obstinate in the great transgression. 
 
 19. This unnatural crime is said to have been practised in Egypt. 
 
 20. Sacrifice is the highest form of worship. The Heb. for utterly destroyed 
 has the meaning of devoted to destruction, as an accursed thing. 
 
 21. Stranger : lit. sojourner, a residenter who is not naturalized, so as to 
 have protective rights of citizenship (cp. under xii. 49). Vex here means not 
 only grave oppressive wrong, but any sort of distressing annoyance to which 
 a "stranger "is peculiarly exposed in a population not really "humane." 
 In old Rome the original word for ' ' stranger " [hostis) came to mean 
 ' ' enemy. " It is said that such a law as this, in the interest of strangers, is not 
 to be found in the constitutions of any people excepting Israel, and those peoples 
 which have been humanized by the Christian revelation (cp. Mat. xxv. 
 35, 43 ; see further under Ex. xxiii. 9). 21-24. See initial note to this 
 Part I. The widow and the fatherless make the most pathetic case of that 
 comparative helplessness which appears in the stranger. The Scriptures 
 after this (rock is smitten) are very abundant in illustration of the special 
 tender care of Jehovah for such helpless, the resemblance of good men to 
 Him in this particular, and His peculiar hatred of the baseness of injury to 
 widows and fatherless. Note that He is (Ps. Ixviii. 5) "^/^^j^W^^of widows " 
 (not their "husband "). The sword\ie.x& implies a threat of foreign invasion 
 and conquest. Injury to widows and orphans was a conspicuous feature of 
 that moral condition of Israel in the later days, which occasioned the over- 
 throw and the captivities. And it is to be observed that our word afflict here 
 does not exactly represent the original, which includes cold or contemptuous 
 disregard, as well as positive wrong: " my wrath shall wax hot, and I will 
 kill you," is God's judgment upon giving the "cold shoulder" to a widow 
 or to a fatherless child. Their cry awakens His wrath, as (Ex. iii. 7) when 
 Israel cried in Egypt. 25-27. The case here is that of "the poor" 
 (Ps. xli. I, etc.). Usury in Scripture does not of itself (like ovx word 
 
XXir. 29.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 67 
 
 26 thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbour's 
 raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the 
 
 27 sun goeth down: for that is his covering only; it is his 
 raiment for his skin : wherein shall he sleep ? and it shall 
 come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear ; for I 
 am gracious. 
 
 28 Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy 
 people. 
 
 29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and 
 
 "usurious ") convey the thought of an unduly high rate of interest for loan 
 of money, but any payment exacted for a loan (for "use " of a thing — tisus). 
 That (De. xxiii. 20), in dealing with foreigners, was expressly permitted by 
 God's law. In itself (cp. Mat. xxv. 27), payment of interest for the use of 
 money is like payment of rent for the use of land, a business transaction 
 which may be profitable and convenient for both parties, and an advantage 
 to the community through facilitating business (" circulation^"). In the text 
 the case contemplated (as also e.g. in Lev. xxv. 35 and De. xv. 7) appears to 
 be that, not of ordinary business, but of a neighbour in real distress of 
 straitened circumstances, helped "at a pinch." Now the Israelites all were 
 brethren by law and covenant ; and it seems to have become a recognised 
 custom among them, if not a law, that no interest should be taken for loan 
 of money to an Israelite (cp. Ps. xv. 5). That custom or law would in a 
 commercial community perhaps be a very bad one—p-eve7iting loan in the 
 ordinary way of business (stopping "circulation"), Ravnent in pledge : 
 pawn, not lent for use, but (pledge) deposited as a security for repayment of 
 loan. In this very simple case the " humane" comes out with great force : 
 God, from His tender heart, speaking to the very heart of selfish man 
 (pointing to the sore place — that " finger," cp. viii. 19). The raiment is the 
 large loose plaid, blanket, or bournous, which can serve as outer garment 
 through the day, and is indispensable as a covering and wrap through the 
 night, in a country where the biting cold of night is sharpened by abrupt 
 transition from the hard brilliant heat of day. The rhetoric in ver. 27 is 
 singularly cogent. The present writer has known cases in which factory girls 
 placed their Sunday clothes in pledge during the week, on condition of having 
 the use of them for the Lord's Day. The poor Israelite had secured to him 
 by the merciful Redeemer and King, inalienably, the use of his covering 
 for the night : beyond that, it remained in pledge till the loan was 
 repaid. 28-31. Here is a transition (which perhaps — as the unjust judge 
 knows — is not abrupt) from sacredness of regard for man to sacredness in the 
 manifested fear of God. The gods in our Version is probably a mis- 
 translation. The Heb. word is Elohim, without the definite article ; and 
 probably the ordinary translation, God (sing, for plur.), is best here. 
 " The gods " of the heathen seem out of place here, especially as being 
 commended to the reverence of the people of Jehovah. And elohivi 
 elsewhere does not mean "judges " (as in ver. 9), unless it have the definite 
 article. The meaning thus appears to be, Thou shalt not bring dishonour 
 upon God, — by such action as " cursing the ruler of thy people." Rnler\vQXQ 
 is lit. lofty one among the people, — one in a position calling for "honour " 
 (i Pe. ii. 17 ; cp. Act. xxv. 5) (a blackguard '\\. is that "throws rotten eggs at 
 
68 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXII. 30. 
 
 of thy liquors ; the first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto 
 3 3 me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy 
 
 sheep : seven days it shall be with his dam ; on the eighth 
 
 day thou shalt give it me. 
 31 And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat 
 
 any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field j ye shall cast it to 
 
 the dogs. 
 Chap. XXIII. i. Thou shalt not raise a false report : put not 
 
 thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. ' 
 
 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil ; neither shalt 
 thou speak in a cause to decHne after many to v^rtst Judgment : 
 
 3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. 
 
 4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou 
 
 5 shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass 
 
 a gentleman "). Ripe fruits, liquors: lit. fulnesses and droppings ("like 
 tears " — the norm occurs only here). Delay means slackness, cp. 2 Co. ix. 7. 
 Of thy sons: see under xiii. 2, 12. The first-fruit of everything was given to 
 the Lord. Seveit days : this provided a relief of nature for the dam ; and 
 there was a sort of "impurity" connected with birth. Holy men: the 
 external observances of this kind had the intended effect of maintaining the 
 outward separateness of Israel, which was a constant reminder of inward 
 spiritual consecration. Torn of beasts : an animal so killed would have 
 blood remaining in it, so as to be unclean; and it might be further made 
 unclean by contact of the beast of prey. To the dogs : acting simply as 
 scavengers, so as to clear away the unclean thing. (See note on our relation- 
 ship to lower animals under ix, 1-7.) In ancient literature the dog only 
 once appears in the relation so familiar and pleasant to us, of humble friend 
 of man ; namely, on the return of Odysseus as a wandering beggar : the hero 
 is recognised, after twenty years of absence, only by an aged dog, which dies 
 in the feeble effort of recognition. 
 
 Part II. : xxiii. 1-9. There is here a general reference to the judicial action 
 which pervades the life of a community, even apart from the formality of 
 courts and judges. Even the neighbourly duty of helping when the ass has 
 fallen, thus received a specialty of colouring from the setting : the man is 
 acting as a citizen of the nation. And the injunction regarding the stranger 
 is seen to be, not a mere repetition of xxii. 21, but a distinct specific prescrip- 
 tion to the same general effect. 
 
 1-3. An application of the principle of the Ninth Commandment. i. 
 Originating a calumny is here regarded as paving the way to false accusation 
 before the judge or court, where the calumniator will be a witness^ in a 
 "case" he has made ready to the hand of the zvicked. 2. Do not go with 
 the stream in wrong-doing. Decline here means, turn aside from the 
 straight path, to turn aside (same word) justice. 3. Countenance : few— our, 
 so as to be partial in judgment, cp. ver. 6. Cause: "case" (at law). 
 Strict justice is what is good in the seat of judgment : bias, of feeling for the 
 poor, is in that place a corrupt sentimentalism ; like our stealing for the purpose 
 of giving to the poor. 4, 5. A homely anticipation of Mat. v. 44, where 
 
XXIII. 9-] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 69 
 
 of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest 
 
 6 forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. Thou 
 
 7 shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Keep 
 thee far from a false matter ; and the innocent and righteous 
 slay thou not : for I will not justify the wicked. 
 
 8 And thou shalt take no gift ; for the gift blindeth the wise, 
 and perverteth the words of the righteous. 
 
 9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the 
 heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of 
 
 Christ gives in a general form the same lex talionis which Moses (here) had 
 given in particular cases of real life. Observe that the neighbour here is 
 shown simply as needing help (cp. Lu. x. 30-33) ; as also are his beasts. In 
 ver. 5 there is a climax : the ene7ny (one hated) is actively hostile. The 
 beast is in sore distress ; and the help extends to peaceful contact of the foes. 
 Forbear — surely: see tlie same struggle (of old Adam with new) in Ro. 
 vii. 23 ; but here the new Adam comes from Sinai (Ex. xx. 2 ; cp. r Jn. 
 ii. 7, 8). With him: "lend us a hand" — in neighbourliness — touch the 
 enemy ! The suggestion is, that hands would have to meet in jointly raising 
 the fallen ass. 6, 7. Here still there is reference to public justice : cause is 
 "case." Thy poor! the nation, the capable citizen, is guardian trustee of 
 the helpless (Job xxix. 13). Still, no zvresting, twisting either way : e.g. no 
 sentimental partisanship for the poor, much less corruption of bias against 
 him. Keep — matter: "odi profanum " — the generality of expression here 
 seems to represent a heart hatred of all falsehood (cp. Achilles, "hating a lie 
 as the gates of hell ")• But the drift of falsehood in courts of judgment is 
 toward judicial murder (cp. Jn. viii. 44). And the earthly judge or juryman 
 has not the last word : / — wicked. The use of the -woxdjicsti/y here is a case 
 in point of the important question of Biblical interpretation, whether "justify " 
 {e.g. in Ro., Ga., and James) is not to be taken in a declaratory, forensic 
 sense (cp. Mat. xi. 19, xviii. 14). Here the sword is "two-edged" : — (i) 
 Don't overstrain, for fear of letting the guilty escape : God will take care of 
 that ; and your warrant ends where there is not clear evidence. (2) Yoit are 
 condemned as wicked if you condemn the innocent — Pilate cannot wash 
 away that stain. 8. The gift, in this case, is a bribe : it cannot be any- 
 thing else. N.B. — Let the judge have a sufficient salary : still, though he 
 starve, he must not sell justice. It may be sold for popularity, or private 
 favour — e.g. in voting for a councillor or ]\I.P. 9. The stranger now (cp. 
 xxii. 21) is seen, not simply as liable to annoyance as "a foreigner" or out- 
 sider, but as needing to be guarded against the grave wrong of public 
 injustice: oppression abstractly is, burden beyond what is necessary and 
 right ; here it is pointed to the specific sense of the civil government being 
 perverted to that effect, the sword of justice thus put into a robber's hand 
 — or. Justice herself turning robber. The Heb. for hea^-t here is lit. life : 
 the meaning is represented by **soul oi a stranger" — as when the iron went 
 into your soul in Egypt. 
 
 Exercise 40. 
 
 1. A^on ignara malt, miseris succurrere disco ("Having experience of evils, 
 I learn to succour the unhappy "). (i) Who said this? (2) Give two texts 
 
70 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIII. lO, 
 
 10 Egypt. And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt 
 
 1 1 gather in the fruits thereof : but the seventh year thou shalt 
 let it rest and lie still ; that the poor of thy people may eat : 
 and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like 
 
 in which a hke thing is said about a person who is God. (3) Distinguish 
 pity (which may be in God) from sympathy (which can be only in a 
 man). 
 
 2. "The greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind." Who was that? What 
 
 abuse in public administration is memorably illustrated in his life? 
 
 3. " Love me, love my dog." In respect of opportunities of thus coming into 
 
 friendly intercourse, show what advantages the condition of mankind on 
 earth has over that of ghosts. 
 
 4. How do you account for the absence of instructions for a " ghostly " godli- 
 
 ness? 
 
 Outlook for Israel (10-33). Here the legislation has a distinct view to Israel 
 as in occupation of the promised land ; but only such a view as might well have 
 been taken by covenanters in Sinai : there is nothing in the natural Palestinian 
 condition here presupposed that would not have presented itself to the mind of 
 any intelligent Israelite before leaving Egypt. The view here given of the situa- 
 tion, as compared with the preceding instructions regarding detail, may be said 
 to be what the earth's yearly movement round the sun is as compared with her 
 daily revolution round her own axis. It is all one life ; in which the greater 
 movements and the minor are vitally correlated, each to each, as ' ' love " is to 
 " keeping the commandments of God." That life, beginning with individual 
 beneficence, is exhibited in ever widening views, as when one ascends from the 
 plain toward a mountain summit. But of the views thus expanding, there are two 
 distinct though connected series, ist, Of Israel's internal action^ vers. 10-19 ; 
 and 2nd, Of Israel's external relations to the world as under government of God, 
 vers. 20-33. A similar view of future Israelitish life is given in Ex. xxxiv. with 
 variations which can be noted there. 
 
 ist. Internal action of Israel's life, vers, 10-19. The life here is, first, private 
 (vers. 10-13), beginning with individual beneficence as represented by the year of 
 rest for the land, and extending to the weekly Sabbath, of rest from the con- 
 tinuous toil of life, a rest in which the/amily is conspicuously embraced (a matter 
 which is here irrespectively of the Fourth Commandment). Secondly, the same 
 life appears as fiiblic national (vers. 14-19) ; so that society is embraced in every 
 mode, the nation appearing as a great family of Jehovah, while the family is a little 
 kingdom of God. "Oh ! day of rest and gladness," It is worth noting how the 
 sort of "taxation" in vers. 10-13 is truly a "rest'' of the Lord's redeemed (Re, 
 xxii, 3) ; and the great national acts of " service " and homage to God are festive 
 (Re. vii, 15), The frame in which Israel's detailed life was set is singularly 
 beautifiil : " Happy is the people that is in such a case, whose God is Jehovah." 
 
 10-13. The number seven (under xvi. 22-30) here appears as playing a 
 great part in Israel's life of religion : that true life of Israel which is religion 
 (i Pe. ii. 4, 5). The number is made up of 3 and 4 : 3, associated with the 
 idea of divine perfections, perhaps also with that of plurality of divine persons ; 
 and 4 (cp. Re. iv. 6), supposed to represent the kingdoms of nature ; while 
 the whole number 7 is found where man and his world are in the right normal 
 relation (of covenant) to Jehovah- God as the Sovereign of the universe. In 
 the Sabbath (see notes under xx., Fourth Com.) we see that the rest, which is 
 constituted for man by that relationship (He. iv. 3), though now (Mk. 
 ii. 27, 29) in effect a gift of redemption, is yet, like the family, a constitution 
 founded in nature, now restored by grace. It is to be observed, as the true 
 
XXIII. 14.] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 7 1 
 
 manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive- 
 
 12 yard. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh 
 day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, 
 and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be re- 
 
 13 freshed. And in all things that I have said unto you be 
 circumspect : and make no mention of the name of other 
 gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. 
 
 14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 
 
 principle of the Sabbatism here (see the exposition by the Lord of the Sab- 
 bath, Mat. xii., " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice ") that it is especially 
 destined to operate in beneficence to the helpless dependent ; even (ver. 1 1 ) 
 to wild animals. This (witness, Act. xx. 35), the fifth Gospel " according 
 to " Paul the magnanimous, is the distinctively godlike thing in a man (Mat. 
 V. 43-48; I Co. xiii. 13 — "the greatest''^ alone is eternal). The life here 
 prescribed to Israel is the "blessed" life. 10, II. In Lev. xxv. 2-5, this 
 law is expressly made prospective toward Canaan. It is not absolutely 
 certain that in the year of rest the land was simply left unwrought. It is 
 barely possible that the meaning should be, that {thou) the owner of the land 
 should in that year leave the use of it to others, allowing them to crop it. 
 But it is most likely, so as to be nearly certain, that the land was allowed 
 literally to rest ; which, with perhaps no prescribed rotation in ordinary 
 years, might be good farming ; while the septennial break in a farmer's own 
 life might help to save from cloddishness, of a ** soul " that naturally 
 "cleaveth to the dust"(Ps. cxix. 25). Without any formality of sowing, 
 there might in that climate be large increase for one year. It is very remark- 
 able that the beasts of the field should be invited to share in the feast of 
 nature's lord (Ro. viii. 22; cp. ver. 21 and Lu. xiv. 12-14). Christians are a 
 Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Vineyard — oliveyard. Corn, 
 wine, and oil are the whole wealth of the land in question. An Israelite 
 who owned property other than land could easily calculate how much of it 
 to consecrate to charity (even a Pharisee could, Lu. xviii. 12). 12. See also 
 xxxiv. 21, and under xvi. 21-30 note on Sabbath as a specifically national 
 constitution. It is mere perversity to regard the insertion of the seventh-day 
 rest here as inadvertent of the Fourth Commandment. Assuming that Com- 
 mandment, the rest comes here in its place, as part of the picture of that 
 happy life which God gives into the keeping of His Israel. The septennial 
 rest brings into view only the individual : here the family is seen, in that 
 perennial life of blessed homes which are fountains of health to the com- 
 munity (Ge. xxii. 18). Still, mark the emphasis on benefit to others. 13. 
 Circumspect here is, on guard, watching one's whole life in its outgoings. 
 Neither — 7nouth (cp. Ps. xvi. 4) ; keep well away from the subject, here 
 evidently means, keep at a distance from the thing — even in conversation. 
 See note under xix. 13 ; and observe that stoning to death is avoidance of 
 contact. It may have to be touched as a leprous garment ; but then there 
 may be real feeling, and manifestation of loathing toward the thing, e.g. 
 covetousness, Eph. v, 3 ; cp. Lu. xvi. 14 {our idolatry). 
 
 14-19. This still includes the whole of Israel's life, and brings the trans- 
 cendentalism of religion into the round of it (cp. I Pe. ii. 12-iii. 9). But 
 now we see the nation as a whole rejoicing in its King (Ps. cxlix. 2), and 
 
72 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXIII. 1 5. 
 
 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt 
 eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in 
 the time appointed of the month Abib ; for in it thou camest 
 out from Egypt : and none shall appear before me empty :) 
 
 16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours, which 
 thou hast sown in thy field : and the feast of ingathering, 
 which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in 
 
 doing Him homage. Every nation, as a moral personality, is entitled to 
 worship God, and bound to conform to His will ; and similarly, every indi- 
 vidual in his citizen capacity has right to serve God, and is bound to worship 
 Him by open professed obedience to His will. But Israel was a theocracy ; 
 so that sin was rebellion against the chief magistrate of the nation, and a 
 crime against the civil law was as such a sin against God. The whole round 
 of the nation's life is here represented by the three great festivals, connected 
 respectively with the beginning, the fulness, and the ingathering of that 
 fruitfulness of the earth on which man's life depends. The festivals here 
 specified were to be attended by all (adult) males, "before the Lord," that 
 is, at the place of His dwelling ; and had a distinct reference to His goodness 
 as the lord of life, in covenant faithfulness as the Redeemer. The keynote 
 of true Israelitish life, as thus festive in the round of it, was struck in the 
 Passover, with which the true Israelitish year began. But the sphere of the 
 transcendental life is in the common things (Ga. ii. 20 ; i Pe. ii. 12-iii. 9). 
 The "year" (ver. 17) which is rounded (see "the end," ver. 16) here is 
 simply that of the world's life as resulting in the food of man, at the various 
 stages from the first appearance of the harvest to its final completion. It is 
 remarkable how greatly the simple providing of bread still occupies the life 
 of mankind: if men no longer used food, almost the whole "business" of 
 the world would stop. 14. Feast. (Other festivals were prescribed later.) 
 Gladness, not gloom, is the spirit of this religion (Mat. ix. 15). But the 
 joy is that of the Lord as King (Ps. cxlix. 2). The Heb. word for times here 
 (lit. feet) shows journeys on foot (blind Bartimseus heard it). 15. On the 
 Passover, here, feast of unleavened bread, see Introduction (pp. 81-84) and 
 commentary on chaps, xii., xiii. None — empty: that is, not without a free- 
 will ojffering (De. xvi. 16, 17). This was required at all feasts. A gift is 
 Oriental homage to a king. Israefs gift (cp. i Co. xvi. 3 along with the pre- 
 ceding verse) owned the redeeming grace of the Sovereign. 16. The details 
 regarding these two feasts are given in Le. xxiii, 34 and Nu. xxix. 12. Of 
 harvest: in Ex. xxxiv., "of weeks" (Ut, "of sevens"). It is not known 
 that the giving of the law on Sinai was on the fiftieth day after the Passover 
 in Egypt. {Pentecost is Greek for " fiftieth.") The revealed reference of this 
 festival is to the life of the year in experience of God's redeemed. The 
 Passover festival began with earliest harvest, when ba7-ley was first ripe. This 
 feast of weeks would be at the completion of the corn-harvest ; like the 
 Enghsh "harvest home." It was peculiarly gladsome in form: held only 
 for one day. Ingathering is more commonly, of "tabernacles." It would 
 correspond to the somewhat later time of the vintage ; but the prescription is 
 not so pointed. When thou hast gathered, when thou gatherest (so in Rev. 
 Vers.) : at the gathering season. "End of the year " (in early October) is, of 
 course, not the end of the true Israelitish year, which begins in late April. 
 
XXIII. 19-] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 73 
 
 17 thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy 
 
 18 males shall appear before the Lord God. Thou shalt not 
 offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread ; neither 
 
 1 9 shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The 
 first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the 
 house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in 
 his mother's milk. 
 
 What is meant is, the winding up of the farming year, in its concluding 
 operations of the "gathering." The people made themselves booths, in 
 memory of the primaeval tent-life of their fathers. That may be a natural 
 festivity (Homer so has the vintage "gathering"). But in Israel's festivity 
 the life ascended to its fountain (Je. ii. 13 ; Re. xxi. 6). 
 
 17-19. It has been observed that the three prescriptions in vers. 18, 19 
 respectively bear upon the three festivals of vers. 14-16 in their order. And 
 it may be suggested that ver. 17 corresponds to ver. 14. (The Heb. for 
 times ^ however, here has not the reference to feet. ) The Heb. for God here 
 is not the common Elohim, but adon, "lord" — that which in Ps. xlv. 11 
 describes a royal bridegroom (Is. Ixi. 10) : which gives a vivid impression of 
 what the great yearly gatherings were, to those who (cp. I Pet. i. 3, 4) were 
 " meet for the inheritance of the saints in (O. T. ) light." Such national religious 
 festivals are in the life <?/" other peoples — but (Ps. Ixviii. 16). 18. My sacrifice 
 here manifestly is, the paschal lamb ; see xxxiv. 25 (cp. Jn. i. 29 ; i Co. v. 7 ; 
 Lu. ix. 31). The/^^ is not specified in xii. 10; and here, fat may mean 
 simply the best (of the feast), that is, the lamb itself. The prescription to 
 consume the fat by burning it was common to sacrifices, not peculiar to the 
 paschal lamb. The luith here is lit. on, which does not affect the meaning. 
 19. God is here (as usual, but see under ver. 17) Elohim. House of— God. 
 This stands for what elsewhere is more generally, "the place which Jehovah 
 shall select to put His name in it" (De. xii. 5, 11, 14, etc. ; cp. Jn. iv. 22). 
 Instead of the land here, there is thy labours in ver. 16; here the genus, 
 there the species. The first (of the frst fruits, a different word in origin) 
 may mean (the " prime ") the best, not simply " the earliest." But 
 " earliest " is parallel to Ex. xxii. 29, and would inculcate really the same 
 spirit as best. The special connexion of the prohibition about a kid with the 
 feast of Tabernacles is not obvious. The question of real significance is as to 
 its meaning. It is three times emitted by Moses (here ; in Ex, xxxiv. 26 ; De. 
 xiv. 21). An obvious meaning is, prohibition of what has a revolting aspect 
 of unnaturalness. Some see in it a positive cruelty, in the early separation 
 of a dam from its young. Others find a specific connexion with idolatrous 
 feasting. There is no authoritative determination of the question. 
 
 Note on the festival system.— There were various festivals prescribed by 
 God, which must have been good for those to whom He prescribed them. They 
 were not found good (iv. 10) for those to whom (Col. ii. 17) He did not prescribe 
 them. Such were for Gentiles under the New Testament, "Sabbaths " made for 
 Hebrews under the Old Testament. "The Sabbath made for man" must be 
 always good for men — to keep, not, to break. 
 
 Exercise 41. 
 
 I, Ingenuas didicissefideliter artes, etc. " Liberal culture softens the manners, 
 and makes human cruelty impossible." (i) Prove from this that Roman 
 
74 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIII. 20. 
 
 20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the 
 way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 
 
 2 1 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not ; for he 
 will not pardon your transgressions : for my name is in him. 
 
 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I 
 speak ; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an 
 
 23 adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go 
 before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the 
 Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, 
 
 " civilisation " was barbarous ; (2) Illustrate " the milk of human kindness " 
 in Mosaism. 
 
 2. Sources of a people's wealth, (i) Name some in the land besides those above 
 
 specified ; (2) Some in the sea ; (3) Some in the air. Show how these could 
 be devoted to God. 
 
 3. (i) What is there of divinely prescribed festival in the new dispensation? 
 
 {2) John Owen says that the assumption of Church power to decree rites 
 and ceremonies has been productive of vast evils to mankind. Make a 
 statement on the subject. 
 
 2nd, Israel's external relations under guardian providence of Jehovah (20-33). 
 This " little flock " has to travel through the wilderness amid wolves. In Canaan 
 a heathen power has to be overcome ; and has to be guarded against when sur- 
 rounding this isolated people as a raging sea, and enveloping its true life as a 
 poisonous atmosphere. The one protection, of shield and sword, of inward 
 health as well as outward fencing, is Jehovah Himself ; and Israel's one way of 
 ever having that protection is, holding on by that Jehovah, as God, to be alone 
 trusted and obeyed. This is brought vividly into view by the appearance of the 
 angel, and the description of the ' ' fear. " 
 
 Note on Exodus Angelophany (xiv. 19). 
 
 20. An angel (under xxxii. 34) here is lit. a messenger. But here in 
 action he appears (vers. 20-23) ^s God, the keeper of Israel, with whom 
 pardon lies, and of whom it is said that, when He leads Israel, God cuts off 
 the foes. He has appeared in each action to Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. 
 xiv. 19), and will so appear at the entrance into Canaan (Josh. v. 14, cp. 
 vi. 2). An angel had appeared to the patriarchs who was God {e.g. Ge. 
 xvi. 10; cp. 13, xxxi. II, xxxii. 24, cp. 28-30). Underlying the series of 
 representations is the fact, that Israel was dealt with by Jehovah through a 
 person, " the angel of Jehovah," whom we know to be Christ (i Co. x. 5, 9, 
 the various reading, "the Lord," in ver. 9, leaves the sense of the passage 
 unaltered as to this point). Keep — bring. The nature of this promised action 
 is exhibited in the detail which follows, of (cp. Mat. xxviii. 20) ever-present 
 guardianship, of protection and blessing, as well as guidance. 21. Beware — 
 my name. This is the description of a person who is God ; Israel may have 
 distinctly in view only the awfulness of divine attribute and prerogative in 
 Him. The " name " here is decisively significant of Godhead. 22. Here the 
 *' messenger " is made equivalent to God ; but all ambassadors are thus repre- 
 sentative of the king. The point here is, submission in order to salvation. 
 Adversary here is lit. oppressor, which makes the rhetoric more vivid, show- 
 ing "poetical justice" in providence (Ps. xviii. 26). 23. Amorites, etc. 
 (under iii. 8). These were the peoples ivithin the Jordan boundary of 
 
XXIII. 2 7-] THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. 75 
 
 24 and the Jebusites ; and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not 
 bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their 
 works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite 
 
 25 break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your 
 God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will 
 take sickness away from the midst of thee. 
 
 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy 
 2 7 land : the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will send my 
 
 fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou 
 shalt come ; and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs 
 
 Canaan proper. "What is now in view is the " objective point " of the 
 divine leading : the trans-Jordanic peoples displaced by the two and a half 
 tribes thus do not come into view. At ver. 28, where there is no call for a 
 full catalogue of the peoples, the samples named may be of peoples peculiarly 
 strong or otherwise conspicuous from the present point of view. Cut them 
 off. See at close of xi., note on the Midnight Cry. 
 
 Note on "extirpation" of the Canaanites.— In fact, they were not destroyed 
 individually, but as peoples. Individuals of heathen birth or extraction are 
 frequently found installed in the " commonwealth of Israel," for which there was 
 provision from the outset in the ordinances of the Passover and of circumcision. 
 And the "stranger," so carefully guarded in the legislation of the Book of the 
 Covenant, is not a traveller from some remote land, but a resident in Canaan who 
 is not an adopted Israelite. The " extirpation " has for its purpose, while punish- 
 ing, that no heathen power shall have place in the holy land. 
 
 24. A heathen power in the land would be in effect heathenism tempting 
 the chosen people. The utter destruction, here so powerfully described, of 
 the images^ would bring "the gods" into contempt; and the desolation of 
 the places of worship would destroy the idolatry ("Pull down," said Knox, 
 *'the nests, and the rooks will fly away "), The breaking (under xxxii. 20) 
 had to go as near as possible to the annihilation of the very matter of those 
 images (defaced in form). They were reduced to ashes, so as to be blown away 
 by the wind. This no doubt was a lesson of deep horror of false religion, 
 which many Christians have failed to learn. 25, 26. " First endure, then 
 pity, then embrace." So Israel came to embrace — death (Hos. xiii. 9). Yet 
 here at the outset had been shown the way of life and health. A "heart 
 hatred " of false religion is a wholesome thing (Reason annexed to the 
 Second Commandment). To be in a right relation to God is to be in the 
 way of a blessing on our livelihood, and of obtaining the full use of our life. 
 In a people, true religion promotes temporal prosperity, even the health of 
 the community, so that "useful lives" are long "spared" to it. Ungodli- 
 ness ruins everything. Not only is this the law of general providence, it is the 
 expressly intimated purpose and effect of a special providence (Mat. vi. 33 ; 
 I Ti. iv. 8 ; Ro. viii. 28). 27. My fear (cp. De. ii. 25, xi. 25 ; i Ch. 
 xiv. 17). The "fear," so vividly depicted in connexion with the giving of 
 the law at Sinai, was intended to, and has been, in fact, an abiding element 
 at the foundation and heart of true religion. And the manifest effect of a real 
 dread of Jehovah, Israel's God, upon peoples whom Israel overcame, is one 
 of the proofs of a veritable supernatural manifestation of God in Israel's 
 movement at the beginning. It seems to have remained long in Canaan ; 
 
76 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIII. 28. 
 
 28 unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall 
 drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from 
 
 29 before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in 
 one year ; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the 
 
 30 field multiply against thee. By httle and little I will drive 
 them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and 
 
 31 inherit the land. And I will set thy bounds from the Red 
 Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert 
 unto the river : for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land 
 into your hand ; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 
 
 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 
 
 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin 
 
 centuries after the conquest it was (i Sa. iv.) in the desperation of the valiant 
 Philistines. Perhaps it has never left the world. The dreadful persecutions 
 of the primitive Church at the hand of heathen " powers" have some features 
 of a desperation of secret terror. And two distinguished historians (Tacitus 
 and Suetonius) of the heathen Roman empire mention, in connexion with 
 Christianity, a rumour that had gone over the East, that a power, rising in 
 Judea, was destined to supremacy of the world. It will be remembered that 
 " fear " was one of the precursors of belief in connexion with the miracles of 
 Christ (on teras, their name of terror, see in Introd. pp. 78-80). The hornet 
 (De. vii. 20; Josh. xxiv. 12) here (sing, for the species) has by some been 
 understood to mean, a literal hornet, or venomous flying insect (see in Comm. 
 Plague of flies). In such a land and climate, such a plague might be really 
 and literally terrific. In two or three years a few bumble-bees, introduced 
 into New Zealand, had multiplied so as to be seen in every garden in that 
 land, larger than Britain ; and one who knows the land has said, that the 
 introduction of a pair of wasps would speedily empty it of human population 
 (Homer says that the wasp is "the most valiant" of creatures). But evidently, 
 in the history of the actual conquest, the only creature weapon employed by 
 Jehovah was the sword of Joshua. What the hornet represents is a vague 
 apprehension, that cannot be fought against, filling the atmosphere of men's 
 minds with a nameless panic. Whether there was a direct operation, causing 
 terror within their minds, on the part of that omipresent Spirit who divided the 
 Jordan, and made the walls of Jericho fall down, and the sun and moon stand 
 still, we need not inquire. 29, 30. Not — in one year. The primary conquest 
 occupied a generation. The work was not completed till the taking of Jebus 
 (Jerusalem), four centuries after Joshua, under a greater captain. In a thinly- 
 peopled hot country, wild animals have been known historically as formidable 
 rivals to man. 31. This promise was literally fulfilled in the times of David 
 and Solomon, Sea of the Philistines — the Mediterranean, their land was on 
 the border of it, so that the Crusaders first seized the towns there. Here the 
 "Red Sea" cannot be Brugsch's Egyptian lake country (Introd. pp. 44-46). 
 The river is here ha-nahar, which in the Pentateuch always means the 
 Euphrates (when "the river" means "Nile," the word in Pent, is yor). 
 The desert here manifestly is the Sinaitic region south of ^ Palestine. 32, 33. 
 See above under ver. 23 {cut off). Here still the prohibition is of fraterniz- 
 ing with a heathen potver. The broken remains of Palestinian heathenism. 
 
XXIV. I.] SEALING OF THE COVENANT. 77 
 
 against me : for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a 
 snare unto thee. 
 Chap. XXIV. i. And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the 
 
 which did not amalgamate with Israel, may have gone toward the formation of 
 some heathen power farther north, such as a Hittite empire on the Orontes. 
 But that does not come into view of the Old Testament history of the chosen 
 people. What we see, after the " seven nations," is, first, the strong Phili- 
 stine heathenism of the south-west, then the Tyrian (later Phoenician) civilisa- 
 tion to the north-west ; after which we come into sight of Syria, and then 
 Assyria and the world-empires of Daniel. 
 
 Note on the conquest of Canaan (on the strategics, concluding note on 
 xvii. ). — The suggestion of a preparation for it by means of an Egyptian raid into 
 Palestine, breaking the spirit of the population during the wilderness sojourning 
 of Israel, has no interest beyond mere antiquarianism (unless there be a psycho- 
 logical interest in the natural history of arbitrary suggestions). As of the 
 Passage of the Red Sea, so of this conquest, while we have no scriptural 
 permission to multiply miracles, neither have we any call, of reason or of 
 Scripture, to make things possible for the Almighty. It is the impossible that 
 He goes out of His way to do. The memory of an Egyptian raid did not dry up 
 Jordan with wonder, nor shake down Jericho's walls with terror, nor make the 
 sun and moon stand still with awe. These are the "signs" pointing to the 
 distinctive character of this war, which makes Joshua to have a specifically 
 different significance from Cortez or Garibaldi. Once the heart of heathenism 
 was broken in Palestine, and David and Solomon were in commanding force 
 there, there apparently was no opposition force that could prevent their sway 
 from extending over the whole region between the Euphrates and the Nile 
 basins. 
 
 Exercise 42. 
 
 1. Give texts that promise protection against wild animals of three species. 
 
 2. Compare the projected invasion of Palestine with Mahommedan wars of 
 
 conquest under the Khalifs. 
 
 3. Describe the policy for Great Britain toward heathen peoples within the 
 
 empire that would follow from the prescription here ; explaining how, or in 
 what measure, Britain's policy ought to be influenced by difference in its 
 circumstances from those of Israel. 
 
 The Sealing of the Covenant (xxiv,). — Having been so much occupied with 
 that covenant, we need only note the specialities here emerging in connexion 
 with what has been described as the seahng of it. The narrative here is 
 twofold : I. The transaction, vers. 1-8 ; and 2. The sequel of the transaction, 
 vers. 9-18. The connexion of the two is very simple : i. The people engage to 
 conform implicitly to the mind of God ; and 2. Moses goes into God's presence 
 from them, and thus is in the way of learning for them explicitly what is that mind. 
 
 ist. The Transaction (1-8). There is here presupposed the assent of the 
 parties ; God offering, and man accepting ; but the speciality is \X\q formality of 
 assenting. And in the formality, while again there precedes, the word of God, 
 with a responding word of man, the speciality is the solemn act of ratification, 
 in which both are included by the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant 
 (Ps. 1. 5). 
 
 I, 2. The arrangement prescribed here is not carried out until the trans- 
 action is completed : on which account some have thought that the two 
 verses have got displaced, from between the 8th and 9th verses. The arrange- 
 
78 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIV. 2. 
 
 Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of 
 
 2 the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses 
 alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come 
 nigh ; neither shall the people go up with him. 
 
 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the 
 Lord, and all the judgments : and all the people answered 
 with one voice, and said. All the words which the Lord hath 
 
 4 said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, 
 and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under 
 the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of 
 
 5 Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, 
 which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings 
 
 6 of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, 
 and put it in basons ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on 
 
 7 the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in 
 the audience of the people : and they said, All that the Lord 
 
 ment might have been made before the transaction was begun ; there is no 
 need of meddling with the text. Nadab and Abihu: Aaron's two oldest sons 
 might have been his successors in the high-priesthood, but perished on 
 account of offering "strange fire," — an event v*^hich ministers of religion 
 might in our time do well to remember. Seventy : the number of seventy 
 has a place in Israel's history like that of twelve. It may have arisen 
 from the number of heads of houses (see under i. 5) at the original settle- 
 ment in Goshen. It has been observed that on this occasion, taking in 
 Aaron's sons, the seventy-two make six for every tribe ; so that there may 
 have been a representative delegation on the occasion. Moses alone — with 
 him. The people, we may suppose, remained outside of the barrier (under 
 xix. 12, 13), while the elders and others remained near the foot of the mount 
 within the barrier, and Moses went up toward the most holy ground. 
 3. Words— jiidgmmts. " Words " are more general (than "laws," as laws 
 are) than "judgments." But here the declaration is divine, as well as the 
 thing declared. Told: not necessarily repeated : may have been only 
 gave an account of, — that is, at least, of all the laws and other " words " 
 recorded in chaps, xxi.-xxiii. The contents of xix. and xx. were previously 
 known to the people. On this response, see under xix. 8 ; but now he bi7ids 
 them to it. 4, On writing, under xvii. 14; and altar, ver. 15 and under 
 xxvii. 1-8. The prescription for an altar is in xx. 24. The arrangement was 
 for the highest act of solemnity. The first part of the solemnity was, 
 writing this nucleus of the actual Book of Exodus (whether xix.-xxiii. or 
 only xxi.-xxiii, ), Tivelve, representing the tribes, and thus meaning all 
 Israel (cp. Josh, iv,), distinctly pledged in its divisions. 5. The young- i?ien 
 here, before there is a priestly tribe, serving at the altar for the occasion, are 
 not represented as permanent officials of any class or qualification beyond 
 fitness for this particular piece of work. Bur7it, representing consecration 
 to God the Redeemer; diXidL peace, communion with Him in redeeming love. 
 6-8. J7i the audience, lit. "in the ears." There is a solemnity in the formality 
 of reading (cp. the protest of the German Reformers). The people's 
 
XXIV. 10.] SEALING OF THE COVENANT. 79 
 
 8 hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the 
 blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the 
 blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you 
 concerning all these words. 
 
 9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 
 10 seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of 
 
 Israel : and there was under his feet as it were a paved work 
 of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his 
 
 response is here laid before God, as in xix. 8, with a more impressive 
 solemnity, the essence of which is in the blood of the Covenant (He. x. 29), 
 the quintessence of sacredness in freely contracted obligation. The sacrifice 
 on this occasion of constituting the covenant relationship is the one sacrifice 
 which under the Old Testament did not require to be repeated. It was the 
 foundation of all. The blood of sacrifice, representing life offered for sin, is 
 immediately for the altar, as the offering is unto God. But in this case He, 
 the primary Covenanter (see Introd., note on Covenant, pp. 70-72), here 
 appears as bringing men into most vitally close relation to Himself, making 
 them one with Himself in the essential transaction (Is. Iv. 3). In heathen 
 lands men employed bleeding sacrifice in the sealing of compacts, with various 
 shades of meaning. There was always in that form the substance of meaning, 
 the highest conceivable degree of sacredness in binding parties to the 
 contract. Here, the living God, as if swearing by Himself in what is most 
 sacred, shows what is the most sacred "mystery" of revealed religion, 
 namely, propitiation through bleeding sacrifice. And men, accepting this 
 His Covenant, set their seal to what springs to man from the most sacred 
 fountain of new life, namely, obligation to obey the revealed will of God 
 (Ga. iv. 6; I Pe. i. 15-21): the expression is literally "upon all these 
 words," — on the footing of them all. The sprinkling on the people is in 
 Heb. (ix. 19) made to reach '^ the book and all the people," and there are 
 details given of the process which are not specified in Exodus. The details 
 may have been learned from prescriptions regarding propitiatory sacrifice 
 in general ; while Exodus specifies only the peailiarities in this case. The 
 people were sprinkled, apparently in their representatives, perhaps the 
 pillars. Though they could not distinctly hear the reading, nor be individually 
 reached with the blood, every one, in the "solidarity" of the common 
 action, was reached and bound in his individual conscience toward man as 
 well as God. 
 
 2nd, The sequel to the transaction (9-18). Here the arrangement in vers, i, 2 
 is carried out. From ver. 13 it appears that Joshua was present where he is not 
 named ; he was there, not as a distinct party, co-ordinate with the others, but 
 as servant (" acolyte ") of Moses. The order of procedure was, that this whole 
 group went past the barrier on to the basis of the sacred mount ; and that Moses 
 thence proceeded further " tip irito the mount of God." 
 
 9-1 1. Saw: apprehended immediately, or without the veiling medium of 
 symbols (cp. i Co. xiii. 12) : as, e.g., creatures may in heaven see God. The 
 suggestion, that the Divine Being assumed some aspect of corporeal visibility, 
 is crass confusion (cp. Jn. iv. 24). The feet, cp. xxxiv. 5, and notes on the 
 Kapporeth, xxv. The Heb. has no paveme?tt : but, as it were sapphire work. 
 The body of heaven : as if, ipsissiina co7pora, "the veiy heaven," in its clear 
 
8o THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIV. II. 
 
 1 1 clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he 
 laid not his hand : also they saw God, and did eat and drink. 
 
 12 And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the 
 mount, and be there : and I will give thee tables of stone, 
 and a law, and commandments which I have written; that 
 
 13 thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and his 
 minister Joshua ; and Moses went up into the mount of God. 
 
 14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we 
 come again unto you : and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with 
 you ; if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto 
 
 deep blue (the most spiritual thing in physical nature) : the aspect of that on 
 which His feet were, was as if it were another sky, — to go farther is to 
 vulgarize (under influence of tendency which Coleridge had to correct in his 
 translation of Schiller's noblest poem — see Matthew Arnold's Essay on "the 
 Celtic element" in English Literature). The also of A.V. in ver. 11 is for 
 v" (under i. i), and would be better simply, and (so in R.V.). It might be 
 made yea and. The circumstance of breathless wonder is, that they lived 
 while seeing God they gazed upon (cp. i Jn. i. i) (the word for seeing is not 
 the common one, which appears in ver, 10) (cp. Ge. xxxii. 30 ; Ex. xxxii. 20). 
 The panic terror of man on account of manifested presence of God is ended 
 (Re. i. 16, 17) for these Covenanters. But Israel's "nobles" on this occasion 
 were not only spared that terror, but blessed in the immediate presence of 
 God. This appears in their feasting in that presence (Ps. xvi. 11). They 
 had not only the Israelitish normal happiness of believing (He. xi, i), but the 
 bliss of seeing, which is reserved for the true Israel. 12. See this promise 
 fulfilled, xxxi. 18, and note. Here, tables, lazu, and commandmejit (as in 
 R.V., not plur. as in A.V.) which I have writtett, all — we suppose — refer 
 to the one thing, viz. the Decalogue ; in its place {tables), character {law), 
 and contents {conwiandtnent) : the Heb. for lata here {Torah, lit. "instruc- 
 tion") reappears in the Heb. word for teach here ("instruct"). A law is 
 "instruction," as being express intimation (of duty prescribed): thus, "to 
 lay down the law " (our Japhetic word, law, leg-, is from a root [leg- or lay) 
 which has the common meaning of, saying a thing (so in /<?^-end), and 
 laying it dotun\lex, "law ")). Which I have written, points the finger to the 
 Decalogue (exclusively, Ex. xxxi. 18). To look for anything more here is 
 arbitrary, and see^ms perverse. 13. See initial note here. The 7noiint of God 
 (under iii. i) does\not necessarily localize a particular peak (cp. 2 Pe. i. 18). 
 It, the manifestation of Jehovah (Ex. iii. 5), that makes the "place." The 
 point here is, Moses going tt-p to where that manifestation was centred (as in 
 Holy of HoHes behiM a veil). 14-18. We cojne : Moses and his (honoured) 
 "servant." Aaron and Hur : — to be in the place of Moses under the Jethro 
 constitution (Ex. xviii.). If— do: lit. whoever (is) master of words,— as if, 
 " has a business to talk about." The glory rs, seen in 2 Co. iii. 18; where 
 Moses saw it in the dawning of the new dispensation (Lu. ix. 30), along with 
 one who, like himself (i Ki. xix. 8), had been on that "mount of God," and 
 had fasted forty days : as also (Mat. iv. 2) had that Son of man who (Lu. 
 ix. 35) is the Son of God, and in whom they saw on earth the "glory" in 
 which they now appeared from heaven. To this end they had always been 
 pointing (Ro. iii. 21), though perhaps (i Pe. i. 11) they did not clearly see it 
 
XXIV. l8.] THE TABERNACLi!. Si 
 
 15 them. And Moses went np into the mount, and a cloud 
 
 16 covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon 
 Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and the 
 seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the 
 
 17 cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord 7vas like 
 devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the 
 
 18 children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the 
 cloud, and gat him up into the mount : and Moses was in the 
 mount forty days and forty nights. 
 
 on earth before, and (ver, 12) it may not be clearly "seen of angels" till the 
 Son of man is glorified completely (i Ti. iii. 16 ; He. i. 6). The Mount Sinai 
 here is clearly a particular peak (say, Jebel Mousa) of the mount (ver, 15), 
 Sinaitic mountain system or group (which in ver. 13, as in I Ki. xix. 8, may 
 be "the mount of God"). The cloud, enveloping the group, would thus be 
 like the Tabernacle veil, concealing the High Priest in the adyiiim ; the 
 elders being as the common priests in the Sanctuary, but outside of the veil ; 
 while the people (kept back by the barrier) were as in "the court of the 
 Lord's House." The "glory" that was centred in that innermost shrine was 
 perceived by the people : — we may suppose, mercifully softened to their view 
 by the envelope of cloud, as the shining face of the reflexion of it was after- 
 wards covered with a veil. The aspect it presented to their view gave to 
 Israel a deep abiding sense of the holy "terror of the Lord" (thus in Is. 
 vi. 5 ; and, as a theological commonplace of the Israelitish heart, in He. 
 xii. 29, where vers. 25-28 point expressly to this occasion of the "for;" as 
 more generally in He. x. 28-31). On looking more closely at Exodus, we 
 perceive that Moses remained seven days as if in the sanctuary (which would 
 place the elders in the " Court ") before passing into the innermost presence 
 for the forty days at the call of God. The people may have heard the call : 
 while they perceived the awfulness of that presence into which "this Moses" 
 (Ex. xxxii. i) was going. "When he remained so long out of their view, they 
 may have thought he was " consumed " by that "fire ; " as well they might 
 (i Ki. xviii. 38 ; 2 Ki. i. lo) if they had known themselves, as they did not 
 know Jehovah (Mai. iii. 6), notwithstanding what they had Iseen told regard- 
 ing Him (Ex. iii. 2, cp. iv. 29-31). 
 
 The simple sublimity of this narrative makes it almost profane to criticize 
 it as literature. But we may ask, What soul of man was there in the world 
 capable of mirroring what we see through this narrative ? That which gave 
 out the song of salvation (Ex. xv,), and gives it out (Re. xv. 3, 4). 
 
 The Tabernacle History (Chaps, xxv.-xl.). 
 
 The subject of the Tabernacle has been considered in the Intro- 
 duction (pp. 84-91) in its connection with the general system and 
 course of Israel's life, which has its fontal centre here (Ps. xlvi. 4). 
 We now shall concentrate our attention upon the specialities of that 
 fabric itself. And we begin with observing the remarkable frequency 
 with which it is described in the Scriptures, intended for mankind. 
 
 F 
 
^2 
 
 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 [XXV.-XL. 
 
 
 N. 
 
 
 
 
 lOO cubits. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IH 
 
 
 lo 20 
 
 
 f-n 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 10: H. H. H. P. : 
 
 L. A. 
 
 8 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 10 20* 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ul 
 
 (i) Here in Exodus it is described twice over at full length in great 
 detail. (2) There is careful description of the replica of it (see 
 Introd.) in Solomon's Temple. (3) It appears in the idealized repre- 
 sentation of Ezekiel. (4) It is the background of theological exposi- 
 tion in the great Epistle to the Hebrews (i.-x.). (5) Less formally, 
 but really and completely, it gives colour and form to the whole of 
 the experimental theology of Scripture, such as in the Psalms and 
 Epistles; so that every Christian comes to have some "pattern" 
 (He. viii. 5, where the Gr. word is fype) of the Tabernacle in his 
 heart. (6) Even in the unseen future world (Re. xx., xxi.) the de- 
 scription of the blessed eternal abode of the redeemed is obviously 
 based on the form of the Tabernacle. Plainly, the Bible calls us to 
 real study of that fabric. 
 
 Note on the wliole Taber- 
 nacle fabric— At some cost of 
 future repetition, we will here 
 endeavour to give a simple 
 familiar outline of the whole, 
 and of the main details in re- 
 lation to the whole. We will W. '^ 10: H. H. H. P. : L. A. • J^ E. 
 take one thing at a time : re- 
 membering that the child, who 
 tried to lift an armful of apples, _ 
 got nothing ; while a man, by- 
 lifting one at a time, would get S. 
 the whole heap. 
 
 1. The quadrangle of 100 cubits by 50 is f/ie Court, which is enclosed or 
 fenced in by a sort of curtain- wall supported by pillars. In the middle of 
 the east side (or end) toward which the:: Tabernacle always faced, there is a 
 gate of 20 cubits wide ; so that on either hand of it the Court fence reaches 
 to 15 cubits from the corner. When that gate is entered, there are found 
 within the Court only three things ; namely, at the west end, or back, of 
 the Court, the Tabernacle or Tent Dwelling ; and, between the gate and 
 that Dwelling, first, nearest the gate, the Altar of burnt-sacrifice (a.), and 
 second, nearest the Dwelling, the Laver or Bath (l. ). The precise distance 
 of these three things from the gate, we do not at present inquire about. We 
 place them provisionally all in one line. 
 
 Note on Cubit. — As for the cubit measure, we do not need to care whether 
 it is 15, or 18, or 21 inches. A likeness picture is made, not by equality of size to 
 the original, but by uniformity of scale in the details. If things be in the same 
 proportion, according to any one measure, that is all that we need in order to see 
 the Tabernacle "figure" (He. ix. 9). Mr. Gillies nowhere needs any smaller 
 measure than ^ cubit. And in order to our seeing that "figure," it makes no 
 difference to us whether the cubit of which that is a quarter is 15 inches, or 18, or 
 21 : only let it always be the same cubit — we will suppose, 18 inches. 
 
 That curtain-wall round the Court is 5 cubits high. And the number 5, thus 
 presenting itself at first sight of the structure from the outside, is found continually 
 repeating itself all over the structure and all through it. Everywhere we find 
 "multiples" of 5. Thus, as to that Court: its length is 20 times 5 cubits, and 
 its breadth 10 times 5 ; and the gate on the east side is 4 times 5 cubits, while 
 there is 3 times 5 cubits of curtain-wall on each side of that gate. 
 
 2. Coming now to the Dwelling: we find that number pervading the whole 
 
XXV. -XL.] 
 
 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 83 
 
 H. H. 
 
 2 "•'• 
 
 10 c. 
 
 ground-plan. This Dwelling (Heb. Mishkan) is 30 cubits long, 10 broad, 
 and 10 high. Like the Court, it 
 
 faces eastward. And approaching 'o c. 20 c. 
 
 it from the east, a priest would find 
 it opening into two chambers : first, 
 the Holy (Place), 20 cubits long (by 
 10 by 10) ; and second, at the west 
 end, screened from view by a cur- 
 tain called the veil, the Most Holy 
 (Place), Heb. " Holy of Holies," 
 10 cubits by lo by 10,— an exact 
 cube (the word cube is from the Greek, and has no relationship to the word 
 cubit, which is from the Latin). 
 
 3. The quadrangular struc- 
 ture, which we have called the 
 Dwelling, is shielded by a 
 Tent, as shown in Mr. Gillies's 
 diagram. No. 3. To one ap- 
 proaching the gate of the Court 
 from the east, the Tent would 
 show in the front elevation like a 
 gable 15 cubits high into which 
 the Dwelling is thrust back 5 
 cubits, where it is screened from the Court by curtains supported by columns. 
 
 Now let us pause, to allow that outline to take possession of our mind. 
 We will occupy the pausing time with recalling two great geographical 
 Sanctuaries, each of which will help us to remember always those three 
 things in the Mosaic Sanctuary — (i) The Court, (2) within the Court the 
 Dwelling, and (3) within the Dwelling, the Holy of Holies. In Ex. xv. 17, 
 Israel, saved through the Red Sea, sings about a Sanctuary established by 
 Jehovah's hands, which at the same time seems to be a "mountain," into 
 which He is bringing His people, as the place which He has made for Him to 
 dwell in. Let us (see in Comm.) suppose this to be the mountain land of 
 Palestine, which at its lowest is 1291 ft. above the level of the Dead Sea. 
 There we see the three things, (i) The Court is Palestine itself, the holy 
 land of Covenant provision to God's people ; (2) The Dwelling is Jerusalem, 
 the Holy City of the Living God ; and (3) The holiest place in that city is 
 the Temple of Jehovah. But let us suppose that the " mountain " of " Sanc- 
 tuary" is Mount Sinai (Ex. iii. i, 12, xxiv. 13; i Ki. xix. 8). Then again 
 we find the three things. The Court is now found in the Sinaitic Peninsula 
 (Introd. pp. 42-48) ; the mountain group or system of Sinai is the Dwelling ; 
 and the Most Holy Place is that particular peak on which Jehovah met only 
 the mediator between God and man. 
 
 4. Now resuming our direct observation of the fabric, we disregard the 
 Tent, and consider only that quadrangular structure called the Dwelling. 
 Tabernacle is meant for a translation of the Hebrew word for Dwelling. 
 Unhappily, in our Authorized Version, Tabernacle is often given as transla- 
 tion of ohel, which really means a different thing, namely, the Tent which 
 conceals the dwelling it screens. Placing ourselves inside of the Dwelling, 
 we see at the far west end of the Holy Place the Altai- of Iiicense^^ in 
 front of that veil which concealed the Most Holy. The High Priest, 
 approaching it from the entrance of the Holy Place, saw at the farther end an 
 
84 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV.-XL. 
 
 Altar of Incense (I.) and had on his right hand (the north) the Table of Shew- 
 bread or Presence Bread (S.)} on 
 
 which always were twelve loaves ; 1 9 ^Q 
 
 and right opposite to it (south side) \ 
 
 on his left hand, the seven-branched i . i S. 
 
 Candlestick or Lampstand. Every i q H. H. i q 
 
 branch had a lamp on it : and all j '-' i "^ * ' ' 
 
 the seven looked across the Holy i ^o • C. 
 
 Place upon that Table with its ; ____«. 
 
 loaves. The Candlestick was of 20 
 
 pure gold. 
 
 5. Within the Holy of Holies there was nothing but, placed against the 
 west end of it, the Ark and the Mercy-seat (Heb. Kapporeth ; see note on it 
 under xxv. 17). The Ark was an oblong quadrangular chest of wood overlaid 
 with pure gold. It contained the Decalogue on the two Tables of stone ; 
 and later, there was there (see under ver. 16) also a pot of manna and Aaron's 
 rod that blossomed. On the top of the Ark there was placed what our 
 Version makes the Mercy-seat, though the Bible says nothing about a " seat." 
 Some think it was the lid of the Ark, though the Bible nowhere says any- 
 thing about a lid of the Ark, It was a slab of pure gold, to which the Bible 
 gives the name of the Kapporeth. In the New Testament Greek (Ro. iii. 25), 
 following the Septuagint Version, that is made hilasterion which our version 
 renders ''propitiation." If we should make this to be "propitiatory," or 
 place or sphere of propitiation, then a distinct use would be left for our word 
 "propitiation " as translation of hilasmos (i Jn. ii. 3, iv. 10), which is nearly 
 the same as hilasterion. The expression "throne of grace" occurs in the 
 Greek of He. iv. 16. The idea of a throne is in keeping with what we know 
 of the " meeting " there of God with His people in their High Priest, where He 
 gave pardon and commandments. But the Kapporeth might rather represent 
 the footstool of His throne, or (cp. xxiv. 10 and xxxiv. 5) the place of His feet. 
 
 6, The last of the details which we need at present to observe is the 
 cherubim. The word is plur. of cherub ; so that our cherubijns is an awk- 
 ward double plural, — as "oxens" or "mices." The whole interior of the 
 Dwelling, on the roof and on all sides but the front, consisted of one great 
 cloth, whose ground was fine white linen, but which, on its inner face, was 
 adorned with "cherubic" figures. And on the Kapporeth there were two 
 cherubim, of one piece with it, rising from its two extremities, and made of 
 pure gold. The two creatures looked toward one another, down upon the 
 Kapporeth. Each of them had two wings so stretched forward as to on^x- 
 5\\2idovf the Kapporeth. And it was there, ^^ oyqi i\ve Kapporeth," "between 
 the cherubim," that Jehovah, as the Theocratic King of Israel, was to be 
 sought on their behalf by the High Priests. " Thou that dwellest between the 
 cherubim " was a designation of Him as their Saviour King (so 2 Sa. vi. 2, 
 at the bringing of the ark, and Ps. Ixxx. l). And His great promise here 
 was (Ex. xxv. 22), " There will I meet thee ; and I will commune with thee 
 from above the Kapporeth, from between the two cherubim which are upon 
 the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in command- 
 ment concerning the children of Israel." Here, evidently, we are at the 
 heart of the whole Tabernacle meaning and purpose, — which is, the heart 
 of the whole revelation of God as the Living God, the Redeemer. 
 
 Moses was very strictly charged (xxv. 9, etc.), in his erection of the fabric, 
 to adhere to the direction of God. It would be well if men would do so in 
 
XXV.-XL.] THE TABERNACLE. 85 
 
 their thoughts about the fabric. The circumstance that God has given us 
 no information about the cherubim beyond what we have noted, has not 
 prevented men from guessing, where guesswork seems at best out of place. 
 There were cherubim at Eden's gate ; there are cherubim in Ezekiel's ideal 
 representations ; there are some things which we may suppose to be cherubim, 
 to be found in excavated remains of ancient empires, placed as if on guard 
 at the entrance of imperial palaces. But happy thoughts occurring to our 
 mind from a combination of such things may keep our mind away from the 
 thing meant by the Kapporeth of Exodus, and by the cherubim arising out of 
 that. And first, for our deliverance from bondage of imagination, let us fix 
 it in our minds, that we really know nothing about the "figure" of those 
 creatures in Exodus beyond the circumstance that their faces were toward 
 the Kapporeth, and that their wings were stretched out on high so as to form 
 a canopy above that. 
 
 They are only accessory ; for otherwise, where there is so much of precise 
 detail, THEIR "figure "would have been defined precisely. Any view that 
 makes their figure to be of real significance, is by that very fact shown to be 
 erroneous, involving failure to see the matter from the true central point of 
 view. The true central point of view is given by the cherubim themselves, in 
 looking down upon the Kapporeth. There (i Pe. i. ia-12) they see that 
 unto which "angels desire to look." The New Testament Kapporeth, 
 " propitiation," is invariably connected with the atoning blood of Christ. So, 
 the Old Testament propitiatory {Kapporeth) was sprinkled with atoning blood. 
 And the front of the ark was sprinkled with that blood ; as to which God had 
 said in Egypt (xii. 13), "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." 
 
 Mr. Gillies, in his study of the material framework of the Tabernacle, finds 
 that the formative conception of it all is spiritual — such as to be realized in 
 atonement and incarnation (He. ii. 10). Israel, we saw (Introd. pp. 85-88), 
 while they could bear to see more than one tent-home for the ark, appear to 
 have thought that any ark but one is inconceivable, a spiritual absurdity. 
 Ichabod — "the glory is departed," said the High Priest's daughter-in-law, out 
 of her breaking heart, with her dying breath,^ because "the ark of God was 
 taken." But the Hebrews did not speak vaguely about an ark of glory ; they 
 spoke and thought (He. ix.) about "the cherubim of glory shadowing the 
 mercy-seat." It was "between the cherubim" that the glory was. And 
 the glory (xxxiv. 6, 7) was that of sovereign grace, — of free redeeming love of 
 God, as the Covenant God and Saviour of a sinful but covenanted people. 
 "Nature abhors a void." We must have something there, where God meets 
 man in sovereign grace ; we do not study the Bible but reject it in so far as 
 there, in the peculiar presence of God, there is not atonement. And if there 
 be the atonement, there will be no call for jejune insipidities about a lid of the 
 ark, but the whole Tabernacle will worthily form itself outward from that 
 centre in the peace of God. 
 
 The Tabernacle history has three parts : — i. of direction, chaps, 
 xxv.-xxxi. ; 2. oi episode, xxxii.-xxxiv. ; and 3, oii erection, xxxv.-xl. It 
 is important to see these in their connexion, especially with what 
 goes before them all. In the immediately preceding history, the 
 people are brought into covenant condition. And that gives the 
 right point of view for looking at this Tabernacle history. The 
 1 abernacle is a provision for their contimia7ice in the covenant con- 
 dition. This it is, by its being the Dwellitig of Jehovah among men ; 
 
S6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV.-XL. 
 
 that in which He, on a way of holiness^ meets His people as their 
 Redeemer King. It thus is a means of perpetuating, through 
 symbols, that "heaven on earth" which Israel's nobles once enjoyed 
 (xxiv. lo, ii), when they saw God without intervention of such a veil. 
 
 Of Direction, chaps, xxv.-xxxi. The erection, xxxiv.-xl., is described in 
 chronological order of the execution of the work, and thus to some extent, begin- 
 ning with what had to be first made, proceeds from the outside toward the centre. 
 This Direction, on the contrary, begins at the centre and thence proceeds out- 
 ward. That is the logical order of nature or thought. In the nature of such 
 things, what is first is the germinant conception out of which the thing grows, the 
 formative idea of the whole which results in specifications of detail ("Before 
 Abraham was, I am "). The idea, which is natively in the mind of God, was by 
 Him shown to Moses in a " pattern : " the N. T, Greek for which, following the 
 O. T. Septuagint (Act. vii. 44; He. viii. 5), is type. To that "pattern" or 
 ' ' type " Moses was very strongly warned (several times) to adhere in all parts of 
 this fabric. The "figures" of the true, in He. ix. 24, are in the Greek original 
 ''• zxv\\-types ;" which means, that the Tabernacle was in particulars a reflexion of 
 that ' ' type " or " pattern " which God had showed to Moses on the mount. The 
 old fancy, of His having shown to Moses a literal "model" of the Tabernacle, on 
 view on the mount, is unauthorized and childish. We do not know, nor need to 
 know, in what manner God made Moses to perceive His plan. We do know 
 that, in fact, somehow he did see that plan, as a whole and through details. 
 
 Furniture of the Lord's House (xxv.). The direction begins 
 with the Holiest, and proceeds thence to the Holy. At this stage of 
 the Direction there is no mention made of the veil which was to 
 screen the Holiest from view of the Holy ; nor of the altar of incense 
 (initial note on xxvi. 26-37) in front of that veil, whose horns were to 
 be smeared with blood on the day of Atonement, and the incense of 
 which was to accompany the High Priest into the presence of Jehovah. 
 These two things, omitted at the beginning, belong to the co7t7iexion 
 of the Holiest with the Holy ; so that what is specified at the begin- 
 ning is the furniture that belongs to the one place and to the other 
 distinctly or separately, each by itself. It will be observed that our 
 word "place" is not in the Hebrew proper name, which is simply 
 mikdash., a " holy," and kodesh kodashim, a " holy of holies." 
 
 Preparation (xxv. 1-9). Here is the requisite provisio7i of materials for the 
 fabric and for the priestly vestments. On the costliness, the skill, and the pre- 
 sumable source of the wealth here implied, see Introd. pp. 88-90. Special notes 
 will be made on details when we reach them in the Direction and Erection. But 
 here from the outset mark, what continues to reappear farther on, the solemn pro- 
 hibition (ver. 9) of all departure from the form prescribed by God. The sugges- 
 tion of an adoption of Egyptian or other forms is not historical nor luminous : — 
 (i) Resemblance in particulars maybe simply coincidence arising out of natural 
 fitness of the form ; like the resemblance of precepts in xxi.-xxiii. to some things 
 in heathen codes or systems, or, resemblance of official priestly garments to 
 ordinary human dress. That would not preclude a supernatural presci-iption even 
 of those details, — witness the positive revelation of moral law in the Decalogue. 
 (2) The real meaning, the thing in every detail, is constituted by an idea which 
 pervades the whole. That idea is known only to the Author of this religion 
 (Jn. i. 18 ; Mat. xi. 27). And mere coincidence of details, which are not in vital 
 possession of that idea, is like a coincidence in alphabetic letters on the part of 
 words or sentences which have no meaning in common. (3) Adherence to the 
 
XXV. 2.] FURNISHINGS OF TABERNACLE. 87 
 
 Chap. XXV. i, 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak 
 unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering : 
 of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall 
 
 prescribed form because it is prescribed, is itself a homage to God as King. It is a 
 prerogative of royalty to prescribe the ceremonial of approaching the throne. 
 "Will-worship" is an affront to the Majesty of heaven's Ruler. 
 
 Note : On the meaning of the whole, a view is given in the following extract. 
 The reader may see a landmark in it when studying details ; and its beautiful 
 precision will be appreciated w^hen that study is completed : — 
 
 ' ' The Tabernacle was the Theocracy in miniature. It symbolized on a smaller 
 scale, and therefore more intelligibly to men's eyes, those principles which the 
 Theocracy symbolized. Now these principles, or some of them at least, were 
 these: — (i.) The revealing and sanctifying presence of God in the midst of the 
 Chiurch. The theocracy was founded on this idea ; this idea gave it its existence. 
 Now this idea was founded most completely on the Holy of Holies and what it 
 contained, viz. the law, which was God's testimony of Himself, and was made the 
 covenant bond between Him and Israel, and so the very basis of the theocracy 
 And in the Holy of Holies God's manifested presence was seen, and from there He 
 uttered His voice to the nation. {2.) The meeting of God and His people, and 
 continuous and reciprocal intercourse between them. This was the second funda- 
 mental idea of the theocracy, being the natural consequence of the first. This 
 idea was represented by the whole hfe of the nation, but particularly by the 
 services and appointments of the Holy Place. There the priests, the purified 
 people's representatives, ministered and offered to the Lord what no doubt by gift 
 of God they were enabled to offer. They offered up incense, symbol of prayer 
 and thanks, kindled by divine fire ; they offered up the shewbread, symbol of 
 holy deeds and works of faith ; and they served the golden lamps, symbol of 
 heavenly lights by divine oil. AH this was but symbolical of the various forms the 
 hidden spiritual life of the consecrated people took. The Holiest represented 
 more what God gave ; the Holy Place what the people gave, though what they 
 gave was but made up of what they had received. (3.) In order to this inter- 
 course, even in its lowest form, separation of the Church from the rest of the 
 world. This was shown by the Court. (4.) The progressiveness through various 
 stages of this intercourse with God and nearness to Him, once begun by separa- 
 tion from without. {5. ) The foundation of all intercourse in atonement by blood ; 
 and that each new stage of progress must be won by atonement ; and that all 
 intercourse and service and life of men around God must, however true, and pure, 
 and high, yet be atoned for as in many ways sinful, (6.) The necessity of holi- 
 ness in those drawing near to God, Ps. xxiv. This was shown by the repeated 
 separation of those who approached from the larger body who were kept back 
 ... by the multiplication of the ceremonies of purification, and the symbols of 
 confession of sin, and the gradual elevation in character and sanctity and official 
 place of those who approached in proportion to the closeness of their approach. " — 
 From article " Tabernacle " in Fairbaim's Imperial Bible Dictionary, by Professor 
 A. B. Davidson. 
 
 I, 2. Offering: marg. heave-offering (under xxix. 23, 24), description of 
 the spirit, of solemn and thankful cordiality, in which this gift was to be 
 brought to God (see how the actual offering went in xxxv.). That they 
 bring: a shade of improvement is in the R.V,, that they take. That giveth 
 — heart: Heb. here has the effect of, the heart driving tq the action 
 {^^ impelling"). The idea is, cordially; powerful and jubilant affection 
 in the gift, — adoring love to God, rushing into this action joyfully. My 
 offering : simply the offering that is to me, — a common Heb. idiom. But the 
 whole sentence involves a claim of right on God's part : the gift is due 
 
88 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV. 3. 
 
 3 take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall 
 
 4 take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and 
 
 5 purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair^ and rams' 
 
 to Him, and He claims it. He loves a cheerful giver ; but He prescribes 
 this thing He loves. Mere spontaneity, which is in the songs of birds and 
 brooks, in the fragrant beauty of flowers, in the glory of sunshine, is not the 
 highest creature offering. In the highest there is obedience ; delighting in 
 the laxv (Ro. vii. 22). Free subjection — rtcnning joyfully in the way of 
 commandj?tents, is the "money" (Lu. xv. 8-10). What follows of material 
 wealth is but the *' small change " of that gold. 3. The precious metals here 
 specified existed in great abundance among those ancient peoples (silver not 
 so much). Gold, always the most precious, is the most beautiful, and easily 
 worked into beautiful forms, with a certain incorruptibility (symbolical). 
 Brass here, really bronze : produced by amalgamation of copper and tin ; 
 and used where hardness and strength were in demand, until superseded by 
 iron. The gold and silver offerings were not in coined money, but as raw 
 material for the fabric and the furnishings. 4, 5. Shittim : plur. of Shittah, 
 understood to be a species of acacia, — the seyal, found near the Red Sea. 
 It was much valued for its qualities, especially strength and firmness along 
 with lightness (cp. hickory for fishing-rods and coach-building). It is fine 
 and firm in the grain, so as to take on a polish like mahogany, and, in such 
 a climate, is virtually imperishable, like cedar. It is of yellowish colour, 
 which darkens, reddening toward the heart. The use of the plur. form in this 
 connexion may suggest the view that every plank of the tabernacle had to be 
 made up out of several trees. That would harmonize with the general opinion 
 — there are some exceptions — Canon Tristram — that seyal trees large enough 
 individually to furnish a plank are not to be found. Though they should 
 have been at one time, the barbarous waste of trees that has been going on 
 in the Peninsula would account for dearth of that timber there now. Fine 
 lineft : not, as some have imagined, silk, but the beautiful soft white linen 
 of Egypt (cp. Lu. xvi. 19 ; Re. xix. 8). The materials in ver. 4 were all spun 
 into yarn by the women, but dyed before they were spun. The Egyptians 
 were expert dyers, and their bright colouring still remains from that time 
 to surprise us with its vividness. For the fabric there was needlework of 
 embroidery as well as loom work. On "the Tabernacle colours" (under 
 xxviii. 6-12), see Mr. Gillies' Notes, Appendix. 
 
 Note on the Tabernacle colours.— M/>^?V^— holiness— was the background of 
 all, and the ground on which the coloured ornamentation was wrought. With 
 reference to the remaining three there has been some difference among the learned. 
 Distinct perception of colours, clear discrimination of one from another, appears 
 to be a late attainment of mankind. Primitive peoples do not well distinguish 
 colours, as children are not subtle discriminators of musical sound. The glas in 
 Douglas (water), Isle of Man, means " green " in the Celtic of that island ; in the 
 Scottish Celtic the glas in Douglas means "gray." But "the Tabernacle 
 colours " can be reasonably determined by connexion with the Tabernacle thought, 
 (i) The "royal colours" — blue, purple, and scarlet — are known wherever there 
 .are palaces ; and for our purpose we may go to ''kings' houses,'' notwithstand- 
 ing the Baptist. (2) In this case they may be identified separately. Thus, the 
 scarlet has to be blood-red, in this religion of bleeding sacrifice (xiv. ). Blue is 
 that heaven which the "nobles" perceived even beneath Jehovah's feet 
 (xiv. 10, 11). And as to purple, though the Heb. etymology here is uncertain, 
 the thing is well known (" Tyrian " purple). 
 
XXV. 9-] FURNISHINGS OF TABERNACLE. 89 
 
 6 skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, oil 
 for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 
 
 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the 
 
 8 breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may 
 
 9 dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after 
 the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the 
 instruments thereof, even so shall ye make if, 
 
 5. Goats' hair has always been made into cloth for tents. Ram skins may 
 have been tanned into leather and coloured. Red morocco was produced in 
 North Africa long before Israel saw Egypt. The badger is out of place here. 
 That animal is not found in Sinai ; and, in fact, has no place in the Bible. 
 The Heb. word here, tachash, has now been traced to the kindred Arabic 
 word tuchzshf which in that region is descriptive of a certain type of marine 
 animals — such as the seal, the dugong, the sea-cow, if not also the shark and 
 the dog-fish — which are found in that neighbourhood, and of which the skins 
 might serve the purpose of that "covering" in the tent. The purpose was 
 that of a waterproof, like oil-skin or tarpaulin. 6, 7. Light — of the candle- 
 stick ; anointing — e.g. of the priests ; incense — e.g. for the Altar of Incense. 
 For details about these, and about the breastplate and the ephod, notes will 
 appear in due place. But here observe how Moses, in all that wealth now 
 pouring in upon him, is finding that "bread" which he "cast upon the 
 waters" when he chose "the reproach of Christ" rather than "the treasures 
 of Egypt" (cp. Mk. X. 29, 30). 
 
 Note on tlie "words Sanctuary {mikdash), Tabernacle {mishkan), and Tent 
 {ohel), which are given as names to this fabric. There are variations upon these 
 names in the Scripture usage ; but three as here given will sufifice for illustration 
 of the important threefold distinction which they represent. (i) Sanctuary is a 
 general description of that residence of Jehovah as being Himself a holy God, 
 and requiring that the people which meets Him there should be holy, in the sense 
 of moral and spiritual character represented by the Ten Words on the Two 
 Tables. It is a sphere or domain of holiness, intensifying in the Holy Place, 
 and supreme in the Most Holy. That idea o/holifiess was never associated with 
 a heathen temple. The (2) Tabernacle, constituted by that one great cloth, is 
 appropriately the dwelling of Jehovah. The word "Tabernacle" is now so 
 fully associated with that sacred thing, that it may be allowed to remain as a not 
 very bad translation of mishkan, though it is a loss to us that the place has not 
 been taken by the native English word Dwelling, which is the literal translation 
 (under xxvii. 9). Our word church or "kirk," German kirche, is from a Greek 
 word meaning Lord's (house). Ecclesia, which is followed by the Romance and 
 Celtic tongues of Christendom, is from a root referring to " caUing and election.'' 
 (3) The tent, which our version most unfortunately often renders "tabernacle," 
 is quite distinct from the Tabernacle or Dwelling of which it is a " covering " or 
 shelter ; and the distinction is often full of significance in this second part of 
 Exodus. It is attended to in the Revised Version, and an English reader might 
 do well to mark it on the margin of his A. V. 
 
 9. Pattern (so ver. 40, etc.) : see initial note here. The Heb. word is in 
 I Chron. xxviii. 11, 12, 19, for the plans of the temple, and elsewhere 
 (De. iv. 16, 17 ; Ezek. viii. 3, lo) for form, likeness, similitude. The 
 prescription of conformity to God's plan is referred to in the initial note here. 
 
90 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV. 10. 
 
 10 And they shall make an ark ^ shittim wood: two cubits 
 and a half shall he the length thereof, and a cubit and a half 
 the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 
 
 1 1 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without 
 shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold 
 
 But now mark its extent — it reaches to the instrtwients, furnishings, as well 
 as the building. The Tabernacle : the "Dwelling." A priest within the 
 Dwelling, in the absence of the "instruments," would see himself in a 
 structure of white linen, with "cherubic" ornamentation in blue, purple, and 
 scarlet, excepting on (east) front, which, in absence of the " tent " with its 
 curtain-" door," would be open. The "Dwelling," three sides and roof, was 
 all ' ' one Tabernacle, " xxvi. 6. The cloth of that " one Tabernacle," forming 
 the roof on all the three sides, came down to within one cubit of the floor, 
 which cubit showed the boards of the wooden frame, overlaid with gold, as a 
 skirting or base plinth. 
 
 Ark of the Testimony (10-22). Later, "of the covenant" (under xl. 20). 
 The " testimony " from which it had its Exodus name, was the Decalogue on the 
 two stone tables (under ver. 21). That (under ver. 8) defines the nature of the 
 ' ' holiness " of this religion (Ps, xl, 8). We saw that the Dwelling or the tent was 
 changeable (Introd. pp. 85-88) ; and was ultimately superseded by the Temple 
 (though the "pattern" was adhered to in respect of "figure" or form). The 
 ark had no successor. It was housed with great solemnity in David's Tabernacle 
 (2 Sa. vi, I, etc.), where (i Chron. vi, 31) "the ark had rest." It was thence 
 transferred to the Temple (2 Chron, vi, 41, where observe, " Thou and the ark of 
 Thy strength "). It was regarded as in special equivalent to the effectual presence 
 of God: the (changeable) Dwelling being its " rest" or home. It was not the 
 Dwelling (i Sa. iv.), but the ark, that was at the head of Israel's marching 
 {e.g. Passage of the Jordan). It disappeared from the Temple, so as never more 
 to be seen, when Jerusalem was taken at the beginning of the Babylonish 
 captivity. 
 
 Note on "the ark" and "the mercy-seat."— This "ark," aron, has no 
 relationship to the floating ' ' ark, " tebha, of Noah and of Moses in the Nile. It 
 was simply an oblong quadrangular chest, for containing treasures (keimelia). 
 There is, as we shall see when we come to the Kapporeth ("mercy-seat"), a 
 theological as well as a scholarly interest in carefully distinguishing it from what 
 some have called its "lid '' — the Kapporeth slab of pure solid gold, with cherubim 
 rising from it, which was "placed upon" the ark. Let the reader closely observe 
 all through the history, whether that is anywhere spoken of as a "lid," or 
 whether anywhere there is one allusion to a "hd" of the ark, (Note on 
 the Kapporeth under ver. 17. ) 
 
 ID. The dimensions have no distinct significance; but the distinct specifi- 
 cation of them has, as a fact, the significance of showing that everything had 
 to be done according to divine prescription. Moses here is only a servant 
 (He. iii. 6) : "the master of the House" is God (He. iii. 4). Ii. Overlay 
 might mean gilding, at which the Egyptians were expert ; but the Jewish 
 tradition made it to be plating. Pure gold, abstractly most precious, could 
 be employed where strength was not in demand : it had the advantage of 
 beauty, preciousness, and (symbolically) perfect incorruptness of purity. 
 Crown: here, as in ver. 24, rim was a rim or moulding round the edge. 
 On the shewbread table, a raised rim could serve the useful purpose of 
 preventing articles from slipping off. But on the band in ver. 25, it could 
 
XXV. 17.] FURNISHINGS OF TABERNACLE. 9 1 
 
 1 2 round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, 
 and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall 
 be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. 
 
 13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay 
 
 14 them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings 
 by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. 
 
 15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be 
 
 16 taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony 
 
 1 7 which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy-seat 
 <2/"pure gold : two cubits and a \i2M shall be the length thereof, 
 
 be only for seemly ornamental finishing by Bezaleel. 12. Rings: not said 
 to be oi ptire gold. In hurried marching or on broken ground, the weight 
 of the aric and its contents might make a severe strain upon the rings : they 
 thus had need of a strengthening alloy. Four corners: ought to be rather, 
 four feet. These would be something like the "paws" which may be seen 
 as base of a heavy piece of furniture, keeping it off the ground. In Egyptian 
 representations a sacred ark may be seen carried shoulder high, for display 
 to the people, in processions. Israel's ark was carefully kept from view even 
 of the priests {invisible real presence). 13-15- Shall not — from it: to 
 prevent all human contact with the ark. The kind of sacredness thus 
 claimed for it was on occasion terribly asserted (l Sa. v., vi. tq ; 2 Sa. vi. 
 2-1 1). 16. The testimony here (xxxi. 18) is the Decalogue on its tables 
 (witnessing to God's holy hatred of sin). Whether the pot of manna, and 
 Aaron's rod that blossomed, were placed literally within the aron is con- 
 sidered under xl. 20. 17. Mercy-seat: on this we make a — 
 
 Note on the Kapporeth ("mercy-seat"). It was a solid slab of puve gold, 
 whose value Dr. Rawlinson estimates at ^^25,000 {Comni. on Exodus) ; and the 
 two cherubim, which arose from it, and overshadowed it with their wings, were 
 of the same material. It has been suggested, to the effect of belittling propitia- 
 tion and atonement in the Most Holy Place, that this was natively simply the 
 "lid" of the ark, applied to the purpose of a " seat" by a sort of logical after- 
 thought (as a sailor utilises his chest for a seat). This, though perpetrated by 
 "scholars," has nothing to do with real scholarship, A scholar adheres to his 
 book. And excepting in their imagination there is no trace of any significance 
 attached to the "lid" of this ark, nor allusion to its having had a lid. In the 
 statements as to the making, and correspondingly in the statements as to the 
 handling, the at-on and the Kapporeth uniformly appear as two distinct things : — • 
 the ark, as a thing that has been prepared for the Kapporeth, and the Kapporeth, 
 as being placed upo7i the ark, put into possession of its prepared base. (Thus, 
 xxvi. 34, xxix. 33, XXX. 6, xl. 20.) To a "lid," or even to a "seat," there is no 
 allusion in Scripture (though in the N. T. there is mention made of a "throne of 
 grace," He. iv. 16). The Heb. proper name of this thing, the "Kapporeth," 
 is remotely connected with a verb Kaphar, which occurs only in Gen. vi. 14, 
 where it means " to pitch or tar." It is immediately formed from kipper, a verb 
 which occurs more than seventy times in the O. T. , and always wltli the sole 
 meaning of "to pardon," or "to cover sin." So in i Chron. xxviii. "the 
 place of the mercy-seat" is in Heb. "house of the Kapporeth," which can 
 have no meaning except place of atonement. In the N. T,, following the Sept. 
 Version, the Greek for this Kapporeth is hilasterion, which means propitiation 
 (Ro. iii. 25) : either in the concrete, propitiatory seat or place ; or abstractly 
 (i Jn. ii. 3, iv. 10), the effect of propitiation of God through expiation of sin. 
 
92 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV. 1 8 
 
 18 and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt 
 make two cherubims ^gold, of beaten work shalt thou make 
 
 19 them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one 
 cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other 
 end ; even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubims on 
 
 20 the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth 
 their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, 
 and their faces shall look one to another ; toward the mercy- 
 
 21 seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put 
 the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt 
 
 22 put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will 
 meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above 
 the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are 
 
 The expiation of sin, as the way (He. x. 19-22) of propitiation of God, is most 
 powerfully exhibited in the symbolism of the atonement sacrifices {Kippurim, 
 Ex, XXX. 10), and illustrated by the manifestation of divine redeeming love 
 (Ex. xxxiv. 4-7) "over the Kapporeth," "between the cherubim." And it is 
 "fulfilled" in Christ, as seen by Moses and Elias (Lu. ix. 31, cp. i Pe. 10-12) 
 and other Christians (2 Co. iii. 18), as well as by the angels, which ' ' desire to 
 look into these things " (cp. Re. xxii. 1-3). The vulgar insipidity of turning the 
 Kapporeth into the hd of a chest has no ground in this noble simple history, nor 
 warrant in the glorious scriptural representations of the way of hfe in God, nor 
 shadow of real justification in "scholarship." Historically, its distinctive inspira- 
 tion has been antipathy to the gospel (2 Co. iv. 4). (See note on the whole 
 Tabernacle fabric, p. 82, etc.) 
 
 17. Two ctibits — thereof. This coincides with the dimensions of the upper 
 surface of the ark, which upon any view it was made to fit. 18. As to 
 the length of the cubit, see note on the whole Tabernacle (p. 82, etc. ). On 
 beaten gold, see under ver. 31. Cherubim: (plur, of cherub). Similar 
 figures on Egyptian monuments have only one wing so outstretched, the 
 other covering the side of the figure downward. The Mosaic arrangement 
 screened the face that looked down toward the Kapporeth (cp. Is. vi. 2). 
 The wings of both cherubim, stretched forth on high, and so covering the 
 Kapporeth, were a canopy, as of heaven above. The Kapporeth, corre- 
 spondingly, would be as that sapphire (xxiv. 10), like the very heaven, where 
 the "nobles" beheld the feet of the King. Here the KappSreth appears, 
 not as a "seat," but as footstool or standing-ground; where the King may 
 be as He was seen by Stephen (Act. vii. 55), and by John (Re. i. 10). 
 21. As to place of the KappSreth, see special note under ver. 17 ; and as to 
 place of the Decalogue, under ver. 16. 22. Meet : very important, as 
 representing the soul of the whole system. We therefore make it the subject 
 of special — 
 
 Note on tlie Tabernacle "meeting" (see under xxix. 3, note, 42, xxx. 7-11, 
 
 etc. ). — Our version has materially injured the history in Exodus by systematically 
 rendering as " tabernacle of the congregation" what ought to be made Tent Of 
 Meeting. The Hebrew word moed, appropriated for the proper name of 
 Jehovah's Dwelling, means meeting. The specific purpose of God's dwelling 
 among men was, that He might "meet with them." And now, in the innermost 
 shrine of that Dwelling, He shows precisely tlie spot of meeting, where He ' ' will, 
 
XXV. 26.] FURNISHINGS OF TABERNACLE. 93 
 
 Upon the ark of the testimony, of all timtgs which I will give 
 thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. 
 
 23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood : two cubits 
 shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, 
 
 24 and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt 
 overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold 
 
 25 round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an 
 hand-breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden 
 
 26 crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt 
 
 commune with" Israel through the mediator, namely, "from above the Kap- 
 poreth, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, 
 of all things which He will give [Moses] in commandment unto Israel." 
 Meeting God for communion with Him, and in particular receiving His command- 
 ments, was the "heaven on earth" which He gave to the "nobles" (xxiv. 9-11, 
 cp. vers. 4, 7), It is what Christ gives on earth through His ordinances 
 (Mat. xxviii. 18-20) ; and in the holy city, new Jerusalem, where the dewdrops 
 are crowned by the sunrise (Re. xxii. 5). 
 
 Table of Shewbread (23-30). We now have passed out of the Most Holy 
 into the Holy. This table is on the north side (right hand as one looks in from 
 the tent curtain-door). Right opposite it there is to be immediately mentioned 
 the Candlestick, as if looking upon it with seven eyes. The Altar of Incense, 
 which is to be placed in front of the veil that shall screen the Most Holy, is not 
 specified until farther on in this detail of direction. That, however (under 
 xxvi. 20, 35), does not imply that the Shewbread is the most honourable : the ark, 
 e.g., is prescribed for (ver. i, etc.) before greater things, — namely, the Tables of 
 Testimony, which gives the ark its name of significance, and the Kapporeth, to 
 which the ark subserves as a base. But in the Holy Place the Shewbread is 
 the distinctive thing ; it is the thing on which the light shines (ver. 37), from 
 which (Re. v. 8) the adoration of incense passes into the Most Holy, and to 
 which the priestly blessing comes from between the Cherubim over the Kapporeth. 
 The table itself is simply a table. It is significant only as being the table of 
 that bread. The Heb. name is Ht. "face-bread," or "bread-of-presence." 
 (In Mat. xii. 4 it is lit. "the presentation bread.") The distinction is not in 
 the bread, but in its being there presented before God, in His Holy Place, 
 according to His commandment. It represents the life of Israel consecrated 
 to Jehovah (Act. xxvi. 7). In these loaves we see the twelve tribes ' ' instantly 
 serving God day and night." Their consecrated life is sacrificial, priestly 
 (Ex. xix. 6, cp. I Pe. ii. 5). It is the thing in that Holy Place on which those 
 eyes are shining (He. iv. 12), with a light of holy oil drawn from the whole system 
 of the universe (see the spices coming from afar in Mat. ii. and He. ii. 10). 
 
 23-28. Of a'zV«^«j/^«j here, as under ver. 10. Oi gold, crozvn, rings, ettdstones, 
 see under vers. 11, 12, 13. The border in ver. 25 has likewise a crown, 
 which in this case can be only an ornamental finishing. On the Arch of 
 Titus at Rome (figures in Speaker'^s Commentary and in Bible Dictionaries), 
 representing his triumph over the taking of Jerusalem, there were some 
 figures representing Temple furnishings. Among others — the Shewbread 
 Table (but what shewbread table ?). And this shows a band or frafne 
 ("round about," ver. 25), about half-way down the legs, connecting them 
 together, and binding the whole Table into firm compactness. The " places 
 of the staves," "over against the border" (ver. 27), are the four "corner" 
 places (ver. 26), where that band or frame met the legs. This would be a 
 
94 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV. 27. 
 
 make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four 
 
 27 corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the 
 border shall the rings be for places of the staves, to bear the 
 
 28 table. And thou shalt make the staves ^shittim wood, and 
 overlay, them with gold, that the table may be borne with 
 
 29 them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons 
 thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover 
 
 30 withal : <?/'pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt 
 set upon the table shewbread before me alway. 
 
 31 And thou shalt make a candlestick ^pure gold : ^beaten 
 work shall the candlestick be made : his shaft, and his 
 
 suitable place for fixing the rings : men could conveniently by means of the 
 staves carry the table half-shoulder high. At ver. 28 there is no such pro- 
 hibition as at ver. 15 : the Table had not the unapproachable sacredness : it 
 meant only, maiis life. 29. From etymology and other side-lights, the 
 dishes are understood to have been, deep bowls for containing the " loaves." 
 (In Nu. vii. 13, etc., the word is made, not "dishes," but "chargers.") For 
 spoons here the Sept. has a Greek word meaning "incense cups;" and two 
 such things are shown on Titus' Arch (Rawlinson : Comm. on Ex. ). In Lev. 
 xxiv. 7, we see that, in fact, incense was placed on the shewbread table, to 
 be "on the bread for a memorial." Covers and boivls are in the Sept. made, 
 flagons and chalices ; correspondingly to which, to cover withal, would give 
 place to, to pour out withal (so in marg. ). The words and things are of a 
 sort so little in common use, that knowledge of the exact original of them is 
 now precarious and doubtful. But we see as a fact the great care that was 
 taken to have everything done precisely according to prescription. Beyond 
 that, the interest is only antiquarian. Canon Cook, whose judgment in this 
 branch of sacred learning is esteemed most highly, is of opinion that (cp. 
 under xxix. 33, 34) the Bible notices of the Shewbread Table furniture have 
 in them a trace of there having been a true "drink-offering" in the Service 
 of it. 30. The shewbread loaves had to be changed once a week on the 
 Sabbath (Lev. xxiv. 5-9) ; and (cp. Mat. xii. I, etc.) the bread could not be 
 lawfully eaten except by priests. The alway here corresponds to Paul's 
 "instantly, day and night" (Act. xxvi. 7). Israel's consecration of life was 
 to be ceaseless, perpetual. 
 
 The Candlestick (31-40). This completes the (present) Direction as to the 
 Holy Place ; and at the close of it there is repeated the prohibition, which was 
 delivered (ver. 9) at the close of the Direction as to the Most Holy. The Light, 
 on the south side, which (under xxvi. 18, 20) was the more honourable, was (ver. 
 37) placed so as to look straight across the room at the twelve loaves on that 
 Table, This would be all the more impressive if the seven lamps were as they 
 are shown on Titus' Arch, all on one level, as if seven men were in line, looking 
 across the room upon a priest. From the way in which here the branches 
 are described as in pairs springing from the stem, one in each pair at the 
 opposite side of the stem from another, it may be inferred that the lamps were 
 at least all in one plane ; that is to say, like the branches of a wall-tree, not like 
 the branches of a forest tree. Titus' Arch was only the representation which 
 a Roman artist chose to make of the Candlestick, which was not even one of 
 those made for Solomon's temple ; so that it leaves us far out of sight of the 
 one made by Bezaleel himself (xxxvii. i, 17) in the wilderness. In the elaboration 
 
XXV. 35-] FURNISHINGS OF TABERNACLE. 95 
 
 branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of 
 
 32 the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of 
 it ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and 
 
 33 three branches of the candlestick out of the other side : three 
 bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in 
 one branch ; and three bowls made like almonds in the other 
 branch, 7vith a knop and a flower : so in the six branches that 
 
 34 come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall 
 be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and 
 
 35 their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches 
 of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and 
 a knop under two branches of the same, according to the 
 
 of details there was room for the consecration of art in his person (xxxvi. i, etc. ) ; 
 but the exact specification, in multiplication of the triplet, bowl, knop, ondjlower, 
 shows that the "figure" as a whole must have been thoroughly to order of the 
 Divine Architect. 
 
 Note on bowl, knop, and flower. — The definiteness of the prescription as to 
 this ornamental triplet, when compared with the generality of the crown pre- 
 scription for the ark and the Shewbread Table, occasions at least curiosity. There 
 appear to have been four triplets for the stem or shaft, and additionally three for 
 every branch : — in all, 22. But what this ornament really was, cannot be made 
 out with conclusive clearness. The flower, when mentioned, always comes last, 
 and it ceases to be mentioned before the close of the Direction as to this matter. 
 The knop alone continues to be spoken of to the end. It seems to have been of a 
 bulbous form, in the bosom of a cahx or " cup," which is the bowl of our version. 
 This is a natural ornament in carving — e.g. representing the acorn in its "bowl," 
 which is a very pretty thing to a child on the forest border. What the ' ' flower '' 
 — somehow associated with a lily form — was, does not appear. It may have 
 been some sort of delicate sprig or leaf, such as could be shown in fine gold of a 
 sacred shrine, but might not be fitted for wind and weather in the coarse sculpture 
 of an open-air arch. The hght of revelation, in a perfection represented by the 
 sacred number seven (on which see under xxiii. 10-13), found in the seven- 
 branched candlestick (Re. iv. 5) a starting-point of symbolism, which it may 
 previously have made. Then, if a man receive illumination from heaven, he, being 
 rational and not dumb unless deaf, becomes an illuminator on earth (2 Co. iv. 6 ; 
 I Co. xi. 23). And the Community of those enlightened by that Spirit, whose hfe in 
 them is a sacred oil, are (i Ti. iii. 15) " the Church of the Living God, the pillar 
 and ground of the truth." But historically Bezaleel simply makes the Candlestick. 
 
 31. Observe that the Candlestick, like the Kapp5reth (under 10), is of 
 pure gold. Beaten work ; see under xxxii. 4, cp. Jud. xviii. 31, would be 
 cast as a flat plate (under xxxii. 4), to be rounded and otherwise finished 
 with hammer and graving tools. The cherubim, of beaten work, were 
 presumably hollow : the candlestick had to be so ; its branches being pipes 
 for oil. Of the same; that is, of the said "candlestick." Shaft, in this 
 verse, is the central stem, of which a prolongation constitutes the middle 
 "branch" (witness a larch fir-tree) between the two "threes." 32. Cajidle- 
 stick has in this verse come to be that middle stem from which the 
 branches are seen spreading three on each side. 33. For every branch, 
 three triplets. 34. Four triplets for the central stem. 35. Every stem 
 triplet shall be under the point from which a pair of branches spring, one on 
 each side (the last of the four will be the base of the lamp on the solitary 
 
g6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXV. 36. 
 
 $6 six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their 
 knops and their branches shall be of the same ; all of it s/ta/l 
 
 2i"j he one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the 
 seven lamps thereof; and they shall light the lamps thereof, 
 
 38 that they may give light over against it. And the tongs 
 thereof, and the snuff-dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 
 
 39 (9/" a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these 
 
 40 vessels. And look that thou make them after their pattern, 
 which was showed thee in the mount. 
 
 middle branch). 36. Of the sajne: that is, of the stem-" candlestick " in 36 : 
 — the ornaments are not to be stuccoed on ; but the stem itself is to be 
 ornamented in that form. 37 (see under xxvi. 35). It is an open question 
 (xxx. 8) whether the lamps were kept burning in the daylight. Ideally there 
 was no earthly sunlight in that Holy Place (Re, xxii. 5) : witness the Tent 
 door-curtains. Aaron's trimming the lamps in the evening did not imply 
 that they had not burned through the day : lamps have to be trimmed at 
 some time, as the foolish virgins will know by and by. Over against it : 
 opposite the shewbread table — which at this stage is the only thing existing 
 in that Place. Tongs: for handling the wick. Sttuff-dishes : for holding the 
 trimmings. See on our modern innovation under. Pti7'e gold : — see how 
 many times this is said here of the candlestick; and Exercise, — the Talent 
 being 93^ lbs. weight avoirdupois, find the value of the Candlestick gold at 
 £1, 15s. per oz. 
 
 XXVI. Structure of the Lord's House. — We employ this 
 general expression in order to be able to retain for distinct specific 
 use the word Dwelling for the Heb. mishkan (see note on the words 
 Sanctuary^ etc., p. 89). After the House was fairly erected, men 
 might somewhat loosely employ mishka7t as including precincts — 
 evei-ything connected with that Dwelling, of which there is some 
 appearance of beginning in the Exodus history (under xxvi. 9). But 
 in the actual structure the things are very distinct ; and the distinct- 
 ness of them is ordinarily kept clear by the historian in his discrimi- 
 nating use of the words mishkan (dwelling) and ohel (tent), which 
 our Version sadly confuses. 
 
 Note on the elevation of the structure. — We saw (note on whole Tabernacle, 
 p. 82, etc.) that the ground-plan ran into quadrangles. Ezekiel's vision, too, has 
 quadrangular measurements ; and John's new Jerusalem, the holy city, is four- 
 square. In the solid measurements of the elevation, likewise, everything about 
 the dwelling itself is rectangular. The tent we will suppose to have been a triangle ; 
 but it is found that a right angle at the roof, a natural and common form for a 
 tent, so as to be all but normal, is what will meet the test of requirements pre- 
 scribed by other conditions of the structure. We saw that the essential dwelling 
 (xxvi. I, 6) is constituted by one great cloth, such as Peter saw in his vision 
 (Act. X.). It embraces, as a dwelling, all within, forming roof and three sides. 
 In Exodus the "tent " and the wooden frame are quite clearly distinct from that 
 cloth dwelling of curtain-walls. But our Version has ' ' a covering zipon the 
 Tabernacle," instead of "a tent" that was " over it ; " as if this additional fabric 
 had been of the substance DwelHng, as the skin is of the substance the body ; 
 
XXVI.] 
 
 STRUCTURE OF TABERNACLE. 
 
 97 
 
 while it really is distinct from it as an umbrella is from a man it shields— or as a 
 shell is from a hermit crab. Again, the wooden fabric of boards/tr the Tabernacle 
 (ver. 15) is not the Dwelling, with that cloth as a tapestry or lining. It is a frame 
 for a cloth dwelling, from which it is distinct, as the frame of a balloon is distinct 
 from the balloon — or a shell from shell-fish. The goats' hair tent (ver. 14) has an 
 outer " covering" (in the Heb. a distinct word) of rams' skins ; as a wooden roof 
 may have an outer covering of slate or thatch. And again, another "covering" 
 (same Heb. as the rams' skins in ver. 14) is made of what our Version makes 
 badger skins — (R.V. seal skins). This seal-skin work is placed here in the 
 Direction presumably as belonging to that sort of work. But what it really is meant 
 to cover and protect is not the tent, whose red colouring (cp. " the redemption," 
 Eph. i. 7) it would conceal. It is for the Tabernacle, — to serve that one-cloth 
 dwelling by protecting its wooden frame ; as a man is served by a waterproof 
 overcoat that protects his coat. If we will utihze the homely illustration thus 
 suggested, then in that man (2 Co. v. i ; 2 Pe. i. 13, 14), (i) wearing a garment all 
 of one piece, which (2) is protected by a waterproof overcoat, — while (3) an 
 umbrella shields the whole, we see the Tabernacle fabric as including, (i) the 
 linen ''dwelling'''' (all of one piece), (2) the wooden //-aw^ (with seal-skin "cover- 
 ing"), and (3) the goats' hair ''tent" (with ram-skin "covering"), 
 
 ist. The Dwelling (1-6). "The tabernacle shall be one," R.V. of ver. 6. 
 At vers, i and 6, the beginning and the end of the Direction concerning this 
 one-cloth structure, it is made emphatically to be the Dwelling (shown by the 
 Hebrew definite article before mishkan, "dwelling" or tabernacle; see under 
 XXV. 8). The construction can 
 be shown in an Exercise on 
 Model, according to the accom- 
 panying figure, A B c D, of one 
 piece of paper, whose length is 
 to its breadth as 40 to 30, or as 
 4 to 3. \vi a d c b, 30 by 10, we ^ 
 have the roof of the Dwelling ; 
 the Holy Place at the east end, 
 20, and the Most Holy at the 
 west end, 10. For the north 
 and south cloth walls of the f 
 Dwelling, we have respectively 
 b B k a and c eg d. The actual 
 
 breadth of the great cloth, to ' ^ " 
 
 reach across as roof and down D ^ A C 
 
 as two side -walls, is, not 30 
 
 cubits, but 28. That leaves a cubit of space next the ground that is not reached 
 by the cloth side-walls, which are only each 9 cubits in height, and that space is 
 occupied as "wainscoting," by so much of the lower extremity of the wooden 
 board-frame overlaid with gold. So far as to the breadth of the great cloth. Of 
 the 40 cubits' length, 30 are required for the roof and side-walls, as we have seen. 
 The remaining 10 would (see under xxvi. 31-33), being allowed to fall perpen- 
 dicularly, furnish a west end wall, 9 
 
 40 cubits. 
 / 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 6' 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 
 H. H. : 
 
 H. p. 
 
 
 : IQ 
 
 20 
 
 ^: 
 
 cubits to the Holy of Holies, and 
 hanging of i cubit at the east end, 
 which had not this wall made by the 
 one great cloth, but a distinct provision 
 of curtain serving as a door or gate (the 
 "first veil" referred to in He. ix. 3). 
 The corner squares A e a k and D g df, 
 will, if d gc c and a b B k "b^ brought 
 downward into perpendicular of parallel 
 
 30 cubits. 
 
 u ' ^ 
 
 cubit. 
 
 H, P. 
 
 <^d 
 
 The 40 cubits' length. 
 
98 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVI. I. 
 
 Chap. XXVI. i. Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with 
 ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and 
 scarlet : with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make 
 
 2 them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty 
 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits : and every 
 
 3 one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains 
 shall be coupled together one to another; and other five 
 
 walls from the roof abed, fold behind the west end, as shown in the figure. Mr. 
 Gillies says that they were otherwise disposed of. We do not j 
 
 say, No. The back of the cloth would be concealed, all along the 
 three sides of Dwelling, by the envelope of wooden frame. The 
 face of the cloth wall appearing inside of the Dwelling, would 
 show only, on the white linen ground the " cherubic " ornamenta- 
 tion, which was inwrought into all the " breadths " (' ' curtains ") : 
 there would thus be the same aspect everywhere, of roof and three 
 sides, until there came to be the veil between the HoUest and the 
 Holy. 
 
 Note on the minute antiquities.— It is said that human literature has no 
 parallel, in a national history, to the full detailed exactness of the Exodus descrip- 
 tion of the Tabernacle. But— we saw— as this and that particular thing may 
 fall out of human use and knowledge, it is sometimes difficult or impossible to 
 understand the description of it. Thus in Homer the harnessing of a mule is 
 very difficult for modern scholars ; and the dressing of a lady— Juno— arming for 
 conquest, is perhaps impossible. But some things can be understood by rightly 
 trying. The above exercise can be done by a child, not using knife or scissors, 
 with its fingers. If some high-sounding "scholars" had practised it in infancy, 
 students of Scripture would have been spared a good deal of confused writing 
 about the Tabernacle. 
 
 I. Observe in vers, i and 6, the mishkan is (under xxv. 8) decisively 
 made of the one great cloth (R.V. "the tabernacle shall be one"). 
 Curtains are the "breadths" into which the cloth was woven. Five w^ere 
 permanently united into a half-tabernacle, and five into another; to join the 
 two together into the one great cloth was the use of the _ loops and taches 
 along the two edges where they were joined. This division of the cloth 
 into two would be convenient for handling and packing it. Twined liiien 
 was linen of which every thread consisted of several strands twisted into one 
 by spinning, like stocking yarn : everything about the dwelling, from the 
 pure gold downward, was to be the best of its kind. So the cherubic 
 ornamentation, which for the (outside) curtains of tent-door and court-gate 
 were to be only done with the needle (embroidery), was for the dwelling to be 
 inwrought into the cloth at the loom. Hence this was to be of cunning 
 work, lit. work of the skilful ("expert" weaver) (Paisley shawls on the 
 Jacquard loom were thus the work of a distinct craft from common weavers). 
 2. Every measure : of the lo "breadths," every one shall be 28 cubits long 
 (and 4 broad). 3. The five curtains: there were thus to be made up the 
 two half-tabernacles, in whose union ^' the Tabernacle shall be one"" (R.V.). 
 4-6. See the above note on ininute antiquities. It is admitted that our 
 version fairly gives the substance of the sense, such as it has to be. But the 
 words here are confusing, unless we mentally see the thing : which, in the 
 opinion of an architect (Fergusson) who has greatly studied the subject, must 
 have been before the bodily eyes of the writer of the Exodus description. 
 
XXVI. 6.] STRUCTURE OF TABERNACLE. 
 
 99 
 
 4 curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt 
 make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from 
 the selvedge in the coupling ; and likewise shalt thou make 
 in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of 
 
 5 the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, 
 and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that 
 is in the coupling of the second ; that the loops may take 
 
 6 hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of 
 gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches ; and 
 it shall be one tabernacle. 
 
 Note on the "coupling." — Whenever, say, after a day's march, the Dwelling 
 had to be "reared up," the two half-tabernacles were made into "one" by means 
 of loops and taches. Along the edge of each half, where the junction ( " coupling ") 
 was to be made, there were fifty loops ; and there were fifty taches for holding 
 these fifty pairs of loops together. Tache means clasp. The clasp in this case 
 would be some sort of double hook, like the letter 5, lay hold of a loop at each 
 end of it, and so attaching the one half-tabernacle together at the selvedge. 
 Fifty clasps uniting fifty pairs of loops would make a point of junction at every 
 f |th cubit's distance across the whole tabernacle, from base to base of the two 
 walls and along the roof. 
 
 The Heb. word for loops here occurs only in connexion with this one 
 thing, here and at xxxvi. ii, 12. The wool here shows that the tabernacle, 
 "blue, purple, and scarlet," were not simply colours, but coloured yarn. 
 Canon Cook notes {Speak. Com?n.) that the Heb. for tache here "is used 
 only in reference to the taches of the tabernacle-cloth and of the tent-cloth 
 of the sanctuary," while the word for hook (different) is used "only in 
 reference to the hooks of the veil and of the tent curtain " (proof of historical 
 reality). 
 
 and, The tent over the Dwelling (7-14). (See note on the elevation, p. 96). 
 The Heb. ohel is the appropriate word for ' ' tent " in the ordinary sense of that 
 term. It is a distinct word from that for (ordinary) "covering" {mikseh) in 
 ver. 14, which again is distinct from the peculiar "covering" (sin-pardoning) 
 meant by Kapporeth. A "tent" (as figured by Mr. Gillies, Appendix, and by 
 Canon Cook, Speak. Co7?ttn.), though really distinct from the Dwelling, would 
 from the outside appear as if it had been the Dwelling : like the roof of a 
 " frame" house with eaves extending down so as to make a verandah. So to the 
 Israehte the conspicuous thing from the outside would be the red -coloured 
 ram-skin outer covering of the sloping roof of the tent : the skin being inside, in 
 contact with the goats' hair cloth of the tent ; while outside, in view of men, was 
 the coloured^ fleece. An Israelite would not regard that as the dwelling it shielded. 
 As to the " seal-skin" covering over the goats' hair tent, it would be of no use ; 
 and would conceal the coloured ram-skin covering, manifestly made to be 
 seen. But Mr. Gillies places us in light here. The skin of any such type 
 of marine animal, as a plaster on the face of the wall, and an oil-skin reaching 
 across the linen roof, would serve an important purpose of protection even 
 to the wooden frame, and still more to the delicate roof of the Dwelling, 
 which otherwise had nothing between it and the hollow space below the 
 tent, Mr. Gillies' suggestion that the colour of the seal-skin tent might be 
 bluish, has (like the Bible) a Calvinistic Presbyterian look ; but it also has a basis 
 in natural history of the phoca ; and a string of blue to hold on by, ver. 4, not to 
 
lOO THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVI. 7. 
 
 7 And thou shalt make curtains ^/goats' hair to be a cover- 
 ing upon the tabernacle : eleven curtains shalt thou make. 
 
 8 The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the 
 breadth of one curtain four cubits : and the eleven curtains 
 
 9 shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five 
 curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and 
 shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the taber- 
 
 10 nacle. x\nd thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the 
 one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in 
 
 mention a lace of blue on the breastplate of the high priest, and a precedence 
 given to blue in the naming of the colours. Moreover, the Sept. Version here has 
 blue expressly — "blue skins" (Gr. hyacinthine). 
 
 7, 8. Eleven curtains: with the same single breadth as in vers, i, 2, this 
 gives us 44 cubits here in place of the 40 there ; and here 30 cubits are 
 expressly given instead of the 28 there (see under ver. 13). 9-1 1. Here one 
 of the halves is to contain six breadths. Of these the sixth is to be disposed 
 of by being "doubled in forefront of the Tabernacle" (mistranslation for 
 " tent, " see initial note here). This " doubling " has much perplexed men. 
 Mr. Gillies finds extrication in simply accepting the Bible fact of "doubling" 
 in the sense of making into two (half-breadths). ^Vhereupon the verse is 
 found to be not only consistent with his general view of the Tabernacle 
 structure, but demanded by it (incidental evidence of "undesigned coin- 
 cidence," which makes a very good species of proof of the view). Namely, 
 as follows : — If at ver. 9 we make two half-curtains, and expand one of them 
 as directed "on the forefront," then we shall be able to provide that 
 half-curtain which is so imperiously called for at ver. 12, "the remnant that 
 remaineth," "the half-curtain," "to hang over the back-%\^^ of the Tabernacle." 
 (In ver. 13, "a cubit" ought to be "//z^ cubit.") The 40 cubits (44 minus 
 4) remaining of the goats' hair cloth will give (beyond 30 cubits' length of 
 dwelling it screens) 5 cubits for a verandah covering both at the back and at 
 the front (while 5 cubits of covered verandah is what, as we shall see, will 
 result to each of the two sides, north and south, from 30 cubits of a tent 
 breadth disposed in the customary form of a tent, rectangular at ridge, with 
 a height of 15 cubits). 
 
 Note on the number five. (See note on thumb under xxix. 20 ; and on 
 dividing the Ten Words into 5's in initial note to xx.) Here it again comes to 
 the front remarkably. Here is the most remarkable of what we will call its 
 "apparations." Mr. Gillies observes that on both sides of the tent there is a 
 space that has not yet been utilised : the tent ropes will carry us 10 cubits beyond 
 the verandah toward the court enclosure or fence. But that leaves us with 
 
 10 cubits beyond the tent-pegs, between them and that fence. Now, the tent 
 pillars require, all along the sides, 5 cubits for their stays like tent ropes. Thus, 
 along the side, between the verandah and the court-fence, there is left for 
 perambulation a clear space of 5 cubits. And, lo ! it now breaks in upon us, that 
 the whole 50 cubits of form are thus (see Mr. Gillies' figure. No. 3) parcelled out 
 completely into spaces of 5 cubits each. We remember also that the super- 
 ficial measurements of the elevation, including the great cloth, all ran into 
 "multiples" of 5. And this last discovery now awakens us to the fact that the 
 inevitable number 5 is all-pervasive, in command of everything above us and 
 around us ; as in the torrid zone the voyager, at eve, is suddenly aware that the 
 
XXVI. 14-] STRUCTURE OF TABERNACLE. TOl 
 
 1 1 the edge of the curtain which coiipleth the second. And thou 
 shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the 
 loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 
 
 1 2 And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, 
 the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the back side 
 
 13 of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit 
 on the other side, of that which remaineth in the length of the 
 curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the taber- 
 
 14 nacle on this side, and on that side, to cover it. And thou 
 shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, 
 and a covering above of badgers' skins. 
 
 universe is full of stars. (The thumb is specially consecrated, see under xxix. 20.) 
 That is, the symbol of man's rational activity on earth, — he is the only "hand" 
 employed by the Architect of the universe. And the hand has Jive fingers. As 
 to the Architect Himself (He. iii. 4), His style is shown by the fact that ''five is 
 the model number of the highest class of plants," M'Cosh and Dickie, Typical 
 Forms in Nature. Query, — Is there any thumb which makes a true hand in the 
 universe but man's ?) 
 
 1 1. The brass here is bronze (under xxv. 3), the cloth is coarse goats' hair, 
 and the cherubic ornamentation of the gate-curtain is not woven at the loom, 
 but put in with the needle ("tambouring"). That is to say, here we are 
 outside, in the common air, not within Jehovah's dwelling ; so that here 
 everything is, though good of its own kind, yet not the superlative kind of 
 thing that alone is to be seen there. 12. Here is that loud and urgent call, 
 which we were never able to answer at ver. 9, finding that " remnant " which 
 had been lost there through mistranslation. 13. There we glanced at the 
 fact that "a cubit" in this verse ought to be "the cubit" (so in R.V.). 
 What is wanted is a "drop" of a cubit from the top, to screen the dwelling 
 from eyes profanely prying over the court fence curtain wall. That is 
 provided (see under vers. 31-37) for the front of Tabernacle, in the spare 
 cubit of its 40 cubits' length. What here is meant by '■^ the cubit " is furnished 
 by the 30 cubits' breadth of goats' hair covering of the tent. It is mathe- 
 matically demonstrable that a rectangular tent covering, with ridge 15 cubits 
 high, and sides reaching to within 5 cubits of the ground, will be almost 
 exactly 14 cubits of breadth on each side ; thus leaving the required 2 cubits 
 out of the 30. A small matter of this sort may be very great as proof. 
 The hero King of Ithaca, returning after twenty years of absence in disguise 
 of an aged beggar, was detected by the old nurse when, in bathing 
 himself, she saw that scar which he had received from the boar's tusk in 
 his boyhood, when visiting his grandfather, the royal robber Autolycus. 
 14. Regarding the place and use of this "covering," see above, note on 
 Elevation; and regarding the thing mistranslated "badger skin," see under 
 xxv. 8. Above, in this verse, is by A.V. made quite unaccountable by 
 mistranslation, with misapprehension of the use of the covering. Upon 
 Mr. Gillies' view that the seal-skin covering is the waterproof envelope of the 
 dwelling, the emphatic "over all" of the Heb. description becomes clear. 
 Enveloping the whole dwelling when erected, it could at other times be 
 utilised for covering the waggons on the march, like the tarpaulin thrown 
 
I02 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVI. 1 5. 
 
 15 And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle ^shittim 
 
 16 wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, 
 and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. 
 
 17 Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one 
 against another : thus shalt thou make for all the boards of 
 
 18 the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the 
 
 19 tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. And 
 
 over goods on board ship, or the oil-cloth similarly used on a carrier's 
 van. 
 
 3rd, The wooden frame (15-30). This has been the grand crux of con- 
 structors. Mr. Gillies' expiscation of the matter leaves us nothing to do, but to 
 admire while making use of this fine sample of inductive ascertainment. 
 
 Those acquainted with wooden "frame" buildings will see that a dwelHng 
 45 feet long by 15 broad and 15 high, made of compactly united 9-inch beams or 
 planks, or "boards" of a wood like hickory, must be indeed very strong. And 
 here again Mr. GiUies not only overcomes the difficulty, but brings honey out of 
 the lion. The extra cubit at each end, beyond the 10 cubits' breadth of the 
 Dwelling, is found not only to be consistent with his view of the Tabernacle 
 structure as a whole, but in effect to be required by it (which, again, is a strong 
 proof of the view). And besides, in showing us those two extra cubits as 
 resulting in a provision for morticing or otherwise fixing the horizontal bars 
 (at least the middle one) to those corner pillars (we may call them), he enables us 
 to see that the whole fabric was compact as if coopered with steel hoops or 
 girders, very different in cogency from the " undergirding '" of those "wooden 
 walls" which once enclosed another tabernacle, very precious (2 Co. v. i). And 
 the inquiry, pertinaciously thorough, throws a like strong light on the very basis 
 (Ps. xix. 4), of tenons in their silver sockets. This we are bound to say here, 
 because here our notes are only small change of copper for Mr. Gillies' silver and 
 gold. 
 
 15. As to the rare Heb. word here for "boards," Mr. Gillies points to the 
 fact of its not being that for " boards " of the Ark in xxv. 8 (made " planks " 
 by the R.V.), while it is the same as that for " boards " in xxxvi. 20 (where 
 again the reference is to this wooden frame), and it is used in reference to 
 no other structure in the O. T. but the " benches " of Ezek. xxvii. 6, where 
 it is intended to represent great strength of cross-beams of a ship. (On 
 Shittim, under xxv. 5.) 17. 7;^ d?rt/i??- (see under xxvii. 33): here symmetri- 
 cally and systematically ; board on one side corresponding with board on the 
 other, in respect even of the sockets and their tenons. These tenons (lit. 
 "hands") may have been part of the board or plank itself, or they may have 
 been fixed into it (the specifications omit details that are commonplace in 
 use and wont of the kind of work in question). The weight of the silver 
 sockets, 93 lbs. each (under xxxviii. 27), shows that they could be made into 
 what would serve as a "stay " foundation for the whole framework of wooden 
 wall, with sockets formed in them (the Heb. word is only general in its 
 native meaning = base) as in the top of the leg of a " telescope " table — two 
 for every pillar. The alternative is, that they simply were the sockets, fixed 
 solidly in the ground, for protection of the shittim-wood, — for which there is 
 no evidence. 18. The peculiar turn of geographical expression here is by 
 Keil and Delitzsch {Com?n. Ex.) regarded as implying that negeb (" the dry ") 
 was only beginning to be used as an appropriate name for * ' the south, " and 
 
XXVI. 25-] STRUCTURE OF TABERNACLE. IO3 
 
 thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty 
 boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, 
 and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 
 
 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, 
 
 2 1 there shall he twenty boards, and their forty sockets of silver : 
 two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another 
 
 22 board. And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou 
 
 23 shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for 
 
 24 the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they 
 shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled 
 together above the head of it unto one ring : thus shall it be 
 
 25 for them both ; they shall be for the two corners. And they 
 shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen 
 sockets ; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under 
 another board. 
 
 that the accompanying expression ("right hand") was added as explanation 
 ("the negeby — that is to say, the south"). This they claim as incidental 
 evidence of primaeval authorship of the description (cp. on strange original 
 face, Introd. p. 29). As to Heb. ("right hand") south: the Tabernacle 
 always faced eastward. The manner of expression here makes the reader 
 place himself mentally so facing. And Canon Cook suggests that the purpose 
 of the double direction was to prevent an Israelite from mentally facing 
 westward^ as he naturally might do, as looking at the Tabernacle front. 
 This too would make a presumption in favour of primaeval authorship. 
 Further — 20. Second — north. Evidently (cp. vers. 18, 22) the Hebrews are 
 here being taught {prientiren') to place rightly this habit of looking at matters, 
 to adjust the compass of their minds at this outset of their eventful voyage 
 through time. The south, as (in that hemisphere) the region of the sun, was 
 deemed the more honourable (of which same feeling there is a trace in the 
 use of the Scottish Gaelic word deas ("right hand") for south — with an 
 association of auspiciousness). In the Dwelling the more honourable side was 
 given to the candlestick, with its "lamps of God." 22-25. ^^^^ here; we 
 now would say back (under xxvii. 27). 
 
 Note on the two corner back boards. — Learned men have been troubled 
 here. They have tried to get rid of 2 cubits, which these two planks or boards 
 make the back wall to extend beyond 10 cubits. Mr. Gillies, as usual, does not 
 need to get rid of a fact. On the contrary, he needs it. He shows clearly, not 
 only that the two corner boards have a right to exist, but that they have a really 
 important office distinctively their own. Upon Mr. Gillies' view of the subject, 
 that office comes to seek them. i. From the court enclosure data he finds, that 
 the thickness of a pillar "board " or plank is | a cubit. Hence the end wall, in 
 order to reach as far as the outside of the side walls, has to be (io-(- i) = n cubits 
 long. 2. The remaining cubit of the 12, made up by the end boards or 
 planks, is required thus : at each corner \ cubit for projection of the silver socket 
 beyond the wood at base ; and \ cubit clear beyond the western extremity of the 
 side walls, to support the cross bars which reach along the side walls from end to 
 end,— ^.^. the middle bar to be morticed into the \ cubit of corner pillar thus 
 
I04 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVI. 26. 
 
 26 And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood : five for the 
 
 27 boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the 
 boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for 
 
 ready for it. The effect of this for the whole fabric would be as of a buttress and 
 keystone to an arch. In the nomadic "palace of the king " it is compactness, 
 with light elastic firmness, that maketh strength, where dead weight of bulkiness 
 might be weakness ; in stormy Orcadian weather, when an ironclad man-of-war 
 will not dare to look out of harbour, a fishing smack will dart hither and thither 
 among the islands, like a sea-bird. The corner pillar is thus to that Dwelling as 
 the "roof-tree" (as to which, in the palace of Ithaca, Odysseus inquires on his 
 return from Troy). Hence the expression, "they shall be for the two corners," 
 is, far from truism, like naming them Jachin and Boaz. 3. The whole relevant 
 lear?ting goes into a nut-shell ; happily, for what is wanted is sense. The key 
 word when by the A.V. made "coupled," makes unintelligibility ; nor is the 
 matter much mended by the R.V. making it "be doubled." But the marg. has 
 "twinned," — and thereby hangs a tale. The Heb. word occurs only here 
 (including xxxvi. 29) and twice in the Song of Songs, where it is made, "have 
 twins,'' or "bear twins.'' Well, let it here be, " those pillars shall be twins" — 
 "a pair of them," — Jachin and 'Qoa.z— par nobile fratrum, both alike conform- 
 ing to the type of their six brethren. But how far? Not, as the A.V. hath it, 
 "unto one ring," which again makes unintelligibility; but, as far as the first 
 ring (unto ring No. i). That is — we will suppose — as far as the highest of the 
 rings, that by which the topmost bar is attached to the side wall. And why so 
 far? And only so far? Because so far, and only so far, Jachin and Boaz can 
 continue to be " twinned," conforming to the family type. For here, if they go 
 any farther, they will jut up into an angle of rugged sharpness, where the goat- 
 skin tent has need of stretching smooth and evenly as a roof. They thus have 
 to be planed out of angularity into evenness, with the rest of the fabric ; and 
 Mr. Gillies, out of the nettle danger, hath plucked the flower safety. 
 
 4th, Completion of the Dwelling (26-37). The Altar of Incense (initial note 
 on XXV. 1-9) is not prescribed for until a later stage, after the directions regarding 
 sacrificial and priestly apparatus. Otherwise we have here, besides the finishing 
 touch of the bars, a completed dwelling, in readiness for being raised up 
 (ver, 30) as a tent. When we now place ourselves within the Holy, we mark two 
 new features, which give a character to the aspect of the whole we look lapon. 
 I. The Holy Place now is virtually closed at both extremities, so as to be an inacces- 
 sible shrine, that can be entered only through privileged initiation. This is by means 
 of what in He. ix. 3 is by implication described as the two veils ; though "the 
 veil " of the Most Holy was of a specifically different character from the tent 
 door-curtain. 2. The eye would more be struck with a departure thus created, 
 from the uniformity of aspect which the walls must have presented as first made 
 (or seen with the mind's eye). What now meets the eye, at each extremity of the 
 Holy Place, is not the ornamented white cloth of the sides and roof, but a row of 
 pillars, between us and a curtain which the pillars sustain. Mr. Gillies, who 
 always sees things, shows that the pillars of the veil of the Holiest must have 
 stood on the outer side (our side) of that veil ; inasmuch as the priests were 
 bound, in their handling of the veil, always to have it between them and Jehovah's 
 throne over the Kapporeth ; and shows also that a good purpose was served by 
 having the pillars of the tent door-curtain similarly placed, — the purpose, namely, 
 of preventing the curtains from being blown in upon the candlestick and shew- 
 bread. 3. However, those two new features, so powerfully affecting the character 
 of the whole aspect of the Dwelling, were essentially like the shining face of Moses, 
 
XXVI. 3I-] 
 
 STRUCTURE OF TABERNACLE. 
 
 105 
 
 the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides 
 
 28 westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards 
 
 29 shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the 
 boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for 
 
 30 the bars : and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And 
 thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion 
 thereof which was showed thee in the mount. 
 
 31 And thou shalt make a vail ^blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 and fine twined linen, of cunning work : with cherubims shall 
 
 features of attraction and invitation. For they were essentially of the nature of a 
 door, 2l lawful way (Jn. x. 1,2, etc.) into that presence of God which is hfe. We 
 see in the Psalms that, as the hart after the water-brooks, so the soul was drawn 
 by that symbolism into a ceaseless longing after that which is behind the veil. 
 And while they thus created hunger and thirsting, they at the same time fed ; 
 through sustenance of that faith which (He. xi. i) is " the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 
 
 The Bars, 26-30. 
 
 immiiinmiimi 
 
 nuiinniiininmiiiiiiniiiHiimi 
 
 
 iimiiiiniiiiiim 
 
 'iiiniiiiiiifiiim 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
 
 I*' R., at the upper comer. 
 
 Our detailed notes here may be highly elliptical. 
 The middle bar alone 
 may have reached from 
 end to end of a side 
 wall or of the back x^R, 
 (under xxvii. 33). Two 
 bars reaching half-way 
 would, along with the m. 
 middle bar, cause 
 every plank in that 
 half length of the wall 
 to be kept in its place 
 by three bars, as well 
 as by the two sockets 
 at its base. The side of the wooden frame would thus consist of two com- 
 partments, like the two parts of a door or gate meeting in the middle ; and 
 the middle bar would be as the lock or bolt, to unite the two compartments 
 into one side wall. These middle bars, firmly attached, say by morticing, to 
 the corner pillars, would bind the whole fabric into unity. The half-way 
 pillars are like the secondary ribs in basket work. The middle bar has the 
 effect of a "chief corner-stone," vv^hich holds the house together by being 
 built into the two walls meeting in the angle. The whole would thus be all 
 of one piece, *' light as a basket," and strong as a tower of steel. The 
 basket frame would be outside, like the skeleton of a crab. But that would 
 be concealed by the seal-skin envelope over all. The inside of the wooden 
 frame, supporting the linen Dwelling, would be smooth,— continuous as a 
 plaster-wall supporting paper or tapestry. On the materials here, see 
 under xxv. 3-5. 
 
 2. The Veil (31-37). This is the veil : paroketh. As to the word for 
 
 lo R. at the upper corner of c p. (corner pillar), shows where Jachin and Boaz are 
 
 "twinned." 
 
lo6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXVI. 32. 
 
 32 it be made : and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of 
 shittim wood overlaid with gold : their hooks shall be of gold, 
 upon the four sockets of silver. 
 
 33 And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that 
 thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the 
 testimony : and the vail shall divide unto you between the 
 
 34 \\o\^ place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy- 
 seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. 
 
 35 And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candle- 
 stick over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle 
 toward the south : and thou shalt put the table on the north 
 
 hooks here, see under ver. 10. Hang is commentary : the Heb. word is = 
 place. As to workmanship, here first-class, see under ver. i. Under the 
 taches. The word for taches being unique (under vex\ ii), shows that the 
 veil was right under that thing, in the "coupling" of the two half-taber- 
 nacles. This corroborates what is otherwise ascertained by Mr. Gillies the 
 sleepless ; coinciding as it does with the view (under ver. 13, and initial 
 note on the Dwelling, xxvi.) that the veil pillars were 1 1 cubits distant from 
 the back wall of the Holiest. Hence, the 20 cubits of half-tabernacle cloth, 
 at the west end of the Dwelling, would, when let down as back wall of the 
 Holiest, reach only to within a cubit of ^ ^ 21 
 
 the ground. It would thus in this re- ■ j ^.^^^ 
 
 spect be uniform with the side walls, to 
 which the 28 cubits afforded only 9 each 
 from the roof. And at the east end of 
 the Dwelling there would, of the 40 ., , ... 
 
 cubits, be i cubit to spare for a hanging ^ ^^^^- ^ P^|'^^- 
 at the front (east face) of Dwelling ; as we saw that I cubit of similar hanging 
 along the side walls was afforded by the 30 cubits {minus 28) of the goats' 
 hair covering of the tent (under xxv. 13). The minute exact adjustments, 
 thus coming in search of recognition, are the strongest possible proof of the 
 general view in whose light they disclose themselves. A falling apple is a 
 small matter — to a savage ; to a Newton, it is universal gravitation. 
 
 3. Furniture of the two places (34, 35). Mercy -seat: see note on 
 the Kapporeth, xxv. 17. Here observe, in the manner of representation, 
 that the Kapporeth was not a mere lid of the ark, but that the ark was a 
 prepared base of the Kapporeth. Here the ark plainly is regarded and 
 treated as already in existence, a completed thing, before the Kapporeth 
 comes upon that completed thing (as the Lord shall suddenly appear in His 
 temple). The notion of a box that is waiting for its lid is quite out of keeping 
 with the representation of the ark here, as distinctly as is the imagination, 
 that the Kapporeth is the lid of a box that has (logically) been turned into a 
 seat — as if Robinson Crusoe had been making the most of his savings from 
 the wreck. " The Table." Manifestly the purpose now is, not to introduce 
 that Table to man's knowledge, but to assign to it, a known thing, its due 
 true place. That place (under ver. 20), though honourable, is not the first 
 in the Sanctuary. There (Ge. i. 3) the first place is held by that Revelation 
 
 H. 
 
 H. p. 
 
XXVI. 37-] THE ALTAR AND COURT. I07 
 
 36 side. And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the 
 tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, 
 
 37 wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the 
 hanging five pillars of shittim wood^ and overlay them with 
 gold, and their hooks shall be of gold : and thou shalt cast 
 five sockets of brass for them. 
 
 (Jn. i. I) which watches (He. iv, 12) the consecration of the people's hfe, 
 with eyes which are as a flame of fire (Re. i. 12-15). 
 
 4. Door curtain of the tent (36, 37). In the representation of Canon 
 Cook, adopted from Mr. Fergusson, the front pillars, framework of this 
 "door," are (unwarrantably) placed 5 cubits forward from the Dwelling, 
 instead of being on east end (all "door") of the Dwelling itself (see Mr. 
 Gillies' notes). The Heb. word for door has the general meaning of opening 
 {e.g. into a house or tent). The English word has thus to be used somewhat 
 freely as a general expression. The nature of the particular thing has to be 
 gathered from the description of it and the use assigned to that thing. Here 
 the description is somewhat vague. Nor are we much assisted with details 
 by the description (xxvii. 16) of the court curtain gate (on which Mr. Gillies' 
 notes are peculiarly interesting as well as instructive). The workmanship 
 here (under ver. 11) is second-class : only embroidery with needle (Keil 
 and Delitzsch hold that it is not even that, but a sort of striped cloth — " loud " 
 colours). The material, too, is inferior : brass (bronze), not silver ; and goats' 
 hair, not fine twined linen. That is to say (silently), This is not Jehovah's 
 DwelHng, but only its tent "covering." (Note on zvords, under xxv. 7.) — 
 The court gate, right opposite, is precisely the breadth— 20 cubits — of the 
 whole verandah front of this tent (see it in Mr. Gillies' figure. No. 3). There 
 are five pillars of the tent gate. That would make four spaces of 5 cubits 
 each. The two middle spaces — 10 cubits — are thus precisely the whole 
 breadth of the Dwelling, which is five cubits back from the verandah front, 
 and right opposite that 10 cubit middle space of that front. A curtain in 
 that middle space, of 10 cubits high (as well as 10 broad), thus was in effect 
 as an east wall for the Dwelling, which otherwise has no screen between the 
 Holy Place and the open-air court. The curtains if placed outside of the 
 pillars would by these be kept from being blown in upon the candlestick 
 and shewbread (cp. under xxvii. 10). It is supposed that the curtains may 
 have been fitted to draw up. It is known that the supporting pillars were 
 somehow connected by what our Version makes " fillets" — now understood 
 to be connecting rods ; and, that they were gilded at the top (xxxvi. 38). 
 Observe that Mr. Gillies, an expert tent-builder, does not, like Canon Cook 
 and Mr. Fergusson, make any pillar differ from the (10 cubits) height of 
 the Tabernacle, but the middle one (15 cubits), which alone he wants for 
 a tent. 
 
 The Altar and the Court (xxvii.). With us the place of wor- 
 ship is for a congregation's accommodation. In heathen lands the 
 temple is the residence of a god, to which men go (Mat. ii.) as to the 
 palace of a king. Israel's tent and Temple were the Dwelling of 
 
Io8 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVII. I. 
 
 Chap. XXVII. i. And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, 
 five cubits long, and five cubits broad : the altar shall be 
 four-square : and the height thereof shall be three cubits. 
 
 " the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God." A court 
 (" close," " precincts "), such as we now find here prescribed, was a 
 natural adjunct to the residence of deity. To that the people could 
 come ; there the sacrifice might be offered : — within the House of 
 God they could not be offered with propriety and convenience. In 
 Israel, while only the High Priest could enter the Holiest (He. 
 iv. 14-16), the Holy Place could be entered only by the priests. But 
 the people of God, though not official priests, could enter the Court. 
 Here was the fundamental public worship of the nation. But it was 
 the nation (priestly, Ex. xix. 6) through its representative (He. ii. 13), 
 the individual Israelite as well as the collective Israel (Re. xxii. 17), 
 that entered the Holy Place daily in the common priesthood, and 
 that in the High Priest went into the Most Holy on the Day of 
 Atonement (Mat. xxvii. 51 ; 2 Co. iii. 18 ; He. x. 19-22). 
 
 ist, The Altar (1-8). This is the first appearance of an altar as an abiding 
 institution : heretofore an ahar arose on occasion when sacrifice was to be offered 
 (see first since Jacob's time in ocvii. 14-16). In ver. i the Heb. is " the altar." 
 There was to be only one altar ; and the place of it was to be only (indicated 
 divinely) where Jehovah had placed His name (xx. 24) — a principle (see the 
 reasons for it under xx. 24, 25) of which the permissible application may not have 
 been rigidly stereotyped : — hence we now cannot reason from particular cases, 
 which may really be unintelligible to us. The word for altar here is first em- 
 ployed (Ge. viii.) for that on which Noah sacrificed after the flood. By use and 
 wont it has (under iii. 18) the appropriate meaning of, place for bleeding sacrifice. 
 This particular altar of the nation — "tkealisiv" — was notoriously for no other 
 purpose : " the altar of burnt-sacriflce " was its proper name (the horns of the 
 altar of incense, too, were smeared with blood of sacrifice). What is thus set 
 forth in the altar service is not vaguely deliverance from sin in any sense (of the 
 lost sheep, or lost piece of money). The laver provided for that in the sense of 
 deliverance from sin as pollution, cleansing the affections. What the altar 
 sacrifice meant was, deliverance from co7idenination (Ro. viii. i, v. 12-20 ; He. 
 X. 1-5), from sin as involving guilt (the prodigal son). As the shewbread, con- 
 secration of the people's life to God, is (at this stage of the direction) the one 
 thing on which the light looks from the golden candlestick within ; so here, in 
 the open air, before heaven and earth, the one thing on which the sun shines, in 
 that court where the people draw near to God, '\% propitiation (Ro. iii. 25 ; i Co. 
 V. 18-21 ; Ga. iii. 13). 
 
 I. Wood {boards, in ver. 8). The hollowness made possible an escape of 
 ashes, etc., from the top. The timber was sheathed against the altar fire by 
 bronze. This prescribed use of wood and brass must have been somehow 
 consistent with the principle of the fundamental law (Ex. xx. 25), that an 
 altar should be only of earth or of unhewn stone. It is thought that there 
 was an altar of earth or unhewn stone contained within the wood and brass 
 as envelope ; so that constructively, not the wood and brass, but the 
 earth or unhewn stone, was really the altar. This suggestion, very ancient, 
 
XXVII. 9-] THE ALTAR AND COURT. IO9 
 
 2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners 
 thereof : his horns shall be of the same : and thou shalt over 
 
 3 lay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive 
 his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his flesh-hooks, 
 and his firepans : all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of 
 
 4 brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of 
 brass ; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in 
 
 5 the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the 
 compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the 
 
 6 midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, 
 
 7 staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. And 
 the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be 
 
 8 upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. Hollow with 
 boards shalt thou make it : as it was showed thee in the 
 mount, so shall they make it. 
 
 9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle : for the 
 south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of 
 
 is reasonable ; but we have not express information of the fact. Four-square : 
 thus conforming to the general tabernacle type of things : the form was, 
 further, in various ways suitable for altar use. 2. Horns — of the same : of 
 one piece with the altar : prominences supposed to have resembled a horn 
 in shape. 3. (under ver. 19). The Heb. here iox vesselshzs, different meanings 
 in different places. Here it means, implements or apparatus, of which there 
 was considerable variety. Fire-pans : the Heb. word is applied to so many 
 things that it probably is a commonplace thing that could be turned to 
 any use — pannikin of all work. 4-7. This description has occasioned a 
 good deal of discussion. A good central suggestion — conjectural hypothesis 
 — is, that the compass was a sort of narrow platform (under xxviii. 39-43, 
 xxix. 16), like a stair step all round, as part of the structure of the altar 
 near the top ("Compass" the altar in Ps. xxvi. 6, is a different word; but 
 the thing may be, go round on that platform). Thus, a strong frame at the 
 base of this, on the outer side, would (i) sustain that platform, and (2) 
 by means of the rings and staves it would serve as a sort of hand-barrow 
 for carrying the whole altar fabric of which it was a part. 8. Here still, 
 continually, according to prescription (cp. Altare Damascenuni). The 
 material in the Court may be inferior : the rule, the spirit, the religion, is 
 ever the same = " serve " God (no " will- worship"). This is the foundation 
 of Israel's covenant with God (xxiv. 1-8). 
 
 2nd, The Court (9-19). Note.— Except at the gate, the court wall of 
 curtains would be the natural colour of the linen. To one looking from the 
 outside, there would thus appear, over their five cubits of white, the red 
 ram-skin roof of the tent ; as if a mountain of flame rose out of a basis of snow. 
 Mr. Gillies points out this, as well as the striking effect of theTffl'w^-pillar 
 light on that i-ed. It is with a characteristic study of this Court that he begins 
 {Notes: Appendix). 9. Tabernacle here (see note on words, xxv. 6, 7) 
 has a comprehensive meaning {denominatio fit a major i) : the dwelling 
 
THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 [XXVII. lO. 
 
 fine twined linen, of an hundred cubits long, for one side. 
 
 10 And the twenty pillars thereof, and their twenty sockets, shall 
 be of brass : the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be 
 
 11 of silver. And likewise for the north side in length there 
 shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty 
 pillars, and their twenty sockets of brass : the hooks of the 
 pillars and their fillets <?/" silver. 
 
 1 2 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be 
 hangings of fifty cubits : their pillars ten, and their sockets 
 
 13 ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward 
 
 14 shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the gate 
 shall be fifteen cubits : their pillars three, and their sockets 
 
 15 three. And on the other side shall be hangings, fifteen cubits: 
 their pillars three, and their sockets three. 
 
 16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty 
 cubits, <?/"blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 
 
 The black 
 
 represents space 
 
 occupied with 
 
 ropes, and by 
 
 tent door 
 
 screens. 
 
 is made to include the precincts. South (under xxvi. 20). It is not known 
 how far the Tabernacle was placed back toward the west end of the 
 Court. A very fair suggestion (powerfully recommended by the number 5 
 cubits now in a manifested right of command) is that it was placed so as to 
 leave at the back the same (5 cubits) amount of free space for perambulation 
 as there is known to have been along the two sides — i.e. 5 cubits. That 
 would occupy 50 cubits with the 
 Tabernacle, and leave 50 cubits 
 for the Court. 10. The twenty. 
 It would seem that the number 
 of pillars is here expressly made 
 60. But some learned men make 
 it out 56, by a way they have 
 of counting four twice. It is to 
 be feared that this ingenuity is in 
 the interest of getting them out 
 of a difficulty. And Mr. Gillies, 
 looking at the thing, finds no 
 difficulty in it, but proof. (Thus '*to him that hath shall be given.") 
 Fillets: really connecting rods. The Heb. for hangings here is rare and 
 peculiar : which, it is suggested, may imply that these curtains were hung in 
 a peculiar manner. They might be placed so as to flap somewhat loosely : 
 which could not be allowed in the case of the tent-diOox. curtain (on which, 
 see under xxvi. 36, 37). 13. East eastward : lit. east frontward. Men 
 faced the rising sun, and named the points of the compass, fronty right, back, 
 left. 14, 15. This left in the middle of the east side 20 cubits for the Court 
 gate. Otherwise the arrangement all round was completely uniform : a 
 height of 5 cubits with (curtain) "breadths" of 5 cubits. Mr. Gillies here 
 deduces the breadth and thickness of pillars, and the structure of the bases 
 with sockets for tenons. 16. See under xxvi. 36, t^j. The word here for 
 gate is the same as there for door (theologically, Jn. x. i, 2, it is the lawful 
 
XXVII. 21.] THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. Ill 
 
 wrought with needlework : and their pillars shall be four, and 
 
 17 their sockets four. All the pillars round about the court 
 shall be filleted with silver : their hooks shall be of silver, and 
 their sockets ^ brass. 
 
 1 8 The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the 
 breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits of fine 
 
 19 twined linen, and their sockets ^t/" brass. All the vessels of 
 the tabernacle, in all the service thereof, and all the pins 
 thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be ^ brass. 
 
 20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they 
 bring thee pure oil-olive beaten for the light, to cause the 
 
 2 1 lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation 
 without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and 
 his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the 
 Lord. // shall he a statute for ever unto their generations on 
 the behalf of the children of Israel. 
 
 entrance). Filleted with silver : has to mean, connected by silver rods — for 
 the curtains to hang on. The ornamented face of the curtain would be out- 
 ward ("grace, mercy, peace ") ; from within there would appear (" holiness ") 
 the simple unembroidered white ("beauty when unadorned is adorned the 
 most"). [Here we part from the guide to whom we owe so much.] 19. 
 Vessels (see under ver. 3). Here evidently it is apparatus that is not a part 
 of the worship, but employed in course of it, or in connection with it. Pins — 
 e.g. tent-pegs. 
 
 3rd, Supplementary (20, 21). It is not known how or why this instruction 
 came to be recorded here. The first thing God's people are to provide for 
 is, light in the Holy Place. Beaten oil is the best that can be of its kind. 
 Burn here means, keep lighted. The always does not show that the lamps 
 were kept burning all the day ; we read the newspaper " always " if we read 
 it daily. Aaron and his sons: they thus are already somehow known 
 about, or are now made known, as the future priesthood. N.B. — Tabernacle 
 of the congregation ought to be tent of meeting (under xxv. 22). This 
 is the first appearance of that descriptive title. Statute for ever: great 
 solemnity. 
 
 The Priestly garments (xxviii.). i. Extreme Ritualism of everything here 
 brought into view, (i) The persons who "serve" are not ordinary citizens of 
 God's kingdom, but officials. (2) The service is not in the ordinary course of 
 duties to God and man ; they are distinctively priestly, under the two heads of 
 oblation and intercession. (3) The vestments make the priest. These are plain 
 facts in the historical condition. They are here the more vividly impressive on 
 account of their being here : where there cannot have been any natural growth 
 of them, nor so much as a distinct creation of them. There has been no time, 
 and there is no opportunity, to make possible the existence of a hierarchical 
 party, with domination of caste influence of priestcraft, in that one year's old 
 "kingdom of priests" (xix. 6). There is no Aaronic priesthood in actual 
 existence : there is nothing but the clothes as yet, and these are only ordered, 
 not made. 2. Inference \ Ritualism has ?wtu no right to exist. The conditions 
 of its existence are completely wanting :— the sacrifices, the Tabernacle, the ark, 
 
1 12 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVIII. I. 
 
 Chap. XXVIII. i. And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, 
 and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, 
 that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even 
 Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 
 
 2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, 
 
 3 for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that 
 are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, 
 that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that 
 
 4 he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these 
 are the garments which they shall make ; a breastplate, and 
 
 the place where Jehovah hath put His name. The only sacrifice was offered 
 eighteen centuries ago (He. x. 27), except that offered by ordinary believers 
 (i Pe. ii. s) in their common life (Ro. xii. i). The only priest is in heaven 
 (He. iv. 14-16). The only place (Jn. iv. i, etc.) is the open air, where the only 
 two Dwellings are, man's temple, God in the resurrection Christ, and God's 
 temple, the contrite heart of man. That old Ritualistic constitution is gone 
 completely ; and, like the baseless fabric of a vision, has left not a wrack behind. 
 3. That thing is here, on record high and sacred, for our study (i Co. x. 11). (i) It 
 shows the kingdom of God in its original condition: constitutional history 
 nourishes enlightened patriotism (i Co. x. 1-6). (2) It shows Bible rehgion in 
 its infancy — i.e. what to avoid. Imitation of childhood is childish, not childhke 
 (i Co. xiii. 10, 11). Second childhood is lamentable, imbecile decadence from 
 rationality (He. v. 12, 13). That which is natural and pleasing in an infant- 
 babyism — is disgusting because unnatural in a grown man (Ga. iv. 9). But the 
 study of childhood is important for philosophers and advanced Christians 
 (Is. li. I ; Ezek. xvi. 1-4 ; Mat. xviii. 3). (3) It brings vividly into view, in a 
 "figure" of Old Testament type (the Gr. for "pattern" in He. viii. 5), the mind 
 of God, in sovereign free redeeming love (Ex. xxxiv. 4-7). Those who put the 
 picture in place of the original are idolaters ; but those who see the original 
 through the picture are Christians (2 Co. iii. 17, 18). Their exercise we see in 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, expository of the true priesthood, sacrifice and 
 intercession. But the thing exists in all Christian minds, which is made by 
 Tabernacle theology. 
 
 I. Minister: the Heb. word here {cohen) means, not ordinary service, but 
 distinctively priestly action; lit. "to priest unto me.'] The selection of 
 Israelites for this work proceeds upon the fact that natively the priesthood 
 is in all Israel (xix. 6). This particular family, however, are to be not 
 simply a sample of Israel as if taken at random. They not only are of Israel 
 in a common priesthood, but distinct from that common priesthood in a 
 special office. The mention of Nadab and Abihu here, where their sad 
 Jinale is not out of mind, and the immediately following narrative of Aaron's 
 part in idolatrous worship, show us that the efficacy of the service does not 
 proceed from any "virtue" in the men : clothes do not reallymake a man, 
 much less a Saviour God. 2. For glory : representing the majesty of things 
 divine : for beauty, the seemliness of rightly serving God. The garments 
 were holy, because, like the Sabbath, they were devoted to this purpose of 
 religion by the will of God. Wise-hearted (under xxxi. 6). In the Bible 
 generally, as here, the heart is the seat of wisdom. The species of wisdom 
 here in question is sense, mother- wit, '^ notis," in the particular form of 
 skilled artisanship. That is a gift of the Divine Spirit, working in and 
 
XXVIII. II.] THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. II3 
 
 an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a 
 girdle : and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy 
 brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the 
 
 5 priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and 
 purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 
 
 6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of 
 purple, of scarlet, and fine twined Hnen, with cunning work. 
 
 7 It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the 
 
 8 two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And 
 the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of 
 the same, according to the work thereof; even ^gold, ^blue, 
 
 9 and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And thou 
 shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of 
 
 10 the children of Israel : six of their names on one stone, and 
 the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according 
 
 11 to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like 
 the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones 
 with the names of the children of Israel : thou shalt make 
 
 through the human spirit (Job xxxii. 8). (No bunglers here! tospoiJ 
 clothes and waste time, and do the thing badly after all. ) The details of 
 costume here can be best studied in pictures, e.g. the Sunday School Union's 
 little book (price 2d.) on The Tabernacle, by Mr. Dillworth. The whole h 
 full official dress, intended to show from the outset that the man is not to be 
 worshipped, but God. N.B. — A minister's gown and bands are not official, 
 but only the full dress of a public speaker ("the word"). They shall take: 
 these shall take,— it is those skilled hands that are to handle these precious 
 materials for a great purpose. 6-12. The ephod: the ephod. It was 
 distinctively the priestly garment (cp. Jud. viii. 27, xvii. 5). In its full 
 form, it is appropriately for the High Priest only. But (i Sa. xxii. 15) an 
 ordinary priest might wear a humble form of ephod ; even some (i Sa. ii. 18) 
 who were not priests might ; and even (I Sa. xxiii. 9, xxx. 7) it is thought 
 that the garment might sometimes be put on by a king. It was worn over 
 the heart. It reached from the shoulders, apparently both behind and 
 before, to below the waist. The rare and precious girdle was symboHcal 
 of Israelitish compact strength, succinct in readiness for sacrifice and all 
 service (He. xii. i, 2). But most precious and rare was that pair of 
 shoulder-pieces, on which the High Priest bore the names of Israel's children 
 before God (Is. ix. 6, cp. He. ii. 12, vii. 25). The etymology of the word 
 " ephod " is uncertain. The thing was simply a garment or vesture, which 
 came to have a special meaning through the use of it. In itself it was 
 ordinary cloth, ornamented in the Tabernacle style. Ctirious girdle: about 
 this there is not agreement : ofihesa?ne, means that it was an essential part 
 of the ephod. The point of real meaning is that it was to hold the ephod 
 close upon the breast. Onyx: in our own and other versions it is not 
 certainly known what the species of this stone was. Stone — engraving — e,g 
 of rings or seals — was practised in Egypt before Israel entered it, and in 
 Mesopotamia before Abraham left it. The broidered coat, underlying all, 
 
 H 
 
IT4 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVIII. 12. 
 
 12 them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the 
 two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod, for stones of 
 memorial unto the children of Israel ; and Aaron shall bear 
 their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a 
 memorial. 
 
 13, 14 And thou shalt make ouches ^ gold ; and two chains 
 of pure gold at the ends ; of wreathen work shalt thou make 
 them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. 
 
 15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with 
 cunning work ; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make 
 it : of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine 
 
 16 twined linen, shalt thou make it. Four-square it shall be, 
 being doubled ; a span shall he the length thereof, and a span 
 
 1 7 shall he the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings 
 of stones, even four rows of stones : the first row shall he a 
 sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle : this shall he the first row. 
 
 18 And the second row shall he an emerald, a sapphire, and a 
 
 19 diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an 
 
 20 amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a 
 
 21 jasper: they shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And 
 the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 
 twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a 
 signet ; every one with his name shall they be according to 
 the twelve tribes. 
 
 22 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the 
 
 23 ends ^wreathen work of pure gold. And thou shalt make 
 upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two 
 
 24 rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put 
 the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which ai'e on 
 
 showed the "tabernacle colours" (under xxv. 4). Otiches: a setting, it 
 may (vers. 1 1, 12) be, of twisted gold, holding the stone as a button may be 
 held. 13, 14. Here the ouches are ornamental fastenings (buttons?) for the 
 breastplate chains. The chains, wreathed : not linked but corded. 1 5-21. 
 Our version has breastplate because the thing was worn on the breast. The 
 Hebrew word [chosheii) means simply ornament. The specialty of it here is, 
 judgment (ver. 29, Israel there is judged, being justified before God). 
 Doubled: folded in two, so as to make a square of a span's (^ cubit) breadth. 
 Some think that the doubling was meant to make a bag, between the folds, 
 for the Urim and Thummim : it is more generally thought to have been 
 simply for strength of the article. The various species of the twelve stones 
 are inquired about by antiquarians. Bezaleel knew, and we may rely upon 
 it that they were all right. For the rest, zee have not to make the article. 
 Every 07te — tribes (ver. 21) : Every stone had a tribe's name (cp. Re. vii. 
 and xxi.). 22-25. The chains, fastened to the shoulders by the ouches, 
 
XXVIII. 32.] THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. H5 
 
 25 the ends of the breastplate. And the other i^o ends of the 
 two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and 
 put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod before //. 
 
 26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put 
 them upon the two ends of the breastplate, in the border 
 
 27 thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two 
 other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on 
 the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart 
 thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the 
 
 28 curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breast- 
 plate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a 
 lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the 
 ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. 
 
 29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in 
 the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth 
 in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord 
 continually. 
 
 30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the 
 Urim and the Thummim ; and they shall be upon Aaron's 
 heart when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall 
 bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart 
 before the Lord continually. 
 
 31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all ^ blue. 
 ^2 And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst 
 
 had hold of the breastplate by its corners nearest to the shoulders. 26-29. 
 These two pairs of rings were to be not conspicuous themselves, but holding 
 the breastplate in its place by connecting it at its lower extremity with the 
 front of the ephod, at its junction ("coupling," our other here is worse than 
 useless) with the girdle, or its transition into the girdle. The one pair of 
 rings was in the lower front ephod ; the other, in the lower extremity of 
 the breastplate ; and they were connected, each to each, by a lace of blue 
 (ribbon). (The detailed expression here is a little confusing.) Regarding 
 judgment here, as a thing not to be forgotten, see Is. xi. 27, cp. He. iv. 
 14-16. 30, 31. Uri7n and Tlmijwiwi: the words are supposed to mean 
 something like Light and Truth. They are first spoken of here, but referred 
 to (xxxix. 21 ; Lev. viii, 8) as if previously existing. In ver. 30 they seem 
 to be into the breastplate, as if thrust into a bag (ver. 16) formed by its two 
 folds.^ They apparently were not used ordinarily, but only on emergent 
 occasions of perplexity, such as called for appeal to the lot. They 
 disappear from Israel's history with the earliest of the kings. And about 
 the preceding use of them very little is really known. 31, 32. The form of 
 this simplest possible garment may be seen at lona, in the mail shirt of old 
 Celtic chiefs. The word for habergeon (Canon Cook) is found in old 
 Egyptian ; and a corresponding thing, a sort of corselet, is seen on the 
 monuments. The hole is simply for the head to pass through ; and the firm 
 
Il6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXVIII. 33. 
 
 thereof : it shall have a binding of woven work round about 
 the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be 
 not rent. 
 7,^ And beneath^ upon the hem of //, thou shalt make pome- 
 granates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about 
 the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round 
 
 34 about : a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and 
 a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 
 
 35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall 
 be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the 
 Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not. 
 
 36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon 
 it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE 
 
 37 LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be 
 upon the mitre : upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. 
 
 38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear 
 the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel 
 shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always 
 upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. 
 
 39 And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou 
 
 binding of woven work is obviously needed there to secure against the tear 
 and wear of use. The blue as background would bring out into vividness 
 the ornamentation of the ephod with its breastplate. The pomegranates must 
 have been tassels in fruit shape, along with real bells. Such a use of bells is 
 in a measure natural, and has in various ways appeared among the peoples. 
 Here the use is expressly spoken of as the purpose. One announces his 
 approach before venturing into the privacy of a superior. But the sound of 
 Aaron's bells might be heard by men outside the veil, and move them 
 to think of the great work of intercession going on within the veil. The 
 resurrection of Christ is now in the sound of Sabbath bells that summon 
 men to remember the Creator. The awful warning here is in connexion 
 with a small matter which "concerns the king." The plate before the 
 mitre (on its elevation^ under xxxix. 31), as the ark before the Dwelling 
 and the altar before the Court. " Hohness to the Lord " (note on 
 words, XXV. 6, 7), henceforward appearing in many ways, is responsive 
 to the testimony — the moral law — in the ark. It shows what God loves, 
 what the High Priest has to be, and what the people have to be made. 
 Those eyes of the candlestick (Re. i. 12-15) see iniqtiity even in the holy 
 things, the actions of the people's consecrate life. The inscription on 
 the High Priest's brow acknowledges the sin of that iniquity ; and when he 
 uncovers that, God covers it. This, too, is a shadow of which there is only 
 one substance (Act. iv. 12). The mitre was a head-dress, about which 
 nothing is specified. It would be like a turban. The identical plate is sup- 
 posed to be traceable to Byzantium, and thence to Jerusalem in the time of 
 Belisarius (Edersheim : Teiiiple and Services). 39-43. Breeches, drawers. 
 Aaron^s sons are here the ordinary priesthood. The bonnet was their head- 
 
XXVIII. 43'] THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. II 7 
 
 shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the 
 girdle oj needlework. 
 
 40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou 
 shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for 
 
 41 them, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them 
 upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him ; and shalt 
 anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that 
 
 42 they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou 
 shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness ; 
 
 43 from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. And 
 they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they 
 come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when 
 they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place ; 
 that they bear not iniquity, and die. // shall be a statute for 
 ever unto him, and his seed after him. 
 
 dress, probably with nothing remarkable in its form. The "for glory and 
 for beauty " has reference to their costume as a whole, and (ver. 2) as part 
 of the whole system of the priestly vestments. The consecration did not 
 take place till the Tabernacle was erected. It is prescribed here as essential 
 for carrying out the Tabernacle plan. When they come dotun, refers to the 
 structure of the altar (see on compass, under xxvii. 5). It favours the 
 suggestion that the altar about midway up was surrounded with a narrow 
 platform, on which the priests in their ministration stood. Put them upon : 
 the first literal '■^investiture.'" Query : In the great case between Pope and 
 Prince about Investiture, had Moses his due place, or He of whom Moses in 
 the law and the prophets did speak ? 
 
 The Priestly Consecration ■with Appendix (xxix.). i. Observe that "con- 
 secration " (notes below, and on holiness) means induction into office. Here is 
 the first historical appearance of a Christ ("anointed "), and that in the central 
 office of mediation, and with a view to the fundamental action of that office 
 (offering sacrifice). The great act of consecration here appears at the close as in 
 comprehensive relation to the whole system of divine redemptive proceedings. But 
 it is hardly conceivable (cp. i Pe. i. 10-12) that any Israelite should have compre- 
 hended the matter as it is comprehended by those upon whom ' ' the ends of the 
 world" have come. 2. As compared with the wide open air of the patriarchal 
 age, we here see a shrinking, as of a blossom into fruit (which is to be for the healing 
 of the nations, Ge. xii. 3). How men like Jethro might be affected by the narrow- 
 ing limitation which arose out of the progressive distinctness of definition, we may 
 endeavour to divine from the references to Melchisedek in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. Relatively to this point the striking thing in that sacerdotal epistle is 
 that the Hebrew mind appears as assigning to an outsider, whose appearance was 
 only momentaneous, as that of a meteor or falling star, a rank of excellence and a 
 permanence, as compared with which that priesthood, which was the glory of the 
 Hebrew nation, was only a series of fleeting shadows. David, too. saw that the 
 true priesthood must needs be royal (Ps. ex., cp. Ex. xix. 6). It is unscriptural to 
 look at the old history with the eyes of Jewish rabbis. The historical anachronism 
 is injurious to the Truth in Him who is before Abraham was. And the theological 
 mistake puts us out of the right point of view for seeing this Messiah in Exodus 
 xxix. We must endeavour to place ourselves in the Abrahamic point of view ; 
 
Il8 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIX. I. 
 
 Chap. XXIX. i. And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto 
 them, to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's 
 office : Take one young bullock, and two rams without 
 
 2 blemish, and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tem- 
 pered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil ; of 
 
 3 wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put 
 them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the 
 
 4 bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou 
 shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 
 5 tion, and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt take 
 the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of 
 the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him 
 
 6 with the curious girdle of the ephod : and thou shalt put the 
 mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. 
 
 7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his 
 
 8 head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and 
 
 or look on the matter through the eyes of Jethro, or even of Balaam, who could 
 admire a star, though he loved the darkness rather than the light,— like others 
 vi'ho have said in song what they contradicted in life. Video tneliora proboque^ 
 deteriora sequor. What would a servant of the true God, not of the common- 
 wealth of Israel, have seen in that consecration ? Perhaps we cannot know. 
 The Pentateuchal Exposition of Ritual is in Leviticus. In the study of Exodus, 
 it does not fall to us to aim at a full view of that subject. It is our part only to 
 look at those aspects which it presents toward the history in Exodus ; as it looks 
 in, so to speak, upon the preparation of that Tabernacle which is destined to be 
 the central home of the Rituahsm. 
 
 Note. — The standing law for sacrifice and consecration, as appearing in this 
 initial act, is laid down in Le. i.-viii. It is to be remembered that the induction 
 in this case, like the sacrifice in xxiv., was one that, from the nature of the case, 
 could not be repeated. The vestments of Aaron were to be assumed by his 
 successors. In his induction the office was inaugurated. Hence the mode of 
 procedure in this case was not completely a precedent for after times. 
 
 I. Hallow (cp. "consecrate," ver. 9) : the word is the common one for 
 sanctify— make holy. Without blemish (i Pe. i. 19): lit. perfect. 2. The 
 bread, which all was unleavened, was thus otherwise of three sorts : 
 (i) simply baked with water; (2) baked with infusion of oil; (3) sprinkled 
 with oil. Life in all its varied fulness was to be consecrated to God. 
 4. Door — congregation : ought to be, entrance of the tent of meeting. 
 Meeting is made the vital result: (i) In the Holy of Holies, xxv. 9; 
 (2) in the tent, xxvi. 21 ; and (3) here, at the door of the tent (see note on 
 " meeting," xxv. 22). Washing (under xxx. 20, 21, and xxix. 42) is a common 
 symbol of religions (cp. anointing, under ver. 6) : meaning purification [the 
 scriptural "baptism"). Here between the brazen altar (bleeding sacrifice) 
 and the Dwelling, the laver is to be, so that (He. x. 22) the priests may 
 always purify themselves before entering the Holy Place. 5. The gannents : 
 it is assumed that they are known about. The crown, symbol of royalty 
 (xix. 6 ; I Pe. ii. 9), is not specified in xxviii. 6. Christ (Gr. for 
 "anointed," Heb. Messiah); the anointing: is peculiar to the Bible 
 
XXIX. 1 8.] THE PRIESTLY CONSECRATION. II9 
 
 9 put coats upon them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, 
 (Aaron and his sons,) and put the bonnets on them : and the 
 priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute : and 
 
 10 thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. And thou shalt 
 cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the 
 congregation : and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands 
 
 11 upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the 
 bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the 
 
 12 congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the 
 bullock, and put // upon the horns of the altar with thy 
 finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. 
 
 13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and 
 the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the 
 
 14 fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But 
 the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt 
 thou burn with fire without the camp : it is a sin-offering. 
 
 15 Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons 
 
 16 shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou 
 shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle 
 
 17 it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram 
 in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put 
 
 18 them unto his pieces, and unto his head. And thou shalt 
 burn the whole ram upon the altar : it is a burnt-offering 
 
 religion (cp. with washing under ver. 3). It is supremely in Christ 
 (Is. Ixi. I ; Lu. iv. 16, etc. ; Mat. xi. 2, etc.). The oil means the 
 Spirit of God (Jn. i. 33). 9. Theirs : it shall be in this family. Consecrate 
 (cp. "hallow," ver. i). The Heb. is lit. fill his hand. A man was 
 inducted into office by putting into his hand the symbols of it. A bullock: 
 lit. the bullock — i.e. the aforesaid. 10. Here again the correct expression is 
 tent of meeting. The door (under xxvi. 36, 37) was probably 10 cubits 
 wide ; but the description may fairly include the whole Court east of the 
 tent (under xxvii. 10). Their hands tipoji : identifying themselves with 
 it ; so that (2 Co. v. 14) when the sacrifice was slain for sin, they died unto 
 the law (Ga. ii. 19). The priests (He. ix. 1-3, cp. v. 26) were sinners, 
 requiring to be saved from death under the law. 11. Thou, Moses : until the 
 officials are fully inducted the mediator officiates. Tent of meeting (always). 
 Horns of the altar are smeared, laying the matter on the power of God. 
 
 12. The blood, kept in basins, was poured or flung at the foot of the altar. 
 ("God be merciful to me a sinner.") This on behalf of the High Priest ! 
 
 13. The fat : and other specified portions, regarded as excellent, worthy of a 
 feast. 14. On the other hand, the rest was cast out and destroyed in a 
 manner that pictured strongest abhorrence (cp. He. xiii. ii, 12). // is a sin- 
 offering: lit. the sin-offering (is) this ; — showing what God gives and the 
 sinner needs, and what sin deserves (2 Co. v. 21 ; Ga. iii. 13). 15- One ram : 
 of the two. 16. Roimd about : see on the compass under xxvii. 5. Sprinkle: 
 not smear, nor pour out, as with bullock's blood. 17. The parts that were 
 
120 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIX. 1 9. 
 
 unto the Lord : it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire 
 unto the Lord. 
 
 19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his 
 
 20 sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then 
 shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon 
 the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the 
 right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, 
 and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the 
 
 2 1 blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take of 
 the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and 
 sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his 
 sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him : and he 
 shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his 
 
 22 sons' garments with him. Also thou shalt take of the ram 
 the fat, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, 
 
 defiled were cleaned, in order that the whole, clean, might ascend in the 
 flame. 18. Sweet savour (see note on Sacrifice under xii. 21-36). 
 
 Note on "Sweet savour" (op. under ver. 25).— The expression, first em- 
 ployed in connexion with Noah's sacrifice (Ge. viii.), came to have a wide use in 
 the sphere of Israelitish offerings, in which "almost all things were purified by- 
 blood," to show specially that " without shedding of blood there is no remission" 
 fHe. ix. 22). It is applied to the self-offering of Christ (in love) for us to God 
 (Eph. V. 2). It is what is represented in theology by the (Law-Latin) word 
 "satisfaction ;" which in evangehcal theology means a gratified feeling of justice 
 (as well as mercy), in that there has been expiation of the guilt (while there is 
 salvation of the guilty sinner). This for the High Priest ! 
 
 Observe, as compared with the "sin-offering," this is defined as the hiirnt- 
 offering. The use and wont word olah means ascending (into the sky, 
 in the flame). The compound expression here describes the altar offering 
 distinctively of bleeding sacrifice. 19, 20. This one of the sacrifices is 
 peculiar to this one occasioQ (thus ver. 27, '* the ram of the consecration, 
 which is for Aaron and for his sons "). As in the people's covenanting 
 (xxiv. 1-8), so here, God and man are brought into oneness of life through 
 sacrifice. As there the people's part was devoted obedience, so here what 
 is set forth in the symbolism is complete self-surrender to God (Ro. xii. i) : — the 
 mr receiving orders (see oxv slave's " ear," under xxi. 1-6 ; and on\\vQ. soldiers, 
 in Lu. vii. 8, 9), the thumb and the toe, — man's nervous power to handle and 
 to run (man is the only creature that has a thumb, — such an organ of 
 reason, and the toe is a sort of foot-thumb) (see on dividing the Ten 
 Words into 5's, initial note to xx., and on the number 5, under xxvi. lo) ; the 
 whole of the "body," as living temple, is devoted to reasonable service of 
 God ; as to the foot, — the "good man" of the O. T., Ahimaaz, — see 2 Sa. 
 xviii. 27, — ran swift and far to shield a father's heart by telling about victory 
 to the iiing. 21. This further process exhibits the awful hatefulness of sin 
 (cp. " hating even the garments that are defiled by the flesh"). Coitsecrate 
 here and in ver. 22 (see under ver. 9) is filling the hand. 22. Rw7ip : the 
 tail : the variety of sheep in view of Moses was one in which the tail may be 
 
XXIX. 2 9- J THE PRIESTLY CONSECRATION. 121 
 
 and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat 
 that is upon them, and the right shoulder ; for it is a ram of 
 
 23 consecration : and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled 
 bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened 
 
 24 bread that is before the Lord. And thou shalt put all in the 
 hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons, and shalt 
 
 25 wave them for a wave-offering before the Lord. And thou 
 shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the 
 altar for a burnt-offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord : 
 
 26 it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And thou shalt 
 take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave 
 it for a wave-offering before the Lord : and it shall be thy 
 
 27 part. And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, 
 and the shoulder of the heave-offering, which is waved, and 
 which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of 
 that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons : 
 
 28 and it shall be Aaron's and his sons', by a statute for ever 
 from the children of Israel : for it is an heave-offering : and 
 it shall be an heave-offering from the children of Israel of the 
 sacrifice of their peace-offerings, even their heave -offering 
 unto the Lord. 
 
 29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after 
 
 more than a stone in weight, — thus very vakiable. 23, 24. Here we almost 
 see the literal process of Moses putting priesthood into "the hand" of Aaron 
 and his sons. In the " heave"-offering (under xxv. i, 2) the gift is raised 
 up (6^^^-ward) : in the " wave "-offering it is moved horizontally on the 
 offerer's own level, as if diffusing among his fellow-men, signifying fellow- 
 ship with brother men in what is excellent (i Jn. i. 3). The process here 
 was : when the things are in their hands, his hand under theirs causes 
 their hands to "wave" the things as an offering. So — by what Heb. 
 grammarians might call a Piel movement, "causative" — on the part of the 
 mediator, the offices pass from him into their hands. 25. The savour gains 
 here (under ver. 18) an additional shade of meaning. When Aaron is 
 pardoned and accepted, his particular services are acceptable to God, not 
 because they are good in themselves, but also because in him they are priestly. 
 Now the only priesthood on earth is that of believing Christians. And the 
 two principal apostles, of the circumcision (i Pe. ii. 5) and of the Gentiles 
 (Ro. xii. i), place upon that footing the whole of a common Christian life ; 
 God is pleased with the well-doing of His Christians, not only because in it 
 they are good men, but also because in it they are good priests. 26-28. Wave — 
 heave (under vers. 23, 24). The sanctify here is, setting apart as "unto the 
 Lord " (ver. 28) ; in the particular way of giving it to the priests here observe 
 a third name, peace-offerings, given to the sacrifices which we have heard of 
 as " burnt-offerings " and "sin-offerings." The distinctions thus beginning 
 to appear are wrought out in the Levitical system. 29, 30. The mantle of 
 that priestly consecration thus fell on the successors. Eleazar, Aaron's son, 
 
122 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXIX. 30. 
 
 him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them. 
 
 30 And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on 
 seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the con- 
 gregation to minister in the holy place. 
 
 31 And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and 
 
 32 seethe his flesh in the holy place. And Aaron and his sons 
 shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the 
 basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
 
 33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was 
 made, to consecrate and to sanctify them : but a stranger 
 
 34 shall not eat thereof^ because they are holy. And if ought of 
 the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto 
 the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire : it 
 
 35 shall not be eaten, because it is holy. And thus shalt thou 
 do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which 
 I have commanded thee : seven days shalt thou consecrate 
 
 36 them. And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin- 
 offering for atonement : and thou shalt cleanse the altar, 
 when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt 
 
 37 anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make an 
 atonement for the altar, and sanctify it ; and it shall be an 
 altar most holy : whatsoever touch eth the altar shall be 
 holy. 
 
 and Eli are the only two successors of his that we know about before the 
 time of the kings. 31. Consecration: lit. hand-filling. The holy place : 
 lit. a holy place or spot. Of course not in the Dwelling. It would be in 
 the Court, on the altar, where, too, the Lord had put His name. 32. Taber- 
 nacle, etc., not making this, as it ought to be, Tent of the meeting, they miss 
 two points. 33. (Cp. xxxii. 30, notes.) The Heb. word for afonemeiii 
 (see note on kopher under xxi. 33) here coming in, is Kipper, that which goes 
 to make the Kapp5reth {on which see note under xxv. 17) — covering in the 
 sense of pardoning (cause of). Excepting Ro. v. 11, our word atonement 
 in Sc. is appropriated to the (propitiation) Kapporeth. As to plur. here, 
 atonements, cp. (parable of the sower) "mysteries" and "mystery" — the one 
 is manifold, the many are one. Stranger, here (cp. xxx. 10, 33), needs only 
 to be no priest : an outsider in this respect, though he should be an 
 Israelitish king or prophet. 34. To prevent its being applied to any common 
 purpose, e.g. making money by means of Sabbath traffic, or "liberalizing" 
 the mind by paganizing the soul. 35-37. This to all appearance means that 
 the great act was repeated until seven times, on so many successive days. 
 Of a sevenfold repetition there are several other cases recorded. But this great 
 act itself is not repeated (it is thus like circumcision). It has not a successor 
 but a "fulfilment." And the need of that fulfilment ("what the law could 
 not do," Ro. viii. 3) is shown by the purification even of the altar, normally 
 the ideal of unapproachable sacredness. 
 
XXIX. 44-] THE PRIESTLY CONSECRATION. 1 23 
 
 38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar ; two 
 
 39 lambs of the first year, day by day continually. The one 
 lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb 
 
 40 thou shalt offer at even : and with the one lamb a tenth deal 
 of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil ; 
 and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink-offering. 
 
 41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do 
 thereto according to the meat-offering of the morning, and 
 according to the drink-offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an 
 
 42 offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a con- 
 tinual burnt-offering throughout your generations, at the door 
 of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord ; where 
 
 43 I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will 
 meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be 
 
 44 sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle 
 of the congregation, and the altar ; I will sanctify also both 
 Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's oflice. 
 
 Appendix to tlie consecration directory (38-46). This is plainly a directory 
 for ordinary priestly service of God. But, especially through the great promise 
 at the close, it is connected with the great original act, as if to show the result of 
 that act in abiding sample. And it so connects the priesthood with the altar 
 as to show that the priesthood has not come into the place of the altar, but 
 that the altar is the true basis of all priestly activities (cp. i Jn. ii. 2, 3 ; 
 Ro. iv. 35). 
 
 38-40. Israels daily sacrifice: showing the people's daily life as con- 
 secrated unto God continually (Act. xxvi. 7; He. xiii. 15). It is supposed 
 that the wine (Phi. ii. 17) was poured on the altar as a libation. The bread 
 and wine together, the strength and joy of life, were in the drink-offering, 
 which Canon Cook supposes to have been in the Shewbread service (under 
 XXV, 29). At even: lit. between the evenings (under xii. 6). 41. The 
 measure is the prescribed measure ; what precisely that may be is only an 
 antiquarian question. Here observe, like the evening stars coming into 
 view, or the spring flowers, other expressions appearing : drink-offering 
 and meat-offering (Ge. xxxv. I, 4). They are by fire ; a.nd/or a szveet savour. 
 
 42, Tent of meeting : this is the proof passage as to correct translation, 
 which is peculiarly requisite here, so as not to spoil the text, (i) Of meeting 
 (under ver. 3), for Jehovah is to meet His people and converse with them ; 
 and (2) that (xxv. 22) not only in the innermost shrine, approachable only for 
 the representative High Priests, but at the door of the tent, to whose 
 verandah the people might gather from the Court. In this festivity 
 (cp, xxiv. 9-1 1 ) the king comes to the door to converse with them there! 
 thence appropriateness of "the tent of meeting" (moed). This feeling was 
 strong in the national religious heart: thus as to temple (i Ki. viii. 27). 
 
 43. Is tabernacle the right word to supply here (in italics of A.V,)? There 
 was no tabernacle where Moses first found "holy ground" (iii. 5). It is 
 Israel, or the Court, that is sanctified by the manifested presence of Jehovah 
 (cp. Lu. ii. 32). 44. And thereupon (in continuation) there are sanctified 
 
124 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXIX. 45. 
 
 45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be 
 
 46 their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their 
 God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that 
 I may dwell among them : I am the Lord their God. 
 
 Chap. XXX. i. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense 
 
 2 upon : <?/"shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be 
 
 the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, (four- 
 
 the tent of meeting, the altar, the priest, — all to the effect of what is 
 represented by the Dwelling (under xxv. 8), an effect which follows from 
 Redemption in their deliverance from Egypt. So that we are brought back 
 to \\\Q formula of Royal Proclamation (under vi. 2, 3 ; see Introd. pp. 67, 68) 
 so often heard in Egypt. 
 
 The Chapter of Omissions (xxx.). It is a fact that every one 
 of the articles in this chapter is omitted in the place to which it is 
 ultimately found to belong. The writer may have recorded the 
 directions in the order in which they recurred to his " remembrance " 
 (recollection, Jn. xiv. 26). Or the original direction may have had 
 them in the order in which he now records them. Upon either view 
 there may be some principle of order in the placing of them in this 
 direction, though not the obvious principle on which they are placed 
 in the erection. We might, for instance, see a principle represented 
 by a fanciful heading, "the Incense Chapter." That is to say, in 
 addition to the simply essential things represented by the Shewbread 
 (honourable) and the Candlestick (more honourable), here (most 
 honourable) is a culmination rising out of those things. Even the 
 Redemption shekel might thus be regarded as like the widow's mite, 
 the highest thing in the form of such contributions. For it places 
 prince and pauper on the one level of the publican who went home 
 justified (Lu. xviii. 9-14). It shows that even Dives has a soul 
 (worth I5d.); and that the rich man was mistaken who regarded 
 his soul as only subservient to swine feeding, of " take thine ease ; 
 eat, drink, and be merry." It is good for him to be reminded of his 
 fallen greatness as a man. 
 
 ist, The Altar of Incense (i-io). Its place is in the Holy, and in the Holiest 
 its offering is found. The Psalmist, along with morning and evening sacrifice 
 (Ps. cxli. 2), places his prayer as incense. And John (Re. ix. 4) shnilarly saw 
 "the prayers of saints" as the one thing passing into heaven from earth. The 
 altar may have come last, as, Hke the Kapp5reth, that/?r which the earher things 
 prepare the sanctuary (He. ii. 10). 
 
 I. An altar . . . incense. Its position is in the Holy Place. In 
 the order of the nature of the things there, perhaps it ought to come last 
 because highest. The very name of altar, ordinarily appropriated for 
 designation of the place of bleeding sacrifice, is significant, if not of prece- 
 dence as compared with the Shewbread and of the Candlestick, at least of the 
 peculiar preciousness of "a broken and a contrite spirit" (Ps. li. 16-19) in 
 the sight of God. 2. It is yet further assimilated to the altar of burnt- 
 sacrifice by having horns (under xxvii. 2) ; and still further (ver. 10) in the 
 
XXX. lO.] THE CHAPTER OF OMISSIONS. 1 25 
 
 square shall it be :) and two cubits shall be the height thereof; 
 
 3 the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt over- 
 lay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof 
 round about, and the horns thereof: and thou shalt make 
 
 4 unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings 
 shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two 
 corners thereof; upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it: 
 and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 
 
 5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay 
 
 6 them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the vail that is 
 by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over 
 
 7 the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall 
 burn thereon sweet incense every morning : when he dresseth 
 
 8 the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron 
 lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a 
 perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your genera- 
 
 9 tions. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt 
 sacrifice, nor meat-offering; neither shall ye pour drink-offer- 
 
 10 ing thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the 
 horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin-offering 
 
 same direction by their being on the Day of Atonement smeared with the 
 sacrificial blood, the incense altar thus being made as if a continuation of the 
 Brazen Altar, though the application of the blood here was for a different 
 purpose. 3. The crozvn, which we have seen both on the ark and on the 
 shewbread table, — i.e. wherever there was a place for that, — shows unity of 
 style. 4. Corner: makes the verse unintelligible, and is not the meaning 
 of the Heb. word. Ribs (R.V.), lower than th^ corner, are a strengthening 
 and " staying" belt. And, as in the case of the shewbread table (xxv. 25, 26), 
 they will make a good position for attaching the rings for the staves. But 
 here the rings required are not four, but two, one on each side ; and for 
 carrying purposes they are "placed," not at "corners," but at the middle of 
 each side: no doubt much closer to the "crown" than the band of the 
 Table is. The height of this altar, as compared with that of the Table, the 
 ark, and the Brazen Altar, speaks of a different purpose and general 
 "figure." Here still we see that the Kapporeih is not simply a part of the 
 ark, but a distinct thing (note on the Kapporeth, under xxv, 17). Here 
 again the meeting (under xxv. 22, xxix. 42). 8. Sweet iticense: lit. incense 
 of perfumes. At even: lit. between the evenings (xii. 6). Does this 
 evening lighting of the lamps imply that they did not burn through the day 
 (xxv. 37)? 9. This to maintain the distinctness from other altar offerings, 
 and at the same time show the peculiar sacredness of this offering for its 
 own purpose. Strange incense (cp. "strange fire "of Nadab and Abihu) : 
 here has to mean what is not according to the Lord's direction (note under 
 vers. 34-38, cp. xxix. 33). 10. On atonement see note on the Kapporeth^ 
 under xxxv. 17. In Lev. xvi. 18, 19, we find that the purpose was to 
 cleanse the altar from the uncleanness of the children of Israel (see under 
 
126 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXX. II. 
 
 of atonements ; once in the year shall he make atonement 
 upon it, throughout your generations : it is most holy unto 
 the Lord. 
 II, 12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou 
 takest the sum of the children of Israel, after their number, 
 then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the 
 Lord, when thou numberest them ; that there be no plague 
 
 13 among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall 
 give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, 
 half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary : (a shekel is 
 twenty gerahs :) an half shekel shall be the offering of the 
 
 14 Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are num- 
 bered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering 
 
 15 unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor 
 
 xxix. 37). It is— Lord: lit. " Holy of Holies to Jehovah this," — a formula of 
 utmost sacredness. 
 
 2nd, The Redemption half-shekel (11-16) (see on redemption of beasts, 
 under xii. 11-16). This would, as mere money collection, have come in at 
 XXV. 2-7, in the prescription for meeting the cost of erecting the Lord's 
 House. But there is a contrast represented by the fact that while there the 
 emphasis is laid upon free-will in the offering, here the very point is 
 prescribed taxation, the same in amount for all ; and this, as a ransom 
 of the souls of men ; a different thing specifically from the 30 shekels in 
 xxi. 32, where see note. The circumstance that the produce of the tax is 
 destined specifically for the House of the Lord (cp. xxxviii. 27-31), goes to 
 show, as a reason for the uniformly small amount, that every Israelite, even 
 the humblest, should have "a stone in the building," so that in a sense all 
 Israel zvas the House of the Lord (cp. i Pe. ii. 3, 4). On the other hand, 
 there was a " levelling down" (cp. Ja. i. 9, 10). Still the emphasis was on 
 ransom, under penalty oi plague. Taking the sn?n : this may not have been 
 a regular census, but only a counting heads of those who came with the tax 
 (see curious fact as to the number, under xxxviii. 29). 13. (Under xxxviii. 
 22, etc.) It is not certainly know7i that the Sanctuary shekel was really 
 different from the common shekel in value, as a pound avoirdupois differs 
 from a pound Troy. The expression here may mean simply such a payment 
 (cp. "good measure," Lu. vi. 38), so just and full, as becomes those who 
 are serving God in the building of His house. As money originally was not 
 coined, but weighed (witness, "a silver pound"), the facilities and tempta- 
 tions relatively to "clipping" or "sweating" may perhaps have been so 
 much the more a matter of anxious interest to receivers of payment : Ananias 
 and Sapphira thus had to be warned in the public interest. Gera/i : lit. 
 a bean (so our "barley corn" as an ultimate standard of measure). Such 
 a natural standard is liable to variation or arbitrary construction (cp. "about 
 the size of a lump of chalk "). The simplicity of the " interpretation clause " 
 here is like that implied in "the south southward" (xxvi. 18), suggestive 
 of primaeval origination. 14-16. In xxxviii. 27 we find that the specific 
 destination of this tax was to make the Sanctuary sockets. Hence the silver 
 was in this case not simply value (Scotice, "siller," cp. Dr. Johnson, " their 
 
XXX. 20.] THE CHAPTER OF OMISSIONS. I27 
 
 shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offer- 
 ing unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. 
 
 16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of 
 Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle 
 of the congregation ; that it may be a memorial unto the 
 children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for 
 your souls. 
 
 17, 18 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Thou shalt 
 also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash 
 withal : and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the 
 congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 
 
 19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet 
 
 20 thereat : when they go into the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion, they shall wash with water, that they die not ; or when 
 
 pound is only twenty pence "), but actual material ; so that every Israelite 
 had literally "a stone in the building," namely, his half-shekel weight of the 
 silver foundation. The Egyptians were great in statistics ; and the Hebrews 
 have been famous financiers. Would the calculating habit be fostered by 
 their thinking of their very souls as "bought with a price"? Hal o' the 
 Wynd {Fair Maid of Perth) saw the symbolism of one's being bound by being 
 even paid wages. Peter (i Pe. i. 18) and Paul (i Co. vi. 20), while know- 
 ing that the true ransom price is Infinite, still saw the obligation to service 
 constituted by Redemption ("to live as a man that is redeemed, "^Hedley 
 Vicars). Observe Atonement at ver. 16 as well as at ver. 10. The man who 
 can imagine that his half-shekel is the real ransom-price, is a bad bargain at 
 IS. 3d. — a slave is dear at any price. Christ had something to say about 
 money as representing value, from the lowest form of that conception to the 
 highest, — e.g. the "penny," and "what shall it profit." But one may turn 
 this conception, too, to evil, — in a shipwreck only one man was drowned, 
 who was sunk by a belt of gold : he may have begun with a light "shekel " 
 at a church collection. 
 
 The Laver (17-21). It may at least aid the memory to observe, that there is 
 an omission under every one of the three heads : — i. of contributions, the silver 
 tax is omitted ; 2. of Holy Place furniture, the altar of incense ; and now we see, 
 3. of Court provision, the laver. The laver, though, like the incense and the 
 shekel, not absolutely necessary to salvation, is vitally important : " Your bodies 
 washed with pure water." Personal sanctity really /j- salvation in its fruit (Ro. 
 viii. 22 ; He. xii. 10, 14). It is to be observed further, that while the incense 
 especially affected the priesthood entering the Holiest, and the shekel the male 
 Israelite (Eph. v. 3 ; Lu. xvi. 14), the laver came home to the women, in— shall 
 we say? — their peculiar idolatry of the looking-glass (i Pe. iii. 3). 
 
 18. A Laver is a bath for washing the body (not clothes, He. x. 22), such 
 as (under ii. 5) Pharaoh's daughter sought in the Nile when she found Moses 
 (as Saul found a kingdom when searching for asses). The form of this laver 
 is not known, nor the arrangement about water ; for Solomon's Brazen Sea 
 is no authoritative guide in this case. 19, 20. This might seem unfavourable 
 to dipping in baptism, — the first prescribed baptism : — especially as the thing 
 (Ti. iii. 5) signified is the regenerating Spirit of God, who is represented as 
 
128 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXX. 21. 
 
 they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering 
 2 1 made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall wash their hands 
 and their feet, that they die not : and it shall be a statute for 
 ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their 
 generations. 
 
 poured on men, as anointing oil, even as fire. But, while ordinarily (cp. Jn. 
 xiii. lo) the priests washed only hands and feet, on the other hand (xxix. 4, 
 Lev. xvi. 4), on the great occasions, which (as not recurring, Jn. xiii. 10) may 
 be compared to Christian baptism, the whole body was washed. Perhaps it 
 is best to remember that the one thing invariably meant by scriptural 
 ' ' baptism " is purification, as a personal thing ; and Naaman has to learn 
 that it is not the water that cleanses, but Israel's redeeming God. However, 
 we students of Exodus have to see as a fact, that in the Red Sea baptism 
 (i Co. x. 2) those that were dipped were drowned, the saved were only 
 sprinkled. Nota betie in xxxviii. 8. The material 0/ this laver was the looking- 
 glasses of the women which assembled at the tent of meeting. Our 
 Version has the %voi7ien in italics, as if they were not in the tent. But Moses 
 has them folded in the (feminine) form of the verb {assembled). The looking- 
 glasses would be of burnished bronze (the Exodus brass). It is interesting 
 to see women here again (cp. Ex. ii.) coming into a place of "honour" 
 (i Pe. iii. 7 and Fifth Comm.) in connexion with the kingdom of God (as 
 when ladies built the Free Assembly Hall in Edinburgh). The Israelitish 
 women knew that the deepest degradation of their sex through sin had a 
 specially close connexion with the temple- worship of heathenism ; — a con- 
 nexion arising out of that attractiveness (cp. I Pe. iii. i) which looking-glass 
 idolatry, making a doll-idol of what has a soul, turns into an instrument of 
 the profoundest degradation conceivable for a creature of God. Did Miriam, 
 the strong-minded, head a "women's rights " movement in this matter ? These 
 movements do not generally take that direction, of sacrificing female vanity 
 for the purity of God's House. But even a strong-minded female has a soul, 
 as indeed a Zipporah likewise has (Mat. xiv. 21). 
 
 The holy oil (22-33). (The real facts regarding composition of this oil, spices, 
 etc. , and other difficult subjects in this last part of Exodus, have been carefully 
 expiscated by an acknowledged master, Canon Cook. To him and to Dr. Rawlin- 
 son we have pleasure in owning obligation, especially in relation to those sub- 
 jects.) We saw "the oil" in the prescription (xxvii. 20, 21) regarding the 
 precincts of the Dwelling. And already it has appeared that the oil is an essential 
 element in this religion : if only blood reach the throne of grace, yet the oil has to 
 be in the anointing of the lamb of God (Act. x. 38), and in the consecration of His 
 mediatorial offices (prophet, priest, and king). As a symbol of pirificatioji, the 
 oil is peculiar to the Bible religion. So is the thing it signifies, the efficacy of the 
 Holy Spirit. Mr. Gladstone, in his enthusiastic Homerology (which we will not 
 call Homerolatry), finds in Athene an analogue of the all-pervasive intelligent 
 energeia of that omnipresent Spirit. But her devotedly true servant Odysseus- 
 tender-hearted laird of Ithaca, as well as tough indomitable heart of oak in man- 
 hood—had not the remotest conception of "holiness" in the Bible sense, nor one 
 spark of that adoring love which is the Bible "fear of God." It is only Christ 
 that Christens. It is "the Holy One of God " that " shall baptize with the Holy 
 Ghost." He is the Chrism. And as for " civilisation " without that — " Scratch a 
 Russian, and you have a Tartar : " Witness the Hfe of heathenism in its heart — of 
 Athens the radiant — of (even) Socrates the wise, yea, the humble (we may say). 
 
XXX. 2 6.] THE CHAPTER OF OMISSIONS. 1 29 
 
 2 2, 23 Moreover, the Lord spake unto INIoses, saying, Take thou 
 also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred 
 shekels^ and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred 
 and fifty shekels^ and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty 
 
 24 shekels^ and of cassia five hundred shekels^ after the shekel of 
 
 25 the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin. And thou shalt make 
 it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the 
 
 26 art of the apothecary : it shall be an holy anointing oil. And 
 thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation there- 
 
 The odi frofamim vulgus et arceo has, at this tent door, a meaning that is not 
 dreamed of in the world's philosophy. 
 
 22-24. According to tradition, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, the 
 *' three kings" buried at Cologne, brought to the new-born King of the Jews 
 a homage-gift of respectively gold, frankincense, and myrrh. As regards the 
 holy oil, distinctively Christian {Christ means "anointed"), Moses here shows 
 Gentile peoples at the feet of Christ 1500 years before. Their ''speech 
 bewrayeth " them (cp. the contrary miracle of the Pentecost anointing, Act. 
 ii. I, etc.). The antiquarian difficulty here arises from the strangeness of the 
 words describing articles. And to us that strangeness gives the historical 
 fact, that the world gave its remotest treasures to this new kingdom, and the 
 King began to be "found of them who sought Him not." In a deeper sense, 
 all " civilisation " was on its way toward contribution of material for the new 
 enlightenment. This, in the later ages, while Rome, the great road-maker, 
 prepared the way of the Lord, Greece gave the Scriptures (Sept.) to mankind, 
 and the Roman and Greek civilisations have been appropriated by that 
 Christendom which first appeared visibly in Aaron's anointing ; as at the 
 beginning the Tabernacle was constructed of Egyptian "spoils," and after- 
 wards Tyrian hands were employed for the skilled work of the Temple- 
 building. The statements here in specification of the natural productions 
 employed are significant to that effect intended for those who (like the present 
 writer) are not skilled naturalists. Myrrh here is what is everywhere known 
 as such. It proves its identity in various lands by retaining substantially that 
 name in various languages which are not sister tongues (cp. Act. ii. 7, 8). 
 The pure is that which is obtained, without pressure, by natural exudation 
 (cp. Zaccheus) from an Arabian tree, which is "low, thorny, ragged." Five 
 hundred shekels: "probably rather more than 15^ lbs." (Canon Cook). 
 Cinnamon is similarly identified. It is the inner rhind of "a tree allied to 
 the laurel that grows in Ceylon and other islands of the Indian Ocean " (C. 
 C. ) — so that its roots may have been nourished by moisture from the Anti- 
 podes. Two hundred and fifty shekels: "probably about 7 lbs. 14 oz." 
 (C. C). Sweet calamus. The Heb. kaneh is common for cane, reed, 
 stalk. Here it is specifically sweet ; and may be what now is "known in 
 India as the Lemon Grass" (C. C). Cassia, Heb. Kiddah, occurs elsewhere 
 only in Ezek. xxvii. 19. The wo}'d\s not what the Heb. has in Ps. xlv. 8; 
 but the same kind of thing is what is meant there. The ancient versions 
 generally, and modern authorities universally, take the things here to be, a 
 •'cassia which is the inner bark of an Indian tree " somewhat different from 
 cinnamon. {Thetvords iji this connexion marked as quotation are ordifiarily 
 Canon Cook's.) Art of the apothecary : employ the best attainable skill (cp. 
 
130 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXX. 27. 
 
 27 with, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all his 
 vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of 
 
 28 incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all his vessels, 
 
 29 and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, 
 that they may be most holy : whatsoever toucheth them shall 
 
 30 be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and 
 consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's 
 
 31 office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, 
 saying. This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me through- 
 
 32 out your generations. Upon man's flesh shall it not be 
 poured; neither shall ye make any other like it, after the 
 composition of it : it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 
 
 33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth 
 a7iy of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off" from his 
 people. 
 
 " college-bred " ministers. " God can do without my knowledge." " Yes " — 
 said Robert Hall, — "and without your ignorance"): here the "art" is 
 Bezaleel's (xxxvii. 29), no doubt instructed in this " learning of the 
 Egyptians " (there are medical treatises found in their mummy coffins). 
 Mark the repetition of holy, in order to the sanctum sanctorum (under ver. 
 10) in ver. 29, of the priesthood as well as of the incense. Oil — oil: it is 
 to be only for this one purpose (vers. 31-33). Inviolable sacredness of 
 things here passes to a person ; because to the person there is attached a 
 thing — namely, official service (here again the expression lit. is, "priesting 
 it " to me, or, for me). A minister who does not minister, is he a minister ? 
 — e.g. if he only "discharge archidiaconal functions " ? On threat of plague, 
 cp. under xv. 25. Toucheth — holy. In the South Sea Islands there takes 
 place a sacred appropriation under the custom of tabu or tapu ; and the 
 sacredness has come to have the double meaning of the Latin sacer (either 
 blessed or accursed — i.e. devoted either way, to the "infernal" or to the 
 "supernal" transcendent — as the Greek anathema (in Lu. xxi. 5 iox gifts) 
 passes into anathema (Gr. for accursed in Ga. i. 8)). Here we see the sacred- 
 ness present a side of terror which is in the essence of its nature. That comes 
 out in vers. 32, 33. This excommunication arises out of the nature of the 
 society (Ge. xvii. 14). In xxxi. 14 we see a penal sanction, connected with 
 apparently the same sin, which amounts to death. The extreme penalty, 
 there expressly prescribed, gives effect to the principle of Theocracy, that 
 a sin against God is at the same time a political crime against the king 
 and the kingdom. What, if any, the temporal penalty may have been under 
 the Mosaic discipline, we really do not know. It is astonishing how much 
 otherwise honourable men will affirm of what they do not know. We do know, 
 from the highest authority, that the Jewish tradition — which some regard as 
 all but oracular — was the opposite of a trustworthy witness. And in the 
 Civil Code we saw that the Mosaic legislation was in its character humane. 
 We thus may assume that excommunication involved no severity of temporal 
 penalty beyond what was necessary for the spiritual purpose of it (i Co. v. 5). 
 And the specification of the death-penalty in some cases shows that ordinarily 
 it did not accompany or flow from the spiritual excommunication. The in- 
 
XXX. 38.] THE CHAPTER OF OxMISSIONS. 1 31 
 
 34 And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet 
 spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum ; these sweet spices, 
 with pure frankincense : of each shall there be a like weight, 
 
 35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art 
 
 36 of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy. And 
 thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the 
 testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will 
 
 37 meet with thee : it shall be unto you most holy. And as for 
 the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to 
 yourselves according to the composition thereof : it shall be 
 
 38 unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like 
 unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his 
 people. 
 
 cense (34-38). Stacte is Gr. for a dropping, which also is the meaning of 
 the Heb. word here. The thing was, a gum from a tree ; but it is named 
 only here. Onycha is in substance a Gr. word {onyx), originally meaning 
 nail {e.g. of finger). It was given as name to the (nail-like) shell of the fish 
 from which the spice was obtained. Galbanum: here in the Gr., really is 
 a Heb. word with a Gr. face. Named only here ; but the thing is well 
 known in medicine. Frankincense : "the most important of aromatic gums." 
 The tree is supposed not to have grown in either Palestine or Arabia. 
 Tempered together : lit. salted, — Canon Cook thinks that the meaning may be 
 literally, seasoned with salt. Here again we see the principle, that a thing 
 common in itself may become sacred simply by the will of God — e.g. the Lord's 
 Day ; and that a sin against sacredness is peculiarly hateful in its impiety, — 
 e.g. breaking the Third Commandment. Profanity is even by the heathen 
 regarded as evincing utter godlessness ; and in their tragedy — CEdipus — in- 
 advertent profanation is followed by terrible vengeance of the gods — e.g. 
 sailors of Odysseus eating the sacred cattle. The divine laws against 
 profanity have a deep ground in the natural conscience and heart of men. 
 And the terrible severity of the penal sanctions was thus fitted to lay hold of 
 men with its lesson of reverence, dread of offending, ^^ the fear of God." 
 Perhaps even the seeming arbitrariness and superficialness of the formality (38) 
 is fitted to give a deeper sense of the reality. Thus the a fortiori argument 
 in He. x. 29 applies. 
 
 Of the Episode, Chaps, xxxi.-xxxiv. The beginning of xxxv. is 
 in real continuity wdth the close of xxx. ; and it is otherwise not 
 unlikely (see Introd. p. 60) that the two great sections of direction 
 and erection were in existence as completed documents before the 
 composition of the existing Book of Exodus began. In that case the 
 historian made use of them as materials ready to his hand ; made 
 ready, it may be, by his own hand, in writing down, first the direction 
 as received from the Lord, and thereafter the account of the erection 
 as the work went on from stage to stage. For the purpose of his 
 history, the present episode had to be inserted somehow as a vitally 
 important part of the constitutional history of those foundation weeks 
 and days. 
 
132 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXI, I. 
 
 Chap. XXXI. i, 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, 
 I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of 
 
 A true episode is not a mere digression. It is a side stream which 
 is the main stream turning aside and really continuing the movement 
 from which it seems to have departed. And the present episode, 
 naturally arising from what goes before it in the history, greatly 
 enhances the interest of what follows. Its origin is immediately 
 connected with the mysterious disappearance of Moses, and his 
 protracted absence (xxiv. 18), operating upon carnal minds, prone to 
 unbelief, and so to superstition as of panic (Is. xxviii. 16). And the 
 great and joyful effusion of liberality in contributions for the building 
 (xxxv.) receives a peculiar colouring of interest if regarded as the 
 outflow of a joy of restoration to the light of God's countenance on 
 the part of a people who have been kept waiting through a dark 
 night of sorrow in humiliation for the sin of apostasy from God. 
 Israel, in the erection of the Tabernacle, will thus appear as rearing 
 a monument to the truth, which was long after set forth clearly by 
 "an Hebrew of the Hebrews." " It is a faithful saying, worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of 
 whom I am the chief." The nation's experience will thus fall to be 
 regarded as a precursor of the experience of the Apostle of the 
 circumcision, whom (Lu. xxii. 31, 32) Satan desired to have, that 
 he might sift him like wheat ; but there was an all-prevailing 
 intercession for him, that his faith might not fail, so that he was 
 restored from his lapse in order that when converted he might 
 strengthen the brethren. 
 
 The narrative regarding the worship of the golden calf has three 
 connected parts : i. The descending of Moses j 2. the exposure; 
 and 3. the restoration. 
 
 ist, The descending of Moses (xxxi.). Here we see no longer the wise master 
 builder receiving specifications of the plan of God's Dwelling, but the faithful 
 servant (He. iii. 6), on wing with a message to the unfaithful from the Lord. It 
 might be an overstraining to make the injunction about the Sabbath a pre- 
 cautionary measure for prevention of Sabbath desecration through excessive zeal 
 in building. Moses himself is apparently the only one likely to be in danger of 
 being thus "righteous overmuch." And what he is directly charged with is a 
 message to the people regarding their duty and privilege — building or no building 
 — in connexion with that holy rest which is for all generations. The first part 
 of the message, while it has reference to the work of which he is to have charge, 
 yet especially bears upon the actual manual labour of those " hands " which are 
 to do the bodily toil where Moses is the directing brain. His mind thus is now 
 turned in the direction of the camp, and his heart to impulsive guidance of his 
 people in the way of those commandments which he bears in his hands from the 
 Lord. 
 
 I. As to the work (1-12). 2. By name (under xxxiii. 17). Not simply to 
 call, nor simply to name. It is to designate specially for an appointed 
 mission (cp. Act. ix. 15). Bezaleel 2i\yv2iys has the leading place, even when 
 Aholiab is spoken of at the same time. He had in special charge the smith- 
 work of the erection, while the weaving was the special charge of Aholiab. 
 
XXXI. II.] THE DESCENDING OF MOSES. I33 
 
 3 Hur, of the tribe of Judah : and I have filled him with the 
 spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in know- 
 
 4 ledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning 
 
 5 works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in 
 cutting of stones, to set thern^ and in carving of timber, to 
 
 6 work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have 
 given with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe 
 of Dan : and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have 
 put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded 
 
 7 thee ; the tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the 
 testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the 
 
 8 furniture of the tabernacle, and the table and his furniture, 
 and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar 
 
 9 of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all his furni- 
 
 10 ture, and the laver and his foot, and the clothes of service, 
 and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments 
 
 1 1 of his sons, to minister in the priest's office, and the anointing 
 
 The Hiir who was his grandfather is presumably that Hur who otherwise is 
 so honourably placed in this history : it may be idle to refer to the tradition, 
 which possibly is a mere fancy, that this Hur was the husband of Miriam. 
 3. Here we see true "consecration of art." The expression here, the Spirit 
 of God, would not in isolation have sufficed as a proof of the distinct 
 personality of that Spirit in the Godhead. But, being otherwise aware of 
 the personality, here we may see the Person. The divine inspiration given 
 to this high-class artificer did not (see Introd. pp. 74-78) supersede his 
 natural human faculties and attainments ; but employed them, purifying and 
 exalting them, directing them to a lofty application. Wisdom here (cp. i, 
 9, 10) may be taken for general mind power, especially of native good sense ; 
 understanding, iox penetrative itttelligence, the acuteness of a clever man ; and 
 knoT.vledge, for the comprehensive mental furniture of an expert, master of his 
 craft, and of all thereto pertaining. He is not " a cobbler," skilful only at 
 "his last," but a man with a disciplined original faculty of thought and 
 action, — qualified as the sun is for ruling the day it oversees, and fills with 
 life in joyous movement (see under xxxv. 30-35). 4, 5. Devise cunning 
 works : lit. as if, devise devices (cp. Odysseus — kerdea egno). The details 
 of material and of structure referred to are all specified in the directory. 
 The charge to Moses, adhere strictly to the "pattern," did not exclude the 
 exercise of artistic skill in the style — e.g. of the cherubic figuring, or the 
 moulding of the "borders." Cp. the "style" of David, and Isaiah. 
 There is even in this sense a seemly "beauty " of holiness : an ugly church is 
 like a tawdry Christian woman, a disgrace to religion.. Wise-hearted : 
 cp. xxviii. 3 ; and observe / have give^i : God here proceeds as desired by 
 Augustine, "Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt." 
 7. Tent of meeting. 8-1 1. P«r^; of pure gold. The articles here specified 
 are all referred to in the directory excepting cloths of service. The Heb. 
 word {serad) for service is found only here and in xxxix. i. The original 
 meaning of it can only be guessed at. The Sept. rendering means "garments 
 
134 
 
 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXI. 12. 
 
 oil, and sweet incense for the holy place : according to all 
 that I have commanded thee shall they do. 
 12, 13 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou 
 also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths 
 ye shall keep : for it is a sign between me and you throughout 
 your generations ; that ye may know that I am the Lord that 
 
 14 doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for 
 it ts holy unto you : every one that defileth it shall surely be 
 put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that 
 
 1 5 soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may 
 work be done ; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy 
 to the Lord : whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, 
 
 16 he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of 
 
 of service," A fair suggestion is, ihzt clof^es 0/ '' semd" is like our "vest- 
 ments," a general expression for the priestly, and especially the high-priestly 
 official costume. If it had been any particular article of such importance as 
 to have this place here, there would have been description of it. 
 
 2. Asfo the Sabbath (12-17). My Sabbaths. There were various "Sabbaths " 
 (lit. rests). 13. This one is identified as the seventh day by these marks : (i) 
 by what is said about it as a sign (vers. 13, 17) ; and (2) specially by the 
 reference to the six days of man (ver. 15) and of God (ver, 17). That the 
 heathens long after regarded this Sabbath as distinctive of the Jews, may 
 appear from the fling of Juvenal, referred to by Rawlinson {Sat. vi. 159). 
 Observe that the Son of man is Lord of '■'the Sabbath," and the Son of God 
 by His teaching will " give us Sabbath " {rest) in His heart, from the Father 
 (Mat. xi. 27-29). 15. Who doth sanctify you : the Sabbath "sign "then is 
 far grander than the rainbow (Ge. ix. 12, 13). Therefore— tinto you. 
 Before you this "pearl "is cast: to trample it underfoot is to "rend" — 
 whom ? (Mk. ii. 27, 28). 14. A strong case of Obsta principiis : see note on 
 the severity of God, under xii. 29-36. We saw in the humane civil code a 
 terrible severity against dishonouring a parent. Here we see the terrible 
 severity against profaning Jehovah's day. The two provincial moral laws 
 for earth and time are enshrined in the heart of the Decalogue, which is the 
 heart of the heart's heart of God's new Covenant with men. They are the twin 
 pillars, Jachin and Boaz, of a Christian society. Individuals can often trace the 
 beginning of ruin in their life's career to a dishonouring of parents or of the 
 holy day. And the terrible severity of prescription in the two cases, through 
 which God made a stand, as at a decisive point, in the very beginning of the 
 history of His visible kingdom on earth, may, through purification of human life 
 at the fountain, have been an incalculable blessing to mankind. 16. Covenant 
 {berith) : not simply statute (note on Covenant, Introd. pp. 70-72). 
 Refreshed: lit. as if drawing breath. This remarkable expression, with its 
 reference to complacent delight in the original finished work of creation 
 (Ge. ii. 2, 3, see note on P'ourth Comm. in xx.), is in keeping with the whole 
 tenor of scriptural allusions to Qo^s feeling toward the creatures (even " their 
 beauty" makes Him "glad"). Especially in the new creation, when they 
 "meet" Him (under xxv. 22), He finds His chosen "rest," which to the 
 Divine Redeemer is as if refreshing (Is. liii. 1 1 ; Re. iii. 20). By duly 
 
XXXI. 1 8.] THE APOSTASY PUNISHED. 1 35 
 
 Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath through- 
 
 1 7 out their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign 
 between me and the children of Israel for ever : for in six 
 days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh 
 day he rested, and was refreshed. 
 
 18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of 
 communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testi- 
 mony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. 
 
 "keeping His Sabbath, and reverencing His sanctuary," His people please 
 Him in the sense of giving this pleasure to the heart of God (see under 
 " sweet savour " in xxix. 18). Communing: lit. talking, cp. Mk. ix. 15; 
 so that the Transfiguration was not the first occasion of Moses " talking 
 with " the Son of God, — see note on the Exodus Angelophany, under xiv. 19. 
 18. The Tables, according to promise (xxiv. 12) at the beginning of the forty 
 days. On the value of the Tables as evidence of supernatural revelation, 
 see Introd. p. 90. Keil and Delitzsch {Comm.) have a good note, — that the 
 slabs cannot (as is often said) have been as broad and as long as the ark, 
 seeing that (xxxii. 15) Moses carried them down the mount "in his hand" 
 ("in his two hands," De. ix. 15, 17) ; and that the 173 words of the Exodus 
 edition of the Decalogue could be distinctly written on much smaller slabs. 
 As to the way and manner in which the actual writing may have been 
 done, speculation is incompetent as well as unseemly, and consequently is 
 indulged in by some. But in (the Heb. of) xxxiv. i there is a Scripture 
 fact that, while this pair of Tables is of stone (sing. ), the second pair (made 
 by Moses) was to be (plur.) of stones : and it is reasonably supposed that 
 this distinction may represent some real difference. {Exercise: What may 
 it represent ?) 
 
 2nd, The Apostasy exposed and punished (xxxii. ). Calf or ox worship was 
 no doubt familiar to Israel in Egypt ; where, later, Jeroboam (i Ki. xii. 2) 
 learned to teach Israel to sin. The ox was a rival to Pharaoh, the man-god in 
 sacredness ; and (see Introd. p. 54) the chosen people had sunk deep into "the 
 pollutions" (2 Pe. ii, 20). The immediate occasion of this lapse was (initial 
 note to XXX. -xxxiv.) the impression that Moses, who had disappeared in the 
 cloud, was finally gone from them. The true inward cause was (He. iii. 12), 
 "an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the Hving God." It is a question 
 here what they meant : whether to worship a false god ; or to worship Jehovah 
 in the Egyptian manner, not in the Mosaic manner (now proved a failure). No 
 one knows — perhaps they did not know. The word "gods " in our version is for 
 Elohim, which (under i. 17) is the ordinary word for " God." And it is Jehovah 
 ("the Lord") that Aaron bade them see in the calf. The practical question 
 is not, which of the two Commandments — the first or the second — they inte?ided 
 to break ; whether it was by stabbing or by poison that they murdered. It is 
 rather, which of all the Commandments they did not break? God made idolatry 
 in every way to be alike rejection oi Hi^n. It was rejection of Him in His 
 authority, prescribing the manner of His worship ; and in His majestic 
 spirituality, of infinite greatness, as the appropriate object of rational worship 
 (Is. xl. 18-25 ; Act. xvii. 24-29). They broke all the Commandments in so 
 breaking with the Commander, becoming "conformed to this world." This is 
 what was waiting to meet the messenger, now on his way down with those 
 Commandments from God. 
 
136 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXII. I. 
 
 Chap. XXXII. i. And when the people saw that Moses delayed 
 to come down out of the mount, the people gathered them- 
 selves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us 
 gods, which shall go before us ; for as for this Moses, the 
 man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not 
 
 2 what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break 
 off the golden ear-rings, which are in the ears of your wives, 
 of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 
 
 3 And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were 
 
 4 in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received 
 the77i at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after 
 he had made it a molten calf : and they said, These he thy 
 gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of 
 
 5 Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it ; 
 and Aaron made proclamation, and said. To-morrow is a 
 
 6 feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, 
 and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings : and 
 the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 
 
 7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for 
 
 1. Thepeoplis crime ( 1-6). And when, etc. Change of scene from that deep 
 seclusion of Moses ! Gods— this Moses : see initial note here. 2, 3. Aaron's 
 device here was doubly poor and weak — (i) intellectually, in calculating 
 only on what cold-blooded carnality is capable of sacrificing ; (2) morally, 
 in not downright refusing to do what he knew to be wrong, betraying trust as 
 (xxiv.) left in charge— deputy of absent Moses. 4. Fashioned— graving — 
 moltejt (under ver. 20), The idol was probably of wood within (Is. xlix. 9-16 
 — as to which South has, ' ' making a god out of one end of a stick, and 
 cooking his victuals with the other")- To overlay this (xxv. 31, note) the 
 gold was prepared by — (i) being melted, and cast as a plate; and (2) being laid 
 over the wooden block, and beaten and carved according to the design. 
 Graving tool may here be one taken for everything of that sort ; as when 
 "the sword" means war. These are thy gods: or, This is thy god; — 
 see initial note here. Everything proceeds as ?/they had meant to worship 
 the true God; only, in the manner of the false Jeroboam (i Ki. xii. 28). 
 But to play, in connexion with idolatrous worship, had a foul significance 
 (i Co. x. 6-8), illustrated by the Egyptian monuments, and by the phrase, 
 which here comes into use (xxxiv. 15), "to go a whoring" in religion. 
 
 2. The mediators trial{'j-\^. This bears obvious resemblance to the tempta- 
 tion of Christ (Mat.iv. i,etc.). The Lord's "repenting" is anthropomorphism; 
 but not therefore meaningless or unreal. He "is not a man that He should 
 repent ; " but He does repent (Ge. vi. 6 ; Ps. xc. 13). He repents divinely : 
 not abandoning a purpose; but — (i) changing His manner of action, (2) 
 being grieved by sin of creatures, (3) mourning over the ruinous misery of 
 sinners (Lu. xix. 41-44). Here the speciaHty is, the trial to which He sub- 
 jects the mediator (cp. Ge. xxii. i, case of Job ; on tempting, see in note on 
 Induration, under iv. 18-31). This trial, too, came at the close of forty days' 
 seclusion (presumably, of fasting, cp. xxxiv. 28) in the case of Moses as in 
 
XXXII. 13-] THE APOSTASY PUNISHED. 137 
 
 thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, 
 
 8 have corrupted the?nselves : they have turned aside quickly 
 out of the way which I commanded them : they have made 
 them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacri- 
 ficed thereunto, and said. These be thy gods, O Israel, which 
 
 9 have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the 
 Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, 
 
 10 it is a stiff-necked people : now therefore let me alone, that 
 my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume 
 
 1 1 them ; and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses 
 besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy 
 wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought 
 forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a 
 
 12 mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and 
 say. For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the 
 mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth ? 
 Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy 
 
 13 people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, 
 
 that of Christ. So as to the offer of a personal dominion and glory (had any 
 such thought flitted over Moses' own mind ?), there is no need of imagining 
 irony in the speech of God. The people do belong to Moses (mediatorially) ; 
 so that their lot is dependent on his choice. How an offer could be made 
 by a holy God, which it would be disloyal for Moses the mediator to accept, 
 we cannot comprehend ; nor can we comprehend how the Almighty permits 
 temptation by Satan or by man. We will not inquire beyond our " depth " 
 (Ro. xi. 33), remembering what happened to "the Egyptians essaying to do 
 so." {Exercise as above : What beca?ne of the poste^'ity of Moses ? — Zipporah ? 
 — under the reason annexed to Second Commandment ?) Behold— people : 
 obstinacy is weak for the right (mulish, Ps. xxxii. 9), not having the rational 
 strength, which can turn : it rushes blindly against a stone wall, and calls 
 itself, "firmness." Behold: see that! (bad raw material for "a great 
 nation"). The alternative : a nation of ("true breed") tI/cj-^/V type. That 
 must have been attractive to him, who is another name for "the law" (cp. 
 Re. XV. 3, 4). But here is the hinge, that sinful Israel is to be the 
 great nation. Let — consuriie them ; let "law" be magnified, through justice 
 taking its course, and spending its force. He, too, thus is "sifted as wheat " 
 (Lu. xxii. 31). But his loyalty survives the test. 11-14. It has now been 
 shown by the test, that the mediator will have nothing merely for himself; 
 nor any greatness of nationality but for that people, of which he is the 
 " surety" (He. vii. 22). And so (i Jn. ii. 2) if they have sinned against God 
 in him, in him they have an advocate with the Father. So, when the tempta- 
 tion goes on to counter-advocacy {diabole) he waxes bold in intercession 
 (Jeanie Deans exhorted the duke not to be "daunted" before the queen 
 when pleading for Efifie's life). The Mosaic "boldness" (in He. iv. 16, 
 X. 19, the word parrhesia is lit, "free speech") is not for himself, but for 
 that sinful people (to Erskine— " What inspired you so?" in a wonderful 
 pleading. He — " I felt my wife and children tugging at my gown). Christ 
 
138 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXII. 14. 
 
 to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, 
 I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven ; and all this 
 land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and 
 
 14 they shall inherit // for ever. And the Lord repented of the 
 evil which he thought to do unto his people. 
 
 15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and 
 the two tables of the testimony were in his hand : the tables 
 were written on both their sides ; on the one side and on the 
 
 16 other were they written. And the tables were the work of 
 God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon 
 
 1 7 the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people 
 as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war 
 
 1 8 in the camp. And he said, // is not the voice of them that 
 shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of the7n that cry for 
 being overcome ; but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 
 
 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the 
 camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing : and Moses' 
 anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and 
 
 20 brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which 
 they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground // to 
 powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children 
 
 says: "Because I live, ye shall live also." His ground of argument is, 
 what God is (His honour), and has said and done (His faithfulness)— (i) 
 choosing this people, (2) patronizing them, before the world, (3) having the7n 
 in His (Abrahamic) covenant. Man (grudging) hates the argtwientiwi ad 
 homine7n : the arguvientum ad Deum is what God especially loves (Ro. 
 viii. 26, 27). 
 
 3. The exposure and punishment {1^-26) . The tables (under xxxi. 18). 
 Moses turning in the sublimity of self-sacrifice : — no wonder if his face shine 
 (cp. Jn. X. 15; He. ii. 2). And here "the testimony" — Moral Law — is 
 surely at its culmination, — excepting in that ark (Ps. xl. 8) which (He. 
 X. 1-5) is its true eternal home. It is the excalibur that now flashes out in 
 the dark storm of crisis : the "two-edged sword" is living, powerful, while it 
 is shining steel, burning where it shines. This mediator is "not of one :" 
 he is true to God as well as to the people ; and now, what has to be asserted 
 by the true is the holiness of God. Characteristically, the warrior hears war : 
 the shepherd hears wolves. Moses already divines what is passing. The 
 dialogue may be behind the Sufsafeh promontory ; or elsewhere concealed 
 from view of the camp, while within the sound of its revelry. (Is that the 
 consecration of Israel's life that was to be seen by the seven shining eyes ? 
 initial note to xxv. 23-28.) 19. On the mediator's wrath, see Ps. ii. 12. 
 But human infirmity (cp. ii. 12) seems to have a part here. 20. The utter 
 demolition is somehow practicable (see under ver. 4) ; but hoxu the gold 
 could be made into a sort of floating powder we do not know (Egyptian 
 chemistry?). "What precisely was meant beyond utter disgrace to the idol, 
 putting his worshippers to shame, appears an insipid question, though 
 
XXXII. 2 8.] THE APOSTASY PUNISHED. 1 39 
 
 21 of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did 
 this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin 
 
 22 upon them? And Aaron said. Let not the anger of my lord 
 wax hot : thou knowest the people, that they are set on 
 
 23 mischief. For they said unto me. Make us gods, which shall 
 go before us : for as for this Moses, the man that brought us 
 up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of 
 
 24 him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let 
 them break // off. So they gave it me : then I cast it into 
 the fire, and there came out this calf. 
 
 25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked, (for 
 Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their 
 
 26 enemies,) then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and 
 said. Who is on the Lord's side ? let hitfi come unto me. And 
 all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
 
 27 And he said unto them. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
 Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from 
 gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his 
 brother, and every man his companion, and every man his 
 
 28 neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the 
 word of Moses : and there fell of the people that day about 
 
 some have laboured at it. 21-24. Aaron is pitiable now in his cringing 
 falsehood, making an excuse out of the poor souls he has ruined by his base 
 compliance. Moses apparently is silent now in a noble scorn ; but when the 
 history comes to be written, the traitor will be clearly shown as liar, the 
 infamy in every feature of it will be pictured for mankind : otherwise, Aaron 
 shall not see the land of promise. 25. False religious excitement runs 
 toward indecency : stirring up the feelings of man while abandoning fear of 
 God. Indecency in connexion with religion is peculiarly scandalous. 
 Enemies: were the Amalekites watching (from a safe distance)? In any 
 case, the honour of the religion, the "glory" of Jehovah, is in question. 
 To this (ver. 12) the mediator is keenly sensitive on God's behalf (Mat. 
 xxi. 13). It was at this point that indignation flamed out in wrath. 26-28. 
 The reappearance of Moses, and his appeal to them, appears to have brought 
 them to their senses. They were subdued, so that eleven tribes passively 
 bore punishment from one. "Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all." 
 But (cp. Re. xvi. 9-I1) they at first, though subdued in sort of stupor, 
 "repented not to give God the glory." There was a "solidarity " of passive 
 resistance, individuals adhering to their tribes. Levi here showed the 
 perfervidism which, tragical in the first father of the tribe, is capable of being 
 turned into greatness. Pewter is pewter everywhere ; but the steel sword of 
 an enemy will be steel in a friend's hand ; and a strong fiery temper is a 
 valiant manhood, which may work in a "zeal" of the Lord's House (oratorical 
 Aaron is perhaps in the fever-chill). The seeming indiscriminateness of the 
 slaughter may mean, where all alike are guilty, "decimation" as by lot; or 
 perhaps there were some who " stood out," contumacious in mutineering, 
 
I40 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXII. 29. 
 
 29 three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate your- 
 selves to-day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and 
 upon his brother ; that he may bestow upon you a blessing 
 this day. 
 
 30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto 
 the people. Ye have sinned a great sin : and now I will go up 
 unto the Lord ; peradventure I shall make an atonement for 
 
 3 1 your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh ! 
 this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them 
 
 32 gods of gold ! Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and 
 if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast 
 
 33 written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath 
 
 34 sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. There- 
 
 though not actively resisting ** Moses in the law." It was terrible, and was 
 meant to be so in ierroret?i for all time ; as it now is operative in He. 
 X. 28, 29 and xii. 25-29. 29. The meaning, which is not clear, seems to be 
 — "So be it ever" {made virtute) \ be ever of the temper which sacrifices 
 private personal affection toward men for the public cause of God (Lu. 
 xiv. 26) ; so the terrible exhortation, ver. 27. 
 
 4. The mediatorial deprecation (30-35). God wears an aspect of severity, 
 which is softened by the Mosaic intercession. There is a corresponding 
 reality (Ja. v. 16), of a righteous man's prayer availing much, efficaciously 
 for such good as restoration of a brother's health. But Moses here is 
 mediator, and he is to proceed on the way of atoneme^tt. Where we see that 
 in God there is a reality — (i) of judicial resentment of sin as moral culpability, 
 and (2) of placability, which is reached in this particular way, provided by 
 His own redeeming love in sovereign grace, — the way of intercession on the 
 ground of the oblation of bleeding sacrifice (see on Kapporeth under xxv. 17, 
 and atonement under xxix. 30). But here what we see is, not the act of 
 obtaining the propitiation through sacrifice, but the application of redemp- 
 tion in the continuous efficacy of the atoning blood. Gods : or, a god, as 
 above {N.B. they made only one calf). Moses here reaches a transcendental- 
 ism of self-sacrifice, which officially {we know) is folded in the heart of the 
 true mediation (Jn. x. 15 ; He. x. 1-5) ; but which on the part of Moses, as 
 of Paul (Ro. ix. 3), represents a reality of personal feeling. Their love, like 
 that of Christ, may "pass" our knowledge. They could not be willing to 
 be spiritually dead — devils incarnate : nor, we may suppose, to be "accursed " 
 as He was, who (Ga. iii. 13) hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. 
 To be blotted out of God^s book is, to have one's name deleted from the roll of 
 citizens of His kingdom, or members of His family (Ps. Ixix. 28 ; Re. xxii. 19). 
 That would be the visible effect of a man's being made cherem anathema 
 (Ga. i, 8). And presumably the two heroes were thinking only of that effect 
 on their personal happiness, of being externally excluded from enjoyment of 
 that which was their soul's life ; if only that should save the people of God. 
 There is something of this temper in all the true children of the kingdom 
 (i Jn. iii. 16); and there has to be (Ro. viii. 29). But, 33, in the present 
 case that way of saving the people is not open. The sinners now have to 
 bear the consequence of their own sin ; as (ver. 24) will appear by and by in 
 
XXXIII. 5-] INTERCESSION OF MOSES. 141 
 
 fore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have 
 spoken unto thee : behold, mine Angel shall go before thee : 
 nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon 
 
 35 them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made 
 the calf which Aaron made. 
 
 Chap. XXXIII. i. And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, a}id 
 go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought 
 up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware 
 unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying. Unto thy seed 
 
 2 will I give it : and I will send an Angel before thee ; and I 
 will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, 
 
 3 and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite ; unto a land 
 flowing with milk and honey : for I will not go up in the 
 midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people ; lest I con- 
 sume thee in the way. 
 
 4 And when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned; 
 
 5 and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord 
 . had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are 
 
 a stiff-necked people ; I will come up into the midst of thee 
 in a moment, and consume thee : therefore now put off thy 
 ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 
 
 white bones that strew the wilderness. Nevertheless, 34, this intercession 
 really availeth much : it comes to be their salvation. As to tJie Angela see 
 under xiv. 19, xxiii. 23, and xxxiii. 2. 35. Plagued— calf : Egyptian punish- 
 ment of Egyptian sins : though Aaron was leader in the sin, they did it. 
 
 3rd, The intercession in its climax (xxxiii. ), see the agony of intercession in 
 xvii. note. Priestly action, alike of oblation and of intercession, is [pros ton Theon) 
 "toward God" (He. v. i.). But (He. v. 2) the High Priest ought to be one who 
 can have a fellow-feeling toward men, — have compassion upon the ignorant, and 
 them that are out of the way. The Mosaic mediation has in it the more compre- 
 hensive character of intervention, in such ways as would become a patriotic chief 
 of a people, who has the privilege of approaching an imperial throne on their 
 h€a.2M{paracletos^ i Jn. ii. 2= "patron"). And for the purpose of his inter- 
 vention, he deals with men as well as God. 
 
 I. Mamvard action {i-ii). Here is what may be described as the first 
 secession (*'the Original Secession"), the seceder being Moses on behalf of 
 God. 1-3. Moses alone excommunicates the nation, "I banish you" — 
 Coriolanus. He is prepared for that strong step by being spoken to as if 
 he were Israel, and in that capacity assured that, God being now about 
 to withdraw from that people, while sending His angel with them, it is best 
 for them that it should be so, since His presence might be their death (on 
 the Angel, see note on Angelophany under xiv. 19, xxiii. 23, xxxii. 34). 
 4-6. Here is the first act of public national humiliation. The Horeb 
 here may be one particular peak as a point of departure. But the point of 
 departure may be that central "mountain" generally (iii. 12) where they 
 have met God. It is there that, at his bidding, they cast off their ornaments 
 
142 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXIII. 6. 
 
 6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their orna- 
 
 7 ments by the Mount Horeb. And Moses took the tabernacle, 
 and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and 
 called it The Tabernacle of the Congregation. And it came 
 to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto 
 the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the 
 
 8 camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the 
 tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man 
 at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone 
 
 9 into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered 
 into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at 
 the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 
 
 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand ^/ the taber- 
 nacle door : and all the people rose up and worshipped, every 
 
 1 1 man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face 
 
 in open profession of sorrow ; like orphans, widows, or children of the bride- 
 chamber in absence of the bridegroom. The sign of penitence operates like 
 the blood of the Passover lamb. 7-10. The tent: some have imagined an 
 ancient sacred tent. There is no warrant for that, and no need of it. " Tkc 
 tent " is simply an idiom (xviii. 7, note) for his tent. It would be Moses' 
 own, or otherwise the best in the camp, for so wonderful a guest. But the 
 Tent was not to bring sacredness ; God was the sacredness (Ex. iii. 5). 
 What we see is, for the time, a judicial abandonment of Israel, their exclusion 
 from fellowship with God. This they are made to feel the more deeply 
 through seeijtg that felloivship they have lost : like Pilgrim in the shade, 
 wistfully gazing at those who are sunning themselves on the Delectable 
 Mountains. The view is strangely pathetic. When they see him go and 
 come, they venture on no familiarity with him, but give a most impressive 
 mute sign of submissive affectionate respect. And their simple action when 
 they lose sight of him, and know that he is with God, is simply sublime. 
 The description appears to be not only of one act, but of a typical action, — 
 that is, the course of things in that mournful period of secession. Perhaps 
 R. V. has misplaced the indication of this at ver. 7, where they have " Moses 
 used to." This is not translation but explanation. And the explanation may 
 come better in where the historian has an opening for it. Ver. 8 (after the 
 tent is fairly located). And it came to pass (which itself all but says, "it 
 was thus that matters proceeded "). The pillar descended : from Sinai peak, 
 taking the place of the (future) tent-door curtain. N.B. — 'J'his is the first 
 actual tent that had the name " tent of meeting " (ver. 7). R. V. mangles 
 the whole passage by having tabernacle in place of tent. Of the tabernacle 
 (note on words, under xxv. 7) there was not then a "pin" in existence. At 
 ver. 9 the Lord, in A.V. and R.V., is not in the Heb. In rigour it is 
 the pillar that speaks. But (xix. 9) we know it is the Lord that spoke from 
 the cloud. II. Face to face: the elders had a " prelibation " of this when 
 they were nobles (xxiv. 9-1 1); and Abraham, the "friend" of God, had a 
 basis of personal qualification (Ps. xxv. 5 ; Ge. xx. 7) for intervention on a 
 man's behalf. But Moses (De. xxxiv. 10) is here represented as the great 
 original prophet, the one who first received the revelation for Israel. He 
 
XXXIII. 1 6.] INTERCESSION OF MOSES. 143 
 
 to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned 
 again into the camp : but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, 
 a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. 
 
 12 And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me. 
 Bring up this people : and thou hast not let me know whom 
 thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by 
 
 13 name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now 
 therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, 
 show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find 
 grace in thy sight ; and consider that this nation is thy people. 
 
 14 And he said. My presence shall go with thee^ and I will give 
 
 15 thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with 
 
 16 me^ carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known 
 here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight ? 
 
 turned: he did not reside in that tent, but visited the king there; otherwise 
 attending to his business as chief in the camp. There was left there a 
 trusty guard ; Joshua, always stainless, the only man who had not wor- 
 shipped the idol, then "a young man" (as it might appear to an aged 
 hist07'ian), forty-seven, his hfe's high prime, — a stalwart warrior (after whom 
 was named, "The Hero's Well"). 
 
 2. Action ^^ toward God'' {pros ton Theon) (12-23), This is the true 
 inward process of the people's life : what they saw was only an outward 
 indication of that process. 12, 13. It is on behalf of them that Moses acts, 
 but the thing he seeks is immediately to himself: we suppose some assurance 
 of profounder insight that may establish him immovably amid such storms. 
 So the disciples, " Lord, increase our faith ;" and when they were shaken by 
 being plainly told of His approaching death, they obtained (2 Pe. i. 16-18) 
 the reassuring view of His transfiguration, "glory that should follow." 
 Moses is exercised about circumstances that are disquieting, particularly, 
 What about that Angela whose promised presence appeared to be a threatened 
 absence of the Lord (see note on Angelophany^ under xiv. 19, etc.)? In 
 this mind he again plies the argiimentum ad Deum, pleading what God 
 Himself has already said and done in relation to this people, (i) Calling 
 their mediator by najue (Ex. iii. 4, cp. xxxi. 2, note) ; (2) making the nation 
 to be distinctively His own people (Ex. xix. 6, note) ; and in this way 
 (3) making their visible distinctness, their being manifestly "separated" 
 from other peoples, to be a matter affecting God's own glory, of self- 
 manifestation as the true God on the earth. Show me now Thy way thus 
 means. Give me distinct assurance that Thou art in Sovereign Providence 
 proceeding through the darkly stormy time to that predestined end of this 
 people's rest (in Canaan). 14-17. The dialogue following turns upon that 
 request. The presence here is not simply the omnipresence of the Supreme 
 Being, but the manifested favouring power of Israel's redeeming, living, 
 loving God. Rest: the ultimatum is that for which Israel was trained in 
 Egypt (He, iv. 8); for which men are educated by "Moses in the law" 
 (Ga. iii, 24 ; Ro. v. 20), and which has come from heaven to seek us in the 
 heart of Christ (Mat. xi. 28, 29). The "presence," for that end is indis- 
 pensable. And the people are to have it as well as Moses (so that perhaps 
 
144 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXIII. 17. 
 
 is tt not in that thou goest with us ? so shall we be separated, 
 I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face 
 
 17 of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this 
 thing also that thou hast spoken ; for thou hast found grace 
 
 18 in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I 
 
 19 beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make 
 all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the 
 name of the Lord before thee ; and will be gracious to whom 
 I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show 
 
 20 mercy. And he said. Thou canst not see my face : for there 
 
 2 1 shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said. Behold, 
 there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock : 
 
 22 and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I 
 will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with 
 
 23 my hand while I pass by : and I will take away mine hand, 
 and thou shalt see my back parts : but my face shall not be 
 seen. 
 
 the presence of the angel may be a real presence of the Lord). 18. But 
 still this much tried man seeks to have some clearer view, some stronger 
 hold. And he is bold in his petitioning, and pertinacious, for it concerns 
 the people's life. What he further asks is further promised. 19-23. But 
 what is this thing now further promised ? Plainly it is something mysterious : 
 so that here we must beware of seeking to be wise beyond what is written. 
 But we may venture to suggest — (i) It is not a mere view of the essmce 
 of Deity : Moses is not a morbid metaphysician, but a man. (2) It is 
 distinctively a glory of grace ; for the glory of nature in God has been fully 
 manifested already to Moses and others on this mount. (3) It is a kind of 
 view of that glory of grace which perhaps no creature has received before, 
 and no creature shall afterwards receive, until (Lu. ix. 30, 31) Moses and 
 Elias appear in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, and converse with 
 Jesus about His exodus — "decease." 
 
 Renewal of the Covenant (xxxiv.). There here begins repetition which, 
 largely pervading the history henceforward, will reduce the call for comment far 
 toward nothing. The address to the people, which here is part of the process of 
 restoring them, penitent, into full covenant fellowship, is in substance a repetition 
 of the original address which was appended to the civil laws of the Book of the 
 Covenant, and thus is important as showing what, in the wise estimation of God, 
 were the main matters to be attended to in their general course of life by a 
 people which was furnished with moral law and civil laws from heaven. What is 
 most remarkable in the narrative is the manifestation of God's glory. It was in a 
 real sense unprecedented, though we may not be able to determine with warrant- 
 able confidence what precisely was the specific difference between it and some 
 previous manifestations. It especially was distinct from the manifestation of 
 God's glory of law ; so that the law on this occasion is in the background, and 
 what shines out on the foreground is the glory of redeeming grace. But how the 
 present manifestation of that glory of grace differs from other manifestations of 
 that same glory, we may have difficulty in precisely perceiving. However, the 
 study of the narrative brings us into the very heart of that which alone can make 
 
XXXIV. 7-] RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. 1 45 
 
 Chap. XXXIV. i. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee 
 two tables of stone Hke unto the first ; and I will write upon 
 these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou 
 
 2 brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the 
 morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me 
 
 3 in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with 
 thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount ; 
 neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 
 
 4 And he hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first : and 
 Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount 
 Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand 
 
 5 the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the 
 cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name 
 
 6 of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and pro- 
 claimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
 
 7 long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and 
 
 a heaven upon earth ; and Moses himself obtained, not a front view, but a sort 
 of side view, such as one may obtain of the glory of the sun, without looking 
 directly at that luminary, which might "blind" him "with excess of light." 
 
 I, Manifestation of the glory of the Lord (1-9). In 2 Co. ill. Paul 
 elaborately contrasts the glory of the Lord with a certain glory of law, 
 which appeared in the veil on Moses' face. But Moses was thus as a veiled 
 Christ. Or at least the now unveiled glory of the Lord is that which was 
 reflected on the shining face of Moses ; so that it must have been that which 
 on this great occasion was manifested to him on the mount. 1-3. The 
 circumstance of the Tables now being made of more than one stone may 
 have no special significance. Moses being employed to hew them may be 
 intended for an honour to him as fellow-worker with God. It may appear 
 that he, or his labourers, toiled at them through the night ; so that this 
 "joy" that "came in the morning" was not unlooked for. Sinai here is 
 manifestly a particular peak of meeting (under xxxiii. 6). The prohibition 
 here is the same as in xix. 12, 13, only more strict, — even Joshua is not 
 admitted, perhaps on account of the more peculiar nature of the manifestation 
 that is now to be granted to Moses alone individually. 4. The repetition 
 of the detail as to the Tables, like unto the firsts shows the importance of the 
 detail once prescribed by God (xxv. 9). A suggestion that the ten words 
 (ver. 28) written on the Tables were, not the Ten Commandments, but 
 something else, never occurred to any one who sought his information 
 simply in the history. 5. Descended : here, too, the king came to the door ! 
 (cp. xxxiii. 9). Stood (see xxiv. 10, and note on the Kapporeth, under 
 xxv. 17). Proclaimed the name of the Lord. This was the great event. 
 It carries us back to the original meeting in Ex. iii. iv. But now the 
 Speaker, by His actual work of redemption, has proved His title to the name. 
 And this name contains in itself the whole glorious fulness of divine 
 redeeming grace. The words here (6, 7) were described by Luther as "the 
 
 K 
 
146 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXIV. 8. 
 
 sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the 
 iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the 
 children's children, unto the third and to the fourth genera- 
 
 8 tion. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward 
 
 9 the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have 
 found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, 
 go among us ; (for it is a stiff-necked people,) and pardon our 
 iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 
 
 sermon on the name." It is to be observed that the wonderful manifestation 
 distinctively to Moses is passed over (cp. 2 Co. xii. i-io) with a vague 
 intimation of the fact. What is distinctly given to us is that *' sermon on the 
 name " which is common to all believers with Moses. What God says about 
 Himself here is not simply that He is "Love," or Love and Light. What 
 He says is that He is sovereign in redeeming love (cp. xiv. 8). The varied 
 expression of "the unsearchable riches" of grace here is like an ocean: 
 to dwell upon the separate words is like watching particular waves — that 
 is, to lose sight of the sea. What here is meant is infinite, all-sufiEicient 
 fulness. And we remember who is immediately referred to. It is (i Ti. i. 15) 
 the very "chief of sinners" — Israel, so shamefully apostate in so short a 
 time after such a wondrous experience of the mercies of God. The expres- 
 sions about the vindicatory justice of God are profoundly reassuring. The 
 conscience will not rest if justice be not satisfied. The heart will find no 
 heaven in a love that is not holy. The reason can in reality never believe 
 in a God that is not true. But here the God who is infinite in the freedom 
 and fulness of His forgiving love is unchangeably true, and holy, and just ; 
 so that the song of salvation is a "song of Moses, the servant of God" 
 (Re. XV. 3, 4), as well as "of the Lamb." That will not clear the guilty is 
 in the Heb. simply that will not clear (lit. " no clearer "), which here perhaps 
 is better in its abruptness than our more rounded phrase : it is the righteous- 
 ness of God that rises thus, like the perpendicular face of the cliff, on that 
 "mount which might be touched." The reference to sin's consequences 
 extending through generations deepens the salutary impression of the truth 
 that this Redeemer, so wondrously full and free in His mercy, is that same 
 awful Being whose holy providence we see in those tragedies of domestic 
 history. Moral: let us then be assured that He is ''''a just God" while 
 "a Saviour." 8. Haste: a movement like that of the people (xxxiii. 8) in 
 reverence to Moses ; but with a sudden overmastering sense of the majesty 
 of the Being who has thus revealed Himself. 9. The mediator (He. vii. 25) 
 still holds on to his intercession for the people. They have sore need of such a 
 God among them : witness their disgraceful fall. Though they do not 
 deserve it, they are penitent here in their mourning garb. And now in his 
 holy "boldness," the mediator has a new argumcntum ad Deian: He speaks 
 of the people as being God's inheritance. This is the first appearance of 
 that expression, which has a place of so much interest in the completed 
 revelation. Not only the Lord is " the lot of the inheritance " of His 
 people ; they are the lot of His inheritance ; as now is declared by Moses, 
 that "servant of God." They are His, not by nature only, but by will, by 
 purchase, by loved and honoured acquisition under a covenant. 
 
XXXIV. 1 8.] RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. 1 47 
 
 10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant : before all thy 
 people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all 
 the earth, nor in any nation : and all the people among which 
 thou art shall see the work of the Lord : for it is a terrible 
 
 1 1 thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I 
 command thee this day : behold, I drive out before thee the 
 Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Periz- 
 
 12 zite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, 
 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land 
 whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee : 
 
 13 but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut 
 
 14 down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god : for 
 
 15 the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Lest thou 
 make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they 
 go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their 
 
 16 gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and 
 thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters 
 go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring 
 
 17 after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 
 
 18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven 
 days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, 
 in the time of the month Abib : for in the month Abib thou 
 
 2. The instructions for IsraeVs fiiture (11-26). These presuppose the 
 Moral Law, which here is provided for in the Tables of the testimony. And 
 they do not repeat the detailed legislation of the Book of the Covenant 
 (xxi.-xxxiii.). They only go back to that ground of general directions and 
 warnings, regarding the career of Israel in the world, which on the previous 
 occasion of covenanting furnished so very impressive a peroration to the great 
 Sermon from the Mount. Here, as before, the two great matters of warning 
 and of direction to the nation seeking to be blessed of God, are what regards 
 the heathen world around them, and what regards their own observance of 
 the religious ordinances which God has given them (cp. xxiii. 16-31). 
 10-17. Relatively to the outside populations we observe now that in their 
 sight God is to work miracles, distinctly with a view to the subduing terror 
 of those wonders which was seen and felt in Eg}^pt. Groves, mentioned here, 
 are supposed to have really consisted in some sort of statuaiy, perhaps of 
 stone, probably of wood ; in some way connected with (lascivious) worship of 
 h%\.zcc\.i{Asherdth, plur. oi Asherah, is the word iox groves). An as/ie)'ahm:x.y 
 have served as a sort of heathenish Maypole (cp. the French '* tree of liberty "). 
 The introduction here and now, along with the expression about o. jealous 
 God, of " go a whoring," in prohibition of such practices, may be historically 
 connected with impure indecencies at the recent calf-worship ; but it had a 
 similar appropriateness in connexion with idolatrous worship veiy generally. 
 Molteti gods, a peculiar expression, is accounted for in like manner by 
 connexion with the calf-worship. 18-21. In the direction as to ordinances, 
 
148 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXIV. 1 9. 
 
 19 earnest out from Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is 
 mine ; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or 
 
 20 sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt 
 redeem with a lamb : and if thou redeem him not, then shalt 
 thou break his neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou 
 shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. 
 
 2 1 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt 
 rest : in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 
 
 22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits 
 of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's 
 end. 
 
 23 Thrice in the year shall all your men-children appear before 
 
 24 the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the 
 nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders; neither shall 
 any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear 
 
 25 before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. Thou shalt not 
 offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven ; neither shall the 
 sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 
 
 26 The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto 
 
 Sahbatism now, as before, has a great place. The weekly Sabbath (see note 
 oti Fourth Comjji., xx. ) is not founded on the Decalogue, but is treated as a 
 specifically national institution. And it is to be here observed that the 
 holy nation are expressly warned against the temptation of an agricultural 
 people, to tamper with the Lord's Day on account of urgencies of seed-time 
 and reaping-time {earing is Old English for ploughing ; from the same root as 
 the Latin «r-are). It is noted by Dr. Rawlinson [Com?n.) that in Palestine 
 and neighbouring lands the sowing time is peculiarly tempting ; because the 
 season depends on rainfall, which is precarious, so that the year may be lost 
 if the sowing be not " in the nick of time." In other lands the peril may be 
 from floods or winds at the reaping time. The rule for all cases is, keep the 
 Sabbath ; and leave the issue to the Lord of the Sabbath, who is the Creator 
 and Ruler of the world. The case is different when an ox or an ass is fallen 
 into a pit : a sentient creature is in pain and in peril of death. Here it is 
 only the farmer who is in peril of losing some money. Let him not insure 
 himself against God's providence by robbing Him of His day. These simple 
 lessons can easily be applied to other cases by those who really wish to serve 
 God. Those who worship mammon, as a rain-god or Jupiter Pluvius, can 
 easily get theologians to provide them with reasons for doing their own 
 pleasure on the holy day. 22, 23. Note that in ver. 22 only two festivals 
 really are intended, — "the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits," means "the 
 feast of weeks, that is to say, the feast of the first-fruits." The thrice of 
 ver. 23, is made up by the Passover (see xxiii. 15-17). In ver. 24 there is a 
 distinct "special providence " of the Ruler of the world to guard His people 
 from suffering in consequence of their obedience to His law. It is remark- 
 able that the guardianship was to take the form of a sort of fear of the true 
 God in the hearts of heathens. That fear appears to have remained long in 
 
XXXIV. 32.] RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. I49 
 
 the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid 
 
 27 in his mother's milk. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write 
 thou these words : for after the tenor of these words I have 
 
 28 made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was 
 there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did 
 neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the 
 tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments, 
 
 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount 
 Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when 
 he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the 
 
 30 skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when 
 Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the 
 skin of his face shone : and they were afraid to come nigh 
 
 31 him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the 
 rulers of the congregation returned unto him ; and Moses 
 
 32 talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel 
 came nigh : and he gave them in commandment all that the 
 
 strength. At the very close of the period of the Judges, when Israel was 
 about to pass from the condition of dependence on such neighbours, the 
 desperate valour of the Philistines (i Sa. iv.), which cost Israel so dear, was 
 inspired by a peculiar operation of that fear. Those who honour the Creator 
 in His law may safely trust in His Providence. The Vicar of Wakefield 
 observed that the clever knave Jenkinson was often in prison and other 
 distresses, while simple, honest farmer Flamborough, whom he was continually 
 cheating, went on prospering and to prosper (cp. xvi. 18). Seethe a kid (note 
 under xxiii. 19). The repetition of this precept is suggestive. {Exei-cise : 
 Essay on this precept.) 
 
 The finale (27-35). This conclusion of the whole matter is very 
 wonderful ; and wonderfully sublime in its mere simplicity. These ivords — 
 Covenant : here, for a third time, we see Moses in the very act of writing 
 (cp. xvii. 14 and xxiv. 4). On all the three occasions (see Introd. p. 61) 
 the act of writing fell to be mentioned in the history of a solemnity, because 
 it was itself a part of the solemnity (cp. "clerical subscription to a creed"). 
 Here, as in xxiv., the solemnity is, binding Israel expressly and formally, in 
 a written contract, in covenant with God. 28. On this second occasion of 
 going forty days into seclusion with God it is said that Moses fasted ; and it 
 may perhaps be presumed that he fasted on the first occasion. The writer of 
 the Ten Words is shown to have been the Lord by ver. i. The "words" 
 (in Heb. "words " has the meaning of " matter") which Moses has to write 
 are, the matters connected with this renewing of the covenant, — res gesta of 
 the transaction, a record of the proceedings. Ten Coi7imandments : Heb. 
 Ten Words (initial note to xx. ). 29-35. The shining of the face of Moses implies 
 that, in the manifestation to him on the mount, there must have been some- 
 thing specifically different from the previous manifestations of the glory, 
 whether to him or to the elders (xxiv.). But beyond the fact that it was so, 
 what more we are taught about it is, that we must be contented in ignorance : 
 
150 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXIV. 33. 
 
 33 Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And till Moses 
 
 34 had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But 
 when Moses v/ent in before the Lord, to speak with him, he 
 took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and 
 spake unto the children of Israel that which he was com- 
 
 35 manded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, 
 that the skin of Moses' face shone : and Moses put the vail 
 upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. 
 
 "it is a learned ignorance to be willing not to know what the Best of 
 Teachers does not will to tell us." 
 
 Nescire velle qucs magister optiimis 
 Docere non vult, docta inscitia est. 
 
 In ver. 33 our translators have thrown in a till. The verse by itself looks as 
 if the face of Moses had been unveiled vi^hen he was speaking to man 
 as M^ell as when he was speaking to God, The representation in vers. 34 
 and 35 make an end of the doubt. In the light of these, 33 is seen to mean, — 
 "And Moses finished what he had to say to them (he had put a veil on his face). 
 And when," etc. Paul's reasoning in 2 Co. iii. proceeds on the view that 
 the shining face was painful or terrible to look upon. It may have been 
 unendurable to their bodily eyes. That would serve Paul's purpose, to 
 illustrate by contrast the winning glory of grace in the gospel. On the other 
 hand we saw the gospel of grace was really the shining face behind the veil. 
 We must not press the apostle's use of an illustration beyond his own 
 intention in the use of it (he is careless about mixing metaphors, if the 
 mixture help him). In the earlier part of the chapter (2 Co. iii.) he speaks 
 of a glory of law that was not concealed, and is now eclipsed, or lost in new 
 light, as the stars disappear in the sunlight. That was not concealed by the 
 veil he speaks of later ; it was this veil. Still, the glory of Moses was only 
 a reflexion (Jn. i. 8, 16). He saw the original, shining on another mount, 
 through the veil of the manhood of Jesus the Son of God. And that 
 may really have been completed answer to his petition (in Ex. xxxiii., 
 cp. Ps. xc). — The " unconscious beauty " of Moses, who "wist not that 
 his face shone," is a fine starting-point for commonplaces about humility. 
 The speciality in the case of Moses was not his unconsciousness. A hypocrite 
 may be unconscious of the fact that his face does not shine. The speciality 
 was the beauty (Ps. xc. 14, etc.), the shining of the face, as a reflex of the 
 manifestation of Jehovah the Redeemer. Accordingly Paul and other men 
 who use the Scriptures — not to hang their fancies on, but according to 
 the scriptural intention, bid us apply the story to illustration of the gospel of 
 redeeming grace — with ruin by nature as presupposed. But Paul found 
 (2 Co. iii. 14, iv. 4) that some are blind in the sunlight of that glory. 
 Finally, the manifestation was not simply in that mediator. It was on him, 
 and to him, in order that through him it might come to us, — 
 
 When down the mount he trode, 
 
 All glowing from the presence of his God. 
 
XXXV.-XL.] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 151 
 
 S M 5P5 M S 
 
 M M M M is door of Mishkan, the Tabernacle, being its whole east front, 
 10 cubits by 10. O O O O shows one side of the goats' hair tent ; excepting a 
 breadth of 5 cubits forming verandah in front of door of Mishkan. 
 
 Of the Erection (Chaps, xxxv.-xl.). At the close of this record 
 of the actual doing of the building work, there is a statement 
 (xxxix. 43) regarding Moses looking on the whole, and blessiiig the 
 workers, which conveys the impression that he must have considered 
 the work as one of very great importance, calling for great care. On 
 his part the labour and strain of mind were called for, not because a 
 new thing vitally affecting the religion of the people, and so the 
 fortunes of the nation, had to be done, where there was one way of 
 going right, which it might be difficult to find, and a thousand ways 
 of going wrong, into any one of which it might be easy to stumble. 
 For he had full power of command over the workers in this matter, 
 and he had an infallible direction from God. The one occasion for 
 patient watchfulness through all the labour was, that every detail had 
 to be done precisely according to the pattern which God had showed 
 him in the mount. As a mere record of such work done, so exactly 
 minute in specification of every stroke, this closing narrative of the 
 erection of the Tabernacle has no parallel among other national 
 histories of mankind. That makes detailed commentary almost 
 needless, because real commentary here could be only repetition of 
 what has been said in commenting on the direction. And this brings 
 distinctly into view what manifestly is the purpose of the history 
 itself— namely, not simply to tell the tale of work done, but to show 
 that, through the whole work, and in every detail of it, everything 
 had been done according to the express direction of God. This is a 
 protestation to all future ages that the Tabernacle religion is not of 
 man ; seeing that every particle of the building of the Tabernacle 
 itself was, while done by hands of men, yet a creation by the will of 
 God, " as the Lord commanded Moses." The exercise to which the 
 reader thus is called is, not study of the detailed character of the 
 work, but observation of the fact ^ that the erection is precisely accord- 
 ing to the divine direction. It is a profitable exercise to compare the 
 two together, part for part, and mark their exact correspondence, as 
 when men are appointed for the scrutiny of accounts. But where 
 there is exact coincidence there is no call for comment, but only for 
 
152 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXV. I. 
 
 Chap. XXXV. i. And Moses gathered all the congregation of 
 the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These 
 are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye 
 
 2 should do them. Six days shall work be done ; but on the 
 seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of 
 rest to the Lord : whosoever doeth work therein shall be put 
 
 3 to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habita- 
 tions upon the sabbath day. 
 
 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children 
 of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord com- 
 
 5 manded, saying. Take ye from among you an offering unto 
 the Lord : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an 
 
 6 offering of the Lord ; gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, 
 
 7 and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair^ and 
 rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, 
 
 8 and oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the 
 
 9 sweet incense, and onyx stones, and stones to be set for the 
 
 10 ephod, and for the breastplate. And every wise -hearted 
 among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath 
 
 1 1 commanded ; the tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his 
 taches, and his boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets ; 
 
 12 the ark, and the staves thereof, with the mercy-seat, and the 
 
 certification, that here everything is done according to the pattern, 
 " as the Lord commanded Moses." N.B. — We owe it to Moses, to 
 give every detail here, comparing his erection with God's direction. 
 
 Making ready for the work (xxxv.). 1-3. The priests in their office after- 
 wards profaned the Sabbath and were blameless ; for the common work of 
 their office was necessary for the due observance of the day. But there is no 
 such plea of necessity or mercy for doing common work at the building of the 
 Tabernacle. Wherefore, let not men be carried away by the enthusiasm of 
 the work into violation of God's law of holy resting; as if "the better 
 day, the better deed." Instead of thus robbing God, men are to give what 
 is in a sense their own. And so the process of preparation for the building 
 resolves itself into contribution of the means of building, — which often 
 cools enthusiasm remarkably. 4-19 : — (i) 4, 5. As to the spi7'it of the giving ; 
 (2) 6-9. As to the materials that are to be thus provided ; and (3) 10-19. 
 As to the various kinds of work to be done with these materials, calling for 
 "wise heart," giving skilful hand, in the workers. Looking over the 
 particulars under these heads, we observe a few things calling for brief note. 
 In this place — we are glad to see — our translators are again compelled to 
 render ohel, not by "Tabernacle," which is misleading mistranslation, but by 
 tent. For here (ver. 1 1 ) they have to employ words expressive of the dis- 
 tinction between the mishkan (Dwelling), which is constituted by the great 
 cloth in its wooden frame, from that coverittg which is constituted by the 
 ram-skin slating of the goats' hair (tent) ohel; as the body, which is " the 
 
XXXV. 2 2.] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 1 53 
 
 13 vail of the covering; the table, and his staves, and all his 
 
 14 vessels, and the shevvbread ; the candlestick also for the light, 
 and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the light ; 
 
 15 and the incense altar, and his staves, and the anointing oil, 
 and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the 
 
 16 entering in of the tabernacle; the altar of burnt-offering, with 
 his brazen grate, his staves, and all his vessels ; the laver and 
 
 1 7 his foot ; the hangings of the court, his pillars, and their 
 
 1 8 sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court ; the pins 
 of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; 
 
 19 the clothes of service, to do service in the holyj^/ace, the holy 
 garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, 
 to minister in the priest's office. 
 
 20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed 
 
 21 from the presence of Moses. And they came, every one 
 whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit 
 made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the 
 work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his 
 
 22 service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both 
 men and women, as many as were willing - hearted, and 
 brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all 
 jewels of gold : and every man that offered offered an offering 
 
 earthly house of this tabernacle " of our manhood, may be covered by a great- 
 coat or an umbrella. The Heb. word for covering in ver. 12 is different ; it 
 is the one applied to the door-curtains in xxvi., xxxvi., — meaning, not a 
 shelter from weather, but a screen from observation. The following articles 
 now are named in their natural order, according to the respective places they 
 are to have in the fabric ; namely, the candlestick (ver. 14), the altar of 
 incense {ver. 15), diVid the laver and his foot {y ex. 16). The erection narrative 
 is thus not merely made out of the direction, but a bond fide account of the 
 work taken down as it proceeded. In ver. 18 the pins — for fixing cords — 
 are spoken of as partly of the Tabernacle ; the reference is to the pegs for the 
 goats' -hair tent ; so that here we see another case of denominatio fit a majori, 
 the proper name of the Dwelling is extended to its belongings, as a man's 
 watch-key is said to be the man's. As to the actual giving of their sub- 
 stance (20-29) for the material means of building, we again perceive that 
 wealth was not in the form of paper money, or coined gold or silver ; but in 
 that of articles that were valuable either intrinsically, such as the precious 
 metals, or as production of skilled labour, such as yarn and dyed cloth or 
 linen or wool, and fine work of the needle and the loom. {Exercise here on 
 " Investment," and having our treasure in heaven.) Ear-rings and rings — 
 say, and signet-rings (Canon Cook), What were these tablets among personal 
 adornments ? No one really knows. The very meaning of the Heb. word is 
 lost. Some think that they perhaps were armlets ; Gesenius, gold beads. 
 What xve (of the school of Moses, Ga. iii. 24) know is, that they were 
 valuables which were sacrificed for the House of God. Ver. 23, compared 
 
T54 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXV. 2 7,, 
 
 23 of gold unto the Lord. And every man, with whom was 
 found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' 
 hairy and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. 
 
 24 Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass, brought 
 the Lord's offering : and every man with whom was found 
 
 25 shittim wood, for any work of the service, brought it. And 
 all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their 
 hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, 
 
 26 and of purple, afid of scarlet, and of fine Hnen. And all the 
 women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom, spun goats' 
 
 27 hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be 
 
 28 set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; and spice, and oil 
 for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet 
 
 29 incense. The children of Israel brought a willing offering 
 unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made 
 them willing to bring, for all manner of work which the Lord 
 had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 
 
 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord 
 
 with 25, 26, shows that the material of yarn was dyed before it was spun. 
 We do not see clear proof in this place that the yarn which went into the 
 fine work of embroidering must have been linen (Rawlinson, whose opinion 
 here is worth much more than ours). With whom — shittim. They kept 
 valuables about them : not in a Bank safe. The most beautiful piece of 
 woodwork the present writer has seen is a church panelling made out of a 
 piece of kauri timber that had thus been kept as a treasure, until the last 
 owner gifted it for this building. Whose heai^i stirred them up (ver. 26) : who 
 moved that fountain? (Jn. iv. lo). Wisdom here does not show that goats' 
 hair spinning was a work of high original genius. What it shows is the 
 earnest cordiality of that affection for the Lord's House, which made gifted 
 women to throw themselves into rough common work ; as when a college- 
 bred gentleman takes to spade and barrow at the foundation of a church (see 
 Mr. Gillies' note on Ps. Ixxxiv. 10). With whoni was found. Here again 
 (cp. ver. 22) we see that the things did not come, as tares grow, while men 
 slept. "He that seeketh findeth." Sometimes the collector fails to seek ; 
 and sometimes the other party. Sometimes the woman professing to seek 
 for a piece of money does not seek diligently till she find it : being near of 
 kin to Ananias and Sapphira. Note that the rulers are not " elders ; " nor 
 the "nobles" of xxiv. ; the word means, men of high standing. Presum- 
 ably they were Jethro's judges (xviii.). And these, we saw, were to be men 
 "hating covetousness " — far above greed of gold, the raw material of calf 
 ( " covetousness, which is idolatry"). Every man andxvoman. The Confession 
 of Faith says, the repentance ought to be "for every one of our sins, in par- 
 ticular, particularly." So now, this penitent people bring forth a fruit meet 
 for repentance, not only as a man, but every "family apart . . . and their 
 wives apart." 
 
 The tzvo masters of works (30-35). Are their names always solemnly 
 recorded in the account of great buildings? Moses, "instructed in all the 
 
XXXVI. 4-] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 155 
 
 hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, 
 
 31 of the tribe of Judah : and he hath filled him with the spirit 
 of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and 
 
 32 in all manner of workmanship; and to devise curious works, 
 
 33 to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting 
 of stones, to set the7n^ and in carving of wood, to make any 
 
 34 manner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that 
 he may teach, both he, and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, 
 
 35 of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of 
 heart, to work all manner of work of the engraver, and of 
 the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and 
 in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, 
 even of them that do any work, and of those that devise 
 cunning work. 
 
 Chap. XXXVI. i. Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and 
 every wise-hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and 
 understanding to know how to work all manner of work for 
 the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord 
 
 2 had commanded. And Moses called Bezaleel and AhoHab, 
 and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put 
 wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come 
 
 3 unto the work to do it : and they received of Moses all the 
 offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work 
 of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they 
 
 4 brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all 
 the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, 
 came every man from his work which they made ; 
 
 wisdom of the Egyptians," was not a Jack-of-all-trades, but a thoroughly 
 educated man. "The kingly governing faculty" is shown in the selection of 
 suitable heads of departments. Engraver, in ver. 35, would better be 
 craftsman (marg.) with skilled weaver, in place oi cunning %vork77ian. The 
 master craftsman of all was Bezaleel, whom we now see in vers. 32, 33. His 
 speciality was the smith-work. And (xxxvii, i) the most important part of 
 that was done by himself. Hence, any other master of "engraving" along 
 with him, would be another sun in the firmament. Skilled weaving, in 
 which Aholiab was expert, is a sub-department of craftsmanship, embracing 
 ornamental needlework as well as the finer weaving. We require to employ 
 some general word for the technical skill that goes in common into all such 
 work. "Smith" (from Schmieden, "to smite") at one time had that 
 generality of meaning ; so a tailor was a " clothes-smith ; " whence the 
 frequency of the name in the census. But now we need "craftsmen," in 
 order to keep alive the memory of the fact that Bezaleel was not a common 
 Mr. Smith, but a grand Master Artisan, the Prince — who was a royal priest 
 — of Craftsmanship. 
 Making of the Dwelling (xxxvi.). See Introd. pp. 83-90, and cp. 
 
156 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xXXVI. 5. 
 
 5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring 
 much more than enough for the service of the work which 
 
 6 the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave command- 
 ment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the 
 camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more 
 work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were 
 
 7 restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was suffi- 
 cient for all the work to make it, and too much. 
 
 8 And every wise-hearted man, among them that wrought the 
 work of the tabernacle, made ten curtains ^fine twined linen, 
 and blue, and purple, and scarlet : with cherubims of cunning 
 
 9 work made he them. The length of one curtain was twenty 
 and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits : 
 
 10 the curtains were all of one size. And he coupled the five 
 curtains one unto another; and the other five curtains he 
 
 1 1 coupled one unto another. And he made loops of blue on 
 the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling ; 
 likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in 
 
 12 the coupling of the second. Fifty loops made he in one 
 curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain 
 which was in the coupling of the second : the loops held one 
 
 13 curtain to another. And he made fifty taches of gold, and 
 coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches : so it 
 became one tabernacle. 
 
 14 And he made curtains of goats' hairior the tent over the 
 
 15 tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. The length of 
 
 I Chron. xxi. 29. I. Great enthusiasm (1-7). (i) 1-3. The skilled able 
 men go into the work with all their heart and soul. (2) 5-7. The means 
 come pouring in upon them so as to make an ''embarrassment of riches." 
 Hence, the first recorded case of a strike ; and the only case on record in 
 which difficulty arose from excess of liberality toward workmen. This shows, 
 for the "good time coming," what capability there is in brotherhood of man 
 (i Pe. ii. 17) under covenant of God. The Mosaic proclamation (ver. 6) — 
 "Hold ! enough ; stop your giving," is thus unprecedented. The wonderful 
 effusion of Hberality may be (Zech. xii. 10) a result of the wonderful experi- 
 ence of forgiveness (xxxiv. 6, 7) on the part of this repentant "chief of 
 sinners" (cp. Lu. vii. 47) — in some countries the most copious floods are 
 from the melted snow. 2. The actual work (8-38). (i) 8-13. The great cloth 
 which in effect was the Dwelling. Here again is the emphatic one (xxvi. 6) : 
 that is to say, the two half-tabernacles are to be one, namely, the mishkan, 
 dwelling, or tabernacle {not "tent"). (2) The goats'-hair tent, 14-19. In 
 ver. 14 our translators are again compelled to be accurate ; so that in this 
 verse of theirs a reader sees the tabernacle to be different from the sheltering 
 tent which is over it, as a man is different from his greatcoat or umbrella. At 
 ver. 19 R.V. suggests (in marg.) porpoise skins as an alternative to seal 
 
XXXVI. 34-] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 157 
 
 one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth 
 
 16 of one curtain : the eleven curtains were of one size. And he 
 coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by them- 
 
 1 7 selves. And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of 
 the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the 
 
 18 edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And he 
 made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it 
 
 19 might be one. And he made a covering for the tent ^T/rams' 
 skins dyed red, and a covering <?/^ badgers' skins above that 
 
 20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, 
 
 2 1 standing up. The length of a board was ten cubits, and the 
 2 2 breadth of a board one cubit and a half. One board had two 
 
 tenons, equally distant one from another : thus did he make 
 
 23 for all the boards of the tabernacle. And he made boards for 
 the tabernacle : twenty boards for the south side southward, 
 
 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards ; 
 two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two 
 
 25 sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the 
 other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, 
 
 26 he made twenty boards, and their forty sockets of silver : two 
 sockets under one board, and two sockets under another 
 
 27 board. And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he 
 
 28 made six boards. And two boards made he for the corners 
 
 29 of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they were coupled 
 beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one 
 
 30 ring : thus he did to both of them in both the corners. And 
 there were eight boards ; and their sockets were sixteen 
 sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. 
 
 3 1 And he made bars of shittim wood ; five for the boards of 
 
 32 the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of 
 the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards 
 
 2,2, of the tabernacle for the sides westward. And he made the, 
 middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to 
 
 34 the other. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made 
 their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the 
 bars with gold. 
 
 skins. The Arabic tuchash (under xxv. 5) determines only the type of marine 
 animals in question ; in combination with the guidance implied in the in- 
 tended use of this "covering," as a waterproof envelope of Dwelling. 
 Between the claims of two animals of that type, whose skin would (?) alike 
 serve the purpose, no principle of determination is revealed by Moses or the 
 prophets. Is there any help in the Septuagint ^' hyacinthine'^ sVms,! Do 
 all those animal skins look bluish ? 3. As to meaning of some details : — 
 
158 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXVI. 35. 
 
 35 And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and 
 fine twined linen : with cherubims made he it of cunning 
 
 36 work. And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, 
 and overlaid them with gold ; their hooks were of gold ; and 
 he cast for them four sockets of silver. 
 
 37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, 
 and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needle- 
 
 38 work : and the five pillars of it with their hooks : and he 
 overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold : but their 
 five sockets were <?/" brass. 
 
 Chap. XXXVII. i. And Bezaleel made the ark <?/" shittim wood : 
 two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a 
 half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. 
 
 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and 
 
 3 made a crown of gold to it round about. And he cast for it 
 four rings of gold, to he set by the four corners of it ; even 
 two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the 
 
 4 other side of it. And he made staves of shittim wood, and 
 
 5 overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the 
 rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 
 
 6 And he made the mercy-seat ^pure gold : two cubits and 
 a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the 
 
 7 breadth thereof. And he made two cherubims of gold, 
 beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of 
 
 8 the mercy-seat ; one cherub on the end on this side, and 
 another cherub on the other end on that side : out of the 
 mercy-j-^^/ made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof 
 
 9 And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, ajid 
 covered with their wings over the mercy-seat, with their faces 
 
 Fillets (ver. 38) ought to be connecting rods. In ver. 33, through the 
 hoards (under xxvi. 17, 26) is meaningless. The thing intended is reaching, 
 by means of rings, along the wall of boards, or planks, from end to end. 
 At ver. 27, side means back (side). This affects only the current use of 
 English. In ver. 22, equally distant from 07ie another, is meaningless or 
 truism (could two things be z^;zequally distant from one another?). The thing 
 intended is that the pairs of tenons, one for every plank with its pair of 
 sockets, should be counterparts, corresponding each to each ; every pair 
 of tenons to its pair of sockets (if not, more vaguely, every pair of tenons 
 to every other pair of tenons, or perhaps to the pair that is right opposite, or 
 to the neighbouring pairs). N.B. — The Dwelling, with its tent covering, is 
 now completed. 
 
 The furniture of the Dwelling (xxxvii.), for the two compartments and for 
 the Court, i. For the Holy of Holies, name not given here. 1-9. The 
 worker here is the megalander of craftsmen, Bezaleel himself— the master. 
 
XXXVII. 25.] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 1 59 
 
 one to another ; even to the mercy-seat-ward were the faces 
 
 of the cherubims. 
 
 10 And he made the table of shittim wood : two cubits was 
 the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a 
 
 1 1 cubit and a half the height thereof And he overlaid it with 
 pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. 
 
 1 2 Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round 
 about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof 
 
 13 round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put 
 the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet 
 
 14 thereof. Over against the border were the rings, the places 
 
 15 for the staves, to bear the table. And he made the staves 
 of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the 
 
 16 table. And he made the vessels which were upon the table, 
 his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to 
 cover withal, ^pure gold. 
 
 17 And he made the candlestick ^pure gold : <?/" beaten work 
 made he the candlestick : his shaft, and his branch, his 
 
 18 bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same : and six 
 branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the 
 candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches 
 
 19 of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: three bowls 
 made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and 
 a flower ; and three bowls made like almonds in another 
 branch, a knop and a flower : so throughout the six branches 
 
 20 going out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick ivere 
 four bowls made like almonds, his knops and his flowers : 
 
 21 and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop 
 under two branches of the same, and a knop under two 
 branches of the same, according to the six branches going 
 
 22 out of it. Their knops and their branches were of the same : 
 
 23 all of it was one beaten work ^ pure gold. And he made 
 his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuff-dishes, ^pure 
 
 24 gold. OfTi talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels 
 thereof 
 
 25 And he made the incense altar ^/shittim wood : the length 
 
 6-9. To the mcrcy-seat-ward : to the Kapporeth. 2. For the Holy: name 
 not given here. As to candlestick, smtffers (ver. 23) are tongs for trimming 
 the wick, and for depositing the refuse in smtff- dishes. Our modern 
 "snuffers," combining the two functions in one organism, are thus an 
 ' ' innovation. " The Altar of Incense, too, is here in its natural connexion, 
 not as it was in the direction. In short, N.B. — Everything is ready for the 
 internal of Dwellings except the veil. 
 
l6o THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXVII. 26. 
 
 of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit, {it was four- 
 square,) and two cubits was the height of it; the horns 
 
 26 thereof were of the same. And he overlaid it with pure gold, 
 both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the 
 horns of it : also he made unto it a crown of gold round 
 
 27 about. And he made two rings of gold for it under the 
 crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides 
 
 28 thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal. And he 
 made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with 
 gold. 
 
 29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense 
 of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary. 
 
 Chap. XXXVIII. i. And he made the altar of burnt-offering oj 
 shittim wood : five cubits was the length thereof, and five 
 cubits the breadth thereof, {it was foursquare,) and three 
 
 2 cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof 
 on the four corners of it ; the horns thereof were of the same : 
 
 3 and he overlaid it with brass. And he made all the vessels 
 of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and 
 the flesh-hooks, and the fire-pans : all the vessels thereof made 
 
 4 he 0/ brass. And he made for the altar a brazen grate of 
 ;z^/-work, under the compass thereof, beneath unto the midst 
 
 5 of it. And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate 
 
 6 of brass, to be places for the staves. And he made the staves 
 
 7 ^shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass. And he put 
 the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it 
 withal ; he made the altar hollow with boards. 
 
 8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, 
 of the looking-glasses of the wome?i assembling, which assem- 
 bled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
 
 The Court and its contents, with an open-air transaction (xxxviii.). 
 I. Contents of the Court (1-8). (i) The Altar of Burnt-offering (1-7). 
 Rawlinson, who no doubt knows English, prefers the pots in ver. 3 to the 
 pans in xxvii. 3; and intimates that the thing intended is "buckets or 
 scuttles to convey the ashes from the altar to the ash-heap" (Lev. i. 16). 
 (2) The Laver. 8. Here we come upon the interesting fact that the women 
 who gave up their looking-glasses were those " which assembled at the door 
 of the tent of meeting" (not Tabernacle of the congregation). They pre- 
 sumably were devout like Anna, and those who looked for redemption in 
 Israel (Lu. ii. 36). The Dwelling, which was distant from them only the 
 5 cubits' breadth of the tent verandah, was quite open at the end, excepting 
 the door curtain, which needed only to be drawn up or aside to enable them 
 to see into the Holy Place, with the candlestick on its one side (their left) 
 and the shewbread on the opposite side (their right) ; while beyond both, in 
 
XXXVIII. 20.'] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. l6l 
 
 9 And he made the court : on the south side southward, the 
 hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred 
 
 10 cubits : their pillars were twenty, and their brazen sockets 
 twenty ; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 
 
 1 1 And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, 
 their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty : 
 
 12 the hooks of the pillars and their fillets (t/" silver. And for 
 the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, 
 and their sockets ten : the hooks of the pillars and their 
 
 13 fillets of silver. And for the east side eastward, fifty cubits. 
 
 14 The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, 
 
 1 5 their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the other 
 side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were 
 hangings of fifteen cubits ; their pillars three, and their 
 
 16 sockets three. All the hangings of the court round about 
 
 17 were of fine twined linen : and the sockets for the pillars 
 were of brass ; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of 
 silver ; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver : and all 
 
 18 the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. And the 
 hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, 
 and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen ; and twenty 
 cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five 
 
 19 cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. And their 
 pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks 
 of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets 
 
 20 <?/" silver. And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court 
 round about, were ^ brass. 
 
 front of the (second) veil, was the Altar of Incense. 9-20. On the way into 
 the Holiest. 2. The Court itself {g-20). " The height in the breadth was 
 5 cubits, answerable to the hangings of the Court " (ver. 18). The " breadth" 
 (of the web) of cloth employed was 5 cubits. The Court's curtains conse- 
 quently consisted of squares of 5 cubits by 5. And the curtain of the Court 
 gate was of the same height, as measured by a "breadth" of that cloth. 
 3. The transactioji. It was a valuation of the precious metals employed as 
 material of the Tabernacle. The subject has been wrought out with care by 
 the master-hand of Canon Cook. As for standard of weight, he makes out 
 the shekel to have weighed about 220 English grains, of value about 2s. 7d, ; 
 and the talent of (vers. 25, 28) 3000 shekels, thus to have been about 
 94f lbs. avoirdupois (the Greek talent was only about 82 lbs.). His results 
 as to the respective amounts of the various metals employed are as follows : — 
 
 Gold I ton 4 cwt. 2 qrs. 13 lbs. 
 
 Silver 4 „ 4 „ 2 ,, 20 „ 
 
 Bronze 2 ,, 19 3, 2 ,, ii ,, 
 
 He states that the value of the gold if pure would in our money be 
 
 L 
 
1 62 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXVIII. 2 1. 
 
 2 1 This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of 
 testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment 
 of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of 
 
 2 2 Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest. And Bezaleel the son of 
 Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the 
 
 23. Lord commanded Moses. And with him ze/^j- Aholiab, son 
 of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning 
 workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in 
 
 24 scarlet, and fine linen. All the gold that was occupied for 
 the work in all the work of the holy place^ even the gold of 
 the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred 
 
 25 and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And 
 the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation 
 was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred 
 and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the 
 
 26 sanctuary : a bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, 
 after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to 
 be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six 
 hundred thousand, and three thousand and five hundred and 
 
 £T-1S^^1Sy 13s-; and of the silver ;!^38,034, 15s. lod. The cost of the 
 bronze and of other material, along with the value of the skilled workman- 
 ship, might bring the whole up toward ;i^25o,ooo. 
 
 Note on tlie question : Is it likely that Israelites in the wilderness should 
 have been able and willing to lay out so great a sum on a tent of meeting? We 
 answer, No : it is in the last degree unlikely : almost as unlikely as that they 
 should pass through the Red Sea as on dry ground. And the fact of their having 
 done that most unlikely thing we regard as a proof of supernatural redemption : 
 it is thus explained, w^hile "it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." 
 "Yhefaci is historical : is there any other explanation of it ? 
 
 21. On this occasion the Levites are seen ministering before we hear of 
 any formal consecration of the tribe. They thus are like the evening star, 
 which to a child appears to have come into view, as if unduly, before star- 
 time. In reality the stars have been coming into view, though they are not 
 in our dull sight, all the afternoon. And this matter of the Levites and of 
 the Levitical priesthood, may have been quietly growing into ripeness for 
 manifestation, partly through natural fitness and partly through supernatural 
 qualification and call, in ways not known to us, nor perhaps to Moses, and 
 even perhaps not surmised by themselves. We observe that of the sons of 
 Aaron it is Ithamar that heads the work on this occasion. Nadab and 
 Abihu are his seniors : is their absence now premonitory of an awful doom, 
 showing that a man's being an apostle in his office would not save him from 
 being a castaway in his person? (i Co. ix. 27). 22, 23 reads like a formal 
 discharge to the two masters of works, as having been faithful in their office. 
 Bezaleel is here quite unquestionably made the chief. 24. Gold, in that 
 early period, though always most precious, existed in larger proportion to 
 silver than in the later ages. This does not include the silver that was given 
 
XXXIX. 8.] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 1 63 
 
 27 fifty 7nen. And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the 
 sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vailj an 
 hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket 
 
 28 And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels 
 he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, 
 
 29 and filleted them. And the brass of the offering was seventy 
 
 30 talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And 
 therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle 
 of the congregation, and the brazen altar, and the brazen 
 
 31 grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets 
 of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, 
 and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the 
 court round about. 
 
 Chap. XXXIX. i. And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, 
 and made the holy garments for Aaron ; as the Lord com- 
 
 2 manded Moses. And he made the ephod ^gold, blue, and 
 
 3 purple, and scarlet, and fine twined hnen. And they did 
 beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work 
 // in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in 
 
 4 the fine linen, with cunning work. They made shoulder- 
 pieces for it, to couple // together : by the two edges was it 
 
 5 coupled together. And the curious girdle of his ephod, that 
 was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; 
 <?/"gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined Hnen; 
 as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 6 And they wrought onyx stones enclosed in ouches of gold, 
 graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children 
 
 7 of Israel. And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, 
 that they should he stones for a memorial to the children of 
 Israel ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 8 And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the 
 work of the ephod ; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 
 in free-will offering (xxxv. 24). 25. The census number here (xxx. 12) is 
 exactly what it was (Nu. i.) six months later in another census, though from 
 that later census were wanting 22,000 Levites. On the present occasion the 
 census may have been only a rough counting of heads, for checking the 
 account of the half-shekel tribute. Kawlinson suggests that the exact number 
 ascertained at the later census may have been inserted here for the purpose 
 of showing the exact state of Israelitish population at the time. In fact we 
 do not know how this matter came to be as it is. 
 
 The finishing touches (xxxix.). i. As to the priestly garments (1-13) 
 hardly anything falls to be noted here and now. The elevation of the plate 
 
164 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXIX. 9. 
 
 9 and fine twined linen. It was foursquare; they made the 
 breastplate double : a span was the length thereof, and a 
 
 10 span the breadth thereof, bei?ig doubled. And they set in it 
 four rows of stones ; the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and 
 
 1 1 a carbuncle : this was the first row. And the second row, 
 
 1 2 an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, 
 
 13 a hgure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a 
 beryl, an onyx, and a jasper : they were enclosed in ouches of 
 
 14 gold in their enclosings. And the stones we?'e according to 
 the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their 
 names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his 
 
 15 name, according to the twelve tribes. And they made upon 
 the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure 
 
 16 gold. And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold 
 rings, and put the two rings in the two ends of the breast- 
 
 1 7 plate. And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the 
 
 18 two rings on the ends of the breastplate. And the two ends 
 of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, 
 and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, before it. 
 
 19 And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two 
 ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on 
 
 20 the side of the ephod inward. And they made two ot/ier 
 golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod 
 underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other 
 coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 
 
 2 1 And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings 
 of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above 
 the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate 
 might not be loosed from the ephod ; as the Lord commanded 
 Moses. 
 
 2 2 And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of 
 
 23 blue. And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the 
 hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that 
 
 24 it should not rend. And they made upon the hems of the 
 robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and 
 
 25 twined linen. And they made bells ^ pure gold, and put the 
 
 (note under xviii. 36-38) on the mitre is not specified until now. And now we 
 have/ine t%vined linen (ver. 29) instead of /mi?;z work in xxviii. 39. 2. Brijig- 
 ing the finished ivork to Moses. Here, ver. 42 (cp. ver. 31), there is 
 emphasis of iteration given to the fact that Israel did this work according to 
 all that the Lord co77imanded Moses. They not only did what was right in 
 itself, according to the best of their judgment, they did precisely what God 
 had commanded, through His minister, in the manner which He had pre- 
 
XXXIX. 42.] ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 1 65 
 
 bells between the pomegranates, upon the hem of the robe, 
 26 round about between the pomegranates : a bell and a pome- 
 granate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of 
 the robe to minister in ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 2 7 And they made coats ^fine linen, ^woven work, for Aaron, 
 
 28 and for his sons ; and a mitre ^fine linen, and goodly bonnets 
 
 29 ^fine linen, and linen breeches <?/"fine twined Hnen; and a 
 girdle ^fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 ^needlework; as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 30 And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, 
 and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, 
 
 31 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And they tied unto it a 
 lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre ; as the Lord 
 commanded Moses. 
 
 32 Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the 
 congregation finished : and the children of Israel did accord- 
 ing to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they. 
 
 33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent and 
 all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his 
 
 34 pillars, and his sockets ; and the covering of rams' skins dyed 
 red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the 
 
 35 covering ; the ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, 
 
 36 and the mercy-seat ; the table, a7id all the vessels thereof, and 
 
 37 the shewbread ; the pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, 
 even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels 
 
 38 thereof, and the oil for light ; and the golden altar, and the 
 anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the 
 
 39 tabernacle door; the brazen altar, and his grate ^ brass, his 
 
 40 staves, and all his vessels; the laver and his foot; the hangings 
 of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for 
 the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of 
 the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation ; 
 
 41 the clothes of service to do service in the holy place; and the 
 holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons' garments, 
 
 42 to minister in the priest's office. According to all that the 
 Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all 
 
 scribed. That was their work ; not merely the matter of labour, but the 
 spirit of serving God, which makes work to be worship. And the service 
 %oas zvholly through the mediator. At the same time, Moses was a man in 
 touch with the manhood of his brethren. There is something pecuharly fine 
 in the manner of his parting from them on this occasion. Working-men 
 almost anywhere in Christendom would be startled if on pay-night their 
 employer were to pronounce the benediction at the parting. Yet Boaz had a 
 
l66 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [XXXIX. 43. 
 
 43 the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, 
 behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even 
 so had they done it : and Moses blessed them. 
 
 Chap. XL. i, 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the 
 first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of 
 
 3 the tent of the congregation ; and thou shalt put therein the 
 
 4 ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. And 
 thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that 
 are to be set in order upon it ; and thou shalt bring in the 
 
 5 candlestick, and hght the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set 
 the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testi- 
 mony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. 
 
 6 And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt-offering before the 
 
 Lenediction for his reapers in the field. And his people answered with a 
 benediction to their master ; showing a condition very different from that 
 disclosed by the wail of the Egyptian song of the labourer (see Introd. 
 Ch. II.). And no doubt, through Moses and the prophets, Christ and the 
 apostles, there is coming into realization that happiness of toil, "Ye are 
 thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing " (l Pe. iii. 9). Finally, the 
 Moral Law has a blessing for those who obey it. 
 
 XL. Fitiis coronat opus ! " So Moses finished the work." It is 
 difficult to judge how far the expression may represent a sigh of 
 reliefer a species of judicial declaration, as (Jn. xvii. 4) on the part 
 of the greater mediator. Did he realize the greatness of this thing ? 
 (i Pe. i. II, cp. Is. liii. i, 2). It was only a sort of picture, which a 
 child can reproduce with a piece of white paper. Yet in it he had 
 sowed the true seed of the regeneration of the world. For that 
 picture was a hieroglyphic of the thought (Jn. i. i) which, now made 
 clear and distinct (He. i. i), has been the making of Christendom by 
 the power of Him who first brought the worlds into being (Jn. i. 14, 3). 
 That pretty little thing, amid nature so wild in her solitude, is already, 
 among those coarse and sensual Asiatics, beginning to be an 
 operative principle of order and moral beauty ; it is a nucleus of 
 organization for the great movement of the kingdom of God among 
 men. 
 
 On — month. This was within a fortnight of two years after the first 
 Passover. It is calculated that of that time six months may have been avail- 
 able for building the Tabernacle. And a " scholar " decrees that that time 
 would not suffice. Perhaps he thinks that the linen and wool had to grow, 
 or that the gold and silver had to be dug up. Otherwise a common person 
 might think that a million of pairs of hands — male and female — might in six 
 months' time be able to build a Pithom or a Rameses of Tabernacles ; for 
 apparently they were in the mood recommended by another tent-maker, — 
 "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 3-8. The 
 t<?stimony: that is, the Moral Law, giving its name to everything; for still, 
 
XL. 17.] THE WORK COMPLETED. 167 
 
 7 door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And 
 thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation 
 
 8 and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt 
 set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the 
 
 9 court gate. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint 
 the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and 
 
 10 all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy. And thou shalt 
 anoint the altar of the burnt-offering, and all his vessels, and 
 sanctify the altar : and it shall be an altar most holy. 
 
 1 1 And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it. 
 
 1 2 And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the 
 tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. 
 
 13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint 
 him, and sanctify him ; that he may minister unto me in the 
 
 14 priest's office. And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe 
 
 15 them with coats: and thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst 
 anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the 
 priest's office : for their anointing shall surely be an ever- 
 
 16 lasting priesthood throughout their generations. Thus did 
 Moses : according to all that the Lord commanded him, so 
 did he. 
 
 17 And it came to pass in the first month, in the second year, 
 
 denojuiiiatio fit a majori ; and "the greatest of these is charity," and "the 
 fulfilling of the law is love." Before the ark of the testimony: that is, at a 
 distance of, say 9 cubits. The expression in xxx. 6 is, before the testimony, 
 which thus may mean, at such a distance from it. But that ("before the 
 testimony ") is the expression in xvi. 34 in reference to the pot of manna, 
 and in Nu. xvii. 10 in reference to Aaron's rod that blossomed. Here then 
 is proof that these two things were originally deposited before the ark, not 
 inside of the ark, but in front of it, somewhere between it and the veil. 
 About He. ix. 4 see under ver. 20. 9-16. When the things are so placed, 
 they are "anointed." Remembering that "Christ" is the Greek for 
 anointed, we may say that they were "christened" (cp. I Co. x. 2). 
 That wonderful christening extended to (i) the Tabernacle and its 
 contents ; (2) the Court and its contents ; and {3) the priestly family 
 for all time — that is, the whole House of Israel through its repre- 
 sentatives. This Chrism, the "Baptism of Repentance," thus reached 
 all, like the "Baptism of Remission" (xxiv. 6-8), at the sealing of 
 the Covenant, extended to everything and all within the Covenant 
 bounds. The mediator still discharges priestly functions. The consecration 
 of the Aaronic priesthood thus has not yet come into full effect : the ship is 
 built and afloat, but is only being towed out into the open sea. An everlasting 
 priesthood, is one whose duration has no end within the system of things in 
 question. From another point of view (He. vii.) the Aaronic priesthood is a 
 symbol of evanescence, ot shadows making way for the true abiding sub- 
 stance. 17-19. This is the first appearance of the fabric in reaUzation before 
 
1 68 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xL. 1 8. 
 
 on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared 
 
 1 8 up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his 
 sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars 
 
 19 thereof, and reared up his pillars. And he spread abroad the 
 tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent 
 above upon it ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set 
 the staves in the ark, and put the mercy-seat above upon the 
 
 2 1 ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up 
 the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony ; 
 as the Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 22 And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon 
 the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. 
 
 23 And he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord ; as 
 the Lord had commanded Moses. 
 
 24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, 
 over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle south- 
 
 25 ward. And he lighted the lamps before the Lord; as the 
 Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation 
 2 7 before the vail : and he burnt sweet incense thereon ; as the 
 
 Lord commanded Moses. 
 
 28 And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle. 
 
 29 And he put the altar of burnt-offering by the door of the 
 
 men. Moses reared up^ etc. : quifacit per alium facit per se ; he no doubt 
 had others for his "hands;" e.g. in placing the great cloth. Here, once 
 more, our translators have to say "tent " where they so often have wrongly 
 said "tabernacle," in the rendering oi ohel ; because here they need "taber- 
 nacle" for the rendering of "the mishkan" (DwelHng). And, 20, here 
 once more we see, from the manner of speaking, that the Kapp5reth (" mercy- 
 seat ") is not a mere lid of the ark, but that, rather, the ark is a prepared 
 base for the Kapporeth. The testimony into the ark. In He. ix. 4 we read 
 that there were in it also the Pot of Manna and Aaron's rod that blossomed. 
 But we have seen (under vers. 3-8) that these two things were originally 
 placed outside of the ark, in front of it. In Solomon's time (i Ki. viii. 9 ; 
 2 Chron. v. 10) nothing was found inside of it but the Decalogue. Their 
 place may, so to speak, ideally have been within the ark, and at some time 
 they may have really been within it. But the general fact is, that they were 
 not within it as the Testimony was. And this makes all the more command- 
 ingly impressive the place of glorious solitariness occupied by the Moral Law, 
 in the heart of the heart's heart of that most glorious revelation of redeeming 
 grace. As often as true-hearted Israelites thought of the "exceeding riches 
 of that grace," they were able to exult in their hearts and to say, "Sing 
 unto Jehovah, O ye holy ones of His ; and give thanks at the remembrance of 
 His holiness." (For other aspects of the history of the ark and its accom- 
 paniments, see Introd. p. 90.) 25. These lamps, now first burning in time, 
 
XL. 36.] THE WORK COMPLETED, 1 69 
 
 tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon 
 it the burnt - offering, and the meat - offering ; as the Lord 
 commanded Moses. 
 
 30 And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation 
 
 31 and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. And 
 Moses, and Aaron, and his sons, washed their hands and their 
 
 32 feet thereat. When they went into the tent of the congrega- 
 tion, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed ; 
 
 33 as the Lord commanded Moses. And he reared up the court 
 round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the 
 hanging of the court gate : so Moses finished the work. 
 
 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the 
 
 35 glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not 
 able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the 
 cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the 
 
 36 tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the 
 tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their 
 
 will outlast the sun, and shine for ever (Re. i. 16). 32. As the Lord 
 COMMANDED MoSES : observe in this concluding section how this formula, 
 at every step in the uprearing of the fabric, from the first and on to the last, 
 comes in as a solemn refrain (ver. 16), " Thus did Moses : according to 
 all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." We have seen the pre- 
 scription faithfully recorded and obeyed throughout the previous work. 
 Yet some make a religious merit of doing as Moses did excepting in this 
 one respect, that the Lord has not commanded them, as He commanded 
 Moses ; but, quite differently, has commanded them (2 Co. iii. 13-18) to 
 take off that veil, which He commanded Moses to put on. 29-33, The 
 first offering on that altar. And the prescription is taking the first step 
 toward a habit in outward form which will come to be a habit of true 
 inward life on the part of those who have a spiritual mind (i Co. ii. 12), 
 " I will wash mine hands in innocency : so will I compass Thine altar, 
 O Jehovah " (Ps. xxvi. 6). 34-38. At ver. 34 we see, what had previously 
 appeared on Sinai mount, the cloud enveloping the central glory of the Pre- 
 sence. As Moses then did not go up to the mount without being distinctly 
 called up, so now he may not enter the Tabernacle within the cloud. And 
 therein we may perceive the habitual normal condition ; as compared, e.g.^ 
 with his everyday familiarity of entrance at the period of the days of mourning, 
 when there was that urgency of vital need of intercession. Such familiarity, 
 called for in a time of crisis, may not be allowed to a servant (He. iii. 5) as 
 habitual use and wont (cp. Jn. i, 18 ; i Jn. ii. 2). 
 
 36-38. These words, like those in xvi. 35 (note on " Jehovah-nissi," 
 initial to xiii.), may have been written thirty-eight years after the 
 completion of the history as a whole. The condition they describe 
 is that of a nomadic warrior nation in the desert. Along with the 
 commander there is carried a brazier of fire. Through the day-time, 
 
1 7© THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [xL. 38. 
 
 37 journeys : but if the cloud were not taken up, then they 
 
 38 journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the 
 cloud of the Lord 7vas upon the tabernacle by day, and fire 
 was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, 
 throughout all their journeys. 
 
 in the pure atmosphere of the desert, the ascending column of 
 smoke is visible from a vast distance ; so that no true follower of 
 that leader need be lost. In the night-time the same office, of 
 banner conspicuous from afar, is filled by the flame of the fire. 
 And when the people halted, they "sat under His shadow with 
 great delight." The cloud, ascending as a column, spread over the 
 camp as a canopy of cloud, overshadowing Israel as the cherubim 
 overshadowed the Kapporeth with their wings. So the children of 
 Jacob were made to see, like the patriarchs, in their journeyings 
 continually, " This is the House of God ; this is the gate of heaven " 
 
 O God of Bethel ! by whose hand 
 
 Thy people still are fed ; 
 Who through this weary pilgrimage 
 
 Hast all our fathers led : 
 
 Our vows, our pray'rs, we now present 
 
 Before Thy throne of grace : 
 God of our fathers ! be the God 
 
 Of their succeeding race. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTES ON THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 By the Rev. William Gillies, Timaru, N.Z. 
 
 I. Pillars of the Court. — As the curtains for the outside 
 enclosure were to be made loo cubits for the length and 50 cubits 
 for the breadth, these determine the space within which the 20 
 pillars for each side, and the 10 pillars for each end, had to be 
 placed. Of these pillars no dimensions are given, but their height 
 and breadth and thickness may be arrived at thus : The curtains 
 were 5 cubits high ; the pillars supporting them must therefore have 
 been 5 cubits plus the tenons which went into the bottom block of 
 brass, and the projection of the pillars above the curtains, over which 
 was slipped down the silver cap. Allowing | of a cubit each for 
 tenon and projection, the full length of the pillars, when out of their 
 mortices, would be 5 J cubits. The silver caps must necessarily have 
 been made to slip off and on the top of the pillars, to prevent damage 
 in carriage, and without them the pillars would all lie flat and solid 
 on the waggons provided for their carriage. These silver caps 
 would be made with four rings, one on each side, two for fastening 
 the inside and outside cords, forming the stays fastened at their 
 other ends to the brass pins driven into the ground, and keeping the 
 pillars steady in these directions. The other two rings would be for 
 the silver rods to link into, which connected the pillars, and on 
 which the curtains were hung. These would be placed at the outer 
 corners, so that the rods and the outside of the pillars would be in 
 line for the straight hanging of the curtains. The arrangement of 
 rings on the caps may be shown thus, — 
 
 i 
 
 Diagram No. i. 
 These silver caps would be carefully carried by themselves, and 
 not being such as would pack closely, would in bulk make up a 
 
172 APPENDIX. 
 
 number of loads for tlie sons of Merari. The thickness of the pillars 
 is determined thus : There were 20 pillars in the length of 100 cubits, 
 which would make 19 spaces. These spaces were 5 cubits high, and 
 the probability is that the breadth was the same, showing inside a 
 square of 5 cubits of the white curtain ; 19 spaces of 5 cubits 
 = 95 cubits, leaving 5 cubits of the whole length to be taken up by 
 the thickness of the 20 pillars, or each pillar 5 cubit thick. Then as 
 to the breadth of the pillars : this dimension is arrived at from the 
 end measurements. Here there were 10 pillars, which would make 
 9 spaces of 5 cubits = 45 cubits, with thickness of 10 pillars at | 
 cubit = 472- cubits, leaving 2^ cubits to be accounted for out of the 
 50 cubits in breadth. But it is obvious that the first pillar at the end 
 could not be right in the corner, as the last one of the side stood 
 there. And as each pillar at side and end stood in a block of brass, 
 the first pillar at the end must have been away from the corner, the 
 breadth of the side pillar with the length of the projection of bottom 
 block, and the side projection of its own block. For these three we 
 have I5 cubits, divided thus : breadth of pillar ^ cubit, end projection 
 of block ^ cubit, and side projection of end pillar block ^ cubit. 
 The curtained enclosure would thus show on the inside 19 squares of 
 white on each side, divided by the pillars of ^ of a cubit in breadth 
 and 5 of a cubit in thickness ; and 9 squares in the end, similarly 
 divided, with a strip of white equal to :^ of a square in each corner 
 between the last side and the first end pillar. The bottom blocks of 
 metal, into which the pillars were morticed, would measure ij cubits 
 long by f of a cubit broad and I thick, making a good solid rest. 
 
 2. The Gate Curtain. — At the eastern end, where the entrance 
 was, the arrangement of the pillars would be the same as at the 
 western end. The curtain, however, was in three divisions. From 
 each corner the white curtain extended 15 cubits and its pillars 3, 
 and the figured curtain in the centre 20 cubits and its pillars 4. 
 The white curtain would extend 3 cubits beyond its third pillar, and 
 the figured curtain or hanging for the door — figured only on the 
 outside, but white on the inside — would extend over its four 
 pillars, and 2 cubits beyond its first and fourth, thus meeting the 
 curtain from each corner, not over or by the side of a pillar, but 
 2 cubits away from a pillar, thus leaving a convenient small lap of 
 the curtain to be moved aside for persons passing to and fro. The 
 whole gate curtain was drawn up only on special occasions, and then 
 the end curtain would present the appearance of three 5-cubit spaces, 
 flanked by two small side spaces of 2 cubits ; and when the whole 
 
APPENDIX. 173 
 
 curtain was not drawn up, the lap of the two small side spaces could 
 easily be drawn aside for ingress and egress, with probably an 
 attendant Levite acting as doorkeeper at each, to draw the curtain 
 aside. So in i Chron. ix. 19, in connexion with the arrangements of 
 the Tabernacle in the times of David, we read that the Korahites were 
 *' keepers of the gates of the Tabernacle." And so in that psalm of 
 the sons of Korah, the 84th, though written probably in the days 
 of the Temple, we have, in the tenth verse, the declared choice of 
 the pious among them of the humblest office in connexion with God's 
 house, assigned to them from the days of the wilderness, as bringing 
 greater privilege and honour than the enjoyment of selfish indulgence 
 away from the service of God, — " I had rather be a doorkeeper in 
 the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." 
 
 3. The Tabernacle Colours. — The gate curtain was to be 
 embroidered with blue and purple and scarlet. This embroidery 
 work would be on the outside, leaving the curtains white on the 
 inside. These three colours meet us everywhere in the Tabernacle, 
 and had evidently a symbolic meaning. The blue, the sky colour, is 
 expressive of peace. The purple, the royal colour, is expressive of 
 sovereignty, and so of grace. The scarlet, the blood colour, is 
 expressive of atonement, and so of mercy. Thus seen on the gate 
 curtain, they spoke out their abiding salutation to every worshipper 
 drawing near, — " Peace, grace, and mercy unto you from Him 
 whose dwelling this is." That salutation, shining out from, and 
 resting on the white ground of holiness, is the original of the 
 apostolic epistolary salutation, " Grace, mercy, and peace from God 
 the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 4. The Tabernacle was strong.— Passing in to the Taber- 
 nacle proper, that was a structure very different in its massive 
 strength from what is generally supposed. It is a great mistake to 
 speak of it as " the frail Tabernacle." It was anything but a frail 
 structure. And as it was a symbol of the person of Christ, the idea 
 of strength in relation to Him is a most important one. " Our help is 
 laid on one mighty to save." His humanity was sinless, and so was 
 without that element of frailty, working on to natural dissolution, 
 which sin has introduced into ours. That humanity was further 
 strengthened by its union to the divinity. And so, when it came to 
 the taking down of that tabernacle, that was not accomplished 
 without a measure of violence and an intensity of suffering far 
 beyond anything which our frail humanity could have endured. 
 
 5. The Boards of it really solid Planks.— The dimensions 
 
174 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the Tabernacle were 30 cubits long, 10 cubits broad, and 10 cubits 
 high. Each side was to consist of twenty boards of acacia wood, 
 i^ cubits broad, but the thickness is not stated. Is there any means 
 of determining that ? I think there is. And first let us look at the 
 word boards as used in reference to the walls. In the A.V. the 
 same word is used in reference to the altar, Ex. xxvii. 8, and the 
 walls of the Tabernacle, xxxvi. 20, They are, however, different 
 words in the Hebrew, and the difference is marked in the R.V. by 
 translating the first one " planks," leaving the second one " boards."' 
 Had the Revisers been better acquainted with the timber trade, they 
 would just have reversed these two. Webster, in his Dictionary, 
 rightly defines a board as " a piece of timber sawed thin and broad," 
 and a plank, " a broad thick board." The box called the altar was 
 made of boards, the walls of the Tabernacle of planks. The word used 
 in reference to the walls is used in reference to no other structure 
 in the Old Testament save once, in Ezek. xxvii. 6, in describing the 
 ships of Tyre, where the Revisers have left the translation of the A.V. 
 as it was, " benches." The benches were evidently the strong cross- 
 beams, and are said to have been of ivory, equal to ours — say of iron, 
 as indication of great strength. These benches were beams, and the 
 wall planks of the Tabernacle were beams also, and their exact 
 measurement can be determined. The western end was to be made 
 of six planks and two corner ones. Now six planks of i^ cubits 
 broad would not fill up the breadth of 10 cubits — they would fall 
 short by one cubit. And the two corner ones added would make 
 10 cubits and 2 cubits over. Accordingly the placing of these two 
 corner planks has been a great perplexity to reconstructors. They 
 have been put in upon the angle by some, destroying the perfect 
 cube of the Holy of Holies. They have been split up the centre 
 and doubled round, as a clamp on the side-wall, by others. And so 
 on. The whole difficulty arising from the idea of its having been a 
 frail structure of thin boards. But does not this excess of breadth 
 over the 10 cubits of the inside measurement point to an allowance 
 made for the thickness of the planks of the side-walls, and the bars 
 running through the rings outside the planks? — the bars probably 
 (at least the middle one, which passed through the midst of the planks 
 from the one end to the other) morticing into the projections of the 
 end, and thus keeping firmly together the sides and the end. Allow- 
 ing ^ cubit for the thickness of the planks, the outside measurement 
 of the Tabernacle over the walls in breadth would be 11 cubits. 
 That 10 cubits was the inside^ is fixed by the requirement that the 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 175 
 
 length and breadth and height of the inner chambers were to be 
 equal, forming a perfect cube. Thus 11 cubits of the 12 covered 
 by the eight boards would be taken up in bringing the end flush with 
 the sides ; the remaining cubit, being divided into ^-cubit pro- 
 jections at each side, for the side bars to butt against, or be morticed 
 into, as the case might be. Thus the walls of the Tabernacle proper 
 and the walls of the outer enclosure were virtually of the same 
 thickness ; the pillars giving the virtual thickness of the outer wall, 
 and being in breadth what the planks were in thickness, ^ cubit. 
 
 6. The Sockets of those Plank-boards.— Each wall plank 
 rested on two sockets and plates of silver, which would actually be 
 of no great thickness, but which would be of sufficient length to 
 project somewhat beyond the walls both outside and inside, forming- 
 supports keeping the planks in position until the connecting bars 
 were run through the rings. No 
 
 j plank. I 
 
 E 
 
 I plank. I 
 
 
 dimensions of these blocks are 
 given, but we may arrive at 
 them thus : — The end socket of 
 the last plank on the side would 
 require to get in between the 
 two sockets of the first plank 
 of the end, which gives i^ cubits 
 for the breadth of two sockets 
 and the length of one ; or 
 breadth of each 5- cubit and 
 length of one i cubit. Each 
 socket would thus project 5- of 
 a cubit inside and outside of the 
 wall planks. The arrangements 
 of sockets supporting the wall 
 planks, and how they would fit in at the corners, is shown in the 
 accompanying diagram, — two planks with their sockets of the side- 
 wall, and two of the end, being represented. After I had arrived as 
 above at the thickness of the planks, I found that Josephus mentions 
 ^ cubit as their thickness ; which has generally been passed over, or 
 set aside as one of his exaggerations. (I do not refer to the overlaying 
 with gold, as I am simply presenting points in which I differ from 
 others who have attempted to construct models of the building from 
 the data given in the Scripture record.) 
 
 7. The Tabernacle Curtains. — We come now to the curtains 
 connected with the Tabernacle proper. Of these there were four 
 
 J 
 
 Diagram No. 2. 
 
176 APPENDIX. 
 
 sets ; and most frequently they are represented as just one laid upon 
 the top of the other, across the top and down the sides of the wooden 
 part of the Tabernacle, the whole presenting the appearance of an 
 oblong flat-roofed structure, with only two of the sets of curtains at 
 all visible, the lower one inside the building, and the upper one 
 outside. That arrangement does not seem to be in accordance with 
 the directions given to, and the work as carried out by Moses. In 
 Ex. xxvi. I, we have the command of God, "Thou shalt make 
 the Tabernacle with ten curtains ; " and in xxxvi. 8 we are told that 
 "the wise-hearted among them that wrought the work made the 
 Tabernacle with ten curtains" (R.V.). The Tabernacle proper was 
 thus really made with these ten curtains. The plank structure which 
 we have already discussed is said in xxvi. 15 and xxxvi. 20 to be ''''for 
 the Tabernacle ; " that is to say, a strong surrounding for the Taber- 
 nacle of curtains. That is a point of some importance, as it fixes the 
 hanging of these ten curtains inside the plank structure, forming the 
 walls and roof of the Tabernacle proper. 
 
 Being 28 cubits long, they would reach across the roof 10 cubits, 
 and down each side wall 9 cubits, or within i cubit of the ground. 
 Then each curtain being 4 cubits broad, joined together they would 
 cover 40 cubits. That would allow 9 cubits to hang down at the 
 western end, making it the same as the sides, leaving 30 cubits to 
 cover the length of the structure, with i cubit of a hanging, over the 
 pillars at the eastern end, from which hung a special entrance 
 curtain. These curtains were of fine twined linen, and blue and 
 purple and scarlet with cherubim. 
 
 8. The Veil of the Most Holy Place.— The dividing veil 
 between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was of similar 
 material and workmanship, and was hung on the Holy of Holies 
 side of the pillars between the two apartments ; as is fixed by the 
 prohibition that none should enter within that veil, or look upon the 
 ark and its mercy-seat, save the High Priest on the Great Day of 
 Atonement ; and the consequent regulation (see Num. iv. 5), that 
 when the Tabernacle had to be taken down, the first thing done was 
 the approach of Aaron and his sons to the veil, and unhooking of the 
 pillars ; for which purpose they must have used rods. Thus carrying 
 it aloft before them they advanced toward the ark, and let it fall over 
 that sacred piece of furniture, covering it and wrapping it up without 
 looking upon it. In like manner when the Tabernacle was set up, 
 they would lift the veil on their rods, and carrying it aloft would walk 
 backwards till they reached the pillars, and hung it in its place. The 
 
APPENDIX. 177 
 
 interior of the Holy of Holies would thus be all of fine linen, with its 
 blue and purple and scarlet and cherubic embroidery, with i cubit 
 of the gold-covered boards showing all round at the foot as a wains- 
 cot ; and in each corner, or either side of the ark, the excess length 
 of the curtain, caused by its folding down the walls, would hang as a 
 drapery. The Holy Place would have a similar appearance ; only 
 the dividing pillars at one end, and the entrance pillars at the other 
 end, would show in front of the curtains. The outside door curtain 
 would be hung on the outside of the pillars to prevent it being blown 
 inward upon the Candlestick and Table of Shewbread. 
 
 9. The Goats' -hair Tent — its Form. — The second set of 
 curtains mentioned were to be of goats' hair, eleven in number, 30 
 cubits long, and each 4 cubits broad. The use to be made of these 
 curtains is entirely obscured by the mistranslations of the A.V. ; but 
 the corrections of the Revised Version make it plain and unmistake- 
 able. In the A.V. they are said to be " a covering upon the Taber- 
 nacle," Ex. xxvi. 7 ; but in the R.V., " for a tent over the Tabernacle." 
 So throughout the R.V. makes plain this distinction between the 
 Tabernacle and the tent over the Tabernacle. James Fergusson, Esq., 
 Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in his article on 
 "The Temple" in Smith's Dictio7iary of the Bible, argues in favour of 
 " the tent over the Tabernacle ; " but he has prejudiced the case 
 against himself by supposing the necessity of a ridge-pole 5 feet long, 
 and finding that in the middle bar said to extend from end to end 
 of the planks, and in placing the five pillars at the entrance of the 
 tent and not of the Tabernacle, and making them of unequal height ; 
 as also by supposing the middle plank of the end to have stood up 5 
 cubits higher than its fellows, to give a support at that end for the 
 ridge-pole. As an architect he was evidently more familiar with the 
 erection of permanent structures and their requirements than with 
 tents and their simple arrangements. 
 
 Readers of the R.V. will be compelled to accept the idea of " a 
 tent over the Tabernacle," which requirement will not be met by 
 throwing these curtains over the Tabernacle as "a pall is thrown 
 over a coffin." The goats'-hair curtains are distinctly stated to be 
 " for a tent over the Tabernacle," their number and size being given. 
 That no detailed instructions as to tent-poles and ropes, etc., are 
 given, is not to be wondered at. and creates no difficulty. A tent 
 was no new and strange erection for a people that were mere dwellers 
 in tents. They needed no revelation of pattern, or instruction as to 
 requirements of one kind or other for its erection. A tent was an 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ordinary structure, the whole of its framings being well understood. 
 Given the size of the curtains out of which the tent was to be made, 
 how these were to be arranged, and where it was to be erected, that 
 was all that was necessaiy to enable them to proceed with its erection 
 as infallibly as if they had minute details, such as were given them 
 wherever the erection was something new. There is an economy of 
 revelation as well as a fulness. The size, the arrangement, the 
 position, these three necessary directions were given to Moses, as 
 they were all he needed. The tent was to be erected "over the 
 Tabernacle," — this fixed its position. The Tabernacle was to be lo 
 cubits high ; and to give the tent over it a usual " pitch," the ridge 
 would be 5 cubits above that. One tent-pole at each end, without 
 ridge-pole or ridge-rope or anything of the kind between them, was 
 all that was needed for upholding the ridge of the tent simply 
 formed by the outstretched curtains. In this country (New Zealand) 
 we are familiar with such tent erections. These tent-poles would be 
 each 15 cubits long, and fastened in position in the ordinary way 
 with which they were familiar. And it is amazing with what ease, 
 expedition, and stability such tent erections are fixed up by those 
 familiar with them. 
 
 The curtains were to be 30 cubits in length, 28 cubits of which 
 were to be for the tent, leaving the cubit at each side for a hanging 
 to cover the sides of the Tabernacle, Ex. xxvi. 13. This would 
 give a roof of 14 cubits on each slope, the eaves coming down to 
 within 5 cubits of the ground, or just on a level with the height of the 
 curtains of the outside enclosure, and the i cubit of a perpendicular 
 
 
 •^g-'- I fios- 
 
 Cross section of the outside contour of the Tabernacle. 
 Diagram No. 3. 
 
 hanging from the eaves, effectually hiding the sides of the Tabernacle 
 from the sight of any outside the sacred enclosure. The eaves would 
 also stand out from the side-walls a distance of 5 cubits, and would 
 be supported by light poles, from which the tent ropes would be 
 fastened to pegs driven into the ground, probably other 5 cubits out 
 from the walls. There would thus be a covered verandah of 5 cubits 
 
APPENDIX. 179 
 
 round the Tabernacle underneath the tent, and the width of the tent 
 would exactly correspond with the width of the outer gate. Then 
 the rope pegs of the pillar of the outer enclosure being placed 5 
 cubits in from the pillars, there would be left of the full breadth 
 of the enclosure a free space of 5 cubits on each side, between the 
 pegs and ropes of the tent and the outer enclosure. 
 
 10. Length of the Tent — Problem of the West Corners. 
 —Now as to the length of the tent, — that is determined by the com- 
 bined breadth of the eleven curtains, making 44 cubits less one-half 
 curtain for a hanging at the front, and the half curtain for a similar 
 hanging at the back, as directed Ex. xxvi. 9, 12, giving as the 
 length of the tent 40 cubits, or 10 cubits longer than the Tabernacle, 
 and thus providing for the same breadth of covered verandah at each 
 end as along the sides. The directions of the 9th verse are a little 
 confused as translated both in the A.V. and the R.V. But Gesenius 
 gives as the primary meaning of the verb translated " shall double," — 
 " divide equally," " distribute ; " " double " being a secondary meaning, 
 evidently arising from the shortest way to divide equally being to 
 double it : it is thus distributed into two equal parts. So taking the 
 primary meaning of the verb in ver. 9, we might read, "and shall 
 divide equally (or halve) the sixth curtain on the forefront," which 
 would thus leave ver. 12 to read consistently and clearly, "and the 
 overhanging part that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the 
 half curtain that remaineth shall hang over the back of the 
 Tabernacle." 
 
 But, as we have already seen, the back wall of the Tabernacle 
 measured over the walls not simply 10 cubits, being built of eight 
 planks, each i^ cubits broad. Does that not interfere with and 
 upset the idea of a tent roof? these projecting corners would bulge 
 out that roof at these points, and speedily chafe through the curtains. 
 Yes, if provision had not been made to avoid these veiy things. 
 This takes us back to direct attention to the peculiar way in which 
 the end planks are mentioned. It is not stated that the end is to be 
 constructed of eight planks, but of six planks and two corner ones. 
 Then the two corner ones are specially described in Ex. xxvi. 24, 
 " they shall be double beneath, and in like manner they shall be 
 entire unto the top thereof unto one ring : thus shall it be for them 
 both; they shall be for the two corners" (R.V.). That reading is 
 not much more intelligible than the A.V., " they shall be coupled 
 together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head 
 of it unto one ring." In the margin, however, we get hints as to a 
 
l8o APPENDIX. 
 
 more intelligible reading. Opposite the " coupled together " of the 
 A. v., the "shall be double" of the R.V., we find Hebrew "twinned," 
 and opposite " unto one ring " we have " the first ring." The verb 
 in this verse is found in the O. T. only here and in the correspond- 
 ing record of the making of these corner planks, xxxvi. 29, and twice 
 in the Song of Songs, where it is translated " beareth " or " hath 
 twins." And so I would read the verse, "they shall be twinned 
 (exactly alike, that is, be of the same breadth) beneath, and exactly 
 alike toward the top unto the first ring," i.e. the breadth equal at the 
 bottom shall be so carried up as far as the first or topmost ring for 
 the bars. And why not beyond that point? Because from that 
 point the corner would be cut away on the slope, corresponding to 
 the slope of the roof; and so there would be no projecting corner 
 to bulge out or chafe the curtains, and the curtains would rest along, 
 and be supported half-way down the slope of the roof by the wall 
 planks. Had it not been for this difference in breadth from that 
 point there would have been no need of their being mentioned or 
 described separately from the other six ; but because of this differ- 
 ence they were separated from their companions, and were themselves 
 " twins." 
 
 II. The Seal-skin Covering.— There remains but one othei 
 matter to be considered, and that is as to the coverings mentioned 
 in Ex. xxvi. 14 and xxvi. 19. Moses was directed to make "a cover- 
 ing for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of seal- 
 skins above," R.V. And then we read that he did so. Nothing- 
 further is said regarding them ; and we can only suggest what is 
 most probable in regard to their size and use. Being mentioned 
 immediately after the goats'-hair curtains, and one of them being 
 expressly mentioned to have been for the tent, the natural inference 
 seems to be that they were just of the same dimensions as the tent 
 curtains. They would then measure 30 cubits by 44. The covering 
 of rams' skins dyed red was to be put over the tent. This would 
 make a very thorough waterproof covering, and at the same time 
 would make the roof more conspicuous, both by day under the light 
 of the sun, and by night under the light of the pillar of fire resting 
 over it. Seen from all the camp, it kept ever before the eyes of the 
 people the blood colour, the symbol of atonement, silently preaching 
 Christ crucified ; and kept them ever mindful of the truth taught 
 and declared, in the sprinkling of the blood of the slain lamb on the 
 doorposts and lintels of their houses on that night on which the 
 Egyptian first-born were slain, that they were a blood-bought and 
 
APPENDIX, l8l 
 
 blood-protected people. They passed out of Egypt under the shadow 
 of that blood ; and now around the Tabernacle they must camp 
 under its shadow and shelter. 
 
 So much for the one covering ; but what of the other ? Concerning 
 it we are simply told that it was to be of seal skins and " above ; " 
 but above what ? Nowhere do we read of the coverings of the tent, 
 but only of the covering. So it could hardly be intended that this 
 should form a second covering above the other one. I take it, 
 therefore, that as the one was a covering above the tent, the other 
 was a covering above the Tabernacle. It would be thrown over the 
 planks, reaching down on each side within a short distance of the 
 ground, and covering also the end, forming a covering through 
 which neither wind nor dust could penetrate into the Tabernacle, or 
 shake the inside curtains. 
 
 12. The whole Curtain Arrangement. — The full arrangement 
 of the curtains would thus be, — first, the fine linen embroidered ones 
 hanging inside the plank walls of the Tabernacle ; then the seal-skin 
 curtains forming a covering over the top of these and the planks ; 
 then the goats'-hair curtains showing inside the tent ; and then the 
 ram skins dyed red showing outside. The goats'-hair curtain would 
 thus be a hning to the ram skins, and prevent the skin side from 
 being seen inside the tent. All of the curtains would thus be visible, 
 and have their separate and definite use. The ram skins being dyed 
 red, and the seal skins being of a purplish colour, it is natural 
 to suppose that the goats' hair curtains would be dyed blue ; and 
 thus the three Tabernacle colours would be combined in these three 
 sets, as they were also wrought into the fine linen sets. Visible at 
 all times throughout the camp would be the scarlet roof with its 
 proclamation of mercy ; then underneath its shadow was the blue, 
 proclaiming peace ; and over the tabernacle was the purple, pro- 
 claiming grace, — Mercy and Peace resting upon Grace through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Wm. Gillies. 
 
 The Manse, Timaru, N.Z. 
 
T. and T. Clark's Fuilicaiions. 
 
 In demy 8vo, Third Edition, price 10s. 6d., 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE TWELVE: 
 
 OR, 
 
 EXPOSITION OF PASSAGES IN THE GOSPELS EXHIBITING 
 
 THE TWELVE DISCIPLES OF JESUS UNDER 
 
 DISCIPLINE FOR THE APOSTLESHIP. 
 
 BY A. B. BRUCE, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW. 
 
 ' Here we have a really great book on an important, large, and attractive 
 subject — a book full of loving, wholesome, profound thoughts about the 
 fundamentals of Christian faith and practice.' — British and Foreign Evangelical 
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 now that a second edition has been called for, the author has taken the oppor- 
 tunity to make some alterations which are likely to render it still more accept- 
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 commendation with which we noted its first issue applies to it at least as much 
 now.' — Rock. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 In demy 8vo, Second Edition, price 10s. 6d., 
 
 THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST, 
 
 IN ITS PHYSICAL, ETHICAL, AND OFFICIAL ASPECTS. 
 SIXTH SERIES OF CUNNINGHAM LECTURES. 
 
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 the religious literature of the day ; withal, they are fresh and suggestive. . . . 
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 tionalist. 
 
 ' We have not for a long time met with a work so fresh and suggestive as 
 this of Professor Bruce. . . . We do not know where to look at our English 
 Universities for a treatise so calm, logical, and scholarly.' — English Independent. 
 
 KEIL AND DELITZSCH'S 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO AND COMMENTARIES 
 ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 In 27 Volumes, demy 8vo. 
 Messrs. CLAEK have resolved to offer complete sets of this work at the 
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T. and T. Clark's PuUications. 
 
 Just published, in crown 8vo, price Ss. 6d., Second Edition, Revised, 
 
 THE THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGIANS 
 OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 CHIEFLY OF THE 
 
 ^cbcntettttfj antf lEigljteent]^ Cettturits* 
 
 Being one of the 'Cunningham Lectures.' 
 
 By JAMES WALKER, D.D., Carnwath. 
 
 CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Survey of the Field. II. Predestination and 
 Providence. III. The Atonement. IV. The Doctrine of the Visible 
 Clmrch. V. The Headship of Christ and Erastianism. VI. Present 
 Misrepresentation of Scottish Religion. VII. Do Presbyterians hold 
 Apostolical Succession ? 
 
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 and scurrilous satire poured out upon evangelical theology as it has been 
 developed north of the Tweed.' — British Quarteo-ly Review. 
 
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 great interest; we should have wondered far more if they had not done so.' — 
 Mr. Spurgeon in Sword and Trowel. 
 
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 of very great interest — an interest by no means necessarily confined to 
 theologians. The history of Scotland, and the character of her peoj^le, 
 cannot be understood without an intelligent and sympathetic study of her 
 theology, and in this Dr. Walker's little book will be found to render unique 
 assistance.' — Scotsman. 
 
 Just published, in crown 8vo, price 5s., 
 
 THE VOICE FROM THE CROSS: 
 
 %, &txk% of Sermons on our Hotti's i^assion 
 
 BY EMINENT LIVING PREACHERS OF GERMANY, 
 
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 WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 
 
 And Portrait of Dr. Kogel. 
 
 Edited and Translated by William Macintosh, M.A., F.S.S. 
 
 ' Certain to be welcomed by every evangelical Christian in Great Britain. 
 — Christian Leader. 
 
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 thought, in new or uncommon lights, and in a manner that to English readers 
 cannot fail to be rich in suggestion. This is a peculiarly welcome volume.' — 
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antrknks hx ^iirk Classes 
 
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 BY 
 
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 PBINCIPAL, AND PROFESSOR OF APOLOGETICS, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, 
 ABERDEEN. 
 
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 In crown Svo, price \s. 6^., 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 TO 
 
 THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. 
 
 TOitfj 3introbucti0n antJ i^oteg* 
 By the Rev. JAMES MACGREGOR, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. 
 
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 In crow? I Svo, price 2s. 6d., 
 
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 BY 
 
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 In crown 2>vo, price 2i-., 
 
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 HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI. 
 
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 By MARCUS DODS, D.D. 
 
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 ST. MARK. 
 
 raitj Entr0tmcti0n, i^otes, atxK JHapg. 
 By T. M. LINDSAY, M.A., D.D., 
 
 PROF. OF DIVINITY AND CHURCH HISTORY, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW. 
 
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 BY THE SAME AUTHOE. 
 
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 Part II., price is. 3^., 
 
 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 
 ST. LUKE. 
 
 Wiii\} Introtiuction, i^oteg, antr JEaps, 
 
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 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 In Two Farts, crown Zvo, price is. 6d. each, 
 
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 TOit!) Kntrntiuctian, Notes, anti i^ap. 
 
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 afiSrmed of Dr. Lindsay's manual. It is of small bulk, but of great worth, 
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 to the memorable section of Scripture with which it deals.' — Baptist Magazine. 
 
aittrknks hx §itrk Classes 
 
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 In crotvn Svo, price \s, 6^., 
 
 SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
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 and persons in opp osition.' — Presbyterian Ch urchman. 
 
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 PKOFESSOE OF CHUKCH HISTORY AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY, 
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 In crown Svo, Second Edition.^ price 2^., 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 By Rev. THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., 
 
 BELFAST. 
 
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 In crown Zvo^ Second Edition^ with additional matter, price 2S. 6^., 
 
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 By GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.R.G.S., 
 
 COMPANION OF THE ORDER OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
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 FREE ST. George's, Edinburgh. 
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 In crown Zvo^ price \s. 6d., 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 By JAMES S. CANDLISH, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW. 
 
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 views of the main subject as held by Vvoiesiainis.''— Christian World. 
 
 In crown 2>vo, price 2S., 
 
 THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH. 
 Entrotiuction antJ Notes. 
 
 By rev. J. MACPHERSON, M.A, 
 
 FINDHORN. 
 
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 Introduction contains not only valuable historical information respecting the 
 Confessions that are most akin to that of Westminster, and respecting the 
 preparation of the Westminster Confession itself, but also an able statement 
 of the uses of such a definite creed.' — British Messenger. 
 
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 ing its successive sections in the light of modern attacks upon its doctrine.' — 
 Young Men's Christian Magazine. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 In crown Zvo^ price \s. 6^., 
 
 PRESBYTERIANISM. 
 
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 Presbyterian church.'— iJai??/ Revieio 
 
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 In crown Zvo, price 2s., 
 
 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 Mitjj 3IntrfltJucti0n mts Notes* 
 By MARCUS DODS, D.D. 
 
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 scholar; . . . his Notes are the fruit of wide reading and earnest thought. 
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 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Br GEORGE C. M. DOUGLAS, D.D., 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW. 
 
 From Rev. President PORTER, D.D., Belfast. 
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 historical details with which the writings of Joshua abound. I do not know 
 any work of the same extent which possesses such an amount of valuable and 
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 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
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 ITS HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
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 THE SUM OF SAVING KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 OTttJ 31ntt0tjuctf0n ant Notts* 
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T. and T. Clarh's PuUications. 
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 ' A gem of sacred biography.' — Christian Leader. 
 
 Just published^ crow7i ^vo, price 2s., 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES 
 
 AND THE CONCLUSIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 By Rev. W. D. THOMSON, M.A. 
 
 CONTENTS.— Introduction.— The Supernatural.— ]\Iiracles Defined— (1 ) 
 The Bible; (2) Nature. —God's Relation to Nature— (1) Science; 
 (2) Religion; (3) Evolution; (4) Continuity. — Miracles and (1) 
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 Just published, in crown 2>vo, price is. 6d., 
 
 SERMONS, 
 
 BY THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD 
 
 JOSEPH BUTLER, D.O.L., 
 
 LATE LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 SERMONS L, IL, III. 
 
 Upon Human Nature, or Man considered as a 
 Moral Agent. 
 
 |ntr0j)«cticni; nnb- |Totcs 
 By Rev. THOMAS B. KILPATRICK, B.D., 
 
 MINISTER AT FERRYHILL, ABERDEEN. 
 
 CONTENTS. — Introduction. — Biographical Sketch. — The Aim and 
 Value of Ethical Study.— The Rise of Modern (British) Ethical Study : 
 Thomas Hobbes. — Answers to Hobbes : Shaftesbury and Hutcheson. 
 
 Butler's Ethical Doctrine : Standpoint and Method : Statement : 
 
 Estimate. — Concluding Remarks. — Text and Notes. 
 
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 BIBLE ©LASS fRIMERS. 
 
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 In paper covers, 6d. each; free by post, 7d. In cloth, 8d. each ; free by post, 9d. 
 
 Historical Connection between the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 By Kev. John Skinner, M. A. 
 The Life of Christ. 
 
 By Eev. Professor Salmond, D.D. 
 The Shorter Catechism. Parts I. and II. Q. 1-81. 
 
 By Kev. Professor Salmond, D.D. 
 The Period of the Judges. 
 
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 Outlines of Protestant Missions. 
 
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 Life of the Apostle Peter. 
 
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 Outlines of Early Church History. 
 
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 Life of David. 
 
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 Life of Moses. 
 
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 Life of Paul. 
 
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 Life and Reign of Solomon. 
 
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 The History of the Reformation. 
 
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 Joshua and the Conquest. 
 
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T. and T. Clark's Piiblications. 
 
 Just published, in post 8vo, price 7s. 6d., 
 
 THE PREACHERS OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Sixtfj to t|)c i^tneteentfj ffl:cntur2. 
 
 (Twelfth Series of the ' Cunningham Lectures.') 
 
 By WILLIAM GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF APOLOGETICAL AND OF PASTORAL THEOLOGY, NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. 
 
 CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Introductory. II. The Early Celtic Cliurch. 
 III. Preachers of the Reformation. TV. The Successors of Knox. 
 v., VI. The Covenanting Period. VII. The Field Preachers. 
 VIII. The Secession Period. IX. The Moderate School. X. 
 Evangelical Church Preachers in the Eighteenth Century. XL The 
 Evangelical Revival. XII. The Pulpit of to-day. Appendix, — On 
 the J^Iethod of Preaching adapted to the Age. 
 
 ' Exceedingly interesting and well worth reading, both for information and 
 
 pleasure A better review of Scottish preaching from an evangelical 
 
 standpoint could not be desired.' — Scotsman. 
 
 Just published, in crown 8vo, price 3s. 6d., Second Edition, Revised, 
 
 THE THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGIANS 
 OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 CHIEFLY OF THE 
 
 Sebentecntfj anti BEitjljtc^nt]^ Centuries. 
 
 Being one of the 'Cunningham Lectures.' 
 
 By JAMES WALKER, D.D., Carnwath. 
 
 CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Survey of the Field. II. Predestination and 
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 assistan ce. ' — Scotsman. 
 
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 ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL 
 THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS. and the 
 
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T. and T. Clark's Piiblications. 
 
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 BEYOND THE STARS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 HEAVEN, 
 
 Kts In^^abttants, ©ccupattons, atitJ iLtfe» 
 
 By THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., Belfast, 
 
 AUTHOR OF ' HISTORY OF THE IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.' 
 
 CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Some Introductory Words. II. A Settling of 
 Localities. III. The King of the Country. IV. The King's 
 Ministers. Y. The King's Messengers. VI. The King's Subjects. 
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 to get there. 
 
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 THE FORM OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 TEMPLE: 
 asetng a treatise 'on tbe Constitution 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS WITHEROW, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN MAQEE COLLEGE, LONDONDERRY. 
 
Theological Seminary-Speer Libfary 
 
 1 1012 01146 1631 
 
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