and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. 31 And Moses, and Aaron, and his sons, washed their hands and their feet thereat: 32 When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; e as the LORD commanded Moses. 33 f 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. e ch. 30. 19, fver. 8. ch. 27. 9. 16. eral aspect of the interior of the taber- ly arranged, a tolerably correct idea may nacle, when all its furniture was proper- be formed from the accompanying cut. バ TTT THE INTERIOR OF THE TABERNACLE. 33. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle, &c. As all the particulars have been formerly explained, nothing more is here necessary than to present to the eye the general appearance of the tabernacle with the court, altar, and laver; the whole surmounted by the pillar of cloud. tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 34 ¶ Then a cloud covered the g ch. 29. 43. Lev. 16. 2. Numb. 9. 15. 1 Kings 8. 10, 11. 2 Chron. 5. 13. & 7.2. Isai. 6. 4. Hag. 2. 7, 9. Rev. 15. 8. THE TABErnacle and Court. 34. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation. Rather according to the Hebrew literally translated, the cloud' (hëanan) that is, the cloudy pillar, or cloud of the Shekinah, which had previously abode for many weeks on the summit of the mountain, and which had subsequently descended upon Moses' tent and stood before the door of it, as mentioned, ch. 33. 9. This sublime cloud now removed from its former station and stood at first not only over, but around the tabernacle, completely covering or enwrapping it in its sombre folds while inner unseen Glory, after first filling the outer room, entered and took its station in the Most Holy Place between the Cherubim.. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. That is, the visible sign or symbol of the Lord's glorious presence 'By this Glory was signified,' says Maimonides 'a certain created splendor which God caused miraculously to dwell any where for the purpose of manifesting forth his majesty.' Abrabanel on this passage speaks still more distinctly; 'Behold, it is clear that the Glory of the Lord was not a cloud, but something in respect to light and splendor like unto fire. A cloud, however, was round about it, as smoke is always about a fire; and as burning lamps (or lightnings) appear from the midst of clouds, so was the Glory of the Lord like to fire in the midst of the cloud and the darkness.' In this august manner God took formal possession of the house which had been prepared for his residence. All things having been duly made ready, the great and glorious Oc- | tion of John in the Apocalypse, ch. 21. cupant now makes a solemn entry into 3, And I heard a great voice from the habitation in which he had promised heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle to dwell, and of which he now virtually of God is with men, and he shall dwell says, 'This is the place of my throne, with them, and they shall be his peoand the place of the soles of my feet, ple; and God himself shall be with where I will dwell in the midst of the them, and shall be their God.' As the children of Israel for ever.' By this act glory of the Shekinah came in all its Jehovah not only testified the restora- effulgence and took possession of the tion of his forfeited favor to the people, tabernacle when it was prepared for its and his gracious acceptance of their reception, so when the earth, by the services, but also gave typically a previous outpouring of the Spirit and pledge of the future tabernacling of the universal diffusion and establishChrist, the true Shekinah, in human ment of the gospel shall have become flesh, and of an ulterior visible mani. fitted for the divine inhabitation, are festation of the divine glory in the lat- we not taught to expect that the glori. ter days on the earth. This latter great fied Savior and the glorified saved—the event is distinctly foreshown in the fol- substance of the resplendent Cloud and lowing passages in language bearing the shining Cherubim of the most holy evident allusion to that of Moses in place-shall come and fix themselves the narrative before us; Ezek. 43, 4, 5, in permanent sojourn in the temple 'And the Glory of the Lord came into thus prepared for them? Not that we the house by the way of the gate whose are to understand this as implying that prospect is toward the east.-So the the glorified saints will ever be proSpirit took me up and brought me into miscuously mingled together with the the inner court; and behold the Glory tenants of earth, the dwellers in houses of the Lord filled the house.' John of clay and houses of wood or stone, also in the Revelation, chap. 21. 10, 11, but simply that there will be a visible alluding to the same illustrious period communication and an intimate relation of the church, says, 'And he carried me between these two great departments of in the spirit to a great and high moun- the Lord's family. We have no reason tain, and showed me that great city, to suppose that spiritual bodies will the holy Jerusalem, descending out of ever inhabit material tenements on the heaven from God; having the Glory of | earth, but as there was at the birth of God. For ourselves we think it de- Christ a sudden and glorious manifestaserving of the most serious and pro- tion of a multitude of the heavenly host found enquiry, whether this 'glory to in the air, so we are perhaps taught be revealed' be not a another term for that a similar developement of the inthe whole heavenly world composed of visible world will be made and become the glorified spiritual bodies of Christ permanent in the latter day, abiding in and his saints, together with his holy immediate proximity to our globe, and angels, coming down to enter into a thus giving its ultimate fulfilment to new and abiding connexion with the the dream of Jacob of an angelic interchurch on earth in its latter-day pros- course between heaven and earth. In perity. To what else can it refer? Our this state of things, the separating veil Savior expressly assured his disciples between the holy and the most place, that 'hereafter they should see heaven will be done away. The cherubim will opened, and the angels of God ascend- be 'living creatures' and pass freely out ing and descending, upon the Son of into the outer room. Sure we are, that Man.' Equally explicit is the declara- if these predictions do not announce the 35 And Moses h was not able to | gation, because the cloud abode enter into the tent of the congreh Lev. 16. 2. 1 Kings 8. 11. 2 Chron, 14. 5. sublime event now suggested, as they plainly point to some fulfilment of stupendous character, it behoves the interpreters of the oracles of God to inform an inquiring world what they do mean. It is impossible to be faithful to the entrusted truth of heaven, and permit its most sublime revelations to lie shrouded in obscurity under the idle plea that they are a part of prophecy, and that prophecy was not designed to be understood till it is accomplished. Not indeed that we would maintain that prophecy can be equally well understood before and after its accomplishment, but if it be unintelligible, why are we exhorted to study it? The truth is, the prophecies touch the very vital doctrines of Christianity. Its grand sanctions—its promises of bliss and its threatenings of woe-the judgment, the resurrection, and the New Jerusalem are inseparably interwoven with the fulfilment of the great chain of scriptural prophecy; and we doubt not the time is not far distant when the interests of truth will imperiously demand that the mysteries of the Apocalypse shall be unfolded. 35. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, &c. The glory of the Shekinah shone so bright and dazzling, that it was absolutely insufferable to the sight. Indeed, as the phenomenon was in effect the same with that which appeared on the summit of Sinai, and of which it is said, Ex. 24. 16, that the part of it covered by the cloud, when partially exposed to view, was like unto 'devouring fire,' the tabernacle could not now be entered for the same reason that the cloud could not then have been entered, even by Moses, without a special summons to that effect from Jehovah himself. Precisely the same thing happened at the thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. dedication of the temple of Solomon, when, we are told, 1 Kings, 8. 10, 11, "The cloud filled the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.' A palpable allusion to this incident is also to be recognised in Rev. 15. 7, 8, although the meaning of the prophecy is too profound to be hastily decided upon; 'And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.' Moses was obliged to wait till the overwhelming brightness had somewhat abated, and the Glory had retired with. in the veil. That these circumstances were designed to point forward to some grand accomplishment of far more illustrious character, in the state described in the closing chapters of Ezekiel and John, when the divine Glory shall again take up its abode on earth, we have no doubt. But as the precise manner of its ultimate fulfilment appears to be hidden by a veil at present inscrutable, we are thrown upon a moral improvement of the occurrence, upon which no mystery rests. It affords another intimation how awful and terrible is the majesty of Jehovah when he is pleased to reveal himself to human eyes. How impossible it was for Moses to behold it without a screen, we have already had occasion to notice. The greatest and the best of men are utterly unable to stand before it. 'Qur God is a consuming fire.' How thankful then are we called to be, that we may contemplate the softened glories of the Godhead in taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the LORD was 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. 36, 37. And when the cloud was taken up, &c. Thus the cloud was a guide to the camp of Israel in their march through the wilderness. While the cloud remained upon or over the tabernacle, they rested abiding in their tents; when it removed, they removed and followed their aerial conductor. This is more fully detailed Num. 9. 15-23, and long afterwards mentioned with grateful remembrance by the Psalmist, Ps. 78. 14, -105. 39; and Nehemiah notices its continuance as an extraordinary mercy notwithstanding their great provocation in the matter of the golden calf; ch. 9. 19, 'Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light and the way wherein they should go.' 38. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle, by day, &c. Chal. and Targ. Jon. 'The cloud of the Glory of the Lord.' Targ. Jerus. "The cloud of the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord.' That same mysterious cloud which had led them up from Egypt, and which had all along been pregnant with wonders, now settled upon the tabernacle and hovered over it, even in the hottest and clearest day; for this was not a cloud of which it could be said that the sun 'wearieth the thick cloud; he scattereth the bright cloud.' It was 1 ch. 13. 21. Numb. 9. 15. a cloud that served as a remarkable token of the Divine Presence, constantly visible day and night to all Israel, and to those who were situated in the remotest corners of the camp, so that they could never have occasion to propose the question, 'Is the Lord among us, or is he not?" They could not doubt t, unless they could doubt the evidence of their own senses.¶ And fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel, &c. The fire and the cloud were not, as we have before remarked, two different and distinct things. It was one and the same pillar which was a dark cloud by day and a shining fire by night. Indeed, as the original for on it' is 1 bo, in it, it is contended by Fagius and others that the true meaning is, that the fire was in the cloud by night, i. e. that the cloud was the seat of it, that it did not emanate from any source different from the cloud; not that the fire was so inveloped in the cloud as to be invisible, for on that supposition, the fire was in it by day as well as by night. It is possible that the term 'fire' is to be understood merely of a phosphorescent glow which the exterior of the cloud was made to assume at night, and thus to be viewed as entirely distinct from the inner enwrapped glory, which Moses so ardently desired to see. These are particulars in respect to the cloud which it is exceedingly difficult to determine; but the general image can easily be brought before the mind, and we can see at once how express is the allusion to this incident in the words of the prophet, Is. 4. 5, 'And the Lord will |