Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small]

Exod. Ch. XXVI.

THE TABERNACLE UNCOVERED. A. THE HOLY PLACE.
THE HOLY OF HOLIES

[graphic]

B

to know that it is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not.

The most exact directions were given for constructing every part of the tabernacle, and Moses was strictly enjoined to make it according to a pattern which God himself shewed him on the mount. Let this teach us, that in every action of life, and especially in every religious service, it is our duty and our privilege to inquire both what it is the will of God we should do, and in what manner we should do it. "What saith the scripture?" "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy path."

The tabernacle was to be constructed in such a manner, as to take down when occasion required. It was to stand within a large space of ground, called the court of the tabernacle, enclosed by wooden pillars, fixed in sockets of brass, and fastened to the ground by cords; round them were to be hangings of net work, so that the whole congregation might have a view of the sacred building. The back and two sides of the tabernacle were to be constructed of boards of shittim, a very solid, light, and beautiful kind of wood, overlaid with thin plates of gold, and fixed in sockets of silver; the front remaining open to the view of the people. Over this frame of the building were to be cast four vails or coverings the first, of fine linen, beautifully embroidered in shades of blue, purple, and scarlet; the next covering was of goat's hair. most probably the

soft, long, silky hair of the Syrian goat; the third, of rams' skins dyed red; and the outside, of badgers' skins, to endure the weather. The tabernacle was to be separated by means of a most splendid curtain or vail. The entrance, or that part without the vail, was the holy place, where the priests were to go every day to minister; that part within the vail was the most holy place, where none but the high priest might enter, and that only once a year, on a day called the great day of atonement. The furniture of the tabernacle was to consist of the following articles.*

The ark of the covenant, was placed in the holiest of all. It was a kind of chest, overlaid within and without with gold on each side were two rings of gold, through which were put bars of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold, by which the priests carried it. In this ark were placed the tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written by the finger of God; these are called the tables of testimony, because they were memorials of the covenant which God had entered into with the people of Israel, and would be as witnesses against them if they were not faithful to the covenant. Either in or very near to

* In describing the furniture of the tabernacle at that period of the history, when the directions for constructing it were given, it will be desirable, in order to avoid repetition at a future period, to speak of some things by anticipation; of these, as well as the tabernacle itself, the young reader will be enabled to form a pretty correct idea from the plates which accompany this work.

« PreviousContinue »