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two figures of a singular appearance, each having four faces, viz. the face of a lion, the face of a man, the face of a calf, and the face of an eagle-all attached to a human body with four wings, and four hands under the wings, and standing on feet resembling those of a calf or ox, Ezek. i. 5-14. They were of pure beaten gold; two of their wings covered their bodies, and the other two were extended over the mercy seat, while their faces looked inward and downward upon it. was from between these that Jehovah promised to meet the Israelites as their lawgiver and covenant God, and to deliver the commandments which he might think proper to give them, Ex. xxv. 18-22; xxxvii. 7-9.*

It

Nothing, perhaps, has afforded greater scope for the ingenuity of commentators than these cherubic emblems. Without adverting to the opinions of ancient theologians, we find sufficiently discordant ones among those of the most eminent modern ones. Hutchinson, Bate, and Parkhurst, maintain that they were representations of the blessed Trinity, with the human nature taken into the Divine essence, for the work of human redemption; making the work of creation and providence evidently subservient to that end.† Dr. Doddridge, Mr. Wesley, and bishop Mant, consider them as hieroglyphics of the angelic nature. Dr. Priestly imagines them to have been representatives of all nature. Mr. Scott supposes them to have been emblems of the true ministers of the Gospel. Dr. A. Clarke regards them as the representatives of the ALL MIGHTY, and those creatures by whom he produced the great effects of his power, to whatever order of beings they may belong; while Pyle, Hall, and Faber consider them as emblematical representations of the body of true believers, of both dispensations — legal and evangelical.‡ It is observable that one leading idea runs through most of the interpretations, which refers them to the plan of redemption, either in its authors, its agents, its subjects, or its general history.

5. This remarkable and costly structure was erected in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first day of the first month of the second year, after the Israelites left Egypt (Ex. xl. 17) ; and when erected was anointed, together with its furniture, with holy oil (ver. 9-11), and sanctified by blood, Ex. xxiv. 6—8; Heb.ix. 21. The altar of burnt-offering, especially,

* Brown's Antiq. vol. i. 22

p.

See Hutchinson's works; Bates' Enquiry into the occasional and standing similitudes of the Lord; Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. n, &c.

See their respective commentaries; Hales' Analysis of Chron. ; and Faber's Hore Mos. For a well written paper in support of the last mentioned opinion, see Gentleman's Mag. vol. xciii. pp. 118—122, or Critica Biblica, vol. i. pp. 293–301.

was sanctified by sacrifices during seven days (Ex. xxix. 37), while rich donations were given by the princes of the tribes, for the service of the sanctuary, Numb. vii.

We must not omit to notice that the tabernacle was so constructed as to be taken to pieces and put together again, as occasion required. This was indispensable; it being designed to accompany the Israelites during their travels in the wilderness, till their arrival in the promised land. As often as they removed, therefore, the tabernacle was taken to pieces, and borne in regular order by the Levites, Numb. iv. Whenever they encamped the tabernacle was pitched in the midst, the tribes taking their stations around in a quadrangular form, under their respective standards, at the distance of two thousand cubits; while Moses and Aaron, with the priests and Levites occupied a place between the camp and the tabernacle.*

6. Before we close this section we may advert to the spiritual reflections which the tabernacle and its furniture might excite in the minds of pious Israelites; for the apostle instructs us, that they were "a shadow of good things to come," Heb. ix. 9; x. 1. The curtains, then, around the tent, might teach them a holy reverence for divine things; the altar of burnt offering pointed to the perfection of the Messiah's sacrifice; and the laver taught them the necessity of regeneration, and of daily application to that fountain, which was opened in the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. The tabernacle in general, where Jehovah condescended to reside, was a type of the body of Christ, in which, as in a tent, he tabernacled while on earth. The silver sockets, which formed the foundation, might remind them of those important doctrines on which all evangelical religion is founded; and, by being made of the half shekels which were exacted of every male in Israel, they were calculated to shew the personal interest that each should take in religion and its worship. The outer covering of goats' hair might point out the unattractive appearance of religion to the men of the world; the beautiful under covering might indicate its glory as seen by the saints; the covering of rams' skins, dyed red, might remind them of the efficacy of the Messiah's blood, as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest; while the covering of badgers' skins, which (the Jewish traditions say) was blue, might point out to the hearers that true tabernacle which God had pitched, and not man. Nor was spiritual instruc

*Lamy's App. Bib. b. i. ch. 4. See also. pp. 421, 422, ante.

tion to be less derived from entering the sacred tent. For, in the holy place, the table of shew-bread was a constant acknowledgement of God, as the giver of every temporal blessing; the candlestick, with the lamps, pointed to the seven spirits of God, whence all spiritual illumination proceeded; and the altar of incense taught them the efficacy of prayer, when offered up from a pure heart, and perfumed with the incense of the Messiah's merits. Nor were the instructions which might be derived from the most holy place less important. For the vail, which separated the two apartments, not only indicated the partition wall which divided the Jews from the rest of the world, and was taken away by the death of Christ; but also that vail which still conceals from mortal view the place of God's peculiar residence. The tables of the law were an instance of God's condescension to his chosen people; the rod that budded, was emblematical of the unrivalled honour and unfading glory of a greater than Aaron; and the pot of manna, deposited in the ark, typified the hidden manna, of which all the saints are partakers, while travelling through the wilderness of this world. Nor could they overlook the mercy-seat, as pointing out the divine goodness to offending sinners;* and the cherubim of glory, which, by looking down to that propitiatory, represented the delight of the Trinity in this their work of mercy and love. †

*The Heb. cuphoreth is derived from a word which signifies to cover, or over spread, because by an act of pardon, sins are represented as being covered, so that they no longer appear in the eye of divine justice, to displease and call for punishment; and the person of the offender is covered, or protected from the stroke of the broken law. In the Septuagint the word Hilasterion is used, which signifies a propitiatory, and is the name used by the Apostle, Heb. ix. 5. As the word Hilasterion, mercy-seat, or propitiatory, is applied to Christ (Rom. iii. 25), "whom God hath set forth to be a PROPITIATION (Hilasterion) through faith in his blood-for the remission of sins that are past;" we learn that Christ was the true mercy-seat, the thing signified by the Caphoreth, to the ancient believers. And we learn further, that it was by his blood that an atonement was to be made for the sins of the world. And as God shewed himself between the Cherubim, over this propitiatory, or mercy-seat, so it is said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," 2 Cor. v. 19, &c. -See Dr. A. Clarke on Exod. xxv, 17.

+ Brown's Antiquities, vol. i. p. 33, &c.

481

SECTION II.

THE TEMPLE.

1. The TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

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The sacred building - Its several II. The TEMPLE OF III. HEROD'S TEMPLE. IV. The veneration

Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

ZERUBBABEL.

which the Jews cherished for their Temple. V. THE TEMPLE SERVICE-The Morning Service - Daily worship - Evening Service. VI. Various Prohibitions.

Having surveyed the tabernacle, we proceed to the temple at Jerusalem, which was formed upon the model of the former edifice, but upon a much more extensive and magnificent scale. It has been conceived by some persons that there were three different temples: the first built by David and Solomon; the second, by Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest; and the third, by Herod, a little before the birth of Christ. The Jews, however, acknowledge but two, not allowing the third to be a new temple, but only the second repaired and beautified. And this is thought best to agree with the prophecy of Haggai (ch. ii. 9), "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former;" which is generally interpreted with reference to the Messiah's honouring it with his personal presence and ministry. *

* Jennings' Jewish Antiq. b. ii. ch. 1. It is difficult to reconcile this with the fact of Herod's rebuilding the temple of Zerubbabel, as he is stated to have done by Josephus, Ant. b. xv. c. 11. For if he pulled down the old temple to its foundations, and erected a new one, it is plain that this was a building as totally distinct from that of Zerubbabel, as that of Zerubbabel was from the temple of Solomon. How then are we to reconcile the prophecy above cited, with the fact that our Saviour did not appear while the second temple was standing? for we can hardly suppose that the Jewish historian has erred in the statement which he has here made; corroborated as that statement is by the evangelist in John ii. 20. Dr. Blaney has attempted to do this by a different rendering." In the Hebrew," he remarks, "the words will be found to stand precisely thus :"Great shall be the glory of this house, the latter more than the former." So that the words, latter, and former, may as well be construed with the glory as with this house. Accordingly the Seventy have adopted this construction; and the context seems evidently to justify the propriety of their translation. For in the introductory part of this prophecy, the word first, or former, is manifestly applied to glory, and not to this house. "Who is left among you, that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" Hag. ii. 3. It is manifest, too, that in this passage, the term, this house, is not confined in its application to the house the Jews were then building, but is undeniably meant of Solomon's temple. Nor, indeed, is it generally necessary to render a house identically the same, according to the common acceptation of language, that it be built at one and the same time, and exactly of the same form and materials; it is sufficient, though it should have been rebuilt at different times successively, if it be erected still on the same site, and devoted to the same purpose. It is the house of God, the temple appropriated to divine worship at Jerusalem, which was intended by this house, whether built by Solomon, by the Jews under Zerubbabel, or by Herod. Were it otherwise, how could Solomon's temple be called this house, as it is in the

I. The first temple was that of Solomon, for which materials were provided by David before his death. It occupied one of the three eminences on which the city of Jerusalem was built, and which is well known to the Scripture reader as mount Moriah. This name is differently explained by commentators. Its most literal meaning is the " myrrh of Jehovah," or, "the bitterness of Jehovah;" but how to explain it of the mountains around Jerusalem is not so easy. Perhaps it referred to the productions for which the country around Jerusalem was famed, "the myrrh of Jehovah” meaning, in the Hebrew idiom, excellent myrrh. Be this as it may, the fact is certain, that the bitterness of Jehovah, God-man the mediator, was afterwards experienced on these very mountains: for the garden of Gethsemane, in which he suffered such dreadful agony, was on one of them; the places where he was mocked, scourged, and condemned, were on another; and Calvary, where (while crucifying him) they offered him wine mingled with myrrh (Mark xv. 23), was on a third. For though the term Moriah was afterwards confined to the particular hill on which the temple was built, it originally comprehended the several mountains which are round about Jerusalem. Hence, God said to Abraham, "Take thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering, upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of," Gen. xxii. 12.

On the division of Judea among the twelve tribes, it so happened that, small as the space on the top of Moriah was, it became the property of two tribes; for the greatest part of the courts was in the portion of Judah; and the altar, porch, holy, and most holy places, were in the portion of Benjamin. In its original state the summit of Moriah was unequal, and its sides irregular; but it was a part of the ambition of the Jewish kings to have it levelled and extended;* insomuch that, during the second temple, it formed a square

passage just now cited? or how are we to understand the words (Ez. v. 11–13) which the Jews are said to have spoken to the Persian officers, who demanded their authority for rebuilding the temple? We are, say they, "the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up. But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house. — But Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God." Here it is plain that the words this house are alternately applied to the temple of Solomon, and that built under Zerubbabel, and may certainly as well be extended to that of Herod."Discourse preached before the University of Oxford, Nov. 9th, 1788, 4to. and reprinted in the Methodist Magazine, vol. v. third series, p.515, &c.

*Lightfoot, Prospect of the Temple, ch. i.

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