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tioned. There are some persons who guard the palace; others who execute offices belonging to the royal dignity, who furnish the banquets, and do other necessary services for the monarch; others who daily entertain him with music, both vocal and instrumental. In a royal palace there is a place appointed for the preparation of victuals, and another (nearer the Presence) where perfumes are burned.

In the palace of a king there is also a table, and an apartment exclusively appropriated to himself, which no one ever enters, except him who is next in authority, or those whom he regards with the greatest affection. In like manner it was the will of God to have all these in his house, that he might not in anything give place to the kings of the earth. For He is a great king, not indeed in want of these things: but hence it is easy to see the reason of the daily provisions given to the priests and Levites, being what every monarch is accustomed to allow his servants. And all these things were intended to instruct the people that the Lord of Hosts was present among us, “ For he is a great king, and to be feared by all the nations."

These analogies will be the more apparent when it is remembered that the comparisons are to be referred to an Oriental rather than to a European palace.

We are now prepared to show that the kind of assimilation, which we have described, to the Egyptian forms of the utensils of ritual service, so far as these forms were innocent, or might be rendered useful, was not excluded even from the most sacred parts of the Hebrew ritualnot even from the Holy of Holies. And if not from these, how much less from things of smaller consequence.

In the adytum, or small inner chamber of the Egyptian temples-answering to the most holy place of the Hebrew tabernacle-were placed the peculiar symbols, images, or signs of the god to whom the temple was dedicated. In the case of some of the principal of the gods, those which were the most ancient and the most generally worshipped, the contents of the sanctuary were closely similar, if not identical, with those of the most holy place of the tabernacle, with the omission, in the latter, of the superfluities and idolatrous appendages which the former offered. While, therefore, the sculptures of Egypt, in which some of these ancient sanctuaries are represented, afford the only discoverable materials for making out the outline forms and some of the details of the ark and that which belonged to it, they will at the same time afford not a few intimations of the simplifying and expurgatory process by which these things were fitted for the use of the Hebrew people.

Our further observations must take the form of a commentary on the cuts which we now produce, and on which we rely for the proof of the statements we have offered.

1. SHRINE IN ITS SANCTUARY.

In this very striking engraving (No. 1) the shrine is represented at rest upon the ark in the sanctuary of the temple. The anomalous feature is the boat, which, in this and most of the other examples, rests immediately upon the ark, and supports the covered shrine. To explain this, it should be observed that some of the Egyptian gods were carried across, or up or down, the Nile, in splendid boats, on particular festivals, and were sometimes thus absent several days from their temples. From this circumstance, the shrine of such gods was usually represented as in a boat, and in that form was carried about in land processions. There was nothing of this in the Hebrew tabernacle; and as most of the idolatrous symbols are connected with the boat, we at once see what a great difference this omission must have produced. Having given this dispensing explanation concerning the boat, the reader must suppose its omission in this and the subsequent illustrations. Supposing, then, the boat omitted, we have first the ark, or sacred chest, on which, as on a pedestal, the shrine is placed. The Egyptian arks are very similar to one another in their form, which, as nearly as can be imagined, correspond to the description of the Hebrew ark; but their proportions are varied. That in the above engraving has not the proportions of the Hebrew ark, being higher than it is long; but we can show others which more exactly agree.

The diameter of the shrine which is upon the ark, as in the mercy-seat which was upon the tabernacle ark, coincides at its base with that of the ark, but diminishes as it ascends. It happens that we do not know how high the 'covering' of the Hebrew ark rose. Josephus says it was a hand's breadth. We do not suppose it rose like this shrine, because it would have been without purpose in the tabernacle. It contained the image, or some peculiarly sacred symbols of the god, which were thus enthroned upon the ark. But in the tabernacle, the ark was the throne of the Shekinah, or radiant symbol of the Divine presence, and an enclosing shrine for that would have been absurd. It is evident that the Shekinah gloriously filled the place in the Hebrew tabernacle upon the ark which an enshrined image occupied in the Egyptian temples. Thus the Hebrews were effectually prevented from placing an image there, and, in fact, they never did; for although, in the end, they went so far as to place idols in the sanctuary, they never dared to place an idol in the place thus miraculously pre-occupied.

The over-shadowing wings, in the Egyptian shrines, afford an accompaniment similar in kind to that of the cherubim in the Hebrew tabernacle. In this case it is a solar symbol; and although we have no precise knowledge of the form of the Hebrew cherubim, it does not appear to us that they resembled this in form or position. It is interesting, however, to learn that winged symbolical figures of some kind or other are invariably found in the Egyptian sanctuaries.

Before leaving this engraving the reader will not fail to notice that the poles by which the shrines were carried in processions were left remaining in it when at rest in its place, as was the case with the Hebrew ark. The figures placed beside the ark in this engraving, under the poles, may indicate the manner in which the pot of manna and other articles were laid up beside the ark' in the Hebrew sanctuary.

We introduce the cut No. 2 for the sake of shewing that we have rightly interpreted the shrine which we see placed upon the Egyptian arks, as containing an idol. Here the shrine is uncovered, and the god is revealed. From the attitude, the god appears to be Harpocrates. In this instance the shrine is very rich and elegant, and its canopy exhibits a duplication of the winged symbol to which we have already directed attention.

The cut No. 3 exhibits the form of the ark, which seems to us to agree, as nearly as possible, in its shape and proportions, with that which the present chapter describes. Even the staves are similarly placed, and the covering is about a hand's breadth in height or thickness. We disregard, of course, the image upon this ark, symbolizing the Nile, and

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2. SHRINE WITH IDOL.

the hieroglyphics on its side. We must, however, call attention to the two small figures which stand at the opposite extremities of the ark. They occupy the place usually assigned to the cherubim in all the pictures of the Hebrew ark, as indeed seems to be required by the text, 'two cherubim of gold.... in (or at) the two ends of the mercy-seat' (Exod. v. 18); and the hindermost of them takes the very attitude which the more current pictures and descriptions supply. Their faces, however, are not turned to each other, and they are mere human figures without wings. The value of the illustration is, therefore, in this-that, besides the proper idol, image, or symbol, it was usual among the Egyptians to place small figures upon the ark in significant attitudes.

When the Hebrew ark was removed from its place, it was not taken into parts, but the chest itself, the mercyseat, and the cherubim were carried together as one piece, precisely as they had stood in the sanctuary. The under neath engraving (No. 4) shews the same practice among the Egyptians. Here we again see small figures in postures of adoration.

The cut No. 5, however, shews that, in some cases,

3. ARK BORNE BY PRIESTS.

the shrine was taken off from the ark, and carried separately by the Egyptians. But we have introduced it chiefly on account of the winged figures which it exhibits, and more particularly of those which are represented on the side of the shrine, which certainly offer the most remarkable approximations in form, posture, and place to the Hebrew cherubim that have ever been produced. Let it be observed that the usual representations of the cherubim are taken from the description which Ezekiel (ch. i.) gives of those which he saw in his vision, as compared with the slight intimations supplied by Moses. Now, Ezekiel describes them as having human shapes, with four faces, and four wings. The four faces are those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (or hawk); but few writers suppose that the ark-cherubim had more than one of these faces, and they generally take that of a man or an ox, seldom choosing the lion or the eagle. In this Egyptian example we have one of the four faces-that of the hawk. The wings are precisely the same as described by Ezekiel,

Their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.' So it is here: each figure is intended to be represented with four wings, two of which fall down and cover the body, while the other two stretch upward, both pairs of wings in each of the figures nearly meeting those of the one opposite. Their position, indeed, with their faces towards each other, is strikingly illustrative.

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5. SHRINE CARRIED IN PROCESSION.

The two preceding cuts further shew the manner in which the Egyptian shrine was carried by the priests on their shoulders, as the ark was by the Levites. The tabernacle itself was removed in waggons; and, in like manner, although the Egyptians had wheel-carriages in great abundance and variety, the shrine or ark was never removed but on the shoulders of the priests.

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10. Ark.-The identity of name, to denote two such different things as the 'ark' of Noah and that of the tabernacle, does not exist in the original. The former is called

tebah, and the latter aron. The Septuagint rendered both terms by the same Greek word, kißwrós, and has been followed by our own and other versions. The ark, in the present instance, was a coffer or chest of shittim wood overlaid with gold, in which were deposited the tables of the Ten Commandments-not only the entire ones, say the Jews, but also those that were broken-together with Aaron's rod (staff) that budded, and the golden pot of preserved manna. This chest seems to have been of the dimensions of three feet nine inches in length, by two feet three inches in breadth and depth, according to the common cubit of eighteen inches, but larger, if, as we think preferable, we take the Egyptian cubit of twenty-one inches. Around the upper edge there was a rim or cornice (called in the text a crown') of pure gold; and on each side were fixed rings of gold to receive the poles of shittim wood, covered with gold, by which the ark was carried from place to place. The staves always remained in the rings, even when the ark was at rest. The ark had at top a lid or cover of solid gold; for such was what the text calls the mercy-seat,' and which the Septuagint renders ixaorpiov, or propitiatory,' by which name it is mentioned by St. Paul in Heb. ix. 5, and which was probably so called, because, on the great day of atonement, the blood of the expiatory sacrifice was sprinkled on or before it. Upon the two ends of this lid, and of the same matter with it, that is, solid gold, were placed two figures of cherubim which looked towards each other, and whose outstretched wings, meeting over the centre of the ark, overshadowed it completely. It was here that the Shekinah or Divine Presence more immediately rested, and, both in the tabernacle and temple, was indicated by a cloud, from the midst of which responses were delivered, in an audible voice, whenever the Lord was consulted in behalf of the people. Hence God is sometimes mentioned as He that dwelleth' or 'sitteth between the cherubim.' In its re

movals the ark was covered with a veil (Num. iv. 6), and might only be carried on the shoulders of the priests or Levites. The Rabbins think, with some reason, that it was only carried by the priests on extraordinary occasions, being ordinarily borne by the Levites. No other form of conveyance was allowed, nor were any other persons permitted to interfere with it. David thought, perhaps, to do it honour by putting it on a new cart when he purposed to remove it to Kirjath-jearim: but the result convinced him of the necessity of adhering to the established practice (2 Sam. vi. 3). On that occasion, Uzzah, being an unauthorized person, was struck dead for putting his hand to the ark in order to steady it when shaken by the oxen.

After the Israelites had passed the Jordan, the ark generally occupied its proper place in the tabernacle, and was afterwards placed in the temple built by Solomon. From the direction given by Josiah to the Levites (2 Chron. xxxv. 3) to restore the ark to its place, it would seem to have been previously removed; but it is not known whether this was done by the priests, to preserve it from profanation, or by the idolatrous kings Manasseh or Amon, to make room for their idols. It seems that the ark, with the other precious things of the temple, became the spoil of Nebuchadnezzar, and was taken to Babylon; and it does not appear that it was restored at the end of the captivity, or that any new one was made. What became of the ark after the captivity cannot be ascertained. Some of the Rabbins think that it was concealed, to preserve it from the Chaldeans, and that it could not again be discovered, nor will be till the Messiah comes and reveals it. say that it was indeed taken away by the Chaldeans, but was afterwards restored, and occupied its place in the second temple: but the Talmud and some of the Jewish writers confess, that the want of the ark was one of the points in which the second temple was inferior to that of Solomon: to which we may add, that neither Ezra, Nehemiah, the Maccabees, nor Josephus, mention the ark as extant in the second temple; and the last authority expressly says that there was nothing in the sanctuary when the temple was taken by Titus. Its figure certainly does not appear on the arch erected at Rome in honour of that conqueror, and on which the spoils of the temple are displayed; although some writers have attempted to identify it with the table of shewbread, which is there represented.

Others

Sacred chests, bearing much the resemblance in principle to this ark, have been found in different ancient and

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modern nations; and expositors have entered into many wearying disquisitions on the question whether this ark, or the ark of Noah, or else some primitive model (the existence of which is inferred from chap. xxxiii. 7, 10), suggested the first idea; while Spencer and others think, as they do in the case of the tabernacle itself, that the Hebrew ark was itself copied from the heathen.

23. A table of shittim wood!'-This table, like the ark, was of shittim wood, overlaid with gold; and it seems to have borne as much resemblance to the ark as a table can be supposed to bear to a chest. It was also furnished with rings, through which were passed the staves by which it was carried, in the same way as the ark. The staves of the table did not remain in the rings when at rest, like those of the ark, but were, as Josephus informs us, removed, that they might not be in the way of the priests in their weekly ministrations at the table. The table was inferior to the ark in breadth by half a cubit, but it was of the same height. It stood lengthwise, east and west, at the north side of the holy place. It is difficult, from the description, to form any very distinct idea concerning the

details of its form; and speculations on the subject have been sufficiently abundant. What we seem to learn from the text is, that the platform of the table being raised, probably on four legs, to the stated height, was faced with a perpendicular border of a hand's breadth, above which, and on the lower edge of which, was an ornamental rim (crown') of gold. The upper rim, according to the Rabbins, rose above the superficial level of the table, and was calculated to prevent what was deposited thereon from falling off. They also state that each end of the table was furnished with a tall three-pronged fork, one at each corner, standing perpendicularly, for the purpose of keeping the loaves, which were piled one upon another at the end of the table, in their proper places. For these forks, however, there is no evidence in the text, or in the only authentic representation we possess, which is that in the arch of Titus at Rome, on which the spoils of the temple are represented. This last, however, was not the table of the tabernacle. It is generally agreed that this was among the spoils carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and that when the Jews were restored to their own land, they

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6. BAS-RELIEF FROM THE ARCH OF TITUS, SHEWING THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK AND TABLE OF SHEWBREAD.

made a new table. It seems to have differed in size, and in some details, from the original table. Its form will be seen from the cut representing that part of the Roman sculpture in which it is comprehended. The table of shewbread has often been pointed out as one of the marked peculiarities of the Hebrew ritual. But nothing can be more incorrect than this assertion; for numerous examples of such a table, very similar in shape and proportion, occur in nearly all the representations of Egyptian sanctuaries. But there was only bread and wine on the Hebrew table; while those of the Egyptian temples were in many instances (not in all) heaped with meats of every description.

29. Dishes'-n ke-aroth; in the Septuagint TpUBAía, 'plates' or 'platters.' On these the loaves were set, according to Jarchi and others: who also states that they were of the same form as the loaves, and that there were two sorts, one of gold and the other of iron, the bread being baked in the latter and then transferred to the former, to be set on the table. But others assign different uses to these dishes.

-Spoons- kappoth, more properly cups or censers, their use being for holding incense, of a concave form, like spoons, or the hollow of the hand, which is the primitive meaning of kaph. It is commonly thought that they were two, and contained the frankincense which, as we learn from Lev. xxiv. 7, was set upon each pile of bread.

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'Covers' ni kesoth.-These were probably intended for covering both the loaves and the incense. The Septuagint renders the word, wherever it occurs, by σTovdeia, libation vessels.'

'Bowls'-nip menakkiyoth-Septuagint, válo 'wine-cups,' which is probably correct; for although we do not read that any wine was set upon the table, yet, as libations were made to God, by pouring out wine before him in the holy place, there is nothing improbable in the Jewish tradition, that a bowl of excellent wine was always kept upon the table; and that once a week, when the bread was changed, the contents were poured out as a libation before the Lord. Josephus confirms this tradition by relating that, when Pompey went into the holy place, he saw there cups for libation among the sacred vessels.

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30. Shewbread' D D lechem-panim; literally 'bread of faces;' and which perhaps modern translators better render by 'presence-bread.' The bread consisted of twelve unleavened loaves which were rather large, each containing about five pints 1-10th of flour. The Rabbins say that the loaves were square, and covered with leaves of gold; but of this the Scripture says nothing. The same authorities inform us that the loaves were placed in two piles of six each, one upon another, on the opposite ends of the table; and that between every two loaves were laid three semi-tubes, like slit canes, of gold, for the purpose of 247

keeping the cakes the better from mouldiness and corruption by admitting the air between them. The golden forks, which are stated to have been employed to keep the loaves in their places, we have already noticed. The new bread was set on the table every Sabbath with much ceremony and care, it being so managed that the new bread should be set on one end of the table before the old was taken away from the other, in order that the table might not be for a moment without bread. The old bread might only be eaten by the priests; yet there was the famous exception in the instance of David, who, when in great want, ate the shew-bread, and incurred no blame (1 Sam. xxi. 6-9). This instance is quoted by our Saviour to justify the apostles, when they plucked ears of corn and ate them on the Sabbath-day. Jewish traditions state, that, to render the bread more peculiar and consecrated from its origin, the priests themselves performed all the operations of sowing, reaping, and grinding the corn for the shewbread, as well as of kneading and baking the bread itself. We have already mentioned the incense and (probably) the wine, which was set with the bread upon the table: it is also thought that salt was added, as we read in Levit. ii., that not only were the meat-offerings to be seasoned with salt, but that salt was to form part of all offerings.

We find among the ancient heathens usages having some conformity to this of the table with its shew-bread, though it is difficult to determine from what source the analogy arose; unless we suppose the idea in itself so natural, as to render it unnecessary to conclude that the usage must be derived from one nation to another. We even find something very similar in our own day among various and distant tribes of barbarians and savages. The heathens had, in their temples, tables on which they set meat and drink in honour of the gods. In general this became the property of the priests, but in many instances the priests alleged that the gods themselves consumed what was set before them. There is a famous instance of this in the apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon. The Egyptians were among those who had this custom. Jerome, in his gloss on Isaiah lxv. 11, observes, that it was an ancient custom among the idolaters of Egypt, on the last day of the last month in the year, to place tables, covered with several kinds of victuals, in the temples of the gods. This information is confirmed by the monuments; although from the latter one cannot determine whether the tables of edible offerings which we see laid out before the Egyptian idols, were periodical only, as he states, or permanent.

31. 'Candlestick '— menorah—a candelabrum or lamp-bearer. This candlestick was wholly of pure gold, and it weighed a talent (about 125 lbs.), although, as Josephus informs us, it was hollow within. It consisted of a base and stock, with seven branches, three on each side,

and one in the middle. These branches were all parallel to one another, and were worked out in knobs, flowers, and bowls, placed alternately. The whole number of these ornaments amounted to seventy (Josephus). The Jews say that the flowers were lilies, and the knobs were in the form of pomegranates. On the extremities of the branches were seven golden lamps, one on each branch. A great number of fanciful representations of this magnificent lampstand have been given. That on the Arch of Titus is the best general authority; but the base, as there represented, has figures of birds and marine monsters, which we certainly should not expect to find in an utensil consecrated to the service of Jehovah. This is a confirmation of the statement of Josephus, who, in speaking of the triumph of Vespasian and Titus, and of the sacred utensils which were paraded on that occasion, says that the candlestick was somewhat altered from the form which it had borne in the temple; and, among other alterations, he expressly says that the shaft was fixed on a new base. After the triumph, the candlestick, together with the table of shew-bread, were lodged in a temple built by Vespasian, and consecrated to Peace. It is to be observed, however, that the candlestick in question was not the same as that made for the tabernacle. This was, with the other sacred utensils, transferred to the temple built by Solomon, and became the prey of the Chaldæans. It does not appear that it was ever restored, but that a new one was made for the second temple. It is not certain that this candlestick bore precisely the same form as that made under the direction of Moses; but there was doubtless a general resemblance. The light of the lamps was supplied from pure olive-oil. It is disputed whether the lamp was kept burning night and day, or only at night. In chap. xxx. 7, 8, it is mentioned as the duty of the priest to 'dress' the lamps every morning, and to 'light' them every evening: but in the parallel text in Levit. xxiv. 2, it is said that the lamps were to burn continually; and the context says nothing about lighting, but only that the priest was to order' the lamps morning and evening. We are disposed to consider from the two passages, taken together, that the lamps were to be kept continually' burning at night, being kindled in the evening, and extinguished in the morning. If they were kept burning night and day, the lighting' in the evening may mean no more than that the light had been extinguished while the lamp was trimmed, and the oil and wick renewed. It is not in itself improbable that the lamps were kept burning by day, for light could only be admitted into the tabernacle through the curtain at the east or unboarded end: if that curtain were thick, the holy place might have been so dark as to render artificial light not less requisite by day than by night. The most holy place, in which the ark lay, was at all times left in dark

ness,

CHAPTER XXVI.

1 The ten curtains of the tabernacle. 7 The eleven curtains of goats' hair. 14 The covering of rams' skins. 15 The boards of the tabernacle, with their sockets and bars. 31 The vail for the ark. 36 The hanging for the door.

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 them.

2 The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one

curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.

3 The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another.

4 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 the second.

5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the

1 Heb. the work of a cunning workman, or, embroiderer.

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