LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.
By G. H. Bell
LESSON XIV.—THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.
1. What prophetic words did the Lord put in the mouth of Moses as he was singing the song of deliverance after the crossing of the Red Sea? Ex. 15:2. 2. When did the Lord instruct Moses in regard to the building of the sanctuary? 3. What materials were the people requested to bring? Ex. 25:1–7. 4. Who of the people were to bring these offerings? Verse 2. 5. What command is given in the eighth verse? 6. How was Moses to know how to build the sanctuary? Verses 9, 40. 7. After what was the worldly sanctuary patterned? Heb. 9:23. 8. Where is this sanctuary described? 9. What were its dimensions? 12. Describe the inner covering. 13. What was represented by the figures of cherubim? 14. Of what material was each of the other curtains made? 15. How was the sanctuary itself divided? 16. How were the apartments separated? 17. Where was the entrance to the sanctuary? 18. By what was this entrance closed? 19. What was this curtain called? 20. What terms were applied to the curtain that separated the two apartments? Heb. 9:3; Ex. 26:31. 21. What was the first apartment called? 23. What was the second apartment called? 25. What was deposited in the ark? 26. By what was the tabernacle surrounded? 27. What were the dimensions of the court? 28. How was the court inclosed? 29. Where was the gate of the court? 31. What stood between the gate of the court and the door of the tabernacle? 32. What was between the brazen altar and the tabernacle? In the song of deliverance sung by Moses after the crossing of the Red Sea, he says of God, “I will prepare him an habitation.” Ex. 15:2. After the children of Israel had received the law at Mount Sinai, the Lord instructed Moses in regard to building a sanctuary. In Ex. 25:1–7 he tells him what materials are to be collected by the people. In the eighth verse, he says, “And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” In the ninth verse the Lord promises to give Moses a pattern of the tabernacle and of all the instruments thereof. In the 40th verse he gives him a special charge to make all things according to their pattern shown him in the mount. In the twenty-sixth and thirty-sixth chapters of Exodus, this sanctuary is described. Its length was thirty cubits; its breadth and height each ten cubits. Its walls were made of upright boards, or planks, overlaid with gold, and bound together with bars passing through rings of gold, and at the bottom by tenons and sockets. It was covered by four coverings of different material. The inner covering was of gold and purple and scarlet and fine-twined linen, wrought with figures of cherubim. These were to represent the heavenly host in the sanctuary above. Dan. 7:10; Rev. 5:11. The second curtain was of cloth woven from goats’ hair; the third was made of rams’ skins, dyed red. Some eminent writers think that these skins were not colored, but taken from a kind of sheep that bear red wool, and are still found in that country. The fourth, or outer, covering was of badgers’ skins, and is supposed to have been impervious to moisture. The sanctuary itself was divided into two apartments, separated by a curtain of the same material as the inner covering. The entrance to the sanctuary was on the east end. It was closed by a curtain similar to the one that separated the two apartments. This is called the hanging of the door of the tabernacle, and is sometimes considered as the first veil. The curtain that separated the two apartments was called the second veil, and sometimes simply the veil. The first apartment was called the holy place. It was twenty cubits long and contained the altar of incense, the table of show bread, and the golden candlestick. The second apartment was called the most holy place. It was ten cubits every way, and contained the ark of the covenant in which was deposited the tables of the law,—the ten commandments written by the finger of God. The tabernacle was surrounded by an open space called the court. This court was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits broad. The wall that inclosed it was five cubits high, and consisted of a curtain of fine-twined linen, supported by brass pillars. On the east end of the court, for the distance of thirty cubits, the curtain was of finer material, and curiously embroidered in the most beautiful colors. This was called the gate of the court. Between the gate of the court and the door of the tabernacle was the brazen altar, where animals were to be offered as sacrifices, and between that and the tabernacle was the laver, where the priests washed. G. H. BELL.