THE FURNITURE OF THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.
By Elder M. H. Brown
THE furniture of the first apartment, or the holy place, consisted of the table of showbread, altar of incense, and golden candlestick. The table of showbread stood on the north. It had a border round it upon which was a crown of gold, and the table was overlaid with pure gold. On this table the priests were each Sabbath to place twelve cakes, arranged in two piles, and sprinkled with frankincense. The loaves that were removed, being accounted holy, were to be eaten by the priests. It was called showbread, or bread of the presence, because it was ever before the face of the Lord. Ex. 25:30. It was an acknowledgment of man’s dependence upon God for both temporal and spiritual food, and that it is received only through the mediation of Christ. God had fed Israel in the wilderness with bread from heaven, and they were still dependent upon his bounty both for temporal food and spiritual blessings. Both the manna and the showbread pointed to Christ, the Living Bread, who is ever in the presence of God for us. On the south was the seven-branched candlestick, with its seven lamps. Its branches were ornamented with exquisitely wrought flowers, resembling lilies, and the whole was made from one solid piece of gold. It was said to be worth about $25,000. There being no windows in the tabernacle, the lamps were never all extinguished at one time, but shed their light by day and by night. Just before the veil, separating the holy place from the most holy and the immediate presence of God, stood the golden altar of incense. Upon this altar the priest was to burn incense every morning and evening. . . . The fire upon this altar was kindled by God himself, and was sacredly cherished. Day and night the holy incense diffused its fragrance through the sacred apartment, and without far around the tabernacle.—Patriarchs and Prophets. The second apartment contained the ark of the covenant. This was two cubits and a half in length, and a cubit and a half in breadth and height. Like the boards of the tabernacle, the table of showbread, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering which was located in front of the tabernacle, the ark was composed of acacia wood, called shittim wood in our common English version. This is a very fine-grained, hard, durable wood, which grows in Eastern countries, and was well adapted for the furniture of the tabernacle. The cover of the ark was called the mercy seat, and at each end of the mercy seat was a cherub, made out of the same piece of gold which composed the mercy seat. The mercy seat and cherubim were made of pure gold beaten out. In the ark, under the mercy seat, were placed the tables of the law, upon which was written the law of God, or the ten commandments. Insomuch as some have questioned as to who wrote the law on stone, and also as to whether the ten commandments are ever called a law in the Scriptures, we will submit the following evidence:— “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. 31:18. “And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand; the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” Ex. 32:15, 16. These passages prove conclusively that God wrote the writing on the tables of stone. See also Deut. 9:9, 10; 4:12, 13. In the last scripture cited we find that what the Lord wrote on the tables of stone is emphatically called the ten commandments. In Ex. 24:12 the Lord says to Moses, “Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Here the Lord himself calls what he wrote on the tables of stone a law and commandments. As we have already proved, these commandments were the ten commandments. See Deut. 4:12. In Ex. 24:12 the Lord calls them “a law,” because they were a rule of life for man to obey. Hence, as the Lord calls the ten commandments a law, and as he proclaimed it from Mount Sinai with his own voice, and wrote it on stone with his own finger, it is very properly called the law of God. In an emphatic and preëminent sense the Decalogue is God’s law. He has placed special honor upon it in various ways. He did not leave it to be first proclaimed or written by man. He had it separated from all the ceremonial regulations and rules of the typical system, and ordered it placed in the sacred ark, in the most holy place, thus impressing upon the minds of the people its holy and sacred character, and distinguishing it from all other laws. This explains why the ark and its contents were regarded with such reverence and awe, and why such wonderful powers were attributed to them. Of the law contained in the ark the word of God says that it is holy and spiritual, and that it gives a knowledge of sin. Rom. 7:7, 12, 14; 3:20. Therefore we conclude that “sin is the transgression of the law,” and this is directly stated in 1 John 3:4. We also know that the law to which reference is made in these passages is the law of ten commandments, because it says, “Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7), and this is the tenth commandment of the Decalogue. Inspiration calls this law the “royal” or kingly law (James 2:8), because it is the law of the King, or Ruler, of the universe. And we know that this royal law is the law of ten6mentioned in the context, as a part of it, viz., “Thou shalt not kill,” and, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” James 2:8–11. This royal law also proves all the world guilty, and stops every mouth, because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:19–23. The fact that God’s law is holy and spiritual is conclusive evidence that it cannot justify the transgressor of the law; and as all have sinned, or transgressed it, no one can be justified by it; it will necessarily stop every mouth, and prove the whole world guilty before God. Rom. 3:19. This also proves that all men everywhere, and in every age, have been amenable to the divine law, that is, under its jurisdiction, or subject to its authority, because it proves them all guilty. Above the mercy seat was the shekinah, the manifestation of the divine presence; and from between the cherubim, God made known his will. Divine messages were sometimes communicated to the high priest by a voice from the cloud. Sometimes a light fell upon the angel on the right, to signify approval or acceptance, or a shadow or cloud rested upon the one at the left to reveal disapproval or rejection. . . . No language can describe the glory of the scene presented within the sanctuary, the gold-plated walls reflecting the light from the golden candlestick, the brilliant hues of the richly embroidered curtains with their shining angels, the table, and the altar of incense, glittering with gold; beyond the second veil the sacred ark with its majestic cherubim, and above it the holy shekinah, the visible manifestation of Jehovah’s presence; all but a dim reflection of the glories of the temple of God in heaven, the great center of the work for man’s redemption.—Patriarchs and Prophets. It is estimated that the gold and silver employed in decorating this beautiful structure was worth not less than $1,000,000. The Position of the Sanctuary.
The sanctuary was inclosed in an oblong court, one hundred cubits in length and fifty cubits in width. This court was without cover, and consisted of sixty pillars of brass with silver capitals or mountings, and hangings or curtains twenty on each side and ten on each end. These pillars rested in sockets of brass, which were fastened to the earth with brass pins. Ex. 38:10, 17, 20. The pillars were placed five cubits from each other, and as the curtains that hung upon them were five cubits long (Ex. 38:18), we conclude that the pillars were about the same length. The curtains were made of fine-twined white linen yarn (Ex. 27:9; 38:9, 16), except on the eastern end or entrance. Those were made of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined white linen, with cords to raise or slide them when the priests entered the court. Ex. 27:16; 38:18. “The hangings of the court being only about half as high as the walls of the tabernacle, the building could be plainly seen by the people without.” The altar of burnt offering was placed in a line between the door of the court and the door of the tabernacle, but nearer the door of the court. Ex. 40:6, 29. The laver, with its foot or base, stood between the altar of burnt offering and the door of the tabernacle. The Israelites all came within the court to present their vows and offerings to the Lord. It is a fact worthy of notice that the Lord endeavored in all his plans and appointments to turn the people away from idolatry and all false worship. The door of the court and the tabernacle, when erected, always faced the east, as did also Solomon’s temple. Hence, when the people came to the court of the sanctuary or the temple to worship, they faced the west, and their backs would be turned toward the east. It should be remembered that sun worship was the great rival of the worship of the true God, and that its worshipers always worshiped the sun towards the east. They worshiped the sun in the morning; hence their worship would be towards the east. Those who came to the sanctuary or the temple to worship must enter the door of the court with their faces toward the west, and in worshiping the Lord, whose presence was manifested in the sanctuary, they would turn their backs upon the sun and its worship and all the idolatry that centered in it; whereas, those who apostatized from the faith, and worshiped the sun towards the east, as was the custom, turned their backs upon God and his worship, and this the Lord regarded as the greatest abomination that could be committed. Eze. 8:5–16.