HISTORY OF THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.
“THEN verily the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” Heb. ix, 1. In view of the Scripture testimony on the question before us, we are led to wonder how a doubt could ever exist in any mind as to what constituted the Sanctuary of the first covenant, even though they may be uncertain in regard to that of the second. These doubts do nevertheless exist, and there is also a variety of opinion on the subject. We propose therefore, having ascertained what the Bible plainly introduces to us as the Sanctuary of the Lord, to trace its history, briefly, from the time of its erection by Moses till it was declared forever desolate by our Saviour, and till, finally, it fell a prey to the violence of the Roman soldiers. Our object in this is, that we may fortify our minds in the truth, by the weight of evidence left on record, and by following and contemplating through all its changes, that object which the Holy Ghost uniformly recognized as the holy Sanctuary, for the long period of fifteen hundred and twenty years. The word of promise which God had left for the Children of Israel, by the mouth of his servant Joseph, that he would surely visit them, and bring them out of the land of Egypt, [Gen. 1, 24,] had been fulfilled, and they were freed from their Egyptian bondage. In the song of triumph which Moses sung upon that occasion, he said: The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation; he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation. Ex. xv, 2. In this we receive the first intimation of that building which God would afterwards cause to be erected, that he might dwell among his people. In verse 17 of the same chapter, is the first occurrence of the word Sanctuary which we find in the Bible; but as the declarations of that verse are prophetic, we will pass them by till we reach the period of their accomplishment. Pursuing the sacred record we find in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus and onward, more definite information respecting the Sanctuary; namely the commission which God gave to Moses for its erection. In the third month after their departure from Egypt the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai. There Moses was summoned up into the mount to an audience with his Maker. He remained there forty days and forty nights. During this time he was shown the pattern of the Sanctuary and all its sacred vessels, and received full instructions concerning them. He also received when God had “made an end of communing with him on Mt. Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” When Moses came down from the mount and saw the people given to idolatry, for they had corrupted themselves by making and worshiping a golden calf in his absence, he cast the tables out of his hand and brake them beneath the mount. On account of Israel’s sin in this thing, the Lord refused to go with them, and Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, &c. Ex. xxxiii, 7. What tabernacle was this? for if events are here recorded in their chronological order, the Sanctuary of which Moses has just been instructed, and which was often called by this name afterwards, was not yet built. This must, then, probably refer to the tent of Moses where he sat to judge the people. Ex. xviii, 13. Dr. Clarke says: “Moses took the tabernacle, eth ha-ohel, the tent; not eth hammishkan, the tabernacle, the dwelling place of Jehovah, see chap. xxxv, 11, for this was not yet erected; but probably the tent of Moses which was before in the midst of the camp, and to which the congregation came for judgment, and where no doubt God frequently met his servant. This is now removed to a considerable distance from the camp (two thousand cubits according to the Talmudists) as God refuses to dwell any longer among this rebellious people. And as this was the place to which all the people came for justice and judgment, hence it was probably called the tabernacle, more properly the tent, of the congregation.” Ex. xxxiv, contains an account of the renewing of the tables, the second sojourn of Moses of forty days and forty nights in the mount, and the shining of his face as he came down and made known to the children of Israel, “all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.” In chap. xxxv, commences the account of THE BUILDING OF THE SANCTUARY.
Under this head we wish first to notice the zeal with which the children of Israel engaged in the work, and the readiness with which they sacrificed their treasures, and brought their free-will offerings for the service of the Lord. So abundant were their gifts that Moses was obliged to give commandment for them to desist; for “the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and too much.” Ex. xxxvi, 7. How far from this is it at present with the church of God! though we know of no reason why the spirit of sacrifice should depart from her midst any more than the gifts of the Holy Ghost; but like them, it seems in a great measure to have disappeared. We need not enter into any particular description of the tabernacle as doubtless most of our readers are familiar with it as set forth in Ex. xxxvi-xxxix. Suffice it here to say that it was a structure of extraordinary magnificence formed of upright boards overlaid with gold, thirty cubits long, about ten in width and ten in height. At the east end, which was the entrance, there were five pillars of shittim wood, whose chapiters and fillets were overlaid with gold, having hooks of gold, standing on five sockets of brass. Over the tabernacle thus erected were thrown four different coverings. The first and inner curtain was composed of fine linen embroidered with figures of cherubim, in blue, purple and scarlet. This formed the magnificent ceiling. The second covering was made of goats’ hair; the third of rams’ skins dyed red; and the fourth and last, of badgers’ skins. The east end was enclosed with a richly embroidered curtain suspended from the pillars before mentioned. The sacred tent was divided into two apartments by means of a vail suspended from four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, set in sockets of silver. In what proportion the Sanctuary was thus divided, we are not informed, but it is supposed to be the same as was afterwards observed in the temple. 1 Kings vi. In the first apartment, or holy place, were three things worthy of notice; the golden candlestick, the table of shew bread, and the altar of incense. In the second apartment or most holy place, were also three things to claim attention: the ark, the mercy seat, and the cherubim. It was above the ark, over the mercy-seat, between the cherubim, that God manifested his presence, and from whence he communicated with his people. Ex. xxv, 22. And so David prays, “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” Ps. lxxx, 1. It is to be observed that neither the holy nor most holy place had any window; hence in the first apartment there was need of the candlestick with its seven lamps; and in regard to the second where God dwelt, Solomon said: “The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.” 1 Kings viii, 12. Before the door of the tabernacle were placed the brazen laver, and the altar of burnt offering, and around the whole was erected the court with its curtains of fine twined linen. In the second year after Israel had departed from Egypt, in the first month on the first day of the month the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and he put the testimony (the tables of ten commandments) into the ark, and the mercy-seat upon it, and brought it into the tabernacle, and set up the vail; he placed the table of shew-bread in the first apartment, and the golden candlestick, and lighted the lamps before the Lord; he put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burnt sweet incense thereon; and on the altar before the door of the tabernacle he offered the burnt offering and the meat-offering, as the Lord commanded. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Ex. xl. We have now before us the Sanctuary as Moses erected it in the wilderness of Sinai 1490 years before Christ. With its ark of the covenant, its mercy-seat, and glorious Shekinah, it constituted the heart and center of Israel’s religious worship, under that typical system. The children of Israel were at this time in the period of their wandering; and therefore the Sanctuary as first given to them was adapted to their condition: being so constructed that it could be easily taken down and borne with them in their journeys, and immediately erected wherever the Divine Presence, which accompanied them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, should direct them to pitch their camp. Num. ix, 15-23. The Levites were consecrated to the service of the Sanctuary, and were commanded to bear it and all its sacred vessels, when the camp set forward. Thus it was with them during the forty years in which they journeyed in the wilderness. During this time this building which God claimed as his dwelling-place, and where his service was performed, is fifty-six times called the Sanctuary in the following instances: Exodus xxv, 8; xxx, 13, 24; xxxvi, 1, 3, 4, 6; xxxviii, 24, 25, 26, 27. Lev. iv, 6; v, 15; x, 4; xii, 4; xvi, 33; xix, 30; xx, 3; xxi, 12, (twice) 23; (plural) xxvi, 2; xxvii, 3, 25. Num. iii, 28, 31, 32, 38, 47, 50; iv, 12, 15, (twice) 16; vii, 9, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, 67, 73, 79, 85, 86; viii, 19; x, 21; xviii, 1, 3, 5, 16; xix, 20.