History and significance of the sacred tabernacle of the Hebrews

Front matter

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

OF THE

SACRED TABERNACLE

Preface

An instructor called my attention to the Hebrew sanctuaries before I had completed the first year of theological study, and thereby determined my specialty. After thirty years of work in the ministry, I retired from the pulpit to give myself wholly to a subject which a pastor can study only at intervals, and for the purpose of imparting rudimentary instruction. The preparation of this volume has, been accompanied with delight by reason of .new discoveries amid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in the symbols of the tabernacle. Thanking God that my life and health have been spared to complete the work, I send it forth in the hope that my readers may in some degree share with me in my joy.

Of the older writers on the tabernacle, Lund has rendered me much service by the thoroughness of his work. A person acquainted with his book on the Hebrew sanctuaries can easily believe that it was, as he says in the preface, the result of thirteen years of application. The specimen of his interpretation of the tabernacle, given in the second part of this volume, ought not to diminish our respect for the judgment and scholarship evinced in his historical investigations ; for in his day no other interpretation of Hebrew symbolism had been suggested than that of the wild, lawless typologists of the Cocceian school.

vi

PRE FA CE.

Bahr was the first interpreter who attempted to apply to the subject the inductive method of investigation. From him more aid has been derived in writing the second part of the book than from all other sources ; but my readers who are familiar with his Symbolik will discover many deviations from the path he blazed through the previously pathless wilderness. As might be expected, the first explorer made some mistakes which his followers easily avoid. This would doubtless have been the case if Bahr had been perfectly impartial in his interpretation ; but unfortunately he commenced his work with a conviction that the commonly received view of the purpose of Christ's death is erroneous, — a conviction so strong that he had already given to the world a polemical book on the atonement. His prejudices led him astray, and compelled those who came after him to undertake new and independent explorations. The first volume of a revised edition of his Symbolik has been issued since the following pages were written, but I have not yet seen it.

Of writers later than Bahr to whom I am indebted, Kurtz deserves to be here mentioned : for, in cases where he has expressed his opinion, I have not often found cause for dissenting ; and, in the numerous instances in which my judgment has coincided with his, I have not deemed it necessary to make specific acknowledgment except when his language is adopted.

The work which Bahr began can be completed only by a succession of laborers, each of whom will doubtless make some mistakes. Those who have preceded me have done so ; and I cannot expect that my interpretation will in all cases be satisfactory to later explorers. Confident that my studies have added to the knowledge of Hebrew symbolism, both in breadth and accuracy, I hope they may assist those who come after me to make additional discoveries.

The illustrations have been gathered from different sources ; but

PRE FA CE.

Vll those which exhibit the utensils of worship are generally taken from Neumann, who has studied the subject in the light of Assyriology. His conjectural figure of a Hebrew cherub has been given merely as a conjecture where conception can only approximate to the reality.

The book is intended especially for clergymen ; but I have endeavored to write so that persons acquainted only with their vernacular English may find advantage and pleasure in its perusal. Perhaps I might have made myself more acceptable to Hebrew scholars by introducing more Hebrew words into the text ; but I hope that some of the many laymen who are interested in biblical studies will appreciate my determination to use English words in the text in all cases where they would serve my purpose. New Haven, October, 1874.

BOOK II: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TABERNACLE. CHAPTER I. Evidence that it was Significant . . . . . .129

CHAPTER II.

It symbolized the Truths of the Mosaic Revelation . 140 CHAPTER III.

It typified the Truths of Christianity 155

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

Symbolism of Minerals . 225

CHAPTER VIII.

Symbolism of Vegetable Substances . . . ( . -233

CHAPTER IX.

Symbolism of Animals and Composite Animal Forms . . 248

CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER X.

PAGE

Interpretation of the Edifice z6 4

CHAPTER XVIII. Study of the Tabernacle important to Christians . . 435

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Fig.

x. Front Elevation ..... , Faces title-page.

Faces Page

2. One of the Planks of the Frame . *5

jjl One of the Corner Planks I 5

4. End of a Corner Plank ' •>

5. Side of a Socket 15

6. Top of Two Corner Sockets *5

7 " The Two Equal Parts of "The Tabernacle," or Inner-

„ . . 20

most Curtain

8. The Two Parts of the Second Curtain 2 7

9. Ark of the Covenant according to Neumann • 3 2 10' Ark of the Covenant with its Crown placed midway from

Top to Bottom 3 2

11. table of Show-Bread from the Arch of Titus ... 38

Table of Show-Bread according to Neumann ... 38

13, 14, 15. Assyrian Tables and Stool ...... 39

16. Chandelier from the Arch of Titus 4°

• 4 1

17. Chandelier

18. Altar of Incense

19. Altar of Burnt-Offering 43

20. Ground-Plan of the One Hundred Silver Sills ... 45

21. The Frame of Acacia-Wood 46

22' "The Tabernacle" of Tapestry fastened upon the Frame, 47

23. The Covering of Goat's Hair laid over << The Tabernacde," 48

24 Ground-Plan of the Edifice, including the Court . . 49

. ^4

2=;. Plan of the Encampment x iv ILL US TRA TIONS.

Faces 'Page

26. Eagle-headed Human Figure 257

27. Eagle-headed Lion . 258

28. Winged Human-headed Lion . . 259

29. Andro-Sphinx 260

30. Cherub according to Neumann ' . 261

31. Subordinate Priest in Costume ....... 325

32. Sacerdotal Tunic 328

33. Loom for weaving Seamless Tunics . . . . . . 329

34. Tunic without Seam, woven in the Sixteenth Century . 330

35. Assyrian King 331

36. hlndostanee turbans, indicating the rank of the wearers, 332

37. Robe of the Ephod 333

38. High-Priest in Robe of the Ephod .334

40. Breastplate 336

41. Ephod with Breastplate attached ...... 337

42. Turban of a Subordinate Priest ...... 338

43. Turban of the High-Priest .338

44. Golden Crown 338

45. Head of an Assyrian King with a Crown on the Forehead, 338

46. High-Priest in his Ordinary Costume ..... 339

47. High-Priest in Costume of the Day of Atonement . . 340

Introduction

If the art of photography had been known to the skilful artisans who constructed the Sacred Tabernacle of the Hebrews, they would, doubtless, have endeavored to transmit to the generations to come a view of the edifice as it stood after its first erection in the midst of the vast encampment by which it was surrounded. In the absence of a contemporary picture, we are able, by means of the detailed description in the books of Moses, to reproduce in imagination the scene which was spread out at the base of Sinai on the first anniversary of the exodus from Egypt.

The tents of two millions of people are pitched in four divisions around a hollow square ; each division containing three of the twelve tribes of Israel, and therefore subdivided into three smaller encampments, separated by spaces broader than the numerous streets, which, crossing each other at right angles, divide tent from tent within the bounds of a tribe. Here this multitude of people have continued without change of place, — here their tents have remained pitched for three-fourths of a year. Yesterday the tabernacle was erected. It stands facing the east, in the centre of the hollow square ; and in the ample court surrounding it are to be seen the brazen laver for the ablutions of the priests, and the great

2 INTRO D UC TION.

altar of burnt-offering on which the fire is to be perpetually preserved. Immediately around this court are the tents of the tribe of Levi, the tribe set apart to the service of the tabernacle, and no longer numbered as one of the twelve ; Ephraim and Manasseh being counted as two tribes to perpetuate the original and symbolic number, twelve.

So vast a multitude of people has seldom been gathered in one encampment of tents. It is a grand spectacle, probably not inferior in grandeur to that which afterward met the eye of Balaam, when, gazing from the summit of Peor, he exclaimed, " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters." 1

Of this goodly picture, the tabernacle is the central feature. The habitations of the people are disposed around it ; their eyes turn toward it in the morning and at evening ; and their prayers ascend with the smoke of sacrifice which goes up from its altar. Not only in the morning and at evening, but at all hours of the day and night, it is the cynosure to many who stand observant of that visible manifestation of Jehovah, which rests over it as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.

WHAT, THEN, IS THIS EDIFICE? WHENCE CAME IT? FOR WHAT PURPOSE WAS IT ERECTED?

Fifty days after the exodus from Egypt, Moses received on Sinai the two tables of stone, on which God

1 Num. xxiv. 2-6.

INTRODUCTION.

had inscribed the Ten Commandments. At the same time he received instructions to build a tabernacle, with minute specifications of the form, measure, and materials of its several parts. After forty days spent on the mountain, much of the time occupied in receiving from God instructions in regard to the edifice itself, its appurtenances, its attendants, its services, and the import of the whole, he returned to the camp to communicate to the people the divine commands.

With alacrity they responded to the proposal that they should contribute such materials as they might have in possession, suitable for use in constructing the sacred edifice. More than an ample supply of timber, of leather, of cloth, of metals, and of jewels, was soon brought to the persons appointed to receive it ; men and women, rich and poor, uniting in a common enthusiasm which sometimes required the sacrifice of personal ornaments, and the relinquishment of the means of domestic embellishment.

A corps of artisans skilful in various kinds of work was then selected, and placed under the superintendence of Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, with Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, next to him in authority. There were among them carpenters and carvers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, and coppersmiths, moulders and founders, spinners, weavers, and embroiderers. Eminent in skill by natural aptitude and much practice in Egypt, they were assisted in their work by the Spirit of God imparted for this special service.

These workmen were occupied about nine months with the task assigned. All things being then ready, the specified space was enclosed, the altar and laver were

INTR OD UC TION.

put in place, the tabernacle itself was erected, and the furniture of its two apartments was carried within. It was the fourteenth day of the first month of the year, when the Israelites fled from Egypt : it was the first day of the first month in the subsequent year, when the tabernacle was erected.

Immediately the people who had so willingly undertaken to build a sanctuary for Jehovah, in which he might dwell among them, had evidence that their work and offerings were acceptable to him ; for, on the day when the tabernacle was erected, the shechinah, through which he manifested his friendly presence, rising from the tent temporarily used as a sanctuary, 1 removed, and rested on the new and beautiful edifice which had been so long in process of construction. There it remained as a column of cloud by day, and of fire by night, as long as He who was represented by it desired the encampment to continue ; and, by express appointment, the rising of the shechinah from the tabernacle was henceforth, during the long journey through the wilderness, the signal for removing to another station. " So it was always : the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night ; and when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed ; and in the place where the cloud abode,

i It is evident from the Book of Exodus, that, before the erection of the Sinaitic tabernacle, a tent had been used as an appointed place of meeting between Jehovah and the people. There is, however, no record of its erection, or, if an ordinary tent was set apart for the purpose, of its consecration, unless the mention of it in connection with the sin of the golden calf is to be so understood. That narrative seems to read more naturally if one conceives of the temporary sanctuary as previously set apart to that use, and now removed out of the camp to testify Jehovah's displeasure with the Israelites on account of their idolatry.

there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched : as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents." 1

The sanctuary, being thus completed and set up, is now to be dedicated with a series of ceremonies protracted through twelve days ; each of the tribes occupying one day in the presentation of gifts and the offering of sacrifices. Of this edifice the following pages are to treat.

Part I. History Of The Tabernacle

HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE.

Chapter I. The Edifice Of The Tabernacle

Moses received on Sinai not only a command to make the tabernacle, but plans and specifications according to which the work was to be executed. A pattern, or model, was shown him, to which he was required to conform not only in general, but in all particulars. This pattern, so far as we can judge from the distinctive meaning of the word, was something more than a representation on a perspective plane.. Perhaps he was made to see an exact exemplar of the edifice he was to construct. Besides this pattern which was shown him, he received very minute descriptions of the several parts of the building, with directions as to the materials of which they were to be made, their forms, and their measures. With the aid of these descriptions, which have been transmitted to us, we are able to reproduce the structure almost exactly as it stood.

Its ground-plan was a parallelogram forty-five feet in io HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE.

length, and fifteen feet in width. 1 The parts required by the specifications having been severally fabricated, and made ready to be put together, the next thing to be done would be to set up around three sides of this parallelogram a wooden frame, or wall, such as we now proceed to describe.

The material was of shittim, a species of acacia, the timber of which has a rich black color, like ebony, and is eminently light, solid, strong, and smooth. This spe- ^ cies of acacia is still found in the regions traversed by the Israelites in their passage from Egypt to Canaan. Stanley speaks of it as a spreading tree with" gay foliage and blue blossoms, which he saw in Egypt and afterward in the desert. 2 Robinson, in his journey from Jerusalem to Gaza, passed through a valley called Wady es-Sumt, taking its name from the abundance of these trees. 3

The frame of the tabernacle consisted of forty-eight pieces of this acacia-wood standing on end. Eight of them were at the rear of the edifice, and twenty on each

1 After some hesitation, the author has decided to use English measures in this part of his work, hoping thereby to give the reader a more definite conception than by the transfer of the Hebrew names. In so doing, he is obliged to express his opinion of the length of the Hebrew cubit. In representing it as equivalent, or nearly equivalent, to eighteen English inches, he would not be understood as ignoring the difficulties which oppose such a conclusion, or the decision of eminent scholars against it. There is no reason to doubt that the ammah of the Hebrews was, as the name indicates, the measure of a man's arm from the elbow to the hand ; but there is some uncertainty whether the measure beginning at the elbow was to include the hand to the end of the middle finger, or to stop at the wrist. The reader who is particularly curious on this point may consult the article "Weights and Measures," in Smith's Bible Dictionary. It will be necessary, in that part of the work which relates to symbolism, to recur to the Hebrew measures.

2 Sinai and Palestine. New York, 1857. Pp. 21, 69.

3 Biblical Researches in Palestine. Boston, 1841. Vol. ii. p. 349. S&mtisthe Arabic name of the acacia.

THE EDIFICE OF THE TABERNACLE.

it of its sides ; the front being left open to be covered with a curtain. They were each fifteen feet long, and, unless the two outside pieces on the rear end were exceptions, twenty-seven inches wide. It is remarkable that, while the width of the other forty-six pieces is specified, we have no means of ascertaining with certainty the width of these two corner-pieces. This is the more to be regretted, as the thickness of the frame is a problem which we could easily solve, if we knew the width of the edifice measured on the outside. The Scriptures giving no information in regard to the thickness, it is not easy to decide between contradicting witnesses and opposing arguments. It must have been certainly too great to justify the use of the word "boards," as descriptive of the forty-eight pieces of acacia-wood of which the frame of the tabernacle consisted. The Hebrew word comes from a root which signifies to cut, and is as applicable to planks as to boards. Several inches of thickness would be required to give strength and straightness to a frame constructed of pieces of wood twenty-seven inches wide. The Jewish rabbies say that they were one cubit thick, and Lund attempts to confirm their testimony by argument. His reasoning, briefly stated, is, that, in the absence of information to the contrary, we should believe that the corner-pieces were of the same width as the others ; in which case, the eight timbers at the end would give an outside width to the edifice of eighteen feet; and, the inside width being fifteen feet, the walls must be each eighteen inches thick in order to give a measurement of eighteen feet on the outside. It must be confessed that such measurements would construct a very symmetrical and substantial frame; but when we

HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE.

remember that the tabernacle was a portable edifice, to be many times erected and taken down in the removals of a nomadic people, it seems incredible that the frame should be eighteen inches thick. Even if the acacia far exceeded all other species of wood in lightness, such timbers would be individually too heavy to be easily handled, and in the aggregate both too heavy and too bulky for transportation. With the exception of a few articles of its furniture which were carried by hand, the tabernacle, with all its appurtenances, was loaded upon six wagons, and drawn by six yoke of oxen. Indeed, all the woodwork of the frame, together with the silver sill underneath it, and the sixty pillars on which the curtain enclosing the outer court was hung, were carried on four wagons, and drawn by four yoke of oxen. So many timbers, each fifteen feet long, twenty-seven inches wide, and eighteen inches thick, to say nothing of the silver sill and the pillars around the court, could not possibly have been piled on four wagons.

This difficulty is not sufficiently diminished, if, with Lightfoot, we reduce the thickness to nine inches ; but, if we suppose it to have been four inches and a half, we can ascertain by computation that we have arrived within the bounds not only of possibility, but of credibility. This would make the width of the corner-boards just one-half the width of the others; thus answering the demands of symmetry nearly and perhaps quite as well, and accounting for the separate mention of them in distinction from the other six on the west end of the building. Such a supposition accords nearly with the statement of Josephus, that the pillars of which the walls of the tabernacle consisted were four fingers thick, and, again, that they were the third part of a span in thickness ; 1 though it is true, as Lund alleges, that his testimony is of little value, as he is evidently careless in his statements, and not always consistent with himself. These timbers of the frame are termed pillars both by Josephus and the Septuagint translators ; but, to distinguish them easily from the pillars which stood in rows across the edifice to support its transverse curtains, or veils, we shall designate them hereafter as planks.

The hypothesis that the planks were four inches and a half thick, makes the corner-planks half as wide as the others, but offers no suggestion as to their shape. The description of the corner-planks is obscure, but favors the opinion that each consisted of two pieces fastened together at a right angle ; so that it was a corner-plank not merely because it stood at the corner, but because it formed an angle. The direction, " they shall be twinned," 2 seems to imply that the two pieces of each corner-plank were of equal width. The objection to this shape is, that it gives the edifice a length of more than thirty cubits ; and the answer to the objection is, that inside measures are always to be understood, and that, if the corner-planks added nine inches to the length, this addition was needed to give ten cubits in the clear to the innermost, and twenty cubits in the clear to the outermost apartment ; nine inches being so much occupied by the two rows of pillars which traversed the building, as to be left out of account in the measurement of length.

On the lower end of each of the planks, two tenons were wrought, to correspond with mortises in the sills on which it was to stand. Possibly there were also tenons

1 Antiquities, book iii. ch. vi. §3. 2 Exod. xxvi. 24 : marginal reading.

and mortises on the edges where the planks came together; but of this we have no certain knowledge. Such a connection of one plank with another, by tenon and mortise, would give greater strength to the frame, but might not be necessary in addition to the horizontal bars which bound the planks together. There were five such bars on each side, and five on the rear, made of acacia-wood, and overlaid with gold. In regard to the arrangement of them, there are different opinions. The specifications require ttiat the bar midway from top to bottom shall reach from end to end. Keil infers that the other four were shorter. He conjectures that they were only half as long as the middle bar, and that, the rings being arranged to form but three horizontal rows, two of these shorter bars filled the rings of the upper row, and the other two the rings of the lower row. In the absence of definite information, this conjectural arrangement of the rings and bars is as free from objection as any other, and more so than the old hypothesis that a passage was bored, for the middle bar, through the planks themselves. The thought of such a passage through the planks was suggested by the words, " the midst of," in the sentence, " The middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end." 1 But the expression refers to the position of the bar as midway from topj to bottom, and not as within the planks.

Whatever may be the specific gravity of acacia-wood as compared with other kinds of timber, planks of such size, even if we reduce the thickness to four inches and a half, must have been heavy ; and we are therefore disposed to infer, when we read that they were overlaid

1 Exod. xxvi. 28.

THE EDIFICE OF THE TABERNACLE.

with gold, that the precious metal which covered them was not thick. Modern art could make^ a single ounce of gold suffice to cover one thousand four hundred and sixty-six square feet. Great progress has been made, however, in gold-beating within two centuries ; and it is probable, from the specimens found in Egypt, that the ancient goldsmiths of that country were on a level with those of Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 1

These gilded planks of acacia-wood, when erected, stood on a base, or sill, of silver, which extended perhaps a little way both outward and inward, from the wall formed by the planks, and was divided into twice as many pieces as there were planks ; so that each of the latter stood on two separate pieces of the base, one of its two tenons being inserted into a corresponding cavity in each division of the base.

Besides the planks which formed the wall of the tabernacle, there were four pillars, so called with greater strictness of propriety, to support a curtain across the interior of the building, dividing it into two apartments ; and five pillars to support another curtain over the entrance at the east end of the edifice. The four pillars for the partition-curtain stood on sills, or socketpieces of silver, and the five for the entrance-curtain on sills of copper. 2 It is worthy of notice, that, while almost every thing used in the construction of the tab-

1 Wilkinson : Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. London, 1841. Vol. iii. p. 235.

2 There is reason to believe that the Hebrews were unacquainted with the composition of copper and zinc, now known by the name of brass. Copper may have been sometimes alloyed with tin ; but the word rendered in our version "brass" signifies, of itself, coffer. See the article << Brass " in Smith's Bible Dictionary.

ernacle is specified as given by voluntary contribution, the silver sills, numbering just one hundred, were made from the avails of a poll-tax of a half shekel levied upon all males from twenty years old upward ; so that, there being a talent of silver in each sill, it required the poll-tax of three thousand men to make it. But of this we shall have occasion to speak again in another chapter.

The wooden frame of the tabernacle, as above described, having been prepared, it was necessary to cover it with suitable hangings, or curtains. Of these there were four layers ; the innermost so far excelling the others in importance, that it was sometimes denominated the tabernacle, as if all else appertaining to the edifice were subsidiary to this. It is more natural for us, who dwell in houses which are not portable, to think of the wall of acacia-wood as the most essential part of the edifice; but an attentive study of the directions given to Moses, and of the report he makes of the work as it proceeded, leads to the conclusion that the frame was chiefly designed to give support to the beautiful drapery with which it was covered.

In the conception of a Hebrew travelling through the wilderness from Sinai to Canaan, the tabernacle where Jehovah dwelt was of cloth, as was his own habitation. It was, indeed, of a more beautiful fabric than the other tents of the encampment, which were doubtless of goat's hair, like those of the nomadic inhabitants of the same region at the present day, while the tabernacle of God was of fine linen variegated with brilliant colors.

The cloth here spoken of as linen was the most beautiful and costly product of the loom known among the ancients. Luther renders the word as equivalent to silk ;

THE EDIFICE OF THE TABERNACLE.

and our English translators, perhaps misled by him, have admitted the word "silk" into the margin of the passage which relates how Pharaoh honored Joseph with the apparel and other appurtenances of royalty. 1 If the Septuagint is right in applying the Greek word bassos to this cloth, it was the same as that which is spoken of as fine linen in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, 2 and also in some of the last chapters of the New Testament. 3 There is reason to believe that this shesh, as the Hebrews called it, excelled other fabrics, not only in the fineness of its fibre, but in the purity of whiteness to which it might be bleached ; for the name is derived from a word which signifies white ; and, in the account we have of John's vision of the marriage of the Lamb, it is said that to his wife was granted that she should be arrayed in this fine linen, clean and white. 4 Not only was the fibre of this vegetable naturally small, but care was taken in spinning it to produce a small and at the same time a strong thread; it having been specified in the directions that the curtains should be made of shesh that was fine-twisted. 5