In the book of Exodus, we have, as the general and characteristic subject, the deliverance and redemption of the people of God, and their establishment as a people before Him-whether under the law or under the government of God in long-suffering, who provided for his unfaithful people a way of access to Himself, although they had failed. God's relationship with the people had at first been in grace; but this did not continue, and the people never entered thereinto with intelligence, neither did they understand this grace like persons who stood in need of it as sinners. We shall proceed to examine a little the course of these divine instructions.
(* Genesis, Vol. I, No. XII. p. 215, was printed from a paper forwarded by the Author,-his own version, in English, of one written by him in French for the " Tomoignage." This (on Exodus) is a translation from his MS, but since corrected by himself.-Ed.)
First, we have the historical circumstances which relate to the captivity of Israel-the persecutions which this people had to endure, and the providential superintendence of God answering the faith of the parents, and thus accomplishing the counsels of His grace, which not only preserved the life of Moses, but placed him in an elevated position in the court of Pharaoh.
But, although Providence responds to faith, and acts in order to accomplish God's purposes and control the walk of His children, it is not the guide of faith, although it is made so sometimes by believers who are wanting in clearness of light. Moses's faith is seen in his giving up all the advantages of the position in which God had set him in His providence. This faith acted through affections which attached him to God, and consequently to 1 the people of God in their distress, and manifested itself, not in the helps or reliefs which his position could well have enabled him to give to them, but in inducing him to identify himself with that people because it was God's people. Faith attaches itself to God, and to the bond that exists between God and His people; and thus it thinks not of patronizing from above, as if the world had authority over the people of God, or was able to be a blessing to them; but it has the feeling of the strength of this bond: it feels (because it is faith) that God loves His people; that His people are precious to Him; His own on the earth; and faith sets itself thus through very affection, in the position where His people find themselves. This is what Christ did. Faith does but follow Him in His career of love, however great the distance at which it walks. How many reasons might have induced Moses to remain in the position where he was; and this even under the pretext of being able to do more for the people; but this would have been leaning on the power of Pharaoh, instead of recognizing the bond between the people and God: it might have resulted in a relief which the world would have granted, but not in a deliverance by God, accomplished in His love and in His power. Moses would have been spared, but dishonored; Pharaoh flattered, and his authority over the people of God recognized; and Israel would have remained in captivity, leaning on Pharaoh, instead of recognizing God in the precious and even glorious relationship of His people with Him. God would not have been glorified. Yet all human reasoning, and all reasoning connected with providential ways, would have induced Moses to remain in his position: faith made him give it up.
Moses then identifies himself with the people of God. A certain natural activity, and some consciousness of a strength which was not purely from on high, accompanied him, perhaps; • however, it is this first devotedness which is pointed out by the Holy Ghost as the good and acceptable fruit of faith. But it ought to have been more entirely subject to God, and to have its starting-point in Him alone, and in obedience to His expressed will. Thus the Lord acts often. The earnest energy of faithfulness is manifested, but the instrument is put aside for a moment sometimes, in order that the service may depend directly and entirely upon God. There was something analogous even in Jesus, save that there was not in Him either false reckoning, or error, or external providences, in consequence, to deliver Him from them; but the perfection of the energy of life within, acted always in the knowledge of who His Father was, and at the same time submitted to His will in the circumstances in which He had morally placed Him. Moses, fearful even amid faithfulness, and dreading the power which lent him, unconsciously perhaps, a certain habit of energy (for one is afraid of that from which one draws one's strength), and repulsed by the unbelief of those towards whom his love and his faithfulness carried him, for " they understood him not," fled to the desert, a type of the Lord Jesus rejected by the people whom He loved.
There is a difference between this type and that of Joseph. Joseph takes the position (as put to death) of Jesus raised to the right hand of the supreme throne amongst the Gentiles, in the end receiving his brethren, from whom he had been separated. His children are to him a testimony of his blessing at that time. He calls them Manasseh ("because God," says he," has made me forget all my labors, and all the house of my father "), and Ephraim (" because God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction"). Moses presents to us Christ separated from his brethren; and although Zipporah might be considered as a type of the Church (as well as Joseph's wife), as the bride of the rejected Deliverer, during his separation from Israel, yet, as to what regards his heart, his feelings (which are expressed in the names that he gives to his children), are governed by the thought of being separated from the people of Israel: his fraternal affections are there -his thoughts are there-his rest and his country are there. He is a stranger every where else. Moses is the type of Jesus as the deliverer of Israel. He calls his son Gershom, that is to say, a " stranger there"; " for (says he) I have sojourned in a strange land." Jethro presents to us the Gentiles among whom Christ and His glory were driven when He was rejected by the Jews.
But at last, God looks upon His people; and He will have not only the faith that identifies itself with His people, but the power which delivers them; and that Moses, who was rejected as a prince and a judge, must appear in the midst of Israel and of the world, as a prince and a deliverer.
Stephen made use of these two examples, in order to convict the consciences of the Sanhedrim of their similar and still greater sin in the case of Christ.
God-who to appearance had left Moses in the power of his enemies, without recognizing his faith-manifests Himself now to him when alone, in order to send him to deliver Israel and to judge the world.
Considered as a practical history, God shows Himself to us here as destroying the hope of the flesh, and humbling its strength; and He makes a shepherd, under the protection of a stranger, of the adopted son of the house of the king; and this during forty years, in order that the work might be a work of obedience, and that the strength may be that of God.
God manifests Himself under the name of Jehovah. He had put Himself in relation with the Fathers under the name of God Almighty. That was what they wanted, and this was His glory in their pilgrimage. Now He takes a name in relationship with His people, which implies constant relationship with Him; and in which, being established with Him who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, He accomplishes in faithfulness what He has begun in grace, all the while showing what He is in patience and in holiness in His government in the midst of His people. For us, Ha calls Himself Father, and acts towards us according to the power of that blessed name to our souls. But this name of Jehovah is not the first
which he gives Himself in His communications with the people through the mediation of Moses. He at first presents Himself as one interested in them for their fathers' sakes, whose God He was. He tells them that their cry had come up to Him; that He had seen their affliction, and that He was come down to deliver them. Touching expression of the grace of God! Upon this, He sends Moses to Pharaoh, in order to lead them up out of Egypt.
But, alas! obedience, when there is only that, and when carnal energy does not mix itself with it, is but a poor thing. And Moses raises difficulties. God gives thereupon a sign, in token that He will be with him, but a sign which was to be fulfilled after the obedience of Moses, and was to strengthen him and to rejoice him when he had already obeyed. Moses still makes difficulties, to which God answers until they cease to be weakness, and become rather unbelief. God declares His name " I am." At the same time, while declaring that He is that He is, He takes forever, as His name upon the earth, the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
God foretells that Pharaoh will not let the people go; but takes clearly the ground of His authority and of His right over His people, and of authoritative demand upon Pharaoh that he should recognize them. Upon his refusal to do so, he would be judged by the power of God.
Moses still raises difficulties, and God gives him again signs, remarkable signs. They seem to me, in their character, types of sin and of its healing; of power having become Satanic, and being reclaimed and become the rod of God; and then of the presence of that which refreshes, coming from God, having become judgment and death. Yet Moses refuses still, and the wrath of God is kindled against him, and He joins with him Aaron his brother, whom He had already prepared for that, and who had come out of Egypt to meet him; for the folly of His children, while it is to their shame and to their loss, accomplishes the purposes of God.
Whatever may be the power of Him that delivers, it is necessary that circumcision should be found in him who is interested in, and who is used as an instrument, for the Savior—God is a God of holiness; it is in holiness, and in judging sin that He delivers; and, acting in, holiness, He does not suffer sin in those who are His coworkers, with whom He is in contact; for He comes out of His place in judgment. For us, the question is of being dead to sin, the true circumcision, our Moses is a bloody husband to her who has to do with him. God cannot use the flesh in fighting against Satan. He cannot suffer it Himself, for He is in His place in judgment. Satan also would have power over it, and of right; God therefore puts it to death Himself, and He wills that this should be done on our part also. This is true of the Church; but she can reckon herself dead. It will be true in one way, more evidently, in judgment at the last day, when the Lord pleads with all flesh, and identifies Himself with those who have not taken part, spiritually, in the sufferings of Christ.
At the news of the goodness of God, the people adore Him: but the struggle against the power of evil is another matter. Satan will not let the people go, and God permits this resistance, for the exercise of faith, and for the discipline of His people, and for the brilliant display of His power where Satan had reigned.
Before the deliverance, when the hopes of the people are awakened, the oppression becomes heavier than ever, and the people would have preferred being left quiet in their slavery. But the rights and counsels of God are in question. The people must be thoroughly detached from these Gentiles who are now become their torment. Moses works signs. The magicians imitate them by the power of Satan, in order to harden Pharaoh's heart. But when the question is of creating life, they are forced to recognize the hand of God.
At last, God executes His judgments, taking the firstborn as representatives of all the people. We have thereon two parts in the deliverance of the people; in one, God appears as Judge-in the other, He manifests Himself as Deliverer. Up to this last, the people is still in Egypt. In the first, the expiatory blood of redemption bars the way to Him as Judge, and it does it infallibly, but He does not enter within-that is its value.
The people, their loins girded, having eaten in haste, with the bitter herbs of repentance, begin their journey, but they do so in Egypt; yet now God can be, and He is, with them. Here it is well to distinguish these two judgments-that of the first-born, and that of the Red Sea-as matters of chastisement; the one was the first-fruits of the other, and ought to have deterred Pharaoh from his rash pursuit. But the blood which kept the people from God's judgment, meant something far deeper and far more serious that even the Red Sea. What happened at the Red Sea was, it is true, the manifestation of the illustrious power of God, who destroyed, with the breath of His mouth, the enemy who stood in rebellion against Him-final and destructive judgment in its character, no doubt, and which effected the deliverance of His people by His power. But the blood signified the moral judgment of God, and the full and entire satisfaction of all that was in His Being. God, such as He was, in His justice, His holiness, and His truth, could not touch those who were sheltered by that blood. Was there sin? His love towards His people had found the means of satisfying the requirements of His justice; and at the sight of that blood which answered everything that was perfect in His Being, He passed over it consistently with His justice and even His truth. Nevertheless, God is seen there as Judge; thus likewise so long as the soul is there, its peace is uncertain-its way in Egypt-being all the while truly converted; for God is still Judge, and the power of the enemy is still there.
At the Red Sea, God acts in power according to the purposes of His love; consequently, the enemy, who was closely pursuing His people, is destroyed without resource. This is what will happen to the people at the last day, already, in reality-to the eye of God-sheltered through the blood. As to the moral type, it is evidently the death and resurrection of Jesus, and of His people in Him; God acting in it, in order to bring them out of death, where He had brought them in Christ, and consequently beyond the possibility of being reached by the enemy. We are made partakers of it already, through faith. Sheltered from the judgment of God by the blood, we are delivered, by His power which acts for us, from the power of Satan, the prince of this world. The blood keeping us from the judgment of God was the beginning. The power which raised us with Christ, has made us free from the whole power of Satan, who followed us, and from all his attacks. The world who will follow that way, is swallowed up in it.
Considered as the historical type of God's ways towards Israel, the Red Sea terminates the sequel of events; as a moral type, it is the beginning of the Christian path, properly so called-that is to say, of the soul made free.
Hereupon, we enter the desert. They sing (chap. 15) the song of triumph. God has led them by His power to His holy habitation. He will lead them into the place which He has made, which His hands have established. Their enemies shall be unable to oppose themselves to this. There is a third thing which is found in this beautiful song-the desire to build a tabernacle for Jehovah. But what they sing, is the deliverance effected by the power of God, and the hope of entering into the sanctuary which the hands of Jehovah have made.
The deliverance, then, of the people is accompanied by a full and entire joy, which having the consciousness of this complete deliverance by the power of God, grasps the whole extent of His intentions towards them, and knows how to apply this same power to the difficulties of the way.
Afterward, those difficulties arrive. They travel three days without water-a sad effect, in appearance, of such a deliverance-and then the water is bitter. If death has delivered them from the power of the enemy, it must become known in its application to themselves; bitter to the soul, it is true, but, through grace, refreshment and life, for in all these things is the life of the Spirit; it is death and resurrection in practice, after the deliverance; thereupon we have the twelve wells and the seventy palm trees-types, it seems to me, of those living springs and of that shelter which have been provided through instruments chosen of God for the consolation of His people.
Here we have the responsibility of the people put, as a condition of their well being, under God's government. Still, however, it is always grace. The sabbath-rest of the people-is established in connection with Christ, the true bread of life, who gives it Himself. Then comes the Spirit-living waters which come out of the rock; but with the presence of the Holy Ghost comes conflict, and not rest. Yet Christ places Himself spiritually at the head of His people, typified here by Joshua, of whom mention is now made for the first time.
However sure of victory they may be in fighting the Lord's battles, the entire dependance of the people, at every moment, on the divine blessing is presented to us in this -that if Moses (who with the rod of God represents to us His authority on high), if Moses, I say, keeps not his hands lifted up, the people are beaten down by their enemies. Nevertheless, Aaron the high priest, and Hur (purity?), maintain the blessing, and Israel prevails; the cause was a hidden one; sincerity, valiant efforts, the fact that the battle was God's battle, were of no avail-all depended upon God's blessing from on high. One would have thought, indeed, that if God made war, and unfurled the banner, it would soon be over; but no: from generation to generation, He would make war upon Amalek. For, if it was the war of God, it was in the midst of His people.
Up to this, all was grace. The murmurs of the people had only served to skew the riches of the grace of God. who displayed his sovereignty in giving them all they could desire; which appears so much the more striking, because afterward the same desires, under the law, brought very bitter chastisements. At length, after this reign of grace, follows (chap. 18) the millennium where the king in Jeshurun judges in righteousness, establishes order and government. The Gentiles eat and offer sacrifices with Israel, and acknowledge that the God of the Jews is exalted above all gods.
During the days of the deliverance of Israel, Moses's wife had been sent back; but now she appears again upon the scene, and we have not only Gershom "a pilgrim in a foreign land," but a second son, Eliezer; for Moses said "the God of my father was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh,"-the application of which to the future deliverance of Israel is too evident to require any lengthened explanation. But having thus terminated the course of grace, the scene changes entirely. They do not keep the feast on the mountain, whither God, as He had promised, had led them-had "brought them to Himself." He proposes a condition to them: if they obey His voice, they shall be His people. The people, instead of knowing themselves, and saying, "We dare not place ourselves under such a condition, and risk our blessing, yea, even make sure of losing it," undertake to do all that the Lord had spoken. The people, however, are not permitted to approach God, who hid Himself in the darkness. In fact, they undertook obedience far from God, in a state in which they could not approach Him in that majesty to which obedience was due. Nevertheless, God gave all possible solemnity to the communication of His law; and sees it good that the people should fear before Him; but what can fear do towards giving power at a distance from Him. It may, perhaps, be proper; but it is not proper to undertake to obey in such a state. Moses, when God had spoken to the people, and the people dared no more to hearken, drew near to the thick darkness, and received the instructions of God for the people-moral and general instructions, relating to their possession of the land, in case they should enter upon it according to the covenant of the law. Two things are pointed out as to worship-the work of man, and his order in which his nakedness will certainly be made manifest; and they are equally and together prohibited by God. We have (as we may observe by the way) a beautiful type (chap. xxi.) of the devotedness of Christ to the Church and to His Father. Having served faithfully during His life-time, He would remain a servant even in death for the sake of the Father, the Church, and His people. He made Himself a servant forever (compare Luke 12 even for glory, and 1 Cor. 15.).
This covenant, made on condition of the obedience of the people, was confirmed by blood (chap. 24). The blood being shed, death having thus come in as God's judgment, the elders go up to enter into relationship with God. They see His glory, and continue their human and terrestrial life: they eat and drink.
But Moses is called near to God, to see the patterns of things far more excellent; of heavenly things-of things which, while making provision for the faults and the failures of God's people, reveal to them the perfection and varied glories of Him to whom they approach as His people. And in fact, the glories in every way of Christ the Mediator are presented in the tabernacle; not precisely, as yet, the unity of His people, considered as His body, but in every manner in which the ways and the perfections of God are manifested through Him, whether in the full extent of the creation, the glory of His people, or in His person. The scene of the manifestation of the glory of God-His house-His domain, in which He displays His Being (in so far as it can be seen);-the riches of His grace and glory;-and His relationship in Christ with us-poor and feeble creatures, but who draw nigh unto Him-are unfolded to us in it.
Thus the tabernacle had two aspects-the glory which was proper to Himself, and the means of the relationship of God with His people. This is what is true of the Lord Jesus. I can view His cross in its absolute perfectness, according to the thoughts and the heart of God; I can find there, that which answers all my wants and failures. It would lead me too far to enter into the details of the construction of the tabernacle and its utensils, but I will make some general remarks. There is a certain appearance of disorder in the description, in that it is interrupted by the description of the vesture and of the order of consecration of Aaron. But this arises from what I have just said. There are things which are the manifestation of God, others which refer to the presentation of man to God; these things are linked together, for there are some manifestations of God which are the points and means of the approach of man, as the cross; but, while being the point at which man draws nigh, there is something there besides the act of drawing near, or even of serving God.
The description of the tabernacle presents to us, first, the things in which God manifests Himself, as the object however of the spiritual knowledge of human intelligence (by faith, of course), and then the priesthood and that which man does in drawing near to Him who thus reveals Himself.
First, then, there are the things which are found in the Holy of Holies, and the holy place. The ark of the covenant; the table of the show-bread, and the candlestick with seven branches. This is what God had established for the manifestation of Himself inside, where those who enter into His presence could have communion with Him. Then we have the, arrangement of the place of the tabernacle which enclosed all these things, and which divided it into two parts. And then the altar of burnt-offerings, and the court where it stood, to the end of the 19th verse of chap. 27. We will consider these things first. It is there the first part ends. In that which follows there is what regards the action of man therein -of the priests-and God orders certain things to be brought in for that: this it is which introduces the priesthood which acted in it, and which alone could, in fact, so act.
The ark of the covenant was the throne where God manifested Himself in His holiness, and as the Sovereign to whom every living man was responsible-the God of the whole earth. However, it was the throne of relationship with His people. The law-the testimony of what He required of men-was to be placed there. Over it was the mercy-seat which covered it in, which formed the throne, or rather the basis of the throne, and the Cherubim (formed of the same piece), which were its supporters -its sides.
The Cherubim throughout the Old Testament, where-ever they act, are connected with the judicial power of God, or are the executors of that power, and in the Apocalypse they are generally connected with providential judgments, and belong to the throne. Here, then, God manifested Himself as the Supreme God in His moral Being, armed with power to enforce respect to His laws, and to keep account of all that was done. This also is why the blood-witness of all that had been done for those who were thus responsible; and satisfying all the moral nature of Him who sat there-was put upon the mercy-seat. It was not exactly there that God was in connection with His people; but thence came forth the communications which were to be made to them, " and there will I meet with thee," said God to Moses, "and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two Cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all the things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."-Moses, who receives the thoughts of God for the people, was there to have his intercourse with Jehovah, and that without veil. It was, then, the most intimate and most immediate manifestation of God, and that which came nearest to His very nature, which does not manifest itself. But it was a manifestation of Himself in judgment and in government; it was not in man, neither according to man, but within the veil. In Christ, we find Him thus, and then in grace. Outside the veil was the table with its twelve loaves and the golden candlestick. Twelve, is administrative perfection in man—Seven, spiritual perfection, whether in good or evil. The two are found outside the veil, inside which was the most immediate manifestation of God-the Supreme-but who hid Himself, as it were, yet in darkness. Here was light and nourishment. God in union with humanity, and God giving the light of the Holy Ghost. Therefore it is, that we have twelve apostles attached to the Lord in the flesh, and seven Churches for Him who has the seven spirits of God.
The twelve tribes were, for the time being, that which answered externally to this manifestation. It is found in the new Jerusalem. The primary idea was the 'manifestation of God in man and by the Spirit.
Next, we have the Tabernacle itself which was one, though separated into two parts. There were (as the Word teaches us) two meanings in the form of the Tabernacle—the heavens, God's tabernacle; and the person of Christ, God's dwelling. The heavenly places themselves, says the Apostle, had to be purified with better sacrifices. The veil was, we know, on the same divine authority, the flesh of Christ which concealed God in His holiness of judgment-in His perfectness as sovereign justice itself. The Tabernacle itself was formed of the same things as the veil; figurative, I doubt not, of the essential purity of Christ as a man, and of all the divine graces embroidered, as it were, thereon. It seems to me that the other coverings point to Him also: that of the goat-skins to His positive purity, or rather to that severity of separation from the evil that was around Him, which gave Him the character of prophet; severity not in His ways towards poor sinners, but in separation from sinners-the uncompromisingness as to Himself which kept Him apart and gave Him immense authority -that moral cloth of hair which distinguished the Prophet.
The ram-skins died red point to His perfect devotedness to God-His consecration to God (may God enable us to imitate Him!) and the badger-skin is that vigilant holiness both of walk and in external relationship, which preserved Him, and perfectly so, from the evil that surrounded Him. "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Besides what may be called His person these things correspond to the new nature (in Christ-we can say new only by analogy, being born of the Holy Ghost, at His birth in the flesh); but I speak of the thing itself in practice, or what is produced by the Spirit in us, and by the Word.
In the court, God meets the world (it is not the world itself that was the desert), but it is where the world draws near to God, where His people (not as priests or as saints but as sinful men) draw near to Him. But in coming out of the world, it is an enclosure of God's who is known only to those who enter therein. There the altar of burnt offerings was found, God manifested in justice in his relationship with men, in the midst of them, such as they were; true,-it was the judgment of sin, for, without this, God could not be in relation with men, but yet it was Christ in the perfection of the Spirit of God who offered Himself a sacrifice, according to that justice, for sin; and who thus puts sinners in relation with God.
He has been lifted up from the earth. Upon earth, the question was as to the possibility of men's relationship with Him who is holy and living,-that could not be. He is lifted up from the earth, rejected;-nevertheless He does not enter into heaven: upon the cross Christ has been raised from this world,-has left it; but He still remains the object of it, as the full satisfaction to the justice of God, as well as the witness of His love, of the love at least of Him who has glorified the justice of God in this act. He is the object still I say to the eyes of the world, if, through grace, one goes there and separates from this world, while God in justice (for where has that been glorified as in the cross of Jesus) can receive according to His glory, and even be glorified there, by the most wretched of sinners.
It is here then that the altar of burnt-offerings is found, the brazen altar. God manifested in righteousness, meeting, however, the sinner in love by the sacrifice of Christ: -not in His being- spiritual and sovereign object of the adoration of saints, but in His relationship with sinners according to His righteousness; but where sinners present themselves to Him by that work in which by the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost Christ has offered Himself without spot unto Him, has satisfied all the demands of His righteousness and has become that sweet smelling savor (of sacrifice) in which in coming out of the world we draw near to God, and to God in relation with the sinners who draw near to Him. It was not the sacrifice for sin burnt outside the camp: there no one approached. Christ was made sin by God, and all passed between God and Him; but here we draw near unto God.
All the manifestations of God thus arranged, we come now to the services that were rendered to Him in the courts, and in the places where He manifested Himself (27:20). The priests were to take care that the light of the candlestick should be always shining outside the veil, which hid the testimony inside, and during the night; it was the light of the grace and of the power of God by the Spirit, that manifested God spiritually. It was not Himself upon the throne, where His Sovereign Being was keeping the treasure of His righteousness, that Christ alone, in His person and in His nature could be Himself; nor was it righteousness in His relationship with sinful man outside the holy place, but it was a light, through which he manifested Himself in the power of His grace, but which applied itself to His relationship with man viewed as holy, or set apart, for service to Him, all the while that it was the manifestation of God. Essentially it was the Holy Ghost. This we see in the Apocalypse, but it might rest upon Christ as man, and that without measure. Or it might act as from Him and by His grace in others, either as the spirit of Prophecy, or in some other way more abundant and complete, as was the case after His resurrection, when the Holy Ghost Himself came down. But whatever these manifestations in men may have been in action, the thing itself was there before God to manifest Him in the energy of the Spirit Himself; but the Priesthood was essential here, in order to maintain this relation between the energy of the Holy Ghost and the service of men in whom He manifested Himself in order that the light might shine. We find, therefore, immediately afterward, the ordinance for the establishment of the Priesthood.
The garments were composed of everything that is connected with the person of Christ in this character of Priesthood. The breast-plate, the ephod, the robe, the broidered coat, the curious girdle, and the miter. The ephod was, par excellence, the priestly garment; made of the same things as the veil; it was also the essential purity and the graces of Christ. The girdle was the sign of service. He bore the names of the people of God in the fullness of their order before God; upon His shoulders, the weight of their government, and upon the breast-plate on his heart: breast-plate which was inseparable from the ephod, that is to say from his priesthood and appearing before God. He also bare, according to the light and the perfections of God, their judgment before Him. He maintained them in judgment before God according to these things. They therefore looked for answers through these same Urim and Thummim; for the wisdom of our conduct is to be according to this position before God. Upon the hem of the robe of the ephod there was the desirable fruit, and the testimony of the Holy Ghost, which depended on the Priesthood. I think that Christ, in entering heaven, made Himself heard through the Holy Ghost in His people-hem of His garments (compare Psa. 133); and He will make Himself heard through His gifts when He comes out also. Meanwhile He bears also within, the iniquity of the holy things, in holiness before the eternal God (this holiness is upon His very forehead). They are presented according to the divine Holiness in Him. The sons of Aaron were also clothed. Their natural nakedness was not to appear, but the glory and the honor with which God clothed them. The girdle of service also distinguished them.
For their consecration they were all washed. Aaron and his sons together always represent the church, not as gathered in a body (a thing hidden in the Old Testament), but in varied positions sustained individually before God. There is only one sanctification for all. In His nature Christ is the spring and the expression of it. We are made partakers of it, but it is one. Aaron is anointed separately without sacrifice, without blood. But His sons are sprinkled with blood upon the ear, the thumb of the right hand, the great toe of the right foot. Obedience, action, and walk, being measured, guarded, both through the price and through the perfection of the blood of Christ. And then they were sprinkled with blood and with the oil of consecration, that is to say, set apart by the blood and by the unction of the Holy Ghost.
All the sacrifices were offered. That for sin, the burnt-offering of a sweet-smelling savor, the ram of consecration (which had the character of a peace-offering), accompanied by the meat-offering. These sacrifices have been explained elsewhere, and I only recall their import. Christ made sin for us, first need of the soul. Christ obedient unto death, devoting Himself to the glory of His Father, and to us as belonging to the Father. The communion of God, of the Savior, of the worshipper, and of the whole church-and Christ devoted in holiness of life upon the earth. It is to be observed, that when Aaron and his sons were anointed, the sons and their garments were anointed with him, not with them. Everything is connected with the Head. Aaron and his sons eat the things with which the atonement had been made. Then, connected with this priesthood, comes the perpetual sweet-smelling savor of the burnt-offering, in which the people present themselves before God-sweet-smelling savor which is found there, as it were in the midst of the people, according to the efficacy of which they stand in His presence round about. There God met the people. With the Mediator He met above the ark without veil, and gave him commandment for the people according to His own perfection. Here He puts Himself on a level with the people, though speaking with the Mediator. The dwelling of God in the midst of the people is sanctified by His glory. The tabernacle, the altar, the priests, are sanctified, and He dwells in the midst of the people surrounding Him: for this purpose had He brought them up out of Egypt.
Having thus established the priesthood, and the relationship of the people with God, who dwelt in the midst of them; the intercession of Christ, in grace; all that was in Him, ascending as a sweet savor to the Lord is presented; and His service in making the manifestation of God in Spirit shine forth. The people were identified with this service through redemption. They could neither be there, nor serve; but they were all represented as redeemed. We then have the laver between the brazen altar and the tabernacle. Purification for communion with God, and for service to Him therein: first, the whole body, then the hands and feet (for us only the feet, as our walk alone is concerned), every time they took part in it. Finally, we have the oil and the incense; the fragrant oil which was for priests only: the nature of man, as man, could not partake of it. The incense typifies the precious perfume of the graces of Christ, He alone answers to it. The Sabbath was added to the tabernacle of the congregation, as a sign, as it had been to every form of relationship between God and His people: for to be made partakers of God's rest is what distinguishes His people. In fine, God gave Moses the two tables of the law.
Whilst God was thus preparing the precious things connected with His relationship with His people, the people only thinking of what they saw in their deliverer, completely abandoned the Lord: a sad and early, but sure fruit of having undertaken obedience to the law as a condition, in order to the enjoyment of the promises. Aaron falls with them.
Such being the state of the people, God tells Moses to go down; and now everything begins to be put on another footing. God, in His counsels of grace, has not only seen the people when they were in affliction, but in their ways. They were a stiff-necked people. He tells Moses to let Him alone, and that He would destroy them, and make of Moses a great nation. Moses takes the place of mediator, and, true to his love for the people, as God's people, and to the glory of God in them, with a self-denial which savored of this glory, sacrificing every thought of self, intercedes in that magnificent pleading which appeals to what that glory necessitates, and to the unconditional promises made to the fathers. And the Lord repented. The character of Moses shines in all its beauty here, and is remarkable amongst those which the Holy Ghost has taken pleasure in delineating, according to the precious grace of God, who loves to describe the exploits of His people, and the fruit they have borne, though He Himself is the source of them.
But it was all over with the covenant of the law; the first link-that of having no other gods-was broken on the part of the people. They had made a complete separation between themselves and God. Moses, who had not asked God what was to be done with the law, comes down. His exercised ear, quick to discern how matters stood with the people, hears their profane and light joy: soon after, he sees the golden calf; which had even preceded the tabernacle of God in the camp, and he breaks the tables at the foot of the mount; and, zealous for the people towards God, because of His glory, he is zealous for God towards the people, because of that same glory. And Levi, responding to his call, says to his brethren, the children of his mother," I have not known you," and consecrates himself to the Lord. Moses now, full of zeal, not according to knowledge, but which was permitted of God for our instruction, proposes to the people his going up, and "peradventure" he shall make an atonement for this sin. And he asks God to blot him out of His book, rather than that the people should not be forgiven. God refuses him; and, while sparing them through his mediation, and placing them under the government of His patience and long-suffering, puts each one of them under responsibility to Himself-that is, under the law. Thus the mediation of Moses was available for forgiveness, as regards government, and to put them under a government, the principles of which we shall see by-and-bye; but it was useless as regards the atonement which would protect them from the effect of their sin, and withdraw them from under the judgment of the law. God commands Moses to lead the people to the place of which He had spoken, and His angel should go before him.
What a contrast do we here remark, in passing, with the work of our precious Savior. He, coming down from above-from His dwelling-place in the bosom of the Father-to do His will; and, while keeping the law (instead of destroying the signs of this covenant, the requirements of which, man was unable to meet), He Himself' bears the penalty of its infringement; and, having accomplished the atonement before returning above, instead of going up with a cheerless " peradventure " in His mouth, which the holiness of God instantly nullified, He ascends with the sign of the accomplishment of the atonement, and of the confirmation of the new covenant, with His precious blood, the value of which was anything but doubtful to that God before whom He presented it. Alas! the Church has but too faithfully reflected the con: duct of Israel during the absence of the true Moses, and attributed to Providence what she had fashioned with her own hands, because she would see something. We have now to examine a little what was taking place among the people, and on Moses' part, the faithful and zealous witness, as a servant of God in His house: for we shall find a new mediation going on peacefully, if one may so speak, and holily weighing, by faith, these relationships where the mercy and the justice of God meet. It is not the indignation of holy wrath, which had indeed its place at the sight of the evil, while it knew not what to do-for, How put the law of God beside the golden calf? The Lord says that He will send an angel, and that He will not go in the midst of the people, seeing it is stiff-necked, lest He should destroy them by the way. But I will state succinctly, the facts connected with this new intercession, which are of touching interest.
God had said that He would come up in a moment in the midst of them, to destroy them; that Israel should put off their ornaments, that the Lord might know what to do unto them. Holy grace of God! who, if He sees the insolence of sin before His eyes, must strike, but wills that the people should at least strip themselves of that, and that He may have time (to speak the language of men) to reflect as to what He should do with the sin of a people now humbled for having forsaken Him. However, God does not forsake the people. Moses enters holily, and by the just judgment of conscience, into the mind of God by the Spirit; and before the tabernacle of the congregation was pitched, he entirely leaves the camp, and makes a place for God outside the camp, afar Off from the camp which had put a false god in His place, and changed their glory into the similitude of an ox which eateth grass. He calls it the tabernacle of the congregation-the meeting-place between God and those who sought Him. This name is in itself important, because it is no longer simply God in the midst of a recognized assembly, which was one of the characters we have already observed connected with the tabernacle. Moses being outside the camp, God now declares that He will not go up in the midst of them, lest He should destroy them by the way, as He had threatened. Moses begins his intercession, having taken an individual position, the only one now of faithfulness to God; but his connection with the people being so much the stronger, by his being nearer to God, more separated unto Him. This is the effect of faithful separation when it is for God's glory, and one is brought near to God in it. It must be remarked here, that God had taken the people at their word: they had said, acting according to their faith, or rather their want of faith, " This Moses that brought us up out of Egypt." God says, "thy people, which thou broughtest out of Egypt have corrupted themselves." Hence God says to Moses "thou," addressing Himself to the mediator. Moses says "Thy people " (32:1, 7, 12-34). Afterward, however, the people having stripped themselves of their ornaments and Moses being in the position of mediator, God says (33:1), " Thou and the people which thou hast brought up." Everything now hangs upon the mediator. Moses having taken his place outside the camp, God reveals Himself to him as He never had done before. The people see God standing at the door of the tabernacle which Moses had pitched; and they worship, every man at his tent door. The Lord speaks unto Moses face to face as a man speaks unto his friend. We shall see that it is to these communications that God alludes when He speaks of the glory of Moses (Num. 12:88With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Numbers 12:8)), and not to those on Mount Sinai. Moses, as mediator in the way of testimony, goes into the camp, but Joshua, the Spiritual chief of the people (Christ in Spirit) does not depart out of the tabernacle. Moses now recognizes what God had told him, to bring up the people; he is there as the mediator on whom everything depends. But He dares not entertain the thought of going up alone, of going up without knowing who would be with him. God has acknowledged him in grace, and he desires to know who will go before him. He therefore asks, since he has found grace, that he may know His way, the way of God, not only to have a way for him (Moses) to get to Canaan, but "thy way," thus will he know God, and in the way will find grace in His sight. God replies that His presence shall go, and that He will give rest to Moses: the two things he perfectly needed as crossing the wilderness. Moses then brings in the people, and says, "Carry us not up hence," and that " we have found grace, I and thy people." This also is granted of the Lord; and now he desires for himself to see the glory of the Lord; but that face which is to go and lead Moses and the people, God cannot spew unto Moses. He will hide him while He passes by, and Moses shall see His back parts. We cannot meet God on His way as independent of Him. After he has passed by, one sees all the beauty of His ways. Who could have been before-hand in proposing such a thing as the Cross? After God of Himself has done it, then all the perfectness of God in it overflows the heart. God then lays down two principles: His sovereignty, which allows Him to act in goodness towards the wicked, for in justice He would have cut off the whole people-and the conditions of. His government under which He was putting the people, His character such as it is manifested in His ways towards them. Hid whilst he passes by, Moses bows down at the voice of God who proclaims His name and reveals what He is as JEHOVAH. These words give the principles contained in the character of God Himself in connection with the Jewish people—principles which form the basis of His government. I t is not at all the name of His relationship with the sinner for his justification, but with Israel for His government. Mercy, holiness, and patience mark His ways with them. Moses, ever bearing the people of God on his heart, beseeches God, according to the favor in which he stands as mediator, that the Lord, thus revealed, may go up in their midst; and that because they were a stiff-necked people. The relationship between Moses personally and God was fully established, so that he could present the people, such as they were, because of his (Moses' own) position, and consequently make of the difficulty and sin of the people a reason for the presence of God, according to the character He had revealed. It is the proper effect of mediation; but it is beautiful to see, grace having thus come in, the reason God had given for the destruction of the people, or at least for His absence, becoming a motive for His presence. It no doubt supposed forgiveness as well. This Moses asks for, and adds, in the consciousness of the blessing of the name and being of God, " Take us for thine inheritance." In answer to this prayer, God establishes a new covenant with the people. The basis of it is complete separation from the nations which God was going to drive out from before the people. It supposes the entrance of the people into Canaan in virtue of the mediation of Moses, and the presence of God with the people consequent upon his intercession. He is commanded to maintain their relationship with Him in the solemn feasts under the blessing and safeguard of God. I have rather enlarged upon these conversations of Moses with the people, because (and it is very important to remark it) Israel never entered the land under the Sinai covenant, it had been immediately broken: it is under the mediation of Moses that they were able to find again the way of entering it. However they are placed again under the law, but the government of patience and grace is added to it. In Deut. 10:11At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. (Deuteronomy 10:1), we see there is no longer question of introducing the law openly into the camp where God had been dishonored. It was to be put into the ark according to the pre-determined plans of God, arranged to enable the people, miserable as they were, to draw near unto Him. Moses abides there with the Lord. There was enough in the contemplation of what God was, as He had revealed Himself, to occupy him; he had not now to be occupied with the instructions God was giving him on the details of the tabernacle, but with God according to the revelation He had made of Himself, he neither eat nor drank; he was in a state above nature, where the flesh could not intermeddle, in some sort apart from humanity. The Lord writes His law anew on the tables which Moses had prepared. But the effect of this communion with God was manifest; the skin of his face shone when he came down. However, here it was a glory, as it were external and legal, not like that of the Lord Himself in the person of Jesus. Thus Israel could not behold it. We are in quite a different position; for us, there is no longer a veil; and we behold with open face the glory of the Lord. We are rather (in this point of view) in the position of Moses when he entered into the most holy place. Besides the separation of Israel from the inhabitants of the land wherein they were to dwell, which is found chap. 34 there is in chap. 35 another part of the instructions of Moses, which he gave when he came down. It is not now the certainty of entering, and the conduct suited to those who have found grace, to abstain from all that might tend to bring sin back when they were enjoying the privileges of grace; Moses speaks to them of the portion of the people under the influence of that communication which the Mediator, as Head of grace, had established. The Sabbath is appointed; and moreover, His people (grace thus manifested) are encouraged to show their good-will and their liberality in everything that concerned the service of God. Consequently, we find the manifestation of the spirit of wisdom and of gift in service. God calling specially by name those He designed more particularly for the work. This was done liberally; they brought more than was sufficient, and every wise-hearted man worked, each the things for which he was gifted; and Moses blessed them. Thus was the tabernacle set up, and everything put into its place, according to the commandment of God. Therefore (what we might have remarked be-tore) the whole is anointed with oil. Christ was thus consecrated, anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power; and moreover, Christ must, after having made peace by His blood, having all things to reconcile (being the one who first descended, and afterward ascended, to fill all things with His presence, according to the power of redemption in righteousness and love divine); I say that the unction of the Holy Ghost must carry the efficacy of this power in redemption everywhere. Therefore had the tabernacle been sprinkled with blood. It is the power of the presence of the Holy Ghost, not regeneration. God takes possession of the tabernacle by His glory, and the cloud of His presence and of His protection, becomes the guide of the people (now forgiven), happy and so greatly blessed in being under the government and guidance of God, and at the same time His habitation and His inheritance.