(Continued from page 202.)
The temple, it is true, is not named in the Hebrews, for how could it be, seeing that its patterns were not even given out till Solomon was in view, and after David had brought up the ark “from the fields of the wood at Ephratah?” We may turn for a moment from the ark, and its connection with Joshua and the drawn sword, to notice Eleazar and “the tabernacle which was pitched in Shiloh” for the worship of Jehovah, as this forms another center. Indeed we may ask, What would all the fighting in Canaan be worth, or the conquests, if the relationships of God “by the ark of the covenant” were not maintained with His people in their midst; and if Eleazar and the tabernacle were not at Shiloh, as the way and means of their approach to Him as worshippers? Again, we may inquire, Are not these three typical things, which are the prominent characteristics of the Book of Joshua, namely, the ark of the covenant, the Captain of salvation, and the priest in the tabernacle at Shiloh, the groundwork of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews? To be sure, the book is typical and earthly; whereas the epistle is matter of fact, and heavenly; but such differences as these are familiar to us, and natural to the Christian standing, with the ark at the right hand of the throne, in its proper place of rest, and the journey, with its combats, over and ended. It is as out of Jordan, by Him who destroyed the whole power of death, and as one with the Priest who has made propitiation for our sine, and as one with Him who sanctifieth, that the “holy brethren” are addressed as “partakers of the heavenly calling,” and exhorted to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.”
“Holy brethren” come into place in connection with the ark and the priest in the sanctuary, so that, perhaps, this part of the epistle has more to do with worship, from chapter 5 to 10, than with the ark of the covenant, and our following it through death and resurrection, at the time when Jordan overflowed its banks, as in chapters 1, 2. No doubt the tabernacle in the wilderness was taken over Jordan, and became the tabernacle in Canaan, for “the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.” Thus we find, in chapter 4, the wilderness, and the journeying, and the grace for “the time of need,” side by side with the rest of creation, and the rest of Canaan, and the rest that remaineth for God and His people. In short, there is no temple in the Book of Joshua, nor any temple in the Hebrews, but there is a tabernacle instead, with Eleazar, and pitched at Shiloh; and, correspondingly, we have the true one in chapter 8, “which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Indeed, it is because Shiloh, and the tabernacle, and Eleazar the priest are in such prominence in their own circle in the Book of Joshua, that the correspondence becomes so important in Paul’s epistle as the antitype.
Moreover, “the heirs of promise” are looked at by God, and encouraged on their way, in chapter 6, to lay hold upon the hope set before them, by the immutability of His counsel, as Joshua had done, in chapter 18, to the children of Israel: “How long are ye slack to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?” There is this difference, however, and a most important one, that Paul says to his Hebrews, “whither the forerunner is for us entered it, even Jesus, made an high priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec.” Paul had not to fight that he might get possession, but Joshua had. The Forerunner Himself, “the appointed, heir” of all the inheritance, had already entered in, and appeared to Paul when on his way to Damascus. There is yet a difference to be noticed in the Book of Joshua, and one that brings Caleb forward as a claimant, in chapter 14, and which gives him priority and prominence as a true heir, amongst his co-heirs. Indeed, he takes the center of this circle, on account of his faith, and is remarkable for endurance and patience, whilst following the ark on its return journey into the desert, as he was famous in energy for conflict with the Anakims at Mount Hebron, when on the other side of Jordan.
We may pass on now from the “holy brethren” with their heavenly calling, and the pilgrims and strangers in “time of need” —yes, and from “the heirs of promise,” with the hope of citizenship in the land, to their final rest on Mount Zion, as in chapter 22, with the ark of the covenant, to look at a further glory of the Son, which Paul connects with “their father Abraham.” “For this Melchisedek,” he says, “who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, is king of Salem, and priest of the most high God” —to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all; who is first, being by interpretation, “king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace.” It appears to me that this slaughter of the confederated kings in the time of Abraham, like the overthrow of the Adoni-zedek, and the Jabin confederation, in the days of Joshua, has very much in common with the yet coming confederacy and slaughter “of kings, and captains, and mighty men,” in the Apocalypse, and particularly in Rev. 19. In a certain sense the Book of Joshua is more like a clearing of the inheritance for the heirs, and putting them into possession of the promised land, with Eleazar and the tabernacle at Shiloh, as the connecting link of relationship with Jehovah, than as reaching further into their history. After Gilgal and Shiloh came Bochim, and after Joshua and Eleazar came the Judges; nor does Israel come out again in luster till the time of Ichabod had passed by, and “the Lord’s anointed King” was crowned, and Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord, instead of David his father, and the temple was filled with the glory of God. “Ye are come to Mount Zion,” &c.
Melchisedek is I submit, outside the Book of Joshua, and far beyond it, though I do not doubt it rightly comes in on the way with Paul’s Hebrews, as he leads them forward to “the heavenly Jerusalem, and city of the living God,” and will get its actual fulfillment in the grand millennial times of the true Solomon’s reign. Wonderful as the Book of Joshua is typically, yet, in some respects, it is short of the Hebrews; of course, I mean as regards Melchisedek and the ark of covenant, in its connection with Mount Zion, under “the king of righteousness and king of peace,” in the heavenly Jerusalem, which is, after all, their line of march and of inheritance, only under Paul’s leadership. As regards ourselves, as believers in Christ, and as true worshippers, “who worship God in spirit and in truth,” in the holiest, where He dwells, and where the ark of the covenant rests, and where Christ is sat down, we all know increasingly how precious this epistle is to us, as our new and completed Book of Leviticus. It may, and does, come short of the Colossians, and Ephesians, and some others, but it contains what neither of those does; and, above all, makes known to us the anointed “High Priest of our profession,” and this, too, in the essential glory of His person as Son, as well as in His twofold relations of the only-begotten Son of God, and the exalted Son of man, set over all the works of the Creator’s bands. The Book of Joshua does not lose by it.
Besides these, we have His glorious offices, as High Priest “passed through the heavens,” as Intercessor, living in the presence of God for us, and as Mediator of the new covenant to the house of Israel, when “the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” The Great High Priest “passed through the heavens,” even Jesus, the Son of God, is essential to Christianity, and for Christian worship and intercession. Such an High Priest became us, and Paul’s Hebrews (who followed the ark, up to the right hand of God, by faith), who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. The priesthood and the priest must be equal to the position of the people, whether earthly or heavenly, and he made higher than their calling, and these give their character to the holiest, where God is, and to the worshippers and their worship, as in chapters 9, 10. The practice of elucidating Paul’s Epistles to the Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians, by the various chapters in the Book of Joshua, and their distinguishing records, is quite right (and vice versa), but neither of those epistles, be it remembered, takes up priesthood or worship.
The relations of God, therefore, which were maintained by the tabernacle of witness, and Eleazar the priest, at Shiloh, in the time of Joshua, must be passed over in any real exposition of this book; or an epistle is wanted which recognizes these relations, and applies them to ourselves and priesthood as over Jordan, and why not this Epistle to the Hebrews? If the answer he, that it is an epistle for the wilderness, this is freely admitted, but not for “the time of need” only—for the tabernacle was in the land of Canaan, as we have been examining. The classification of the Hebrews for priesthood, and its introduction, with Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians, under their characteristic differences, would make the group complete, and enable us to take up and elucidate all the parts in the Book of Joshua, under these four epistles of Paul. In this way the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests bearing it, as well as Eleazar and Shiloh, with the tabernacle for worship, would be no longer in the background, or omitted as they generally are. But enough has been said to call attention to the fact, and to help in the consideration of the real character of the Hebrew epistle as a complete reference to the Book of Joshua, and this is the main object in these remarks.
In conclusion, and as a summary, I judge that the ark of pure gold is beautifully embodied by “the express image and glory” of the Son, as in Heb. 1:2, 3, and that the Shittim wood of the ark is as perfectly represented by His manhood as the only-begotten Son, in verses 5, 6. Moreover, “the body prepared for him,” and in which He came to do the will of God, was the embodiment of the two tables of the covenant which the ark contained, but which were, in like manner, taken out, and magnified in Himself, who said, “Yea, thy law is within my heart.” What, too, are the central chapters of Hebrews, touching the Priest in heaven, but the transfer of “Aaron’s rod that budded,” and “the golden censer,” out of the typical ark, into their own proper place in the presence of God for us? Again, what is “the golden pot that had manna,” but the person, and words, and works, and ways of Jesus below, and of which this precious epistle is the exposition? So, likewise, as to the tabernacle itself (with Eleazar and Shiloh), wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread, what is Paul uncovering to his Hebrews in our epistle but the things themselves, in their great Antitype, who is passing before them in the glory of His person? But enough for inquiry and suggestion, though “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” and “so great a cloud of witnesses” form a marvelous company—of whom the world was not worthy!
J. E. B.
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