We have now to consider the other set of curtains, namely, those of Goats' Hair, which were thrown over the beautiful curtains already described. It will be observed that these of goats' hair, like those, were made in breadths of four cubits each: instead however of there being only ten such breadths, as in the former set, there were eleven. Six of these were joined together, forming one curtain; and the other five, joined in like manner, formed the second. The sixth, or additional breadth, hung down over the front of the tabernacle The length also of these curtains was greater than that of the former set, being 3o cubits instead of 28. A cubit of this additional length hung down on each side of the tabernacle, so as completely to cover up the cubit of the golden boards which had been left exposed; the beautiful curtains falling short by a cubit each side. The boards of the tabernacle stood 10) cubits high on the north and south sides; the space which separated them being the width of the tabernacle, was also 10 cubits. A curtain therefore 28 cubits long, thrown over the top, and falling down each side, would leave a cubit on each side of the golden boards exposed: whereas one of 30 cubits long would exactly cover up the whole. This explains the meaning of the somewhat obscure passage. " A cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side, of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it." Ex. 26:1313And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. (Exodus 26:13).
The sixth curtain, or breadth, which hung down in front of the tabernacle, was doubled back so as to hang like a bag: the same expression being used, " Thou shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle," as in Ex. 28.16, respecting the breastplate, which was doubled or folded in the form of a bag, so as to receive within it the Urim and the Thummim. This additional sixth curtain being thus allowed to hang down in front, the other five breadths exactly corresponded with the five breadths of the beautiful curtains beneath; and the taches of brass, which linked together the goats' hair curtains, precisely reached the same place, so as to be immediately above the taches of gold, which united together the innermost or beautiful curtains.
The 12Th verse may present a difficulty to the reader. " The remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half-curtain that remaineth shall hang over the back side of the tabernacle." The meaning of this is, that half the curtain, which was formed of the five breadths of four cubits each joined together, hung down over the back or west end of the tabernacle, so as to cover up that extremity; for the width of it would be exactly 20 cubits; ten of which would reach over the top, from the taches to the end of the tabernacle; and the other ten would fall down from the top over the west end, so as to reach the ground.
The material of which these curtains were made, was goats' hair; probably of a fine texture, like the modern Cashmere shawl. In the original, the word " hair" does not occur.
It will be found that the goat was universally selected for the sin-offering in the great feasts under the law, when Israel was collectively represented and appeared before God.
In the beginnings of their months, Num. 28:11-1511And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot; 12And three tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one ram; 13And a several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil for a meat offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. 14And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. 15And one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the Lord shall be offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. (Numbers 28:11‑15), when the thin crescent of the new moon marked the commencement of another period of increasing light and blessing, fresh burnt-offerings were laid upon Israel's altar for a sweet savor to the Lord, and a kid of the goats for sin atoned for the darkness and evil of the past month; which though unknown to themselves, had been observed by Him who is of too pure eyes to behold iniquity. They should have abode before Him, fair as the moon: but as that light in the heavens had waned into darkness, so was their history one of brief hope and quick declension. And such alas! is the history of the Church of God, and too often, of the saints which compose it. One's life passes away in a series of revivals and declensions; of bright purposes and intentions, ending in sorrowful failures and short-comings. Well for us is it that the value of the sin-offering, the memorial of that costly gift, abides for us before God, like one of the breadths of the goats' hair curtains.
Israel's year commenced with the appointment of the passover, Ex. 12 Intimately connected with this ordinance was the feast of unleavened bread. In Luke 22 I, they are identified. Throughout the seven days of this feast, one goat for sin to make atonement was sacrificed, besides other offerings. The more the unleavened purity and holiness of Christ is realized, and the more He becomes the strength of our life, and we feed on His flesh and blood, as on unleavened bread, the more shall we find our need of Him as "made sin for us." Israel, by feeding on the unleavened bread, had to discover their own leavened condition; and thus the goat for the sin-offering was daily provided, to meet the uncleanness of their state; an uncleanness made manifest by the very purity of the food on which they were directed to feast. So it is with the believer. Not only will the daily contact with the leaven of sin around him cause that same leaven to work within; but the more he walks in the light as God is in the light, the more will he discover his own uncleanness, and find the need of the blood of Jesus Christ (that one sin-offering) which cleanseth us from all sin.
Another breadth of the goats' hair curtain may thus have had reference to this feast of unleavened bread, and its accompanying sin-offerings.
The next great feast of Israel, which followed the passover, was the feast of weeks. It commenced with the waving of a sheaf of first-fruits before the Lord. A beautiful type of the resurrection of Christ; the corn of wheat, which had fallen into the ground, and had died, and had sprung up, bringing forth much fruit. At the conclusion of the feast-the day of Pentecost of Acts new meat-offering, consisting of two loaves of the fresh harvest, baked with leaven, was waved before God: a type this of the presentation to God of Israel's first-fruits on the day of Pentecost, when the first portion of the Church of God stood risen with Christ, one with Him in life eternal, and anointed with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; a sample of the whole body, to be completed at the Lord's return, when the harvest shall be all gathered into the garner of glory. But these first-fruits, these believers, were still leavened with the presence of the old man, the old sinful nature, and were still in their old corrupt bodies of death. A sin-offering was therefore commanded for atonement. In Num. 28:3030And one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you. (Numbers 28:30), a kid of the goats, and in Lev. 23:1919Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. (Leviticus 23:19), the same sacrifice connected with this new meat-offering, is in both places appointed.
The believer, though he be (by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ) a new creature; though partaker of a new and everlasting life, derived from, and in union with the Lord Jesus; yet is burdened with the body of sin and death, and finds the constant lusting of the flesh against the spirit; an incessant warfare during all his abode on earth. That which is born of the flesh remains still flesh, irremediable in its corruption, with a mind at enmity with God, and which cannot be subjected to the law of God. Like some ferocious evil beast, it may be chained, but cannot be tamed. We cannot make a servant of this monster, or come to any agreement with him, any more than with the leviathan described by God to Job. Will he make a covenant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a servant forever? Wilt thou play with him, as with a bird?" (41:4-5.) An evil beast, neither to be trifled with nor trusted.
It is of deep importance to the child of God, as regards both his peace and his walk, that the truth respecting the distinction and co-existence of the two natures, new and old, should be fully believed. They bare denominated in Scripture, the new man and the old man; the former, after God, created in righteousness and true holiness; the latter, one's original existence, derived from the ruined fallen Adam, often called the flesh, in which dwells no good thing. Sin can never be eradicated. It abides as long as the flesh remains. No power of the Holy Spirit burns up or consumes it. Neither is there any possibility of converting that which is evil into good. The presence and power of the Spirit of God, by strengthening the new man, and feeding the soul with Christ, and deepening its value of the precious blood, enable the believer to repress and keep under the motions of sin, the energies of the old man.
Watchfulness, faith, and prayer, are as needful, up to the very end of the race, as they were at its commencement. Through the whole of this Pentecostal dispensation, the constant remembrance of the sin-offering is imperatively required, in order to preserve fellowship with the Father and the Son, and to give power, and to afford us a weapon of strength against the leaven still mingled with the new meat-offering. Another of the six curtains of goat's hair may remind us of this aspect of the sacrifice.
A long interval elapsed in Israel's year between the feast of weeks, and the next general feast. It was not until the seventh month opened, that any special gathering of the people was appointed. But on the first day of that month was the feast of the blowing of trumpets. By this time, the labors of the harvest-field, of the olive-yard, and the vineyard were nearly over; and the silver trumpets were to sound in the ears of the people, to call them from the busy cares and thoughts of earthly things, that had now occupied them some time, to rest in holy convocation before God, under the sweet savor of fresh burnt-offerings, and under the atonement of a kid of the goats for a sin offering. It was a joyful, as well as a solemn sound, that those trumpets gave forth. Their silver note supplanted the shout of the harvest-home, or of the treading of the wine-press; and summoned Israel to the presence of their God, who had blessed their labors, and crowned their year with His goodness. Yet even in this scene of holy repose and worship, the sin-offering was needed. The convocation itself brought with it evil, and the blood of atonement must flow.
May we not learn from this, how needful it is to keep in remembrance the precious blood of Christ, in the midst of our very activities of service and labor for God; and to seek to preserve as our first object, the soul in fellowship with the Father and the Son; lest busy occupations, even though they be of the holiest kind, withdraw the heart's affection from the Lord, or usurp that place in our souls, which belongs alone to Himself.
" My son, give me thy heart," is one great command. " Keep thy heart with all diligence," is another. There may be much diligence in outward service, and yet the soul may have little fellowship with God, and be rendering but little true worship to Him. The blood of Christ alone keeps the way of access open for us: and as we are eating that meat indeed, and drinking that drink indeed, so are we abiding in God's presence.
This feast of trumpets, with its accompanying sin-offering, may have had its memorial in a fourth curtain of goat's hair.
On the tenth day of the seventh month, was the feast of Atonement. On that day alone, in all the year, a special sin-offering for atonement was appointed. Two kids of the goats, looked upon as one sin-offering, were presented before the Lord. One was selected by lot to be slain; and the other to be a scapegoat. The blood of the one slain, was on this occasion, and on none other, carried by the high priest into the holiest, and there sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat, seven times. Israel's sins of the past year were thus in type covered over, and blotted out from God's remembrance.
The high priest, after having completed the work of atonement within the tabernacle before God, then came out, and confessed over the living goat, the sins of the people; at the same time laying both his hands upon its head, and thus typically transferring them to the animal; which was then sent into the wilderness, never more to return; and thus the sins reckoned to it were no more to be remembered. The object of having two goats for one sin-offering was, to convey to Israel assembled outside the tabernacle, the knowledge of what had passed before God on their behalf within the holiest. The disappearance of the scapegoat, bearing their sins, represented to them the fact that those sins had been blotted out from God's remembrance, by means of the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat. The goat whose blood had been carried within the vail, was entirely consumed as a sin-offering without the camp. It may be that the goats' hair curtain, doubled, and hanging down in front of the tabernacle, was intended to keep a memorial of this day of atonement before Israel's eye. The doubling of the curtain, so that half faced inwards, and the other half could be seen from without, may have some allusion to the double aspect of atonement, set forth in the different uses of the two goats, the one sin-offering: the object of the one being solely for atonement towards God; that of the other being to express the result of that atonement towards Israel. The 9th and 10th chapters of Hebrews give us an exposition of the 16th chapter of Leviticus; but chiefly by way of contrast; comparing the inefficiency of the blood presented on that day for Israel, with the complete and eternal efficacy of the one offering presented by Christ-the offering of Himself. A more full explanation of this beautiful type is reserved for a future occasion, when the dress of the high priest will be considered.
As the worshipping Israelite could not draw near the tabernacle without observing the goats' hair curtain folded down in front; so has the believer ever to draw near to God with the full assurance that his sins and iniquities are remembered no more, and that the record of this blessed fact is preserved in God's dwelling-place, by the rending of the vail, the sprinkling of the blood upon the mercy-seat, the presence of the living High Priest, and the very construction of the tabernacle itself.
The last feast in the year was the feast of tabernacles-the feast of in-gathering-when Israel had only to rest, and rejoice in the blessing of God upon all their labors. Liberty, cessation from toil, mingled with solemn feasting and joy, marked this holy festival. There were also two remarkable things connected with it: first, the dwelling in booths: secondly, an eighth day added to the seven. The booths were to be erected in remembrance of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, when their first resting-place was at Succoth (booths.) There seems also to be an intimation of a future deliverance out of Babylon, in the fact that " willows of the brook" were to be intertwined with other trees to form these booths. Psa. 137:22We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. (Psalm 137:2), alludes to the willow as a tree growing by the rivers of Babylon. The eighth day, " that great day of the feast," gave a resurrection character to this remarkable ordinance. Throughout this feast, on each day, a goat was offered, for a sin-offering. And though the burnt offerings declined in number from day to day, yet the sin-offering remained the same. The goat was considered sufficient at the close, as at the commencement.
This feast of tabernacles is mentioned but once in the New Testament, (John 7) The brethren of Jesus urged upon Him to manifest Himself openly to the world at this feast. But He tarried behind in Galilee. His time was not full come for chewing Himself to the world. The cross must precede that full time. He must be lifted up in order to draw all men unto Him. However, after " His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret." When there, He marked the lack of peace and joy which should have filled that city of God, especially at such a time. He heard the restless questionings and surmisings which disturbed the hearts of the people, and " about the midst of the feast, He went up into the temple and taught." He still confined Himself to the temple, and did not openly manifest Himself to the world. The Jews marveled at His knowledge of letters rather than at the deep subject which He taught. Just as in the present day the ear is attracted often by a sweet sound of God's truth, whilst the heart is unmoved by its solemn verities. A preacher is wondered at, it may be for his eloquence and earnestness; whilst the all-important doctrines which he enunciates are passed by.
The GREAT TEACHER sought in vain to direct them to the source from whence He Himself, as well as His doctrines proceeded, viz. to God.
At length, " in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture bath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet; became that Jesus was not yet glorified." Ver. 37, 38, 39.
The man of sorrows discerned under the seeming prosperity and gladness around Him, aching, unsatisfied hearts. The best feast under the law, with its great day, had given no lasting peace or joy. The booths, at first green and fresh, were now withered and dead; the sun poured its scorching beams through their lifeless branches; the burnt-offerings had dwindled down from thirteen to one. Though professing to know God, Israel was still ignorant of Him. The bounties of His hand, manifested in the full winefat and corn-floor, had not revealed, and indeed could not, the depth of His heart of love. Though in the promised land, the people had not entered GOD'S rest: they were still, as to their souls, wandering in a barren wilderness. " The feast of tabernacles" instead of being the crowning feast of the Lord, was but "a feast of the Jews." Wearied souls were still unsatiated, The True bread-corn had yet to be bruised, (Isa. 53 to;) the wine had yet to be pressed from the grape, (Psa. 38:22For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. (Psalm 38:2);) and the oil had yet to flow from the beaten olive. (Isa. 53:55But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5).)
Was this closing feast all that could be reached under the law? Was Israel to know no deeper spring of joy, no more lasting fountain of gladness than had been provided through this feast of tabernacles? The pent-up heart of the blessed Lord could be restrained no longer. Straitened though He felt, till He should have accomplished His baptism of judgment, yet He could not look upon this scene without pouring forth in anticipation the stream of living water. So He stood in the midst of the fading festivities, and cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." " The Rock Christ" was there with its great depths of life-" The wine and the milk" were there, though Israel knew it not. Jesus manifested Himself openly, as the fountain of living waters for every parched sinner, in anticipation of the time when the full tide of eternal life would flow from Him, smitten by the rod of God's power and wrath, over a waste desolate world.
The law, with its weak and beggarly elements, had accomplished nothing. It could give no life, no righteousness, no peace; and though bright gleams of future glory shone out here and there from its types and shadows, yet even those gleams of light could only be discerned by those who had through faith, been raised like Moses, above its grievous yoke; and who had been admitted into a friendship and acquaintance with God, which the law could never give.
What a mighty cry of the blessed Lord was this How it must have sounded forth in the midst of that city of unavailing solemnities, in the midst of those multitudes, the mirth of whose hearts was but as the crackling of thorns under a pot. And that cry which then commenced was taken up again by the same blessed One when brought into the dust of death. He Himself said, I THIRST; and having drank to the very dregs the full cup of woe at the hands of God; and having tasted the last bitter drop of hatred and malignity at the hands of man, He said, "It is finished "-the Rock was riven; the water of life burst forth. And still from the glory itself the cry sounds forth, before the closing day of judgment overtakes the world, "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
It was the eighth day when these memorable words of Grace were poured from the lips of the Son of God; a day especially typifying a resurrection period. The Lord Jesus therefore stands forth as Himself the resurrection and the life, and speaks of the Holy Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive after He was glorified. That Holy Spirit, would be an earnest of the inheritance; both a pledge to the believer of the future glory; and also revealing the first-fruits of that glory to his soul. See I Cor. u. 9,10,12. Even now through the blessed work and witness of the Comforter, the fruits of the promised inheritance are realized. "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart," are ministered from the glory to the way-worn pilgrim on earth. And though still toiling in the wilderness, he can say, "we which have believed do enter into rest." Heb. 4:33For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3). Already he has an earnest of the feast of tabernacles. And not only so, but he becomes through drinking of the smitten rock, himself a channel of living water to thirsty sinners round. "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture bath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life." Prov. 10:1111The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. (Proverbs 10:11). "The words of a man's mouth, are as deep waters; and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook." Prov. 18:44The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. (Proverbs 18:4). What a blessed contrast this to a throat an open Sepulcher; a tongue using deceit; lips concealing the poison of asps; and a mouth full of cursing and bitterness!
And what a wondrous change, to have rivers of living water flowing from within; instead of evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies, as the bitter streams which the natural heart can only pour forth.
But this "feast of tabernacles" has also a prophetic aspect to the believer, as well as to Israel in the future day of millennial glory.
By faith, we can even now look forward to that day when the Israel of God, the countless multitude gathered out of every nation, will be assembled in their eternal resting-place, around the throne of God and of the Lamb in his temple. The wilderness will be passed, the weariness, the hunger and thirst of the journey be known no more. The withering power of persecution, and fiery tribulation, will have ceased forever. The cup of joy will be full; and blessed freedom from every temptation, whether of Satan or of the flesh, will be rejoiced in forever. God's rest will be entered. There, the song will be, "Unto Him that loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." The value of the sin-offering will then indeed be appreciated: and the power of that blood to redeem, to cleanse, to preserve clean, and to present the sinner faultless before the presence of God's glory, will at length be realized.
And now, as we journey on towards that resurrection-day, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, faith's foretastes of the future will be mingled with a constant reference to Him who was made sin for us. The glory is inseparable from the cross; and the cross can never be severed from the glory.
One of the six goats' hair curtains. may have been intended to perpetuate the remembrance of the sin-offering, as connected with Israel's last feast, that of tabernacles.
It may be remarked that, on the great day of atonement, another goat was offered for sin, besides that above mentioned. (Num. 29:1111One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings. (Numbers 29:11).) In the case of all the sin-offerings, sacrificed during the feast, the blood was not carried into the holiest, but was' put upon the horns and poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering. Selected portions of the inwards were also burnt upon the same altar. The remainder of the victim became the portion of the priest. The only exception to this rule was the goat, (Lev. 16) the blood of which, being carried into the holiest, the whole sacrifice was burnt with fire outside the camp, and no portion consumed on the altar of burnt offering The feasts above alluded to have also a prophetic character, bearing on the second coming of the Lord Jesus. But it is not the object of the present exposition to enter into this deeply interesting subject.
There were two other occasions on which goats were offered as sin-offerings for Israel, as a people: the one (Lev. 9) on the consecration of the priesthood: the other (Num. 7) at the dedication of the altar. In the former case, the priests, Aaron and his sons, having themselves experienced the virtues of the sacrifices offered for them by Moses, took their place of priesthood, on the behalf of Israel, on the last day of their consecration, an eighth day. In the latter, each tribe was represented by its prince; and each prince presented precisely the same offerings and sacrifices at the dedication of the altar. Thus each Israelite could claim the value of the priesthood for himself; the whole people having been identified with the sacrifices on the eighth day of consecration; and the need of each tribe was equally expressed; and each stood alike accepted, through the offerings presented at the dedication of the altar.
So it is, even now, as it regards the Church of God. Christ has loved it, and given Himself for it, (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25),) and this love, and the value of this sacrifice, is equally true towards each individual in the Church. He loved us, and gave Himself for us, Eph. 5:22And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor. (Ephesians 5:2). He loved ME, and gave Himself for ME, Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). And if we measure the amount of our need and misery by reason of sin, each of us requires the whole virtue of the perfect sin-offering: the entire work of the great High Priest is indispensable for each, and each stands accepted in the Beloved, according to the full and unspeakable glory, dignity, and value of His person. Two other breadths of the second goats' hair curtain may have allusion to these sin-offerings, presented on the day of consecrations, and on the dedication of the altar.
Hitherto, we have considered the goat, as offered for a sin-offering on behalf of Israel collectively. The same animal might also be selected by an individual Israelite, fen a burnt-offering, Lev. 1:1010And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. (Leviticus 1:10)-for a peace offering, 3:12 -and for a sin or trespass-offering, 4:28, and v. 6. Thus the whole eleven curtains of goats' hair may embody a memorial of every sacrifice presented by an Israelite, but especially of the sin-offering presented for the whole people. Breadth for breadth, the beautiful inner curtains were accurately covered up by the goats' hair. Indeed, the whole building was enveloped in this fabric; as if to enunciate the great truth, that God could have no tabernacle amongst men, and could riot display His glory and beauty in the midst of them, unless His dwelling-place proclaimed, in every part, the fact that sin and infirmity had been fully met by a perfect sacrifice: and even death had yielded up a record of purity and holiness, fit to be perpetuated forever in His presence.
It has been before remarked, that these curtains of goats' hair are particularly specified as the tent; while the beautiful curtains are called the tabernacle.
coverings
tabernacle
A twofold object was attained by this construction.
The tabernacle formed a dwelling-place for God in the midst of His people. It was also a tent, where they could congregate for worship, for help, and blessing The goats' hair curtains recording the fact of the kid of the goats having been slain for sin; Jehovah was enabled to manifest His glory in the midst of His people, and to abide with them, notwithstanding their waywardness and evil.
Speaking from the tabernacle thus covered with its tent of goats' hair, God could say, " I have not beheld iniquity in Jacob: neither have I seen perverseness in Israel." The breath of the accuser was prevented from entering the holy places of God's dwelling: for an outspread record of abundant sacrifice proclaimed a full answer of atonement made to every accusation respecting sin: and the goats' hair curtains protected the tabernacle of God, breadth for breadth, from Israel's defilement. North, south, east, west, and heavenward, these eleven curtains witnessed to God's holiness, by proclaiming wide and far, that sin had been judged in the slain lamb; that iniquity was covered; and a hiding-place prepared, where the justified sinner was compassed about with songs of deliverance.
Also the tent of congregation was so fashioned as to keep in constant remembrance the important truth, that atonement must precede worship: and the priests themselves, who ministered in the holy place, might have learned, from the arrangement of the tabernacle, the order of our song of praise. " Unto Him that loveth us, and hath washed us from our sins in His. own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Rev. 1:5,65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6).)