A Lesson for the Times. (John 2:13-2213And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 18Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:13‑22).)
The world is growing old. The dark shadow of the future seems already falling over it. Christianity, God’s latest revelation to man, once seen in all its freshness and power in the first age of the Church, has been sadly corrupted. Large numbers, calling themselves Christians, appear to be such only in name. Infidelity is again boldly rearing its head, and forcing itself into prominence as the only rational position for creatures endowed with reason.
In such a time of acknowledged failure, what is the resource of God’s people — what are the means they should use — what the plan they should carry out, to keep alive the spirit of devotion, and to keep hearts true to Christ? An answer to tins question has been given by some, and is forced more and more on the attention of all; and we conclude there are but few of the readers of “Things New and Old” who have not met with it in some form or other. For what with a literature especially occupied with this subject, new books of devotion for children and adults, handbills advertising lectures for or against it, public discussions and sermons, the open advocacy of incense and recurrence to obsolete vestments, the exaltation of a human priesthood, and the doctrine of the real presence in the eucharistic elements; we are reminded that its advocates profess to be in the possession of the unfailing recipe for laying hold of the hearts of the multitude, christianizing the world, and reviving practical godliness. To any intelligent observer, such a movement naturally suggests the thought, Is it of God? Is this His way of advancing His kingdom, and giving new energy to those who own Jesus as Lord?
Where shall we turn to discover this, but to God’s word — the unfailing guide of His people in all ages, and the repository of His thoughts, so far as He has seen fit to unfold them? And scripture in this wall not fail us: for it furnishes us, from the history of Israel and their spiritual condition at the time of the Lord’s first passover after He commenced His ministry, with an example of what effects a ritual, divinely ordered and carried out with scrupulous exactness, has on the natural heart of man.
Brought out of Egypt, led through the wilderness, carried into Canaan, the nations subdued, then inheritance secured to them, they had witnessed, as no other people ever did, the power of God and the goodness of God. Separated from all the nations by ordinances delivered by God to Moses, with festivals of annual occurrence, sacrifices repeated each day, and facilities for voluntary offerings as often as they would: here was an opportunity to show to all the world how much a religion interwoven with ceremonies, each rite of which was the subject of divine revelation, could do for man in the flesh.
Did it keep alive in their hearts the knowledge of the living and true God? Before they reached the land of Canaan “they joined themselves unto Baal; yea, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.” “Have ye offered unto me,” says God, by Amos 5:2525Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? (Amos 5:25), “sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, Ο house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” Was this an isolated case of departure from God? For more than seven hundred years before the captivity of Israel the sacrifices, appointed by the law, had been offered up with little intermission in the land of their inheritance; yet, for near three hundred years before their captivity, the ten tribes had openly renounced the worship of Jehovah, and sacrificed to their calves and the abominations of the heathen. (See 2 Kings 17:17, 1817And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 18Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. (2 Kings 17:17‑18).) And Judah, where the temple of God was, and His altar likewise, at last followed the iniquity of Israel, and even surpassed them in erecting idolatrous altars in the house of the Lord, and carrying on abominable rites hard by that temple which Solomon had dedicated to the Lord of all the earth. Brought back from captivity, and the worship of God restored at Jerusalem, “ as it is written in the book of Moses” (Ezra 6:1818And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses. (Ezra 6:18)), idolatry was put away. But in what condition were the people? Malachi attests their neglect of God’s house and want of regard for Him; and the work of the Lord in the temple, recorded in the passage before us, shows forth their forgetfulness of His character and His holiness.
It was not so much on this occasion Messiah presenting Himself to the people, that He did afterward more fully, but Jesus surveying the spiritual condition of the Jews, and exercising authority in God’s house, as His Son. He reproves them. For what? Laxity in legal observances? Of that there was no evidence. Want of scrupulous regard to the teaching of the elders? None could justly charge them with this. Of the washing of cups, and platters, brazen vessels, and of tables, there was no lack. Water for purification after the manner of the Jews was at hand in abundance. Their zeal for the sabbath was notorious. The mere suspicion of a Gentile having entered the court of the Jews was sufficient to sot the city in an uproar. They would refrain, too, from entering into Pilate’s judgment-hall that they might be undefiled in order to eat of the passover. But with all this professed reverence for the things of God, where was the sense of God’s presence in His sanctuary? It was lost. They had the ritual, they kept most punctiliously the outward observances of the law, and yet remained regardless of what befitted the sacred character of God’s house. What an exposure this was of religiousness without religion! Religion means the rebinding of the soul to God. Could that be said to characterize those who made the Father’s house a house of merchandize? What excuses could be offered for such conduct? Many, perhaps, if they thought only of their convenience; hut none, if they thought for one moment of God. One word from the Lord settles the whole matter, and puts it in a clear light. And this took place at the passover, the feast which of all others was connected with the display of Jehovah’s power. Pentecost told of goodness annually vouchsafed them in the land. Tabernacles recalled their dwelling in booths in the wilderness, contrasted with their enjoyment of all the fruits of Canaan. Passover commemorated power exerted to deliver them from the slavery of Egypt. To this feast Jesus went up; and at that season finds the Jews destitute of a right conception of the sanctity of Jehovah’s house. And in Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judaism, where the teachers and lawyers congregated, and in the temple where the high priest officiated, the Lord had thus publicly to rebuke them, and not one of the chief priests or scribes, that we read of, expressed his approval of His act.
Was this insensibility the result of long habit, which needed only to be pointed out to be corrected? See these same people three years afterward, when the Lord Jehovah visits His temple. The chief priests and scribes heard His rebuke a second time administered, saw Him act with authority again, and sought — but what? — how they might destroy Him. (Matt. 11:1818For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. (Matthew 11:18).) Fifteen centuries (speaking in round numbers) of nearly uninterrupted ritual observance finds this people, at its close, destitute practically of a right knowledge of God; and ready, on the first opportunity, to crucify the Messiah, the only hope and deliverer of the nation.
But another startling fact is made apparent: whilst burning with zeal for Moses, they were incapable of understanding the words and actions of the Prophet, to whom Moses had commanded them to hearken. They asked for a sign as the law authorized (Deut. 18:20-2220But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20‑22)): He gave them a sign, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They understood this of the building before them; He spake of His body. Misunderstanding His words then, they afterward perverted what He had said. He said, “Destroy;” He was accused of saying, “I will destroy.” Before the high priest two false witnesses averred this. At the cross, the chief priests taunted Him with it. Would God’s Son destroy God’s temple? They might, and did. Little knew they to whom they spoke, as He hung on that cross. Little knew they of what He had spoken.
What then, it is pertinent to ask, did a ritual, surpassed by none in splendor, do for Israel? It did not keep them from idolatry. It did not succeed in impressing them with a right sense of the holiness of their God. It did not preserve them from crucifying the Son of God. Then history shows, as clearly as any can, that the observance of ceremonies, however minute, of sacrificial rites, however varied, with priestly robes, however rich and elaborate, has no power to allay the enmity of man’s heart, or lead it a willing captive to the feet of Jesus. Never can there be a better opening for its success than Israel afforded. Never can there be a more decided failure than in their history is recorded. Yet God will establish again, at Jerusalem, a ritual similar to what He gave them at Sinai. But when? Let the reader mark this, and learn its significance and its bearing on the movement around us. When Israel shall be converted, with a new heart and right spirit, and God’s law written upon their hearts. See Ezekiel 36:26; 40-4826A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
26And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof. 27And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred cubits. 28And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; 29And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 30And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad. 31And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps. 32And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures. 33And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, were according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 34And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps. 35And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures; 36The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 37And the posts thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps. 38And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt offering. 39And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. 40And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables. 41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices. 42And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice. 43And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering. 44And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. 45And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house. 46And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the Lord to minister unto him. 47So he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house. 48And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 49The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side. 1Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. 2And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. 3Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. 4So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. 5After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. 6And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house. 7And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. 8I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. 9The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. 10And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. 11And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. 12Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. 13So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long; 14Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. 15And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court; 16The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered; 17To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. 18And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; 19So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about. 20From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. 21The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. 22The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the Lord. 23And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door. 25And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without. 26And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks. 1Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north. 2Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. 3Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. 4And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north. 5Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building. 6For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. 7And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits. 8For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred cubits. 9And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the utter court. 10The chambers were in the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, over against the separate place, and over against the building. 11And the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors. 12And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them. 13Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the Lord shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. 14When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people. 15Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. 16He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 17He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 18He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed. 19He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. 20He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. 1Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: 2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. 3And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. 4And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 5So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. 6And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. 7And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. 8In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. 9Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. 10Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. 11And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. 12This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 13And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar. 14And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. 15So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. 16And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. 17And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east. 18And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. 19And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering. 20And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it. 21Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. 22And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. 23When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. 24And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 25Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. 26Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. 27And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God. 1Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. 2Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. 4Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell upon my face. 5And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. 6And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, 7In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. 8And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. 9Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. 10And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. 11Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 12Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 14But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. 15But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: 16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. 17And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. 19And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. 20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. 21Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. 22Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. 23And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 24And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. 25And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. 26And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. 27And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God. 28And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. 29They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. 31The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. 1Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. 2Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. 3And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place. 4The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary. 5And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty chambers. 6And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel. 7And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border. 8In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. 9Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God. 10Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. 11The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer. 12And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. 13This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley: 14Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer: 15And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God. 16All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel. 17And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. 18Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary: 19And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house. 21In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. 23And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. 24And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah. 25In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil. 1Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. 4And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. 5And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah. 6And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish. 7And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah. 8And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. 9But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it. 10And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth. 11And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah. 12Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate. 13Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning. 14And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord. 15Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering. 16Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance. 17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them. 18Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession. 19After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward. 20Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people. 21Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. 22In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure. 23And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about. 24Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people. 1Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. 2Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. 4Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 5Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 6And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. 7Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 10And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 11But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. 12And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. 13Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. 14And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. 15And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; 16Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. 17And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. 18And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. 19And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward. 20The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side. 21So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. 22And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God. 1Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan. 2And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher. 3And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. 4And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh. 5And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim. 6And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben. 7And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah. 8And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. 9The oblation that ye shall offer unto the Lord shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth. 10And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof. 11It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. 13And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 14And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the Lord. 15And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. 16And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 17And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 18And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city. 19And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. 20All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. 21And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof. 22Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. 23As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. 24And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. 25And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion. 26And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion. (Ezekiel 40:26‑48); Jer. 31:2121Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. (Jeremiah 31:21).
Till then what is to be done? How will God carry on His work? How does He keep the hearts of His people in a day of increasing apostasy, and in the midst of a mass of profession, very similar to what existed in Israel when the Lord was on the earth? He acts now as then. What rites and ceremonies cannot affect, His word can. By that He would instruct. By that He would guide. We get tins beautifully illustrated in the history before us.
Whilst the Jews were preparing to ask by what authority He acted, unauthorized by the high priest, unsanctioned by the Scribes and Pharisees, “the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” What more appropriate sentence in the whole volume could they have found than this? Doubtless, the Holy Ghost brought it to their remembrance. It was just the key to the whole matter. It told of one who would be consumed by zeal for God’s house; and His action in the temple that day illustrates the words of the psalmist, written centuries before. What the doctors, who had disputed with the child Jesus eighteen years previous to this, in that same house, well versed as they were, surely, in all the wisdom of the elders, did not remember, a few poor Galilean fishermen did. But observe, they were disciples before they remembered tins. Is there not instruction for us here? In a day of abounding profession these disciples of the Lord were reminded, not by any of the authorized teachers in Israel, not by any of all those that were present of that word which would explain the new character in which their Master then appeared. God had His eye on those few and insignificant men, and though the Lord vouchsafed a sign when asked, before the Jews got their sign, or even, it would seem, had asked for it, the disciples had that from God which answered any question that might arise in their mind. God’s word they found that day suited for the occasion.
Further, we must remember, that there is a timely use of that word. We may misapply it, and so fall into great mistakes. We may misinterpret it, and so disseminate grievous errors. This was just what the chief priests and scribes did. This was just what the disciples, kept by God, did not. The chief priests made use of His words at a wrong time, and applied them in a wrong way. They remembered them before His death; but the disciples, after. For we read, “When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scriptures and the words which Jesus had said.” So again we find in this narrative the position of the Jews and disciples contrasted. And of whom were they disciples? — not of Moses: that the Jews called themselves, not merely of God: that the Jews laid claim to be equally with them — but of Jesus, God’s Son. To them, and them only, were the words in both cases recalled: the right words and at the right time; and enlightenment came to them by the word. Is it not the same now? We want a recurrence to the word, not a recurrence to ceremonies. We need to be reminded of what God has revealed, not a clearer apprehension of what man has invented.
Such has ever been God’s way. David owned it when he wrote, “Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” (Psalm 17:44Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. (Psalm 17:4).) We see it was God’s way in the days of Paul, when, warning the Ephesians elders of the errors that would spring up in their midst, he commends them to God, and to the word of His grace, which was able to build them up, and give them an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Years after, just before he closed his earthly career, he exhorts Timothy to preach the word, to be instant in season, out of season; adding the significant warning, “for the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine.” (2 Tim. 4:2, 32Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2 Timothy 4:2‑3).) Paul had personally experienced, and Timothy probably, what a religion of ordinances, appointed even by God, could do. They had given it up, had cast away the shadow for the substance; the sacrifices continually offered up under the law for the one sacrifice once for all offered up on the cross; the fragrance of incense for the merits of Christ; the earthly high priest for the heavenly High Priest; the priesthood of the house of Aaron for the common priesthood of all believers.
Shall we go back to what they had renounced? Should we seek to set up what they had abandoned? A religion of ordinances is a religion for an earthly people. It is a going back in worship, as too many have, in heart, gone back in doctrine, to the position of Israel under the law. We would remind such that the only ritual God ever sanctioned is thus described by His Spirit, “a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Col. 2:1717Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:17).) Our part now is to imitate those Galilean fishermen in following Christ — and we shall surely find, as they did, God’s word will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.