“Thou that: dwellest between the Cherubim, shine forth.”
As the godly Israelite of old gazed upon Jerusalem, it was not simply the architectural beauty of the palaces of Zion, nor the surpassing beauty and magnificence of that “holy and beautiful house,” which stood upon Mount Moriah, that caused him to pronounce “the beloved city” to be “the perfection of beauty.” Nor was it simply, the intrinsic value of the gold, the silver, and the costly stones which adorned and were contained within the Temple, that constrained him to confess the “city of God” to be “the joy of the whole earth.”
Why did his soul “long” and “faint” for the courts of the Lord? Because the beauty of the Lord was seen within the precincts of the city God had chosen, to put his name there, because the Lord’s presence was manifested in His holy Temple. What had been the value of all its gold and silver, if the Lord had not deigned to manifest His presence, in the house called by His name?
Before we proceed, however, to speak of the glory which Jehovah caused to fill Solomon’s Temple, it may be well for us to observe how the Lord had previously manifested His presence on earth.
By a “voice” Adam and Eve were made aware of the Lord’s presence in Eden. The earliest allusion to the Shekinah glory appears to be the “smoking furnace,” and “ lamp of fire,” which Abram saw pass between the divided carcasses, in ratification of the covenant which the Lord made with him concerning his seed (Genesis 15:17). Jacob saw a glorious ladder which reached up to heaven, and Moses beheld the burning bush. We must not, however, dwell upon these, nor more than mention the “thunders and lightnings,” the “thick cloud” and the “voice of a trumpet exceeding loud,” which attended the Lord’s descent upon Sinai in fire. For the people were not suffered to break through, to gaze, while the glory of the Lord abode upon that mountain. Even Moses might only gaze upon the “back parts;” after seeing which his face shone so that Israel could not behold him unveiled.
We now particularly refer to that cloud, by means of which Jehovah led Israel through “the great and terrible wilderness”; to that pillar of cloud and of fire, which was at once the guide, the shield, and the confidence of Israel. Above the Tabernacle it appeared as a pillar of cloud, but within the Holy of Holies, over the Mercy-seat, the brilliancy of its glory was so exceeding great that, when the high priest entered within the veil to sprinkle the blood of Atonement, it was necessary that a cloud of incense should ascend between himself and that glory, lest he should die (Leviticus 16:12, 13).
But the glory departed from Israel! 1 Samuel 3:3 evidently refers to a period when the cloud was no longer outwardly discerned by Israel. And a brief comparison of the entire verse with Leviticus 24:2-4, will, doubtless, be sufficient to convince the reader that t Sam. iii. 3 does not refer-as many have supposed-simply to the light of the seven lamps of the golden candlestick, which stood without the veil. If any one of these lamps went out, a priest might soon restore its light; but when Jehovah withdrew the glory which shone “where the ark of God was,” it was beyond man’s power to restore this. Before the Lord “forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh “-before the dying wife of Phinehas named her babe, “Ichabod”—the Lord “came, and stood, and called, Samuel!” which child He established to be a prophet of the Lord.
The glory had departed would it ever return? To discover how intensely the godly Israelite longed for the restoration of the glory—how vehement was his desire that Jehovah would once more mercifully “cause His face to shine” upon Israel, we have only to turn to Psalms 67; 80 &c.
This was the one great desire of the thousands who were assembled within the courts of the Temple, upon the day of its dedication.
The ark had been borne into its resting place, and “the song of the Lord” was being sung, when the house was filled with a cloud. “Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.......But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built!”
They behold the “thick darkness!” Will He “that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth?”
When Solomon had made an end of praying, “fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering” &c. and “the glory of the Lord filled the house.” And when all the people saw “the fire,” and “the glory of the Lord upon the house “—that glory which had been the joy and confidence of their fathers, and the terror and dread of former enemies of Israel (Exodus 14:24); that glory which once and again had appeared at the door of the tabernacle, when Israel’s backslidings in the wilderness called forth instant judgment—that glory now displayed in grace,—with one accord” they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.”
That glorious manifestation of the Divine presence in the Temple was, to Israel, a pledge of the fulfillment of Jehovah’s gracious promise:— “This is my rest forever: here will I dwell for I have desired it.”
Well might they sing in rapturous strains, “The Lord is in His holy temple.”
Well might their hearts overflow with joy, as they hereafter sing one to another: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.”
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.
O come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God;
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.”
It was the knowledge that the Lord was present in that Temple, that caused the godly Israelite to count one day, spent in the courts of the Lord, “ better than a thousand” spent elsewhere, that enabled him to confess the one desire of his heart to be that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, “ to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple,” that constrained him, in the privacy of his own house, to worship towards God’s Holy Temple.
Would the Shekinah glory—so graciously restored to Israel—abide upon and continue to fill the Temple at Jerusalem? “The Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.... Now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name might be there forever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.” By this unconditional promise, Jehovah assured Israel that He would ever be present in the place which He had chosen to put His name there. We also read in Psalms 132:13, 14: “For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation.
This is my rest forever;
Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”
We will not now linger to meditate upon these; for in a subsequent paper, if the Lord will, we shall have occasion again to refer to them. We therefore pass on, without delay, to notice that the unconditional promise contained in 2 Chronicles 7:16, is immediately followed by a conditional promise specially relating to the throne of the kingdom. —If Solomon and his successors failed not to serve the Lord there should not fail of them a man to be ruler in Israel.
This again is followed by a most solemn warning:-”But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a by-word among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to everyone that passeth by it; so that he shall say Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.” The foregoing warning, while it in no way conflicts with the unconditional promises (as to the abiding presence of Jehovah in Zion) which have already been referred to, was sufficient testimony to Israel to the effect that if they hereafter proved unfaithful to Jehovah, not only should the glorious manifestation of the divine presence be withdrawn from the Temple, but the very calamities which should overtake that building should witness among all nations that Israel had forsaken the Lord, and had served other gods.
(to be continued.)