porch and side buildings. In Ezekiel's vision not only is the sanctuary a square of 500 reeds (Ezek. xlii. 15-20, xlv. 2), but the inner court (chap, xl. 23, 27, 47), the paved space in the outer court (xl. 19), and other parts also, are all in the form of squares. The city opposite to the temple was a square of 4500 reeds (chap, xlviii. 16), and the suburbs a square of 250 reeds on every side (ver. 17). The idea thus symbolically expressed is, that the temple and city, and in fact the whole of the holy ground, already approximate to the form of the most holy place. Both the city and temple are still distinct from one another, although they both stand upon holy ground in the midst of the land (chap, xlvii. and xlviii.); and in the temple itself the distinction between the holy place and the most holy is still maintained, although the most holy place is no longer separated by a curtain from the holy place; and in the same manner the distinction is still maintained between the temple-building and the courts, though the latter have acquired much greater importance than in Solomon's temple, and are very minutely described, whereas they are only very briefly referred to in the case of Solomon's temple. The sanctuary which Ezekiel saw, however, was only a symbol of the renewed and glorified kingdom of God, not of the perfected kingdom. This was first shown to the holy seer in Patmos, in the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, as it appeared in a perfect cubical form.
Chap, xxvii. 1-8. The Altar of Burnt-offering (cf. chap, xxxviii. 1-7). — " Make the altar (the altar of burnt-offeriog, according to chap, xxxviii. 1) of acacia-wood^ jive cubits long, and five cubits broad (i?l2"] " foured/' i.e, four-sided or quadrangular), and three cubits high. At its four corners shall its horns be from (out of) i^/' i.e, not removable, but as if growing out of it. These horns were projections at the corners of the altar, formed to imitate in all probability the horns of oxen, and in these the whole force of the altar was concentrated. The blood of the sinoffering was therefore smeared upon them (Lev. iv. 7), and those who fled to the altar to save their lives laid hold of them (vid, chap. xxi. 14, and 1 Kings i. 50; also my commentary on the passage). The altar was to be covered with copper or brass, and all the things used in connection with it were to be made of brass. These were, — (1) the pans^ to cleanse it of the ashes of the fat (ver. 3: jt^^., a denom. verb from 1^^"^ the ashes of fat, that is to say, the ashes that arose from burning the flesh of the sacrifice upon the altar, has a privative meaning, and signifies " to ash away," i.e. to cleanse from ashes); (2) Ci-^VJ shovels, from nyj to take away (Isa. xxviii. 17); (3) ^^P'JIP, things used for sprinkling the blood, from P^T to sprinkle; (4) ri\PtD forks, flesh-hooks (cf. ^2\^ 1 Sam. ii. 13); (5) rinriD coal-scoops (cf. xxv. 38). "lil 1 v3 v^p: either " for all the vessels thereof thou shalt make brass," or " as for all its vessels, thou shalt make (them) of brass." — Ver. 4. The altar was to have "i^^p a grating, ri^*"j >^'^VJ^ net-work, i.e, a covering of brass made in the form of a net, of larger dimensions than the sides of the altar, for this grating was to be under the " compass" (^^")3) of the altar from beneath, and to reach to the half of it (half-way up, ver. 5); and in it, i.e, at the four ends (or corners) of it, four brass rings were to be fastened, for the poles to carry it with. n3"i3 (from ^2")3 circumdedit) only occurs here and in chap, xxxviii. 4, and signifies a border (^??^ Targums), i.e, a projecting framework or bench running round the four sides of the altar, about half a cubit or a cubit broad, nailed to the walls (of the altar) on the outside, and fastened more firmly to them by the copper covering which was common to both. The copper grating was below this bench, and on the outside. The bench rested upon it, or rather it hung from the outer edge of the bench and rested upon the ground, like the inner chest, which it surrounded on all four sides, and in which there were no perforations. It formed with the bench or carcob a projecting footing, which caused the lower half of the altar to look broader than the upper on every side. The priest stood upon this carcob or bench when offering sacrifice, or when placing the wood, or doing anything else upon the altar. This explains Aaron's coming down (T]J) from the altar (Lev. ix. 22); and there is no necessity to suppose that there were steps to the altar, as Knobel does in opposition to chap. xx. 2Q, For even if the height of the altar, viz. three cubits, would be so great that a bench half-way up would be too high for any one to step up to, the earth could be slightly raised on one side so as to make the ascent perfectly easy; and when the priest was standing upon the bench, he could perform all that was necessary upon the top of the altar without any difficulty. — Vers. 6, 7. The poles were to be made of acacia-wood, and covered with brass, and to be placed in the rings that were fixed in the two sides for the purpose of carrying the altar. The additional instructions in ver. 8, " hollow with tables shalt thou make it, as it was showed thee in the mount" (cf. xxv. 9), refer apparently, if we judge from chap. xx. 24, 25, simply to the wooden framework of the altar, which was covered with brass, and which was filled with earth, or gravel and stones, when the altar was about to be used, the whole being levelled so as to form a hearth. The shape thus given to the altar of burnt-offering corresponded to the other objects in the sanctuary. It could also be carried about with ease, and fixed in any place, and could be used for burning the sacrifices without the wooden walls being injured by the fire.
Vers. 9-19 (cf. chap, xxxviii. 9-20). The Court of the dwelling was to consist of ^''V^iP " hangings" of spun byssus, and pillars with brass (copper) sockets, and hooks and fastenings for the pillars of silver. The pillars were of course made of acaciawood; they were five cubits high, with silvered capitals (chap, xxxviii. 17, 19), and carried the hangings, which were fastened to them by means of the hooks and fastenings. There "were twenty of them on both the southern and northern sides, and the length of the drapery on each of these sides was 100 cubits (HDxn nijPj 100 {sc. measured) by the cubit), so that the court was a hundred cubits long (ver. 18). — Vers. 12, 13. " As for the breadth of the court on the west side, (there shall be) curtains fifty cubits; their pillars twenty; and the breadth of the court towards the front, on the east side, fifty cubits" The front is divided in vers. 14-16 into two ^^^, lit. shoulders, i.e. sides or side-pieces, each consisting of 15 cubits of hangings and three pillars with their sockets, and a doorway (^V^), naturally in the middle, which was covered by a curtain ("^99) foi'nnLGd of the same material as the covering at the entrance to the dwelling, of 20 cubits in length, with four pillars and the same number of sockets. The pillars were therefore equidistant from one another, viz. 5 cubits apart. Their total number was 60 (not 5Q), which was the number required, at the distance mentioned, to surround a quadrangular space of 100 cubits long and 50 cubits broad.^ — Ver. 17. All the pillars of the court round about (shall be) bound with connecting rods of silver T As the rods connecting the pillars of the court were of silver, and those connecting the pillars at the entrance to the dwelling were of wood overlaid with gold, the former must have been intended for a different purpose from the latter, simply serving as rods to which to fasten the hangings, whereas those at the door of the dwelling formed an architrave. The height of the hangings of the court and the covering of the door is given in chap, xxxviii. 18 as 5 cubits, corresponding to the height of the pillars given in ver. 18 of the chapter before
* Although any one may easily convince himself of the correctness of these numbers by drawing a figure, Knohel has revived Philo's erroneous statement about 56 pillars and the double reckoning of the pillars in the corner. And the statement in vers. 14-16, that three pillars were to be made in front to carry the hangings on either side of the door, and four to carry the curtain which covered the entrance, may be easily shown to be correct, notwithstanding the fact that, as every drawing shows, four pillars would be required, and not three only, to carry 15 cubits of hangings, and five (not four) to carry a curtain 20 cubits broad, if the pillars were to be placed 5 cubits apart; for the corner pillars, as belonging to both sides, and the pillars which stood between the hangings and the curtain on either side, could only be reckoned as halves in connection with each side or each post; and in reckoning the number of pillars according to the method adopted in every other case, the pillar from which you start would not be reckoned at all. Now, if you count the pillars of the eastern side upon this principle (starting from a corner pillar, which is not reckoned, because it is the starting-point and is the last pillar of the side wall), you have 1, 2, 3, then 1, 2, 3, 4, and then again 1, 2, 3; that is to say, 3 pillars for each wing and 4 for the curtain, although the hangings of each wing would really be supported by 4 pillars, and the curtain in the middle by 5.
us; but the expression in chap, xxxviii. 18, "the height in the breadth," is a singular one, and ^ni is probably to be understood in the sense of SH") door-place or door-way, — the meaning of the passage being, "the height of the covering in the doorway." In ver. 18, " 50 everywhere," TrevTTjKovra iirl TTevrrjKOvra (LXX.), lit. 50 by 50, is to be understood as relating to the extent towards the north and south; and the reading of the Samaritan text, viz. nDt<3 for D"'K^Dn3, is merely the result of an arbitrary attempt to bring the text into conformity with the previous riGNll ntjPj whilst' the LXX., on the other hand, by an equally arbitrary change, have rendered the passage eKarov i(f>' eKcurov, — Ver. 19. " All the vessels of the dwelling in all the work thereof (i.e. all the tools needed for the tabernacle), a7id all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, (shall be of) brass or copper." The vessels of the dwelling are not the things required for the performance of worship, but the tools used in setting up the tabernacle and taking it down again.
If we inquire still further into the design and meaning of the court, the erection of a court surrounding the dwelling on all four sides is to be traced to the same circumstance as that which rendered it necessary to divide the dwelling itself into two parts, viz. to the fact, that on account of the unholiness of the nation, it could not come directly into the presence of Jehovah, until the sin which separates unholy man from the holy God had been atoned for. Although, by virtue of theii* election as the children of Jehovah, or their adoption as the nation of God, it was intended that the Israelites should be received by the Lord into His house, and dwell as a son in his father's houSe; yet under the economy of the law, which only produced the knowledge of sin, uncleanness, and unholiness, their fellowship with Jehovah, the Holy One, could only be sustained through mediators appointed and sanctified by God: viz. at the institution of the covenant, through His servant Moses; and during the existence of this covenant, through the chosen priests of the family of Aaron. It was through them that the Lord was to be approached, and the nation to be brought near to Him. Every day, therefore, they entered the holy place of the dwelling, to offer to the Lord the sacrifices of prayer and the fruits of the people's earthly vocation. But even they were not allowed to go into the immediate presence of the holy God. The most holy place, where God was enthroned, was hidden from them by the curtain, and only once a year was the high priest permitted, as the head of the whole congregation, which was called to be the holy nation of God, to lift this curtain and appear before God with the atoning blood of the sacrifice and the cloud of incense (Lev. xvi.). The access of the nation to its God was restricted to the court. There it could receive from the Lord, through the medium of the sacrifices which it offered upon the altar of burnt-offering, the expiation of its sins, His grace and blessing, and strength to live anew. Whilst the dwelling itself represented the house of God, the dwelling«-place of Jehovah in the midst of His people (chap, xxiii. 19; Josh. vi. 24; 1 Sam. i. 7, 24, etc*), the palace of the God-King, in which the priestly nation drew near to Him (1 Sam. i. 9, iii. 3; Ps. v. 8, xxvii. 4, 6); the court which suiTounded the dwelling represented the kingdom of the God-King, the covenant land or dwelling-place of Israel in the kingdom of its God. In accordance with this purpose, the court was in the form of an oblong, to exhibit its character as part of the kingdom of God. But its pillars and hangings were only ^.ve cubits high, i,e, half the height of the dwelling, to set forth the character of incompleteness, or of the threshold to the sanctuary of God. All its vessels were of copper-brass, which, being allied to the earth in both colour and material, was a symbolical representation of the earthly side of the kingdom of God; whereas the silver of the capitals of the pillars, and. of the hooks and rods which sustained the hangings, as well as the white colour of the byssus-hangings, might point to the holiness of this site for the kingdom of God. On the other hand, in the gliding of the capitals of the pillars at the entrance to the dwelling, and the brass of their sockets, we find gold and silver combined, to set forth the union of the court with the sanctuary, i.e. the union of the dwelling-place of Israel with the dwelling-place of its God, which is reahzed in the kingdom of God.
The design and significance of the court culminated in the altar of burnt-offering, the principal object in the court; and upon this the burnt-offerings and slain-offerlngs, in which the covenant nation consecrated itself as a possession to its God, were burnt. The heart of this altar was of earth or unhewn stones, having the character of earth, not only on account of its being appointed as the place of sacrifice and as the hearth for the offerings, but because the earth itself formed the real or material sphere for the kingdom of God in the Old Testament stage of its development. This heart of earth was elevated by the square copper covering into a vessel of the sanctuary, a place where Jehovah would record Hi? name, and come to Israel and bless them (chap. xx. 24, cf. xxix. 42, 44), and was consecrated as a place of sacrifice, by means of which Israel could raise itself to the Lord, and ascend to Him in the sacrifice. And this significance of the altar culminated in its horns, upon which the blood of the sin-offering was smeared. Just as, in the case of the horned animals, their strength and beauty are concentrated in the horns, and the horn has become in consequence a symbol of strength, or of fulness of vital energy; so the significance of the altar as a place of the saving and life-giving power of God, which the Lord bestows upon His people in His kingdom, was concentrated in the horns of the altar.
Yers. 20 and 21. The instructions concerning the Oil for THE Candlestick, and the daily trimming of the lamps by the priests, form a transition from the fitting up of the sanctuary to the installation of its servants. — Ver. 20. The sons of Israel were to bring to Moses {lit, fetch to thee) olive oil, pure (i.e. prepared from olives " which had been cleansed from leaves, twigs, dust, etc., before they were crushed "), beaten, i.e., obtained not by crushing in oil-presses, but by beating, when the oil which flows out by itself is of the finest quality and a white colour. This oil was to be " for the candlestick to set up a continual light." — Yer. 21. 'Aaron and his sons were to prepare this light in the tabernacle outside the curtain, which was over the testimony (i.e. whiqji covered or concealed it), from evening to morning, before Jehovah. " The tabernacle of the congregation," lit. tent of assembly: this expression is applied to the sanctuary for the first time in the present passage, but it afterwards became the usual appellation, and accords both with its structure and design, as it was a tent in style, and was set apart as the place where Jehovah would meet with the Israelites and commune with them (chap. xxv. 22). The ordering of the light from evening to morning consisted, according to chap. xxx. 7, 8, and Lev. xxiv. 3, 4, in placing the lamps upon the candlestick in the evening and lighting them, that they might give light through the night, and then cleaning them in the morning and filling them with fresh oil. The words " a statute for ever unto their generations (see at chap. xii. 14) on the part of the children of Israel," are to be understood as referring not merely to the gift of oil to be made by the Israelites for all time, but to the preparation of the light, which was to be regarded as of perpetual obligation and worth. " For ever," in the same sense as in Gen. xvii. 7 and 13 (see vol. i. p. 227).
Chap, xxviii. (cf. xxxix. 1-31). Appointment and Clothing OF THE Peiests. — Yers. 1, 5. " Let Aaron thy brother draw near to thee from among the children of Israel^ and his sons with him, that he may he a priest to Me^ Moses is distinguished from the people as the mediator of the covenant. Hence he was to cause Aaron and his sons to come to him, i.e. to separate them from the people, and install them as priests, or perpetual mediators between Jehovah and His people. The primary meaning of cohen, the priest, has been retained in the Arabic, where it signifies administrator alieni negotii, viz. to act as a mediator for a person, or as his plenipotentiary, from which it came to be employed chiefly in connection with priestly acts. Among the heathen Arabs it is used " maxime de hariolis vatibusque;" by the Hebrews it was mostly applied to the priests of Jehovah; and there are only a few places in which it is used in connection with the higher officers of state, who stood next to the king, and acted as it were as mediators between the king and the nation (thus 2 Sam. viii. 18, xx. 26; 1 Kings iv. 5). For the duties of their office the priests were to receive " holy garments for glory and for honourJ^ Before they could draw near to Jehovah the Holy One (Lev. xi. 45), it was necessary that their unholiness should be covered over with holy clothes, which were to be made by men endowed with wisdom, whom Jehovah had filled with the spirit of wisdom. " Wise-hearted!^ i.e. gifted with understanding and judgment; the heart being regarded as the birth-place of the thoughts. In the Old Testament wisdom is constantly used for practical intelligence in the affairs of life; here, for example, it is equivalent to artistic skill surpassing man's natural ability, which is therefore described as being filled with the divine spirit of wisdom. These clothes were to be used ^^ to sanctify him (Aaron and his sons), that he might be a priest to Jehovah.'* Sanctification, as the indispensable condition of priestly service, was not merely the removal of the uncleanness which flowed from sin, but, as it were, the transformation of the natural into the glory of the image of God. In this sense the holy clothing served the priest for glory and ornament. The different portions of the priest's state-dress mentioned in ver. 4 are described more fully afterwards. For making them, the skilled artists were to take the gold, the hyacinth, etc. The definite article is used before gold and the following words, because the particular materials, which would be presented by the people, are here referred to.
Vers. 6-14. The yirs^ part mentioned of Aaron's holy dress, i.e, of the official dress of the high priest, is the ephod. The etymology of this word is uncertain; the Sept, rendering is e7ro)fiL<; {Vulg. superhumerale, shoulder-dress; Luther^ ^'bodycoat"). It was to be made of gold, hyacinth, etc., artistically woven, — of the same material, therefore, as the inner drapery and curtain of the tabernacle; but instead of having the figures of cherubim woven into it, it was to be worked throughout with gold, i.e, with gold thread. According to chap, xxxix. 3, the gold plates used for the purpose were beaten out, and then threads were cut (from them), to be worked into the hyacinth, purple, scarlet, and byssus. It follows from this, that gold threads were taken for every one of these four yarns, and woven with them.^ — Ver. 7. " Two connecting shoulder-pieces shall it have for its two ends, that it may be bound together." If we compare the statement in chap, xxxix. 4, — " shoulder-pieces they made for it, connecting; at its two ends was it connected," — there can hardly be any doubt that the ephod consisted of two pieces, which were connected together at the top upon (over) the shoulders; and that Knohel is wrong in supposing that it consisted of a single piece, with a hole cut on each side for the arms to be put through. If it had b^en a compact garment, which had to be drawn over the head like the robe (vers. 31, 32), the
^ The art of weaving fabrics with gold thread (cf. Plin. h. n. 33, c. 3, s. 19, " aurum netur ac texitur lanse modo et sine lana "), was known in ancient Egypt. " Among the coloured Egyptian costumes which are represented upon the monuments, there are some that are probably woven with gold thread." — Wilkinson 3, 131, Uenystenherj^ Egypt, etc., p. 140.
opening for the head would certainly have been mentioned, as it is in the case of the latter (ver. 32). The words of the text point most decidedly to the rabbinical idea, that it consisted of two pieces reaching to about the hip, one hangmg over the breast, the other down the back, and that it was constructed with two shoulder-pieces which joined the two together. These shoulderpieces were not made separate, however, and" then sewed upon one of the pieces; but they were woven along with the front piece, and that not merely at the top, so as to cover the shoulders when the ephod was worn, but according to ver. 25 (? 27), reaching down on both sides from the shoulders to the girdle (ver. 8). — Ver. 8. ''And the girdle of its putting on which (is) upon itj shall be of it, like its work, gold, etc." There was to be a girdle upon the ephod, of the same material and the same artistic work as the ephod, and joined to it, not separated from it. The n^'n mentioned along with the ephod cannot mean ixhaafxa, textura (LXX., Cler,, etc.), but is to be traced to ^^^H = K^^n to bind, to fasten, and to be understood in the sense of cingidum, a girdle (compare chap. xxix. 5 with Lev. viii. 7, " he girded him with the girdle of the ephod"). rriDX is no doubt to be derived from ^'^^y and signifies the putting on of the ephod. In Isa. XXX. 22 it is applied to the covering of a statue; at the same time, this does not warrant us in attributing to the verb, as used in chap. ix. 5 and Lev. viii. 7, the meaning, to put on or clothe. This girdle, by which the two parts of the ephod were fastened tightly to the body, so as not to hang loose, was attached to the lower part or extremity of the ephod, so that it was fastened round the body below the breastplate (cf. vers. 27, 28, chap, xxxix. 20, 21). — Vers. 9-12. Upon the shoulder-piece of the ephod two beryls (precious stones) were to be placed, one upon each shoulder; and upon th^se the names of the sons of Israel were to be engraved, six names upon each " according to their generations," i.e. according to their respective ages, or, as Josephus has correctly explained it, so that the names of the six elder sons were engraved upon the precious stone on the right shoulder, and those of the six younger sons upon that on the left. — Ver. 11. " Work of the engraver in stone, of sealcutting shalt thou engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israeli The engraver in stone: lit, one who works stones; here, one who cuts and polishes precious stones.
The meaning is, that just as precious stones are cut, and seals engraved upon them, so these two stones were to be engraved according to the names of the sons of Israel, i.e., so that the engraving should answer to their names, or their names be cut into the stones. " Surrounded by gold-twist sltalt thou make it."** nnr nivatJ^'p, from Y^^ to twist, is used in ver. 39 (cf. Ps. xlv. 14) for a texture woven in checks; and here it denotes not merely a simple gold-setting, but, according to ver. 13, goldtwists or ornaments representing plaits, which surrounded the golden setting in which the stones were fixed, and not only served to fasten the stones upon the woven fabric, but formed at the same time clasps or brooches, by which the two parts of the ephod were fastened together. Thus Josephus says (Ant. iii. 7, 5) there were two sardonyxes upon the shoulders, to be used for clasps. — Ver. 12. The precious stones were to be upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel; and Aaron was to bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial, i.e. that Jehovah might remember the sons of Israel when Aaron appeared, before Him clothed with the ephod (cf. ver. 29). As a shoulder-dress, the ephod was par excellence the official dress of the high priest. The burden of the office rested upon the shoulder, and the insignia of the office were also worn upon it (Isa. xxii. 22). The duty of the high priest was to enter into the presence of God and make atonement for the people as their mediator. To show that as mediator he brought the nation to God, the names of the twelve tribes were engraved upon precious stones on the shoulders of the ephod. The precious stones, with their richness and brilliancy, formed the most suitable earthly substratum to represent the glory into which Israel was to be transformed as the possession of Jehovah (xix. 5); whilst the colours and material of the ephod, answering to the colours and texture of the hangings of the sanctuary, indicated the service performed in the sanctuary by the person clothed with the ephod, and the gold with which the coloured fabric was worked, the glory of that service. — Vers. 13, 14. There were also to be made for the ephod two (see ver. 25) golden plaits, golden borders (probably small plaits in the form of rosettes), and two small chains of pure gold: ''close slialt thou make them, corded''^ (lit. work of cords or strings), i,e. not formed of links, but of gold thread twisted into cords, which were to be placed upon the golden plaits or fastened to them. As these chains served to fasten the choshen to the ephod, a description of them forms a fitting introduction to the account of this most important ornament upon the state dress-of the high priest.
Vers. 15-30. The second ornament consisted of the choshen or breastplate. Choshen mishpat, Xoyelov tc3j/ Kplo-ecov (LXX.), rationale judicii (Yulg.). P^n probably signifies an ornament (Arab, pulcher fuit; Ges.); and the appended word mishpat, right, decision of right, points to its purpose (see at ver. 30). This breastplate was to be a woven fabric of the same material and the same kind of work as the ephod. " Foured shall it be, doubled (laid together), a span (half a cubit) its lengthy and a span its breadth^ The woven cloth was to be laid together double like a kind of pocket, of the length and breadth of half a cubit, i,e. the quarter of a square cubit. — Yer. 17. " And Jill thereo7i (put on it) a stone-setting^ four rows of stones,^ i.e. ^^ four rows of set jewels upon it. The stones, so far as their names can be determined with the help of the ancient versions, the researches of L. de Dieu (animadv. ad Ex. xxviii.) and Braiin (vestit. ii. c. 8-10), and other sources pointed out in Winers R. W. {s. v. JEdelsteine), were the following: — In the first or upper row, odem (_adpBLo<;), i.e. our cornelian, of a bloodred colour; pitdah, TOTrd^cov, the golden topaz; bareketh, lit. the flashing, <TfjidpayBo<^, the emerald, of a brilliant green. In the second row, nophek, dvOpa^j carbunculus, the ruby or carbuncle, a fire-coloured stone; sappir, the sapphire, of a sky-blue colour; jahalom, Xacnn^ according to the LXX., but this is ratlier to be found in the ^aspeA, — according to the Groec.^ Ven., and Pers.y to Aben Ezra, etc., the diamond, and according to others the on^/x, a kind of chalcedony, of the same colour as the nail upon the human finger through which the flesh is visible. In the third row, leshem, XoyvpLoPy ligurius, i.e., according to Braun and others, a kind of hyacinth, a transparent stone chiefly of an orange colour, but running sometimes into a reddish brown, at other times into a brownish or pale red, and sometimes into an approach to a pistachio green; shevo, d')(dTri(;, a composite stone formed of quartz, chalcedony, cornelian, flint, jasper, etc., and therefore glittering with different colours; and achlamah, dfjue- 6vaT0<;, amethyst, a stone for the most part of a violet colour.
In the fourth row, tarsJnsh, ypvaroXiOo^^^ chrysolite, a brilliant stone of a golden colour, not like what is now called a chrysolite, which is of a pale green with a double refraction; shoham, beryl (see at Gen. ii. 12); and jaspeh, no doubt the jasper, an opaque stone, for the most part of a dull red, often with cloudy and flamelike shadings, but sometimes yellow, red, brown, or some other colour. — Ver. 20. " Gold borders shall be on their settings '' (see at vers. 11 and 13). The golden capsules, in which the stones were ''filled^' i.e, set, were to be surrounded by golden ornaments, which not only surrounded and ornamented the stones, but in all probability helped to fix them more firmly and yet more easily upon the woven fabric. — Yer. 21. "And. the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names; seal-engraving according to each onis name shall be for the twelve tribesJ^ (On t^^i< before iDt^"py see at Gen. XV. 10.) — Vers. 22-25. To bind the choshen to the ephod there were to be two close, corded chains of pure gold, which are described here in precisely the same manner as in ver. 14; so that ver. 22 is to be regarded as a simple repetition of ver. 14, not merely because these chains are only mentioned once in the account of the execution of the work (chap, xxxix. 15), but because, according to ver. 25, these chains were to be fastened upon the rosettes noticed in ver. 14, exactly like those described in ver. 13. These chains, which are called cords or strings at ver. 24, were to be attached to two golden rings at the two (upper) ends of the choshen, and the two ends of the chains were to be put, i.e, bound firmly to the golden settings of the shoulder-pieces of the ephod (ver. 13), upon the front of it (see at chap. xxvi. 9 and XXV. 37). — Yer. 26. Two other golden rings were to be "put at the two ends of the choshen, at its edge, which is on the opposite side (see at chap. xxv. 37) of the ephod inwards,^^ i.e. at the two ends or corners of the lower border of the choshen, upon the inner side — the side turned towards the ephod. — Yers. 27, 28, Two golden rings were also to be put " upo7i the shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, toward the fore-part thereof, near the joining above the girdle of it,^'' and to fasten the choshen from its (lower) rings to the (lower)* rings of the ephod with threads of hyacinth, that it might be over the girdle (above it), and not move away (Hf Niphal of nnj^ in Arabic removit), i.e. that it might keep its place above the girdle and against the ephod without shifting. — Yer. 29. In this way Aaron was to bear upon his breast the names of the sons of Israel engraved upon this breastplate, as a memarial before Jehovah, whenever he went into the sanctuary. — Yer. 30. Into this choshen Moses was to put the Urim and Thummim, that they might be upon his heart when he came before Jehovah, and that he might thus constantly bear the right (miskpat) of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah. It is evident at once from this, that the Urim and Thummim were to bring the right of the children of Israel before the Lord, and that the breastplate was called choshen mishpat because the Urim and Thummim were in it. Moreover it also follows from the expression p^ ijriJ^ both here and in Lev. viii. 8, that the Urim and Thummim were not only distinct from the choshen, but were placed in it, and not merely suspended upon it, as Knohel supposes. For although the LXX. have adopted the rendering iTTCTtOevcu eVt, the phrase is constantly used to denote putting or laying one thing into another, and never (not even in 1 Saai. vi. 8 and 2 Sam. xi. 16) merely placing one thing upon or against another. For this, ^^ 1^3 is the expression invariably used in the account before us (cf. vers. 14 and 23 sqq.). What the Uinm and Thummim really were, cannot be determined with certainty, either from the names themselves, or from any other circumstances connected with them.^ The LXX. render the words B7]\cocn<; (or BfjXos;) kol aXrjOeca, i.e. revelation and truth. This expresses with tolerable accuracy the meaning of Z7Wm (D^11^5 light, illumination), but Thummim (D^tsn) means integritas, inviolability, perfection, and not aXr)6eta. The rendering given by Symm. and Theod., viz. (pcorcafiol /cal Te\ei(£xreL^, illumination and completion, is much better; and there is no good ground for giving up this rendering in favour of that of the LXX., since the analogy between the Urim and Thummim and the a'yaXiia of sapphire-stones, or the ^ooBlop of precious stones, which was worn by the Egyptian high priest suspended by a golden chain, and called aKrjOeia (Aelian. var, hist 14, 34; Diod. Sic. i. 48, 75), sufficiently explains the rendering aXrjOeiaj which the LXX. have given to Thummim^ but it by no means warrants KnoheVs conclusion, that the Hebrews had adopted the Egyptian names along with the thing itself.
^ Tbe leading opinions and the most important writings upon the subject are given in my Bib. Archxol. § 39, note 9.
The words are therefore to be explained from the Coptic. The Urim and Thummim are analogous, it is true, to the elKMv rfjf; a\r)6eLa<;y which the Egyptian a/5%fc3tA:acrT779 hung round his neck, but they are by no means identical with it, or to be regarded as two figures which were a symbolical representation of revelation and truth. If Aaron was to bring the right of the children of Israel before Jehovah in the breastplate that was placed upon his breast with the Urim and Thummim, the latter, if they were intended to represent anything, could only be symbolical of the right or rightful condition of Israel. But the words do not warrant any such conclusion. If the Urim and Thummim had been intended to represent any really existing thing, their nature, or the mode of preparing them, would certainly have been described. Now, if we refer to Num. xxvii. 21, where Joshua as the commander of the nation is instructed to go to the high priest Eleazar, that the latter may inquire before Jehovah, through the right of Urim, how the whole congregation should walk and act, we can draw no other conclusion, than that the Urim and Thummim are to be regarded as a certain medium, given by the Lord to His people, through which, whenever the congregation required divine illumination to guide its actions, that illumination was guaranteed, and by means of which the rights of Israel, when called in question or endangered, were to be restored, and that this medium was bound up with the official dress of the high priest, though its precise character can no longer be determined. Consequently the Urim and Thummim did not represent the illumination and right of Israel, but were merely a promise of these, a pledge that the Lord would maintain the rights of His people, and give them through the high priest the illumination requisite for their protection. Aaron was to bear the children of Israel upon his heart, in the precious ston;es to be worn upon his breast with the names of the twelve tribes. The heart, according to the biblical view, is the centre of the spiritual life, — not merely of the willing, desiring, thinking life, but of the emotional life, as the seat of the feelings and affections (see Delitzsch hihl. Psychologies pp. 203 sqq.). Hence to bear upon the heart does not merely mean to bear in mind, but denotes " that personal intertwining with the life of another, by virtue of which the high priest, as Philo expresses it, was tov avfjLTravTo^ eOvov^; a-vyyevr)^; koI a'y)(LaTev^ kolvo^ (^Spec. leg. ii. 321), and so stood in the deepest sympathy with those for whom he interceded" (Oehler in Herzog's Cycl.). As he entered the holy place with this feeling, and in this attitude, of which the choshen was the symbol, he brought Israel into remembrance before Jehovah that the Lord might accept His people; and v/hen furnished with the Urim and Thummim, he*appeared before Jehovah as the advocate of the people's rights, that he might receive for the congregation the illumination required to protect and uphold those rights.
Yers. 31-35. The third portion of Aaron's official dress was the robe. To the ephod there also belonged a ^''^p (from ^5^ to cover or envelope), an upj)er garment, called the robe of the ephod, the robe belonging to the ephod, " all of dark-blue purple^^ (hyacinth), by which we are not to imagine a cloak or mantle^ but a long, closely-fitting coat; not reaching to the feet, however, as the Alex, rendering irohrjpr)^ might lead us to suppose, but only to the knees, so as to show the coat (ver. 39) which was underneath. — ■Yer. 32. " And the opening of the head thereof shall be in the middle of it;'* i.e. there was to be an opening in the middle of it to put the head through when it was put on; — " a hem shall be round the opening of it, iveavers work, like the opening of the habergeon shall it (the seam) be to it; it shall not he tornr By the habergeon (^Ocopa^), or coat-of-mail, we have to understand the Xcvodcopr)^, the linen coat, such as was worn by Ajax for example (II. 2, 529). Linen habergeons of this kind were made in Egypt in a highly artistic style (see ffengstenberg, Egypt, etc., pp. 141-2). In order that the meil might not be torn when it was put on, the opening for the head was to be made with a strong hem, which was to be of weavers' work; from which it follows as a matter of course that the robe was woven in one piece, and not made in several pieces and then sewed together; and this is expressly stated in chap, xxxix. 22. Josephus and the Eabbins explain the words ^^i< ^L^TO (ep^ov v(f)avT6v) in this way, and observe at the same time that the me'il had no sleeves, but only arm-holes. — Yers. 33, 34. On the lower hem (Dv^K^ the tail or skirt) there were to be pomegranates of dark-blue and dark-red purple and crimson, made of twisted yarn of these colours (chap, xxxix. 24), and little golden bells between them round about, a bell and a pomegranate occurring alternately all round. According to Raslii the pomegranates were ** globi quidam rotundi instar malorum puniconim.j quasi essent ova gal-
Unarum** ti^'^bv^ (from DJ^Q to strike or knock, like the old High German cloccon, clochon, i.e. to smite) signifies a little bell, not a spherical ball. — Ver. 35. Aaron was to put on this coat, to minister, i.e. to perform the duties of his holy office, " that his sound might he heard when he went into the holy place before Jehovah^ and when he came out, and he might not die.^^ These directions are referred to in Ecclus. xlv. 9, and explained as follows: " He compassed him with pomegranates and with many golden bells round about, that as he went there might be a sound, and a noise made, that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of his people." The probable meaning of these words is either that given by Hishuni (in Drusius), ut sciant tempus cultus divini atque ita prceparent cor suum ad patrem suum, qui est in coelisy or that given by Oehler, viz. that the ringing of the bells might announce to the people in the court the entrance of the higli priest and the rites he was performing, in order that they might accompany him with their thoughts and prayers. But this is hardly correct. For not only is the expression, " for a memorial to the children of Israel," evidently intended by the writer of Ecclesiasticus as a translation of the words ''^li' p3T ^^"y^] in ver. 12 (cf. ver. 29), so that he has transferred to the bells of the meil what really applies to the precious stones on the ephod, which contained the names of the twelve sons of Israel, but he has misunderstood the words themselves; for Aaron was to bear the names of the sons of Israel before Jehovah in these precious stones for a reminder, i.e. to remind Jehovah of His people. Moreover, the words " and he shall not die" are not in harmony with this interpretation. Bdhr, Oehler, and others, regard the words as referring to the whole of the high priest's robes, and understand them as meaning, that he would be threatened with death if he appeared before Jehovah without his robes, inasmuch as he was merely a private individual without this holy dress, and could not in that case represent the nation. This is so far justifiable, no doubt, although not favoured by the position of the words in the context, that the bells were inseparably connected with the robe, which was indispensable to the ephod with the choshen, and consequently the bells had no apparent significance except in connection with the whole of the robes. But even if we do adopt this explanation of the words, we cannot suppose that Aaron's not dying depended upon the prayers of the congregation which accompanied his going in and out before Jehovah; for in that case the intercession of the high priest would have lost its objective meaning altogether, and his life would have been actually given up in a certain sense to the caprice of the people. All that remains, therefore, is to take the words as they occur: Aaron was not to appear before the Lord without the sound of the bells upon his robe being heard, in order that he might not die; so that to understand the reason for his not dying, we must inquire what the ringing of the bells signified, or rather, what was the signification of Aaron's robe, with its border of pomegranates and ringing bells. The trivial explanation given by Abraham, hen David, viz. that the ringing was to take the place of knocking at the door of Jehovah's palace, as an abrupt entrance into the presence of a great king was punished with death, is no more deserving of a serious refutation than KnoheVs idea, for which there is no foundation, that the sounding of the bells was to represent a reverential greeting, and a very musical offering of praise (!).
The special significance of the me'il cannot have resided in either its form or its colour; for the onlv feature connected with its form, that was at all peculiar to it, was its being woven in one piece, which set forth the idea of wholeness or spiritual integrity; and the dark-blue colour indicated nothing more than the heavenly origin and character of the office with which the robe was associated. It must be sought for, therefore, in the peculiar pendants, the meaning of which is to be gathered from the analogous instructions in Num. xv. 38, 39, where every Israelite is directed to make a fringe in the border of his garment, of dark-blue purple thread, and when he looks at the fringe to remember the commandments of God and do them. In accordance with this, we are also to seek for allusions to the word and testimony of God in the pendant of pomegranates and bells attached to the fringe of the high priest's robe. The simile in Prov. xxv. 11, where the word is compared to an apple, suggests the idea that the pomegranates, with their pleasant odour, their sweet and refreshing juice, and the richness of their delicious kernel, were symbols of the word and testimony of God as a sweet and pleasant spiritual food, that enlivens the soul and refreshes the heart (compare Ps. xix. 8-11, cxix. 25, 43, 50, with Deut. viii. 3, Prov. ix. 8, Ecclus. xv. 3), and that the bells were symbols of the sounding of this word, or the revelation and proclamation of the word. Through the robe, with this pendant attached, Aaron was represented as the recipient and medium of the word and testimony which came down from heaven; and this was the reason why he was not to appear before the Lord without that sound, lest he should forfeit his life. It was not because he would simply have appeared as a private person if he had gone without it, for he would always have the holy dress of a priest upon him, even when he was not clothed in the official decorations of the high priest; but because no mere priest was allowed to enter the immediate presence of the Lord. This privilege was restricted to the representative of the whole congregation, viz. the high priest; and even he could onlj^ do so when wearing the robe of the word of God, as the bearer of the divine testimony, upon which the covenant fellowship with the Lord was founded.
Vers. 36-38. The fourth article of the high priest's dress was the diadem upon his head-baud. TV, from p^ to shine, a plate of pure gold, on which the words ^)p'^i ^IPj " holiness (i.e. all holy) to Jehovah,''^ were engraved, and which is called the " crown of holiness" in consequence, in chap, xxxix. 30. This gold plate was to be placed upon a riband of dark-blue purple, or, as it is expressed in chap, xxxix. 31, a riband of this kind was to be fastened to it, to attach it to the head-band, " upon the fore-front (as in chap. xxvi. 9) of the head-band,^^ from above (chap, xxxix. 31); by which we are to understand that the gold plate was placed above the lower coil of the head-band and over Aaron's forehead. The word riDJ^D from ^3^ to twist or coil (Isa. xxii. 18), is only applied to the head-band or turban of the high priest, which was made of simple byssus (ver. 39), and, judging from the etymology, was in the shape of a turban. This is all that can be determined with reference to its form. The diadem was the only thing about it that had any special significance. This was to be placed above (upon) Aaron's forehead, that he " might bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel sanctified, with regard to all their holy gifts,.. as an acceptableness for them before Jehovah.'* f\V 5<^J: to bear iniquity (sin) and take it away; in other words, to exterminate it by taking it upon one's self. The high priest was exalted into an atoning mediator of the whole nation; and an atoning, sin-exterminating intercession was associated with his office. The qualification for this he received from the diadem upon his forehead with the inscription, " lioliness to the Lord." Through this inscription, which was fastened upon his head-dress of briUiant white, the earthly reflection of holiness, he was crowned as the sanctified of the Lord (Ps. cvi. 16), and endowed with the power to exterminate the sin which clung to the holy offerings of the people on account of the unholiness of their nature, so that the gifts of the nation became well-pleasing to the Lord, and the good pleasure of God was manifested to the nation.^
Ver. 39. In addition to the distinguishing dress of the high priest, Aaron was also to wear, as the oflScial costume of a priest, a hody-coat {cetonetli) made of byssus, and woven in checks or cubes; the head-hand (for the diadem), also made of simple byssus; and a girdle (abiiet, of uncertain etymology, and only applied to the priest's girdle) of variegated work, i.e. made of yarn, of the same four colours as the holy things were to be made of (cf. chap, xxxix. 29).
Vers. 40-43. The official dress of the sons of Aaron, i.e. of the ordinary priests, was to consist of just the same articles as Aaron's priestly costume (ver. 39). But their body-coat is called weavers' work in chap, xxxix. 27, and was therefore quite a plain cloth, of white byssus or cotton yarn, though it was whole throughout, appa^o^ without seam, like the robe of Christ (John xix. 23). It was worn close to the body, and, according to Jewish tradition, reached down to the ankles (cf. Josephus, iii. 7, 2). The head-dress of an ordinary priest is called ^V'^)'^^ related to ^''^2 a basin or cup, and therefore seems to have been in the form of an inverted cup, and to have been a plain white
^ See my Archaeology i. pp. 183-4. The following are Calvin's admirable remarks: Oblationum sanctarum iniquitas tollenda et purganda f uit per sacerdotem. Frigid um est illud commentum, si quid erroris admissum est in ceremoniis, remissum fuisse sacerdotis precibus. Longius enim respicere nos oportet: ideo oblationum iniquitatem deleri a sacerdote, quia nulla oblatio, quatenus est hominis, omni vitio caret. Dictu hoc asperum est et fere 'Trccpulo^ou, sanctitates ipsas esse immufidas, ut venia indigeant; sed tenendum est, nihil esse sane purum, quod non aliquid labis a nobis con- populus, etiam a lege praescriptum, nisi intercedente venia, quam nonnisi per sacerdotem obtinuit.
cotton cap. The girdle^ according to chap, xxxix. 29, was of the same material and work for Aaron and his sons. This dress was to be for glory and for beauty to the priests, just as Aaron's dress was to him (ver. 2). The glory consisted in the brilliant white colour, the symbol of holiness; whilst the girdle, which an oriental man pats on when preparing for the duties of an office, contained in the four colours of the sanctuary the indication that they were the officers of Jehovah in His earthly kingdom. — Ver. 41. But since the clothing prescribed was an official dress, Moses was to put it upon Aaron and his sons, to anoint them and fill their hands, i.e. to invest them with the requisite sacrificial gifts (see at Lev. vii. 37), and so to sanctify them that they should be priests of Jehovah. For although the holiness of their office was reflected in their dress, it was necessary, on account of the sinfulness of their nature, that they should be sanctified through a special consecration for the administration of their office; and this consecration is prescribed in chap. xxix. and carried out in Lev. viii. — Vers. 42, 43. The covering of their nakedness was an indispensable prerequisite. Aaron and his sons were therefore to receive D''DJD?D (from D33 to cover or conceal, lit, concealers), short drawers, reaching from the hips to the thighs, and serving " to cover the flesh of the nakedness." For this reason the directions concerning them are separated from those concerning the different portions of the dress, which were for glory and beauty. The material of which these drawers were to be made is called.^3. The meaninei: of this word is uncertain. According to chap, xxxix. 28, it was made of twined byssus or cotton yarn; and the rendering of the LXX., \iva or XiWo? (Lev. vi. 3), is not at variance with this, as the ancients not only apply the term \lvop, liniim, to flax, but frequently use it for fine white cotton as well. In all probability bad was a kind of white cloth, from ^l^ to be white or clean, primarily to separate. — Ver. 43. These drawers the priest^ were to put on whenever they entered the sanctuary, that they might not " bear iniquity and die," i.e. incur guilt deserving of death, either through disobedience to these instructions, or, what was still more important, through such violation of the reverence due to the holiness of the dwelling of God as they would be guilty of, if they entered the sanctuary with their nakedness uncovered. For as the consciousness of sin and guilt made itself known first of all in the feeling of nakedness, so those members which subserve the natural secretions are especially pudenda or objects of shame, since the mortality and corruptibility of the body, which sin has brought into human nature, are chiefly manifested in these secretions. For this reason these members are also called the ^^ flesh of n akedness." By this we are not to understan d merely " the sexual member as the organ of generation or birth, because the existence and permanence of sinful, mortal human nature are associated with these," as Bdhr supposes. For the frailty and nakedness of humanity are not manifested in the organ and act of generation, which rather serve to manifest the inherent capacity and creation of man for imperishable life, but in the impurities which nature ejects through those organs, and which bear in themselves the character of corruptibility. If, therefore, the priest was to appear before Jehovah as holy, it was necessary that those parts of his body especially should be covered, in which the impurity of hi§ nature and the nakedness of his flesh were most apparent. For this reason, even in ordinary life, they are most carefully concealed, though not, as Baumgarten supposes, " because the sin of nature has its principal seat in the flesh of nakedness."- — " A statute for ever;" as in chap, xxvii. 31.
Chap. xxix. vers. 1-37. Consecration of Aaron and his Sons through the anointing of their persons and the offering of sacrifices, the directions for which form the subject of vers. 1-35. This can only be fully understood in connection with the sacrificial law contained in Lev. i.-vii. It will be more advisable therefore to defer the examination of this ceremony till we come to Lev. viii., where the consecration itself is described. The same may also be said of the expiation and anointing of the altar, which are commanded in vers. 36 and 37, and carried out in Lev. viii. 11.
Vers. 38-46. The daily Burnt-offering, Meat-offering, AND Drink-offering. — The directions concerning these are attached to the instructions for the consecration of the priests, because these sacrifices commenced immediately after the completion of the tabernacle, and, like the shew-bread (xxv. 30), the daily trimming of the lamps (xxvii. 20, 21), and the daily incense-offering (xxx. 7 sqq.), were most intimately connected with the erection of the sanctuary. — Ver. 38. " A?id this is what thou shah make (offer) upon the ultar; yearling lambs two a day continually,'^ one in the morning, the other between the two evenings (see at chap. xii. 6); to every one a meatoffering (minchah) of a tenth of fine wheaten flour {soleth, see at Lev. ii. 1), mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil (cathith, see at chap, xxvii. 20), and a drink-offering (nesek) of a quarter of a hin of wine, p^y (a tenth) is equivalent to ^"'^''Nn TVy'^V, the tenth part of an ephah (Num. xxviii. 5), or 198*5 Parisian cubic inches according to Bertheaus measurement. Thenius, however, sets it down at 101'4 inches, whilst the Kabbins reckon it as equivalent to 43 hen's eggs of average size, i.e. somewhat more than 2^ lbs. A hin (a word of Egyptian origin) is 330*9 inches according to Bertheau, 168*9 according to Thenius, or 72 eggs, so that a quarter of a hin would be 18 eggs. — Yer. 41. HP is to be understood ad sensum as referring to njiy.. The daily morning and evening sacrifices were to be " for a sweet savour, a firing unto Jehovah" (see at Lev. i. 9). In these Israel was to consecrate its life daily unto the Lord (see at Lev. i. and ii.). In order that the whole of the daily life might be included, it was to be offered continually every morning and evening for all future time (" throughout your generations" as at chap. xii. 14) at the door of the tabernacle, i.e. upon the altar erected there, before Jehovah, who would meet with the people and commune with them there (see chap, xxv, 22). This promise is carried out still further in vers. 43-46. First of all, for the purpose of elucidating and strengthening the words, " I will meet with you there" (ver. 42), the presence and communion of God, which are attached to the ark of the covenant in chap. xxv. 22, are ensured to the whole nation in the words, " And there I will meet wdth the children of Israel, and it (Israel) shall be sanctified through My glory." As the people w^ere not allowed to approach the ark of the covenant, but only to draw near to the altar of burnt-offering in the sanctuary, it was important to declare that the Lord would manifest Himself to them even there, and sanctify them by His glory. Most of the commentators have taken the altar to be the subject of " shall be sanctified; " but this is certainly an error, not only because the altar is not mentioned in the previous clause, and oniy slightly hinted at in the ^^ in ver. 41, but principally because the sanctification of the altar is noticed by itself afterwards in ver. 44. The correct exegesis is that adopted by Baumgarten and others, who supply the word Israel (viz. regarded as a nation), which they take from the expression " children of Israel" in the previous clause. In ver. 44, the sanctification of the tabernacle and altar on the part of God is promised, also that of His servants, and finally, in vers. 45, 46, the abode of God in the midst of the children of Israel, with an allusion to the blessings that would follow from Jehovah's dwelling in the midst of them as their God (Gen. xvii. 7).
Chap. XXX. 1-10. The Altar of Incense and Incenseoffering bring the directions concerning the sanctuary to a close. What follows, from xxx. 11-xxxi. 17, is shown to be merely supplementary to the larger whole by the formula " and Jehovah spake unto Moses," with which every separate command is introduced (cf. vers. 11, 17, 22, 34,xxxi. 1, 12). — Vers. 1-5 (cf. chap, xxxvii. 25-28). Moses was directed to make an altar of burning of ijicense {lit, incensing of incense), of acacia-wood, one cubit long and one broad, four-cornered, two cubits high, furnished with horns like the altar of burnt-offering (chap, xxvii. 1, 2), and to plate it with pure gold, the roof {^) thereof (i.e, its upper side or surface, which was also made of wood), and its walls round about, and its horns; so that it was covered with gold quite down to the ground upon which it stood, and for this reason is often called the golden altar (chap, xxxix. 38, xl. 5, 26; Num. iv. 11). Moreover it was to be ornamented with a golden wreath, and furnished with golden rings at the corners for the carrying-poles, as the ark of the covenant and the table of shewbread were (xxv. 11 sqq., 25 sqq.); and its place was to be in front of the curtain, which concealed the ark of the covenant (xxvi. 31), " before the capporeth" (xl. 5), so that, although it really stood in the holy place between the candlestick on the south side and the table on the north (xxvi. 35, xl. 22, 24), it was placed in the closest relation to the capporetJi, and for this reason is not only connected with the most holy })lace in 1 Kings vi. 22, but is reckoned in Heb. ix. 4 as part of the furniture of the most holy place (see Delltzsch on Heb. ix. 4). — Vers. 7-9. Upon this altar Aaron was to burn fragrant incense, the preparation of which is described in vers. 34 sqq., every morning and evening before Jehovah, at the time when he trimmed the lamps. No " strange incense" was to be offered upon it, — Le» incense which Jehovah had not appointed (cf. Lev. x. 1), that is to say, which had not been prepared according to His instructions, — nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat-offering; and no drink-offering was to be poured upon it. As the altar of incense was not only marked as a place of sacrifice by its name nziTD^ " place of slainoffering," but was put on a par with the altar of sacrifice by its square shape and its horns, it was important to describe minutely what sacrifices were to be offered upon it. For the burning of fragrant incense is shown to be a sacrifice, by the fact that it was offered upon a place of sacrifice, or altar. Moreover the word "•''PP'?, to cause to ascend in smoke and steam, from "itpj^ to smoke or steam, is not only applied to the lighting of incense, but also to the lighting and burning of the bleeding and bloodless sacrifices upon the altar of incense. Lastly, the connection between the incense-offering and the burnt-offering is indicated by the rule that they were to be offered at the same time. Both offerings shadow^ed forth the devotion of Israel to its God, whilst the fact that they were offered every day exhibited this devotion as constant and uninterrupted. But the distinction between them consisted in this, that in the burnt or whole offering Israel consecrated and sanctified its whole life and action in both body and soul to the Lord, whilst in the incense-offering its prayer was embodied as the exaltation of the spiritual man to God (cf. Ps. cxli, 2; Rev. V. 8, viii. 3, 4); and with this there was associated the still further distinction, that the devotion was completed in the burntoffering solely upon the basis of the atoning sprinkling of blood, whereas the incense-offering presupposed reconciliation with God, and on the basis of this the soul rose to God in this embodiment of its prayer, and was thus absorbed into His Spirit. In this respect, the incense-offering was not only a spiritualizing and transfiguring of the burnt-offering, but a completion of that offering also. — Yer. 10. Once a year Aaron was to expiate the altar of incense with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement, because it was most holy to the Lord, that is to say, as is expressly observed in the directions concerning this expiatory act (Lev. xvi. 18, 19), to purify it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel. "I2i3, with ^V objecti constr.^ signifies literally to cover over a thing, then to cover over sin, or make expiation. In the second clause we have " upon it^^ (the altar) instead of " upon the horns of it," because the altar itself was expiated in its horns. The use of |p in D'np is to be explained on the ground that only a part of the blood of the sin-offering was smeared with the finger upon the horns. (Far further remarks, see at Lev. xvi. 18, 19.) The term " most holy" is not only applied to this altar, in common with the inner division of the tabernacle (chap. xxvi. 33), but also to the altar of burnt-offering (chap. xxix. 37, xl. 10), and all the vessels of the sanctuary (chap. xxx. 29), which were anointed with holy oil; then to the whole of the tabernacle in its holiest aspect (Num. xviii. 10); and lastly, to all the sacrifices, which were given up entirely to Jehovah (see at Lev. ii. 3); — consequently to everything which stood in so intimate a relation to Jehovah as to be altogether removed, not only from use and enjoyment on the part of man, but also from contact on the part of unsanctified men. Whoever touched a most holy thing was sanctified thereby (compare ver. 29 with chap. xxix. 37).
Vers. 11-16. The Atonement-money, which every Israelite had to pay at the numbering of the people, has the first place among the supplementary instructions concerning the erection and furnishing of the sanctuary, and serves to complete the demand for freewill-offerings for the sanctuary (chap. xxv. 1-9). — Yer. 12. " When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel according to them that are numheredy they shall give every one an expiation for his soul to the Lord at their numbering, that a plague may not strike them (happen to them) at their numbering T *lip2, lit, adspexity then inspexit explorandi causa, hence to review, or number an army or a nation, for the purpose of enrolling for military service. Dnnpsp with reference to the numbered, qui in censum veniunt. "^Sb (expiation, expiation-money, from "i33 to expiate) is to be traced to the idea that the object for which expiation was made was thereby withdrawn from the view of the person to be won or reconciled. It is applied in two ways: (1) on the supposition that the face of the person to be won was covered by the gift (Gen. xxxii. 2 1; 1 Sam. xii. 3); and (2) on the supposition that the guilt itself was covered up (Ps. xxxii. 1), or wiped away (Jer. xviii. 23), so far as the eye of God was concerned; as though it had no longer any existence, and that the sinful man was protected from the punishment of the judge in consequence of this covering. In this way *^Q^ has acquired the meaning Xvrpov, a payment by which the guilty are redeemed (chap. xxi. 30; Num. xxxv. 31); and this is the meaning which it has in the passage before us, where the soul is said to be protected by the copher, so as to be able to come without danger into the presence of the holy God (Num. viii. 19. See Oehler in Herzogs Cycl.). Such an approach to God took place at the numbering of the people for the purpose of enrolling them in the army of Jehovah (Num. i. 3, cf. Ex. vii. 4, xii. 41). Hence " every one who passed over to those that were numbered/' who was enrolled among them, Le, in the army of Jehovah, — that is to say, every male Israelite of 20 years old and upwards (ver. 14), — was to pay half a shekel of the sanctuary as atonement-money; the rich no more, the poor no less (ver. 15), because all were equal in the sight of Jehovah; and this payment was to be a "heave" {terumah, see chap. xxv. 2) for Jehovah for the expiation of the souls. The shekel of the sanctuary, which contained 20 gerahs, was no doubt the original shekel of full weight, as distinguished from the lighter shekel which was current in ordinaiy use. In chap, xxxviii. 26 the half shekel is called V\>'^j lit. the split, i.e, half, from VP^ to split; and we find it mentioned as early as the time of the patriarchs as a weight in common use for valuing gold (Gen. xxiv. 22), so that, no doubt, even at that time there were distinct silver pieces of this weight, which were probably called shekels when employed for purposes of trade, since the word shekel itself does not denote any particular weight, as we may perceive at once from a comparison of 1 Kings x. 17 and 2 Chron. ix. 16, at least so far as later times are concerned. The sacred shekel, to judge from the weight of the Maccabean shekels, which are in existence still, and vary from 256 to 272 Parisian grains, weighed 274 grains, and therefore, according to present valuation, would be worth 26 groschen (about 2s. 7d.), so that the half-shekel or bekah would be 13 groschen (Is. Sfd.). — Yer. 16. This atonement-money Moses was to appropriate to the work of the sanctuary (cf. chap, xxxviii. 25—28, where the amount and appropriation are reported). Through this appropriation it became " a memorial to the children of Israel before the Lord to expiate their souls,^* i.e. a permanent reminder of their expiation before the Lord, who would henceforth treat them as reconciled because of this payment. It was no ordinary tribute, therefore, which Israel was to pay to Jehovah as its King, but an act demanded by the holiness of the theocratic covenant. As an expiation for souls, it pointed to the unholiness of Israel's nature, and reminded the people continually, that by nature it was alienated from God, and could only remain in covenant with the Lord and live in His kingdom on the ground of His grace, which covered its sin. It was not till this sinful nature had been sanctified by a perfect atonement, and servitude under the law had been glorified and fully transformed into that sonship to which Israel was called as the first-born son of Jehovah, that as children of the kingdom they had no longer to pay this atonement-money for their souls (Matt. xvii. 25, 26). — According to Num. i. 1, 18, as compared with Ex. xl. 17, the census of the nation was not taken till a month after the building of the tabernacle was completed, and yet the atonementmoney to be paid at the taking of the census was to be appropriated to the purpose of the building, and must therefore have been paid before. This apparent discrepancy may be reconciled by the simple assumption, that immediately after the command of God had been issued respecting the building of the tabernacle and the contributions which the people were to make for that purpose, the numbering of the males was commenced and the atonement-money collected from the different individuals, that the tabernacle was then built and the whole ceremonial instituted, and that, after all this had been done, the whole nation was enrolled according to its tribes, fathers' houses, and families, on the basis of this provisional numbering, and thus the census was completed. For this reason the census gave exactly the same number of males as the numbering (cf. chap, xxxviii. 26 and Num. i. 46), although the one had been carried out nine months before the other.
Vers. 17-21 (cf. chap, xxxviii. 8). The Brazen Layer, and its use. — The making of this vessel is not only mentioned in a supplementary nfianner, but no description is given of it because of the subordinate position which it occupied, and from the fact that it was not directly connected with the sanctuary, but was only used by the priests to cleanse themselves for the performance of their duties. "^i*2: a basin, a round, caldron-shaped vessel. 133 (Its support): by this we are not to understand the pedestal of the caldron, but something separate from the basin, which was no doubt used for drawinij off as much water as was required for washing the officiating priests. For although 13 belongs to "i^^3, the fact that it is always specially mentioned in connection with the basin necessarily leads to the conclusion, that it had a certain kind of independence (cf. chap. xxxi. 9, XXXV. 16, xxxix. 39, xl. 11; Lev. viii. 11). These two vessels were to be made of brass or copper, like the other things in the court; and, according to chap, xxxviii. 8, they were made of the brass of the mirrors of the women who served before the door of the tabernacle, nxn-'^'n nk")03 does not mean either " provided with mirrors of the women" (Bahr, i. pp. 485-6), or ornamented " with forms, figures of women, as they were accustomed to appear at the sanctuary" (Knobel), Both these views are overthrown by the fact, that 1 never signifies with in the sense of an outward addition, but always denotes the means, " not an independent object, but something accompanying and contributing to the action referred to" (Ewald, § 217, f. 3). In this case 1 can only apply to the material used, whether we connect it with '^V^)_ as in chap. xxxi. 4, or, what seems decidedly more correct, with nK^'m as a more precise definition; so that? would denote that particular quality which distinguished the brass of which the basin was made {Ewald^ § 217 f.), — apart altogether from the fact, that neither the mirrors of women, nor the figures of women, would form a fitting ornament for the basin, as the priests did not require to look at themselves when they washed their hands and feet; and there is still less ground for Knobel's fiction, that Levitical women went to the sanctuary at particular times, forming a certain procession, and taking things with them for the purpose of washing, cleaning, and polishing. The true meaning is given by the Septuagint, e/c twv KaroTTTpcov. According to 1 Sam. ii. 22, the T)i<2)i were women, though not washerwomen, but women who dedicated their lives to the.service of Jehovah, and spent them in religious exercises, in fasting and in prayer, like Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, mentioned in Luke ii. 37.^ t^^Jf denotes spiritual warfare, and is accordingly
^ KnobeVs objection to this explanation, viz. that " at a time when the sanctuary was not yet erected, the author could not speak of women as coming to the door of the sanctuary, or performing religious service there,"
rendered by the LXX. vrjareveiv, by Onkelos, orare, with which the Rabbins agree. The mirrors of the women had been used for the purpose of earthly adorning. But now the pious Israelites renounced this earthly adorning, and offered it to the Lord as a heave-offering to make the purifying laver in front of the sanctuary, in order that " what had hitherto served as a means of procuring applause in the world might henceforth be the means of procuring the approbation of God" (Hengstenherg, Dissert, vol. ii.). — The laver was to be placed between the tabernacle, i.e, the dwelling, and the altar in the court (ver. 18), probably not in a straight line with the door of the dwelling and the altar of burnt-offering, but more sideways, so as to be convenient for the use of the priests, whether they were going into the tabernacle, or going up to the altar for service, to kindle a firing for Jehovah, i.e, to offer sacrifice upon the altar. They were to wash their hands, with which they touched the holy things, and their feet, with which they trod the holy ground (see chap. iii. 5), " that they might not die," as is again emphatically stated in vers. 20 and 21. For touching holy things with unclean hands, and treading upon the floor of the sanctuary with dirty feet, would have been a sin against Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, deserving of death. These directions do not imply " that, notwithstanding all their consecration, they were regarded as still defiled by natural uncleanness " (Bauingarteu), but rather that consecration did not stamp them with a character indelebilis, or protect them from the impurities of the sinful nation in the midst of which they lived, or of their own nature, which was still affected with mortal corruption and sin.
Vers. 22-33. The Holy Anointing Oil. — This was to be prepared from the best perfumes (l^^^"t C)''p^l, where tJ^^"i, caput, the principal or chief, is subordinate to D''Db^3), viz. of four fragrant spices and olive-oil. The spices were, (1) liquid myrrh, as would contain its own refutation, if there were any ground for it at all. For before the sanctuary was erected, the author could not speak of Levitical women as coming at particular times to the sanctuary, and bringing things with them for the purpose of washing and cleaning. But the participle r\k2)i does not imply that they had served there before the erection of the sanctuary, but only that from that time forward, they did perform service there.
distinguished from the dry gum; — (2) Db^3"|?3ip, cinnamon of fragrance, the name having been introduced to the Semitic nations along with the thing itself, and then by the Phoenicians to the Greeks and Romans (^Kivvafiov, cinnamum): whether it came from Ceylon, the great mart of cinnamon, is very doubtful, as there is no word that can be discovered in the Indian dialects corresponding to cinnamon; — (3) cane of fragrance, the KaXa^o<; dp(o/jLaTLK6<;, calamus odoratus, of the Greeks and Romans, i.e. the scented calamus which is imported from India; — and (4) kiddaJi, probably cassia, and possibly the species called kittco in Dioscor. 1, 12, in which case W^i? (Ps. xlv. 9) is either the generic name for cassia, or else refers to a different species. The proportion in which these spices were to be taken was 500 shekels or 14^ lbs. of myrrh, half the quantity, i.e. 7 lbs., of cinnamon, and the same of calamus and cassia; in all, therefore, 21 lbs. of dry spices, which were to be mixed with one hin of oil (about 5 quarts) and 14 lbs. of liquid myrrh. These proportions preclude the supposition, that the spices were pulverized and mixed with the oil and myrrh in their natural condition, for the result in that case would have been a thick mess: they rather favour the statement of the Rabbins, that the dry spices were softened in water and boiled, to extract their essence, which was then mixed with oil and myrrh, and boiled again until all the watery part had evaporated. An artificial production of this kind is also indicated by the expressions nni^")p njpi ^^ spice-work of spice-mixture^^ and HpT TWV)P " labour (work) of the perfumer or ointment-maker r — Vers. 26 sqq. With this holy anointing oil the tabernacle and all its furniture were to be anointed and sanctified, that they might be most holy; also Aaron and his sons, that they might serve the Lord as priests (see at Lev. viii. 10 sqq.). This anointing oil was holy, either because it was made from the four fragrant substances according to the proportions commanded by Jehovah, or because God declared this kind of mixture and preparation holy (cf. ver. 32), and forbade for all time, on pain of death (ver. 31). not only the use of ointment so prepared for any ordinary anointings, but even an imitation of it. " Upon man s flesh shall it not he poured^^ i.e. it is not to be used for the ordinary practice of anointing the human body (ver. 32). "Man," i.e. the ordinary man in distinction from the priests. iriJ3nD3 according to its measure, i.e. according to the proportions prescribed for its manufacture. ">t (ver. 33\ a stranger, is not only the non-Israelite, but laymen or non-priests in general. On the expression, " cut off from his people," see at Gen. xvii. 14.
Yers. 34-38. The Holy Incense was also to be made of four ingredients, viz. (1) natapJi (crraicTrj^ stacte), i.e. not the resinous myrrh, or sap obtained from the fragrant myrrh and dried, but a kind of storax gum resembling myrrh, which was baked, and then used, like incense, for fumigating; — (2) sliecheleth {ovv^, unguis odoratus), the shell of a shell-fish resembling the purpura^ of an agreeable odour; — (3) chelhenah (^aX^avrj), a resin of a pungent, bitter flavour, obtained, by means of an incision in the bark, from the ferula^ a shrub which grows in Syria, Arabia, and Abyssinia, and then mixed with fragrant substances to give greater pungency to their odour; — and (4) lebonah (XljSavof; or \t^avcoT6<;)j frankincense, a resin of a pleasant smell, obtained from a tree in Arabia Felix or India, but what tree has not been discovered. n3t pure, i.e. unadulterated. The words ^'',y}\ ^^^ ^^ " part for part shall it be," are explained by the LXX. as meaning 'taov taw earac, Vulg. cequalis ponderis erunt omnia, i.e. with equal parts of all the different substances. But this is hardly correct, as ^3 literally means separation, and the use of ^ in this sense would be very striking. The explanation given by A ben Ezra is more correct, viz. " every part shall be for itself;" that is to say, each part was to be first of all prepared by itself, and then all the four to be mixed together afterwards.— Yer. 35. Of this Moses was to make incense, spicework, etc. (as in ver. 25), salted, seasoned with salt C^JPP, a denom. from nfe salt), like the meat-offering in Lev. ii. 13. The word does not mean /j^efMiyfjuevov, mixtum (LXX., Vulg.), or rubbed to powder, for the rubbing or pulverizing is expressed by pirrnpntJ^ in the following verse. — Yer. 36. Of this incense fa portion) was to be placed " before the testimony in the tabernacle^' i.e. not in the most holy place, but where the altar of incense stood (cf. XXX. 6 and Lev. xvi. 12). The remainder was of course to be kept elsewhere. — Yers 37, 38. There is the same prohibition against imitating or applying it to a strange use as in the case of the anointing oil (vers. 32, 33). " To smell thereto^* i.e. to enjoy the perfume of it.
Chap. xxxi. 1—11. The Builders (cf. chap. xxxv. 30-xxxvi. 1). — After having given directions for the construction of the sanctuary, and all the things required for the worship, Jehovah pointed out the builders, whom He had called to carry out the work, and had filled with His Spirit for that purpose. To " call by name^^ is to choose or appoint by name for a particular work (cf. Isa. xlv. 3, 4). Bezaleel was a grandson of Huvj of the tribe of Judah, who is mentioned in chap. xvii. 10, xxiv. 14, and was called to be the master-builder, to superintend the whole of the building and carry out the artistic work; consequently he is not only invariably mentioned first (chap. xxxv. 30, xxxvi. 1, 2), but in the accounts of the execution of the separate portions he is mentioned alone (chap, xxxvii. 1, xxxviii. 22). Filling with the Spirit of God signifies the communication of an extraordinary and supernatural endowment and qualification, "in wisdom," etc., I.e. consisting of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and every kind of workmanship, that is to say, for the performance of every kind of work. This did not preclude either natural capacity or acquired skill, but rather presupposed them; for in ver. 6 it is expressly stated in relation to his assistants, that God had put wisdom into all that were wise-hearted (see at chap, xxviii. 3). Being thus endowed with a supernaturally exalted gift, Bezaleel was qualified " to think out inventions'^ Le. ideas or artistic designs. Although everything had been minutely described by Jehovah, designs and plans were still needed in carrying out the work, so that the result should correspond to the divine instructions. — ^Yer. 6. There were associated with Bezaleel as assistants, OJioliah, the son of Achisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and other men endowed with understanding, whom God had filled with wisdom for the execution of His work. According to chap, xxxviii. 23, Oholiah was hoth. faber, a master in metal, stone, and wood work, and also an artistic weaver of colours. In vers. 7-11, the works to be executed, which have been minutely described in chap, xxv.— xxx., are mentioned singly once more; and, in addition to these, we find in ver. 10 "I'ltS^n *>li2 mentioned, along with, or rather before, the holy dress of Aaron. This is the case also in chap. xxxv. 19 and xxxix. 41, where there is also the additional clause, " to serve (iT^JK^ ministrare) in the sanctuary." They were composed, according to chap, xxxix. 1, of blue and red purple, and crimson. The meaning of the word serad, which only occurs in these passages, is quite uncertain. The Rabbins understand by the bigde hasserad the wrappers in wliich the vessels of the sanctuary were enclosed when the camp was broken up, as these are called begadim of blue and red purple, and crimson, in Num. iv. 6 sqq. But this rendering is opposed to the words which follow, and which indicate their use in the holy service, i.e. in the performance of worship, and therefore are quite inapplicable to the wrappers referred to. There is even less ground for referring them, as Gesenius and others do, to the inner curtains of the tabernacle, or the inner hangings of the dwelling-place. For, apart from the uncertainty of the rendering given to serad, viz. netted cloth, filet, it is overthrown by the fact that these curtains of the dwelling-place were not of net- work; and still more decisively by the order in which the bigde hasserad occur in chap, xxxix. 41, viz. not till the dwellingplace and tent, and everything belonging to them, have been mentioned, even down to the hangings of the court and the pegs of the tent, and all that remains to be noticed is the clothing of the priests. From the definition " to serve in the sanctuary," it is obvious that the bigde serad were clothes used in the worship, (TToXal XeLTovpyi/cai, as the LXX. have rendered it in agreement with the rest of the ancient versions, — that they were, in fact, the rich robes which cohstituted the official dress of the high priest, whilst "the holy garments for Aaron" were the holy clothes which were worn by him in common with the priests.
Vers. 12-17 (cf. chap. xxxv. 2, 3). God concludes by enforcing the observance of His Sabbaths in the most solemn manner, repeating the threat of death and extermination in the case of every transgressor. The repetition and further development of this command, which was included already in the decalogue, is quite in its proper place here, inasmuch as the thought might easily have occurred, that it was allowable to omit the keeping of the Sabbath, when the execution of so great a work in honour of Jehovah had been commanded. " Mj/ Sabbaths:" by these we are to understand the weekly Sabbaths, not the other sabbatical festivals, since the words which follow apply to the weekly Sabbath alone. This was " a sign between Jehovah and Israel for all generations, to know (i.e. by which Israel might learn) that it was Jehovah who sanctified tliem,* viz. by the sabbatical rest (see at chap. xx. 11). It was therefore a holy thing for Israel (ver. 14), the desecration of which would be followed by the punishment of death, as a breach of the covenant. The kernel of the Sabbath commandment is repeated in ver. 15; the seventh day of the w^eek, however, is not simply designated a " Sabbath," but |iri3^* n2p " a high Sabbath" (the repetition of the same word, or of an abstract form of the concrete noun, denoting the superlative; see Ges, § 113, 2), and "holy to Jehovah" (see at chap. xvi. 23). For this reason Israel was to keep it in all future generations, i.e. to observe it as an eternal covenant (ver. 16), as in the case of circumcision, since it was to be a sign for ever between Jehovah and the children of Israel (ver. 20). The eternal duration of this sign was involved in the signification of the sabbatical rest, which is pointed out in chap. XX. 11, and reaches forward into eternity.
Ver. 18. When Moses had received all the instructions respecting the sanctuary to be erected, Jehovah gave him the two tables of testimony, — tables of stone, upon which the decalogue was written with the finger of God. It was to receive these tables that he had been called up the mountain (chap. xxiv. 12). According to chap, xxxii. 16, the tables themselves, as well as the writing, were the work of God; and the writing was engraved upon them (JTr\r\ from rr\^=:'^apdTT€Lv), and the tables were written on both their sides (chap, xxxii. 15). Both the choice of stone as the material for the tables, and the fact that the writing was engraved, were intended to indicate the imperishable duration of these words of God. The divine origin of the tables, as well as of the writing, corresponded to the direct proclamation of the ten words to the people from the summit of the mountain by the mouth of God. As this divine promulgation was a sufficient proof that they were the immediate word of God, unchanged by the mouth and speech of man, so the writing of God was intended to secure their preservation in Israel as a holy and inviolable thing. The writing itself was not a greater miracle than others, by which God has proved Himself to be the Lord of nature, to whom all things that He has created are subservient for the establishment and completion of His kingdom upon earth; and it can easily be conceived of without the anthropomorphic supposition of a material finger being possessed by God. Nothing is said about the dimensions of the tables: at the same time, we can hardly imagine them to have been as large as the inside of the ark; for stone slabs 2^ cubits long and 1^ cubit broad, which must necessarily have been some inches in thickness to prevent their breaking in the hand, would have required the strength of Samson to enable Moses to carry them down the mountain "in his hand" (chap, xxxii. 15), or even "in his two hands" (Deut. ix. 15, 17). But if we suppose them to have been smaller than this, say at the most a cubit and a half long and one cubit broad, there would have been plenty of room on the four sides for the 172 words contained in the decalogue, with its threats and promises (chap. xx. 2-17), without the writing being excessively small.
Chap, xxxii. 1-6. The long stay that Moses made upon the mountain rendered the people so impatient, that they desired another leader, and asked Aaron, to whom Moses had directed the people to go in all their difficulties during his absence (chap. xxiv. 14), to make them a god to go before them. The protecting and helping presence of God had vanished with Moses, of whom they said, " We know not what has become of him,* and whom they probably supposed to have perished on the mountain in the fire that was burning there. They came to Aaron, therefore, and asked him, not for a leader, but for a god to go before them; no doubt with the intention of trusting the man as their leader who was able to make them a god. They were unwilling to continue longer without a God to go before them; but the faith upon which their desire was founded was a very perverted one, not only as clinging to what was apparent to the eye, but as corrupted by the impatience and unbelief of a natural heart, which has not been pervaded by the power of the living God, and imagines itself forsaken by Him, whenever His help is not visibly and outwardly at hand. The delay {^^^, from ^^ to act bashfully, or with reserve, then to hesitate, or delay) of Moses' return was a test for Israel, in which it was to prove its faith and confidence in Jehovah and His servant Moses (xix. 9), but in which it gave way to the temptation of flesh and blood. — Yer. 2. Aaron also succumbed to the temptation along with the people. Instead of courageously and decidedly opposing their proposal, and raising the despondency of the people into the strength of living faith, by pointing them to the great deeds through which Jehovah had proved Himself to be the faithful covenant God, he hoped to be able to divert them from their design by means of human craftiness. " Tear off the golden ornaments in the ears of your wives J your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me:" this he said in the hope that, by a demand which pressed so heavily upon the vanity of the female sex and its love of display, he might arouse such opposition as would lead the people to desist from their desire. But his cleverness was put to shame. " All the people" tore off their golden ornaments and brought them to him (ver. 3); for their object was not merely " to accomplish an act of pure self-will, in which case there is no sacrifice that the human heart is not ready to make," but to secure a pledge of the protection of God through a visible image of the Deity. The weak-minded Aaron had no other course left than to make (i.e. to cause to be made) an image of God for the people.
Yer. 4. He took (the golden ear-rings) from their hands, and formed it (the gold) with the graving-tool, or chisel, and made it a molten calfP Out of the many attempts that have been made at interpreting the words "^^n^ ink "iV*lj there are only two that deserve any notice, viz. the one adopted by Bochart and Schroeder, " he bound it up in a bag," and the one given by the earlier translators, " he fashioned (^^1, as in 1 Kings vii. 15) the gold with the chisel." No doubt nv^^l (from "i^^ = '^y^) does occur in the sense of binding in 2 Kings v. 23, and tD'^ri may certainly be used for tD''")n a bag; but why should Aaron first tie up the golden ear-rings in a bag? And if he did so, why this superfluous and incongruous allusion to the fact? We give in our adhesion to the second, which is adopted by the LXX., Onkelos, the Syriac, and even Jonathan, though the other rendering is also interpolated into the text. Such objections, as that the calf is expressly spoken of as molten work, or that files are used, and not chisels, for giving a finer finish to casts, have no force whatever. The latter is not even correct. A gravingknife is quite as necessary as a file for chiselling, and giving a finer finish to things cast in a mould; and chei^et does not necessarily mean a chisel, but may signify any tool employed for carving, engraving, and shaping hard metals. The other objec- tion rests upon the supposition that massecah means an image made entirely of metal {e.g. gold). But this cannot be sustained. Apart from the fact, that most of the larger idols worshipped by the ancients had a wooden centre, and were merely covered with gold plate, such passages as Isa. xl. 19 and xxx. 22 prove, not only that the casting of gold for idols consisted merely in casting the metal into a flat sheet, which the goldsmith hammered out and spread into a coating of gold plate, btit also that a wooden image, when covered in this way with a coating of gold, was actually called massecah* And Aaron's molten calf was also made in this way: it was first of all formed of wood, and then covered with gold plate. This is evident from the way in which it was destroyed: the image was first of all burnt, and then beaten or crushed to pieces, and pounded or ground to powder (Deut. ix. 21); Le. the wooden centre was first burnt into charcoal, and then the golden covering beaten or rubbed to pieces (ver. 20 compared with Deut. ix. 21).
The " golden calf" Q^V a young bull) was copied from the Egyptian Apis (yid. Hengstenherg, Dissertations); but for all that, it was not the image of an Egyptian deity, — it was no symbol of the generative or bearing power of nature, but *&xi image of Jehovah. Eor when it was finished, those who had made the image, and handed it over to the people, said, " This is thy God (pluralis majest.), O Israel, who brought thee out of Egypt." This is the explanation. adopted in Ps. cvi. 19, 20. — Vers. 5, 6. When Aaron sa^ it, he built an altar in front of the image, and called aloud to the,people, " To-morrow is a feast of Jehovah;" and the people celebrated this feast with burntofferings and thank-offerings, with eating and drinking, i.e. with sacrificial meals and sports (P^-?), or with loud rejoicing, shouting, antiphonal songs, and dances (cf. vers. 17-19), in the same manner in which the Egyptians celebrated their feast of Apis (Herod. 2, 60, and 3, 27). But this intimation of an Egyptian custom is no proof that the feast was not intended for Jehovah; for joyous sacrificial meals, and even sports and dances, are met with in connection with the legitimate worship of Jehovah (cf. chap. XV. 20, 21). Nevertheless the making of the calf, and the sacrificial meals and other ceremonies performed before it, were a shameful apostasy from Jehovah, a practical denial of the inimitable glory of the true God, and a culpable breach of the second commandment of the covenant words (chap. xx. 4), whereby Israel had broken the covenant with the Lord, and fallen back to the heathen customs of Egypt. Aaron also shared the guilt of this transgression, although it was merely out of sinful weakness that he had assented to the proposals of the people and gratified their wishes (cf. Deut. ix. 20). He also fell with the people, and denied the God who had chosen him, though he himself was unconscious of it, to be His priest, to bear the sins of the people, and to expiate them before Jehovah. The apostasy of the nation became a tfemptation to him, in which the unfitness of his nature for the office was to be made manifest, in order that he ipight ever remember this, and not excuse himself from the office, to which the Lord had not called him because of his own worthiness, but purely as an act of unmerited grace.
Vers. 7-14. Before Moses left the mountain, God told him of the apostasy of the people (vers. 7, 8). " Thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt:^^ God says this not in the sense of an " ohliqua exprohratio^^ or '' Mosen quodammodo vocare in partem criminis quo examinetur ejus tolerantia et plus etiam moeroris ex rei indignitate concipiat^' (^Calvin), or even because the Israelites, who had broken the covenant, were no longer the people of Jehovah; but the transgression of the people concerned Moses as the mediator of the covenant. — Yer. 8. " They have turned aside quickly (lit. hurriedly):" this had increased their guilt, and made their ingratitude to Jehovah, their Redeemer, all the more glaring. — Vers. 9, 10. " Behold, it is a stiff-necked people (a people with a hard neck, that will not bend to the commandment of God; cf. chap, xxxiii. 3, 5, xxxiv. 9; Deut. ix. 6, etc.): now therefore suffer Me, that My wrath may burn against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation." Jehovah, as the unchangeably true and faithful God, would not, and could not, retract the promises which He had given to the patriarchs, or leave them unfulfilled; and therefore if in His wrath He should destroy the nation, which had shown the obduracy of its nature in its speedy apostasy. He would still fulfil His promise in the person of Moses, and make of him a great nation, as He had promised Abraham in Gen. xii. 2. When God says to Moses, " Leave Me, allow Me, that My wrath may bum^^ this is only done, as Gregory the Great expresses it, deprecandi ansam prcehere, God pats the fate of the nation Into the hand of Moses, that he may remember his mediatorial office, and show himself worthy of his calling. This condescension on the part of God, which placed the preservation or destruction of Israel in the hands of Moses, coupled with a promise, which left the fullest freedom to his decision, viz. that after the destruction of the people he should himself be made a great nation, constituted a great test for Mosbs, whether he would be willing to give up his own people, laden as they were with guilt, as the price of his own exaltation. And Moses stood the test. The preservation of Israel was dearer to him than the honour of becoming the head and founder of a new kingdom of God. True to his calling as mediator, he entered the breach before God, to turn away His wrath, that He might not destroy the sinful nation (Ps. cvi. 23). — But what if Moses had not stood the test, had not offered his soul for the preservation of his people, as he is said to have done in ver. 32? Would God in that case have thought him fit to make into a great nation? Unquestionably, if this had occurred, he would not have proved himself fit or worthy of such a call; but as God does not call those who are fit and worthy in themselves, for the accomplishment of His purposes of salvation, but chooses rather the unworthy, and makes them fit for His purposes (2 Cor. iii. 5, 6), He might have made even Moses into a great nation. The possibility of such a thing, however, is altogether an abstract thought: the case supposed could not possibly have occurred, since God knows the hearts of His servants, and foresees what they will do, though, notwithstanding His omniscience. He gives to human freedom room enough for self-determination, that He may test the fidelity of His servants. No human speculation, however, can fully explain the conflict between divine providence and human freedom. This promise is referred to by Moses in Deut. ix. 14, when he adds the words which God made use of on a subsequent occasion of a similar kind (Num. xiv. 12),." I will make of thee a nation stronger and more numerous than this." — Ver. 11. ^' And Moses besought the Lord his God^ '^'^ ''iJQTiK npn, Ut. to stroke the face of Jehovah, for the purpose of appeasing His anger, Le. to entreat His mercy, either by means of sacrifices (1 Sam. xiii. 12) or by intercession. He pleaded His acts towards Israel (ver. 11), His honour in the sight of the Egyptians (ver. 12), and the promises He had made to the patriarchs (ver. 13), and prayed that for His own sake, and the sake of His honour among the heathen, He would show mercy instead of justice. Hinn (ver. 12) does not mean fierk 7rov7]pLa<; (LXX.), or callide {Vulg.), but "for their hurt^ — the preposition denoting the manner in which, or according to which, anything took place. — Ver. 14. " And Jehovah repented of the evily etc." — On the repentance of God, see at Gen. vi. 6. Augus^ tine is substantially correct in saying that " an unexpected change in the things which God has put in His own power is called repentance" {contra adv. leg. 1, 20), but he has failed to grasp the deep spiritual idea of the repentance of God, as an anthropopathic description of the pain which is caused to the love of God by the destruction of His creatures. — Ver. 14 contains a remark which anticipates the development of the history, and in which the historian mentions the result of the intercession of Moses, even before Moses had received the assurance of forgiveness, for the purpose of bringing the account of his first negotiations with Jehovah to a close. God let Moses depart without any such assurance, that He might display before the people the full severity of the divine wrath.