#68. The atonement money (Exod. xxx. 11-16).

     The institution of the half shekel of silver as atonement money in this passage is associated with numbering the children of Israel and with the possibility of plague.  At first sight there is no apparent connection between these items, but a consciousness that all Scripture is inspired and profitable is a great help forward in its understanding.  The association of these features evidently meant something to Moses and Israel, and it will to us as we allow the Word to enter and give us light.

     “When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them;  that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest.  This shall they give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs):  an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord” (Exod.xxx.12,13).

  

     What is the association between numbering, plague and the ransom of half a shekel?  And why are we told just here that the shekel is equal to twenty gerahs?  It is evident that each person paid ten gerahs, and if we took our stand with this people we should not be long before we saw some association between the ten gerahs and the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt, from which Israel were spared and delivered by redeeming blood.  This is no play of imagination, as a reference to  Exodus xiii.  will show.  There we find that by reason of the fact that Israel were spared, while the tenth plague were enjoined to wear the phylacteries as “a sign and a memorial”, and to sanctify every firstborn, whether of man or beast, unto the Lord.

     “The males shall be the Lord’s.  And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb . . . . . and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem . . . . . when Pharaoh would not let us go, the Lord  slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast:  therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males;  but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem” (Exod.xiii.12-15).

     Later on another phase of substitution was introduced whereby the whole tribe of Levi was set apart instead of every firstborn of the whole nation.

     “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of all the firstborn … because all the firstborn are Mine:  for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto Me all the firstborn of Israel, both man and beast:  Mine shall they be:  I am the Lord” (Numb.iii.12,13).

     Then comes the numbering of the Levites in verses 14-39, and the numbering of the firstborn of Israel in verses 40-43.  It so transpired that there were 22,273 firstborn males of Israel and 22,000 Levites of one month old and upward, leaving 273 to be specially redeemed by the payment of five shekels apiece.  This sum of 1,365 shekels was given to Aaron and his sons (Numbers.iii.45-51).

     There is evidently some similar principle at work in  Exodus xxx.   In this case the numbering is of all who are twenty years old and upward, and the ransom money is appointed for the service of the tabernacle as a memorial (xxx. 16).  The number of those who thus paid their half shekel was 603,550 men, and of the total sum 100 talents were used to make the sockets of silver on which the tabernacle rested, while some, at least, of the remainder were used in the making of the silver hooks, chapiters and fillets that were specified.

     No distinction was made between rich and poor in the matter of this atonement money:  “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less” (Exod. xxx. 15).  Whilst we have a recognition of “each one’s several ability” in the distribution of the talents, one receiving five, another two, and another only one, whilst reward for service will be in some measure proportionate to faithfulness, yet, when we deal with such matters as redemption and atonement, “there is no difference”, all alike are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, all alike pay their half shekel, neither more nor less.

     It is a blessed thought, that every time an Israelite looked at his own firstborn son, he had a “memorial” of substitution before him.  Every time he looked at a Levite accomplishing the service of God, every firstborn male could say:  There is one who hath taken my place.  Every time he considered the foundations upon which the tabernacle rested, they spoke of his atonement.

     What of the spiritual realities of which these are but shadows?  Does our conception of service, worship and the present position of Christ at the right hand of God bring vividly to our mind and heart the consciousness that we are not our own;  that we are bought with a price?

     There is one occasion in the history of David, in which “numbering”, “plague” and “ransom” figure, that should be considered as a contrast to this ordinance.  David was moved to number Israel and Judah.  Even Joab realized that the spirit that prompted this numbering was not good (II Sam. xxiv. 3), and David subsequently confessed that he had sinned greatly (verse 10).  The result was judgment, in the form either of famine, defeat, or pestilence, and the sequel was the erection of an altar and the offering of sacrifice.  The words of  Exod.xxx.12  come to mind as one reads this tragic chapter:--

     “Then shall he give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them;  that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.”

     The numbering of Israel by David was evidently done either in pride, or in unbelief of the power of God.  The grace of God that chose Israel for His own ignored their numerical inferiority as compared with other nations (Deut. vii. 7, 8).  While Israel remained true, “one should chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight” (Deut. xxxii. 30), but when they were unfaithful “a small company of men” was sufficient to conquer “a very great host”, for the Lord would not be with them.

     The solemn numbering of Israel with the accompanying emphasis upon atonement would impress upon them the truth concerning both their own shortcomings and the Lord’s grace.

     The depths of love were sounded when the spotless Son of God was “numbered with the transgressors”.  Whenever we think of that, the only numbering that matters to us is that we have been numbered with His saints, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

#67. The altar of incense, or acceptance through Christ.

     The first article of furniture for the tabernacle that is specified is the ark of the testimony;  the last is the golden altar of incense.  The ark, together with the mercy-seat, speak of righteousness and atonement;  the altar of incense speaks of intercession and acceptance.

     Prayer is likened to incense in  Psa. cxli. 2:  “Let my prayer be set forth as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice”.   In  Psa.lxvi.15  the word “incense” is used in a way that at first appears somewhat strange:  “I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of rams”.  We find, however, that this word is translated “perfume” in  Exod.xxx.35,  and in its verbal form (qatar) not only means “to burn incense” (as in  Exod.xxx.7), but to burn “fat” (Exod.xxix.13), and “the bullock” of the burnt offering (Lev.i.9).

     The N.T. references to incense associate it with prayer:--

     “The people were praying without at the time of incense” (Luke i. 10).

     “And another angel came and stood by the altar, having a golden censer;  and to him much incense was given, that he should give it to the prayers of all the saints on that golden altar which is before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the angel before God” (Rev. viii. 3, 4).

     The expression, “give it to the prayers” — a somewhat clumsy rendering of the dative case — is perhaps best explained, with Vitringa and others, as:  “that he might give the effect of incense to the prayers of the saints”.  His intercession makes our prayers possible.

     This incense is variously described in Scripture.  It is called “perpetual incense before the Lord” (Exod. xxx. 8).  Like the shewbread that was to be before the Lord “alway” (Exod. xxv. 30), or the breastplate upon the High  Priest’s breast “continually” (Exod. xxviii. 30), or the cloud by day and fire by night that guaranteed the presence of the Lord with Israel “alway” (Numb.ix.16), the symbol of Christ’s intercession and perfect acceptance was to be “alway” before the Lord.  “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.”

     Many times it is called “sweet incense”.  The margin of  Exod. xxx. 7  gives it as “incense of spices”.  This is the correct rendering, and refers to the special composition of the incense given by the Lord, as we read in  Exod. xxxvii. 29:  “And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary”.  The ingredients of this incense are given in  Exod.xxx.34,35:

     “Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte (netaph, a drop, a gum), and onycha (shecheleph, shell of the perfume crab), and galbanum (chelbenah, an aromatic gum);  these sweet spices with pure frankincense;  of each shall there be a like weight.  And thou shalt make it a perfume (incense), a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered (Heb. salted) together, pure and holy.”

     The Companion Bible states that there are five ingredients in the incense, evidently counting “sweet spices” as one.  Its repetition after the three cited by name, however, would lead one to read:  “Take unto thee sweet spices, namely, stacte”, etc.  The word “tempered” (malach) literally means “salted”, and some, including Maimonides, maintain that salt was actually an ingredient.  This, however, does not seem to be the truth.  Both the Chaldee and Greek versions render the word “mix” or “temper”, as though the various spices were mixed together, as salt is mixed with the food over which it is sprinkled.  Salt was, of course, offered with every offering on the altar.

     The figurative meaning of the word “salt” may be gathered from other usages.  Salt was valuable, and stood for the whole of one’s keep.  We still use the phrase, “He is not worth his salt”.  So, when we read in  Ezra iv. 14:  “We have maintenance from the king’s palace”, the margin tells us that the Chaldee reads:  “We are seated with the salt of the palace”.  There is a suggestion that these men were in a covenant with the kings of Persia, as we read in  Numb.xviii.19  of a “covenant of salt”.  Be this as it may, the one thing we do not understand when reading  Ezra iv. 14  is that these men were actually “salted”.  Let us, however, not miss the truth because of inability to decide the literal meaning of the language that describes the type.  Ainsworth says:--

     "If our speech is to be always with grace, seasoned with salt, as the apostle teaches (Col. iv. 6), how much more should our incense, our prayers unto God, be therewith seasoned?"

The   lessons   of   the   incense.

     The first feature that strikes one when reading  Exod. xxx. 1-10  is the intimate association between the position of the altar of incense and the purpose of the mercy-seat:--

     “And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee” (Exod.xxx.6).

     Fellowship with God commences with the death of Christ, but continues through His ever-present intercession at the right hand of God.  He has entered with His own blood, and that offering is ever remembered.

     The second feature is found in verses 7 & 8:--

     “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning, when he dresseth the lamps . . . . . and when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.”

     The lamps stand for testimony.  Among the duties of the priest was the “dressing” of the lamps.  This would include “snuffing”, for “snuffers” are mentioned in  Exod. xxxvii. 23.   Is it not a cause for real gratitude to remember that, whenever the Lord is obliged to “snuff” our lamps of testimony, He not only does it with “snuffers of gold”, but the sweet savour of His own acceptableness ascends before the Father, canceling and covering the offensiveness of our failure, even as the sweet-smelling incense overcame the smell of the badly burning lamp?

     The third feature is found in verse 9:--

     “Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon.”

     We read elsewhere of “strange fire” (Lev. x. 1), and of a “strange god” (Psa.lxxxi.9).  The holy oil was never to be put upon a “stranger” (Exod.xxx.33).  All this testifies to the preciousness of that sweet-smelling savour that ascends on our behalf through the work of Christ alone.

     When we really weigh over the two expressions, “strange incense” and “strange fire”, we begin to realize something of the abomination that Christendom must be with its religious flesh, its empty ritual and its parade of human wisdom and merit.  To the professing church, even as to Israel, the Lord could truly say:--

     “Bring Me no more vain oblations;  incense is an abomination unto Me . . . . . when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you;  yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear” (Isa. i. 10-15).

     Unless Christ be “all” in our worship, God cannot be well pleased.

     Perhaps the most solemn references to the symbolism of the incense are the following:--

     “And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail;  And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, THAT HE DIE NOT” (Lev. xvi. 12, 13).

     “Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them … And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed” (Numb.xvi.46-48).

     At first it may seem a strange thing that incense should be used “lest he die” and “to make an atonement”, but it will be observed in both cases that the fire is specified as “from off the altar”.  Sacrifice has been made, blood has been shed, and even the horns of the golden altar of incense have been touched with atoning blood (Exod. xxx. 10).  Translated into the truth of the person and work of Christ, if we have been reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by His life.  If our initial salvation is found in His blood, we remember with joy that “He is able to save them to the full end that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession  for them . . . . . now to  appear in the presence of God for us”  (Heb. vii. 25;  ix. 24).   The blood of Christ is not only effectual for our initial justification — it is remembered by God in every act of daily cleansing (I John i. 7).  He Who gave Himself for His church, will cleanse it and present it blameless before the Lord.

     There is no more sacrifice for sin.  The Christ Who died, dieth no more, but the fragrance of that offering and its sweet savour ascend as incense before the throne.  There, like Aaron, under the cloud of that fragrance, we draw near and meet with God.  There our prayers find “the effect of incense” given to them.  No prayer should be offered to God that is not presented “for Christ’s sake”.  It is the incense of His blessed Name that accompanies our prayers and makes them acceptable.  We often have felt, even when “grace” has been said before a meal, that the omission of the words “for the sake of Christ” has robbed it of its sweet-smelling savour.  At our altar of incense our lamps may be trimmed and lighted with acceptableness, for our service is rendered “for the sake of His name”.

     We saw in a previous study that the true meaning of consecration was to come before the Lord with hands filled with the fulness of Christ;  so we see here, that all our acceptableness in prayer and worship is because of that blessed One at the right hand of God, far above all.

“Accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. i. 6).

“Unto you therefore which believe IS THE PRECIOUSNESS” (I Pet. ii. 7).

#66. The knowledge of the Lord.

     Before we continue our studies in the closing chapters of Exodus, it seems necessary that the subject opened in the previous paper should not be left without the sequel supplied by the N.T.

     In Exodus we have seen the knowledge of the Lord, commencing in redemption, progressing through separation and pilgrim supply, and culminating in sanctification.  If we gather up some of the teaching of the N.T. upon the subject of knowledge, we shall have before us the same truth in terms applicable to ourselves.  No one who realizes the truth of  Eph. iv. 18  can ever speak slightingly either of ignorance or knowledge:--

     “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the IGNORANCE that is in them.”

     This ignorance alienates from the very life of God!  It does not mean merely a little less culture.  The passage speaks of the Gentiles, and  Romans i.  contains the genesis of their defection:--

     “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind” (Rom. i. 28).

     Israel likewise failed in connection with knowledge:--

     “They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom.x.2,3).

     The great prayers of the prison epistles give a high place to knowledge:--

     “The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him . . . . . that ye may know . . . . .” (Eph. i. 17, 18).

     “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. iii. 19).

     “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment” (Phil. i. 9).

     “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Phil. iii. 10).

     “That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. i. 9).

     The results of the true application of this knowledge must be considered also.  Looking again at these great prayers, we find that this knowledge is for a very high and holy purpose.  The Ephesian prayers lead on to “fulness”:--

     “The fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. i. 23).

     “That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God” (Eph. iii. 19),

and the path to this goal is pointed out as a result of knowing the exceeding greatness of resurrection power to us-ward who believe, and of the comprehension with all saints of that which really passes all knowledge — the love of Christ.  This same knowledge is to enable us to

“approve things that are excellent (try the things that differ), so that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phil. i. 10).

     This is a goal that must commend itself to every renewed mind, and if “knowledge” can help towards it, it is indeed of supreme value.  The acquisition of knowledge for its own sake is nowhere taught in Scripture.  The Colossian prayer seeks knowledge:  “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing” (Col. i. 10).  What Paul thought of this glorious knowledge is seen in  Phil. iii. 8:  “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”, and the prayer of the Colossian epistle leads on to “increasing in the knowledge of God”.

     Sin entered into the world in connection with the tree of knowledge, and the new man “is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him” (Col. iii. 10).  The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is the very “gospel of the glory of Christ” that the god of this age seeks to veil.

     The climax and crown of the perfect man is expressed in the words:  “Then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Cor. xiii. 12).  The sophistry and the intolerance of the Pharisees could not stand before the simple testimony of the man born blind:  “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (John.ix.25).  How much service will fail to stand the test of that day, because the deep lesson learned by Paul and expressed in the words of  Rom. vii. 18  has never been learned:  “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.”

     What a comfort resides in the blessed words:  “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. viii. 28).  Think of the repeated phrase — “we know” — in  John’s epistle with its blessed assurance:--

     “We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.”

     “We know that He was manifested to take away our sins.”

     “We know that we have passed from death unto life.”

     “We know that the Son of God is come”,

think, too, upon the wealth of doctrine, practice and consolation that is hung upon the one word “knowing”:  “knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Rom.v.3).  Without this knowledge glorying in tribulations would be impossible.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ” (Rom. vi. 6).

“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more” (Rom.vi.9).

     Without this knowledge who would contemplate the reckoning of self as dead without shrinking back with dread?  So  Rom. xiii. 11;  II Cor. iv. 14;  Gal. ii. 16;  Eph. vi. 8, 9;  I Thess. i. 4;  II Pet. i. 20,  iii. 3,  and other places.  What was Paul’s great stay when all Asia left him?  when no man stood by him?  when the truth for which he had lived, suffered and was about to die was forsaken and betrayed?

“Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I KNOW Whom I have believed” (II.Tim.i.12).

     While it is perfectly true that there is a knowledge that puffeth up, a knowledge that is nothing worth, a knowledge that is proud, selfish and false, is this any reason why we should renounce the true because of the counterfeit?  “I would not have you ignorant” is still written.  “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” is still true.  “Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge” is still a divine command.  As with Israel of old so now.  Redemption, separation, pilgrimage, sanctification are all stages in the knowledge of the Lord, and the glorious goal is foreshadowed in Israel’s prophetic history:--

     “After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;  and I will be their God, and they shall be My people, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord;  for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord;  for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. xxxi. 33, 34).

#65. “Ye shall know that I am the Lord” (Exodus)

     Before we leave  Exodus xxix.  one phrase occurring in verse 46 demands our attention:

     “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them:  I am the LORD their God.”

     The expression:  “they shall know that I am the Lord” is one that comes over and over again in different settings, and it seems a fitting opportunity to pause here and give it consideration.  It occurs first in Exodus in connection with the promise of redemption, it runs through Exodus, both in connection with Israel and the Egyptians, and the closing references are connected with sanctification  (xxix. 46  &  xxxi. 13).   Seven references deal with Israel, seven with the plagues of Egypt, and two have to do with individuals — Jethro and Moses.

     The seven passages that are concerned with Israel are as follows:

     The seven passages that are concerned with Egyptians are similar in arrangement:

A1   |   vii. 5.   Egyptians shall know.

A2   |   vii. 17.   Plague connected with river    \

        |   viii. 10.   Plague lifted from waters      /

        |   ix. 14.   Plagues sent upon heart                 \

        |   x. 2.   Signs wrought among them              /

        |   xiv. 4.   God obtains honour upon Pharaoh at Red Sea    \

        |   xiv. 8.   God obtains honour upon Pharaoh at Red Sea    /

     Thus there is a twofold way in which this mighty lesson of the ages is impressed.  The Lord’s people learn by the judgments that fall upon the ungodly, and by the Lord’s own dealing with themselves.  The ungodly, too, are to learn this lesson, even though in their case it will not bring similar blessings.  We are more concerned just now, however, with the Lord’s people, and the way in which they are led along this pathway of knowledge.  The first step must, in the nature of things, be redemption.

     “By My name Jehovah was I not KNOWN to them … I will REDEEM you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments … and ye shall KNOW that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exod. vi. 3-7).

     The patriarchs certainly heard and used the name Jehovah.  Abram “called on the name of Jehovah” (Gen. xiii. 4).  Abram said, “I have lifted up mine hand unto Jehovah” (xiv. 2), and named the mountain of his great trial of faith, “Jehovah-Jireh” (xxii. 14).  Isaac “intreated Jehovah for his wife” (xxv. 21), and to Jacob the revelation was made at Bethel:  “I am Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father” (xxviii.13).  Yet it could be said that the name Jehovah was not known unto them.

     This immediately revolutionizes our idea of what knowledge is.  How did Israel know that name in a way that was radically different from any experience of man hitherto?  The answer must be found in their actual deliverance from Egypt, and the manifestation of the power of the Lord in that deliverance.  His judgment upon the gods of Egypt, and their oppressors, His remembrance of His covenant, and, moreover, the fact that the redemption from Egypt was not only by power, but through the shedding of blood — all this, and more, led to the point wherein it could be said that Israel knew the Lord.  This is a foundation truth still.  Men may be acquainted with the “God of Creation” and “Providence”, but to know Him necessitates an experience of redeeming grace.

     The next step that Israel had to take in this deepening knowledge was the lesson of separation, viz., “I will sever” (Exod. viii. 22), “the Lord put a difference” (xi. 7).  This distinction is twofold:  (1) In connection with divine judgment.  (2) In connection with human judgment.   This “severing” of the land of Goshen from the rest of Egypt, and so separating it from the sphere of judgment, is called a “sign”, and the words “I will put a division” read, as the margin shows, “I will put a redemption”.  One of the first great results of redemption is this complete separation from judgment.  “There is therefore now no condemnation.”  Even though the child of God be chastened by the Lord, he cannot be condemned with the world (I Cor. xi. 32).

    

    The Lord, Who “severed” Israel from the divine judgments, “put a difference” between the Egyptians and the Israelites, in that He would not allow even a dog to move his tongue against them.  In later prophecies this blessing is expanded.

     “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;  and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah.liv.17).

     This twofold difference was made with the object that,

(1)   “Thou (Pharaoh) mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth” (Exod.viii.22).

(2)   “Ye (Israel) may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel (Exod. xi. 7).

     Israel had still more to learn of the Lord before their lesson was complete, and the next step in it was reserved for the wilderness.  The Lord Who delivers from the bondage of sin has pledged Himself to lead us every step of the way to glory.  This is all involved in the work of redemption.  If we look back once more to  Exodus vi.,  we shall find that the Lord’s activities do not finish with the deliverance from Egypt, but He goes on to say:  “And I will bring you into the land, concerning the which I did sware to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob” (Exod. vi. 8).  Here Israel failed.  They said:  “Ye have brought us forth unto this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (xvi. 3).  Now, ordinary common sense should have prevented such foolish reasoning, but unbelief is ever illogical.  If God had indeed delivered Israel by such a series of marvels, even to the crossing of the Red Sea dry shod, surely He could provide for the pilgrim journey;  so Moses said:

     “At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt” (Exod. xvi. 6).  “Ye shall know that I am the LORD” (xvi. 12).

     This lesson is expressed in more doctrinal language in such passages as the following:

     “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. viii. 32).

     “For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come;  all are yours;  and ye are Christ's;  and Christ is God's” (I Cor. iii. 21-23).

     The last step of the lesson is connected with sanctification:

     “I will sanctify the tabernacle … and the altar, I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons … I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.  And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them:  I am the LORD their God” (Exod. xxix. 44-46).

     “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep:  for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations;  that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you” (Exod. xxxi. 13).

     The knowledge of the Lord, though it commences with redemption, is not complete until the object of redemption is attained, viz., the sanctification of the people, and the dwelling of the Lord with them.  We shall never have an adequate knowledge of the Lord unless His intense desire for the full heart-confidence of His people is appreciated.  In the full sense, Israel have yet this final phase to learn.  When the “tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Rev. xxi. 3), when the earth is “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” (Hab. ii. 14), when the life of the ages is really entered, then the knowledge of the Lord will at length be attained.

     “And this is life eternal (aionion), with the object that (hina) they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3).

     Without going into the references to “knowing” in  John xvii.,  we suggest the following supplement to the seven passages in Exodus to all readers who desire to pursue these studies:

    In addition to the sevenfold testimony in Exodus, both to Israel and the Egyptians, there is a twofold personal testimony (Jethro and Moses) that rounds off the record.

     “Blessed be the LORD, Who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, Who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  Now i know that the LORD is greater than all gods:  for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them” (Exodus.xviii.10,11).

     “Now therefore, i pray Thee, if i have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way, that i may KNOW Thee, that i may find grace in Thy sight:  and consider that this nation is Thy people.  And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest … so shall we be separated, i and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Exod. xxxiii. 13-16).

     Here are two points of view.  Jethro learns the infinite greatness of the Lord as related to the gods of Egypt.  Moses even though he had learned this, presses on to better knowledge.  “Shew me Thy way, that i may know Thee”, and that ultimate way is a way of fellowship, “My presence”, and that fellowship is a way of peace, “I will give you rest”.  This fellowship, in its turn, manifested Israel’s sanctification, “Thou goest with us, so shall we be separated”.

    Though we may have touched upon the references in Exodus, a great field yet lies before us.  The prophecy of Ezekiel, for example, contains at least 70 references to different experiences of judgment and grace, “that they may know that I am the Lord”.  We must leave untouched the blessed results that follow from a knowledge of the Lord;  this must form the theme of another paper.  We can, however, at all times take the attitude of the apostle when he said, “That i may know Him”.

#64. Consecration (Exod. xxviii. 40 - xxix. 46). “Put all in their hands … receive them of their hands.”

     The garments of “glory and beauty”, outward symbols of spiritual realities, have been described in the earlier part of  Exodus xxviii.   The priests were not to treat these symbolic garments without due regard, for upon the wearing of them in the course of their ministry depended the life of the ministers.

     “And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place;  that they bear not iniquity, and die” (Exod. xxviii. 43).

     Such, however, is the holiness of God, and such the ministry of the true High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, that the earthly types were caused to pass through a further series of ceremonials of consecration and cleansing, that internal as well as external fitness might be stressed.

     The whole story of this consecration is punctuated with sacrifice.  There is so much detail in this ceremonial consecration that it will be of service to set out the passage in structure form, so that the essential features may be made more evident.  It will be seen that the passage actually commences at  xxviii. 40,  where the “consecration and sanctification” of Aaron and his sons are first introduced.

     We are too conscious of our limitations to pretend to any degree of exactness in such a complicated passage, but we trust the earnest reader will be helped in the study of this important theme by the analysis of the chapter here presented.  By comparing the opening and closing members A, we realize the goal and object of this consecration and sanctification — “I will meet”;  “I will dwell”;  “They shall know”.   Members marked B show the symbolic materials used, while under C the actual ceremonial is enacted.  It will be observed that consecration and sanctification are kept distinct.  Before proceeding we must understand the word translated “consecration”.  “Sanctify” we already know to have as its basis the idea of “separation” or “setting apart”.

Filled   to  the   full   in   Him.

      Male yad (consecrate) means literally, “to fill the hand”, and is taken from this ceremony:

     “And thou shalt take of the ram … and put all in the hands of Aaron … and thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD” (Exod. xxix. 22-25).

     Put all in their hands … receive them of their hands.  What room for self does such “consecration” leave?  As surely as the ram, and the unleavened bread speak of the offering of Christ in all His spotless acceptableness, so surely this teaches that consecration is not the development of the flesh or even the growth of the spirit, but it is the taking of the fulness of Christ, “filling the hand”, and then bringing all that fulness back in loving service to the Lord.

     The Philippians’ ministry to Paul is spoken of an “an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God”.  This is the “receiving of their hands”.  But this passage from  Philippians iv.  is immediately followed by the words:  “But my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. iv. 19).  This is the fulness first of all placed in their hands.  Consecration, like service, is in line with the words of the O.T.:  “of Thine own have we given Thee”.  Here is true consecration:

     “Of His fulness have all we received” (John i. 16).

     “Ye are filled to the full in Him” (Col. ii. 10).

     When we ponder that which actually filled Aaron’s hands we may see all the more clearly what true consecration means.

     “Thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder;  for it is a ram of consecration:  and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD” (Exod. xxix. 22, 23).

     The blood of the ram was taken and put upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, upon the right hand thumb, and upon the great toe of the right foot.  Oil and blood were also sprinkled upon Aaron’s garments;  all this was to SANCTIFY.  Then, when sanctified, Aaron’s hands are filled that he may be consecrated.  This is important.  Only sanctified hands can be filled with all the fulness of Christ in consecrated service.  Sanctification is here seen to be twofold.  First, by the blood on the ear, hand and foot.  Then by oil in a general sprinkling.  Sanctification by the Spirit follows sanctification by the atonement.  To reverse this order is to court disaster.  The undue emphasis upon the work of the Spirit apart from the sanctification once for all by the blood of Christ is not of God.

The   wave   and   the   heave   offerings.

     “Thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up” (Exod. xxix. 27).

     Terumah, the heave offering, is essentially something lifted up, for rum means to lift up, to exalt:

     “Let us exalt His Name together” (Psa. xxxiv. 3).

     “Be thou exalted, O Lord, above the heavens” (Psa.lvii.5).

     Tenuphah, the wave offering, is derived from the word nuph, which means to move in a horizontal rather than in a vertical direction.  It is the movement of a sickle (Deut.xxiii.25) and a sieve (Isa.xxx.28).  The “sending” of rain (Psa.lxviii.9: margin, “shake out”) suggests the sieve also.  The idea of the wave offering seems, like the four horns of the altar, to include the four corners of the earth, whereas the heave offering is directed upwards to God.  The high priest bore the names of Israel “on his two shoulders” and “on his heart”;  these two offerings, the one “the breast”, the wave offering, the other “the shoulder”, the heave offering, appear to have the same lesson to teach.  True consecration will alone enable any of us to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ”.  It is here in this ceremony of consecration that we read of the “drink offering” (Exod. xxix. 40), and to this the apostle alludes when he says,

     “Yea, and if I be offered (poured out as a drink offering) upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all” (Phil. ii. 17).

     Consecration, then, in the Lord’s service, has at least two aspects.  There is (1) the complete appropriation of the fulness of Christ, and (2) its rendering back in acceptable service.   The O.T. ceremonial says, “Fill the hand … put all in the hands … receive them of their hands”.  The N.T. realization says:  “It is God Which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil.ii.13).

     Our walk may be a remembrance of the offering of Christ (Eph. v. 2).  Our life in the flesh may be His life lived in us (Gal. ii. 20).  Our whole ministry may be a savour of Christ (II Cor. ii. 15).

     True consecration and true equipment is a hand, a heart, and a life filled with Christ.  All other so called "consecrations" have about them some element of “strange fire”.

     If our service were ever and only the rendering back to God of the fulness of Christ, originally and graciously given, what service it would be!  May the contemplation of this chapter be owned and used to that end for writer and reader.

#63. “Crowned with glory and honour” (Exodus xxviii.).

     After the tabernacle has been described, and the chief articles of furniture specified, we are permitted to learn something concerning the high priest’s ministry by a lengthy description of his garments.

Called   of   God,   as   was   Aaron.

     No child of God to-day is a priest, neither is his ministry priestly, nevertheless it is well to remember that God reserves the right to call and to choose as well as to fit those who are to be His ministers.  While this may not be so obvious to-day, it is not the less real, and if we could see as God sees, there may still be much strange fire offered in His service.  Have we not met a brother obviously unfitted for speaking in public, but eminently fitted for some other sphere of God’s service, spoiling both his own witness and hindering that of others by failure to keep in mind the Scriptures:  “To every man his work”, and “Every man according to his several ability”?  This feature is stressed in connection with the appointment of the priesthood of Israel:

     “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Heb. v. 4).

     “Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons” (Exod. xxviii. 1).

     Two aspects of the high priest’s work are discovered by comparing:

(1)     “That he may minister UNTO ME” (Exod. xxviii. 1).

(2)     “For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained FOR MEN in things pertaining TO GOD” (Heb. v. 1).

     The claims of both God and man were met in the ministry of the high priest.  Hence in Hebrews we have Christ presented not only as high priest, but also as mediator:  not only meeting all the claims of God, but ever living to make intercession for His people.

     As we read the names Nadab and Abihu, we call to mind their transgression and their solemn end.  From one point of view their action was but the repetition of the high priest’s ministry, but from another point of view it was a willful intrusion and disobedience.   In  Exodus xxiv.  these two sons of Aaron had been initiated into something of the awfulness of “worship”, and had seen the glory of the Lord as a “devouring fire” (xxiv. 17).   In  Lev. ix. 24  we read:  “And there came fire out from before the Lord, and consumed (devoured, same word) upon the altar the burnt offering”.  Yet in spite of this reminder of the “devouring fire” (of Exodus xxiv.),  Lev. x. 1, 2  opens with the account of the offering of Nadab and Abihu of strange fire, “which the Lord commanded them not”, with the awful result:  “And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord”.

     The strangeness of the fire consisted simply in the fact that Nadab and Abihu had never been called of God nor commanded of God to this service.  Is there not a need for every one of us to put up the apostle’s prayer:  “Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?”.

Holiness,   glory   and   beauty.

     The garments that are described in  Exodus xxviii.  are called “holy garments”, and were “for glory and beauty”.  Holiness opens and closes this description, for the gold plate on the mitre described in  xxviii. 36  bore the legend “Holiness to the Lord”.  Holiness, sanctification and cognate words enter largely into N.T. doctrine, so that it will be for our edification to obtain some idea of the basic meaning of this word.  The root idea of kodesh (“holy”) is “separated or set apart”, and while holiness cannot be thought of apart from the highest moral and spiritual qualities, it is nevertheless a fact that such qualities are not inherent in the original conception.   Leviticus xx. 24-26  will bring out this basic idea of separation fairly clearly:

     “I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people … ye shall put a difference between clean beasts and unclean … ye shall be holy unto Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.”

     Again in  Deut. xix. 2 & 7  we read:  “Thou shalt separate three cities”;  and in  Joshua xx. 7  this command is obeyed: “and they sanctified (margin) these cities”.   Jeremiah xvii. 22  speaks of “hallowing” the Sabbath day, that is separating it from the rest of the week, setting it apart for God’s service.  The same word is used in  Jer. xxii. 7  for “preparing” destroyers, the idea of separation being constant, but the N.T. conception of sanctification is entirely absent from the passage.  Yet once more.  When Paul said in  Gal. i. 15  that he had been “separated” from his mother’s womb, he was making an evident allusion to that other prophet of the nations, Jeremiah, who had been “sanctified” from the womb (Jer. i. 5).  To make the matter certain we must record the awful fact that such unholy creatures as Sodomites are nevertheless called qadesh, simply because they were “set apart”, but surely not “sanctified”, to the abominable service of Canaanitish gods  (I Kings xiv. 24;  II Kings xxiii. 7;  Hos.iv.14, “separate”;  Job xxxvi. 14, “unclean”).   We must therefore always allow in our interpretations of saintship and sanctification this element of separation unto God.  With this in mind  II.Cor.vi.14-17  (with its insistence upon “being separate” as well as not touching the unclean thing) may be remembered as “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor. vii. 1).

     The holy garments were “for glory and beauty”.  We call to mind such passages as “the beauty of holiness” and the like, but the connection with the N.T. is of greater importance just now.  The LXX translates this phrase by timē kai doxa, “honour and glory”, and  Heb. ii. 9  &  II Pet. i. 17  are seen to be antitypical.  Peter’s reference is to the mount of transfiguration, where Christ the King is seen as Christ the High Priest.  This is important.  We hear much of the fact that Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom, but we do well to remember that it will be a kingdom of priests (Rev. i. 6) when it is established, and that Christ is the Priest-King.  We have given elsewhere the structure of Matthew’s Gospel, and have shown the twofold character of its teaching — we will just revive the memory so far as to draw attention to the two time divisions, viz.,  Matt. iv. 17  &  xvi. 21,  and the two occasions when the voice from heaven testified:  “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased”  (Matt. iii. 17;  xvii. 5).   It is in the second, the priestly section, that the Lord first speaks of His suffering and death.  Uzziah was stricken with leprosy for daring to unite the office of king and priest, there being but one Priest after the order of Melchisedec, even the Lord Jesus Christ.

     There are six items of clothing specified in  Exod. xxviii. 4,  to which may be added the “bonnets” and “breeches” of verses 40 & 42, making eight items in all.  Some of these garments need no special comment:  those that seem to call for exposition are the ephod, with its shoulder stones and breastplate, and the robe with its bells and pomegranates.

     THE  EPHOD. — The word is taken unaltered from the Hebrew, and comes from aphad, “to bind”, being found in  Exod. xxix. 5  where “gird” is aphad.  The ephod seems to have been made of two pieces, back and front, and its chief use was to provide a beautiful and efficient holder for the breastplate.  Scripture records that Aaron the high priest, Samuel the prophet (I Sam. ii. 18), and David the king (II Sam. vi. 14) wore the ephod, prophetically setting forth the fulness of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King, Who shall rule and reign in the coming kingdom.  The wearing of the ephod, one of the garments of “glory and beauty” or “honour and glory”, gives point to the words of  I Sam. ii. 28-30:

     “Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest … to wear an ephod before Me … Be it far from Me, for them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”

     Two ounces of gold, each set with an onyx stone, and engraved with the names of the children of Israel according to their birth, were placed upon the shoulders of the ephod, that Aaron should bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial.  This was one memorial ever associated with the ephod.  The other was connected with the breastplate.  This set apart a special stone for each tribe, and Aaron bore them upon his heart for a memorial before the Lord continually when he went in unto the holy place.  Upon his shoulders, upon his heart:  surely no words of ours are needed in explanation of this beautiful symbol of an equally blessed fact.

    URIM  AND  THUMMIM. — A marvellous amount of ingenuity has been expended in an attempt to explain how the Urim and Thummim gave the Lord’s answer, or “judgment”.  Perhaps the one most satisfactory is that given in The Companion Bible margin.  The note, however, is too long to transcribe here.  It suggests that the breastplate being “doubled” (Exod. xxviii. 16), was a bag in which the Urim and Thummim were placed, and that  Prov. xvi. 33  makes reference to it, the “lap” being the “bosom” and referring to the breastplate.  The two Hebrew words Urim and Thummim mean Lights and Perfections, and while we may not know exactly how the answers were given or how these titles are appropriate, it suffices that it was efficient, while the LXX translation “Manifestation and Truth” points us on to the Holy Scriptures, the Divine Oracles, where we too may obtain infallible guidance.  If we could only and ever keep in mind the close association that this makes between the High Priest and the Scriptures, every study would become a sanctuary, the spirit would rejoice as the understanding was illuminated, worship and work, grammar and grace, glossaries and glory would be blessedly intermingled, and the lexicon and concordance would be but rungs in the ladder that lead from earth to heaven, to the right hand of the Majesty on high.

     THE  ROBE  OF  THE  EPHOD. — The robe of the ephod was “all of blue”, the colour of heaven, and the sign of separation and holiness (Numb. xv. 38).  This robe was made of one piece, and the hole through which the head came, presumably, was bound with woven work “that it be not rent” (Exod.xxviii.32).   Psalm xxii.  says:  “They cast lots upon My vesture” (18).  This was fulfilled at the foot of the cross.  The coat that belonged to the Saviour was without a seam, woven from the top throughout;  they said therefore, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it” (John xix. 23, 24), and there can be little doubt that here was an indication of the High Priest, Prophet, and King Who was at that moment offering the one great sacrifice for sin.

     Beneath the hem or skirt of the blue robe was arranged a decoration consisting of pomegranates in blue, purple and scarlet, and golden bells.  These were to be worn by Aaron when he went into the holy place and when he came out:  “His sound shall be heard … that he die not”.  This is the first of a series of most solemn injunctions connected with priestly service.  We read that the priestly garments must be worn by Aaron and his sons, “that they bear not iniquity and die” (Exod. xxviii. 43);  that hands and feet must be washed;  that wine must be avoided;  that Aaron was not to come within the veil at all times, and that when he did come he must carry incense with him;  that the priest must be kept scrupulously free from uncleanness, and that the Kohathites must not see the holy thing when they are covered, all these injunctions being followed by the word, “that he die not” or “lest he die”.  It is sometimes said that these golden bells were a means of assuring Israel of the active ministry of the high priest when he went within the veil once a year on the day of atonement.  This cannot be, for the simple reason that a different set of linen clothes was worn on that occasion.  No, the bells and pomegranates were not "lest they fear", but “lest he die”;  such is the absolute need of all the acceptableness set forth by the symbols of fruitfulness and pleasant sound.

     Golden bells and pomegranates, lest he die!  As we weigh over these things, may we realize more fully than ever the awfulness of approach unto the living God, and while rejoicing in an access that is with “boldness and confidence”, let us never forget that we have this boldness and access with confidence “by the faith of Him”.  The fulness of our acceptance, the freeness of grace, and the glorious liberty of our calling should never, surely, be abused or minimize the infinite preciousness of the blood that has been shed, and the tremendous responsibility shouldered on our behalf by our glorious Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.