ever, that pious persons among the Jews worshipped God also in private, and in their families; in which they might be assisted by the priests and Levites, who having no distinct portion of the land allotted to them, were dispersed among all the tribes; and thus it is said of Daniel, that in his chamber he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before God. (Dan. vi. 10.) There were several public places appropriated by the Jews for religious worship, viz. 1. The Tabernacle, which in time gave place to 2. The Temple, both of which are oftentimes in Scripture called the sanctuary; between which there was no other difference as to the principal design (though there was in beauty and workmanship) than that the tabernacle was a moveable temple, as the temple was an immoveable tabernacle; on which account the tabernacle is sometimes called the temple (1 Sam. i. 9. and iii. 3.), as the temple is sometimes called the tabernacle. (Jer. x. 20. Lam. ii. 6.) 3. There were also places of worship called in Scripture High places, used promiscuously during the times of both the tabernacle and temple until the captivity; and lastly, there were Synagogues among the Jews, and other places, used only for prayer, called proseuche or oratories, which chiefly obtained after the captivity; of these various structures some account will be found in the following section. SECTION I. OF THE TABERNACLE. I. Different Tabernacles in use among the Israelites.-II. THE TABERNACLE, so called by way of eminence, not of Egyptian Origin.— Its Materials:-III. Form and Construction of the Tabernacle.Its Contents.-IV. Its Migrations. I. MENTION is made in the Old Testament of three different tabernacles previously to the erection of Solomon's temple. The first, which Moses erected, is called the tabernacle of the congregation (Exod. xxxiii. 7.); here he gave audience, heard causes, and inquired of Jehovah, and here also at first, perhaps the public offices of religion were solemnised. The second tabernacle was that erected by Moses for Jehovah, and at his express command, partly to be a palace of his presence as the king of Israel (Exod. xl. 34, 35.), and partly to be the medium of the most solemn public worship, which the people were to pay to him. (26-29.) This tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month in the second year after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. The third public tabernacle was that erected by David in his own city, for the reception of the ark, when he received it from the house of Obed-Edom. (2 Sam. vi. 7. 1 Chron. xvi. 1.) Of the second of these tabernacles we are now to treat, which was called THE TABERNACLE by way of distinction. It was a moveable chapel, so contrived as to be 1 taken to pieces and put together again at pleasure, for the convenience of carrying it from place to place. II. It has been imagined that this tabernacle, together with all its furniture and appurtenances, was of Egyptian origin: that Moses projected it after the fashion of some such structure which he had observed in Egypt, and which was in use among other nations; or that God directed it to be made with a view of indulging the Israelites in a compliance with their customs and modes of worship, so far as there was nothing in them directly sinful. The heathen nations, it is true, had such tabernacles or portable shrines as are alluded to by the prophet Amos (v. 26.), which might bear a great resemblance to that of the Jews; but it has neither been proved, nor is it probable, that they had them before the Jews, and that the Almighty so far condescended to indulge the Israelites, a wayward people, and prone to idolatry, as to introduce them into his own worship. It is far more likely that the heathens derived their tabernacles from that of the Jews, who had the whole of their religion immediately from God, than that the Jews, or rather that God should take them from the heathens.1 The materials of the tabernacle were provided by the people; every one brought his oblation according to his ability: those of the first quality offered gold, those of a middle condition brought silver and brass and shittim-wood; and the offerings of the meaner sort consisted of yarn, fine linen, goats-hair and skins; nor were the women backward in contributing to this work, for they willingly brought in their bracelets, ear-rings, and other ornaments, and such of them as were skilful in spinning made yarn and thread. In short, the liberality of the people on this occasion was so great, that Moses was obliged by proclamation to forbid any more offerings, and thereby restrain the excessive zeal of the people for that service. (Exod. xxxv. and xxxvi.) This tabernacle was set up in the wilderness of Sinai, and carried along with the Israelites from place to place as they journeyed towards Canaan, and is often called the tabernacle of the congregation. The form of it appears to have closely resembled our modern tents, but it was much larger, having the sides and roof secured with boards, hangings, and coverings, and was surrounded on all sides by a large outer court, which was enclosed by pillars, posted at equal distances, whose spaces were filled up with curtains fixed to these pillars: whence it is evident that this tabernacle consisted first of the tent or house itself which was covered, and next of the 1 The hypothesis above noticed was advanced by Spencer in his learned, but in many respects fanciful treatise, De Legibus Hebræorum, lib. iii. diss. i. c. 3. and diss vi. c. 1. His arguments were examined and refuted by Buddeus in his Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris Testamenti, part i. pp. 310. 548. 2 This shittim-wood is supposed to have been either the acacia or the cedar, both which grow in Egypt and in Syria. The acacia is delineated by Prosper Alpinus, De Plantis Egyptiacis, c. 4. Hasselquist found it in Palestine (Tour in the Levant, p. 250.), and Dr. Pococke found it both on Mount Sinai and in Egypt The cedar has been already mentioned. court that surrounded it, which was open all which are minutely and exactly described in Exod. xxv.-xxx. xxxvi.-xl. from which chapters the following particulars are abridged. III. The tent itself was an oblong square, thirty cubits in length, and ten in height and breadth. The inside of it was divided by a veil or hanging, made of rich embroidered linen, which parted the holy place from the holy of holies. The holy place, (which is called the first tabernacle, Heb. ix. 2. 6.) was twenty cubits long, and ten wide; and the holy of holies, (called the second tabernacle, Heb. ix. 7.) was ten cubits long, and ten broad. In the holy place stood the altar of incense overlaid with gold, the table of showbread, consisting of twelve loaves, and the great candlestick of pure gold, containing seven branches: none of the people were allowed to go into the holy place, but only the priests. The holy of holies (so called because it was the most sacred place of the tabernacle, into which none went but the high priest) contained in it the ark, called the ark of the testimony (Exod. xxv. 22.) or the ark of the covenant. (Josh. iv. 7.) This was a small chest or coffer made of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold, into which were put the two tables of the law (as well the broken ones, say the Jews, as the whole) with the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded (Heb. ix. 4.), which passage of the apostle explains what is meant by the pot of manna being laid up before the Lord (Exod. xvi. 33.), and Aaron's rod being laid before the testimony of the Lord (Numb. xvii. 10.), that is, within the very ark itself; for though when this ark was put afterwards into the temple of Solomon, it is declared that there was nothing in it save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb (2. Chron. v. 10.), yet that might be owing to the various accidents which befel it while in the hands of the Philistines and others. The lid or covering of this ark was wholly of solid gold, and called the mercy-seat: at the two ends of it were two cherubim (or hieroglyphic figures, the form of which it is impossible now to ascertain) looking inwards towards each other, with wings expanded, which, embracing the whole circumference of the mercy-seat, met on each side in the middle. Here the Shechinah or Divine Presence rested, both in the tabernacle and temple, and was visibly seen in the appearance of a cloud over it. (Lev. xvi. 2.) From this the divine oracles were given out by an audible voice, as often as Jehovah was consulted on behalf of his people. (Exod. xxv. 22. Numb. vii. 89.) And hence it is that God is so often said in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim (2 Kings xix. 15. Psal. lxxx. 1.), because there was the seat or throne of the visible appearance of his glory among them; and this was the reason why not only in the temple, when they came up there to worship, but every where else in their dispersion through the whole world, whenever they prayed, they turned their faces towards the place where the ark stood, and directed all their devotions that way. (1 Kings viii. 48. Dan. vi. 10.) The boards or planks, of which the body of the tabernacle was composed, were forty-eight in number, each a cubit and a half wide, and ten cubits high. Twenty of them were required to make up one side of the tabernacle, and twenty the other, and at the west end of it were the other eight, which were all let into one another, by two tenons above and below, and compacted together by bars running from one end to the other; but the cast end, which was the entry, was open, and only covered with a rich curtain of blue silk, and fine twined linen, wrought with needle-work. The roof of the tabernacle was a square frame of planks, resting upon their bases, and over these were coverings or curtains of different kinds; of which the first on the inside was made of fine linen, curiously embroidered in various colours of crimson and scarlet, purple and hyacinth. The next was made of goats-hair curiously wove together; and the last, or outmost, was of sheep and badgers-skins (some dyed red, and others of azure blue), which served to preserve the other rich curtains from the rain, and to protect the tabernacle itself from the injuries of the weather. Round about the tabernacle was a large oblong court, an hundred cubits long, and fifty broad, encompassed with pillars overlaid with silver, and whose capitals were of the same metal, but their bases were of brass. Ten of these pillars stood towards the west, six to the east, twenty to the north, and twenty to the south, at five cubits distance from each other. Over these hung curtains made of twined linen thread in the manner of net-work, which surrounded the tabernacle on all sides, except at the entrance of the court, which was covered with a curtain made of richer materials. Nearly in the centre of this court stood a brazen vessel, called the brazen laver, in which the priests washed their hands and feet, whenever they were to offer sacrifices, or go into the tabernacle; and directly opposite to the entrance of the tabernacle stood the brazen altar of burnt-offerings, in the open air, that the fire which was kept perpetually upon it, and the smoke arising from the victims that were burnt there, might not spoil the inside of the tabernacle at the four corners of this altar there was something like four horns, and as the altar itself was hollow and open both at top and bottom, from these horns there hung a grate made of brass, (fastened with four rings and four chains) on which the wood and the sacrifices were burnt; and as the ashes fell through, they were received below in a pan. There is no precept in the law to make the altar a privileged place, but in conformity to the customs of other nations the Jews seem to have done it; for from the words in Exod. xxi. 14. where God ordered the wilful murderer to be taken from his altar, that he may die, it seems unquestionably true, that both in the wilderness and afterwards in Canaan, this altar continued a sanctuary for those who fled unto it; and very probably it was the horns of this altar (then at Gibeon) that Adonijah and Joab took hold of (1 Kings i. 50. and ii. 28.), for the temple of Solomon was not then erected.1 1 It is evident from this and other passages of Scripture, that the altar was con The fire that was upon this altar of burnt-offerings, was at first miraculously kindled by God, when Aaron, after the consecration of himself and his sons, offered their first burnt-offering for themselves and the people; at which time it pleased God, as a token of his approbation, to consume the victim with fire. (Levit. ix. 24.) God had beforehand ordered that the fire on this altar, when once kindled, should never go out. (Levit. vi. 12, 13.) It was reckoned an impious presumption to make use of any other but this sacred fire in burning incense before the Lord; which was sufficiently notified to Aaron by an injunction given him, that he was to light the incense offered to God, in the most holy place on the great day of expiation, at this fire only. (Lev. xvi. 12, 13.) Notwithstanding which prohibition Nadab and Abihu, two unhappy sons of Aaron, forgetful of their duty, took their censers, and putting common fire in them, laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, in their daily ministrations, which profane approach God immediately resented; for we are told that a fire went out from the Lord, and devoured them, so that they died. (Levit. x. 1.) After the Israelites were settled in the land of promise, it appears that this tabernacle was surrounded with a great many other tents or cells, which were placed about it in the same manner as the buildings were afterwards placed around the temple. These were absolutely necessary for the reception of the priests during the time of their ministration, and for laying up the utensils and provisions which were used in the tabernacle; this explains what is related of Eli's sons going into the kitchen where the peace-offerings were dressing, and taking out of the pots whatever the flesh-hook brought up. (1 Sam. ii. 14.) And thus Eli is said to be laid down in his place (iii. 2.), that is, was gone to bed in one of these tents near the tabernacle, next to which Samuel lay, which made him (being then a child) run to Eli, when he heard the voice of the Lord, thinking that Eli had called (4, 5., &c.): and this also explains what is said of David (Mat. xii. 4.) that he entered into the house of God, and did eat the show-bread, that is, he came to the priest's habitation, which was among these tents round the tabernacle, and which were reckoned sidered as an asylum: and it is well known that, among almost all the heathen nations of antiquity, the altars of their deities were accounted so sacred that the vilest miscreant found safety, if he once reached an altar. Hence arose many abuses, and justice was greatly perverted: so that it became a maxim that the guilty should be punished even though they should have taken refuge there. We have remarked above that the presumptuous murderer was, by divine command, to be dragged thence and put to death. Euripides thus alludes to a similar ordinance among the heathen nations in his time : Εγω, γαρ όστις μη δικαιος ων ανηρ Βωμον προσέξει, τον νόμον χαίρειν των, In English thus: Eurip. Frag. 42. edit. Musgrave. "If an unrighteous man availing himself of the law, should claim the protection of the altar, I would drag him to justice, nor fear the wrath of the gods: for it is necessary that a wicked man should always suffer for his crimes." Dr. A. Clarke on 1 Kings ii. 30. |