זָרָה from

to scatter abroad" in the manner of rays and beams; which, Heb. i. 3, is called araúyaoua, the "brightness" of glory. And hence the rabbins speak of a threefold crown, of the ark, altar, and table; of the last for the king; of the midst for the priest; of the first for they know not whom, as Rabbi Solomon expressly;— indeed, all representing the threefold office of Christ, for whom the crowns were laid up, Zech. vi. 11, 14.

9. At the four corners, on the outside, were annexed unto it four rings of gold, on each side two. Through these rings went two staves or bars, wherewith the ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, Exod. xxv. 12-15; for the neglect of which service, strictly enjoined them, Num. vii. 9, God made a breach on Uzzah in the days of David, 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7.

10. The end wherefore God appointed the making of this ark, was to put therein, "the testimony," Exod. xxv. 16; that is, the two tables of stone engraved on both sides with the ten commandments, pronounced by the ministry of angels, and written with the finger of God. Besides this there was in it nothing at all, as is expressly affirmed, 1 Kings viii. 9; 2 Chron. v. 10; Deut. x. 2, 5. The appearance of a dissent from hence in an expression of our apostle, Heb. ix. 4, shall be considered in its proper place.

11. This ark made at Horeb, 1 Kings viii. 9,—that is, at the foot of the mountain where the people encamped,-was finished with the rest of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year of the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt, Exod. xl. 1–3, being, as we have showed, the visible pledge of the presence of God amongst them, as it was placed with its tabernacle in the midst of the people whilst they were encamped in the wilderness,-the body of them being distributed into four hosts to the four quarters of heaven, Num. ii., that a blessing from thence might be equally communicated unto them all, and all might have an alike access to the worship of God, so it was carried in their marching in the midst of their armies, with a pronunciation of a solemn benediction when it began to set forward, and when it returned unto its repository in the most holy place, Num. x. 35, 36. This was the ordinary course in the removals of the ark. In an extraordinary manner God appointed it to be carried before all the people when the waters of Jordan were divided by his power, whereor that was a pledge, Josh. iii. 14-16; which the people on their own heads going afterwards to imitate, in their war with the Philistines, received a sad reward of their temerity and boldness, 1 Sam. iv.

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From the wilderness the ark was carried to Gilgal, Josh. v. 10; and thence removed with the tabernacle to Shiloh, Josh. xviii. 1. Some suppose that after this it was occasionally removed to Mizpeh, as Judges xi. 11, xx. 1, xxi. 1, 2; because it is said in those places that

such things were done "before the LORD in Mizpeh." But that expression doth not necessarily infer the presence of the ark and sanctuary in that place; yea, the context seems to intimate that it was at another place distant from thence, as, chap. xx. 26, 27, they went up from the place of the assembly in Mizpeh to the house of God, where the ark was. In Shechem also it is supposed to have been, from the assembly that Joshua made there, chap. xxiv. 1; upon the close whereof he fixed a stone of memorial before the sanctuary, verse 26. But yet neither doth this evince the removal of the ark or sanctuary; for Shechem being not far from Shiloh, the people might meet in the town for convenience, and then go some of them with Joshua unto Shiloh, as is most probable that they did. From Shiloh it was carried into the field of Aphek, against the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv.; and being taken by them, was carried first to Ashdod, then to Gath, then to Ekron, 1 Sam. v.; thence returned to Kirjath-jearim, 1 Sam. vi., to the house of Abinadab, 1 Sam. vii.; thence to the house of Obed-edom, 2 Sam. vi.; thence to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, into a place prepared for it by David, 2 Sam. vi.; and from thence it was solemnly introduced into and enthroned in the most holy place of the temple built by Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 6, 7. In the meantime, either occasionally or by advice, the tabernacle was removed from Shiloh, and that first place of the solemn worship of God altogether deserted, and made an example of what God would afterwards do unto the temple when his worship therein also was neglected and defiled, Jer. vii. 12–14, xxvi. 6, 9. In the temple of Solomon it continued either unto the captivity of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar took away all "the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD," 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10, or unto the captivity of Zedekiah, when he carried away all the remaining vessels, "great and small,” verse 18. Of the Talmudical fable concerning the hiding of it by Josiah or Jeremiah, with the addition of its supposed restoration at the last day, in the second book of Maccabees, I have spoken elsewhere. Whether it was returned again with the vessels of the house of the Lord, by Cyrus, is uncertain. If it was not, it was an intimation that the covenant made with that people was waxing old, and hasting unto an expiration.

12. The things that accompanied this ark in the most holy place were upon it the mercy-seat, on the ends of it two cherubim. The mercy-seat, as to its making, form, use, and disposition, is declared, Exod. xxv. 17. It is called 2, "capporeth." signifies "to

hide, to cover, to plaster over, to shut, to plaster with bitumen or pitch;" in Pihel, "to expiate sin," Exod. xxx. 10, Lev. iv. 20. If the name "mercy-seat" be taken from the word in Kal, it signifies only "operimentum, tegumentum, tegmen," "a covering," and so ought to be rendered. If it be taken from the sense of the word

in Pihel, it retains the signification of expiation, and consequently of pardon and mercy. So it is by our translators rendered "mercyseat," and that with respect unto the rendering of it by the apostle, iλaorpiov, Heb. ix. 5, as by the LXX. in this place, ¡λaorýpiov imídETOV, the "propitiatory placed on the ark;" wherein what respect was had to the Lord Christ the apostle declares, Rom. iii. 25, and largely in our Epistle, chap. ix.

13. Its matter was of pure gold; and for its dimensions, it was just as broad and long as the ark whereon it was laid, Exod. xxv. 21. And this mercy-seat or covering of gold seems to have lain upon the ark within the verge of gold or crown that encompassed it, being itself plain, without any such verge or crown; for it was placed by, by, "upon the ark," just over it, verse 21, and so was encompassed with its crown,—the glory both of justice and mercy, of law and gospel, being the same in Christ Jesus.

14. At the two ends of this mercy-seat were placed two cherubim, one at the one end, the other at the other, both of gold, and, as it should seem, of one continued work with the covering itself. The name of "cherubim" hath prevailed for these figures or images from the Hebrew; partly because it is retained by our apostle, who calls them "cherubim of glory," poučím dóğns, Heb. ix. 5; and partly because the signification of the word being not well known, it cannot properly be otherwise expressed, for which reason it was retained also by the LXX. They were of those things which our apostle, chap. ix. 23, terms irodaiyuara rv Ev Tois oùpavois, "examples,"-expressions, or similitudes, " of things in heaven;" whose framing and erection, in reference unto the worship of God, is forbidden under the

Exod. xx. 4,- The likeness of any ,כָל־תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בָּשָׁמַיִם name of .Exod.

thing in heaven above." The first mention of cherubim is Gen. iii. 24, "God placed cherubim;" which seems to intimate that the prototypes of these figures were heavenly ministers or angels, though Aben Ezra supposes that the word denotes any erected figures or appearances whatever. Others of the Jews, as Kimchi, think the word to be compounded of 5, "caph,” a note of similitude, and §77, a child," to signify "like a child," being so called from their form or shape. But this answers not unto the description given afterwards of them in Ezekiel; much less with the same appellation given to the winds and clouds, Ps. xviii. 10. The word hath a great affinity with 7, "a chariot." So are the angels of God called his "chariots," Ps. lxviii. 17; and David so calls expressly the cherubim that were to be made in Solomon's temple, 1 Chron. xxviii. 18, "Gold for the pattern "hammercheba hacherubim," where the allusion is open, "the chariot of the cherubim;" and Ezekiel describes his cherubim as a triumphal chariot, chap. x. It is not, therefore, unlikely that their name is derived from 7, which sig

nifies "to ride," or "to be carried," "to pass on swiftly," expressing the angelical ministry of the blessed spirits above; if they were not rather mere emblems of the power and speed of God in his works of grace and providence.

15. These cherubim are said to be ,-that is, not molten, but beaten even and smooth; and seem to have been one continued piece with the mercy-seat, beat out with it and from it. There is no more mention of their form, but only that they had faces and wings. Of what sort those faces were, or how many in number were their wings, is not expressed.

16. In Ezekiel's vision of the "living creatures,"—which he also calleth "cherubim," chap. x. 2,—there is the shape of a man ascribed unto them: "They had the likeness of a man," chap. i. 5; " faces," verse 6; "feet," verse 7; "hands," verse 8; "sides," or "bodies," verses 8, 11. Each of them also had four faces, of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, verse 10; and each had four wings, verse 23. In John's vision in the Revelation, seeming to answer this of Ezekiel's cherubim, from the eyes that his living creatures were full of, and the appearance of their faces, they had each of them six wings, answering unto those of the seraphim in the vision of Isaiah, chap. vi. 2.

17. The Jews generally affirm, that these visions of the glory of God by Isaiah and Ezekiel were the same, and that Ezekiel saw nothing but what Isaiah saw also; only, they say that Ezekiel saw the glory of God and his majesty, as a countryman who admires at all the splendour of the court of the king, Isaiah as a courtier who takes notice only of the person of the king himself. But there are many evident differences in their visions. Isaiah calls the glorious ministers of God D, "seraphim," from their nature, compared to fire and light; Ezekiel, D, "cherubim," from their speed in the accomplishment of their duty. Isaiah saw his vision as in the temple: for although from these words, "I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple,' Aben Ezra and Kimchi suppose that he saw the throne of God in heaven, and only his train of glory descending into the temple, yet it is more probable that he saw the throne itself in the temple, his train spreading abroad to the filling of the whole house; for He calls the temple," the throne of his glory," Jer. xiv. 21, and "a glorious high throne," chap. xvii. 12,-that is, "a throne high and lifted up," as in this place. Ezekiel saw his vision abroad in the open field, by the river of Chebar, chap. i. 3. Isaiah first saw the Lord himself, and then his glorious attendants; Ezekiel first saw the chariot of his glory, and then God above it. Isaiah's seraphim had six wings, with two whereof they covered their faces, which Ezekiel's cherubim had not; and that because Isaiah's vision represented Christ,

John xii. 41, with the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles and rejection of the Jews, which the angels were not able to look into, Eph. iii. 9, 10, and were therefore said to cover their faces with their wings, as not being able to look into the depths of those mysteries: but in Ezekiel's vision, when they attended the will of God in the works of his providence, they looked upon them with "open face." Wherefore, from the diversity in all these visions, it appears that nothing certain concerning the form or wings of the cherubim made by Moses can be collected. Most probably they had each of them only one face, directly looking one towards the other, and each two wings, which, being stretched out forward over the mercy-seat, met each other, and were mere emblems of the divine presence and care over his covenant, people, and worship.

18. And this was the whole furniture of the most holy place in the tabernacle of Moses. In that of the temple of Solomon, which was more august and spacious, there were, by God's direction, two other cherubim added. These were great and large, made of the wood of the olive-tree, overlaid with gold; and they stood on their feet behind the ark westward, with their backs towards the end of the oracle, their faces over the ark and mercy-seat eastward, toward the sanctuary; their wings extending twenty cubits long, even the whole breadth of the house, and meeting in the midst; their inward wings were over the ark, 1 Kings vi. 23-28; 2 Chron. iii. 10-13.

19. And this was that appearance of his glory which the Lord God of Israel granted unto his church of old; which though it was beautiful and excellent, as appointed by himself, yet was it but carnal and worldly in comparison of the heavenly and glorious mysteries of the gospel, especially of Him who, being obscurely shadowed out by all this preparation of glory, was in himself the real "brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person," as shall further be declared on Heb. i. 3.

EXERCITATION XXIII.

OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIESTHOOD.

1. Of the office of the priesthood-The high priest in particular, the most illustrious type of Christ. 2. The call of Aaron to the priesthood. 3. Things concurring to his call, and separation to his office. 4, 5. The garments prescribed to him-Ordinary; 6. Extraordinary. 7. The nature of the office of the high priest-What he performed himself alone; what with the assistance of other priests; what with the assistance of priests and Levites.