The Tabernacle and Its Priests and Services Described, and Considered in Relation to Christ and the Church (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 Excerpt: ... means a box or chest, was made of wood, and overlaid both within and without with gold, and was 2 cubits long and high and broad (Exod. xxv. 10-22.) Along the upper edge ran an ornamental rim or crown of gold. The rings in our English version of the Scriptures are said to have been placed in the four corners, but this is a mistranslation, for the Hebrew word rendered corners is "feet." So that this sacred chest had four feet, and on them the rings were fixed, not at the front and back as they are generally represented, but at the two ends, so that the poles could be drawn out as stated in 1 Kings viii. 8. The rings so placed would cause the ark to be more elevated, when being transported, than the rest of the sacred furniture, which may have been necessary, as it was a kind of leading standard, and borne by the priests or Levites (Num. iii. 31; Josh. iii. 3) in the fore-front (Num. x. 33) of the army, and hence it was desirable that it should be elevated and conspicuous. In the ark were deposited: 1. The tables of stone, on which were written with the fingers of God the Ten Commandments. "Put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee." In these commandments God testified or showed His will, and they were evidence that He had made a covenant with the Israelites. If obedient they would be a testimony in their favour, but if disobedient they would, like the rest of the Scriptures afterwards given them, and placed beside the same repository, testify against them (Deut. xxxi. 26.) Hence this sacred chest is sometimes called the Ark of the Testimony. It is also called the Ark of the Covenant, as the moral law formed the basis of the covenant or gracious agreement God made with the Israelites, and in which He promised to be their God, ...