46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought e ch. 20. 2. purport of the promise. It is a promise no less made to Israel in their future restoration, than at their original adop. tion; and in that relation is no less literally to be understood, though far more gloriously, than in the present annunciation. So far as we are able to see, the literal restoration and return of the Jews are assured to us by no other principles of interpretation, than those which require us to admit the literal return and re-establishment of the manifested glory of Jehovah, the true Shekinah, in visible communication with the children of men on earth. Let the following passages, for instance, be taken as a specimen: Zech. 2. 10-12, 'Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee ( shakanti), saith the Lord. And many nations shall be join ed to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee ( shakanti), and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.' Ezek. 37. 21-28, 'And say ununto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: am the LORD their God. cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle ( mishkan) also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.' We have given this extract at full length, because there is scarcely in the whole compass of the Scriptures a more direct and unequivocal prediction of the literal return of the Jews to their own land, than is to be found in these words. That it is a return yet future is clear from the fact; (1.) That the two grand divisions of the nation, the houses of Judah and Israel, are both to be restored, which it is well known was not the case at the return from Babylon. No past period can be assigned when this prediction can be fairly said to have been fulfilled. (2.) They are to be gathered under the headship of 'David their king,' which is un. doubtedly the mystical denomination of the Messiah. He is probably here called 'David' more especially because he shall reign over the two united na tions of Judah and Israel, as did the literal David before the kingdom was divided. That Christ will ever rule over his people by this title in any other world than the present, we can gather no evidence from the Scriptures. Accordingly Newcome remarks upon the passage, that 'it favors the supposition that Christ will hereafter assume royal state on earth among the converted Jews.' (3.) It is said, v. 25, 'They shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children, for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Even though this language should be taken to mean something short of absolute eternity, yet it is clear that it has never yet been fulfilled. Consequently its fulfilment is still future; and we are utterly unable to see why it is not quite as certain that the visible glory will be restored to the land of promise as that the chosen people will. If further evidence of this be necessary we find it in Ezek. 43, 1—4, which is a prediction having respect to the destinies of the Jewish race in the latter day, after their re-establishment in the land of their fathers; 'Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And be. 2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; four-square shall it be; and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. the east.' This is no other, as will ap pear upon strict examination, than the glory of the Shekinah which dwelt be tween the Cherubim in the Temple, and which on account of the sins of the nation had forsaken its ancient dwellingplace, Ezek. 10. 18-20, but which is here announced as again returning to its vacated habitation. This glory, however, will be the glory of the person of Christ, in whom the shadow of the Shekinah is turned into substance. It is this which constitutes the criterion of identity between the prophetic Jerusalem of Ezekiel and that of John in 'And he showed me the Apocalypse; that great city the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.' But in regard to this sublime annunciation we must for the present rest contented with the simple fact assured to us. The manner of its accomplishment is hidden by a vail which only the developements of time and providence can remove. CHAPTER XXX. THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 1, 2. Thou shalt make an altar to hold, the glory of the God of Israel | burn incense upon. Heb. hop nara came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the visions that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward mizbëah miktar ketoreth, an incense-altar of incense; or, an altar, a perfumatory of perfume. Gr. Ovolarnotov vpíapatos, an altar of incense. Chal. 'Thou shalt make an altar to of fer upon it incense of sweet spices.' The original implies an altar on which odorous substances were to be burnt and resolved into a fragrant and grateful fume. In the subsequent account of its construction, Ex. 37. 25, it is called simply an 'altar of incense,' as 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the rendered by the Greek here, and in Num. 4. 11, the golden altar,' as the other covered with brass was called 'the brazen altar.' But as the Hebrew term for altar (a mizbëah, from zabah, to slay), legitimately carries with it the idea of slain sacrifices, and as no such service was performed upon this, it is for distinction sake termed horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. Ruler of Israel saw fit to be honored in modes analogous to those which were common in reference to eastern sovereigns, so he would not have his palace, the Sanctuary, to be lacking in a usage of such striking significancy. But we shall hope to evince in the sequel that this came far short of fulfilling all the symbolical purposes which were answered by this remarkable portion of the furniture of the Tabernacle. Of the remark of Maimonides that incense was burnt in the Tabernacle to counteract the offensive smell of the sacrifices, we can only say, that although this may have been to a very limitted degree the effect of the ordinance, it fell altogether short of being its main object. As to its materials and form this Altar was made like the Ark of shittim-wood overlaid with plates of gold. When it is said to have been pa miktar, from katar, to fume, to fumigate, to make to smoke. The practice of burning incense upon altars as a religious rite is to be traced to a very remote antiquity; but we have nothing more ancient in the way of historic record relative to this custom than what the present chapter contains. It seems scarcely probable, however, that the custom originated on this | occasion in the order here prescribed. Incense altars appear in the most ancient Egyptian paintings, and when it was required to be compounded 'after' four-square,' the meaning is, not that the art of the apothecary (perfumer),' it would seem to be implied that this was an art which was practised, and which the Israelites had learned, in Egypt. Plutarch moreover assures us, that the Egyptians offered incense to the sun-resin in the morning, myrrh at noon, and about sunset an aromatic compound which they called kypi. But the custom was in ancient times by no means confined to Egypt. It pervaded all the religions of antiquity, and like many other features of the Hebrew worship may have been derived from an antediluvian origin. Nor are we disposed to overlook the circumstance in this connexion of incense being burnt among the Orientals by way of honorary tribute to kings, princes, and persons of distinction. It is one of the usages peculiar to palaces, and the houses of the wealthy and great, and as God in the character of Theocratic it was, as a whole, of a cubical form, but that upon its upper and under surface it showed four equal sides. It was, however, twice as high as it was broad, being twenty-one inches broad, and three feet six inches high. From the four corner posts arose four horns or pinnacles, doubtless of similar form to those of the altar of sacrifice, which were covered with gold like the rest, and its top was surrounded with an ornamental ledge or border of solid gold, here called a crown,' like that which adorned the upper edges of the Ark of the Covenant and of the Table of Shewbread. Beneath this were placed two golden rings, probably on the opposite corners, for the conveniency of carrying it on staves during the marches of Israel in the wilderness, and afterwards when removed to different places in Canaan. 3. The top thereof. Heb. 177 gaggo, his roof; implying that its top was fashion-mikbar), and there is not the least ed like the flat roofs of eastern houses. mention made of cleansing the Altar These were furnished with parapets, from ashes, or of any thing to receive battlements, or balustrades, to which them. The incense was not burnt upon the border or crown of the altar bore, a grate, but in a golden censer which on a small scale, a striking resem- was placed, filled with coals, upon the blance. The rendering of the Gr. coxapav, Altar, so that no ashes or refuse whathearth, and the Lat. Vulg. 'Craticula' ever fell upon the Altar.grate, is entirely erroneous, as the orig. sides thereof. Heb. 1 kirothauv, inal word is different from that applied his walls; in continued analogy with to the grate of the brazen altar ( the structure of a house.. T The The mystical design of the Altar of In- | are the prayers of saints. Again, Rev. cense now demands attention. Its primary use is sufficiently evident from its name, and from what is said in the subsequent verses. As the Table was for the Bread, the Candlestick for the Lights, and the brazen Altar for the Sacrifices, so the golden Altar was for the Incense which was to be burnt upon it. Now that the general import of incense as a symbol was that of prayer, cannot be questioned by any one who casts his eye over the following passages; Ps. 141. 2, 'Let my prayer be set forth before thee (as) incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Rev. 5. 8, 'And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them lamps and golden vials full of odors, which 8. 3, 4, 'And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.' Here it is evidently implied that while the sacerdotal angel was officiating at the golden Altar, the saints were to be at the same time engaged in offering up prayers which might, as it were, mingle with the fragrant incense, and both come up in a grateful and acceptable cloud before God. In like manner it is said, Luke, 1. 9, 10, that while Zechariah was executing the priest's office according te clouds of incense, which every morn ing and evening filled the holy place of the sanctuary with its grateful perfume. Still it may be doubted whether the full and complete design of the golden Altar as a symbol can be reached, without assigning to it, as well as to the Candlestick and the Table, a prospective reference. Can it be in keeping with the rest of the furniture of the Tabernacle, unless it points to the heavenly state as yet to be developed? There no Altar of sacrifice is found, because the one offering of the Savior was consummated in his oblation of himself upon the cross. But the Altar of Incense is there, and it bears a name (a mizbëah), the leading idea of which is that of slain sacrifice. Why is this idea to be carried forward into the upper sanctuary in connexion with a structure intended mainly as a shadow of prayer, thanksgiving, and praise? Why, but to intimate that there is still, and is ever to be, to the saints a real and indissoluble connexion between the atonement of Christ and the praises and doxologies in which they are engaged in heaven?-between acquittal from guilt and acceptance to favor? Were it the custom, his lot was to burn incense 17 |