Hebrews 9:4,5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Which had the golden censer Used by the high-priest only on the great day of atonement. “The apostle may have learned from the priests that this censer was of gold, and that it was left by him in the inward tabernacle, so near to the veil, that when he was about to officiate next year, by putting his hand under the veil he could draw it out to fill it with burning coals, before he entered into the most holy place to burn the incense, agreeably to the direction,” Leviticus 16:12-13; where see the note. And the ark of the covenant This, with the mercy-seat wherewith it was covered, was the most glorious and mysterious utensil of the tabernacle, and afterward of the temple, the most eminent pledge of God's presence, and the most mysterious representation of the divine attributes in Christ. This being the heart, so to speak, of all divine services, was first formed; all other things in the Jewish worship had a relation to it, Exodus 25:10-11. Sometimes it is called the ark of the testimony, because God called the tables of the covenant lodged in it by the name of his testimony, or that which testified his will to the people, and which, by the people's acceptance of the terms of it, was to be a perpetual witness between God and them. On the same account it is called the ark of the covenant, and lastly, it is called the ark of God, because it was the most eminent pledge of the special presence of God among the people. As to its fabric, it was παντοθεν, every way, within and without, overlaid with plates of beaten gold. This being the most sacred and glorious instrument of the sanctuary, all neglects about it, and contempt of it, were most severely punished. From the tabernacle it was carried into the temple built by Solomon, wherein it continued until the Babylonish captivity, and what became of it afterward is altogether uncertain. Wherein was the golden pot that had manna The monument of God's care over Israel. When the manna first fell, every one was commanded to gather an omer for his own eating, (Exodus 16:16,) and God appointed that an omer of it should be put into a pot, and kept in the tabernacle before the Lord, Exodus 16:33: there it was miraculously preserved from putrefaction, whereas otherwise it would have putrefied in less than two days. The pot was to be made of that which was most durable, as being to be kept for a memorial throughout all generations. Because it is said, 1 Kings 8:9, there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, the words εν η, here used by the apostle, may be translated, nigh to which. Or the difficulty may be removed by supposing that the pronoun η, which, relates to σκηνη, tabernacle, in which tabernacle also was the golden pot: or because it is said, Deuteronomy 31:26, Take this book of the law and put it in the side of the ark, we may conjecture that the book was put into some repository fixed to the side of the ark, and that the pot of manna was laid up before the Lord in the same manner. Aaron's rod that budded The monument of a regular priesthood. The apostle affirms only that it budded, but in the sacred story concerning the trial about the priesthood, recorded Numbers 17:2-10, it is added, that it brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds, being originally cut from an almond-tree. This rod Moses took from before the testimony when he was to smite the rock and work a miracle, of which this was consecrated to be the outward sign; and the tables of the covenant The two tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written by the finger of God; the most venerable monument of all. And over it Over the ark; the cherubim of glory “Cherubim being the name of an order of angels, (Genesis 3:24,) the figures called cherubim, placed on the sides of the mercy-seat, with the glory of the Lord resting between them, represented the angels who surround the manifestation of the divine presence in heaven. These figures, therefore, were fitly termed the cherubim of glory; and by this glory constantly abiding in the inward tabernacle, and by the figures of the cherubim, that tabernacle was rendered a fit image of heaven.” Shadowing With outspread wings; the mercy-seat And represented as looking down upon it; a posture significative of the desire of angels to look into the mysteries of man's redemption, of which the mercy-seat, or propitiatory, being a plate of gold covering the ark, was an emblem, 1 Peter 1:12. See also notes on Exodus 25:17-22, where the making and frame both of the mercy-seat and the cherubim are described,