And look that thou make, &c.— Moses was now in the mount with God: this verse therefore should be rendered, in conformity with the 9th, look that thou make them after the pattern which is shewed thee, or, which thou art caused to see, in the mount; which is a literal translation of the Hebrew, and agreeable to all the versions.
REFLECTIONS.—1. The tabernacle being without a window, light was necessary; and a most noble candlestick of gold of seven branches, highly ornamented, must be provided. Christ is to his church, and to every individual believer, what this candlestick was to the tabernacle. He shines in the temple of his grace, to shew them the way to the presence and throne of God, who dwelleth between the cherubim. 2. Moses is charged not to deviate from the Divine pattern in any particular. In God's ordinances we must abide by his express institutions.
A review of the Ark, with the Mercy-seat, considered typically.
First, It was a visible representation of the throne of JEHOVAH, the King of Israel. The law in the midst of the ark signified the equity of his government, or that justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. The cherubim at both ends of the mercy-seat were emblematical figures of the blessed elect angels that surround his throne, and fly swiftly to execute his high commands. The gold of which they were framed may signify the purity of their essence. The position of their faces towards each other may denote the perfect harmony and mutual love of the innumerable company of angels. The adoring attitude of their bodies may represent the profound veneration they have for their eternal Sovereign. And their flying posture (for their wings were expanded, and touched one another) did surely indicate the expeditious alacrity with which they fulfil the heavenly commissions.
It was also a repository for the tables of the law, which were the instruments of that solemn covenant made between God and that peculiar people; and hence it was a perpetual pledge of the Divine favour and protection to their nation if they fulfilled their obligations to the King of heaven, and a witness against them if they should prove unfaithful. The gold and cedar were fit emblems of the invaluable worth, the spotless purity, and the perpetual duration of the inclosed law.
But especially it may be considered as a figure of Jesus Christ, the promised Messias, whom all the holy things seem to have pointed out with one consent. There will appear to be no contemptible likeness between him and this most holy vessel, if we attend to the following things: the materials of which it was framed; the depositum which it contained; its ornaments; its uses; its virtues; and, lastly, its removals from one place to another till it rested in the temple.
The materials of the ark were shittim-wood and gold. How naturally does this lead us to think upon the constitution of his wonderful Person, whose Humanity is like the shittim-wood, the fruit of the earth, but not subject to corruption; and his Divinity, like the gold in the ark, embosoms his human nature, ennobles, but is not blended with it?—The depositum it contained was the second tables of the law; for the first tables were broken before. In Jesus Christ we may see that law which we had broken preserved inviolate, and perfectly fulfilled in the immaculate obedience of his holy life, who says of himself, "I delight to do thy will, O God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Psalms 40:8.——Its ornaments were, 1 the border of gold resembling a crown, which reminds us of the Messiah's regal dignity; and, 2 the Cherubim of glory, which were emblems of those bright and glorious creatures, the angels, who are supported in their happy state by Jesus Christ, as the cherubim were by the ark;—who desire to look into the mystery of man's redemption, and pry into it with the most unwearied attention, the most sublime satisfaction, the highest wonder, and the profoundest adoration;—and who are all ministering spirits, ascending and descending upon the Son of man.—The uses of the ark were various and important. Here God was enthroned. So God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.—Here the law was covered from all eyes: so Jesus Christ, our true Propitiatory, interposes himself between us and that condemning law, which never fails to curse and kill all who presume to meddle with it, but through his alone merit and through his alone strength; for when the commandment comes without him who fulfilled it, sin will revive, and, like the men of Bethshemish, we shall die.—Here oracles were given, and here, said God to Moses, "I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony." Exodus 25:22. So Christ is the meeting-place of God with man, in whom he deigns to reveal his gracious will and pleasure to the fallen creature: hence is he called "the Word of God;" Revelation 19:13 and is said to declare God the Father, who never was, and never can be, seen by any man. And, lastly, here prayers were presented, and offerings were accepted; for the most holy Israelite durst not approach the presence of Jehovah, but as he sat upon the mercy-seat sprinkled with blood. Nor could the holiest Christian presume to hope for the acceptance of his best duties, were it not for the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.—The virtues of the ark were such as these: it searched out a resting-place for Israel in the wilderness. So Christ is to his people the breaker of their way, who goes before them, gives them rest, and prepares for them a place. It opened a passage for the ransomed tribes through the river Jordan. O Jesus, through thee we safely pass through the Jordan of death, and have abundant entrance ministered into the heavenly kingdom, because these waters shall not overflow them who have his presence with them according to his promise! It overturned the walls of Jericho, when carried round them seven days: so shall the walls of Babylon fall, and every high thing that exalts itself against God be cast down by the preaching of his Gospel, who is the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God. It overthrew Dagon of the Philistines in his own temple, maimed his brute image, and utterly abolished that monstrous idol: so shall he that sits in the temple of God, and shews himself that he is God, be destroyed by our spiritual ark, even by the spirit of his mouth, and brightness of his coming. It sanctified the places to which it came in the opinion of Solomon himself; and blessed the house of Obed-edom, where it transiently resided. It is the presence of Christ which makes us holy and happy, and in him we are blessed with every spiritual blessing.—The removals of the ark from place to place in the wilderness and in Canaan, till it rested in the temple, (shall we say,) bear some faint resemblance to the humbled Redeemer, going about doing good while he was upon earth, until the everlasting doors of heaven were opened to receive him? Or, was the bearing of the ark about upon the shoulders of the Levites, a figure of the ministers of Christ bearing his name among the Gentiles in all the corners of the world?
It is long since the Babylonians destroyed this glory of Israel; but we have an ark which shall never be destroyed. John saw it in the heavenly temple. The Old Testament ark, like the covenant it confirmed, is vanished away. But the New Testament ark, in which the new covenant stands fast, shall abide for ever in the presence of JEHOVAH. Nor is it death for any one to took into this ark; for the word of life was looked upon with the eyes, and handled with the hands of men. Let it be our one and chief desire that all the days of our life we may abide in his house, behold his beauty, and inquire in his temple.