[23] Thou shalt also make
a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a
cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
[24] And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,
and make thereto a crown of gold round about. [25]
And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and
thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.
[26] And thou shalt make for it four rings
of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet
thereof. [27] Over against the border
shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. [28]
And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold,
that the table may be borne with them. [29]
And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers
thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make
them. [30] And thou shalt set upon
the table shewbread before me alway.
This table was to stand not in the holy of holies, (nothing
was in that but the ark with its appurtenances) but in the outer part of
the tabernacle, called the sanctuary or holy place. This table was to be
always furnished with the shew - bread, or bread of faces, twelve loaves,
one for each tribe, set in two rows, six in a row. As the ark signified
God's being present with them, so the twelve loaves signified their being
presented to God. This bread was designed to be, a thankful acknowledgment
of God's goodness to them in giving them their daily bread, a token of
their communion with God; this bread on God's table being made of the same
corn as the bread on their own tables. And a type of the spiritual provision
which is made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are
made priests to our God.
[31] And thou shalt make a candlestick
of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft,
and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the
same. [32] And six branches shall come
out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one
side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
[33] Three bowls made like unto almonds, with
a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in
the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that
come out of the candlestick. [34] And
in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their
knops and their flowers. [35] And there
shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches
of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the
six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. [36]
Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one
beaten work of pure gold. [37] And
thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps
thereof, that they may give light over against it. [38]
And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
[39] Of a talent of pure gold shall he make
it, with all these vessels. [40] And
look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in
the mount.
This candlestick had many branches drawn from the main
shaft, which had not only bowls to put the oil and the kindled wick in
for necessity, but knops made in the form of a pomegranate and flowers
for ornament. The tabernacle had no windows, all its light was candle -
light, which notes the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while
the sun of righteousness was not as yet risen, nor had the day - star from
on high visited his church. Yet God left not himself without witness, nor
them without instruction; the commandment was a lamp, and the law a light,
and the prophets were branches from that lamp, which gave light in their
several ages. The church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison
with what it will be in heaven: but the word of God is the candlestick,
a light burning in a dark place.
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