Exodus 25:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses— The Almighty, as King of the Jews, having delivered his laws, and ratified his covenant with them, now calls for an offering, in token of homage from his subjects, for the great purpose of erecting a sanctuary or palace, Exodus 25:8 wherein he might dwell among them as their King and God: and as in their present itinerary state no fixed place of abode could properly be raised, a tabernacle, fit for removing and conveying from place to place, is appointed to be formed; and we read of nothing more common or ancient in antiquity than this kind of portable or ambulatory temple. This of the Hebrews, being temporary itself, was so contrived as to be a perfect model of a future abiding and more magnificent house; while each of them, both the tabernacle and the temple, were designed to be figurative representations of that body, in which the Divinity was to dwell or tabernacle among men, John 1:14 and which, in allusion hereto, CHRIST himself calls the temple, John 2:19. See also Hebrews 8:9 : "From whence it appears," as the authors of the Universal History well observe, "that they go entirely counter to the express tenor of this Epistle, who pretend that the Hebrews had all their ceremonies, tabernacle, ark of the covenant, altar, &c. from the Egyptians; because they find that the Egyptians afterwards used the same kind of religious utensils." The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews mentions all these, and many more, as instituted on purpose by God himself, to typify those better things which he reserved for the times of the Gospel. It is even plain from the tenor of the Old and New Testament, that the passover, the lifting-up of the serpent by Moses, the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, and their entering into the land of Canaan, and many more of the like nature, were all typical and figurative; and as such they are applied by the writers of the latter. Great caution, no doubt, is to be used in the application of the types. It must be allowed, however, that the general scope and tenor of the law and its services, pointing to and figuring out the Gospel dispensation, undoubtedly tends greatly to manifest the wisdom of God, and gives an additional proof to the truth of that dispensation (see Bishop Gibson's Pastoral Letters); and though it is very probable, that many things in the Divine ceremonial might be imposed in contrariety to the customs of idolaters, yet it is scarcely credible, that God would have associated in his worship any ceremonies used by idolaters; and it is far more probable, that idolaters should have derived their rites and customs from the true worshippers, and from those practices which were in use among them long before the erecting of the tabernacle, than that the true worshippers should at any time have appropriated to the service of God their corrupt practices. It is true, the Hebrews were too apt to deviate into the vice of idolatry, and to copy the ill examples of the Gentiles; a striking proof of which we shall shortly have in the 32nd chapter of this book: but this, be it remembered, is very different from copying rites and ceremonies, and transferring them by the direction of God himself into his worship from that of idols.