spoken of in verse 6, "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ". There is a designed contrast here with the "face of Moses" and its "fading

glory", a contrast which also places the new covenant over against the old.  The

connection between II Cor. 3: 14 and the theme of Hebrews is clear; Moses, the

servant, is eclipsed by Christ, the Son, which it is a part of the apostle's intention to prove

(see Heb. 3:). We must not fall into the error of thinking that the apostle indulges here

in the metaphysics of the "fathers", and commence an investigation along these lines; we

shall surely fail if we attempt to explain spiritual things with anything else than spiritual

words, and the unhappy conclusion of writers of all times who have argued concerning

the sun and its beams, the light and its manifestation, etc., are sufficient warning to us to

keep to Scripture typology. The apostle was writing to Hebrews who knew the Holy

Scriptures, who had received types and shadows of this glorious One long before He

came; the typology of the tabernacle is referred to somewhat fully in Heb. 9: and there

we read of the ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, and the overshadowing cherubim of

glory. The ark was the divinely-appointed symbol of the presence of God with His

people, and was itself called, "the glory". The wife of Phinehas, with her dying breath

named her son Ichabod, saying, "the glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God

was taken" (I Sam. 4: 21, 22). That this is an inspired title and not the idea merely of the

wife of Phinehas may be seen by the Psalmist's comment upon the same incident:--

The ark of God, upon which stood the propitiatory and the cherubim, was the

divinely-appointed meeting-place between God and man, "There will I meet with thee,

and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two

cherubims" (Ex. 25: 22). Many times God is addressed in the O.T. as, "He that dwelleth

between the cherubims"; this is referred to in the chapter which calls the ark the "glory"

(I Sam. 4: 4). Again in II Sam. 6: 2, David goes to bring back the ark of God, "whose

name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims".

That the title did not by any means indicate a "localizing" of God may be clearly seen in

the prayer of Hezekiah, who said:--

The glory of the Lord is said to be "above the heavens" (Psa. 8: 1), and yet

Hezekiah's prayer teaches us that that infinite and incomprehensible glory could also be

spoken of as being manifested above the mercy-seat between the cherubims. At the

giving of the Law the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and was like a

devouring fire (Ex. 24: 16, 17); that was one aspect of the glory. Moses later said to the

Lord, "Show me Thy glory", and the Lord said, "I will make all My goodness pass before

thee. . . . while My glory passeth by I will put thee in a cleft in the rock"; the face of

the Lord could not be seen by mortal man in the face of Jesus Christ. When the

tabernacle was completed, "then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the

glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle". When Solomon finished building the temple, and

brought the ark into it, the priests could not stand to minister "for the glory of the Lord