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"And also that nation, whom they serve, will I judge, and afterward they shall come
out with great substance" (Gen. 15: 14).
It practically amounted to deferred pay, the taskmaster being compelled at the end to
disgorge the wage withheld. The same principle is seen in Isa. 60: 5, 11, 16, 61: 6. That
service and honour due to God, and which sin has diverted to itself, shall by virtue of
redemption be taken from the usurper and willingly offered to the rightful Lord. The
same may be said of the various ascriptions of praise found in the book of the Revelation,
they are all so much of the Lord's due held back for a time by sin. When the day of glory
arrives:--
"The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it" (Rev. 21: 24).
"Thy people shall offer themselves willingly in the day of Thy power" (Psa. 110: 3).
The first article of the tabernacle to be specified is the ark. This we will examine later,
but first we had better obtain a general survey. The tabernacle itself was an oblong,
30 cubits in length, and 10 in the height and breadth. This was divided by a veil into
two parts; the holy place being 20 cubits long, and the most holy, the holy of holies,
being a perfect cube of 10 cubits length, breadth and depth. These are referred to in
Heb. 9: 2, 6, 7 as the first and second tabernacle, respectively. In the first tabernacle
stood the lampstand, the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense. In the holiest of all
stood the ark and the mercy seat. None but the high priest was allowed to enter into the
holiest of all.
The tabernacle itself was constructed of planks of shittim wood overlaid with gold,
which planks were placed upon silver sockets and fastened together by long rods. Inside
the tabernacle were woven tapestries containing embroidered cherubim, and outside the
tabernacle were successive layers of curtains of goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and
badgers' skins. Before the door of the tabernacle stood the brazen altar and the laver, and
the whole was surrounded by the white curtained court. Disposed around this tabernacle
were the priests, the tents, and the tribes. Rabbinical tradition has it that each tribe
carried as a sign one of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. These twelve signs,
beginning with the sign of the virgin (Genesis), and ending with the sign of the lion
(Revelation), depict the whole story of redemption.
The twelve tribes were distributed according to the four points of the compass, the
whole forming a wondrous picture--all Israel grouped around the ark, the mercy seat,
and the pillar of cloud or fire, setting forth the day when God shall be all in all. The order
here referred to is given in full detail in Numb. 2: and The Companion Bible,
Dispensational Truth (page 106), and Newberry's Supplement to The Englishman's Bible
set the whole before the eye in a diagram. It is of interest to note that the tribes that
occupied east, west, south, and north had as their signs the lion, ox, man, and eagle
(scorpio), so that both at the centre (the mercy seat) and at the circumference (the
standards) the cherubic pledge of restoration was remembered.