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When Moses descended from the smoking mountain he spake no word concerning
Tabernacle, Ark or Mercy Seat, but solemnly sprinkled the people with the blood of the
covenant saying:
"Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning
all these words" (Exod. 24: 8).
After this, Moses re-ascended the mountain in order to receive the tables of stone.
During his absence the people, headed by Aaron, broke the solemn Covenant into which
they had entered by worshipping the golden calf, for among the "words" which
constituted the Covenant were "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me". This
Covenant was broken, and Moses manifested it by breaking the tables of stone
(Exod. 32: 15-19). When the duplicates were given, they were placed in the Ark of
the covenant, which Ark was the nucleus and centre of the whole Tabernacle ritual.
Strictly speaking therefore, the ten commandments were never given to Israel. Israel's
destiny is to be a kingdom of priests. The attaining of that destined end is enshrined in
the use of and the meaning of "perfect" (teleios, which is allied with telos, "end"). Israel
can never be a kingdom of priests under the Old Covenant that was broken, neither can
they reach their goal by the typical ritual of the Tabernacle. "The law made nothing
perfect." Israel's "perfection", the attaining unto that for which they had been laid hold
of by the Lord (see for parallel thought Phil. 3: 12), can only be accomplished under the
New Covenant of which Christ, not Moses, is the Mediator. This New Covenant, it will
be observed, is immediately introduced after the comparison between the priesthood of
Christ and that of Levi has been made, and we are told that the Levitical priesthood and
sacrifices:
"Could not make him that did the service PERFECT , as pertaining to the conscience"
(Heb. 9: 9).
Carnal ordinances.
The Apostle reduces the ceremonial and typical ordinances to two heads, viz.:
(1) Meats and drinks; (2) Divers baptisms. A reading of Lev. 11:-15: will give some
idea of his meaning. Writing to Gentile believers in another connection, he says:
"Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using" (Col. 2: 21, 22),
showing this man-made prohibition is vain. He turns the believer's attention away from
the "shadows", for, says he, "the body is of Christ", and directs their hearts and minds to
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. It will be observed that we do not follow
the A.V. and translate "divers washings", but use the word "baptisms". This brings the
Apostle's argument into line with that of Heb. 5: and 6:, where, in urging the reader to
"go on unto perfection", he says "leave . . . . . not laying again . . . . . the doctrine of
baptisms". The one great reason for leaving these gifts and sacrifices, this Tabernacle
service, these distinctions between meats and drinks, these washings, dippings and
sprinklings, is that they were all "carnal ordinances", and these ordinances can no more
lead on unto perfection than could the "carnal commandment" of Heb. 7: 16 "perfect
the Son" (7: 28) in His office as High Priest after the order of Melchisedec.