Exodus 40:38

e, so it was a sign to all the people that Jehovah was among them. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle - How this was manifested we cannot tell; it was probably by some light or brightness which was insufferable to the sight, for Moses himself could not enter in because of the cloud and the glory, Exo 40:35. Precisely the same happened when Solomon had dedicated his temple; for it is said that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord; 1Kgs 8:10, 1Kgs 8:11. Previously to this the cloud of the Divine glory had rested upon that tent or tabernacle which Moses had pitched without the camp, after the transgression in the matter of the molten calf; but now the cloud removed from that tabernacle and rested upon this one, which was made by the command and under the direction of God himself. And there is reason to believe that this tabernacle was pitched in the center of the camp, all the twelve tribes pitching their different tents in a certain order around it. Verse 36 When the cloud was taken up - The subject of these three last verses has been very largely explained in the notes on Exo 13:21, to which, as well as to the general remarks on that chapter, the reader is requested immediately to refer. See Clarke's note on Exo 13:21. Verse 38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day - This daily and nightly appearance was at once both a merciful providence, and a demonstrative proof of the Divinity of their religion: and these tokens continued with them throughout all their journeys; for, notwithstanding their frequently repeated disobedience and rebellion, God never withdrew these tokens of his presence from them, till they were brought into the promised land. When, therefore, the tabernacle became fixed, because the Israelites had obtained their inheritance, this mark of the Divine presence was no longer visible in the sight of all Israel, but appears to have been confined to the holy of holies, where it had its fixed residence upon the mercy-seat between the cherubim; and in this place continued till the first temple was destroyed, after which it was no more seen in Israel till God was manifested in the flesh. As in the book of Genesis we have God's own account of the commencement of the World, the origin of nations, and the peopling of the earth; so in the book of Exodus we have an account, from the same source of infallible truth, of the commencement of the Jewish Church, and the means used by the endless mercy of God to propagate and continue his pure and undefiled religion in the earth, against which neither human nor diabolic power or policy have ever been able to prevail! The preservation of this religion, which has ever been opposed by the great mass of mankind, is a standing proof of its Divinity. As it has ever been in hostility against the corrupt passions of men, testifying against the world that its deeds were evil, these passions have ever been in hostility to it. Cunning and learned men have argued to render its authority dubious, and its tendency suspicious; whole states and empires have exerted themselves to the uttermost to oppress and destroy it; and its professed friends, by their conduct, have often betrayed it: yet librata ponderibus suis, supported by the arm of God and its own intrinsic excellence, it lives and flourishes; and the river that makes glad the city of God has run down with the tide of time 5800 years, and is running on with a more copious and diffusive current. Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis aevum. "Still glides the river, and will ever glide." We have seen how, by the miraculous cloud, all the movements of the Israelites were directed. They struck or pitched their tents, as it removed or became stationary. Every thing that concerned them was under the direction and management of God. But these things happened unto them for ensamples; and it is evident, from Isa 4:5, that all these things typified the presence and influence of God in his Church, and in the souls of his followers. His Church can possess no sanctifying knowledge, no quickening power but from the presence and influence of his Spirit. By this influence all his followers are taught, enlightened, led, quickened, purified, and built up on their most holy faith; and without the indwelling of his Spirit, light, life, and salvation are impossible. These Divine influences Are necessary, not only for a time, but through all our journeys, Exo 40:38; though every changing scene of providence, and through every step in life. And these the followers of Christ are to possess, not by inference or inductive reasoning, but consciously. The influence is to be felt, and the fruits of it to appear as fully as the cloud of the Lord by day, and the fire by night, appeared in the sight of all the house of Israel. Reader, hast thou this Spirit? Are all thy goings and comings ordered by its continual guidance? Does Christ, who was represented by this tabernacle, and in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, dwell in thy heart by faith? If not, call upon God for that blessing which, for the sake of his Son, he is ever disposed to impart; then shalt thou be glorious, and on all thy glory there shall be a defense. Amen, Amen. On the ancient division of the law into fifty-four sections, see the notes at the end of Genesis ( Gen 50:26 (note)). Of these fifty-four sections Genesis contains twelve; and the commencement and ending of each has been marked in the note already referred to. Of these sections Exodus contains eleven, all denominated, as in the former case, by the words in the original with which they commence. I shall point these out as in the former, carrying the enumeration from Genesis. The Thirteenth section, called שמות shemoth, begins Exo 1:1, and ends Exo 6:1. The Fourteenth, called וארא vaera, begins Exo 6:2, and ends Exo 9:35. The Fifteenth, called בא bo, begins Exo 10:1, and ends Exo 13:16. The Sixteenth, called בשלח beshallach, begins Exo 13:17, and ends Exo 17:16. The Seventeenth, called יתרו yithro, begins Exo 18:1, and ends Exo 20:26. The Eighteenth, called משפטים mishpatim, begins Exo 21:1, and ends Exo 24:18. The Nineteenth, called תרומה terumah, begins Exo 25:2, and ends Exo 27:19. The Twentieth, called תצוה tetsavveh, begins Exo 27:20, and ends Exo 30:10. The Twenty-First, called תשא tissa, begins Exo 30:11, and ends Exo 34:35. The Twenty-Second, called ויקהל vaiyakhel, begins Exo 36:1, and ends Exo 38:20. The Twenty-Third, called פקודי pekudey, begins Exo 38:21, and ends Exo 40:38. It will at once appear to the reader that these sections have their technical names from some remarkable word, either in the first or second verse of their commencement.

The Tabernacle Filled with Glory. ( b. c. 1491.) 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37 But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. As when, in the creation, God had finished this earth, which he designed for man's habitation, he made man, and put him in possession of it, so when Moses had finished the tabernacle, which was designed for God's dwelling-place among men, God came and took possession of it. The shechinah, the divine eternal Word, though not yet made flesh, yet, as a prelude to that event, came and dwelt among them, John i. 14 . This was henceforward the place of his throne, and the place of the soles of his feet ( Ezek. xliii. 7 ); here he resided, here he ruled. By the visible tokens of God's coming among them to take possession of the tabernacle he testified both the return of his favour to them, which they had forfeited by the golden calf ( ch. xxxiii. 7 ), and his gracious acceptance of all the expense they had been at, and all the care and pains they had taken about the tabernacle. Thus God owned them, showed himself well pleased with what they had done, and abundantly rewarded them. Note, God will dwell with those that prepare him a habitation. The broken and contrite heart, the clean and holy heart, that is furnished for his service, and devoted to his honour, shall be his rest for ever; here will Christ dwell by faith, Eph. iii. 17 . Where God has a throne and an altar in the soul, there is a living temple. And God will be sure to own and crown the operations of his own grace and the observance of his own appointments. As God had manifested himself upon mount Sinai, so he did now in this newly-erected tabernacle. We read ( ch. xxiv. 16 ) that the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, which is said to be like devouring fire ( v. 17 ), and that the cloud covered it on the outside, and the glory of the Lord filled it within, to which, probably there is an allusion in Zech. ii. 5 , where God promises to be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem (and the pillar of cloud was by night a pillar of fire) and the glory in the midst of her. I. The cloud covered the tent. That same cloud which, as the chariot or pavilion of the shechinah, had come up before them out of Egypt and led them hither, now settled upon the tabernacle and hovered over it, even in the hottest and clearest day; for it was none of those clouds which the sun scatters. This cloud was intended to be, 1. A token of God's presence constantly visible day and night ( v. 38 ) to all Israel, even to those that lay in the remotest corners of the camp, that they might never again make a question of it, Is the Lord among us, or is he not? That very cloud which had already been so pregnant with wonders in the Red Sea, and on Mount Sinai, sufficient to prove God in it of a truth, was continually in sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys; so that they were inexcusable if they believed not their own eyes. 2. A concealment of the tabernacle, and the glory of God in it. God did indeed dwell among them, but he dwelt in a cloud: Verily thou art a God that hidest, thyself. Blessed be God for the gospel of Christ, in which we all with open face behold as in a glass, not in a cloud, the glory of the Lord. 3. A protection of the tabernacle. They had sheltered it with one covering upon another, but, after all, the cloud that covered it was its best guard. Those that dwell in the house of the Lord are hidden there, and are safe under the divine protection, Ps. xxvii. 4, 5 . Yet this, which was then a peculiar favour to the tabernacle, is promised to every dwelling-place of mount Zion ( Isa. iv. 5 ); for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 4. A guide to the camp of Israel in their march through the wilderness, v. 36, 37 . While the cloud continued on the tabernacle, they rested; when it removed, they removed and followed it, as being purely under divine direction. This is spoken of more fully, Num. ix. 19 ; Ps. lxxviii. 14 ; cv. 39 . As before the tabernacle was set up the Israelites had the cloud for their guide, which appeared sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, but henceforward rested on the tabernacle and was to be found there only, so the church had divine revelation for its guide from the first, before the scriptures were written, but since the making up of that canon it rests in that as its tabernacle, and there only it is to be found, as in the creation the light which was made the first day, centered in the sun the fourth day. Blessed be God for the law and the testimony! II. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, v. 34, 35 . The shechinah now made an awful and pompous entry into the tabernacle, through the outer part of which it passed into the most holy place, as the presence-chamber, and there seated itself between the cherubim. It was in light and fire, and (for aught we know) no otherwise, that the shechinah made itself visible; for God is light; our God is a consuming fire. With these the tabernacle was now filled, yet, as before the bush was not consumed, so now the curtains were not so much as singed by this fire; for to those that have received the anointing the terrible majesty of God is not destroying. Yet so dazzling was the light, and so dreadful was the fire, that Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, at the door of which he attended, till the splendour had a little abated, and the glory of the Lord retired within the veil, v. 35 . This shows how terrible the glory and majesty of God are, and how unable the greatest and best of men are to stand before him. The divine light and fire, let forth in their full strength, will overpower the strongest heads and the purest hearts. But what Moses could not do, in that he was weak through the flesh, has been done by our Lord Jesus, whom God caused to draw near and approach, and who, as the forerunner, has for us entered, and has invited us to come boldly even to the mercy-seat. He was able to enter into the holy place not made with hands ( Heb. ix. 24 ); nay, he is himself the true tabernacle, filled with the glory of God ( John i. 14 ), even with the divine grace and truth prefigured by this fire and light. In him the shechinah took up its rest for ever, for in him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!