صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

which Shamgar did such execution among these same Philistines in the days of the judges (Judg. iii. 31), and other extemporised weapons of an agricultural people, would still render them formidable enemies. With such arms as these, the Ammonites had been defeated before Jabesh-gilead, and they would have vanquished the Philistines if they had been wielded with the same dauntless spirit. But the enthusiasm then awakened was like a fire of thorns, fierce but soon exhausted. The nation had sunk down into their old craven apathy, and a general rising against the Philistine yoke seemed hopeless. Under these circumstances Saul, in the second year of his reign,' gathered about him the nucleus of a standing army, two thousand men, under his personal leadership, and another thousand under his gallant son, the youthful and adventurous Jonathan, of whom we now hear for the first time. The first blow was struck by him. He and his band made a successful attack upon the Philistine garrison at Geba. The Philistines at once realised the significance of Jonathan's exploit, and resolved to stamp out the rising rebellion of their tributaries, by a terrible vengeance. For this purpose they collected an immense army, "thirty thousand3 chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude.' Saul, too, on his part, felt the importance of the crisis. Unless his son's success were instantly followed up by vigorous action, it would be worse than useless. The Philistines would have been exasperated to no purpose. He therefore caused the trumpet to be blown throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." But the news of Jonathan's having smitten a garrison of the Philistines had the contrary effect on the people to that he anticipated. Instead of flocking to his standard, as when Jabesh-gilead had to be relieved, a general panic per

vaded the land. Overwhelmed with terror at the vast army the Philistines were gathering to avenge the insult, and utterly hopeless of being able to make any effectual resistance, the inhabitants of the land abandoned their homes, and betook themselves to concealment or flight. Some, like David in Absalom's rebellion, put the Jordan between them and their enemies, and crossed to the land of Gad and Gilead. Others hid themselves in the caverns, with which the limestone strata of Palestine abound, or among the rocks and thickets of the mountain-sides, or found a place of refuge in underground chambers, or empty water-tanks.* The land was depopulated. Saul himself, and the small band that had answered his summons, felt it wise to retreat eastwards to the very confines of the land, and pitch their tents on the old camping ground of Gilgal. So great was the dread of the Philistines, that the panic invaded Saul's army: "all the people followed him trembling" (1 Sam. xiii. 7). It seemed to be a crisis in the nation's fate. It actually was one in that of Saul. The great trial of his faith and obedience was at hand, which was to determine whether he was fit to govern God's people or not. Samuel had promised to come to Gilgal within seven days, to offer the necessary sacrifice before going out to battle, and had plainly intimated that no decisive step was to be taken till he arrived. It was a very severe trial of Saul's faith and obedience. His raw levies were becoming daily more and more demoralised, and were crumbling away before his eyes. "Samuel came not, and the people were scattered from him." All seemed to depend upon his striking a blow, while he had still some soldiers left, and their courage had not entirely given way before the mighty Philistine host. But this he was forbidden to do. He must restrain his eager spirit, and wait for Samuel's coming. At last the weary wearing week was over. The seven days of fierce trial were ended, and Saul breathed more freely. Samuel would soon be with him, the sacrifice would be offered, and he would be at liberty to advance on the enemy. But Samuel came not. Hour after hour

1 The text of the opening words of 1 Sam. xiii., "Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel," &c., is certainly corrupt. The existing Hebrew text admits of no other translation than "Saul was the son of a year"-i.e., a year old-" at his becoming king; and he reigned two years over Israel." The same form of words occurs in thirty-seven other passages in the passed by, and still the form of the grey-haired prophet Old Testament, and always in the same sense. First the king's age on his accession is stated, and then the number of years of his reign (cf. 2 Sam. ii. 10; v. 4; 1 Kings xiv. 21; xxii. 42, &c.). There can be no doubt, therefore, that the numeral stating Saul's age at his accession has dropped out of the text. Ewald, one of the best authorities where Hebrew scholarship is concerned, regards the translation of the latter clause of the verse as correct: "Saul had only reigned two years when he organised the picked bands of warriors" (Hist. of Isr., Trans., iii. 52).

2 The word translated "garrison"-, netzib, from a verb signifying "to be set up, established "-may also mean "one set over," "a prefect," a sense it bears in 1 Kings iv. 19; 2 Chron. viii. 10. This is the meaning adopted by Ewald and Dean Stanley: "Jonathan had given the signal for a general revolt by attacking and slaying the Philistine officers" (Jewish Church, vol. ii., p. 14). Thenius translates it "pillar" (as Gen. xix. 26, the "pillar of salt" into which Lot's wife was changed), and understands by it a column or trophy set up as a mark of Philistine power indignantly overthrown by the impetuous Jonathan. Our translators have followed the Latin Vulgate "stationem," and this rendering may be accepted as probably correct.

The

3 There can be no doubt that this number is incorrect. number of 30,000 chariots is enormously in excess of all probability. Jabin (Judg. iv. 3) had "nine hundred chariots of iron." Pharaoh pursued after Israel with "six hundred chariots" (Exod. xiv. 7). Nor is it likely that the chariots so far outnumbered the horsemen.

was not seen drawing near. Saul's impatient spirit chafed within him at the unlooked-for delay. Surely it could not be expected of him to linger any longer. He had been bidden to wait seven days, and he had waited. Some unexpected hindrance must have preDavid had 700 chariots to 40,000 horsemen (2 Sam. x. 18); Solomon, 1,400 chariots to 12,000 horsemen (1 Kings x. 26); Zerah, 300 chariots to an army of a million (2 Chron. xiv. 9); Shishak, 1,200 chariots to 60,000 horsemen (2 Chron. xii. 3). What the correct number is we cannot determine.

[ocr errors]

4 The word translated "high places" (1 Sam. xiii. 6), m, tsariahh -is only found here and in Judg. ix. 46, 49 (the history of Abimelech, at Shechem), where it is rendered "the hold." The meaning "tower" given to it in the Speaker's Commentary is unsuitable for a hiding-place, and is rejected by the best critics, who give it the sense "cellar" or subterranean chamber." The " pita" were probably dry tanks or rain-water cisterns, which were often used as places of concealment as well as of confinement (Gen. xxxvii. 20-29; Jer. xxxviii. 6-13; xli. 9; Zech. ix. 11). It was such a tank in the courtyard of the house in which Jonathan and Ahimaaz were concealed, in the time of Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. xvii. 18, 19). The word then used, however, is different-, b'er, instead of nia, bor.

66

vented Samuel's fulfilling his promise. The prophet, if he knew the straits he was in, would be the first to absolve him from his obedience. It would be madness to wait till the Philistines poured down from Michmash, and swept him and his little troop before them into the bed of the Jordan. So, with rash impetuosity, Saci uttered the fatal command, “ Bring hither to me the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings," "and" -whether with his own hand, or that of the priests who happened to be there, it matters not; the offence was not that of encroaching on the sacerdotal office, but of presumptuous wilfulness- he offered the burnt-offering." Scarcely had the victim been consumed on the altar, when the intelligence reached him that the long-expected prophet was arrived at the outskirts of the camp. Saul, with little anticipation of the reception that awaited him, "went out to meet him, that he might salute him "-offer, that is, the tribute of respectful homage due even from the monarch to the prophet of the Lord. "What hast thou done?" was Samuel's brief and stern question. Vain were all the excuses urged by Saul to cover his disobedience, "Samuel with a word reproved and convicted, and

1 Not as in the A.V., "a burnt-offering and peace-offerings," but "the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings "-those, that is, that had been prepared for Samuel's arrival, that there might be no delay when the prophet came.

"He offered" does not imply that Saul offered sacrifice with his own hand, and thus usurped the priest's office. The co-opera

tion of priests on such an occasion is taken for granted, just as in the sacrifices offered by David and Solomon (2 Sam. xxiv. 25; 1 Kings iii. 4; viii. 63). In the latter passage the enormous zumber of the victims-"two and twenty thousand oxen, and an bundred and twenty thousand sheep "-precluded the possibility of the king being the actual sacrificer. Here the rule holds good, "Qui facit per alium facit per se." (See Keil on 1 Sam. xiii. 9.)

3

sentenced and silenced him." The plea of unwillingness, "I forced myself and offered the burnt-offering," was shown to be a mere empty pretext. His worldly policy had proved the veriest folly-" Thou hast done foolishly "-evidencing his want of faith in the power and promise of God. He who had bidden him wait till His prophet came, knew all the dangers of his position, and would have carried him safe through them, and having thus tested him and proved him worthy, would have established his dynasty over Israel for ever. This he had wantonly forfeited by his wilfulness and disobedience.

We now pass on to the second occasion on which Samuel was commissioned to test the obedience of Saul.

The circumstances were briefly these:-Centuries before, God had sworn that He would make perpetual war upon the fierce marauding tribe of Amalek for the hostility shown by them to Israel after the Exodus (Exod. xvii. 14-16). The sentence of extermination had hitherto been only partially fulfilled, and the time had arrived when Israel, gathered as a nation under a military head, could avenge the insulted honour of Him who regards all, either of good or evil, that is done to His people as done to Himself. Samuel was the bearer of the Divine commission to Saul. It came from one, as he reminded him, who had anointed him king, and whose word he was bound to receive as that of the Lord himself. "The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over His people now, therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord' (1 Sam. xv. 1).

[ocr errors]

3 J. H. Newman, "The Trial of Saul”—Plain Sermons, vol. v., p. 196.

DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.

THE GOSPELS:-ST. MATTHEW.

BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BERKS.

"Aud His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed."-ST. MATTHEW xvii. 10-12.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

The use of the particle obv, then, and the close connection of the inquiry, as recorded by both the Evangelists, with the account of the Transfiguration and the descent from the Mount, seem to furnish a clue to the chain of thought which existed in the mind of the inquirers. They were, doubtless, familiar with the prophecy of Malachi (iv. 5), "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the hearts

of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and sinite the earth with a curse." The expectation that this prophecy would receive its literal fulfilment in the person of Elijah is evinced by the fact that in most MSS. of the Septuagint version, instead of "Elijah the prophet," we find "Elijah the Tishbite; " and in the panegyric pronounced upon Elijah in Ecclesiasticus xlviii., we find it affirmed (ver. 10) that Elijah was not only ordained of old for reproofs, but that he was ordained also "to turn the heart of the father unto the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob."

Such being the prevailing expectation of the Jews in the time of our Lord, as is apparent still further from the inquiry made of John the Baptist, "Art thou Elias ?" (John i. 21), it is easy to understand how the momentary appearance of Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration would affect the minds of the three highly-favoured Apostles, who on that, as on two other special occasions, were singled out of the number of the twelve to be the companions of their Lord. Elijah had indeed appeared, as they had been taught that he would appear, but instead of appearing, as the Scribes had led them to believe, before the coming of Christ, he did not appear till after it, and instead of remaining upon the earth to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob, his appearance had been but for a moment, and he had speedily vanished from their view.

There can be no doubt that the voice of ancient prophecy was but very imperfectly apprehended by the Jews in this, as in other respects, and that the words of our Lord were designed to supply what was wanting in their interpretation of its import.

whether, if both have primary reference to the first advent, their fulfilment, as regards the work of preparation, was partial only or complete in the ministry of John the Baptist.

Now, although at first sight Mal. iii. 1, viewed in connection with Isa. xl. 3,' might seem to have exclusive reference to the first coming of Christ, yet when we take into consideration (1) the predicted suddenness of the advent-"The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple"-(2) the inquiry of the following verse:"But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth ?"-and (3) the fact that both in the words of Gabriel (Luke i. 17), and in those of Zacharias (i. 76), the two prophecies of Malachi appear to be combined in the mind of the speaker, we can scarcely err in arriving at the conclusion that Mal. iii. 1, 2, as well as Mal. iv. 5, 6, has direct- reference to the second coming of Christ as well as to the first.

The remaining point for consideration is, do these passages announce the advent of one forerunner of Christ only, or of two? in other words, do they predict a preparation to be made by an earthly messenger for the first only, or also for the second advent of the Lord?

It may be impossible to return any positive reply to this inquiry. At the same time, there are some reasons for believing that these prophecies are not yet exhausted, but still await their complete fulfilment. Of these reasons we may mention the following:I. If it be admitted that the second as well as the first advent is foretold in both places by Malachi, it seems almost impossible to deny that a preparation is to be made for both-by the "messenger" foretold in the one case (Mal. iii. 1), and by the "prophet" similarly announced in the other (Mal. iv. 5).

With very few exceptions-some have alleged, but, II. In Mal. iv. 5 it is expressly affirmed that the as it should seem, on insufficient grounds, with none-"prophet" is to be sent "before the coming of the no distinction is made in the prophecies of the Old Testament between the two advents of the Redeemer; and they are represented rather as one continuous whole, than as separated by that "little while” of which our Lord himself spoke (John xiv. 16), which

now intervenes between the two.

In this respect, then, our Lord undoubtedly corrected the mistaken views of His disciples. He taught them that, as regarded the predicted preparation for His first advent, the messenger foretold alike by Isaiah (xl. 3), and by Malachi (iii. 1), was John the Baptist. Thus far the meaning of our Lord is explicit; and it is placed beyond the reach of doubt by the facts (1) that the angel, when foretelling the birth of John the Baptist (Luke i. 17), expressly declared concerning him that he should go before the face of the Lord, "in the spirit and power of Elias," and (2) that Zacharias, being "filled with the Holy Ghost," and prophesying of his son, reechoed the same assurance (Luke i. 76).

The questions which remain open to discussion are: (1) whether the prophecies of Malachi (iii. 1, 2, and iv. 5, 6) are to be taken together or separately-i.e., as both having reference to the same advent of Christ, or respectively to His first and second advents; and (2)

great and dreadful day of the Lord." Now, the only precise parallel to this expression is to be found in Joel ii. 31, where the same six words occur in the original in the same order, and hence the determination of the reference in that place will go far towards the determination of the true meaning of the same words in Malachi.3 Now it can scarcely be questioned that the prophecy in Joel, taken, as it must be, in connection with Isaiah xiii. 9-12, and more particularly with the prophecy delivered on the Mount of Olives, as recorded by the three synoptists (Matt. xxiv.; Mark xiii.; Luke xxi.), in both of which prophecies direct reference is made to "signs in the sun and in the moon,"

1 It is deserving of notice that the expression rendered "prepare the way" is peculiar to Isaiah, who uses it three times (xl. 3; lvii. 14; lxii. 10), and to Malachi (iii. 1).

2 In the former case the words "He shall go before him seem to refer to Mal. iii. 1, whilst "in the spirit and power of Elias manifestly refer to Mal. iv. 5. In the latter case, the words "thou shalt go before the face of the Lord" have undoubted reference to Mal. iii. 1, whilst the words "shalt be called the prophet of the Highest" have probable reference to Mal. iv. 5— "Elijah the prophet."

3 The reference of the words to the second advent in both of these prophesies is confirmed by the undoubted reference to that event in most places, both of the Old and New Testament, in which the "great day" of the Lord is mentioned.

announces those external phenomena in the natural world which shall be some of the precursors of the second coming of the Lord. And although, at first sight, it might be thought (as some, indeed, have maintained) that St. Peter determines the reference of this prophecy to the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 16-21), it will appear, on a closer examination and comparison of the words of the prophet with those of the Apostle, that it can be only the incipient fulfilment of the prophecy on that day which is affirmed by St. Peter, and that, as Bishop Wordsworth has observed, "as at the Ascension the angels pass immediately from speaking of that event to speak of Christ's Second Coming to judgment, so here, on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter proceeds to speak of that second advent, because (as Bishop Andrewes says-iii. 315), 'from Christ's departure till His return again, from this Day of Pentecost, a great and notable day," till the last "great and notable day," between these two days no more such day. Therefore he called them the last days.'

9991

[ocr errors]

III. Our Lord's own reply to the inquiry of the three Apostles seems to point to the same conclusion. "Elias, indeed, cometh first, and shall restore all things." It is true that the words which immediately follow, "Elias (or an Elias) has already come," may seem to denote that the foregoing words had already received their accomplishment in the mission of the Baptist. But there are great, if not insuperable, difficulties in this explanation of their meaning. The word here used (TOKATAσThσEL, Cf. Mark ix. 12, where the same verb occurs, which answers to the Hebrew ) is the same which occurs in Acts i. 6, where the Apostles inquire of our Lord whether He was about at that time to restore the kingdom to Israel. Another form of the same word occurs in Acts iii. 21, "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which 1 Commentary on Acts ii. 20.

God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." In this full and comprehensive sense of the word, it is impossible to allege that the prophecy received its complete and exhaustive fulfilment in the preparatory mission of John the Baptist.

IV. It is at least remarkable that some of the miracles ascribed to the "two witnesses" in Rev. xi, 5, 6 bear a striking correspondence to those performed by Elijah.

And, lastly, it is an incontrovertible fact that it was the expectation.not only of the Jews, but also of many of the early fathers of the Christian Church, that Elijah was destined to appear again upon the earth before the coming of the Lord. Amongst these it will suffice to mention (1) Tertullian-" They (i.e., Enoch and Elijah) are reserved for death, that, by their blood, they may destroy Antichrist;"2 (2) Chrysostom-"As John was the precursor of His first advent (i.e., of Christ), so Elijah will be the precursor of His second advent;" (3) Augustine-"What John was to the first advent, that will Elias be to the second advent. As there are two advents of the Judge, so are there two heralds."4

Whilst abstaining, then, from any dogmatic assertion on a subject of so much difficulty, it appears to be more in conformity (1) with the general character of ancient prophecy, (2) with the pregnant import of the prophecy on the mount, and (3) with the literal import, and the earliest exposition of our Lord's words, to understand them as affirming that, in the interpretation affixed by the Scribes to the prophecies of Malachi, they were partly right and partly wrong-that in their primary reference those prophecies had received their fulfilment in the mission of John the Baptist, whilst their ultimate accomplishment awaits the close of this present dispensation, and will usher in the second advent of the Son of man.

[blocks in formation]

THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.

SACRED PLACES.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.

ROM the Sacred Seasons of Israel we pass now, secondly, to its Sacred Places and Things, and first to that place which was the very centre of the Theocracy, associated with all its most solemn rites, connected with all its highest privileges, the most hallowed spot

even of a land the whole of which God had chosen

for Himself, and bestowed upon His people in fulfilment of His covenant-the Tabernacle. It may seem, indeed, to some that we ought rather to have chosen the Temple, inasmuch as it belonged to the brightest period of Jewish

history, stood for centuries after the Tabernacle had disappeared, and was so often spoken of by our Lord Himself in its relation to the higher dispensation which He introduced. But it must be borne in mind that the Temple was, in all its different parts, only a reproduction, though on an enlarged, more splendid, and more enduring scale, of the earlier structure; that those religious ideas of Judaism of which we are now in search, in order to discover their fulfilment, may be looked for in their greatest purity the nearer we place ourselves to the period of their Divine embodiment;

and-what is peculiarly worthy of our notice-that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in speaking of the accomplishment of the types of the Old Testament, always refers to the Tabernacle and not the Temple. It is with the former then, rather than with the latter, that we have to do, and any separate consideration of the Temple, its furniture, its officials, or its worship, will be unnecessary.

66

It was immediately after the exodus, on the first constitution of the Jewish state-when redeemed from its bondage in Egypt Israel became not only a separate and independent, but God's covenant people-that directions for the rearing of the Tabernacle were given to Moses. Nothing of the kind appears to have existed either during the captivity in Egypt or in the patriarchal age. Of the worship, indeed, of the people while they were in Egypt we know nothing. Of the patriarchs we read only, as in the case of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that "they built altars unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord," while of Noah it is added that he took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Gen. viii. 20, xii. 7, xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 20). In those simple and early times, when piety was of an individual and family, rather than of a national type, its flame was more easily kept alive than when Israel had become a great people, with all such a people's varied elements; when it mixed more or less with the heathen nations around it; and when it needed far more distinct and elaborate arrangements to keep it in mind of its obligations towards God. No sooner, accordingly, was the nation constituted, and in danger of forgetting its relation to the Almighty and His covenant, than steps were taken to secure it a constant and impressive token of the presence of the true Jehovah in its midst, and of the worship required by Him at its hand. That token was more especially the Tabernacle.

It is not our intention to enter here into the controversy with regard to the mode in which all the different parts of the Tabernacle were put together, or even to give any minute description of it. To do so would require more space than we can command, and would also divert attention from the object that we have immediately in view. It will be enough to speak of such leading particulars of the structure as were in the minds of the New Testament writers when they alluded to its fulfilment in the dispensation of "the fulness of the times."

Looking, then, at the arrangements as a whole, and as they would strike the eye of any one observing them from without, we see first a large enclosed space in the form of a parallelogram one hundred cubits long (the cubit being as nearly as possible a foot and a half), by fifty broad. The length of the space is from east to west, the breadth from north to south. It is marked off by pillars all round, five cubits high, between which are suspended hangings or curtains of fine twined linen, five cubits broad, the only difference being at the entrance to the enclosure, which was in the middle of the east side, and of a breadth of twenty cubits. Here

the curtains were of a more elaborate description, "blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework" (Exod. xxvii. 16), thus resembling the curtains for the door of the sanctuary, of which we have not yet spoken.

Within this enclosure, and taking no note of its furnishings, which will remain for after consideration, we have immediately before us, at a distance of fifty cubits, and in the centre of the court, an oblong erection made of wood, ten cubits broad and thirty long, the long sides stretching westward towards the back wall of the court, and terminating twenty cubits from it. This erection, though the first thing that strikes the eye, is entirely subordinate to two great coverings or cloths, one of which alone is fully visible, though having two other skin coverings on the top of it, which do not concern us at present. The covering that we see is of cloth of goats' hair. It is "the tent" of the Old Testament description, unfortunately too often rendered in our English version "Tabernacle," and its object is at once to conceal and to protect the Tabernacle beneath it. The Tabernacle itself is the chief part of the whole structure. Properly speaking, it is only the rich and costly cloth; of which it is said, "Moreover thou shalt make the Tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them" (Exod. xxvi. 1) These ten curtains are all, however, carefully joined to one another, and constitute one whole. The larger covering requires support, and the space enclosed by it is to be divided into two parts. To attain these ends is the purpose of the wooden erection to which we have referred. The covering stretches across it, is hooked to the top of the boards which form the walls, and falls down within them to the distance of a cubit from the ground. It is not visible, except, perhaps, in a small degree at the eastern end, to any one standing on the outside, being concealed by the goats' hair covering formerly described. The space within is divided into two, the part nearest the entrance being twenty cubits long, the innermost ten. The former is the holy place, into which the priests alone were admitted; the latter is the Holy of Holies, into which none but the high priest might enter, and that only once a year, upon the great Day of Atonement. The holy place is separated from "the court" by five pillars, from which is suspended a vail, that first vail, whose existence is implied in the mention of the "second vail" of Heb. ix. 3. In appearance and style of workmanship the vail is similar to that at the entrance of the court itself. The Holy of Holies, again, is separated from the Holy Place by four pillars, from which is suspended another vail, "the second" (Heb. ix. 3), made in the same style as the others, but with the important addition that it was wrought with figures of cherubim. It has to be added that both the Holy of Holies and the holy place are inaccessible to the light of heaven, and that both of them have important articles of furniture, of which for the present we say nothing.

Such, necessarily omitting various details for want of

« السابقةمتابعة »