Exodus 25 · The Lantern

Offerings for the Tabernacle

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that gives it willingly with his heart you shall take my offering.

And this is the offering which you shall take of them; gold, and silver, and bronze,

And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,

And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

According to all that I show you, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its instruments, even so shall you make it.

The Ark of the Covenant

And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

And you shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall you overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold round about.

And you shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.

And you shall make poles of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

And you shall put the poles into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

The poles shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.

And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.

The Mercy Seat

And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

And you shall make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work shall you make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.

But also the oracles of the Lord, "the chaste oracles," are called "silver tried by fire." And likewise in another place the tongue of the just man is spoken of as "kindled silver." But the cherubim are called golden, since indeed they are interpreted as "the fullness of the knowledge of God." But also the candlestick in the tabernacle of the testimony was commanded to be set u…

We can also understand the two Testaments by the two angels. Hence also the two cherubim that cover the mercy seat look upon one another with their faces turned toward the mercy seat. For cherubim means fullness of knowledge. And what is signified by the two cherubim except both Testaments? And what is figured by the mercy seat except the incarnate Lord?

And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

And you shall put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.

And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

The Table of Showbread

You shall also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a crown of gold round about it.

And you shall make to it a border of a hand breadth round about, and you shall make a golden crown to its border round about.

And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet.

Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the poles to bear the table.

And you shall make the poles of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.

And you shall make its dishes, and its spoons, and its covers, and its bowls, to cover also: of pure gold shall you make them.

And you shall set upon the table showbread before me always.

The Lampstand

And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold: of beaten work shall the lampstand be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.

And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the lampstand out of the one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side:

Three bowls made like to almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the lampstand.

And in the lampstand shall be four bowls made like to almonds, with their knops and their flowers.

And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the lampstand.

Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.

And you shall make its seven lamps: and they shall light its lamps, that they may give light over against it.

And its tongs, and its snuffdishes, shall be of pure gold.

Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.

And look that you make them after their pattern, which was shown you in the mount.

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

If, according to the apostle, "the law is spiritual" and contains within itself the images "of the good things to come," then let us remove "the veil" of the letter which is spread over it and contemplate its true meaning stripped bare.

Behold, the glorification of matter, which you despise! What is more insignificant than colored goatskins? Are not blue and purple and scarlet merely colors? Behold the handiwork of men becoming the likeness of the cherubim! Was not the meeting tent an image in every way?