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11 And thou shalt overlay it with 14 And thou shalt put the staves pure gold, within and without shalt into the rings by the sides of the thou overlay it; and shalt make up-ark, that the ark may be borne on it a crown of gold round about. with them. 12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. 13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold.

may also be traced among barbarous and savage nations. Thus, Tacitus, speak ing of the nations of Northern Germany, of whom our Saxon ancestors were a branch, says that they generally worshipped Hertham, or the Mother Earth (Terram matrem); believing her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations; and that to her, within a grove in a certain island, was consecrated a vehicle covered with a vestment, and which none but the priests were allowed to touch. The same thing has been frequently noticed in connexion with the religious systems of other heathen nations, and among the inhabitants of Mexico and the South Sea Islands, very curious analogies with the Mosaic ark have been discovered, of which the reader will find an account in Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. Art. 7.

11. Make upon it a crown of gold round about. Heb. 20 anzër zahab sabib, a golden border round about. Gr. κυματια χρυσα στρεπτα, golden wreathed waves round about. This 'crown' was an ornamental cornice, moulding, or border, which went round the top, as a kind of enclosure serving to make firm the propitiatory in its place, and called a 'crown' from its encompassing the whole outer extremities of the upper side of the ark somewhat as a crown encircles the temples of the head. The term is only employed in reference to the rims or crowns of gold made round the ark of the covenant,

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

16 And thou shalt put into the ark m the testimony which I shall give thee.

11 Kings 8. 8. m ch. 16. 34. & 31. 18. Deut. 10. 2, 5. & 31. 26. 1 Kings 8. 9. 2 Kings 11. 12. Hebr. 9.4.

the table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense. From the rendering of the Greek it would appear that the work of this cornice was somehow exquisitely wrought in graceful flexures or undulations, resembling the waves of the sea.

12. Thou shalt cast four rings of gold, &c. Doubtless of solid gold, as they were to sustain a very considerable weight when the staves were inserted and the ark borne by the priests. Whether these rings were placed lengthwise or breadthwise of the ark is not clear. We infer the latter, however, as otherwise, when carried, the front part of the ark with its cherubim would be sideways, which is not likely. Besides we are told, 1 Kings, 8. 8, that in the Temple 'the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place, before the oracle;' consequently, as the ark fronted the entrance, the staves must have run along the extremity of its breadth, instead of its length.

16. Thou shalt put the testimony, &c. That is, the two tables of stone on which the Law of the ten Commandments was written; called 'the testi mony,' because God did in them testify his authority over the Israelites, his regard for them, his presence with them, and his displeasure against them in case they transgressed; while they on the other hand by accepting and depositing this Law in its appointed place, testified their professed subjection and obedience to its requirements.-On the

17 And n thou shalt make a mercy- | and a cubit and a half the breadth seat of pure gold: two cubits and a thereof. half shall be the length thereof,

n ch. 37. 6. Rom. 3. 25. Hebr. 9. 5.

difficulty supposed to be created by the comparison of this passage with Heb. 9. 4, see the commentators on that text, particularly the XVIIth Excursus in Prof. Stuart's Commentary on Hebrews. 17. Thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold. Heb. kapporeth, from

kaphar, to cover. The verb is, however, used for the most part in a moral sense, being applied to the covering, that is, the expiation, of sins. The Gr. version unites the two senses by rendering arηpov lepa, that is, a propitiatory covering, or mercy-seat, a rendering sanctioned by the Holy Spirit, as we find it employed, with the omission of the last word, by the apostle, Heb. 9. 5, 'And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat (iλaornpior).' The same term in Rom. 3. 25, is applied to Christ, 'whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (iλacTnpv) through faith in his blood.' So also 1 John, 2. 2, 'He is the propi tiation (ixaornpv) for our sins. From whence the conclusion is probably fairly to be drawn, that this mercy-seat was in some sense an adumbration of Christ as the grand medium of expiation for the sins of men. This mercy-seat, which was made of solid gold instead of wood overlaid with gold, like the rest of the ark, was the upper side of the sacred chest made to be removed entirely, or, as Josephus says, raised by hinges, when the tables of testimony were to be taken out or put in.

THE CHERUBIM.

18. Thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, &c. Heb. kerubim. Gr. Xepovßip Cheroubim. Our English word is the plural untranslated of the orig. inal kerub, a term of which the etymology is very much of a contested

18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work

point with critics and lexicographers. According to the regular analogy of the language, it has the form of the past participle of the verb karab. But no such verb exists among the living roots of the Hebrew. It was therefore regarded by most of the ancient Christian fathers as a compound word made up perhaps of nakar, to know, and 7 rub, multitude, equivalent to multitudo scientiæ or multitudo cognitionis, abundance of knowledge; or of

ke, 1 rub, and binah, quasi multitudo cognitionis, of equivalent import. But this mode of derivation is so utterly at variance with the laws which regulate the process of formation in Hebrew words, that it cannot be sustained for a moment when tried by the test of sound criticism. Yet it is remarkable that in nearly all the ancient interpretations the idea of multitude was prominent, indicating that they regarded 7 multitudo as beyond doubt one of its constituent elements. We have no doubt they were correct in assigning this as one of the meanings of the symbol, but they were unquestionably wrong in eliciting this idea from the etymology of the term. At the same time, although the genius of the language will not admit the legitimate developement of the sense of knowledge or intelligence from any part of the word, yet it is very possible to account for this sense being deduced from it by the philosophizing fathers of the church; for with the Platonists wings were deemed an emblem of wisdom and knowledge, and the same import was thought to be conveyed by the Cherubim being 'full of eyes before and behind.' Taking there. fore this apprehended import of the symbol itself, and applying it reflexly to the structure of the term, they gave

as the result the interpretation above- | changeable, we have the Gr. ypapw, mentioned, which is no unfair specimen grapho, Germ. graben, Angl. Sax. graof patristic philology. Others again fan, Eng. grave, engrave, and Fr. grifwith more regard to intrinsic probabil- fon (griffin), an imaginary animal comity have proposed, by a transposition pounded of beast and bird, evidently deof letters, to trace the word to the root rived from a distortion of the cherubic rakab, to ride, as the Cherubim figure. In all these words the idea of are described in the remarkable vision sculpturing or engraving is predominof Ezekiel, ch. 1, as forming, together ant, and according to the analogy of with the mystic animated wheels, a Hebrew formations kerub would kind of living chariot on which the sym- properly signify that which was carved, bol of the divine glory is exhibited as sculptured, or wrought with a graving upborne and transported; whence the tool, thus corresponding very well with Psalmist, Ps. 18. 10, describes the Most what is said of the Cherubim as a kind High as riding upon the Cherub;' and of statuary or wrought images placed the Cherubim in Solomon's temple, 1 over the mercy-seat. Chron. 28. 18, are called 'a chariot.'

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In the annexed cut it may be thought that we have but loosely followed the example of Moses in 'making every thing after the pattern shown in the mount,' inasmuch as Moses says nothing of the fourfold variety of faces which we have here given to the Cherubic emblem. But our design is taken from the Cherubim of Ezekiel, which are thus described, ch. 1. 4-14. 'And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined

By others various other etymologies have been suggested, but none entirely satisfactory. After a pretty extensive and elaborate investigation we have on the whole been inclined to give the preference to the root abovementioned, viz., karab, now obsolete in Hebrew, but existing in Syriac and Arabic in the primitive sense of ploughing or making furrows in the earth; and thence, secondly, of making incisions in metals, or engraving, and finally by natural transition, of making sculptured figures, or glyphs, of any kind. This is confirmed by Rosenmuller, who remarks that as one and the same word in Syriac and Arabic is used to denote expressing, sculpturing, and fabricating, so in the verb karab and its derivates the same complex idea is involved, as is to be inferred from the fact that the Syriac korubo signifies not only a ploughman, but also a former of images. It may also be observed that as b, v, and ƒ are in all languages permutable, being letters of the same or gan, this etymology presents us with some remarkable affinities. For begin-one to another; they turned not when ning with the Heb. karab, to make incisions, we find in the Teutonic family for incidere, to cut as in engraving. Germ. kerben, Angl. Sax. keorfan, Eng. carve; and then as g and k are inter

they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on

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ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THE CHERUBIM. The inquiry now arises respecting the symbolical design of these very remarkable creations, which, from being mere lifeless sculptured statues in the Mosaic Tabernacle, became animated, intelligent, and active agents in the mystic visions of the prophets. It is certainly one of the lowest aims of infinite wisdom in any part of its dispensations to adopt a system of symbols which should merely address themselves in beautiful or singular forms to the senses, or to the imagination. They approve themselves worthy of the di

vine source in which they originate only as they disclose a rich and instructive significancy under their outward aspect. That such is preeminently the case with the symbol before us, we shall hope to make appear in the remarks that follow, in the outset of which it will be necessary to show the identity of the Cherubim of Moses with the Living Creatures of Ezekiel. In order to this it is to be observed, that Ezekiel was in captivity in Babylon when this vision was vouchsafed him. But it appears from Ezek. 8. 1--3 that

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while there he was transported in spirit | Gr. (wa zoa), in each of which languages the respective roots of the words signify to live. Yet who would have thought a priori that these would have been the terms employed in the following passages? Ps. 68. 9, 10, Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. Thy congregation | (7577 hayatheka, thy living creature. Gr. ra (wa oov, thy living creatures) hath dwelt therein.' On what grounds, philologically, this usage is to be explained, we know not, but it is clear that it involves the idea of multitude, if the English equivalent, congregation, can be any evidence of the fact. A striking parallel occurs, 2 Sam. 23. 11, 'And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop (lahayah, into a living creature. Gr. Eis Onpov, into a wild beast), where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.' See also, v. 13, 'And the troop ( hayah, the living creature) of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.' The Gr. rendering in the latter passage does not conform, being raypa, a rank, order, and in military phrase a battalion, a body of soldiery. But it is clear from these citations viewed together, that the import of numbers actually enters into the usage of the orig

to Jerusalem, and set down in the precincts of the Temple, where he beheld, among other objects, the Living Creatures and the Throne, previously described, standing in the inner court. 'Then,' says he, ch. 10. 18-22, 'the glory of the Lord (the Shekinah) departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth | in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. This is the living creature (i. e. collection of living creatures) that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.' The import unquestionably is, that although the fact was not at first made known, or the idea did not occur, to him, yet now upon farther pondering the subject, he became fully convinced and as-inal word for living creature, and as sured in his own mind that these Living Creatures were beings of the same symbolical purport with the Cherubim that stood on the Mercy-seat of the Ark in the Temple. This is an important step in the progress of our elucidation. It authorises us to set it down as a point fixed and settled beyond all debate, that the Cherubim and the Living Creatures are, in symbolical significancy, one and the same.

We are now prepared to consider the very remarkable usage of the sacred writers in regard both to the Hebrew and Greek original of the term rendered living creatures (Heb. hayoth.

the living creatures and the cherubim are symbolically the same, the idea of multitude is equally common to both. This idea, however, it is to be recollected, arises wholly from the interpretation, and not from the etymology of the terms.

As then the four wa, the living creatures, of Ezekiel are identical with the cherubim, so they are plainly identical also with the four beasts (wa) which figure so conspicuously in the mystic machinery of the Apocalypse. Passing from the visions of the river of Chebar to those of the Isle of Patmos, we be hold the following scene depicted upon

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