24:1. “And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
24:2. “Command
the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for
the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.”
The lamps were those on
the golden candlestick or lampstand which stood on the south side of the
Holy place in the Tabernacle, illuminating the whole compartment. The south
in Scripture is always associated with faith, and obviously there must be
enlightenment before a sinner can exercise faith and be saved.
Olive oil is a biblical
symbol of the Holy Spirit who seals believers as belonging to Christ, and
Who anoints them for service. Its being used here specifically “for the
light” points to the fact that He not only seals believers: He also
enlightens them, enabling them to understand the deeper spiritual meaning
woven into the fabric of the literal language of Scripture. The natural
man, the unbeliever, lacking that spiritual anointing, cannot understand
spiritual things, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
“... pure oil olive
beaten.” The fact that there could be no oil apart from the beating of
the olives, is the symbolic declaration of the truth that the giving of the
Holy Spirit had to be preceded by the “beating” of the Lord Jesus Christ at
Calvary, as He Himself said, “... if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you,” John 16:7. The
“beating” at Calvary had to precede His return to heaven, for apart from His
death there could be no salvation for sinful men.
“... to burn continually”
is more accurately rendered “continuously,” for continually admits
the possibility of interruption, but continuously does not. The
ministry of the Holy Spirit is continuous because He himself is eternal.
The candlestick or lampstand, with its seven ever-burning lamps, is a figure
or type of corporate testimony, the continuous burning declaring in symbol
that God never has been, and never will be, without a testimony to Himself
in the earth.
The combination of the oil
and the light represents the truth that it was as anointed with the Holy
Spirit that Christ was the Light of the world.
24:3. “Without
(outside) the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation,
shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord
continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.”
“... outside the vail of
the testimony” was the first compartment of the Tabernacle, the vail or
curtain separating it from the most holy place into which the High Priest
alone could go, and that on only a rare occasion, as for example, on the day
of atonement.
The maintenance of the
lamps was the exclusive responsibility of Aaron, but since they represent
individual testimony; and he (Aaron), the Lord Jesus Christ our Great High
Priest, the truth being declared is that He is the One Who is responsible
for the maintenance of a testimony to Himself here on the earth. It is He,
who through the Holy Spirit, gifts each believer, and directs our service.
We should note also that
the order of service is described as being “from the evening unto the
morning,” whereas we describe the passage of time as being from morning to
night. “... evening to morning” is also the same order as is recorded
relative to the renovation of the earth in Genesis 1. We tend to go from
light to darkness, but God’s great desire is that men should move
spiritually from darkness to light through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
hence His designation of time as being from evening to morning.
24:4. “He
shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord
continually.”
To “order” the lamps was
to arrange or set them on the central shaft. This continues to declare the
Lord’s unceasing watchfulness over the churches and the individuals
comprising them, their dependence on Him being revealed symbolically in that
the branches sprang from and were supported by the central shaft of the
candlestick.
24:5. “And
thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals
shall be in one cake.”
The fine flour represents
the Lord’s sinless humanity, and the twelve cakes represent believers as
being possessed of His very life and nature, the sin in our lives emanating
from the old Adamic nature still within us side-by-side with the new nature
received at the moment of conversion.
It has been estimated that
each loaf weighed approximately six pounds.
There being twelve of the
cakes declares that we are responsible to be obedient to the Lord, for
twelve is the biblical number of human responsibility under government. Our
responsibility is further emphasized in the “tenth deals” of fine flour per
cake, for, as twelve is the number of the governed, ten is the number of the
governor, in the present context, God, His law being presented in the two
tables of the law, the ten commandments.
24:6. “And
thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before
the Lord.”
Two
is the biblical number of witness or testimony; and six - one short of the
perfect number seven - is the number of man, failure, weakness,
incompleteness, so that these two rows of six loaves each, speak clearly of
believers as witnesses for God, in spite of all their human frailty. (In
the OT age that witness was Israel, and today it is the Church). This
however, doesn’t preclude their being also a type of Christ Who became man
so that He could die to expiate man’s sin, and make Himself available to men
as the Bread of life, the true Bread Who came down from heaven.
The “pure table” was the
table of shewbread comprised of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold. It
represents the sure foundation upon which every believer’s hope rests:
Christ’s sin-atoning death, and God’s immutable promise of pardon to every
believer.
The golden overlay of the
table speaks of the glory that has accrued to God as the result of Christ’s
vicarious sacrifice.
24:7. “And
thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread
for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”
The fragrant incense
either upon or between each row of bread represents the pleasure God finds
in Christ, and in believers, for He sees us, not with all our imperfections,
but in the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of His righteousness
being imputed to us. Its being on the bread “for a memorial” declares the
truth that it is the remembrance of what Christ’s sacrifice has accomplished
for believers that is fragrant to God, continually delighting His heart.
The replacement of the old
loaves with new ones each sabbath day may possibly speak of the fact that as
each generation of believers passes, another generation arises to take its
place.
Its being “an offering
made by fire,” which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, teaches that only that
in our lives which is produced by the Holy Spirit, is pleasing to God,
everything else being the product of the flesh, and therefore abominable to
Him.
24:8. “Every
sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken
from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.”
Since during this present
dispensation the Jewish sabbath has been replaced by the Lord’s day, the
typological picture here is of the worship offered by believers gathered
together on the first day of the week to eat the Lord’s Supper, and thus
commemorate His death. It’s being “set in order” reminds us that everything
said and done at that meeting is to be according to Scriptural order, at the
impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to the vagaries of human
imagination.
24:9. “And it
shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for
it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a
perpetual statute.”
What was offered was to be
eaten by Aaron and his sons, but since eating is synonymous with
satisfaction, and since Aaron and his sons represent Christ and believers,
the truth being declared here symbolically is that at the Lord’s Supper He
and His redeemed are both satisfied: He with them, and they with Him. But
the repeated “made by fire” continues to emphasize the truth that everything
said and done at that memorial feast is to be at the Holy Spirit’s impulse.
The energy of the flesh is to be denied any expression.
24:10. “And
the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out
among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a
man of Israel strove together in the camp;”
The Israelites were
forbidden to marry foreigners, just as believers are forbidden to marry
unbelievers, see 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers....”
Egypt represents the world
of business and pleasure living in defiant independence of God, so that the
Israelitish woman married to an Egyptian, is a type of a believer who
marries an unbeliever. It is little wonder therefore that this half-breed
son should have been found fighting with an Israelite in the camp, for the
enmity between them portrays the inveterate hatred of the flesh against the
Spirit, as declared in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to
the other....”
24:11. “And
the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed.
And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the
daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)”
The third commandment
forbids the taking of God’s name in vain.
To blaspheme is to speak
irreverently of God, and in this present instance the offender went beyond
blasphemy: he actually cursed God.
His mother’s name,
Shelomith, means peaceableness, and in other contexts
pacifications; and her father’s name Dibri means my word. The
good associated with these meanings however, is nullified by her
disobedience in having married an Egyptian, and the consequences of her
rebellion are revealed in the character of the son who was the product of
that marriage. He blasphemed her God. It happens not infrequently that the
same sorry tale must be told in connection with almost every such mixed
marriage, i.e., between believer and unbeliever. Human nature being what it
is, the children, more often than not, pattern their lives after that of the
unsaved parent, because almost invariably the saved parent who had little
interest in obeying God relative to marriage, has little interest in
instructing the children in the things of God.
24:12. “And
they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them.”
Their patient waiting upon
God for direction is the pattern for all of us relative to the path to be
followed when there is uncertainty in connection with any event of our
lives. Unfortunately impatience frequently robs us of that guidance, to our
loss and sorrow, that of Saul as recorded in 1 Samuel 13:8-14 being a
dramatic example of such impatient folly.
24:13. “And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
24:14. “Bring
forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay
their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.”
The laying of their hands
on the head of the blasphemer was the symbolic expression of their complete
agreement with God’s judgment, and their willingness to vindicate Him
publicly by executing His sentence against the guilty man. Little of that
same zeal for the preservation of God’s glory is exhibited today, there
being, on the contrary, often a greater desire to justify those whose sinful
lifestyles dishonor God.
Relative to this The
Liberty Bible Commentary states that “Since the sin of the man could
have involved the entire community in punishment, what guilt there may have
been in the community was transferred to the sinner by the laying on of
hands....”
24:15. “And
thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his
God shall bear his sin.”
To curse God would be to
go beyond disobedience: it would be to emphatically despise Him, and to
completely reject His right to govern our lives. Since the offender
mentioned above was put to death, it is clear that the words “shall bear his
sin” are to be understood in the same sense relative to every such case of
blatant rebellion.
24:16. “And he
that blasphmeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and
all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he
that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be
put death.”
The reiterated declaration
of the sentence of death was to emphasize the seriousness of the offence,
which was to be executed not only against the native born Israelite, but
also against the stranger, i.e., the Gentile living in the land. God would
have all men know that He is Lord, not just of Israel, but of the whole
earth, and is to be honored as such.
Nor should anyone imagine
that this law was applicable only to that distant day. It is operable today
also, and the fact that God doesn’t immediately strike down every offender
should not be taken to mean that He no longer cares, that He will never
execute judgment against the guilty. He does care, and He will execute
judgment; but He is patient, and willing to give men opportunity to repent
and save themselves. He has however, appointed a day for the execution of
judgment, and on that day everyone who has died unrepentant will be cast
into the eternal burning of the terrible lake of fire, hence the imperative
of being reconciled to Him now while it is still the day of grace, that
reconciliation being effected the moment I confess myself a sinner, and then
trust in Christ as the Savior Who has died in my guilty stead for my sins,
God’s assurance to every such penitent being conveyed in the words of Romans
10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved,” and again in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
Stephen, on the false
charge of blasphemy, was stoned to death, Acts 7.
24:17.
“And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.”
It may at first seem
strange that this verse should have been inserted here abruptly, and
seemingly out of context; but it is in perfect context. God authorizes only
the judicial taking of life, the killing of an individual under any other
circumstance being murder, and requiring the judicial execution of the
murderer.
24:18. “And he
that killeth a beast shall make it good, beast for beast”
This obviously refers to
the accidental killing of another man’s animal, and required the person
involved to replace it with one of equivalent value.
All of this declares the
high value God places on life, even that of an animal. All life is precious
in the eyes of Him who is the Author of life.
24:19. “And if
a man cause a blemish in his neighbor: as he hath done, so shall it be done
to him;”
24:20. “Breach
for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a
man, so shall it be done to him again.”
“... blemish” means
disfigurement, injury; and it is unclear whether it refers to an injury
caused deliberately or accidentally. This is the inflexible demand of the
law, and how different it is from what the Lord enjoined under grace, see
Matthew 5, particularly verses 38-48, His teaching being summed up in the
words, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven ....”
What is here enjoined on
believers however, is not to be construed as God’s having abolished capital
punishment. He hasn’t. It is instructive to note that the Lord didn’t
deliver the repentant malefactor from death, even though He assured him of
going to paradise. He must suffer the legal consequences of his sin; nor
does his having to die by execution imply anything less than complete
forgiveness by God. Those who today would abolish capital punishment impugn
God’s nature by making themselves seem more merciful than He.
The fact is that the
imposition of the death penalty, which reveals to the man the date of his
death, affords him time to repent, accept Christ as his Savior, and thus
assure himself of heaven. Countless multitudes, ignorant of the date of
their death, have no incentive to prepare themselves to meet God, with the
result that they die in their sins, and plunge into hell. Man is never more
merciful than God!
24:21. “And he
that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he
shall be put to death.”
This is a virtual
repetition of verses 17-18, so that the comments on
those verses apply here also. There is no readily apparent reason for the
repetition, unless it be to emphasize the importance of the command and by
so doing, could it be that God desires to show us that we are not like the
animals, as many would contend; but, that we have been created in His image
(Genesis 1:27)? The life of the beast could be replaced by another. But, the
murder of a man, who had been created in the image of God, demanded life for
life because of the great affront to the very image of God.
24:22. “Ye
shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your
own country: for I am the Lord your God.”
God is the God of the
Gentile as well as the Jew, and His governmental standard is the same for
both. There isn’t one method of salvation for Jews, and another for
Gentiles, as it is written, “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also
of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which
shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith,”
Romans 3:29-30.
24:23. “And
Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that
had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of
Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.”
The man who had so
arrogantly sinned was stripped of all arrogance that day when he was led
outside the camp to die by the command of the God whose name he had
blasphemed. And so will it be with every man who despises the name of
Jesus, and refuses to trust Him as Savior.
We are given no clue as to
the thoughts which occupied his mind as he died by the judgment of God,
under the hail of stones, but surely there must have been bitter regret of
the folly that had brought him to such an end, his remorse having been
prolonged in the torment of hell throughout all the years since then, and to
be continued for ever in the unquenchable flame of the lake of fire.
That same awful fate
awaits every man who dies without having trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as
Savior.