The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 39
CHAP. XXXIX.
The motions and ſtations of the Arke and Tabernacle.
THe Tabernacle (which in its time was as a moving Temple) being brought into the Land of Canaan by Joſhua, [a]Maym. in Beth habbech. per. 1 & Ral. bag. in Joſh 4.was firſt pitched and ſet up at Gilgal, the famous place of their firſt incamping, Joſh. 4.19. but the Arke and it were parted aſunder, immediately after the pitching of it: For that was carryed into the field and marched with them in the warres of Canaan: Joſh. 6.12. & 8.33, &c. while the Tabernacle ſtood without it at Gilgal, and there the Sanbedrin ſate neere unto it, with a ſtrong campe as a guard for defence of both: Joſh. 9.6.15. & 20.43.
The time of the Tabernacles ſtanding there, was till the land was conquered, and Judah and the ſons of Joſeph were ſeated, Joſh. 18.1. which was ſeven yeares: though[b]Maym. ubi ſupr. & Seder Olam. ſome of the Jewes doe allot it fourteene: in which time, as they alſo aſſert, high places were lawfull, and it was permitted to offer ſacrifices elſewhere then at the Tabernacle: becauſe in that time they were abroad in the warres, and their condition was unſetled. Before the Tabernacle was firſt ſet up [c]Talm. in Zevachin. per. 14.(ſay they) high places were permitted, and the ſervice was done by the firſt borne: But after the Tabernacle was erected, high places were prohibited, and the ſervice was performed by the Prieſt-hood. The moſt holy things were eaten within the curtaines, and the leſſe holy in any part of the campe of Iſrael. When they came to Gilgall, high places were permitted againe: and the moſt holy things were eaten within the curtaines, and the leſſe holy in any place.
The memorable monuments that had been at Gilgal, did leave it as a place of honour and renown, and did prove occaſion in after times of exceeding much ſuperſtition, will-worſhip and Idolatry there: for there they ſacrificed bullocks, Hoſ. 12. 11. and all their wickedneſſe was there, and there the Lord hated them Hoſ. 9.15.[d]Kimch. in Hoſ. 9. either becauſe they renewed the Kingdome in Gilgal 1 Sam. 11.12. and refuſed the Lord to reigne over them, or becauſe the Tabernacle had been firſt ſet up at Gilgal, and that was a choice place, thereupon the Prophet of Baul perſwaded them there to worſhip Baal.
When the Land was conquered and now at peace, they removed the Tabernacle from Gilgol to a town of Ephraim, for his birth…ights ſake, and ſet it up there and called the place Shiloh or Peaceable, becauſe the Lord had given them reſt from their warres and from their enemies round about. Here was built houſe of ſtone, for the Tabernacle[e]Talm. & Maym. ubi ſupr. as the Jewes ſuppoſe, but onelyonly it was not roofed over with any thing, ſave with the curtaines with which it had been covered from its firſt making: and this they ground from 1 Sam. 1.9. becauſe it is called a Temple, and 1 Sam. 3.15. becauſe it is ſaid to have doores.
The time of the abode of the Tabernacle at Shiloh (Ephrata or in the tribe of Ephraim, Pſal. 132.6.) was from the ſeventh yeare of the rule of Ioſhus to the death of Eli 349 yeares, in which time occurred all the ſtory of the booke of Iudges, and the tranſlation of the High-prieſt-hood from the line of Eleazar to the line of Ithamar, which is not there mentioned, and the cauſe of which alteration is not recorded.
[f]Zevachin ubi ſupr.In this time high places were prohibited: and at Shiloh, there was no rooſe but a houſe of ſtone below and curtaines above: and it was a place of reſt: the moſt holy things were eaten within the curtaines, and the leſſe holy and ſecond tithe without &c. In theſe times there is mention of a Sanctuary at Shechem: Ioſh. 24.1.25.26. which meaneth onelyonly the houſe where the Arke was lodged for that preſent time: for all the tribes meeting at Sb. chim, and being to make a Covenant with the Lord, they fetch the Arke of the Covenant thither, that the preſence and dread of the Lord might be more viſible among them, and the place where the Arke was ſet for that time was called the Sanctuary: as Moſes tent was called the Tabernacle of the Congregation, becauſe the glory of the Lord reſted upon it before the Tabernacle of the Congregation it ſelfe was built. Exod. 33.7.
From Shiloh, upon that fatall blow that Iſrael received by the Philiſtines, 1 Sam. 4. the Arke was captived, into the land of theſe uncircumciſed, and the Tabernacle removed into another tribe, and they ſo parted that they never met againe, till they met together at Solomons Temple.
The Tabernacle was removed to Nob, a city of Prieſts 1 Sam. 22.19, in the tribe of Benjamin, Neh. 11.31, 32. and by the Jewes Choregraphy, with in the ſight or proſpect of Ieruſalem. The Chaldee Paraphraſt gloſſeth Eſay 10.32. where there is mention of this towne, thus:[g]Chald par. in Eſai. 10. He came and ſtood in Nob a city of Prieſts before the Wall of Ieruſalem: He anſwered and ſaid unto his army, Is not this the city of Jeruſalem for which I have muſtered all my Army, and for which levied all my province! behold it is leſſe and weaker then any of the cities that I have ſubdued. He ſtood and nodded his head and waved his hand againſt the mountaine of the houſe of the Sanctuary. For (ſaith Kimchi) from Nob he might ſee Ieruſalem, and when he ſaw it from thence he ſhooke his hand at it as one deſpiſing it.
I ſhall not be curious to inquire whether Nob were any of the foure cities that were allotted at the firſt diviſion, to the Prieſts, out of the tribe of Benjamin, Joſh. 21.17, 18. or whether it were of a latter poſſeſſion (as Ramah was to the Levites of the ſtock of Samuel, 1 Sam. 1.1.) or if Nob were one of thoſe foure firſt cities (and the ſame with Almon, for the other three are clearly diſtinguiſhed from it, Eſai. 10.29, 30.2 Chron. 1.30) whether it were Baburim, which the Chaldee paraphraſt conſtantly rendreth Alemeth, the ſame with Almon 1 Chron. 6.60. I ſhall onelyonly obſerve this, that when the Tabernacle had left the tribe of Joſeph one of the ſons of Rahel, it be takes it to Benjamin another ſonne of the ſame mother.
The warrant of its conveyance hither I doubt not was divine, by ſome propheticall direction, though it be not expreſſed: I dare averre that the removall of it from hence to Gibeon was ſo, though that be not expreſſed neither, and I judge of the one by the other: and my reaſon is this; becauſe when David brings up the Arke to his owne city and there ſettles the Prieſts and Levites in their attendance upon it, he alſo ſettles Prieſts and Levites in their attendance on the Tabernacle at Gibeen … Chron. 16.39, 40, 41, &c. Now what reaſon can be given why David ſhould not rather have fetched up the Tabernacle to his owne city as he did the Arke, then thus divide the ſervice of the Prieſts and Levites, but becauſe he knew the Tabernacle was placed in Gibeon by divine warrant and direction and he would not alter it?
If the Tabernacle removed to Nob preſently upon the captiving of the Arke from Shiloh, it reſided there about 37 yeares, all which time Samuel is alive, and ſeeth both the fall of Shiloh and the fall of Nob, and it may very well be, he was the directour of the Tabernacle from Shiloh to Nob, and from Nob to Gibeon: In the time of its reſidence in both theſe places high places were permitted (as the Talmud conceiveth in the place cited even now) and the moſt holy things were eaten within the curtaines and the leſſe holy things in any city of Iſrael.
At Gibeon another place of the tribe of Benjamin, did the Tabernacle ſtay from its firſt pitching there, till Solomon brought it up to the Temple when it was built: and whileſt it ſtood here, a memorable plece of Divine juſtice againſt Saul cannot but be obſerved (to omit all other particulars) for as he had ſlaine the Prieſts of the Lord, and had ruined the Tabernacle at Nob, ſo his ſons are hanged up before the Tabernacle in Gibeon, 2 Sam. 21.9. And now let us trace the Arke as we have done the Tabernacle till we bring them together.
The Arke being captived by the Philiſtines in the battell at Aphek, was detained in their Land ſeven monthes, rather becauſe they knew not what to doe with it, then for any comfort or happineſſe they found in it, for it was a plague to their gods, people and Countrey: At laſt it was reſtored: and firſt to Bethſhemeſh, a city of Prieſts, Joſh. 21.16. but there it proved alſo the deſtruction of the people: The Hebrew Commentators doe ſcruple both at the cauſe of the ſlaughter, and at the number ſlaine: The cauſe is not ſo very abſtruſe, for the text ſaith it was becauſe they looked into the Arke (though their various conſtruction of the words hath bred their doubting) but it is ſomething ſtrange that Bethſhemeſh a towne of no great note ſhould loſe fifty thouſand and ſeventy inhabitants at one time (beſides what eſcaped) a number of people anſwerable to the greateſt cities. The Commentators ſpoken of, having obſerved this improbability will heale the matter with as improbable a gloſſe: Seventy men (ſay they) which were valuable, every one to fifty thouſand; and others retaining the ſcruple ſtill, doe raiſe it higher by their interpretation, for the fifty thouſand men (ſay they) were every one of them valuable to the ſeventy men in the Sanhedrin. The text doth plainly diſtinguiſh of the perſons, for it ſaith, that he ſmote of the men of Bethſhemeſh becauſe they looked into the Arke, and he ſmote of the people: For the returne of the Arke had occaſioned no doubt the concourſe of the people all about, beſides the inhabitants of Bethſhemeſh (it was now upon the time of the feaſt of Tabernacles when the Arke came up to them, and it may be that might cauſe the more conflux to the Arke when it was come) and the Lord for the boldneſſe of Prieſts and people that would be looking into the Arke, breaketh out upon them with the plague, and deſtroyeth ſo many thouſands of them.
The Prieſts of Bethſhemeſh that had eſcaped, ſent to the men of Kiriathjearim to fetch up the Arke to them, and ſo they doe. It is equally queſtionable, why they that were Prieſts ſhould ſend about ſuch a matter as this to the men of Kiriathjearim which were not, and that the men of Kiriathjearim ſhould venture to fetch up the Arke, when they had ſeen the ſpeeding of Bethſhemeſh by it: But the Lord had now forſaken the tribe of Ephraine, in which tribe Shiloh ſtood, and had made choice of the tribe of Judah Pſal. 78.67, 68. of which Kiriathjearim was a chief city: and whether he uſed the counſell of Samuel to the the people for a means to accompliſh his determination, or what other way, is not determinable, but it is brought to paſſe, and the Arke now ſeated in the tribe of Judah, out of which it never unſetled againe whileſt it was in being.
A long time whileſt it ſtayed in Kiriathjearim it was under the curbe of, Philiſtine garriſon which was in that city 1 Sam. 10.5. which might much dampe the peoples ſeeking and reſorting to it, eſpecially in this looſeneſſe and lukewarmeneſſe, or rather utter coldneſſe of religion that was amongſt them. However, at the end of twenty yeares a generall reformation doth begin amongſt them, and they begin to hearken after God, the Arke and religion, and put away the ſtrange gods that were among them, and God at that very inſtant doth grant them a miraculous victory againſt the Philiſtines. 1 Sam. 7.
We read once of the Arkes being within the compaſſe of the tribe of Benjamin before David fetched it up to Jeruſalem, and that was with Saul at Gibeah 1 Sam. 14.18. but it was reſtored from thence to Kiriathjearim as the place appointed for it as yet, by divine direction, for otherwiſe it might as eaſily have been ſet up in Nob where the Tabernacle was now ſtanding.
David about the ſecond yeare of his reigne in Jeruſalem, fetcheth it up from Kiriathjearim thither, and there pitched an habitation for it in Sion, where it reſided till it was tranſlated into Solomons Temple, ſave onelyonly that once it was taken out to have flitted with David in his flight from his ſon Abſalom, but ſoone reſtored to its place againe. 2 Sam. 15. At this Tabernacle in which the Arke was lodged in Sion David ſets up an Altar, 1 Chron. 16.2. for the offerings at that preſent time of the Arkes bringing up thither, but not for continuall ſacrificing: And there he appointed a conſtant muſicke to attend, of the Levites, but the Prieſts waited at Gibeon, where the Tabernacle was and the daily ſacrifice.