kes, was eaten by Aaron and his sons. Into this chamber the priests
went always, accomplishing the daily services. Moreover, between the
holy place and the holiest of all hung a thick veil. Into the holiest
the high-priest only was permitted to enter, and he could only enter on
the annual day of atonement. This chamber also had its proper furniture.
To it belonged[159] the altar of incense (for so we must read in the
fourth verse, instead of "golden censer"), although its actual place was
in the outer sanctuary. It stood in front of the veil that the
high-priest might take the incense from it, without which he was not
permitted to enter the holiest; and when he came out, he sprinkled it
with blood as he had sprinkled the holiest place itself. In the inner
chamber stood the ark of the covenant, containing the pot of manna,
Aaron's rod that budded, and the two tables of stone on which the Ten
Commandments were written. On the ark was the mercy-seat, and above the
mercy-seat were the cherubim. But there were no lamps to give light;
there was no shewbread for food. The glory of the Lord filled it, and
was the light thereof. When the high-priest had performed the atoning
rites, he was not permitted to stay within. It is evident that
reconciliation through blood was the idea symbolized by the holiest
place, its furniture, and the yearly rite performed within it. But the
veil and the outer chamber stood between the sinful people and the
mercy-seat. Our author ascribes this arrangement of the two chambers,
the veil, and the one entrance every year of the high-priest into the
inner shrine, to the Holy Spirit, Who teaches men by symbol[160] that
the way to God is not yet open. But He also teaches them through the
ordinances of the outer sanctuary that access to God is a necessity of
conscience, and yet that the gifts and sacrifices there offered cannot
satisfy conscience, resting, as they do, only on meats and drinks and
divers washings. All we can say of them is that they were the
requirements of natural conscience, here termed "flesh," and that these
demands of human consciousness of guilt were sanctioned and imposed on
men by God provisionally, until the time came for restoring permanently
the long-lost peace between God and men.

Contrast with all this the ministry of Christ. He made His appearance on
earth as High-priest of the things which have now at length come to
us.[161] The blessings prophesied by Jeremiah have been rea