e of a king has its _audience-rooms_, where he receives his
subjects and attends to their petitions. In like manner the Mosaic
tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, had its "holy of holies" and its
"holy place," the former being in a special sense the abode of Israel's
God. The tabernacle, with its furniture, priesthood, and services, is
declared in the New Testament to have been "a shadow of good things to
come." Heb. 10:1, and elsewhere. Unless we understand this its typical
character, we fail to gain any true apprehension of its meaning.

8. In contemplating the truths which the Mosaic tabernacle shadowed
forth, we begin with the _materials_ used in its construction. Here we
notice two things; their _preciousness_, and the _gradation_ observed in
this respect.

(1.) Their _preciousness_. All the materials were of the most durable
and costly character--gold, silver, fine-twined linen of blue and purple
and scarlet, acacia-wood (the shittim-wood of our version), brass being
allowed only in the external appointments. This obviously represented
the glory and excellence of God's service, and the corresponding
obligation on the part of the worshippers to give to God the best of all
that they had.

(2.) The _gradation_ in the preciousness of the materials had reference
to the inner sanctuary, where, as will presently be shown, God dwelt
between the cherubim that overshadowed the mercy-seat. The rule of
gradation was this: the nearer to God's dwelling-place the greater the
glory; and hence, as shadowing forth this glory, the more precious the
materials. The mercy-seat, where God dwelt between the cherubim, was
accordingly of pure gold. All the woodwork pertaining to the tabernacle
and its furniture was overlaid with gold. The inner or proper covering
of the tabernacle, as also the vail that hung before the ark, separating
the holy from the most holy place, was of "fine-twined linen, and blue,
and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim of cunning work." The outer vail,
at the entrance of the outer sanctuary, was of the same materials, but
without the cherubim; while the curtains of the court were made simply
of fine-twined linen, suspended from pillars of shittim-wood not
overlaid with gold. The sockets, again, that supported the timbers of
the tabernacle and the inner row of pillars before the ark were of
silver; but those beneath the outer pillars of the sanctuary, and all
the pillars of the court, were of brass.

9. Passi