Exodus 39

Exodus 39:1-43

Exodus 34:33 It is a law of our being and the being of all material things that everything grows like to that with which it is conversant and familiar. Those who frequent the good gather the image of their goodness, and those who deal much with God grow Godlike. I. What was the glory on Moses’ face? St. Paul gives us a remarkable answer to this question. He says, “They could not look steadfastly to the end of that which is abolished.” “That which is abolished” is the law, and the end of the law is Christ; therefore the glory upon Moses’ face was the Lord Jesus Christ. II. It was not in compassion for the weakness of the Israelites that Moses put a veil upon his face. The Jews had lost the power to see the end of that which is abolished, to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ reflected in the law. The veil was judicial, the consequence of sin; it was interposed between them and the beauty of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. III. There are veiled hearts among us now, and the reason of the veil is sin. The remedy is Christ. “When they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” When we have Christ within, we shall be able to look with unveiled mind upon all the beauties and glories of the Christ without. And then will come to pass that with which St. Paul sums it all up: “We, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus, p. 109. References: Exodus 35:8.— Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 336. Exodus 35:20-29.— Parker, vol. ii., p. 293. Exodus 35:29.— J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus, p. 118; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 300. Exodus 35:30-34.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 165. Exodus 35:30-35.— L. D. Bevan, Sermons to Students, p. 121. Exodus 35.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 303. 35, 36—Ibid., p. 303. Exodus 36:1.— W. Arnot, Good Words, 1862, p. 318. Exodus 37:7.— S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 103. Exodus 37:23.—Ibid., p. 145. Exodus 38:8.— Parker, vol. ii., p. 301; H. Macmillan, The Olive Leaf, p. 169; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. i., p. 189. Exodus 38:23.—Ibid., vol. ii., p. 321. Exodus 38:26, Exodus 38:27.— Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1581. Exodus 39:8A full description of the breastplate is given twice over in the Book of Exodus, and from it we may gather certain useful lessons as to the Church in all ages. I. There were twelve stones in the breastplate, each of them different, and each bearing a different name. This shows what variety there is among believers. So long as the human race differs so much in mental structure, we shall not be able to think alike, even in those things that are spoken of in Holy Writ. There are differences with regard to worship, differences in religious feelings and experiences; the stones are not alike, yet they are all on the same breastplate. II. This brings us to another truth— the unity of the Church, all differing, yet all on the heart of Christ. The enemy has only to show himself, and men who differ amongst themselves agree to drive him back. III. They were all precious stones; not one was mean or contemptible. God’s Church has ever been costly. No jewel is what it afterwards becomes when first found. Let not the stone which sparkles in its setting sneer at that which only looks like a pebble. The Master has chosen it; He knows that He has put within its rude exterior that which only needs time and skill to make it “shine as the stars for ever and ever.” IV. Why were those precious stones put upon the breastplate? They were not on the mitre; they were upon the heart, teaching us that the Church is beloved. Every believer is on the heart of God. V. Great pains were taken to keep the breastplate from being lost. It was not only fastened to the shoulders by chains, but the bottom part of the breastplate was fastened by two rings lashed to the two rings in the ephod. This tells us of the Church’s security. T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 234.

Exodus 39:9-10, Exodus 39:14 The breastplate of the Jewish high-priest is a beautiful type of intercession. When the high-priest appeared before God in his full sacerdotal attire, there would be the twelve names upon his heart, indicative of his love and care for the whole people of Israel. The names upon the breastplate betoken the individuality of Christ’s intercession for His people. Every Christian ought to intercede, because he is in a certain important sense a priest, and intercession is one of the priestly functions. I. Observe, first, the great importance attached to this duty in Scripture. In the Old Testament we find Abraham interceding for Sodom; in the New Testament we find the early Church winning the life of St. Peter by intercessory prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is so constructed that it is impossible to use it without praying for all other Christians besides ourselves. II. The duty of intercessory prayer is based upon the fact that men are one body and members one of another. Whether in nature or in grace, a man is essentially the member of a family. And if this be so, the weal and woe of other men, of other Christians, must be, to a certain extent, our weal and woe, cannot ultimately fail to reach us. We must bring our relations and sympathies with us when we appear before God. III. Although both the duty of intercessory prayer and the grounds of it are clear, there is no part of devotion which Christians so much neglect. Some shrink from intercessory prayer under a feeling that, coming from them, it would be presumptuous. The real reason, however, of our reluctance to practise intercessory prayer, is a want of sympathy with others, a want of love. He who prays with the largest sympathy, he who embraces in. his prayer the widest circle of his fellow-creatures, is most in sympathy with the mind of God when he prays, has the key of God’s heart, and therefore of God’s treasury. E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion, p. 79. Exodus 40 - Leviticus 1:1.— J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 133.