[293] Wisdom ix. 8: "A copy of the holy tabernacle which Thou didst prepare from the beginning." [294] Exod. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30; Acts vii. 44; Heb. viii. 5. [295] _More Nebochim_, iii, 45-49; Kalisch, _Exodus_, p. 497. [296] The three names given to the Tabernacle are _Ohel_ ("tent"), _Mishkan_ ("tabernacle," "habitation," or "dwelling-place"), and _Baith_ ("house"). It is undoubted that the Tabernacle followed the ordinary construction of the Oriental tent, with its two divisions, of which the interior could not be entered by strangers. [297] Numb. xvii. 7, xviii. 2; 2 Chron. xxiv. 6; Acts vii. 44; Exod. xxix. 10, etc.; 1 Kings viii. 4; 2 Chron. viii. 13. The phrase "Tent of Meeting" in the R.V. removes the complete obscuring of the meaning involved by the A.V. rendering of "Tabernacle of the Congregation." [298] Exod. xxv. 22. [299] Exod. xxix. 42, 43. CHAPTER XVI. _THE ARK AND THE CHERUBIM._ 1 KINGS vi. 23-30, viii. 6-11. "Jehovah, thundering out of Sion, throned Between the cherubim." MILTON. The inculcation of truths so deep as the unity, the presence, and the mercy of God would alone have sufficed to give preciousness to the national sanctuary, and to justify the lavish expenditure with which it was carried to completion. But as in the Tabernacle, so in the Temple, which was only a more rich and permanent structure, the numbers, the colours, and many details had a real significance. The unity of the Temple shadowed forth the unity of the Godhead; while the concrete and perfect unity, resulting from the reconciliation of unity with difference and opposition (1 + 2), is "the signature of the Deity." Hence, as in our English cathedrals, three was the predominant number. There were three divisions,--Porch, Holy Place, Oracle. Each main division contained three expiatory objects. Three times its width (which was 3 × 10) was the measure of its length. The number ten is also prominent in the measurements. It includes all the cardinal numbers, and, as the completion of multiplicity, is used to indicate a perfect whole. The seven pillars which supported the house, and the seven branches of the candlestick, recalled the sacredness of the seventh day hallowed by the Sabbath, by circumcision, and by the Passover. The number of the cakes of shewbread was twelve, "the signature of the people of Israel, a whole in the midst of which God resides, a body which moves after Divine laws." Of the colours predominant in the Temple, _blue_, the colour of heaven, symbolises revelation; _white_ is the colour of light and innocence; _purple_, of majesty and royal power; _crimson_, of life, being the colour of fire and blood. Every gem on the high priest's pectoral had its mystic significance, and the bells and pomegranates which fringed the edge of his ephod were emblems of devotion and good works.