The tabernacle, as a figure of his incarnate person, included, in the sanctuary within the veil, the golden altar of incense, the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat, which was the throne; and in the other apartment, the altar of burnt offering, the show-bread, the candlestick, &c., answering to the offices and benefits of Him who was both priest and sacrifice, altar and mercy-seat. That they had an ark and tent answerable essentially to the tabernacle anterior to that erected in the wilderness, is implied in several passages. Thus, Exod. xxxiii., before the gifts had been received for the new structure, "Moses took _the tabernacle_ and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp; ... and as Moses entered into _the tabernacle_, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and talked [see Heb.] with Moses." Again, Exod. xvi., on the first dispensation of manna, Aaron is directed to "Take a pot and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up _before Jehovah_, to be kept for your generations. So Aaron laid it up before the testimony, to be kept:" that is, probably, in the _tent_ or place where the Shekina dwelt, as afterwards in the tabernacle at Shiloh and Mizpeh, prior to the erection of the temple. The same thing may be implied in the words of the Philistines when the Israelites brought the ark of the covenant into their camp: "The Philistines were afraid, for they said, Elohim is come into the camp. Woe unto us!... this is _the_ Elohim that smote the Egyptians." 1 Sam. iv. As if, in the information they had received concerning the plagues of Egypt, the presence of _the_ Elohim was associated with a tent or _tabernacle_, and the ark of the covenant. That there was such a place of Divine manifestation among the Israelites during their sojourn in Egypt and at the legation of Moses, is in the highest degree probable, since the true faith and worship were preserved; and probably it was to that place that Moses, in the progress of his controversy with Pharaoh, often repaired for direction and authority. And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, "Adonai, wherefore," &c. Exod. v. "And Moses spake _before_ Jehovah...." "And Moses said _before_ Jehovah." vi. "And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Jehovah." viii. "And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, [perhaps from the district of the Egyptians to that of the Israelites,] and spread abroad his hands unto Jehovah." ix. The same word (Sheken or Shekina) which is employed to signify that Jehovah _dwelt_ in the pillar of cloud and of fire, and in the tabernacle between the cherubim, is employed also Gen. iii. 24, which may read, "He caused the cherubim to _dwell_ at the east of the garden of Eden," _i. e._, as in a tent or covering, a tabernacle, or column of cloud or fire.