Hebrews 9:2

For there was a tabernacle prepared the first wherein were the candlestick, and the table and the showbread; which is called the Holy place.

For a diagram of the three compartments, the court, the holy place, and the most holy place, see in the tenth chapter. The "first" tabernacle in this verse is identified by the articles of furniture in it as the holy place. In it there were the golden candlestick on the south, the table of showbread on the north, and the golden altar of incense near the curtain, or veil (Exodus 40:22,24,26). Such is the importance of these objects, as being the patterns of great spiritual realities which they typified, that some particular attention is due each of them.

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

History, through the overruling providence of God, has preserved a likeness of the golden candlestick that was in the Herodian temple destroyed by Vespasian and Titus in 70 A.D. The candlestick, along with other treasures, was looted and carried in the triumphal procession in Rome; and, when the Arch of Titus was constructed to memorialize the victory, both the table of showbread and the candlestick were detailed in the carvings decorating the arch and may still be seen there in the excavated ruins of ancient Rome. Plaster casts of those carvings are exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum, New York; and from these is evident the immense weight of those golden treasures, several men being necessary to bear each of them.

The golden candlestick was the only source of light in the holy place, symbolizing the truth that the only light of the church is the word of God, thus making the candlestick also a symbol of the Bible, or type of it. Zechariah's question of the meaning of the seven golden candlesticks (Zechariah 4:1-6) evoked this response from the angel, "This is the word of the Lord"; and although limited as "unto Zerubbabel" in that reference, there can be little doubt that it stands for all the word of the Lord in the whole Bible; and, as such, it is a fantastically accurate and instructive type of it. Its seven branches stand for the seven divisions of the Bible: (1) the Law of Moses; (2) and the Prophets; (3) and the Psalms (Luke 24:44) in the Old Testament; and the other four divisions; (4) the Gospels; (5) the Book of Acts; (6) the Epistles; and (7) Revelation, in the New Testament, the latter four divisions being implicit by the inherent nature of the books themselves, and from the revelation of three Old Testament divisions enunciated by the Lord himself. Other and more elaborate divisions of the Bible are sometimes given; but the divisions noted here have the authority of Jesus' own acceptance of them. The three Old Testament divisions are called by the Hebrews, Torah, Nebhiim, and Kethubhim.[1]

A glance at the candlestick shows that its two longest arms, on the right and on the left, make the longest projection in the things represented, the left branch (Torah) going all the way back to creation, and the right (Revelation) reaching all the way to the judgment and eternity. Implicit also in the duality of the candlestick, being symmetrical with two corresponding sections, and in the scriptural emphasis on this double characteristic, is the suggestion of two major divisions of God's word. Thus, Zechariah called attention to the two olive trees and the two pipes to supply oil, etc. (Zechariah 4:12). The Old Testament and New Testament are typified.

The candlestick required constant care, twice a day, or oftener, when the lamps were trimmed and supplied with oil, the same being eloquently typical of the constant care, meditation, reading and study of the Bible. Also, note the centrality of the division representing the Four Gospels, standing exactly where it should, with the three branches on the left descending (as through history) and flowing into it, and the three branches on the right rising and coming up out of it. The Old Testament looks forward to the gospel; the New Testament looks back to it. In the centrality of the branch representing the Gospels is also the explanation of the ten golden candlesticks (1 Kings 7:49), which, in all probability, were made by extending the central branch upward into four separate divisions elevated above the other six, thus making five on each side, but which must not be thought of as a deviation from the number of seven golden candlesticks so emphatically required (Exodus 25:3ff). The only way to get any EVEN NUMBER of candlesticks would involve dividing and extending the central stem. Thus those four divisions were essentially one, just as the Four Gospels are one; and that ancient Hebrew variation was an unconscious emphasis upon that part of the candlestick especially representative of Christ and his Gospels.

THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD

On the north side of the holy place, the table of showbread balanced the golden candlestick on the south side, and itself was typical of momentous truth in the new covenant. Twelve loaves of bread were kept fresh on the table and were arranged in two rows, suggesting the providence of God in the provisions made for his people, the two rows reminding one of the two Israels, the fleshly Israel and the spiritual Israel. This table is likewise not without its reference to the table in the kingdom of Christ (Luke 22:29,30). In this table, no less than in the case of the candlestick, there were also examples of Jewish decorative variations being providentially overruled to provide even more startling symbolism of true spiritual realities. Josephus described the decorations of the table of showbread made by Ptolemy. It was elaborately covered with a grapevine, described thus,

(It had) tendrils of the vine, sending forth clusters of grapes, that you would guess were nowise different from real tendrils; for they were so very thin, and so very far extended at their extremities, that they were moved by the wind, and made one believe that they were the product of nature, and not the representation of art.[2]

How strange indeed that Christ, the true vine, and the "fruit of the vine" so sacred to his disciples should thus have been so gloriously depicted upon the ancient table of showbread; and that, it seems, not by reason of any divine instruction, but merely after the fancy of men. Surely God was in those things pertaining to the ordinances of his divine service. Of course, the bread also, as exhibited on that table, has its counterpart in the bread of the Lord's Supper, itself symbolical of that bread which came down from God out of heaven, the bread of life, of which, if a man eat, he shall never die; and God shall raise him up at the last day.

The reader should be aware that many things have been said to be represented by such things as the candlestick and the table. Macknight's suggestion that the candlestick represented "the seven planets (!)" and that the table represented the provision available from the earth for man and beast,[3] is an example. It is the view here that those marvelous objects plainly said to be "copies of the things of heaven" are worthy of being received as types of that entire spiritual system which they symbolized.

THE GOLDEN ALTAR

From Exodus 40:22,24,26, the placement of the golden altar appears to have been near the veil through which the high priest entered the most holy place; and from the fact of its being an altar of incense, it should be understood as a type or symbol of the prayers of God's people (Revelation 5:8), the incense representing the prayers, and the altar the institution of prayer itself. Many of the pioneer preachers of the Restoration, on whose memory may God's blessing rest, made a great deal of the symbolism in the location of the altar within the holy place typifying the church, and not in the court typifying the world, thus making prayer to be a special privilege of the Christian within the church, and not a privilege pertaining to all people indiscriminately. Such does not deny that God may answer prayer from anyone, as for example when Christ granted the request of the demons (Matthew 8:31,32), if such should correspond to the divine will; but there cannot be any doubt that, at least, generally, prayer is the privilege within, not without, the covenant relationship with God.

It should not be confusing that the golden altar of incense is said to pertain to the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:4), because, situated as it was, so near to the entrance through the veil, it did indeed pertain to the most holy place of all, but it was not located within the holiest place but without in the holy place. Therefore, it is discussed here in connection with the holy place, along with the candlestick, and the table of showbread. In its use, the altar was significantly associated with the solemn ritual on the day of atonement, when the high priest made two or three excursions within the Holy of Holies with this altar as the pivot around which his activities revolved. Thus, it is no violation of truth to speak of it as pertaining to the Holy of Holies, especially since it is not said that the altar was "in" the Holy of Holies, but that the Holy of Holies "had" a golden altar (Hebrews 9:4) Barmby said,

(The altar) was an appendage of the Holy of Holies, though not actually inside it, in the same way (to use a homely illustration by Delitzsch) as the signboard of a shop belongs to the shop and not to the street.[4]

The location of the golden altar near the veil which typified, among, other things, the curtain of death, calls attention to the special urgency of prayers as one draws near to death, or as he may be brought into the contemplation of it. See article on the veil of the temple, below.