LEVITICUS 24


1 And Yahweh spake unto [Moshe], saying,

2 Command the children of Israel [Bnei Yisroel][Exod 27:20], that they bring unto thee pure oil olive [shemen zayit] beaten for the light, to [kindle the Ner Tamid (Perpetual Lamp)]

O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles - Psa 43: 3


To the south or left side stood the Lightstand which shone during the hours of darkness "from evening to morning", Exod. 27 : 2 1. [The essential contrast is that between light and darkness. At all events it is fascinating to note that the Court was illumined by the sun, the Holy Place by the Lightstand with its constantly replenished oil, and the Most Holy Place by the unfailing Shekinah glory - an ascending order of progression...]

The oil which burnt in its seven lamps to give light was a national contribution....We note that the instruction was given to the children of Israel in the mass. This signifies that the Lightstand, when its seven lamps were burning, represented Israel as a nation, serving as a light shining for God in the darkness of heathendom around - the custodians of that divine Law which would constrain the peoples around them to exclaim,

"Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people" (Deut. 4 : 6).

The light produced by the oil, then, was not a light originating in Israel proper but one that shone through them as God's witnesses on earth. In this respect the contribution of oil by the nation differed from the Shewbread piled upon the Table opposite, but the resemblance between the Shewbread and the Lightstand itself remained of the closest for all that.

Law and Grace Ch 5



... Beaten oil was the best quality. The berries were ripened by ...the sun to a purple colour...They were pounded in a mortar, and the juice extracted was then strained in order to ensure purity.

This process illustrated the experience of every true Israelite then or now. It taught

that true Israelites (represented by the berries) are brought to maturity by the strength of the Sun of righteousness (cp. Mal. 4:2); they are then subjected to trial and discipline (the pounding); are cleansed by the influence of the Word (John 15:3; Eph. 5:26); to finally produce the golden oil of faithful witness.*

A single lightstand with 7 burners

... indicating that the various bowls were part of the multitudinous whole.

...The oil of the lamp was replenished daily causing the light to shine continuously and brightly in the darkness of the Holy Place. This taught that believers should make daily

contact with the Word of God that they might manifest the light of its teaching

before men (Matt. 5:16).*



3 Without the vail of the testimony [Parochet (Curtain) of the Edut], in the tabernacle of the congregation [Ohel Mo'ed], shall [Aharon set it in order] from the evening unto the morning [erev unto boker] before Yahweh continually [tamid]: it shall be a statute for ever [chukkat olam] in your generations [dorot].



The lesson to us is to order our lives to prioritize attendance to Yahweh's word daily in a consistent, methodical and ordered devotion.


To '"order" is from the verb 'arak and signifies "to arrange in order, to set in a row" as in v. 8 (see also Exod. 40:4; Lev. 1:7). The context suggests that it was the oil that was so ordered", the bowls being replenished one after the other each evening, so that there would be no danger of the light going out whilst all slept. *



4 He shall [set in] order the [nerot] lamps upon the pure candlestick [Menorah Hatehorah]before Yahweh continually [tamid].

The trimming ot the wicks...every morning... is suggestive of the pruning of the vine (John 15:1-2), the discipline that saints receive in life...the Lord showed infinite patience in his treatment of his fellowmen (cp. Matt. 12:20), and his followers are called upon to imitate him in that regard. *

*The Leviticus Expositor



The entrance of thy words giveth light


The oil [for the candlestick in the holy place] was to be supplied by the children of Israel; "pure oil olive beaten for the light" (Lev. 24:2). This is in harmony with the fact that Israel has furnished the men who were the mediums of the oil-word, and that the same was delivered in much affliction--beaten for the light. Whether this was an intended meaning we are not informed, but the correspondence is striking.

The exclusion of the natural light is evidently a part of the symbolism. There was no window in the tabernacle, and the light that would have come from the open roof was intercepted by the several coverings that were laid across. We have no indication of the divinely intended meaning of this, beyond what may be furnished in the Scriptural question:

"Who can by searching find out God?" and the apostolic statement: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned".

As we behold the darkened interior of the structure intended to symbolize the relation of God to man, lit only by an apparatus forming part of the symbolism, we are plainly informed that "the light of nature" can throw no light on the question of what man's relation to God is, or what God's purpose with him is, or how man can be acceptable with God.

In short, that "religion" is an affair of revelation exclusively, and that "natural religion" is a myth.

There is truly no such thing as natural religion. Religion, to be religion, must be a means of actual reconciliation with God, and it is from God only that we can learn the terms of this reconciliation.

What man devises is not religion, but will-worship, or worship according to human will. It may be acceptable to man: but if it is not acceptable to God it has no reconciling power, or power to bind again what has been broken, and, therefore, is not religion--all which is in perfect accord with the fact that natural light had no place in the interior of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Law of Moses Ch 14



5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake 12 cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.

Twelve cakes - The Shewbread.

 The twelve cakes so provided, primarily represented the twelve tribes, and therefore were indicative of the Israelitish nature of the hope (John 4:22; Acts 26:7; 28:20; Rom. 9:4). But, typically, the twelve cakes also point forward to the multitudinous Christ, the nucleus of whom is Christ himself.

The symbolism is significant. The grain gave up its life, submitted to being bruised into flour, and was carefully sifted for purity and consistency. It was then baken into cakes, ... being subjected to heat, was brought to maturity. The application to Christ is obvious:

"he learned obedience by the things that he suffered" (Heb. 5:8-9),

and so must those who would be incorporated into the multitudinous Christ.



"Two tenth deals shall be in one cake"


- The reference to two draws attention to the two families into which humanity is divided: Jew and Gentile.

Josephus says that they were made of unleavened flour, baken flat and perforated. The "two tenth deals" formed "one cake", thereby suggesting the principle advanced by Paul (1 Cor. 10:17): "We being many are one bread" in Christ.

It is significant that the material was the same, both in quality and in quantity, with that of each one of the wave-loaves of Pentecost (Lev. 23:17). The truth, as proclaimed on the Day of Pentecost, is the measure expected throughout the ages.

*The Leviticus Expositor



6 And thou shalt set them in 2 rows, 6 on a row, upon the pure table before Yahweh.

The smoking frankincense (v7) on the twelve cakes may tell us that the class in Israel who are reckoned as the true and final commonwealth of Israel are those only who are as an odour of a sweet smell to the Creator in the genuine thanksgiving and praise that ascend continually from their circumcised and enlightened minds. It is not enough to have Abraham's blood; there must also be Abraham's faith and obedience.

The fact that the cakes were eaten by the priests touches the truth at three points.

1. Only the class of mankind who are called and constituted "priests unto God" are the qualified and destined partakers of the hope of Israel.

2. This hope can only be eaten in the holy place to which the truth calls men, by the gospel and baptism, outside of which men are "without Christ, and having no hope", as Paul alleges in Eph. 2:12. 3.

In the final evolution of things natural, Israel in their twelve tribes disappear by absorption in the priestly order, who, largely recruited in numbers at the close of the thousand years, become at last the sole and immortal survivors of earth's population in the perfect state to which the whole purpose is tending.

Law of Moses Ch 15




7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto Yahweh.

On the right-hand side of the holy place, against the inner side of the south wall of the chamber, stood a table about 3 ft. long, 18 in. broad, and 2 ft. 3 in. high, made of hard wood covered with gold (Exod. 25:23). On it were placed two piles of cakes, of fine flour, six in a pile, twelve in all. On each pile (or row) was placed a vessel containing a quantity of frankincense in process of burning. The cakes were to be renewed every sabbath, and the old ones eaten by the priests in the holy place.

They were called the shewbread (Exod. 25:30), because always on show, "before the Lord". But what were they there to show? First, the national constitution in twelve tribe subjection to the law of Moses. We learn this from their number, which connects them with the "twelve tribes of Israel", and from the statement that the cakes were to be considered as taken from them as an offering for a memorial.

This clue unites with certain apostolic expressions in attaching an Israelitish character to the whole economy of true religion and hope and holiness, as existing in this imperfect state. The holy place figures this economy, and it is meet, therefore, that it should contain the insignia of its national association. We know who said "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22), "to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and giving of the law . . . and the promises" (Rom. 9:4). We are all familiar with Paul's description of the hope of the gospel as "the hope of Israel" (Acts 28:20), "unto which hope", as he further said, "our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come" (26:7).

The moderns have entirely forgotten this aspect of the salvation which the gospel discloses and offers. The twelve cakes of the shewbread may suffice to recall them to the truth in this matter. "The bread of God" (as the shew-bread is called, Lev. 21:6) "is he that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world" (John 6:33); but the essence of it is Israelitish, not only in its historical associations, but in its future development.

Law of Moses Ch 14



8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

9 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.


The eating of the cakes by Aaron and his sons (God's representatives here once more) was typical of their acceptance by God. The cakes were twelve in number, for they stood for the whole nation. They were in two piles of six, with a vessel full of frankincense above each. The frankincense was burnt upon the Altar of Incense, serving as a memorial of the whole. In the process it gave out a delightful fragrance, to indicate what pleasure the offering of the cakes gave to God.

Why should the cakes give God such delight? Once again because they were a form of Meal Offering, symbolical of the dedication by the entire nation of the fruits of its labours to God. Fittingly the day chosen for the replacement of the stale cakes by fresh was the Sabbath - the day which was a sign of the Covenant between Israel and God.


 "The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed" (Exod. 31 : 16-17).

God's action in resting after the work of Creation was prophetic.

It intimated that the destiny of man (God's last creation) was the enjoyment of His Rest.

Law and Grace Ch 5


15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his Elohim shall bear his sin.

16 And he that blasphemeth the name of Yahweh, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of Yahweh, shall be put to death.

Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy elohim in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Ex. 20v 7)


Both the flippant and the deceitful use of the divine name were strictly forbidden. The flippant use was a token of gross and perilous disrespect. The deceitful use brought Him, the faithful and true God (as the Exodus had proved Him to be), into association with falsehood, and so profaned His Name (Lev. I9: I2).

In such a case a Sin Offering was necessary to cleanse the offender of his guilt, with all that that entailed by way of publicity (Lev. 5: I). As for the downright blasphemer, he had to die the death (Lev. 24 : 10-16). Thus was reverence for God's name ensured.

Law and Grace Ch 6



It is an indispensable corollary of belief in God that His name should be had in reverence, and should never escape human lips in the spirit of flippancy--not to speak of profanity. 

There are those who think that the meaning was that men should not take a false oath; that if they swore by the name of God to do a thing, there was a sacred obligation of performance that God would never release; that God would hold the man guilty who invoked His name to a covenant he did not perform.

The scope of the subject requires that something much higher than this should have been intended. God is certainly displeased with covenant-breakers and perjured persons: but His displeasure does not arise from the fact of His name having been used to pledge them to performance, but because the person promising or covenanting has failed to perform whether the promise or covenant were entered upon with the name of God on the person's lips or not.

It is the profane or flippant use of God's name that is condemned at any time, for any use in any connection. We never read of the non-performance of a covenant being described as taking the name of the Lord in vain: but we read the illustrative case of "the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian ", who blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed, and who (being put in ward that the mind of the Lord might be shown), was condemned to death (Lev. 24: 11-15).

The spirit of unutterable reverence towards God is the spirit which every institution of the law was calculated and intended to generate. Sacrifice means nothing so much as this. The position of the tabernacle in the midst of the assembly, guarded on every side by the ranked tents of the Levites, taught no other lesson.

The first petition of "the Lord's Prayer" enforces it: "Hallowed be Thy name". How often occurs the interjection throughout the law: "I the Lord your God am holy". "Fear thy God". "He is worthy to be had in reverence of all them that come near him" "He is a great God, and a great King above all gods .... O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker... He is greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods: for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name... O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before him, all the earth" (Psa. 95-96 and other places).

The very pith of the third commandment is the spirit that moved the Psalmist to exclaim, "O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men"

This is the spirit of the truth, apart from which the system of the truth is but a skeleton of dry bones. It led him to desire the manifestation of the glory of God with an ardour that he could only compare with the fierce thirst of the hart kept a long time from water. There is a great distance between this state of mind and that which would take the name of the Lord in vain.

The latter is the more common state of mind: and, therefore, it is a matter of command that we avoid the foolish habit of taking the name of the Lord in vain; and a matter of intimation that God will hold guilty the man who indulges in it. The existence of a command with this terrible adjunct is a help against the folly when we remember it, as to which, it is never to be forgotten that the mercy of the Lord is in store for "those who remember his commandments, to do them".

Law of Moses