The framework of the tabernacle was built of boards of acacia (shittim) wood overlaid with gold, standing on a foundation of silver. These boards were ten cubits in length and one-and-a-half cubits in breadth. They had two tenons, which fitted into the silver sockets, twenty boards to each side of the tabernacle, whose length was thirty cubits.
The boards1 were placed side by side; each having golden rings through which five bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold were passed, holding the boards firmly together; the middle bar extending from end to end of the boards. Though but a tent, we can see the structure had much firmness.
Apart from the tabernacle, there is only one passage which refers directly to acacia or shittim wood, but it gives us a suggestion as to the spiritual meaning. “I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittim tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree…that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this” (Isa. 41:19-20). In the future day of Israel’s blessing, God will make the wilderness to rejoice. The nation was a moral waste in which nothing grew for God, and this continues until the full time of blessing comes, when God’s grace will make glad even the desert. Then the fragrant cedar, the beautiful acacia, the ever-green myrtle, and the fruitful olive will flourish, and the desert shall blossom as a rose.
Shittim wood is appropriate for the tabernacle boards, rather than the cedar or olive. These latter two were used in constructing Solomon’s temple (1 Ki. 6:15, 31-33), which prefigured millennial glory and the habitation of God among the restored nation, the very time referred to in the passage quoted. Perhaps the myrtle, used in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. 8:15), was significant for its fragrance and foliage. The acacia, however, was the only tree which grew in the desert–the only one available for the purpose intended, a habitation in the wilderness.
But there is special beauty in this when we look at the spiritual significance, remembering that Christ is the key to all. When our Lord came, it was true that idolatry had outwardly ceased, and there were diligent rounds of fasting, tithing, and holy days; but in all this there was nothing for God. So our Lord was to the nation “as a root out of a dry ground.” They saw nothing in Him to desire. But how different to God! Here was a “tender plant” growing in the midst of desolation. God saw nothing but perfection in Him.
Certain characteristics about the acacia tree made it particularly suitable as a type of our Lord on earth. There are many varieties, suggesting the varied characteristics of our Lord. One yields a gum which has a healing effect; from another is obtained a tonic medicine; the leaves of another are sensitive to outward influences; and the wood, by its durability, points to the incorruptibility of His humanity. On this last we dwell, for it is the prominent material, not only in the tabernacle framework, but in all its furniture, except the laver and the candlestick.
Hebrews 10:5 declares: “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me.” The quotation is from Psalm 40, where, instead of “A body hast Thou prepared Me,” we have, “Mine ears hast Thou opened.” This illustrates the freedom with which the Spirit enlarges on the thought originally given under His inspiration. In the psalm we have the opening or forming of the ears, suggesting the obedience of our Lord, as the ear is to receive the instruction. But in the NT passage, where His person has been fully revealed, the Spirit teaches us that His body was specially prepared for this obedience.
The person of the Son of God is a mystery which only God can fully comprehend, but we remember that He came to reveal, not to conceal, God. Yet there are dangers on every hand: we may deny His true humanity, or unduly emphasize that and lose the thought of His perfect and absolute deity. We are distinctly told that He was, and is, Man (1 Tim. 2:5). He is the ideal, the only perfect Man that ever walked the earth–infinitely more so than the first man. The Creator has come down into His creation and taken His place as its Head (Col. 1:15). The Son of God became also the Son of Man. It was on earth that the body was prepared Him. He was “made of a woman” (Gal. 4:4), in fulfillment of the first word of gospel spoken by God, in the bruising of the serpent’s head by the woman’s Seed.
Scripture does not say “that innocent thing” but “that holy thing.” The first man before the fall was innocent, but the condition was a negative and unstable one. He was of the earth, earthy–made of dust; a creature, and nothing more. The Second Man is out of heaven (1 Cor. 15:47). He was holy, and had a positive, inherent, abiding character, utterly incapable of sin. We veil our faces as we speak of this divine mystery, and adore the One who thus humbled Himself.
Error has made the incarnation to include the possibility that our Lord was capable of yielding to temptation. Let us stamp that at once as absolute untruth. How could One who was positively and only righteous, with a moral nature absolutely divine, to whom obedience to God was His life, be capable of sin? “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me” (Jn. 14:30).
But it is said that while He did not yield to sin, He could have done so; and if not, of what use was the temptation? Perhaps an illustration may be helpful. There are tests to detect metals which look like gold, and are not. These tests are applied to true metal as well as the counterfeits, not to show the gold is capable of yielding to the test and becoming brass, but just the reverse–to show it to be absolutely incapable. It is just as impossible for our Lord to yield to temptation.
Have we lost anything in seeing that our Saviour could not sin as well as did not? Is anything of “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” missed in learning that He was “sin apart” (Heb. 4:15)? Whose help would it be but of Satan, leading us to think lightly of sin and of the Holy One of God. Satan always seeks to make us think sin is a little thing: the fear of God and the cross of Christ show it in all its awful reality.
It may be said that the sympathy of those who have fallen into sin is more helpful to those tempted than of one who has never failed in that respect. It is not the sympathy of such persons that is helpful, but their counsel and testimony to the power of Christ to deliver. After all, it is not sympathy with sin that is needed. We might as well nurse a viper as to crave sympathy for our sin. Sin is not a misfortune or an infirmity; it is an abomination which God hates, which murdered Christ. It would, if allowed, cast God from His throne and put Satan there. May God deepen our abhorrence of sin.
We pass now to the gold which completely covered these boards. The boards, the ark and all the furniture in the tabernacle were hidden from outside view. It was only visible to the priests and to God. To man the divine glory of our Lord’s humanity was hidden, except as faith saw beneath the cover of humiliation. But to God this is reversed. The acacia wood is covered over with gold. He beholds His co-equal Son in the depths of His humiliation; even on the cross it is His “Fellow” who was smitten (Zech. 13:7). But let us see the scriptural basis for believing gold to be typical of divine glory.2
Gold stands for all that is valuable to man. In this way Scripture speaks of it in contrast with the precious things of God. Of God’s righteous ways, the psalmist says: “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold” (Ps. 19:10). Knowledge (of God) is to be received “rather than choice gold” (Prov. 8:10). Gold is that for which men labor, for which they will barter strength and health. For it they will give up ease and the happiness of home, endangering life itself. Therefore Scripture speaks of covetousness (the lust of gold) as idolatry–this object of man’s desire put in place of the Creator. We find that images for worship were often made of gold, representing what was most precious in human estimation. In the very book from which we learn how God was making use of gold to set forth His glory, we read of the golden calf, made and worshiped as Jehovah’s representative (see Ex. 32:3-4).
The same idolatry in another form was repeated by Gideon (Jud. 8:24-27), Jeroboam (1 Ki. 12:26-33), and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 3:1). “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands,” says the psalmist (Ps. 115:4). That which man considers most precious, which his heart craves and which ministers to his glory, he deifies; that is the root of idolatry. God is displaced and man exalted in exalting his idol (see Rom. 1:25).
But “the gold of that land is good” (Gen. 2:12). It is only when prostituted to evil uses that any of God’s creatures become a source of evil; and gold, as the most precious thing man has, is fittingly an emblem of the divine prerogatives, which he falsely gives to his idol. Gold, then, is a figure of the glory of God, of His attributes–everything that is suggested by the purity, brightness and value of the metal. That this is not guesswork is seen not merely in the negative way we have been looking at it, but from the fact that, under God’s direction, gold was used where these great facts were to be brought out. Solomon’s temple, as God’s earthly abode, was overlaid with gold, even its floor (1 Ki. 6:21-22, 30). And in the book of Revelation the heavenly city is described as “having the glory of God…and the city was pure gold…and the street of the city was pure gold” (Rev. 21:11, 18, 21). Where God is manifest in all His glory the figure used to express that majesty is gold. We are thus justified in the thought that gold is a figure of the divine glory of the Son of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” (see Jn. 1:1-3). Here is the gold shining forth. It is the Creator, for “all things were made by Him.” More than that, “the Word was with God.” The Son is seen as distinct from the Father, but in blessed association with Him. “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [a thing to be grasped] to be equal with God” in the outward display of His deity (Phil. 2:6). Divine honor is rendered to God; but the same is to be rendered to the Son: “…all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (Jn. 5:23).
The Old Testament was the time of infancy, so far as the revelation and knowledge of God were concerned; but now that we have the full light of revelation in the New Testament, we can see the golden gleam of the divine Son. It was Christ, who by the Spirit, went and preached through Noah to the men before the flood, whose spirits are now in prison (1 Pet. 3:18-19). Who can fail to see the love of God in the gift of His only Son in those words to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest” (Gen. 22:2)? Doubtless it was on this occasion that Abraham saw our Lord’s day and was glad. And when the Jews expressed their unbelief that the Man before them could have seen Abraham, our Lord declared: “Before Abraham was, I am”–the eternal, self-existing Jehovah (Jn. 8:56-58).
It was the reproach of Christ which Moses esteemed as “greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:26). It was Christ who followed, as the Rock, His redeemed people in the wilderness, and whom they tempted by their unbelief (1 Cor. 10:4, 9). In the psalms we have His deity clearly taught. “The King of glory” in Psalm 24:7-10 is declared to be “Jehovah of hosts.” In Psalm 45 He is addressed by the divine title: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (v. 6).
It will be noticed that it is the Messiah who is seen here–a Man as well as God. It is wonderful to see how, we might say, the gold takes the form of the acacia wood which it overlays. Truly the “form of a servant” was never in the Father’s eyes a veil to the divine glory.
The same divine truth–the deity in connection with the humanity of our Lord–is seen in the Prophets: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel,” “which being interpreted is, God with us” (Isa. 7:14; Mt. 1:23). Here again it is Jesus the acacia wood, covered with gold.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God…” (Isa. 9:6). The whole chapter is a presentation of Him who is God, and yet who as the obedient One yielded Himself up to God.
Again notice the link here between this One who is both human and divine: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch…and this is His name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). Or these words from Ezekiel: “And above the firmament that was over their [the cherubim’s] heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a Man above it” (Ezek. 1:26). God alone can sit upon the throne of God; so in Daniel 7:9, He (Christ) is called the Ancient of Days.
Micah ties the two aspects this way: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2).
Thus there can be no question from the Old Testament that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, is in the fullest sense divine. How foolish then the attempt to separate the divine and human natures in the One holy Person! He is Man, but He is absolutely and always God. The mystery is there, but faith will bow to that, and rest happily in dependence on a love, a wisdom, a power and a mercy which passes knowledge.
We quote a few passages further from the New Testament: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (see Col. 1:15-17). In a way in which the first man was not, even in his innocence, Christ was the reflection of the moral character of God. He is also the Head of all creation–firstborn, not in time, but in position. And then the reason for this is given: He is Creator of it all. If the Creator takes His place as Man, in infinite grace, in His own creation, He must be its Head from the very fact that He is its Creator. He may not display His full divine glories, but He cannot deny Himself, He cannot cease to be God. In this is seen the blasphemy of the idea that our Lord laid aside His deity, or that it was, at His birth, practically reduced to nothing. In infinite grace to ruined rebels, He, God the Son, came down into the place of man, a real Man, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Turn again to Hebrews 1: “Who being the brightness of His glory”–there is the gold; and “the very impress of His substance”–there is the stamp of that which makes the coin. These attributes could be ascribed to none but God. Unless He were God it would be blasphemy to speak of such a one as “the brightness of His glory, the express image of His substance.”
The next clause brings us face to face with the mystery of His death: “When He had by Himself purged our sins.” This was by the shedding of His blood. But whose blood? Is there a change of persons? Who and what is He but the eternal Son of God, who thus became Man that He might make purification for sins? His deity identified with a sinless and perfect humanity gave infinite value to that sacrifice. It was “by Himself.” Of what value would any other sacrifice be?
All these passages show how this truth of the gold, the deity of the Son, permeates all Scripture. We have merely touched on a few prominent passages which speak of “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). Even in speaking of His atoning death the apostle John says, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7)–the Eternal Son of God. And the same apostle closes his first epistle after speaking of the Son by saying: “This [One] is the true God, and Eternal Life” (1 Jn. 5:20). No idolatry, then, in addressing Him as God. In fact it is the only way “little children” can keep themselves from idols (1 Jn. 5:21). He is “over all, God blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5).
It is not however on proof texts alone, no matter how numerous or clear, that we rely for our knowledge of the deity of the Son; that truth is in the warp and woof of Scripture. The incidental references to it are beyond computation; it forms the basic tone of all the harmonies of that Word. We can better conceive of day without the sun than the Word without the divine Son.
But we must leave this holy subject to be pursued by the believer, and notice one other thought suggested by the gold. We have seen that it is prominent in the symbolism of heaven, where He manifests Himself. Earth, where sin is, could not be the place for the display of divine glory, except in judgment. Therefore the Son of God veiled His glory when He came on His errand of love. After His resurrection He appeared to none but His own. The world will never see Him till the day of His appearing in power and glory as judge of the living and the dead. But faith even now sees “Jesus…crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9). Thus the place for the display of the gold is in the glory. So it fittingly adorns only the interior of the sanctuary. But faith enters with boldness and sees Him on the throne. The time will come when the veil will be forever removed. Then the glory of the Son will shine in heaven, and on earth too, even to the uttermost bounds. Hallelujah!
Thus we have sought to indicate the meaning of the acacia wood and the overlaying gold–the incorruptible humanity and absolute deity of the Son of God. May it be a theme of worship here, as it will be throughout eternity, where the glories of Christ are displayed in all that is perfectly human and all that is absolutely divine, in one Person. There we shall see and joy in the Man who lived, who loved, who suffered, who died; and oh, holy mystery! we gaze with veiled faces, owning Him as the One who is and was and ever shall be God!
Endnotes:
1 The word for board, keresh, is from a root meaning to “cut” or “cut in pieces” suggesting their having been cut out from the shittim tree. The word is only used in describing the tabernacle boards (with one exception, Ezek. 27:6, where it is translated “benches”) made of cut wood. The other principal word for “board” is “table,” from its smoothness, used in describing the brazen altar. The word used here would suggest a manufactured board, either cut out of the tree entire, or pieced together. The boards primarily refer to the redeemed people of God, who are fitted and formed by His grace to be His abode. So the cutting and preparing of the boards would be a similar idea to the hewing and smoothing of the stones for the temple (see 1 Pet. 2:5).
2 The word used for gold, zahab, in connection with the tabernacle, is the ordinary one, occurring some 350 times in the OT. From a root meaning “to be bright,” or “yellow,” its use in Scripture was not so much for money–silver was the money mostly in circulation–but for purposes of ornament and idolatry. It was kept also as hoarded wealth (Josh. 7:21).
But its chief use seems to have been (apart from the all-prevailing idolatry) for making adornments. See the cases of Rebekah (Gen. 24:22); Joseph (Gen. 41:42); also Num. 31:50-54; Jud. 8:22-26; 1 Sam. 6:4, 8; 2 Sam. 1:24.
Its brightness and beauty, resistance to rust and tarnish, the ease with which it could be worked, and rarity, made it a standard of value. It is significant that these very properties are given to the divine realities in contrast to it. “Your gold and silver is cankered” (Jas. 5:3). Silver and gold are “corruptible things,” compared with “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Gold perishes (1 Pet. 1:7). So the “adornment” of women was not to be with gold, but with the incorruptible ornament of “a meek and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:3-4). In its typical meaning, it is “gold tried in the fire” which the Lord values, obtained from Him alone–with all dross purged.