5. The Boards Of The Tabernacle
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
THE BOARDS OF THE TABERNACLE
26:15-16 You shall also make the upright boards of the tabernacle of acacia wood. Let each of them be ten cubits in length, and a cubit and a half in width. The acacia wood from which the tabernacle was made is naturally incorruptible, exceptionally white and li htweight, and not much different from whitethorn, except of greater size. Hence in the Book ofHebrew Names, and in his other works as well, Jerome often translated k 'acacia'2 as simply 'thorns', on account of the word 'Abelsetim', [which means] 'grief of thorns'.3 Now this kind of wood is not easily found except in the deserts of Arabia, where the tabernacle was built. Hence the Greek and Latin translaters were unable to give it any name other than the Hebrew one, since there was no knowledge of it in their lands. Some of them, however, wishing to indicate its characteristic nature, translated it as 'incorruptible wood'.
(601 The boards of the tabernacle, then, designate the apostles and their successors, through whose word the Church has been expanded throughout the world. For the width of the boards is the expansion of the faith and the sacraments, which formerly lay hidden among the one Israelite people but through their ministy came [to fill] the wideness of the whole world.
However, the width of the boards can also be rightly understood as the expansion of the hearts of the saints, through which they are accustomed to despise the world and are enkindled eagerly to desire the lofty things of heaven, and through which they rejoice to love not only their friends in God but also their enemies for God's sake.4 Accordingly, let us consider that one of the boards of the tabernacle might suggest how the apostle Paul expanded himself in two ways. Concerning [his] inward parts (that is, the wideness of [his] heart), he says: Our mouth is open to you, 0 Corinthians; our heart is expanded. You are not being restricted in us, but you are restricted in your own inmostparts. I speak as to childrenbe yourselves
1 Jerome, In Es. 12 (CCSL 73A: 474, 51-7); In loel. 3, 18 (CCSL 76: 207, 349-52)
2 sethim 3 Jerome, Nom. (CCX 72: 77,2; 79, 12); see Num. 33:49
4 In his critical apparatus, the editor Hurst suggested a parallel between Bede's comments here (CCSL 119A: 60,709-10) and those of Origen in Hom. in &mi. 9,4 (GCS 29: 240,29 - 241, 5). Origen also recalled 2 Cor. 6: 13 when reflecting on the spiritual meaning of Exod. 26 and used the phrase 'enlargement of heart' from 2 Cor. 6: 1 1 to refer to the attitude one should have toward one's enemies, but Bede need not have been directly dependent on Origen. There may have been an intermediate source such as a florilegium, or simply a coincidental similarity of ideas. The six other parallels to Origen's work suggested by H u t are even less persuasive.
For a full discussion, see Holder (1989b), 45-8.
BOOK TWO
expanded also;' and concerning the [wideness] that he was accustomed to employ for the enlargement of the tabernacle (that is, of the Holy Church), he says: So that from Jerusalem round about as far as to Illyricum, I have filled up the gospel of Christ.2
Now the boards were made out of acacia wood, that is, a thorny sort [of wood], and according to the Saviour's pronouncement thorns are the cares of this world, its pleasures, riches, and false delights3 But the pricks of sins may also not incongruously be compared to thorns, for it is written here that thorns grow in the hands of a drunkard,4 that is, sins in the works of a fool.
Because the holy preachers are eager both to expurgate themselves from the pricks of vices and to strip away all the cares and delights of the world so that with a free mind they might be able to be expanded in the love of God and neighbour and to run far and wide to preach the word, it is therefore rightly said that the boards of the tabernacle were made out of acacia wood
(that is, out of thorny [wood]), for they were indeed made of thorns, but thorns from which all the thorny barbs had been completely stripped away, so that they shone with a pure whiteness. For that universal condemnation in which it was said to Adam when he sinned 'Your ground shall bring forth to you thorns and thistles, '5 applies to all alike. Even the saints and all of those who shine with virtues were conceived and born with the sin of the first transgression, but by the glace of God through Jesus Christ they have been stripped of the sharp points of all their sins and fitted for the buildmg of his house by the appropriate exercise of virtues. l6lJ Now all the boards were ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. The length of the boards is the height, which is ten cubits because the holy teachers stretch out toward perfection through the observance of the Decalogue of the law, and because they labour in Christ's vineyard to receive a daily denarius.6 That is, they continue in the teaching of the word with the aim of restoring in themselves, with the help of their Creator and King, that image of him which they had lost by Adam's sin, so that by living rightly they may receive his name which they had lost by sinning; for surely a king's name and image is customarily contained on a denarius.
But because the name of a denarius is derived from the fact that it is made up of ten [smaller] coins, it also aptly corresponds to the condition of our
1 2 Cor. 6:ll-13 2 Rorn. 15:19
3 Matt. 13:22; Luke 8:14
4 Prov. 26:9
5 Gen. 3:18
6 Matt. 20:s-10 7 Jerome, InMatth. 3 (CCSL 77: 204, 1775-6)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
future blessedness, which is perfected in the true love of God and neighbour.
God, because he is a Trinity, is often accustomed to be represented by the number three. The human being is represented by [the number] seven, since the body is taken from the four well-known elements, but in the Scriptures the substance of the soul (that is, of the inner person) is customarily understood as having three different aspects; for it is there that we are commanded to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength
Therefore it is appropriate that each of the boards which comprise the tabernacle is built to stand ten cubits high, because the teachers and rulers of the Holy Church are devoted to God with the aim of deserving to sce him in soul and body at the end of this life, being immortal and blessed forever; they always strive to rouse their hearers and to support them (as it were) both by word and by deed.
The same boards were a cubit and a half wide because that full cubit indicates the perfection of good work, while the half of a cubit which is added over and above indicates the beginning of divine knowledge. For in this life the righteous are doubtless perfectly able to persevere in alms, to devote themselves to prayer, to chastise themselves with fasts and other such pious acts, and to do [good] works. In the meanwhile we know God by faith, but we hope to know him fully in the future, as our God and Lord
Jesus Christ himself says, 'Ifuou will continue in my word, you will truly be my disciples, andyou will know the truth. l2 Returning to the Father, he said, 'And this is eternal Ige, that they may know you. the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And when the Apostle also says,
For we know inpart, andweprophesy i n ~ a r t , ~ is he not saying, 'We labour for Christ in part, we pursue the preaching of the word in part, we are devoted to good works in part'? Therefore, in this life the elect have a full cubit of good works, but they have a cubit of blessed reward [only] in part, to the extent that they are able to have a foretaste of the presence of their
Maker and the joys of the eternal kingdom with its heavenly pleasures. But they are then blessed with the completion of this cubit, when at the last there will come to pass the word that he promised to the whole people of the elect, saying, 'I will deliver them, and I will glorih them; I will fill them with length ofdays, and I will show them my salvation. ''
[62] 1 Mark 12:30
2 John 8:31
3 John 17:3
4 1 Cor. 13:9
5 Ps. 91:15-16 (90:15-16)