6. The Arrangement Of [The Boards]
BOOKTWO
26: 17 On the sides of a board there shall be two mortises, with which one board may be joined to another board, and all the boards shall be prepared in this way. The mortises on the sides of the boards designate the virtue of humility which is in the minds of Lhe righteous, through which they are closely joined together in fraternal charity. For while they all prepare receptacles in themselves by loving their neighbours with a contrite and humble heart, they also hold out the worthiness of their piety and devotion by loving the brethren, just as all the boards of the tabernacle are joined to one another by connecting mortises.
When the tabernacle is built and the boards are joined together in accordance with the pattern prescribed above, the form of the mortises is not perceived at all; nevertheless, the firm stability of the unwavering wall itself shows with what great strength' it is joined together through the boards. For it is true that people on the outside cannot see the saints' humility of heart, by whch they are united to one another, however, the most tranquil condition of the Holy Church itself makes what is being done on the inside plainly apparent to all. By the marvelous grace of the divine dispensation, it has come to pass through this [humility] that we upon whom the endsofthe ages have corne'can love with sincere affectionthose faithful who were in the beginning of the world, and receive them into the bosom of our love no less than those who live with us in the present, and believe that we are also being received by them with a charitable embrace.
Now thcre are two ways to understand figuratively why it is ordered that two mortises are to be made on each board, that is, on both of its sides: [it means] that we should keep the law of charity toward the brethren inviolate in prosperity and likewise in adversity, advancing (in accordance with the Apostle's analogy) with the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the kJ,' and [it means] that we should stretch out toward the heights of perfection by clasping everyone into our arms with one and the same love, both those who are greater and those who are lesser (that is, those who have preceded us in Christ and those who have come after).
THE ARRANGEMENT OF [THE BOARDS]
There follows: r63J 26:18-19Twentyofthemshall beon thesouth side,facingsouthward.
You shall set forty silver bases beneath them, so that there are two bases 1 virtufe, referring back to the 'virtue of humility' mentioned above.
2 1 Cor. 1O:ll 3 2 Cor. 6:7
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placed underneath at the two corners of each board. It is not explicitly stated how long the length of the tabernacle will be, but it is implied by the fact that its sides were made from twenty boards and each of these is said to have been a cubit and a half wide; for surely twenty cubits and twenty times a half cubit will make up a height of ttU cubits, which Josephus also writes was the length of the tabernacleTAnd the length of the tabernacle is appropriately comprehended in this number, because the entire perfection of the Holy Church principally consists in three virtues (namely, faith, hope, and chanty), which are multiplied by ten to make up the number thirty when the good works which are contained in the Decalogue of the law are joined to the virtues of the mind, lest anyone should suppose that faith, hope, and love for God can be sufficient in themselves apart from the performance of works.
The fact that twenty is the number of the boards also contains a mystery of the great perfection of the saints, for the Mosaic law is comprehended in five books and the grace and truth of the New Testament in the fourvolumes of the holy gospels, and four times five makes twenty. Therefore the holy teachers are rightly designated by the number twenty, because by the marvelous concordance of truth they disclose the secrets of the law to be revealed and completed in the gospels, and they declare that the sacraments of the gospel were prefigured in the law. When they teach that the Old
Testament has been made clear in the New and its wider meaning made manifest, and when they suggest that the New has been foreshadowed in the Old and signitied beforehand by the revelation of various types,2 it is as if in the breadth of their speech they show the number of the boards to have been both four multiplied by five and five by four.
Now the bases by which the boards were supported are the words and the books of the law and the prophets, by which the apostles and evangelists proved that the things they wrote and preached were divine and true. For this reason is it so often repeated in the gospel: Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the p r ~ p h e t ; ~ and Now all this happened so that the writings of the prophets might be f ~ l J i l l e d . ~
The apostle Peter also added a tcstimony concerning the Lord, saying: And we have a surerprophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention. 5
~ 1 Josephus, Ant. Jud. 3 , 6 , 3 (ed. Blan, 233,6-7) 2 This way of understanding the relationship between the two testaments is found in many ofthe writings of Augustine of Hippo; see, e.g., Ennarr. ~ n p s .
105,36 (CCSL 40: 1567,9-10):
'The Old Testament you see revealed in the New, the New veiled in the Old.'
3 Man. 2:17
4 Man. 26% 5 2 Pet. 1:19
BOOK TWO
Now it is appropriate that two bases are set under each board, so that the concordance of the prophetic testimony may be shown in everything that the apostles said. Or perhaps the reason that two bases are placed under each board at the two comers in such a way that the whole board, being wcll supported at the comers, can stand upright without leaning is because the whole beginning and end of the apostolic and evangelical word is found signified beforehand in the prophetic writings, and it is well known that the whole life of the apostles and their successors, from the beginning of the faith unto the end of this present life, was included in the same mystical pages of the Old Testament. It is certainly appropriate that the same bases were made of silvcr, on account of the splendour of the hcavenly word. For [64]
the words of the Lord are pure words, silver from the earth tried hyjre 26:20-1 And on the second side of the tabernacle, which faces northward, there shall be twenty boards with forty bases of silver; two bases shall be set under each board. The south side of the tabernacle, which faces southward, designates that ancient people of God who, having received the light of knowledge of the law a long time ago, wcrc accustomcd to burn with the love of thcir Creator, but the second side, which faccs northward, depicts that multitude of the Gentiles which did not cease to languish in the darkness and cold of unbelief right up to the time of the Lord's incarnation. Conccming their noble calling the Lord says through the prophet: 'I will say to the north, "Give [them] up, ' * and to the Aouth,
"Do not hinder [thein], "" which is to say opcnly, 'I will say to the people of the Gentiles who have been freezing for a long time without faith, "Give up your cluldren that they may come together in faith to the confcssion and love of me," and I will say to the people of the Israelites who have already enjoyed the light that comes from knowing me, "Do not hinder the Gentiles from being admitted into a share of election." I will say to Cornelius and his house, "Receive the faith and the baptism of Clu~st."~
I will say to the Jews, "Do not compel the believers from among the Gentiles to be circumcised, for to those who are consecrated in the font of baptism, faith and a true confession are sufficient for s~vation."'~
Now each of the two sides had boards of the same measurements and design, doubtlcss because one and the same faith, hope, and charity arc preached to both peoples by the apostles; both are invited into the same
1 Ps. 125 (1 1:7) 2 Isa. 43:6
3 Acts 10:44-8 4Acts 15:1-21
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promises of a heavenly kingdom; both receive the Saviour's precept concerning them both: 'Go into the whole world andpreach thegospel to every creature, J that is, to the circumcised and to the uncircumcised. In the same place it is also added without any distinction: 'The one who believes and is baptized will be saved. '
26:22-3 But on the west side of the tabernacle you shall make six boards, and another two again which shall be erected in the corners at the rear of the tabernacle. Josephus writes concerning the tabernacle that it was ten cubits wide; he also writes that the boards that raised it up from the ground measured four inche~.~ From this it appears that he wishes it to be understood that the bases of the boards themselves were made to be precisely that high. He goes on to speak in this way concerning this section
[65] [of Scripture] which we have just set forth, and concerning the rods for the boards:
Now the six boards on the back walls made up nine cubits; to them were joined two other boards cut in halfcubits, which they placed at the corners after the fashion of the larger boards. And all the boards hadgolden rings projecting through their outer surfaces, Jxed to them by roots, as it were, and facing one another [to form] a row of circles. Through them passed gilded rods, each of them being the size ofJve cubits, which served to join the boards together, the head of each rod entering into the head of another rod in the form of a spiral, as it were. And at the rear of the long walls there was one row extending across all the boards, by means of which the sides of the two walls were held together with hooh, as pegs were made to be inserted into each of them. For this reason was it so carefully fmade], in order that the tabernacle might not be shaken by the winds nor disturbed
for any other reason, but might be kept unmoved in untroubled tranquility.
Josephus [writes] these things concerning the letter of the text. According to the allegorical sense, however, the western side, which finishes the building of the tabernacle by receiving both walls into itself, rightly designates the completion of the entire Holy Church universal which is perfected at the end of this world, until which [time] faith and just works will continue among both peoples, just as the length of the two walls extends
[to the west]. For it is not plausible either that at any time before the Lord's incarnation there were lacking those from among the Gentiles who believed, or that now, however grievously the people of the Jews may be
1 Mark 16:15
2 Mark 16:16
3 Josephus, Ant Jud. 3,6,3 (ed. Blatt, 233, 7-1 1) 4 Ibid. (ed. Blatl, 233, 18 - 234,4)
BOOK TWO
damned on account of faithlessness, there are not some among them, even if only a very few, who live in exile among Chnstians and come to salvation every day by believing. If anyone will presume to deny this, let us say what can by no means be denied, namely, that the spiritual teachers and interpreters of both testaments, who in accordance with the word of the Lord bring forth out of their treasure new things and old, are to remain in the Holy Church until the end of the world.
Aptly is the tabernacle completed on the western side, in which it is customafy forthe sun to end the day and all the stars to fall, either onaccount of the death of every elect individual or on account of the collective end of the entire world. Forjust as the sun falls for anyone who migrates from this temporal light through the transitory shadows of death to thejoys of eternal light and life, and just as the sun falls in the west for the whole Church so that it may surely rise in the east as the shadows pass away, so in the same way, when the Lord comes [again] and the life of this present world is over, will the morning and the true day of eternity then appear for the righteous in the world to come.
(661 And since the reprobate perish ineternity while the righteous are reigning with the Lord, ri htly is it said further on that this side of the tabernacle
$ looks to the sea. Now this signifies the Red Sea, in which Pharaoh with his host was drowned and from which Israel, having been saved by the Lord, went up to Mount Sinai where they made the tabernacle. Therefore, the western side of the tabernacle looks to the sea when after the perfection of good works the Holy Church is crowned in Christ and gazes freely upon the failings or the punishments of the impious, which [Christ] has decreed by his own command. Isaiah bears witness to this when he says: 'For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make to stand before me, 'says the Lord, 'so shall your seed andyour name stand; and a little after: 'And they shallgo out andsee the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; their worm shall not die, and theirjre shall not be quenched.
For surely the waves of the deep, brackish, and turbulent sea can signify both the sins among which the reprobate are lost in this life when they delight inevil, and also the pit of future perdition, whenat the lastjudgement they will be sent with the devil into eternal fire.
We should not forget that when the tabernacle was built on Mount Sinai it had the Red Sea to its west, and when it was brought into the land of 1 Matt. 13:52
2 Exod. 36:27 (Vulg.) 3 Isa. 66:22
4 Isa. 66:24
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promise and set up at Shiloh by Joshua it had the Great Sea in the same direction.' Mystically, therefore, we can understand by this that the saints who serve the Lord in this life and make a tabernacle for him in their nearts despise the proud boasting of the impious, confidently mindful that it is soon to pass away: when they are established with the Lord in the future homeland they shall look at the perpetual punishment of the impious without any interruption of their own felicity. Consequently, the elders give thanks to the Lord because they not only enjoy the good thmgs whch he has given them, but they also contemplate the evil things from which he has delivered them.
Now it is appropriate that the Same western side of the tabernacle (or that which was said to have looked to the sea) was composed of six boards. This is either because the perfection of a good work is customarily expressed by the number six, since on that day the Lord completed the preparation of the world,2 on that day he created humankind in the be inning3 and on that day he restored the human race by his own passion, or because there are six ages of this world, in which it behooves us to be perfected in good works so that in the future we may be able to enter into eternal rest and the glory of the resurrection. f Another two boards again, besides the first six, are commanded to be erected in the comers at the rear of the tabernacle, coming from the eastern side to meet the wall and join it to the wall of the western side. This pertains to the reward of the life to come, which after labours will follow the time of this world, because it is divided into a twofold keeping of the sabbath, namely: the rest of holy souls after release from their bodies, and the glory of resurrection with the reception of incorruptible bodies. Both parts of this common reward are appointed for both peoples forever without end. For when the time of resurrection comes the souls' rest is not diminished at all but rather enhanced, and our spirits' union with immortal flesh continues inviolable forever in heaven. Now concerning the same boards it is properly added:
(671 26:24 And they shall be joined together from the bottom to the top, and one binding shall hold them all. Doubtless this is because the entire life of the elect stretches out toward heaven with one and the same faith and charity and comes to one and the same end in the Divine Vision, and because
1 Josh. 18:1
2 Gen. 1:31 - 2:1
3 Gen. 1 :26-3 1 4 All four gospels relate that Jesus was crucified on Friday, the sixth day ofthe week, which was also known as the day of Preparation (for the sabbath); see Matt. 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke
23:54, and John 19:31.