7. The Bars For [The Boards] And The Rings
BOOK TWO
every utterance of the holy preachers harmonizes in one and the same voice of right teaching. For surely there would be a gap in the binding of the boards if one prophet or apostle should deny what another has said. But the harmonious speech of the Divine Eloquences builds up the fabric of the Church; indeed, it binds all the boards of the tabernacle together into one juncture and does not allow them to be separated from one another.
26:24-5 A similar juncture shall also be maintained for the two boards that are to be put in the comers, and there shall be eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, reckoning two bases for each board. The boards in the corners are united with the boards of the walls in every way, because the glory of future rest and immortality is very closely connected with our present manner of life through faith, hope, and charity. Or, more precisely, the reason that our present manner of life remains stable and unshaken is because it believes in, hopes for, and loves the gifts of recompense to come, and because with the continual help of the citizens of heaven it is held together lest it should fall down amidst the stormy blasts of unclean spirits.
These boards designate either the perfection of our good action or the future rewards for good deeds. Each of them is supported by two bases because with a harmonious voice the holy prophets have predicted all these things that are to come, so that they may be confirmed by the preaching of the evangelists and apostles.
THE BARS FOR [THE BOARDS] AND THE RINGS
26:26-8 You shall also make five bars of acacia wood, to hold together the boards on one side of the tabernacle, and five others on the other
[68] side, and the same number on the west side, and they shall be stretched across the middle of the boards from one end to the other. The five bars that hold the boards of the tabernacle together are the five books of the Mosaic law, which are like a rampart wonderfully protecting the Holy
Church from the pressure of every wicked temptation and every evil spirit.
This [arrangement is to be] on both sides, because not only did the letter of the law educate the former people of God in faith and good works, but when it is spiritually understood with a sweeter grace by those of us who serve
God in the time of the new covenant, the same letter instructs us in faith and works of virtue also in the present and incites us to the hope of eternal reward in the future.
There are the same number of bars on the west side because when it is properly understood by us the law also foretells the fulfillment of good
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
works, when we leave the flesh for the rewards that are to come. For this reason, to the rich man who questions him and says, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to possess eternal life? J the Good Teacher himself responds, 'If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments, '2 and he &d not lay anything else upon him, other than the commandments of the law.
26:29 The boards themselves you shall also overlay with gold, and shall cast for them rings of gold through which the bars [may be set] to hold the boards together. The boards of the tabernacle shine with gold overlay when the entire life and every utterance of the holy preachers show forth the light of heavenly wisdom, and nothing is seen in them except the splendour of virtues.
Now the rings of gold through which the bars [are set] to hold the boards together designate the blessedness of life in heaven, which is rightly compared to gold on account of the splendour of its brightness, and to a circle on account of its eternity. For this same reason the Apostle says concerning it, There is laid up for me a crown of righteou~ness.~
Each of the boards had five rings, not because there is a fivefold division of the heavenly homeland, but because the same perpetual brightness and bright perpetuity of that kingdom is contained written in Genesis, the same in Exodus, the same in Leviticus, the same in the Book of Numbers, the same in Deuteronomy. And five rings of gold were fastened to each of the boards of the tabernacle because the hearts of the righteous, which are greatly extended through love, read in all the books of the Mosaic law not only the reproach4 of works but also the perpetual light of heavenly reward.
And, it says, you shall cast for them rings of gold through which the bars [may be set] to hold the boards together, for the bars hold the boards together through gold rings when the words of Sacred Eloquence strengthen the positionof the Holy Church through the promise of a heavenly kingdom, so that it is less fearful of the agitations of the world in so far as it has learned about the steadfastness of the eternal reward with greater certainty. Now concerning the same bars it is properly added:
26:29 These [bars] you shall cover with plates of gold. The bars are covered with five plates of gold when the words of the divine law, which according to the literal sense are seen to be powerful and most suitable for strengthening the life of the faithful, are shown to contain a higher meaning which is very bright with evangelical brilliance. For (if I may cite one
1 Luke 18:18
2 Matt. 19:17
3 2 Tim. 4 8 4 'reproach' = correptronem; var.: correctionem = 'amendment'
BOOK TWO
testimony by way of example), when we read in the story of holy Noah how he miraculously escaped the flood which destroyed the impious by being preserved with his household in the ark,' from ttus it is evident to everyone that the Lord who loves righteousness and hates iniquity' knows how to deliver the pious from temptation and to punish the impious with the punishment they deserve. Therefore a text of ths sort holds the tabernacle of the Lord together after the fashion of incorruptible bars, because with words of unfeigned truth it protects the minds of the faithful from the assault of temptations.
But the wooden bars are covered with plates of gold, as it were, when through spiritual understanding this same text is shown to be full of more sacred mysteries, when the ark is discerned to signify the Catholic C h u r ~ h ; ~ the water of the flood, baptism; the clean and unclean animal^,^ those in the Church both spiritual and carnal; the wood of the ark which was smooth and covered with pitch,' the teachers who are stalwart6 as a result of their faith; the raven that went out of the ark and dld not retuq7 those who after baptism fall away into apostasy; the branch of the olive tree brought into the ark by thedove,8 those who were indeed baptized outside (that is, among the heretics) but because they have the rich oil of charity are worthy to be brought into catholic unity by the grace of the Holy Spirit; the dove that went forth from the ark and did not return again,' those who fly to the clear light of the heavenly homeland when they are set free from the flesh, never to return again to the labours of the earthly pilgrimage. And so the bars of acacia wood are enveloped with gold when through mystical interpretation the most powerful testimonies of Sacred Scripture are proved to be transparent to these and other such heavenly and spiritual senses.
26:30 And you shall erect the tabernacle according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. The pattern of the tabernacle was shown to Moses on the mountain, for while tarrying in secret with the Lord he saw the sublime life of angelic purity and immortality. He was commanded to organize the affairs of human life on earth according to its likeness, in so far as it could be imitated by mortals, so that with [the angels]
(701 1 Gen. 6:13-19 2 Ps. 45:7 (44%) 3 1 Pet. 3:20-1 4 Gen. 7:2
5 Gen. 6:14
6 roboratus: derived from robor ('oak-tree').
7 Gen. 8:67
8Gen. 8:11
9 Gen. 8:12