Exodus 40:22

40:16-33 When the tabernacle and the furniture of it were prepared, they did not put off rearing it till they came to Canaan; but, in obedience to the will of God, they set it up in the midst of their camp. Those who are unsettled in the world, must not think that this will excuse want of religion; as if it were enough to begin to serve God when they begin to be settled in the world. No; a tabernacle for God is very needful, even in a wilderness, especially as we may be in another world before we come to fix in this. And we may justly fear lest we should deceive ourselves with a form of godliness. The thought that so few entered Canaan, should warn young persons especially, not to put off the care of their souls.

And he put the table in the tent of the congregation,.... In the holy place; for there the shewbread table, which is here meant, was put: upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail; on the north side of the tabernacle, at a little distance from the walls, which were the curtains and boards, even in the holy place on the outside of the vail, which divided from the most holy place.

The testimony - i. e. the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments engraved on them Exodus 25:16 ; Exodus 31:18 . Nothing else is said to have been put into the ark. These were found there by themselves in the time of Solomon 1 Kings 8:9 ; 2 Chronicles 5:10 . The pot of manna was "laid up before the testimony" Exodus 16:34 ; Aaron's rod was also placed "before the testimony" Numbers 17:10 ; and the book of the law was put at "the side of the ark" Deuteronomy 31:26 . The expression "before the testimony" appears to mean the space immediately in front of the ark. Most interpreters hold that the pot of manna and Aaron's rod were at first placed between the ark and the veil, and afterward within the ark Hebrews 9:4 . It is very probable that the pot and the rod had been put into the ark before it was taken by the Philistines, but that they were not sent back with the ark and the tables. 1 Samuel 4:11 ; 1 Samuel 6:11 .

Arrangement of the front room of the dwelling. The table was placed on the right side, towards the north, and the shew-bread was laid upon it. לחם ערך does not signify "a row of bread," but the "position or placing of bread;" for, according to Leviticus 24:6-7 , the twelve loaves of shew-bread were placed upon the table in two rows, corresponding to the size of the tables (two cubits long and one cubit broad). The candlestick was placed upon the left side, opposite to the table, and the golden altar in front of the curtain, i.e., midway between the two sides, but near the curtain in front of the most holy place (see at Exodus 30:6 ). After these things had been placed, the curtain was hung in the door of the dwelling.

Moreover it was to be ornamented with a golden wreath, and furnished with golden rings at the corners for the carrying-poles, as the ark of the covenant and the table of shew-bread were (Exodus 25:11., Exodus 25:25.); and its place was to be in front of the curtain, which concealed the ark of the covenant (Exodus 26:31), "before the capporeth" (Exodus 40:5), so that, although it really stood in the holy place between the candlestick on the south side and the table on the north (Exodus 26:35; Exodus 40:22, Exodus 40:24), it was placed in the closest relation to the capporeth, and for this reason is not only connected with the most holy place in 1 Kings 6:22, but is reckoned in Hebrews 9:4 as part of the furniture of the most holy place (see Delitzsch on Hebrews 9:4).