Jan. 1st, Exodus 37; Jan. 15th, Leviticus 11; Jan. 31st, Leviticus 27; Feb. 15th, Numbers 15.

This monthly portion is given as the course of daily bible reading with the Bible Class Lessons in "The Sunday School Visitor." It is also indicated for each month in the "Treasury of Truth Almanac and Counselor." Under the above heading we purpose to give brief comments each month. We begin the New Year by reading in the last part of Exodus, which gives us a second account of the Tabernacle and its furniture, concluding with its erection and the entrance of the Divine Glory. Chaps. 35, 36 record the gifts of the people, those called and fitted for the work, and the preparation of the structure itself-the most holy and holy places. Chaps. 37-38:20 give us the description of the furniture, moving outward from the ark to the brazen altar, and then the court. Chap. 38:21-31 is a summary of the total materials provided and used in the work. Chap. 39:1-31 treats of the priestly garments, and in vers. 32-43 we see all brought to Moses for inspection and his blessing. Chap. 40 details the setting up of all and the entrance of the glory of the Lord.

These chapters follow the account of the people's sin, of Moses' intercession, and the second giving of the law. In all of this we get glimpses of ourselves and Another- our great Intercessor and Saviour. Then from a people so sinful, yet spared on account of the worth and acceptability of another who stepped into the breach, offerings are received, servants are raised up and equipped, the people themselves brought into activity for the building ' of God's house (matchless grace!), so that in this account ,of the Tabernacle, the structure itself comes first, for it is the house of God, as we see at the end-type of how God delights to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people through the work of the One Mediator who gave Himself to be their ransom, of how in fact He builds them to be His house, "Whose house are we." Then we commence with the ark-God's throne and the witness to accomplished redemption-and proceed outward to the court-the symbol of testimony in righteousness and truth. There follows the garments of those who serve in connection with these holy things, the priests, and all God's people are now priests through grace (1 Pet. 2). With all completed and approved by the master-servant, and erected under his supervision, the acceptability of all is sealed by the overshadowing cloud and the indwelling Presence. To this blessed end the book of Redemption brings us, a foreshadow of eternal blessedness when the Church shall be presented in its completion in the glory of God and be the eternal temple of His praise (Eph. 3), when too the Holy City, the Bride-city of the Lamb, shall be the center of all for the new heavens and the new earth-the tabernacle of God with men.

Leviticus opens with the announcement that the Lord spake "out of the tabernacle of the congregation." And His speech relates to the glories of the Person and His work by which what the tabernacle symbolizes is alone realized. This we get in the offerings and the laws pertaining to them (chaps. 1-7). The consecration of the priests is given in chaps. 8, 9, Christ as Priest and the priestly house. The sad breach through the sin of Aaron's sons follows in chap. 10, preaching to us that not in man but only in Christ is all found perfect. The mind of God is then given as to what is clean and unclean (11-15). Redemption brings us into association with a holy God, and we are to learn what becomes Him.

A beautiful order of thought connects the following chapters. First, the great truth of atonement in much detail (16,17). Then the holy and righteous ways which become those for whom atonement avails (18-22). The theme is sanctification. "God has not called us to un-cleanness, but in sanctification"(1 Thess. 4:7, N. Trans.). Chap. 23 gives the divisions of the Jewish sacred year, which are prophetic of those periods through which God's purposes reach their accomplishment. It is an unfolding of the great purposes of God, for such is the typical teaching of the feasts. First, atonement, then sanctification, according to God's mind, then revelation of God's mind. Thus we enter into our blessing.

The closing chapters of Leviticus, when considered in the light of chap. 23, give us an enlargement in certain details as to Israel's history and God's ways, typically presented in the incidents or instructions recorded.