TABERNACLE. 189 



represent the people, and drew up a contract between 

 them and Jehovah. It was agreed that they should 

 obey the laws of Jehovah, and pay the taxes which he 

 might impose, while he engaged on his part to protect 

 them from danger in their march through the desert, 

 and to give them possession of the Promised Land. 

 An ark or chest of accacia wood was made in the 

 Egyptian style ; and the agreement was deposited 

 therein with the ten fundamental laws which Moses 

 had engraved on stone. A tent of dyed skins was 

 prepared and fitted with church furniture by voluntary 

 subscription, partly out of stolen goods. This became 

 the temple of the people, and the residence of Jehovah, 

 who left his own dwelling above the vaulted sky that 

 he might be able to protect them on the way. Moses 

 appointed his brother Aaron and his sons to serve as 

 priests ; they wore the surplice, but to distinguish 

 them from Egyptian priests they were ordered not to 

 shave their heads. The men of Levi, to which tribe 

 Moses himself belonged, were set apart for the service 

 of the sacred tent. They were in reality his body- 

 guard, and by their means he put down a mutiny at 

 Sinai, slaughtering three thousand men. 



When thus the nation had been organised the march 

 began. At daybreak two silver trumpets were blown ; 

 the tents were struck ; the tribes assembled under 

 their respective banners ; and the men who bore the 

 ark went first with the guides to show the road, and 

 to choose an encampment for the night. The Israelites 

 crossed a stony desert, suffering much on the way. 

 Water was scarce ; they had no provisions, and were 

 forced to subsist on manna or angel's bread, a gummy 

 substance which exudes from a desert shrub, and is a 

 pleasant syrup and a mild purge, but not a nourishing 

 article of food. 



