Bede

In his own words on Exodus

• Exodus 12:3

  It was commanded that the paschal lamb, by whose immolation the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt, should be selected five days before the [feast of] Passover, that is, on the tenth [day of the lunar] month, and immolated on the fourteenth [day of the lunar] month at sundown. This signified the one who was going to redeem us by his blood, since five days before the [feast of] Passover (that is, today), accompanied by the great joy and praise of people going ahead and following, he came into God's temple, and he was there teaching daily. At last, after five days, having observed up to that point the sacraments of the old Passover, he brought them to perfect fulfillment, and he handed over the new sacraments to his disciples to be observed henceforth.[Then], having gone out to the Mt. of Olives, he was seized by the Jews and crucified [the next] morning. He redeemed us from the sway of the devil on that very day when the ancient people of the Hebrews cast aside the yoke of slavery under the Egyptians by the immolation of the lamb.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.3

• Exodus 12:11

  Passover means "passing over." It derives its ancient name from the Lord's passing over on this [day] through Egypt, striking the firstborn of the Egyptians and freeing the children of Israel, and from the children of Israel's passing over on that night from their slavery in Egypt in order that they might come to the land which had once been promised to their heirs as a land of peace. Mystically it signifies that on this [day] our Lord would pass over from this world to his Father. Following his example, the faithful, having cast off temporal desires and having cast off their slavery to vices by their continual practice of the virtues, should pass over to their promised heavenly fatherland.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.5

• Exodus 13:21

  The freeing of the children of Israel and their being brought out into the fatherland once promised them is also linked with the mystery of our redemption. By means of it we make our way to the light of the dwelling place on high with the grace of Christ lighting our way and guiding us. That cloud and column of fire that both protected them throughout the whole of their journey from the darkness of the nights and led them by a sure path to the promised homes of the fatherland also prefigured the light of this grace.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 1 Peter 2:9

• Exodus 15:27

  When the people of God went out from Egypt, their sixth resting place, in which "there were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees," was called Elim (that is, "of rams"), so that both by its name and by its appearance it might contain the figure of the apostles and the apostolic men.

  On the Tabernacle 2.4

• Exodus 19:6

  The apostle Peter now rightly gives to the Gentiles this attestation of praise which formerly was given by Moses to the ancient people of God, because they believed in Christ, who like a cornerstone brought the Gentiles into that salvation which Israel had had for itself. He calls them "a chosen race" on account of their faith, that he may distinguish them from those who by rejecting the living stone have themselves become rejected. They are "a royal priesthood," however, because they have been joined to his body who is their real king and true priest, who as king grants to his own a kingdom and as their high priest cleanses them of their sins by the sacrificial victim of his own blood. He names them "a royal priesthood" that they may remember both to hope for an eternal kingdom and always to offer to God the sacrifices of a stainless way of life.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 1 Peter 2:9

• Exodus 19:18

  When about to give the law, the Lord descended in fire and smoke. Through the brilliance of his manifestation he enlightened the humble, and through the murky smoke of error he dimmed the eyes of the proud.

  Commentary on Acts 2

• Exodus 19:20

  Moses alone ascended to its very top, where the divine majesty shone forth in fire and a dark cloud. Only the more perfect know how to grasp and observe the deeper and most secret mysteries of the law; the carnal-minded people, content with the external aspects of the letter, and gathered apart, as it were, and below, stood to hear the words from heaven.

  Homilies on the Gospels 11.17

• Exodus 20:8

  Under the law the people were ordered to work for six days and to rest on the seventh, [and] to plow and reap for six years and desist during the seventh, because the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and desisted from his work on the seventh. Mystically speaking, we are counseled by all this that those who in this age (which is comprised of six periods), devote themselves to good works for the Lord's sake, are in future led by the Lord to a sabbath, that is, to eternal rest.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.17

• Exodus 24:12

  Mystically the rolling away of the stone implies the disclosure of the sacraments, which were formerly hidden and closed up by the letter of the law. The law was written on stone. Indeed in the case of each of us, when we acknowledge our faith in the Lord's passion and resurrection, his tomb, which had been closed, is opened up.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.10

• Exodus 25:23

  A dividing wall of cedar planks, twenty cubits high, was built in the temple to separate the inner sanctuary, that is, the Holy of Holies, from the forepart of the temple. The innersanctuary was twenty cubits deep, twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high. The [part of the temple] in front of the inner sanctuary was forty cubits long, and in it were tables and the golden candelabrum, as well as the golden altar near the door of the inner sanctuary. This was done so that when incense was offered upon it, the cloud of smoke might rise up and cover the inner sanctuary, where the ark of the covenant was, "and above it the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat."

  Homilies on the Gospels 25

• Exodus 26:31

  The temple was divided by a veil [hung across] the wall in the center [of the building], and the outer [section of this part of the] building was called the sanctuary; the inner [section], where the ark of the covenant was placed, was called the Holy of Holies. The church is in part on pilgrimage on earth, [away from] the Lord, and in part it reigns with the Lord in heaven. The wall [across the] center is understood [as indicating] heaven, and the ark of the covenant [as indicating] the Lord, who alone is conscious of the Father's hidden mysteries and has passed into the inner reaches of heaven.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.1

• Exodus 27:1

  There were two altars in the temple, which expressed the two covenants in the church. The first, the altar of burnt offerings, which was plated with bronze and was situated in front of the doors of the temple, was for the offering up of victims and sacrifices. It signified the fleshly minded worshipers of the Old Covenant. And then there was the altar of incense, which was covered with gold and set near the entrance of the Holy of Holies and was to burn fragrant gums on. This prefigured the interior and more perfect grace of the New Covenant and its worshipers.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.19

• Exodus 29:1

  What follows next explains … the proper manner of consecration which is to be used in dedicating [Aaron and his sons] as well as the tabernacle with all its furnishings. [That manner] is to offer the Lord a calf and two rams and wheat bread that is not only unleavened but also sprinkled with oil or even covered with an application of the oil of unction. Figuratively all of these things doubtless indicate either devotion to good works and purity of faith or the grace of divine illumination, which is the only proper means of consecrating priests. For who does not know that the sacrifice of those animals and [the sprinkling of] their blood designate the death of our Lord and the sprinkling of his blood, through which we are set free from sins and strengthened for good works?

  On the Tabernacle 3.10

• Exodus 30:6

  The ark of the covenant, which was inside the veil, … very suitably symbolizes the nature of [Christ's] humanity. The urn [containing] manna symbolizes the fullness of his divinity. The staff of Aaron symbolizes the indestructible power of his priesthood, [and] the tablets of the covenant symbolize that it is he who gave the law and will also give his blessing to those who fulfill the law.

  Homilies on the Gospels 2.25

• Exodus 30:18

  In the first instance, we can understand this basin (or flanged bowl, as it is called further on) to be the water of baptism, in which all those who enter the doors of the church must bathe in order to be cleansed. It was put between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar of the holocaust, and the priests were commanded to wash themselves in it twice a day (that is, morning and evening) when they were going to the altar of incense to offer to the Lord. We, however, are not supposed to be washed in the water of baptism more than once; consequently the basin commends to us that washing of compunction and of tears which is required of us at all times, and especially when we draw near to minister at the heavenly mysteries.

  On the Tabernacle 3.14, AT EXODUS 3:18-20

• Exodus 30:34

  "You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition." Later in this book the spices from which this incense was to be composed are specified by name: stacte, and onycha, galbanum of pleasing fragrance, and the purest frankincense. It is obvious that all of these signify the eternal goods which we ought to seek from the Lord before anything else. Consequently upon the altar of gold they were not supposed to offer incense of any composition other than that which the Lord had decreed, because when we pray we ought to seek from the Lord nothing other than that which he himself has commanded and has promised to give us. And we ought to believe nothing concerning him other than that which he himself has taught.

  On the Tabernacle 3.12, AT EXODUS 30:9

• Exodus 31:15

  Indeed by the fleshly sabbath, which was kept according to the letter, the people were ordered to keep free from all servile work on the seventh day. [The meaning of] the spiritual sabbath, in the light of the sevenfold spiritual grace which we have received, is that we should remain on holiday from the unrest of vices not only on one day but every day. For if, according to the Lord's voice, "Everyone who commits sin is a servant of sin," it is clear that sins are properly understood as servile works, and we are ordered to walk free of them, as it were on the seventh day, in the partaking of spiritual grace. [We are ordered] not only to keep from wrong deeds but also to devote ourselves to good deeds.

  Homilies on the Gospels 1.23

• Exodus 36:13

  Since the number fifty designates true rest in the Holy Spirit, and a ring seems to have neither beginning nor end, and gold is the most precious of metals, excelling all others in its brightness, what is expressed in the fifty golden rings except the perpetual brightness and bright perpetuity of the highest repose? And the rings grip the loops of the curtains in such a way that one tabernacle might be made out of them all when the glory of the heavenly kingdom graciously pours itself into the pure minds of the faithful, so that with the glue of such healing inspiration the church is made perfect out of the two peoples, or perhaps we should say out of all Christ's elect.

  On the Tabernacle 2.2, AT EXODUS 26:6

• Exodus 36:27

  And since the reprobate perish in eternity while the righteous are reigning with the Lord, rightly 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 Mt. Sinai where they made the tabernacle. Therefore the western side of the tabernacle looks back 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.

  On the Tabernacle 2.6

• Exodus 36:33

  Here, therefore, we must assume that a bar was stretched across the ten cubits of the width of the tabernacle, from the top of the boards in front to the top on the other side. [It was] firmly positioned with a head on the boards on each side in such a way that by means of it that side of the tabernacle which rested not on boards but on pillars might also remain immovable, no less firmly fixed than the other [side], even when the wind was blowing against it.If you should also wish to understand the sacrament of this bar, in a figurative manner it unambiguously signifies our Redeemer himself, who passed through from corner to corner, as it were. He reached out from the Jewish people, which he had previously chosen for himself, to make atonement also for the sake of the salvation of the multitude of the Gentiles. Hence, just as in the prophets he can for good reason be called the "cornerstone," so also in the law can he be called the "corner bar." He is "cornerstone," evidently, in relation to the temple which is constructed for God out of living stones. He is "corner bar" in relation to the tabernacle which is built for him out of imperishable wood, that is, out of the souls of the elect, which are free from the stain of corruption.

  On the Tabernacle 2.10

• Exodus 39:4

  From this it appears to have been the case that the borders of two pieces were joined together from top to bottom on both sides into a doubled garment. In [this] way … half of the garment would be visible to the eyes of those looking at it from the outside while the other half would be concealed on the inside, but the joined borders of the two would come all the way down to the lowest point below. What else are we to understand by means of this type, except that while we are displaying good works on the outside before our neighbors, we must keep them unblemished on the inside before the Lord?

  On the Tabernacle 3.4, AT EXODUS 28:7