Simple Talks On The Tabernacle, by D. H. Dolman, M.A., D.D. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Price $1.50.

This is a very readable book for the general public on a very interesting subject, written by a devout believer of Holy Writ. The contents of the book are quite what the title would make one expect. The different chapters present brief expositions, in simple form and with spiritual applications, of the tabernacle and its furniture. Of all the “talks” I like the one in Chapter XIII the best. The author leaves the impression that he believes in sovereign grace. Read the following paragraph:

“The ministry of the Holy Spirit has not the aim of converting the world. The world will never be converted. Our Lord said that instead of getting better, it would grow worse. The Holy Spirit is gathering out of all nations those whom God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit (I Pet. 1:2).”

I cannot agree with all the spiritual interpretations the author makes of every detail of the tabernacle. His desire to find Christ everywhere, it seems to me, sometimes tempts him to fall into the error of allegorization in the wrong sense of the word. And the interpretations here and there contradict one another. Thus, e.g., the author explains that the acacia wood of the boards of the tabernacle represent the human nature of Christ, while the gold with which they are overlaid signifies His divine nature, p. 102. But in the next chapter the silver sockets in which the boards of the tabernacle stood are made to represent Christ too, and there the boards are explained as representing believers founded in Christ.

I cannot agree that “leaven” is always a symbol of evil in Scripture. And I think it is a mistake to say that on the feast of Pentecost “the children of Israel brought the Lord a tribute of the first sheaves of corn in joyful expectation of the harvest which was to follow,” p. 141. For on Pentecost the barley harvest was completed, and the wheat harvest also was practically finished. And on that day two loaves of leavened bread were presented unto the Lord in the temple.

This merely means, however, that we cannot subscribe to every statement the author makes, and the book must be read with discretion. We gladly recommend the book to our readers.