Lift to Reveal

Herman Witsius (1636–1708). 
Miscellaneorum sacrorum libri quatuor.
Herborn: Widow of Johann Nicolai Andreas, 1712. (33468)

The Christian concept of revelation is related to the Latin verb revelare, meaning to unveil. In this comprehensive study of biblical sources by the Dutch Protestant theologian Herman Witsius, revelation plays an important role in the chapter on the mystery of the Tabernacle of the Ark of the Covenant. Guarded by the Levites, the Tabernacle was equipped with a curtain that concealed the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33), which could only be entered on Yom Kippur. In the engraved fold-out illustration of the structure of the Tabernacle, an engraved rectangle of paper substitutes for the curtain. It is attached to the main illustration so that it can be lifted to reveal the location and appearance of the Ark of the Covenant, thereby demonstrating the revelatory function of the Tabernacle curtain itself.