Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:6-8

6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.

7 It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together.

8 And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

Today we hear the details of the ephod and the girdle that the priests wore. The ephod, once again, was a sort of apron that was the priest’s outer layer of clothing, worn above the robe and coat. The girdle was a sash, bound around the waist to secure the layers of clothing against the body.

These two articles of clothing were to be made with linen, dyed in colors of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, woven together in a cunning pattern. There is an immediate connection between this and the inner curtains and walls of the tabernacle. Recall that the instructions for those included that they be made, “of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.” Also, just as the tabernacle followed that first layer with others of goats’ hair, rams’ skin, and badgers’ skin, similarly the priest had other layers with their robe and their coat.

These similarities in design would have had the aesthetic effect of binding the personage of the priest to the place of his duties. One could tell at a glance that the man belonged with the tabernacle because of their similar adornment. There is also a symbolic lesson, wherein it is suggested that the body of the man was the tabernacle of the Lord, meant to house the same holy and most holy places that the constructed building did. Paul made this very point in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.”

In fact, the one difference between the priest’s clothes and the curtains was that the clothes added the extra color of gold. This might suggest that the person was an even holier tabernacle than the physical edifice. While the Israelites would construct this new tabernacle, God had already constructed the human tabernacles, propping them up with bones instead of boards of shittim wood, covering them with human skin instead of badgers, topping them with human hair instead of goats. Man was made for the same purpose as the tabernacle, to be a house of the most holy of places. A sacred structure wherein resides the presence of the Lord.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:4-5

4 And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.

The overview of the clothes is given in today’s verses, and next we will hear about each piece in greater detail. All of the mentioned elements are as follows:

  1. A mitre: a sort of hat or turban. Something that would be worn on the head.
  2. A breastplate: a square patch of fabric which was adorned with precious stones. It sat on the chest, hanging from the shoulders by chains of gold.
  3. An ephod: a sort of apron that the breastplate rested upon.
  4. A robe: a poncho-like layer underneath the ephod.
  5. A broidered coat: yet another layer underneath the robe.
  6. A girdle: a sash tied around the waist to secure all the layers.

Thus, there are three layers upon the body: broidered coat, robe, and an ephod, all bound by the girdle, with a breastplate upon the chest, and a mitre on the head.

Yesterday we spoke of the clothes as having a weighty beauty, and one can see how all of these layers and different adornments would fit that bill. We have already seen great symbolism in the structure and instruments of the tabernacle, and surely the pattern continues with this complex and multi-faceted clothing. We will consider the meaning of each as we continue.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:2-3

2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.

3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

Aaron and his sons are to be dressed in specific clothes while performing the office of the priest. These clothes, we are told are for the particular purposes of “glory and beauty.”

The Hebrew word that is translated into “glory” is kabowd (כָּבוֹד), which means weighty good. It is used to describe things that have dignity, honor, and yes, glory. Thus, the design of these clothes is to bring a sense of seriousness and importance to Aaron and his sons, they are to feel the weight of their honorable undertaking when they wear its vestiture.

That is something I can immediately understand. Whenever I have worn a full suit, with its extra weight and encumbrance, I have felt a sort of dignity imparted to me just by the wearing of it. I’m not quite sure why but wearing things that are heavy and deliberately fashioned give a greater sense of importance to the things that we do.

Moving on to the second descriptor, the glory of the priest’s clothes would be paired with “beauty.” Beauty, of course, means to delight and please. Where glory may inspire reverence, beauty inspires engagement. Thus, together, these clothes are meant to draw in, but with soberness. They are meant to create a serious connection. If I were to try and describe that notion in one word, I would say “sacred.” Sacred things are beautiful, but they are also heavily weighted.

Given this, is it any wonder that in verse 3 God states that the creation of this clothing is to be done by those he had filled with his spirit of wisdom? Truly sacred things come to us when heaven touches with the earth. Only those touched by God would be able to construct these sacred clothes as intended.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:1

1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

We now turn from the details of the tabernacle structure to the dress and preparation of the priests that would carry out its duties. First of all, there were specific men appointed to the office of the priest. At this point it was to be Aaron and his sons. In all, there were only five of them, and we heard previously that there were 600,000 men who participated in the Exodus. If that means 600,000 households, and all of them were only to make a single offering in a year, then it would be approximately 329 households serviced per priest every day of the year.

Of course, eventually the priesthood would be expanded to the entire tribe of Levi, but even then, there is an even smaller bottleneck when we consider that there was only one altar in the tabernacle courtyard upon which to sacrifice animals. According to the numbers that we have, that one altar would have to facilitate 1,644 sacrifices per day for each household to make one offering per year.

And we have not even addressed special times of the year, such as the festivals, when everyone would be bringing an offering at once! In short, I don’t know how the logistics of sacrifices at the tabernacle worked. I don’t think we have all enough details to understand how the work was distributed so that every Israelite could make an offering when he needed to.

But presumably there was a robust enough system that it did work, and there were dedicated men whose whole labor would be carrying out these most sacred rituals, connecting every individual soul in Israel to God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:20-21

20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

We already heard about the seven lamps upon the menorah within the tabernacle, but today we learn about the oil that they would use. A wick would be placed into the oil that would absorb the oil up into its body. When lit, the wick would continually absorb up more oil as the previous oil was consumed in the flame. Being saturated by the oil, the wick would be able to tolerate the flame and not immediately turn to ash as it would if it were dry.

There is clear symbolism here, wherein the wick is our soul, the oil is the spirit of Christ, and the flame is the glory of God. Surrendering our lives to God’s glory is like being subjected to a fire, glorious and scorching at the same time, but we are able to tolerate its heat by the constant refreshing of His spirit. If the spirit in us is not refreshed, we will eventually run out and be left vulnerable to the flame. So, just as the priests were required to replace the oil “to cause the lamp to burn always,” we must continually seek spiritual refreshment to keep our spiritual flame forever alive. This brings to mind Jesus’s promise to be a fountain constantly springing up into everlasting life within us.

Another point that must be made is the requirement that the oil to be used was “pure oil olive beaten.” There were two ways of extracting the oil from olives. The first was to put them into a mill and grind them. This would extract a lot of oil quickly, but it would be filled with the sediment of the broken olives and particles from the stones used in the mill. The other method was to beat and bruise them in a pestle, after which the oil would flow out freely, extremely clear and pure.

Crushed olives, mixed with the sediment of the world, produces a cloudy oil. So, too, fragmented gospel, mixed with the trends of the world, produces an unclear vision. Pure truth takes precision and effort to extract. It includes beating out our misconceptions and bruising our ego, often flowing from our wounds. Of course, there is also symbolism of Christ as the olive that was beaten and bruised, and His spirit flowing out of his wounds for all of us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:18-19

18 The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

The dimensions of the entire courtyard are restated, and also we are told that the height of the curtain walls will be five cubits, the same as the width of each individual curtain. Five cubits is approximately 7.5 feet, so tall enough to conceal the interior courtyard from the outside view. However, it is only half of the height of the tabernacle walls which were ten cubits high, or 15 feet.

The effect of this would be that from a distance one would be able to see the wall, and then the top of the tabernacle floating above it. As one approached, and the angle to the top of the wall became steeper, the top of the building would descend out of view, but of course, after one passed through the outer gate, then they would be able to see the entire tabernacle, base to top.

Personally, that feels a lot like my own spiritual journey. I caught a glimpse of heaven from afar, and I start to move towards it, but then obstacles and doubts begin to cloud what I had previously witnessed. When I push on, though, even when I cannot hold the vision of heaven before me, I eventually press through the wall and it appears to me, fuller and truer than ever before.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:12-17

12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

13 And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

14 The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15 And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

17 All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.

Yesterday we heard of the north and south walls of the courtyard, which are the two long sides. Now we hear about the two shorter sides on the east and west. Each of these will be fifty cubits long, or 75 feet. Thus, the length of the courtyard is exactly double the width, and the width of the courtyard is about 4 times the width of the tabernacle that sits inside of it, once again allowing ample room to move around its perimeter.

As with the long sides, the short sides are to have 5-cubit long curtains, with pillars in between. On the east side, where one enters, there will be fifteen cubits of wall on each side of a twenty-cubit gate, divided into four portions, with four pillars in between. As mentioned yesterday, we are not explicitly told the color of the courtyard wall, but many assume that it was white. This gate, however, we are told will match with the curtains of the tabernacle: blue and purple and scarlet, decorated with fine needlework. Thus, the entry to the courtyard is marked with the design of the inner tabernacle.

This outer appearance of the interior pattern seems symbolic to me. Many the sinner has seen the pattern of God in his first steps back towards absolution. While the sinner may yet have a way to go to reach wholeness, he perceives that he is already on the road to paradise. This seems to be reflected in how one passes through a blue-purple-scarlet gate, even before having made their sacrifice, and even if they are not able to pass into the holy place, or the most holy place. They are still on the path that ultimately, through the end of this life and into the next, will allow them to pass into all of the Lord’s most holy places, and that truth is alluded to at the very first gate.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:9-11

9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:

10 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

The external wall around the court of the tabernacle would be a long stretch of linen, twenty sheets long, covering a distance of 150 feet. This means that the tabernacle itself would be less than a third of the courtyard’s full length. There would therefore be a great deal of room for gathering and performing sacrifices at the altar.

This outer linen wall is typically said to have been white, though I cannot find an official verification of that in the scriptures. Undyed linen is usually a white or off-white color, so perhaps the assumption is that it would have been that color by default. If so, it would have stood out brightly against the earthy tones of the wilderness and would have been an obvious symbol of purity. If it were white, that does raise the question of how the parts of the tabernacle were maintained, cleaned, and replaced. The bible account does not shine a light there, though.

The linen wall was not a single, unbroken sheet, but was interrupted twenty time by pillars. We are not told the interior material of the pillars, but one would assume shittim wood, as with every other component. Interestingly, we are also not told of any metal overlay upon the pillar. We are told that its sockets would be brass, to match the rest of the courtyard elements, and its hooks would be of silver, but it would seem that the body of the pillar was just bare wood. The transition from bare wood pillars to gold-overlaid pillars seems like a symbol of the change of the naked, natural man being clothed by God’s grace and atonement, just like Adam and Eve as they left the garden of Eden.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:6-8

6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

As with the Ark of the Covenant and the table of shewbread, the altar would have rings and staves. These staves were to be overlaid with brass, to match the metal of the altar, just as the previous staves had been overlaid in gold to match their respective counterparts.

The altar was considerably larger than either the table or the ark. It was probably quite heavy, even with its hollow interior. Of course, the length of the staves is not specified, and perhaps they extended far enough out for several men to lift each side. Presumably the rings on the side were very solid, so that they wouldn’t snap off under the weight.

There were other elements included as part of the tabernacle: the laver of water in the courtyard and the incense altar in the holy place, but we will not hear about these until chapter 30. For now, we are finished reading about the instruments of the tabernacle, and all that remains is to hear the description of the wall around the courtyard. We will move on to those with the next verses.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:2-5

2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.

4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.

5 And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

Yesterday we heard the dimensions and underlying structure of the altar in the tabernacle courtyard and now we hear how it was to be overlaid and adorned. First, we are told that four horns were to be erected on its four corners. These might have been in the shape of actual horns like one might see on an animal, or perhaps they were a vague, raised shape like a pyramid or an obelisk. There is no special symbolism described for the four horns, but we hear from later passages that the guilty would sometimes go and cling to them as a way of seeking sanctuary.

All of the altar, we are told, was to be covered in brass, the same as the sockets of the outer pillars of the tabernacle. Just as gold adorned everything within the tabernacle, the less-valuable brass will be used to adorn everything in the courtyard. Of course, of all the metals brass is one of the most visually similar to gold. They both share a particular yellowish-brown color. Thus, even while making the exterior portion of the tabernacle distinct from the interior, they do still appear to be connected. So, too, our journey to God goes through multiple stages, but all of it is part of the same process.

Finally, we are told of the instruments for the altar. There are, of course, two main components to the altar.

  1. The fire burning at the bottom, for which there were to be fashioned brass shovels and firepans.
  2. The animal to be burned in that fire, for which there were to be fashioned brass basins and fleshhooks.

Finally, mediating between these two is the brass grate that was to rest halfway down the interior of the altar. The animal carcass, of course, would rest upon this as it was burned, the animal not passing down into the coals, but the heat passing up into the flesh. The grate is therefore both a separator and a unifier. It is a symbol for Christ who stands between God and man, simultaneously keeping us separate from the divine justice that would condemn us, while also bringing us in contact with the divine grace that will redeem us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_