(Book of Numbers 8:5 - 8:26)
Jehovah commanded Moses, "Separate the Levites from the rest of the people of Israel and make them ritually pure. To do so, sprinkle purifying water on them, then have them shave all the hair from their bodies, and wash their clothes, thus cleansing themselves. Have them bring a young bull and a grain offering of choice flour mixed with olive oil, as well as a second bull for a sin offering. Assemble the entire community of Israel and bring the Levites to the entrance to the Tabernacle. When the Levites are brought before the altar, it is the Israelite people who will sacrifice them: Aaron will present the Levites as an elevated offering from the Israelites at the altar of Jehovah, that they may be prepared to serve him. The Levites will then seize the bulls, designating one as the sin offering and the other as a burnt offering of atonement to Jehovah. The Levites will stand before Aaron and his sons and be presented by them as an elevated offering to Jehovah. In this way the Levites will be set apart from the other people of Israel. They will be mine!
"After the Levites have been purified and presented as an elevated offering, they will then minister in the Tabernacle. They have thus been given totally to me, for I have claimed the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel. All the firstborn of the Israelites, whether human or animal, belong to me. I have laid claim to them ever since I struck down all the firstborn of the Egyptians. But I accept the Levites in place of the firstborn sons of Israel. From among the people of Israel, I have assigned the Levites to be the assistants to Aaron and his sons, to serve in the Tabernacle on behalf of the Israelite people and to make the requisite sacrifices of atonement so that no affliction may befall the Israelites when they approach the Sanctum."
And so Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of Israel dealt in this way with the Levites, following meticulously the instructions concerning them Jehovah gave to Moses. The Levites cleaned themselves and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an elevated offering before the altar and made sacrifices of atonement to purify them. Afterwards, the Levites entered service in the Tabernacle and assisted Aaron and his sons. What Jehovah had instructed Moses concerning the Levites was indeed accomplished.
Jehovah also instructed Moses, "This shall apply to the Levites: when they have reached the age of 25, they will enter into service at the Tabernacle, but when they are 50, they must retire from active duty and minister no more. After retirement, they may continue to help their fellow Levites with their work in the Tabernacle, but they may no longer officiate themselves. This restriction must be observed when assigning duties to the Levites."
Notes
1. Remembering from the census that Levite males numbered 22,000, it beggars belief that the described ceremony could have taken place. It seems logistically impossible. For instance, the Levites are instructed to stand before Aaron. Are 22,000 men to stand before Aaron? Possibly a few dozen Levites could have been consecrated in a day, but, at that rate, it would have taken a year to consecrate them all. A larger batch could have been handled, maybe, but how many people can squeeze into the Tabernacle compound? And how would the Israelites have had sufficient livestock to accommodate all those sacrifices? Over and over, we see that the numbers in Numbers are preposterously inflated.
2. Bathing, shaving the body, and washing the clothes symbolize the act of spiritual purification. Linking physical cleanliness and spiritual purity, a natural connection, was not unique to the Hebrews: for instance, the custom of priests regularly shaving all the hair from their bodies was practiced by the Egyptians. There are, however, just as many cases in which holiness is connected with a rejection of physical needs and hygiene and a contempt for appearances, not washing, not wearing clean clothes, not shaving or cutting the hair. We have just seen that the Nazirites were forbidden to cut their hair.
3. We are reminded that Jehovah will strike down or afflict with a plague anyone who approaches his Inner Sanctum, where the Chest of Sacred Records is housed and where his voice speaks to Moses. But making certain sacrifices will apparently protect the people from this fate. Is Jehovah ever vigilant and zaps any intruder who appears, or is some automatic mechanism at work here? Is the Chest of Sacred Records, which, for what we know of it, is only a wood box covered with gold, somehow dangerous? If so, how would a priest be shielded from its lethal power merely by making a sacrifice? Why, if Jehovah were God and he wanted to protect his space, would he not simply throw a little force field or something around the Inner Sanctum and let it go at that? Or is this all an empty threat, like a "Violators Will Be Prosecuted" sign?
4. A Levite would begin officiating at the age of 25, apparently after he had acquired sufficient experience and maturity. A retirement age of 50 is very reasonable, one of the most credible numbers in Numbers. By 50, most Levites would be dead. People really didn't live to be a hundred-and-something years old in those days; the average life span was probably about 25 years, and, for those who had reached adulthood, life expectancy would only have been around 45 years. The duties involving slaughtering livestock may have been too demanding for an older man, and a senior might have a senior moment and forget some of the finer points of a ceremony and end up being struck down dead by Jehovah. Apparently though, this mandatory retirement age did not apply to Aaron, who was supposedly already in his 80’s. Was he grandfathered in? (In the movies the biblical high priest is invariably a white-bearded ancient -- not correct, it seems.)
Showing posts with label Ark of the Covenant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ark of the Covenant. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Instructions for the Building of the Tabernacle
(Exodus 26:1 - 26:37)
You should make for the framework of the Tabernacle 10 curtains of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. The length of the curtains should be 42 feet by 6 feet wide, with each curtain of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should sewn together with the other five also sewn together. Attach hooks of blue yarn on the outside curtain of each set. There should be 50 hooks on outside curtain of the first set matching 50 hooks on the inner curtain of the second set. There should be 50 golden clasps by which to fasten the hooks of the curtains so that they may form a single tented enclosure.
Also, you need to make 11 curtains of goat hair to cover the top of the Tabernacle. Each curtain should be 45 feet long and 6 feet wide, each curtain being of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should be joined together and the other 6 joined, with 3 feet of the latter set folded over double at the entrance to the Tabernacle. On the edge of first set of curtains there should be 50 hooks and 50 hooks on the second set. Make 50 bronze clasps to connect the hooks from each set, making a single covering. The extra material, a half curtain in length, should hang over the rear of the Tabernacle. The extra 18 inches on the first curtain and the extra 18 inches on the last curtain should hang over the sides of the Tabernacle to cover it. As an additional protective covering for the roof of Tabernacle you should lay down tanned sheep skins and, over them, fine goat leather.
Make a framework for the Tabernacle out of red acacia wood. Each framing panel should be 180 inches high by 27 inches wide. There should be two dowels at the bottom of each panel. Every board should be prepared in this manner. On the side of the Tabernacle facing south there should be 20 panels and for them 40 plinths of silver, 2 plinths for each panel into which the 2 dowels may be inserted. On the north side there should be 20 more panels with 40 plinths of silver, 2 for each panel. There should be 6 panels for the rear of the Tabernacle facing west. Two panels should be used for the corners in the rear of the Tabernacle. They should be doubled, separated at the bottom, but joined at the top at with a single ring. Both corners should be prepared this way. There should be 8 panels with plinths of silver, 16 in number -- 2 plinths under the first panel, 2 plinths under the next panel, and so on.
You should make crossbars of red acacia wood, 5 to support the panels on the north side of the Tabernacle frame, 5 for the south side, and 5 for the west side, at the rear of the Tabernacle. The middle crossbar, positioned half way up the height of the panels, should stretch from one end of the frame to the other. The panels should be overlaid with gold and fitted with rings of gold by which to attach the supporting crossbars, which should also be overlaid with gold.
You should thus set up the Tabernacle according to this pattern, shown to you on the mountain.
You should make a veil of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung by rings of gold around four posts of red acacia wood, which should be overlaid with gold and set into plinths of silver. Place behind the veil the Chest of Records. This veil, hung under the clasps of the Tabernacle curtains, will serve to separate the Sanctum from the Inner Sanctum. (You should put the lid on the Chest of Records when you place it in the Inner Sanctum.) The table should stand on the north side of the Tabernacle outside the veil, opposite the menorah on the south side.
There should be a screen at the entrance to the Tabernacle. It should be of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung from gold rings and supported by 5 posts of red acacia wood that are overlaid with gold and set into 5 plinths cast of bronze.
Notes
1. This detailed explanation of the design of the Tabernacle (though almost indecipherable in the early translations) is at least refreshingly literal and specific. The basic design was scarcely unique in its time. In all ancient religions, there are always devotional objects and vessels and an inner sanctum to which only the priests have access. The major difference is that instead of having a statue or idol of a god in the inner sanctum, its place is taken by the Chest of Records. But the idea that the god, either physically or in spirit, visits the inner sanctum to commune with his (or her) priests and devotees is preserved.
2. Some translations refer to the post plinths as being of brass. We define brass as an alloy of copper and zinc. Brass was not manufactured until Roman times. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, for whom a whole age takes it name, is more likely meant here. However, it is not that cut and dried. Bronzes, in ancient times were made with a variety of copper alloys, including what we would refer to as brass. Brass, though, was not intentionally made or regarded as a distinct metal until times A.D.
3. The building of the Tabernacle required sets of skills the Israelites certainly would not have had during the days of Abraham and Jacob. Expertise in carpentry, cloth making, sculpture, and metalworking may have been acquired by the brick-making slaves in Egypt. Apparently a number of Hebrews must have been something other than slaves, that is, if the Tabernacle described was actually built by Moses’ exiles. There is, however, a considerable body of opinion that asserts the Tabernacle detailed in Exodus is not at all the primitive Tabernacle of Moses’s time, but refers to one of a much later period, perhaps even to the Solomonic temple. This is likely since it just doesn’t seem possible that 2nd millennium B.C. Hebrews would possess the know-how, the skills, the technology, the materials to craft the building and the devotional objects described. Nor is their condition as desert nomads and exiles conducive to such an enterprise. And it always must be remembered that the Books of Moses were compiled from more than one source many hundreds of years after his time and, therefore, contain much that is anachronistic and added to the narrative at a later date.
4. Cherubims, whose statues adorn the lid of the Chest of Records, are also to be depicted on all the Tabernacle's drapery. This is one of the few instances in which anthropomorphic artistic representations are sanctioned by the Hebrews and by Jehovah -- assuming that the Cherubim were being depicted as humans with wings. It is unclear how the images were to be put on the cloth. Embroidery had not been yet developed.
You should make for the framework of the Tabernacle 10 curtains of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. The length of the curtains should be 42 feet by 6 feet wide, with each curtain of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should sewn together with the other five also sewn together. Attach hooks of blue yarn on the outside curtain of each set. There should be 50 hooks on outside curtain of the first set matching 50 hooks on the inner curtain of the second set. There should be 50 golden clasps by which to fasten the hooks of the curtains so that they may form a single tented enclosure.
Also, you need to make 11 curtains of goat hair to cover the top of the Tabernacle. Each curtain should be 45 feet long and 6 feet wide, each curtain being of the same dimensions. Five of the curtains should be joined together and the other 6 joined, with 3 feet of the latter set folded over double at the entrance to the Tabernacle. On the edge of first set of curtains there should be 50 hooks and 50 hooks on the second set. Make 50 bronze clasps to connect the hooks from each set, making a single covering. The extra material, a half curtain in length, should hang over the rear of the Tabernacle. The extra 18 inches on the first curtain and the extra 18 inches on the last curtain should hang over the sides of the Tabernacle to cover it. As an additional protective covering for the roof of Tabernacle you should lay down tanned sheep skins and, over them, fine goat leather.
Make a framework for the Tabernacle out of red acacia wood. Each framing panel should be 180 inches high by 27 inches wide. There should be two dowels at the bottom of each panel. Every board should be prepared in this manner. On the side of the Tabernacle facing south there should be 20 panels and for them 40 plinths of silver, 2 plinths for each panel into which the 2 dowels may be inserted. On the north side there should be 20 more panels with 40 plinths of silver, 2 for each panel. There should be 6 panels for the rear of the Tabernacle facing west. Two panels should be used for the corners in the rear of the Tabernacle. They should be doubled, separated at the bottom, but joined at the top at with a single ring. Both corners should be prepared this way. There should be 8 panels with plinths of silver, 16 in number -- 2 plinths under the first panel, 2 plinths under the next panel, and so on.
You should make crossbars of red acacia wood, 5 to support the panels on the north side of the Tabernacle frame, 5 for the south side, and 5 for the west side, at the rear of the Tabernacle. The middle crossbar, positioned half way up the height of the panels, should stretch from one end of the frame to the other. The panels should be overlaid with gold and fitted with rings of gold by which to attach the supporting crossbars, which should also be overlaid with gold.
You should thus set up the Tabernacle according to this pattern, shown to you on the mountain.
You should make a veil of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung by rings of gold around four posts of red acacia wood, which should be overlaid with gold and set into plinths of silver. Place behind the veil the Chest of Records. This veil, hung under the clasps of the Tabernacle curtains, will serve to separate the Sanctum from the Inner Sanctum. (You should put the lid on the Chest of Records when you place it in the Inner Sanctum.) The table should stand on the north side of the Tabernacle outside the veil, opposite the menorah on the south side.
There should be a screen at the entrance to the Tabernacle. It should be of finely loomed linen, woven with yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet and skillfully decorated with the images of Cherubim. It should be hung from gold rings and supported by 5 posts of red acacia wood that are overlaid with gold and set into 5 plinths cast of bronze.
Notes
1. This detailed explanation of the design of the Tabernacle (though almost indecipherable in the early translations) is at least refreshingly literal and specific. The basic design was scarcely unique in its time. In all ancient religions, there are always devotional objects and vessels and an inner sanctum to which only the priests have access. The major difference is that instead of having a statue or idol of a god in the inner sanctum, its place is taken by the Chest of Records. But the idea that the god, either physically or in spirit, visits the inner sanctum to commune with his (or her) priests and devotees is preserved.
2. Some translations refer to the post plinths as being of brass. We define brass as an alloy of copper and zinc. Brass was not manufactured until Roman times. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, for whom a whole age takes it name, is more likely meant here. However, it is not that cut and dried. Bronzes, in ancient times were made with a variety of copper alloys, including what we would refer to as brass. Brass, though, was not intentionally made or regarded as a distinct metal until times A.D.
3. The building of the Tabernacle required sets of skills the Israelites certainly would not have had during the days of Abraham and Jacob. Expertise in carpentry, cloth making, sculpture, and metalworking may have been acquired by the brick-making slaves in Egypt. Apparently a number of Hebrews must have been something other than slaves, that is, if the Tabernacle described was actually built by Moses’ exiles. There is, however, a considerable body of opinion that asserts the Tabernacle detailed in Exodus is not at all the primitive Tabernacle of Moses’s time, but refers to one of a much later period, perhaps even to the Solomonic temple. This is likely since it just doesn’t seem possible that 2nd millennium B.C. Hebrews would possess the know-how, the skills, the technology, the materials to craft the building and the devotional objects described. Nor is their condition as desert nomads and exiles conducive to such an enterprise. And it always must be remembered that the Books of Moses were compiled from more than one source many hundreds of years after his time and, therefore, contain much that is anachronistic and added to the narrative at a later date.
4. Cherubims, whose statues adorn the lid of the Chest of Records, are also to be depicted on all the Tabernacle's drapery. This is one of the few instances in which anthropomorphic artistic representations are sanctioned by the Hebrews and by Jehovah -- assuming that the Cherubim were being depicted as humans with wings. It is unclear how the images were to be put on the cloth. Embroidery had not been yet developed.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Instructions for the Making of Devotional Objects
(Exodus 25:1 - 25:40)
Jehovah addressed Moses with these instructions:
Speak to the Israelites and prevail upon them to pay tribute to me. You are to receive offerings from those who want to give willing from the heart. These are the gifts that you may accept: gold, silver, and bronze; yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet; garments of fine linen and goat hair; tanned sheep skins and fine leather; red acacia wood; olive oil for lamps; spices for fragrant incense and anointing oil; onyx stones and other precious gems that can be set in the priest's vestments and breastplates. And they should construct a sanctuary for me, the Tabernacle, so that I can live among them. The Tabernacle, as well as the furnishings and vessels within it, must be built it in accordance with the pattern I will give you.
You must build a chest of red acacia wood, 45 inches in length and 27 inches in width and height. Overlay it inside and out with pure gold and attach a molding of gold all around it. Make four gold carrying rings and fasten them on each leg, two on each long side. Staves of red acacia wood covered with gold may be inserted into them in order to bear the chest. The staves, once inserted into the rings, should remain there permanently. Inside the chest you will stow the records I will give you.
You must build of gold a lid for the chest, 45 inches in length by 27 inches in width. You should make two statues of cherubim wrought of beaten gold. They should be attached to the lid so as to seem a single piece of work, with a cherub on one end and another on the other end. With their spreading wings they should cover the lid; they should face each other, turned inward. The lid should be placed on top of the chest that will contain the records I will give you. It is between the two cherubim on top of the chest that I will commune with you, speaking to you from above and conveying to the Israelites my will.
You should also make a table of red acacia wood, 36 inches in length, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around its edge. A raised crown three inches high should be attached around its entire edge. Make four carrying rings and attach one in each corner just above the four legs of the table. The rings should be fitted close to the rim and be positioned to hold staves. These staves should be made out of red acacia wood and overlain with gold and used to carry the table.
Plates and incense dishes, and cups and bowls from which libations are to be poured should also be made out of pure gold. Upon the table should be set out loaves of bread. These should be before my presence at all times.
You should make a menorah of pure gold. It should be of beaten gold with its base, its shaft, its cups and outer ring decorated with buds and petals all of one piece. From the base there should extend six branches, three from one side and three from the other. On the branch there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Each of the six branches should be similarly adorned. Likewise, on the central shaft of the menorah there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft there should be an outer ring of leaves made of one piece with the branch. This should be the same for each of the six branches. And the outer ring of leaves and the branches should be of one piece with the shaft.
You should make seven oil lamps for the menorah, positioned to light the space before it. Its wick trimmers, snuffers, and trays should also be of pure gold.
To make these items, 75 pounds of gold will be required. In crafting all these things be sure you follow the design that I gave you on the mountain.
Notes
1. Jehovah surely craves stuff (gimme, gimme, gimme!)-- and nothing but the best. The luxurious items he wants donated will turn out to be the things needed to built his Tabernacle and its furnishings and objects of his worship. Why a people wandering in the desert and scarcely finding enough to eat and drink should be forced to give up all their wealth in order to pander to the vanity of their god seems irrational. This kind of behavior, though, enriching the church while the poor starve, is common through history.
2. Jehovah orders the construction of a fancy gold chest and it has to be made just so. You wonder whether he really bothered to make all these precise instructions, or if the objects were made at some later date, and then their construction sanctified by asserting that all was done at Jehovah's behest. Indeed, one may reasonably conclude that all the laws and religious customs of the Hebrews were established by Moses later, or over a period of time, or that they came into being at a later date in Hebrew history, rather than codified and set in stone, either literally or figuratively, when Moses was on the mount. Provided that Moses did have communion with an exalted, superhuman, or divine being we are calling Jehovah, it really seems unlikely that such a being would obsess with dictating such detail in regard to custom and law. It is worth remembering that the Jehovah who visited Abraham had nothing at all to say in regard to law or morality and only a little concerning ritual. (Jehovah did demand a human sacrifice of Abraham, but such offerings and forms of worship were not set forth as being unique -- just the standard practice expected by all the ancient gods.) If, for instance, observance of the Ten Commandments were such a vital part of Jehovan worship, why weren't they given to Abraham -- or Noah -- or Adam?
3. The chest, which I am calling the Chest of Records, is most familiarly called the Ark of the Covenant, an ark, of course, being a vessel, a container, this one containing, among other things, the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. The lid of the chest is usually referred to as the Mercy Seat, the Propitiatory, or the Oracle, since Jehovah is supposed to sit on it (or hover above it) and pass judgment or pronounce prophecies. The sanctuary, a sort of portable tented compound where it is housed, is called the Tabernacle. (I have used it for lack of anything better.) The priests' breastplate, in which twelve gems were to be inset, is called the Rational, and the upper vestment, the Ephod. Creating special names endows all these things with importance and dignity, but it also obscures what they really were.
4. Red Acacia is a 20-30 feet tree native to Egypt, called in many texts shittem or sittem. Its wood is very hard and was used by the Egyptians for coffins.
5. Jehovah's insistence upon gold for all his paraphernalia is not surprising. Gold has always been valued for its beauty and for the fact that it never tarnishes. One wonders where these former slaves got so much gold. Were they mining gold in the Sinai (there is still gold there), or did they steal sufficient quantities from the Egyptians? The amount of gold needed to make the chest, table, menorah, etc., 75 pounds, equals one talent, the largest weight denomination in ancient times.
6. The statues of the Cherubim on the lid of the chest are to be depicted with wings. It is not clear exactly what the Cherubim were, save that they served Jehovah, perhaps as a kind of guard force. There is no reference to them actually having wings. However, if they came from the sky and flew in the sky, albeit in a vehicle, what better way to symbolic portray that than with wings? (A similar idea -- our pilots generally wear on their chests medals or insignia with wings.)
7. The menorah lamp stand here described has seven branches, while the more familiar Chanukah menorah has nine. As a lamp, it burned olive oil. Candles were not used at all before 400 AD.
Jehovah addressed Moses with these instructions:
Speak to the Israelites and prevail upon them to pay tribute to me. You are to receive offerings from those who want to give willing from the heart. These are the gifts that you may accept: gold, silver, and bronze; yarn dyed blue, purple, and scarlet; garments of fine linen and goat hair; tanned sheep skins and fine leather; red acacia wood; olive oil for lamps; spices for fragrant incense and anointing oil; onyx stones and other precious gems that can be set in the priest's vestments and breastplates. And they should construct a sanctuary for me, the Tabernacle, so that I can live among them. The Tabernacle, as well as the furnishings and vessels within it, must be built it in accordance with the pattern I will give you.
You must build a chest of red acacia wood, 45 inches in length and 27 inches in width and height. Overlay it inside and out with pure gold and attach a molding of gold all around it. Make four gold carrying rings and fasten them on each leg, two on each long side. Staves of red acacia wood covered with gold may be inserted into them in order to bear the chest. The staves, once inserted into the rings, should remain there permanently. Inside the chest you will stow the records I will give you.
You must build of gold a lid for the chest, 45 inches in length by 27 inches in width. You should make two statues of cherubim wrought of beaten gold. They should be attached to the lid so as to seem a single piece of work, with a cherub on one end and another on the other end. With their spreading wings they should cover the lid; they should face each other, turned inward. The lid should be placed on top of the chest that will contain the records I will give you. It is between the two cherubim on top of the chest that I will commune with you, speaking to you from above and conveying to the Israelites my will.
You should also make a table of red acacia wood, 36 inches in length, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around its edge. A raised crown three inches high should be attached around its entire edge. Make four carrying rings and attach one in each corner just above the four legs of the table. The rings should be fitted close to the rim and be positioned to hold staves. These staves should be made out of red acacia wood and overlain with gold and used to carry the table.
Plates and incense dishes, and cups and bowls from which libations are to be poured should also be made out of pure gold. Upon the table should be set out loaves of bread. These should be before my presence at all times.
You should make a menorah of pure gold. It should be of beaten gold with its base, its shaft, its cups and outer ring decorated with buds and petals all of one piece. From the base there should extend six branches, three from one side and three from the other. On the branch there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Each of the six branches should be similarly adorned. Likewise, on the central shaft of the menorah there are to be three cups resembling almond blossoms, with an outer ring of buds and petals. Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft there should be an outer ring of leaves made of one piece with the branch. This should be the same for each of the six branches. And the outer ring of leaves and the branches should be of one piece with the shaft.
You should make seven oil lamps for the menorah, positioned to light the space before it. Its wick trimmers, snuffers, and trays should also be of pure gold.
To make these items, 75 pounds of gold will be required. In crafting all these things be sure you follow the design that I gave you on the mountain.
Notes
1. Jehovah surely craves stuff (gimme, gimme, gimme!)-- and nothing but the best. The luxurious items he wants donated will turn out to be the things needed to built his Tabernacle and its furnishings and objects of his worship. Why a people wandering in the desert and scarcely finding enough to eat and drink should be forced to give up all their wealth in order to pander to the vanity of their god seems irrational. This kind of behavior, though, enriching the church while the poor starve, is common through history.
2. Jehovah orders the construction of a fancy gold chest and it has to be made just so. You wonder whether he really bothered to make all these precise instructions, or if the objects were made at some later date, and then their construction sanctified by asserting that all was done at Jehovah's behest. Indeed, one may reasonably conclude that all the laws and religious customs of the Hebrews were established by Moses later, or over a period of time, or that they came into being at a later date in Hebrew history, rather than codified and set in stone, either literally or figuratively, when Moses was on the mount. Provided that Moses did have communion with an exalted, superhuman, or divine being we are calling Jehovah, it really seems unlikely that such a being would obsess with dictating such detail in regard to custom and law. It is worth remembering that the Jehovah who visited Abraham had nothing at all to say in regard to law or morality and only a little concerning ritual. (Jehovah did demand a human sacrifice of Abraham, but such offerings and forms of worship were not set forth as being unique -- just the standard practice expected by all the ancient gods.) If, for instance, observance of the Ten Commandments were such a vital part of Jehovan worship, why weren't they given to Abraham -- or Noah -- or Adam?
3. The chest, which I am calling the Chest of Records, is most familiarly called the Ark of the Covenant, an ark, of course, being a vessel, a container, this one containing, among other things, the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. The lid of the chest is usually referred to as the Mercy Seat, the Propitiatory, or the Oracle, since Jehovah is supposed to sit on it (or hover above it) and pass judgment or pronounce prophecies. The sanctuary, a sort of portable tented compound where it is housed, is called the Tabernacle. (I have used it for lack of anything better.) The priests' breastplate, in which twelve gems were to be inset, is called the Rational, and the upper vestment, the Ephod. Creating special names endows all these things with importance and dignity, but it also obscures what they really were.
4. Red Acacia is a 20-30 feet tree native to Egypt, called in many texts shittem or sittem. Its wood is very hard and was used by the Egyptians for coffins.
5. Jehovah's insistence upon gold for all his paraphernalia is not surprising. Gold has always been valued for its beauty and for the fact that it never tarnishes. One wonders where these former slaves got so much gold. Were they mining gold in the Sinai (there is still gold there), or did they steal sufficient quantities from the Egyptians? The amount of gold needed to make the chest, table, menorah, etc., 75 pounds, equals one talent, the largest weight denomination in ancient times.
6. The statues of the Cherubim on the lid of the chest are to be depicted with wings. It is not clear exactly what the Cherubim were, save that they served Jehovah, perhaps as a kind of guard force. There is no reference to them actually having wings. However, if they came from the sky and flew in the sky, albeit in a vehicle, what better way to symbolic portray that than with wings? (A similar idea -- our pilots generally wear on their chests medals or insignia with wings.)
7. The menorah lamp stand here described has seven branches, while the more familiar Chanukah menorah has nine. As a lamp, it burned olive oil. Candles were not used at all before 400 AD.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)