| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Thursday, February 4, 2016, Yujin wrote,
These passages have always been hard for me to read. There is so much detail that I have to really concentrate to keep things straight. I sometimes wonder, "What's the point of all this detail?" or even "What's the point of all this ritual?" Does it really matter what they wear? Does it really matter that they get everything right in the sacrifices? Does it really matter whether they put in 1/4 hin of pressed oil or 1/2 hin or 1 teaspoon? Of course, it does matter. The important thing is not what is said so much as Who is saying it. It is the LORD. Even so, I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day, where I considered another possible reason for such details in Scripture. Solomon wrote,
Ecclesiastes is about the vanity of earthly life. If one were to dwell on it, one would be most miserable; however, Solomon says God distracts people from such a dour reflection by occupying their thoughts with "gladness of heart". In other words, God enables us to simply enjoy life without always reminding us of the vanity of it. Could it be possible that some of the details of Israel's worship were designed to keep Israel focused on God? When they are preoccupied with a 1/2 hin of this and an ephah of that, the morning sacrifice and then the evening sacrifice, etc., then they will give little opportunity to the evil intentions of their hearts. Friends, I read the Bible every morning. I memorize the Scriptures every morning. I pray every morning and evening. I send out edifying emails to various groups. I read edifying books. I homeschool my child. I go to a Men's Bible Study every Wednesday, Sunday School and church every Sunday morning, and Discipleship University every Sunday evening. I try to remove every distraction that may be a spiritual stumbling block to me. I sit at Starbucks facing the wall. These "rituals" I do, along with other things, not necessarily because they make me more spiritual, but they keep me from being more unspiritual. The details of my week, even my day to day habits, help me to focus my attention on the Lord and not on vain things. These things constitute my "one-fourth hin of pressed oil". |
| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, Yujin wrote, You shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around on its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe. It shall be on Aaron when he ministers; and its tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the holy place before the Lord, so that he will not die (Exodus 28:33-35). It has been preached that these bells along with a rope tied to the ankle of the high priest accompanied the priest's entrance into the Holy of Holies, so that if he were to be killed by God for some unholy act, he could be dragged out of there without endangering anyone else. The only problem is that there is no validation of this practice in Scripture. First, there is no mention anywhere of a rope tied to the ankle of the high priest. Second, the high priest did not wear the blue ephod with the bells into the Holy of Holies behind the veil (cf. Leviticus 16:4,23-24), only the Holy Place. Apparently, the legend of the rope and the bells arose out of some second century Jewish mystical literature. Here is some more literature in this regard (from christiananswers.net and thepaperthinhymn.com). Regarding the expression "so that he will not die," it is not used exclusively with respect to the bells. This expression relates to all the garments and procedures assigned to the priests (cf. Exodus 28:35,43; 30:20-21), such that the failure to properly wear the garments or to perform the procedures could lead to their sudden death. We have an example of this in the fate of Nadab and Abihu, who was killed by God for offering unauthorized fire (cf. Leviticus 10:1-2). The priests were responsible to treat God as holy (Leviticus 10:3), which meant that they would take the utmost care to obey God in every detail of all that they needed to do. Friends, do we treat God as holy today? Do we make light of the grace of God by not carefully studying His Word and diligently following the instructions of His Word? Have we honored God in properly training our children to love and fear God through careful study and obedience to His Word? Let us consider our ways today and align ourselves with what we clearly understand to be God's will. |
| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 (Last Updated on 2/5/2014), Yujin wrote, For the Ordination of the PriestsIn the ordination of the priests (Aaron and his sons), the following offerings were required: One bull and two rams. Two major offerings came from these: Sin and Burnt offerings. One subset of the Burnt offering was the Wave offering. One subset of the Wave offering was the Heave offering. Sin offering - A bull; lay hands on it; blood on the horns of the altar; the rest poured out at the base; fat offered up in smoke; flesh burned outside the camp. Significance: Cleansing from sin Burnt offering - first ram; lay hands on it; blood sprinkled around the altar; cut, clean, offer up whole ram in smoke. Significance: Acceptance by God second ram; lay hands on it; blood on right ear lobes/thumbs/big toes; sprinkle blood around the altar; sprinkle blood on garments. Significance: Setting apart as holy to God Wave offering - put fat, kidneys, and right thigh, bread, wafer into hands to wave before the LORD; offer these as part of the burnt offering. Significance: Acceptance by God Wave/Heave offering - wave breast before the LORD; heave ("lift up") thigh; to be eaten; Significance: Sustenance for priests The sin offering was to be performed daily for the seven days of the ordination. For the Consecration of the Tent of Meeting (later Temple)In addition to these offerings, the following additional Burnt offering was required as a continual daily sacrifice for every generation until the final sacrifice of Chrst, the Lamb of God, on the cross: Morning Offering - one one-year-old lamb (Meat offering) offered by fire with oil, fine flour, wine mix (Grain/Drink offering) Evening Offering - second one-year-old lamb (Meat offering) offered by fire with oil, fine flour, wine mix (Grain/Drink offering) Significance: Set apart the tabernacle (temple), the altar, the priesthood, all Israel to God |
| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Sunday, February 5, 2012, Misty wrote,
Isn't God awesome? God really wanted the Israelites to understand how much He thought of them. He gave them UNDESERVED Grace! HE chose THEM! HE equipped THEM! HE saved THEM! So his temple was going to be within their camp, and He was going to appoint priests to minister to HIM! He chose to hear their cries, their complaints, their groanings, their grumblings, their prayers, and He wanted them to hear HIM! Revere HIM! GIVE their devotion to HIM! And how many times were they faithless, and he forgave them anyway?!!!! It's kind of sobering... God said in 29:45-46 "I will dwell among the Children of Israel and will be their God. And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I AM the Lord their God!!!" There are a lot of offerings being presented here. Sin offerings. Atonement offerings. Consecration offerings. Heave offerings. Peace offerings. Grain offerings. Drink offerings. Burnt offerings. One thing that stands out also is that not only is the only acceptable offering a blood offering, but an offering that is burnt. This is what Jesus did for us: when he went to the cross as the ultimate sacrifice, when he descended into Hell, He became that burnt offering that has a sweet savor to the Lord. That blood sacrifice is the only atonement for sins that God accepts. The other thing that we see here is that the priest had to be Holy, or he would die. The garments they wore had to be gifts from the best of the skilled artisans as God led them. The animals had to be without blemish or spot, or the offering was not acceptable. How much higher is the standard for us as Christians? Are we without spot or blemish within today? The gift that Jesus gave for us, freedom, like God gave the Children of Israel, requires everything that we are. I don't think any of us are truly spotless, but it's not our devotion that makes us spotless. It is the Blood from that UNDESERVED Grace that covers our sins!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!! |
| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, Unmi wrote,
I had long wondered, what is an Ephod? It is easier for me to think of it as an apron that goes over the priests robes....Something of interest is that there is a Jewish organization called the Temple Institute that is advocating for the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple.
The 1st temple was built by Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians, the 2nd temple was build during Nehemiah's time after returning from their exile and destroyed in 70 AD, there has been no Jewish temple since 70 AD. (Many orthodox Jews believe that the actual Third Temple will be built by the coming Messiah who will reinstate the sacrificial system of worship) Apparently this organization has already spent over 27 million dollars rebuilding many of the sacred ojects that are needed for the Temple, including the garments for the high priest and the breastplate made of precious stones which have the names of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved on them. It is interesting to think what all this will lead to in the "End Times"......of note, they have NOT rebuilt of Ark of the Covenant, they apparently believe it is still hidden under the original Temple Mount.
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| Passage: Exodus 28-29 On Saturday, February 5, 2011 (Last Updated on 2/5/2013), Yujin wrote, Friends, One of our members asked about the meaning and purpose of the "Urim and Thummim" in Exodus 28:30. Perhaps some of you have wondered this as well. One way to explore such questions for yourselves is to go to a site like Biblegateway.com and do a search on "Urim" and then examine all the contexts in which the term is found. Having done this, this is what I discovered: Regarding the Urim and Thummim, which are first referenced in today's reading, the best biblical explanations for them are given in our text in Exodus 28:30, Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD. And in Numbers 27:21, He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”
And best exemplified in Saul's usage of the same to discern who was at fault regarding his decree in 1 Samuel 14:41, Then Saul prayed to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim, but if the men of Israel are at fault, respond with Thummim.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared.
It appears that the primary use of the Urim and Thummim was to access divine discernment. From the example of Saul's use, they seem to have the same function as "casting of lots" did in the Book of Acts (cf. Acts 1:23-26). They could be used for simple "yes" or "no" kind of decisions or "this one" vs. "that one" or even "innocent" vs. "guilty." Regardless of how they were used in any given situation, they generally helped mediate God's decision on a given matter. Certainly, this was not the only way that God spoke to His people, as seen by 1 Samuel 28:6, where the Urim is seen separately from dreams and prophets as a way to hear from God. Since revelation through dreams and prophets were normally initiated by God, the Urim and Thummim would uniquely allow people to initiate the getting of divine revelation.
Now, how exactly did the Urim and Thummim reveal God's will? The following is only a little more than conjecture based on extrabiblical sources:
The answer might be suggested in the literal meaning of the words "urim" and "thummim," which the Jewish Commentator Rashi has suggested derive from the root of the Hebrew words for "lights" and "perfections." The most authoritative Jewish commentaries suggest that the Urim and Thummim did not so much relate to the breastplate but represented the mystical Name of God, which was inscribed on a parchment and inserted into a flap of the grament. Then the answer to an inquiry would come by way of the shining of specific letters on the stones, upon which were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Jewish midrash, an ancient commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures, suggest that when inquiries were made, the high priest would then meditate on the divine Name, whereby he would be given a prophetic vision, where the letters on the various stones on the breastplate would shine to spell out the answer to the question. |