January 2, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year:  Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:1-23

Weekly Memory Verse: Hebrews 13:8

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I read through the Bible readings this morning, I liked it a lot better than I did last years plan.  It is much easier because it is in smaller chunks.  Don't let a day go by without spending time in the Word.

Exodus 28 (NASB95)
¹ “Then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priest to Me—Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. ² “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. ³ “You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to Me. ⁴ “These are the garments which they shall make: a breastpiece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister as priest to Me. ⁵ “They shall take the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet material and the fine linen. ⁶ “They shall also make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of the skillful workman. ⁷ “It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two ends, that it may be joined. ⁸ “The skillfully woven band, which is on it, shall be like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. ⁹ “You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰ six of their names on the one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, according to their birth. ¹¹ “As a jeweler engraves a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall set them in filigree settings of gold. ¹² “You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. ¹³ “You shall make filigree settings of gold, ¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them of twisted cordage work, and you shall put the corded chains on the filigree settings. ¹⁵ “You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen you shall make it. ¹⁶ “It shall be square and folded double, a span in length and a span in width. ¹⁷ “You shall mount on it four rows of stones; the first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz and emerald; ¹⁸ and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and a diamond; ¹⁹ and the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; ²⁰ and the fourth row a beryl and an onyx and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree. ²¹ “The stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a seal, each according to his name for the twelve tribes. ²² “You shall make on the breastpiece chains of twisted cordage work in pure gold. ²³ “You shall make on the breastpiece two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece. ²⁴ “You shall put the two cords of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. ²⁵ “You shall put the other two ends of the two cords on the two filigree settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, at the front of it. ²⁶ “You shall make two rings of gold and shall place them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on the edge of it, which is toward the inner side of the ephod. ²⁷ “You shall make two rings of gold and put them on the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on the front of it close to the place where it is joined, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸ “They shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it will be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece will not come loose from the ephod. ²⁹ “Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he enters the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. ³⁰ “You shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. ³¹ “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³² “There shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it; around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, as like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn. ³³ “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: ³⁴ a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe. ³⁵ “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. ³⁶ “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ ³⁷ “You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban. ³⁸ “It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. ³⁹ “You shall weave the tunic of checkered work of fine linen, and shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of a weaver. ⁴⁰ “For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics; you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹ “You shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests. ⁴² “You shall make for them linen breeches to cover their bare flesh; they shall reach from the loins even to the thighs. ⁴³ “They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.^[1]

One thing struck me as I read through this chapter, in the New Testament we are encouraged to put on the spiritual armor of God.  Here in the Old Testament, God required that the priests wear priestly garments in order to enter His Tabernacle to minister before Him.  Each piece of the wardrobe had special meaning to the one wearing it.  As the priest stood before the Lord, he was doing spiritual battle, waging war with the elements of evil by offering sacrifices to cover and atone for the sins committed by man.  In the New Testament, things are different, Jesus has already performed all the sacrifices and completed all the requirements of the Law.  Now believers are ready to wage spiritual warefare with the assurance that God has already purified us in our hearts, and is the one who also is our armorer.  God dictated the priestly garments in the Old Testament, and has dictated the warriors garments in the New Testament.  Just a thought.

Romans 13:12-14 (NASB95)
¹² The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Ephesians 6:10-17 (NASB95)
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Luke 11:22-26 (NASB95)
²² “But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. ²³ “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters. ²⁴ “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” ^[2]

As we consider wearing armor, also consider the one who places that armor on us.  If we are cocky and try to claim that our armor is from God, but is in reality from our fleshly pride, watch out.  God does armor us with His word, but if we are not abiding in Him and running on His strength, we are being prepared for a fall.  He will also allow the forces of evil to enter our lives in order to turn our hearts back to Him.  (Back to the text).

Another thing that stood out to me as I read through the text for today was the braided chains that are discussed.  Israel was just delivered from slavery in Egypt, and would soon return to slavery later as they abandoned the word of God for foreign idols.  These chains may have been strictly for decoration on the various parts of the garments that they were attached to, or they may have been a warning that Israel had been saved from chains and they were a reality in the history of this people.

The Epod was a sleeveless garment that was elaborately decorated with shoulder pieces that stood for the tribes of Israel chained to the garment.  This garment is a mystery today because it is not clear how it was constructed or how it was worn.  It is clear though that it bore the symbolism of Israel coming before the Lord as a united people.

The Breastpiece again bore witness to the twelve tribes of Israel.  The twelve stones are translated as well as possible by the translators.  I am not sure what the exact meaning is behind each stone, only that God treasured each tribe as He would a precious stone.  This garment was to be worn over the heart, this statement occurs three times in the text.  Consider that statement for a moment, God did not only want Aaron to be aware that He treasured each tribe like a gemstone, He also wanted Aaron to be aware that God treasured them close to His heart.  He wanted Aaron to consider the nation of Israel to be a treasure to his heart as well. 

What point is it if a minister does not care for his people?  Remember, this garment was a breastpeice of judgment.  Aaron was responsible to stand in judgment of the people of Israel in all situations.  This probably included the judgment in times of error as well as in times of rejoicing.  The two stones listed in verse 30 are a mystery as to their properties.  Some have suggested that the "Urim" begins with the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, and the "thummin" begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  This may suggest that the high priest had authority over all the areas of the lives of the people.  It is also interesting when you consider that Jesus was referred to as the "Alpha and Omega", the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. 

The pomegranates and the gold bells on the hem of the garment are also interesting.  These were decorative as well as practical.  I understand that a rope was attached to the foot of the high priest so that if he entered the holy place, and the bells quit ringing, the other priests could drag his dead body out without entering themselves.  The high priest had to make sure that his sin was covered before entering before the Lord, any deviation from the plan was deadly.

The "plate of pure gold" was a brooch that specifically reminded the priest that he stood for Israel, and it was always to be on his mind.

The last garment that was mentioned is the linen undergarments.  Remember the warning from previously when God gave instructions regarding the building of an altar.  God did not want any distractions that would take away from the worship and ministry before the Lord.  Anything that distracted or took away from the worship of the Lord would result in death. 

I breezed over all of the garments and the construction of each one.  Since it is Sunday, I went lightly over this chapter.  Any comments are welcomed from you. 

Father as we consider the priestly garments, enlighten each one of us and place a desire in our hearts to study and learn from Your word in 2005.

In Him,

Joe Turner.