22222

Law as a
schoolmaster

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto

Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3 v 24

www.truetestament.org
 The law of God

The Law of God

Abstract

Moses was given the Law from God because the

congregation of Israel had not the faith of their
forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that God would
provide from their seed a Redeemer from the grave. The
law was a teacher to bring them to understand the
purpose of God focused in His son, Jesus Christ. That law
was fulfilled in Jesus’ life and death and therefore had no
more civil use, but the teaching remains the same. It has
been recorded for every generation since to understand
the beauty of God manifest in Jesus Christ and how he
overcame sin.

Based solely on Bible teaching

www.truetestament.org

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 The law of God

The instructor of the promise of resurrection from the grave by forgiveness of sins

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have
not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these,
having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or
else excusing one another. (Romans 2 v 13-15)

1) The Law of God ~ fulfilled in Jesus Christ

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the fulfilment and conclusion of
every aspect of the written Law of God, the open manifestation of the will of God in a
mortal man, the will that has been unchanged from creation to this day and that will
never alter.

Concerning the law it was written of Jesus, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart”
(Psalms 40 v 7-8).

Of Jesus God declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye
him” (Matthew 17 v 5).

Jesus said to his disciples, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5 v 17).

Finally Paul wrote of Jesus, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth” (Romans 10 v 4).

Jesus was born into the world to fulfil the law by living a life of obedience without
fault in order to reflect the character of God in a mortal man as he testified at his trial
“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth” (John 18 v 37). It was the popular opinion of the Jews that
Jesus strayed from their interpretation of the law, but Jesus taught that popular
practice of the law had become entangled with additional traditions and extra
commandments added since the inception of the law some 1500 years before.
Accordingly he upbraided the scribes and Pharisees who kept the traditions of the
Talmud (the Writings) rather than the Torah (the Law), “Thus have ye made the
commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias
prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15 v 6-9).

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After the birth of Christianity following the resurrection of Jesus the hope of the law
was given to the Gentiles who became no different to the Jews, in that they also
embraced the principles of the Law of God seen in Christ and promptly began adding
doctrines of pagan origin. In the 1st century after Christ the New Testament was
widely embraced in the pure form delivered to the Apostles, but within that period
corruption began and successive generations added more and more doctrines, beliefs,
superstitions and covert pagan practices (II Thessalonians 2, II Peter 2), to such an
extent that many Christian doctrines today bear no relation to what Christ lived and
died to do, as Jesus prophesied, “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall
come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore
after them” (Luke 21 v 8).
.
This book is written to examine the beauty of the details of the Law given to Moses
and how the minutia of that law prefigured every facet of the life of Christ. Every
detail of the law describes the innermost thoughts of the mind of God and how He
wants His created children to be. It will attempt to show how that collectively every
detail of the law was fulfilled by Jesus alone, how it prefigured his whole life and
death and how every ‘jot and tittle’ was fulfilled by Jesus, as he reassured his
disciples in the sermon on the mount, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
(Matthew 5 v 18). (A jot and tittle is the equivalent to ‘dotting the i’s and crossing the
t’s’ in English)

2) The Law
The law of God is contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy, five books that form the Pentateuch along with Genesis. The law is one
composite edict such that failure to keep one part results in failure to keep the whole
(James 2 v 10) but is divided into integrated sections covering the entire structure of
personal, ecclesiastical and civil government.

It is not just a set of rules, statutes, edicts and judgments, it is an allegorical

encyclopaedia of instruction that leads those who put themselves under its influence
to an understanding and keeping of the will of God. That will of God is that by one
man (Jesus Christ who would keep the whole law and violently die as a result) God
would give eternal life to mortal men and women after resurrection from the grave.
The law is provided to lead a willing subject to that end, through a full understanding
of Christ in order for them to follow his example (it is not just a rigid code of
orderliness) as Paul wrote, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3 v 24) where ‘schoolmaster’ in
the original is a ‘pedagogue’ - a child servant who leads a pupil to the instruction of a
Master - as was repeatedly referred to in the Proverbs of Solomon, “My son, keep thy
father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually
upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee;
when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light” (Proverbs 6 v 20-23).

In fulfillment of the law, Jesus took upon him a innocent nature of open-faced trust in
God, in order to be led by a similarly uncomplicated but strictly loyal pedagogue
(Psalm 131) to a full understanding of the will of God, so that he could accomplish
the essence of the law to give God his Father the pleasure due unto Him, as Jesus said,

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 The law of God

“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so
it seemed good in thy sight.” (Luke 10 v 21).

The law is large and very detailed covering all aspects of the life of a nation and its
individual members but it is summarised in its simplicity by Paul, “For all the law is
fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
(Galatians 5 v 14) and, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13 v 10). This love (agape) is the love found only in
God (I John 4 v 8 & 16), a love that is stronger than death (Song of Solomon 8 v 6-7),
the love by which God loved Jesus (Matthew 3 v 17, & 17 v 5) and by which He will
raise His servants from the grave and give them eternal life because of the love Jesus
had for God. It is the love from God that can only be reciprocated by an individual by
keeping the spirit and essence of the law of God in Christ. It is not in any man or
woman by nature (that natural love in mankind is phileo. (see ‘Testament of Truth’,
‘Baptism’, chapter 36, ‘Agape and phileo’).

Jesus gained the love (agape) from God by reading the law (Psalm 1 v 2, Psalm 40 v
7-8, et al) and in keeping the law he displayed that love, firstly to God by obedience
unto premature death and secondly, to his friends for whom he died (John 15 v 13).
His knowledge and understanding of the law was perfect (Luke 2 v 46-47, Matthew
22 v 33) but he did not vaunt this as educated men often do (Scribes, Pharisees, vicars
and priests for example), he summarised his knowledge simply in two
commandments, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12 v 30-33).

He became the living manifestation of the law in all its details in that he fulfilled both
the ‘letter’ of the law (it’s literal commands) and the ‘spirit’ of the law (what it was
leading to) as described in the Psalms “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the
soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the
LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Psalms 19 v 7-9).

So complete was his living manifestation of the law that he became ‘the law’ - the
manifestation of the will of God in a mortal body, explained by Paul, “And without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (I
Timothy 3 v 16), and by this fulfilled the memorial of the name of God given Moses
at the burning bush – ‘I AM’, (Exodus 3 v 14) a memorial that literally means – ‘He
who was (God eternal), He who is (God eternal) and He who will be (God eternal,
manifest in a mortal man by the law that was to be given to Moses in Mount Sinai.)’,
of which mystery Jesus declared, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was,
I am” (John 8 v 58). The Jews knew what he meant for they were going to stone him
for blasphemy.

Therefore the law, although not valid in the ‘letter’ since Christ, in it’s ‘spirit’ still
leads a willing student to God through Christ, as every detail teaches some aspect of
the purpose of God in him.

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 The law of God

To aid an understanding of the law it is helpful to divide the law into its sections and
examine each in order to bring the common teaching together as seen in the life and
work of Jesus Christ.
.
There are 5 distinct sections to the law, a) the law of the Tabernacle construction, b)
the law of the offerings, c) the law of the priestly ministrations (Ecclesiastical law), d)
the law of the feasts (calendar law) and e) the law of civil behaviour. These five form
one composite allegorical pattern, a literal and symbolic description of the life, work,
death and resurrection of (the then) promised Son of God, Jesus Christ by whom
redemption from an eternal grave would be made possible.

3) The background
The law was given to Moses in the 15th century BC (1472 BC) to pass on to the
children of Israel after they had been delivered from bondage in Egypt. They had
camped at the foot of mount Sinai in the wilderness of Paran and Moses was
commanded to ascend the mount on which God descended in order to receive not only
the two table of stone containing the ten commandment, but to be shown all the
details of the tabernacle where God would meet with them and be their God, as Moses
was told, “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and
the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exodus 25 v 9).

40 years prior to this, Moses had been a lone shepherd in the area and was shown his
future work in a revelation of Divine power in the burning bush (Exodus 3 v 1-6).
Here Moses was told that not only was he to lead Israel out of Egypt, but how that
God (who is and always has existed) would be manifest in the future through one
man exemplified in the law that God would give them when Moses would return to
that mount with Israel, “Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto
thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye
shall serve God upon this mountain” (Exodus 3 v 12). To serve to God from the heart
is the fundamental requirement of the law (Proverbs 23 v 26) and is far more than
keeping to the Masters’ rules as a servant is required, it is to understand the meaning
of the rules and allow that meaning to be the fuel that motivates the service, it was the
service that the forefathers of Israel gave without the need of a literal law.

Until that time there had been no written law of God requiring obedience with
penalties for breaking it. However, the law (i.e. the will and mind of God) was known
and kept by a few in faith as it is recorded, “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice,
and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26 v 5).
This knowledge was passed on from generation to generation, but there was no
composite written code of law, but nevertheless this inherited knowledge of the will
of God did bring responsibility to keep it and a guilt of sin when it was broken, which
weakness affected all the forefathers who all believed that the one who would come
would be a sacrifice for their sins in order for them to be forgiven and receive
everlasting life. For example, Abel recognised the need for atonement of his sins
when he slew a firstborn member of his flock in sacrifice to God thus expressing his
faith that by the shed blood of one man (the firstborn of many) out of the flock of his
race God would accept him by forgiveness and eventual resurrection to eternal life.
Likewise Noah offered animals specified by God as thanks for deliverance from what
was a foreshadowing of the renewing of the earth when wickedness is finally

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destroyed and the new life he had become. Abraham was prepared to slay his only son
for the same reasons believing that God would raise him to life again and was given a
ram to offer as a figure of that one who should come.

After their deliverance from Egypt 430 years after the death of Abraham, Moses led
Israel to mount Sinai and there received the written law of God, an inscribed record of
the mind, heart and character of God, an indelible code of how He will have men to
serve Him, i.e. the will of God. The faith of Moses and his forefathers was that there
would be a man (as then future) who would serve God perfectly by manifesting the
mind, heart and character of God in a mortal body through the keeping of the will of
God without fault. The written law put the faith of those men into an inscribed code of
conduct and civil administration because collectively Israel did not share their faith.
Because of lack of faith, the written law was to lead them to an understanding that
only by the blood of this one man and faith in him could they serve God acceptably
and share the hope of resurrection from the grave that was the hope of their
forefathers.

4) Why it was given

God has always required that men and women have faith in Him and serve Him in
love for all that He does for them every day and in reverence for His awesome power
and tender mercy, rather than by following to a strict code of written laws. Because
God cannot be seen, faith that there is a living God whose is omniscient and
omnipresent is required. Faith comes by belief through hearing and reading the word
of God and shows itself in actions. Faith that there is one God and that by Him all
creatures live through His mercy, grace, patience, goodness and truth is a personal
motivating virtue that becomes evident by manner of life. Faith convicts its holders to
quietly demonstrate that God has promised a saviour to redeem those who do His will
from the sentence of an eternal grave, and regulates the ambitions and direction of
their life. Faith is the demonstration of belief in God and His promises through a
manner of life and when faith is present, the spirit of the law of God is automatically
followed as a reflection of the perfect obedience that the promised saviour would
fulfil.

This was the faith of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others, including Moses
up to that time. They all knew the will of God by hearing their forefather’s words and
kept those words in love and reverence for Him in anticipation of the promised
redeemer, therefore they did not need a written code of rigid instructions and
allegorical rituals. The commandments existed (as God always existed and changes
not) but were not enforced as a national civil law. For example, murder was forbidden
long before the 6th commandment was written down (Genesis 9 v 6). The law of
separation between what God designated clean and unclean animals to teach the need
to separate the spiritually clean from the unclean of the enmity existed long before the
law given to Israel (Genesis 7 v 2). The first commandment, the law to love God was
the law that Adam and Eve broke when they simultaneously broke the law of
abstinence from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3 v 8).

There are therefore two aspects to keeping the law of God (as described by Paul in the
New Testament), there is keeping the ‘letter’ of the law (by rote) and keeping the
spirit of the law (by faith). The written law was provided as an indelible record of the
then future unblemished demonstration of the will of God in the life and death of the

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promised saviour – a detailed illustration of the life he would lead and what he would
accomplish in death. Rote is keeping within a rigid code of legal boundaries without
understanding why, and subsequent judging of a fellow’s transgression without
compassion or mercy in the realisation that all are guilty of sin.

Faith forms a moral code founded on an understanding of the rigid regulations of the
law and what they teach, that directs obedience to God via the conscience sensitised
by the essence of the law (the life of Christ) indelibly imprinted in the mind, and is
followed in love and reverence of God. Salvation is by faith not by the rote of law,
even though many who lived before Christ under the stricture of the law will be
saved, who obeyed the ‘letter’ as far as they were able but were directed by
conscience through reverence, mercy and compassion to keep the spirit of the law.

God saw that a nation as large as Israel could not collectively keep His will by faith
alone because all individual had not the faith of their forefathers. The law was not
provided to be by rote, but to teach them, to lead them and guide them to an
understanding of what God required, as their fathers had understood. So Paul later
wrote, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a
schoolmaster.” (Galatians 3 v 24-25).

5) How it was given and received

The children of Israel camped at the foot of mount Sinai where 40 years earlier Moses
received the promise at the burning bush. The law that God was about to give them
was to be given in a specific way in order for them to be impressed by the will of
God. God decreed that one man alone would leave his fellows and ascend up the
mount into the presence of God in order to receive that law, to teach them that by a
singular saviour that God would appoint He would manifest Himself unto them
through him and provide a way of salvation in order to impress upon them their
mortality because of sin.

God chose Moses not because he was born any different, but because he outstood
them in the faith and meekness of his forefathers’, and God’s will was that of the
entire human race, one man alone would be allowed to approach to God as a mediator
between Him and the rest of mankind. The nation were to be impressed that because
of their sinfulness due to lack of faith they could never approach to God, but that by
the faith and perfect obedience of one man God would allow him to draw near to him
on their behalf. In this Moses prefigured that man, Jesus Christ, then future. Moses
alone went up to the top of mount Sinai while Israel feared for their lives because of
the fury of the physical power of God in the mount (Exodus 20 v 18-21).

The need for a mediator between God and man that was understood by the
forefather’s was reaffirmed in a very physical way, and the principle that that
mediator was of the race of mortal man having been subject to temptation as any other
man was established. By that man alone, the will of God through His law, can be
understood.

However, while Moses alone ascended to the presence of God to receive the law, it
was given not by an angry God but was given in love, mercy and compassion for their
weak nature and God allowed that a few others would ascend from the camp but

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remain below Moses. Thus seventy elders as a representation of the children of Israel
were permitted to ascend part way up the mount (Exodus 24 v 9–15). By what
happened to them God revealed His will, as He had to Israel’s forefathers, and in that
will the promises He purposed to fulfil, the promise that one man would ascend far
above all other to the presence of God, there would be others who by his work would
be able to enjoy the benefits that his ascension brought. Thus it is recorded, “And they
saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the
nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat
and drink” (Exodus 24 v 10-11).

God confirmed His promises to Abraham by allowing those elders to meet His angels,
immortal messengers of God (the name ‘God’ used here is elohim, the plural of EL,
God singular). The angels stood on a pavement of sapphire stone, as the clearness of
the body of heaven representing their immortal state. Sapphire is blue by reflection of
the blue part of the spectrum of visible light. The daytime sky is likewise blue as the
other colours of the visible spectrum of light are deflected away by the outer
atmosphere leaving blue rays predominant to illuminate the sky, thus the clearness of
the body of heaven was blue as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. God used
blue light to introduce His immortal messengers to mortal men thus revealing the
hope of the promise that they also will be made as the angels if they keep the law and
understand what is taught therein (Mark 22 v 25).

God has therefore chosen blue to represent the covenant of His promise of eternal life
to mortal man, as will be later seen in details of the Tabernacle and civil law and as
was promised to Daniel, the righteous will become the living manifestation of that
covenant as it is promised, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”
(Daniel 12 v 3). This covenant, that mortal man will be made immortal, is solely
because of the work of the one man, who after the figure of Moses, ascended in faith
and pureness of character far above others (Psalm 24 v 3-5). (See also The Covenant,
Chapter 9, Blue sky and clouds)

God laid not his hand on them. Despite the anger of God when God drove Adam and
Eve out of the Garden of Eden because of sin, teaching that mankind cannot attain to
the immortal state without permission from God and contact with the immortal state
could bring death, God reaffirmed His mercy that others will be allowed into the
company of the immortal state because of that one man who had ascended above
them, so God laid not his hand on them.

In the mercy of God they survived and did eat and drink. What they ate and drank is
not recorded, but previously when Abraham met the angel Melchisadek (Genesis 14 v
18; Hebrews 7 v 1-3), Melchisadek brought forth bread and wine for them both. Bread
and wine form a central part in the law as will be shown, and are the only two items
ordained in the law that are physically carried forward from Abraham through the law
and up to this day (Matthew 26 v 26-29).

When Moses was in the mount he received ten commandments graven by God in two
tablets of stone created by God, not hewn by man, “And the LORD said unto Moses,
Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a

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law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Exodus
24 v 12, Exodus 31 v 18). The stone tablets were entirely the work of God. As Moses
was in the mount being shown the pattern of the Tabernacle, Israel denied God who
had delivered them from Egypt and made an Egyptian god of a golden calf to
worship. As Moses descended to the camp and saw their idol he broke the two tablets
of stone, not impetuosity but as confirmation that Israel had already broken what was
written on them.

God then told Moses to hew two pieces of stone and to bring them up the mount to
God, “Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these
tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.” (Exodus 34 v 1).
Moses obeyed and the ten commandments were rewritten by God in the stones to
become the foundation of all the law and were placed in the inner most sanctuary of
the Tabernacle which will later be shown is the figure of the eternal state.

These simple events teach the overall purpose and work of God. God created Adam
and Eve by His own hand and engraved in their hearts His laws, which they broke. In
His mercy and faithfulness, God then raised up a man, not individually created as
Adam was but ‘hewn’ from the race of mankind, and then wrote in his heart all His
law which he kept perfectly, as a result of which he attained to the presence of God to
live for ever.

By these simple events the law was given to Israel and became their national law until
it’s fulfilment in the death of Jesus Christ, after which the ‘letter’ of the law died but
the spirit of the law lived on, as it had before the ‘letter’ of the tablets were given.

6) The law of the Tabernacle construction

The construction was to be strictly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the
mount, it was the design and specification of God, “And look that thou make them
after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount” (Exodus 25:40).

Every detail of materials and craftsmanship was a physical manifestation of the word
of God previously spoken in His promises to the forefathers who all died in trust and
hope of their fulfilment. It was a material and tangible illustration of His covenant
revealed from the beginning, that by the life, death and resurrection of one man,
salvation by forgiveness of sins would be given to many - strictly in accordance to the
word of God.

That covenant - and the promises with it - had never been changed because they were
unalterable, according to the faithfulness of God. The word of the covenant of the
promises remains the same today, illustrated in the record of the Tabernacle from
which help can be gained in understanding what the will of God is today in Jesus
Christ. Therefore, no matter how talented, elevated or educated a man may be, he
was, and is not, permitted to add to or take away from the pattern by embellishments
or simplifications. These were the last words of Jesus given to John concerning the
whole message of the word of God which included the details of the tabernacle, “For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any
man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this

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prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,
and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22 v 18-19).

6.1) Reason for its construction and preserved record

The forefathers (Abel, Noah, Abraham and others) loved God because of His love for
them, and because of that love they ‘saw’ by faith the future fulfilment of the will of
God. They embraced the hope of salvation from the grave and abode by the
conditions God had set for inclusion in its promises. What God had said was enough
for them, and they believed that in God and His promises they ‘lived and moved and
had their being’ in hope (Acts 17 v 25-28, John 8 v 56, Hebrews 11 v 13, Matthew 13
v 16-17). By unswerving faith fortified by their love for God, God met and dwelt
among them by angelic messengers in order to continue to reveal the extent of the
promises of His covenant to reassure them in their faith. God loved the children of
these forefathers as He loved them and had a desire to dwell among them in order to
lead, guide, protect and deliver them ultimately from grave by the son who would
come out of their seed according to His promises, therefore He commanded the
tabernacle to be built that He may be with them to teach them of His faithful promises
that there is a way unto salvation, “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may
dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8).

The tabernacle was a practical illustration of the way of salvation provided as

‘vehicle’ to lead them to an understanding of how God would make the way unto
salvation possible, in order to convince them of His promises and so increase their
faith, so that they also could reciprocate the love of God by ‘seeing’ the will of God in
the way that their forefathers. This physical representation and accompanying strict
code of conduct was intended to ‘lead’ their mind to the greater fulfilment of what the
tabernacle and its ministrations represented, and in response to their faith God would
meet with them in the tabernacle, “And there I will meet with thee, and I will
commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims
which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in
commandment unto the children of Israel” (Exodus 25:22).

Even though the teaching of the tabernacle (and the subsequent temples) was
completed in Christ and therefore of no more authority since Christ, the same
schoolmaster (pedagogue - the childlike servant of the written law) can lead all who
study it to a greater understanding of the holiness of God and our natural uncleanness,
in order to understand the perfect manifestation of the law of God (and therefore of
God) in a mortal man, and to appreciate the mercy of God to give such help, and our
unworthiness to have any hope at all.

6.2) Overall layout

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There was a central tabernacle in the form of a tent surrounded by a court with a
boundary of white curtains. The tent was rectangular in plan and square in elevation
formed by a perimeter of vertical boards on the north, south, and west sides with a
curtained entrance on the east. The rectilinear structure was covered with cloths or
curtains, the outer one of which was waterproof being made of naturally blue seal-
skin. The tent was to be pitched with the entrance facing east.
Boundry screen

Tent of the Tabernacle Altar of burnt

offering

Gate
Laver

Court

The court was accessed by an embroidered curtain gate, which hung between pillars
on the eastern wall. Within the court moving westward from the gate there was the
brazen altar of burnt offering and between that and the tent was a brass laver
containing water for washing. The entrance to the tent on the east was by an
embroidered curtain supported by five gold-covered pillars.

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The tent was divided into two parts separated by a veil embroidered with cherubim
hanging on four gold covered pillars. The entrance compartment called the Holy Place
contained the altar of incense, the table of the showbread and the seven-branched
candlestick. Beyond the veil was Most Holy place containing the Ark of the Covenant
and the mercy seat upon it. The boundary wall of the court was made of white linen
curtains supported on pillars of brass with silver fillets and brass sockets and secured
in an upright position with stabilising cords and silver pegs.

The camp of the children of Israel surrounded the tabernacle in a three-tribe formation
on each of the four cardinal points of the compass. Between them and the tabernacle
were the tents of the Levites. The overall view was described by Balaam, “How
goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they
spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD
hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his
buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted” (Numbers 24 v 5-7)

6.3) Origin of the materials - a freewill offering

Thirty different materials were used in the making of the Tabernacle, from wood to
spices and metals to yarn and oil. These included 13 types of precious stone, 3 metals,
1 yarn, 8 spices, 3 dyes and olive oil. The three metals were gold, silver and brass of
which the weight of gold was 2430.23 kg (22545lb), silver was 4302.03 kg
(33430.3lb) and brass (c70% copper & c30% zinc) was 3681.52 kg (33991.6 lb). In

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volume the gold was a cube with 501mm (19.7”) sides, silver a cube with 742.9mm
(29.2”) sides and brass with 755.37mm (29.7”) sides.

Each of these basic materials had a particular significance both in God’s acceptance
of them and in the part they played in teaching the purpose of God in the construction
of the Tabernacle, of which the details and their individual and collective significance
will be discussed as each part is examined. Every piece of material (apart from silver)
was to be freely offered by any volunteering member of the congregation according as
they were moved to express their appreciation for their deliverance from Egypt and
the hope of an entrance into the land promised to them.

The origin of these materials (i.e. where the people of congregation got all of them
from) is not recorded except that when they were finally driven out of Egypt at the
time of the slaying of the firstborn, their Egyptian neighbours thrust upon them many
riches, in which way Israel ‘spoiled’ Egypt (Exodus 11 v 1-3 & 12 v 31-36). Thus
Israel were made rich, not by their own devices but because God gave them favour in
the eyes of those who despised them. Their wealth was therefore not their own, but
they were mere custodians of the spoils of Egypt, it was therefore in order that they
should give back to God what God had given them.

In this is taught the basic requirement of open-minded humility that is required of all
who come to God through Jesus Christ, and which was perfectly exemplified by Jesus
as an example for us to follow. He gave to God his whole life, his mind, his heart and
his soul (character) and finally his life in death on the cross, counting that as God had
given him life, He would give it back if he paid the price God required for deliverance
from the ‘Egypt’ of domination by the enmity to ‘freedom’ of the God’s Promised
Land. Jesus showed (prefigured in the spoiling of Egypt) that all things, animate and
inanimate are God’s, He created them, He gives life to use and enjoy them, such that
mankind are mere custodians. King David who later prepared for what was to become
known as Solomon’s temple declared what Jesus later demonstrated,
“Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand
is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto
all. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For
we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the
earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O LORD our God, all this store
that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine
hand, and is all thine own” (1 Chronicles 29 v 10-19).

While these riches were in Egypt they were for the glorification and satisfaction of
man, whether in personal indulgences or in idolatrous worship, and are analogous to
the ‘riches’ of the emotions of the heart (love, joy, faith etc) and the intellect of the
mind (understanding, obedience, meekness etc). There is no sin in possessing physical
and tangible riches (Abraham, Job and David were all wealthy) provided there is full
recognition that one is a humble custodian and uses them wherever possible for the
honour of God by the betterment of neighbours. This mind can only exist where the
intangible riches of the character (love, joy, mercy, grace, patience, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance and truth, Galatians 5 v 22-24, Exodus 34 v 6)
are given as a freewill offering to God as Jesus did without fault and thus manifested
his Father, God in his flesh, by character in his mortal body (I Timothy 3 v 16).

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All these materials (analogous to all virtuous emotions of the heart) were to be
willingly and freely given to God with one exception; Silver was to be given in the
form of a levy, a tax on every male from 20 years old and above and was defined and
as a ‘ransom for the soul’ (Exodus 30 v 11-16). A freewill offering has no selfishness,
no greed, no avarice, but displays a trust in God that what He has given He can give
again and more. Job had this uncomplicated open mind and thus was a shadow of the
perfection seen in Jesus, as a rich man Job lost everything by natural disaster and
robbery, but responded by saying, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1 v 21). The mind of the freewill offering is
that as God has freely given, so give freely to God and to others as Jesus showed and
taught who said, “freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10 v 8). Nothing
tangible can now be given to God, it is the riches of the heart and mind that now aught
to be given to God as the Proverb appeals, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine
eyes observe my ways” (Proverbs 23 v 26). Paul also wrote, “Every man according as
he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God
loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9 v 7).

The Tabernacle was completed its purpose in the death of Jesus Christ who fulfilled
all its teachings and became the living ‘Tabernacle’ in whom God will meet His
people and so the original tabernacle now serves as a guide and pedagogue to lead us
to a full understanding of Christ and the way of salvation. Jesus is the new tabernacle,
the temple to be made up of many living people (now dead and awaiting resurrection)
of whose characters the details of the Tabernacle teach, as Paul wrote, “Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2 v 5) and “Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians
3 v 16), and (1 Corinthians 6 v 19, 2 Corinthians 6 v 16, Ephesians 2 v 20-22). Thus
before any ‘building’ of faith can take place - the basis of the construction and service
of the house of God is taught in offerings of a freewill.

However, any freewill offering convenient to us is not acceptable to God - or indeed a

correct freewill offering - without the ‘levy’ of recognition that the freely offered
offering is not acceptable except by the price of the life of Jesus Christ, which price
was the ransom paid for deliverance from death. Silver was the levy placed upon
every male from 20 years old and upward, “When thou takest the sum of the children
of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto
the LORD……half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary” (Exodus 30 v 12-16,
Exodus 38 v 25-28). The word ransom has wide ranging uses as a ‘covering’, it
means to ‘cover over and seal’ or make safe as the ark of Noah was ‘pitched within
and without’ to make it watertight and thus a vessel of deliverance from death by the
flood. The soul is the character, the ‘person’ as they grow and that while all have
individual physiognomies, each also has a reputation, a character, and it is this that
God evaluates. The character of man in the eyes of God (as distinct to his bodily form
‘in the image of God’) is sinful and disobedient and He has decreed that for His mercy
of resurrection from the dead and the blessing of eternal life to been experienced, a
covering for the sins of the soul is required. God decreed that that covering could only
be provided by one man who died without committing any sin to mar his character,
and that by his death through the shedding of his blood that covering would be
provided - the price for redemption from the grave. Jesus Christ provided that

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covering - the ransom price (1 Corinthians 6 v 17-20, 1 Corinthians 7 v 23) - when he

died on the cross when not only was his blood shed but his whole life was finally
outpoured in completeness of service to God (John 17). God has chosen that the price
of his death (foretold from the beginning) is represented by silver as was confirmed in
a practical way (although the perpetrators had no idea what they were confirming) in
the betrayal of Jesus by Judas who received thirty pieces of silver for his crime
(Matthew 26 v 14-16) as foretold by Jeremiah (Zechariah 11 v 12-13), a price the
elders unwittingly called the price of blood (Matthew 27 v 6).

What those religious elders and Judas did not understand was why God had chosen
silver to represent the price of the shed blood of Jesus - His beloved son, and it was
for this reason that the males of the congregation of Israel were levied a half shekel of
silver as a ransom (covering) for their souls (sinful characters) to teach them (and all
generations following - including this generation) what His purpose was, why and
how it was to be fulfilled.

Silver is a white metal that takes a deep polish but in every-day use becomes tarnished
thus requiring constant care and attention in its storage and handling. The word that
God has spoken is white (righteous) but when implanted in our hearts and minds
(Psalm 119 v 11, Romans 2 v 13-15) requires regular deep polishing (Psalm 19 v 7-9).
Such is the word of God in the heart and mind, the written word is constant and
unchangeable but the learned and memorised word needs to be refreshed by reading
and re-reading, and the understanding re-polished on a daily basic otherwise the word
in the memory becomes tarnished and soon looks nothing like the word of God when
reflected in the character.

The word of God is described as “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalms 12 v 6). When that word is
‘handled’ by man (interpreted) it tarnishes very easily not because the word is faulty
(silver will always remain silver whatever use it is put to), but because of mans innate
ability to tamper with it, to devalue its teaching, to add to its commandments and to
take away the full value that God gave it (Revelation 22 v 18-19, Matthew 15 v 9).

If therefore the silver represents the pure word of God how is it the price of
redemption, i.e. the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross? The work of Jesus was to
fulfil the Word of God in his life, such that he became a living manifestation of the
written Word of God the word that spelled out the character of God (Exodus 34 v 6-7)
and his purpose (Amos 3 v7) and thus displayed that character (the Word) in a mortal
character and body of man. Paul later affirmed this mystery, “And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into
glory” (1 Timothy 3 v 16).

John explained (John 1 v 1-3) that God created the heavens and earth with His Word
(represented by refined silver) for the sole purpose of having the earth dominated by
His son who was in His image in both body and character i.e. sinless (Genesis 1).
Adam the first son of God proved to be a reprobate interpretation of that Word.
Reprobate silver is the pure metal with natural and added inclusions of baser elements
(in Adam and Eve’s case the serpents lie). God therefore continued the purpose of His
spoken Word in the raising up in due course another son who would not be reprobate

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but who would drive out all impurities of human nature by obedience to and
conforming with His spoken Word. By perfectly keeping and fulfilling every Word of
God which sole purpose was to expound the central message of the purpose of God
that a son of God would be a redeemer of man unto salvation, Jesus became the Word
spoken in the beginning i.e. the son that God created the earth for, he became a living
encyclopaedia of interpretation of the Word (the will and mind of God), a practical
lexicon of meaning to all the Words of God, to such an extent that John was inspired
to write of him as the ‘Word’ or literally the physical interpretation and manifestation
of that Word, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God” (John 1 v 1-3, Colossians 1 v 13-20). Thus Jesus became the Word
by fulfilling the Word, the refined untarnished dross-free silver of the ‘ransom
money’.

Every word of God is pure and righteous as refined silver is white and can never
change. Our use of however requires a lot of care and attention because as the ‘Word’
will remain unchanged our understanding and use of it is subject to the vagaries of
human nature (the enmity), and it is that ‘Word’ in our possession that becomes
tarnished with contact, and worse - contaminated with the dross of human opinion and
indulgence, so there is always the necessity to polish and re-polish our understanding
by reading and re-reading the word and comparing scripture with scripture always to
extract the pith of the word as it applies to us and not our neighbour becomes vital,
and to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to purge away the dross of our natural ability to
make allowances for the flesh.

For any freewill offering we may offer to God (our time, money, efforts, or even our
life), is not acceptable to God as was taught in the offerings for the Tabernacle, unless
there is an intelligent belief and confession of faith in the need for a ransom (covering
of Jesus Christ) for our own sins. The first act of offering is baptism. There then
begins a life-time offering of the emotions and desires of our character (soul), our
whole life in service to God.

6.4) The Tabernacle – the allegory

God commanded the Tabernacle to be built in order that He could dwell among His
people, “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And
they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land
of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God” (Exodus 29 v 45-
46).

It is the purpose of God to dwell among the work of His hands, the people He created
on a global scale (Psalm 24 v 1-4, Revelation 21 v 4-5). As God cannot co-exist with
disobedience (sin), mankind is naturally barred from this unity with God. Unity was
lost between God and man when God drove out man and woman from the Garden of
Eden and placed there the barrier of His angels with flaming swords (Genesis 3 v 22-
24).

Jesus came to restore unity with God (Isaiah 58 v 12) and said at the conclusion of his
work, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me” (John 14 v 6). Paul later confirmed that the way to salvation (and unity with God)
was by a new and living way, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for

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us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10 v 19-20) where the ‘holiest’
refers the ‘Most Holy Place’ of the Tabernacle (see previous figures) and represents
the immortal state as will be explained later.

The ‘way’ that Jesus made (Isaiah 58 v 12), from mortal body (susceptible to every
whim of the enmity) to immortality is allegorised in the Tabernacle’s construction and
the ‘way’ of the blood of the freewill and mandatory offerings at the entrance to the
outer court, to the entry of the High Priest once a year into the Most Holy Place
through the dividing veil. The reason for the construction of the Tabernacle on the
command of God was so that they would see and understand that for God to dwell
among His people, His people must undergo a radical change through traversing a
‘way’ which would be made possible by a son who although susceptible to sin would
not break any commandment and make that ‘way’ possible through his death. The
radical change that each and every member of God’s people must make is illustrated
in the various material and artefacts that make up the whole Tabernacle and the daily
ministrations thereafter.

6.5) Making the parts – the labourers

God chose Bezaleel of the tribe of Judah to lead a team of willing wise-hearted
volunteers to fabricate the parts of the Tabernacle, and appointed Aholiab to assist
him (Exodus 31 v 1-5) with Moses as the overseer (Exodus 39 v 43). Bezaleel was of
the tribe of Judah pre-figuring the greater son of God - Jesus Christ – who would also
be born of the tribe of Judah and who would lead the way in setting the form of the
spiritual house of God made up of many people by laying it’s foundation and setting
the pattern for all those parts. According to that figure God has given the work of
being built-up as a small piece in that spiritual building upon the foundation of Jesus
to all who come to Him by Jesus, a house wherein God will dwell for ever such that
Paul warned “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble. Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is” (1Corinthians 3 v 12-13).

Bezaleel had the characteristic qualities that set a skilled craftsman of excellence apart
from all others, and God has set him as a pattern of wise-master-craftsman to teach all
others who consider the Tabernacle about the spiritual wisdom and skill that would be
complete in Jesus, in order to show what are the required qualities that are to be seen
in every labourer.

Diligence and industry

Talented artificers have a natural ability to create tangible artefacts (wood, stone,
metal, textile, etc) or intangible art (math, science, service, etc) in whatever field they
apply themselves to, but this does not mean that they could not but succeed.
Irrespective of natural ability, skill at the highest level only comes with dedication to
achieving a goal that is focused upon in the eye of the artificer, and of the artisan
never being satisfied with having done enough. Diligence is a quality that every
skilled worker possesses and develops, it literally means ‘an urgency to improve’ on
the last effort in order to attain the highest standard of the art sector, and industry is to
exert oneself continually, to labour beyond all others in that art. Jesus perfected
diligence and industry in the art of service and obedience to God and thus set the
pattern of the way unto salvation, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our

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faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12 v 1-3, Hebrews 6
v 11-12, 2 Peter 1 v 5-11).

Patience
Part of the essential training of a skilled worker or artist is the need to develop
patience. Works of excellence cannot be rushed, there are no ‘corners’ to be cut or
short cuts, so God showed us through the work of Bezaleel that ‘instant’ salvation
does not exist, one cannot be ‘saved’ in one act of baptism, baptism is the start of a
process of developing wisdom in handling the word of God, of learning the art of
serving God – there are no short cuts, James instructs, “Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of
the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be
ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James
5 v 7-8).

Tenacity
In the course of producing works of excellence, skilled artificer’s overcome many
distractions, such as unexpectedly difficult materials and far from ideal working
conditions, fatigue, cumbrance of daily necessities, etc, but tenacity – to ‘hold fast’ to
a purpose, to ‘hold fast’ under intense stress without straining, – does not distract the
eye of the artistic craftsman from the goal set before them. Bezaleel would have
experienced many distractions as he worked in a desolate wilderness with no
established workshop or supply chain, but in less than 18 months he completed a
work of excellence according to the Divine pattern as shown to Moses in the mount.
Jesus Christ, the greater Bezaleel, endured distracting stress more than any other man
(Matthew 4, Hebrews 2 v 16-18, Hebrews 4 v 14-15) and yet brought forth in his
body a character of honour to God preceded or superseded by no other person.
Tenacity is to ‘stand firm’ or ‘hold fast’ as the Psalmist foretold of Jesus, “his heart is
fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid” (Psalm
112 v 5-9). Paul urged all others to follow Jesus example, “Watch ye, stand fast in the
faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16 v 13) and Jesus encouraged
others to follow him, “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown” (Revelation 3 v 11).

Attention to detail
There is a modern phrase ‘the devil is in the detail’, meaning that the most difficult
part of every job are the tiny details that set a ‘excellent’ work above the standard of
an ‘good’ work. So it is in reality - the devil, the enmity, Satan, the ‘world’ within our
heart - naturally prevents the fine details of the word of God to have their intended
work. Jesus drove out that devil and slew it every time it tempted him to ‘gloss-over’
some command of God, thus Jesus responded to the prompts of the enmity like no
other man has, “it is written” and thus slew the devil (Matthew 4 v 1-11). As a figure
of Jesus, Bezaleel attended to all the details from the micron fineness of the beaten
gold threads of the curtains to the straightness of the shittim wood planks of the tent
sides as shown to him by Moses, with the result that his work was approved by Moses
(Exodus 39 v 43) and God (Exodus 40 v 34-35).

Intra-inspection and humility

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There is no more critical eye of their own work than the skilled artist, the
craftsperson, they will know where every blemish is in their work even though the
expert eye of their fellow cannot see it. A skilled artificer is never satisfied at being at
the peak of his or her ability, self-critique is part of their training and that which
drives them forward to even better execution of their work. It is an inbuilt humility
that their best is never good enough. It is a process of intra-inspection and self
deprecating humility that while glory may follow the completed work, up to that time
examination of every aspect of the work is repeated over and over again, with the
mind that they may have fallen short of the standard set be the skilful Master of the
art. Such was Bezaleel who worked with self-inspection and attendant humility to
reach the standard Moses set him who in turn was instructed of God thus to become as
a forerunner and type of Jesus Christ, who after examining every word of God and its
intended meaning and purpose and his reaction to them, was able to say to God, “I
have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,
… …I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world ”
(John 17 v 4-6). After this example Paul instructs all others who build upon the
foundation of Jesus Christ, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove
your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13 v 5).

Inspiration
It is often asked of skilled artisans and talented artists from where they get their
inspiration to produce such works of excellence. Their inspiration is their love for the
art, their love for the dexterous craft, their love of the materials and the tools they use.
The faith of the Bezaleel was in the covenant of God and the promises they held, and
his love for these inspired him to apply himself to the task in hand. God works with
such faith and gave Bezaleel and his wise-hearted helpers the extraordinary abilities
necessary to create parts of the Tabernacle in order for them to manifest their faith in
his work (Exodus 31 v 1-6, Exodus 36 v 1-4). Jesus loved God more than any other
man or woman and that love inspired him to offer his life in service to God and to
develop the skilful talents of his heart to perfect the art of wise service of God and so
to lay the foundation of a house in which God would dwell among His people for
ever. As a result of his love for God, God gave him a copious measure of the Holy
Spirit to further his work (Luke 3 v 22). Jesus set the standard as the Master craftsman
so that others could be similarly inspired by smaller measures of the Holy Spirit from
God in order to be able to follow him to build upon his foundation (Ephesians 2 v 19-
22, John 14 v 15-17 & 26, 1 John 4 v 1-3).

Love is the virtuous quality that can only be described by the effects that it produces.
It is the virtue that drives an inspired skilled artisan beyond all other artisans to set
apart their work as unique. Wisdom - perfect skill - is from God who created the
heaven and the earth (Psalm 8) by His Holy Spirit. The creation of God is the perfect
work of art against which all other works fall or stand. As the ultimate skilled Master,
God has inspired others with wisdom through Jesus Christ by a small measure of the
Holy Spirit enough to continue His work, not to create a new physical world but a
new world of righteousness that will eventually be seen collectively in all the earth on
a perfected creation that has been marred by the curse due to the sin of man. His chief
worker was His Son Jesus Christ of whom king David was told, “And when thy days
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee,

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which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build
an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be
his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the
rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men” (2 Samuel 7 v 12-14).

God loves His creation and particularly loves His son who manifested Him perfectly
in his mortal body by the love that he reflected from his Father. That united love is
shared among others, that they also may reflect that love (1 John 4) and be inspired to
show the wisdom, art and skill of that love in the works of their life (Galatians 5 v 22-
23). Wisdom and skill in spiritual matters is based on fear (respect) and reverence for
God as it is written, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the
knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9 v 10) for which fear they are
blessed with small measures of the Holy Spirit enough to enlighten their eyes as to the
progressive changes that are required in their character.

Skill – wisdom.
Skill and wisdom are synonymous. Skill is a word used in modern language and
wisdom the word used in the Bible. Both mean ‘dexterous application of knowledge’.
However, for applied knowledge to become wisdom (or skill), understanding of the
knowledge is paramount. Knowledge alone will not make a skilled worker or an artist.
Understanding comes with practice, regular use and experience.

All knowledge comes from God who created the heaven and earth in His wisdom by
the power of His Holy Spirit “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by
understanding hath he established the heavens” (Proverbs 3 v 19), and “O LORD,
how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of
thy riches” (Psalms 104 v 24), (Revelation 4 v 11, Proverbs 8). When God created
man and woman He gave to them the ability to remember and apply knowledge both
in replicating the character of God in their body and in creating meaningful artefacts
to further their life in service to God. The Psalmist recognised this and asked God for
instruction, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom” (Psalms 90 v 12). All skill, whether by limb or mind (physical skill or
spiritual wisdom) is from God - given by Him in order for man to glorify Him.
However, the record of mankind shows that that ability to be skilful (wise) is used for
his own service as the wisdom of man, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them
that believe” (1 Corinthians 1 v 17-31).

God is the source of wisdom and skill. By creation of heaven and earth and all
‘nature’ therein (from the atom and molecule, man and the animals, to planets and
galaxies) the wisdom and skill of God is open for all to see and experience (Romans 1
v 20). Because of man’s misuse of the wisdom given him, God is even now creating a
new heaven and earth of ultimate beauty wherein will dwell righteousness (Isaiah 65
v 17-25).

All skilled craftspeople - wise in their art and craft - use the abilities God has given
them. Although God has used the physical skill in man to glorify Him (as with
Bezaleel and the wise-hearted, Solomon and his subjects, 2 Chronicles ch’s 2 -7) God
required man to attain to wisdom of the heart and mind by dexterous skill in the
application of the understanding of His word in the creation of a new house of

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righteous people He is building piece by piece, by the Holy Spirit with which He
created the heaven and earth. To lead in this work God raised up Jesus to be skilful in
manifesting the wisdom of God in a mortal body by overcoming and killing the
enmity within himself in order to create the foundation for a living house of many
people in whom He would dwell. As a figure of this God used Bezaleel and the wise-
hearted to manifest His wisdom in building a tabernacle of many members wherein
He would dwell among the children of Israel.

Even though a child may be born with the innate ability to become skilful in hand and
wise of heart, that ability will lay dormant unless training is given. Skill does not
develop spontaneously nor does wisdom grow naturally. Jesus was born with the
ability to serve God perfectly as every other child, but Jesus had an awareness of the
purpose of God from a young age through the teachings of his parents and reading the
word of God and applied himself to become dexterously skilful in the application of
every word and the purpose for which it was written, i.e. to show the character of God
in a mortal body, and thus to begin to build a tabernacle of people on earth in whom
God would dwell. At the age of 12 years Jesus said to his parents when they lost him
in Jerusalem, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my
Father's business?” (Luke 2 v 49). Where the word business means house.

Skill is developed by an intimate knowledge of the tools and material used – their
strengths and weaknesses, and the end use to which they are put. It is perfected by
continual repetitive practice with increased understanding at every stage of practice
and learning until all potential blemishes and errors are avoided. So it was written of
Jesus in the Psalms “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his
delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm
1 v 1-3).

A skilled artificer, an artist excelling at their work makes the craft look easy until the
same skill is copied and then the realisation of the work-experience, wisdom and skill
becomes apparent. As it was with Bezaleel, so it is with Jesus, nobody can replicate
his work.

The Tabernacle is a work of art of the highest order that sets out in a practical way the
wisdom and skill of God that was later fulfilled in a mortal man who paved the way
unto salvation by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. However,
Paul wrote that this wisdom of God is foolishness to the ‘wisdom’ of man, but “unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the
wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1 v 23-24). The Tabernacle and the ministrations in it
teach a crucified Christ without sin who by resurrection from the dead entered into the
state of immortality and made a way possible for others to follow him by the
forgiveness of their sins (Hebrews 10 v 16-2). This is the wisdom of God, it His skill
that is fulfilling it, and the finished work will be the most perfect work of art
(Revelation 21).

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6.6) The parts of the Tabernacle

The many parts of the Tabernacle were fashioned separately in the various tents of the
wise-hearted sojourning children of Israel, the gold and silver were refined, cast and
beaten to shape, the brass was smelted and cast, the timber hewn, sawn and fashioned,
the textiles woven and finished before they were all finally assembled. Every diverse
piece was made to fit its fellow before that assembly and each piece perfectly co-
joined its fellow on the day Moses was instructed (Exodus 40 v 17). The greater
purpose of God revealed in His covenant is that He has appointed a day (Acts 17 v
31) when a temple of righteous people will be assembled in whom God will dwell
(Revelation 21 v 1-4). On that day all the constituent members who will have been
made ready beforehand will be assembled an a unitary body, fellow to fellow bonded
together by the love of God where not one crack or missing part will be evident. As
Moses assembled the Tabernacle on the instruction of God, so likewise will Jesus
assemble the greater house of God on the day appointed by God at (Matthew 25 v 31-
46). That day is not yet present but is foretold by many of the promises and
prophecies. Each member will have been made ready separately in circumstances
peculiar to themselves but always after the pattern and example of Jesus Christ their
redeemer. Not one will be missing nor will there be any left out. Solomon who had
the same faith demonstrated this principle in the building of the temple for God in his
days, “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it
was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron
heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings 6 v 7). The building of the
greater house of God is likened to marriage after the example of the creation of Adam
and Eve, the original couple God had intended to dwell among. As Eve was ‘made a
woman’ (literally to be built up piece by piece) out of the rib of Adam (Genesis 2 v
21-25), so the greater companion of Jesus Christ has been and is being built up ready
for the final union when he returns. As with the Tabernacle, each piece will then have
been made ready and the multitudinous companion of Jesus will be finally built up
and presented to Jesus as is foretold, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to
him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”
(Revelation 19 v 7).

The final act of the assembly will be the anointing by the Holy Spirit in its fullness,
which means a change of nature from mortality to immortality, “For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15
v 50-58, 1 Thessalonians 4 v 15-17, John 6 v 39-40). The final act of Moses foretold
this same event to confirm that the promise of God has never changed “And thou shalt
anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, .. .. ..And thou shalt sanctify
them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy” (Exodus
30 v 22-33, Exodus 40 v 9-16).

6.7) The Ark of the Covenant

This is the most important item in the Tabernacle, the focal point of all that the
Tabernacle teaches. After it’s construction and placing in the Most Holy place (the
inner sanctuary of the tent of the Tabernacle) it was never to be seen by mortal eyes
again - apart from the High Priest alone who once a year on the day of Atonement
who was to enter the Most Holy place to sprinkle blood for the remission of the sins
of his family and of the people as a congregation (Leviticus 16 v 2-3, & 34). At all
other times it was to be shielded from view by the veil separating the Most Holy from
the Holy place. When the children of Israel journeyed and the Tabernacle was

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dismantled the separating veil was first to be lowered and laid over the Ark of the
Covenant which was then to be covered with the covering of badger skins (see
‘Fourth and outer covering – badgers skins’ of the Sanctuary p61) and then again with
a cloth of blue (Numbers 4 v 5-6), and not even those appointed to the work of
transportation (the Kohathites of Levi) were permitted to see the Ark (Numbers 4 v
18-20). Such was the holiness and sanctity of the Ark of the Covenant. The pattern
was created by God and given to Moses to be as a type and figure of the promised
perfected son of God in his realised hope of the glory of the promise of eternal life -
after his progression from unblemished sacrifice to glory through suffering and death
(the whole Tabernacle teaching). It represented the centre of the purpose of God, that
over that Ark, God would meet and dwell with His people (Exodus 25 v 22).

The Ark was made in two significant parts, there was the body of the Ark with an
upper ledge and crown in which was located a covering lid called the Mercy Seat, out
of which were beaten two cherubim on either end whose faces were inwards toward
the Ark and whose wings arched over to cover the Ark. Both constituted the Ark of
the Covenant and were of no use separately. So holy was this assembly that even
when covered with its coverings from prying eyes during transportation it was never
to be touched directly, and for this purpose two staves were passed through two rings
each side as a permanent part of the assembly in order for the priests to carry the Ark
on their shoulders. The importance of the Ark was confirmed in that when the
congregation journeyed during the 40 year wandering through the wilderness
(Numbers 14 v 33) it was the Ark that led the way borne on the shoulders of the
priests (Numbers 10 v 33-36) until they finally entered the land of promise when it
was the ark that stood in the dry bed of the river Jordan as the congregation passed
over (Joshua 3). The Tabernacle taught that the Ark of the Covenant was the focal
point of the whole construction and assembled congregation, even as Jesus Christ is
the focal point of the whole of the purpose of God and the (to be) assembled saints.
After this example ordained by God through His law of the Tabernacle, Jesus was
able to fulfil the teaching as he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14 v 6), and Paul later taught, “Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh” (Hebrews 10 v 15-23).

The construction of the body of the Ark confirmed the teachings of the promises of
God that a new way to eternal life (after the old way was closed by mortality -
Genesis 3 v 19-24) by forgiveness of sins would be made possible i.e. that a mortal
man would display the love of God in his body through obedience to the instruction of
the wise Master, that he would comply to the directions of His skilled hand, that he
would suffer in order to overcome his natural inclination to rebel, that he would die in
conclusion of that service and that he would be raised from the grave and anointed
with everlasting life - elevated to the presence of God, through whom God would
meet and dwell with a people on earth.

The body of the Ark was made from shittim wood, hewn down, de-barked, planked
and cut to size, jointed and finally overlaid within and without with gold. Shittim
wood is prepared from the thorny acacia (Black acacia, Mimosa Nilotica) that thrived
in the arid wildernesses of the Sinai peninsular. The thorns are so strong that that
hardy desert cattle are afraid to approach so fierce were their thorns. In its natural

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stand in the uncultivated wilderness the fiercesomely thorny tree is a symbol of

human beings - created originally peaceful and friendly in the image of God - but
cursed with the enmity to stand in a wilderness of godlessness manifesting a fearsome
and piercing reputation for aggression against the word and authority of God, but out
of which tree an almost imperishable fine grained insect-resistant heartwood can be
used after all the thorns, bark and sapwood are removed. Jesus Christ was born as a
mortal man of flesh and blood (son of man, Adam) in the wilderness of mankind, but
by application of the word of God he removed all the effects of the thorns of the
enmity, the lightweight bark of outward vanity, the weak sapwood of indulgence in
order to become in fullness the son of God. In the figure that God used (the black
acacia tree in the wilderness of mankind), Jesus lived as a mortal man shaped and
fashioned by God who separated himself by obedience to God from the forest of his
fellows, removed the effects of the enmity from his character, made himself of no
reputation by removing the bark of respectability and cut away the weak sapwood of
vanity to allow his character – his heart and mind – to be fashioned by Gods word into
a vessel of His choice. The response of his fellows was to cut him down. Thus in the
figure the acacia was cut down, the thorns, bark and sapwood removed, when the
heartwood was then shaped by the inspiration of God in the hand of Bezaleel,
conditioned, sanded, jointed and built up into the body of the Ark of the Covenant
ready to be overlaid within and without with pure gold (Exodus 25).

Gold
There are about 0.2 milligrams of gold in every human body. Apart from gold being
the most noble metal of all the elements of the Periodic table and therefore of great
value to mankind, God has chosen it to represent the most noble characteristic that
can be possessed but which is not easily found in man by nature, it has to be searched
for and prepared before it’s effects become visible. God searched for this quality in
Job by trial and testing as Job also searched himself, and Job recognised this process
as he underwent the test of his love for God, “But he knoweth the way that I take:
when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.. .. .. For God maketh my heart soft”
(Job 23 v 10-16).

Despite its noble properties, pure gold is so soft that it has little practical isolated uses
for man apart from its intrinsic value and ornamentation. However God has chosen
gold not for is desirability or value, but to use its preparation and subsequent intrinsic
properties to teach mankind of His noble characteristics that He was seeking to be
reflected and demonstrated in His greater son Jesus Christ.

Gold is extracted from the earth and washed of obvious waste matter. After the
obvious waste matter of stones, rock and soil have been removed, it is then sifted
(panned) to remove the fine but loose unwanted elements of fine grains of sand and
dust by finer and finer sieves. In due course, many common elements are removed
and the sifted gold appears to be the dominant element but it will be known by the
gold refiner that contained within the grains of gold are impurities that will retard its
ability to be sufficiently soft and malleable to be shaped correctly and hence to realise
its true value. These impurities can only be removed by raising the temperature of the
gold to it’s melting point (approximately 1000° C) when the impurities separate from
the gold like oil separates from water and solidify as a brittle flake as the gold cools
and is then easily removed when the gold is cold like chaff from grain. One heating
process does not remove all the impurities, and so the gold must be repeatedly heated

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in the furnace to obtain the purest of gold where at each stage of the refining it is
assayed (weighed) against a known standard until it is exactly the same weight per
mass.

It is a rare metal but not the rarest, its abundance being 73rd out of the approximately
100 elements, being distributed throughout the earth and the sea, but in such minute
disparate agglomerations that it defies the most of the attempts of man to gather it. It
is estimated that there are 10 million tons of gold in the oceans and seas. In the soil
and earth crust it is less abundant but is like an illusive but very real golden thread
that intertwines the creation of God.

Gold that God has created has 3 significant properties and uses them to represent His
love to be reciprocated in man, 1) it cannot tarnish or corrode, 2) it is the most
malleable of all metals and 3) the most ductile of all elements.

1) Gold’s inability to tarnish or corrode. Tarnishing and corruption result from the
process of oxidation at the atomic (smallest) level. It is the term used to describe the
process of bonding an oxygen atom to any other atom from which bond comes
corrosion and tarnishing such as rust (in steel and iron), and tarnishing (in silver and
brass). God has created the atom of gold (the fundamental entity) such that oxygen
does not bond with it, thus when gold has been purified of all other trace elements
including contaminating dross it will remain unaffected by oxygen, i.e. untarnished
and incorruptible in our atmosphere. It is incapable of corruption and cannot lose its
ability to transmit and irradiate incident light.
It is written of the love of God “Charity never faileth”(1 Corinthians 13 v 4-8) where
charity is the love of God (agape). That love is manifest in the word of God by which
it was written, and of that word it is written, “Every word of God is pure” (Proverbs
30 v 5) and of God, whose word it is, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither
the son of man, that he should repent” (Numbers 23 v 19), and again, “He is the Rock,
his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32 v 4), and again, “…. that the LORD is upright:
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalms 92:15), and again,
“God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1 v 13),
Habakkuk writes “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on
iniquity” (Habakkuk 1 v 13). As God is incorruptible so also is the love of God. It is
incorruptible, it cannot be tarnished and it is that which inspired the writing, recording
and preservation of the word of God without corruption, contradiction or error, and
which raised up a saviour for corruptible man (tarnished with temptation and sin) in
order for him to be made incorruptible by the gift and mercy of God. That love was
manifest perfectly in Jesus Christ, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4). Jesus died for the sins of his friends that they
also may be embraced in the love of God as he told them “This is my commandment
,That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you” John 15 v 12-14). John expanded the beauty of the love of God in His
purpose and promises, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4
v16).

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Gold therefore stands out as the symbol God has chosen for the demonstration and
outworking of His love in a people who reflect and reciprocate that love. Gold bears
no comparison with any other metals or elements, it has no look-a-likes and no
substitutes even as the love of God has no substitutes as Paul wrote of look-a-like
brass which easily tarnishes, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal”(1
Corinthians 13 v1 where charity is the love of God (agape). The love of God (agape)
is untarnished and incorruptible.

2) Malleability of gold. It is the property that enables metal to be formed and beaten
into complex shapes without fracture. Gold is the most malleable of all metals. It can
be beaten and rolled into extraordinarily thin sheets without stress hardening and
cracking. It is reported that a single gram of gold can be beaten into a sheet of 1
square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet, 0.0000071” (0.000018cm) thick, and
can be beaten so thin (0.000005inches, 0.000013cm) with out loss of bonding that it
becomes translucent allowing the brilliance of light to transmit through, thus
irradiating the sheet as if it were a sheet of light. It is prophecied of the glorified saints
that they will irradiate the light and love of God with Jesus Christ (Revelation 21 v
18-23).

God is light (1 John 1 v 5, James 1 v 17) and He is love (1 John 4 v 8 & 16). From
Him comes all physical and spiritual light, He created the sun, moon and the stars to
give life and light on earth and it is only through the ‘light’ of His love written in His
word that the hope of salvation can be embraced. The Psalmist wrote of God, “For
with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalms 36 v 9 where
‘in thy light’ was Jesus Christ and the ‘light’ to be seen was the love of God in him).
John declared the he came as a witness to the ‘light’ of God in Jesus Christ (John 1 v
7-9) and Jesus taught, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8 v 12). In order for Jesus to fulfil
that statement he needed to fully reflect the love of God in the sacrifice of his mortal
body on the cross, at which death he would finally unite the light of God with the love
of God in one body, demonstrating that these two (light and love) are inseperable. The
more love is refining by the fire of the Spirit and undergoes beating by trials and tests
of faith (1 Peter 4 v 12-14) the brighter the light irradiates (Proverbs 4 v 8) and the
individual bonds of love strengthen to allow such incomprehensible thinness that is
unattainable in any other medium, invisible to the human eye and incomprehensible to
the mind of the flesh (1 Corinthians 2 v 14). Such is why God chose gold to represent
His love purified in one man (His son Jesus Christ) in order to reflect the brillaince of
the light of His truth in resplendent glory in a multitude (Matthew 17 v 1-7,
Revelation 1 v 13-16). The love of God (agape) is extraordinarily kind and soft, “The
LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145 v 9).

3) Ductility of gold. It is the property that allows the metal to be drawn or pulled into
fine threadlike filaments without failure of individual bonds of every gold atom. The
love of God is encompassed within the character of God described in His name,
“Merciful, gracious, long suffering, full of goodness and truth” (Exodus 34 v 5-7). It
is a name and character of love that will never fail. It is a name of love that has been
drawn out to man like an everlasting filament of mercy and grace even as gold can be
drawn (or stretched) into filaments too small in cross section for the eye to see. One

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gram of gold can be stretched into a 4micron x 4micron section filament 3200 metres
long without breaking or one ounce into a 50 mile-long filament. Thus it is declared
of God, “for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalms 107 v 1) and of the love of God
“for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals
of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither
can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it
would utterly be contemned” (Song of Solomon 8 v 6-7). If death is the strongest
event in the experience of man then the love of God is stronger than that, for where
man forgets and loses everything upon death, God will never forget those that reflect
His love but will raise them from the grave in the fullness of His purpose in the
fullness of time. God is jealous (Exodus 34 v 14) and all that reflect His love jealously
guard their faith against all assault of the flesh. Love burns like a fire and consumes
anything that is against God, it has the intense heat of zeal (John 2 v 13-17, Jeremiah
20 v 9). When the love of God becomes sealed in a heart nothing but the possessor
can loose it, floods of hatred, torrents of animosity, waves of temptation, or any other
flow or current of affliction can remove or weaken that love (Romans 8 v 38-39). The
love of God cannot be bought with money, it is only attainable by humility of mind,
contriteness of spirit and softness of heart.

The love of God (agape) is extraordinarily long suffering, patient and far-reaching as
the faith it is bonded to. Gold represents the love of God. The love of God
encapsulates the virtues of His name (mercy, graciousness, patience, goodness and
truth). That love will never fail. For man it is possible to have strong faith even unto
martyrdom but still not have the love of God (1 Corinthians 13), but it is not possible
to have love of God without faith, but love is greater than faith. As gold must be
purified by fire and weighed after each purging so the preparation of love with faith is
by trial and testing. For Noah it was patience, faith and hard work, for Abraham
patient waiting as a sojourner and stranger for a land that he never possessed, for
Joseph and David it was being hated and then elevated to positions of temptation, for
Moses the burden of responsibility, for Jeremiah being despised and downtrodden and
for Jesus all of these and more (Hebrews 4 v 15, Hebrews 11).

As gold can be beaten into infinitely intricate shapes so the love of God with faith
makes its holder so docile that they never resist the direction of God through His word
or by circumstance brought on them through obedience to His word. As gold can be
tensioned into extraordinarily long filaments without failure so the love of God with
faith will never break under the strain of patient endurance in waiting for fulfilment of
the promises of God. As gold never tarnishes, so temptation is increasingly resisted as
their hope intensifies of having their natures changed to become incorruptible as Jesus
now is, never to know temptation or sin again (Revelation 21 v 4) when Jesus Christ
returns to the earth.

The ark, Mercy seat and Cherubim construction.

The timber body of the ark was constructed from shittim wood and overlaid within
and without with gold. The dimensions of the ark are recorded, but the thickness of
the wood sections are not. How the gold was adhered to the wood and how thick the
gold was we are not told. It is not therefore important to know except that the
adhesion of the gold to the wood would have been as secure as the love of God was
inseparable from the flesh, bone and body of Jesus Christ, for even as the Jews were
able to kill his body they were unable to quench his love, his love was stronger than

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death. Gold has the unique ability to be cold bonded which means that if 2 sheets are
seamed together and repeatedly hammered the atoms and molecules of the contacting
faces will securely bond, whereas in other metals they need to be heated, soldered and
welded.

In a practical way if four priests were to carry the ark on their shoulders by means of
the two staves then the most a man can be expected to carry for long periods over
uneven ground would be in the region of 40kg (88lb). If so then the weight of the ark
was in the region of a maximum 160kg which would make the boards of shittim wood
(density 1170kg/m3) some 15mm (5/8”) thick and the gold within and without some
1/2mm (0.02”) with the Mercy Seat estimated at 1 talent (83.59kg, 184lb). Whilst
there is no significance in these estimates (and that is all they are) it does make the
details that are given, accurate and practical.

The cherubim
Cherubim are angelic personages either literal and real, or figurative. For an example
of literal and real read Genesis 3 v 24 “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the
east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way,
to keep the way of the tree of life”. These were angels, messengers of God who carry
out only His commands having no independent will. However, Jesus summarised the
promise of the covenant of God to those who come to God through faith in Jesus,
“For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the
angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22 v 30-32). The cherubim therefore are both
literal (the angels who even now do the will of God in the earth) and figurative - the
elect, the saints, the glorified believers. To confirm this dual representation, the Most
Holy Place in the Tabernacle had representations of both cherubim - angels and saints
- who in the fullness of time will be one. The dividing curtain (the veil) separating the
Ark, Mercy Seat and golden cherubim from the rest of the tent, had cherubim woven
into its fabric (to be considered later in detail) and was the barrier that nobody could
cross without pain of death except the High priest once a year. That veil was rent in
two upon Jesus death thus signifying that the cherubim (angels) guarding the way to
the tree of life (Genesis 3 v 24) were no longer needed as Jesus had done what was
required to make the way possible to eternal life (John 14 v 6, Hebrews 10 v 20). If
therefore the cherubim of the veil were angels then to complete the teaching the
cherubim of the ark (Mercy Seat) were the saints elect.

As the angels have no individuality but are one with God i.e. do only His will, then so
likewise must be the saints elect and indeed this is what is taught in the construction
of the Mercy Seat, the cherubim are not separate bodies joined to the Mercy Seat, but
are beaten out of the same piece of gold, and have there faces (countenances, that by
which they are known, theirs characters) toward the Mercy Seat with their wings
(humility of spirit that allows them to become buoyant by the Holy Spirit and so rise
above the mean and beggarly things of the flesh) stretched over the Mercy Seat, thus
covering it, or as the word cover means in this passage, ‘to enclose and defend as
precious’ (Exodus 37 v 6-9, Mark 14 v 47, Matthew 26 v 35). That which the saints
defend as precious, that out of which they are formed is the Mercy Seat.

The Mercy Seat is an English phrase translated from Hebrew for a propitiatory
meaning to be ‘favourable, kind and conciliatory by expiation of sin’. The Mercy Seat
alone could not expiate sin, it required the blood of a sin offering for it to realise the

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use that God intended. God commanded that this association be completed once every
year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) when the High Priest alone was to enter
within the veil and sprinkle the blood of two animals on the Mercy Seat. The first
animal was a young bullock as a sin offering for the High Priest and the second was a
goat as a sin offering for the people, teaching that Jesus first obtained to the mercy of
God and then followed by his friends (1 Corinthians 15 v 23). This shed blood
completed the Mercy Seat - the expiation, the propitiation, the forgiveness and
blotting out of sin by God.

The name of God (merciful, gracious, long suffering abundant in goodness and truth,
Exodus 34 v 6-7) is encapsulated in this propitiation (Mercy Seat) and it is that name
that Jesus came to manifest and fulfil in a mortal body (John 17 v 4, 6, 11, 12 & 26)
where he gave his life in service and for which he ultimately died by literal shedding
of his blood (to complete what he had done with his life), so that he could become the
propitiation of the sins of his friends – to cover and wipe them out, as he said
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15 v 13). Paul later confirmed this for us, “Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3 v 24-25), and John
(1 John 2 v 1-2, 1 John 4 v 10).

The Mercy Seat was where God would meet with His people (Exodus 25 v 21-22) and
Jesus tells us that no man could approach to God but by him (John 14 v 6). The Mercy
Seat - the propitiation – was Jesus Christ and out of him are to be made the cherubim,
the saints made into angels. These angelic saints will have no identity of their own
even as the angels of God have none of their own, but their identity is of Christ as
taught in the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle they were beaten out of the one piece of
gold (the love that Jesus had for His Father and that He had for Jesus) that made the
Mercy Seat.

Thus love of Gold is represented by the properties of refined pure gold, God loved
Jesus (Matthew 3 v 17), Jesus reciprocated that love for God (John 14 v 31), and Jesus
in turn loved his friends (John 15 v 9-10) and they reciprocate his love (John 14 v 15).
To complete the promise of God, God loves the friends through Jesus His beloved son
(John 14 v 21 & 23) and they likewise reflect the love from God through Jesus (1
John 4).

Contents of the Ark

The two tables of stone hewn from the earth by Moses with the ten commandments
written with the finger of God were placed in the body of the ark (Exodus 25 v 16,
Exodus 34 v 1-4), along with a pot of manna (Exodus 16 v 33-34) and the almond rod
that budded (Numbers 17 v 8-10). The two tables of stone represent the heart and soul
of Jesus hewn in a mortal body from the ‘earth’ of the human race, upon which God
inscribed His word by the willing submission of Jesus to every jot and tittle (dots of
the i’s and crosses of the t’s, every detail) of His law. The pot of manna was a portion
of the bread God sent from Heaven to give life to a people who otherwise would have
starved to death (Exodus 16) to learn that man doth not live by bread alone, ‘but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live’ (Deuteronomy
8 v 2-3) and represented the body of Jesus in which the law was fulfilled of which

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Jesus declared “I am that bread of life” (John 6). The almond rod that budded and
bore almonds (Numbers 17) represented the choice of God above all other candidate-
men to bear the first fruits of righteousness to His glory, even as almonds in that
locality blossom before all others and bear fruit by March (Colossians 1 v 12-20).

Conclusions concerning the Ark

The Ark of the Covenant led the congregation to the Promised Land through their 40
year long wilderness journey of hope “to search out a resting place for them”
(Numbers 10 v 33-36) as a prefigurement of the life of Jesus Christ who led his
‘friends’ through the wilderness journey of human nature by forging an unblemished
path of obedience to God. The final barrier was the river Jordan overflowing its banks
in a spring flood (Joshua 3 v 15) chosen by God to represent the downward flow of
humanity from the heights of Mount Hermon (man created ‘very good’ Genesis 1 v
31) through the swelling of the banks of pride to the stagnant lifeless state of the grave
in the Dead Sea summarised in His curse upon man (Genesis 3 v 19), to show that
there was no hope of any entry into the promises of His covenant without a saviour.
God provided that saviour in Jesus Christ (the Ark of the Covenant) who because of
Jesus’ victory over his own nature in death God stopped the flow of life into an
eternal grave. God commanded the congregation to follow the Ark at a distance of
about 2000 cubits to represent the time distance between the death and resurrection of
Jesus to the time of the resurrection of his friends, about 2000 years, “Yet there shall
be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near
unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this
way heretofore” (Joshua 3 v 4).

The Ark, the Mercy Seat and the contents represent Jesus Christ, a mortal man
without sin made immortal bearing on his shoulders the saints (the cherubim) his
multitudinous bride as shown in the fulfilment of the greater Solomon in the Song of
Solomon, “King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. He made
the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the
midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem” (Song of
Solomon 3 v 9-10) where chariot is a palanquin, a carriage born aloft on the
shoulders. (Revelation 14 v 1-5).

6.8) The veil, pillars and sockets

God commanded, “And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: And thou shalt
hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of
gold, upon the four sockets of silver” (Exodus 26 v 31-32). The veil separated the
Most Holy Place (where the Ark of the Covenant was) from the daily ministrations of
the priests in the Holy Place, in order to represent the separation of mankind from the
Garden of Eden and access to the Tree of Life (eternal life) because of the curse of the
enmity enforced by the cherubim with flaming swords (Genesis 3 v 22-24). When
Jesus Christ died that separation was removed “And the veil of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom” (Mark 15 v 38) and Jesus became the ‘restorer of
the breach’ and the ‘repairer of the path’ (Isaiah 58 v 12), he became the ‘new and
living way’ unto salvation (Hebrews 10 v 19-20).

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The embroidery in the veil depicted cherubim to remind the congregation of the
angelic cherubim with the flaming sword who barred the way to the Tree of Life and
who led them in the wilderness (Exodus 23 v 20-25, Joshua 5 v 13-15) and, that one
would come who would supplant those guardians by applying the ‘flaming sword’ of
the Holy Spirit to kill every temptation of the enmity within himself according to the
wisdom of God as Paul later explained of Jesus, “Being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they”
(Hebrews 1 v 4-14), and so himself become the guardian of the Tree of Life, - the
door to salvation, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and
shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10 v 9) and the entrance to eternal life, “I
am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and
have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1 v 18), and the doorkeeper “To him
that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God” (Revelation 2 v 7).

The veil was hung on hooks of gold affixed to shittim wood pillars overlaid with gold
and located in silver sockets. The veil would have been of no use without the four
pillars forming the doorposts of the entrance to be crossed once a year only by the
appointed High Priest. The posts were of shittim wood overlaid with pure gold, and as
in the Ark of the Covenant, represented mortal flesh and blood immortalised by the
love of God and seen only in Jesus Christ as the pillar and founder of salvation. Jesus
stood for, and in, the truth of the word of God as it is written of him in the Psalms,
“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do
thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40 v 7-8) and Jesus
testified, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18 v 37) of which truth Jesus prayed to
God, “thy word is truth” (John 17 v 17) and of which word the Psalmist wrote, “The
words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified
seven times” (Psalms 12 v 6). So God ordained that these four pillars should stand in
sockets of silver upholding the veil as guardian to the Tree of Life, the Ark of the
Covenant - the representation of Jesus Christ in immortality.

The silver was not any freely donated silver, it was a divinely ordained tax levied to
focus the mind of every member of the congregation that it would be essential that a
price must be paid as a ransom to buy them from their kidnapped captivity to the
enmity, the devil, Satan and human nature within each one of them. So Israel were
commanded and their record teaches us with benefit of hindsight, “When thou takest
the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a
ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no
plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that
passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the
sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the
LORD” (Exodus 30 v 12-16, Exodus 38 v 25-27). The Hebrew word ransom used has
a different meaning in the original than we use it, its sense was a ‘covering’ or
‘atonement’ for sin in order to be saved. It is otherwise translated as ‘pitch’ when
Noah ‘pitched the ark within and without’ to make it watertight and therefore save
him and his family from death, it is the same word translated ‘Mercy Seat’ - the
propitiation - covering the body of Ark of the Testament (Covenant). Thus everybody
was reminded that a price for a covering for their sins would be needed to be paid in
order for them to be expiated by the propitiation, i.e. sins covered and blotted out for

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ever. This price was the life and blood of Jesus Christ who manifested the character of
God in a mortal body “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3 v 16), He was
the Word made flesh, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth” (John 1 v 14), the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel”(Immanuel meaning God with us, Isaiah 7 v 14).

Silver is in the same group 11 in the periodic table of elements with gold created by
God, it is slightly harder than gold but has similar malleability and ductility (1 gram
can be drawn into a wire 2000 metres long and beaten so thin that it becomes almost
transparent). The chief characteristic is its reflectivity of incident white light due to
the extraordinary sheen it takes upon polishing giving it it’s white appearance. God
chose to use silver to represent His word, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as
silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalms 12 v 6). The purifying
process is done by heat and a strong passage of air across the molten surface that
carries away the evaporated oxidised impure elements. The word that God spoke and
had recorded was entirely pure and remains pure to this day, but the reading and
interpretation of that word introduces foreign impure elements that can only be
removed from the mind by application of the heat of trial and testing because of
obedience to it, and simultaneously the free passage of the ‘air’ of the Holy Spirit to
remove private interpretations and so purify the understanding, “Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1 v 20-21), and “All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3 v 16-17) and as Tyndale the translator of the Holy
Bible form Hebrew to English advised “As thou readefte therfore thinke that every
fillble (syllable) pertayneth to thyne awne filf (self), and sucke out the pithe of the
fcripture, and arm thy filf agaynft all affaultes (assaults - of our nature)” (The
Pentateuch, Apologue, p12, 1st ¶, William Tyndale 1525). Jesus Christ alone stood
perfectly upright in this word like the pillars holding the veil, so that he became the
living manifestation of the word of God and a witness to the full meaning of the name
of God (merciful, gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth),
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the
works” (John 14 v 10). Such is the significance of the silver sockets in which the
pillars of the veil stood.

God has not chosen the mighty of this world or famous to fulfil the promises of His
promises, He has chosen the humble, lowly and despised by man to manifest himself
through, as Paul wrote, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of
the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are
not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1

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Corinthians 1 v 26-29). So materials used in the making of the veil were of the lowest
order of all species, and a plant, a bi-valve seashell, a gastropod shell and a worm.
The veil was made of fine twined linen, embroidered with blue, purple and scarlet
threads.

Fine twined linen

The root and meaning of the word linen is ‘white’ used also to describe the lily and
white marble and from which ‘whiteness’ comes ‘byssus’ a pure white cloth of cotton,
flax or silk used in ancient times to symbolise purity (Genesis 41 v 42, Proverbs 31 v
22). The word linen in the Tabernacle is pure white cotton what is now known as
Egyptian cotton, the strongest, longest lasting natural fabric owing to the longer
length of individual fibres. The production of cotton thread is well known and it is
with purpose that God has chosen fine twined (cotton) linen to represent righteousness
as it is written, “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19 v 8). The
fundamental cotton fibre is inextricably linked with the seed of the parent plant in the
same way that righteousness cannot be separated from the seed of the word of God, as
a single cotton fibre is attached to a seed of cotton. In the natural, when the seed is
fully formed and the 2½ - 1¼-inch long (6.2 - 3cm) fibre is mature and of use to the
husbandman the fibre is separated from the seed and the dirt (trash) is forcibly
removed from the fibre during several processes. After bailing the fibres are separated
and longitudinally aligned to form ravings or ropes ready for twisting into twine, thus
many pure white fibres tightly unite and bind tightly together to form a cord or thread
that can then be woven into the warps and wefts of cloth. Every word of God is a seed
from which is attached a strand of obedience intermingled with the trash of temptation
to rebel, as each of these pricks of obedience resists the lusts of rebellion so the trash
is slowly removed from the fibre of obedience, and as more and more words of God
are understood and obeyed so the bundles of righteous thoughts accumulate in the
mind and heart and require aligning and realigning to begin to form the godly
characteristics of the believer (“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5 v 22-23) until more and more words are
understood and more and more trash of the flesh is removed and the twisting and
twining of trial forms the threads of a godly character which then is woven into a
covering of righteousness. As obedience, faith and belief increase in the word of God
“For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5 v 19), “.. .. faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10 v 17), and “Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4 v 3) so the twisting and
twining of the trials and testing because of obedience to the word of God become
finer and tighter until fine twined linen of righteousness is achieved. Jesus Christ
alone attained to righteousness though he was ‘in all points tempted like as we are’
yet was without sin (Hebrew 4 v 15), and “For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10 v 4).

By the fine twined linen God taught Israel and all who read His law that righteousness
is of His word alone and that only one man Jesus Christ has ever been able to fulfil
every word. Righteousness means ‘justified through faith’ in every word of God, all
His promises and each command, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3 v 23-28) where justified means
‘balanced’ as a beam of a weighing balance pivots over a fulcrum, where every word

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of God is on one side pan balanced against faith and actions on the other pan, hence
the cry of the righteous, “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know
mine integrity” (Job 31 v 6) where God controls the balance “All the ways of a man
are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits” (Proverbs 16 v 2) and
“The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the
just” (Isaiah 26 v 1-11).

Blue
Interwoven within the white fine twined linen were blue, purple and scarlet threads. In
all God’s works His eyes are toward the humble and lowly in spirit, the despised and
those of no value to the human eye. Thus Jesus was despised and ejected by his fellow
countrymen and over 2/3rds of the world population today, “For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and
we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him no”
(Isaiah 53 v 2-3).

Blue dye comes from one of the lowest creature in the order of created beings, a bi-
valve shellfish the cerulean mussel, the Mediterranean Blue Mussel (Mytilus
galloprovincialis). Cerulean is the deep blue of the Mediterranean sky, the colour
chosen by God to represent the promise of His covenant of everlasting life for mortal
man through Jesus Christ as demonstrated when the elders of the congregation met
angels at the foothills of Sinai and “man ate angels food” (Psalm 78 v 25) as it is
written, “And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a
paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness”
(Exodus 24 v 10) the shade of sapphire used here is cerulean blue. The same cerulean
blue was incorporated in the dress code of every member of the congregation to typify
their walk and life to be within the bounds of the commandments and promises of
God embedded in His covenant, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that
they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations,
and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue”, which was the
hem of Jesus garment that the sick woman was healed by when she touched it after
failure of all other remedies, “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an
issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole”
(Matthew 9 v 20-21, Matthew 14 v 36). The cerulean blue sky is the colour that God
created when ‘white’ sunlight is filtered through the atmosphere (firmament) and all
other colours of the spectrum are deflected to remind to every man and woman every
day that the covenant of God is true, real and alive for ever, represented by blue, and
that the promises of that covenant envelops the Ark of the Covenant (Jesus Christ and
his multitudinous companion through him) as a covering of blue was laid over the veil
that was draped over the Ark and Mercy Seat as the congregation journeyed through
the wilderness (Numbers 4 v 5-6). Jesus Christ kept the commands of the covenant to
perfection such that he became the manifestation of the covenant and confirmed it to
the believers of his day in that he appeared to them in the immortal state after his
resurrection from the dead (John 20 v 19-20 & 26-29).

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Purple
This dye also comes from a seashell (Bolinux brandaris) the purple dye murex, which
in contrast to the blue mussel is abundantly in shallow tidal waters representative of
popular shallow thinking and light entertainment of the masses, purple murex is found
in deeper coastal waters. Like a bottomless pit there are no depths to which human
nature, the enmity will sink and it was out of this race as a mortal man subject to all
the same temptations of all others (“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it
cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” Isaiah 57 v 20) Jesus was lifted by
obedience to every word of God in order to fulfil God’s purpose in creating a son who
would become the sovereign king of all His creation, “Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my
Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Psalms 2 v 6-7). He came to rule his own natural
spirit, the enmity, to allow God’s word to be the law in his life and God to be his
King. He judged his own nature by the commands of God and killed every thought
contrary to God by the word that God had spoken (Matthew 4 v 1-11). Thus, although
born of the natural royal lineage of David (Matthew 1 & Luke 3) he became a king in
his own right by ruling his own spirit as God testified, “This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3 v 17), but to which the Jews responded by
mocking his lowly appearance with a purple robe as he was about to be crucified in
wilful ignorance that that in fact was the purpose of God, “And they clothed him with
purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And when they had
mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and
led him out to crucify him” (Mark 15:17-20), and cried “Let Christ the King of Israel
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were
crucified with him reviled him” (Mark 15 v 32). God was therefore fully justified in
raising him from the dead and giving him eternal life to become a king and priest
forever as foretold by the Psalmist. “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalms 110 v 1-4, Hebrew 7 v 1-
3) and of whom Ezekiel wrote when the natural line of kings was terminated by the
Babylonians “And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round
about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the
appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it
had brightness round about” (Ezekiel 1 v 25-27). Purple represents sovereign
rulership where God is the sovereign of all creation and He has made Jesus king over
all the works of Hs hands (Matthew 28 v 18).

Scarlet
The Psalmist spoke prophetically of Jesus Christ, “But I am a worm, and no man; a
reproach of men, and despised of the people” (Psalms 22 v 6) who although the son of
God, made himself of no reputation as it is written, “Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”
(Philippians 2 v 6-7). This ‘worm’ is the cochineal worm of the insect ‘kermes ilicis’
from which crimson dye is drawn upon the death of the parent as it reproduces on the
bark of an evergreen oak tree. In the original Hebrew text crimson and scarlet are used
interchangeably, but the root word (‫ )עלות‬is crimson (kermes) a deep bluish red,
burgundy or colour of red wine). The scarlet (‫ )עלות‬cord that Rahab and her family
used to publish their faith as a life-line in order to embrace the promises of the
covenant of God, saved them from the destruction of Jericho (Joshua 2 v 18-21, & 6 v
22-23) a city that represented the unchecked enmity in the human race - ‘straitly shut

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up’ against God (Joshua 6 v 1) destined for an eternal grave. The covenant of God
promised hope by faith through a scarlet (‫ )עלות‬cord, a life-line running throughout
history from the fall of Dam and Eve at the beginning, through Abraham, the Law,
Jesus Christ and up to this day. Abraham drank wine provided by the angel
Melchizedek (Genesis 14 v 17-20), no offering was acceptable to God without an
offering of wine (Numbers 15 v 1-16) and the culmination of the life-work of Jesus
Christ was ordained by Jesus to be remembered with wine, “And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26 v 27-
28), and “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no
life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him”
(John 6 v 53-56) and at his death blood and water flowed from his pierced side “But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood
and water” (John 19 v 34) as a witness to all generations. By the life-blood of the
meekest man who gave his life in obedience to every word of God, God has promised
forgiveness of sins and an entrance to the Tree of Life, everlasting life.

Thus the fine twined linen, the blue, purple and scarlet were bound together as one
and embroidered to form a veil of separation of mortal man from immortality
symbolised by angels (cherubim) guarding the way, but were supplanted by Jesus
who by his death ‘repaired the breach’, and ‘restored the path’ to unity with God.

6.9) Altar of incense

The altar was 18 inches x 18 inches x 36 inches high (457mm x 457mm x 914mm)
with a crown (pelmet) around the top edge and a horn at each corner. There were four
rings at the top of two sides to hold staves to carry it, when it was to be covered with a
cloth of blue and a covering of badger (seal) skins and the staves inserted in the rings.
Of the altar Moses was commanded, “And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense
upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it .. .. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold
.. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony .. And Aaron
shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps .. a
perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. .. it is most holy
unto the LORD” (Exodus 30 v 1-10).

The sweet incense was made of four ingredients of equal measure each bound
together in a mortar and pestle, “And he made … the pure incense of sweet spices,
according to the work of the apothecary” (Exodus 37 v 29). The four spices were of
the rarest and highest quality, “Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and
galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like
weight” (Exodus 30 v 34).

David knew that the offering of incense was representative of prayer ascending to
God for he wrote, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense” (Psalms 141 v
2), and John recorded that the smoke of incense and prayer are inseparable, “And
another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints
upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense,

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which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's
hand” (Revelation 8 v 3-4).

Prayer is worship of God and can only be directed through a mediator, one whom
‘levels’ or mediates between two opposing parties (John 14 v 6), which ‘levelling’ is
the root and sense of the action ‘to pray’. Jesus Christ is the divinely appointed
mediator between man and God as it is written, “For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2 v 5) because no
man or woman can talk to God whether in prayer or in conversation as God reminded
Isaiah how holy He is, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55 v 8-9).
Where it has been recorded in scripture that man did speak with ‘God’ it refers to
angels (elohim) who are His messengers as it is written, “Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1 v
14).

Prayer and a mediator are inseparable as are the holy incense, the Altar of Incense, the
High Priest and his daily ministration were inseparable “And Aaron shall burn
thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn
incense upon it” (Exodus 30 v 7). All men have the habit of make long prayers
thinking that much oratory and added honorific appellations makes better
intercession, but Jesus upbraided the Pharisees who “for a shew make long prayers:
the same shall receive greater damnation” (Luke 20 v 47). In contrast Jesus taught,
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of
men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much
speaking” (Matthew 6 v 5-7), and “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6 v 6).

Prayer is an act of faith, uttered in unswerving belief that God knows what we need
before we ask and that we would only ask for what He knows is good for our
salvation. Paul taught that the Spirit of God, the holy Spirit expresses sincere prayer
from the heart, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what
we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God” (Romans 8 v 26-27). Because God knows beforehand what we need,
Jesus taught that prayer should be simple, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”
(Matthew 6 v 9-13).

Jesus gave this as an example of open simplicity with four main ingredients, 1) First
and foremost - praise to and honour to God “Our Father which art in heaven,

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Hallowed be thy name” - praise, 2) earnest desire for the hope of the promises of God,
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heave”- faith, 3)
supplication for forgiveness of sin, “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors” – contrition, and 4) submission with absolute
desire that God is (not us) our king and ruler “And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever”
– meekness and humility.

Jesus fulfilled this essence of this prayer in his life and death by showing

1) the hallowed name of God in all that he did (mercy, grace, patience, goodness
and truth Exodus 34 v 5-7), and fulfilled the will of God in a mortal body on
earth, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I
delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40 v
7-8) and he prayed before his death, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22 v 41-5),

2) for the ‘joy’ of God’s promises that were set before him he endured the cross,
despised the shame (Hebrew 12 v 2-3),

3) although without sin he made himself the scapegoat (Leviticus 16) by which
means he took the sins of all men upon himself and nailed them to the cross,
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed”
(1 Peter 2 v 24), and

4) he became the living manifestation of the kingdom of God in a mortal body

summarised when he was tempted by the devil (his own nature) to take unto
himself the rulership of the world, he replied “it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou worship” (Matthew 4 v 1-11).

We can not but pray as Jesus lived - in and through him - with faith in him that he
knows what we need as he experienced the same himself as it is written, “For in that
he himself hath .suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted”
(Hebrews 2 v 18) and again “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin” (Hebrews 4 v 15) and with faith that he will put our prayers in order (like
incense) and will present our ‘filtered, rearranged’ petitions to his Father where this
prayer of faith is concluded with the potent word ‘amen’ meaning ‘so be it’, in other
words, we can do no more than trust that Jesus will rearrange our praise and requests
and present them to God who will answer them in His own way in His own good
time. This was the same faith that the congregation had when the High Priest
ministered daily in the Tabernacle, they could not see him but trusted he did his work
faithfully.

The incense was made of four parts of equal measures and beaten together to make
one confection. The four ingredients were stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense.
God chose these perfumes to accompany the prayers of His people in order to make
them acceptable to Him, to represent four fundamental qualities that would be found
in His beloved son then future, as distinct to the cacophony of words from empty

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prayers of every other man, in order to set ‘prayers from the heart’ apart from ‘prayers
of the mouth’.

God created all things animate and inanimate and in many of those things He created
perfumes and of all delightful perfumes God chose these four because of their origins
and rarity to represent the humility and lowliness that He would seek in His son and
who would fulfil God’s will, qualities essential for acceptable prayer. The rarest and
most valuable perfume was ‘pure frankincense’.

Frankincense

Frankincense means ‘white’. It was created and chosen by God to represent the
perfume of righteousness. White is the colour God has chosen to represent ‘absence of
sin’ (Matthew 17 v 2). God created all perfumes but chose frankincense above all
others to represent a mortal life without sin that would be fulfilled perfectly in His son
Jesus Christ, a quality that would be to God (and all believers) as a sweet smelling
savour as it is written, “as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5 v 2).

Frankincense is an aromatic, resinous sap harvesting by making an incision in the

bark of the boswellia tree. Sap is the ‘life-blood’ of the tree and when the protective
bark is cut it is exposed and visible for all to see making a metaphor of the shed blood
of Jesus. His blood was first shed during his circumcision that began a life of spiritual
circumcision of the cutting off of all temptation from his heart in a spiritual
circumcision that was visible for all to see. Circumcision of his heart brought many
more ‘incisions’ to his body inflicted by those enemies who set themselves against
him because of his righteousness as it is written, “The plowers plowed upon my back:
they made long their furrows” (Psalms 129 v 3), and again of the Jews yet future “and
they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12 v 10), and ask “What
are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was
wounded in the house of my friends” (Zechariah 13 v 6), and again, “But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53), and again
“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water” (John 19 v 34).

For frankincense to be harvested, the bark of the tree is cut with special knives early
in the year as the sap is rising and the resinous sap slowly oozes out, and was chosen
as an allegory by God for the early display of righteousness in the short life of Jesus
when he was found by his parents in the Temple among the doctors of the law at the
tender age of twelve years and who told his parents “wist ye not that I must be about
my fathers business” (Luke 2 v 41-52). In the harvesting of frankincense, several
incisions are made but the first cut gives the purest resin for ‘pure frankincense’,
because as further incisions are made spots of yellow appear until finally pure
frankincense loses its whiteness altogether. Jesus was the firstborn unto righteousness,
who although subject to sin he knew no sin, of whom all that follow him share his
righteousness as it was written of him, “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the
kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall
stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever” (Psalms 89 v 26-29).
Jesus was the perfect example of circumcision of the heart pre-cursored by physical
circumcision, the fulfilment of the token that was given to Abraham (Genesis 17), as

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later explained by Paul, “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of
God” (Romans 2).

God created the frankincense trees to grow directly out of solid rock and used this
ability to further represent Jesus who spiritually grew upon the ‘rock’ of his Father, as
it is written of him, ”He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock
of my salvation” (Psalms 89 v 26) and many more times. The means of initial
attachment of the root to the stone is not understood, in the same way that no man
knew the faith that held Jesus to God, his ‘rock’ from which he grew, as he answered
when the Jews questioned him of the Father he was the son of, “I am one that bear
witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said they
unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father:
if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. They understood not that
he spake to them of the Father” (John 8) and was mocked by the Jews when he was
dying “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I
am the Son of God” (Matthew 27 v 43).

The disk-like growth at the base of the tree is the ‘anchor’ that prevents it from being
torn away from the rock during the violent storms that frequent the region they grow
in, a figure chosen by God to show that Jesus was rooted by love to God and fortified
by tried faith that enabled him to hold firm despite the intense storms of human envy
that led to his death summarised by Pilate’s observation, “For he knew that for envy
they had delivered him” (Matthew 27 v 18).

When ignited frankincense burns with a long and steady flame contributing
flammability to the three other ingredients making a pre-figurement of the zeal that
Jesus had for doing the will of God ”For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;
and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me” (Psalm 69 v 9),
and “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth
with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. .. .. My heart was hot within me, while I
was musing the fire burned” (Psalms 39 v 1-3).

Like pure farnkinsence Jesus character was the pure whiteness of righteous and there
is no sweeter perfume that could reach God. God made all the perfumes ‘for His
pleasure’ but the perfume He seeks is the perfume is the praise of a humble obedient
heart.

Galbanum

Galbanum is a white fatty-wax resin extracted from the unremarkable Ferula genus of
plants. When cold the wax is hard but warmed in the hand it becomes ductile, easily
formed and adhesive, and when subject to flame it liquifies and is immflamable. Of
the four ingredients of incense it was the ‘food’ of the fire that gave off the perfumed
smoke. This aspect of the ‘food’ of the fire is important in the understanding of why
God chose this resin of His creation to be a fourth part of the Holy incense. Galbanum
comes from Hebrew ‘fat’, not the fat of excess or obesity (although it is used in that
sence - see Psalm 17 v 10), but the ‘best’ of the fat - not only animal fat but the fat of
the land (Genesis 45 v 18), wine and wheat (Numbers 18 v 12 where ‘best’ is the fat).
But the most important part performed by the fat of animal kidneys (the finest fat)

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was an essential fuel of the fire of the burnt offering, such that God called it the ‘food
of the offering’, and as such the Jews were forbidden to eat it as it is written, “And he
shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat
that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,.. .. And the priest
shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet
savour: all the fat is the LORD's. It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations
throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood” (Leviticus 3 v 14-17).

Why was this finest fat so special of which the name of galbanum is derived? The
only other part of the animal that was forbidden to be partaken of was the blood and
in this it stands in the eyes of God as of equal importance. The significance of blood is
easily understood - it is the life of the body and represents the life-blood of Jesus
Christ, but the finest fat (the root of the word galbanum) is not so easily understood.
Death follows excessive bleeding very quickly, but death also follows starvation after
many days during which time the fat of the body is consumed until there is no more
goodness and inbuilt nourishment to sustain life and the body organs cease to
function. Fat is therefore the lifegiving nourishment of the body illustrated by the
miracle that God brought upon Jesus when he ‘fasted’ in the wilderness for 40 days
without loss of life (a miracle) afterwhich he ‘hungered’, was tempted to lose his trust
in God by using the power of the spirit to help himself to sustenance but reaffirmed
his trust by killing the thought of the enmity “But he answered and said, It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God” (Matthew 4 v 4). The finest fat represents nourishment of faith and trust as
the fuel for allowing the ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit to consume the enmity within Jesus,
a quality that caused God to declare, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased” (Luke 3 v 22).

This is why God chose galbanum as the fourth part of the sweet incense to accompany
faithful prayer in order for it to be acceptable to Him. Physically, apart from its
flammability, it has no sweet or pleasant perfume but is said to be balsamic and
soothing. Absolute trust and faith in God is the finest of the fat (the best) of the
emotions of the heart and mind that was only fulfilled in entirety by Jesus Christ.

Onycha

Onycha is harvested from the shell of a gastropod sea-shell found in deep coastal sea
water. The make-up of a sea-shell creature is well known, a hard shell protects the
flesh of the animal which feeds through a gap in the shell. For onycha to be harvested
the shell must be prised open, the flesh removed, the hard shell finely broken and then
ground to powder and it is from this powder that onycha is collected giving off a
sweet musky aroma when subject to flames.

All sea creatures (other than fish with fins and scales) were unclean to the
congregation of Israel as commanded by God, “Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in
the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you” (Leviticus 11 v 9-12) and any who
touched them was to be “shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even”. To
this day Jews and many Christians do not understand the significance of the laws of
‘unclean meats’ (Leviticus 11) and as a result Jewish scholars have gone to great
lengths to interpret onycha as derived from some other source particularly from
plants, they cannot accept that something from an ‘unclean’ source could be

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incorporated in the holy incense, any more than they could accept that Jesus was the
Christ, their Messiah, the son of God, born son of man.

What is not understood is that no creature is unclean of itself, i.e. inherently dirty. The
Bible explains this through Paul, “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that
there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to
him it is unclean” (Romans 14 v 14). God created every creature ‘very good’ (Genesis
1 v 31) with no blemish, imperfection or uncleanness anywhere, but as a result of the
sin of man God cursed the earth and all creatures (Genesis 3 v 17-18) - not that they
had done anything to displease Him, but to be a constant reminder to mankind that all
creation was cursed because of his sins, and that most of the creatures were classified
as unclean as a constant reminder to him that it was man that was unclean and that he
needed to be cleansed in order to find favour with God. God has esteemed many
creatures as unclean because of mans sin, therefore any who deny Gods classification
of uncleanness are effectively denying their constant, inherent, underlying guilt of sin.

God chose a creature He created as ‘very good’ (but cursed because of man) to show
that it will be from one man of the unclean race of the ‘deep seas’ of mankind that
will be the source of a sweet smelling perfume of righteous praise to God. That man
was Jesus Christ of whom his guardian-father Joseph (then espoused to Jesus’ mother
Mary) was told, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1 v 18-25). Inborn into
every male and female babe is seed of the enmity, placed there by God as a result of
the sins of Adam and Eve as was told to the (then intelligent) serpent “And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3 v 14-19). The seeds of the
enmity soon germinate in the heart and mind of a child and mature into a force to be
reconned with as the child enters adulthood and is manifest in rebellion against the
word of God – no man or woman is exempt. The growth of the seeds of the enmity
form ‘the flesh’, the devil, Satan, the ‘world’, and many other words used by God
throughout the scriptures which today we would collectively call ‘human nature’.

‘Flesh’ is an aptly descriptive word used in the scripture as it directly links all animal
sacrifices made to God with the need to destroy its workings by the fire of the Holy
Spirit, it is a word which is used today in common language to descibe debauchery,
hedonism and base sexual activity. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Galatians 5 v 19-21) (Romans 1 v 26-32).
The seeds of these gross diversions are in every child when born, the upbringing and
environment in which the person chooses to live dictates the development of the
excesses of the flesh, but let there be no mistake, the flesh and its activities are in all
men and women, it is just the degree of activity and remorse, that seperates the
righteous from the wicked.

The choice of God of onycha from the sea-shell is equally apt, for in order to obtain
the sweet smelling perfume it is first necessary to break open the shell to reveal the
raw flesh. The shell protects the flesh of the mollusc as pride in the heart protects the
‘pricked’ conscience, and only one man Jesus Christ has fully confessed by word and
action that “…. in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7 v 18)

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and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it?” (Jeremiah 17 v 9). God has stated “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea,
seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood .. ..” (Proverbs 6:16-19). Acknowledgment of our inherent
resistance to humiliation through obedience to every detail of God’s word is the first
step to breaking open the hard shell of pride that naturally protects our mind of the
flesh. This Jesus did perfectly encapsulated in his resistence to the fleshly thoughts
that arose in his mind when he considered the immense power God had placed in him
by the gift of the fullness of the Holy Spirit to perform miracles beyond the
experience of mortal man, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And
saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4 v 8-10). This incident
confirmed his resistance to temptation throughout his whole formative life. Jesus
alone fully fulfilled the spirit of the Proverb, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil:
pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Proverbs
8 v 13).

For onycha to be found, the flesh of the mollusc must be cut out and discarded even as
Jesus ‘cut out’ all fleshly temptations as they arose in his mind before they boure the
fruits of the flesh as it is written of him “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee” (Psalms 119 v 11) and “Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil,
and choose the good” (Isaiah 7 v 14-15) where butter and honey represent the word of
God. As the flesh of the animal offerings were burnt upon the altar of burnt offering
so Jesus allowed the ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit to consume the ‘flesh’ of his mind in a
continual burning until ashes were the only evidence (Number 28 v 1-8).

After the flesh of the sea-shell has been removed the shell must be washed, broken
and crushed to a fine powder, even as Jesus was washed by the ‘water’ of the
commands of God and was baptised by full immersion in water. God has said “The
LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a
contrite spirit” (Psalm 34 v 18) and (Psalm 51 v 17). The enmity remains in man and
woman for the whole of their life as it did in Jesus, so it cannot be broken once, it is a
continual process of breaking, crushing and grinding to reduce its resistance to
obedience to every word of God and the breaking down is acheived by submission to
the will of God by experiences that come due to faithfully following its instruction,
but God has promised to ‘dwell’ with those who are broken and crushed in spirit,
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I
dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah
57 v 15).

In this way onycha is extracted from a naturally ‘very good’ creature designated as
temporarily unclean by God and produces a powder that when ignited give a
delightful perfume acceptable to God. Thus Jesus was filled with the ‘fire’ of the Holy
Spirit and glorified God on earth in a mortal body.

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Stacte

Stacte is from the same tree as myrrh but differentiates in that stacte oozes
spontaneously from the bark of younger trees whereas myrrh is harvested later by
incision of the bark. The tree is balsamodendron myrrha, it grows in the region
bounded by Arabia and Ethiopia in poor soil, dry conditions and is an unattractive
twisted and knarled appearance with substantial thorns and grows in the forests of
acacia’s. Stacte by nature of its spontaneous oozing before incisions are made for
myrrh, is a voluntary outpouring of the firstfruit of the life of this unattractive tree.
The name stacte means a ‘drop’ as in a ‘tear-drop’ and that is how it is harvested as a
clear oily resin that hardens and yellows with exposure to air. Stacte is the finest and
purest myrrh.

With myrrh as its close relative it shares similar properties, where myrrh is the name
that simply means ‘bitter’ but gives off a balsamic perfume when burnt. There are
therefore several distinct properties that teach why God chose stacte as the fourth part
of the Holy Incense, a) spontaniety, b) first-fruits, c) bitterness and d) a soothing
healthy aroma and it is from a tree whose spines and grissled appearance represent the
humanity of mortal man. Let us examine each in turn and then collectively in the light
of scripture.

a) Spontaniety is not only voluntary or by freewill but with an eagerness as if no time

can be lost. Jesus as a small child lost no time in searching the scriptures to find what
God required him to do, he was found after three days among the doctors of the law,
“And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the
midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2 v 46-49) when
upon being found by his parents declared, “And he said unto them, How is it that ye
sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2 v 49).
Such willing spontaniety was foremost throughout his whole life such that he became,

b) the first-fruits of all that please God, and indeed the only one who pleased God in
entirety, for at the end of his young life he displayed the same spontaneous
willingness in prayer in ‘tear-drops’ as the stacte exudes from the unattractive tree,
“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will,
but thine, be done. .. .. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22 v 42-
44). Thus it was foretold of Jesus, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while
they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalms 42 v 3), and “They that sow
in tears shall reap in joy” (Psalms 126 v 5).

c) Tears are the result of bitter experience because of obediance to the word of God,
but Jesus said “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled” (Matthew 5 v 6) and the Proverb advised, “to the hungry soul
every bitter thing is sweet” (Proverbs 27 v 7) and so it was that Jesus through bitter
experience and literal and spiritual tears became the author and finisher of our faith,
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12 v 2-3).

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d) The perfume of his sacrifice is a balm to appease the anger of God with His
rebellious children and to all who endure the tears of bitter experience when
overcoming the enmity within them and when directed as venon from those who
despise humble, obedient children of God. It was a perfume most acceptable to God, a
soothing balm that reversed His anger to the ingratitude of sinful mankind for all the
daily blessings He bestows upon His creation.

Faith is the ‘sight’ that belief gives in the heart of a humble and contrite person
allowing them to ‘see’ with the eye of faith that which is not readily apparent as Paul
wrote, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen” (Hebrews 11 v 1) and “These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11 v 13). But
faith without works is dead (James 2 v 14-26) and works of faith bring opposition,
first from ones own nature resisting obedience and then from fellows moved with
envy at acts of faith. As stacte is the spontaneous ‘tears-drops’ of resin from the bark
of the myrrh (bitterness) tree and tears spontansously flow from the eyes of the
greived in spirit, so likewise ‘tears’ dropped from the heart of Jesus as he understood
how base the enmity is in both himself and his fellows that brought such opposition
that his tears were ‘as great drops of blood’ (Luke 22 v 44).

Stacte and faith are inseperably linked by the tear-like droplets that give off the purest
perfume and was perfected in Jesus when he was a mortal man subject to temptation
as every men is, “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. .. .. Who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he
feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered” (Hebrews 5 v 5-8). He was spontaineous in his love for God, he became the
firtsfruits unto righteousnes, he endured bitter experiences above any other man, and
the savour of his victory over the enmity was a soothing balm to God and to all who
recognise their naturally fetid nature in the eyes of God.

Incense – the conclusion

Thus the perfumed incense formed by the art of the apothecary represented the perfect
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Frankincense – pure praise to God by manifesting the name of God in a mortal body
through committing no sin.

Galbanum – he was the only man to give the best and fattest of all his God-given
faculties back to God by obedience to every word of God.

Onycha – he was the only man who overcame and slew the enmity (the flesh) within
his own heart and mind and suffered bruising and crushing experiences due to
submission the Gods will.

Stacte – he was the firstfruits unto righteousness, spontaneous in faith and trust in
God, enabling him to taste sweetness from every bitter experience.

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It is not possible to pray to God without remembrance of his victory even as it was not
possible for the High Priest to minister every day without burning incense, therefore
all prayer must be directed in faith that Jesus will put our praise and requests to God
in order according to his own experiences in order that they ascend and are acceptable
to God.

6.10) The candlestick

The link between the candlestick and the altar of incense was the timing of the
dressing of the lamps and the lighting of fresh incense, “And when Aaron lighteth the
lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD
throughout your generations” (Exodus 30 v 8). It was the duty of the High Priest to
do these tasks to teach that God had appointed one who would become an everlasting
High Priest - not by natural birth as Aaron - but by fulfilling every word of God. The
incense and the flame of the candlestick were to burn together and neither were
allowed to go out where burning incense represented the sweet perfume of the
character of Jesus Christ (acknowledgement of which must accompany prayer) and
the candlestick flame represented the light of the Holy Spirit that illuminated the life
of Christ, as it was testified of him, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a
man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear
witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light,
but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world” and as Isaiah had prophesied, “Arise, shine; for
thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee” (Isaiah 60 v 1).

The candlestick was beaten out of one piece of pure gold of one talent in weight,
(Exodus 25 v 21-40). No dimensions are given for the finished candlestick but a talent
of 24 carat gold measures 159.75mm x 159.75mm x 159.75mm (just less than a 6 ½”
sided cube). It is commonly called the seven-branched candlestick, but in fact this is a
misnomer and misleading and one of the reasons why Jews do not accept that Jesus
Christ was and is their Messiah. It is a single candlestick with six branches, Jesus
Christ is represented by the candlestick and his companion saints the branches, “And
thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be
made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of
the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the
candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other
side” (Exodus 25 v 31-40).

Gold is the allegory for the love of God (agape) from which faith cannot be separated
(see ‘Gold’ in section 6.7 The Ark of the Covenant) and was perfectly manifest in
Jesus. It was the love of God for His creation and Jesus’ reciprocated love for God
that formed Jesus character into a beacon of light in a dark world of godlessness, the
light of God in a mortal body because he demonstrated the fullness of the meaning of
the name of God in his actions, words and manner of life, “merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34 v 6) as he prayed to
his Father before his crucifixion “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world…. And I have declared unto them thy name” (John 17).
This was the ‘light’ that the ‘darkness’ (flesh) could not comprehend (John 1 v 4-9)
later expounded in simple language by Paul, “And without controversy great is the

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mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory”
(1 Timothy 3 v 16). Thus Jesus stood and stands as a beacon of light, a lamp-standard
of righteousness.

The central candlestick had ‘four bowls made like unto almonds with their knops and
theirs flowers’. The bowls for the beaten olive oil were concave reservoirs shaped like
almonds (geometrically pinnate) where the stalk would be a narrow channel inclined
upward so that the four almonds met at a small bowl-like terminus where the flame
would burn being fed by capillary action of the fluid drawn up by the action of the
flame. Each bowl was supported by a ‘flower’ (literally a blossom, a calyx or petals)
and a ‘knop’ or as Tyndale added to his original translation of the Pentateuch (first
five books of the Bible) from Hebrew into English, a ‘bud’ (Pentateuch – 1534,
Exodus XXV, v31 marginal note). Thus depicted in the candlestick are the stock,
buds, flowers and the fruit - the entire process of what God created trees for, “And
God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so”
(Genesis 1 v 11).

Let us first consider the knops (buds) of the central candlestick. God created trees to
grow by means of catalytic conversion of water, nutrients, carbon dioxide and light - a
process now well known as photosynthesis where the green pigment (chlorophyll) is
the catalyst (that which makes it happen). The seed buried in the ground responds to
water, sends out roots as an anchor and then responds to light by sending a shoot out
of the ground. At the end of this shoot is a green apical bud (knop) that grows within
itself by the action referred to above and forms glucose (sugar) that converts to starch
that then converts to cellulose (wood fibre). This buds draws more water from the root
and sends sugars back down to fortify further growth below it thus extending the stem
upwards. This pioneering knop is carried ever upwards ever multiplying until the
canopy of the tree is formed. As the pioneering bud(s) continue other ‘knops’ form in
the cylindrical shoot (stem or trunk) called ‘lateral’ buds that develop into branches,
each with its lead apical knop and so the process continues until the full majesty of the
tree is formed. Finally there are the fruit knops that develop into blooms and after
pollination grow into fruit in order to perpetuate the species of plant.

The single central candlestick had all three types of knop, four fruit bearing apical
knops and three lateral knops where the six branches were attached, “And there shall
be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the
same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that
proceed out of the candlestick” (Exodus 25 v 35). The six lateral branches had no
lateral knops (as the central stem had) but they had apical fruit knops at the top. Thus
the candlestick (though at one with the branches) is set ‘apart’ from them, in other
words the candlestick is one and the branches are out of that candlestick.

The central candlestick is a representation of the full stature of Jesus Christ and the
branches are his multitudinous companion (the saints, the justified faithful) and there
are parallel scriptural allegories to help understand what God is teaching in the six-
branched candlestick, seven-light candlestick.

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The reservoir bowls were shaped like almonds supported by flowers (blossoms) and a
knop (bud). When Gods’ authority was challenged by the congregation as to who was
capable to be God’s appointed High Priest, God caused Aaron’s rod to bud, blossom
and bring forth almonds, “behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded,
and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds” (Numbers 17).
Even though all the rods were strong and sound only God’s choice had life within it,
even as though man is generally of strong mind and sound intelligence Jesus alone
had the animating ‘life’ of the word of God within him, and the blossom that bloomed
in him to the glory of God was the herald of the end of the ‘winter’ of the domination
of the enmity and portend of the ‘summer’ of honour to God, even as the almond
blossom is the herald of spring and summer.

Concerning the branches that were beaten out of the candlestick they were represented
as branches off the stem at the knops (or lateral buds). Of the allegory of the vine
Jesus taught, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15 v 1-8)
and so without doubt or ambiguity the six branches were ‘of’ the central candlestick
and all bore fruit after the manner of the main stock but less in fullness (3 in the
branches and 4 in the stem).

Concerning the branches being ‘of’ the stock or stem of the candlestick Jesus also
taught that his friends (the saints) would be ‘of’ him, not independent of him in any
way or indeed equal to him. When Peter was asked by Jesus of who he (Jesus) was
Peter confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16 v 16) to
which Jesus replied, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16
v 18). Peter (Greek ‘petros’) means simply ‘of’ the rock (Greek ‘petra’) - the rock that
Jesus said would be the rock of the foundation of the ‘church’ in the same way that
the six branches of the candelabra were ‘of’ the single central stem, fortified by the
allegory of the natural creation of God in the growth of a tree. Jesus is the Rock and
he is the Candlestick, Peter and all the disciples and friends of Jesus in any age are
‘of’ that Rock (Peter being representative) and ‘of’ that Candlestick. Thus Jesus
taught (as God taught in the lightstand) that his friends were ‘of’ the rock that he was,
where Jesus’ rock was God.

The seven lights of the candlestick were all level, albeit the central light was brighter
as there were four bowls in it to three in each branch. The covenant of God is that He
will give eternal life (the fullness of the Holy Spirit) in response to obedience to His
commands. None will get more and none will get less. Jesus will be the brightest, the
sovereign king but all will enjoy everlasting life. The fuel of their light will be the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God (Matthew 25 v 1-13).

Olive oil – the fuel of the light

God created the trees to beautify the earth, to balance the atmosphere and to provide
some for materials and some for food, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every
herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1 v 29). Of all
the food-giving trees God made the olive unique from all other.

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God created man as a vegetarian with digestion of fats essential for life. Killing and
eating of animals was introduced as a result of the curse of God upon man and all
creation, whereby digestion of essential fats are supplemented by animal fat, but as
God created man, his necessary fat intake to sustain energetic life was from the oil of
the olive and some other fruits. As it is essential to continued energetic life, God made
the berries from the olive to be available for the poorest of His creatures, it is a small
inconspicuous fruit, abundant in cropping and nutritious. It has been the staple diet for
rich and poor for millennia. Apart from being a nutritious food it is a natural source of
oil for food preparation (cooking and dressing), cleansing (soap) and fuel (light),
where it burns readily with a steady, bright and smokeless flame.

The fuel of the candlestick was beaten olive oil. The name ‘olive’ has its roots in to
‘shine’ as the oil of the fruit (drupe) is a shining golden yellow and its flame is bright
as in, “What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty
the golden oil out of themselves?” (Zechariah 4 v 12). The name ‘oil’ in the Hebrew
has its roots in ‘fatness’ in the sense of energy and vigour as in “My knees are weak
through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness” (Psalms 109 v 24) – as blood is the
essence of life so fat is the substance of life, we cannot live without either. The
process of extraction of the oil from the berry is by grinding pressure between
millstones and separation of the oil from the natural water by decanting (oil and water
do not mix). For the smaller quantities that would be the lot of the poor it must be
beaten in a mortar and pestle and then decanted in the same way. For the finest virgin
olive oil the olive must be perfectly ripe and fresh and the oil used after minimum
delay.

As God chose the juice of the grape to represent the life-blood of Jesus Christ, so He
has chosen the oil of the olive to represent His work in the preparation of a righteous
people to inherit the earth forever through Jesus Christ. God is Spirit as Jesus taught,
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”
(John 4 v 24) and He created the heavens and the earth by His Spirit, “And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1 v 2). There is only one Spirit as
Paul wrote, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4 v 4-6) and by that one Spirit
God keeps in being the creation including man upon it every day by giving breath and
life, but when that Spirit is used for the specific purpose of preparing an individual for
salvation (it is always the work of God, no man can do it himself) then it is the same
one Spirit but called the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised, “But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John
14:14-27).

God has said, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones” (Isaiah 57 v 15), and again, “but to this man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66 v 2), and the
Psalmist enjoined, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34 v 18). The beaten olive oil of the
Tabernacle represents the interaction between the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) and

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the contrite spirit that was found perfectly in Jesus Christ but is to be seen in any man
or woman who hopes for salvation. When those two ‘spirits’ unite and become one,
then that is represented by the olive oil of the Tabernacle. Israel and all others who
follow the hope of the Covenant of God were being taught what God promised He
would do in response to those who humbled themselves in His sight – He would give
them an increasing measure of His Spirit as enlightenment until their natural spirit
was filled with it. The Spirit of God never changes it is the spirit of man that must
change to allow the Holy Spirit to work. At the completion of that work, the faithful
will – out of Jesus – become lights in the House of God forever. All other uses of
olive oil are representative of the Spirit of God that keeps rich and poor alive each
day, unassuming, smooth, nutritious, soothing, and healthy.

Beaten olive oil sanctified for use in the Tabernacle represented the Holy Spirit united
with the humble and contrite spirit of Jesus Christ, thus he was the light of the world,
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life” (John 8 v 12)

6.11) Table of shewbread

The third article of furniture in the Holy Place was the table of showbread that was
made after the manner of the body of the Ark of the Covenant and the altar of Incense.
It was of shittim wood overlaid with gold, with a golden crown (or lip) and a pelmet-
border with gold rings for two staves of shittim wood also overlaid with gold. It stood
on the north side of the Tabernacle tent and supported gold dishes (large dish or
charger), spoons, bowls (shallow bowl or dish) and covers (Exodus 25 v 23-30). Each
Sabbath day, fresh bread was to be set in order (two rows (ranks) of six loaves with
pure frankincense set on each) as the ‘old’ bread was taken and eaten by the High
Priest and his sons in the Holy Place that same day. The bowls contained the
shewbread that sat in the dishes and were covered from sight by the covers with the
spoons for handling the bread.

It has been shown that gold represents the love of God (agape) fully reflected and
manifest in Jesus Christ and shittim wood (to which it was bonded) the mortal flesh of
Jesus. The table of the shewbread represented Jesus in the fullness of his work - the
manifestation of the name of God in a mortal body. The purpose of God is that He
will be manifest in the son of His right hand (strength) by his sons’ righteous sinless
life and that through him there would be a multiplication of people that would in turn
be filled with Jesus’ manifestation of God, a unity Jesus spoke of in his final prayer to
God, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me” (John 17 v 22-23).

Encapsulated in the bowls, dishes and covers of the love of God was the shewbread.
This word is made up of two words, to shew as in ‘a face’ or ‘presence’ and bread as
in food made from ground wheat, thus shewbread is often rephrased as the ‘bread of
presence’. The ‘face’ or ‘presence’ refers to the Face and Presence of God from which
Adam and Eve hid when they knew they had sinned and were naked, “And they heard
the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of
the garden” (Genesis 3 v 8). As a result of their sin God turned His Face, His

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Presence away from mankind when He cursed them with decay unto death and drove
them from the Tree of Life located in the Garden of Eden, such that God said to
Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus
33 v 20). But the promise of God in His covenant with man is that men will one day
see His face as it is foretold, “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God
and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his
face; and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22 v 3-4).

The means by which this promise will be fulfilled is through the fullness of the
significance of the ‘bread of the presence’ (the shewbread). God purposed and
promised that His face, His countenance, His character, His presence (as while the
Tabernacle ordinances stood) would be manifest in what was represented by the
bread. Jesus said “I am that bread of life” (John 6 v 48) and at the conclusion of his
work just before his death Jesus told his disciples, “he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father” (John 14 v 9) and John Baptist declared of Jesus from his experience, “No
man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, he hath declared him” (John 1 v 18). The shewbread represented Jesus
through whom God purposed to manifest Himself in a mortal body so that God could
show through His son how He intended that man should live in order to fulfil the
promise of His covenant that man could see His face again, by change of nature from
mortality to immortality through absence of sin.

Jesus was not different to any other child and this is represented by the choice of God
in ‘bread’ to represent Jesus body. Production of bread is a well-known but simple
process, but extends over a long period representing a lifetime. The process begins
with suitable preparation of ground by ploughing, harrowing and exposure of the bare
soil to weather. The ground represents the heart, naturally hard and stony, rebellious
against the authority of God, and breaking up that resistance requires the discipline of
obedience and compliance to every word of God by cutting off temptation as it arises,
as it is written, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart” (Jeremiah 4 v 3-
4) and Isaiah instructed, “Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and
break the clods of his ground? .. and cast in the principle wheat .. For his God doth
instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him” (Isaiah 28 v 24-29). This was the work
of Jesus from birth, he cast out the thorns of self-satisfaction and weeds of indulgence,
the stones of rebellion, broke up the natural resistance of his heart to obedience of
God’s word and took in the seed of the word of God (Matthew 13 v 1-23) and
reproduced that seed-word as the multiple fruits of his life (‘the word made flesh’
John 1 v 14), a fruit that when mature needed beating to remove the chaff (the flesh),
grinding to produce flour (humility) and sifting (meekness) to remove that last trace
of contaminant (the enmity) and unbroken natural-spirit to produce the fine flour of
the shewbread, a bread so pure and holy that it was sprinkled with pure frankincense,
the representative of pure praise to God (see frankincense, p40.).

But God purposed that although His son in whom He would be manifest would be
singular, a multitude would manifest His son in their lives after the same manner (and
indirectly manifest God), so there were 12 identical loaves to represent the 12 spiritual
tribes of Israel made of Jew and Gentile as it is written, “For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ

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Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise” (Galatians 3 v 27-29), and that promise is yet to be fulfilled, “And I heard
the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty
and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. …After this I beheld, and,
lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7).

To confirm this promise of God that He would be manifest in a family through one
man (the son of God), the High Priest and his sons were to eat the bread taken from
table each Sabbath as a communion on behalf of all others (in whatever generation)
who had faith in the covenant of God that they also in due course would enter the
Sanctuary of everlasting life in the presence of God by that one who did manifest God
in his mortal life. That was the faith that led the fugitive David to the Sanctuary and
ate the showbread that the priests had despised by not eating as required by the law
(Matthew 12 v 3-4, 1 Samuel 21).

6.12) Entrance pillars and sockets.

Five pillars marked the entrance to the Holy Place. These shittim wood pillars,
overlaid with gold were tennoned into sockets of brass, at the top of the pillars were
gold hooks to support an embroidered screen that served as the entrance door. This
door to the Sanctuary stood as a reminder of the owner of the house. The owner of
this house was God as it is written, “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may
dwell among them” (Exodus 25 v 8). And “Ye shall ….. reverence my sanctuary: I am
the LORD” (Leviticus 19 v 30). The five pillars represent the name of God, whose
name is Holy and Sanctified, the name that Jesus came to demonstrate in a mortal
body as he said, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world….. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept
them in thy name ….. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it”
(John 17).

The name of God was given to Moses, “And the LORD passed by before him, and
proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34 v 6-7). These five pillars are the essence
of all life on earth as Paul taught the Gentiles, “For in him we live, and move, and
have our being” (Acts 17 v 23-31) and the core of the hope of salvation through the
covenant of God in Jesus Christ who became the manifestation of those five pillars in
his mortal life, works and teachings. As only an appointed priest could pass through
the door of the Sanctuary so likewise no man can approach God (in prayer or hope of
salvation) other than through Jesus Christ as Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14 v 6).

The pillars were shittim wood (indicating mortal flesh origin) overlaid with gold (the
love of God) and stood in sockets of brass. The screen was fine twined linen
embroidered with blue, purple and scarlet representing the character and person of
Jesus (see The Vail, pp 34-37) supported by the gold hooks of the love of God. The
sockets of cast brass were the feet and foundation of the whole entrance assembly in
the same way as John saw the glorified Christ in the Revelation, “And his feet like

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unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace” (Revelation 1 v 12-18) a repeat of the
vision that Daniel saw, “and his feet like in colour to polished brass” (Daniel 10 v 6).

Brass
Brass is a generic term being a metal alloy made up of copper and tin (bronze), or
copper and zinc (brass) of a wide variety of proportions depending on the mechanical
property required. The word used for brass in the Tabernacle is copper, a metal of the
same family as gold and silver in the periodic table. It is malleable, ductile (but less so
than gold or silver) and an excellent conductor of heat and electricity.

It’s natural colour is pink due to the reflection of only part of the full spectrum of
white light incident upon it, as it absorbs the blue spectrum (higher frequencies) thus
reflecting the lower frequencies (red). It reacts with air and forms a surface oxide of
verdigris (green).

God chose copper of all the metals He created to represent two powers that are
mutually incompatible, the one cannot coexist with the other because one always
replaces the other. The superior power is the Holy Spirit - the power of God, and the
inferior power is the enmity, the power of the flesh in man, the devil, Satan, the
‘world’. Both are capable of ruling the heart of man but neither can rule with the
other, they are implacably opposed, man is either ruled by the enmity or by the Holy
Spirit. God has chosen copper to represent that power of rulership and domination as
being the fiery colour of the Holy Spirit (Daniel 10 v 6, Revelation 1 v 15) or the red
of the serpent’s mouth. The fiery representation of the Holy Spirit is illustrated in the
Altar of Burnt Offering (Exodus 27 v 1-8, yet to be considered) that was to be burning
continuously representing the fiery work of burning the enmity. It also represents the
antithesis, the enmity, the serpent (to be burnt and replaced by the Holy Spirit) as was
demonstrated, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it
upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live” (Numbers 21v 1-9). This miracle represented the victory of Jesus
Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit over the power of the enmity within him as he
said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
man be lifted up” (John 3 v 14).

Jesus feet, his walk and stand on every issue of life was firmly in the power of the
Holy Spirit, thus he stood represented by the five pillars of the name of His Father as
a living witness that there was a God who was a loving Father. To understand the
fullness of the power of that name it is necessary to ‘see it’ in the embroidered curtain
of the life of Jesus, the fine twined linen of righteousness, the blue of the covenant
manifest in a lowest of creatures, the red of the despised insect who died that there
could be offspring, the purple of the humble creature of the sea of humanity. To ‘see’
the name of God these characteristics of Jesus must be understood. (see The veil, pp
34-37).

The entrance of any dwelling is the representation of the owner, the tent of the
Tabernacle was the House of God that stood as a teacher of the greater House that
God is building, a house of righteous people as it is written, “And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God” (Revelation 21 v 3). The entrance to that House is Jesus Christ as

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he said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in
and out, and find pasture” (John 10 v 9). Those members are represented by the
boards that formed the wall of the Tabernacle.

6.13) The boards and sockets

The eastern boundary of the Sanctuary was the entrance of five pillars and curtain,
and on the north, west and south sides there were 48 upright boards, 20 boards to the
north and south and 6 on the west plus two corner boards. Each board was tennoned
into two silver sockets at the bottom and had 5 gold rings affixed equally spaced from
top to bottom on the outer side through which 5 bars a were located reaching from end
to end with a common locking rings at the corners (Exodus 26 v 15-30). Thus a rigid
structure for the Sanctuary was affected.

The boards were made of the same materials as the Ark of the Covenant, (pp23-29),
of shittim wood and were overlaid with gold. These represent the glorified saints
united as a single body surrounding their king and head, Jesus Christ. Jesus alone
fulfilled the figure of the love of God (agape) entirely enveloping a righteous
character in a mortal body (shittim wood), but God has purposed that a multitudinous
companion will be made out of him, ‘put his character on’ and become like him,
which was prefigured in the creation of a companion for Adam when Eve was ‘built
up’ from his rib, “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a
woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2 v 21-25) where ‘made he’ means
‘built up piece by piece’.

The Psalmist speaking in the spirit of Christ prophesied of this mystery - the creation
of a multitudinous companion out of one man, when he referred to all the members of
his body were fashioned in continuance day by day, “My substance was not hid from
thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was
none of them” (Psalms 139 v 15-17) where the first substance is frame or ‘body’, the
second is ‘embryo’ – that from which the body comes and continuance is ‘day after
day’ (generation after generation), speaking of the creation of a composite body built
up over 6 thousand years from the embryo of a perfect man Jesus Christ and finally
manifest in a multitude.

Paul instructs the Gentiles of the way this is done, “Know ye not, that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6 v 3), and
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians
3 v 27), and, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4 v 24) where Christ is the new man of
righteousness. This ‘putting on’ is a lifetime work for each individual generation after
generation until finally the last member will be prepared and all the resurrected
justified faithful will be presented as a composite bride to her husband as it is written,
“for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to
her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19 v 7-8). Then will be fulfilled the
prophetic words spoken by Adam when he was still in the joy of a sinless existence
and Eve was presented to him, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”
(Genesis 2 v 23), and so also the hope of John, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God,

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and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3 v 2).

Thus the boards are the saints, the glorified justified resurrected faithful with no glory
of their own but perpetuating the glory of their saviour who alone glorified God. As
fellows in faith they are joined together as one, arm in arm, by the bars that linked
them into a palisade of honour, the wall of a city, as faithful subjects to their king and
saviour, as it is written of the city of the glorified saints, “Walk about Zion, and go
round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her
palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following” (Psalms 48 v 12-13). The
boards stood in sockets of silver representing their foundation in word of God fulfilled
in Jesus Christ (pp31-32).

The boards stand shoulder to shoulder as a rank of warriors in defence of the name of
God as Paul encouraged, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God” (Ephesians 6 v 13-17).

David the warrior Psalmist wrote of this same gospel from the beginning, the hope of
the glorified saints around their saviour and High Priest, Jesus Christ, “Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the
precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:
that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew
that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the
blessing, even life for evermore. Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the
LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the
sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out
of Zion” (Psalms 133 &134).

6.14) The coverings

There were four coverings spread over the boards and entrance pillars that hung down
the sides and rested on the ground, thus enveloping the Sanctuary. The innermost
covering formed the visible ceiling and was made in ten coupled 4 cubit (72” or
1829mm) wide strips of fine twined linen woven with blue, purple and scarlet to form
cherubim’s. The next cover was of goats hair, covered with a layer of rams skin dyed
red and finally an overlay of badger skin (Exodus 26 v 1 – 14).

The innermost covering

Fine twined linen represents righteousness, scarlet the blood of Jesus Christ, blue the
covenant of God in him, and purple the royal priesthood (a king/priest) (see pp34-37).
The cherubim represent angelic messengers, or angels. It was found that the cherubim
of the veil represented the angels as they are now preventing mankind from escaping
death and are to be removed, as was foretold when the veil was rent in twain on the
death of Jesus Christ teaching that he made the way to eternal life possible through his
life and death (The veil, pp 31-37). Thus that work of those cherubim (angels) of the
veil was temporary, but God has promised that through His son Jesus Christ, many

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mortals would be made immortal and become as the angels for (teaching of these
mortals) Jesus said, “For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor
are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven” (Mark 12 v 25).
This promise is the unifying conclusion of the purpose of God embedded in His
covenant to mankind even as these ten curtain strips were commanded to make the
Tabernacle one, a unity, “And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the
curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle” (Exodus 26 v 6).
Each strip had fifty loops of blue woven into both edges so that fifty gold clasps could
unify the covering and thus unify the Sanctuary, the Holy and Most Holy places. Gold
represents the love of God (agape) reflected in His righteous children and blue
represents the covenant of God that mortal man will be made immortal in His mercy
and faithfulness. The ten curtains represent the saints, the glorified faithful, made like
unto angels, after the fullness of their preparation by communion with the life and
death of Jesus Christ, and will be in the spiritual house of God forever.

There were ten curtains locked together as one unit by gold clasps in order that ‘it
shall be one tabernacle’. The root of the Hebrew word ten is ‘fullness of riches’ as in
the Psalm that spoke prophetically of Jesus, “Blessed is the man that feareth the
LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments… ..Wealth and riches shall be in
his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever” (Psalms 112:1-3) and also in
when David praised God for all the riches that God had given him, “Both riches and
honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and
might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all” and of
those riches David freely gave back to God in order for a house to be built for Him,
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” and
“O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for
thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own” (1 Chronicles 29 v 10-
19).
It is from these riches (that God gives every man and women every day) that the word
ten comes, ‘the tithe’, the tenth of the recognised fullness of riches that God gives, as
Abraham showed when he was blessed by God in the safe deliverance of his family,
“And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithes of all” (Genesis 14 v 20) – thus the tenth represented the best
of all the riches God gave him. At the same time he distinguished between the riches
of man and those of God when he refused a reward from the king of Sodom, “That I
will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing
that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich” (Genesis 14 v 23).

In the ten curtains coupled together by the gold clasps of the love of God, the fullness
of the riches of the covenant of God are manifest in a people made like cherubim’s
(angels) who gave to God the whole riches of their lives in the spirit of the tithe (best
tenth) thus completing the ten curtains of the fullness of the riches of unification of
God with man through Jesus Christ. Thus the Sanctuary, the tent of the Tabernacle
was ‘made one’, teaching of the fullness of the promise of God – that mortal man will
be made immortal and dwell in His house for ever.

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The second covering – goat’s hair

There were to be eleven strips of goat’s hair coupled together with clasps of brass into
50 loops of goat’s hair on each edge. They were coupled in two groups, 5 and 6 strips
each, where the sixth was doubled over at the entrance of the Sanctuary.

God chose the goat as the representative of the sin offering, the one (Jesus Christ)
who would take away sin and provide atonement for sin. The law of God regarding
expiation of sin was epitomised on the Day of Atonement, the 14th day of the 7th
month (Leviticus 16). On that day two goats were to be provided by the congregation
as sin offerings (v5) where one was to be offered whose blood was to be sprinkled on
and before the Ark of the Covenant (the only time the high priest was allowed in the
Most Holy Place) and the other goat was to be released into the wilderness as a
‘scapegoat’ carrying the confessed sins of the congregation, “But the goat, on which
the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an
atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness” (Leviticus
16 v 10). The one who took the sins of man away was Jesus Christ and in the
companion figure (the other goat), the one whose righteous lifeblood was brought
without sin before the presence of God. This was the faith of Rebekah, as it was of her
husband Isaac. When she heard that Isaac was to bless Esau (who she knew despised
the promises of God), she instructed Jacob (who treasure the promises of God) to
prepare a kid of the goats in order to obtain the blessing rightfully his. Rebekah saw
the bigger picture of the blessing of the promises of eternal life and knew that Jacob
shared her faith but that Esau saw only the blessing of a good life now. Of this goat
Rebekah made coverings for his hands and neck in order to express her faith that to
obtain the bigger blessing (eternal life) he (and she and all the faithful) needed a
covering for sins that would be provided by Jesus Christ, “And she put the skins of the
kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck” (Genesis 27 v 16).

Despite the righteousness of the saints depicted in the first covering, God taught that
for them to attain to such honour, a covering for their sins was essential and provided
the covering of goat’s hair to teach them. The goat was named after its prodigious
strength and agility, two qualities that would be needed (in a spiritual sense in the
heart and mind) in the one who would be the saviour - the sin offering providing a
covering for the sins of others. The strength of Jesus was his faith and love for God,
so much so that God became his strength. But Jesus recognised that the enemy of God
was also strong and that he would have to understand all the wiles of the devil if he
was to overcome it in himself and he expressed this awareness when he was accused
of having a ‘devil', “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of
God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil
his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house”
(Matthew 12 v 28-29). Jesus ‘bound’ the strong man of Satan within his heart by the
stronger word of God and ‘spoiled’ the devil’s domain by death on the cross. Many
times did the devil in the elders of Israel try to trap Jesus in his words, but by the
agility depicted in the name of the goat, Jesus ‘astonished’ his detractors with his
answers and put them to silence, for example when he was asked whether he thought
it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not Jesus answered them, “But he perceived
their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose
image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said
unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God
the things which be God's” (Luke 20 v 23-26) as man was made in the image of God

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(Genesis 1 v 26-27) it was man’s duty to fully repay God with the honour due to his
creator requiring a strength of character that no other man has possessed other than
Jesus.

The third covering - Ram’s skins dyed red

The ram was chosen by God to represent His beloved Son Jesus Christ who would
fulfil the requirement of God that there should be a covering for the sin’s of men
provided by a man born of Adam’s race (a mortal human – Galatians 4 v 4) who
would die in obedience to God so that forgiveness of sins after resurrection from the
dead unto eternal life could be granted to many men and women. This was the hope
and faith of Abraham who was told by God to sacrifice his only beloved son (Isaac) in
order to try the sincerity of his faith. Abraham proved his faith and God provided a
ram to replace Isaac (Abraham’s beloved son) and taught that a male (God’s beloved
son) born out of the ‘flock' of mankind (tangled in the thicket of the enmity) who
would be released from entanglement by obedience to God’s word and would die for
the salvation of those who had the same faith as Abraham, “And Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead
of his son” (Genesis 22).

God then gave Abraham one of the most important promises of His covenant, a
promise that was the bedrock of the early Christians and is the keystone of pure
Christian faith today, “…. and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my
voice”. Paul established this promise as the bedrock of Christian faith, “Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of
many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3 v16). The enemy
whose gate was to be possessed is the only enemy God has, the enmity, the poison of
the serpent from the beginning, otherwise referred to as Satan, the devil, the world,
the flesh, etc. The gate is the strength of a walled city, the place of council, the seat of
judgement and the hub of commerce. The walled city is mankind and the enmity is the
ruler, counsellor, the judge and the banker - the gate. That gate (the enmity) was to be
overcome and killed by Jesus Christ in his own life and replaced by the ruler-ship of
God by His word. To accomplish that he would have to die because the enmity never
stops working until death as Solomon wrote of death, “Also their love, and their
hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever
in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9 v 4-6).

The death that Jesus was to endure was not to be from natural causes, but by
voluntary submission in obedience to the will of God by the cruelty of the enmity
from his fellows, as a result of which he was (as a mortal man) to die in order to
provide a covering ‘skin’, as taught in the rams skins dyed red. The word red is not
the same a scarlet that was used elsewhere that represents the blood of a lowly man,
but rather the ‘red’ of the blood showing through the pigment of skin, i.e. ruddy, it is
the word that is associated with the root of the name Adam (synonymous with
mankind, i.e. of the offspring of Adam), cursed to mortality. It was the ‘red’ of the
pottage for which Esau sold his birthright exemplifying indulgence of the gratification
of the flesh over faith in God, thus Esau (red, ruddy) represented mankind as a whole.
The ram-skin of covering sin unto salvation was to be of a male (ram) of the race of
mortal men, a race ‘ruddy’ (red) from indulgence of sin, caught in the thicket of the

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enmity (entangled because of sin) that Jesus would come and thus makes his victory
so powerful.

The fourth and final covering – badger’s skin

The Sanctuary contained the representations of the Son of God (Jesus Christ) and his
multitudinous companion (the saints) in the future curse-free creation, and this
Sanctuary was the place that represented where God would meet and dwell with His
family for whom He created the world (Colossians 1). Owing to the sin of man, this
condition of unity (the un-cursed creation and Tree of Life – eternal life) was closed
to mankind and (as represented in the Sanctuary) was covered as a ‘secret’ place, but
not altogether closed off as a forbidden enclosure, for God promised in His covenant
that there would be a way of entrance to eternal life by the life and death of His son
Jesus Christ. This covenant (covering the ‘secret’ of the way to the place of eternal
life), this covenant that God made to man revealed that if man obeyed God’s law with
understanding and love, He would open His ‘secret’ to them (Amos 3 v 7) and give
eternal life in return in His appointed time, “The secret of the LORD is with them that
fear him; and he will shew them his covenant” (Psalms 25 v 14), and “Now to him that
is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world
began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to
the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever”
(Romans 16 v 25-27).

For those that enter into this covenant by vow to obey God in the way that He has
commanded (by obedience to the whole law before Christ and baptism into the death
of Christ after Christ) this covenant becomes a ‘covering’ or covert, a protection from
the wiles of the devil man (the enmity – Romans 8 v 7, Ephesians 6 v 10-18). In this
obedience king David wrote in the Psalms of living under the covering of the
covenant of God, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I
may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his
pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a
rock” (Psalms 27 v 4-5) and again, “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence
from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of
tongues” (Psalms 31:20) and again, “I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust
in the covert of thy wings” (Psalms 61 v 4). This outer covering represented that
covenant of God, and this covenant was represented in the colour ‘blue’ by the choice
of God (Exodus 24 v 9-11) where men met with angels and did eat and drink.

This fourth and final covering was the protector from all outside influence - the sun,
rain, wind and the prying eyes of man (both Jew and Gentile). It needed to be
waterproof, windproof, breathable and as representing the Covenant of God it was to
be of blue colour, strong, tough, soft, supple and above all, durable. The instructions
for this covering as read in the King James (Authorised, KJV) bible is, “And thou
shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of
badgers' skins” Exodus 26 v 14), whereas that translated by William Tyndale in the
early 16th century directly from Hebrew to English (from which the KJV was derived)
reads, “And thou fhalt make another coueringe for the tente of rams fkinnes dyed red:
ad yet another aboue all of taxus skinnes” (The Pentatuarch, 1530). Over the recent

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centuries there has been divergence of interpretations of the Hebrew word ‫תחש‬
(tachash) from which Tyndale translated taxus due to the unknown origin of the
colloquial Hebrew name of this animal. Some confusion is due to taking the word
Tyndale’s taxus as part of the Latin name for a badger Taxidea taxus (after Linneous
binomial nomenclature notation of species, 18th century), but Tyndales’ whole work
was against the use of Latin as that was the language of the Roman Catholic church
against whom he fought so that the English ‘ploughboy’ could read the Bible for
himself. Tyndale’s translation, however, is clear - the ram’s skins were dyed red but
the taxus skins were not dyed but of natural colour, which leaves an animal whose
skin is naturally blue, definitely not the badger.

Two major contributors to Hebrew lexicons were John Parkhurst (1871) and Wilhelm
Gesenius (1846). Parkhurst recognises the alternative translations but insists that it
denoted the colour blue - azure, sky-blue - and quotes older sources to bolster his
view, i.e. the Septuagint (Hebrew to Greek- 2nd century BC) where ‘‫ תחש‬tachash,
badgers,’ is rendered hyacinthus (blue) indigo, or sapphire, or navy, or a deep, clear
sky blue (after evening sinset). Also Jerome of the 3rd century AD used hyacinthus
(blue) when translating the Vulgate from Hebrew to Latin. Gesinius however is
equally certain that it was an animal skin that was used widely as shoes and rendered
it seal, badger, taxus or taxo, and quotes Arabic sources as rendering it dolphin or seal
and quotes it’s use a high quality durable footware.

Having therefore two equally compelling but divergent interpretations, what was the
outer covering of the Sanctuary? For that we can only look from the viewpoint of God
who commanded it and to why He chose what He did in order to teach of His purpose
and promises. That has been established (His covenant, see above) and leads us to a
naturally blue, waterproof, windproof, breathable, durable skin, and for that to be
there is only one animal indigenous to the Red Sea (and most warm waters of that
latitute) which is the dugong dugan otherwise known as the ‘sea-cow’ owing to its
vegetable diet, gentle trusting demeanor, herding instinct and suckling its young with
human-like mammory glands. Recent research into this mammal confirms its use
from pre-history as high quality footware and of many shades of blue as descibed by
one report, “The fact that the Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply
dukhas/tukhas/tucash to the dugong, sea-cow, seal, porpoise and dolphin - to such a
varied population of sea mammals - strongly suggests that it denotes, not the kind of
animals they are, but some distinguishing characteristic they have in common. With
very few exceptions, they have a similar coloring: a dusky "bluish-grey" or "slate-
blue" color, ranging from a darker "sky-blue dawn" or "grey-indigo" and "near-
black" (a kind of "deep midnight navy" or "indigo dye color"), to a lighter "slate-
blue" and pale "bluish-grey", to an even more pronounced "glaucous blue"--any one
of which is more pronouncedly blue in tone and beautiful (ultramarine) when viewed
under a clear sky and in the waters of the sea” (wikipedia).

The fourth and final covering – badger’s skin - The conclusion

God chose the outer covering of the tent of the Tabernacle (the Sanctuary) to be an all
embracing protective covering (as a covert) for those who turn to Him in repentance
and that it was a witness to His covenant, complete in its protection from outside
influences (naturally blue, waterproof, weatherproof, windproof, breathable and
durable) to teach of His covenant that mortal man would be made immortal in His
mercy through His beloved son Jesus Christ (who fulfilled and became the

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manifestation of that covenant). The only mammal that satisfied that criteria was the
dugong dugan, a docile, trusting, sea-grass eating mammal, but this was classified by
God as an unclean animal (Leviticus 11) and it is here that many stumble as they also
stumble at the ‘rock’ that was made the ‘cornerstone’ (1 Peter 2 v 6-8) because they
do not consider the law from God’s viewpoint – they see it as a system of rigid rules –
not a teacher of greater things. God created all creatures as clean (very good – Genesis
1 v 31) God cursed all creation (some creatures were classifies as unclean - Genesis 3
v 17 - later confirmed by Paul “that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that
esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean” Romans 14 v 14) not because
the earth had angered God but to teach man (who had angered God) - and to remind
him every day - that it was he (man) who was unclean because of disobedience by sin
and that the promise of God is, that that which is now unclean in His eyes will be
made clean through the obedience of His son Jesus Christ, and that is the protective
covert of the covering of the mercy and faithfullness of meaning of the name of God
(merciful, gracious, long suffering, goodness and truth) manifest in Jesus Christ, and
as the outer covering of the Tabernacle it was a daily public witness to Jew and
Gentile of the purpose of God (Numbers 24).

6.15) Altar of burnt offering

Like the Ark of the Covenant, the incense altar and the table of shewbread, the altar of
burnt sacrifice was also made of shittim wood, but in contrast with those the altar of
burnt offering was overlaid with brass (Exodus 27 v 1-7). God chose brass to
represent the fire of the Holy Spirit (for description see pp54-55, Revelation 1 v 15),
to reflect and blend in with the yellow/red of the flames and heat of the fire on the
altar, This heat (fuelled by the fat of the offerings, Leviticus 3 v 16 - 17) must have
been intense, why then did the shittim wood under the brass not burn away? In the
beginning when God created everything He perfected every infinite detail (all what
we now call 'science') and in so doing He created the natural phenomena now known
as pyrolysis, if air is sealed away from wood as it is heated it does not burn but
changes into a hard and durable resinous substance similar to that which we know as
Bakelite or phenolic. Thus the altar of shittim wood, encased in brass, was entirely
durable and immensely strong as a place of the burning of whole animal carcases.

The altar was five cubits square (7’ 6”, 2.3m) and three cubits high (4’ 6”, 1.38m)
with four cast-brass rings on each outside corner for shittim wood staves overlaid with
brass to locate in for transport, and four horns of the same construction at the four top
corners. The whole structure was hollow, i.e. four sides with no bottom, but with four
locating points at the bottom of the inside faces to support four rings on the corners of
a grating of brass to allow the ashes to fall through. Although it is not recorded, the
sides must have been short of the ground with four legs at each corner upon which the
grating located in order for the ashes to fall out and be collected.

The substantial fuel of the fire was wood and it was not allowed to go out as it is
written, “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and
the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order
upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be
burning upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Leviticus 6 v 12-13). The sacrifices (to
be considered later) were laid on the wood and burnt, with the ashes of the wood,
animals and their fat falling through the grating at the base and collected by the priest
to be deposited in a designated ‘clean’ place outside the encampment, “And he shall

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put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the
camp unto a clean place” (Leviticus 6 v 11). The smoke of the burning was a constant
reminder to all people of the work represented in the sacrifices.

That work represented the work of Holy Spirit as a fire in a mortal body (the shittim
wood frame). It has been shown that brass represents either the spirit of man (the
enmity, the devil, Satan, etc) or the Holy Spirit and in both cases represents the
yellow/red of fire. Satan is a fearsome burning fire enabling it’s victim to burn with an
implacable and unquenchable hatred of righteousness as Jesus taught when he used
the analogy of Gehenna as a repository of the enmity as a ‘fire’ in the heart and mind
of man. Gehenna (translated as ‘hell’) was the valley of the Son of Hinnom situated
around the southern boundary of Jerusalem where dead paupers and miscreants were
thrown among the self-combusting municipal rubbish tip continually consumed by
fire and Jesus used this as a metaphor for the enmity at work in man as he said. “And
if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than
having two hands to go into hell (Gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9 v 43-44). This
spirit of the enmity as a brazen fire cannot co-exist with the Holy Spirit, the one must
always overcome the other. To his shame man has always been overcome in some
degree by the enmity within him with the exception of Jesus Christ who, although
subject to temptation as every other man, overcame the enmity by the word of God
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The brass enveloping the shittim wood of
the frame of the altar of burnt offering represented the fire of the God (“For the
LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” Deuteronomy 4 v 24) and
when God works specifically in the preparation of His chosen people He does so by
His own power - the Spirit of God and is always referred to in the scripture as the
Holy Spirit, it is not a separate power or being, it is the power of God in a specific
work.

The fiery appearance of brass reflected the work of the literal fire of the altar whose
purpose was to consume the flesh and fat of the animals as a figure of the
consumption of the enmity by the Holy Spirit at work in the ‘fatness’ (best) of the
heart and mind of God’s chosen son Jesus Christ by which means he overcame sin as
he said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the
world (enmity) ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world (enmity)” (John 16 v 33).

Fire is a chemical reaction of fundamental particles of energised carbon atoms and

molecules in the presence of oxygen and reduces any combustible (carboniforous0
substance to its lowest solid form, un-bonded carbon form (ash), where the energy
inherent within the substance as created by God is released as a yellow flame and
dispersed in the atmosphere as pure energy - the energy from which God created all
things in the beginning, therefore it is well known as the fundamental law of physics
that energy (of God who created all things) cannot be created or destroyed, it can only
be transferred from one state to another. Therefore the fire of the Holy Spirit within
Jesus converted the ‘fat’ (best) of the ‘energy’ usually commandeered by Satan into
the ‘best’ energy to be expended in obedience to God, the same spiritual energy that
was given to man in the beginning but who spent it on the lust of the serpent, it is the
spiritual ‘energy’ given by God to glorify God.

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Therefore the altar of burnt offering represented Jesus Christ who alone allowed the
Holy Spirit to work in his mortal body and character until the enmity was consumed
(destroyed) finally in death and the details of that work were depicted the various
offerings laid upon it, as Jesus upbraided the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, “Ye
fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon”
(Matthew 23 v 19-20).

The phrase ‘burnt offering’ (‫( )עלה‬as in altar of burnt offering) means to ‘ascend’ or
‘go up’, as indeed the flame and smoke did literally rise and go up, but this Hebrew
word-phrase has far more pregnancy than a mere observation of an obvious fact. God
is in heaven and man is on the earth and God is righteous and man is inherently
wicked, and in this context it is written, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts”.

By nature man ‘sends up’ a stinking savour to God even when he claims to honour
God by wearisome sacrifices of all sorts of things and hypocritical protestations as did
Israel in Isaiah’s day, “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am
holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day” (Isaiah
65 v 5). God sought obedience through love as a sweet savour of to ‘ascend’ to Him, a
pleasing aroma of a continual denial of the enmity, a fragrance of complete victory
over the enmity. Noah knew this and he knew that the one that would do that had not
yet come, so he offered clean animals as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God to express
his faith that that one would come in God’s good time, “And Noah builded an altar
unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered
burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour” (Genesis 8 v 20-
21) where ‘sweet’ means delighted, well pleasing and agreeable. When God gave
Moses the law because the congregation did not have the faith that Noah had, God
commanded that a continual reminder of this promise should be offered every day,
morning and evening whose savour would ‘go up’ (ascend) as a sweet savour to God,
“It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet
savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD” (Numbers 28 v 6). Jesus fulfilled all
that God looked for and God did smell a ‘sweet savour’ of obedience in Jesus and
said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1 v 11), again
later, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matthew 17
v 5), and again at the end of his life Jesus prayed, “Father, save me from this hour:
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a
voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The
people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An
angel spake to him” (John 12:27-29). The ‘burnt offering’ (upward going savour) was
nothing without the altar and that altar represented Christ.

There were four horns at the four corners of the altar made of the same construction as
the body of the altar. The Hebrew name ‘horn’ (‫ )קרן‬is that of an animal horn, the
meaning of the word being based on its strength, the part of the animal through which
the whole body makes it’s strength known in defence of its territory and family. No

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mention is made in the Law as to the practical use of these horns, but the meaning of
the name ‘horn’ does represent the whole strength of the altar and its sacrifices as
being represented through these horns as a figurative witness to the one who would
stand in the strength of God and defend his territory (his mind, heart, soul, character)
against all rivals and predators (the enmity, Satan, the devil etc) by which a family
would be also protected (as in natural horned animals). However, reference is made to
these horns in the Psalms that links a practical use of the horns to spiritual teaching, as
it is written, “God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with
cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Psalms 118 v 27). The ‘cords’ here are twine
ropes (strong and tenacious) and the ‘binding’ (‫ )רסא‬is to ‘bind as with chains’ such
that it is impossible to escape (Genesis 39 v 20), it is to ‘engage’ in battle where every
warrior is totally committed (11 Chronicles 14 v 3), it is to ‘restrain’ every subject to
a king by laws (Psalm 105 v 22), it is an ‘obligatory’ decree (Daniel 6 v 7-8), but
above all it is a ‘binding vow of abstinence’, as it is written “If a man vow a vow unto
the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word,
he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” (Numbers 30 v 2,
Ecclesiastes 5 v 1-7). The altar represented the mortal Jesus Christ (shittim wood)
immersed in the influence of the Holy Spirit (brass) and the sacrificed animals on the
altar (to be considered later in detail) represented the substance of his sacrifices – the
evidence of the fulfilment (payment) of his vow through obedience that completed a
perfect sacrifice. Jesus committed himself to his work with a binding vow from the
earliest age to honour God by obedience to His every word (Psalm 40 v 7-8, Psalm
116 v 14, Luke 2 v 49), to bind Satan within his soul as a bound prisoner (Matthew 12
v 25-32, Ephesians 4 v 8), to impose the law of God in his heart as obligatory
government decrees (Psalm 119) and to engage the enmity in battle within himself
with all his faculties until it was defeated (Matthew 4 v 1-11, Luke 22 v 42-44). The
inner strength of Jesus was his Nazarite vow (Numbers 6) by which he defended the
territory of his heart and mind, vanquished the enemy of God (the enmity) and
defended the flock of God - his future multitudinous companion.

Thus placing a sacrifice on the altar without first ‘binding’ it to the horns of the altar
was like making sacrifices without any purpose of honouring God (i.e. sacrifice or
martyrdom for personal glory) - an empty and pointless waste, as God said “To what
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the
burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats” (Isaiah 1:11-15). God has never wanted
sacrifices for sacrifice sake, he wants the sacrifice of a vow of obedience followed by
the sacrifices of humble obedience to His word as Micah wrote, “Wherewith shall I
come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him
with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with
thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O
man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6 v 6-9). As therefore the
one who offered the animal for sacrifice in order to express faith in the promises of
God they saw the slain animal first bound to the horns of the altar and then put in the
fire to be consumed, and were thus reminded that God first requires a vow of
obedience for any practical sacrifice to be of any value, and by the altar, its horns and
their sacrificed animal, they were reminded every day that only one man would make
that perfect vow and pay it in full.

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The altar of burnt offering represented Jesus Christ in whom the enmity was slain by
the activity (fire) of the Holy Spirit within him that never went out fulfilling the
teaching of the law ‘the fire…..it shall not be put out’ (Leviticus 6 v 13), and he
became the open manifestation of that power of the Holy Spirit of God in a mortal
body by the miracles he performed, the parables he spoke, the scripture he expounded,
the teachings he astonished the Jews with and above all, the sinless life he lived, even
as the brass enveloped the shittim wood where the Holy Spirit replaced the spirit of
the enmity in it’s entirety.

6.16) Laver
Literally a round shaped vessel, a dish or pot. The laver was made wholly of brass and
contained water for washing the hands and feet of the priests before they entered the
sanctuary. “Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash
withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar,
and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and
their feet thereat: When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall
wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to
burn offering made by fire unto the LORD: So they shall wash their hands and their
feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his
seed throughout their generations” (Exodus 30 v 18-21).

Water is the essence of life, allowing the body both to function and to flush its
workings of waste and to cleanse the skin of filth. Sweat causes uncleanness to
accumulate as a result of the curse on man that will be removed when the promise of
eternal life is given to man in the fullness of the promises for God did not create man
to be unclean. The water in the laver was for washing away natural daily
contamination of perspiration and accumulated dust the reminder of the curse.
Because of the curse, sweat is a natural but unpleasant secretion of the body, a
constant reminder of uncleanness of the body and spirit in mortal man in the eyes of
God because of sin. God created water for life, but after the curse on man He provided
water for cleansing the body also. After the same analogy the word of God has been
given for spiritual life unto salvation and the cleansing of the heart and mind unto
righteousness. Jesus first miracle at a wedding (that set the scene for the fullness of
his work) turned water into wine, teaching that the fulfilment of the word of God
(water) in him would result in a life (wine) that would enable a marriage (Christ and
the saints) to be completed to the pleasure of the Governor (God) (John 2 v 1-11).
Before his crucifixion Jesus took a basin of water and washed the disciples feet of
their natural dirt, “After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded….. Jesus
saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
whit: and ye are clean, but not all” (John 13 v 4-16). It has been shown that washing
the feet refreshes the body of weary travellers (Genesis 18 v 4; 19 v 2 & 24 v 32). The
priests were to wash their hands and feet before entering the Sanctuary to be reminded
that they were in need of cleansing by the word of God as the disciples were. Theirs
was a physical refreshing, but as Jesus taught (they should have known) the
application of the water of the word (the law) would remove any natural secretions of
world-weariness (jadedness) of the mind and heart, and refresh faith and belief in the
covenant of God. Thus the disciples were told to do the same to each other, to

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rejuvenate their faith by constant sluicing in all the words of God in order to be alert
to the wiles of the devil, the enmity within them.

The laver was made entirely of brass with no trace of origin in mortality (shittim
wood) as was the altar of burnt offering. Brass represents the spirit of God (the Holy
Spirit) that replaces the spirit of man (the enmity) teaching that the word of God was
wholly sourced from the Holy Spirit with no additions of human reasoning. At the
time of the construction of the Tabernacle, the word of God was the Law of God that
underpinned the promises in the covenant of God. That word of God was inspired by
the Holy Spirit “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21), it refreshes
the soul and rejuvenates the spirit “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2
Timothy 3 v 16-17) and keeps the mind from the sins of the flesh, “But whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed…….Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1 v 22-27).

The laver represented the only source of the cleansing and refreshing word of God
essential for preparation unto salvation, a word inspired by the Holy Spirit, and by
which spirit alone it can be understood and utilised as it is written, “But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2 v 10-13).
Therefore for the priest to wash anywhere else - no matter how physically clean they
made themselves - it would not have been acceptable to God, because spiritual
washing is more important than physical washing, but one is a reflection of the other.

6.17) Court and curtains

There was a court bounded by a white linen screen around the tent of the Tabernacle.
In this court the priests ministered in their duties about the offerings at the altar of
burnt offering and prepared themselves to enter the Sanctuary by washing at the laver.
The screen was five cubits high (90”, 7’ 6”, 2.3m) by 100 cubits long (150’, 46m) on
the north and south side, by 50 cubits wide (75’, 23m) on the east and west sides.
Twenty brass pillars on each of the two long sides with ten pillars on each short side
supported the screen. Each brass pillar was located in a solid brass socket. There were
silver hooks at the top of the pillars whose use was twofold. One purpose was to
locate silver fillets (or connecting rods) that linked the pillars together like fellows
(sections of rim) in a wheel that are united by the tension of the spokes, and the other
was to hold tensioned cords that led to pointed pegs driven into the ground as tent
guy-ropes are. The entrance gateway formed part of the boundary and was a
continuation of the white linen screen being twenty cubits wide but embroidered with
blue, purple and scarlet hanging across and between four brass pillars.

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White represents righteousness, a state of no sin or uncleanness found only in God

and His angels and conferred on Jesus Christ who though born unclean and lived a
mortal life knew no sin. The righteousness of God seen in Jesus Christ is to be
bestowed on the companion of Jesus, the saints when he returns to the earth. Thus the
house of God, the place where He will dwell among His people is bounded by
righteousness, the righteousness manifest in the word that He spoke and that was
recorded by faithful men of old as the word of God.

This white boundary was supported by brass pillars located in sockets of brass with no
shittim wood substrates (as was in the furniture of the Tabernacle). These upright
supports represent the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit), fiery of colour, strong of substance
and durable in nature, firmly rooted in the solid foundations of the Spirit of God. The
link between each pillar was a silver fillet (tie-rod) that was hooked to each of the 60
pillars thus forming a continuous circle of fellowship all tensioned together by cords
angled downwards from the tops of the pillars to sharp pegs driven into the ground.
Silver has been shown before to represent the word of God (p15), a fellowship of
‘books’ united as one volume with no contradictions or ambiguities.

The screen formed the boundary of sanctity, the clear and definite division separating
between clean and unclean, of sanctity and un-sanctity and the holy from the unholy
and hence by interpretation the decisive difference between good and evil. The
bounds marked out (with startling white clarity) the separation of all holy things of
God from the general congregation and every day life, in the same way that the word
of God inspired to be written and read by the Holy Spirit separates that which is right
from that which is wrong, leaving no uncertainty of what God has said is right or
wrong. Peter wrote that “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any
private interpretation” (2 Peter 1 v 20-22) thus ruling out any movement of the white
screen of separation that God has set in the interpretation of His word. Peter
continued, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). If therefore
inspiration to write the word was by the Holy Spirit it therefore follows that
interpretation of that word must be of the same source of inspiration and so Paul
wrote, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians
2 v 11), but God does not give the gift of His Holy Spirit to interpret His word in
order to see the boundaries of His holiness in a public display of ecstasy, but secretly,
little by little and only in proportion to the desired effect that it is having on the
recipient which is to humble them into submission according as Isaiah prophesied,
“Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and
there a little” (Isaiah 28 v 9-10).

When God justly drove man out of the garden of Eden and away from His holiness
because of man’s sin, God has not for ever shut out mankind from being embraced in
His holiness by the renunciation of uncleanness, but provided an entrance through His
white screen of sanctity and into His sanctified dwelling by identifying an entrance
with a brightly coloured embroidery of blue, scarlet and purple. These colours
represented the one man who made himself lower in spirit and manner in the sight of
God than any other man (see 6.8 The veil, pillars and sockets, pp 35-37), as Paul

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wrote, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”
(Philippians 2 v 7-8) and “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5 v 8).

It is to be noted that the final words that Jesus gave to his ‘church’ of believers was
concerning the moving or modifying of the white boundary of righteousness that
separates good from evil that was set in the beginning, that was reaffirmed in the
tabernacle and that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ throughout his life and death,
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are
written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these
things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22
v 18-19). The law of God still alive in every generation since it was written reinforced
this principle, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”
(Proverbs 22 v 28, Deuteronomy 19 v 14).

Thus Jesus, almost at the end of his life, gave a few of his disciples a glimpse of the
righteousness of God that will surround Jesus and the saints in the kingdom of God
when he was transfigured before them, “and his face did shine as the sun, and his
raiment was white as the light” (Matthew 17 v 1-5).

The sacrificial offerings are going to be considered later but it is noteworthy that they
were all killed at the entrance to the court whence their bodies and blood was then
taken through the screened entrance to be prepared for presentation as God ordained.
They that had offered had put their hand upon it’s head as it was being slain to signify
their acknowledgement that one man needed to die in order for their sins to be
forgiven, their ungodliness to be sanctified, their faith to be acceptable to God and
their hope justified. From this teaching the figure of baptism has been passed down
from John Baptist who was first inspired by God introduce it when Jesus came to
fulfil every word of the law and figure of the Tabernacle, that by a vow of obedience
into the death of that one man Jesus Christ (the sacrificed animal) who pioneered the
way through the entrance into sanctity, our sins could be forgiven, our un-sanctity
sanctified, our faith in God could become acceptable and our hopes realised as Paul
taught, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6 v 3-4).

6.18) The camp

God ordered the encampment of Israel round the Tabernacle in order to teach all who
saw the camp and who have since read the record of the orderliness and discipline of
His purpose in the creation of a family of righteous people among whom He would
dwell. Thirteen tribes encamped around the Tabernacle, three on each cardinal point
of the compass and one between the congregation and the Tabernacle. This single
tribe (Levi) was further subdivided into four families encamped at the same four

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points of the compass. Each tribe had its own standard against which it encamped.
There were thirteen tribes because Levi had been separated by God to minister in both
His Tabernacle and to the congregation in matters of law and order and were
subsequently not numbered in the congregation and furthermore were to receive no
land inheritance in the future promised land - the Lord and His work in the
congregation was their inheritance as it was written, “But the Levites after the tribe of
their fathers were not numbered among them” (Numbers 1 v 47-54). There was no
tribe of Joseph in the camp but was represented by his two sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh, hence the thirteen tribes.

Levi was divided into four families, Aaron, Kohath, Merrari and Gershon. The house
of Aaron was charged with daily ministrations in the Tabernacle, Kohath with
transporting the furniture of the Sanctuary, Gershon with the structure of the tent and
court and Merrari with carrying the boards and pillars. The house of Aaron camped on
the east side before the entrance of the court to keep “the charge of the sanctuary for
the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to
death” (Numbers 3 v 38-39), and Kohath, Merrari and Gershon encamped on the
south, west and north respectively.

Issachar, Zebulun and Judah camped on the east side, Reuben, Simeon and Gad on the
south side, Ephraim, Mannaseh and Benjamin on the west side and Dan, Asher and
Naphtali on the north. Thus the hub of the Tabernacle was encircled with twelve
‘felloes’ of the congregation to make up a ‘rim’ of a united congregation as a wheel
with the Levites as the tensioning spokes between the rim and the hub.

Each tribe was to encamp by its own standard - a luminous beacon so configured as to
portray the identity of each tribe in order that they could be seen by day or night
whether in camp or in transit and so that collectively the whole camp could be
illuminated such that from a distance the camp was ‘alive’ by day and by night, a
circle of lighted beacons with the fire of the altar of burnt offering as the focus.

God is light (1 John 1 v 5) and He is a fire (Deuteronomy 4 v 24) and His Spirit is a
represented by the fire of the altar of burnt offering and it is His purpose that each of
His saints uphold the light of the fire of the Holy Spirit in every generation.
Collectively that multitude of lights was concentrated in Jesus Christ who was the
light of the world as he witnessed, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8 v 12) but
individually Jesus taught that each prospective saint was to bear a representation of
his burning light standard as a token of witness that they were of him and of the
congregation of God, and so Jesus continued the requirement set in the law of all
bearing a burning standard, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven” (Matthew 5 v 14-16) and “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house”
(Matthew 5 v 15) and as the Psalmist wrote, “We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in
the name of our God we will set up our banners (standards)” (Psalms 20 v 5) and as
‘they’ look to Jesus the hub of their life in every generation they ‘see’ the words of

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Solomon “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner (standard) over me
was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4).

As the tribes of Israel encamped around the Tabernacle so in the kingdom of God on
earth the proven saints will encamp around Jesus who fulfilled all the representations
of the Tabernacle and will be endued as King of all the earth as is taught in the
Revelation, “And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the
seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on
their heads crowns of gold” (Revelation 4 v 4) and, “And the seventh angel sounded;
and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And
the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces,
and worshipped God” (Revelation 11 v 15-17). Thus the beauty and orderliness of the
camp was ordained by God to transport the mind of the beholder forward to the
fulfilment of His covenant when God will bestow all power on earth to Jesus His
beloved son and he in turn will be surrounded with his multitudinous companion to
make a spiritual garden of the Lord as was prophesied, “He hath said, which heard
the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but
having his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O
Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees
of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters”
(Numbers 24 v 4-9).

6.19) The High priest, the priests and their garments

Of the thirteen tribes (Joseph was represented by his two sons) that encamped around
the Tabernacle, God had chosen the tribe of Levi to be closest to Him through whom
all other tribes must come in order to express their faith in the covenant of God
(Exodus 32 v 25-29, Deuteronomy 10 v 8-9). Of this tribe God chose one family (the
Kohathites) to represent His promises in a future family of sanctified people who
would become close to Him and through whom all others would approach unto God
in worship and God created the office of priesthood to fulfil this work. Of this family
God chose Aaron and his sons to further represent His purpose in the one righteous
man through whom forgiveness of sin would be obtained and His covenant fulfilled.
So God ordained the singular office of High Priest.

Thus God taught that of all nations, families and people that will be given eternal life
on earth in His good time (Revelation 7), one mortal man would be ordained by Him
to make the fulfilment of that promise possible (Psalm 2, Zechariah 8 v 20-23) and
that that one mortal man (made immortal) would be a king-high priest of all people on
earth for ever (Psalm 110, Hebrews 6 & 7). There is no greater way to understand the
reason and purpose of the office of the High Priest than what is written by Paul to the
Hebrews (ch’s 1-10) and it recommended that this be read and understood as it is not
intended to expand on this Divinely inspired record. What is to be examined is the
significance of the details of his garments as teaching the (then) future work of Jesus
Christ both as a mortal man and as an immortal man after his death and resurrection.
Thus an orderly hierarchy was established by God to teach of His purpose with
mankind, the High Priest as supreme but subservient to God, the priesthood
subservient to God through the High Priest, the Levites subservient to God through

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them and the congregation subservient to all, as was confirmed in the last message of
Jesus before he returns to the earth (Revelation 5 v 9-10 & 20 v 6).

The ‘office’ of priest is to ‘serve on behalf of others’ who are unable to do so and that
brings two significant qualities, 1) the ability to serve a superior (God) and 2)
responsibility to correctly represent (in the presence of that superior) another servant
who is unable to do so. Service to God is obedience to all His words without
exception and was intended to take the mind of the priests and the congregation
forward to the one man (Jesus Christ) who alone would do this perfectly. For one
sinner (Aaron and his progeny) to represent other sinners (Israel) in that service (that
repeatedly failed because of sin) required recognition that it was therefore impossible
to do so unless there was one who would come who did no sin (Jesus Christ) and then
to request forgiveness of sin through faith in that one who should come. It became the
High Priest, the priests and the congregation to recognise this before approaching to
worship God and to approach to God by faith in that one (Jesus Christ). The role and
office of the High Priest was to represent that one (Jesus Christ) who as then would
come and who by service of every word of God would be able intercede to God on
behalf of other sinners for forgiveness of their sins, in that although without sin he
took upon himself the guilt of others sins, as was later written, “Seeing then that we
have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin” (Hebrews 4 v 14-15) and again, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that
he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted”
(Hebrews 2).

Thus the High Priest alone was permitted to enter the Most Holy Place within the veil
once a year to intercede first for himself and then for the congregation on the Day of
Atonement (Leviticus 16) but was also ordained to enter the Holy Place twice each
day to trim the lights of the candlestick and offer incense on the altar of incense
(Exodus 30 v 7-8), whereas the priests were ordained to enter only the Holy Place
each week to eat the showbread (Leviticus 25 v 8-9).

Moses was commanded to “make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and
for beauty” (Exodus 28). The Hebrew word for ‘glory’ is based on that which is
weighty or heavy in the way that gravity acts upon substance or mass. In a literal
sense the garment of the High Priest would not be heavy because in a hot climate that
would encourage unclean exudations (perspiration) of the body, but rather it is used in
a spiritual sense in that they were of substantial or weighty significance. ‘Beauty’ is
otherwise translated as honour and glory. That which is beautiful to man is not
beautiful to God and what is honourable to man is not the honour of God and likewise
the glory of man is not the glory of God. As these were therefore divinely inspired
garments it is to the beauty of God we have to look, to seek out His honour and glory.

It is written “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time” (Ecclesiastes 3 v 11) and
creation (the natural world) is a witness to this truth as it is beautiful in every detail
from the smallest atomic particle to the largest mountain, ocean, continent and the
universe. There is a beauty in the eyes of God that is definitely not beautiful in the

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eyes of man and it is this beauty that coupled with the weightiness of the glory of God
represents the character of Jesus Christ who became the High Priest of God’s choice.
Beauty to man is outward appearance (a view, a sound or anything felt by the senses),
but God told Samuel that He does not behold outward beauty as He does inward
beauty when Samuel was to anoint a king over Israel, God said, “Look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the
LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the
LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16 v 6-12).

Herein is the beauty and glory of the garments of the High Priest and his priests. It is
the purpose of God that man should be like Him in character, because as man was
created in the image and likeness of God in physical form (Genesis 1 v 27) so God
required that man be like unto Him in heart, mind and character. Adam and Eve saw
the ‘beauty and glory’ of the promise of ‘better things' (Genesis 3 v 1-6) and ate of the
forbidden fruit in search of greater ‘weight and glory’ than the ‘weight and glory’ of
obedience and trust in God and so was driven out of the Garden of Eden and their
access to a prolonged life (Genesis 3 v 22-24). God then began His work of raising up
a replacement for the ungrateful Adam, a man of Adam’s seed who would be
beautiful in character and full of the glory of God.

When the congregation of Israel sinned after the manner of Adam counting the beauty
and glory of Egypt greater than the beauty and glory of the promise of God (Exodus
32) incurring the wrath of God who considered destroying them, Moses interceded on
their behalf for mercy and patience and asked God not to forsake them and said, “I
beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (Exodus 33) as a result God declared unto Moses
His name, “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and
proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and
proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and
to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34 v 5-7). Thus the glory and beauty of God is His
name (merciful, gracious, long suffering, full of goodness and truth) and it is these
virtues that God sees as beautiful and glorious in man, and the garments of the High
Priest and his sons were representations of this name, later describes as the fruits of
the Holy Spirit in man, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5 v 22-23, Jeremiah 9
v 24).

These ‘fruits’ (virtues, characteristics, etc.,) were perfected in Jesus Christ who died
for the forgiveness of the sins of his friends. Such was the ‘weight’ of the glory of
God in Christ - a substantial, dense and unbreakable faith whose ‘mass’ gravitated to
God and like the gravity God created in the natural world so the closer Jesus
gravitated to God the stronger the pull of gravity became, until finally he was at one
with God, such that Jesus was able to say in prayer, “I have glorified thee on the
earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” and, “Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they
all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17).

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Moses was commanded to make garment for the High Priest, “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. And thou
shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and
thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to
cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach” (Exodus
28 v 4, 39 & 42) and for his sons, the priests, “And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make
coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for
glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:40)

6.19.1) The linen coat, girdle and breeches

Fine linen represents righteousness (see 6.8 The veil, pillars and sockets, pp34-35) of
which the High Priest was to be clothed. These linen garments were to be
‘embroidered’ - or as the root word implies ‘a tightly woven warp and weft and
wrapped closely to the skin’, fitted relatively straight with no embellishment of
design. It was required that he was to be washed before putting on these garments
(Exodus 29 v 4) in order to remove all trace of unclean deposits. God is righteousness
and God is light and are both represented by ‘whiteness’ as Daniel and John were
shown, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool”
(Daniel 7 v 9) and “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1). In contrast
darkness, spots, stains and defilements are representative of sin. The garments of the
High Priest were for glory and beauty where there is no more glory and beauty than in
the righteousness of God (who cannot look on sin) yet is merciful, gracious, long-
suffering, full of goodness and truth toward all. The work of Jesus was to replace the
glory and honour of man with the glory and honour of God and Jesus took upon
himself the righteousness of God by obedience to every word of God, and in so doing
he killed the enmity within himself – the source of glory and honour to man, thus
Jesus was described as a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish whose blood was
shed for the remission of sin, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1 v 19). Jesus was the righteousness of
God manifest in a mortal body after the figure of the white garments of the High
Priest of whom Jesus was the fulfilment.

6.19.2) The robe

Above the white linen garments representing the foundation of righteousness the High
Priest was to be covered in garment of blue, “And thou shalt make the robe of the
ephod all of blue” (Exodus 28 v 31). Blue is colour God has chosen to represent His
covenant (see 6.8 The veil, pillars and sockets pp35-36) thus teaching that the one
man who would declare the righteousness of God in a mortal body would be the
manifestation and fulfilment of the covenant of God, which covenant declared that
eternal life after resurrection from the dead awaits he who would keep all God’s
commandments without spot as David wrote in the Psalms, “The LORD said unto my
Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalms 110
v 1) of which prophecy Jesus said to Mary immediately after his resurrection, “Touch
me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”

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(John 20 v 1-18) and of which elevation Jesus had asked the Pharisees “What think ye
of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them,
How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call
him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matthew 22 v 41-45).

According to the promise of God Jesus was the firstborn of a new creation of
righteous people after whom many others would follow in like manner as Paul wrote
of those who are baptised into his death and resurrection, “and hath translated us into
the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even
the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell”
(Colossians 1 v 13-19).

There were no joins in this covenant that could tear and rent with time even as the
robe of blue was of one piece without seam, with a hole at the top to frame the head of
the High Priest. The rim of the whole was reinforced with linen thread to form a
strong garment defended against wear and tear after the example of a similar hole in
the defensive armour of an habergeon, “And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in
the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as
it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent” (Exodus 28 v 32).

There were around the hem alternate bells and pomegranates, “and they made upon
the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.
And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon
the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates” (Exodus 39 v 24-25).
The pomegranate is a sweet, multi-seeded fruit unusual compared to other fruits in
that the flesh of the fruit surrounds each seed in a collection of individual fruit pods
closely united together to form one fruit, thus around the hem of the robe of the
covenant of the High Priest were an endless and united circle of a multitude of seeds
richly encased in a sweet cocoon of nutritious fruit.

The work of the High Priest was to minister on behalf of a multitude (the
congregation) in the presence of God in order to atone for their sins and represented
the (as then) future work of Jesus Christ as a merciful High Priest who will seek and
obtain atonement of the sins of a multitude who are described as ‘the seed’ in the
promises of the covenant that God gave to Abraham, “And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed
also be numbered” (Genesis 13 v 16) which covenant embraces both Jew and Gentile
as Paul later wrote, “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not
to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
….. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be
sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the
faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, ….Who against hope believed in hope,

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that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken,
So shall thy seed be” (Romans 4 v 13-18).

It is also prophetically recorded that in the fullness of the purpose of God in His
covenant that not only will the mortal Jesus be made an immortal High Priest but that
that anointing of the Holy Spirit that he would experience after resurrection will
extend to all the faithful (the seed) after their resurrection as it is written in the
Psalms, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of
Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the
LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalms 133). The
pomegranates represented the multitudinous companion of Jesus Christ who all, as
individual seeds, were multiplications of him who was ‘the singular seed’ who made
peace with God by sacrifice (Genesis 3 v 16, Genesis 22, Galations 3 v 16) by the
fulfilling of every seed of the word of God.

These pomegranates were symbolic in that they were made of fine twined linen, dyed
blue, purple and scarlet that represented the qualities of the character of Jesus Christ,
humble, lowly, meek, despised by human nature and foolish according to the wisdom
of the world (1 Corinthians v 18-31), a people who ‘put on Christ’ (Romans 13 v 14),
who deny their own personality and elevate that of Jesus in their life as Jesus said, “If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me” (Matthew 10 v 32-33), and “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny
me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew
10 v 32-33).

Each pomegranate was interspersed with a bell of pure gold. Gold represents the love
of God in man that is proven by faith (1 Corinthians 13 [where charity is love],
Hebrews 11 v 1). The practical reason for these bells was so that the High Priest could
be heard as he went about his duties to God in the tabernacle on their behalf, “and his
sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and
when he cometh out, that he die not” (Exodus 28 v 35). It is written of the glorified
saints, “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in
the light of thy countenance” (Psalms 89 v 15) and so as a result of the work of Jesus
Christ the saints will sing with joyful voice, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation” (Revelation 5 v 9).

As therefore the High Priest ministered on behalf of the congregation and carried with
him this constant reminder of why he was doing his work, so Jesus worked and died
for the sins of his friends, whose memory of them never left his mind (most of whom
were long dead and many not even born) as he progressed his work up to and on the
cross, to him the memory of his friends past, present and future and their future union
was a ‘joyful noise’ for which ‘joy set before him’ he endured the cross, “Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God” (Hebrews 12 v 1-3).

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6.19.3) Ephod, curious ephod and the breastplate

To teach all who read His law of His purpose in one mortal man who would become
the saviour unto eternal life of himself and his friends God commanded, “And they
shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen,
with cunning work. 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…..And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with
cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of
purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it” (Exodus 28 v 6-8
& 15).

The ephod was a vest with front and back parts that were joined at the shoulders to
form the foundation garment of the curious girdle of the ephod and the breastplate.
The ephod had two gold rings at the lower front to which were attached two blue lace
ties leading to the bottom of the breastplate and at the shoulders were two ouches
(clamps) of gold and to which were attached two gold chains that led to the upper
corners of the breastplate. The ‘curious girdle’ ephod was bound round the body over
the ephod but under the breastplate and thus held the whole assemblage firmly in
place on the chest (heart) of the High Priest. The sense of this phrase ‘curious girdle’
is a ‘belt, strap or band in which every thread of the warp and weft has been counted
and added up to one sum’ - a garment that every thread is accounted for with none
superfluous and none missing.

The breastplate was bound over the curious girdle of the ephod to the ephod below by
two blue lace ties between golden rings on the bottom corners of the breastplate and
two gold rings on the lower part of the ephod and by two gold chains to the shoulder
pieces of the ephod. The curious girdle bound the assemblage over the blue robe and
white undergarment to the High Priest’s body. The breastplate was of the same
construction, it was two spans (16”, 400mm) by one span (8”, 200mm) and was
folded over to form a square (8”, 200mm) and at each corner were gold rings to fasten
it to the ephod.

The qualities of humility, meekness and ‘human’ inconsequence represent the colours
of the breastplate, curious girdle and the ephod that have been described previously
(6.8 The veil, pillars and sockets, pp34-35) and were foretold by Isaiah, “Thus saith
the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house
that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath
mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word”
(Isaiah 66 v 1-2). Gold represents the love of God that is focused upon those humble,
lowly and meek and from which qualities alone can the love of God be reflected. This
reflection of the love of God was fully achieved by one man only, Jesus Christ of
whom God testified at his baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matthew 3 v 17) and quoting from Isaiah (42 v 1-3) “Behold my servant,
whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit
upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles” (Matthew 12 v 18), and again
on Mount Hermon during the transfiguration, “And there was a cloud that

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overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved
Son: hear him” (Mark 9 v 7).

The ephod, the curious girdle and the breastplate represent the humble character of
Jesus Christ, but upon the breastplate were twelve clasps of pure gold in which were
mounted twelve diverse stones with the name of a tribe of Israel engraved on each. In
the age of the Tabernacle they represented the tribes of the congregation, but their
teaching was to transport the faith of a believer (Jew or Gentile) forward to a spiritual
house represented by the twelve tribes, a people made up of Jew and Gentile
(Galatians 3 v 27-29), who Jesus referred to as his ‘friends’ for whom he died and on
whose behalf he would one day minister as an eternal High Priest, these people were
seen by John in the Revelation, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands” (Revelation 7 v 9).

These ‘living stones’ were precious to Jesus for whom he died (“Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ….. Ye are my friends, if ye
do whatsoever I command you” (John 15 v 13-15). They were represented by, “the
first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And
the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a
ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a
jasper” (Exodus 28 v 17-20). Taken in order of birth they represented (with meanings
in parenthesis), Rueben (loved through affliction), Simeon (given because of hatred),
Levi (joined to a husband), Judah (praise to God), Dan (judged and vindicated),
Naphtali (prevailed through wrestling), Gad (fortune will come), Asher (blessed and
happy), Issachar (reward given), Zebulun (good dowry), Joseph (added) and
Benjamin (son of the right hand). These twelve represent a multitudinous companion
who will be ‘loved’ because of ‘affliction’ and ‘hatred’, who become ‘joined’ to a
husband in order to ‘praise God’ for which she will be ‘judged and vindicated’, but
will prevail through ‘wrestling’s’ with faith that ‘fortune will come’ when she will be
‘blessed and happy’ as the ‘reward’ is given because of her ‘good dowry’ and she is
‘added’ to the ‘Son of the right hand’ (Psalm 110). That is the purpose of God
contained in His covenant and was carried on the heart - the seat of all affection - of
the High Priest as a pre-figurement of the future work of Jesus Christ.

Sardius
Rueben (loved because of affliction).
This sardius was a red stone most probably a carmelian, as it is readily engraved
whereas the ruby is very hard and difficult to engrave. More important than the type
of stone is the colour, which was ‘earthy’ red - the same red as was used to describe
the ‘red pottage’ that Esau chose over the hope of the promises of God (Genesis 25 v
29-24). This multitudinous companion would be cut out from the race of mankind
formed of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2 v 7) and first called ‘Adam’ (and
collectively known as mankind) the root of which name is the red earth colour, and
from this race this companion would be formed (as Eve was formed out of Adam) and
who because of her (the faithful) affliction (because there being no way they can
redeem themselves from the grave) would be loved by a husband (one man Jesus
Christ) who would save her and would die in love for her as the price of that
redemption.

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Topaz
Simeon (given because of hatred).
The ancient name for modern ‘topaz’ is olivine (also peridot and chrysolite) a
gemstone of a beautiful warm olive-green colour from whence it gets its name. It is
one of the most common minerals in the earths crust making up over 50% by volume
and is also found in space in the form of meteorite and comet dust, but the finest
Olivine of the Bible time was found in a remote island in the Red Sea off what is now
the coast of Egypt called ‘St. John’s island’ (also known as Zabergad, Zeberget and
Topazios).

Man is made of the ‘dust of the earth’ (Genesis 3 v 19) and of this common ‘dust’
God is forming a companion for His son Jesus Christ (as He did Eve out of Adam) of
many members to be made immortal by the work of Jesus. Of all the ‘dust’ of the
earth (mankind) God is seeking a few special people (as dust from a remote island in
the sea of nations) which ‘dust’ is of the finest olive-green structure where the olive is
the fruit God has chosen to represent the ‘fruits’ of the Holy Spirit when it works in a
man or woman, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5 v 22-23), and was
described a perfected in Jesus Christ as foretold by the Psalmist, “Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his
law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree (olive) planted by the
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalms 1 v 1-3). The fruits of Jesus
life were as the perfect olive filled with the Holy Spirit with the exclusion of every
spirit of man (the enmity).

Carbuncle
Levi (Joined - betrothed to a husband)
The common name for carbuncle is almandine, a red garnet which when exposed to
sunlight glows like the fire of a burning coal. The origin of the Hebrew name is the
‘light’ as in a flesh of lightning and the thunder that accompanies it, as used in the
manifestation of the power of God on earth from which the congregation fled and
asked for a mediator. “And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will
hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 19 v 16 & 20 v 18-19).

Of his disciples Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid .. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5 v 14-16). That light is
the working of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man by obedience to His word, from a
glowing ember at baptism to a bright shining fire in maturity, a fire that was perfected
in Jesus and was manifest as zeal (John 2 v 13-17) a fire that Jeremiah experienced
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his
word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20 v 7 - 10). Thus is represented in Levi
the quality that will be seen in the multitudinous companion of Jesus Christ who will
have betrothed (joined) to Jesus by vow (baptism) and will be filled with the light of
the word of God by the Holy Spirit as a fire after his example.

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Emerald
Judah (praise to God)
The emerald is noted for its green colour symbolic of verdant foliage as a result of
copious rain. It is the symbol of the race of mortal man (1 Peter 1 v 24) out of whom a
people will be separated who will be made verdant by the word of God (Deuteronomy
32 v 1-2). It is the colour that indicates life, both in lustrous growth and life-giving
food as God created in the beginning, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every
herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the
earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis
1 v 29-30).

Green represents full-bodied spiritual health under the care of God, “A Psalm of
David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures” (Psalm 23 v 1-2). It symbolises those who forsake the enmity (human
pride) and trust in God as David did when he experienced human treachery, “Why
boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a
sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather
than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful
tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. The
righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that
made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and
strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like a green olive tree in the house
of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever” (Psalms 52).

The promise of the covenant of God is that all those (like David) who separate from
evil allowing themselves to be shepherded by God as a flock of sheep through His
appointed shepherd Jesus Christ (John 10 v 1-18) will be like a rainbow around the
throne of God in the immortal state, where the rainbow is the token of the covenant
that God will never destroy His creation again as He did in the flood (Genesis 9).
Rainbows are formed by sunlight refracted by countless drops of water and represent
those who separate themselves (evaporated) from the ‘sea’ of mankind and will be
distilled after resurrection from the dead as complete replications of the word of God
as was seen perfectly in Jesus - the cloud of witnesses spoken of by Paul (Hebrews 12
v 1), so it is foretold of the time of glorification of the resurrected saints, “And he that
sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow
round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Revelation 4).

Sapphire
Dan (judged and vindicated)
The cerulean blue sapphire has been considered (see pps 8 & 35-36) and shown that
its colour represents the covenant of God that obedient mortal man will be made
immortal through one man who perfectly kept all Gods commandments. That
covenant is entered into by all the who come to God in faith by a solemn irrevocable
vow summarised by the congregations response to the words that Moses gave them of
the law of God, “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do” (Exodus 24 v
3) and was reiterated by David prophetically speaking of his greater son Jesus Christ,

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“I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people” (Psalms
116 v 14).

The outworking of that vow is obedience to the will of God (faith through the law
before Jesus Christ and faith in Christ afterwards) and was represented by a hem of
blue that all members of the congregation had to wear on their garment to remind
them that as they walked within the bounds of the blue hem in their daily work and
journeys so likewise were they to walk within the law of the covenant in their spiritual
lives, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in
the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the
fringe of the borders a ribband of blue” (Numbers 15 v 38). It was to this hem of blue
that the sick woman came when all other healing options were proven of no use, and
demonstrated faith in Jesus as the only one who never strayed outside the law of God
and by whom she could enter that same covenant of spiritual healing and hope from
an eternal grave, “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood
twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said
within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Matthew 9 v 20-22).
Those who enter that covenant by vow and keep it to the end will be judged by God
and vindicated in that their faith obtained for them the mercy of God through Jesus
Christ by forgiveness of their sins and elevation to eternal life.

Diamond
Naphtali (prevailed through wrestling)
This stone is not the diamond (carbon) that is known today, but is a precious stone a
particular form of purple amethyst (quartz, silica) and was known as a ‘cardinal’ stone
along with diamond, ruby and sapphire in the era of the translation of the Bible into
English. The origin of the Hebrew word translated as ‘diamond’ denotes ‘hardness’ in
the twofold sense of ‘that which breaks’ but it’s many pieces ‘make one’. It is used in
connection with the work of God with the inhabitants of the earth according to the
working out of the purpose of His covenant, it is the power of God to break and to
heal as recorded in Deuteronomy, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god
with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand” (Deuteronomy 32 v 39-43), in other words God has the power
to break and the power to heal where His ‘breaking’ is in connection with His
enemies. In the sense of many broken pieces to ‘make one’ it is the same word as ‘to
dream’ particularly a divine dream that to the uninspired is a shamble of many broken
fragments but to the inspired it makes one dream as was seen in Joseph’s (Genesis 37
v 5-11), Pharaoh’s (Genesis 41 v 1-24), Nebuchadnezzer’s (Daniel ch2, & ch4) and
Belshazzer’s (Daniel 5) dreams.

Those who vow to serve God and do so take upon themselves the mind of God
through His word and begin a process of breaking their own personal enemy (natural
pride) the root of the enmity that resists all ‘calls’ of the word’s of God to be obedient
as was shown by Jesus when he was tempted (Matthew 4 v 1-11), and Paul
experienced, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death”(Romans 7), and the Psalmist exclaimed, “The LORD is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34 v 18),
and “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise” (Psalms 51 v 17) which to the un-initiated appears to be a life
of missed opportunities, a life (to the flesh) that is deprived of pleasure and broken of

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ambition, as they derided Jesus as he died on the cross, “And the rulers also with them
derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen
of God” (Luke 23 v 35). But Jesus foretold “And this is the Father's will which hath
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up
at the last day” (John 6 v 39-40). Thus the faithful are broken hearted but will be
healed by God and made into on companion of Jesus Christ and thus become as
strong as amethysts and diamonds as was shown in the prophecy of the foundations of
the city of the House of God (Revelation 21 v 10-21).

Ligure
Gad (fortune will come)
In both the Hebrew and Greek this stone is literally a ‘precious stone’ as distinct to
any stone, as used in Peter’s letter, “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect,
precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (1 Peter 2 v 1-10).
There is conjecture as to what mineral it was, some report a carbuncle, some a jacinth,
but there is no certainty. It is not necessarily important to know the exact type of stone
that God chose, but rather the significance of the name of the stone in order to gain
the teaching that the stone represented and for this we must look at the roots of the
words used. The Septuagint (3rd century BC) and the Vulgate (4th century AD) uses
λιγυριου (ligurium) for this stone that John Parkhurst (Greek English lexicon 1769)
reports is from the Hebrew word ‫‘ ןבא‬a stone’ which in turn is derived from the root
‫‘ הנב‬to build’. The sense of this root word ‘to build’ is to ‘intelligently join together to
a planned purpose’, particle to particle, atom to atom, molecule to molecule, grain to
grain, crystal to crystal, strata to strata, mineral to mineral, stone to stone, wall to wall
until a dwelling house is complete.

The root word to ‘build up’ is first used in Genesis 2 v 22 when God ‘made’ Eve from
the rib of Adam, “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a
woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2 v 22) where ‘made’ is ‘to build’.
Thus God formed a composite companion with whom Adam could ‘dwell’ as one
(Genesis 2 v 23-25) and in whom Adam could safely trust and confidently rely on for
help in obeying God as He had purposed, “It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2 v 18). In this way God
revealed His greater purpose that He will ‘build’ (member by member) a companion
of many people in whom Jesus will trust and rely upon to serve God as one. This
companion is represented by many stones each one individually pre-formed before the
final build when they will be ‘built up’ one by one to form a dwelling in whom God
will dwell, the precious stone of which is the chief and most precious corner stone
Jesus Christ, as was prefigured in the building of Solomon’s temple of the 10th
century BC, “And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones,
and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And the house, when it was in
building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there
was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in
building” (1 Kings 5 v 17, 1 Kings 6 v 7).

The companion ‘building’ of precious stones that is represented will be a house and a
city in which God will dwell (1 Peter 2 v 1-9, Ephesians 2 v 20-22, 2 Corinthians 6 v
16, Revelation 21 v 10-27). The ligure stone is the teaching that all those 12 precious

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stones of the breastplate will be built up into a dwelling most precious in the fullness
of the purpose of God, a dwelling that was and is close to the heart of Jesus as the
breastplate was to the High Priest, “And the foundations of the wall of the city were
garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the
second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx;
the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the
tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst” (Revelation
21 v 19-20).

Agate
Asher (blessed and happy)
This was the grey agate of the chalcedony species, which is also found in many
colours. The origin of the Hebrew word that has been translated as ‘agate’ is ‫ובש‬
meaning ‘grey’ which in turn is derived from the root of ‘to turn’ or ‘return’ from the
sense of repentance (to about-turn) and of ‘turning’ back to an origin as grey hairs are
the sign of man turning back to the dust of the earth from whence he came as was told
Abraham, “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good
old age” (Genesis 15 v 15). It is also the ‘hoary’ head of experience and wisdom that
was to be respected in the congregation, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head,
and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God” (Leviticus 19 v 32). It is also
used in the sense of the anger of God being ‘turned’ away due to repentance of man,
“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea,
many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath” (Psalms 78 v
38) and again, “Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the
fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger
toward us to cease” (Psalms 85 v 3-4) where to ‘turn’ is the principle and meaning of
repentance.

Those who will be the immortal companion of Jesus Christ will be formed out of a
mortal race whose hair turns grey and return to the grave, but who will be resurrected
to eternal life because they ‘repented’ continuously throughout their whole life and
‘turned’ from the character of the enmity to the character of God as those with the
wisdom of the ‘hoary head’ whose forerunner and example was Jesus Christ.

Amethyst
Issachar (reward given)
The sense of the root word for amethyst is ‘to dream’ in a wide use of applications
particularly in connection with Divine revelation and promise, for example, God
caused Jacob to dream of a ladder from heaven to earth (Genesis 28 v 12), Joseph of
delivering his family (Genesis 37), Pharaoh of plenty and famine interpreted by
Joseph (Genesis 41), Gideon of deliverance from oppression (Judges 7 v 13),
Nebuchadnezzer (Daniel 2), Daniel (Daniel 7) etc. It is used in connection with
dreaming of the future fulfilment of the promises of God (Joel 2 v 28-32) and the
Psalmist of deliverance from death, “When the LORD turned again the captivity of
Zion, we were like them that dream” (Psalms 126). The physical connection with the
amethyst is from the hardness of the stone of its ability to ‘break in pieces’ and the
fact that divinely inspired dreams are broken fragments of subconscious thought that
collectively make one message often not understood by the dreamer at the time, or
indeed others to whom it is related, as in Josephs brethren, Pharaoh, Nebchadnezzer
and indeed Daniel where he was told to wait and be patient and died not

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understanding his vision as it is written, “And I heard, but I understood not: then said
I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel:
for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. .. .. But go thou thy way
till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel
12 v 8-13) whereas they are understood now – ‘at the time of the end’.

Faith in the promises of the covenant of God is intangible and exclusively personal in
that faith cannot be given to someone else, it can only be attained for one-self in
isolation or in parallel with others who also gain it themselves by following Paul’s
advice, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans
10 v 17). However, all the congregation heard the law of God but did not gain faith as
it has been with every generation since as it is written, “For unto us was the gospel
preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Hebrews 4 v 2). When that word is received
into a humble and contrite heart (Luke 8 v 4 – the parable of the sower) God gives
inspiration little by little with His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ (John 14 – the
Comforter, 1 John 2 v 20 – an unction, 1 Corinthians 2 v 9-16 – the Holy Spirit) in
order for that word to germinate and spring up as a new character alongside the old
character and this process continues until the old is replaced by the new (2
Corinthians 5 v 17), fragment of faith by fragment of faith, piece of knowledge by
piece of knowledge (Isaiah 28 v 9-10) until fullness of faith is attained at death as was
perfectly done by Jesus (John 4 v 34). To the non-believer this faith (in resurrection
from the grave and immortal life thereafter through Jesus Christ) is but an
unintelligible dream, broken fragments of self-delusion as indeed the sense of the
origin of the word used for amethyst describes.

All those represented in the stones of the breastplate represented by the amethyst are
inspired by God to collect all the fragments of His word and put them together in a
life of obedience to Him and who despite mockery of generations non-believing
fellows will fulfil the ambition of their dreams, the dream that God inspired them to
have faith in, “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them
that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing:
then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The
LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity,
O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalms 126) and that is the reward given
that is the meaning of the name engraved upon this stone, Issachar.

Beryl
Zebulun (good dowry)
This is what is now known as the chrysoberyl or cymophane, a transparent to
opalescent golden yellow stone with rounded edges and corners and often referred to
as the ‘cat’s-eye’ where the best ‘cat's-eyes’ are often called ‘milk and honey’ refering
to a sharp milky ray of white light normally crossing the cabochon (concex shape) as
a center line along its length and overlying the honey colored background. The
rounding of these finest of gemstones is caused by the vibrant activity of weathering
and erotion of less hard rocks until the chemically impervious chrysoberyl is left in
sandy rivers with all its corners are polished away.

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The Hebrew root of the word translated as beryl is from two root words meaning to
‘go round’ as in the ribband of blue on the hem of an Israelitish garment “Speak unto
the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their
garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the
borders a ribband of blue” (Numbers 15 v 38) and ‘gladness’ as in “Let all those that
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually,
The LORD be magnified” (Psalms 40 v 16) and ‘joyful activity’ as of the effect of
sunlight described by the Psalmist “In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man
to run a race.” (Psalms 19).

This stone is representative of all the faithful who by cheerful service to God, “Happy
is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the
LORD” (Psalms 144 v 15) will have been surrounded by His laws and promises in all
their life, “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those
things that are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made
manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time,
because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5 v 9-16), and as a result will display the ‘milk
and honey’ of the word of God (as Jesus did “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he
may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good” Isaiah 7 v 15) brilliantly reflecting
the light of Gods word as opalescence in the eye of a cat.

Onyx
Joseph (added)
There is much discrepancy over the identity of this stone in the various authorities that
have studied it, John Parkhurst and Gesenius relate that it is so named for the human
nail due to its colour or the hoof of an animal particularly the horse from which its
strength is made known, others claim it is the sardonxy due to its layered strata of
many colours and even others the beryl.

Parkhurst links it with the sardonyx of the New Testament (Revelation 21 v 20) again
emphasising that it is so named after the likeness in colour to a human’s nail.
Whatever this stone was it was precious and chosen by God to represent a 1/12 part of
the character of the future companion of His son Jesus Christ. God created nails to
play an important role in the dexterity of the hand by increasing the touch sensitivity
of the finger tip by creating a counterforce to the pressure of touch but they require
regular paring and frequently collect dirt, and have been used by God to represent the
madness of denial of God and His omnipotence as was shown in Nebuchadnezzer
when he denied God and was driven to madness, “And they shall drive thee from men,
and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass
as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was
the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat
grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown
like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws” (Daniel 4:32-34).

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Uncut nails are therefore a symbol of unclean activity emphasised by the law
concerning a non-Israelitish woman becoming a member of the congregation, “And
seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou
wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she
shall shave her head, and pare her nails” (Deuteronomy 21:11-13) symbolising the
cutting off of her past life to begin a new life under the law of God.

Represented in the onyx is the work of the collective companion of Christ in regularly
cutting off the natural growth of the ‘flesh’ (temptation and sin) in order to have clean
fingers sensitised to work the work of God seen in Jesus Christ.

Jasper
Benjamin (son of the right hand)
This is a stone of the chalcedony group and is found in many colours, red, yellow,
brown, green, black, blue according to what minerals were included when it was
formed as a sedimentary rock, but one quality is reported by all authorities, the quality
of attaining a superior polish. In ancient times contemporary with the giving of the
law of God to Israel, jasper was a prized stone.

A polished surface reflects incident light without loss through scattering as happens
with a rough surface thus representing the character of the companion of Jesus who
will reflect his light (the light of God) without loss of intensity as was figuratively
prophesied of her in the Psalms, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their
youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a
palace: .. .. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people,
whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 144 v 12-15).

The breastplate - conclusions

The twelve stones of the breastplate represent the formation of a unified companion
that is bound close to the heart of Jesus Christ and for whom he died that they may be
redeemed from death.

The breastplate was known as the ‘breastplate of judgment’ and the High Priest in
wearing it was to “bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before
the LORD continually” (Exodus 28 v 30). To bear of is carry and take responsibility
for the actions of those carried, thus representing the work that Jesus Christ
accomplished as he died upon the cross, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted……. and
he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53) and
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2 v
24).

Those people were the congregation of Israel when the law was an active code until
the death of Jesus Christ, but taught of a greater fulfilment of faithful Jew’s and
Gentile’s who join themselves to God through Jesus Christ by faith and vow of
obedience unto love and are represented by the twelve names engraved on each stone,
as a multitudinous companion who will be ‘loved’ because of ‘her affliction and being

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hatred’, who becomes ‘joined’ to a husband in order to ‘praise God’ for which she
will be ‘judged and vindicated’, but will prevail through ‘wrestling’s’ with faith that
‘fortune will come’ when she will be ‘blessed and happy’ as the ‘reward’ is given
because of her ‘good dowry’ as she is ‘added’ to the ‘Son of the right hand’ (Psalm
110).

Of the stones, it is a people that are separated out of the race of Adam (sardius), who
are reborn by the Holy Spirit (topaz) and become full of the fiery light of God
(carbuncle) resulting in verdant growth of godliness (emerald), who embrace and
fulfil the covenant of God (sapphire), thus breaking the spirit of the enmity within
themselves (diamond) and are built up by God part by part into a unified composite
body (ligure) who grow together to a full grey-haired age of wisdom (agate) full of
faith in the dream of an unseen future (amethyst) that gives them all-round happiness
and gladness (beryl), but who never cease to cut away the flesh (onyx) until they
become polished and finished (jasper) for their redeemer as a bride for her husband,
Jesus Christ.

These all will be resurrected from the grave and judged after which they will have
their natures changed from mortality to immortality, and thus will be fulfilled the
prophecy in which they have hoped for so long, “Then they that feared the LORD
spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought
upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth
him” (Malachi 3 v 16-18).
And again through Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful
in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and
as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord
GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations”
(Isaiah 61 v 10-11), and again by John, “And there came unto me one of the seven
angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife .. And the building of
the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the
foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the
fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the
eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the
twelfth, an amethyst” (Revelation 21v 9-21).

6.19.4) Onyx stones on the shoulder

Moses was commanded, “And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the
names of the children of Israel: Six of their names on one stone, and the other six
names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an
engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones
with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of
gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of
memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the
LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial” (Exodus 28 v 9-12).

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The shoulder is the symbol of the strength of the body teaching that Jesus Christ used
all his strength to carry the burden of the sins of his companion in order that God
could forgive her. He was her circumcision, the author and finisher of her baptism,
both single acts of faith that indicate a singular vow to cut off all superfluous growth
of human nature (the enmity) even as the onyx represents the human nail that requires
regular trimming (see onyx p 87).

As the names of the twelve tribes were engraved in the two stones of witness so the
names of the multitude of his future companion are indelibly engraved on the strength
of his sinless body for all to see and manifests the strength he displayed in fulfilling
the baptism he finished - “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12 v 50) which baptism was his victory over
the enmity in death. On his shoulders was the burden of the completion of the book of
life the book that Malachi wrote of “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one
to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”
(Malachi 3 v 16), it is a ‘book’ that is representative of the body of Christ as it is
written, “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was
none of them” (Psalms 139 v 16).

The memorial of these names is confirmed in the promise of Jesus to his believers in
the letters to them in the Revelation, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed
in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Revelation 3 v 5) and in
speaking of the composite body of that companion - the ‘city’ from heaven, Jesus
revealed, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the
Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21 v 27). Thus the High Priest bore the memorial
(continual memory) of every member of the children of Israel (through their tribes)
upon his shoulders in the ministrations of the house of God as a representation for all
the names of the faithful who will make up the redeemed, the saints, the companion of
Jesus in the kingdom of God on earth.

6.19.5) Urim and Thummim

“And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and
they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall
bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD
continually” (Exodus 28 v 30)

Urim is the literal English translation of the Hebrew word for ‘light’, Thummim is
similarly translated as ‘perfection’ and ‘to put in’ (as Moses was commanded) is from
‘Divine gift’. Light in the original Hebrew is ‘fluidity, that which flows freely’ and
describes what we now know as electro-magnetic radiation in the visible spectrum
(seven bands of colour of the rainbow), the fastest flowing form of energy - 186,000
miles per second (300,000 km per sec) whose speed cannot be reached by any other
medium. God is light (1 John 1 v 5) where that ‘light’ is there is mercy, grace, long-
suffering, faithfulness and truth (embodied in His name), and with this ‘light’ (of His
presence) God created the visible light we now see as it is written, “And God said, Let

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there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1 v 3). Of that name of God (‘light’ in all
its manifestations) Jesus manifested in a mortal body such that he became that ‘light’
(John 8 v 12). The physical origin of the light that God created (the light we see) is
fire (the sun). Fire is a chemical reaction of two or more elements (hydrogen and
helium in the sun, and on earth always oxygen and often carbon) that energetically
excite each other such that their orbital electrons are raised to a higher level of energy
resulting in the outer orbit electron emitting packets of energy in the form of photons
(in order to fall back to their natural level) at a frequency (times per second)
correspondent with the intensity of the reaction (white intense, through blue to red -
less intense). All light comes from fire (a generic term for intense concentrated
energy). God is light (the source of all energy and therefore life) and the manifestation
of that light is His Spirit (sustaining life on earth according to His purpose) but when
the same Spirit is used in connection with the preparation of a people of righteousness
it is called the Holy Spirit, and is described as a consuming fire, “For our God is a
consuming fire” (Hebrews 12 v 29). The word Urim (light) is therefore synonymous
with ‘fire’ and represents the ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit that consumes the enmity.

Thummim
Perfection is the English word that was translated from the Hebrew 'to finish or
complete with nothing lacking’ teaching of a work that was to be done and was done
perfectly, hence ‘perfection’. The work that God set man to do was to mirror His
character (mercy, grace, long-suffering, faithfulness and truth) in the life that God
gave him as a gift. Adam (and his offspring) chose to mirror the character of the
serpent and was cursed by God with the poison of that serpent in the form of the
enmity (Genesis 3). Therefore God continued with His purpose (that man should
mirror His character) in that He would raise up another man of the same race of
Adam, with the same enmity within him who would complete the work God required
in manifesting His name in a mortal body, which necessitated the death of the enmity.
For this work, man would need the Holy Spirit because the spirit of the enmity was
too strong thus linking Urim and Thummim together. That man was Jesus Christ, the
Urim and the Thummim, the gift of God that God ‘put’ into His purpose.

Moses was told ‘to put’ the Urim and Thummim into the breastplate implying that it
was an item, but the original meaning of the phrase ‘to put’ is ‘a gift from God’. The
Spirit of God keeps all life in being on earth but that same Spirit when used in the
special work of fulfilling His purpose is called the Holy Spirit and is given as an
additional gift to give enlightenment to ‘see’ what the purpose of God is and to
understand what God requires as was told Micah, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what
is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6 v 8), and to Jeremiah, “But let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these
things I delight, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 9 v 24).

When there was a High Priest who understood this purpose of God and showed that
belief in faith then Urim and Thummim was ‘in’ (gifted in) the breastplate and that
High Priest could mediate between God and the people as a forerunner of Jesus
Christ, the eternal High Priest of whom John wrote, “And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for
our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-

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2). When that faith was not in the heart then the High Priest was just a man of the
tribe of Levi who carried the title of that office (as in Caiaphas Matthew 26 v 57 and 2
Chronicles 15 v 3 “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and
without a teaching priest, and without law”) and this was recognised by Ezra and
Nehemiah when the two tribes were released from Babylonian bondage, “And the
Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there
stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim” (Ezra 2 v 63).

Thus not only was the High Priest adorned and consecrated to be the physical and
practical mediator between God and Israel as a representation and teacher of the
future eternal High Priest (Jesus Christ) then to come, but was also required to
embrace the faith of that one in his heart (his manner of life through his character) in
order to fulfil his office as the representative and teacher of the people of God.

Thus the two onyx stones of the shoulders and the stones of the breastplate represent
the complete purpose of God in that by one man represented in the two stones of
‘cutting off’ the flesh (circumcision and baptism) to redemption and the twelve stones
of his companion in whom God will be glorified, the Urim and Thummim is the
completion of His work by the Holy Spirit when it will be fulfilled as taught by Paul,
“And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be
subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1
Corinthians 15:28).

6.19.6) The mitre

Moses was commanded to make a mitre and affix a gold plate a gold plate to the
front, “And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the
engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue
lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be”
(Exodus 28:36-38). The mitre was made of fine linen representing righteousness (see
pp34-35). The origin of the word mitre is a turban, a long strip of cloth joined to a cap
where the strip is wound around the head in a manner peculiar to the wearer, it is the
same as that used today by those who wear turbans.

Job was a pre-fugurement of Jesus Christ (a righteous man hatred by his fellows
without cause) and he spoke of the turban as a symbol of righteousness, “I put on
righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem (turban or
mitre). I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame” (Job 29). Thus Jesus bound
the righteousness of God round and round his head such that his whole brain, his
memory and emotions were completely enveloped in the word of God as the Psalmist
foretold, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate
day and night” (Psalms 1) and “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy
works; I muse on the work of thy hands” (Psalms 143 v 5).

On this symbol of righteous commitment to God the High Priest was to have a gold
plate bound to it with a lace of blue. Blue represents the covenant of God and gold the
love of God, where the covenant of God is the promise of eternal life after
resurrection from the grave and the love of God is that which is reflected by those
who enter into that covenant by singular irrevocable vow to obey, by which obedience
Jesus Christ displayed the character of God (His name) in his life, a life that honoured
and glorified God by keeping every command without fail thus witnessing and

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shouting loud and clear that Jesus ascribed all ‘HOLINESS TO THE LORD’ even as
the gold plate was engraved. Thus symbolically the holiness of God was at the fore-
front of his mind at all times, in that every decision he made Jesus remembered and
honoured the holiness of God, so not one thought lacked premeditation of the
requirements of the righteousness of God. As a result of his perfect life the mortal
Jesus was raised from the dead and given eternal life to be a High Priest forever for
his friends (Hebrews 5, 6, 7, and 8). Zechariah prophesied of this change of nature
when writing of Joshua (the Hebrew for the Greek Jesus), “And he shewed me Joshua
the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan (the enmity)
standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD
rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments
(mortality), and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that
stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment (immortality). And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.
So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments” Zechariah 3 v
1-5). In this situation Jesus now resides as the Psalmist wrote, “The LORD said unto
my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2The
LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies” of which Stephen confirmed, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked
up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7 v 55-56) from whence Jesus will return to
the earth to establish the kingdom of God on the whole earth as the disciples were
told, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven” (Acts 1 v 11).

6.19.7) Garments of the sons of the High Priest

By these fine white linen garments God taught that His future purpose was (as
promised in His covenant) that men and women would be made like unto the angels
and would minister in his house clothed in white linen of sanctified righteousness
after they had been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ (Matthew 22 v 30, John 20 v
12, Ephesians 5 v 22-33, Revelation 7 v 9-14).

6.19.8) The holy anointing oil

God commanded Moses, “Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh
five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty
shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, And of cassia five
hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: And thou
shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the
apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. .. .. This shall be an holy anointing oil
unto me throughout your generations. Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither
shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be
holy unto you” (Exodus 30 v 22-32).

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The anointing oil was made of five parts principal spices and olive oil. Each will be
cocnsidered in turn.

Pure myrrh

This contributed two parts (five hundred shekels) and as ‘pure myrrh’ is the ‘stacte’ of
the firstripe spontaneous sap as it exudes from the myrrh tree. Stacte (pure myrh)
oozes spontaneously from the bark of younger trees whereas myrrh is harvested later
by incision of the bark. The tree is ‘balsamodendron myrrha’, it grows in the region
bounded by Arabia and Ethiopia in poor soil, dry conditions and is an unattractive
twisted and knarled appearance with substantial thorns and grows in the forests of
Acacia’s. Stacte by nature of its spontaneous oozing before incisions are made for
myrrh, is a voluntary outpouring of the firstfruit of the life of this unattractive tree.
The name stacte means a ‘drop’ as in a ‘tear-drop’ and that is how it is harvested as a
clear oily resin that hardens and yellows with exposure to air. Stacte is the finest and
purest myrrh.

Myrrh is the name that simply means ‘bitter’ but gives off a balsamic perfume. There
are therefore several distinct properties that teach why God chose stacte as the double
portion of the holy anointing oil, a) spontaniety, b) first fruits, c) bitterness and d) a
soothing healthy aroma.

Let us examine each in turn and then collectively in the light of scripture and what the
intended affect and teaching of the holy anointing oil was to be.

a) Spontaniety is not only voluntary or by freewill but with an eagerness as if no time

can be lost. Jesus as a small child lost no time in searching the scriptures to find what
God required him to do, he was found after three days among the doctors of the law,
“And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the
midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2 v 46-49) when
upon being found by his parents declared, “And he said unto them, How is it that ye
sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2 v 49).
Such willing spontaniety was foremost throughout his whole life such that he became,

b) the first-fruits of all that please God, and indeed the only one who pleased God in
entirety was Jesus Christ, for at the end of his young life he displayed the same
spontaneous willingness in prayer in ‘tear-drops’ as the stacte exudes from the
unattractive tree, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. .. .. And being in an agony he prayed
more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
ground” (Luke 22 v 42-44). Thus it was foretold of Jesus, “My tears have been my
meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalms
42 v 3), and “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Psalms 126 v 5).

c) Tears are the result of bitter experience because of obediance to the word of God,
but Jesus said “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled” (Matthew 5 v 6) and the Proverb advised, “to the hungry soul
every bitter thing is sweet” (Proverbs 27 v 7) and so it was that Jesus through bitter
experience and literal and spiritual tears became the author and finisher of our faith,

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“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12 v 2-3).

d) The perfume of his sacrifice is a balm to appease the anger of God with His
rebellious children and to all who endure the tears of bitter experience when
overcoming the enmity within them and when directed as venon from those who
despise humble, obedient children of God. It was a perfume most acceptable to God, a
soothing balm that reversed His anger to the ingratitude of sinful mankind for all the
daily blessings He bestows upon His creation.

Faith is the ‘sight’ that belief gives in the heart of a humble and contrite person
allowing them to ‘see’ with the eye of faith that which is not readily apparent as Paul
wrote, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen” (Hebrews 11 v 1) and “These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11 v 13). But
faith without works is dead (James 2 v 14-26) and works of faith bring opposition,
first from ones own nature resisting obedience and then from fellows moved with
envy at acts of faith. As stacte is the spontaneous ‘tears-drops’ of resin from the bark
of the myrrh (bitterness) tree and tears spontansously flow from the eyes of the
greived in spirit, so likewise ‘tears’ dropped from the heart of Jesus as he understood
how base the enmity is in both himself and his fellows that brought such opposition
that his tears were ‘as great drops of blood’ (Luke 22 v 44).

Stacte and faith are inseperably linked by the tear-like droplets that give off the purest
perfume and was perfected in Jesus when he was a mortal man subject to temptation
as every men is, “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. .. .. Who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he
feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered” (Hebrews 5 v 5-8). He was spontaineous in his love for God, he became the
firtsfruits unto righteousnes, he endured bitter experiences above any other man, and
the savour of his victory over the enmity was a soothing balm to God and to all who
recognise their naturally fetid nature in the eyes of God.

Sweet cinnamon
At two hundred and fifty shekels cinnamon was one part of the anointing oil. It is a
strong smelling spice (the origin of its name in Hebrew) from the ‘cinamomum
verum’ tree of Sri Lanka. It is the product of the life-giving fleshy part of the tree (the
cambium layer) immediately below the bark and above the heartwood, the layer that
the next year becomes part of the tree-stiffening heartwood as a new layer grows
below the bark. This cambium layer is no thicker than a ‘ring’ of a trees when
transversely cut that in most trees is about 2mm (0.08 inch) thick, but in the cinnamon
trees is 0.5mm ((0.02 inch). The method of harvest is to grow a young tree for two
year and then coppice it, i.e. cut the trunk above ground level from which about a
dozen (12) shoots grow. These ‘shoots’ are then cut off the next year and the bark is
the scraped off after which the stick is evenly beaten with hammers and the thin

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cambium layer is peeled off and left to dry in hot dry sunlight during which drying
process the curl into sticks. When fully dry the easily crumble into powder for use as
a perfume or food spice.

The cambium layer is the life giving part of the tree, although the whole tree is alive it
is this layer that gives that life by a series of canals running up and down the trunk
whereby water from the root system rises and glucose form the leaves descends. The
cabium layer is analogous to the flesh of warm blooded creates, it carries the canals
(veins, arteries and cappillaries) of blood to all parts of the body to give vigour and
life. Trees grow through photosynthesis, the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2), light
(electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum) and water. These three are
converted to glucose (suger) by chloroform (the green pigment of a leaf) that acts as a
catalyst to cause the reaction. The water comes principally from the root system via
the cambium layer and secondarily from water vapour in the air on the leaves. The
glucose travels down the cambium layer to be deposited in cell of the inner heartwood
whence it is converted into cellulose (more stiff tube-like cells and lignin (resin glue)
that both make up the ‘wood’ of the trunk. Thus the cambium layer is the ‘life’, the
‘flesh’ of the whole tree.

Job remarked that, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout
again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax
old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of
water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant” (Job 14 v 7-9) and contrasted
this with mankind who when cut down by death does not sprout again. But Jobs hope
was that through the covenant of God that there would be in the mercy of God as
resurgence of life through one who as a tree of a sweet spice would be cut down and
spring back to life. This hope was given because the sweetest and strongest perfume
to God was the death of the enmity and the fullness of the Spirit of God in a mortal
man Jesus Christ by whom many would be saved from eternal death. In this hope Job
pinned his faith during his depravations and hatreds confirmed by his words, “For I
know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my
reins be consumed within me” (Job 19 v 25-27).

Jobs faith was justified when Jesus died and he gave his disciples (and all subsequent
believers) the hope of unity with him by entering inot and sharing his sacrifice by
obedience to his words, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6 v 51-56) as the fleshy cambian layer of the trunk
is the life of the tree, so the flesh of Christ is the life of the body in whom the name of
God is perfected, a strong sweet perfume to God.

Sweet calamus

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Forming a fifth part of the anointing oil, sweet calamus is the perfume from the sedge
plant ‘calamus aromaticus’. The origin of the Hebrew word is ‘created or made
upright’ that clearly identifies the sedge more commonly known as the reed. It grows
in water by the side of rivers and lakes and is harvested for its perfume which is
extracted by boiling and distilling, or by laying on the ground and bruising by
pedestrians.
God created man upright in stance and it is His will that man be upright in character
as God who made him. Mankind has chosen to use his upright stance (and
intelligence) to distort yet further the crooked character (the enmity) he inherited in
the curse of God on the serpent (Genesis 3 v 15). However God decreed that man
would become upright in character by one who would come who would overcome
and kill every prompting of the enmity and so bring forth a perfume most delightful to
God, the perfume of righteousness in a mortal body, for which God would endue the
gift of immortality on that one (Jesus Christ) and many more through him, where the
enmity cannot exist in immortality in any form (Revelation 21 v 27, Ephesians 5 v 5,
Matthew 13 v 47-49).

The standard by which that ‘many more’ will be judged is by the full stature of the
righteousness of Christ as Paul wrote of Jesus, “When he ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. ,, .. Till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ .. .. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up
into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4 v 8-16). The same Hebrew word used for
calamus is also used for a measuring reed as was used to measure the temple of God
yet to be built, and seen in vision by Ezekiel and John, “Ezekiel 40 v 3, Revelation 21
v 15). It is against the standard of righteousness seen in Jesus that all others will be
measured at the judgement seat after resurrection from the dead. Nobody will attain to
the full height of Christ, some will be upright but shorter with the similar perfume of
righteousness but many others will be crooked and bent with a disagreeable stench.
The former will be made immortal the latter returned to the grave forever.

Cassia
The final fifth part was cassia (closely related to cinnamon) it is the bark of the ‘cassia
lignea’ tree that is stripped from coppiced branches. The sense of the origin of the
Hebrew word is to ‘cut, divide or tear lengthways’ and aptly describes the way it is
harvested. The bark is parchment-paper thin (but thicker than cinnamon) where the
best is cut from young shoots out of 10-12 year old stocks grown on rocky ground.
The wood remaining after debarking has no perfume and is burned. The bark is dried
in the sun and naturally curls to a stick-like form. It has a less sweet and delicate
flavour than cinnamon but is more pungent. Nonetheless it was a principal spice.

The bark provides protection to the tree and a means for the sap of life to ascend and
descend the tree (as described in ‘cinnimon’ above), such that without the protective
bark the tree is dead. Mankind has no life within him of his own providing, it is God
who gives him life by His spirit as a time-limited protection against death, as an
opportunity to see if he will obey and love him, after which the protection of life is

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taken away, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12 v 7).

Only one man obeyed God without fault and perfectly reflected the love that God had
for him, but even he had to have the protecting cover of God-given spirit of life taken
away as it is written, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief
.. .. because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors” (Isaiah 53), fulfilled in his crucifixion, “And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said
thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23 v 46). He died in order that he could take it
again for ever (John 10 v 17-18) by the power of God who is Spirit and by whose
manifestation of that Spirit (the Holy Spirit) God raised Jesus from the dead and then
clothed him with an everlasting protection, the bark of life for ever, even the fulness
of the Holy Spirit, as Zechariah was shown, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that
stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a
fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD
stood by” (Zechariah 3 v 3-5).

The Holy Spirit is the same power as the spirit of God that created the heaven and
earth and sustains life on earth, the breath we breathe, the power of animation we
have, the difference between a dead body and a living one. When the spirit of God is
used in the sanctification of a body of people who will be redeemed from death by the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ it is called the Holy Spirit, but it is the same spirit. There is
only one spirit as there is one God (Ephesians 4 v 4-6) and that spirit is the
manifestation of God in the outworking of His purpose with the created earth and the
new creation of righteousness.

The purpose of God is that all His faithful children whether of Jew or Gentile will be
protected for ever by the power of the Holy Spirit by change of nature from mortality
to immortality (I Corinthians 15 v 50-57) as a result of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, but that protection is also provided during the mortal life of those who God has
called and is testing while-so-ever they humble themselves under His direction, for it
is written (primarily of Jesus Christ who suffered temptation as any other man), “The
angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them”,
and “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways”
(Psalms 91 v 11). This does not confer any special protection to the protected (Jesus
and his faithful believers) they are still subject to the vagaries and chances of daily
life and their own foolishness as Solomon wrote, “For all this I considered in my
heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in
the hand of God .. .. but time and chance happeneth to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9), but
in issues of their sanctification no outside agent can interfere (I Corinthians 10 v 13)
other than that allowed by God for the perfection of their character as with Job (his
friends), David (Saul), Jesus (Judas and the High Priests) etc.

God provides His angels by His Spirit protect and direct the lives of those He calls to
those whom He loves (Exodus 23 v 20-25) and thus gives protection from vandal

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damage from those who would seek their spiritual harm even as bark protects the tree.
These all are growing together as sapling trees of righteousness, and it is Jesus who is
the chief and superior tree and of whom it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is
upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of
the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified”
(Isaiah 61 v 1-3).
So it is written again, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow
like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall
flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they
shall be fat and flourishing” (Psalms 92 v 12-14).

Thus Jesus became the root and stock (trunk) of a tree of righteousness out of whom
many branches of other less-righteous people would be graft and flourish (he became
the olive tree, Romans 11 v 15-24), he became the chief and superior tree, the
firstborn of many trees that will make up the garden of the Lord. Thus God will
finally dress the saints and clothe them with the protection of immortal life never to
experience suffering again.

Olive oil

God created the trees to beautify the earth, to balance the atmosphere and to provide
some for materials and some for food, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every
herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1 v 29). Of all
the food-giving trees God made the olive unique from all other.

God created man a vegetarian with digestion of fats essential for life. Killing and
eating of animals was introduced as a result of the curse of God upon man and all
creation, whereby digestion of essential fats are supplemented by animal fat, but as
God created man, his necessary fat intake to sustain energetic life was from the oil of
the olive and some other fruits. As it is essential to continued energetic life, God made
the berries from the olive to be available for the poorest of His creatures, it is a small
inconspicuous fruit, abundant in cropping and nutritious. It has been the staple diet for
rich and poor for millennia. Apart from being a nutritious food it is a natural source of
oil for food preparation (cooking and dressing), cleansing (soap) and fuel (light),
where it burns readily with a steady, bright and smokeless flame.

The binding substance of the annointing oil was olive oil. The name ‘olive’ has its
roots in to ‘shine’ as the oil of the fruit (drupe) is a shining golden yellow and its
flame is bright. The name ‘oil’ in the Hebrew has its roots in ‘fatness’ in the sense of
energy and vigour as in “My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of
fatness” (Psalms 109 v 24) – as blood is the flowing essence of life so fat is the solid
substance of life, we cannot live without either. The process of extraction of the oil
from the berry is by grinding pressure between millstones and separation of the oil
from the natural water by decanting (oil and water do not mix). For the smaller

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quantities that would be the lot of the poor it must be beaten in a mortar and pestle
and then decanted in the same way. For the finest virgin olive oil the olive must be
perfectly ripe and fresh and the oil used after minimum delay.

As God chose the juice of the grape to represent the life-blood of Jesus Christ, so He
has chosen the oil of the olive to represent His work in the preparation of a righteous
people to inherit the earth forever through Jesus Christ. God is Spirit as Jesus taught,
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”
(John 4 v 24) and He created the heavens and the earth by His Spirit, “And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1 v 2). There is only one Spirit as
Paul wrote, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4 v 4-6) and by that one Spirit
God keeps in being the creation including man upon it every day by giving breath and
life, but when that Spirit is used for the specific purpose of preparing an individual for
salvation (it is always the work of God, no man can do it himself) then it is the same
one Spirit but called the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised, “But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John
14:14-27).

God has said, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones” (Isaiah 57 v 15), and again, “but to this man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66 v 2), and the
Psalmist enjoined, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34 v 18). The beaten olive oil of the
Tabernacle represents the interaction between the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) and
the contrite spirit that was found perfectly in Jesus Christ but is to be seen in any man
or woman who hopes for salvation. When those two ‘spirits’ unite and become one,
then that is represented by the olive oil of the Tabernacle. Israel and all others who
follow the hope of the Covenant of God were being taught what God promised He
would do in response to those who humbled themselves in His sight – He would give
them an increasing measure of His Spirit as enlightenment until their natural spirit
was replaced with it. The Spirit of God never changes it is the spirit of man that must
change to allow the Holy Spirit to work. At the completion of that work, the faithful
will be sanctified and seperated from uncleanness and become holy in the House of
God forever. All other uses of olive oil are representative of the Spirit of God that
keeps rich and poor alive each day, unassuming, smooth, nutritious, soothing, and
healthy and when working with a faithfull understanding of the bread and wine of the
body and blood of Jesus Christ as he commanded (Luke 22 v 19-20, I Corinthians 11
v 24-28), it is the Holy Spirit as the Psalmist wrote, “And wine that maketh glad the
heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's
heart” (Psalms 104 v 15).

The anointing oil – conclusions

The five ingredients and the olive oil were to be prepared after the art of the
apothecary a skill that grinds and pulverises the spices in a mortar and pestle such that
they became one confection and inseperable, “And thou shalt make it a perfume, a

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confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy” (Exodus
30 v 35). Thus the work of God is to make one sweet smelling purfume acceptable to
Him alone and never to be repeated by man for his use, it was a holy annointing oil
that promised the reward of eternal life to those who are anointed. The ingredients
were pure myrrh (the Spirit of God in life of Jesus Christ), cinnamon (the fulness of
the name of God manifest in the character of Jesus Christ), cassia (protection of God),
calamus (uprightness of God) and the olive oil (Holy Spirit).

God created the earth that man should dwell in unity with Him and as such dwell in
unity with each other. Unity was broken when the spirit of the serpent (the enmity)
replaced the Spirit of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to drive out and kill the
enmity in individuals chosen by God which when that work is done in a mortal body
they will be unified with God through Jesus Christ. The unifying medium is the Holy
Spirit that will be bestowed on all those who prove worthy of the mercy of God even
as Jesus Christ now enjoys everlasting life of whom it is prophecied, “Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psalms 45:7). Of the future fulfllment of
the promise of God in his covenant when the ‘oil of gladness’ is bestowed on the
faithful companion of Jesus, this unifying oil represents the fulness of the Holy Spirit
evn everlasting life as the Psalmist wrote, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head,
that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his
garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”
(Psalms 133).

6.19.9) Consecration of the High Priest

To consecrate is to ‘set apart’ as clean, undefiled and holy for Divine use. God created
man ‘very good’ (Genesis 1) i.e. with no uncleanness or defilement and man was
expected to keep every law of God in order to remain ‘very good’. Adam and Eve
chose to defile themselves in disobeying God’s law as a result of which God cursed
them with the enmity and thus they became unclean in His sight and were driven from
the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden to toil the ground until returning to it for ever
(Genesis 3). God then revealed His purpose that where Adam had failed, one would
come who would wholly consecrate his life in obedience to God and thus sanctify his
soul (character) unto God by killing the enmity as it arose in his tempting thoughts to
transgress God’s law. In this way this one would sanctify God as holy in all his
thoughts and in return God would sanctify (consecrate) him unto himself.

The process of consecration was fulfilled in Jesus from the earliest age when he set
himself apart (consecrated) to the service of the purpose of God in the laying of the
foundation for a spiritual house of people in whom God would be sanctified and who
in turn would be consecrated for ever by God. When he was twelve years of age he
told his parents, “wist ye not that I must be about my fathers business” (Luke 3 v 40-
52) where ‘business’ is ‘house’ and ‘my father’ was God. The heart and mind of Jesus
became the house (temple) of God in a mortal body by casting out every thought that
prompted him to transgress God’s law (Matthew 4 v 1-11) and this work continued
throughout his life showed by when he entered the temple in Jerusalem and cast out
the uncleanness of the Jews that defiled the physical house of God “And when he had
made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep,

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and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And
said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house
an house of merchandise” (John 2 v 13-17). He repeated the act again just before his
crucifixion (Luke 19 v 45-46) by which means he taught all people that what he had
just done in the physical temple he had accomplished in the temple of his body
throughout his life, for which he was justified in saying, “Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up” (John 2 v 19).

Thus Jesus consecrated his life unto God as he taught when tempted by the Pharisees
regarding payment of tribute to Caesar, “Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mark 12 v 13-17) where the coin in
question had Caesar’s image impressed upon it and the human body is in the image of
God (Genesis 1 v 26-27), so Jesus gave his body and life to God who had given it
him. Such was the willing and zealous consecration (setting apart) of Jesus to God
that God responded with anointing of the Holy Spirit such that he could teach God’s
will by miracles. “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon
him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I
am well pleased” (Luke 3 v 22).

After his resurrection Jesus was anointed with the ‘oil of gladness above his fellows’
(Psalm 45 v 7) by the anointing of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in a change of nature
from mortality to immortality to become a High Priest for ever to minister on behalf
of his multitudinous companion in preparation for their sanctification as it was
written, “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after
the order of Melchizedek”, of whom (Melchizedek) Paul wrote, “To whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness,
and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without
mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made
like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Hebrews 7 v 2-3). To
Abraham, Melchizadek was an immortal prefigurement of Jesus the greater High
Priest, but to the congregation of Israel Aaron and his progeny were mortal
prefigurements, “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament .. .. But
this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins,
and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the
law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore” (Hebrews 7 v
22-28).

The experience of Abraham with Melchizedek is the same teaching from God as the
anointing of the High Priest was to the congregation that was ordained to focus the
mind of the congregation on the hope of the promises of God. Abraham obeyed the
call of God to separate from his natural background of disbelieving relatives and
neighbours in Ur of the Chaldea's (Genesis 12 v 1-5) in order to consecrate his life to
God through obedience to the word of God and the promises of His covenant.
Abraham obeyed and ‘set apart’ his livelihood and that of his family to God as Paul
later wrote, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he

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should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither
he went” (Hebrews 11 v 8) and "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might
become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy
seed be” (Romans 4 v 18).

In course of time part of his family broke their consecration and returned to the
fleshpots of human activity in Sodom and Gomorrah leaving Abraham ‘set apart’ in
his faithful consecration to God. Distant enemy forces invaded these fleshpots and
took Abraham’s relatives captive and returned them to where they came from
originally, thus signifying the guilt of all men in captivity to the enmity by breaking
the oath of separation to God. Abraham possessed the compassion of God his Creator
and set off in pursuit to rescue them, defeated the enemy and returned his family to
their ‘set apart’ condition. Following this selfless work an angel from God
(Melchizadek) met him with bread and wine and they did eat together thus teaching
Abraham that like as he had in compassion rescued his family from the enemy so
likewise would one come who would rescue Abraham (and all his likeminded friends)
from the captivity of an eternal grave because of the enmity, and that that one would
become an eternal High Priest in order to atone for their sins and that he would be
represented for the next 4000 years (to this day) by bread and wine (his body and
blood) as was later enshrined in the law and continued by Jesus in remembrance of
His death and resurrection (Genesis 14, Numbers 15, Luke 22 v 19-20).

The anointing of the High Priest taught all the congregation of the purpose of God in a
son who He would raise up and by whom forgiveness of sins unto eternal life would
be possible. The Psalmist teaches that the holy anointing oil upon the head of the High
Priest at his consecration prefigured the blessing of eternal life on him and his faithful
friends who were depicted in the pomegranates of the hem of his garment, “Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the
precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:
that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew
that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the
blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalms 133).

This multiple blessing was foretold in the consecration of the priests, the sons of
Aaron. After the High Priest was anointed, he and his sons were sprinkled with the
anointing oil and the blood of the ram of consecration to sanctify them for their work
in the Tabernacle, “And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the
anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons,
and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his
garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him” (Exodus 29 v 21). Blood
represented the life blood of Jesus Christ and God has said that only by blood can sin
be atoned and consecration unto sanctification be possible, “For the life of the flesh is
in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17 v 11),
and Paul later explained, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9 v 22). So it was that the
High Priest and his sons were to be marked on their right ear, right thumb and right
great toe with the blood of the ram of consecration in order to teach them that their
hearing (attention to God’s word), the work of their hands (obedience) and the steps
of their walk (balance between right and wrong) were in communion with the foretold

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life blood of Jesus Christ in his victory over the enmity. By this means alone can
consecration unto holiness by anointing of the Holy Spirit be attained.

There was a specific law regarding the fitness of the High Priest and his sons to serve
in the Tabernacle on behalf of the congregation that taught all who considered its
significance about the manner of spiritual life of Jesus Christ (his character, soul). The
law stated that no priest could be physically impaired, “For whatsoever man he be
that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a
flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed,
or hath his stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest
shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire” (Leviticus 21 v 18-
21).

Jesus taught that physical impairment does not signify spiritual impairment as it is
recorded, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And
his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he
was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but
that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9 v 1-3). In the case of
the High Priest his bodily fitness represented the spiritual fitness of the one he was to
represent, Jesus Christ. Of Jesus bodily form we are told little except that he did not
present a tall, robust and imposing figure that would be impressive his fellows as
Isaiah foretold, “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53 v 2-3). But the bodily form that God
created man in the beginning was ‘very good’ and ‘in the image of God’ (in whom is
no blemish) and this bodily image was a pattern of what God required in the heart and
mind, his character or soul of man. The record shows that Adam and his progeny did
not fulfil what God required until Jesus Christ who fulfilled the will of God in that
due to humble obedience to every word of God there was no blemish in his character,
no impairment, no disability or any imperfection which is what the law concerning the
bodily form of the High Priest and his sons taught.

Impairments of the character are identified by God as the ‘flesh’ and are
manifestations of the enmity at work in the heart and mind and are summarised by
Solomon, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto
him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that
deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6 v 16-19),
and again by Paul, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Galatians 5 v 19-21).

While the High Priests were to be physically un-impaired they were required by God
to show that un-impairment in the example of life as a prefigurement of Jesus Christ
as Micah was told, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the
LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God?” (Micah 6 v 8).

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In addition their wives were to be virgins in order to teach of the future multitudinous
companion of Jesus who collectively keeps herself from defilement with any other
doctrine and covenant that man may imagine (Revelation 14 v 4).

6.19.10) Anointing of the Tabernacle

After the Tabernacle was finished and erected Moses was commanded to hallow it,
“And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is
therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy” (Exodus
40).

The Tabernacle was the house of God and represented the as then future Son of God
who would manifest the name (character) of God perfectly in a mortal body by killing
the enmity to sufferance of death and attain unto eternal life in the mercy and
faithfulness of God by which means a body of people would likewise be saved from
eternal death and in whom God will dwell for ever.

Jesus was the perfect pattern of the image of God. Man was made in the ‘image’ and
‘likeness’ of God in bodily form and was required to be in the same ‘image’ and
‘likeness’ in heart and mind (character) thus manifesting the name of God in honour
of Him. Adam and his progeny failed but Jesus attained to this standard such that he
was able to say, ”he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14 v 9) and Paul
confirmed, “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3 v 16) and Isaiah prophesied,
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”
(Isaiah 7 v 14) where Immanuel means ‘God with us’.

Moses was shown this ‘pattern’ of the purpose of God (His name and character) that
was to be illustrated by the qualities and characteristics of all the materials to be used
and the construction and so was instructed, “And look that thou make them after their
pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount” (Exodus 25 v 40) and “And thou shalt
rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the
mount” (Exodus 26 v 30). When the work was finished, “Moses did look upon all the
work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they
done it” (Exodus 39 v 43). Only then could Moses anoint all the parts with the holy
anointing oil as ‘set apart’ Holy and sanctified to the honour of God.

After his resurrection Jesus was judged by God to be in His perfect image in mind,
heart and soul (character) and was justified in anointing him with the fullness of the
Holy Spirit by removing the curse of mortality and filling Jesus with everlasting life
represented by the physical anointing of the parts of the Tabernacle as a seal of God’s
approval that he did all according to the ‘pattern’ contained in all the instructions
representing Jesus’ fulfilling every word of God as he said, “Think not that I am come
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5
v 17), and in prayer to God, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17 v 4) and “I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17 v 6). The name of God was
the pattern, ‘merciful, gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth’
Exodus 34 v 5-7) and seen in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, ‘Love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance’ (Galatians 5 v
22-23).

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Embraced within the Tabernacle that pre-eminently represents Jesus Christ are
representations of the multitudinous companion of Jesus. For example, the
pomegranates of the High Priests robe, the cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant, the
boards of the walls, the vessels of service, the branches of the light stand, etc, all these
after final inspection were anointed as holy, thus teaching that all those who are called
by God to have a place in the eternal house of God will have to be inspected to see if
they were to the ‘pattern’ of Jesus Christ set in the word of God, and if satisfactory are
themselves to be anointed with the fullness of the Holy Spirit in eternal life (as Jesus
now is) after their resurrection from the grave. Jesus foretold this judgment in his
teachings of the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins (Matthew 25 v 1-13),
and of the separation of the sheep from the goats “When the Son of man shall come in
his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:31-33). Those sheep
on the right had manifested the ‘name’ of God in their lives among their neighbours
by following the life of Christ (compassion, mercy, grace, long suffering, goodness
and truth – the name of God) and motivated not be mere duty but by humility, broken
hearts and contrite spirits (Psalm 34 v 18, Isaiah 57 v 15, Isaiah 66 v 2, Jeremiah 9 v
24) all virtues that are the very details of the ‘pattern’ of the Tabernacle showed to
Moses in Mount Sinai and minutely represented by the qualities of the materials and
intricacies of construction of the Tabernacle, perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ but
imperfectly in the companion whose short comings will be covered by the love that
Jesus had for them in that while they fell short of the standard they were always
conscious of their failures as Paul wrote, “O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”
(Romans 7 v 24-25).

These people will be sanctified unto holiness by the work of one man Jesus Christ as
it is written, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians
5 v 25-32).

Paul writes of the final sanctification by anointing of the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15 v 50-55)

This was the hope of the gospel conveyed in the teaching of the Tabernacle that was
intended to reaffirm the faith of the congregation to obey God with the promise of
salvation after the example of Abraham and their forefathers.

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6.19.11) Nomadic movement – journey to the ‘Promised Land’

Although the 40-year sojourn in the wilderness is not part of the law of God there are
significant events that compliment and complete the teachings of the Tabernacle and
its parts. The whole sojourn was divided into individual journeys that finally
accounted for their wandering (Numbers 33). On each journey the Ark of the
Covenant was carried on the shoulders of the priests who led the way, “and the ark of
the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a
resting place for them” (Numbers 10 v 33) until on the final journey to the banks of
the river Jordan it was to be some 2000 cubits (3000 feet, 1181 metres) in advance,
“When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the
Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there
shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not
near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed
this way heretofore” (Joshua 3 v 2-4).

God led the congregation through the wilderness as punishment for their lack of faith
(Number 13 & 14) and to teach them that entry into eternal life after resurrection from
the dead and entry into the promised Kingdom of God on earth was not an easy and
instant salvation, but required a lifetime spiritual sojourn in the ‘wilderness’ of human
nature, a sojourn and journey of obedience by faith to the will of God and experiences
to test that obedience, as God said, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the
LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might
make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deuteronomy 8 v 2-3).

This overruling guidance of God was fulfilled in its entirety in the life of Jesus in that
while he did not wander in the physical wilderness as Israel did, he recognised that he
lived in a ‘wilderness’ of human nature where the enmity ever seeks to suppress the
cultivation of godliness and that he submitted himself to endure the same tests of faith
that Israel did in order that he should not live by his own efforts but that man (he),
“doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the LORD doth man live” (Matthew 4 v 4).

In this way Jesus went ‘before’ those who will be saints (spiritual ‘Israel’, Jew and
Gentile) as the Ark of the Covenant did and like the Ark he sought out spiritual
resting places of the heart and mind (the soul, the character) by his teachings, advice,
parables, miracles and example that became spiritual milestones as he emerged from
each trial with his faith and love for God fortified (Hebrew 12 v 2-5, John 14 v 6,
Luke 9 v 29).

The promise of the covenant of God that is underscored in the law is the promise of
eternal life on earth in a land (the kingdom of God) free from the curse after
resurrection from the grave, a promise that was symbolised in the ‘Promised land’ of
Canaan (‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ – Leviticus 20 v 24, Deuteronomy 11 v
9-12) the land that Israel journeyed to and in order to enter it they needed to cross the
river Jordan. The river Jordan has been used by God to depict the flow of humanity
from its lofty origin in Mount Hermon (creation ‘very good’) to the wastes of the

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Dead Sea (the curse of death). This river was the barrier to their inheritance in the
Promised Land even as death is the barrier to eternal life. When the feet of the priests
who carried the Ark touched the waters edge the flow of the river was stopped
allowing the Ark to be supported in the middle of the riverbed while the congregation
passed over, teaching that Jesus Christ would make a way possible that would pass
through death from mortality to immortality and that in his victory over the enmity
causing that death, a nation would pass over unto life everlasting into the promised
Kingdom of God (Joshua 3, 1 Corinthians 15 v 48-58).

As the Ark was to be two thousand cubits in front of the congregation in its approach
to the river and the temporary stopping of its flow, so Jesus would precede the entry
of the saints into the Kingdom of God by some 2000 years. Jesus entered into
immortality after resurrection in about 31AD, which with 2000 years added predicts
that the saints will enter the Kingdom of God in about 2031AD after the judgement of
God on the inhabitants of the earth.

6.19.12) Final resting place of the Ark – fulfilled in Christ

The final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant was Jerusalem some 500 years after
it’s entry into the Land of Promise. During that period it rested at Shiloh and Gibeon,
but in the reign of David it was brought to the city (Jebus) that David had established
as his citadel and finally set the Ark on a particular location on that hilltop city. This
location was not randomly chosen by David but was shown where to put it by being
taught of the necessity and reality of redemption from death by the one who was
represented by the Ark of the Covenant.
David was representative of all the saints in that he sinned and God punished Israel as
a result of his sin, but showed David that even in hot anger God would show mercy to
His people and so stayed the carnage at the rock of Mount Moriah that Abraham had
offered Isaac some 1000 year’s previously. In order to stay the carnage David had
offered burnt sacrifices to express his faith that he was in mortal need of a redeemer
who would pay the price of death to buy him back from certain death. At this
expression God withdrew His anger and David realised the full extent of the purpose
of God centred in the Ark of the Covenant (Jesus Christ his redeemer from death)
such that he exclaimed at the site where the carnage had stayed, “This is the house of
the LORD God” (1 Chronicles 22 v 1) and began preparing for a temple in which the
Ark would be the heart and focal point.
It was on this rock that Solomon built the temple that was destroyed by
Neduchadnezzer (587BC) and rebuilt by Zerrubabel (517BC), that was again rebuilt
by Herod (18BC), that Jesus worshipped in (John 2 v 13-22) and that the Romans
raised to the ground (70AD), that the Muslims built their mosque (693AD) that
remains to this day to which site the Jews are forbidden to enter by ordinance of God.
It is the site from which Jesus Christ will rule the world as high priest and king
assisted by the saints in the kingdom of God (Psalm 2, Isaiah 2 v 1-4, Ezekiel 21 v 25-
27, Micah 4 v 1-2, Zechariah 8 v 20-23) thus fulfilling the representations of the Ark
of the Covenant.

7) The law of the sacrificial offerings

Background
God created all living creatures for His pleasure (Revelation 4 v 11) and did not create
them to be killed for any reason. God gave to Adam intelligence superior to all other

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creatures in order that he should have dominion over them (Genesis 1 v 28) according
to His purpose for creating man in His own image so that he could honour Him with
obedience to His law in order that he should rule the earth as God would. God gave
Adam a law requiring obedience adding the sentence of death if he failed to keep it,
but Adam did not keep that law and as a result of sin God enforced the sentence of
His law and mankind and all creatures (because of man’s sin) became dying species
with each species saved only by reproduction.

The purpose that God created the earth was that it should be inhabited and ruled by a
righteous people who would live and rule as God himself would have ruled the world,
to be manifestations of Him on earth. From this time God decreed that His purpose
would be fulfilled, but only by passing the sentence of death and giving the gift of
resurrection that followed a process of proving and testing of every mortal individual
to see if they were worthy of resurrection to eternal life and of being ‘like Him’ in
inhabiting and ruling the world as God intended. God foreknew that these people
would not be able to fulfil His exacting standard and so decreed that they would be
saved by a man of their race who would do all that God required.

The means by which this would be fulfilled was by shedding of blood in death, not for
the pleasure of shedding blood but to teach that His purpose would only be fulfilled
by a new ‘Adam’ whom God would raise up out of Adam’s mortal race who would
obey perfectly and that he would die a violent death as a result of his obedience to the
will of God and would give himself willingly to that sacrifice. This death would be
the highest price anyone could pay in order to obey as it required a complete trust in
God that as that one died (from which he had no power of release from the grave and
no precedent unto eternal life had been done) so God would fulfil His promise and
resurrect him back to life in his mortal condition and then after judgement resurrect
him to immortal life.

To illustrate this precondition to eternal life God showed Adam its representation in
the first death of an animal to teach him (and all mankind who followed) in a practical
and poignant way the reality of the sacrifice of the one who should come to make a
way unto salvation possible. It is written, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the
LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3 v 21) thus necessitating
the death of an animal, and from that death a covering for nakedness (skins) was
provided teaching man that sin is as abhorrent to God as naked organs are to man (sin
causes awareness of such nakedness – Genesis 3 v 7).

Thus man was shown his need for shame of sin in order for him to be covered by the
death of the one represented by the dead animal and whose blood was shed so that sin
could be washed away, showing that without full acknowledgement of all committed
sin and repentance in shame the sacrificing of either an animal or ones own-self had
no value whatever. God delights not in the death of a man or any creature, God
delights in acknowledgement of sin, remorse and repentance (Micah 6 v 6-9).

Adam and Eve taught these principles to their sons (Cain and Abel) who in course of
time expressed their faith in God by freewill offerings but only Abel’s offering was
accepted even though Cain brought of the best he could, because he did not appreciate
that for his sins to be covered for any hope of resurrection to eternal life a life would
need to be sacrificed and blood shed in order to appease the just anger of God for sin,

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“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering” (Genesis
4 v 3-4).

Thus God introduced the sacrificing of selected animals to teach of His purpose of
salvation through one who was represented by that animal, and so in response the
believer could express his or her faith by making a sacrifice of the best of their flock
or herd to show their faith.

For this purpose of expression of faith, God chose ‘selected’ animals and designated
them as ‘clean’ and showed them to Noah when he instructed him in the selection of
animals to go into the ark, two (male and female) of every unclean animal and seven
of the clean (Genesis 7 v 2). Abel the son of Adam also had this knowledge for he had
brought his offering of the flock (i.e. a sheep or goat, both designated as clean -
Leviticus 11). The differentiation that set the clean from the unclean was not their
habits or any defects in their form but that they had both cloven feet and chewed the
cud to teach of the major qualities that would be found in the one whom God would
raise up to be a saviour of mankind.

Cloven feet are found in sheep, goats and cattle etc and are two divided, but not
separated, horn-like claws. The root of the Hebrew word ‘cloven’ is from that which
is divided but not broken as illustrated in Leviticus concerning the offering of a
pigeon, “And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder”
(Leviticus 1 v 17). In a practical way this cloven footedness gives agility and
surefootedness to the animal allowing it to be steady on uneven ground teaching that
Jesus’ ‘walk’ in the laws of God were always without slip (sin – Psalm 73) no matter
how hard the mental terrain became (Hebrews 4 v 15), but more than that it taught
how Jesus attained to that surefootedness in the ways of God in order for them to
appreciate his sacrifice.

Paul used this cloven-footedness in a practical spiritual context when he described the
correct use of the word of God as it is studied, “Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”
(2 Timothy 2 v 15). The Greek word for ‘dividing’ originates from two roots 1) to
‘excite’ in the sense of being upright and straight and is from the Hebrew ‫ ער‬that
means ‘to raise oneself up or excite oneself to a state of alert uprightness and
straightness such as engaged enemies would before battle’ - it implies sprightliness
and exertion, (the opposite of languor and laziness), and 2) to ‘cut’ by that which is
very sharp as was used by Paul in describing the effect of the power of the Holy Spirit
inspired word of God “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
(Hebrews 4 v 12).

The clean animals chosen by God taught that the one who would be an acceptable
sacrifice for redemption from sin was the only one who would be entirely excited and
alerted by every word of God as a warrior is to battle (against the enmity) as he
examined every word and phrase of God by cutting with the sharp knife of the Holy
Spirit through tradition and preconceived ideas of man in order to uncover for himself

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the hidden truth of every jot, tittle and word (as a surgeon with a scalpel). He used the
Holy Spirit to cut away every temptation of contra-interpretation of the enmity in
order to see the mind that God had hidden in His word (Proverbs 25 v2) so that he
could display that mind in his life as required by God in order to manifest the name of
God in a mortal body (1 Timothy 3 v 16), as he spoke concerning the fulfilment of the
law of God in himself, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled”
(Matthew 5 v 17-18) and “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart”
(Psalm 40 v 7-8).

The other inseparable quality of the ‘clean’ animal was its need to chew the cud, to
ruminate on the food it had taken. These animals eat grass and store it in a rumen
(pre-digestion stomach) and regurgitate it when resting and in so doing extract the full
goodness of the nutrients and minerals before swallowing the food for digestion in the
stomach. God used this peculiarity of His creation to teach mankind of the spiritually
‘cloven-footed’ one who would be the redeemer of a family from the grave as the
only one who fully digested the ‘food’ of His word and extracted the intended
goodness to give growth and stature so he could manifest the name of God in a mortal
body. Thus it was written of Jesus, But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in
his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1 v 2), and of his daily food he said,
“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4 v 31-
34).

Many read the word of God avidly every day and have done so since it was written,
but only Jesus ‘divided’ every phrase and word and them applied to himself. He read
the word, he rested mentally, he meditated on what he read, he recalled it to mind, re-
meditated repeatedly and extracted the detail of what God required and then
swallowed it in order to extract the pith and core to direct his ways as was foretold in
the Psalms, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119 v 97).
His meditation was not for knowledge alone but to find the mind of God hidden in His
name and written in His word so that he could display that name and word in his ways
in being merciful, gracious, long suffering full of goodness and truth such that he
became the ‘word made flesh’ and in so doing became the enemy of the enmity, the
enemy that he slew with that word that God had given.

Thus God decreed which animals were clean and which were unclean solely to teach
mankind that He would provide from the race of mankind a saviour who would
separate himself from the rule of the enmity by being subject to the rule of God’s
word. This principle was endorsed by Paul, “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord
Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be
unclean, to him it is unclean” (Romans 14 v 14) God esteemed those animals to be
unclean and thus they will remain until the enmity is removed from mankind.

Although all sacrifices must be of clean animals they were also to be without blemish
to be acceptable to God to teach of the unblemished character of Jesus Christ. It was
commanded, “Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed,
ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the
altar unto the LORD. .. .. Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or

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crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land”
(Leviticus 22 v 22-24, Malachi 1 v 8, 12-14).

7.1) Continuous burnt offering

God decreed that there would be a continual smoke that arose by day and the glow of
fire by night from the altar of burnt offering to remind the congregation that the work
of Jesus in overcoming the enmity was to be without rest until he had fulfilled every
word of God. The purpose of the slaying and burning of the sacrifices was to
represent firstly, the shedding of the life blood of Jesus Christ (without which there
could be no forgiven of sin) and secondly, the consumption of the ‘flesh’ by the fire
of the Holy Spirit. The blood represents the life of Jesus and the flesh (and all its
parts) represented the enmity-laden mortal body of Jesus that was never allowed to
work by sin, but although sinless he took on himself the guilt of all those sinners
whom he came to save in whom the enmity had been successful in working (Isaiah
53). This sacrifice was a sweet smelling savour unto God as it encapsulated all the
God required in man as it is recorded in Genesis of Noah’s sacrifice, “And Noah
builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour”
(Genesis 8 v 20-21). The sense of the word ‘sweet’ is to ‘rest’ after a work is well
finished, not through tiredness - but pleasure in completing a work perfectly as when
God ‘rested’ on the seventh day, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which
he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made”
(Genesis 2 v 1-2).

The whole purpose of the teaching of the burnt sacrifices was to lead the mind of the
congregation to the work of Jesus Christ which work was to finish the work God
began after His creation was marred by Adam and all his descendants by sin. The
work was the manifestation of the character of God in a mortal body by a life and
death that gives glory for all things and that metaphorically ascends to God as the
Creator, sustainer and giver of life that could only be done by the death of the enmity
(the devil, Satan, the ‘flesh’, the ‘world’). The smoke of the burnt offering represented
that the evidence of that work, a work completed that God found a ‘sweet savour’ (a
savour of rest) in which He could rest in satisfaction of a perfect work done as He did
after the physical creation of all things.

To represent this work, where Jesus without rest day and night denied temptation
from the enmity and overcame it within his heart and mind by the word of God that he
learned, there was to be a continual burning of a lamb without blemish on the altar,
“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day
by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb
thou shalt offer at even: .. .. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your
generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD:
where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee” (Exodus 29 v 38-44, Numbers 28 v 1-
10).

The male lambs (young rams) were to be no older than a year and were required to be
without blemish of the standard mentioned previously. The lamb is noted for its meek
and submissive temper and the herald of a new beginning of life in spring and
summer and for being filled with the delight and joy of being alive. These were the
qualities God sought and found in Jesus as he grew from childhood to maturity, not

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only in physical activity but in the application of the word of God in his life and were
prophesied by Isaiah, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53). It was John Baptist that exclaimed,
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1 v 29)
where the Greek word lamb is derived from two Hebrew words, 1) ‫‘ הנמא‬to be
steadfast, stable, faithful, true and constant’, and 2) ‫‘ להם‬to be soft gentle and mind’
all characteristics that God put in the lamb and used to represent His well-beloved son
Jesus Christ. The apostle John was also shown later the glory to which Jesus has been
elevated and will be revealed in the fulfilment of the purpose of God, “And I beheld,
and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5).

There were two lambs to be offered each day, one morning and the other at even so
that there would be continual evidence of the future work of Jesus as the saviour of
those who enter into covenant with God by vow of obedience. On the Sabbath the
daily continual burnt offering was to be accompanied by a double sacrifice of two
more lambs with their bread and wine offering to show that not only did Jesus fulfil
every word of God throughout his whole life but that he fulfilled (and became) the
living manifestation of the essence of the Sabbath Day - the day God ‘finished’ His
work and ‘rested’. Jesus set himself to finish his work (in the death of the enmity in
his own mortal body) in accordance with the sentence God pronounced on all
mankind (Genesis 3 v 19) thus showing that God was justified in His judgement of sin
and that he had completed the work God began in the beginning such that God again
‘rested’ from his labour of raising up the firstborn of a new creation of righteous
people at one with God, and as such he (Jesus) became the ‘rest’ (the Sabbath) a work
finished that God sought (not through weariness but through completeness of work) in
the same sense that God had ‘rested’ from His physical work at the conclusion of
creation, as it was taught by Jesus, “For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath
day” (Matthew 12 v 8).

No continual burnt offering sacrifice (or any animal sacrifice) was acceptable to God
unless it was accompanied by a drink offering of wine and a ‘meat’ (meal) offering of
bread (Numbers 15). God ordained specific weights and volumes of bread and wine
for each species of animal sacrifice, in the case of the continual burnt offering (a
lamb) the ‘meat’ offering was a tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with a quarter of an
hin of olive oil, and for the drink offering a quarter of an hin of ‘strong wine’. A
portion of the ‘meat’ offering was to be burned with the carcase on the altar of burnt
offering, but the wine was to be poured out as a libation to God on the floor of the
Holy Place of the tent of the Sanctuary, “And the drink offering thereof shall be the
fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong
wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering” (Numbers 28 v 7), thus setting
the pattern for all other offerings. Bread and wine was chosen by God as early as
Abraham and continues to this day to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Its
importance (no sacrifice of animal under the law or personal deprivation today is
acceptable to God without recognition of their significance) is considered in the next
chapter.

7.2) Drink and ‘meat’ offering

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No offering of any animal sacrifice was acceptable to God without an accompanying

offering of bread and wine (Numbers 15, 28 & 29). The bread could be as uncooked
dough, baked or fried (Leviticus 2 v 4-7, Numbers 28). Memorials (portions) of the
bread were to be offered on the altar of burnt offering and the remainder to be eaten
by the High Priest and his sons (Leviticus 6 v 14-18). The wine was to be poured out
on the earth floor of the Holy Place in the tent of the Tabernacle of the Sanctuary
(Numbers 28 v 7). Each animal had a specific quantity of bread and wine to be
offered. The bread for a lamb - a tenth of an ephah of fine flour kneaded with quarter
of a hin of olive oil, for a mature ram - two tenths and one third respectively, for an ox
or bullock - three tenths and half respectively, and the wine for a lamb - one quarter of
a hin, for a ram one third and for a bullock half a hin (Numbers 28).

Bread is the basic food commodity of mankind and can be made from a whole variety
of bread flour, but the basic method of preparation is the same. Seed corn is sowed in
earth and germinates by air, light and water, the plant matures and bears flowers that
turn to seed, which ripen in the husk, the plant is cut down, the seed is separated from
the husk by pressure and wind, the corn grain is then ground, sifted, refined by further
milling and is then mixed with either water or oil (under the law it was to be olive oil)
and salt, baked in heat and is ready for food. Leavened bread has yeast (or old bread
dough) added as it mixed and kneaded, it is then left to react (swell) and then baked.
Unleavened bread has no reactor and does not rise but remains in volume as it was
kneaded.

God has chosen leaven to represent the enmity working in the character of an
individual (i.e. it swells with pride, the ‘old man’ - Romans 6 v 6) and unleavened
bread to represent the character of Jesus Christ in whom the leaven did not work, but
was nullified. All bread offered on the altar was to have no leaven in whatsoever, “No
meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye
shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire”
(Leviticus 2 v 11). The only time leaven was commanded to be present was in the
Bread of the First-fruits at the end of the Feast of Weeks, but that bread was to be
eaten and not offered on the altar (and has an entirely different significance), “As for
the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be
burnt on the altar for a sweet savour” (Leviticus 2 v 12), (Leviticus 23 v 17).

God used bread to represent mankind, either leavened by the activity of the enmity or
remaining an unleavened representation of the full fruitfulness of the word of God.
God chose corn (the seed, barley the firstripe and wheat the principle) to represent the
His word, the ground (earth) represented the heart of man (Luke 8 v 11-15) that needs
to be broken open (removal of pride Jeremiah 4 v 3-4, Hosea 10 v 12) to receive the
seed (the word of God, Mark 4 v 14) and allow air, light and water (the actions of His
Holy Spirit) to germinate the seed (Isaiah 28 v 23-29). The growth of the plant
(natural maturity, Luke 2 v 52) brings flowers (the beauty of obedience to the word),
then seed (the fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5 v 22-23) surrounded by the husk
(superfluous human activity, Luke 10 v 40-42), the plant is harvested (natural
youthful ambitions terminated, 1 Corinthians 13 v 11) and the seed-head is separated
(devotion to God by vow, Ecclesiastes 5 v 4) and is winnowed (voluntary removal of
superfluity 1 John 2 v 15-17), then ground (trials of faith, Revelation 2 v 7, 11, 17, 26,
etc), sifting (refining faith – understanding its effects, Luke 22 v 31) and final milling
for the finest of flour (perfecting love, Song of Solomon 8 v 6-7, I Corinthians 13).

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Such flour will remain of little use unless mixed with oil (or water) and salt (Leviticus
2 v 13) both representations of the Holy Spirit, with oil (water) as vital to life and salt
as a healer, preserver and taste enhancer and fundamental to life.

Oil, water and salt represent different aspects of the Holy Spirit. Olive oil (see pp 48-
49) that burns with a clean bight flame (light) and unites grains of flour as one lump
(Psalm 133), water that is essential to life and to wash (Deuteronomy 32 v 2, Isaiah 55
v 8-11, John 7 v 38-39) and salt that heals, is used to preserve and to give taste to
food.

Salt

Salt is as essential to life even as the Spirit of God is essential for life on earth and
when that Spirit is used in the preparation of a person of God’s choosing unto
righteousness it is the same Spirit but is referred to as the Holy Spirit. The use of salt
in the 21st century is abused (as many other aspects of God’s creation are) to such an
extent that it is often wrongly considered harmful to health (a causes of hypertension -
high blood pressure). This is because of its abuse as a favour enhancer in ‘processed’
food - foods processed for convenience and profit, but God did not create or provide
food for this reason. Salt is so essential for life that men were paid in salt as part of the
wages (‘salary’ is from this origin - salarius ‘pertaining to salt’, and ‘salad’ literally
means ‘salt’ after the ancient practice of salting vegetable leaves). Salt (sodium
chloride) is essential for balancing the water content of the body and therefore it’s
overall health, too much salt leads to high blood pressure and high risk of death by
heart malfunction, too little salt (in comparison to water intake) and water poisoning
occurs resulting in death. In ancient times salt was a symbol of friendship (being
invited to ‘eat bread and salt’ was a sign of acceptance of mutual amity) and was held
in such high esteem of value that oaths were taken over salt.

Salt in the offerings is referred to as the ‘salt of the covenant’ (Leviticus 2 v 13). The
‘covenant’ is the promise God made to mankind that if he shows his love for God by
not sinning in any way, God will remove the curse after death (Genesis 3 v 17-19) and
give everlasting life. Sin is the product of the enmity that is in every man and woman
and is the spirit of pride and rebellion. The spirit of man (the enmity) cannot co-exist
with the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit), the one always replaces the other. Sin is
unsavoury to the ‘taste’ of God and repellent. In order to ‘savour’ unsavoury food, salt
is needed, in a similar way the Holy Spirit will transform a sinful being into a
righteous person in order to become an acceptable (savoury) offering to God, as Jesus
taught of those who followed him, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every
sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness,
wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with
another” (Mark 9 v 49-50).

However, without the perfectly salted (savoury) sinless offering of Jesus there would
be no hope for anyone in that all have sinned. The ‘salt’ that savoured the life of Jesus
was the Holy Spirit that he allowed and used to overcome his own natural spirit (the
enmity) until he replaced it entirely with the Holy Spirit by killing it finally on the
cross. Jesus taught this way of salvation by word of mouth and by living example and
said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is
good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is

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evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” and Paul later wrote, “Let
your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought
to answer every man” (Colossians 4 v 6).

Salt readily absorbs water from air and damp earth, in fact it is so efficient at
absorption it is an excellent desiccant for items that degenerate by mould and rot in
damp air. When salt absorbs water from the air or damp earth it looses its ‘saltness’ –
i.e. it looses its properties of 1) preservation of food, 2) cleansing of infection and 3)
flavouring and has no further use to man, but becomes a toxic waste. For this reason
when salt was thus degraded in times past it was cast onto the street to be trodden in
as if it was put on the earth the land would become barren.

Sin is the unsavoury sickness that afflicts man in the eyes of God that makes him of
no use to God who has condemned him to be ‘trodden under foot’. Sin is a toxic waste
to the fertile ground of the heart that God requires in man so that the seed of His word
can grow. Sin is the mould and microbial corruption that rots the character of man.
Sin is the product of the enmity and needs to be ‘killed’ so the heart, mind and
character can be restored and preserved as God created it and to flourish as a sweet
tasting savour to God that can only be achieved by the action of the Holy Spirit. God
has chosen salt to represent that Spirit working in man such that man’s works (manner
of life – character) become the savoured by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but if
that Spirit is quenched and ceases to do its intended work of preservation, cleansing
and savouring then it is of no use to God as Paul wrote, “For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers
of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame” (Hebrews 6 v 4-6).

The Psalmist (who typified all the believers in God and followers of Jesus and whose
sins Jesus took upon himself as though they were his own) recognised his sinfulness
and wrote, “I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned
against thee” (Psalms 41 v 4), and “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he
shall preserve thy soul” (Psalms 121 v 7) and Job remarked, “Can that which is
unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6
v 6) and David appealed when he sinned, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and
take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalms 51 v 11). Job was reflecting upon his low
sinful state as viewed from God’s eyes, he confessed he was unsavoury through sin
and without the Spirit of God (that appeared to have left him – but hadn’t), he knew
that the yoke of an egg was the ‘seed’ of the fowl even as the ‘seed’ is the word of
God, and he knew that to ‘feed’ that seed of the word of God in himself in order for it
to grow he would need more than the natural ‘white’ of his own good intentions, he
would need the savour of the salt of the Holy Spirit for his faith to be an acceptable
‘taste’ to God. In this sense Jesus said of all those who vow to follow him, “Ye are the
salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”
(Matthew 5 v 13).

Thus salt was essential in the meat (bread) offering for it to be acceptable to God as it
represented the work of His Spirit at work in the heart and mind of Jesus as a

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confirmation of the unity between God and Jesus as a result of the cleansing,
preserving and tastefulness of his sinless life, it was the ‘salt of the covenant’.

Bread flour

Specific quantities of flour were commanded to make up the meat offering (Numbers
28) where the tenth part of an ephah was the basic measure. The law tell us that, “Now
an omer is the tenth part of an ephah” (Exodus 16 v 36). The Hebrew word for omer
is ‫ עמר‬and means to ‘compress’ as a sheaf of corn is compressed in the arms of a man
for binding such a sheaf yielding grain that measured approximately 6 pints (3.4
litres) that would give a loaf about 4” x 4” x 12” (100mm x 100mm x 300mm). God
told Israel that this was the necessary food for one man for a day when referring to
gathering manna, “This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it
every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number
of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents” (Exodus 16 v 16).
The omer represents Jesus Christ who was the perfect firstripe sheaf to be gathered in
the ‘arms’ of God from the ‘fields’ of the world of mankind because he was the only
one who ‘ate’ the word of God in its entirety as being more precious than his natural
food and ‘compressed’ that word in his thoughts and actions so completely that no
extraneous matter was allowed to remain in his character and was blessed with an
abundance of Godly wisdom as Jesus taught, “But love ye your enemies, and do good,
and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye
therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be
judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same
measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6 v 35-38).

A quarter of a hin of oil was to be mixed with the omer of flour. The origin of the
Hebrew word for hin is obscure and therefore gives no hint of the essence of its true
meaning. A hin is a volumetric measure and equates to approximately 6 litres. A ¼
hin would therefore be 1.5 litres to be mixed with an omer (6 litres) thus making a 4:1
volume ratio that made a soft pliable and non-sticky dough in line with standard bread
making recipes.

Jesus was represented by the bread offering but was incomplete without the drink
offering of wine that signified his life and blood. No offering was acceptable without
these two in order for the offerer to express their faith in the need for a necessary
redeemer represented in all three offerings - the unblemished animal (life shed), the
bread (his sinless body) and the wine his life blood.

Wine

Wine is the fermented juice of the grape, the grape is the fruit of the vine and the vine
is grown and cultivated entirely for the fruit that it bears as there is no use for the
wood except for burning. God has used the vine as a symbol to represent the people
that He has given the enlightened privilege of the blessing of understanding His
covenant. The figure was used by God to witness against Israel who went astray from
the commands of God who instead of producing sweet grapes of the spiritual fruit of

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obedience, produced bitter grapes of rebellion and idolatry as Isaiah witnessed for
God, “And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the
choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein:
and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.”
(Isaiah 5 v 1-2). Let us not think that these words applied only to Israel because they
do not. The spirit of these words also applied to Adam and Eve who produced the
bitter fruit of disobedience and whose bodies were fit only for a return to dust and the
same applies to us when we fail to eat and drink worthily of the bread and the wine.

The vine is a rampant grower in the same way that our natural spirit is rampant in the
ways of the flesh unless it is thoroughly pruned and cut back by continual baptism of
the Holy Spirit. The growth of the vine must be severely restricted so much that the
best fruit comes from a small, low-stature tree that is of no consequence among the
trees of the forest, and thus fulfils the figure used by Isaiah to describe Jesus Christ,
“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry
ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53 v 2-3).

The wild bitter grapes of the rampant vine are the fruit of the enmity when it is
unchecked within us and the juice (which also ferments) is the poison of the serpent
which often masquerades as the juice of the sweet grape, as Moses spake of the
rebellion of the enemies of God, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the
fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their
wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” (Deuteronomy 32 v 32-
33). Furthermore, the intoxicating effects of the fermented wine of these bitter grapes
is described by the apostle, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also
told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God.”(Galatians 5 v 19-21).

Jesus was of the same stock of the wild vine of mortal man but he was to be the
fulfilment of the Nazarite vow from his birth (Numbers 6); (Matthew 2 v 23) and in
fulfilment of that law, Jesus (although of the stock of sinful man) never exhibited the
wildness of the enmity, ate not of one grape seed or one tentacle of the human (enmity
ridden) plant, not of one kernel or husk of the fruit of sinful mankind according to the
figure of the law of the Nazarite, “All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing
that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.” (Numbers 6 v 4). By
fulfilling the teaching of the law of the Nazarite, Jesus eschewed the ‘old’ vine of
sinfulness and thus became the ‘new’ vine of righteousness with no superfluous
growth of the mind of the enmity (John 15 v 1-5). The fruit of that new vine of the life
and body of Jesus Christ was sweet and of the quality that God was seeking as
recorded by the apostle, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
(Galatians 5 v 22-23).

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But for his friends to share the hope of forgiveness of their sins (only by the blood of
Christ) the grape of the new vine was not enough, there needed to be juice to make the
wine to signify his life blood, and so the grape was pressed until the juice ran out like
tears of suffering at the hand of the enemies of God typified by his agony as he was
betrayed by his former friend (Psalm 55 v 12-13, Isaiah 53) and was to be killed by
his brethren who he came to save, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly:
and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke
22 v 44) until finally his blood was literally shed as tears-drops of blood on the cross.
(Psalm 6 v 6, Psalm 39 v 12, Psalm 42 v 3, Psalm 56 v 8).

From the suffering of Jesus Christ comes the hope of the forgiveness of sins by
understanding the token of the flood of teardrops of the blood of Jesus Christ which
were shed as a libation for the honour and justification of God and for salvation, and it
is by faith in the tears of the life of a despised and rejected man that any offering to
God can be accepted, a token that has been preserved to this day as Jesus commanded,
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.” (Matthew 26 v 28).

7.2) Burnt offering – freewill

Any member of the congregation could express their faith through offering an animal
of God’s choice on the altar of burnt offering as a ‘sweet savour’ to God, of victory
over the enmity in the life and death of the saviour that God in His covenant promised
to raise up, but it was to be offered at their own voluntary freewill at the door of the
court of the Tabernacle. It was to be offered as an expression of their belief in the
‘sweet savour’ of the sacrifice of the one who (as then) would come to provide a way
of atonement of sin by entire consumption of the enmity within himself by the action
of the Holy Spirit. The one who offered was to recognise that victory in death over the
enmity by that saviour was the ‘sweet savour’ that God looked for in mankind and
awaited, who although would be without sin himself would take upon himself the sins
of others, and in order to publicly show and confirm their need for atonement they
were to put their hand on the head of the animal as it was slain, “And he shall put his
hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make
atonement for him” (Leviticus 1 v 4).

To take away the life of any animal is not a trivial thing, to take it from ones’ own
herd or flock of domesticated animals is a personal trauma, the animal is innocent and
trusting, it is faithful to its owner and bears no malice, it was the best in the flock and
has been separated from its fellows and stands alone at the knife of the priest and
awaits the final thrust. It was necessary therefore that the offerer understood the
innocence of the life of their redeemer and atoner of sin, as it was later written, “he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53). Their hand on the animal’s head was a direct
admission and recognition of the finality of the termination of life that was due to
them because of sin and that the one represented in the animal would take away their
sin and make a way possible for their own redemption from the grave.

The burnt offering was to be by ‘voluntary will’ that means in Hebrew to demonstrate
a ‘need to be graciously accepted’, ‘to make oneself acceptable’. God does not need
any man or woman, but all mankind need God. Man has separated himself from God

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by sin, but God has a desire that man returns to Him and is ready to graciously accept
his return (by repentance) for that is the power of the name of God (‘gracious,
merciful, long-suffering, full of goodness and truth’). For a burnt offering to be
accepted by God (i.e. for sins to be atoned) this had to be the heart and mind of the
one who offered in showing a ‘voluntary will’, the faith that one man would come
who by demonstrating that ‘name’ of God in a mortal body (John 1 v 14, 1 Timothy 3
v 16) would be ‘graciously accepted’ by God (Matthew 3 v 17, Mark 9 v 7) and in
turn God would accept others in and through him (John 17 v 20, John 14 v 6).

There were several animals chosen by God for this demonstration of faith. All were to
be males without blemish, of the herd (the bullock), of the flock (a ram), or for the
very poor, of the wild flock (turtle dove or pigeon). Each represented a quality of the
character of their saviour (Jesus Christ) that no man or woman (however poor) could
not afford to offer in order to demonstrate their faith. The word ‘bullock’ in Hebrew
denotes both ‘a builder of a family’, and strength to ‘pull the plough to break open
hard ground’. Both attribes were characterised in the one whom God chose to fulfil
His covenant. That covenant was to create a family in whom God would be manifest
in all their ways and who would dominate creation (Genesis 1 v 28) as God Himself
would. Jesus was the one who began that family, he was the ‘firstborn’, the founder of
a righteous people, the one who ‘built up’ the family of God, as it was written
concerning those who are joined to Jesus and God by singular vow of baptism and
continue to ‘grow’ in that unity in hope of redemption, “Till we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: …. From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4 v 11-16), (Ephesians 2 v 19-22). The
companion meaning of strength to ‘pull the plough to break open hard ground’
represents the inner strength of Jesus to ‘break’ the naturally ground of the heart
hardened by the enmity to resist the seed of the word of God so that that seed can
enter, geminate, flourish and bring the fruits of the Spirit required by God, of which
no other man was strong enough to do. Thus the bullock represents Jesus Christ.

The young ram (male lamb) has its Hebrew origins in ‘submission’ and ‘meekness’ as
was prophesied of Jesus, “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66 v 2), and “I dwell in the high and
holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of
the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57 v 15) as was
perfectly fulfilled by Jesus at his crucifixion, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And being in an agony he
prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground” (Luke 22:42-44). The goat has its origins in ‘agility’ and
‘vigour’ from ‘prodigious strength’ a word used to describe God, “O God, thou art
terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power
unto his people. Blessed be God” (Psalms 68 v 35) a strength that Jesus derived from
his faith in God that enabled him to defend his flock against the wiles of the devil in
enmity on the treacherous and rocky terrain of human nature.

The turtle dove is named after its song, considered by many to be mournful, but in
fact is representative of the innermost prayers of those who suffer to overcome the

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enmity and rejoice in the hope of the prospect of the promises of God in His covenant,
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5 v 19) where that melody so mournful
to the man of the flesh is a joy to all who hope in a redeemer from the grave, a melody
that was perfected in Jesus Christ who prayed to God as recorded by John (John 17).
The meaning of the root of the Hebrew word ‘turtle’ is that which ‘goes or comes
around’ as in the hem of blue in an Israelitish garment (Numbers 15 v 38). It is
associated with it’s purring call in the olive groves in which it habitually nests, as the
turtle dove returns from its wintering grounds and was the herald of spring and
summer as the cycle of the year ‘came round’, as the Song of Solomon shows, “The
flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of
the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines
with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away”
(Song of Solomon 2 v 12-13) figuratively speaking of the time of redemption from the
grave. Jesus was the male turtle-dove who brought that joyful sound to all who hope
in the promises of the covenant of God.

The ‘young’ (male) pigeon is of the same family and shares the same characteristics
representative of Jesus Christ. It is monogamous with ‘eyes’ only for one lifetime
mate, it’s flight is swift and direct and has an incomprehensible homing instinct when
released far from its nest, such that it has often been used as a reliable carrier of
messages and mail. Thus Jesus had ‘eyes’ only for his mate (the faithful), he ‘saw’ the
fulfillment of the promises and flew in haste directly to that goal of forgiveness of
sins and eternal life making a way possible for others to follow and the message he
carried was the prayers of his sinful fellows.

In all these sacrifices, the blood was to be drained out and poured at the bottom of the
altar to be mixed and mingled with the ashes of the sacrifices as the evidence of the
completion of the work of the fire of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the enmity in
Jesus Christ. Of the animals, the skins were not to be burnt but were to be seperated
from the carcase and given to the priest who performed the work as the ‘covering’
provided by the sacrificed animal in the eyes of God representing the work of Jesus
Christ who through the offering of his life and the complete consumption of the
enmity by the Holy Spirit, a covering for sin was to be the result.

The offering of an animal in sacrifice was not in itself an acceptable offering to God
and the prophets were later told to tell Israel, “To what purpose is the multitude of
your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and
the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he
goats” (Isaiah 1 v 11-16, Amos 5 v 21-24). What God required was a sincere
recognition of the character of their saviour who would reflect the name of God in a
mortal body, and a commitment from them expressed in the offering to follow that
example as Micah was told, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow
myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves
of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten
thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of
my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and
what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God? The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom
shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it” (Micah 6 v 6-9)

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where the ‘rod’ is a sceptre or rod for correction representing Jesus Christ who God
has appointed ruler of His kingdom to come and by whom He will punish the
rebellious.

It was Jesus who fully understood this divine requirement and who set himself from
the earliest age (Luke 2 v 42) to fulfill all the words of God that expressed His will
(Luke 2 v 49) as it was written of him, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do
thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40 v 6-8, Hebrew 10 v 4-
12), the law that Jesus came to fulfill as he said, “Think not that I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5 v 17).

The burnt offering was ordained to be a ‘sweet savour’ unto God, which as described
in the continual mandatory offering was a ‘savour of rest’, a ‘rest’ not from weariness
but from a work well completed. Thus any member of the congregation could express
their faith in the work that Jesus would complete in his victory over the enmity within
himself during his life and ultimately in his death on the cross, a ‘savour’ God
confirmed when He spake “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear
ye him” (Matthew 17 v 1-5). The promise of God was that Jesus would not be left in
the grave as other men, but that God would raise him to life before corruption started
and would give him eternal life as it is written, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the
path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore” (Psalms 16 v 10-11). Paul later explained the fulfillment of the law of
sacrifice in writing to the Ephesians, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5 v 1-
2) where ‘love’ is agape, the love of God that is stronger than death (Song of Solomon
8 v 6-7) thus fulfilling the law of God (Matthew 5 v 17).

7.3 Peace offering

The peace offering was to be offered either for thanksgiving, in performance of a vow
or as a voluntary offering for expression of faith in God that He would raise up one
man who would heal what was an insurmountable breach between God and mankind
due to the sins of Adam, Eve and all their progeny. In the beginning there was peace
throughout all the earth, there was no violence or death in all God’s creation and all
creatures ate herbage. Upon the sin of man, the sentence of death was put on all
creatures, the ground was the cursed, and a barrier to perpetuation of life was placed
between man and the tree of life (Genesis 3), a simple fact that is testified by
cemeteries across the world. That barrier (a breach in the peace) was later represented
by the veil in the Tabernacle (see Veil, pillars and sockets pp30-36) which veil was
rent in two upon the death of Jesus (Matthew 27 v 51) of being of no further use
signifying the completion of the restoration of peace between God and man by Jesus
in killing the enmity within himself and fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus Christ
would be the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9 v 6-7). The result of the breach of peace by the
curse of God has been violence between species (man with man, animal with animal,
and man and animals with each other), eating of fellow creatures (carnivores), and
disease in all creation, decay and death.

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The cause of the peace of God in the beginning being shattered was by a combination
of the wandering desire of Eve, the weakness of Adam to counteract her and the lie of
the serpent. The lie of the serpent was denial of the power of the word of God and the
‘seeding’ of a false hope of an immortal soul, “And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3 v 1-
5). Eve disobeyed God’s command and Adam (who bore responsibility for the
keeping of the law) cooperated and so God cursed mankind through the serpent by
taking the power of reason (the enmity) that the serpent had and putting it in the mind
of man, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3 v
15).

The work of the one who God was to raise up (Jesus Christ) to atone this sin was to
‘bruise the enmity in the head’ by killing the power of the enmity within his mind and
thus restoring peace with God in which victory the enmity would ‘bruise him in the
heel’ (killing his body on the cross). Jesus set himself from the earliest age to fulfil
this restoration of peace as was shown in the wilderness when tempted by his thoughts
to transgress, he killed those thoughts with the word of God every time (Matthew 4).
So perfectly did he do this that at the end of his ministration he comforted his
disciples before his death with these words, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid” (John 14 v 27) to which the apostle later added the following,
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Ephesians 2 v 13-16) (more later).

The ‘slaying of the enmity’ was achieved by no other man and required the whole of
the life and body of Jesus Christ to be given in service to God to do it, such that
physically and mentally he was spent, with nothing left for his own use as it was
written of his physical body when he died, “I may tell (count) all my bones: they look
and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my
vesture” (Psalms 22 v 17-18) and of his mind when he cried on the cross immediately
before his death “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far
from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (Psalms 22 v 1, Mark 15 v 34).

The understanding and acknowledgement of this entire expenditure of body and life in
Jesus Christ was the core faith of the peace offering if it was to be accepted as a
faithful offering and was demonstrated by the fact that the ‘fat’ of the ‘inwards’
particularly of the kidneys, and the caul (a fatty veil covering many organs) and the
rump (or ‘fat tail’ wherein is the fat of the marrow of the bones) of the unblemished
animal was to be cut out of the carcase and burnt on the fire of the altar as the ‘food’
of the fire of the altar, “And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of
the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD's. It shall be a
perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat

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neither fat nor blood” (Leviticus 3 v 16-17) and the blood to be ‘sprinkled round
about upon the altar’.

The blood and fat represent the whole life-energy of Jesus Christ - the essence of his
body and character - in that a body cannot live without either. It is well known that
excessive loss of blood leads to a quick death, whereas continued loss of fat leads to a
slow death for when the body ceases to take food (for any reason) to replace fat burnt
by natural exercise, the energy supplied by that fat reduces as the fat is consumed by
conversion to energy until the bodily organs fail and death ensues. Such was the
expenditure of bodily energy in the fulfilment of all the words of God in his war
against the enmity that he expended the final molecule of his bodily fat (energy) of his
physical body (his cross was carried by another, Matthew 27 v 32) and his mental
energy (Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost,
Matthew 27 v 50) to his final victory over the enmity in death thus making peace with
God and restoring the path unto salvation as Isaiah prophesied, “The repairer of the
breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isaiah 58 v 12).

The fat was to be burned on the altar as a ‘sweet savour’ unto God, but the flesh was
to be cooked and eaten the same day for the thanksgiving offering and within 2 days
for a voluntary offering or a vow. In both cases the remainder of the carcase was to be
burnt (Leviticus 7 v 15-18). Thus God taught that there was hope to be at peace with
God by faithful association with the body of Jesus Christ (the ‘Peace’ offering
acceptable to Him) by eating and digesting his flesh, a hope that extends beyond the
tenure of the law to this day (John 6 v 51-56).

For an offering of thanksgiving, the peace offering was to be accompanied by an

additional bread offering (in addition to the bread and wine offering required for all
sacrifices described previously) that was to include unleavened cakes and wafers and
leavened bread (Leviticus 7 v 11-13). The root of the Hebrew word ‘cake’ is from a
‘fully pierced’ dough to so pierced to prevent fermentation, and ‘wafer’ (a very thin
cake) from the Hebrew root ‘to spit’ of which it is unclear why unless it be that spittle
congeals to a thin flat membrane. However the teaching of both is clear, Jesus was
‘pierced’ throughout his life by the venom of his enemies and finally on the cross
(where fermentation of the enmity was wholly absent, Psalm 22 v 16, John 19 v 34,
Zechariah 12 v 10) and was ‘despised and rejected’ and finally spat upon at his trial as
a witness of contempt (Mark 15 v 9). The offerer was to also bring leavened bread to
be offered as a heave offering (literally an offering lifted up in both hands as an
oblation) that was certainly not to be burnt on the altar as that was forbiden (Leviticus
2 v 11), but was to be eaten with the flesh of the offering by the priest, thus
confirming that even those swelled by the pride of the leaven of the flesh (the enmity)
had hope of making peace with God through (and only through) the perfect sacrifice
of Jesus Christ.

This was to be the faith of anyone who offered a peace offering, even as faith is now
the only path to peace with God through Jesus Christ, “Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God” (Romans 5 v 1-2).

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The fat of the peace offering was the fuel for a perpetual ‘food’ of the fire on the altar
such that the burning in the wood was never to go out, “And the fire upon the altar
shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it
every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon
the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall
never go out” (Leviticus 6 v 12-13) in proclamation of the perpetual witness of the
work of the Holy Spirit in the giving of the fatness of the life of Jesus Christ in his full
and final victory over the enmity to the glory of God, long after the use of the altar of
burnt offering has ceased to be used.

A final reminder of Paul’s word to the Ephesians regarding Jesus being our peace
offering is worthwhile as this scripture is not easy to be understand and has been
wrested from its context in the bible as a whole. The all-time expert and pioneer on
Greek–English translation was William Tyndale (17th century) to whom we owe a
debt for the translation of both the Old and New Testaments. He was excecuted for his
translations before the Old Testament was completed but after he finished the New
testament, and it was given by James I of England to 50 ‘Divines’ (churchmen and
academics) to collate the ‘Authorised’ bible from Tyndales and others versions and
who made minor alterations to Tyndales text. One of those alerations was the passage
concerning the fulfillment of the peace offering in Jesis Christ.

The Authorised version reads, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and
hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make
in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Ephesians 2:14-
16), impying that the law was the enmity, whereas Tyndales original translation from
the Greek reads, “for he is our peace, whych hath made off both wone, and hath
broken doune the wall in the myddes, that was a stoppe bitwene us, and hath also put
awaye thorowe his flesh, the cause of hatred (thatt is to saye, the lawe of
commandments contayned in the law written) for to make of twayne wone newe man
in hymsilfe, so makynge peace: and to reconcile bothe unto god in one body throwe
his cross, ans slewe hattred therby;” Ephesians 2 v 15,16; William Tyndale, 1526.
Note that Tyndale found that it is the law of God that is the cause of the hatred (not
the hatred itself, because it is God’s law that ignites the enmity in us) that was put
‘awaye’ (for where there is no law there is no active enmity and therefore no sin;
Romans 7 v 7), and that ‘hattred’ is the enmity which Jesus did not ‘put awaye’ but
‘slewe’.

The peace offering was inaugurated by God to teach the congregation of the son that
God would raise up to be a restorer of the peace between God and man and its detail
teach all generations including us the core manner and essence of the life and sacrifice
that Jesus lived and completed.

7.4 Sin and trespass offering

While these two offerings are separately detailed they are inseparable in that one is
the companion to the other. For example, when a ‘common’ person sinned through
ignorance a female lamb or kid (ewe) without blemish was to be offered as a sin
offering as recorded, “And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance,

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while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning
things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; Or if his sin, which he hath sinned,
come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female
without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned” (Leviticus 4 v 27-28) whereas
under the law of the trespass offering the same words were used but a male without
blemish was to be offered, “And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which
are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not,
yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without blemish
out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the
priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred
and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him” (Leviticus 5 v 17-18).

The sin offering in this case was a young ewe (lamb or kid) that by nature has ‘seed’
within it but who had not been ‘mated’ by a ram meaning it was not violated by any
third-party male thus representing the pure and unadulterated character of Jesus Christ
who was the ‘seed of the woman’ (Genesis 3 v 15) - the singular seed of the ‘woman’
which woman was represented by the family of Abraham as it was written, “That in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22 v 17-18, Galatians 3 v 16). The ewe
lamb of this sin offering was slain with its pure seed within it and the full fat of that
lamb representing the strength of that seed was offered to God on the altar for a sweet
savour with its blood (life) being put on the horns of the altar and then poured out at
the base while the carcase was to be for food to the priests. Thus sin was atoned by
acknowledging these truths concerning the life of Jesus Christ (the promised ‘seed’)
and the promises of God fulfilled in him. The trespass offering was to be a male thus
representing the male seed that would be born of the ‘woman’ of the promises as Paul
later wrote, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4 v 4-5).

The common man or woman was thus taught that the promised Messiah, the Saviour
of sinners was not a supernatural being but would be a mortal man born of the seed of
Abraham who would be subject to the same temptations of the enmity and would live
a life of righteousness and die as every other man. Is was commonly taught and
believed in the unbelieving nations that the son of God was a divine being not subject
to mortality and that (as is widely taught to this day) came down to earth as God in the
form of a man, i.e. an immaculate conception. This pernicious lie (rooted in the
serpents lie (‘ye shall be as gods’ (angels), Genesis 3 v 5) is the foundation of the
church of Babylon shown as the great apostasy in the Revelation chapter 17 against
whom Jesus warned, “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them”
(Luke 21 v 8). Therefore the sin offering for the ‘common’ man showed every
member of the congregation that the purpose of God was not as was practiced in the
surrounding nations but was to be as Paul later wrote, “For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2 v 16-18,
Matthew 1).

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There was but one sin offering but four applications, regarding 1) a priest who sinned,
2) the congregation as a whole, 3) a ruler and 4) the ‘common’ man and all sacrifices
represented some characteristic of Jesus Christ as Paul later wrote concerning the
fulfilment of these laws, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9 v 12-14). For the
priest (1) and for the whole congregation (3) who sinned they were to offer a male of
the herd, a bullock (meaning the ‘one who is strong to build up a family’), for a ruler
(2) - a male kid of the goats. The Hebrew word for goat is from that which ‘stands
upright and erect’ being linked through etymology to ‘hair’ that ‘stands up’ and hence
the goat from its stiff hair thus displaying the righteously upright and erect character
of Jesus Christ whose life and death provided the ‘covering’ for Jacob in order for
him to receive the blessing of God from Isaac, as Rebekah directed Jacob with his
father, “And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the
smooth of his neck” (Genesis 27).

In the case of the bullock for the priest and the congregation, it’s blood was to be
taken into the Tabernacle and put on the horns of the altar of incense, and the rest was
to be poured at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, but in these cases the flesh
was not to be eaten, but burnt outside the camp in the place where the ashes of the
altar were put to signify the death of Jesus in which his life-blood was so precious to
God that its savour entered into His presence as an acceptable precious offering as he
was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem as Paul explained, “For the bodies of those
beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are
burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with
his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without
the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one
to come” (Hebrews 13 v 11-14). In the case of the ruler or common person then the
blood of the sin offering was not taken into the Tabernacle tent to the altar of incense
but to the altar of burnt offering and the flesh was to be eaten by the priest showing
the necessity for communion with that sacrifice by digestion and internal
dissemination of the teaching of the sacrifice and its significance.

The trespass offering

The scope of transgression under the law of God was widened with the law of trespass
to include 1) swearing (adjuration, an oath other than to God (Leviticus 5 v 1&4) to
which Jesus referred, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say
unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth;
for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither
shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil” (Matthew 5 v 33-37), 2) contact with uncleanness (Leviticus 5 v 2-3)
that Jesus fulfilled in his separation from the whims of the enmity and thus taught the
significance of this law, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For
from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,

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blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the
man” (Mark 7 v 20-23), or 3) in abuse of the hallowed articles and laws of the
Sanctuary against which Jesus demonstrated when he drove out the traders and money
changers out of the temple, teaching that his body was the fulfilment of the temple of
God, “And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise” (John 2 v 13-22). For the elders this was
presumptuous sin (of which there was no forgiveness - Number 15 v 30) but in their
error they caused the ‘ignorant’ to trespass against the law for whom the law of
trespass was made (Leviticus 5 v 15) as was also the case under the tenure of Eli in
the days of Samuel (1 Samuel 2 v 12-17), and finally 4) deceit and lying of which
Jesus taught that this evil is of the devil - the enmity at work in every man and woman
(John 8 v 44) the enmity that he slew in his mind and heart.

The Hebrew word for sin means ‘to deviate’, ‘to step aside’, ‘to trip and fall’ that
translates simply into ‘to commit an error’, whereas trespass means to be ‘guilty’. It is
possible to commit a crime (to sin) and freely admit it but to have no guilt and this is
called a ‘presumptuous’ sin of which there can be no forgiveness from God - but that
man or woman would remain in their sin and pay the penalty of eternal death, “But
the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a
stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among
his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his
commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him”
(Numbers 15 v 30-31). Guilt is a sentence such as a judge would pronounce after
considering all the evidence of an accused and translates into the conscience of a man
who after reading and learning the law judges him (her) self against that knowledge
and by a sensitised conscience admits guilt with its attendant shame. Thus there was
opportunity for any member of the congregation both to confess sin and expiate guilt,
the same of which is available to this day by faith and belief in Jesus Christ with the
knowledge that all sin are known to God.

The object of the laws of sin and trespass offerings was to gain forgiveness from God
in order to continue to hold on to the hope of salvation by resurrection from the dead
at the time appointed by God. This forgiveness was called ‘atonement’ (Leviticus 5 v
6) that means to ‘cover over’, to expiate, to pardon and reconcile, and God has
purposed that atonement for the sins of mankind is through one mortal man who
killed the enmity in his ‘head’ by keeping all the commands of God and who gave
himself as a voluntary sacrifice so that through his death and shed blood as he was
‘bruised in the heal’ (Genesis 3 v 15) he provided atonement of sin for others. That
man was Jesus Christ, born of the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1 v 18-25) a man subject to
temptation as any other man (Hebrews 3 v 18 & 4 v 15) but who loved and respected
God faultlessly.

7.5 Other offerings

Sparrows
Beside the burnt offering, meat (bread) offering, sin and trespass offering there were
also sacrificial offerings for new moons, feast days (to be considered later), vows, and
cleansing. In addition to ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) and doves (pigeons) - all of
which displayed a characteristic of Jesus Christ, there were other creatures and items
that were to be burnt on the altar, each giving more detail of Jesus’ character. For the
cleansing of lepers (to be considered later) ‘two birds’ were to be offered (Leviticus

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14 v 4) where these ‘birds’ in the Hebrew were sparrows. Jesus spoke of the
abundance of these birds as being so common that their monetary value was very low,
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before
God?” (Luke 12 v 6) yet is was of these flocks of insignificant chattering creatures
that God showed that one would come who He would choose as being the saviour of
the race of mankind by providing a cleansing from all effects of the enmity -
uncleanness (leprosy) of mind and heart. Leprosy is representative of repetitive sin
that results from the effects of the enmity in all people who are also as insignificant as
sparrows in the eyes of God but none of whom are unknown to Him.

Mankind is like a garrulous flock of gregarious sparrows who habitually inhabit

densely populated areas and it was one of this flocking species that separated himself
from the chattering masses to the loftiest point of the house of God as the Psalmist
wrote of all those who obey God after the perfect example of Jesus Christ, “I watch,
and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. Mine enemies reproach me all the
day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me” (Psalms 102 v 7-8) and
that by instinct he found a resting place in the cavities of the temple of God. “My soul
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest
for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my
King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house” (Psalms 84). In this small
creature God showed that there was the hope of salvation through cleansing of natural
uncleanness of mind (represented by leprosy) even for the poorest of people who all
could afford to buy or trap two sparrows. Details of the significance of this cleansing
will be considered under the chapter on leprosy.

Hair
Under the law of the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6) the hair of the Nazarite was to be
shaved from the head and burnt on the altar together with the appropriate animal
sacrifice of which vow further consideration will be given later. The uncut hair was
the visible witness that the wearer was bound under the vow of the Nazarite for the
period they had allotted, and was the symbol of the vow - as it was usual practice for
an Israelite male to periodically cut or trim their hair. The Nazarite would therefore
stand out with long hair. The significance of this offering was shown in the life a
Samson who by divine instruction was a Nazarite from birth (Judges 13 v 5) after his
parents bore him by divine promise and he was given extraordinary strength to fulfil
the work God raised him up for - to break the strength of the Philistines (representing
the enmity) under whom Israel were subservient. After dalliances with Philistine
women, Samson exposed the source of his strength to his woman of the enmity, “That
he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine
head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven,
then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other
man” (Judges 16 v 17). Thus he was shorn of his hair by the enemy and consequently
broke his vow as a result of which God removed his extraordinary strength.

Hair is a natural protein of the body produced from the follicle rooted within the skin
of the body and even though ‘dead’ is a physical, tangible and visible representation
of the parent bodies well-being, health and life. Although having no life in itself (no
nerves or blood) it is extraordinarily strong for its size (17 - 180µm, 17 – 180
millionth of metre, 0.0007 – 0.007 inch) and is as strong (380 MPa – 27.7 tons per

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square inch) as many metals (copper for example) but even more elastic being able to
be stretched without fracture up to 50% of its length.

Samson was a prefigurement of God’s greater son Jesus Christ who was raised up by
divine action to deliver mankind from the domination of the enmity, the devil, Satan,
the ‘world’ (represented in the Philistines). The Nazarite vow was to be an expression
of faith in that one who was promised (Jesus Christ) who would be the ‘strongest’
man ever in warfare against the oppression of the enmity, in that he kept perfectly the
vow that was upon him (fulfilment of the will of God – the destruction of the enmity)
and as in Samson’s bodily strength, the hair represented the physical and tangible
witness of the spiritual health and well-being of his body. The strength of Jesus was
his love for God, a love that covered his head and shoulders like countless strands of
hair, each strand an individual manifestation of his love that collectively united as his
faith, finally proven upon the cross. As Samson killed many elders of the Philistines
in his death, Jesus slew the enmity within himself once and for all, and the hair
offered on the altar at the conclusion of the Nazarite vow was the representation of
this victory over the enemy of God (the enmity) by which victory alone can there be
hope of salvation for any man or woman.

7.6 The place of the offerings

While the congregation was in the wilderness they had no alternative but to bring their
offerings to the tabernacle in the centre of the camp, but when they were to dwell in
the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the land of Canaan) they would be
dwelling at significant distances from the place that God chose the Tabernacle to be
pitched, creating the temptation to offer sacrifices locally as was the tradition of the
indigenous people who they were to displace (the Canaanites). Therefore all the
offerings (and obligatory convocations - gatherings) were to be brought to the place
where the tabernacle was pitched at Shiloh (and the temple when it was built at
Jerusalem) and never offered anywhere but upon the sanctified altar of burnt offering
as it was written, “But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of
all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and
thither thou shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your
sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your
freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks” (Deuteronomy
12 v 5-6).

However there was a provision for those who lived a long way off from the tabernacle
or temple in that they could exchange their offering for money at home and re-
exchange it for a suitable offering when at the site chosen by God (Deuteronomy 14 v
24-26). The abuse of this exchange for animals into money and back into animals was
the cause of Jesus action when he twice overthrew the moneychanger’s tables in the
temple that had profited from this law to extorting gain from sincere worshippers. The
first time was when he was newly baptised (John 2 v 13-22) and again shortly before
he was crucified (Matthew 21 v 12-14) thus teaching that his sinless mortal body was
the fulfilment of the laws of the tabernacle (temple), and that what he did to the
traders was what he had done for his whole of his life in his heart and mind in casting
out the tempting ‘merchandising’ power of the enmity that always seeks to ‘profit’ the
flesh even though pretending to keep the commands of God. Thus Jesus preserved his
heart as the place where the word and Spirit of God (and therefore God) resided as

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was foretold by Isaiah, “where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the
place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have
been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66 v 1-2), and “For thus saith the
high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high
and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57 v 15).

Of the temple Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou
rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2 v 19-21) and
it is therefore to his body that all who seek to worship God must come by irrevocable
vow of baptism into the death of that body (Romans 6 v 1-16) and continuance therein
by faith by a renewing remembrance of him each first day as Jesus commanded, “And
he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God
shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke
22 v 15-20, John 6 v 48-58, 1 Corinthians 11 v 23-29). By this way of faithful affinity
with the temple of God (Jesus) the sincere believer grows closer in heart and mind to
Jesus until they become a part of that ‘temple’ (Christ) in which to worship God (1
Corinthians 6 v 19-20). There was no other acceptable place for the congregation to
worship God under the law, and there is no other way in which to worship God but
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Jesus said, “no man cometh to
the Father, but by me” (John 14 v 6).

7.7 Firstborn offerings

God commanded that all firstborn were to be dedicated to Him to remind the
congregation generation by generation of His purpose of salvation for all mankind as
it is written, “For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and
beast: on the day that I smote every firlstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them
for myself. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel”
(Numbers 8 v 16-18). No man, woman or child was to be offered in sacrifice (as was
a widespread abomination in the neighbouring nations, Jeremiah 19 v 5 & 32 v 35)
but all firstborn were dedicated to God by the presence of the Levites who were
chosen to be sanctified unto Him and dedicated to the service of God in place of all
firstborn, and to mark that dedication each firstborn was levied with a payment of five
shekels. It is not recorded whether these were silver or gold, but the importance of the
levy was it’s weight (irrespective of it’s material) - the mass that caused the balance
of the scale to be even when weighed against the standard measure. This weight
(levy) represented the value (spiritual weightiness) that the promised firstborn – the
firstborn man of righteousness – would attain to by righteousness, filling his heart and
mind with the full measure of the word of God such that when compared to that word
(compressed in the law) there would be no difference, but whose character would be
in perfect balance with God’s character as manifest in His name. The life-service of
the Levites therefore represented all the ‘firstborn’ sanctified unto God under the
direction and example of the chief Levite (the high priest) where the priests acted
collectively as the prefigurement of Jesus Christ and his friends - the saints elect, as

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Paul wrote, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15 v 23).

In a faithful congregation each firstborn male would inwardly recognise that the
Levites were the figures of his redemption by a promised redeemer and that without
that faith he would be in the eyes of God (in terms of salvation from the grave) as the
slain firstborn of Egypt who were representatives of the whole ungodly race of
mankind and who died as a result of the anger of God (Exodus 12). That same faith to
this day assures the holder of faith that of all the generations of the race of mankind
God would provide a way of escape from the ‘Egypt’ of rulership of the enmity into
the ‘promised’ land of eternal life on earth through resurrection by a firstborn who
would be the antithesis of the enmity, even a gentle lamb-like man who became
‘separated’ from his fellows purely by righteous obedience to God (Isaiah 53).

To underscore that teaching each firstborn of the cattle, sheep or goat was to be given
to God in sacrifice to show that as the then promised firstborn righteous man would
give himself to God in entirety (as if he was offered in literal sacrifice) his sacrifice
was first and foremost of the heart and mind and then, when that was perfectly
completed, of the body on the cross. In this way God showed that He would raise up a
man who would be His firstborn, not after the manner of Adam (who was the first
natural firstborn, Luke 3 v 38), but of Adam’s mortal seed who would be the firstborn
of a righteous character, a character after the character of God – full of mercy, grace,
long suffering, faith and truth, a manifestation of God in a mortal body (1 Timothy 3 v
16).

Thus it was commanded to teach the congregation of this hope, “But the firstling of a
cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they
are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an
offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD” (Numbers 18:17). In this
offering, the priests were to partake because the remaining carcase was to be theirs.
An unclean animal however was not exempt in order to teach the congregation yet
more concerning their natural estate in the eyes of God. All men are represented by
animals designated unclean by God in that sin is the contaminant that renders all men
unclean in God’s eyes, but God has provided a way to cleansing from uncleanness of
character to spiritual cleanliness by the sacrifice of a ‘clean’ lamb, “And every
firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then
thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou
redeem” (Exodus 13 v 13).

The firstborn ass was chosen to represent all unclean animals to teach man what his
natural estate was in the eyes of God. The Hebrew word for ‘ass’ is derived from it’s
turbulent character often given to fits of rage or lust but which can be tamed with a
strict overseer to become a beast of burden, from which characteristic of ‘strength’ is
the origin of the word ‘ass’ used in the Greek New Testament, i.e. that which is
‘strong’. The teaching of God through this law was illustrated and confirmed by Jesus
at the end of his life as he was entering Jerusalem before his crucifixion, when he told
his disciples to “Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an
ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. …. And the
disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, ….. And brought the ass, and the
colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon” (Matthew 21 v 2-8) and

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Mark records that it was a foal “whereon never man sat” (Mark 11 v 2) telling us that
it had not been ‘broken in’ by man for the service of man (as all foals have to even to
this date) but it willingly gave himself to a ‘new’ master who had had already
‘broken’ the spirit of the enmity and tamed it’s temptations within him bringing it into
complete subjection to the law of God.

Thus the miracle confirmed the teaching of the law that a promised son would come
who would be of the turbulent race of mankind but who from birth would have the
docility and meekness of a lamb and the strength of a beast of burden under the
direction of the strictest but fairest of all overseers even God his Father, and would
become the redeemer of all unclean men and women as was shown by the rejoicing of
the common people as Jesus entered Jerusalem on the colt of the ass, “And a very
great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the
trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that
followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21 v 8-9, Zechariah 9 v 9, Psalm
118 v 25-26).

Should there be any doubt of the turbulent fits of rage and lust caused by the enmity
that man is capable of sinking into such that the naturally ‘wild’ ass represents, the
record of Balaam’s lust for reward serves as an example. He was promised dazzling
rewards to bring harm on the congregation of Israel that was allegedly within his
powers to do so and he eagerly went after the rewards despite being repeatedly
warned by the angel of God that his way was wrong. Finally the ass on which he rode
turned out of the way which he repeatedly beat but that had displayed more sense that
his own headlong rush into transient vanity. The angel caused the ass to speak and
show that man is capable of sinking into the pit of lust to a far greater extent than a
natural ass enters into a rage of temper (Numbers 22).

7.8 Offerings after child bearing

After the birth of a child a woman was classed by God as unclean due to the curse
upon womankind in the beginning (Genesis 3 v 16) and as a reminder of that curse
was required to offer a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtle dove for a sin
offering, or if she was poor two turtle doves respectively for each offering after a
predetermined period of purifying (Leviticus 12). As with Adam and Eve they were
both in the curse of God together, so likewise as a faithful husband and new father,
although he was not classed as unclean he would share the ‘guilt’ of his wife as he
was the cause of the birth, in other words the new mother was not a social pariah, but
was reaffirming the justice of the curse of God upon both of them. Mary the mother of
Jesus faithfully fulfilled this sentence of the law fully supported by Joseph her
espoused husband who still took her to be his wife even though he did not bring about
the conception of Jesus (Luke 2 v 21-24).

Thus was taught that all mankind - boys and girls - are unclean by birth, none are born
clean in flesh but that while not having sin in them at that stage, all have the seed of
the enmity (the propensity to sin) within them inherited from their mother and father
(who have fruits of the propagation of the enmity within them in that all men and
women sin at some stage) throughout each generation. Eve was told, “Unto the
woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou

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shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee” (Genesis 3 v 16) to which Paul explained, “And Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be
saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety”
(1 Timothy 2 v 14-15). Thus it is taught that Jesus was born of an unclean mortal
woman and that he had the enmity within him and as with every other baby had no
sin, but whereas all other children grow and succumb to the temptations of the enmity
at a very early age, Jesus did not at any time. Thus a naturally unclean mortal babe
was born without sin as every other child of an unclean mortal woman but uniquely
maintained cleanliness by obedience to God’s word thus not sinning and so became
the firstborn of a new creation of God - born son of man - but grew into being the Son
of God

8 Singular vows and the Nazarite vow

There was no compulsion under the law to vow, they were to be entirely voluntary but
for those who had the need to vow there were commandments for their conduct. The
scope of vows is not declared making it clear that an individual could vow to dedicate
to God anything that was of their possession, i.e. their time or entire life, an animal
(clean or unclean), a house or building and land, or field (Leviticus 27, Numbers 30).

The opportunity to vow to God was provided to teach individual members of the
congregation about the saviour that God was to raise up of their lineage who would
vow to dedicate his whole mind, heart and life to God and would pay that vow with
his life in order for mankind (them) to have the hope of resurrection from the grave
and the blessing of eternal life. The strict commands that each individual were to
observe in their own vow, however small that vow may have been, was to teach them
of the details of the greater fulfillment of their vow to be seen in their future
redeemer.

A vow is a solemn promise of dedication to God and is a small price of repayment to

Him who has given everything to man, and any vow would have this underlying
acknowledgment for it to be accepted by God. Solomon later confirmed this when he
wrote in the Ecclesiastes that extreme care was to be taken before making a vow that
payment was within the capability of the one who vowed for he advised, “Better is it
that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5
v 1-7).

The vow was more than a promise - it was a bond, as it is written, “If a man vow a
vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break
his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” (Numbers 30)
where a bond is to ‘confine and restrain captive’ as with ‘cords or chains’ as happened
to Joseph in Egypt, “And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a
place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison”
(Genesis 39:20) and as Samson was bound by the Philistines (Judges 15 v 10-14). It is
also a word used in the binding of men in an army by rank and discipline to wage war,
of which the apostle Paul later spoke concerning Christians who have also taken the
vow of baptism, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please

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him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2 v 3-4), where soldiers take the
vow of alleigence to their master and is a serious offence to break that oath.

The same sense of the word is used in the ‘binding’ of a yoke to man or ox of which
Jesus taught, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”
(Matthew 11 v 28-30) teaching of the vow taken in baptism to ‘follow’ Christ as he
taught, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me” (Mark 8 v 34). The same sense of word was used by Jesus in
explaining his victory over the enmity within himself, “Or else how can one enter into
a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and
then he will spoil his house” (Matthew 12 v 28-29). A vow was not a vague and
convenient promise made in times of stress, contrition or elation but a binding oath
with penalties for failure to complete.

This made the vow extremely solemn in that any triviality or frivolous dedication was
unacceptable because the vow is directly linked by God to the central core of the
covenant of God - the marvellous and wondrous work of (firstly) creation and
(secondly but more importantly), the new creation of a righteous people by one man
born mortal who God would bless with everlasting life after resurrection. Of the vow
it is written, “When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the
LORD by thy estimation” (Leviticus 27 v 2). The word ‘singular’ is elsewhere used as
‘marvellous’ and ‘wondrous’ and most often used in connection with that greater
work of God, for example, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head
stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalms
118 v 22-23) and again speaking propheticly of Jesus Christ to whom the Psalm 119
is exculsively dedicated, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law” (Psalms 119 v 18) where ‘marvellous’ and ‘wondrous’ are the same
Hebrew word for ‘singular’. The pattern of usage of these interchangeable words is
common throughout the scripture showing that the ‘singular vow’ could only be
acceptable if made (and paid) with the ‘marvellous’ work of God in mind. That
‘marvellous’ and ‘wondrous’ work was of raising up a mortal man who would vow to
fulfil God’s will expressed in His word. In payment of that vow he would kill the
enmity within him as he perfectly manifested the name and character of God, would
die as a willing sacrifice that was the ultimate price of his vow and would be
resurrected and given eternal life to become the saviour and redeemer of others who
did not live perfect lives but whose sin’s would be forgiven by God through his
sacrifice and who similarly will inherit eternal life on earth.

Those who made their vow were levied a value in shekels of silver commanded by
God according to their gender and age, or if they were too poor by the estimation of
their ability to pay by high priest (Leviticus 27) to teach them that the one who would
come in whom they had faith would pay the full price - as valued by God - of the
fulfilment of every word of God - represented by silver (Psalm 12 v 6) and the
redemption money of which parts of the Tabernacle were built, (see 6.3, Origin of the
materials - a freewill offering).

The full weight of the value of the representative silver was the ‘price’ that Jesus
Christ paid for his loyal obedience and fulfilment of the binding oath of his vow, but

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it was prophesied that one would come who would ‘prepare the way of the Lord’,
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the
Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the
covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts”
(Malachi 3 v 1). That messenger was John the Baptist of whom Jesus spoke, “For this
is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of
women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11 v 10-11). Of this
man his father Zechariah was inspired to speak, “And thou, child, shalt be called the
prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath
visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1 v 76-79).

It was John who first introduced the act of baptism by divine instruction (Luke 3 v 2-
3) and who candidly admitted, “I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier
than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Luke 3 v16). Baptism is inextricably linked
with the vow, a binding oath of obedience to God for the remainder of one’s life, such
that baptism is the uniting of all vows as the singular vow of Jesus Christ who came to
John to be baptised to set the course of the ‘new’ testament of salvation through faith
in the Messiah appointed by God, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto
John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized
of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so
now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3 v 13-15).

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5 v 17) and in that fulfilling there became no
further use for the law as a civil code as Paul explained in the letter to the Romans.
The congregation had vowed a collective vow immediately before that law was given
in Sinai as they were told it was to be given, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will
do” (Exodus 19 v 8). This vow was in response to the promise of the covenant of God
the Abraham believed in but that was soon to be formalised in the law, “Ye have seen
what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you
unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is
mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19 v
4-6). That vow was the culmination of the exodus from Egypt.

The climax of the exodus from Egypt was the crossing of the Red Sea in which the
power of Egypt (representing the enmity) was broken and Israel emerged as a
newborn fledgling nation on a journey to the land of the promises. Paul tells us that
the divinely ordained passage through the waters of the Red Sea was the first teaching
from God of the baptismal vow that John would later introduce as ‘preparing the way
for the Lord’ (1 Corinthians v 1-12). The passage through the Red Sea (the waters of
death to the enmity) represents baptism into the death of Christ in which death he
killed the enmity. The law that immediately followed the rising of Israel from those
waters that they vowed to keep was the written manifestation of the will of God as to

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how He wants man to live, and coupled with that law are the promises of His
covenant, even everlasting life after resurrection from the grave when man will be as
the angels (Matthew 22 v 30). The vow of Israel to keep that law was the
confirmation of the bond between God and His people (represented by Israel but since
Christ, incorporating people from all nations – Isaiah 56 v 1-8). Only Jesus fulfilled
that vow to do the will of God by keeping and paying the price of the vow that he
made as written in the Psalms, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart”
(Psalms 40 v 7-8) and just before his crucifixion he ‘sweat as it were great drops of
blood’ in agony of the final test of his faith and payment of his vow, “Father, if thou
be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”
(Luke 22 v 39-46).

The keeping and payment of that vow was the ‘way’ that John came to prepare for by
introducing the vow of baptism by the instruction of God as the vow that mirrored the
lifetime vow that Jesus bound himself to God with and paid the price with his life, and
to confirm the truth of this act of faith Jesus himself was baptised of John to mark the
beginning of that ‘way’ as a public and physical witness of the private vow of his
heart and mind. Therefore baptism into Christ is a declaration of conformity to Jesus’
vow that superseded the congregation’s broken vow - “All that the LORD hath spoken
we will do”, and a taking upon oneself the payment of that vow as Jesus taught,
“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow me” (Mark 8 v 34). Jesus said of that ‘way’ whose beginning is symbolised in
baptism, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me” (John 14 v 6).

The vow was the way God provided for any member of the congregation to express
their faith in the saviour God had promised and to associate with the vow that he the
saviour perfectly performed (as yet then future – Deuteronomy 18 v 15-19) in order to
give God pleasure and receive the blessing of God in this life and everlasting life in
the fullness of time (Deuteronomy 28 v 1-14). John Baptist brought the divine
principle of the vow (under the law) forward to the post-law era where baptism into
the death of that saviour is the only way unto salvation, a death in which Jesus his
vows ‘to do all that the Lord hath said’ as contained ‘in the law and the prophets’
which death that marked the end of the ‘letter’ of the law (the old testament –
Hebrews 9) and the beginning of the vow of faith in the ‘new’ testament (Romans 6).

Whilst the vow of baptism is to be entirely a freewill voluntary vow after the pattern
of vows under the law, also (as prefigured in the law) there are strict commandments
and orderliness for those who do volunteer to be baptised, which without the keeping
of that orderliness and commands the vow cannot be paid (as in the law). Without an
intelligent confession of faith at baptism and a full immersion in water (after the
pattern of Israel in the Red Sea) there can be no hope of salvation and there follows
after baptism a lifelong determination to pay the price of that vow by conformance to
the life and character of Jesus Christ and obedience to his commands as he said, “If ye
love me, keep my commandments” (John 14 v 5-27).

As there were precise commands to order the payment of a vow under the law so after
that pre-figurement there are commands for the vow of baptism and it’s outworking.
The first commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and

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with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment”.
The second law is. ”Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22 v 37-40 &
Matthew 5 v 1-12) and the third is first to be baptised, “He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16 v 16),
the fourth is to renew that singular vow each first day, “And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will
not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took
bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body
which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22 v 17-19, 1
Corinthians 10 v 16, 1 Corinthians 11 v 23-28), the fifth was to preach the gospel,
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16 v 15),
the sixth to be meek (Matthew 5 v 5), the eighth to have faith (Mark 11 v 22, Hebrews
11 v 1), the ninth to be true (transparent honesty – 1 John 1 v 5-10) and the tenth to be
temperate (excess in nothing – Matthew 23 v 23), all of which commands are
encompassed in the ‘fruits of the spirit’, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there
is no law” (Galatians 5 v 22-23), the manifestation of the name of God perfected in
Jesus (Exodus 34 v 6-7, 1 Timothy 3 v 16).

The Nazerite vow

Of all the vows permitted under the law there was one freewill vow that was specific.
This vow was called the Nazarite vow “to separate themselves unto the
LORD”(Numbers 6) and was provided by God as a teacher of the details of the work
of Jesus Christ. There was no time limit on this vow of sanctification to God, but the
one that vowed became a public witness to their dedication to God in the performance
of their vow. It was usual practice in the men in the congregation to poll or trim long
hair but under this vow their hair was not to be cut (Numbers 6 v 5) as a witness of
their vow. The significance of the long hair of the Nazarite vow was considered in
chapter 7.5 (Other offerings, Hair pp126-127) and shown to represent the well-being
and health of the body as a sign of the spiritual well-being and health of faith, love
and obedience to God as was demonstrated by Samson’s extraordinary physical
strength. Samson’s physical strength over the Philistines prefigured the spiritual
strength of Jesus over the enmity - the enemy of God that was never able to bring him
into subjection but where Samson finally betrayed his vow to the Philistine enemy;
Jesus fulfilled his vow by final killing of the enmity as he died on the cross.

The name ‘Nazarite’ is based on the Hebrew word to ‘separate’ and to ‘sequestrate’
(as in payment of a debt) and was chosen by God to designate one who should come
who would separate himself perfectly unto the service of God by obedience and to
keep himself from any indulgence of temptation, one who would consecrate his life
wholly to God in a sequestration seen in no other man in order to pay the debt of sin
of others by a sinless life and voluntary premature death because of that sinless life
“For he (Pilate) knew that for envy they (the elders) had delivered him” (Matthew 27
v 18).

The consecrated Nazarite was not permitted to eat or drink anything from the vine
“from the kernels to the husk” (Numbers 6 v 3-4) whether wine, grape juice or raisin.
Jesus taught that he was the ‘true’ vine, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the
husbandman” (John 15 v 1-6) thus teaching that there was another vine that was not
‘true’. Adam was created ‘very good’ with no blemish as a perfect vine to honour God

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and glorify His name in all creation by bringing forth ‘fruits’ of obedience and
righteous rulership from a pure heart and mind over all the earth (Genesis 1 v 28).
However Adam and all his descendents chose to taste the ‘fruits’ of disobedience and
thus became as a degenerate vine - a figure later used to describe the children of
Israel, “My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and
gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a
tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it
should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes” (Isaiah 5 v 1-2).

The ‘wild’ grapes are the ‘fruits’ of the enmity - the work of the flesh, “Now the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”
(Galatians 5 v 19-21). Jesus never partook of the degenerate ‘vine’ of human
indulgence and although born of the same root and stock of that uncultivated vine, he
allowed God as a good husbandman to train him, to prune away unproductive
thoughts, to cut off all excess growth of pride and ‘wring’ the dead fibres from the
bark of his stock such that his whole life was dedicated solely to producing fruit full
of the goodness of God, ‘mercy, grace, long suffering, full of goodness and truth” as
embodied in the name of God (Exodus 34 v 6-7). Jesus was the embodiment of the
Nazarite vow, having no association with the ‘vine’ of human nature, but dedicated
entirely to the service of God and thus became the new ‘true’ vine to which many can
become graft in by vow of baptism. The emblem of that perfect ‘vine’ was the wine
that Jesus gave to his disciples just before his death to symbolise his whole life-blood
that he had consecrated to God and would finally consecrate in the blood that he shed
on the cross as the ultimate and final fulfilment of his vow, blood that was
emblemised in the wine of the communions, “This cup is the new testament in my
blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22 v 20). Before the victory of Jesus over the
enmity there was no ‘new testament’ in the new vine, therefore for the Nazarite,
physical separation from the ‘old’ vine was necessary but with faith in the ‘new’ that
was to come.

The Nazarite was committed to separation from any dead body, “All the days that he
separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body” (Numbers 6 v 6-9).
God created man to live in obedience to His law but because of disobedience God
cursed mankind and all creation with death as a witness to mans’ disobedience and the
justice of Gods law (Adam was warned Genesis 2 v 17). A dead corpse is a repugnant
witness of that fact and is a reminder that sin through disobedience is equally
repugnant to God such that a disobedient living man in sin is as a dead body in His
sight – abominable and repugnant. This repugnant state of sinfulness is referred to as
the ‘old’ man in the New Testament, “That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4 v 22-24). Thus mortal
sinful man is as a dead man in Gods eyes, it is only a short time before he is dead
compared to the eternity of God as it is written, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1 Peter 1 v 24-25).

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Jesus was born of this mortal race and therefore under the sentence of death, but Jesus
committed no sin and so had no guilt but lived as God intended Adam to live when
He created him. Jesus was therefore not a living ‘dead’ man (in the sense previously
described), but a ‘lively’ living mortal man thus fulfilling the teaching of the Nazarite
law that they must not touch a dead body or the vow was void (Numbers 6 v 9-12)
and had to be paid again. Of this ‘new’ lively sinless body Jesus commanded the
disciple to eat represented by bread, “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake
it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in
remembrance of me” (Luke 22 v 19) where that bread was unleavened bread and
leaven represents the wickedness of pride as a product of the enmity, for in Jesus it
was entirely inactive due to his obedience to Gods word. Thus the Nazarite was to
avoid contact with any dead body (including his own close relatives) not as an aloof
holy person but in faith in the one who should come who would have no sin even
though of their human nature.

By faith in the product of the new vine (wine) and the bread of the new ‘lively’ body
of Jesus Christ and the appreciation of the unbounded love Jesus had for God to
promote the glory of His name represented in the hair, the Nazarite vow could be
acceptable to God. Jesus fulfilled the need for this particular vow and thus became the
Nazarite. It is written of his childhood and growth to maturity before he was baptised
(as a witness to his vows at the age of thirty), “And he came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be
called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2 v 23) and Jesus was repeatedly referred to as ‘Jesus of
Nazareth’ none more powerfully than at his death where it was universally testified
over his dying mortal body by the Roman governor Pilate, “JESUS OF NAZARETH
THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19 v 19) thus fulfilling the teachings of the
Nazarite vow.

According to generations of researchers there is no etymological connection between

names ‘Nazareth’ and ‘Nazarite’, but there is significant connection between the
Nazareth (and Nazarene) and the prophets as Matthew recorded. The Hebrew word
for ‘Nazareth’ is ‘‫ ’צרנ‬meaning to ‘keep, guard and preserve, and a plant or young
tree that shoots from the base of a felled tree’ (as in a coppiced tree) and is used by
Isaiah (where ‘‫ ’נצר‬is translated as Branch) to foretell the birth and growth of the
promised redeemer, the saviour of man, the Messiah, “And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11 v 1)
where ‘Branch’ is the same word as the Hebrew version for the Greek ‘Nazareth’. In
the following verses (verses 2-5) Isaiah foretells the character and person of Jesus
Christ that was to be seen as he grew to maturity in Nazareth and that were the
substance of the ultimate fulfilment of the Nazarite vow that prefigured him -
characteristics that were perfected in his ministration and that will be seen in all the
earth over which he will rule when the kingdom of God is established on earth as
described in verses 6-9.

His growth to maturity in Nazareth was a testament to the prophetic name (‫נצר‬
Branch) Nazareth where he lived, a name that meant ‘to keep, guard and preserve,
and a plant or young tree that shoots from the base of a felled tree’. Job mused on his
own hopeless state of sick mortality without (as then) a redeemer and in his musing
looked forward to one who would come to redeem him from death and be that
‘branch’ of a new life by resurrection, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down,

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that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the
root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through
the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and
wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” (Job 14 v 7-10). Adam
was the first to be ‘cut down’ and all his progeny have followed him since due to
perpetuating sin, but Jesus was that ‘new’ shoot from the cut-down mortal race that
sprouted up as a ’tender plant’ and a ‘root out of a dry ground’ to ‘keep, guard and
preserve’ the holiness and sanctity of obedience to God that Adam lost and so to
become the saviour of mankind from an eternal grave, as it was written of him, “Who
hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall
grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no
form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him” (Isaiah 53).

On completion of the chosen time of the vow, the Nazarite was offer a first year male
lamb for a burnt offering, a first year ewe lamb for a sin offering and a ram for a
peace offering - all to be without blemish which were to be offered after their hair was
shaved off their head that was to be burnt on the altar with the peace offering
(Number 6 v 13-21). All these offerings represented different aspects of the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ as discussed in previous chapters (7.2, 7.3 and 7.4), but the addition of
the combustible hair with the peace offering unequivocally linked the animal
sacrifices with that of the Nazarite, teaching all who witnessed the performance of this
vow that the one who should come as represented in the animals was not to be a
symbolic sacrifice but a living participant in the offering.

The vow of baptism has superseded all other vows, as it is the embodiment of the
whole life and death of Jesus Christ who was the embodiment of all vows under the
law. As under the law, payment of that vow is required of all who intelligently make it
and payment is by conformance to the character of Jesus who was after the character
of God, and as the vow is broken by sin each week it must be renewed by faithful
remembrance of Jesus’ victory over the enmity and resurrection from the dead in the
eating and drinking of the bread and wine he instituted, a remembrance that he
referred to, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6 v 51-56). It must be
remembered also that many considered this a ‘hard saying’ and turned back from
following him (v 60-66).

9) Ministration law of the High Priest (Ecclesiastical law),

The priest’s duties were to minister in all matters of worship to God on behalf of the
congregation within the confines of the Tabernacle court and inner tent and so could
not be seen by the congregation due to the 90” (7’ 6”, 2.3m) high perimeter curtain
(see chapter 6.17, Court and curtains) thus requiring the congregation to trust that
their ministrations were being done as God commanded, and that the priests, in turn,
had a responsibility to minister even though they could not be seen. This was in order

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to teach that in the outworking of the fullness of the purpose of God there would come
a time when the teachings of the Tabernacle would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ and
thereafter worship would be by faith and not by ceremony - a time that Paul ushered
in with his Epistles, particularly Romans and Hebrews.

The ministrations of the High Priest however could be heard because of the golden
bells attached of the hem of his robe (Exodus 28 v 35) of which the Psalmist wrote,
“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the
light of thy countenance” (Psalms 89 v 13-16). The work of the High Priest was such
that the congregation could walk in the ‘light of the countenance of God’, which
‘light’ was the manifestation of the name of God in a mortal man of which the
Psalmist was rejoicing in that Psalm, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy
throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. In thy name shall they rejoice all the
day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted” (Psalms 89 v 13-16) - a prophecy
that was fulfilled in life of Jesus Christ of which he prayed to God before his death, “I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine
they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word” (John 17).

The manifestation of the meaning of the name of God was embedded in the daily
ministrations of the High Priest by faith. His work was a daily ritual but faith was
behind those rituals.

9.1) Morning & evening duties

Lighting the lamps morning and evening

His work was to 1) replenish the olive oil in the lamp-stand in order to keep the light
burning continually and 2) to burn incense on the altar of incense such that the smoke
arose and permeated the veil, “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every
morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron
lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before
the LORD throughout your generations” (Exodus 30 v 7-8). The faith behind the
work was that one should come who would be the ‘light’ of the application of the
meaning of the name of God (mercy, grace, long suffering, abundant in goodness and
truth Exodus - 34 v 5-7) set among the darkness of the pervading mind of the enmity
(A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that
deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6 v 17-19).
In his ministrations Jesus told of the difference between ritualistic law abiding and the
faith which God required, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone” (Matthew 23 v 23).

Speaking of his experience of Jesus, John referred to him as the ‘light’ using the
analogy of God’s physical creation on the 1st day as the pattern of the ‘new’ creation
of righteous people, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not ….. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not” (John 1). The ritualistic work of the High Priest was to ensure
that darkness (literal light as a figure of spiritual) never encroached into the

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Tabernacle of God to prefigure the future living ‘temple’ of God that was the heart
and mind of Jesus Christ (John 2 v 19) - a place where there was no darkness of
rebellion, a place where God dwelt - who John tells us is light, “God is light, and in
him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1 v 5). This was to be the faith in the mind of the
High Priest as he twice daily dressed the lamps and doubly of faith in the
congregation who had to also have trust that he was doing the work required of him,
in the same way that faith is now in Jesus Christ as a faithful High Priest at God’s
right hand even to this day, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4 v 14-15).

Jesus is the light that leads to God (who is the source of light) and the illumination of
that light (Jesus) is the comprehension and understanding of God (the light) and is
manifest in knowing His name, as Jeremiah wrote, “But let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I
delight, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 9 v 24).

Offering incense morning and evening

David wrote, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of
my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psalms 141 v 2). To pray is to make supplication
or to make entreaty to a benefactor from a dependant, from one in need of mercy to
one who can give mercy. Because of persistent sin God has decreed that no man or
woman can pray directly to God but only through mediation. Before Moses that
mediation was by animal sacrifice in faith of the one who was represented by the
animal (Jesus Christ). From Moses to Christ prayer was by the ministrations of the
High Priest in the tabernacle each evening and morning as the continual burnt
sacrifice was offered (see chapter 7.1, Continuous burnt offering, pages 109-110).
After Christ (the Christian era) prayer can only be accepted through Jesus Christ as
the fulfilment of the work that the Mosiac High Priest represented, as Paul wrote,
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus” (1 Timothy 2 v 5), see also (Hebrews chapters 3-9).

The ingredients of the incense represented the entire sacrifice of Jesus (see chapter 6.9
‘Altar of incense’ pages 36-45). That sacrifice (epitomised in the smoke of the
incense) was necessary in order for Jesus to manifest the fullness of the name of God
(mercy, grace, long suffering, goodness and truth) in his mortal body as a witness for
all to see what and who God was. The enmity is directly opposed to the rulership of
God and all godly characteristics (Proverbs 6 v 16-19, Galatians 5 v 19-21, Ephesians
5 v 3-6) and so it was the enmity within him that Jesus had to kill (his sacrifice) by
fulfilling all the spiritual figures of the preparation of the ingredients (see ch 6.9
above) that produced the sweet smelling qualities of incense that God commanded.
The life of Jesus therefore was the perfect prayer, the perfect praise to God, a sweet
savour as Paul wrote of Jesus, “….. hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5 v 2). This sweet smelling
savour of the incense was complimentary to the sweet savour of the continual burnt
sacrifice that was offered morning and evening as the lamps were dressed and the
incense offered, and all these savours ascended up to God to represent the work of

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Jesus such that He declared, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”
(Mark 1 v 11), and again, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear
ye him” (Matthew 17 v 5). The faith of the High Priest as he burnt the incense
morning and evening was to be in this man to come, otherwise the offering was a
meaningless ritual - but of equal importance - the faith of the people was to be in the
High Priest that he was doing his work faithfully as he was carrying the responsibility
of delivering their faithful prayers to God.

Prayer can only be offered acceptably to God through Jesus Christ with full
recognition of the perfection of his life and sacrifice, thus the content of prayer is to
be concise as Jesus taught (Matthew 6 v 6-13), 1) praise to God (Our Father which
art in heaven, hallowed by thy name), 2) an appeal for His will to rule in the earth as
it did the life of Jesus (Thy will be done in earth as in heaven), 3) a sincere cry to be
content for what is good for us in His eyes (give us this day our daily bread), 4) to
forgive as God forgives us (forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass
against us) and 5) a sincere appeal that God will rule our lives – as He did Jesus life -
in order for Him to prepare us for salvation “lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil, for this is the kingdom (over us), the power (by His Holy Spirit) and the
glory (it must be His work)”. This prayer was the life of Jesus Christ condensed into
words and should be the essence of any prayer of ours, the life that manifested the
name of God for all to see and love - as Jesus himself prayed to God, “I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:……. keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,…... I kept them in thy
name……I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it” (John 17)
confirming what Jesus said earlier to his disciples, “If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto
him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the
Father?” (John 14 v 7-9).

The work of the High Priest in the Holy Place foreshadowed the work that Jesus has
now been appointed to do in heaven, “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6 v 20)
where Jesus offers the supplications of his friends to God, “Wherefore in all things it
behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people” (Hebrews 2 v 17).

Prayer of faith in Jesus from the inner reaches of the emotions of the heart has
replaced the need for incense as Jesus taught, “…..that men ought always to pray, and
not to faint” (Luke 18 v 1) and “Watch ye therefore, and pray always” (Luke 21 v 36)
and that for which the disciples asked for help, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11 v
1). Most prayers fail by failure to practice what Jesus warned about, “But when ye
pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6 v 7). The sanctity and power of prayer is
not the words uttered but the yearnings of the godly emotions of the heart as the Holy
Spirit moves the suppliant to appeal for succour from their only source of help as Paul
later wrote, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that

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searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God….. It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us.” (Romans 8 v 26-34)

It is those supplications (for the end of the rule of the enmity in all its innumerable
forms) that the John saw in the vision of the Revelation - the end of the rule of man on
earth, “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and
there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the
angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and
cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an
earthquake” (Revelation 8 v 3-5).

9.2) Sabbath day duty

Each Sabbath day new bread was to be set in order on the table of shewbread by the
High Priest. There were two rows of six loaves sprinkled with frankincense (see
chapter 6.11, Table of shewbread pages 51-52). The old bread was to be eaten as it
was removed by the High Priest and his sons the priests the eldest of whom would
succeed him as it was commanded, “And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve
cakes thereof…… Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually,
being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be
Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto
him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute” (Leviticus 24 v
5-9).

The table of shewbread represented Jesus Christ supporting the twelve loaves
representing the multitudinous companion of Jesus Christ who will be (in the fullness
of the purpose of God revealed in His covenant) of him and in him and he in them and
God all and in all - the ‘mystery’ that Paul referred to in his teachings, “For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one
flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church”
(Ephesians 5). But before that could be fulfilled it was necessary that God was
manifest in a mortal man as Isaiah prophesied, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us)” (Isaiah 7 v 14-15). This
was the prophecy for which Jesus gave his life and did so without fault such that he
was finally able to pray to God, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me…..that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17).

Paul confirmed that completion of the mystery of the promise of God that will be
fulfilled when all scripture is brought to pass after the millennium-long kingdom of
God on earth, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death……then shall the Son
also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in
all” (1 Corinthians 15 v 26-28).

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Those twelve loaves were of one bread dough and that unleavened dough represented
Jesus Christ, a mortal man without sin. This figure was passed on by Jesus to his
disciples at the time when his death fulfilled all the teachings of the law and thus
negated the ‘shewbread’ as a ceremonial teacher, but confirmed it as a spiritual guide
(a schoolmaster – Galatians 3 v 24-25). The figure that Jesus passed on was the bread
of the communion to be eaten every first day in renewal of the vow of baptism to
conform to the sacrifice of Jesus in overcoming the enmity within each of us, thus
changing us to be like him in character (who was after the character of God) such that
he (like the action of leaven) fills us and we ‘rise’ toward his full stature of
righteousness (Ephesians 4 v 13).

Leaven is the representative of the enmity in all cases except one - where it represents
the ‘firstfruit of righteousness’ (Christ) as leaven in a ‘new meat offering’ (Christ and
his multitudinous companion) - Leviticus 23 v 9-21 to be eaten on the day after the
seventh sabbath (fifty days after the offering of the ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’ – Leviticus
23 v 10) the day that has become known as Pentecost. On this day the twelve apostles
were inaugurated as the founder members of the Christian faith, the day they were
eating that leavened ‘bread of the firstfruits’ – (Leviticus 23 v 20) as it is recorded,
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place” (Acts 2).

Prior to this Jesus had taught them, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which
a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened”
(Matthew 13 v 33). In this parable Jesus took the figure of the leavened ‘bread of the
first fruits’ and applied it’s teaching - even his sinless character as the ‘firstfruit grain’
that was used to fill his friends as leaven of the ‘bread of the first fruits’. Thus when
Jesus inaugurated the communions (Matthew 26 v 17-35, Mark 14 v 12-26, Luke 22 v
7-20, John 17) he used unleavened bread (represented by the first-ripe grain of
righteousness), but as the apostles were inaugurated by Jesus through the holy Spirit
as the founders of the Christian faith they were eating the bread that was leavened
(not with the enmity) but with the body of Jesus (the ‘bread of the firstfruits’ that was
not leavened by the enmity).

Thus from Abel to Abraham faith in the body of the redeemer was by faith alone,
from Abraham to Moses by bread and wine, from Moses to Jesus Christ by the
shewbread eaten by the Priests and from Christ to this day by the bread of the
communion with wine. The faith of Abel was that by one righteous man a multitude
would be united as one who will be united to God and that faith has not changed to
this day. The weekly eating by the High Priest and his sons reminded the
congregation of the hope of the promises that they trusted in and so it was that David
when he faced what appeared to be certain death expressed this faith when he realised
that the High Priest of his day had despised this hope in neglecting to eat the
shewbread on the sabbath day and expressed his faith that his only hope and desire
was to be united in that number by resurrection from the dead (1 Samuel 21 v 1-6,
Matthew 12 v 3-4).

9.3) Teaching
In blessing the congregation before his death Moses gave the vocation of ‘teaching by
word and example’ to the priests and particularly the High Priest where to ‘teach’

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means to ‘point’ as an arrows travels to it’s target or as water flows towards it’s
destination by gravity, “And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with
thy holy one (the High Priest) ……They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel
thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine
altar” (Deuteronomy 33 v 8-11).

When there was a rebellion against God’s choice of High Priest, Moses reminded
Aaron of the responsibilities of the office that position held, “And that ye may put
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may
teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by
the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 10 v 10-11). The responsibility to teach the law (and
it’s promises and judgements) to the congregation for subsequent generations began at
the High Priest as the one appointed to ‘point’ to the conclusion of why God gave the
law (that He should be manifest in a mortal man – Matthew 5 v 17), “And thou shalt
love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6 v 5-7).

Isaiah prophesied that one would come who would teach (point out) the meaning of
the law and promises - a prophecy that Jesus quoted as he began his work, “The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4 v 18-19, Isaiah 61 v 1-3).

Israel always had the law and jealously guarded its precepts with a rigidity that was
fanatical but without understanding the end to where it was pointing them or the
destination where the water of life in every word of God was flowing such that Jesus -
“saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were
as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6 v
34).

The High Priest was the shepherd of the congregation, the one who was appointed to
lead the flock, to seek out the spiritually nourishing ‘food’ in the green pasture of the
law and cause the congregation to rest in the security of the faith that their forefathers
rested in who did not have the written law as an edict. The High Priest therefore
represented the one then to come (Jesus Christ) who would be the shepherd of those
whom God is calling to be His family to live forever on this earth. Jesus ‘pointed out’
the end of the law in a righteous life manifesting the character of God in a mortal
body but the nation never saw what he demonstrated, Jesus ‘led’ them by his example
to the end of the law but they despised his way of life, Jesus showed them the peace
of the pasture of obedience to God and the tranquillity of the shelter of the mercy and
compassion that the name of God meant, such that he was able to teach, “I am the
good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10), but they
prefered the turbulence of human debate and opinion. Jesus manifested the name of
God in his mortal body but the elders and their people envied (hated) him because of
it.

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In order to manifest the name of God it was necessary that Jesus kill the enmity within
him by obeying every word of God and thus to prevent the rise of the poison of the
enmity as a leprous lesion in his character. The responsibility of the High Priest and
his sons extended to the diagnosis and cleansing of leprosy as the congregation were
instructed, “Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do
according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so
ye shall observe to do” (Deuteronomy 24 v 8) as considered in the next section, ‘The
law of leprosy’.

9.4) Law of leprosy

When God created animals and man there was no decease or decay but all were in a
state of perpetual healthy life neither mortal nor immortal. When man sinned and was
cursed by God (Genesis 3 v 16-19), decease, decay and death was introduced and to
this day serve as a constant reminder of the curse of God upon the whole creation
because of the sin of man. Of all those diseases God has chosen leprosy to represent
the working of the enmity that results in sin, not that the sufferer is any more sinful
than a healthy neighbour but nonetheless as a constant reminder that all are by nature
sinners and are ‘leprous’ in the eyes of God. Thus this decease was singled out in the
law as the decease that requires especial care in the congregation. The High Priest was
tasked with this special responsibility in order to prevent the spread of this pernicious
decease within the camp, in the same way that the effects of the enmity can spread
rapidly from person to person to infest a whole congregation. “When a man shall have
in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh
like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one
of his sons the priests” (Leviticus 13).

This law applied to man, woman, garment or a building in which the plague of
leprosy became resident. The High Priest was given specific conditions to look for
and it was his duty to inspect the casualty and judge as to whether it was leprosy or
some other non-malignant affliction and if it was to oversee it’s healing. The High
Priest had no power to restrain the rise of the disease in an individual or to heal them,
but had the authority to contain the disease by following the commands of God. When
Jesus came he also had the propensity to allow the enmity within him to become
spiritually leprous by sin but he contained that potential disease by killing the enmity
before it progressed into leprosy of the mind and heart (Matthew 4). Because of this
victory carried on every day God blessed Jesus with a full measure of the Holy Spirit
such that he was able to heal disease - not just to relieve the afflicted as was then but
to teach all generations of the way of spiritual healing by obedience to the word of
God and lepers were some of those he healed (Luke 17 v 12-17).

The apostle wrote of Jesus’ work after his death and resurrection that he was the
fulfilment of the Mosiac High Priest but now an eternal High Priest, “For he testifieth,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 7) and speaking
of the state of eternal life Paul wrote, “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6 v 20).
For all who come to him by intelligent baptism and remain in that way by faithful
renewal of the vow of baptism each first day, Jesus inspects their heart for signs of the
rise of the effects of the enmity (spiritual leprosy) and overrules their lives such that
the disease is eradicated if they respond to the direction of God submissively after the
example of Paul’s writings “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor

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faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12 v
5-7). Chastening experiences can come in any shape or form - it is for the recipient to
be privately aware of such events and recognise their significance and act
accordingly. A faithful member of the church of Christ will quietly welcome the
experiences however hard they are in recognition that God is aware of them and is
preparing them through Jesus Christ for a place in His household as Paul wrote,
“Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them
reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and
live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12
v 9-11).

The High Priest of the Mosaic law oversaw the cleansing of the sick by a series of
offerings with accompanying rituals as Jesus told the men whom he had healed, “And
when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it
came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed” (Luke 17). The offerings for the
commencement of the cleansing were of the humblest nature - two sparrows, “Then
shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and
clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop” (Leviticus 14) where the word ‘bird’
is a sparrow (see chapter 7.5, Other offerings, pp 125-126).

One sparrow was to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water and its blood
was to be added to the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, the remaining live bird and he
who was to be cleansed, and the living bird was to be let free in the open field,
teaching that by the shed life-blood of the most humble and meekest of men, the
leprous effects of the enmity (sins) will be taken away for ever by that meekest of
men, as Paul later wrote, “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it
out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2 v 12-15).

Cedar wood
These were pieces of cedar wood (rather than bark or sawdust) from the root Hebrew
word for ‘wood’ ‘to be fixed, firm and steady’ as used in any wooden structural item
from a house to a gibbet. Cedar wood is noted for its beauty of colour, fragrance,
insect and fungal repellence and durability due to the high resin content of the
heartwood that resides in canals running both vertically along the grain of the
heartwood and horizontally across the grain. God has used the cedar to represent any
man who rises above his fellows in both a good and bad sense. Representing the pride
of the race of mankind (in a bad sense) synopsised in Assyria as lifted up in pride
above all other nations as God spoke through Ezekiel (Ezekiel 31), but in a good
sense, “The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath
planted” (Psalms 104 v 16) and of the man who God would raise up in righteousness
above all other men, Ezekiel wrote, “I will also take of the highest branch of the high

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cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and
will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent ……. And all the trees of the field
shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low
tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD
have spoken and have done it” (Ezekiel 17 v 22-24). This superior tree surpassing all
other trees in grace and beauty represents the full stature of the character of Jesus
Christ under whose branches many can abide. Of the wood of this tree there is a
fragrance unmatched in all the trees of the forest, a clean and healthy fragrance of
obedience to God and durability from the onslaughts of parasites and decay by the
copious binding resin of the love of God. However it was to a stake of wood that
Jesus was nailed and in which his blood was shed. It is not recorded what wood the
stake was but as crucifixion was an empire-wide practice of executing unwanted
miscreants in the Roman Empire the durable stakes would have been employed to be
used again and again. To those sticks of cedar the blood of the slain sparrow was to be
added so that the healed leper could be cleansed.

Scarlet and hyssop

Scarlet has been considered and shown to represent the life-blood of the most humble
of all men (Chapter 6.8, The veil, pillars and sockets, pp 35-36). Hyssop is a humble
herb available for all men and women to harvest however poor they are, as it grows
wild in walls and rocks. There is disagreement between language scholars as to the
actual herb that the Hebrew (‫ – אזוב‬ezowb) and Greek (υσσωπος) denote, some
claiming any wild herb from marjoram to mint and others that it is caper. The
representation of this herb however is its humble and lowly status in the plant world
as described by Solomon, “And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in
Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall” (1 Kings 4 v 33) where
the cedar is the most majestic of plants and hyssop the most humble. Thus Jesus
Christ was the most humble of all men that have lived, but who because of that
humility became the most majestic in righteousness.

The humility of hyssop is linked with blood throughout it use in the bible, it is blood
that washes away sins as Paul wrote, “….without shedding of blood is no remission”
(Hebrews 9) and in the law, “And whatsoever man there be …..that eateth any manner
of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him
off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it
to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that
maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17 v 10-11). It is therefore only by the
blood of the most humble of men that remission of sins can be gained and that unique
and perfect humility was achieved in Jesus by the purging action of the word of God
working in him, a purging that drove out and killed the enmity within him until his
final purging on the cross when it was confirmed that the representation of hyssop had
done its work, “Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge
with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up
the ghost” (John 19 v 29-30).

Humility before God is the foundation of salvation, and godly humility is not easy to
achieve - as no man can be godly humble by his own effort. The humility that and
God requires (the humility of Jesus) came through obedience to every word of God, it
was this humility that David figuratively asked God for when he had grievously

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sinned, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalms 51). Hyssop cannot purge away temptation
but the blood that hyssop is associated with can, and that blood is the life of Jesus
Christ that was purged of the effects of the enmity by the word of God enlightened by
the Holy Spirit. Thus blood and hyssop are joined in significant events in the bible, at
the Passover with the blood of the lamb (Exodus 12 v 22) at the delivery of the law
and the congregations vow to obey (Exodus 24 v 6-7 & Hebrews 9 v 18-22),
cleansing of a leper (Leviticus 14), and the preparation of the waters of separation
(Number 19).

Thus leprosy was chosen by God to represent the working of the enmity within the
heart and mind of any man or woman, but God provided a way of cleansing through
His son Jesus Christ, now a High Priest for ever at the right hand of God, who will be
entreated by any who sincerely turn to him for inspection, judgement and healing of
the spirit of the heart.

10) The law of the feasts (calendar law)

There were two concurrent calendars in the year of the congregation, one measured by
the familiar solar system and the other the not so familiar lunar system. The solar year
began on the first day of the month that the congregation were to prepare for the
Passover as God prepared to bring the last plague on the nation of Egypt by killing the
‘strength’ of the nation (i.e. all their firstborn that in biblical times was the measure of
the strength of an individual - the seed of the race) as it was written, “This month shall
be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you”
(Exodus 12 v 2), “This day came ye out in the month Abib” (Exodus 13 v 4). There-
from began the calendar law from which the timing of the three annual feasts were
counted, “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year…… the feast of
unleavened bread …... the feast of harvest… and the feast of ingathering. Three times
in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD” (Exodus 23 v 14-17). In
reality these were in the first month, the first to second month and the seventh month
respectively.

The significance of these feasts will be considered in detail in the following sections,
but it is important to know that the annual counting of years (as we do centuries) was
by jubilees of 50 years duration and counted from the seventh month. This fact will be
important when considering the tenth-day of the seventh month and how it relates to
the prophecies of both Ezekiel and Daniel and the fulfilment of the purpose of God.

Intertwining that solar calendar year was the lunar year as the commandment was
given, “And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the
LORD ….. this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the
year” (Numbers 28 v 11-14). The lunar calendar is 29 ½ day cycle according to the
time it takes for the moon to circle the earth giving a 12 month year of 354 day
duration, whereas the solar cycle is measured by the time it takes for the earth to
‘circle’ the sun giving us a 365 ¼ day year. The effect of this on the annual calendar
of sacrificial events and feasts was that the monthly remembrances rolled over each
year on a different day sometimes coinciding with a Sabbath day or a feast day

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sometimes not, in the same way that high and low tides of the sea, cycle on a different
day each year.

God created the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night (Genesis 1 v 16-18)
and thus the monthly offerings and the annual feasts represented the rule of the will of
God through his sacrificial son (represented in the offerings as previously described)
in all aspects of creation and in the outworking of His purpose where subsequent
nations and empires who have risen and fallen like the tides of the ocean under the
overruling power of God (Daniel 4 v 17) until such time that God will bring peace to
the earth where there will be no conflict (Isaiah 2 v 4, Micah 4 v 3, Revelation 4 v 6 &
15 v 2).

The common link between these two dominions was the sounding of trumpets (two
silver and one rams horn) that were to be blown on a variety of occasions, but
particularly in the new moon offerings and the convocations of the solar months (the
three times a year when all males were to appear before God) thus linking the solar
with the lunar.

10.1 Silver and horned trumpets

There were two types of trumpet, silver (‫ הרצצח‬chatsotsrah) and ram’s horn (‫רפוש‬,
shophar) of which there is considerable disagreement between Hebrew and Greek
etymologists as to the correct meaning and accuracy of these words, but it is the sound
that is most important. When a trumpet (a long narrow tube) is blown the breath of the
trumpeter is compressed as it passes through the inner surface of the tube where it
accelerates (as in a venturi) and accentuates the turbulence of the exhaled breath
caused by the high frequency vibrations of the lips of the trumpeter giving a stream of
oscillating air pressure with enough highly compressed energy to transmit it great
distances through atmosphere to the ear of the hearer. Thus the sound of a horn is
clear, sharp and penetrating - cutting through air like a scalpel of a surgeon.

The trumpet sound represents the voice of God whereby His compressed and
energised word is transmitted to all men and women. It was first represented this way
in mount Sinai when Israel was receiving the law, “…..when the trumpet soundeth
long, they shall come up to the mount. …..and the voice of the trumpet exceeding
loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. …..And when the voice of
the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God
answered him by a voice” (Exodus 19 v 13-19). In a parallel figure, the word of God
is likened to a surgeon’s knife - even as the sound of the trumpet cuts the air, “For the
word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4 v 12-13).

The fact that there was one range of sounds (calling of assemblies, war, sacrifices,
jubilee’s etc) made by two types of trumpet teaches different characteristics of the one
who would be the instrument of the clarion call of the word of God in a mortal body –
Jesus Christ. Silver has been considered in chapter 6.3 (‘Origin of the materials - a
freewill offering’, pp12-16) and shown to represent the life of Jesus Christ as the
manifestation of the word of God in a mortal body. The ram’s horn is the strength of
the male ram that Abraham was shown (Genesis 22) which represented the sacrifice
of a son beloved of his father (God) in order that the blessing of eternal life after

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resurrection from the dead (Hebrew 11 v 17-19) could be achieved by the promises,
mercy and faithfulness of God by His name (Exodus 34 v 6-7) through a singular seed
(Galatians 3 v 16) who overcame and killed the enmity within himself, “….and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed” (Genesis 22 v 17-18).

There is no instruction to make a trumpet of ram’s horn but ‘shophar’ is the word used
by the translators to describe the instrument of the ‘trump’ of God in Sinai, the call of
the Jubilee (see later) and in the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6), and indeed scholars of
Hebrew dispute that ram’s horn was used, but as mentioned above it is the sound that
is important. The congregation however was commanded to make silver trumpets,
“Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou
mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the
camps….. in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings
of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over
the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before
your God” (Numbers 10 v 2-10).

Thus the sound of the trumpet linked the monthly (lunar) sacrifices with the solar
feasts as a unifying clarion call of ruler-ship over night and day (for which the sun and
moon were created – Genesis 1 v 14-16, as was also the continual burnt offering a
constant morning and evening (night and day) witness) and were to alert all who
heard the sound to respond to the trumpet-call of the word of God - a word that is so
compressed that the more it is examined and practiced the more it unfolds and the
more penetrating to the heart and mind it becomes. This was the word that Jesus came
to hear, understand, expand and manifest in his life that caused so much offence to the
elders of Israel at that time and that is still not recognised to this day.

By understanding that word, Jesus became the wisdom of God through it’s application
in his life, as Paul later wrote, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1
Corinthians 1) - a wisdom that the ‘world’ in its own wisdom could not comprehend.
Solomon wrote that the wisdom of God has sounded from creation as a trumpet-call
for all men to come to God, “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her
voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you,
O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom:
and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent
things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak
truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in
righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him
that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction,
and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold” (Proverbs 8 v 1-10). Because
Jesus became the wisdom of God, his life, words and actions were so powerful that
they cut the conscience of his ‘hearers’ (friends) and ‘watchers’ (enemies) like a
physician’s scalpel cuts through flesh as a trumpet call cuts through the air to the
inner reaches of the mind, where his friends rejoiced but his enemies hated him, and
so his contemporaries were “astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that
had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1 v 22), and “And they were astonished
at his doctrine: for his word was with power” (Luke 4 v 32), and “And the scribes and

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chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him,
because all the people was astonished at his doctrine” (Mark 11 v 18). Thus the
words and actions of Jesus were the trumpet-call of every word of his Father to turn
sinners unto repentance as Jesus told his disciples, “…..the words that I speak unto
you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works”
(John 14 v 10), and with the sharp knife of every word of God and the penetrating
sound of a trumpet he healed the spiritually sick as he upbraided the hypocrites, “They
that be whole (self-righteous) need not a physician, but they that are sick (the
humble)” (Matthew 9 v 10-13).

That word of God through Jesus Christ is yet to be heard in all the earth as a clarion
call to fulfil the purpose of God, it is the sound that will mark the gift of everlasting
life on those whom God chooses to inherit the kingdom of God on earth with Jesus
Christ, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1
Thessalonians 4 v 16), and “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other” (Matthew 24 v 31), who after their resurrection from the grave
will be made immortal and rid the earth of wickedness in order to rule the earth under
Jesus their king, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed” (1 Corinthians 15 v 50-57). Thus John saw in vision that time of glory for
the saints, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1).

This purpose of God was brought to the attention of the congregation by the sounding
of trumpets every month, on the feast days and at the commencement of each new 50-
year period of their calendar and at going to war.

10.2 Passover & feast of unleavened bread

God has used Egypt of the Pharaoh’s (particularly the reigns of Tuthmosis I, II, III
and Hatsepshut – 15th century BC) to represent the working of the enmity in man
(individually and collectively) throughout all ages to this day. Israel was in cruel
bondage under this empire (Exodus 1) while sojourning in that land. The bondage was
rooted in hatred and jealousy of Israel because of their bountiful growth as a result of
the blessing of God upon them through the faithfulness of their forefathers Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob and God’s promises to them (Genesis 15 v 13-14).

Such is the enmity in all men and women when confronted with the evidence of the
work of God, a force that Jesus referred to as ‘Satan’ (Luke 4), that Jesus and John
referred to as the ‘world’ (Matthew 13, 1 John 2 v 15-17), that Jesus and Peter
referred to as the ‘devil’ (Matthew 4, 1 Peter 5 v 8) and that Paul refers to as the ‘old
man’ (Romans 6 v 6) and that which he wrestled with all his life, “O wretched man
that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7).

Despite that hatred the Egyptians made huge profit out of the people in that they
enslaved them as bondservants, but God had decreed that they should be His servants
in the land of the promises of their fathers (Canaan in those days – Genesis 13 v 14-
17). Because of this hatred and bondage and Pharaohs persistent refusal to let Israel

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go out of Egypt to return to serve God, God brought upon Egypt a sequence of
plagues that culminated in the slaying of every firstborn including animals, which -
because the firstborn were deemed the ‘strength’ of the generation - the nation was
impoverished. This impoverishment is supported by recorded history as Hatsepshut
(the wife of Tuthmosis II and mother of Tuthmosis III) who usurped the throne
(women at that time could never be ‘divine’ pharaohs) of her immature son on the
death of her husband (Tuthmosis II in the Red Sea in 1473BC – Exodus 14) and
‘restored the impoverishment’ of the land by vast building projects, where the palace
of Deir El-Bahri remains as a tourist attraction to this day.

This was no isolated judgement of God upon Egypt but a revelation of His call to all
men and women in every generation to acknowledge their inherent bondage to the
enmity within them and repent in order to worship God, a way of repentance that God
ordained could only be done through one man whom He would raise up to make that
repentance acceptable and subsequent service possible, and God demonstrated this
‘way’ in the exodus from Egypt that was simultaneous with the death of the ‘strength’
of the enemy of God – the enmity. In the night of the death of the firstborn of Egypt,
God instituted what became for the congregation the first feast of the New Year - the
Passover – a new year that signified a new beginning after release from bondage to
the enmity.

The Passover was so named because the angel of God who slew the Egyptian
firstborn ‘passed-over’ any dwelling that had the blood of the sacrificial lamb painted
on its door posts and lintel and in which house were assembled all who had faith in
God (Exodus 12 v 7 & 22-23). The sacrificial first-year male lamb was to be selected
from the flock by its unblemished condition and separated from its fellows on the
tenth day of this month (Abib) a day that God that had commanded to be counted
from the first day of that new month in preparation for the last plague on Egypt. The
lamb was kept separated until the fourteenth day when it was to be slain in the
evening of the last plague, its blood was to be painted on the door surrounds and
whose flesh was roasted with fire and eaten that very night with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs with none remaining until the morning (Exodus 12 v 1-11).

God taught the children of Israel and all who consider their exodus from Egypt that
the ‘one’ man whom God would raise up to be the means of deliverance from the
bondage of the enmity would be Jesus Christ, a male firstborn with a lamb-like
character without sin (blemish) as described in chapter 7.1, ‘Continuous burnt
offering’, pp109-110. Jesus was the firstborn of a new generation of righteous
children of God, a child who matured to manhood without transgression of any word
of God. This perfect obedience led him to baptism by John Baptist at the age of thirty
(Luke 3 v 21-23) from whence he became ‘separated’ by manner of life from his
fellows due to the extraordinary gift of the Holy Spirit from God in order to teach the
way unto salvation by word, miracle, action and obedience unto death during a 3 ½
year period (represented by the 4 days of separation). Thus Jesus fulfilled what God
required of man so that he could truly become a child of God and escape the clutches
of the enmity.

Isaiah prophesied of Jesus - and the work he came to fulfil - words that Jesus quoted
in the synagogue during his ministrations (Luke 4 v 17-20), “The Spirit of the Lord
GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto

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the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives (by the enmity), and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (by the
enmity) … … … that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the
LORD, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61 v 1-3). Thus Jesus was represented by
the Passover lamb who would bring deliverance from bondage by it’s death in the
night of the 4th day of it’s separation from it’s mortal fellows, representing the 3 ½
years ministration of manifestation in a mortal body of the name and power of God
through his miracles, teachings and obedience. This 4th day was the 14th day of the
new first month signifying a new beginning for a new generation of obedient,
righteous people.

As the blood was to be painted around the door surround so the life of Jesus was to be
a witness for all to see that he did not hide as a monk or recluse, but he showed
himself openly to all who came in contact with him, teaching that God is creating a
household of obedient children who must be separated in manner of life from service
to the enmity (human nature) within His house of faith and covered by the baptism
vow of obedience through the life blood of their saviour around the door (2
Corinthians 5 v 1-10, 1 Peter 2).

Association with the promised saviour represented by the Passover lamb was to be
through eating the flesh of the fire-roasted animal, teaching that casual
acknowledgment of Jesus Christ is not acceptable, but assimilation of his love
represented by eating his flesh is paramount, a principle Jesus taught his disciples just
before his crucifixion on the very night of the Passover in fulfilment of its teaching,
“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live
by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat
manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (John 6 v 54-
58). The bread of the communion is the representative by faith of Jesus’ flesh. The
figure of the Passover feast was ‘roast with fire’ representing the work of the fire of
the Holy Spirit that prepared Jesus to become the fulfilment of the Passover lamb in
order that his friends could eat of his flesh in faith represented by bread.

In that killing, roasting and eating no bone was to be broken, “.. … neither shall ye
break a bone thereof” (Exodus 12 v 46) to teach the congregation that the one who
would fulfil the figure of the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, would keep his spiritual and
moral strength even unto death, a strength that Solomon wrote of that is derived from
reverence of God, “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from
evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (Proverbs 3 v 1-10).
Marrow is the rich tissue at the core of bones that is the source of healthy blood
making it the generator of the strength and life of the body safely encased in rigid
bone - features of God’s creation that He has chosen to represent the strength of His
word in man. That word of God was the source of the strength of Jesus, a strength that
was never broken even in death, “… … besought Pilate that their legs might be
broken, and that they might be taken away. … … But when they came to Jesus, and
saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:… … For these things were
done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken” (John
19 v 31-36). Thus Jesus broke not one word of God but fulfilled all scripture

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according to the will of God, but like the flexible framework of over 200 rigid bones
that make up our skeleton so every word of the law and prophets spoke referring to
him gave Jesus the flexibility to withstand the onslaughts of the enmity both within
himself and in his enemies like a palm trees in a tempest and the strength to stand
upright as a tower of shelter to his multitudinous companion, the saints.

On this night all traces of leaven were to be removed from each dwelling (Exodus 12
v 15) marking the commencement of seven days of eating unleavened bread. Leaven
represents the working of the enmity in all cases in the law except one that will be
considered in the following ‘Feast of weeks’. The 7-day feast was started with a holy
convocation (gathering together) and terminated with another wherein no work was to
be done, but were to be days of reflection and remembrance of the purpose of God
manifest through His words and the saviour that should come, who although of mortal
flesh - beset with temptation to sin - he overcame all temptations and thus was
without sin (leaven). The holy convocation or ‘gathering together’ where no servile
work was to be done represented the life of Jesus who never ‘worked’ for the enmity
in satisfying his mortal desires but ‘gathered together’ every word of God in order to
show in his life the meaning of those words to a few fellow mortals whom he called to
‘convocation’ (gather) with him as his disciples or ‘disciplined ones’.

The Passover was not the social feast of a family get-together, but a feast of intense
anticipation, strong faith and unswerving determination to leave Egypt to serve God.
To show this urgency they were commanded “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins
girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in
haste: it is the LORD's passover” (Exodus 12 v 11) to teach the congregation and
particularly those in later generations that the final Passover feast when Jesus was
about to be crucified, that he would eat in such a manner, not for deliverance from
Egypt, but for release from the bondage of the enmity against which he wrestled all
his life and finally slew on the cross - even as the firstborn and full might of the army
of Egypt with Pharaoh were slain by God.

So Jesus told his disciples at that Passover feast, “With desire I have desired to eat
this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22 v 15). Immediately before that
Passover Jesus had said, “Now is the judgment of this world (Satan, the devil): now
shall the prince of this world (the enmity) be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die”
(John 12 v 31-33). The intensity of his faith and determination to fulfil the teaching of
the Passover was shown when he prayed repeatedly to God, “Father, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And
there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an
agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground” (Luke 22 v 42-44). The strength of his faith and his
unswerving determination to be a saviour for his friends was tested to the limit as he
died on the cross, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”
(Matthew 27 v 46). The feast of the Passover was to be celebrated in such a fashion
by subsequent generations and in remembrance of their deliverance by God from
Egypt where the whole congregation faced certain death by Pharaoh in that night
apart from the protecting angel of God. That remembrance is now practiced in the
weekly renewal of the vow of baptism in the eating and drinking of bread and wine,

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not a ritualistic ordinance as though a small piece of bread and sip of wine can help
anybody, but with intense faith in the victory of Jesus over the enmity and the our
‘exodus’ from bondage to the enmity under his shepherding toward an eternal
inheritance on this earth.

It is written of their exodus on the night of the Passover after the death of the firstborn
of Egypt that the “… … Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send
them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took
their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their
clothes upon their shoulders” (Exodus 12 v 33-34), and “And they baked unleavened
cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened;
because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared
for themselves any victual” (Exodus 12 v 39). In such manner did the feast of
unleavened bread begin and was to be remembered throughout their generations in
such a way of revulsion and repudiation of the leaven-like workings of the flesh.

It is not possible to consider the inauguration of the feast of Passover and unleavened
bread without remembering the events of the seven-day period of the feast that began
on that dark night of deliverance from bondage. During that seven-day feast of
unleavened bread they fled Egypt south-westward toward the Red Sea that led to
Mount Sinia in the desert of Sinai where Moses had been told that he would worship
God after deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 3 v 12). In this journey of fulfilment the
angel of God led them by means of in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Pharaoh considered this direction a trap as they could not escape that way due to the
sea and so pursued them in an attempt to recapture them and put them to bondage
again. By the power of God Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land as the waters were
parted by the action of Moses with his staff and the cloud of the angel covered them
overhead, where the Egyptians followed them in hot pursuit but drowned as the
waters resumed their flow as Israel reached the far shore (Exodus 14).

These two feasts were inexorably linked to the spoiling of Egypt by God, the flight of
Israel from Egypt and their passage through the waters of the Red Sea under the
cloud, and so while keeping the feast of unleavened bread in all later generations up to
Jesus, they could not but be in awe of those events and what God was teaching them,
for God did not lead them along the common northern route to Canaan that was an
established trade route, but south-westwards to the Red Sea. At the time of Jesus,
John Baptist was inspired by God to reveal the significance of these events in his
teachings in the wilderness (Mark 1 v 4) to which many responded by being baptised
in water and to whom Jesus came to be baptised. Paul later wrote of the meaning of
the Exodus in terms of the New Testament in Christ - the testament that Jesus
established by his death and victory over the enmity. When writing to Christians
(Hebrew and Gentile) Paul said, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the
sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10
v 1-2).

Thus the principle of baptism by full immersion in water was introduced by God 1½
millennia before Christ as the teacher of the ‘way’ that Jesus paved in order (John 14
v 6) to obtain release from the power of the enmity and to serve God in the only
acceptable way even to this day. God inspired John the Baptist to teach this long

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remembered principle as a preparation of the way that Jesus was about to fulfil as
Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 40 v 1–3). The Passover, the slaying of the enemy of God,
the flight, the immersion in water and the death of the enemy are one teaching now
encapsulated in baptism and it’s weekly renewal in faith as the life-long ‘journey’
through the wilderness of mortality continues after the example of Israel in the
wilderness.

At the time of the Passover Jesus showed the work of the Passover within himself
when both at the beginning and conclusion of his ministry he cast out the traders in
the house of God with a scourge of small cords and overthrew the trading table
declaring, “Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of
merchandise” (John 2, Mark 11 v 15-19). What he rightly did publicly in the temple
he had done in the sanctified temple of his own body and so taught the people why he
had acted thus, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up…. … he spake
of the temple of his body”. Thus it was on the day of the Passover that Jesus died, he
was laid in the grave until the third day of the feast of unleavened bread and was then
bodily resurrected when he appeared to Mary Magdalene and was then raised to
eternal life in which is no enmity and therefore no temptation to sin thus finally
fulfilling the purity of the figure of unleavened bread.

To emphasise the importance of the feast of unleavened bread and to direct the mind
of all the congregation to the sacrifice of their promised saviour, animal sacrifices for
a sweet savour unto God were to be offered on the throughout the feast (Numbers 28).
These animals were bullocks, rams and first-year lambs for burnt offerings as a sweet
savour to God and a kid of the goats for a sin offering and all were considered in
chapter 7, ‘The law of the sacrificial offerings’, page 105 onwards and shown to
collectively represent the complete character of Jesus, as a strong bullock, a male of
the flock, a gentle lamb and an spiritually agile young goat, all without blemish as
Jesus was without sin.

10.3 Feast of weeks

The Passover was held on the 14th day of the first month Abib that equates to March
in our calendar. There is no biblical record of it changing to coincide with the first-of-
the-month sacrifices as is practiced by Jews (hence the variability of Easter in the
Christian calendar) but those new-moon monthly remembrances must have coincided
at some time with the fixed Passover due to the asymmetry of the cycles of the moon
around the earth and the earth around the sun (see chapter 10, ‘The law of the feasts
(calendar law)’). As the month of March is the commencement of what we call Spring
it is the herald of the first harvest of the year (barley). Naturally there is no fixed date
for the first sheaf to be cut and thus the feast of weeks does not commence on any
particular day. Thus the feast of weeks is focussed upon corn and what it represents in
God’s teaching of His purpose.

The figure of corn

God has chosen grain seed (corn) to represent His word as was taught by Jesus in his
parables, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8) and the ground into which it is sown
is the heart (Matthew 13). As men labour for the whole year and anticipate the corn
harvest from the first-ripe barley to final choice-wheat, so God anticipates a harvest of
the fruits from His word in the heart of man (Isaiah 28 v 23-29). Any husbandman

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will know that crops do not grow without attendant weeds because of the curse of
God on the ground due to the sin of man (Genesis 3 v 17-19) and that the weeds affect
the quality of the crop not only in lost nutrition from added competition for water and
sunlight but also in the need to separate weeds from crop in the harvest. Weeds are a
figure of the enmity at work in the heart of men as Jesus taught in the ‘parable of the
tares’, “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the
tares are the children of the wicked one” (Matthew 13). Jesus said that the good
(weed-free) ground is a open and honest heart, “But that on the good ground are they,
which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth
fruit with patience” (Luke 8 v 15) and it is this ground that yields crops one
hundredfold or without loss of any grain that was sown.

The work of Jesus Christ was that every seed of every word of God should be brought
to the fruit that God seeks and that fruit is spelled out in the name of God, ‘merciful,
gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth’ (Exodus 34 v 6-7) and by
Paul in his writings, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”
(Galatians 5 v 22-23). Before that fruit can yield, the ‘ground’ of the heart has to be
prepared to receive the word for it to grow and produce one-hundredfold of the seed
sown and the husbandman’s work expended, i.e. with no loss or fault. The enmity
naturally hardens the heart to rebel against the authority of God and to resist
acknowledgement and admission of sin, therefore that enmity has not to be allowed to
stiffen or has to be broken when it has. The closest one can get to a heart without an
active enmity is a very young child who with open eyes and sincere heart learns from
its parents and teachers without question or opinion, so it was that the Psalmist mused
on this lost childhood that all (bar Jesus) experience, “Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest
still the enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8 v 2) words that Jesus applied to his
disciples (Matthew 10 v 21) and thanks God, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit,
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so,
Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10 v 21). Jesus was the only son of
man who became Son of God by absolute obedience - without fault - to the words of
God and brought forth one hundredfold of the fruit that God required where all others
fall short.

The harvest that God is seeking has a first-ripe ingathering and a final grand harvest
and He has long patience for it as James wrote, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto
the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it” (James 5 v 7). That ‘fruit’ is a generation of
righteous children under the guardianship of an elder firstborn brother who have been
taken from all generations that have lived on earth. The elder brother, the firstborn, is
Jesus Christ as Paul wrote, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15 v 20-23).

This significance of the work of the husbandman from ‘firstfruits’ to ‘harvest’ is the
teaching of the Feast of Weeks, “And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the

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LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt
give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee”
(Deuteronomy 16 v 10) and was part of an annual reminder of the fullness of the
promises of the purpose of God, “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear
before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of
unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they
shall not appear before the LORD empty” (Deuteronomy 16 v 16).

The Feast of Weeks

The commencement of this feast was governed by daily inspection of the fields of
grain to decide the correct moment when the grain is ripe - too early and the chaff will
not separate from the husk and too late and the risk of damage by rain is increased.
The time is right when the whole field has an appearance of whiteness due to the
drying of the chaff as Jesus observed, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for
they are white already to harvest” (John 4 v 35) - it is the time when an ear of corn is
rubbed between the hands and the chaff separates cleanly from the husk, a time that
God has chosen to represent the full removal of the enmity from its natural association
with the heart wherein is sowed the good seed of the word of God - a separation that
Jesus made in order to manifest the full glory and power of the word of God in
fulfilment of Johns words, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth” (John 1). This simple skill is given by God to teach mankind that God is
waiting for a harvest of righteousness people by obedience to His word, and at the
right time - when the enmity was vanquished (his crucifixion) - God raised up His son
as a firstborn son of a new generation and gathered him to Himself as Isaiah
prophesied of that new generation, “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before
her pain came, she was delivered of a man child” (Isaiah 66 v 7-8) and as the Psalmist
prophesied, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalms 110 v 1) as the disciples witnessed his ascension
into heaven (Luke 24 v 51).

The first sickle-cut of the harvest is a time of joy after the preparation, sowing and
nurturing of the field throughout the seasons in anticipation of that time and so it was
with God who declared of Jesus as he was preparing to be the first-ripe sheaf of the
harvest of God, “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1 v 11). To mark the commencement of the
Feast of Weeks, the first-ripe sheaf was to be presented to God and therefore
separated as sanctified, it was to be kept separate for further use with far reaching
significance (as will be explained later). Thus the congregation was commanded,
“When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest
thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow
after the sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Leviticus 23).

The word to ‘wave’ literally means ‘to wave the hands’ as in sprinkling and sowing or
to ‘move the hands up and down’ as in the action of sifting with a sieve, both
representing the hands being full of vigorous activity to the glory of God as distinct to
spiritual laziness in putting the hands to the satisfaction of the flesh. Thus the waved
first-ripe sheaf was an acknowledgement that despite all their hard work throughout

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the seasons, it was God that brought the increase thus allowing them to eat and live, in
the same way that God would raise up a saviour who would be the first-fruits of many
unto salvation, an analogy of husbandry that Paul used when preaching the gospel, “I
have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that
planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1
Corinthians 3:6-9).

The activity of the ‘hands’ of Jesus in this work was vigorous from the earliest age as
he laboured to bring the fruit of the heart that God required to give glory to Him, as
was shown when at the age of 12 years he was found in the temple communing with
the doctors of the law and he said to his parents, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye
not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2 v 40-52). This activity of his
‘hands’ was completed upon his death, as he said in prayer to God, “I have glorified
thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17 v 4).
Thus Jesus was the fulfilment of the ‘wave’ offering that was to be accompanied with
a burnt offering of a male lamb of the flock and an attendant offering of bread and
wine - symbols that Jesus inaugurated to represent his body and blood to this day.

The ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’ was to be waved on the day after the Sabbath following
the cutting of the first sheaf, and there from seven Sabbaths were to be counted (49
days) to mark the 50th day (Pentecost) when a new meat offering was to be prepared
and waved after the manner of the ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’, “Ye shall bring out of your
habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall
be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD” (Leviticus 23 v 16-21).

This day (Pentecost) was called the ‘day of the firstfruits’ as it was written, “Also in
the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD, after
your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work”
(Numbers 28 v 26-30). The new meat offering was called the ‘bread of the firstfruits’
and was to be of leavened bread, “And the priest shall wave them with the bread of
the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, ... … … they shall be holy to the
LORD for the priest” (Leviticus 23 v 20). This leavened bread was to be waved with
attendant burnt, peace and sin offerings but was not to be burnt with them for that was
against the command of God, “As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them
unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour” (Leviticus
2 v 12). As referred to above this is the only time in the whole law when leavened
bread was to be offered and whereas in all other cases of leaven it represented the
enmity, on this occasion God changed the analogy to represent a principle that is quite
opposite and extends to this day.

Leaven of the Bible is not yeast as used today but old dough that ferments and is
added to new dough causing it to be filled with the fermentation such that it rises to a
full loaf. The principle feature of the Feast of Weeks is the ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’
offered on the first day of the feast as described above, without which there would be
no seven-week feast, and that sheaf represented Jesus Christ exclusively as without
Jesus there would be no ‘harvest’ of righteous ones. It has been shown above that that
sheaf (the ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’) with its grain was separated as sanctified (i.e.
waved to God) and kept for later use (rather than being swallowed up in the general
harvest). The new meat offering of two loaves was called the ‘bread of the firstfruits’
and was leavened with a fermented dough, and as it was not just the ‘new meat

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offering’ but also the bread …. ‘of the firstfruits’ - that fermenting dough was from
the grain of the ‘sheaf of the firstfruits’. Therefore the ‘new’ loaves took the name and
identity of that firstripe sheaf (bread …. ‘of the firstfruits’), representing an
ingathering of the fullness of the harvest of God not leavened with the enmity but
filled with the character of body of Jesus Christ the firstborn. Thus the teaching of
Jesus took this figure where the leaven is righteousness (not the enmity) as he taught
of a ‘woman’ (wisdom) who baked bread, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,
which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened”
(Matthew 13 v 33) where the ‘heaven’ is where there is no enmity but is God’s
dwelling place.

The inauguration of the Christian faith was on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2 v 1-4)
when the apostles were endued with a extra measure of the Holy Spirit in order to
preach the gospel of salvation to all the world. Thus that day was the founding day of
Christianity and was the first day of the week (the day after the Sabbath after the law -
still then observed) therefore as the apostles were faithful law-abiding men they were
celebrating with leavened bread, the ‘bread of the firstfruits’ that has thus set the
standard for remembrance of the body of Jesus Christ each first day that it is leavened
bread with the faith in eating that the leaven is the symbol of the character and spirit
of Christ that is ingested by reading the word of God in order to fill the life with his
works such that they become of his body, he the head we the members as Paul taught,
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12 v 13-
31) and “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is
the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love” (Ephesians 4 v 15-16).

The new meat offering, the bread of the first fruits was to be in two loaves to teach the
congregation that there is one faith in one Jesus Christ but gathered together by
common faith from two distinct eras, the faith from law of Moses (the Jews from
Moses to Christ) and the Gentiles (after Christ) not under the law but bound by the
same faith. These two loaves were to be waved to God after the manner of the ‘sheaf
of the firstfruits’ doubly emphasising the work of God through Jesus Christ in
bringing many people to salvation, it is therefore God who is working to bring people
to salvation not the people themselves, they have to respond to His love and work
accordingly but it is God’s work overall as Jesus taught, “… … no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me” (John 14 v 6) and “No man can come to me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him … … that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my Father” (John 6).

The bread of the communion is to be eaten in the same faith that the faithful of the
congregation had as they offered of the new meat offering under the law, that the
body of the bread was the saviour and that they were but members of his body filled
with his woks and directed by his example even as the physical body is controlled by
the head, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians
1).

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Thus the Feast of Weeks taught the congregation of the fullness of the purpose of God
that their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had believed in - faith that there
would be a mortal firstborn of a new righteous generation who would die, be raised
from the dead and given eternal life to become the saviour of that generation who
would likewise be ‘ingathered’ by resurrection from the grave and experience change
of nature to be united with him for ever in the presence of God. That new generation
will include all faithful men and women from Abel to this day.

10.4 Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement was not one of the three classified feasts (Exodus 23 v 17) but
was the prelude to the final feast (the feast of Tabernacles) and the most important
day in the calendar of the congregation. The day was heralded by a ‘Sabbath’
appointed on the first day of the seventh month irrespective of what solar day (day of
the week) it was on - in order to prepare the congregation for the day of Atonement,
“In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23 v 24). This
Sabbath heralded the start of the seventh month when all the corn and fruit harvest
had been gathered, a time of rejoicing for all rural self-sustaining communities, a time
when all work in the fields is done and there is rest for man, woman, ground and
animal before the next years crops are sown.

It has been considered (10.1 Silver and horned trumpets p149-151) that the sound of
the trumpet was more important than the trumpet and represented the voice of God.
This 1st day of the 7th month was to be a day when the voice of God was to be listened
to, remembered, understood and acted upon in faith, it was a time to focus the mind of
the congregation away from mundane daily chores, cares and concerns towards the
promises of God of a redeemer from the sentence death that they were to recognise
they so desperately needed.

God has set days of ‘rest’ as hallowed institutions after the pattern of His creation
where God ‘rested’ on the seventh day to teach mankind of His greater work in the
ongoing creation purpose of a new generation of righteous people that will inhabit the
earth for ever (Isaiah 65 v 17-25) as it is written, “And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work
which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that
in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2 v 2-3).
The word ‘rest’ here is not associated with tiredness after its common usage but as a
time of completion when there was nothing more to do to improve what has been
done. It literally means to ‘stop work on completion of a task’ and was set by God as
the ‘Sabbath’ in the calendar of the congregation as a time to stop the work of six
days. Thus freed from distractions of work it enabled all men and women to reflect on
what God is teaching them both by His word and the example of nature (creation) in
order to transport their mind forward to one who should come who would stop all the
‘work’ of the enmity within him and fulfil (finish) the work that God required of man
in conformance to His word. This one was Jesus Christ who fulfilled the teaching of
the Sabbath in that not only did he stop the work of human nature in himself that had
ruled mankind for millennia but also he finished the work God set him to do - which
was to manifest the name of God in a mortal body by killing the enmity - the seed of
human nature. Thus he became the living Sabbath as Jesus testified, “For the Son of
man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12 v 8) and therefore in fulfilling it

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there was no further teaching to be gained from the celebration of that day, because
those who are baptised into Christ are baptised into him who was the Sabbath and
therefore they also are of the Sabbath day in heart and mind, having ceased (rested)
from the work of serving the enmity unto sin but alive unto service to God by
obedience (Romans 6 v 1-17).

Thus the first day of the seventh month was a day to stop the work of the flesh (chores
of subsistence) and consider the one who would redeem them from servitude to the
enmity and deliver them from that bondage to become servants of God for ever, thus
preparing the mind for the tenth day of this month that was the Day of Atonement, the
day when all sins were forgiven by God, “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month
there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye
shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Leviticus
23 v 27-32).

The commandment was to ‘afflict the soul’ on that tenth day where ‘afflict’ is a word
translated from the Hebrew that carried the sense of ‘humbling the heart and mind’
through the analogy of ploughing fallow ground, it literally means to ‘break up and
open the ground to receive air and light’ and is otherwise translated as the ‘furrow’
created by a plough blade. The same word is used in the Psalm by foretelling the
affliction that Jesus endured from the enmity in his enemies - a process that humbled
him more than any other man, “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long
their furrows” (Psalm 129) that in turn was in fulfilment of the later prophecy of
Isaiah, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53). Jeremiah and Hosea used the
same analogy when they were sent to appeal to sinners in Israel to repent, “For thus
saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns” (Jeremiah 4 v 3), and “Sow to yourselves in
righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the
LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye
have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy
way, in the multitude of thy mighty men” (Hosea 10 v 12-13).

The way that God provided for the affliction (humbling) was by fasting - a denying of
the satisfaction of the natural appetite as an analogy of refraining to satisfy the desire
of the cravings of the appetite of the enmity (the flesh) through temptation. David
knew the significance of fasting (that has become a ritualistic formality) when
speaking prophetically of his greater son Jesus Christ, “But as for me, when they were
sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting” (Psalm 35 v 13).

Thus the Day of Atonement was a day set apart for the congregation to do what
Jeremiah and Hosea later admonished them (to humble their hearts before God) in
order to set the tone of the forthcoming year, because it was on this day that the
trumpet of the Jubilee was to be sounded thus marking the commencement of a new
agricultural-pastoral year (in addition to the solar and lunar years mentioned
previously) and the way in which future centuries and millennia would be counted.
But firstly the Day of Atonement will be considered, the most significant day in the
calendar of the congregation and then the Jubilee will be considered.

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Atonement is literally ‘to cover’ in order to ‘protect’ or ‘obliterate from view’ a word
that is used extensively by God in covering and obliterating sin. This mercy of God is
channelled through one man (as then yet promised) - His beloved son Jesus Christ -
and it is only through the shed blood of that man by willing sacrifice in death that
atonement can be afforded by God, as God made clear in His law, “… … for it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17 v 11) and that Paul taught
when explaining the teaching of the law to Christians, “… … and without shedding of
blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9 v 22). This day was therefore the ‘Day of
forgiveness of sin through shed blood’ in order to teach the congregation that there
will be a day (yet future in the purpose of God) when the sins of men and women will
be covered and washed away and a new beginning free from sin will commence, a
time that is foretold in the Feast of Tabernacles that followed four days after this day
(to be considered next).

The blood that was to be shed for the atonement was from two animals, the first was a
bullock for a sin offering of the High Priest and the other from one of two goats for a
sin offering of the congregation (additionally there was to a burnt offering of a ram
each for High Priest and congregation, but whose blood was not to be used in the
atonement but sprinkled around about the altar of burnt offering). The order in which
the sacrifices were killed was specific (High Priest’s first and the congregation’s
second) and was to teach the congregation that God has set order to His purpose of
salvation in that there must first be a man who would make the way to salvation sure
after which others would follow. The High Priest represented Jesus Christ as has been
considered in chapter 6.19 (‘The High priest, the priests and their garments’) and his
sin offering was to be killed first, it was a bullock - a symbol of strength (see pp116-
117) and it’s blood was to be taken into the Most Holy place beyond the veil of the
Sanctuary. Entrance for any man within the veil was forbidden on pain of death
except on this one day of the year when the High Priest alone was to enter with the
smoke of incense and sprinkle the blood of his sin offering on the Mercy Seat on the
Ark of the Covenant and before the Ark seven times to signify the victory of Jesus
Christ over the enmity and his entry after his death into eternal life by resurrection
from the grave and from mortality to immortality (John 20 v 17, Acts 1 v 9-11). Thus
Jesus was the first-fruit of a new generation of righteous children of God, and he
alone achieved this according to the will of God as was prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah
66 v 7-9).

The High Priest was then to show furtherance of the purpose of God in the figure of
the two goats of the sin offering of the people “And he shall take the two goats, and
present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And
Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for
the scapegoat” (Leviticus 16 v 7-8). Of the two goats (the ‘LORD’s’) was to be killed
and it’s blood was then to be taken within the veil and be done with as he did with the
blood of the bullock of his own sin offering – no other man being present (Leviticus
16 v 17). The remaining blood and that of the ram of the people’s burnt offering was
to be put on the horns of the altar of burnt offering in the Court of the Tabernacle and
sprinkled seven times upon it. The goat represented Jesus Christ by whose shed blood
an entrance was made possible for the multitudinous companion of Jesus to enter into
the immortal state (Hebrews 10 v 19-22) after he was made immortal, and the ram of
the accompanying burnt offering represented his role as the male firstborn of the
collective multitudinous flock of God - a sacrifice of a sweet savour to God that

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promised one who would ‘possess the gate of his enemies’ or kill the enmity in the
head, as Abraham was shown (Genesis 23, Genesis 3 v 15).

The second goat was then to be taken to emphasise and confirm the purpose of God
through the sin offering in order to impress the promise of God in the minds of the
congregation that atonement of sins by the work of the High Priest within the
Tabernacle (out sight) was real, as they saw the second goat taken away into the
wilderness and let free. This word ‘goat’ has been translated from Hebrew to English
as the ‘scapegoat’ and has become synonymous with an innocent who takes the blame
for wrong in others and is derived from two Hebrew words - the ‘goat’ which name is
derived from ‘strength’ and literally a word meaning to ‘go away’. The qualities
associated with the goat have been considered previously (pp 57, 117 & 124) and
shown to represent Jesus Christ as the sin offering in that by his death he provided a
covering for his fellow’s sins that they should be hidden for ever from the sight of
God. This second goat (whose companion was sacrificed and whose blood was taken
into the Most Holy Place) was to have the sins of the congregation ‘laid’ upon its
head, “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the
hand of a fit man into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16 v 21). This action foretold the
work of Jesus that he would - although innocent of any sin - take the guilt of the sins
of others as though they were his own and fulfil the sentence of death passed upon
man by God because of sin, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”
(Isaiah 53).

Although there were two goats they represented (as one) the way that God purposed
to forgive the sins of man, by 1) acceptable sacrifice by the shed blood of a singular
righteous sinless life (blood) and 2) taking confessed sins of the congregation far
away by the direction of a ‘fit’ man. This word ‘fit’ is translated from a Hebrew word
meaning ‘without time’ or ‘for ever’, thus the second goat represented not just the
taking of sin away from man but taking it away for ever that can only mean the
promise of a change of nature from mortality to immortality. Jesus lived a life without
sin although tempted in all things as every other man (Hebrews 2 v 16-18, Hebrews 4
v 14-15), he died a violent death at the hand of his enemies - simply because of his
righteous example (Matthew 27 v 18) - and who shed his blood in that death, a
sentence Jesus willingly submitted to in order to publicly justify God’s sentence of
death on mortal man (Genesis 3 v 19) even though he was without sin. Jesus faith was
that with such a sacrifice God would cover, forgive and wash away the sins of those
who endeavoured to serve God but failed in weakness, which mercy would be
manifest in resurrection from the grave and that he would be the forerunner - who
after resurrection from the grave would then be given everlasting life. This was the
teaching of the two goats of the sin offering of the Day of Atonement, the sacrificed
goat and the scapegoat “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you,
to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD” (Leviticus
16 v 30) and heralded a day yet to come in the purpose of God when all sins will be
forgiven for ever as taught in the Revelation, “And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21 v 4).

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It was an annual reminder of a new beginning promised by God and was marked by
the herald of the blowing of the trumpet of the jubilee.

Jubilee
The Hebrew word for the bible-word ‘Jubile’ (now used as ‘Jubilee’ - as a year of
celebration) comes from the root word ‫ ער‬meaning to ‘break in pieces’ as in breaking
an established order - like a shrill sound breaks the stillness of air (Parkhurst Hebrew
Lexicon, 1811, pp691-692). The word is also used in the second Psalm that foretells
the completion of the work of God in establishing His kingdom on earth by the hand
of His son Jesus Christ at his second coming, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of
iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel” (Psalm 2) and again by
Daniel in the interpretation of the vision of Nebuchadnezzar of the ‘great image’ that
foretold the succession of human world rulerships that would supersede each other
until the second coming of Christ to establish the kingdom of God on earth, “Thou
sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his
feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces” (Daniel 2). Thus the
trumpet of the jubilee was the penetrating sound that heralded a break from the
established order of the previous fifty years where sin dominated the congregation.
Thus the jubilee (heralded by the trumpet sound) marked a new beginning to teach the
congregation that there will be a time when a new order of righteousness will be
established on earth when the old order of the enmity dominating the mind of man
will be broken and ended. The same herald was referred to by Paul was teaching of
the resurrection of the friends of Jesus from mortality to immortality, “In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15 v 50-57)
and “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1
Thessalonians 4 v 16-17).

Therefore on this day of Atonement a trumpet sound - marking the start of the fifty-
year jubilee - was to be sounded throughout the land, “Then shalt thou cause the
trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of
atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land” (Leviticus 25 v
9). The trumpet sound represents the voice of God, clear, sharp and of perfect fidelity
as considered in chapter 10.1 (Silver and horned trumpets, pp149-151). The sound
specific to this day was the voice of promise of everlasting release from bondage into
sin by change for mortality to immortality. To the congregation the sound of the
Jubilee trumpet was the herald of a year of release from debt and servitude to a
neighbour due to impoverishment, it was a time when all debts were cancelled, all
sold possessions were returned to their original owners, all sold lands were returned to
the family who inherited it from their forefathers and all servants returned to their
independent inheritances, to teach them of the future release from spiritual
impoverishment through service to sin by the sin offering and scapegoat Jesus Christ
who would take their sins away for ever.

The period of a jubilee was 50 years, thus the value of all lands, goods and
possessions sold because of poverty were valued according to the time left to the next
Jubilee, more years the more value, and less value for less years. The 50 year period
was divided into seven, seven-year periods each marked by a year in which no work
was to be done, so not only did men and women rest but equally the animals and the

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land rested also, “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy
vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of
rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor
prune thy vineyard” (Leviticus 25 v 3-4). Thus the seventh year was a period for the
congregation to have time to reflect on the mercy and power of God and refresh their
faith in the future deliverance from mortality to immortality by the one man that God
would raise up from their progeny. There was a cycle of repeating seven year periods
that brought the people to the year before the Jubilee, “And thou shalt number seven
sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven
sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the
trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of
atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land” (Leviticus 25 v
8-9). Thus 49 years passed and the trumpet of the Jubilee was sounded on the tenth
day of the seventh month of the 49th year and heralded the 50th year as another year of
rest, thus the 49th and 50th years were years of rest.

This fifty-year period became the anchor year for counting the passage of time and the
foretelling of future as seen from Ezekiel and Daniel’s writings, “Now it came to pass
in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month… …” (Ezekiel 1
v 1) where the ‘thirtieth’ year is counted from the previous Jubilee year (622BC), and
Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Daniel 9 v 24) where the ‘seventy weeks’
signifies 70 periods - Jubilee periods - making 3500 years to the second coming of
Christ from the inception of this law in 1472BC. As further waypoints, it can be noted
that (with Ezekiel dating it at 622BC – 30-592) Josephus records a Jubilee in 22AD
thus making the first advent of Jesus at the start of his ministry as 28AD Note that
there is always a minimum two-year error in computing any date from BC to AD,
therefore all dated quoted cannot be absolute but approximate).

The jubilee year was a foretaste of the kingdom of God that His son Jesus will
establish when God sends him back to the earth at the time appointed by God. Thus to
celebrate this promised time the congregation were commanded to keep the feast of
Tabernacles.

10.5 Feast of Tabernacles

This was the third of the three feasts that were to be kept each year, “Three times in a
year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall
choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of
tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty” (Deuteronomy 16 v
16). It was also called the feast of ingathering (Exodus 23 v 16) and began on the
fifteenth day of the seventh month - five days after the Day of Atonement. It was a
feast that every year reminded the congregation of the significance of the 50-year
Jubilee – a time when the peace of the kingdom of God should come and to celebrate
that time they were commanded to dwell in booths for the seven day period, “Ye shall
dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths”
(Leviticus 23 v 42). The booth was to be a temporary shelter of interwoven boughs of
trees as it is written, “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees,

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branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and
ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days” (Leviticus 23 v 40).

The booth
The booth was literally a cover of intertwined boughs and branches cut from living
trees, interwoven to form a dome or similar structure in construction like a basket,
where the leaves of the boughs would create a green covering to keep out wind and
rain.

A ‘booth’ literally means ‘to cover’ as a protection and many materials can be used
for a covering, but the word ‘booth’ used in this sense had a more significant
meaning. The Psalmist uses the word to describe the covering provided by a woman
to her developing foetus in her womb - literally a place of covering and protection, but
more than that it is a cocoon of safety where that which is covered can develop as a
living image of God, where the same word is used as ‘womb’, “For thou hast
possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139 v 13).
David was speaking allegorically of Jesus Christ whose conception was by direct
intervention of God (Matthew 1 v 20-23), but whose development was by natural
means of a mortal woman as created by God. The Psalmist then continues to sing not
only of the development of the child (Jesus Christ) in the womb of the protection of
God, but the members of his multitudinous companion (the saints) also who will make
up the composite body of righteousness of whom Jesus is the head (Ephesians 4 v 11-
16). So the theme of ‘covering’ as in a booth continued - first in the singular (Christ)
then the plural (the saints) - “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well (singular). My
substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in
the lowest parts of the earth (singular). Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being
unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were
fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (plural) (Psalm 139 v 14-16) where
‘in continuance’ means day by day or generation by generation until the body of
righteousness is complete. In this protection the Psalmist sought refuge, “For thou
hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy
tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings” (Psalm 61 v 3-4)

The result of this protective covering generation after generation will be seen in the
kingdom of God when all those permitted to live there will “… … sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth
of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it” (Micah 4 v 1-4). Thus the feast of Tabernacles
was the feast of booths or the feast of dwelling under the protection of God that will
be complete in the future kingdom on earth.

The feast began and ended with a holy convocation, one on the first day and the other
on the eighth day. The first to seven days were to be days of offerings - burnt
offerings, sin offerings, bread (meat) offerings, and drink (wine) offerings, all of
which represented different qualities of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christs as has
been described previously. There was however a special order of sacrifice. Each day
two rams and fourteen lambs as burnt offerings were to be accompanied by a
descending number of bullocks each day terminating in seven bullocks on the seventh
day, thus making 70 bullocks in all, in addition to one goat as a sin offering each day,
where seventy represents seniority of counsel.

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Thus was concluded the annual cycle of feasts to teach the congregation the purpose
of God in raising up a redeemer to deliver them - and all who join themselves to the
covenant of God - from an eternal grave.

11) The law of civil behaviour - Ten Commandments

The commandments that have become known as the ‘Ten Commandments’ were
given by God firstly as a requirement to reverence God and secondly, for the
foundation of the code of civil behaviour. They are the expression of the mind of God
of how He expects man to revere Him in response to all that God has done, and for
man to live in peace with his neighbours.

The first four commandment were encapsulated into one command by Jesus “The first
of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12 v 29-30).

These four commandments are;

1) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”
(Deuteronomy 6 v 4-5)
2) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20 v 3).“Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20 v
45)
3) “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20 v 7)
4) “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do
all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God” (Exodus
20 v 8-11)

These are the foundation of all the other commandments, rituals and ordinances of the
law, without which the whole law would have no meaning but become a mere code of
conduct open to individual interpretation. Within these four commands are contained
the need to fear God - without which it is impossible to please God (it must be
remembered that it is within the capabilities of all men and women to keep commands
without understanding why they are kept but to blindly follow convention, tradition or
familiarity). Reverence and fear are interchangeable terms where the original Hebrew
word translated as ‘fear’ is not terror as of an inferior to an angry God but the Hebrew
word ‘to revere, respect and tremble’ where ‘to tremble’ means ‘to respond’ as used
in Isaiah “…..but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66 v 2) where to ‘tremble’ is not through
terror but as a leaf trembles (flutters) in the breeze, hence the sense of response
without resistance to the movement of the Holy Spirit through His words and
commands in the conscience (Romans 2 v 13-15). ‘Fear’ was used by Job as the
foundation of wisdom, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart
from evil is understanding” (Job 28 v 28) and Solomon in the Proverbs, “The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction”

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(Proverbs 1 v 7) and the Psalmist linked fear to forgiveness, “If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou
mayest be feared” (Psalm 130 v 3-4).

1) Thou shalt love the LORD thy God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy
6 v 4-5)

It is not possible to revere God without believing who He is, and it is not possible to
fear Him if it is not known how and through whom He manifests Himself - by His
will and commands, and it is not possible to revere Him if it is not understood that the
love that God manifests to man is not in man by nature but can only be received from
God via His chosen manifestation and reflected back by a life of reverence, respect
and fear.

In the first commandment all these links are revealed and whilst a detailed knowledge
of these links is not necessary to be able to fear God, the spirit of those links must be
the foundation of all obedience and worship - where that ‘spirit’ comes spontaneously
in a humble and contrite heart as God promised, “For thus saith the high and lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57 v 15).

The spirit of reverential worship is contained in the first of those four commands,
“Thou shalt love the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 6 v 5). The three words ‘LORD’,
‘God’ and ‘love’ are the three links (mentioned above) of 1) who the LORD is, 2)
through whom He manifests himself, and 3) the love that is unique to the LORD
which He manifests to man.

The Hebrew word ‘LORD’ translated and printed in uppercase refers to the single
creator and sustainer of heaven and earth who is self-existent and eternal. It is the
Hebrew word ‘Jehovah’, ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Yah’ simply meaning ‘to exist’ or ‘to subsist’ -
that is to exist without any external assistance, in other words the source of life. It
comes from the root Hebrew word for the name that God gave to Moses at the
burning bush in order to describe Himself and His work with His people. That name
was ‘I AM’ and is not just a name such as all men and women have but a description
of a character, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3 v 14).
The meaning of ‘I AM’ is He who existed, does exist and will exist - eternal, self -
existing and the source of life. It is a singular name.

The word translated ‘God’ (uppercase and lowercase letters) is the Hebrew word
‘elohim’ - a plural word - derived from a singular word ‘El’ (pronounced ‘ail’) - the
singular word meaning strength and mighty and that refers to the ‘LORD’ alone from
whom all strength (energy) comes. Elohim (God) is the plural of that word (He who
was, is and will be) thus teaching that the LORD was 1) manifest through many (the
angels - in creation), 2) is manifest through many (angels – in directing the course of
history, Daniel 4 v 17) and 3) will be manifest through many both by the angels

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(preparing the final theatre of the nations for the return of Jesus Christ to the earth),
but most importantly - the son of God - Jesus Christ - who came to manifest the
character of the ‘LORD’ and ‘El’ in a mortal body. This he did by killing the enmity
(human nature, the devil, Satan, etc.) within himself - once and for all - and once and
for all for those that join him. Of this work Jesus told the Jews “Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad…..Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8 v 56-58) where ‘I am’ is that singular name God
gave to Moses at the burning bush. The Jews knew what he said for they attempted to
stone him for blasphemy in a misguided attempt to fulfil the fourth commandment,
“thou shalt not take the name of the LORD in vain”.

Thus the LORD revealed in His name - ‘I AM’ (He that was, is and will be) that He
would be manifest (then future) for all to see as a physical witness to what His
character was and who He is, and this was the work that the LORD raised up Jesus to
do (Emmanuel - Isaiah 7 v 14-15). It was a work that the LORD approved of when He
said at the baptism of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”
(Matthew 3 v 17) and again when Jesus was transfigured before his disciples, “This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matthew 17 v 5) and that
Jesus confirmed to his disciples “….he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John
14 v 9) and that Jesus said when he prayed to God before his crucifixion, “I have
glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do……I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (John
17:4-6). Paul later wrote of that work, “And without controversy great is the mystery
of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1
Timothy 3:16), and again that Jesus became ‘so much better than the angels’, “For
unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?”
(Hebrews 1 v 5). Thus the LORD was, is, and will be manifest in the angels - but pre-
eminently - is and will be manifest through Jesus Christ, and in the fullness of the
purpose of God will be manifest through the saints by Jesus Christ.

That is what is taught in the name ‘God’ (elohim) and by that name the love (the third
link mentioned above) of the LORD is manifest - the love that man is commanded to
reflect by reverence of the LORD through God (elohim) now seen in Jesus Christ.
The love that the LORD has for man is described by Solomon, “for love is strong as
death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a
most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown
it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
contemned” (Song of Solomon 8 v 6-7). Death is stronger than man, but not stronger
than the LORD (hereinafter God) in that God is eternal - the source of life and able to
raise the dead to everlasting life according to his promise to faithful men and women,
therefore this love is the love of God not man and is the foundation of salvation.
Solomon continued, ‘Jealousy is cruel as the grave’. God is a jealous God (Exodus 34
v 14) and the grave is non-negotiable or ever satiated (Proverbs 30 v 15-16) thus the
love of God will make no compromise with evil or negotiate with any other ‘lover’
for shared affection – not something natural to man but who must reflect the love of
God if salvation is hoped for. That love is also a burning fire, ‘the coals thereof are
coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame’, where ‘most vehement flame’
literally means a ‘flame of Jah’ and describes the intensity of that love (as being of the

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LORD – Yah) as consuming all opposition in any form after the description of God
from whom this love comes. “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a
jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4 v 24, Hebrews 12 v 29). Water extinguishes fire but the
love that God shows to man cannot be extinguished other than by the recipient, ‘Many
waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it’ and once resident in the
heart of man only they can allow it to be quenched (Jeremiah 20 v 9). This love is
beyond any value that man can put on it, it is for the poor in heart and spirit whether
materially rich (Job) or destitute (mortal Jesus Christ), and so Solomon said of the
love of God ‘if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would
utterly be contemned’.

Jesus taught his disciples and through them all who seek salvation, “If a man love me,
he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and
make our abode with him” (John 14:23) and that love is the love that emanates from
God and is the subject of the first commandment, as Jesus continued that thread,
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15:13) and that John further recorded, “Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins….. We love
him, because he first loved us” and that, “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him” (I John 4).

Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit through the love of God in a
mortal woman and was born in order to manifest the love of God in a mortal body and
it was he who differentiated between the love that man has by nature for his fellow
and all other things, and the love that is from God (in the original text the words for
these differing types of love - the Greek ‘phileo’ and ‘agape’ respectively are both
translated as ‘love’). Jesus taught this differentiation in his words to Peter when he
asked him to ‘feed his sheep’ just before his ascension into heaven, “….lovest (agape)
thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love
(phileo) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agape) thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou
knowest that I love (phileo) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him
the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (phileo) thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, Lovest (phileo) thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. Jesus saith
unto him, Feed my sheep” (John 21 v 15-17).

The words Jesus spoke were in Hebrew but were translated into Greek and then into
English for the New Testament. There are two words (love) used in this passage - as
shown - ‘agape’ and ‘phileo’. The love of God is ‘agape’ and the love in man by
nature is ‘phileo’. The pre-eminent word ‘love’ used in these passages is from the
Greek ‘agape’ which in turn is a translation from the spoken Hebrew word ‘agab’
meaning to ‘be joined as one’ even as God created woman (Eve) out of man (Adam)
of whom Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”
(Genesis 2 v 23-24) as in the root sense of ‘agape’ - ‘be joined as one’.

Thus God created man and woman to co-join physically in the irrevocable vow of
fidelity of marriage as a consummation of their love for each other, to teach man of

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the higher love that God has for mankind, thus adultery in any form is an abomination
to God (Leviticus 20 v 10, Matthew 5 v 27-28). When God created mankind He
intended them to be at one with Him in character (as a co-joined man and wife should
be) and as such God loved man above all creation as a husband loves his wife, and He
separated the children of Israel to fulfil the figure of that purpose as Isaiah wrote,
“For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the
Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called” (Isaiah 54 v 5),
where the word ‘husband’ is be ‘lord and master’ as Sarah obeyed Abraham (1 Peter
3 v 5-6).

Due to man’s infidelity the unity between God and man was broken (Genesis chapters
1, 2 & 3), but God saw a greater son who would be united to Him by irrevocable vow
in reflection of the love that God had for mankind and that that love would unite them
(God and man) as one (John 17). That co-joining united love is the love that is
‘stronger than death’ a shadow of which God has given man and woman in that they
have the ability to love exclusively unto death but no further (Ecclesiastes 9 v 5-6)
whereas the love of God goes beyond the grave by resurrection unto eternal life
(Matthew 22 v 31-32). That is the love with which God requires man to love him but
that has been repeatedly broken by infidelity in every man and woman except Jesus
Christ and it was that love that motived Jesus to keep and obey every command of
God in reverence and fear even unto premature death.

The love that is in man by nature (that Peter had – see above) is ‘phileo’ described in
Strong’s Concordance as ‘to be a friend, to be fond of [an individual or an object]),
i.e. have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or
feeling); while agape is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate
assent of the will as a matter of principle’. Thus ‘phileo’ is the love that man has for
the expression of his every emotion without the need to unite as one with the object or
person loved - the only love that Peter understood at that time. ‘Agape’ (that Peter at
that stage did not understand, but later did) refers to the love that God has for
righteous man that can be absorbed and reflected by man by fear and reverence. This
teaches that a man or women must grow into the love of God by increasing reverence
and fear for Him throughout the life, a fear sensitised through forgiveness of
transgressions and sins, and reverence intensified from a greater understanding of the
magnanimity of God.

Thus to embrace the love of God is to keep His commandments through Jesus Christ
by baptism (the irrevocable vow of fidelity). Jesus alone revered and feared God
perfectly making the first commandment the foundation of faith unto salvation by
unswerving belief in the one LORD who is manifest through God (plural) - the angels
and in fulfilment of his work - Jesus Christ, and yet to be manifest in the saints
through Jesus, after which God (the LORD) will be all and in all as Paul wrote, “And
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15 v
28).

For baptism to be meaningful it must be intelligent (Acts 8 v 30-38) and confirmed by

the spoken words of fidelity and faith with understanding, “See, here is water; what
doth hinder me to be baptized? If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And
he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8 v 36-37),

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and as Jesus instructed his disciples, “….baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28 v 19). It must be noted that there
is a pernicious and damnable doctrine that states that these three are one, but the
Father is the LORD (singular), the Son is Jesus Christ (singular) and the Holy Ghost
(or Spirit) is the Spirit of God with which He created the universe with which He
sustains it in being and with which He is preparing a people to inherit it for ever
(Ephesians 4 v 4-6).

When the love of God is resident in a humble heart the love is so strong that even if it
feels through trials and difficulties that one is rejected by God that one will still love
Him as Job did in the depths of his trials, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
but I will maintain mine own ways before him” (Job 13 v 15), and the greatest terror
such a humble heart will have is that God has removed His love from them as Job
again experienced, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that
which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3 v 25). Job was never forsaken by God
as indeed Jesus was never forsaken, but God puts all his children through such
varying degrees of testing experiences in order to prove the strength of their love for
Him, but as James wrote, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard
of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful,
and of tender mercy” (James 5 v 10-11) because God has said in His love, “I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13 v 5).

This is the joy, happiness and rejoicing contained in the promise and keeping of the
first commandment, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might” (Deuteronomy 6 v 4-5).

11.2 The second commandment

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20 v 3), and “For thou shalt
worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20 v 3-5, Exodus
34 v 14).

The word ‘gods’ and ‘god’ is from the Hebrew ‘elowahh’ a singular word for any god
and is defined by the word ‘worship’ that means ‘to do reverence’, ‘to prostrate
before’, ‘to make obeisance to’, to ‘fall down before’ or to acknowledge any superior
(object or concept) that has power or influence over the worshipper for good or bad.

Worship of many gods is endemic in human nature (nobody is excepted) it is part of

the enmity placed in mankind because of Adam and Eve’s worship of the serpent in
the beginning, because he (and Eve) did reverence to the serpents apparent superior
knowledge when the serpent said regarding the command of God, “For God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3 v 5). This lie of the serpent became the seed
of the enmity that God then placed in man and is known as human nature, the devil,
Satan, the ‘world’, the ‘old man’ and many more descriptive names. From this sprang
all manner of imagined deities as mankind regenerated the earth, most notably

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manifest in the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), but no deity greater or more pernicious
concept of god is the worship of man - either a fellow human being or self. Jeremiah
was told, “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let
the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these
things I delight, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 9 v 23-24).

Glorification of fellow-man (or of self) is worship and is a result of pride in man’s

ability to disregard the one true singular God (the LORD) who demands obeisance in
return for life, and man so turns to his own imagination and power of reasoning (the
enmity) as the Psalmist wrote, “They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with
flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all
flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our
tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” (Psalm 12 v 2-4).
Deities (gods) are therefore manifest in any form that the imagination of man chooses
from objects of wood, stone and metal (Isaiah 44 v 8-22) to concepts of the mind such
as evolution, agnosticism, atheism, humanism, occult and any other pseudo-religious
or cosmic superstition, but the most insidious is worship of self through pride.

In a modern note, it is often national and commercial educational policy to propagate

the theories of evolution based on ‘Big Bang’ theory. This theory is discounted by the
physics community as not possible due to the fact that the mathematics of the full
scale of the ‘Big bang’ become unstable and that 100 or so elements of the Periodic
Table (the array of atoms that make up everything) could not have been created in a
single explosion. Some elements are formed by fusion (combining two elements by
intense heat and pressure – e.g. 1+1 H = 1 He) and some by fission (breaking down
those already in existence - e.g. U238 - Pb) where the heat and pressure of fusion
would evaporate those formed by fission and those formed by fusion do not
breakdown or else there would be no sun and therefore no life. Propagation of such
theories is worship of the ‘god’- mammon and cannot be entertained by any who
believe in God as Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6 v 24).

Those who decry the truth of the Bible record that God created the heavens and the
earth in six literal days have not read the first chapter of Genesis correctly. The Bible
is a book of many facets - it is not a ‘once-upon-a-time’ story book, it is a book of
historical record, it is a book of civil conduct, it is a book of prophetic fact and above
all it is a book of symbols that are patterns of future events - designed by God to be
sought out and interpreted by uncomplicated minds, as Jesus said, “I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in
thy sight” (Luke 10:21).

Genesis chapter 1 is both a record of fact (creation) and pattern or symbol for future
events (a new creation, Isaiah 65 v 17-25). God purposed to create - in 6000 years - a
race of people that were righteous by the sacrifice of one man, a race of people that
would prove their worthiness to be eternal and to pre-figure that period God divided
the Genesis creation record into six symbolic ‘days – evenings and mornings’. With

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careful thought it will be seen that the ‘evenings and morning (days)’ are simply
symbolic because the sun was not created until the fourth day so therefore there was
no means of measuring the time of ‘evenings and mornings’ of days 1, 2 & 3 that are
understood by man, because a ‘day’ is a revolution of the earth on its orbit around the
sun. The period of those ‘evening and mornings’ of the first three days are unknown
to our experience, they could be millions/billions of ‘equivalent’ years or eternity (no
time) - man cannot speculate, they were ‘times’ (periods) known only to God and
definitely not ‘days’ as we understand them. Therefore fossil records and scientific
dating methods do not contradict the Bible record that God (the only superior God)
created the heavens and the earth, all they do is speculate on a relative date of all
things in terms of man’s experience of going round the sun.

Before the sun existed (claimed by man to be 6.3 billion ‘revolutions-of-the-earth-on–

its-orbit-around-the-sun’ in Big Bang theory) there is no way of measuring time
therefore the propagators of ‘Big Bang’ or any other such theory as 13 plus billion
years ago is nonsense because there was no sun to measure that passage of time
(13.6b – 6.3b), time was infinity (incomprehensible to man, but not to God) - all that
can be agreed is that incomprehensible ‘infinity’ is ‘that which is finite
(comprehensible) – but without boundaries’, in other words in man’s present state of
knowledge we do not know infinity until the boundaries of our finite knowledge are
expanded.

It can be considered that the universe (cosmos) is spherical as has been predicted, that
it is at present expanding as proposed by mathematical science, but that it is a
dynamic system (the earth and all things thereon and in are in constant movement) in
that it is not static but in constant expansive and contractive activity, and not just
expanding from an explosion and that it is a small cosmos within a larger system
hitherto unknown to man, such that our universe is surrounded by a greater system
wherein God dwells and where all energy for the cosmos comes and is anchored, such
that if we were able to be in the bigger system and view the earth-bound cosmos it
would be analogous us viewing present-day nano-engineering as developed by man
(nano-engineering is making structures on the scale just above atomic (angstrom)
level, it is an established manufacturing discipline).

Propagation and dissemination of evolution and ‘Big Bang’ theory in any form
including any of the time-lines attached is worship of other gods (mammon) and a
denial of the one true singular God and thus the second commandment continued.

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20 v 45)

There has never been (nor is there to be) any physical representation of God in any
form whatsoever in heaven or earth. Although a real and living God, because of the
sins of man and the curse of God upon him He cannot be seen by man as God told
Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus
33 v 20) nor can there be any representation of Him according to the second
command. Paul later glorified God as being unseen and said, “Now unto the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and
ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1 v 17).

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God, the LORD, the source of all power, light and life is to be ‘seen’ only by faith. He
is a God of faith while-so-ever man is mortal and subject to the rule of the enmity. In
the fullness of the purpose of God - when God has removed all sins from His people
through Jesus Christ - He will be seen by those thus blessed, “And they shall see his
face; and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22 v 4). Faith is the
practical demonstration of convicted belief, “Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11 v 1) and is manifest through
a life of reverence for God by obeying His will through His word as manifest in Jesus
Christ who came to show the character of God in a mortal body as he told his
disciples, “….he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14 v 9). Without a life
demonstrating faith that manifests a convicted belief in God all ‘worship’ of God is
vain as it is written, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11 v 6).

The second commandment therefore forbade any representation of God other than a
life of faith in Him by belief in the (then future) Son who would manifest His
character through demonstration of His name by practical interpretation of the word
of God, “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin” (Exodus 34 v 6-7). This commandment (as all the Ten
Commandments) is still valid to this day, thus dedicated churches, cathedrals,
edifices, religious artifacts, crosses, ribbons, fish symbols, religious tomes, relics,
images and any such article are transgressions of this law of God and a blasphemy of
His name. Even the Holy Bible is not to be revered to such an extent that it becomes
an object worship, nor the bread and wine of the communion. The Bible containing
the word of God is to be revered but only to be the director to worship of God and the
communion bread and wine are symbols of faith in the life, victory and death of Jesus
Christ.

11.3 The third commandment.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20 v 7)

The name of God is not an appellative such a men and women identify themselves but
a description of His character and to count that description as an empty name without
appreciating or applying it’s power or meaning is to ‘take the name of the Lord thy
God in vain’. The words containing that description (God, Lord, Almighty) are to be
used with absolute respect and never in the form of a curse, in humour, in stress or as
an expletive.

God told Moses the meaning of His name, “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means
clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the
children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34 v 6-7).

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Because of the inherent spiritual blindness of mankind to see the power of God in
creation and the promises of salvation that make up His name, God purposed to raise
up a son in His image and likeness who would show to all people what the
magnanimity of the name of God was - who would fill his mortal body with the image
and likeness of the character of God as a living witness. Thus Jesus came to manifest
that name in a mortal body as a witness to all generations in order to glorify God in
that there is a God who is the source of those attributes seen in nature and in the hope
of salvation. All therefore who are joined to God by in faith in Jesus Christ must show
the same characteristics in their life after Jesus example. Failure to do so while
bearing the name of God and Christ (a Christian) is to ‘take the name of the Lord in
vain’.

By his life, miracles, parables and teaching Jesus demonstrated mercy, grace, long
suffering, goodness, truth and forgiveness - attributes that are the meaning of the
name of God.

Jesus showed ‘mercy’ to repentant sinners to teach that God shows mercy to those
who do not hide the shame of their guilt from Him. He demonstrated the mercy of
God to the woman who hid not her shame publicly before the self-righteous religious
elders of her day who despised for doing so, but Jesus said for all to hear, “Wherefore
I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to
whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Luke 7 v 37-48). The mercy of God is
not toleration of wrongdoing (as practiced by man) but means to ‘embrace’ and
‘enclose’ for protection those who acknowledge their need for protection, and in so
doing it means to ‘feel for’, ‘to share suffering’, ‘to empathise’ as the Psalmist wrote
of God, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103 v 13-14)
and of whom Paul enjoined, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10 v 13).

Jesus came in compassion to administer mercy to the humble who cast their sinful
guilt upon God in open-hearted faith that He will forgive them, even as the father who
would not be diverted from his cries for help in the healing of his sick son ‘… Lord, I
believe; help thou mine unbelief” Mark 9 v 24). Jesus however came in righteous
anger against the proud who practiced rituals and traditions as being more important
that faith in God, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe
of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
undone”. James followed with the teaching that he had learned from Jesus, “For he
shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment” (James 2 v 13).

No greater mercy did Jesus show than that he fulfilled the will of God (inherent in His
name), that God purposed to forgive the sins (unto salvation) of many faithful men
and women by the death of His son who - in that death - would overcome and kill all
temptations of the enmity – the enemy of God, “Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15 v 13) and so Jesus taught, “And
this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth

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on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6 v
40). That same mercy is extant to this day where Jesus is the mediator between
faithful man and God by appealing to Him to forgive their sins and increase their
spiritual strength, (Hebrews 4 v 14-16, John 14 v 16 & 26).

The ‘grace’ of God displayed in His name was demonstrated by Jesus when he
showed ‘grace’ to people he never previously knew, people who followed him in his
work - often not for spiritual healing but to satisfy their hunger and heal their
sicknesses, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them,
because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd”, and
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease
among the people” (Matthew 9 v 35-36). Thus he fed twelve thousand ‘strangers’
(five thousand and the seven thousand) because he had compassion on them. He said
that they were ‘as sheep with no shepherd’ and taught them that the grace of the name
of God was that Jesus would provide spiritual food and would lead (shepherd) them in
the way of salvation. He taught them that although they naturally hungered after food
there was a ‘bread-of-life’ that he could provide that would sustain them in the
spiritually barren wilderness of life and, that as they ate fish so God was seeking a
few to be separated from the turbulent sea of mankind who would be of that food of
life (John 6 v 48, Mark 1 v 17).

‘Grace’ is kindness and Jesus testified of God his Father whose character he
displayed in his mortal body, “… for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil”
(Luke 6 v 35) fulfilling what Joel had taught, “… turn unto the Lord your God: for he
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of
the evil” (Joel 2 v 13). The grace of the name of God is seen every day in life, food
and the ability to enjoy the beauties of creation, but more importantly in the gift of the
word of God in the Holy Bible for all who seek God to read and understand what His
purpose is and how to serve Him in faith unto salvation from the grave, “So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10 v 17).

The full beauty of the mercy and grace of God is seen in His ‘long-suffering’ as
shown by Jesus with those who were slow to understand the magnanimity of the name
of God that he came to show and the benevolence that had been prophesied in all
scripture of which they had learned but not understood and the patience that God has
shown for generations even to this day. Jesus waited for the faith of his disciples to
grow and mature and was patient in their weaknesses such that he was caused to say,
‘O ye of little faith …’ (Luke 12 v 28), but he never abandoned them but nurtured
them as God nurtures those who trust Him. To this day that slowness of understanding
is patiently endured by God and Jesus as they wait for the fruition of the work of the
Holy Spirit in the sanctifying of a few people who will be raised to immortality to be
companions of Jesus for ever, for God has said, “The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3 v 9-15).

Knowledge and understanding of God and His purpose do not come easily, but over
much time of reading the word of God and experiencing its significance and then only
with experience and knowledge of the treachery of the heart and mind - human nature
(Jeremiah 17 v 9). Nobody has been ‘saved’ in an instant of time, but salvation comes

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from a process of preparation by learning and experience (1 Peter 1 v 4-8, Ephesians 4

v 15). The disciples of Jesus knew the law and the promises, but did not understand
the workings of human nature - the enmity. Understanding the enmity and its
workings is a slow process where the more the temptations of the enmity are
overcome, the more its wiles are understood (Ephesians 6 v 11) and as they are one by
one understood then the overcoming of them can continue.

In this long work the patience and long-suffering of God is shown in that He gives a
little more of His Holy Spirit to open the ‘eyes’ of understanding enough to be able to
identify the treachery of the enmity and to kill it with the word of God as Jesus did
(Matthew 4). Jesus demonstrated this long-suffering with those disciples when he
said, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees”
(Matthew 16 v 6). The disciples understood Jesus to mean that they had no bread, but
Jesus was patient with their ignorance and explained the scriptural significance of
leaven as representing the enmity at work in the heart and mind that fills it and causes
it to swell up in pride and arrogance as did the religious leaders of their day. The work
each member has to do is to overcome that enmity (Revelation 2 v 7, 11, 17 & 26 and
3 v 5, 12, & 21) and that is a miracle that can only be done by allowing the given
measures of the Holy Spirit to work, it is a work of overcoming that is likened to a
farmer preparing and maintaining his ground so that good seed can grow and
nurturing it until the harvest (Jeremiah 4 v 3, Hosea 10 v 12, Matthew 13).

As the great husbandman, God is waiting for a ‘harvest’ of righteous people and He
has provided the means in His word to break up the hardness of the enmity in the
heart so that the effects of His word can flourish, and as a husbandmen He is waiting
patiently for fruits or righteousness to come from that seed and as such is waiting for
the full preparation of a righteous family to be made ready through His firstborn son
Jesus Christ. James used this analogy to describe the ‘long-suffering’ quality of the
name of God, “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain” (James 5 v 7).
The first-fruit of that harvest was Jesus Christ who without fault overcame the enmity
within him and allowed the full glory of the word of God to be seen in his life and
death showing ‘long-suffering’ to those who had not the strength that he had, but
succoured them in their suffering, most notably in Peter who denied him thrice (Luke
22 v 31-34 & 55-62) and yet loved him.

The ‘long suffering’ of God reveals the ‘goodness’ of God for everyone to see - but
few rarely do, so God sent Jesus to openly demonstrate His ‘goodness’. The Hebrew
word for ‘goodness’ comes from the root word to ‘bend to an inferior’ or ‘to stoop in
kindness’, thus it is written of God, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107 v 8-9). This is a
daily witness of God who gives life (and takes it away) with food to every creature in
order to nourish and preserve the species so that they beautify the earth. Following
that figure God provides spiritual nourishment by His recorded word and the gift of
His Spirit to those who seek Him in order that the attributes of their characters
become like His name. Jesus came to demonstrate the character of God in a mortal
body where the ‘goodness’ of God was seen in all his ministrations in that he
appealed to all people whether rich or poor. His appeal was to the poor in spirit and
the humble of heart to whom he said “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy

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laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light” (Matthew 11 v 28-30).

The poor in spirit and the humble of heart acknowledge the guilt of their sins and bear
that guilt with shame. The guilt of sin is a burden all faithful men and women carry
and it is this that sets them apart from religious hypocrites, where the more humble
the heart is the greater the burden of guilt, such that without the ‘goodness’ of God
the burden would be too great to carry. To fully understand the ‘goodness’ of God it
is necessary to look to Jesus in which it was fulfilled and through whom forgiveness
of sin and removal of the burden is made possible, because he overcame all
temptation to sin and made a way possible for sinners to be forgiven by giving
himself as a perfect living sacrifice so that the sins of others could be blotted out for
ever in fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah of the words of God, “Is not this the fast
that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and
to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou
seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh?” (Isaiah 58). Thus Jesus fulfilled the ‘goodness’ of God in a mortal body in
that he came to ‘bend to an inferior’ and ‘to stoop in kindness’ to the sinful, he came
to ‘bind up the broken hearted’ as Isaiah also wrote, “The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61 v 1-3, Luke 4 v 18-19).

In addition to mercy, grace, long suffering and abundant goodness, the name of God
means to be ‘… abundant in … truth’. The Hebrew word ‘truth’ comes from the root
‘to support’ and ‘sustain with absolute reliability’ - as a faithful parent reliably cares
for its child without falsehood or deception but with a fierce defence against
predators. The enmity is the predator of the hearts and minds of all men and women -
the wild tempter that steels the heart and mind away from open obedience to God as
Peter later described, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5 v 6-9). Jesus
said that the word of God is ‘truth’ (John 17 v 17) and finally testified before Pilate
“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth” (John 18 v 37).

Jesus came to fulfil the word of ‘truth’ and to manifest its power in a mortal life such
that he became the word of God (John 1 v 14) - the name of God in a mortal body,
and out of that word Jesus made possible the hope of salvation from an eternal grave
and the gift of everlasting life not only for himself but for those who have no right to
live for ever because of transgression. In this hope thousands have died during the last
6000 years and now rest in hope of resurrection from the dust of the earth - dead and
forgotten by man but not by God who is ‘true’ (Matthew 22 v 32).

The ‘truth’ of the name of God was manifest in His care for the Israel when He
delivered them from Egypt in accordance with His promise to Abraham several
generations earlier (Genesis 15 v 13-16). He gave them the land of Canaan that He
had promised unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but not because of any special favour to
them but because of the ‘truth’ of His promises to Abraham (Deuteronomy 9 v 4-6).

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‘Truth’ (described in the name of God) is therefore not just transparent honesty but
reliable support for those who trust God such that His word (the truth) is able to
sanctify unto righteousness as Jesus showed when using the word of God to kill all
the temptations of the enmity as he repeatedly countered its promptings within his
mind ‘it is written …’ (Matthew 4).

In that work of fulfilling ‘truth’ in a mortal body Jesus came to forgive sins, not just
the sins of his contemporaries but the sins of all generations (those dead and those not
yet born) who acknowledge their sins and repent with shame and he said to those
whom he met ‘thy sins which are many are forgiven thee’ Luke 7 v 37-48). Thus
described in the name of God there is forgiveness as God said of His name, ‘…
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin’ but also made clear that forgiveness is
conditional upon those who repent as His name also reveals, ‘… and that will by no
means clear the guilty’. All men and women are guilty of sin and if that attribute is
taken out of context then there is no forgiveness - as all are guilty, but God’s name
shows there is forgiveness and the ‘guilty’ are those who do not repent but remain
proudly in their own sins as the Psalmist wrote “… Who have said, With our tongue
will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” (Psalm 12). Paul said,
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6 v 23) but John wrote, “There is a sin unto
death…..and there is a sin not unto death” (1 John 5 v 15-17). Herein lies the beauty
of the name of God demonstrated by Jesus - where there is repentance there is
forgiveness, where there is no repentance there cannot be forgiveness - therefore
when there is sin (however trivial) that is not repented of it remains without
forgiveness by God, but there is sin (however serious) that is forgiven by God because
of repentance (Luke 7 v 37-48). This applies to sins against God, but where a fellow
offends his fellow that must be forgiven in all circumstances.

Ezekiel revealed the fullness of the magnanimity of meaning of the name of God
when he wrote of the forgiveness of God that is extended from generation to
generation, in that the fathers should not carry the burden of the sins of their son’s or
the sons the father’s but that every man is responsible for repentance from his own
sins, “… Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God:
and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” (Ezekiel 18). Thus of the
name of God it is said that He is ‘visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation’. A
principle of God’s law is that the children should not bear the sins of the fathers (or
vice-versa – Deuteronomy 24 v 16), but that every man or woman is responsible for
their own sins, so even though the sins of the fathers may be gross, God seeks
repentance in at least four generations thereafter in case one son will return to Him,
and so Jesus taught “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no
repentance” (Luke 15 v 3-7). To demonstrate this - after generations of the rejection
of the truth of God by Israel - Jesus came as one last opportunity for them to embrace
the faith of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and so he sought out those
whose immediate fathers had rejected God ‘… but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel’ Matthew 5 v 5-6). They still followed their father’s sins and crucified
Jesus the son of God, thus the opportunity was taken from them and given to the
Gentiles until the return of Jesus to the earth when they will be united with the faith of
their forefathers.

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To bear the name of God by association with Jesus Christ and not to manifest these
attributes in the life is blasphemy of the name of God and a ‘taking the name of God
in vain’ for which there is guilt of sin (James 14 v 17). This commandment is a
cornerstone of the requirements to be seen in all those who will receive everlasting
life as the Psalmist wrote, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall
stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not
lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24 v 3-4), where ‘sworn
deceitfully’ means to ‘take the name of the Lord in vain’.

Jesus came to manifest the name of God in a mortal body, to demonstrate the
attributes of that name, to describe His character by reflecting that character in order
to unite to God a sinful congregation of faithful believers of many generations and
nationalities, he came to repair the breach of death made by God in the beginning
because of the sin of man. In the final prayer Jesus made to His Father he spoke of
this work, “… I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. … … I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world: … … Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I
kept them in thy name … … Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. … …
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us. … … And I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”
(John 17).

To be a Christian is to bear that name (Jesus Christ), the name that bore the fullness of
the name of God and therefore to carry that name is to bear the responsibility to do
honour to that name through manner of life - in obedience to the spirit of the law in
faith by following the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. For this reason there
will be a time of judgement after the resurrection from the grave in order to weed out
those who failed to understand and practice the significance of the name of God and
yet professed to uphold the name of Christ, or did understand but ignored the
responsibility to follow his example, as Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7 v 21-23).

Thus Jesus taught that there will be a judgement of those who God deems to be
responsible for their faith in that God helped them with their understanding of His
name by repeated measures of the Holy Spirit - whether they took the power of that
name (mercy, grace, long-suffering, goodness, truth, forgiveness) upon themselves or
not, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I
was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when

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saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25 v 34-40). Those actions
are the essence of the practical outworking of the name of God. They who failed to
honour the name of God by not following the example of Jesus will be turned away to
an everlasting grave (Matthew 25 v 41-46) as having ‘taken the name of the Lord in
vain’.

Thus the first three commandments set the tone - and underpin - all the other
commands so that all the remaining commandments are kept - not as a rigid code of
civil conduct - but in reverence, fear and reciprocal love for God. This was the work
of Jesus Christ that he finished without fault. The letter and ritual of the law was
fulfilled in Christ but the spirit of that law lives on and is as valid today as it was
when it was given.

11.4 The fourth commandment

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy
work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20 v 8-11).

The word ‘sabbath’ means to ‘desist from exertion’ not from weariness but by
completeness of work, hence it was the day that God ‘rested’ from His work of
creation in that it was complete, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and,
behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1, Genesis 2 v 1-3). The physical creation being
complete, God began the second phase of His work in creating a ‘world’ of righteous
people to inhabit the earth who would prove their worthiness for such an honour by
obedience to His word. Isaiah later called this work a ‘new’ creation, “For, behold, I
create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor
come into mind…..” (Isaiah 65 v 17-25). For that ‘new’ creation there would
inevitably be the need for a ‘firstborn’ of that new creation, a ‘foundation’, a
cornerstone to which all the ‘new’ creation could be fitted to. The Sabbath day was
chosen by God to represent that new beginning, in that in one (the ‘firstborn’, the
‘foundation’ the ‘cornerstone’) the works and cares of daily-life (analogously for the
works of toil under the enmity) would cease - concurrently with completion of the
work God set man to do, i.e. to keep His will and commandments without fault and so
be worthy of inheriting the earth for ever.

God’s people were commanded to keep this day in order that they could remember
and reconsider this work - free from the distractions of everyday life - and to emulate
the one that God had in mind by keeping His word with understanding of what it
meant. God raised up that one in Jesus Christ who completed the work of God in that
he ceased all temptations of the enmity (Matthew 4) and obeyed every word of God,
thus he became the Lord of the Sabbath as he taught, “For the Son of man is Lord
even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12 v 1-8). Jesus was referring to the words of the
prophet Isaiah where the prophet was required to upbraid the people of Israel for
keeping the Sabbath as a rigid ritual like a strait-jacket without understanding, and not

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a day in celebration of faith in the displaying the attributes that God required to be
seen - love, mercy, graciousness, patience, goodness and truth - as described in His
name and that which Jesus came to manifest, as Isaiah wrote, “Is not this the fast that
I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let
the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the
hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest
the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”
(Isaiah 58) where the ‘fast’ refers to the Sabbath. All these Jesus did and was hated of
those who were supposed to do them as he said, “Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have
omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to
have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23 v 23).

Jesus fulfilled this work and therefore became the fulfilment of the Sabbath in that no
other man or woman could do or repeat what he did. The keeping of the Sabbath is
now inseparable from the vow of baptism where the life and character Christ is ‘put
on’ as a covering garment in order to permeate the mind and heart until there is full
growth into his manifestation of the spirit of the Sabbath i.e. to cease from service of
the flesh (the enmity) and to complete the work God has given each one to do of
unification with Jesus’ character.

Thus the creation record in Genesis shows by six symbolic ‘days’ the second phase of
the creation of God, i.e. creation of a righteous people to inhabit the earth, so God
created the heavens and the earth in six days, where the ‘days’ are periods (of
indeterminate length to man) that He has chosen to represent the future work of six
thousand years of preparation (new creation) concluding with a Sabbath of one
thousand years ‘rest’ after which there will be no time. When the second phase of the
work of God is nearing completion the ‘seventh day’ of one thousand years will be
ushered in by the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth as it is written,
“…..and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20).

Thus the Sabbath day was a regular opportunity to refresh the memory with the law of
God and what that law in all its details was leading them to, and the spirit of that law
as fulfilled in Jesus Christ is now the essence of the payment the vow of baptism. In
Christ (a Christian) it is to live the spirit of the life of Christ, a ceasing of service to
the flesh and a completion of the work of God in Christ, such that the life of a
baptised person is a Sabbath.

The first four commandments are therefore the foundation for the whole keeping of
the law, on these four commandments all commandments stand and without these
four the rest become meaningless rituals to be learned by rote and followed in
blindness as became the practice in subsequent generations such that Jesus said of
those who claimed to keep and enforce the law, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders
of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15
v 14).

11.5 The fifth commandment

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20 v 12).

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Honour in the original Hebrew means ‘weight’. Weight is the measure of the amount
of substance in an article and in Hebrew is the same word as for ‘gravity’ - the
fundamental force that makes weight evident whose law of action is unalterable and
all pervading. Substance is the amount of mass a body possesses and mass is the
agglomeration of primary elements into tangible form. Gravity is the force that draws
lighter substances towards heavier substances (or any two equal substances together)
and its force increases dramatically with lessening distance. What gravity is and how
it is formed is not understood by man but God created gravity and maintains it
together with three other forces that make life possible in the universe and God
maintains its’ attractive property by His unalterable law.

Mass is an allegory for the law of the wisdom of God to which the hearts and minds
of man can be drawn, and the written will of God is analogous to the agglomeration of
particles where every ‘particle-word’ of God is unified into an allegorical
gravitational mass - the substance (weight) of which is love by faith, and there is no
law or word of equal or comparable weight (power). Weightiness is therefore an
biblical symbol for godliness and conversely lightness is an allegory for vanity or lack
of godly substance. God created man to draw closer (gravitate) to Him in character by
obedience to His law (in the same way that all substances obey the law of gravity to a
greater mass) such that the closer man was drawn to God through obedience to His
word the stronger the force of attraction (as with gravity) and the wiser a man is the
more he is attracted toward God by His word, as Jesus taught, “No man can come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6 v 44, Psalm 73 v 28).
Adam displayed such lightness of character that he was attracted to the flippant lie of
the serpent and away from God.

Paul used this allegory in describing the duty of a father who aspires to be a bishop (a
father) in a church who has oversight over the laity, he must be “One that ruleth well
his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity” (1 Timothy 3 v 4)
where the Greek word ‘gravity’ means ‘to venerate’. God is a Father and requires His
children to venerate Him through His word thus allowing the attracting force of His
law to draw man closer to God after the metaphor of gravity. God created man and
woman to be parents (fathers and mothers - Genesis 1 v 28 & 3 v 23-24) in order for
them to attract their children to gravitate towards God by His laws after their example.
The will of God is that a man who is righteous will draw his children to righteousness
by his wisdom that came with his experiences.

Thus the command was for children to honour their parents who were endeavouring
to draw them closer to God. If children cannot honour their parents whom they can
see it is not possible for them to honour God as a Father who they cannot see (1 John
4 v 20). Therefore the command incorporated parents in that they were to be grave in
example (weighty in godliness) in order to bring their offspring to God. Thus parents
in the congregation were instructed to keep the laws of God, “And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine
house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up” (Deuteronomy 6 v 7).

God further commanded the congregation through Moses, “Ye shall fear every man
his mother, and his father….. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19 v 3) where to

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‘fear’ is to ‘revere’ (as distinct to a fear of terror) - the same word that is used for man
to ‘fear’ God. This honour, respect and fear from the children was to be extended to
all members of their parent’s generation (whether natural fathers and mothers or not)
provided the wisdom of God was present in that elderly person as Solomon wrote,
“The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness”
(Proverbs 16 v 31), as it was written in the law, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary
head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus
19 v 32).

This law taught that God is a Father and Wisdom is His companion (as the mother –
Proverbs 8) out of whom mankind was created (Genesis 1 v 26-28, Luke 3 v 38) and
God taught that He is now working to create a ‘new’ family of children by His
companion (Wisdom) - a family of children who would honour, fear and revere Him
by the nurture of the mother (wisdom) and to whom He would give ‘life without end’
as the command promised – ‘that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee’. The word ‘father’ in Hebrew means ‘a founder’, ‘an author’, one
who nourishes with natural affection and tenderness, and the word for ‘mother’ means
the one who supports and holds the family together after the analogy of the growth
and support of a child in her womb.

The firstborn of that new generation was conceived by direct action of God as a
Father in His wisdom (Luke 1 v 26-35) and the result was that a mortal woman
(Mary) - who was a natural virgin subject to temptation - conceived and brought forth
a son who was a son of man (Adam) but who would grow and develop into the son of
God by obedience to His every word such that he would gravitate in character to be in
the image of God Himself and at one in spirit with Him, and that by this one many
sons and daughters would be born and likewise gravitate to the righteous weightiness
of God and increase in density of love and faith (spiritual weight) toward the
substance of godly wisdom and away from their natural parentage of the Adam, such
that Jesus said of them, “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mark 3 v 31-35).

As all the laws, Jesus fulfilled this law in all its meaning by honouring God as his
Father and his parents as his mentors, and thus became the firstborn of a new
generation, the cornerstone and foundation to whom all members would fit and on
whom they would stand, thus bringing a new generation unto God to whom God will
give everlasting life even after the metaphor of gravity or weightiness..

The spirit of that law lives on in Jesus Christ for all those baptised into him.
Unbelieving parents must be respected and believing parents revered for the care in
bringing their offspring to God, elders in all walks of life must be treated with respect
and honoured for their experience and age. God must be revered by obedience to His
word through Jesus Christ, and Jesus must be honoured by becoming like him in
character.

11.6 The sixth commandment

“Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20 v 13)

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This law is from the beginning as Noah was told, “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9 v 6).
Earlier Cain slew his brother Abel and was cursed above all men, “And now art thou
cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood
from thy hand” (Genesis 4 v 11). God made man in His own image and likeness
(Genesis 1 v 26-28) and therefore man’s visage is constant reminder of the God that
made him. To take life from that image is to usurp the power and authority of God
who presides over the life and death of all His creatures - particularly mankind - as it
is written, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I
make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand”
(Deuteronomy 32 v 39).

As God presides over the affairs of man He has laid down conditions (in the law)
where it is necessary to kill a man or woman but only according to His direction with
regard to breaking His commandment, in other words God has legalised certain
judgements to act on His behalf in taking life, not for vengeance but to maintain
respect and reverence for God, as God has said, “Moreover ye shall take no
satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely
put to death” (Deuteronomy 32 v 39). However the Hebrew word for ‘kill’ used in
this particular law relates only to murder – not punishment or battle.

There was a difference under the law between killing by accident and killing by
hatred (premeditated). For the accidental killer there was an escape from the death
sentence by following strict rules (Numbers 35), but for the premeditated killer, for
blasphemy, for adultery, for bestial sexual behaviour there was no remedy, in order to
keep the congregation free from depravity and confusion.

Life is given to man as an opportunity to revere God by obedience to His word and is
the same reason life is given to a new-born child to this day. Therefore to take away
the life is to take away the opportunity for the ‘victim’ to repent and serve God. In the
same way enlightenment of the understanding of the way of salvation by service to
God through Jesus Christ is a gift of God as valuable as life itself, such that the one
thus embarking on a life of service to God (now by baptism) begins a new life by
enlightenment of the Holy Spirit as Paul wrote, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2
Corinthians 5:17). That new creature is by rebirth into Christ as Jesus taught, “Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God … Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ... The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3 v 1-10). To impede the
progress of such a one by misleading teaching, by false doctrine, by temptation with
worldly matters and any other such distraction from unadulterated truth is accounted
by God as killing (murder) of the highest order as Jesus taught, “But whoso shall
offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the
sea” (Matthew 18 v 6).

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The command was ‘thou shalt not kill’ but had significantly more depth and scope
than literal taking life by shedding blood or other such action. Jesus taught that the
scope of ‘killing’ included hatred in the heart of a fellow man or woman, “Ye have
heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raca,(vain) shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5 v 21-22). In the eyes
of God any such hatred, envy and jealousy is tantamount to killing as the intent was
resident but not necessarily the opportunity, and it is God who weighs the hearts of all
men not just his actions (Proverbs 16 v 2). Hatred in mankind by the action of the
enmity was at its most potent when Jesus was arrested by the elders such that at his
trial even Pilate could see their naked hatred, “For he knew that the chief priests had
delivered him for envy” (Mark 15 v 10) where in their hearts they had killed him
already.

Every man and woman is made in the image and likeness of God and despite
familiarity with every-day acquaintance this fact must be recognised and respected in
reverence to God, thus this law is valid and just as important and as far reaching today
as it was then. To remove - or attempt to remove - the hope of salvation from a fellow
by any means is murder.

11.7 The seventh commandment

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20 v 14)

God created woman (Eve) out of man’s (Adam) body (Genesis 2 v 21-25) such that
Adam said when Eve was given to him, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of
my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they
shall be one flesh”. God created Adam and Eve to procreate children to - “Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1 v 27-28) and to this
end created the physical means to conceive seed and bring to birth within a united
bond of father and mother. The deliberate physical act leading to conception was
created to be of a man and woman joining together as one - ‘and they two shall be one
flesh’ - an act of physical bonding that united two in a vow of fidelity until death. That
bonding by physical co-joining is the marriage vow in the eyes of God (where spoken
civil vows are mere symbols of legal union), but to God the physical co-joining of a
man and woman (whether to pro-create children or in act of love) is the bonding of
two in an unbreakable and irrevocable vow of marriage, a vow of absolute fidelity –
without exception.

To co-join with another other than husband or wife is adultery and a defiance of the
reason that God made man and woman, it is a deliberate and premeditated act
following a period of heightened emotion during which time there is opportunity to
remember the will of God and withdraw. Thus adultery is a heinous crime in the eyes
of God to this day - equal to murder - in that without fail it carried the death sentence
(Leviticus 20 v 10), and Jesus taught the depth to which this law was intended such
that intent to commit adultery even though consummation was not gained is of the
same magnitude as the actual act of adultery (Matthew 5 v 27-32).

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God created all creatures male and female in order to procreate, but set a distinction
between them and mankind in that the woman was created out of the man. By this
means God taught that in His greater creation of a righteous people (that would one
day inherit the earth for ever) there would be an analogous union between two parties
- a singular son raised up by God and a companion of many members created out of
him - who would be united to him as one in a bond of fidelity (Song of Solomon).
Thus physical co-joining as a vow of marriage became analogous to the vow of union
between the promised son and his multitudinous companion (who he would redeem
from grave) in preparation for full union in the immortal state as Paul wrote, “For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and
the church” (Ephesians 5 v 31-32).

Baptism is that act of union, a vow of fidelity unto death such that such procreation is
not a physical child but a new person of righteousness within the heart and mind and
manifest in the character, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6 v 3-4, John 3 v 4-
8). There-from begins a life of growth by change of character in anticipation of full
growth to maturity (Ephesians 4 v 11-16) when the bride will have made herself ready
by sanctification through obedience to the word of God, as was shown to John in
vision, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Revelation 19 v 7).

As physical co-joining with another - other than husband or wife - is the breaking of
the physical vow of fidelity and is adultery, so likewise is association with doctrines
not in accordance with scriptural teaching whether it be idolatry, friendship with the
‘world’ or sin of any kind. Because every man and woman sins there is the constant
need for forgiveness by renewal of the marriage vow and this was provided by Jesus
in the communion feast as he taught, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6 v 54-56). Thus Jesus instituted the feast of
remembrance, “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto
them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood,
which is shed for you” (Luke 22 v 19-20).

The law of adultery is valid to this day in that a baptised person is free to marry,
procreate children and nurture them in the way of salvation, but co-joining before any
civil marriage vow is made is the act of marriage and therefore those who so do have
no option but to become legally man and wife as God intended and remain within the
vow of the physical act for life. Multiple-partner co-joining without civil vows (pre-
marital co-joining) is adultery (Exodus 22 v 16-17, Deuteronomy 22 v 28-29), in the
same way that co-joining is in contravention of the marriage vow.

11.8 The eighth commandment

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“Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20 v 15)

To steal is to ‘take away by stealth’ or ‘in secret’ and applies in the Hebrew to both
physical things and emotions of the heart. Rachel stole her father’s images (Genesis
31 v 19) and Absalom stole the hearts of the people (2 Samuel 15 v 6). To steal is to
deprive a neighbour of what is theirs for personal gain. What the gain Rachel had is
not recorded but the gain Absalom sought was personal honour and glory. Job
confessed the truth about the possessions of man when he said, “Naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1 v 21). Therefore life is the gift of
God given to use in honour of Him by obedience to His word and all other
possessions are superficial to that.

Honestly gained material possessions are therefore only possible because of the life
God has given man and so all things belong ultimately to God and He distributes that
which is His to whomsoever He will. Some men have become wealthy in material
possessions (Abraham, Job and David) and some have been desperately poor (Jesus,
Ruth and Paul) but God gives to every man according to His will as Solomon
recorded, “… every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it
is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 3 v 13) and again, “Behold that which I have seen: it
is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour
that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his
portion” (Ecclesiastes 5 v 18-19).

The sentence for a man or woman caught stealing was severe, for example - stealing
an ox and selling it on carried the penalty of restoring it to the owner fivefold (500%)
and for a sheep - fourfold. If the animal was still in their possession then it was to be
restored double and similarly for many other cases of stealing or negligence that had
the same result of depriving a neighbour of their possession (Exodus 22 v 1-15). The
principle of judgement was restoration of at least double the possession stolen.

In this sentencing of reparation God intended that the natural prefigured the spiritual.
The heart and mind of man (his intelligence and faculties) is God’s who gave them to
man - above all other creatures - to honour Him. To take away that gift in order to
honour another by deception or any other means, is theft of the highest order.

The serpent stole the hearts of Adam and Eve away from God in exchange for an
empty material and vain emotional gain. The material gain was the transient taste of
the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil - a gain that Solomon later
described as sweet, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of
hell” (Proverbs 9 v 17-18). The emotional gain was the promise to ‘have knowledge
like the gods’ but resulted instead as despair and death (Genesis 3). Because of the
curse of God, all their progeny have been stolen by the enmity - now resident in the
emotions of every man and woman as human nature (the devil, Satan, the world, the
old man and many other names). Jesus came to ‘restore that which he took not away’
as the Psalmist wrote, “… then I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69 v 4)
and of which Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be “… The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in. (Isaiah 58).

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The breach caused by the theft of the emotions of the heart and fidelity of mind was
the loss of unity with God and its attendant access to eternal life - by the path that was
the way to unity with God. By overcoming the tempting of the enmity (human nature)
within him without fault and shedding his blood in death to finally kill the enmity
Jesus repaired the breach in unity between God and man and restored the path to
salvation by restoring the emotions of the heart and fidelity of mind and sanctity of
the body back to Him who created it, as Jesus said regarding the image of Caesar on a
coin, “Render therefore unto caesar the things which be caesar's and unto God the
things which be God's” (Luke 20:25) where man bears the physical image of God and
Jesus restored his character to that of God’s.

This law teaches that to steal goods or emotions from a neighbour is to steal from
God. God gives and God takes away and so the keeping of this command is not a
strait-jacket of rigid compliance but a call to remember that our life and emotions plus
our possessions and those of all our neighbours are the evidence of the hand of God.
To misrepresent the word of God by word or action is to steal the hope of salvation
from its hearers and witnesses (Revelation 22 v 18-19).

11.9 The ninth commandment

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20 v 16)

The word in Hebrew for ‘false’ is ‘a lie’ and the word ‘witness’ is ‘a testimony’. The
command forbade any testimony that was a lie. The first testimony that was a lie was
the serpent’s, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3 v 4-5). The result of that false witness
was catastrophic in that Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be deceived. As
punishment, the reasoning intelligence of the serpent was transferred by God from the
serpent to mankind as the enmity that is always opposed to God. It is the enmity that
gives mankind the ability to bear false witness and thus negate the required testament
of character that man is in the likeness and image of God.

Jesus came to bear witness of God in body (as all unwittingly men do) but particularly
to the name of God in character as well, and was able to complete his work because
he did not transgress any commands or bear a false witness of the name of God. Jesus
said of himself, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that
I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18 v 37). Jesus was the manifestation of
the word of God in a mortal body and of that word Jesus said, “… thy word is truth”
(John 17 v 17). Those who are joined to Christ by baptism have the responsibility to
bear that name honourably by word and by manner of life where failure to do so is a
false witness and to bear false witness of any type is to deny the power of the truth of
the word of God and ultimately the truth of the life and character of Jesus Christ.
hypocracy is false witness, to claim righteousness and practice otherwise (James 1 v
22-27).

The law also stated, “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or
for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth
of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (Deuteronomy 19 v 15) but went

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beyond testimony at the trial of a suspect to cover every aspect of man’s dealings with
his fellow man, “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the
wicked to be an unrighteous witness” (Exodus 23 v 1-2) making gossip, tale-bearing
and half-truths to be false witnesses in evidence or in life.

Of the hope of salvation of eternal life represented by the vision of ‘new Jerusalem’
John was told without equivocation, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they
which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21 v 27)

11.10 The tenth commandment

”Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing
that is thy neighbour's” (Exodus 20 v17).

The Hebrew word ‘covet’ means that ‘which is most desirable and pleasant to the
sight’ and is used in both good and bad senses. The first use is the desirability and
pleasantness of the beauty of creation in which Adam and Eve were placed (Genesis 2
v 8-15). God created everything ‘very good’- most desirable and pleasant as the
record says, “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight, and good for food” (Genesis 2 v 9) - where ‘pleasant’ is the
same word as used for ‘covet’ or desirable in a good (godly) sense. In this
unparalleled beauty God gave man freedom to enjoy all the fruits of the garden that
his eyes beheld but with one small command, “And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2 v 16-17).

Thus God laid the foundation of obedience to His will in return for the benefits of His
blessings, and gave man the choice to obey or disobey as a means of measuring the
gratitude that man (Adam and Eve) had for those blessings of God. The serpent,
however, deceived Eve with a lie (Genesis 3 v 1-5) and as a result of which the seeds
of ‘to covet’ in a bad (ungodly) sense were sown in her mind, “And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to
be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3 v 6) - where ‘pleasant’ is the
same word ‘covet’. The sentence of death ensued and man has become a dying
(decaying), mortal creature to this day.

The will of God is that all men and women desire or covet the ‘fruits’ of His word
manifest in His name (mercy, grace, long-suffering, goodness and truth) represented
by the abundant permitted fruits of the Garden of Eden, as distinct to the fruits of
‘knowledge of good and evil’. The Psalmist wrote - when speaking of the desirability
of the word of God, the law of God, the testimony of the LORD, the statutes, His
commandments, the fear of the LORD and the judgements of the LORD, “More to be
desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb” (Psalms 19 v 7-11) – where ‘desired’ is the same word as ‘covet’. The
will of the serpent (now the enmity) is covetousness, i.e. the desire of the eyes for
anything other than obedience to the word of God (Ecclesiastes 1 v 8).

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Jesus came to demonstrate the dividing line between good and the evil by coveting the
word of God and shunning the wisdom of the enmity on a minute-by-minute, day-by-
day basis (Matthew 4) thus Isaiah prophesied, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give
you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and
choose the good” (Isaiah 7 v 14-15) - where butter and honey represent the word of
God free from private interpretations, traditions, and doctrines and commandments of
men (Matthew 15 v 9). The dividing line was ‘it is written…’ (Luke 4 v 1-13) and
remains the same clear boundary and counterweight to covetousness to this day.

Solomon wrote that man’s thirst for more than he has, will never satisfy the
covetousness of the eyes, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are
never satisfied” - where ‘hell’ and ‘destruction’ (Gehenna) are the words that God and
Jesus use to describe the enmity at work in the heart. In contrast it was prophesied of
Jesus in the Psalms, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night” (Psalm 1, Psalm 119) and so left no room for the wandering
eye to satisfy the lust of the enmity. As a result Jesus was able to teach from
experience that the natural treasures of the eye (to covet) were transient and of no
long-term value, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal”. In contrast he taught
that the treasures of the heart (faith in God) were permanent, “But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal” – where ‘heaven’ is anywhere wherever the
enmity is not at work. Herein, Jesus taught, is the root of covetousness, the lust that
leads to cancer of mind and heart that eats away at a simple and open-hearted
obedience of the word of God, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also” (Matthew 6 v 19-24).

Jesus therefore reinforced the meaning of the law of covetousness by using the
analogy of singular sight (as distinct to double-vision that leads to confusion), “The
light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be
full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If
therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6
v 19-23).

Paul later wrote, “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6 v 6) and
that contentment is the opposite and antidote for covetousness and the reinforcing of
faith, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such
things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”
(Hebrews 13 v 5) – where ‘conversation’ is manner of life.

12) Civil laws

Of his ministry Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5 v 17). The fulfilling of
that law was the manifestation of the character of God in his mortal body by the

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fulfilling of the meaning of the name of God - mercy, grace, long suffering, goodness,
truth and forgiveness (Exodus 34) by the keeping of every law of God.

Of the outworking of those characteristics Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled” (Matthew 5 v 18). The ‘jot’ and ‘tittle’ are the smallest characters in the
Hebrew alphabet (comparable to crossing the ‘t’s’ and dotting the ‘i’s’ in the English
language). It was the most overlooked characteristics of the will of God that Jesus
showed in his manner of life and teachings such that he was able to say in prayer to
God just before he was crucified, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17 v 4).

Jesus also taught “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven” (Matthew 5 v 19). The ‘least’ of those commandments were the ‘jots’ and
‘tittles’ that Jesus previously referred to and Jesus came to ‘do and teach them’ a
work that no other man or woman had achieved.

There are over 600 commands in the law of God but there is only one spirit of law and
that spirit was with God at the beginning and as God never changes, it is the same
spirit today. The spirit of that law was the spirit of Jesus - not a ‘soul’ or an extra-
bodily presence - but a humble, contrite and obedient heart (Isaiah 57 v 15) and only
in that spirit does the Holy Spirit work.

Many of the 600 or so laws that concerned the Tabernacle, offerings, ministrations of
the priesthood and the Ten Commandments have been considered already, but of this
myriad of commands the underlying ‘spirit’ was missing by the majority of those
under the law’s domain but are the foundation of Christian belief to this day. The
elders of Jesus day were blind to that foundation of the law in so far that the details of
the law became a ‘line upon line’ ritual blinding their vision of why the law was given
(Isaiah 28 v 13, Matthew 13 v 14-17), they learned by rote and not by open-hearted
obedience as do most prophessing Christians do to this day. Of this spirit foundation
Jesus said, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7 v 12). No man or
woman likes any ill done to them but takes pleasure in receiving acts of kindness,
however when the myriad of commands is enforced rigidly - without the foundational
spirit - then the laws become a burden.

The foundation of those myriad of commands is mercy that resides in a humble and
contrite heart, not a ‘turning–a-blind-eye’ to wrongdoing, or easing the strictness of
the law, but remembering that God is kind to all (including self) whatever their sin -
in giving life and all its attendant benefits and therefore in considering how one-self
would be in similar circumstances. Thus Jesus said, “But love ye your enemies, and do
good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye
shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6 v 35-36). “... …
for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your
Father also is merciful” herein is the basis for the all the sundry laws of civil conduct
between men and women.

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13) Service to a master (Exodus 21 v 1-6, Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15)

The law concerned a Hebrew who was employed in the service of a master and has
direct teachings of individual service to God as the Master, a service that is required
of every man and woman. The servant would enter into employment because of
poverty for whatever reason and needed to support himself and family and represents
the spiritual poverty of all through sin by service to the enmity, but who acknowledge
their debts and seek the protection and beneficence of God unto salvation. Adam and
Eve were created ‘rich’ in holiness but sank to abject spiritual poverty when they
followed the serpents lie and were cursed to become decaying creatures that
eventually resulted in death without hope of resurrection. God provided a way that
this curse could be removed after the sentence has been endured and He showed that
way in this law.

God set recurring periods of seven years to represent a ‘complete’ (seven)

opportunistic period to admit spiritual poverty and seek the ‘riches’ of service unto
God and so to enjoy the benefits of the master’s protection and warmth of his
household affairs, after which there was the opportunity to either return to the
vagaries of life or to continue in the protection of the master in perpetuity. If the
servant found the warmth of that household to be such that his master gave him a
companion he had the opportunity to remain in the masters household for life as it
was written, ”Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him
to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an
aul; and he shall serve him for ever” (Exodus 21 v 6).

From the beginning God promised man through the creation of Eve out of Adam
(Genesis 3 v 21-25) that He would provide companionship for a son who would be a
willing and faithful servant and who would abide in the household of God by
obedience to His word and would shed his blood as a ransom price of his blood to
provide a way of release from the grave, which blood would be indelibly associated
with the entrance to that house, such that the entrance to that house (the door) would
necessitate any who entered to be associated with his blood. Jesus taught that in
fulfilment of this law he was the door to the sheepfold (the house of God), “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep” (John 10 v 1-11) and in the same
figure it was on the door posts that the blood of the Passover lamb was to be put and
now replaced with baptism vow and its renewal in the weekly communion (Romans 6,
Matthew 26 v 26-29).

By the boring of the ear with an aul in order to shed blood on the doorpost God taught
the congregation - and all who read this law - that Jesus (the servant who became the
son) inclined his ear to every word of God as taught in the Proverbs, “My son, attend
to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings” (Proverbs 4 v 20). The Hebrew word
for ‘ear’ has its foundation in ‫ ןזא‬meaning a ‘weighing balance’ or ‘scales’ with two
pans, and while the two pans has been said to be indicative of the two ears of the head
the sense of the word is to ‘balance what is heard’, to ‘try’ or ‘weigh’ as is
instinctively done when a particular sound is needed to differentiate from all others,
the head is titled slightly while the ear ‘balances’ all the different sounds in order to
identify and seperate the one sought after. This balancing of the word of God from
every other sound of man emanating from the enmity was perfected by Jesus alone of

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whom it is written, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou
opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I
come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God:
yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40 v 6-8, Hebrews 10 v 4-10).

Of the companion that the Master (God) promised to the faithful servant (son of man
– mortal) who became Son of God by rightly dividing every word of God and
obediently shedding his blood for the forgiveness of the sins of the companion, Jesus
said before he finally entered the house of God for ever (eternal life) to reassure the
portion of the companion in those days, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also” (John 14 v 1-3).

The time that Jesus would return to ‘receive you unto myself’’ (his return from heaven
to earth) was to be a long time and this long timespan was taught in the law of the
extension of the seven year period of service into multiples of seven seven-year
periods culminating in the year of jubilee (7 x 7 = 49 + 1 = 50 years) meaning that
year 49 and 50 were back-to-back rest years (see ’Jubilee’ p.p. 166-167). The law of
the year of jubilee was national release without charge or penalty of land - back to its
original owners who had sold the land because of poverty where naturally if land had
to be sold then the owner had no choice but to go into service. The law was without
ambiguity, “In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession”
(Leviticus 25). ‘Spiritual poverty’ caused mankind to be dispossessed of the eternal
inheritance of the perfect state that existed in the Garden of Eden when everything
was ‘very good’ (Genesis 1 v 31, Genesis 3).

God has promised that there will be a time when man will be restored to that timeless
inheritance and the way to that jubilee of release from servitude of sin and restoration
of peace with God was made possible by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ whose blood was shed for forgiveness of sins which blood - shed by piercing -
was indelibly displayed on the entrance to the house of his Master and Father by
baptismal vow in whose house of faith Jesus remained in service by continues
spiritual baptism (see Luke 12 v 50) in order to receive a multitudinous companion,
because he confessed by word and manner of life the ‘spirit’ of the law of release,
“And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I
will not go out free” (Exodus 21 v 5).

The seven-year periods taught of the opportunity that every man or woman who
acknowledges their spiritual poverty and who volunteer to become bound-servants in
the house of God and enjoy the peace, riches and security of the wisdom of that
Master. The seven times seven-year periods represent the complete period when God
is calling servants to His service and those who respond and remain as bound-servants
are adopted as sons and daughters of God (Romans 8 v 13-17, Galatians 4 v 4-6) to
eventually become the multitudinous companion of the elder and greater servant who
made their service possible (Jesus - the firstborn of the new family) and that will be
consummated in the prefigured year of jubilee when Jesus returns to the earth from
heaven. Thus when Jesus returns to ‘receive you unto myself’’ in the ‘mansions’
(abiding places, John 14 v 1-3 referred to above) it was a long time from the time of

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the Apostles, in fact some 2000 years as further figurative ‘seven-year’ periods of
opportunity are given to the Gentiles the period Jesus referred to as ‘the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled’ (Luke 21 v 24) and the region of time when that will be will be
the seventieth jubilee from its inception (BC1472) when the law was given.

14) Violence
There are many laws concerning violence ranging from oppression of a neighbour to
premeditated murder, but in all cases there is an underlying cause, that of violation of
the will of God embodied in the law and is often in the very professed cause of
upholding the law of God as Jesus said, “And from the days of John the Baptist until
now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force”
(Matthew 11 v 12). Jesus spoke of both the literal violence of the death of John and
his own impending death that were motivated by hatred of those who practice the law
of God.

Violence goes back to the Garden of Eden when the serpent violated the peace of
obedience to the law of God. Eve perpetuated that violence by lusting after the
forbidden fruit and Adam confirmed the violence by eating of it with Eve. Since then
the law of God has been persistently violated by mankind due to the enmity placed
within man by God because of his taste of violation.

The root of the Hebrew word for violence is ‫ סמח‬meaning to ‘cast away’, to ‘pluck
off’ or ‘force away’. The serpent ‘cast off’ the need to obey God, Eve ‘forced away’
her knowledge to obey (her conscience) and Adam meekly followed, thus the first act
of violence occurred in an otherwise perfectly peaceful environment. Cain’s restraint
was ‘cast away’ when he hated his righteous brother and subsequently ‘forced’ his
brother’s life from him by murder. Mankind descended into violence during the
subsequent expansion of generations until “The earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6 v 11). A humble and contrite heart
is the only remedy for violence whether it be a minor violation of God’s word or
murder.

Killing a man or woman

Thus the law was clear, “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to
death”, however there was provision for accidental death as the law continued, “And
if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a
place whither he shall flee” (Exodus 21 v 12-13) where ‘but God deliver him into his
hand’ means accidently. There was therefore provision for acts of killing that were
not rooted in violence and this provision taught the principle of 1) admission of guilt
of violation of God’s word (sin), 2) repentance by separation from previous activities
by entrance into a city God had prepared as a safe haven, and 3) remaining within the
confines of that city unto the death of the High Priest whence 4) the guilty could
return to their inheritance without charge (Numbers 35). The premature death of any
man or women by accident is a crime in the eyes of God (it is God who takes life not
man - Genesis 9 v 6), in the same way that the conscience in mankind that gives
direction to obey God is ‘killed’ by ignorant or unwitting sin. Thus all are guilty of
‘accidental’ killing of the conscience that directs to do that which is right and for
those who acknowledge their sinfulness (including ‘secret’ sins – Psalm 19 v 13-14)
there is a way provided by God to absolve those sins – a way that involves separation

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from the broad way of freedom of conscience to enter into the narrow way of a walled
city representing a new life within the bounds of the word of God and to remain
within those boundaries in order to escape the judgement of God but with hope of
release for ever upon the death of he who was represented by the High Priest – Jesus
Christ when freedom from the penalty of death was realised and a return to the
inheritance given them by God, even an inheritance of sin free life on earth.

Violence other than killing

A product of the enmity is altercation - either verbal or physical, a disturbance of the

peace of God that intended to fill the earth from the beginning. However it is the will
of God that His peace rules in the hearts and minds of all men and women as is it
written, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3 v 15), but
because of the enmity Isaiah was caused to write, “But the wicked are like the
troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no
peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57 v 20-21). All disturbances,
altercations, quarrels, disputes of any sort are the product of the enmity - human
nature.

The law against violence identified the effects of this wrong as representative of
violation of the conscience by denial of the rule of God in the character through
obedience to His word in a humble and contrite heart. Paul encouraged;

“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to
men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is
written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:16-21)

Jesus taught that violence extends far beyond physical and verbal strife unto the
subtly of self-promotion and false teaching as means of self-promotion in the eyes of
fellows, “Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love
greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms
at feasts” (Luke 20 v 46). Human pride exalts itself against a humble and contrite
heart and results in spiritual altercations in which the sensitised humble conscience is
the casualty as Jesus again taught “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7 v 15). Jesus
alone won every altercation with the enmity within him as it is written of him, “… he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53 v 9) and so
stood faultless before God, but he took upon himself the guilt of the violent
conscience-wounding sins of others as though they were his own and paid the

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required price of reparation required by God. However, in his victory to redeem those
in spiritual debt by overcoming the tempting of the enmity to violate his humiliated
conscience within himself, he was assaulted by the pride and arrogance of the
religious leaders of his day and so he said, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16 v 6-12).

The law for altercations between men and men, women and men and women and
women provided means that the injured party would be compensated for their loss due
to injury – a price to be paid - “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for
life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning,
wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21 v 23-25). Jesus paid those ‘prices’
(Matthew 5 v 29-30) even though he was innocent in order that his friends could be
relieved of the guilt of the wounding of their own conscience by transgression of the
will of God such that he fulfilled that law - not by allowing free assault of wrongdoing
but quite the opposite, he taught that peace should rule in the affairs of all who follow
him, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5 v 38-39).

Quarrelling and strife are therefore forbidden for the baptised disciple of Jesus even
when one is innocent and justified to respond, because Jesus taught by word and
example that it is the will of God to suffer wrongfully as Peter wrote “For this is
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully”
(1 Peter 2 v 17-25). No provision for strife (spiritual or physical, doctrinal, legal or
social) is accommodated in the baptismal vow of union with the sacrifice of Christ as
Paul wrote of those who did strife, “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you,
because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye
not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6 v 7).

The law extended acts of violence to include the possessions and works of a man in
that they were extensions of his mind and manifestations of the control he had over
his own will. For example an ox was the outward strength of a man in that without it
he could not plough or pull a load and the law taught that that extension of strength
was to be under the control of the man in the same way that the strength of his words,
reasoning and teachings were to be controlled by the words and laws God alone - thus
injury to a fellow by an ox was a crime to be compensated “If an ox gore a man or a
woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be
eaten” (Exodus 21 v 28-32). In the same way any work the man did was to be done
such that no damage (unintentional or otherwise) could be inflicted upon any fellow,
“And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox
or an ass fall therein; The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto
the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his” (Exodus 21 v 33-34). The
teachings and miracles of Jesus by the strength of the power of the Holy Spirit given
to him by God was never used in harm to others but to ease the burden of sin by
showing how to ‘plough’ the heart hardened by the enmity to receive the seed of the
word of God and how to ‘pull and carry’ the load of mortality with its attendant
temptations and emotional frailties towards full obedience to God.

Thus Jesus fulfilled the promise of God through Isaiah by becoming the ‘Prince of
Peace’ (Isaiah 9 v 6-7). He repudiated verbal and physical violence by his control of

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the uprisings of the enmity within himself and so maintained the peace of God in his
heart.. In the fullness of the purpose of God Jesus will establish universal peace on
earth when for 1000 years the enmity will be bound by the links of the chain of the
law (Revelation 20 v 1-3) after which the enmity will be removed in its entirety and
the peace of God will be restored as it was before the sin of Adam and Eve.

15) Occultism

Any form of mysticism, delusional magic or witchcraft collectively known now as

occultism was forbidden under the law. Occultism is a product of the enmity and has
been endemic in all nations from the days of Noah unto this day. It was widespread in
ancient Egypt and was seen apparently reproducing the plagues that were put upon
Egypt (Exodus 7 v 11) and later was practiced by pagan Israelites during the
following thousand years where the Hebrew word for sorcerer (‫ )ףשכ‬is ‘witchcraft’
and ‘magic’ and the Greek equivalent word used in the Septuagint is φαρµαχον that
has its roots in the effects of hallucinatory naturally occurring drugs. The Hebrew
word means ‘to discover’ and fits perfectly with the modern day hallucinogenic ‘trip’.

The English word ‘occult’ literally means to ‘hide the light’, for example it is used to
describe a flashing light in maritime navigation where a hazard or guiding light
flashes – known as ‘occulting’. The light is only useful to mariners when it is lit - so it
is occulted to identify it from others so the light is periodically hidden i.e. it flashes.
The navigational light for man provided by God from the beginning in order to avoid
shipwreck on the rocks of sin through the delusions of the enmity is His word and
every navigational hazard is lit by laws, commands, promises and judgements and
each warning has its own identity but is always lit, it never occults but are each
differentiated by intensity or brightness, as in the practical navigation aids of the stars
- some stars are bright and bold some are faint - but collectively the stars (as all the
words of God) form patterns that serve as navigational guides.

There is no more intoxicating spiritual beverage than human nature and there is no
more hallucinogenic drug than the enmity that induces emotional short-term ‘highs’ in
those who indulge where the effect is to occult the shining word of God and thus
divert the spiritual mariner away from the course of safety towards the very hazard
that the word of God identifies. Thus witchcraft, enchantments, magic, sorcery and
any spiritually occulting doctrine, practice or dependence was forbidden on pain of
death under the law, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22 v 18, Leviticus
20 v 27, Deuteronomy 18 v 9-14).

It was the practice of the Romans to crucify malefactors as a warning to the public to
submit to the authority of the Caesars and crucifixes or posts were positioned along
busy thoroughfares so that all could see the long painful death of those who
committed crimes against the Empire. It was normal for a man to take up to three days
to die and a drug was given for the purpose of dulling their pain and active
consciousness in order to prolong the agony of death. When Jesus was crucified they
offered him this drug which he refused - as a witness that his life had been spent
avoiding all the spiritually pain-dulling drugs of the enmity and chose instead to
suffer the agony of prolonged death by putting the care of his life and death in the
hands of God, “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had
tasted thereof, he would not drink” (Matthew 27 v 34). This is uncertainty among

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linguistic translators over what gall is other than a herb which is bitter but what was
certain is that Roman soldiers would not have given anything that shortened the
length of the sentence, but rather was a mild hallucogenic drug intended to dull pain
and prolong life, where the most likely drug was the poppy from which heroin is
derived. Jesus refused all temptations of the enmity within him to occult the word of
God and lead him into a delusory high of satisfaction of the flesh, choosing instead
every word of God that itself acted as a medicinal antidote to those every temptation.

Human nature is a common name for the enmity and is otherwise scripturally called
the ‘world’, the ‘old man’, the devil, Satan, and the Adversary and several others. It is
the toxic emotional temptation that acts like a dependence drug that hides (occults)
the light of God’s word in order to ‘reveal’ or ‘discover’ delusionary out-of-bounds
experiences that temporarily heighten the emotions like spiritual hallucinations but
only lead to the desperate ‘low’ of physical decay towards an eternal grave, after the
manner of Eve who saw that the forbidden tree was “ … was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
(Genesis 3 v 6). Adam and Eve found the emotional high short lived but addictive
with dire consequences.

Witchcraft, sorcery and enchantments under the law were the equivalent of modern
day horoscopes, fortune telling, superstitions and other black arts and in the eyes of
God are equivalent to hallucinatory dreams and fantasies.

16) Oppression
“Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land
of Egypt Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child” (Exodus 22 v 21-22).

God created all men to be equal and is best seen in death. Women were also created to
be equal but also to be man’s valued helper. Man was also created to be subservient to
God but to dominate the earth (Genesis 2 v 28). Due to human nature (the enmity)
men through off subservience to God and demonstrated that desertion by asserting
dominance over his fellow who like him was in the ‘image and likeness of God’
(Genesis 9 v 6, 1 Corinthians 11 v 7). Man was intended to value his helper (woman)
to be as precious as himself but with his casting off of the restraints of subservience to
God mankind in general considered it fair to despise the woman as a chattel and
second class citizen. Jesus came to reverse this evil and showed the compassion of
God to several women (John 4, Matthew 9 v 20-26, Matthew 15 v 21-31, Luke 4 v 26.
Luke 13 v 11-13, John 8 v 3-11) and it was to a woman that Jesus first showed
himself after his resurrection and commissioned her to tell the disciples (John 20 v 11-
18). Jesus came to redeem from death a multitude who God had called and prepared
to be the collective woman to help His son Jesus Christ for ever, of whom the apostle
wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave
himself for it” and “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall
be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I
speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5 v 25-32).

To oppress is when a dominant superior (man) applies emotional force to subject an

inferior to pressure them into submission to their will for personal gain and is counter
to every word of God, whether the inferior is a man, woman or child. The law

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included ‘strangers’ – men, women or children - who came peaceably to either live,
trade or learn the word of God of which three notable strangers were Rahab the harlot
of Jericho (Joshua 6, Matthew 1 v 5) and Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth, Matthew 1 v 5)
and Uriah the Hittite (11 Samuel 23 v 39).

Oppression, vexing and afflicting is emotional force. It can be by merciless

application of the true word of God (Luke 11 v 46) or for purely selfish advantage
(Mark 12 v 40) or - in the case of Pilate – pandering to popular opinion. There is no
greater example of oppression, vexing or affliction by one man over another than in
the trial of Jesus Christ summed up in Pilate’s words of superiority over Jesus who
refused to defend himself, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” such is the pride of man
when motivated by the enmity both in himself and by those around him. It took the
most humble of all men the most subservient servant to remind him that God gave
him a finite life and Caesar gave him temporal authority, “Thou couldest have no
power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19 v 10-11).

Thus the law stated, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child”
(Exodus 22 v 21-22).

To vex is to ‘rage’ verbally, emotionally or physically and comes from the Hebrew
word ‫‘ הני‬to press’, to apply any psychological burden upon a fellow such that the
‘head hangs down’ - as in depression. It is the same word that is used to press grapes
to crush until the very soul or character is squeezed out. Jesus willingly underwent
this vexation from those he came to save in order to make a way unto eternal salvation
by forgiveness of sins of his friends as Isaiah wrote, “He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53 v 7).

The third sense of the Hebrew word ‘to vex’ described the submersive action of
overwhelming mire, mud or quick-sands that suck in the unwary to a suffocating
death. Not only did Jesus endure vexing and affliction from his fellows but he
overcame his natural weakness to vex his own developing righteous soul by escape
from the stricture of obedience to the word of God - a temptation that emanated from
the enmity within him, which as a cloying morass of mud sought to press him into
submersion and submission of service to himself. Such is the effect of the enmity
when it succeeds in tempting a man or woman, but was acknowledged by Jesus before
he began to sink and cried to God for rescue and found a lifeline in every word of God
as the Psalmist wrote of this analogy, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in
unto my soul. 2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep
waters, where the floods overflow me” (Psalms 69 v 1-4) and “I waited patiently for
the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an
horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my
goings” (Psalm 40 v 1-2), where the miry clay was domination of the enmity, a
vexation of the righteous character.

17) Oppression of strangers

“Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land
of Egypt” (Exodus 22 v 21)

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God created the earth and all things thereon to be at peace with Him and to be a place
of unity and solace, a place of safe dwelling where man (made in His image Genesis 1
v 26-27) would rule and care for the earth. When Adam and Eve sinned in
transgressing the law of God, they and their progeny (mankind) were estranged from
God by being driven out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3 v 24). Through continued
and persistent sin mankind remain estranged in their ‘world’ ruled by the enmity, as
the Psalmist wrote, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies” (Psalms 58 v 3-4). In its natural state mankind is
referred to in scripture as the ‘world’ and ‘heathen’ and these are epitomised in the
‘world’ before the flood (Genesis 6 v 11-12), Babel (Genesis 11 v 1 – 9), Babylon,
Ur, Sodom, Gomorrah, Jericho and many more. From this ‘world’ of estrangement
God has sought and called certain people in every generation to estrange themselves
from that natural estrangement from God by beginning a journey of faith back to
peace with Him by obedience to His words such that they became ‘strangers’ to the
estranged ‘world’ of human nature whilst still living and working among them. They
live in peace with their neighbours and have no ambition to compete with them but to
be able to continue their journey of faith toward unity with God. Jesus was the
spiritual forerunner in this journey of return (Hebrews 12 v 2) - the consummate
stranger to the estranged ‘world’ even though he was born into this mortal sinful
estrange race of whom was the chosen people of God (Israel), because all men and
women are naturally estranged from God in body by birth being sons of Adam and
inheritors of the enmity, but begin in character untarnished until committing sin. Jesus
was the only one who never committed sin and thus became the flawless ‘stranger’ to
his fellows – for which they hated him (John 15 v 18). It was faith in Jesus some 2000
years previously that inspired Abraham to be the first practical ‘stranger’ when he was
called by God to leave his natural environment and begin a journey of faith into the
unknown in order to inherit a land he had never seen (Genesis 12 – 25).

During his travels he was a stranger among the indigenous people in the land God
promised to give him and his progeny, he lived peaceably, hospitably and traded
amicably with all people and was thus a model citizen to all he met. Paul later wrote
of him, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he
went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. … and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11 v 8-13).

The Hebrew word for ‘stranger’ in this law was the word that described Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob - ‘a guest’ in a place that is not theirs, one who sojourns or who
comes peaceably for shelter and accommodation whilst on a journey. Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob were ‘strangers’ in the land of Canaan in faith of the promises of God to
give them that land, they were peaceable guests on a journey of faith. Israel were
‘strangers’ in the land of Egypt a land that saved their existence but later served to
dominate them until God continued to lead them to the land promised to their
forefathers – the land of Canaan. Travellers are vulnerable to vexation and assault
being at the mercy of their host-benefactor and so trust is essential and trust can only
be built by an honest and open welcome.

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Israel were therefore reminded that they had been ‘strangers’ in the land of Egypt
until God called them out, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye
were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22 v 21). God is still calling a people
from the Gentiles to journey by faith to the ‘promised land’ of eternal life on this earth
and while they often live in a fixed abode they traverse a journey of faith and trust in
God where the spiritual rest and accommodation is needed to refresh the mind before
progressing. They are required to be model citizens (Romans 13), honest, true,
trustworthy, hardworking among the community they happen to be in, hospitable and
welcoming to people they do not know but who come in need for whatever cause, “Be
not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares” (Hebrews 13 v 2) and “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live
peaceably with all men” (Romans 12 v 18, 3 John 1 v 5). They are to remain in the
community of their habitation and contribute to the welfare of all as much as in their
power but to remain as strangers to the ways and excesses of the estranged world of
the enmity.

18) Oppression of the fatherless

“Ye shall not afflict any … fatherless child” (Exodus 22 v 22).

God was the father of Adam and Eve as it is written, “… which was the son of Adam,
which was the son of God” (Luke 3 v 38) and Adam was the son who did not follow
in his father’s footsteps. Jesus was also the son of God conceived by the action of the
Holy Spirit but mortal in body and functions, “... therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1 v 35). In contrast to
Adam and all his progeny, Jesus was the son who did follow in his father’s footsteps.

It was the purpose of God in creation that a man follows in his father’s footsteps as a
role-(character)-model where each father beginning at Adam ultimately followed the
role-(character)-model of God as his father (father’s-father, etc., etc.) through His
laws, but Adam and Eve chose the reasoning of the serpent to be his role-model
because it satisfied an inherent desire for forbidden excitement. Because Adam and
Eve rejected the character-model of God as their father they were given over to their
role-model ‘reasoning of the serpent’ by implanting that reasoning within them as the
enmity - who then became their surrogate father as Jesus taught, “Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8 v
44).

Thus mankind became ‘fatherless’ - in that God cast them off as His children because
of their infatuation with the forbidden excitements that the enmity as the devil and
Satan (human nature) provides and as such they lost the protection that the role-model
of a father brings, for the father is the one who develops the character of members that
build a strong homogenous family by teaching, training, disciplining and overseeing
the child’s progress and therefore the development of reputation of the family for
generations.

For those who recognised this loss and acknowledged it, God - as a faithful father -
made a way possible for those who rejected the enmity as their role-model to return to
Him and become His children by faith. It was to be by faith and not by sight because

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God had hidden Himself because of His anger of mankind's unappreciative response
to the daily blessings that He freely gives (Deuteronomy 10 v 17-19). To this end God
purposed to raise a son of mankind who by obedience would become Son of God and
who by sacrifice would reunite a family of many people to God as children to a
Father, but until that time all men and women were vulnerable to the dominatory
influence of the enmity as a predator who takes only victims but no prisoners, as Peter
wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5 v 8).

This law (repeated many times in scripture - Deuteronomy 24 v 17-22 & 26 v 12 & 27
v 19) was intended to remind the congregation of their vulnerability to spiritual and
literal predation because of being ‘fatherless’, in that as ‘fatherless’ - God must be
sought after as a Father and was not presiding over the details of the course of their
lives as a father would naturally do. God never abandoned the children of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob (Israel) but has watched over them up to this day and will do until the
‘times of the Gentiles be fulfilled’, even though He has allowed them to be
overwhelmed in part by the enmity throughout history in the form of genocidal
predation.

When a Jew or Gentile realise that they are spiritually ‘fatherless’ then their
vulnerability to the predations of the enmity become a serious issue in that there is no
hope of life after death, but that when God is their Father there is hope of life after
death and so the opportunity is given by God to turn to Him not as a natural father but
as a spiritual Father who has the purpose to build a family and the power to give life
in order that that purpose be fulfilled. This law was given to remind those in the
security of a family with a father that in spiritual matters (salvation) they are
fatherless and subject to the ‘wiles of the devil’ and therefore they were protected by
the God who is the role (character)-model to be followed, as it is written, “For the
Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a
terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the
judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and
raiment” (Deuteronomy 10 v 16-22).

19) Oppression of a widow

“Ye shall not afflict any widow” (Exodus 22 v 22).

God created woman to be the ‘help meet’ for man (Genesis 2 v 18) and for the man to
love his wife as his own-self (Ephesians 5 v 28-29), where she was to succour him
and he was to protect her. Such is the beauty and simplicity of marriage and was
ordained by God to teach man of the greater purpose of God in raising up a son for
whom He would provide a wife-companion (Ephesians 5). Adam bore the
responsibility of both their sins even though it was Eve who was first tempted
(Genesis 3 v 6) because Adam was the custodian and administrator of the law
(Genesis 2 v 16-17) and bore responsibility for its enforcement. Part of the curse of
God on the woman due to her sin was that she would be under the man’s authority so
that he could bear responsibility for mankind’s future actions, “… and thy desire
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3 v 16).

The union of a man and women is prefigures the union God has purposed of His son
(Jesus Christ) and a multitudinous companion built-up of men and women from every

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generation and both Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 5 v 31-32). When a wife loses her
husband by death she is without her God-given protector and therefore becomes
vulnerable to the predations of the enmity in the form of oppression from fellow men,
even though in marriage before her husband’s death she was the strength behind him
and continues to live in widowhood in love and memory of him, for that is how God
made man and woman – despite 21st century ostensible emancipation. Those men and
women whom God calls to be prepared for eternal union with His son (Jesus Christ)
become increasingly united by faith in heart and mind with him as they progress
through their life of obedience to God such that even though they will not be
‘married’ to him until God chooses (about 2000 years after the resurrection of Jesus –
Revelation 19 v 7-9, & 21 v 2) they have ‘given’ themselves exclusively to him in a
vow to marriage by keeping the law (before Christ) and by baptism (after Christ) live
as though they were married. Because man (Adam) failed in his responsibility to keep
Gods law and thus brought upon all men both the impoverishment of the sentence of
death that is perpetuated by his offspring, woman (representing the ‘called’ men and
women) is effectively - in spiritual terms - a widow in God’s eyes, but has (as taught
in the law) the opportunity to be united to her husband’s brother in order to perpetuate
her deceased husband name and inheritance.

The law was clear and concise, “Ye shall not afflict any widow” (Exodus 22 v 22) to
teach the congregation that widowhood was (in the eyes of God) the natural spiritual
state of all men and women in terms of protection unto salvation - due to the death of
‘Adam’ as her protector unto perpetuation of life in the garden of Eden (representing
salvation). However, God taught a way of hope for a widow to regain protection by
the faithful and unselfish actions of a man who was ‘near of kin’ to Adam, as it is
written, “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife
of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in
unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother
unto her” (Deuteronomy 25 v 5-10).

In God’s eyes when Adam died the hope of eternal life was lost for all mankind - even
as a bereaved childless widow lost the hope of child-bearing in order to continue the
family line for future next generation (in perpetuity). The deceased husband
represented Adam and all men, and the ‘husband’s brother or nearest-of-kin’
represented Jesus Christ – born of a mortal woman, and subject to the same
temptations as any other man or woman (Galatians 4 v 4, Hebrews 2 v 18, & 4 v 15).

John Baptist was one of those called by God to be united in eternal spiritual marriage
with His son Jesus Christ. John recognised his natural state of spiritual ‘widowhood’
in that the perpetuation of the name and inheritance of Adam was lost because all men
have sinned and even though physically alive, are effectively dead in the eyes of God
as it is only a matter of a short time before the grave beckons. John understood the
purpose of God that He would provide a ‘near-of-kin’ who would take upon himself
the role of a husband in order to make a way possible for perpetuation of life (eternal
life) in the beautified inheritance God provided on earth (the garden of Eden) and
John showed his faith in his teaching when referring his own work and that of Jesus
Christ, “I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet
of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire” (Luke 3 v 16). The phrase ‘the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy
to unloose’ is a quote from the law for the childless widow when there was a case of a

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near-of-kin refusing to take the widow of his near relative as his wife to perpetuate his
inheritance thus leaving her without hope of doing what is natural to all women –
raising children to perpetuate the name and inheritance of her husband. It is written,
“Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it,
and say, I like not to take her; Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the
presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and
shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his
brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his
shoe loosed” (Deuteronomy 25 v 8-10). John saw that Jesus was to take the role of
‘husband’ to all those who recognised their spiritual widowhood because of Adam’s
sin and collectively would make up the future bride-companion of Jesus in order to
perpetuate the race of man on earth – not as mortals capable of extinction, but as
immortals to the glory of God in whose image they were created. John therefore
testified that he (as a member of the spiritually widowed) was not worthy to loose
Jesus’ shoe.
The significance of this law in revealing the beauty of the purpose of God is no better
illustrated in the life of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth was a foreigner, a Moabite – naturally
despised by Israel because of their national hostility to Israel, but Ruth converted to
the faith of her husband who died prematurely leaving her childless and free to re-
assimilate with her natural people and religion. She chose however to cleave to God
and His promises through her adopted family via her dead husband’s mother and
despite much encouragement to ‘go back’ she clave to the hope of Israel (Ruth 1),
thus setting a pattern of separation from the rule of the enmity (natural state) that all
who come to God are required to do. As destitute she went to work in the lowliest of
tasks – foraging for seed in the harvested fields after the grain had been gathered
where every seed was precious illustrating the spirit of all who come to God in that
the acknowledge spiritual destitution and to who every word of God is precious
exemplified by Samuel when he was a child “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was
with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3 v 19) and the
Gentile to whom Jesus told that the word of God was given to the Jews, “And she
said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table”
(Matthew 15 v 26-27).

Boaz saw in Ruth the qualities needed in all who join themselves to God either by the
faith in the teaching of the law (before Christ) or by baptism into the faith of Jesus
(after Christ) and he therefore took steps to keep the law of the childless-widow
except that he was not the nearest of kin. Boaz gave the opportunity to perpetuate the
name and inheritance of the deceased but because of unexplained personal choice the
closer relative chose to allow his deceased brother’s name and inheritance to become
extinct, as in the figure, all men have done so with regard to the eternal perpetual
inheritance God has given man by failing to keep His word. Boaz - as a figure of
Jesus - stood in that breach and took Ruth to be his wife. It is a beautiful love story
(Ruth 1, 2, 3 & 4) that is but a shadow of the glorious love story of Jesus Christ and
the faithful (his bride companion) beautifully told by Solomon (Song of Solomon).

Thus the law stated to teach the congregation of the greater purpose of God that He
cares for the poor, the widows, the fatherless and the stranger – not because of what
they are but for what they represent in the qualities needed for all who seek to come to
Him, “For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a
mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth

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execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving
him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the
land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10 v 17-19) exemplified in His laws, “When thou
cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt
not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the
widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When
thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for
the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of
thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow” (Deuteronomy 24 v 19-21).

20) Oppression by usury

“Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals,
usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon
usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may
bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to
possess it” (Deuteronomy 23 v 19-20).

If however the stranger had joined them for accommodation, shelter or assimilation,
then usury was forbidden - even to a stranger, “Take thou no usury of him, or
increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give
him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase” (Leviticus 25 v 36-
37).

Usury is to lend money, time or goods requiring repayment with accrued additions -
interest. Simple interest is a one-off fixed payment set against the value of that which
is lent - irrespective of time. Compound interest (that this law legislates against) is
interest calculated on a repetitive time-span such that the longer the loan the greater
the accrued additions. Simple interest is open and honest, it can be easily evaluated
before the loan is taken, for example if one tenth of the value of a loan is added as
interest to the repayment of the loan the gross amount remains constant and therefore
manageable. In compound interest the amount repayable is not easily calculated as
interest is added repeatedly to interest already accrued quickly becoming
unmanageable and the burden of debt increases such that it becomes un-payable. For
example, an addition of tenth of the value of the loan added monthly increases the
total repayable for one year by over one hundred per-cent (over twice) the value of the
original loan and thus becomes unmanageable, crippling the debtor and putting them
under the power of the creditor.

The root of the Hebrew word used for usury is ‫ ןשנ‬and literally means ‘to cut or bite
with teeth’ as used in Numbers, “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21 v 6), and
Micah 3 v 5 where false teaching and lies are likened to the bite of the serpent, and
elsewhere (Habakkuk 2 v 7). The analogy of the snake-bite is easy to understand and
is eloquently described by a long-deceased Hebrew language scholar, “the snake bite
is so small as scarcely to be perceptible at first, but the venom soon spreads and
diffuses itself until it reaches the vitals’ (J Parkhurst, Hebrew Lexicon, 1811, p471
quoting Rivetus in Leighs Critiea Sacra).

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In contrast to lending with compound interest Solomon wrote, “He that hath pity upon
the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again”
(Proverbs 19 v 17). Mankind and indeed all living creatures have no power to live or
perpetuate their life, they have no say in their birth and little say in their legal death.
God gave life in the beginning (Genesis 2 v 7) and He gives life every day as Paul
powerfully said of God, “Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; … For in
him we live, and move, and have our being;… For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17
v 25-28, Isaiah 45 v 5).

God lends life to mankind (Ecclesiastes 12 v 7) with all its faculties and intelligence
and God expects man to repay Him for His kindness and blessings with obedience to
His word. In the beginning there was no interest, no accruals and no crippling debt
when God first lent life to man. The serpent however had a bite, and that bite
introduced a crippling debt. The bite of the serpent was seemingly innocuous, “And
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3 v 4-5) but as that lie coursed through the mind of
Eve (and then of Adam) it increased to such magnitude as to paralyse their vital
instincts (Genesis 3 v 6) and brought upon them a crippling debt that they were unable
to pay and thus their life was taken away (Genesis 3 v 17-19) and so have all their
offspring as cemeteries the world over testify.

The poison of the serpent was placed in man by God as punishment for his infatuation
with its reasoning that led to disobedience and is scripturally called the enmity
(Romans 8 v 7, Ephesians 2 v 15-16, James 4 v 4) and it is that seemingly innocuous
spirit in man that is the root of usury – the satisfaction of the flesh - whether it be in
money, goods or time, honour, pride, anger, hatred, jealousy or any other emotion that
is contrary to the words of God (Proverbs 6 v 16-19), it is the same seemingly
innocuous spirit that spreads and diffuses through the emotional instincts and
dispositions that form the godlessness and hypocritical character.

Jesus confirmed the spirit of the words of Solomon referred to above when he taught,
“And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners
also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good,
and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6
v 34-35). God in His love has lent life to man and expected nothing in return but
obedience - for all things to give are God’s, thus Jesus summarised this and all laws in
the second commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22 v
39-40) and taught the majesty of repayment of life to God who gave it– without
interest - when he was shown a penny bearing the image and superscription of
Caesar, Jesus taught “Render therefore unto caesar the things which be caesar's and
unto God the things which be God's” (Luke 20 v 22-25) where man is made in the
‘image and likeness’ of God (Genesis 1 v 26-27).

Because of the seemingly innocuous poison of the serpent (the enmity) that tempts
man to sin that accumulates as godlessness, man has accrued a debt that is un-payable
and is destined to an eternal grave without hope of resurrection. However, the purpose
of God is that man should inherit the earth for ever and so He raised-up a son in Jesus

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Christ who would pay the price of that debt as a ransom to release other men and
women from the grave (Mark 10 v 45). In order to do this it was necessary that Jesus
accrued no debt (interest) by sin so that he could make the simple interest-payment
with his life of obedience even unto death (because of the curse on mortal man) where
the capital repayment (original loan) was his mortal life and the simple-interest was
his character that mirrored the character of God. Those whom Jesus will raise from
the dead are those who acknowledged their debt through sin and make every effort to
overcome the enmity within them by faith in the successful work of the promised son
- as a role model - and thus became his brother/sister or friend (John 15 v 13-14).

This law served to remind the congregation of this central purpose of God to
encourage them to live in gratitude to God for all His blessings and to lend to those in
need not expecting anything in return but their thanks and obedience to God.
However, the heathen (non-believing, independent stranger) who did not share their
hope and belief in God could be subject to usury as they revelled in the satisfactions
and pleasures accrued sinful interest of the enmity, but, even so, had every
opportunity to separate themselves from their godless fellows and join the hope of
resurrection by belief in God as did Rahab, Ruth, Uriah and many others as Isaiah
wrote (Isaiah 56 v 3-8, Isaiah 55).

21) Honour government

“Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people” (Exodus 22 v 28)
where ‘gods’ refers to their judges who were appointed to rule over the congregation,
it is the word ‘elohim’ the plural of ‘God’ (the singular and supreme God) who by His
Spirit appointed such men and women to administer His word to the people, who
were later known as prophets and seers. For example, Elisha was a seer appointed by
God to deliver His word but who was cursed by children (2 Kings 2 v 23-24) and Paul
inadvertently spoke unwisely to a ruler of his day even though that ruler was corrupt
(Acts 23 v 2-5, & 25 v 2-3).

God is the ultimate ruler of all men and women (Psalm 24 v 1) who cursed mankind
by placing in him the enmity that had supplanted His rule and authority but who still
retains overall control over man’s affairs, as Daniel said and history confirms (Daniel
4 v 17) - in particular with regard to those God calls to be united through Jesus to Him
as Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand” (John 10 v 27-29).

To respect national and local authority rule is to respect God as Paul wrote to those
who respond to the call of God, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans
13), thus those believing themselves to be of the ‘called’ must be model citizens in
that the laws of the land are to be respected even when there is no possibility of being
caught as an offender, as a reflection of keeping the laws of God fulfilled in Christ in
the privacy of the heart and mind.

Such people are ruled by God through His word fulfilled in Jesus not as a rigid strait-
jacket of commands but in faith from reading the word of God (Romans 10 v 17)

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choosing between good and evil, right and wrong, wise and unwise on a daily basis
dictated by a conscience sensitized by the word and Spirit of God (Romans 2 v 14-15)
while living under the rule of local laws. Such citizens in this world become
characterised citizens of ‘new Jerusalem’ (a state of exclusive ruler-ship of God, also
referred to as ‘heaven’, John 3 v 13 - and many times) and even while living in this
world - they remain ‘in’ the world but not ‘of’ it (1 Corinthians 5 v 9-10).

To ‘revile’ is to count as worthless, to be of such little value as to be a liability. Thus

the serpent reviled God in the beginning by the lie he told Eve, ‘ye shall not surely
die. For God doth know, … ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3 v
1-5). The essence of that rebellion is the enmity resident every man and woman
(commonly known as human nature) that supplants the rule and authority of God at
every opportunity. Jesus’ work was to reverse that rebellion by ‘killing’ every
temptation as it arose (Matthew 4) thus restoring the rule and authority of God in his
life that became manifest in his character and was seen by his fellows. As a result
Jesus showed the authority of God in his manner of life, teachings and miracles
(Matthew 21 v 23-27) and was reviled for doing so (John 9 v 28) until finally when he
(their ruler and King - appointed by God) was crucified they reviled him, “And they
that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads” (Matthew 27 v 37-39).

The law was the life of Jesus and even in the stress of fulfilled the final scriptures he
refused to revile those that reviled him – even though he knew they were without God
as Peter wrote of Jesus, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who,
when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2 v 22-24). Thus Peter taught all who come
to God by baptism into the death of Jesus and remain therein, “For even hereunto
were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2 v 21). Therefore the spirit of this law (Exodus 22 v
28) remains to this day.

To revile authority by ignoring laws - counting them as worthless and to be of such

little value as to be a liability - is effectively to revile Jesus (the model citizen) and
those who revile Jesus revile God, for it is not possible keep the spirit of the law of
Christ (who cannot be seen) if the laws of those who can be seen are reviled.

22) Care for an enemy

All men and women are children of God and all have an equal opportunity to enjoy
His benefits and to obey His word, but very few do obey His word and only one man
has done so without fault. The enemy of God - resident in all men and women - is
human nature (the enmity) and when it works the man or woman becomes the enemy
of God but when the words of God are afterwards obeyed friendship of God results as
was shown in Abraham, “Abraham believed God, … and he was called the Friend of
God” (James 2 v 23). God has shown that the way to become a friend of God is
through acknowledgement - in a humble and contrite heart - of being an enemy
through sin followed by repentance. Because all men sin, all are enemies of God
while in their un-repented sin but have the opportunity to repent and God is eager that
all men do repent and is awaiting their response (Ezekiel 33 v 11, 2 Peter 3 v 9).

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Peter was well qualified to write about being an enemy of God because he unwittingly
became the enemy of Jesus, but in that state of being an enemy Jesus loved him and
helped him. In ignorance of the purpose of God and the fullness of the work of Jesus,
Peter questioned Jesus words concerning the Jewish elders and priests hatred of Jesus
by the to which Jesus answered Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Mark 8 v 33).
Thus even in the state of ignorance Peter in his enthusiasm became the enemy of
Jesus and God – but Jesus loved him nonetheless - because of his ignorance.

Jesus yet further showed the spirit of the law of helping an enemy when he was about
to be crucified, Jesus knew that Peter would deny him three times after which he
would repent with bitterness of the parlous state of being a public enemy of Jesus and
thus Jesus said to him, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22 v 31-32). Peter did deny Jesus
and did repent with a broken spirit and became a valiant defender of the faith even
unto premature death.

The law stated, “If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt
surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying
under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him”
(Exodus 23 v 4-5). This was a pragmatic law applicable in every-day life where
practical and real help could be offered to ensure the well-being of a fellow who may
be an enemy (personal or national). The law was to teach them of the work of Jesus
Christ in redeeming a sinful people from an eternal grave that work was partly
demonstrated in those poignant affairs of Peter. The ‘ox’ and ‘ass’ represented the
strength of the neighbour to live – the ox to plough and pull a load and the ass to bear
burdens and these animals are representative of the strength of intelligence given by
God to man in order to read and obey the word of God by breaking up the hard-
hearted ground of the enmity with its power to reason and the strength memorise so
that the burden of faith can be carried. When that strength of mind to obey God is lost
to the enmity by sin, it is the duty of the neighbour to restore the sinner to repentance
without thought of reward as Jesus showed with Peter.

Thus Jesus taught that if a neighbour wandered from the way of obedience to the
word of God then it was the neighbours duty to explain in private the error to the
wanderer in order to restore the strength of his character back to obedience to God,
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between
thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother” (Matthew 18
v 15). Ezekiel was similarly told concerning his duty in the spirit of this law, “When I
say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked
man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou
warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he
shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezekiel 3 v 18-21).

23) Balance in judgement

“Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not
have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a
perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may

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be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Deuteronomy 25 v 13-
15). This was a pragmatic law and the same law is enforced to this day in all
enlightened governments – it is a serious offence to give short measure. The balance
represents the choice between good and evil and even to this day balances are
symbols of justice. The law is placed on one side and the evidence is placed on the
other, if the balance beam is horizontal the plaintiff is innocent. But the balance of
justice under the law of God went much further than balancing words of the law
against hard evidence, compassion and mercy were also placed with the words of the
law and repentance was added to the plaintiff’s side where the measure of contrition
could sway the balance in favour of the defendant – for this is the way of God, He has
given His laws but God requires humility and contrition in order to forgive above
condemnation and understanding what His law teaches above rote. However with the
enmity in man this system while ideal is open to abuse, to bribes, lies, falsehood,
revenge, hatred and envy.

23.1) The poor

“Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause” (Exodus 23 v 6)

It is the duty of man to interpret, obey and administer the word of God on a personal
level and in the case of a neighbour’s infringement of it to enforce its judgements for
justification and condemnation. To assist every man and women in the congregation
whose duty it was to work fulltime for their families the priests were appointed to
study and learn the law without cumbrance of the need to work and thus to instruct
and judge the people in the finer details of judgement. God gave the law to be as a
practical expression of the faith of their fore-fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob who
had no written law so that they could share their faith.

The law stated, “Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause” the
‘poor’ are the materially destitute - humiliated and bowed by their beggar-like
poverty. To ‘wrest’ is to bend or stretch in the sense of adjusting the clarity of
judgement to suite the person, and the ‘cause’ is the plaintiff’s plea. ‘Judgement’ is
the application of the word of God that can be that which is be enshrined in law or the
expression of the outworking of the name of God (mercy, grace, long suffering,
goodness and truth) manifest in compassion, empathy and love. For example Solomon
judged with compassion and empathy of maternal love when two mothers were
presented to him who identically claimed a dead child was the others and a live child
theirs and there was no enshrined law to refer to. The one mother was motivated by
envy in revenge and the other by maternal love and compassion. Solomon ordered the
living child to be shared by cutting it in two that would necessitate its death in order
to extract the hidden motives of each mother, “And the king said, Bring me a sword.
And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in
two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the
living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O
my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be
neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the
living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof” (1 Kings 3 v 16-28)

The poor living child represented the son (Jesus) for whom the faithful have yearned
since the fall of Adam, the dead child represents the natural man - human nature that

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although physically alive is dead unto the wisdom of God. The yearning mother
represents the faithful referred to as the ‘wise’ woman (Proverbs 31), Jerusalem
(Galatians 4 v 22-26, Isaiah 66 v 1-14), and the ‘bride’ (Revelation 21 v 2). The
woman of revenge represents the ‘strange’ woman (Proverbs 7) - the enmity, who
sought the death of Jesus simply because he breathed the breath of the word of God
and to whom the faithful woman was prepared to allow her rival to have domination
in order for it to mature. In Solomon’s judgement the living child was dead in the
heart of the woman of revenge who said ‘divide it’ - as did the Jews of Jesus ‘crucify
him’, but as Solomon delivered the child to his rightful mother so God delivered Jesus
foretelling the outworking of the purpose of God in allowing Jesus to be a son of
Adam (mortal and subject to temptation from the strange woman) but reuniting him
with the woman of wisdom by resurrection of the dead for ever.

The law taught compassion and empathy, not rigidity and revenge. In fulfilment of
this Jesus taught “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother” (Matthew 18 v 15-17) and to the elders who accused the woman caught in
adultery Jesus said “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone”. The
poor are those bowed down by the burden of grinding poverty and represent those
who are bowed in heart before God under the burden of guilt in recognition of their
spiritual poverty even though materially wealthy as Job “Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1 v 21) and of the poorest of all
men - Jesus of whom it was said, “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8 v 9).

Solomon wrote, “Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is
hungry” (Proverbs 6 v 30) and the law confirmed, “If there be among you a poor man
of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor
brother” (Deuteronomy 15 v 7). This law was intended to remind the congregation
that God will never forsake or wrest the judgement of the poor in heart as Jesus taught
when he spake of a widow continually pleading for release from an oppressor whom
the local judge ignored until she began to irritate him and only then to releave his
inconvenience did he relieve her and Jesus confirmed, “And shall not God avenge his
own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell
you that he will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18 v 1-7). The proof of the truth of those
words of faith was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his
oppressors had killed him after a lifetime of being beset by the enmity within his own
heart for which Jesus had continually pleaded for release.

23.2) Falsehood and bribes

”Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I
will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise,
and perverteth the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23 v 6-8).

The enmity is the source of lies and lies are the foundation of falsehood. The enmity
is opposed to every word of God and is the spirit of the serpent who told the first lie,
‘thou shalt not surely die’ - the spirit that infected Adam and Eve and that God cursed

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mankind with by transferring the power of reason from the serpent to man (Genesis
3). That enmity is present in every child born and remains dormant until intelligent
growth begins when it surfaces as minor childhood rebellion maturing unto
entrenched adult opinion and indulgence often without conscious awareness. The law
taught that falsehood is endemic in human nature (the enmity) and alertness to its
deception is the duty of every man and woman in the affairs of both neighbours and
the state of one’s heart.

The law (fulfilled in Jesus Christ) was intended to be the motive power of a righteous
character within the hearts of each member of the congregation changing them from
their natural inclination of service to the enmity to being servants of God (after the
example of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), and this law alerted them to
the danger of ‘slaying’ this new innocent, godly and righteous character by false
doctrine and manipulation of the simple truth of God’s word.

The ‘gift’ is a bribe and its effects can be devastating - as was seen in Balaam’s thirst
for honour. Balak the Moabite was an enemy of God who sought to place a
supernatural curse on the congregation in order to rid them from his lands and
promised Balaam (a noted sage) rich rewards for doing so. Balaam went to
extraordinary lengths to satisfy his lust and gain his reward, but was prevented from
achieving his goal by God – thus was unable to realise the gift offered by Balak.
However in the depths of the subtlety of the enmity – in order to receive the bribe - he
did far worse than cursing the congregation with words, he advised Balak to socially
integrate his people with the congregation in order to break down the high principles
of the people with fornication and thus lead them away from godliness in order to
bring the anger of God down upon the people - as a result 24,000 people died
(Numbers 22-25).

Judas Iscariot secured a gift from the chief priests in order to satisfy their lust for the
riddance of the man who exposed their godlessness and his lust for money and so for
30 paltry pieces of silver he delivered his saviour into the clutches of the enemies of
God and Jesus was crucified (Matthew 26). Thus the righteous man died because of a
gift that ‘blinded the wise’ and sets a spiritual parallel for all who are baptised and in
whom the ‘new’ man Christ Jesus is growing in the form a renewed character in
opposition to the ‘old man’ of the flesh, in that every time the ‘old man’ gets the
ascendancy within the heart by satisfying lust - the ‘new man’ dies unless repentance
is swift, sincere and lasting (Ephesian 4 v 22-24). This was what the law was teaching
the congregation even though they were constricted by the outward keeping of the law
there was to be within each member a ‘new’ man of faith in God wrestling against the
uprising of the enmity (human nature) a struggle Paul endured even though endues
with understanding of the teaching of the law more than any man other than Jesus,
and so Paul wrestled, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that
beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by
any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1
Corinthians 9 v 26-27) and in that war there are many battles not all of which Paul
won, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the
law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7 v 24-25).

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24) Tithes

“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree,
is the Lord's it is holy unto the Lord” (Leviticus 27:30-33).

The tenth of all produce was to be given to the Levites who represented God in the
congregation having land-inheritance but served the people full-time in administering
the law. Of that tithe, a tenth of the tithe (Numbers 18 v 25-32) was allocated to the
man who held the office of high priest who ministered unto God on behalf of all the
congregation – a man who represented Jesus Christ that would become the fulfilment
of the meaning of the tenth of the tenth - the finest increase of righteousness to the
glory of God (Hebrews chs 1-10).

The ‘increase of righteousness’ is the ‘harvest’ God is seeking from mankind (James
5 v 7). The chief and first-ripe increase was Jesus (represented by the tenth of the
tithe) who will be accompanied by a multitude who will be made righteous through
faith in him (represented by the tithe) and these will reign as immortals over a
universal harvest of mortal people in the Kingdom of God on earth with Jesus as king
(Isaiah 9 v 6-7, Revelation 20 v 6). Jesus referred to this harvest in the parable of the
tares (Matthew 13 v 25-43) where the tares are the fruits of the enmity – human nature
(‘the children of the wicked one’) - that will be rooted out and burnt when the
kingdom of God is to be established. The remainder of the ‘crop’ when the ‘children
of the wicked’ have been rooted out will be a mortal population who acknowledge the
authority of Christ and submit to his call to renounce servitude to the enmity (human
nature) (Revelation 14 v 6-7, Zechariah 14 v 16, Zechariah 8 v 21-23, Micah 4 v 1-5).

This is the purpose of God from the beginning and was the faith of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and this law was intended to annually remind the people of that work of
God in order for them to be prepared to be of the tithe out of whom came the tenth of
the tithe – all ‘holy unto the Lord’. The main ingathered crop (the remaining nine
tenths) represented the world of nations unshackled from servitude to the enmity of
whom Abraham shown when he was told of the future ‘tenth of the tithe’ as being his
seed (singular - Galatians 3 v 16) who would ‘possess the gate of his enemies’ (kill
the enmity within himself - John 16 v 11) – and of all nations Abraham was told,
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast
obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22 v 18)

The companion word for ‘tithe’ (‫ )רשע‬in Hebrew is ‘riches and opulence’ a word God
used when answering Solomon’s prayer when he asked for wisdom to rule the people,
“Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour,
nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom
and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made
thee king: Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches,
and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before
thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like” (2 Chronicles 1 v 11-12) such
that it was written, “And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and
wisdom” (2 Chronicles 9).

Solomon (son of David) was raised up by God to be a figure of Jesus Christ (the
greater son of David, 2 Samuel 7 v 12-16) and the wisdom Solomon was given

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represented the wisdom that Jesus gained that enabled him to conquer and vanquish
the enmity. Solomon wrote of wisdom and the riches of God and Jesus fulfilled what
he wrote, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth
understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and
the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right
hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and
happy is every one that retaineth her” (Proverbs 3 v 13-18). Jesus gained the riches of
God by humility - a quality that is an impediment when amassing the riches of man –
as Solomon wrote, “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and
life” (Proverbs 22 v 4).

The riches of the wisdom of God (represented by the tithes) are foolishness to man
because the wealth of the riches of God are founded upon the life and crucifixion of
Jesus (represented by the tenth of the tithe) as Paul wrote, “For after that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. … But we preach Christ crucified, unto the
Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; … Because the foolishness of
God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians
1 v 21-25). The riches of the wisdom of God in Christ (the tenth of the tithe – when
all lesser fruit has been filtered out) was described by Peter, “Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2 v 20-25).

This was the faith of Abraham who after victory over the enemies of God – the five
kings of Mesopotamia - and the ‘redemption’ (rescue) of his imprisoned family was
met by the angel Melchisedec. This Melchisedec taught Abraham about a future
redeemer (represented by bread and wine provided by the angel) who would similarly
in the greater fulfilment - rescue Abraham from captivity to the enmity and death, and
Abraham in response for this promise gave Melchisedec a tenth of the spoils to show
his faith in that one to come (Genesis 14) who would be the essence and best of the
tithe. Jacob similarly showed his faith in that one who would be the tenth of the tithe
when he received the vision of the ladder from heaven to earth on which angels
ascended and descended (Genesis 28 v 10-22). The ladder represented the one
through whom God would be manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3 v 16, Matthew 1 v
23, Isaiah 7 v 14-15) and by whom unity with God would be achieved - the unity that
Jesus taught Nathanael when Jesus began his ministry, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1
v 43-51, Matthew 17 v 1-7, Acts 1 v 9-11). The response of Jacob was to vow to give
to God a tenth of all his possessions as representative of his faith in Jesus Christ that
this one would build a house of people for God of which household he hoped to be,
“And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that
thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28 v 22).

Thus the congregation were reminded annually of the purpose of God and that they –
if they were the poor and needy in spirit - as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were - could
have hope that they will be of the tithe sanctified unto God of whom the tenth of the
tithe came and was their head and captain as was foretold in that every three years the

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tithe was free for all the poor – strangers, fatherless and widows – to enjoy
(Deuteronomy 14 v 28-29).

25) Childbirth and ‘issues’ from the body

God created the earth and all creatures holy, sanctified and clean unto His glory
according to His will. The serpents lie that led to sin introduced a new era where that
which is contrary to the will of God was called uncleanness by God. Of the sin that
brought the uncleanness of the enmity upon mankind the word of God said of the first
woman – Eve, ”the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2 v
14). Adam was not exonerated but implicated with greater responsibility because as
he was the man made superior to woman it was his duty to administer the will of God
over his wife in which he failed catastrophically.

The curse upon Adam was catastrophic - his progeny and everything that lived were
condemned to die (Genesis 3 v 17-19) but species were allowed to survive by
regeneration. Within that curse the woman was inflicted with repetitive pain in the
capacity to conceive and subsequent added pain of childbearing - constant monthly
and potentially life-threatening reminders of the curse because of her wilfulness as
God said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee” (Genesis 3 v 16). This curse was described in the scripture as an ‘issue
of blood’ as when describing the offerings of cleansing, “and make an atonement for
her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood” (Leviticus 12 v 7). The
cleansing could only begin when the issue had stopped.

The ‘issue of blood’ was classified by God as uncleanness – a direct reminder of His
curse on mankind and as uncleanness the casualty was not permitted to express their
faith in the way required by the law, i.e. through offering at the Tabernacle door with
interaction with the appointed priests. As a result (for the faithful among the
congregation) there was no forgiveness of sin and therefore no hope of resurrection
from the grave and rebirth unto immortality as the Covenant of God promised. The
cleansing process was therefore essential and involved time for healing and in certain
circumstances the skill of physicians (as will be described later). To complete the
cleansing process offerings that represented Jesus Christ were specified (a lamb, turtle
doves and pigeons - as considered previously (chapter 7.1 Continual burnt offerings,
chapter 7.2 Burnt offering – freewill) teaching all that were directly affected (women)
and indirectly (husbands, brothers and sons) that there is hope for restoration of unity
with God by sanctification through the life and death of the promised redeemer Jesus
Christ.

This law testifies against one of the most deceptive and heinous lies propagated by the
enmity and disseminated by its hypocritical practitioners that has been extant since
mankind spread across the face of the earth and particularly from Babel after the flood
– that of an immortal mother and child – a sun god and his immaculate mother - the
‘queen of heaven’ also known in antiquity as Innana (Summerians - post flood), Isis
(Egypt), Astarte (Israel- Jeremiah 44 v 17-19, Ishtah (Mesopotamia)). Mainstream
Christianity has simply adopted the lie from antiquity and rebranded it as the ‘mother
and child’ where Mary the mother of Jesus was immaculate i.e. clean (immortal), that

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the conception of Jesus was immaculate thus making Jesus an immortal man-child
who could do no sin but masqueraded as a symbolic mortal in an immaculate body.

The record of gospels is without ambiguity when recording the experience of Mary at
the conception and birth of Jesus, “And when the days of her purification according to
the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him
to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is
said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons” (Luke 2 v
19-24). Under the law Mary was as unclean in childbirth as any other woman, a
mortal woman susceptible to temptation from the enmity and therefore by nature
unclean in the eyes of God to whom no immortal can be unclean and - by His will -
out of uncleanness can no clean thing come as Job wrote, “Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? not one” (Job 14 v 4). The monthly pain and life-threatening
childbirth is a constant reminder of the temptation Eve satisfied her desires (Genesis 3
v 6) that brought the state of hitherto unknown uncleanness on the face of the earth.

Jesus healed a woman suffering from an aggravated form of an ‘issue of blood’ when
she was discovered as having touched the hem of his garment, “For she said within
herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Matthew 9 v 21). The
woman fell before Jesus trembling when she knew she was discovered, “And when the
woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him,
she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and
how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good
comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace” (Luke 8 v 43-48). The
significance of the healing is immense and brings enlightenment to the full meaning
of the law of ‘issues’.

The hem that the woman made such an effort to touch was a ribbon of blue that was
statutory for all members of the congregation to wear (Numbers 15 v 38) and as Jesus
kept the law without fault he wore this hem of blue. Blue represented the covenant of
God that each member entered into upon maturity, a covenant where God promised
immortality to mortal man after death, resurrection and change of nature if they would
keep his commands in faith and love, and willed that men and women enter into that
covenant by a voluntary singular oath such that each man and woman vowed, ”All
that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24 v 7). The teaching of
the hem of blue was that the wearer would walk within the bounds of the
encompassing laws of God without straying outside by sin. The woman with the issue
knew that Jesus was the one promised who alone would fulfil this symbol and she
knew that to hold on to his victory was her only hope of deliverance from the curse
she was under exemplified by her running issue (i.e. continuing loss of blood)
representing the ultimate loss of her life for ever.

The colour blue was publicly linked to the promise of everlasting life that the woman
yearned after. When the elders of the congregation met with angel and ate and drank
as the law was given to Moses, “And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under
his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven
in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand:
also they saw God, and did eat and drink” (Exodus 24 v 10-11). Light is made of the
seven colour of the spectrum and sapphire filters out 6 of the 7 colour-frequencies of

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light such that blue alone is reflected, as a result God specified that blue was used
extensively in the tabernacle to represent this promise of mortal man becoming
immortal. The linking of the ‘woman with the issue’, the hem of Jesus garment and
cleansing from all pollutants of the enmity (forgiveness of sin) is encapsulated in the
description of the ‘paved work of sapphire’ as being ‘as it were the body of heaven in
his clearness’ where ‘clearness’ is the same Hebrew word as ‘purifying’ in the
cleansing of an issue of blood, “And she shall then continue in the blood of her
purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the
sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled” (Leviticus 12). It is the only
time these words use a common root (‫ )אט‬that means ‘to sweep away’ refuse as with a
besom or broom. Thus the firmament (Genesis 1 v 6-8 - that is now known as the
atmosphere) was the only place on earth that was unpolluted by sin, a reliable mantle
covering a godless, pagan and polluted landscape whose pure air was breathed in by
men and women in order to give energy to serve the enmity rather than to the glory of
God. The ‘atmosphere’ of godlessness in which the woman with the issue lived
caused her to yearn for the pure ‘atmosphere’ of obedience to the word of God as seen
in Jesus so that she could be healed of the sickness of the curse of ‘dust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3 v 19), or as we acknowledge - growth, decline,
decay and death.

A product of the enmity is promiscuity - a lust contrary to the will of God who created
one man for one woman exclusively (Genesis 2). Godlessness invites sexual
gratification with multiple partners and a co-joining that spreads genital infection and
while women are equally susceptible to the diseases as men, it is men in the law of
God that are particularly targeted as the law gave details instructions in Leviticus
chapter 15. Women are cursed by nature as discussed above and have no choice in the
severity and uncleanness of the curse of an ‘issue’, but men were not so cursed and
therefore to become infected with an ‘issue’ such a venereal disease is a serious crime
in the eyes of God. Men (and women) are capable by the influence of the enmity to
plunge to depths below that of animals for the transient pleasures of breaking the law
of God and can pay the price of physical genital infection mirrored from the state of
their mind and heart infected by the poison of the enmity. In reality this infection can
only be treated by physicians as the women with the issue found, “And had suffered
many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5 v 26). The disease is a witness to the lack of
morality that typifies mankind in general who fornicates with paganism, false
doctrine, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, deception and lies in order to satisfy his lust
for forbidden fruits of disobedience.

God is merciful whose mercy was and is directed through Jesus, for several such
women were healed by Jesus of their promiscuity (not necessarily ‘issues’ of the body
– but certainly ‘issues of the morals’) because they saw the error of their ways and
repented to seek the pure ‘atmosphere’ of a man who loved God more than the
pleasures of man – the woman of the issue (Matthew 9 v 20), Mary Magdalene (Luke
8 v 2), Mary sister of Lazarus (Luke 7 v 37-50, John 11 v 2) and Jesus loved them for
their repentance. All men and women suffer from ‘issues of morals’ and God has
made baptism the way of healing by touching and holding on to the fulfilment of the
ribbon of blue encircling the feet and walk of Jesus (Romans 6).

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Jesus - though born mortal of an unclean race - did not sin but took to himself every
word of God as the Psalmist wrote, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might
not sin against thee” (Psalms 119 v 11). In this way he sanctified his character by
killing every temptation to sin and thus kept his unadulterated as-born emotions clean
and made the way possible for those who did become infected (physically and
morally) to be cleansed.

26) Central worship

“But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put
his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come”
(Deuteronomy 12 v 5).

The ‘name’ of God is central to the law, the covenant and all the teachings of the
Bible that were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The ‘name’ was given to Moses before the
congregation were delivered from Egypt when God promised him that He would give
Moses people a law in the mount where Moses saw the burning bush (Exodus 3 -
Sinai). God said “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you”. This was the ‘name’ that Jesus
referred to when he was speaking of the fulfilment of his work as a mortal man, “Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. … Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8 v 56-
58). The name ‘I AM’ (‫ )היה‬means ‘self-existing - he who was, he who is, and he who
will be’ and describes He who is eternal and self-sufficient, but much more than that,
this name describes the fact that God has been manifest in the angels - by whom He
created the earth and solar system (Psalm 33 v 6-9) and through whom He is directing
the course of history (Daniel 4 v 25) and will do until His purpose is fulfilled
(Matthew 16 v 27) and God has promised that for that purpose to be fulfilled there
must be a mortal man in whom He also ‘will be’ manifest (John 14 v 7-9, 1 Timothy 3
v 16) through whom a multitude will be embraced so that God will ‘be all in all’ (1
Corinthians 15 v 22-28). That one was Jesus Christ and this was the faith of Abraham
that Jesus referred to.

Because the congregation did not have the faith of Abraham God gave them the law
and within that law a place where He would place his name in order for the
congregation to understand the power of the ‘name’ of God, Moses was also told that
that ‘name’ embraced more than a restrictive code of laws and commandments, he
was told how the one in whom God would manifest would display the ‘name’ of God,
“And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord,
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth
generation” (Exodus 34 v 5-7). These characteristics were the foundation of the law
that if embraced would make the law a joy to keep (1 John 5 v 3, Matthew 11 v 28-
30) - characteristics that Jesus came to show in a mortal body (John 14 v 9) as a
witness that there was a living God who was ‘not willing that any should perish but
come to repentance’ and enjoy everlasting life (2 Peter 3 v 9) and thus Jesus
upbraided the religious elders of his day, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,

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hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23 v 23). How Jesus manifested the
name of God is considered in chapter 11.3, ‘The third commandment’

By this commandment God confirmed His righteous anger in His expulsion of

mankind from access to the ‘Tree of Life’ in the Garden of Eden by the flaming sword
of the angel that ‘turned every way’ - “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the
east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way,
to keep the way of the tree of life”- a principle that taught that the only way to regain
access to the ‘Tree of Life’ (the symbol of eternal life - Genesis 3 v 22, Revelation 2 v
7 & 22 v 14) somebody would have to pass the sword of the Spirit (flaming sword –
Genesis 3 v 24) in the hand of the angel that would mean death – not the body
because every man and woman must die - but of the enmity (human nature) within
that body. By no other way could any man or woman approach to God and if there is
no approach then there was no hope of forgiveness of sin and so no hope of salvation
– symbolised by the ‘tree of life’.

The Tabernacle symbolised the whole process of salvation through Jesus Christ from
the gate of the willing offerings to the Mercy Seat resting on the Ark of the Covenant
within the veil that separated the Holy place from the Most Holy Place where the high
Priest (who individually represented Jesus Christ) entered only once a year for
forgiveness of sins, Hebrews 9). To this one Jesus Christ and by this one there is no
other way to approach unto God and this was confirmed in this law – worship and
offering could only be brought to the one place God chose to place His name. God
chose to place His ‘name’ in Jesus Christ (Luke 3 v 22).

The pattern of ‘resting places’ that God chose to place His name (where the Ark and
the Tabernacle rested) teaches the way that God is calling all people unto Himself.
Immediately after its construction the Tabernacle began a 40-year journey to the
‘Promised land’ where the Ark led the way on each section of the 40-year journey,
“and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey,
to search out a resting place for them” (Numbers 10 v 33-36). On crossing the river
Jordan the ark temporarily ‘rested’ on the dry riverbed while the congregation passed
over into the ‘Promised land’ (Joshua 3) signifying the ‘way’ unto salvation made
possible by the victory of Jesus over the enmity that caused the downward decline of
mankind unto death (the Dead Sea) to be stopped. After entry into the ‘Promised land’
the Ark and Tabernacle rested at Shiloh after the promise of Jacob to his sons,
particularly to Judah from which tribe Jesus Christ would be born, “The sceptre shall
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and
unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49 v 9-12). Shiloh means
peace and tranquillity – foretelling the peace and tranquillity that Jesus would bring
by killing the enmity within him by passing through (applying) the sword of the Spirit
(inspiring the word of God, Hebrews 4 v 12) to make a way possible to the tree of life
with peace and tranquillity with God.

After a sojourn of some 400 years, peace with God was shattered by the depravations
of the priesthood (1 Samuel 2 v 12-17, 1 Samuel 3 v 13-14). It was now that God
brought His purpose closer to fulfilment in order to confirm His promise to Abraham
of how peace with God would be achieved by a beloved son who would willingly

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give himself in sacrifice in obedience to the word of God on mount Moriah –

foreshadowed by Isaac (Genesis 22) and that a greater son would “… possess the gate
of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22 v 17-18, Galatians 3 v 16) where ‘possess the
gate of his enemies’ means the vanquishing of the enmity – human nature. King
David was directed to this site when he was brought to realise his mortality due to his
sin and was shown that the hope of salvation by resurrection from the dead and then
to immortality depended upon one man being sacrificed on mount Moriah (2
Chronicles 3 v 1, 2 Samuel 24) where mount Moriah is Jerusalem where Jesus was
crucified.

This site was desecrated by the Babylonians in 587BC when the Judaic kingship was
removed as Ezekiel foretold, “Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take
off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come
whose right it is; and I will give it him” (Ezekiel 21 v 25-27) whose ‘right’ God gave
to Jesus Christ (Matthew 12 v 18). The site was levelled as a field (Jeremiah 26 v 18)
by the Romans in AD70 and the ‘abomination that maketh desolate’ (Daniel 11 v 31,
Matthew 24 v 15) was erected in AD593. On the 70th Jubilee - 3500 years after the
giving of the law - the site will be liberated by Jesus and the house of God will be
built as a ‘house of prayer for all people’ (Isaiah 56 v 7, Matthew 21 v 13) to which
all nations will come to worship God (Micah 4 v 1-2, Zechariah 8 v 18-23) with Jesus
Christ as universal king.

The spirit of this law is as alive today as it was when it was given – there is only one
place to worship God – by faith in Jesus Christ and one ‘way’ that salvation can be
realised as Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me” where that ‘way’ is by the ‘sword’ of the Holy Spirit that cuts
away and kills the temptations of the enmity within the heart and that can only be
done by bonded association with Jesus Christ by baptism into his victory over the
enmity in death (Romans 6). Paul explained this ‘way’, “For not the hearers of the
law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these,
having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (Romans 2 v 13-15).

27) Blood forbidden

“No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you
eat blood” (Leviticus 17 v 10-16).

This law confirmed the un-changeable will of God in that the same law applied well
before Moses was given the written law - it was the faith of Noah and all his faithful
progeny as God instructed him, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you;
even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof,
which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Genesis 9 v 3-7). The Hebrew text links
‘life’ with ‘blood’ as synonymous – ‘But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood
thereof’. The Hebrew for ‘life’ is ‫ שפנ‬meaning ‘to respire, to breathe’ - the act of
inhaling and exhaling thus refreshing the blood-fluid with oxygen. God gave man the

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breath of life as it is written, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”
(Genesis 2 v 7) and created man to repetitively inhale and exhale instinctively in order
to continue the life that God created. Blood alone cannot make man alive, nor can
oxygen alone make man breathe, ‘life’ requires the ‘breath of life’ from God in order
for it to exist, therefore God gives ‘life’ at every birth and God takes away ‘life’ at
every death as Solomon wrote, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and
the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12 v 7). The catalyst for
‘life’ is the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood that is triggered into action by the
power (spirit) of God at birth, therefore that oxygen/blood catalytic mechanism placed
there by God within the blood is not for man to consume in satisfaction of his lust for
flesh to eat.

Man was not created to eat flesh - he was created to eat herbs (Genesis 1 v 29-30) but
after God cursed man because of sin God permitted him to eat flesh - with restrictions
- to teach man of His purpose by only allowing certain animals to be eaten that God
classified as ‘clean’ even though they had no special dietary advantages, and helped
man to decide between ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ by identifying them with physical
characteristics (Leviticus 11). Within this boundary, flesh was permitted to be eaten
but only with understanding of why flesh was permitted to be eaten (because of sin
and that one man - represented by the clean animal - would die to satisfy a yearning
for reconciliation with God), to eat with pure lust as the congregation did with the
quails (Numbers 11 v 33) was not acceptable to God. Having understood and
consciously recognised the reason why an animal must die to satisfy their hunger,
God required that they understood and recognise the catalyst for ‘life’ within that
animal – the capacity to receive the ‘breath of life’ - placed within its blood that
converts oxygen and blood into ‘life’. The ‘breath of life’ given by God at birth that
animates an animal body is a metaphor for the ‘breath of life’ that converts an enmity-
dominated person to a God-fearing person that was perfected in Jesus Christ. It is this
conversion that John Baptist referred to when teaching that Jesus was the true saviour,
“I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire” (Luke 3 v 16).

Baptism is a new birth (analogous to infant birth) except that the birth of baptism
must be with understanding – a conscious intelligent decision on behalf of the
baptised, thus Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit” (John 3 v 3-6). The ‘Spirit’ is the same spirit (power) of God that
created the world and sustains it in continuance, but when used to ‘create’ a person of
righteousness it is referred to as the Holy Spirit. As oxygen and blood cannot give
life, so likewise water and immersion cannot bring to birth a new life in Christ, both
need a catalyst, i.e. something that sparks the reaction. That ‘something’ is the power
of God – His spirit in creation at birth or the Holy Spirit in rebirth unto salvation –
both ‘spirits’ are synonymous but used for different results.

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Birth and the power of God gives life - likewise re-birth by the Holy Spirit gives
power for one miracle and one miracle alone – the conversion of a enmity-dominated
life to a life dominated by God and no greater miracle can be experienced - for it is
impossible for man to serve God acceptably by his own efforts alone (Jeremiah 10 v
23. The power of God that converts oxygen and blood into life at birth is the same
power that begins the conversion of a character of sin to the character God seen in
Jesus and as it is the power (spirit) of God that gives continuance of natural life until
death overtakes - so it is the power (Holy Spirit) of God that continues the conversion
of the baptised from baptism to maturity at death to await resurrection unto judgement
and (if faithful) resurrection to life eternal.

The process of conversion of the soul (character) is by the blood of Jesus Christ in
faith (Hebrew 9). Physically the blood of Jesus was his blood and his alone and
ceased to have a use after his elevation to eternal life, but God has decreed that by that
blood alone He will forgive sins of others and that they - to realise that promise - must
have faith in that blood that in it they will be forgiven. Jesus said, “Whoso eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day”
(John 6 v 51-71).

To ‘drink the blood’ of Jesus is to share his ‘cup’ and to be baptised with the
‘baptism’ that he was baptised with as Jesus taught, “Are ye able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They say unto him, We are able”. The ‘cup’ was the performance of his vow unto
death to overcome and kill the enmity by allowing the Holy Spirit to work as a fire in
his heart and mind to destroy temptation (Matthew 4 v 1-11) – prefigured in Jeremiah
who was also tempted to forsake God because of the fierce continual opposition of the
enmity, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his
word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20 v 9).

Drinking the ‘cup’ of the baptismal vow to serve God brings experiences more bitter
than can be imagined when the vow (of baptism) is made – thus many ‘turn back’ to a
more relaxed accommodation with the enmity – a give and take attitude to
wrongdoing – a little good to counterbalance an little sin (John 6 v 66). This is not
drinking the blood of Jesus as he taught – for to drink the blood of Jesus is to allow
the Holy Spirit to burn and consume the temptations and gratifications of the enmity
and that brings inward grief when failure results (as indeed no man or woman is
perfect as was Jesus) but in that grief there is increased humility and unworthiness
(Romans 7) and an awareness of increasing dependency on the mercy of God through
Jesus to such a degree that the one being converted throw all their spiritual cares upon
God in faith that He will do whatever is good for their preparation unto eternal life
(Romans 7, 2 Corinthians 12 v 7-9, 1 Peter 5 v 6-8).

The only reason God allowed man to eat flesh (and indeed many creatures to kill and
eat each other) was to continually remind man of his sinfulness that brought the curse
of death on all creation. Within that permission God set limits to further remind man
of the ‘life’ (blood) of His son Jesus Christ that He would accept as a means of
washing away of those sins, therefore to kill and eat an animal is a reminder of sin
(and of one who would die for their sins), whereas the blood of the animal shed in
death is the reminder of the fluid in which the spirit of God works as a catalyst to

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convert oxygen and blood to give life that represented the spiritually animated ‘life’
of Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5 v 22-23).

Blood represents the ‘life’ of an animal or person – their experiences, skills, instincts,
emotions and strength. It represents the skill of the predator, the instinct of the
migrant, the meekness of the lamb and the strength of the lion – qualities that Jesus
displayed perfectly throughout his life – he deftly slew the enemy of God (the enmity
John 12 v 31), he instinctively migrated away from the rule of man to the rule of God
(Matthew 4 v 10, he took upon himself and maintained the meekness of lamb unto
death (Isaiah 53) and he developed the strength of a lion in defending the ‘family’ of
God – the righteous (Revelation 5 v 5). He did them by allowing the power (Spirit) of
God to rule his thoughts, motives and actions (his life) for which reason blood (the
life) is forbidden to be eaten in remembrance and respect of the perfect victory of
Jesus over the enmity.

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