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Old Testament 23 Exodus Stage 5 Liberty Home Bible Institute HL Willmington
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The lecture discusses the construction of the tabernacle, which is described as the most important building on earth. It consists of three sections: the outer court, inner court, and holy of holies. The tabernacle is relatively small, measuring 150 feet in length. The lecture emphasizes the importance of the willingness of the people to contribute to the construction and how God personally observed each gift. The tabernacle contains six main pieces of furniture, including the brazen altar and laver, the table of showbread, the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the Ark of the Covenant. The lecture also mentions the spiritual significance of these pieces of furniture. This is number 23 in a series of 80 Old Testament lectures, beginning our study this hour by considering the construction of the tabernacle. We said this is the most important building ever to be erected upon this earth. You remember I've said before that there are three great events that took place at Mount Sinai. Number one was the commandment of the law that was a requirement for fellowship, and then there was the corruption of the golden calf, the renunciation of that fellowship, and then now the construction of the tabernacle, the restoration to that fellowship. Let's very briefly give a general description now of the tabernacle. There were three sections called an outer court, an inner court, and the holy of holies. The outer court resembled sort of like a glorified picket fence construction, and it measured 150 feet in length. By the way, this isn't a very big building as we think of buildings today. One examines the tabernacle and he's impressed by its importance, and yet sometimes he's surprised by its smallness. Later on the temple under Moses or under Solomon in the days of the kings will be constructed, and it's twice the size of the tabernacle, but the tabernacle simply was not very big at all. It was 150 feet in length, 75 feet wide, and 7-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- And some of the most inspiring verses in the Old Testament speak of this sweet and sacrificial spirit. In chapter 35, verses 5, 21, 22 and 29, the Bible says, Whosoever had a willing heart and could offer willing hands. And then another precious truth involved in the tabernacle and the project itself was the fact that God personally observed each gift. Now that's a thrilling truth, no matter how small which was given. And this is dramatically brought out in number 7, chapter 7, where twelve tiny golden boxes of incense are given by twelve different individuals, and in spite of the fact that these gifts were identical and they were inexpensive, approximately $6.50 a box, God nevertheless acknowledged each person and each gift. For example, let's just read the dedication of the tabernacle itself from Numbers 7. It says, And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar. So in Numbers 7, we have these twelve important individuals and they are all offering something, and God records it, not because they are important, but because what they did was important. They did it with a willing heart. And verse 11, And the Lord said unto Moses, These princes, they shall offer their offering each prince on his day for the dedicating of the altar. And he that offered his offering first, on the first day, was Nashon, the son of Amadab of the tribe of Judah. And his offering was one silver charger, the weight thereof was 130 shekels, one silver bowl of 70 shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. Both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense, one young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five lambs of the first year. This was the offering of Nashon, the son of Amadab, and then it goes on the second day and then somebody else offers, the third day somebody else offers. And the thing is this, that every single prince offered the identical offering and each one is recorded separately. There are twelve passages that are identical, all the offerings are the same, the only difference is the names are different. The first day, the first prince offered the following, and then it's repeated. The second day, the second prince offered the following, and it is repeated. What we're trying to say is this, we wouldn't do it that way. We would say, well, the dedication of the altar, a great time was had by all, and the twelve princes of Israel dedicated the following, because we would save time. Chapter 7 is one of the longest chapters in all the Old Testament. In fact, it has 89 verses, and the reason it's so long is because God takes the time to record every single thing given to him. In the book of Revelation, we're told that God says on seven occasions to the seven churches of Revelation, Ephesus and Smyrna and the rest, I know thy works. God knows the things that we do. So the tabernacle was built by willing hands and God observed every tiny gift, whether large or small, every single gift that was given. Now let's look at the furniture of the tabernacle. We've seen somewhat a general description of this important building. There were six main objects, pieces of furniture, I suppose you could refer to them, in the tabernacle. There was the brazen altar and the brazen laver. There was the table of showbread, and that's spelled S-H-E-W, but don't call it shoebread, it's showbread. There was the lampstand, the altar of incense, and then the Ark of the Covenant. Let's go back and discuss these now, these six main objects. Some believe that they formed a cross, and they started from the east and pointed their way west. And so the long arm of the cross would be east to west, and then the short arm would be from north to south, and that may have been the way the furniture was arranged. But it did face the east, and it went toward the west. The brazen or the bronze altar, the altar of bronze. This was the first piece of furniture that one encountered as he entered the tabernacle from the east. And remember we said there was only one door that you could get in, and that was from the east. And the altar of bronze was a sacrificial structure, it sort of reminded one of, I suppose, an outdoor grill, a barbecue grill. It was a box-like structure made of acacia wood, and then it was overlaid with bronze. It was approximately seven and a half feet wide and three feet high. And there was a grate midway between the top and the bottom, and a horn was located on each corner of the altar to help hold the animal sacrifices that were offered at this altar. You couldn't get inside this tabernacle unless you went through the east gate, and until you offered a sacrifice or an offering upon the brazen altar. And then the second was called the brazen laver, or the bronze laver, and I suppose this sort of looked like a birdbath. And it was a brass basin, and it was filled with water resting on a pedestal, and it was covered by mirrors, and it was used by the priest for actual and ceremonial cleansing of both hands and feet. So they washed their hands, even though they weren't dirty, in order for ceremonially to clean them, and then they would wash their hands when they did get dirty. So for actual and for ceremonial cleansing. And their feet, they did the same thing. That was the brazen laver. We'll discuss the spiritual significance of these pieces of furniture in just a moment. I think it's very significant the way they are described here. There was a table of showbread, and the table of showbread was inside this little tent now. The brazen altar and the brazen laver wasn't. It was right outside. When it rained, it got wet, and when the sun shone down, why, it got hot, and the wind hit it and blew it and everything blew upon it. But the next pieces of furniture, the next four pieces of furniture, were inside this tent. Remember, this tent was inside the outer court, or inside this picket fence, and the tent had two rooms. Now in the eastern room, there were three pieces of furniture. There was the table of showbread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. That was inside this first room. Now the table of showbread, the table was made of acacia wood, and it was covered with gold. And on this table were placed twelve cakes of bread renewed each week, one for each tribe in Israel. And the table was approximately a foot and a half wide by two and a half feet high. And this table, unlike the first two pieces of furniture, as we said before, was on the inside of the tent. And we're not sure. Some believe that this rested on the northern side of the first room. It was in the first room, we know, and it might be on the northern side. And then the lampstand, which was directly down from it, now this would be on the southern part of the first room, it was one of the most ornate objects in the tabernacle. It was made of pure gold and consisted of an upright shaft from each side, of which three branches extended upward in pairs. The lamps were trimmed every morning and evening and were never to be extinguished all at one time, so one was always to be kept lighted during that time. It had to be regularly supplied with pure olive oil. And the entire lamp required 107 pounds of gold and cost approximately $175,000. This figure was given, very obviously, at pre-inflated gold prices. I suppose it would be closer to a half a million dollars today. A Jewish tradition says that the lampstand was five feet high. That would be about the height of the average Jew, perhaps not quite that high. Five feet high, and it was three and a half feet wide. Some believe, as we said, that it rested on the south side of the first room. Then between the two there was the altar of incense, and this went on just a little further west. It was about a foot and a half square by three feet high. It was made of acacia wood, and it was overlaid with gold, as was the table of showbread. Sweet spices were burned on this table each morning and each evening, and this was symbolic of prayer. So the priest would come in, and he had a censer in his hand, and this was sort of like a skillet, and he had coals of fire burning in this censer, and he would take the tongs from the altar, and I'm not sure, we're not sure exactly how he did it. He might have actually taken the tongs and grabbed ahold of one of the coals and put on the altar of incense and let it burn the incense there, or he may have taken a handful of the incense from off the altar and put it in the censer. We don't know whether he brought the fire to the incense or the incense to the fire, but at any rate, they came into contact with each other, and there was a sweet smell that went up through the tabernacle area, and of course that was symbolic of prayer. Then there was the Ark of the Covenant. That was the most important piece in all the tabernacle, and between the Ark of the Covenant and separating the Ark of the Covenant from the outer court and the inner court, from all other of the five pieces of silver, I'm sorry, the other pieces of furniture, was a veil, a thick, heavy curtain that separated this one piece of furniture from all the others. It was made of acacia wood, as some of the other pieces of furniture were. It was covered with gold and resembled a cedar chest, as I said before. It was approximately four feet long and two feet high, and it contained several objects. The most important was the two stones upon which were written the Ten Commandments. There were some other things in there that you can read about in the Bible we do not have in our notes. There was Aaron's rod, we'll discuss that later, and then there was a pot of manna that was placed in there, and there were other things. But there were two rocks, and upon each rock was written the Ten Commandments, five of the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down with him, remember, the third time he came down from the mountain. The lid of this box was made of solid gold, and it was called the Mercy Seat. They estimate this was thousands and thousands of dollars by itself. On top of the box of the Ark of the Covenant stood two golden angelic cherubims. Do you remember we first saw the cherubims in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned and God drove them out of the garden, and he sent these cherubims down with flaming swords to prevent Adam from getting back into the garden and partaking of the tree of life and remaining living forever in their sinful condition. So here we have golden cherubims, and these angels probably were created in order to guard the holiness of God. Once each year during the great day of atonement, that's called Yom Kippur, in October the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies. This was separated, of course, from the Holy Place by a thick veil, and he would sprinkle blood upon the Mercy Seat for the sins of Israel. I used to have this little sermon demonstration when my boy, I have a 13-year-old boy now, and he thinks he's too big to do it now, he's a teenager. When he was a little boy, I would dress him up as a shepherd. I had a sermon entitled, Going to Church, 1400 B.C., and I'd go through this, what happened at Mount Sinai, and that as an Israeli I was probably guilty, doubtless, of worshiping the golden calf, and I was sorry for this, and now the news was out that Moses had some orders from God and he built a building, and now I was allowed to go to church. So my boy and I were going to church for the first time, going to church, 1400 B.C., and so we would come up, and I'd say as we'd try to get in, we'd walk all around it, and we'd note that there's only one door, and that's the eastern door. Well, we'd better go that route. So we would start to walk in, and a great big priest would run up, and I suppose Moses picked one of the big weightlifters, a tough guy to make sure that nobody got in that wasn't supposed to get in, and he would say, hey, wait a minute, where are you going? And I'd say, well, my boy and I have sinned, and we're sorry, but now we've come to worship God. We're coming to church, and we're going to worship God this morning. Well, that's fine, the priest would say. Do you have your offering? Oh, sure do. Yeah, I've got my old trusty wallet here, and I'd reach for my wallet and pull out a dollar bill, and my boy would pull out a dime, you know. And the priest would say, no, I'm not talking about that kind of offering. Well, what kind of offering are you talking about, Mr. Priest? I'm talking about blood offering. You see, the Bible says without shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. And so what I'd have to do then, I'd have to go back with my boy, and we'd probably take a little lamb, and we'd bring that little lamb back, and maybe my son would say, well, Dad, will they go and do this little lamb? Well, son, we'll see. And so I'd bring my lamb, representing me and my family, and the priest would take that lamb, and he'd put it on this barbecue grill called the brazen altar, the bronze altar, and perhaps before the saddened eyes of my boy, he would take a knife and slash the jugular vein of that little lamb, and that little lamb would die on that altar. Then I would be asked to take my hand and place it on the forehead of that little lamb, and I would hold it there until the lamb died. You see, I was identifying myself with that lamb, and that's what really the laying on of hands means. It simply means to identify with something or someone. And I would be saying, I might not have understood all this, and I doubt if my son would have understood it all, but I would be saying, in effect, oh, God, I've been guilty of sin, and you said, the soul that sinneth it shall surely die, and Lord, this should be my blood soaking this altar red this morning, and this should be my throat quivering in death, but oh, God, you said you would accept its blood for my blood, its life for my life, and Lord, I am identifying myself with this lamb. I got my hand on it. It's not my neighbors, and it's not my relatives, it's not my enemies, it's my lamb. You see, that's what I had to do. Then after we were in the tabernacle itself, we'd offered the right sacrifice, then we could visit around. The next piece of furniture, of course, was the brazen laver, and we would watch the priest there, and you know, this brings up an interesting situation. After we got into the tabernacle, we would watch the priest, and perhaps, I'm not sure, but perhaps the worshiper was allowed to wash his hands in this also. We're not told, but perhaps he was. And you see, sometimes after we get saved, you see, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. We're in God's plan of salvation, we're in the fold of safety, and that's what the tabernacle is all about, is a model of salvation. But sometimes our hands get dirty, sometimes it's our feet. I have an organ in my body that weighs just a few ounces, and it's located between my upper teeth and my lower teeth. It's called my tongue. And of all the organs and parts of my body, I suppose that gets soiled more often than all the rest. We're constantly, as believers, saying things that we shouldn't say. We all do this. The Bible says that we can control our tongue, the same man the scripture says is a perfect man. But the tongue can no man control. So what does this mean? Does this mean that we go back out again, and we have to sacrifice and get saved again? No. We don't go back out and offer another lamb. Once in, always in, at least in this illustration. But what do we do? We can't go around with dirty feet, dirty hands, a dirty testimony, a dirty tongue. So the next piece of furniture takes care of that. And we wash them, our hands or feet or whatever. And when I give this illustration, I usually bring out a scripture verse that's printed upon a cardboard sheet, and I say, if we had a verse to describe the first piece of furniture, it would be John 3.16, the brazen altar. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so that's the scripture verse that describes the first piece of furniture. But what about the brazen laver? Well, there's a passage that describes it, and we can put this passage underneath it. First John 1.9, that's speaking to Christians. If we that are already inside the picket fence, if you please, were saved, we've offered the blood of the Lamb, or we've taken advantage of the blood of the Lamb that's been offered for us. But now we have a dirty testimony. Our hands have done those things we should not have done. Our feet have taken us to those places we should not have gone. Our ears have heard those things we should not have heard. What are we to do? All right, the second piece takes care of that. And the scripture verse is, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so this would be the second piece of furniture. Then on into the holy place, and perhaps the priest would allow me, I don't know, I'm not sure how far an Israeli could go in visiting the temple. I know he could visit the outer court, whether he could get into the inner court or not. But if he could, he would see the table of showbread, and the priest would explain that this is to remind us that God is our nourishment and God is our sustainer. We are to depend upon him for our spiritual as well as our physical food. If we could have seen the other piece of furniture, the lampstand, then the priest could remind us that this is to tell us that God is our source of light. We are to depend upon him to lead us. And then if we could see the incense, the altar of incense, then the priest would say, this is to remind us that God desires us to pray daily and spend time in his presence. But then I would usually have my son say, hey, listen, let me go behind this cloth and see what's on the other side. The priest would say, oh, no, son, you can't do that. I can't do that. Moses himself can't do that. In fact, only one man can. And then he can just do it one time a year, and that's the high priest. And sure enough, one time a year in October, the high priest would do it. And he would come and he would offer a sacrifice for himself, first of all. You know, preachers need to be saved, too. We come from a Baptist church here, the Thomas Road Baptist Church, and I'll pick on the Baptist. But, you know, if just the Baptist preachers in America would get saved, just the Baptist, not the bartenders, but the Baptist preachers in America would get saved, well, I think the millennium would probably be ushered in tomorrow. You see, preachers need to be saved, too. And so he would offer the sacrifice for himself. Then he would offer a sacrifice for the nation Israel. And this time he would catch the blood of that sacrifice in a basin, and he would carry the basin in with him. Then he would doubtless go to the brazen altar or to the brazen labor, and he'd wash his hands, because preachers need to have their hands washed also. They sin. They need to keep short accounts with God. He would probably then go into the holy place, and he would take time to meditate over the table of showbread, perhaps nibble on one of the loaves, because preachers need to feed themselves from the word of God. And he would look intently upon the golden candlesticks, because preachers need to wait upon the light of the Lord Jesus. He would offer incense upon the altar of incense, because preachers need to pray. And then he would do something that no other person was allowed to do, including Moses himself. He would slip past, beyond the first room, into the second room, to the Ark of the Covenant. And there he would take the blood of this slain animal that represented now the sins of Israel, and with his right hand he would dip in this basin of blood, and he would sprinkle this blood upon the mercy seat in a way that perhaps our mothers used to sprinkle clothes in the olden days. And then he would say a prayer, and he would leave. Now, you see, there's one important thing I have not told you, that above the mercy seat, right at the top of the tent, was the Shekinah glory cloud of God. We don't know what it looked like, whether it was luminous, visible, apparently it was, they saw it by day and by night, or they couldn't have been led by it. But this was where God himself dwelt, his visible presence, right above the mercy seat. Now, remember what I told you was inside that box, underneath the mercy seat? The mercy seat was a lid, of course. It was the broken law. And so you see, dear student, the only thing that separated the wrath of God above that tent from the broken law on the floor of that tent was the blood of the Lamb. And thank God, God did not see Israel as Israel were in all their sin. He saw Israel through the blood of the Lamb. Do you ever take a piece of cellophane as a boy or a girl, a red piece of cellophane, for example, and hold it over your eyes, and you know that immediately everything becomes red. Now, you may be wearing, or your friend might be wearing, a black shirt, but it becomes red if you hold up this piece of cellophane and look at that shirt through the cellophane. Now, God sees me through the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some people that say that God is a segregationist, that you have to be white to get to heaven, or that you have to be black to get to heaven. Well, they're wrong, but God is a segregationist. That's right. God is color conscious. You have to be a certain color to get to heaven. You have to be red. You have to be washed in the blood of Jesus. And what a thrilling truth we have here. Now, let me just say something concerning the priesthood of the tabernacle. We've discussed the furniture of the tabernacle and the size and description of the tabernacle. But what about the priesthood? We've already seen that God chose out of the twelve, one tribe, the tribe of Levi. And out of that tribe, he chose only the descendants of Aaron. So in order to be a priest, you had to be from the tribe of Levi, but that wasn't enough. You had to be from the line of Aaron. So not just being a member of the tribe would make you automatically a priest. You had to be from a certain line in that tribe, the tribe of Aaron. One of the most impressive ceremonies in the Old Testament world was probably the consecration of a young Levite boy to the Israelite priesthood. And the sacred procedure had a threefold thing that they did. Number one, he was first washed with water in Exodus chapter 29. Then he was then clothed with the garments of a priest. And then he was anointed with oil. And then he was finally to identify himself with the sacrifice. And this was done by the placing of his hand upon the dying lamb. He did that as my boy and I would have had done had we visited the tabernacles, we said a while ago. Then the blood of this lamb was then placed upon his right ear, his right thumb, and his right big toe. So he was placed upon his ear because this was God's way of saying, as a minister of God, I want you to hear only the right things. And it was placed upon his right thumb because God was saying, as a minister, I want you to handle only the right things. And upon his right toe, I want you to attend only the right places. Be the proper testimony as the undershepherd of the flock. Someone has said, in fact, the Old Testament says this itself, that they that would bear the vessels of the Lord must be clean. And preacher, let me just say, we have a number of pastors taking this course. And as a former pastor of 18 years, let me just say this to you, that don't you ever say to your congregation, get your eyes off me, don't do as I do, but do as I say, and keep your eyes on Jesus. Now, it is true we are to keep our eyes on Jesus. But on four occasions in the New Testament, the apostle Paul told his people to follow me as I follow Christ. So the pastor is to present his life as an example to the flock, you see. And that does not mean he is to set himself up as an object of worship. But a pastor should be able to say, I want you to give, dear congregation, as I give. I want you to pray as I pray. I want you to witness as I witness. I want you to study your Bible as I, by the grace of God, study mine. The pastor is to be a shepherd. A shepherd is to be an example. So, concerning the ordination. Then their clothing. Following in your notes, you'll have a description of the garments worn by the high priest. There was the epod. There was the breastplate of judgment. And there was other things here. The robe of the epod, the mitre, and others. I'm not sure that we'll take time to go through all this. The epod probably was the most important and easily recognizable thing that they wore. It was a sleeveless outer garment reaching from the shoulders to below the knees. It consisted of two pieces, one covering the back and the other the front side of the body, fastened on each shoulder by a golden clasp on the top of which were two onyx stones with the names of the six tribes on each stone. And then when the priest went in to pray, of course, he carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, just as the minister today is to pray for the individuals in his congregation. Then we're told in Exodus chapter 30, or Exodus chapter 28, that there was the Urim, U-R-I-M, and the Thummen. We're not sure what the Urim and the Thummen was. The Hebrew words literally mean lights and perfection. We have these words in our notes. They could have been two especially costly stones. It is thought by some that they were used by the high priest in times of crises to determine the will of God. And so these bright stones, maybe one shone a little brighter than the other. I don't know, but somehow God used this to reveal his will. Later on in 1 Samuel chapter 26, or 28, we're told that Saul decided to go, King Saul, you remember the first king, and God had rejected him and anointed David instead. And in the hour of great need, Saul decides to go to the witch of Endor. The reason being, he says, because the Lord answers me no more by visions or by the Urim and the Thummen. And so apparently Saul and David and Solomon and some of the other kings of Judah depended upon the Urim and the Thummen, whatever it was, we don't know, in order to help them determine the will of God. But whatever this was involved here, the priest apparently took care of it and the priest did use it. Then there was the mitre in Exodus chapter 28. This was the fine white linen turban headbreast of the high priest. On its front was a golden nameplate with the words holiness to the Lord engraved on it. What we're saying is that the priest must have caught a very imposing figure, very impressive figure. What were the duties of the priest? Well, there are two basic categories that we have suggested here. Number one, that of temple service. This would include the burning of incense, the care of the lamps, the placing of the bread and the sacrificial offerings. So taking care of the day-by-day running of the tabernacle itself. Then there was that of personal service, to inspect unclean persons. I don't mean persons that hadn't washed, but there were certain laws that would make a person ceremonially unclean. If they came in contact with a dead body, a dead carcass of some sort or other things, they would be ceremonially unclean. God was attempting to, by these strict regulations, to get the children of Israel to see that he was a holy God and that they were to be a separated people. And so it was the job of the priest to see that, to inspect unclean persons, especially lepers, and to instruct the people of Israel in the law of God, to teach bible classes, if you please, and then to take a general interest in the spiritual welfare of the people. I suppose the priest had counseling sessions, as preachers do today. I suppose the priest had to deal with homes that were breaking up, and pregnant daughters, and wayward sons, and heartbroken parents, as ministers of Christ are confronted with today. So they did these things. Now, their personal obligations were pretty high. They must not consume strong drink. In Leviticus chapter 10, we're told that God killed two priests for doing this. At least the indication is that they had done it. Their names was Abihu, Nadab, and Abihu. And these were two of the four sons of the first-time priest, Aaron. He had two other sons that were godly men, but Nadab and Abihu were ungodly rascals. And the bible says that at the dedication service, there was a very happy, thrilling thing, you know, things that went on, but there was a sad account here. God executed these two boys, because the bible says that they offered strange fire. We're not sure exactly what that statement means, they offered strange fire, but apparently they did what they did in a drunken stage. Because in that same chapter, out of a clear blue sky, apparently out of context, God says that the priests were not to drink wine. So apparently, putting two and two together, these boys had done that, and God killed them. And furthermore, he told Aaron not to weep one tear at their funeral. So, they could not consume strong drink, and they were not to clip bald spots on their heads, beards, or flesh. Not because it would simply disfigure them, but because this is what the desert tribes, their priests did. And they were not to conform to the world in doing this. In other words, they were not to marry a harlot, a divorced woman, a widow, or someone from another tribe. They could not marry, for example, an eligible girl from the tribe of Judah. Because again, there was nothing immoral about this. God was simply attempting to impress upon them the strictness of, what he, well actually it wasn't so much the strictness, but the holiness of God. Because in the book of Leviticus, and that's the handbook of the priest, it says, do this and do that for, be ye holy for I am holy, saith the Lord. And that's sort of like a refrain throughout the entire book. For I am a holy God. God's attempting now to show his people, to demonstrate that he is a holy God, and they are to be a separated people. And then they could not have any bodily defects such as blindness or lameness. It did not mean that God looked down upon blind people, or he looked down upon lame people. But it did mean that again, God was attempting to impose certain standards. All right, during the next lecture, we will continue our study, and this time consider the offerings of the tabernacle.
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