Look at the incredible detail God gives for the Preistly Garments. Aaron is appointed High Priest by God. Aaron is from the tribe called Levites. (A big fat A-ha moment for me is that our next book in the Bible is LEVIticus). Now Jesus came and He is our High Priest (see Hebrews)...I am so happy that I live in the time that I do....we can approach God ourselves thanks to Jesus. In the Old Testament, only the High Priest could approach God....once a year he would go to the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle to make an offering for the people to God who dwelled in the Tabernacle. We'll read more about this once it is built.
Did you notice that God gave special wisdom to the craftsmen making the Priestly Garments? The breastplate of decision was worn as a continuing memorial before the Lord....the 10 original tribe names were on the precious stones....
The Urim and the Thummim were noted by scholars as being stones, or even little dice that the priests would use. The priest would shake them and throw them down to get a yes or no decision from God....These names meant "curses" and "perfections"...
Aaron had to wear certain things so that when he was in the presence of God, he would not die...God set up a priesthood....originally God had chosed Isreal to be a kingdom of priests, but their sin prevented this. Sin cannot be in the presence of God....God begins to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus who will be able to restore people's relationship with God. Until Jesus came, the priests were the people's representative before God.
Check out all the different kind of offerings in Chapter 29:
sin offerings
burnt offering
wave offering
fellowship offering
grain offering
drink offering
Don't get overwhelmed, there will be a whole lot more on this....God is being very specific as He teaches His people to worship...remember that they were getting ready to go to the Promised Land (Canaan) and they were pagan inhabitants. He did not want the Hebrews to fall into pagan practices because there is NO ONE LIKE GOD....other gods just can't cut it!
And note that in verses 45-46 that God wants to dwell among His people. Isn't that cool? He loves us so much He wants to be with us. God wants a relationship with His people......Did you ever think that you could have a relationship with a Supernatural Being? Supernatural in this case is good for you!
This is unbelievable!! Such detail and beauty in these garments.......such detail, beautiful thread and stones used.......
ReplyDeleteAnd God is very specific in how they should be made, how he is to be made into a priest, and the offerings......God is starting to lay out his rules and expectations for these people and they have responsibilities to follow his law and rituals and procedures........so much detail and specifications given it blows my mind......