Index
Previous
Next
p. 133
The Tabernacle in the
Wilderness
THERE is no doubt that much of
the material recorded in the first five books of the Old Testament is derived
from the initiatory rituals of the Egyptian Mysteries. The priests of Isis
were deeply versed in occult lore, and the Israelites during their captivity
in Egypt learned from them many things concerning the significance of Divinity
and the manner of worshiping It. The authorship of the first five books of the
Old Testament is generally attributed to Moses, but whether or not he was the
actual writer of them is a matter of controversy. There is considerable
evidence to substantiate the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was compiled at a
much later date, from oral traditions. Concerning the authorship of these
books, Thomas Inman makes a rather startling statement: "It is true that we
have books which purport to be the books of Moses; so there are, or have been,
books purporting to be written by Homer, Orpheus, Enoch, Mormon, and Junius;
yet the existence of the writings, and the belief that they were written by
those whose name they bear, are no real evidences of the men or the
genuineness of the works called by their names. It is true also that Moses is
spoken of occasionally in the time of the early Kings of Jerusalem; but it is
clear that these passages are written by a late hand, and have been introduced
into the places where they are found, with the definite intention of making it
appear that the lawgiver was known to David and Solomon." (See Ancient
Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names.)
While this noted scholar
undoubtedly had much evidence to support his belief, it seems that this
statement is somewhat too sweeping in character. It is apparently based upon
the fact that Thomas Inman doubted the historical existence of Moses. This
doubt was based upon the etymological resemblance of the word Moses to an
ancient name for the sun. As the result of these deductions, Inman sought to
prove that the Lawgiver of Israel was merely another form of the omnipresent
solar myth. While Inman demonstrated that by transposing two of the ancient
letters the word Moses (משה) became Shemmah (שמה), an
appellation of the celestial globe, he seems to have overlooked the fact that
in the ancient Mysteries the initiates were often given names synonymous with
the sun, to symbolize the fact that the redemption and regeneration of the
solar power had been achieved within their own natures. It is far more
probable that the man whom we know as Moses was an accredited representative
of the secret schools, laboring--as many other emissaries have labored--to
instruct primitive races in the mysteries of their immortal souls.
The true name of the Grand Old
Man of Israel who is known to history as Moses will probably never be
ascertained. The word Moses, when understood in its esoteric Egyptian sense,
means one who has been admitted into the Mystery Schools of Wisdom and ~as
gone forth to teach the ignorant concerning the will of the gods and the
mysteries of life, as these mysteries were explained within the temples of
Isis, Osiris, and Serapis. There is much controversy concerning the
nationality of Moses. Some assert that he was a Jew, adopted and educated by
the ruling house of Egypt; others hold the opinion that he was a full-blooded
Egyptian. A few even believe him to be identical with the immortal Hermes, for
both these illustrious founders of religious systems received tablets from
heaven supposedly written by the finger of God. The stories told concerning
Moses, his discovery in the ark of bulrushes by Pharaoh's daughter, his
adoption into the royal family of Egypt, and his later revolt against Egyptian
autocracy coincide exactly with certain ceremonies through which the
candidates of the Egyptian Mysteries passed in their ritualistic wanderings in
search of truth and understanding. The analogy can also be traced in the
movements of the heavenly bodies.
It is not strange that the
erudite Moses, initiated in Egypt, should teach the Jews a philosophy
containing the more important principles of Egyptian esotericism. The
religions of Egypt at the time of the Israelitic captivity were far older than
even the Egyptians themselves realized. Histories were difficult to compile in
those days, and the Egyptians were satisfied to trace their race back to a
mythological period when the gods themselves walked the earth and with their
own power established the Double Empire of the Nile. The Egyptians did not
dream that these divine progenitors were the Atlanteans, who, forced to
abandon their seven islands because of volcanic cataclysms, had immigrated
into Egypt--then an Atlantean colony--where they established a great
philosophic and literary center of civilization which was later to influence
profoundly the religions and science of unnumbered races and peoples. Today
Egypt is forgotten, but things Egyptian will always be remembered and revered.
Egypt is dead--yet it lives immortal in its philosophy, and architectonics.
As Odin founded his Mysteries
in Scandinavia, and Quexalcoatl in Mexico, so Moses, laboring with the then
nomadic people of Israel's twelve tribes, established in the midst of them his
secret and symbolic school, which has came to be known as The Tabernacle
Mysteries. The Tabernacle of: the Jews was merely a temple patterned after the
temples of Egypt, and transportable to meet the needs of that roving
disposition which the Israelites were famous. Every part of the Tabernacle and
the enclosure which surrounded it was symbolic of some great natural or
philosophic truth. To the ignorant it was but a place to which to bring
offerings and in which to make sacrifice; to the wise it was a temple of
learning, sacred to the Universal Spirit of Wisdom.
While the greatest, minds of
the Jewish and Christian worlds have realized that the Bible is a book of
allegories, few seem to have taken the trouble to investigate its symbols and
parables. When Moses instituted his Mysteries, he is said to have given to a
chosen few initiates certain oral teachings which could never be written but
were to be preserved from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth
transmission. Those instructions were in the form of philosophical keys, by
means of which the allegories were made to reveal their hidden significance.
These mystic keys to their sacred writings were called by the Jews the
Qabbalah (Cabala, Kaballah).
The modern world seems to have
forgotten the existence of those unwritten teachings which explained
satisfactorily the apparent contradictions of the written Scriptures, nor does
it remember that the pagans appointed their two-faced Janus as custodian of
the key to the Temple of Wisdom. Janus has been metamorphosed into St. Peter,
so often symbolized as holding in his hand the key to the gate of heaven. The
gold and silver keys of "God's Vicar on Earth," the Pope, symbolizes this
"secret doctrine" which, when properly understood, unlocks the treasure chest
of the Christian and Jewish Qabbalah.
The temples of Egyptian
mysticism (from which the Tabernacle was copied) were--according to their own
priests--miniature representations of the universe. The solar system was
always regarded as a great temple of initiation, which candidates entered
through the gates of birth; after threading the tortuous passageways of
earthly existence, they finally approached the veil of the Great
Mystery--Death--through whose gate they vanished back into the invisible
world. Socrates subtly reminded his disciples that Death was, in reality, the
great initiation, for his last words were: "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius;
will you remember to pay the debt?" (As the rooster was sacred to the gods and
the sacrifice of this bird accompanied a candidate's introduction into the
Mysteries, Socrates implied that he was about to take his great initiation.)
Life is the great mystery, and
only those who pass successfully through its tests and trials, interpreting
them aright and extracting the essence of experience therefrom, achieve true
understanding. Thus, the temples were built in the form of the world and their
rituals were based upon life and its multitudinous problems. Nor only was the
Tabernacle itself patterned according to Egyptian mysticism; its utensils were
also of ancient and accepted form. The Ark
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS.
From Montfaucon's
Antiquities.
It is in this form that Jehovah
is generally pictured by the Qabbalists. The drawing is intended to represent
the Demiurgus of the Greeks and Gnostics, called by the Greeks "Zeus," the
Immortal Mortal, and by the Hebrews "IHVH."
p. 134
of the Covenant itself was an
adaptation of the Egyptian Ark, even to the kneeling figures upon its lid.
Bas-reliefs on the Temple of Philæ show Egyptian priests carrying their
Ark--which closely resembled the Ark of the Jews--upon their shoulders by
means of staves like those described in Exodus.
The following description of
the Tabernacle and its priests is based upon the account of its construction
and ceremonies recorded by Josephus in the Third Book of his Antiquities of
the Jews. The Bible references are from a "Breeches" Bible (famous for its
rendering of the seventh verse of the third chapter of Genesis), printed in
London in 1599, and the quotations are reproduced in their original spelling
and punctuation.
THE BUILDING OF THE
TABERNACLE
Moses, speaking for Jehovah,
the God of Israel, appointed two architects to superintend the building of the
Tabernacle. They were Besaleel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and
Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Their popularity was so
great that they were also the unanimous choice of the people. When Jacob upon
his deathbed blessed his sons (see Genesis xlix), he assigned to each a
symbol. The symbol of Judah was a lion; that of Dan a serpent or a bird
(possibly an eagle). The lion and the eagle are two of the four beasts of the
Cherubim (the fixed signs of the zodiac); and the Rosicrucian alchemists
maintained that the mysterious Stone of the Wise (the Soul) was compounded
with the aid of the Blood of the Red Lion and the Gluten of the White Eagle.
It seems probable that there is a hidden mystic relationship between fire (the
Red Lion), water (the White Eagle), as they were used in occult chemistry, and
the representatives of these two tribes whose symbols were identical with
these alchemical elements.
As the Tabernacle was the
dwelling place of God among men, likewise the soul body in man is the dwelling
place of his divine nature, round which gathers a twelvefold material
constitution in the same manner that the tribes of Israel camped about the
enclosure sacred to Jehovah. The idea that the Tabernacle was really symbolic
of an invisible spiritual truth outside the comprehension of the Israelites is
substantiated by a statement made in the eighth chapter of Hebrews: "Who serve
unto the paterne and shadowe of heavenly things, as Moses was warned by God,
when he was about to finish the Tabernacle." Here we find the material
physical place of worship called a "shadow" or symbol of a spiritual
institution, invisible but omnipotent.
The specifications of the
Tabernacle are described in the book of Exodus, twenty-fifth chapter: "Then
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speake unto the children of Israel that
they receive an offering for me: of every man, whose heart giveth it freely,
yee shall take the offering for me. And this is the offering which ye shall
take of them, gold and silver, and brass, and blue silke, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine linnen and goats haire. And rammes skinnes coloured red, and
the skinnes of badgers, and the wood Shittim, oyle for the light, spices for
anoynting oyle, and for the perfume of sweet favour, onix stones, and stories
to be set in the Ephod, and in the breastplate. Also they shall make me a
Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee,
even so shall ye make the forme of the Tabernacle, and the fashion of all the
instruments thereof."
The court of the Tabernacle was
an enclosed area, fifty cubits wide and one hundred cubits long, circumscribed
by a wall of linen curtains hung from brazen pillars five cubits apart. (The
cubit is an ancient standard of measurement, its length being equal to the
distance between the elbow and the extreme end of the index finger,
approximately eighteen inches.) There were twenty of these pillars on each of
the longer sides and ten on the shorter. Each pillar had a base of brass and a
capital of silver. The Tabernacle was always laid out with the long sides
facing north and south and the short sides facing east and west, with the
entrance to the east, thus showing the influence of primitive sun worship.
The outer court served the
principal purpose of isolating the tent of the Tabernacle proper, which stood
in the midst of the enclosure. At the entrance to the courtyard, which was in
the eastern face of the rectangle, stood the Altar of Burnt Offerings, made of
brass plates over wood and ornamented with the horns of bulls and rams.
Farther in, but on a line with this altar, stood the Laver of Purification, a
great vessel containing water for priestly ablutions. The Laver was twofold in
its construction, the upper part being a large bowl, probably covered, which
served as a source of supply for a lower basin in which the priests bathed
themselves before participating in the various ceremonials. It is supposed
that this Laver was encrusted with the metal mirrors of the women of the
twelve tribes of Israel.
The dimensions of the
Tabernacle proper were as follows: "Its length, when it was set up, was thirty
cubits, and its breadth was ten cubits. The one of its walls was on the south,
and the other was exposed to the north, and on the back part of it remained
the west. It was necessary that its height should be equal to its breadth (ten
cubits)." (Josephus.)
It is the custom of
bibliologists to divide the interior of the Tabernacle into two rooms: one
room ten cubits wide, ten cubits high, and twenty cubits long, which was
called the Holy Place and contained three special articles of furniture,
namely, the Seven-Branched Candlestick, the Table of the Shewbread, and the
Altar of Burnt Incense; the other room ten cubits wide, ten cubits high, and
ten cubits long, which was called the Holy of Holies and contained but one
article of furniture--the Ark of the Covenant. The two rooms were separated
from each other by an ornamental veil upon which were embroidered many kinds
of flowers, but no animal or human figures.
Josephus hints that there was a
third compartment which was formed by subdividing the Holy Place, at least
hypothetically, into two chambers. The Jewish historian is not very explicit
in his description of this third room, and the majority of writers seem to
have entirely overlooked and neglected this point, although Josephus
emphatically states that Moses himself divided the inner tent into three
sections. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was hung
across four pillars, which probably indicated in a subtle way the four
elements, while at the entrance to the tent proper the Jews placed seven
pillars, referring to the seven senses and the seven vowels of the Sacred
Name. That later only five pillars are mentioned may be accounted for by the
fact that at the present time man has only five developed senses and five
active vowels. The early Jewish writer of The Baraitha treats of the
curtains as follows:
"There were provided ten
curtains of blue, of purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. As is said,
'Moreover thou shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine-twined
linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.' * * * There were provided eleven
curtains of goats' hair, and the length of every one of them was thirty
cubits, * * *. Rabbi Judah said, 'There were two covers-the lower one of rams'
skins dyed red, and the upper one of badgers' skins. '"
Calmet is of the opinion that
the Hebrew word translated "badger" really means "dark purple" and therefore
did not refer to any particular animal, but probably to a heavily woven
waterproof fabric of dark and inconspicuous color. During the time of Israel's
wanderings through the wilderness, it is supposed that a pillar of fire
hovered over the Tabernacle at night, while a column of smoke traveled with it
by day. This cloud was called by the Jews the Shechinah and was
symbolic of the presence of the Lord. In one of the early Jewish books
rejected at the time of the compiling of the Talmud the following description
of the Shechinah appears:
"Then a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And that
was one of the clouds of glory, which served the Israelites in the wilderness
forty years. One on the right hand, and one on the left, and one before them,
and one behind them. And one over them, and a cloud dwelling in their midst
(and the cloud, the Shechinah which was in the tent), and the pillar of
cloud which moved before them, making low before them the high places, and
making high before them the low places, and killing serpents and scorpions,
and burning thorns and briars, and guiding them in the straight way." (From
The Baraitha, the Book of the Tabernacle.)
THE FURNISHINGS OF THE
TABERNACLE
There is no doubt that the
Tabernacle, its furnishings and ceremonials, when considered esoterically, are
analogous to the structure, organs, and functions of the human body. At the
entrance to the outer court of the Tabernacle stood the Altar of Burnt
Offerings, five cubits long and five cubits wide but only three cubits high.
Its upper surface was a brazen grill upon which the sacrifice was placed,
while beneath was a space for the fire. This altar signified
THE BREASTPLATE OF THE HIGH PRIEST.
From Calmet's Dictionary of
the Holy Bible.
The order of the stones and the
tribe over which each administered were, according to Calmet, as in the above
diagram. These gems, according to the Rosicrucians, were symbolic of the
twelve great qualities and virtues: Illumination, Love, Wisdom, Truth,
Justice, Peace, Equilibrium, Humility, Faith, Strength, Joy, Victory.
p. 135
that a candidate, when first
entering the precincts of sanctuary, must offer upon the brazen altar not a
poor unoffending bull or ram but its correspondence within his own nature. The
bull, being symbolic of earthiness, represented his own gross constitution
which must be burned up by the fire of his Divinity. (The sacrificing of
beasts, and in some cases human beings, upon the altars of the pagans was the
result of their ignorance concerning the fundamental principle underlying
sacrifice. They did not realize that their offerings must come from within
their own natures in order to be acceptable.)
Farther westward, in line with
the Brazen Altar, was the Laver of Purification already described. It
signified to the priest that he should cleanse not only his body but also his
soul from all stains of impurity, for none who is not clean in both body and
mind can enter into the presence of Divinity and live. Beyond the Laver of
Purification was the entrance to the Tabernacle proper, facing the east, so
that the first rays of the rising sun might enter and light the chamber.
Between the encrusted pillars could be seen the Holy Place, a mysterious
chamber, its walls hung with magnificent drapes embroidered with the faces of
Cherubs.
Against the wall on the
southern side of the Holy Place stood the great Candlestick, or lampstand, of
cast gold, which was believed to weigh about a hundred pounds. From its
central shaft branched out six arms, each ending in a cup-shaped depression in
which stood an oil lamp. There were seven lamps, three on the arms at each
side and one on the central stem. The Candlestick was ornamented with
seventy-two almonds, knops, and flowers. Josephus says seventy, but wherever
this round number is used by the Hebrews it really means seventy-two. Opposite
the Candlestick, against the northern wall, was a table bearing twelve loaves
of Shewbread in two stacks of six loaves each. (Calmet is of the opinion that
the bread was not stacked up but spread out on the table in two rows, each
containing six loaves.) On this table also stood two lighted incensories,
which were placed upon the tops of the stacks of Shewbread so that the smoke
of the incense might be an acceptable aroma to the Lord, bearing with it in
its ascent the soul of the Shewbread.
In the center of the room,
almost against the partition leading into the Holy of Holies, stood the Altar
of Burnt Incense, made of wood overlaid with golden plates. Its width and
length were each a cubit and its height was two cubits. This altar was
symbolic of the human larynx, from which the words of man's mouth ascend as an
acceptable offering unto the Lord, for the larynx occupies the position in the
constitution of man between the Holy Place, which is the trunk of his body,
and the Holy of Holies, which is the head with its contents.
Into the Holy of Holies none
might pass save the High Priest, and he only at certain prescribed times, The
room contained no furnishings save the Ark of the Covenant, which stood
against the western wall, opposite the entrance. In Exodus the dimensions of
the Ark are given as two and a half cubits for its length, one cubit and a
half its breadth and one cubit and a half its height. It was made of shittim-wood,
gold plated within and without, and contained the sacred tablets of the Law
delivered to Moses upon Sinai. The lid of the Ark was in the form of a golden
plate upon which knelt two mysterious creatures called Cherubim, facing each
other, with wings arched overhead. It was upon this mercy seat between the
wings of the celestials that the Lord of Israel descended when He desired to
communicate with His High Priest.
The furnishings of the
Tabernacle were made conveniently portable. Each altar and implement of any
size was supplied with staves which could be put: through rings; by this means
it could be picked up and carried by four or more bearers. The staves were
never removed from the Ark of the Covenant until it was finally placed in the
Holy of Holies of the Everlasting House, King Solomon's Temple.
There is no doubt that the Jews
in early times realized, at least in part, that their Tabernacle was a
symbolic edifice. Josephus realized this and while he has been severely
criticized because he interpreted the Tabernacle symbolism according to
Egyptian and Grecian paganism, his description of the secret meanings of its
drapes and furnishings is well worthy of consideration. He says:
"When Moses distinguished the
tabernacle into three parts, and allowed two of them to the priests, as a
place accessible and common, he denoted the land and the sea, these being of
general access to all; but he set apart the third division for God, because
heaven is inaccessible to men. And when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on
a table, he denoted the year, as distinguished into so many months. By
branching out the candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly intimated the
Decani, or seventy divisions of the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon
the candlesticks, they referred to the course of the planets, of which that is
the number. The veils too, which were composed of four things, they declared
the four elements; for the plain linen was proper to signify the earth,
because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the sea, because
that color is dyed by the blood of a sea shell-fish; the blue is fit to
signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an indication of fire.
"Now the vestment of the
high-priest being made of linen, signified the earth; the blue denoted the
sky, being like lightning in its pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells
resembling thunder. And for the Ephod, it showed that God had made the
universe of four (elements); and as for the gold interwoven, * * * it related
to the splendor by which all things are enlightened. He also appointed the
breastplate to be placed in the middle of the Ephod, to resemble the earth,
for that has the very middle place of the world. And the girdle which
encompassed the high-priest round signified the ocean, for that goes round
about and includes the universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun
and the moon, those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the
high-priest's shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand by
them the months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that
circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their
meaning. And for the mitre, which was of a blue colour, it seems to me to mean
heaven; for how otherwise could the name of God be inscribed upon it? That it
was also illustrated with a crown, and that of gold also, is because of that
splendour with which God is pleased." It is also symbolically significant that
the Tabernacle was built in seven months and dedicated to God at the time of
the new moon.
The metals used in the building
of the Tabernacle were all emblematic. Gold represents spirituality, and the
golden plates laid over the shittim-wood were emblems of the spiritual nature
which glorifies the human nature symbolized by the wood. Mystics have taught
that man's physical body is surrounded by a series of invisible bodies of
diverse colors and great splendor. In the majority of people the spiritual
nature is concealed and imprisoned in the material nature, but in a few this
internal constitution has been objectified and the spiritual nature is
outside, so that it surrounds man's personality with a great radiance.
Silver, used as the capitals
for the pillars, has its reference to the moon, which was sacred to the Jews
and the Egyptians alike. The priests held secret ritualistic ceremonies at the
time of the new and the full moon, both of which periods were sacred to
Jehovah. Silver, so the ancients taught, was gold with its sun-ray turned
inward instead of objectified. While gold symbolized the spiritual soul,
silver represented the purified and regenerated human nature of man.
The brass used in the outer
altars was a composite substance consisting of an alloy of precious and base
metals. Thus, it represented the constitution of the average individual, who
is a combination of both the higher and the lower elements.
The three divisions of the
Tabernacle should have a special interest to Freemasons, for they represent
the three degrees of the Blue Lodge, while the three orders of priests who
served the Tabernacle are preserved to modern Masonry as the Entered
Apprentice, the Fellow Craftsman, and the Master Mason. The Hawaiian Islanders
built a Tabernacle not unlike that of the Jews, except that their rooms were
one above another and not one behind another, as in the case of the Tabernacle
of the Israelites. The three rooms are also the three important chambers of
the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.
THE ROBES OF GLORY
As explained in the quotation
from Josephus, the robes and adornments of the Jewish priests had a secret
significance, and even to this day there is a religious cipher language
concealed in the colors, forms, and uses of sacred garments, not only among
the Christian and Jewish priests but also among pagan religions. The vestments
of the Tabernacle priests were called Cahanææ; those of the High Priest
were termed Cahanææ Rabbæ. Over the Machanese, an undergarment
resembling short trousers, they wore the Chethone, a finely woven linen
robe, which reached to the ground and had long sleeves tied to the arms of the
wearer. A brightly embroidered sash, twisted several times around the waist (a
little higher than is customary), with one end pendent in front, and a closely
fitting linen cap, designated Masnaemphthes, completed the costume of
the ordinary priest.
THE GARMENTS OF GLORY.
From Mosaize Historie der
Hebreeuwse Kerke.
Th. robe of the High Priest of
Israel were often called "The Garments of Glory", for they resembled the
regenerated and spiritualized nature of man, symbolized by a vestment which
all must weave from the threads of character and virtue before they can become
High Priests after the Order of Melchizedek.
p. 136
The vestments of the High
Priest were the same as those of the lesser degrees, except that certain
garments and adornments were added. Over the specially woven white linen robe
the High Priest wore a seamless and sleeveless habit, sky-blue in color and
reaching nearly to his feet. This was called the Meeir and was
ornamented with a fringe of alternated golden bells and pomegranates. In
Ecclesiasticus (one of the books rejected from the modern Bible), these bells
and their purpose are described in the following words: "And he compassed him
with pomegranates, and with many golden bells round about, that as he went,
there might be a sound and a noise that might be heard in the temple, for a
memorial to the children of his people." The Meeir was also bound in
with a variegated girdle finely embroidered and with gold wire inserted
through the embroidery.
The Ephod, a short
vestment described by Josephus as resembling a coat or jacket, was worn over
the upper part of the Meeir. The threads of which the Ephod was
woven were of many colors, probably red, blue, purple, and white, like the
curtains and coverings of the Tabernacle. Fine gold wires were also woven into
the fabric. The Ephod was fastened at each shoulder with a large onyx
in the form of a button, and the names of the twelve sons of Jacob were
engraven upon these two stones, six on each. These onyx buttons were supposed
to have oracular powers, and when the High Priest asked certain questions,
they emitted a celestial radiance. When the onyx on the right shoulder was
illuminated, it signified that Jehovah answered the question of the High
Priest: in the affirmative, and when the one on the left gleamed, it indicated
a negative answer to the query.
In the middle of the front
surface of the Ephod was a space to accommodate the Essen, or
Breastplate of Righteousness and Prophecy, which, as its name signifies,
was also an oracle of great power. This pectoral was roughly square in shape
and consisted of a frame of embroidery into which were set twelve stones, each
held in a socket of gold. Because of the great weight of its stones, each of
which was of considerable size and immense value, the breastplate was held in
position by special golden chains and ribbons. The twelve stones of the
breastplate, like the onyx stones at the shoulders of the Ephod, had
the mysterious power of lighting up with Divine glory and so serving as
oracles. Concerning the strange power of these flashing symbols of Israel's
twelve tribes, Josephus writes:
"Yet will I mention what is
still more wonderful than this: For God declared beforehand, by those twelve
stones which the High Priest bare upon his breast and which were inserted into
his breastplate, when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a
splendor shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the
people were sensible of God's being present for their assistance. Whence it
came to pass that those Greeks, who had a veneration for our laws, because
they could not possibly contradict this, called the breastplate, 'the
Oracle'." The writer then adds that the stones ceased to light up and gleam
some two hundred years before he wrote his history, because the Jews had
broken the laws of Jehovah and the God of Israel was no longer pleased with
His chosen people.
The Jews learned astronomy from
the Egyptians, and it is not unlikely that the twelve jewels of the
breastplate were symbolic of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. These
twelve celestial hierarchies were looked upon as jewels adorning the
breastplate of the Universal Man, the Macroprosophus, who is referred to in
the Zohar as The Ancient of Days. The number twelve frequently occurs
among ancient peoples, who in nearly every case had a pantheon consisting of
twelve demigods and goddesses presided over by The Invincible One, who was
Himself subject to the Incomprehensible All-Father. This use of the number
twelve is especially noted in the Jewish and Christian writings. The twelve
prophets, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve
Apostles--each group has a certain occult significance, for each refers to the
Divine Duodecimo, or Twelvefold Deity, whose emanations are manifested in the
tangible created Universe through twelve individualized channels. The secret
doctrine also caught the priests that the jewels represented centers of life
within their own constitutions, which when unfolded according to the esoteric
instructions of the Temple, were capable of absorbing into themselves and
radiating forth again the Divine light of the Deity. (The East Indian lotus
blossoms have a similar meaning.) The Rabbis have taught that each twisted
linen thread used in weaving the Tabernacle curtains and ornamentations
consisted of twenty-four separate strands, reminding the discerning that the
experience, gained during the twenty-four hours of the day (symbolized in
Masonry by the twenty-four-inch rule) becomes the threads from which are woven
the Garments of Glory.
THE URIM AND THUMMIM
In the reverse side of the
Essen, or breastplate, was a pocket containing mysterious objects--the
Urim and Thummim. Aside from the fact that they were used in
divination, little is now known about these objects. Some writers contend that
they were small stones (resembling the fetishes still revered by certain
aboriginal peoples) which the Israelites had brought with them out of Egypt
because of their belief that they possessed divine power. Others believe that
the Urim and Thummim were in the form of dice, used for deciding
events by being cast upon the ground. A few have maintained that they were
merely sacred names, written on plates of gold and carried as talismans.
"According to some, the Urim and the Thummim signify 'lights and
perfections,' or 'light and truth' which last present a striking analogy to
the. two figures of Re (Ra) and Themi in the breastplate worn by the
Egyptians." (Gardner's The Faiths of the World.)
Not the least remarkable of the
vestments of the High Priest was his bonnet, or headdress. Over the plain
white cap of the ordinary priest this dignitary wore an outer cloth of blue
and a crown of gold, the crown consisting of three bands, one above the other
like the triple miter of the Persian Magi. This crown symbolized that the High
Priest was ruler not only over the three worlds which the ancients had
differentiated (heaven, earth, and hell), but also over the threefold
divisions of man and the universe--the spiritual, intellectual, and material
worlds. These divisions were also symbolized by the three apartments of the
Tabernacle itself.
At the peak of the headdress
was a tiny cup of gold, made in the form of a flower. This signified that the
nature of the priest was receptive and that he had a vessel in his own soul
which, cuplike, was capable of catching the eternal waters of life pouring
upon him from the heavens above. This flower over the crown of his head is
similar in its esoteric meaning to the rose growing out of a skull, so famous
in Templar symbology. The ancients believed that the spiritual nature escaping
from the body passed upward through the crown of the head; therefore, the
flowerlike calyx, or cup, symbolized also the spiritual consciousness. On the
front of the golden crown were inscribed in Hebrew, Holiness unto the Lord.
Though robes and ornaments
augmented the respect and veneration of the Israelites for their High Priest,
such trappings meant nothing to Jehovah. Therefore, before entering the Holy
of Holies, the High Priest removed his earthly finery and entered into the
presence of the Lord God of Israel unclothed. There he could be robed only in
his own virtues, and his spirituality must adorn him as a garment.
There is a legend to the effect
that any who chanced to enter the Holy of Holies unclean were destroyed by a
bolt of Divine fire from the Mercy Seat. If the High Priest had but one
selfish thought, he would be struck dead. As no man knows when an unworthy
thought may flash through his mind, precautions had to be taken in case the
High Priest should be struck dead while in the presence of Jehovah. The other
priests could not enter the sanctuary therefore, when their leader was about
to go in and receive the commands of the Lord, they tied a chain around one of
his feet so that if he were struck down while behind the veil they could drag
the body out.
THE HEADDRESS OF THE PRIESTS.
From Mosaize Historie der
Hebreeuwse Kerke.
Over the plain white cap of the
ordinary priests the High Priest wore an overcloth of blue and a band of gold.
On the front of the golden band were inscribed the Hebrew words "Holiness unto
the Lord." This illustration shows the arrangement of the bonnet both with and
without the golden crown.
THE ARK WITH ITS CHERUBIM.
From Calmet's Dictionary of
the Holy Bible.
Josephus tells its that the Cherubim
were flying creatures but different in appearance, from anything to be seen on
earth; therefore impossible to describe. Moses is supposed to have seen these
beings kneeling at the footstool of God when he was picked up and brought into
the Presence of Jehovah. It is probable that they resembled, at least in
general appearance, the famous Cherubim of Ezekiel.
Next: The Fraternity of the Rose
Cross