BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 48
April, 1993
Copyright 1993, Biblical Horizons
In his paper, The Tabernacle: A New Creation, James Jordan has argued that the Tabernacle creation instructions in Exodus 25-31 parallel the account of creation found in Genesis. The seven-day creation pattern is suggested both by the structure of the whole section (Ex. 25-31), as well as on a smaller scale in the more specific descriptions of the Tabernacle-dwelling (Ex. 25:1—27:19) and of the Priestly garments (Ex. 28). I would further suggest that we can find a seven-day pattern suggested in the instructions found in Exodus 25-30.
We can begin by trying to think how the original creation week was divided and use that as the outline for examining Exodus 24-30. My basic outline of creation is the following:
Prologue (Gen. 1:1-2)
Days of Forming:
Day 1: Glory-environment; light
Day 2: Expanse of separation
Day 3: Land and sea; plants
Days of Filling:
Day 4: Heavenly lights
Day 5: Swarming fish and birds in sea and sky
Day 6a: Animals
Day 6b: Man
a. Adam created as Edenic priest
b. Filled with Spirit-breath
c. Helper made
Day of Sabbath:
a. Testing
b. Worship
c. Judgment
With this basic pattern in mind we can examine Exodus 25—30:10 for key words and phrases that might serve as division markings. I would suggest the following:
"Pattern" phrases:
25:9 Make the Tabernacle and all its furnishings just like the pattern I will show you.
25:40 See that you make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.
26:30 Set up the Tabernacle according to the plan you were shown on the mountain.
27:8 It [the altar] is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.
"Ordinance/generations" phrases:
27:21 This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come.
28:43 This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants.
29:9 The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. In this way you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.
30:10 This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord.
If there is any correspondence between these phrases and the days of the creation week, the "pattern" set must fit with the days of forming, while the "ordinance/generations" set must fit with the days of filling. This may make some sense since things must be formed according to a pattern, while the days of filling are filled with things that ordain days and seasons (sun, moon, stars) or reproduce, creating generations (fish, birds, animals, man). Therefore, let us look at each phrase and the section it marks off.
[Note from JBJ: These phrases don’t either begin or end the sections, for the most part. Rather, the use of the "pattern" phrases indicate we are in the first part of the week, while the repeated use of the "ordain" phrases indicate we are in the second part of the week. The actual division into days has to be done by means of sensitive theological reflection, which Mr. Garver has provided.]
Prologue: Exodus 25:9 (Contribution: Ex. 25:1-9)
In this section marked by the first "pattern" phrase, the instructions concerning the creation of the Tabernacle still only anticipate its creation. It is to be made according to a pattern that will be shown. The elements that will be incorporated into the Tabernacle are to be gathered, but as of yet they are still "formless" and "empty." This parallels Genesis 1:1-2, a prologue to the creation account.
Day 1: Exodus 25:40 (Ark, Table, and Lampstand: Ex. 25:10-40)
The first furnishing is the Ark of the Covenant, which represents God in His heavenly throne-room surrounded by cherubim. It is from there that the Testimony/Law is delivered (the Word) and from which the Spirit proceeds. The Ark had rings and carrying poles and is covered with gold.
The Table is similar in shape to the Ark, though slightly smaller, and like the Ark it has rings and carrying poles. It too is covered with gold. There is bread on the Table called the Bread of the Presence—meaning the Presence of God’s glorious Spirit. It is not food for God, but rather shows that man must be fed by the life-giving Spirit who proceeds from the throne.
The Lamp is a representation of the Spirit, providing light and demonstrating the life of the Spirit by its ever-blossoming almond-bud decoration. It too is gold.
The Ark, Table, and Lamp represent the first day of creation, when the living Glory-Spirit proceeded from the throne-room of God and brought life and light to the formless earth after the pattern of heaven. This all is represented by the bread, and the parallel shapes of the ark and table, the seven lamps, and the abundance of glistening gold. These furnishings create a Glory-environment.
[Note from JBJ: It seems to me that Ark, Table, and Lamp correspond to Word, Sacrament, and Person, the three fundamental dimensions of the Kingdom. Also, I’d eliminate the "prologue" and start Day 1 with 25:1-9. That way, the section would have four subsections: raw materials, heaven (ark), earth (table), and light (lamp), corresponding with Day 1 in Genesis 1.]
Day 2: Exodus 26:30 (Tabernacle: Ex. 26:1-37).
This entire section deals with curtains and the support forms for stretching out these curtains. The curtains serve as separations between sections of the Tabernacle and between the Tabernacle and outside world. Blue, purple, scarlet, goat skin, and dolphin (or sea cow) leather are used. The blue, at least, suggests the sky, and parallels the expanse God stretched out to separate the waters above from those below. The sky is a picture of the separation between God’s heaven and the earth by the sapphire pavement before His throne (pictured by the Ark in the Most Holy Place; cf. Ex. 24:10; Ezk. 1:22; Rev. 4:6). This section, therefore, deals with the second day of creation.
[Note from JBJ: According to the book of Hebrews, the Tabernacle represented heaven, and the two separate tents in the Tabernacle represented the anteroom and throneroom of heaven. The Veil separated the two rooms in heaven, while the blue screen (Ex. 26:36-36) represented the firmament between heaven and earth. The firmament makes heaven visible to man, according to Genesis 1. The Tabernacle made heaven visible and present to Israel. Thus, the Tabernacle is to be associated with the firmament, the mediating boundary between heaven and earth. Garver is right, I believe, to put Ex. 26:1-37 with Day 2.]
to be continued
BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 48
April, 1993
Copyright 1993, Biblical Horizons
The contents of this issue are available in revised form as Biblical Horizons Occasional Paper 29 which can be ordered from the Product Catalogue.
Biblical Chronology
Vol. 5, No. 4
April, 1993
Copyright © James B. Jordan 1993
by James B. Jordan
This month we conclude our survey of Biblical chronology in terms of sabbath years and jubilees. Re-read last month’s issue to catch up with us.
The Seventy Years of Sabbaths
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 reads: "And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and there they were slaves to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah; until the land had enjoyed it sabbaths: All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years." This text is usually linked with Jeremiah’s prophecy in Jeremiah 25:11, to the effect that Israel would be captive to Nebuchadnezzar for 70 years–and rightly so. However, this does not mean that the 70 years of sabbaths are the same as the 70 years of Babylon’s rule, which misinterpretation I was guilty of back in Biblical Chronology 2:11.
In fact, the 70 years of sabbaths for the land began with the deportation of Israel from the land, and did not end until the Temple was rebuilt in the sixth year of Darius: A.M. 3424-3494. Let us first of all consider this period.
First, Nebuchadnezzar took all but the poorest people into captivity. In other words, the people who should have been released from debt and servitude in the sabbath years got to enjoy 70 years of sabbath years in repayment. For the full impact of this, read Jeremiah 39:10, "But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day." It was the Babylonians who honored the sabbath year! (Nebuzaradan might have been one of Daniel’s converts; his treatment of Jeremiah certainly suggests it.)
Second, though Jews returned to the land after the decree of Cyrus, they did not enjoy the fruits of it (Hag. 1:1-11). They were still alienated from the land. They did not really occupy it until they rebuilt the Temple, which was completed in the sixth year of Darius, 20 years later.
Now let us consider the fact that these 70 years of sabbath were compensation for the fact that Israel did not observe the sabbaths and jubilees (which were also sabbath years) on 70 occasions. If we consider that 3021 was the first sabbath year not kept, and no sabbaths and jubilees were kept during the entire Kingdom period, with 3420 as the last sabbath year not observed, we come up with 67 unobserved sabbaths. We need three more.
I suggest that the sabbaths of 3000, 3007, and 3014 were not observed either. In 3000 the Temple was finished and 3014 was the sabbath inaugurated by the consecration of the Temple. These were not observed, even under Solomon’s rule.
What does this mean? It means that Solomon and the people began to depart from the Lord immediately after the Temple was consecrated! This is not a surprise. Israel departed from the Lord immediately after being given the Ten Words at Mount Sinai (Ex. 32). Adam departed from the Lord as soon as the Lord gave him the garden (Gen. 2-3).
Solomon’s departure from the Lord is implied in 1 Kings 9:10-14. There we read that Hiram, the God-fearing king of Tyre, had greatly helped build the Temple. Immediately after the Temple was completed, Solomon "rewarded" Hiram with 20 trashy cities, and Hiram was displeased. In this way, Solomon departed from David’s covenant with Hiram (which was also the Lord’s covenant with him), and failed to carry forward the gentile mission to which Israel had been called as a nation of priests. The next paragraph, 2 Kings 9:15ff., begins a discussion of the "forced labor" to which Solomon subjected the people, a form of bondage not in keeping with the principle of the sabbath year. Both of these paragraphs immediately follow God’s warning to Solomon not to depart from the law (1 Ki. 9:1-9).
The Sabbath Years and Jubilee in the Restoration Period
Because Israel was neither in the land nor was the Temple in operation, both sabbath years and jubilees seem to have been suspended for the 70 years of rest for the land. We can figure out how they started up again by a careful consideration of information found in Ezra. (You may wish to review Biblical Chronology 3:2-5 before proceeding.)
The Temple was finished in Darius year 6, month 12 (Ezr. 6:15; Esth. 3:7): A.M. 3494. In the following month, month 1, which is still Darius Year 6, the Temple was consecrated and Passover was celebrated. The following year, Ezra set out for Jerusalem and arrived. This was 3495.
I am going to assume that this is the first year of the new sabbath year cycle. It is Darius-Artaxerxes Year 7. These are the sabbath years:
3501 – Darius 13
3508 – Darius 20 – Nehemiah arrives to rebuild wall.
3515 – Darius 27
3522 – Darius 34 – the end of Daniel’s 49 years;
Nehemiah’s work completed.
But, Daniel’s 49 years start with the decree of Cyrus. Thus, we can back-date the new sabbatical cycle to the decree of Cyrus, anticipating its full implementation 20 years later:
3474 – Cyrus 1 – first year of cycle
3480 – Cambyses 1 – sabbath
3487 – Cambyses 8
3494 – Darius 6
So then, when did the jubilee cycle start? One way to try and answer that question is to see if we get any amazing coincidences with one system or the other. Before we do that, however, let us consider the possibility that the sabbath years and jubilees were not suspended (or contracted) during the 70 years of sabbath years, but continued right on through without re-starting.
If we make that assumption, we get none of the coincidences just mentioned; in other words, we don’t get the 7th and 34th years of Darius as significant sabbatically, and we have no tie to Daniel’s 49 years. Also, we wind up with the year 3959 as a sabbath year. Jesus was crucified in 3960. He was "working" throughout the previous three years, and I don’t think it is theologically appropriate for a sabbath year to fall during His years of work.
So, the sabbaths clearly can start up either with Cyrus’s 1st of Darius’s 7th years. What about the jubilee? Well, as it happens, no jubilee falls in any significant year if we begin the cycle with Darius’s 7th year (A.M. 3495). The year after Daniel’s 49th year would not be a jubilee, and nothing in the New Testament would be either.
If, however, we start with Cyrus’s 1st year, we get the year after Daniel’s 49 years, which is the year after Darius’s 34th year, as a jubilee. Thus, a jubilee comes right after Nehemiah has finished his work.
Also, the year 3962 is a jubilee. Jesus was crucified in A.M. 3960, and the following year is a sabbath. Paul was converted in 3960, and then after three years, in 3962, he went to Jerusalem and thereafter began his ministry (Gal. 2:18-24). This was the first beginning of the worldwide gentile mission of the Church, and is a fitting jubilee event. Thus, I conclude that the jubilee cycle was re-set after the exile, and kicked off with the decree of Cyrus in 3474.
It might be objected that a jubilee could not be celebrated before the rebuilding of the Temple in 3494. True, but no jubilee came up until 3523, at which time the Temple service was back in operation.
(Note: In Luke 4:19, when Jesus proclaimed the coming of the true Jubilee, this was not a jubilee year or a sabbath year on any scheme of reckoning. The text has to be taken theologically, and not chronologically.)
