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[179]
Now here one may wonder at the ill-will which men bear to us, and
which they profess to bear on account of our despising that Deity which
they pretend to honor; for if any one do but consider the fabric of the
tabernacle, and take a view of the garments of the high priest, and of
those vessels which we make use of in our sacred ministration, he will
find that our legislator was a divine man, and that we are unjustly reproached
by others; for if any one do without prejudice, and with judgment, look
upon these things, he will find they were every one made in way of imitation
and representation of the universe. When Moses distinguished the tabernacle
into three parts, 1
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 the 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 fine 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,
I suppose 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 color, 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 splendor with which God is pleased.
Let this explication 2
suffice at present, since the course of my narration will often, and on
many occasions, afford me the opportunity of enlarging upon the virtue
of our legislator.
3
1 When Josephus, both here and ch. 6. sect. 4, supposes the tabernacle to have been parted into three parts, he seems to esteem the bare entrance to be a third division, distinct from the holy and the most holy places; and this the rather, because in the temple afterward there was a real distinct third part, which was called the Porch: otherwise Josephus would contradict his own description of the tabernacle, which gives as a particular account of no more than two parts.
2 This explication of the mystical meaning of the Jewish tabernacle and its vessels, with the garments of the high priest, is taken out of Philo, and fitted to Gentile philosophical notions. This may possibly be forgiven in Jews, greatly versed in heathen learning and philosophy, as Philo had ever been, and as Josephus had long been when he wrote these Antiquities. In the mean time, it is not to be doubted, but in their education they must have both learned more Jewish interpretations, such as we meet with in the Epistle of Barnabas, in that to the Hebrews, and elsewhere among the old Jews. Accordingly when Josephus wrote his books of the Jewish War, for the use of the Jews, at which time he was comparatively young, and less used to Gentile books, we find one specimen of such a Jewish interpretation; for there (B. VII. ch. 5. sect. 5) he makes the seven branches of the temple-candlestick, with their seven lamps, an emblem of the seven days of creation and rest, which are here emblems of the seven planets. Nor certainly ought ancient Jewish emblems to be explained any other way than according to ancient Jewish, and not Gentile, notions. See of the War, B. I. ch. 33. sect. 2.
3 OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF AARON.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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