Heaven's Royal Sacrifice--Linen--Day 6

 

The Veil

I had Jenna (my second baby) in February.  For Christmas a couple of months before, I asked for gift cards so I could buy new clothes after the baby was born.  My mom bought me one from Lerner and I couldn't wait to shop.  Even though that was 32 years ago, I clearly remember what I bought--pleated linen pants.  They were so comfortable and rich feeling.  They were neutral colored, so they matched every top in my closet  that spring and summer.  And so I wore them with everything.  (A couple of years later, Mike sheepishly told me that they weren't very flattering.{I mean, I should have known...Pleats postpartum?  Come on.}  Although it hurt my feelings a little at the time, I know it would've been MUCH WORSE if he'd told me while  hormones were raging.)

Linen was valuable during the time of the tabernacle.  Flax is the plant that is processed into linen, and the Israelites likely remembered flax being completely destroyed during the 7th plague--hail.  The flax was just starting to bud when God struck Egypt yet spared Goshen, the area the Hebrew slaves lives. Hail storm The Israelites might have recognized linen as the fabric used to bury Pharaohs and other royalty and notables in Egypt.  Their own ancient ancestor, Joseph, was taken from prison, promoted to 2nd in command in all of Egypt, and clothed in fine linen after helping Pharaoh interpret a troubling set of dreams. He was also embalmed, which was a process more like mummification, which required yards of linen.  (They would know about Joseph, because they carried his bones in a coffin throughout their 40-year trip to the promised land, burying him there. Joseph's bones  Joseph's burial )  

Linen also represented purity, holiness, and righteousness.  In Leviticus 21 and 22, God lays out for Moses all that will consecrate--set apart as sacred--the priests and most notably the high priest. This was a reciprocal agreement between God and the priests of His tabernacle.  Leviticus 20:7-8  

"Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.  Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sets you apart."  

The priests were required to be ritually pure, not unclean.  They were required to be holy, not profane.  They are required to be righteous, not corrupt.  They came before the LORD with offerings on behalf of the people and their sins.  These were not requests, they were requirements.  

God is so good to the Israelites.  He has given the blueprint for the tabernacle.   He has given the pattern for the priestly garments.  He has gifted them the abilities to weave the veil.  Exodus 35:35

All that He has required, He has provided.  But I wonder if the priests looked up at the veil and down at their garments, at the linen woven into the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and felt unclean, profane, corrupt.  Oh they wouldn't have appeared so on the outside, it was forbidden.  If they showed any outward signs of disobedience, they would have been cut off from their people or killed.  But they were people like us.  I'm sure they felt the weight of  their sin.  Maybe even more so than us, because the blood of sacrifice covered them.  But wait.  Maybe we are more alike than we are different....

💙💜💓🤍