Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 28-29.

I have written before about how I have trouble reading passages such as this one which detail the construction of items of worship which we no longer employ.  As a result, I struggle finding things to write on such passages.  Which leads me to what I am going to write about today.  First some background which sets the stage for what I noticed.  At this point there are thirteen tribes as Ephraim and Manasseh were each a tribe (they each have their own place within the overall encampment of the Israelites).  However, when God instructs Moses on constructing the garment for Aaron (and his successors as High Priest) He tells Moses to carve the names of the twelve sons of Israel into gemstones which will be attached to those garments.  Now, I am not sure why that is significant, but I have been noticing some interesting juxtapositions of the numbers twelve and thirteen throughout the Bible.  On his death bed (not quite, but close enough), Jacob had adopted Ephraim and Manasseh as his sons in place of Joseph (not to replace Joseph as his son, but in order to expand Joseph’s place as his son).  Perhaps it is significant that in that passage it refers to Jacob adopting Ephraim and Manasseh and here is says the sons of Israel.  I am writing this unsure about what it means.  I will note that the Bible does seem to use Jacob and Israel to distinguish between the earthly man, Jacob, and the spiritual heir to God’s promise, Israel (I am still working on the proper way to refer to that distinction).  However, it seems significant and I suspect that its significance is spelled out in a later passage, but that I will only see that significance if I have taken note of this juxtaposition here.

I am going to add an after thought here about what I have noticed regarding twelve and thirteen.  Jesus called the Twelve Apostles, who parallel the twelve tribes of Israel.  However, Jesus and His inner circle numbered thirteen, with Jesus interceding with God for the Twelve, just as the tribes numbered thirteen with the Levites interceding with God for the other twelve tribes (when we count Ephraim and Manasseh as separate tribes, which is done in much of the Old Testament).  There is a mystery of God here which I do not understand, but which makes me feel as if there is something about it which would improve my faith walk if I did understand it.  If my feeling is correct, the Holy Spirit will reveal it to me in God’s time.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.