Exodus 26:31-27:19 Chavurah Shalom Saturday 12/31/16 Exodus 26:31-37 The Parochet The Tabernacle is to be partitioned into two unequal sections by means of a dividing curtain, or veil, called in Hebrew parochet. Its function is stated in verse 33. The inner section will form a perfect cube measuring 10 cubits (15 ft. = 4.6 m.) on each side. This is the Holy of Holies, which will contain the Ark and the kapporet, as prescribed in Exodus 25:17. The outer section will measure 10 cubits in width, 20 cubits in length, and 10 cubits in height (15 ft. x 30 ft. x 15 ft.). It is called the “Holy Place” and will receive the table, the menorah, and the altar of incense. It is interesting to note that the Holy of Holies is a cube. In Revelation 21:15-16 you find the measurements of New Jerusalem also a cube of 1500 cubic miles. Ezekiel 42:15-20 outlines the inner house, with a square configuration of 500 cubits. While nothing is said of the height, there are few designs that give such a square, and it would not be too far from our thoughts to regard this a cube also. The parochet is made from the same fabric and designed with the same colors as the lowest coverings. It is adorned with figures of cherubim. Its size is not given, but both reason and tradition require 10 x 10 cubits (15 x 15 ft. — 4.6 x 4.6 m). In later Hebrew the term parochet was transferred to the ornamented curtain covering the Ark that contains the Torah scrolls in the synagogue. Ashkenazim hang it in front of the doors, while Sephardim place it behind them. Jewish religious law requires that a parokhet no longer in use not be destroyed; it must be stored away. separated the entrance of the Holy Place on ,מָסָך ,(A second screen (Heb. masach the eastern side from the outer court. It was made of the same multicolored fabric as the parochet, but was not decorated with cherubs. It also differed from it in that it was embroidered, v. 36, and rested on five pillars instead of four, and its pillars ,מַעֲשֵׂה רֹקֵם ,fitted into bronze rather than silver sockets. Hebrew ma'asayh rokaym another specialized type of weaving, required less skill than that required for the coverings of the Tabernacle and the parokhet. - 1 - Of the three entrance curtains only the innermost veil is called holy, Leviticus 4:6. The other terms for the Parochet are: paroket hammasak, "the screening curtain," Exodus 35:12; 39:34; 40:21; Numbers 4:5; hammasak, "the screen," Numbers 3:31; and paroket ha'edut, "the screen of the testimony," Leviticus 24:3. Two items separate this middle entrance from the veil. First, the veil is "the work of a craftsman," v. 31, while this curtain opening the way into the holy place is the "work of an embroider," v. 36. Second, the "silver" bases for the pillars of the veil, v. 32, are here "bronze," v. 37. One can imagine a sign hung on both of these curtains: "authorized personnel only."--Victor P. Hamilton in Exodus in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, p. 473. There was a third screen, separating the entrance into the outer courtyard from the camp of Israel. You would then go through one curtain in order to enter the area of the Bronze Altar of Sacrifice. Through the next curtain, only the priests could go in order to trim the wicks, fill the lamps, burn the incense, and set out the - 2 - showbread. Through the final curtain, the Parochet, only the High Priest could go, and that only once a year on the Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Chumash asserts that any Cohen could go into the Holy Place for the purpose of prostration.--p. 193. The entire structure is 30 cubits from front to back, the Holy Place occupies its eastern two-thirds, and the Holy of Holies the westernmost third. Solomon's Temple had doors in form of the entrance into the inner sanctuary, 1 Kings 6:31-32. The walls were 1 cubit thick, and so was the doors. This was to guard against intrusion into the Holy Place. It would be much more important to incorporate signs on the curtains than on such doors. These doors were determined to be of such value that Hezekiah was compelled to give them as tribute to the King of Assyria, 2 Kings 18:16. They may have been 20-30 feet tall. Being overlaid with gold, they rivaled anything to be found in the Ancient Near East. Hegg noted that the minutiae of the description is hard to decipher. In dealing with the outer covering of 11 panels and the inner tapestries of 10 panels, Hegg noted that this would have kept all light out of the Holy of Holies, except for the light of the Shekinah itself, and out of the Holy Place, except for the light of the Menorah.--Parashah 64, p. 6. All three Synoptic Gospels mention the rending of the veil of the Sanctuary in connection with Yeshua's death. Luke seems to place the rending of the veil in association with the thick darkness, and seen then as a sign of the Father's displeasure in humanity's rejection of His Son. The others seem to associate the even with what follows, Yeshua committing Himself to the Father, which comes close to the emphasis on the veil in Hebrews. All seem to indicate that God is the one who rends the veil. None specify which veil was rent. This then gives rise to much speculation. Is it the parochet which separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, Exodus 26:31-35? Or is it the curtain at the entrance into the Holy Place of Exodus 26:36-37? Most have assumed it was the veil in front of the Holy of Holies. The reference in Hebrews 6:19-20, "the inner sanctuary behind the curtain," seems to indicate this. If this is the one, then no one would have actually seen it happen. The general public saw the darkness, and felt the earth tremble, but only the priest ministering in the Holy Place would have seen the Parochet torn in two. However, the impact would have been more impressive on the general population if they had been able to see the event. - 3 - There are three references in Hebrews. Hebrews 6:19-20 speaks of Yeshua, who enter into the inner sanctuary behind the curtain on our behalf. Here the writer uses three figures of speech: a nautical one, "hope as an anchor for the soul;' a cultic one, heaven is a sanctuary; and an athletic one, Yeshua has gone there as our forerunner. Hebrews 9:3 describes the Tabernacle, saying that behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. Finally, Hebrews 10:19-20 speaks of the believer's confidence to enter through the curtain into this holy place through Yeshua and His blood. This is designating the immediate presence of God more than a location. So, is this good news or bad news? Is it a picture of the destruction of the body of Yeshua and the Temple because of the rejection of the Messiah. However, it could be a picture of God's immediate presence available to all who receive the Messiah. That is the thrust of Hebrews, that we have access unto God and will one day behold the Godhead in all of its revealed glory.--Hamilton, pp. 474-475. Hegg argues from a completely different perspective. The point in fact for the time of Yeshua has to do with lengthy presentations concerning the nature of the second Temple, and its corrupted leadership. It also has to do with information concerning the location of a veil or curtain which hung over the doors into the Temple structure, and the very large stone lintel that held the doors and curtain in place, and the doors of the Temple suddenly opening on their own. Along with this is rabbinic recognized halachah that until the doors were opened, no sacrifice could be accepted upon the altar. Thus the leadership of the Temple could control the practice of worship by keeping the doors closed. From this I will give you the final paragraph from his summary concerning the Parochet, and refer you to his paper, "Separating the Most Holy from the Holy." The Second Temple built by Zerubbabel and expanded by Herod marked an attempt by Israel to fashion her own means of atonement. Though certainly God commanded through His prophets the rebuilding of the Temple, and encouraged that it be utilized as a regathering of the people to Him, in fact the Temple never functioned as it was supposed to. Overrun by the institutions of the Sages, the Shekinah (by some accounts) never entered the structure and the Ark of the Covenant never rested there. Enshrined in man-made religion, the Messiah Himself declared that what should have been a House of Prayer had, in fact, become a den of thieves. The glorious description of the Temple which the prophet Ezekiel gave to the exiles was not to be realized in the Second Temple. Though in His mercy HaShem accepted all who worshipped there in spirit and - 4 - truth, the inevitable destruction of the Temple was prophesied by the prophets, and sealed by the rejection of The Messiah.