THe Missing Row; Missing Jewels

The mysteries relating to the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle that God asked Moses to build in the desert are so cool and are worth expounding. Thousands of scholars over the ages have studied them and keep unraveling the awesome things God had shown Moses and the children of Israel as a fore-shadow of the coming Christ, the Temple and the heavenly Jerusalem. The Tabernacle was the place where the Glory of God would descend upon in the travels of this Semitic race of nomads that God had chosen to reveal His purposes. When the cloud of glory lifted they moved and when it stayed put they camped. While encamping God gave them different rules, regulations and the laws that the children of Israel had to follow. There were descriptions for the building of the tabernacle, the way sacrifices were to be offered and how the priests and High Priests were to be dressed. Today I want to talk about one particular piece in the descriptions of the adornments of the High Priest – ‘The Breastplate’. God gives specific instructions about the breastplate and the precious stones that are to be overlaid on this important accessory of the High Priest’s garments. The description in Exodus 28 goes like this:

16: Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. 17: And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. 18: And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. 19: And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 20: And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. 21: And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

So each stone is associated for each of the tribes of Israel. There are other mysteries here in relation to these stones which is beyond the scope of this discussion (e.g. with the 12 gates of heaven and how each gate is carved out of the types of stone mentioned on the Aaron’s breastplate).There is another description of the breastplate in Ezekiel 28 which belonged to chief worshipper and highest angel in heaven. So this is how the description about Lucifer or Satan’s breastplate goes:

12: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13: Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14: Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15: Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16: By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17: Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18: Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

If you followed the description closely we see exactly one row missing. It is difficult to ascertain what stones belong to what tribe but scholars have given some clues. The missing row in Satan’s breastplate are the stones ligure, agate and amethyst. Now if we examine the blessings of the patriarch Jacob on his 12 sons Genesis 49 records:

14: Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: 15: And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. 19: Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. 20: Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties

The jewel of Issacar is missing because Satan is never a burden bearer. Jesus took all our burdens and sins. The jewel of Gad is missing because his troop will overcome, Jesus is the commander of the armies of heaven, He is the Lord of Hosts and Satan will not be able to gain the final victory and his final punishment is assured. Lastly, the jewel of Asher is missing in Satan’s breastplate because Jesus is the Royal King of Kings and Satan will never produce a royal seed nor attain the royal status.

This immensely blessed me because God in His foreknowledge had already placed limitiations on the chief worshipper of heaven before he fell with his angels.

Blessings & Shalom

Sam Kurien