BRONZE
The Meaning of Bronze In The Bible
I was taught by a rabbi that when reading the Bible, it is
critical to ask good questions.
We need to keep our eyes peeled and observant to see all
that God wants to highlight to us in the text, and to ask good questions of it.
For those of us who have the advantage of knowing God
personally through His Messiah, we can also count on the help of the Holy
Spirit to guide and teach us.
A.W. Tozer said, “The Bible is a supernatural book, and can be understood only by
supernatural aid”.
We can read the Bible in companionship with the author
himself, and with his help, steady observation, and an inquiring mind that
seeks to know more of God, we can learn a great deal even from familiar
passages, or that might seem strange to those who don’t know God’s ways.
So it was in this way that I stumbled across the Biblical
meaning of bronze …
I had come to the last chapter of Jeremiah, where King
Zedekiah was carted off to Babylon in bronze shackles, and made a mental note
that the word bronze was used, but then as I continued reading, I saw that
bronze was mentioned many more times:
17 And the pillars
of BRONZE that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the BRONZE sea
that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried
all the BRONZE to Babylon.
18 And they took away the pots and the shovels and the
snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of
BRONZE used in the temple service;19 also the small
bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the
dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the
captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver.
20 As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve BRONZE
bulls that were under the sea, and the stands, which Solomon the king had made
for the house of the Lord, the BRONZE of all these things was beyond weight.
21 As for the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen
cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four
fingers, and it was hollow.
22 On it was a capital of BRONZE. The height of the capital
was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of BRONZE, were round the
capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates.
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the
pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all round.
It must have been a devastating time – God’s judgment is
finally unleashed and the promised exile to Babylon is executed.
But notice, apart from verse 19 which mentions few items of
silver and gold, the entire paragraph is describing bronze paraphernalia from
Solomon’s temple.
When
a word is repeated so often in the text, it is well worth digging a little
to find out why. What’s with all the bronze? Does God want to say something
here?
After
some investigation, I came to understand better why there was so much bronze
involved – both the reason for it being there at all, and also the spiritual
meaning behind it.
Solomon’s
temple was fashioned after God’s desert tabernacle, every detail of which was
mandated by God himself. There were luxurious colours, fabrics, designs and
metals used, making the most of the booty from Egypt (400 years back-pay for
all that slave labour).
But
here is the critical piece of information: Exodus
gives instructions that the items inside of the Tabernacle
(the menorah, incense altar, showbread table, and of course the ark of the
covenant itself) were to be made of gold, but everything outside the
tent was bronze.
Copious
amounts of bronze were required to construct various aspects of God’s
sanctuary, both in the desert and in the temple.
The
bronze for the tabernacle’s accouterments came from Egypt, and Solomon’s
bountiful wealth provided all the bronze for the temple – so much of it, in
fact, that it could not be measured. So that’s how all the bronze came to be
there.
But
does it mean anything? Of course it does! Every tiny detail of the tabernacle
was dictated by God, and He always has a reason for everything He says and does.
There
is a wealth of study to be done when considering the Tabernacle and all the
instructions that were to reflect the pattern in heaven.
As Hebrews 8:5 tells us; “They serve a copy
and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent,
he was instructed by God, saying, 'See that you make everything according to
the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.'”
Gold is symbolic of God’s kingship,
glory and holiness, and silver represents redemption (consider lives exchanged
for silver coins for example).
The
holy place of God’s presence is lined and coated and covered with gold.
The
poles were made of wood, but were covered in gold, and rested in silver stands.
Is this like us (wood) coated in gold (God’s own holiness) because we stand in
the redemption (silver) of Yeshua’s sacrifice?
Certainly
there is a clear divide: gold inside, bronze outside.
So
what have we got right outside the holy place of the tabernacle? The altar, on
which animals were sacrificed to atone for sin, and the enormous “sea” or laver
of pure water, to cleanse and purify.
Before
a priest could go into the holy place, into the presence of God, first he
needed the blood, and then the water. The atonement and the cleansing from sin.
To be covered and clean.
The
sin and uncleanness was dealt with at the bronze altar and the bronze sea.
Bronze
is where God’s judgment deals with sin – only then can a person enter the pure
and holy presence of God.
Funnily enough, the Jewish weekly portion of Torah at that
particular time included Numbers 21; the part about the bronze serpent that was
lifted up to save sinful Israel in the desert.
There we have it again – sin, judgment, and bronze. Allow
me to remind you how the story went:
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way
to the Red Sea, to go round the land of Edom. And the people became impatient
on the way.
5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have
you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food
and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and
they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned,
for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he
take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set
it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a BRONZE serpent
and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze
serpent and live.”
And was it a coincidence that I come across all of these
reminders of God’s righteous judgment, and dealings with sin on the very
morning that the SCOTUS decision was announced? The timing was interesting, to
say the least.
But just as Romans 1 speaks of the sinfulness of homosexual
acts, Romans 2 also warns us all not to put ourselves in the position of judge,
as if we were without sin. It is our own sin that should preoccupy our minds,
not that of others.
God is the judge, not us, and Yeshua will come back to
judge us all, His bronze feet will once again stand on the Mount of Olives, and
we need to be clean and ready for that – not sitting in His Judgment Seat.
There is a great deal of sin abounding in every direction,
both inside and outside of the body of Messiah. As many people are rightly
saying, heterosexual couples are also doing a great job of destroying marriage
in far greater numbers.
But this ruling has cut to the very core of God’s heart and
plan for humanity. He created us to love and for love – the Bible starts with a
wedding and ends with a wedding, because this is the picture that God gives us
about the whole meaning of our existence.
Yeshua as the bridegroom and his people as his bride. As
Paul writes, marriage is a mystery that speaks of this love and looks forward
to our complete union with him in eternity.
Earthly marriage between the masculine and feminine is a
huge signpost to this eternal and earth-shattering truth, just as parenthood
can teach us so much about God’s great love for us.
The Supreme Court decision grieves God, not because He
hates gay people but rather the opposite – he LOVES gay people and all sinners,
and the Supreme Court has moved the signpost which will lead people in the
wrong direction – and away from God.
The overwhelming message that I received from this time in
the word was of God’s extraordinary love and determination to deal with
sin, so that we can be together with him.
His judgment shows that He is close, He is in control, He
is supervising, He is active, and knows what to do.
Sometimes the world feels like it’s careering out of
control like a wagon whose wheels are coming right off.
This is not an act of cruelty, malice or unbridled rage, no
– bronze speaks of God’s righteous judgment that is perfectly just and
tempered, wisely administered with precision and perfect timing to get the
results He desires, motivated by love.
Moreover, the patterns in the word show that God himself is
willing to deal with the sin for us when we come to him in
repentance (those willing to approach the tabernacle with a sacrifice, those
willing to look upon the snake), but that judgment for sin is right and
necessary. This is the message of the gospel.
Who appreciates grace more – the one who knows that they
have been delivered from serious punishment, or the one who thinks that there
is no punishment, or even any sin? This is not grace at all.
God would have us steady our gaze and take in the gravity
of what we are doing to offend him, and the seriousness of our sin.
He wants us to appreciate the wrath, death and bloodshed
that is necessary to deal with it, so that we can fully rejoice that we have
been saved from very serious judgment by Yeshua’s selfless sacrifice.
The deeper our appreciation of sin and judgment, the
greater our appreciation of the grace that saves those who repent.
Bronze symbolises God’s righteous judgment. The bronze
altar, sea and snake show God’s willingness to take our sin and graciously deal
with it himself.
However, King Zedekiah being led off to his punishment in
bronze shackles surrounded by the deconstructed bronze temple shows that God’s
righteous judgment will fall upon us only if we are not
willing to repent.
“If we confess our sin, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Why not take a few minutes to repent of any sin in your life
right now, thanking God for the forgiveness he has provided through his
Messiah, Yeshua?
Dr Bill Bright suggested that just like breathing, we can
exhale our sin through confession and repentance, and inhale by asking God to
fill us afresh with his Holy Spirit.
No matter how we feel, getting right with God is only a
prayer away.
Would you want God
to change your life?
God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience
an amazing change in your own
life through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following prayer:
“Father God, I confess
I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away
from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and
help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your
son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive,
and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to
become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day
forward. Thank You that according to Your Word, I am now born again.
Please send your Holy
Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. I
promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
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Refrain:
Redeemed, redeemed,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
redeemed, redeemed,
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Redeemed, redeemed,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.
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[Refrain]
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