THE INNER JOY Having spoken of the holy feasts and the joyful assemblies, He intended to proclaim the secret of the true inner joy through the care for the golden lampstand, to enjoy the light; and the weekly bread, to enjoy the satisfaction. Whereas the secret of the loss of joy is by blaspheming the name of God, and by doing wrong to others. 1- The lampstand and the pure oil 1 -- 4 2- The table and the showbread 5 -- 9 3- The blasphemy by the son of ‘Shelomith’ 10 -- 16 4- Different statutes 17 – 23 1- THE LAMSTAND AND THE PURE OIL: It is not strange to talk about the lampstand and the pure oil directly after talking about the feasts and the seasons; For if God intends to grant His people the perpetual joy, the secret of this joy is their being enlightened by the oil of the Holy Spirit in them; who prepares the soul as a virgin to receive the Groom (Matthew 25: 1 – 10). “Command the children of Israel that they bring pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually” (2-4) The Lord commanded the people to bring pure oil of pressed olives; and commanded Aaron and his sons to care for the seven lamps of the golden lampstand from evening until morning before the Lord, to watch them lest they are put off. According to Historians, all the lamps were lighted during the night; and only three of them were lighted during the day. In our interpretation of the book of Exodus, we saw how the lampstand was not intended only to give light, but it bore spiritual concepts that touch our relationships with the Holy Trinity, the true light; … How that the church of the new covenant cared for having the light even during the day inside the church, as a spiritual rite that touches the life of believers; …. And how the priest blesses the congregation with the cross carrying lighted candles, as a sign of God’s work in their inner life. Commenting on the rite of lighting the lamps of the lampstand from evening until morning in the sanctuary, father Methodeus says: [They were commanded to have for themselves a weak light from evening until morning, on account of that their light seemed to represent the prophetic word … It was necessary to light them until the day comes; saying, “to be in charge of it until the morning”; namely until the coming of Christ; As once the Sun of purity and righteousness shines, there will be need for another light]. And according to the scholar Origen: [Before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ -- the Sun that did not rise over the children of Israel, -- they used the light of lamps; having had the words of the law and the prophetic words as a lamp, so shut-in within narrow walls, that its light did not shine over the whole earth. The divine knowledge was confined in Judah alone, according to the words of the prophet David: “In Judah God is known” (Psalm 76: 1). But once the Sun of righteousness – our Lord and Savior -- shone (Malachi 4: 2; 3: 20), once he was born, the light of the divine knowledge spread over the whole world. In short, the words of the law, and the prophetic sayings were lighted lamp that shone only within the sanctuary, but could not set forth outside to shine with beauty and splendor. The words of the law and the prophesies were the lamp; a fact taught to us by the Lord Himself concerning John the Baptist (as a representative of the old covenant with its law and prophets), saying: “He was a burning and shining lamp; and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light” (John 5: 35); By that shining lamp -- John the Baptist -- the law and prophecies were consummated. As long as the people had oil to bring for the lamps, the lamps continued to give light; but when they sinned, and had no more oil of mercy, nor of good works and purity, the light was quenched because of its need for oil. But what should we say, concerning us? … It is befitting of the Christian to care to have more oil, as without it, according to the Lord, the virgins are called “foolish”, for carrying no oil in their vessels, hence their lamps were put out, and they were denied the entrance into the spiritual secret place; and when they knocked at the door, having no oil, the Groom gave the command not to open the door before them (Matthew 25). I remember what I previously said concerning psalm 119: 105, saying: “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path”; to clarify, as much as I could, the difference between the lamp and the light. The lamp is assigned to the feet, being a lower member of the body; whereas the light is assigned to the paths, which are called somewhere else “the heavenly ways”. … According to the secret interpretation, the lamp of the law is assigned to those who are in the world (men of the old covenant); whereas the eternal light is assigned to the paths of the age to come] And according to St. Augustine: [the oil refers to “love”, without which the virgins will not be admitted into the wedding, nor to encounter the Groom in His heavenly secret place]. And according to the scholar Origen, [Do not you see that he who puts off the light of love, puts off the lamp?! That he who loves his neighbor (1 John 4: 21) will abide in the light of love, and can say with confidence: “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52: 8); and, “Your children like olive plants all around your table” (Psalm 128: 3). 2- THE TABLE AND THE SHOWBREAD: We have previously talked about the table and the rite of the showbread in our interpretation of the book of Exodus (chapter 25). On it.the bread are put in two rows, each row includes 6 breads over one another; with bent golden plates put between the breads to allow air to pass to keep the bread from corruption; a golden vessel with pure frankincense is put over each row of bread, for the Lord to acknowledge their offerings, and to receive them a sweet aroma; “You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord” (7). If the bread refers to the church, with which her head Christ melded; the frankincense refers to her perpetual work, namely, the unceasing prayers and praise. According to the scholar Origen, in the holy table, there is an image of the banquet of the Eucharist presented to us by the Lord of glory; saying: [Let us go back to that bread descending from heaven, granting life (John 6: 33), the bread of atonement, presented by the Lord, as an atonement by faith by His blood to show His righteousness (Romans 3: 25). Let us see that memorial about which the Lord spoke, saying: “This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11: 25);.Let us elaborately remember the sacraments of the church, to perceive how “the statutes of the law bore a shadow of the things to come” (Hebrew 10: 1). This bread is the food of the holy men to be eaten in a holy place (9). It is the food of those who became “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2: 9), which they eat while well prepared by a holy life. As according to the scholar Origen: [The holy place here is not a location, but refers to “the pure soul”. 3- THE BLASPHEMY OF THE SON OF SHELOMITH: After revealing the secret of the joy of the soul in the lighted oil of the lampstand, and her satisfaction by the holy showbread; he talked to us about the secret of the bitterness of the soul, and her loss of peace, and even of her life, through an episode of a controversy between the son of Shelomith, an Israeli woman, from an Egyptian father, and an Israeli man; when the former blasphemed God. The prophet Moses did not hasten to give a verdict on his own, but put him in custody, and, and sought the counsel of the Lord. Here, the statute came to proclaim that whoever blaspheme against God, whether he is a true Israeli or a proselyte will be stoned to death outside the camp; and so they did to the son of Shelomith. In a symbolic concept of that episode, the scholar Origen saw in the son of Shelomith, an Israeli woman, from an Egyptian father, a reference to the heretics, who belong to the church as a their mother, but through their heresy, they receive Pharaoh as their father. By their deflection, while losing their sonhood to God; they refer themselves to the church to enter into controversies with her children; and blaspheme against God by their corrupted faith. According to the letter, they may appear to belong to the church, yet they are outside her; and God is not their Father; hence the son of Shelomith was driven to outside the camp. Whoever blaspheme God by his behavior, denies himself the true fellowship of the church: [Whoever depart from the way of righteousness, and from the law of the Lord, … is driven out from the congregation of the saints and from their rows[; And, [Whoever depart from the truth, departs from the fear of the Lord, from faith, and from love; by which he will be driven out of the camp of the church, even with no verdict by the bishop to be driven out… for he may be in the church in the body, but in truth he is outside her].
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