Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

Yeshua’s vision blurred again and he found himself standing a stone’s throw from the massive Temple doors that were flanked by two tall pillars, impressively standing twenty seven feet high, both casted in bronze. These columns had names, Boaz^1a and Jachin^1b, of which worshipers would be reminded that beyond those doors is Adonai’s promise of perpetual providence with everything they needed, including fertility and fruitfulness. To his right, on an elevated platform is the massive bronze altar where all the sacrifices are offered on a perpetual flame. To his left sat a giant bronze bowl, fifteen feet in diameter and as to its depth, the tallest man in Israel could have stood in its midst and would be totally immersed. It was called the Sea and it was perched on the backs of twelve life-size oxens also made in bronze.² 

Then, from the ramparts above him, the long blowing sounds of ram horns filled the air. He turned east to see the gates swung open. This portal led out onto the adjacent court of Israel which was already filled with people singing songs of praise. Then, enter a procession of priests led by the High Priest. The procession of priests formed two parallel lines, creating a wide lane. When the first pair reached the steps that led up to the Temple doors, the entire entourage stopped and faced their opposite number. Some of them had various instruments from bells, tambourines and lyres. Yeshua then saw King Solomon and members of his court enter but stopped short under the porticos for only priests were allowed in the area where he stood. The king turned to face behind him. The song around him became more intense in adolation. Then the king and everyone else under the porticos bowed down on the ground as a canvassed object carried by twelve men came into view. He did not have to guess what was under it.

It was the holiest object in the entire whole world, the Ark of the Covenant, symbolic of the presence of Adonai in the midst of His people. At this time of the Temple’s dedication, the Ark had sojourned the earth for over five hundred years since its fashioning under the shadow of Mt. Sinai,² enduring the wandering in the wilderness,^2a the conquest of the promised land,³ defeat and a brief captivity in the hands of the Philistines.⁴ For a long while after, Adonai’s Seat of Mercy had been dormant first in Kirjath-jearim in the house of Abinadab for twenty years⁵ and then in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite;^5a until King David brought it to rest in a special tent.^5b Now, Yeshua is witnessing with fascination, the selected few Levites carry the holiest of objects into the House built by David’s son, Solomon. 

He decided not to follow the procession in, but he knew that the High Priest would lead them into the inner chamber, the Holy of Holies. And the Levites would then gently place the Ark under the watchful gaze of the towering cherubims. Then the courtyard reverberated with a cacophony of ram horns and the thrilled singing of the assembled congregation. Then, the entire Temple was filled with the presence of Adonai in the form of a glowing cloud. His eyes teared with an incredible joy as the singing reached a crescendo. But then the sound of joyous celebration faded back into time and another sound intruded. It was a noise that did not belong. It was the sound of a busy noisy marketplace. 

Yeshua was back in the present, standing among the columns facing the front entrance to the Temple complex. Before the gates were lines of people bringing their animals in for sacrifice. The distinction between the classes was painfully obvious. On one line, a quick moving one at that, families in posh attire, some of whom were leading pairs of lowing heifers for presentation. Others with no animals by their sides but had with them signed vouchers to flocks of sheep, penned in waiting-pens on the north side of the complex. The other line, on the other hand, was hardly moving. Yeshua observed a family of three being ordered off the line by a priest angrily gesturing to their tethered lamb. The word ‘blemish’ floated his way. Downcasted, they proceeded back into the bedlam of screaming vendors and money changers. 

To his disciples, he said, “Let us follow them.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Footnotes: [1a] Boaz means ‘In Him is strength’; [1b] Jachin means ‘He shall establish’; [2] Exodus 25:10-22; [2a] Books of Numbers to Deuteronomy; [3] Book of Joshua; [4] 1 Samuel 4; [5] 1 Samuel 7:2; [5a] 2 Samuel 6:11; [5b]  6:17

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