Moses had married Zipporah—one of the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian—when he fled from Egypt after slaying an Egyptian taskmaster (see Exod. 2:21). Forty years passed, and God called Moses back to Egypt to deliver Israel. On his journey he took Zipporah and his son Gershom, who was uncircumcised. God’s anger led to Zipporah suddenly circumcising her son and accusing Moses of being a “blood husband” (meaning, “the marriage bond between us is now sealed by blood”). But Zipporah sees the shedding of blood in circumcision as unnecessary because she was unfamiliar with the Jewish law of circumcision. After circumcising her son at an inn, Zipporah became angry and she and her son went back to her father. God “let him go” (Exod. 4:26), meaning that she returned to her father and sent Moses alone to meet Aaron.
Zipporah was a Midianite (see Exod. 2:16), a descendant of Abraham through his wife, Keturah (see Gen. 25:1-2). After Israel departed from Egypt, Jethro brought Moses’ two sons and his wife, Zipporah, into the wilderness to be reunited with Moses (see Exod. 18:2-6). After the meeting, we read that his father-in-law eventually “went his way into his own land” (Exod. 18:27).
Here in Numbers, Miriam and Aaron criticize the Ethiopian woman that Moses had married. Some rabbis suggest that Moses divorced Zipporah, as she is not mentioned again, and that Aaron and Miriam are upset because Moses remarried this Ethiopian woman, whom he had married when he lived in Egypt.
However, the answer may be found in the writings of Josephus. According to Josephus, the first forty years Moses lived in Egypt, Moses defeated the King of Ethiopia in a battle and married the king’s daughter, named Tharbis (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, chapter 10). When Moses suddenly departed from Egypt at age forty, he left Tharbis behind. Believing he would never return to Egypt, Moses married Zipporah, a daughter of Jethro. Forty years later, Moses returned and brought the people out. Some suggest Moses may have brought his former wife, Tharbis, out of Egypt with him when he departed. Others believe that when Moses left Egypt, Tharbis returned to her land in Ethiopia.
Some rabbis suggest that this woman simply refers to Zipporah, and Aaron and Miriam were concerned that after Moses’ death, he would place his “non-Hebrew” sons born in the land of Midian over the nation. If this woman mentioned here was Moses’ early wife from Ethiopia, then this is perhaps why Miriam criticized him. It is conjuncture to attempt to prove which theory is correct.
The Old Testament is filled with types, shadows, and patterns of things to come. Types and shadows are taught in Christian theology as a form of biblical exegesis that reveals the amazing parallels between people, things, events, and the mystery of redemption concealed in the Old Testament. One way a Christian can prove the divine inspiration of Scripture is through understanding the amazing types and shadows, such as the prophecies of the Messiah and the plan of redemption revealed in the ceremonies, sacrifices, and ministry at the tabernacle. The writer of Hebrews does a masterful job comparing the first covenant and the sacrificial and ceremonial portions of the Law of Moses being fulfilled and complete in Christ’s earthly and heavenly ministry as High Priest.
The revelation of the tabernacle was given for people to apprehend God
The revelation of the tabernacle offerings was given for people to appease God
The revelation of the tabernacle ministry was given for people to approach God
What is a Type?
The word type is derived from the Greek word tupos and is found sixteen times in the New Testament. It is translated in the King James Version of the Bible as print (John 20:25), figure (Rom. 5:14), pattern (Heb. 8:5), manner (Acts 23:25), form (Rom. 6:17), and example (1 Cor. 10:6, 11). An Old Testament type is a person, place, thing, or event that resembles a person, place, thing, or event in the New Testament.
What is a Shadow?
The word shadow is from the Greek word skia (see Col. 2:17). A shadow is an imperfect image or copy that is a reflection of a true substance. A shadow prefigures the anti-type. Paul used the word shadow in Hebrews 10:1: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come . . .” A shadow implies that a reality is yet to come, but a reflection of what is to come is found in the past, or in the shadow. A shadow is a reflection of light cast upon an actual object. Concealed within the Law was the reality of the coming Messiah. The Old Testament holds the shadow and the New Testament brings forth the light.
What is a Pattern?
The term copy or pattern is the Greek word hupodeigma, a word that refers to a sketch of something in the future. The tabernacle furniture and services were a “pattern” of things to come and were patterned after the heavenly temple. Not everything in the Old Testament is a type, shadow, or pattern of things to come. However, there are many types and shadows found in the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the priestly ministry.
What is an Anti-type?
An anti-type is the fulfillment of a type. From a biblical standpoint, the type is found in the Old Testament and the anti-type is revealed in the New Testament. Before His final act of redemption on the cross, Christ compared His future suffering to the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days and nights: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40). In some of the catacombs of Rome, large whales are carved above many of the tombs as a sign of the promise of the resurrection. Another type fulfilled in Christ was the sacrifice of Isaac, which was a foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Christ (see Gen. 22). God provided a lamb for Abraham and He provided a Lamb for the world (see Gen. 22:13-14; John 1:29). Also, the story of Joseph and how he provided salvation for his brothers through his own season of “suffering” (see Gen. 37—47) was a picture of Christ suffering to redeem His own people from sin (see Heb. 2:9-10).
COMMONLY TAUGHT TYPES
People Who Are Types of Christ
The first Adam is a type of Christ, the “last Adam,” as Paul mentions in Romans 5:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45.
Melchizedek was a king and priest of Jerusalem, a type of Christ, a priest after Melchizedek (see Heb. 5:5-10; 7:1-17).
Places That Are Spiritual Types
Egypt represents the world system and spiritual bondage before conversion (see Gal. 4:1-25; Rom. 6:17).
Jerusalem or Zion typifies the heavenly Mount Zion and Jerusalem (see Gal. 4:25-26; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 21:2).
Babylon, in the New Testament, represents an apostate church system (see Rev. 14:8; 17:5).
Things That Are Spiritual Types
The tabernacle’s three chambers are a type of the tri-part of human beings: body, soul, and spirit (see 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Thess. 5:23).
Water from the rock and manna in the wilderness are types of Christ, the bread and water of life (see John 6:32-35; 1 Cor. 10:4).
The brass serpent on the pole was a type of Christ’s death on the cross, bearing our sins (see Num. 21:8; John 3:14).
Throughout the notes in this Bible, I will point out various types and shadows in the ceremonial, sacrificial, and ministry services at the tabernacle and temple.
OCTOBER 21, 2021 Exodus 25:23-24, 30 “You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold all around. … And you shall set the showbread on the table […]
All men over twenty years of age were to be counted and a “sum” or grand total tabulated (see Exod. 30:13-14). This chapter lists the tribal leaders and the numbers counted. The census was necessary, with the loss of 24,000 men in the recent plague involving the women of Moab (see Num. 25:9), with the men dying in the wilderness, and others being born during the many years of wandering in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb from the original Exodus generation were guaranteed an inheritance in the Promised Land.
Notice the total number counted in this census was 601,730 (v. 51). The Hebrews originally departed with 600,000 armed men (see Exod. 12:37), and after nearly forty years of wandering, their number had only increased by 1,730. This is because all men over twenty who departed from Egypt had to die before the new generation could cross the Jordan River and possess the land.
The book of Numbers tallies the number of people counted as follows:
The Hebrew name for the Day of Atonement is Yom Kippur. It falls each year on the tenth day of the seventh Hebrew month called Tishrei (usually September or October), and is the climax of the Jewish high holy days. According to Jewish tradition, Adam sinned on this day; therefore, atonement had to be set on this day. The day was, and is, intro- duced by the blowing of the silver trumpets.
In the days of the tabernacle (and later in the temple), the high priest removed his royal garments of beauty and wore four garments, all made of linen: pants, a tunic, a belt, and a bonnet (mitre) for his head (v. 4). All gold was removed, as gold was used by Aaron, the first high priest, to construct the golden calf. Thus, when the priest entered the Holy of Holies, he took off all gold lest he be tempted with idolatry. The high priest offered a bull and a ram for himself (v. 3, 6). He selected two identical goats and “cast lots” to determine which sacrifice was the goat “for the Lord” and which was the “scapegoat” (v. 7-10). The Temple Institute in Jerusalem shows a small wooden box with two wooden “lots” covered with a brass plate marked in Hebrew “for the Lord” and the other “for the scapegoat” (the Hebrew word Aza’zel). This box and method of inquiry was called a “lottery” for the “casting of lots.” The original may have been two pebbles or stones with markings on them, because the Hebrew for the word lots is gowral, and its root word means “a pebble” or “a stone.” After prayer, the high priest would reach his hand into the box to select which goat was “for the Lord” and marked to die on the altar, or “for the scapegoat” that would escape death on the altar and later die in the wilderness.
According to the Talmud, a red thread was tied around the neck of the goat for the Lord and a red thread was tied around the right horn of the scapegoat. The high priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat and transferred the sins of Israel onto the goat (v. 21). This goat was later released in the wilderness.
Later, at the temple in Jerusalem, once the scapegoat had the sins transmitted to it, a priest tied a rope around the goat’s neck and led it into the Judean wilderness, where it was pushed off a cliff. This action ensured that the goat bearing the sin would not return to the Israelite camp or to the city, symbolically bringing the forgiven sins back to the people. Tradition says that in Jerusalem, a third red thread was tacked to the temple doors, and once the scapegoat died in the desert, the red thread supernaturally turned white, indicating that the sins of the people had been forgiven. Rabbis believe this is what Isaiah alluded to when he wrote, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).
During Old Testament days, on Yom Kippur the high priest would pass the golden altar, bringing the holy incense near the mercy seat (the golden cover on the Ark of the Covenant), allowing the cloud of smoke to cover the mercy seat (v. 12-13). The blood of a bullock was sprinkled seven times on the east end of the mercy seat. The priest then slew the goat and sprinkled the goat’s blood seven times with his finger, followed by the sprinkling of blood on the brass altar seven times (v. 18-19). In New Testament times, during the days of the temple, when the people gathered for the ceremony, they fasted the entire day and stood on their feet.
This ceremony took place once a year. Yet, when Christ ascended after His resurrection, sins were atoned for once and for all. In the New Testament, we read:
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Heb. 9:11-12)
“It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb. 9:23-24)
Christ entered the heavenly temple and made a final atonement for all who would receive Him as Savior. Every sinner who approaches Christ experiences an individual “Day of Atonement” when he or she draws near to the throne of grace in heaven and seeks forgiveness of personal sins. Christ’s blood fully atones. His atonement is enacted when a person asks for forgiveness, believes that Christ is the Son of God who has finished His redemptive work, and confesses faith and confidence in Christ’s ability to cleanse and forgive. Romans 10:10 tells us: “. . . if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
At age thirty, after forty days of fasting, Christ returned to Galilee and preached His first message at a small synagogue in Nazareth, His hometown. Christ selected and read a passage from the prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)
The passage in Isaiah reads:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” (Isa. 61:1-2)
Note that in Luke, Christ purposely closed the scroll and read only the first part of Isaiah 61:2: “. . . to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” He did not read the second half: “. . . and the day of vengeance of our God.” The day of vengeance is the time of the future Great Tribulation (see Matt. 24:21), in which the vengeance, or wrath of God, will be poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth (see Isa. 13:9, 13). Christ appeared to mankind as the Lamb to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and not as the Lion of Judah to introduce divine judgment upon sinners.
This term “acceptable year of the Lord” is identified as the year of release, or the time of Jubilee. Christ was healing the brokenhearted, opening the eyes of the blind, and loosing the spiritual captives from their prisons. By saying that He was fulfilling this prophecy, Christ was announcing that He is the Jubilee!
Again, this season of release occurred every fiftieth year and was a shadow of things to come. Christ came to deliver humanity, and He brings a release from sin, death, and disease. The Jubilee is no longer a fifty-year cycle, but a Person, Jesus Christ the Redeemer!
OCTOBER 20, 2021 Exodus 25:18-19 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the […]
The fiery serpents were poisonous vipers that lived in the deserts and wilderness. Some read this and are puzzled as to why God instructed Moses to put a serpent on the pole. After all, the serpent is a universal symbol for evil and Satan (see Gen. 3:1; Isa. 27:1; Rev. 20:2); serpents had also brought death to many people they had bitten. It is important to note that Christ used this story of the brass serpent to reveal His own suffering on the cross (see John 3:14-15). Christ was perfect and sinless in His birth, life, and ministry. However, just as the scapegoat had to bear the sins of Israel on the Day of Atonement, the sins of all humanity were placed upon Christ; thus, the image of the serpent represents the ultimate sin offering being raised up. The fiery serpents brought death, just as unrepentant sin in the human soul brings death. Only the cross can reverse the bite of the serpent and restore life to all who look to the Christ of the cross. (For more about the connection between the cross and the pole, turn to the article “The Brass Serpent on the Pole” in Numbers in Depth.)
Four types of trumpets have emerged in Israel’s history. The common word for trumpets in the Old Testament is shophar, which was normally a ram’s horn, as indicated in Joshua 6. At times a larger horn from an antelope was used, but the horns had to be from a kosher animal.
In these verses, Moses crafted two silver trumpets for calling the congregation and directing the movement of the camp. Silver trumpets were later used during the “divine service,” including the Sabbaths, new moon, jubilee cycles, and certain main festivals—Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
At the tabernacle, if one trumpet was blown, only the heads of the tribes were to gather at the door of the Tabernacle of Meeting. If both trumpets were blown, the entire congregation was to gather. Distinct trumpet sounds indicated whether the congregation should assemble, march out of the camp, or head to war. According to Jewish tradition, a long blast indicated the people were to assemble; short staccato blasts were used in battle and sounded an order to begin movement.
Silver is a metal that represents redemption. Two trumpets are significant when we consider that as the future “ingathering of the saints” occurs, there will be both “the voice of the archangel” and the “trump of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). When the dead in Christ are raised and the living saints are changed from mortality to immortality, we will be changed at the sound of the “last trump” (see 1 Cor. 15:52). Various opinions exist about the meaning of the phrase last trump. However, if there is a last trump, there must be the sounding of a first trumpet. Some suggest the first trump sound will raise the dead in Christ and the second sound will impact the living, initiating the changes predicted by the apostle Paul.
The two silver trumpets are a perfect image of the gathering together of the dead in Christ and the living at the return of Christ. The two silver trumpets were for the “calling of the assembly” and the “journeying of the camps.” The first blast called the people to gather together, and the second blast indicated movement as a group to their new destination. Could this imagery be compared to the sounding of the trumpet of God? The first raises the dead, and with the second blast we meet with them in the air.
These silver trumpets helped to bring the people together, just as the coming of Christ is called the “gathering together” (see 2 Thess. 2:1; Eph. 1:10).
Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (v. 17). A census was conducted of all males one month old and upward. The sons of Gershon totaled 7,500 males (v. 22). Kohath’s male family members totaled 8,600 (v. 28), and the sons of Merari totaled 6,200 (v. 34). God gave each of these descendants’ families a specific charge or duty in the care of the tabernacle, His dwelling.
• The Gershonites cared for the tent, the curtains, door hangings, and all the cords (vv. 25-26).
• The Kohathites were responsible for all the sacred furniture, and the internal hangings (v. 31).
• The Merarites cared for the boards, pillars, sockets, pins, and cords (v. 36-37).
