The
Bible Story of One Veil and One Vail
Introduction:
It is not a
coincidence that the two key words in the title of this post (veil and vail) are
pronounced the same way. According to my
Strong’s Expanded Concordance, in both the translations from the Hebrew
and the Greek, although each can be used in a different context they have the
same meaning. Each represents a form of separation; a “curtain”; or a “screen /
divider”.
The First Vail / Veil was worn by Moses (Note especially the context):
Exodus 34: 27-35: “27 And
the Lord said unto Moses, Write
thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant
with thee and with Israel. 28 And he was
there with the Lord forty
days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote
upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29 And it came to pass, when
Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses'
hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of
his face shone while he talked with him. 30 And when
Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face
shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
31 And Moses called unto them;
and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses
talked with them. 32 And
afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment
all that the Lord had
spoken with him in mount Sinai.
33 And till Moses had done
speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34 But when
Moses went in before the Lord to
speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and
spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone:
and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.”
(Bold and Underline added)
Note the repetition in the Scripture as the Holy Spirit uses it to
place emphasis. As we study the Bible,
we continue to look for significance when something very unusual happens. Moses’
needing to place a vail upon his face is one of those events. The only other
mention of Moses’ vail in the Old Testament was a statement made by the Prophet
Isaiah as he prophesied regarding the eventual removal of the vail from Israel,
related to the LORD’s Second Coming. (Isaiah 25: 7)
Many Bible teachers have said: “What is concealed in the Old
Testament is revealed in the New Testament.” One of my teachers (Les Feldick Ministries) taught
the related Scripture that says: “The
secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the
words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29: 29)
With that background, we turn to
the New Testament to see how the experience with the vail between Moses and the
people of Israel might have had additional meaning, including for Christians.
The discussion of the “veil / vail” did resume in the New
Testament in the Book of Second Corinthians. The Apostle Paul was explaining to his new
Gentile believers the more glorious life given by the Holy Spirit under the Gospel
of Grace. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4) He
said this in contrast to the “letters of condemnation” / the Ten Commandments (written on the two
tables of stone as noted above), which no man could keep. Remember that Paul had already revealed to
them the Gospel of Grace through which they had received the salvation of their
souls.
Now Paul was giving a different perspective of the reasons why
Moses had to wear the vail. I
encourage you to read the entirety of Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians Chapter
Three, but I want to highlight Verses 7-16, and ask you to note especially
Verses 13-16.
“7 But if the ministration of
death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the
ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even
that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the
glory that excelleth. 11 For if that
which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12 Seeing then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as
Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not
stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: (Bold added
for emphasis)
14 But their minds were blinded:
for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the
old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even
unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless
when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.”
Those statements by the Apostle Paul add perspective to other scripture
that explains how Israel had “become blinded”. More on that subject will be addressed in a future
post.
The Second Veil / Vail had prominence in
Israel’s Tabernacle and Temple
This “Second
Vail” is the “curtain” that most Christians and other Bible students more
easily recognize. In Israel’s Tabernacle and Temple it was the large ”divider”
that separated the “Holy Place” and the Most Holy Place / “Holy of Holies”. (Exodus
26: 30-35) For the sake of brevity, I
suggest that look to internet searches for more information on these places which
were sacred in Judaism, such as the following: https://www.gotquestions.org/Most-Holy-Place.html They describe the holy items that the LORD directed
Moses to have constructed to be placed on either side of the vail.
Even many non-Bible students are familiar
with the sacred item that the LORD instructed Israel to place behind the vail
in the Holy of Holies. That item was the
“Ark of the Covenant”, which was made even
more widely recognizable by the movies with that subject / theme. (See: Exodus 25: 8-22; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant )
The three contents of the most sacred Ark
were symbols of Israel’s rebellious nature against God after the LORD had liberated
them from more than 400 years of slavery in Egypt. The top of the Ark was appropriately
named the “Mercy Seat”. In the Scripture the LORD says: “22 And there
I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus
25: 22) Emphasis added.
Once a year, Israel’s High Priest would go
behind the vail and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial animal on the
Mercy Seat, seeking to atone for the Nation’s sins that year. I strongly recommend that every Christian read
the Scripture of the Book of Hebrews, Chapter Nine. It explains how through
His shed blood and death, our Lord Jesus eliminated the need for those annual animal
sacrifices.
The other major point related to this
“second vail” is that at the end of His Crucifixion, the Lord Jesus
accomplished another critical step in God’s Plan for man’s salvation. Remember
that when Israel was conceived as a Nation, they were to be a “kingdom of
priests” who would serve God to serve as a “light” to evangelize the Gentile
world. (Exodus 19: 1-8; Isaiah 42: 6, 49: 6; Acts 13: 47) However, because of Israel’s
rejection of Jesus as their Messiah and King, that prospect must await the
Lord’s Second Coming.
In the meantime, God’s Plan was and is to offer salvation directly to the Gentiles.
To accomplish that, the Scripture says that as Jesus was dying on the Cross,
the vail of the Temple was rent / torn from top to bottom. (Matthew
27: 50-51; Mark 15: 37-38; Luke 23: 44-45) Emphasis added. With the removal of the
vail as a barrier, man now had direct access to God in the Holy of
Holies.
Further, the Scripture reports that the removal of the Temple vail
resulted in the removal of the barrier between Jews and Gentiles that had
separated them . (1 Corinthians 12: 12-14; Ephesians 2: 8-22; Hebrews 6: 17-20,
10: 1-22) Through His “flesh”, Jesus now represents the new “vail”. (Hebrews
10: 20)
Just before His death on the Cross, before He “gave up the ghost”
He said: “It is Finished” (John 19: 30) He was reminding us that there was no longer a
need for a vail. When the Lord Jesus comes the next time, the people will not see
Moses or another “messenger” bringing His standards for human behavior. The Law
will be written in their hearts. (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson
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