The Shadow of God - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

2.2. The High Priestly Garments and Divine Glory
The chromatic homology between the Tabernacle drappings and the high priestly garments has been
noted. In a number of ancient texts veil and garment are equated. 118 As the Syriac saint Ephrem (d. 373)
wrote: “The Firstborn wrapped Himself in a body, as a veil (to hide) His glory; the immortal bride (the
soul) shines out in that robe.” 119 “Garment” is a common metaphor for body in Jewish, Samaratain,
Christian, and Gnostic literature and the “body as garment of the soul” motif was widespread in late
antiquity. 120 There is no explicit indication in the Pentateuch that P intended this metaphor. There are
suggestive hints, however.
Firstly, as we have noted, these garments are the Israelite version of the ANE „garment of the gods.‟ 121
The high priestly dark blue robe (me’îl) and ephod with gold appliqué work bring to mind the sapphirc skygarment
of the pagan gods. 122 In the ANE and cognate Indian tradition this garment had somatic
significance: it represented the body or skin of the deity, the stars covering the garment signifying rays of
celestial light emanating from the hair-pores of the divine skin. This light seems to have produced a
„surrounding splendor‟ described as a „cloud.‟ Thus, the Akkadian nalbaš šamê („sky garment‟)
“denotes…the star-spangled sky…and the cloud-covered sky.” 123 „Sky garment‟ and „cloud‟ are therefore
metaphors for the divine body surrounded by splendor.
The high-priestly garments were given by God to be for “glory (דובכ) and beauty (תראפת) (Ex. 28:2,
40).” In P these terms have special significance denoting the fiery, anthropomorphic form of Yahweh
hidden behind a black cloud (ןנעו ךשׁח). 124 Elsewhere in the HB דובכ kābôd and its synonyms (דוה, רדה,
תואג etc.) are described as garments of the divine (Ps. 93:1; 104:1f). In the Akkadian pulÉu melammu “awe-
Prot. Jas. v. New Testament Apocrypha, Volume I: Gospels and Related Writings, edd. Wilhelm Schneemelcher and R. Mcl. Wilson
(Cambridge and Louisville, KY: James Clarke & Co. Ltd and Westminster/John Know Press, 1991) 421-439; Harm Reinder Smid,
Protevangelium Jacobi: A Commentary (Assen, 1965), esp. 75-83. For this reading of the Prot. Jas. v. Nicholas Constas‟ discussion,
“The Purple Thread and the Veil of the Flesh: Symbols of Weaving in the Sermons of Proclus,” in idem, Proclus of Constantinople
and the Cult of the Virgin in Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2003) 325-27; Margaret Barker, “The Veil as the Boundary,” in idem,
the Great High Priest: The Temple Roots of Christian Liturgy (London: T&T Clark, 2003) 211. On the temple veil and
incarnation in Christian theology and iconography v. Hélène Papastavrou, “Le voile, symbol de l‟Incarnation: Contribution à une
etude sémantique,” Cahiers Archeologiques 41 (1993): 141-168.
118 In the Testament of Levi 10, 3, for instance, the temple is personified as an angel and the veil is its ενδυμα. See Marinus DeJonge,
The Testament of the XII Patriarchs, 124; idem, “Two Interesting Interpretations”; Bonner, “Two Problems.” For other examples of
this veil=garment motif in ancient literature v. Blake Ostler, “Clothed Upon: A Unique Aspect of Christian Antiquity,” BYU Studies
22 (1982): 35-6. On the homology between the ephod and Tabernacle veil see Menahem Haran, “The Priestly Image of the
Tabernacle,” HUCA 36 (1965): 208ff.
119 Nisibis 43:21, trns by Brock, Luminous Eye, 95.
120 Jung Hoon Kim, The Significance of Clothing Imagery in the Pauline Corpus (London and New York: T&T Clark International,
2004); Nils Alstrup Dahl and David Hellholm, “Garment-Metaphors: the Old and the New Human Being,” Adela Yarbro Collins and
Margaret M. Mitchell (edd.), Antiquity and Humanity. Essays on Ancient Religion and Philosophy Presented to Hans Dieter Betz
on His 70 th Birthday (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001) 139-158; April D. De Conick and Jarl Fossum, “Stripped before God: A New
Interpretation of Logion 37 in the Gospel of Thomas,” VC 45 (1991): 123-150; April D. De Conick, “The Dialogue of the Savior and
the Mystical Sayings of Jesus,” VC 50 (1996): 190-2; S. David Garber, “Symbolism of Heavenly Robes in the New Testament in
Comparison with Gnostic Thought” (Ph.D diss., Princeton University, 1974); see also above.
121 See above nn. 31, 33-4.
122 In some later representations of Aaron the robe and ephod are depicted in such a way as to recall the association with sapphiric
heavens. In the mosaic from the synagogue in Sepphoris (ca. fifth century) Aaron‟s robe is depicted dark blue with golden dots and in
a wall-painting at Dura Europos (3 cent. CE.) Aaron dons a wine-colored, jewel-studded cape, which some scholars take to be a
representation of the robe or ephod (See Ze‟ev Weiss and Ehud Netzer, Promise and Redemption: A Synagogue Mosaic from
Sepphoris [Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1996], 20ff; Swartz, “The Semiotics of the Priestly Vestments,” 63 n. 16; C.H. Kraeling,
The Excavations at Dura Europos: The Synagogue [Final Report vol. 8 Part 1] [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956; repr. New
York: Ktav, 1979] 127; Erwin R. Goodenough, “Cosmic Judaism: The Temple of Aaron,” in his Jewish Symbols, 9:16). The yellow
jewels are similar to the gold dots on the priestly robe in the Sepphoris mosaic and both suggests the stars on the divine „sky-garment.‟
See Swartz, “The Semiotics of the Priestly Vestments,” 63 n. 16; Weiss and Netzer, Promise and Redemption, 45 n. 31. The parallel
between lapis lazuli, the ANE „sky-garment,‟ and these depictions of the high-priestly vestments is unmistakable.
123 Oppenheim, “Golden Garments,” 187 n. 25. See also Parpola, Sky-Garment, 35-37.
124 On the relation between the divine and priestly דובכ and תפארתsee John A. Davies, A Royal Priesthood: Literary and
Intertextual Perspective on an Image of Israel in Exodus 19.6 (London: T&T Clark International, 2004) 158-9. On the
anthropomorphic kābôd of P and priestly tradition v. Moshe Weinfeld (Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School [Oxford: The
Clarendon Press, 1972] 191-209, esp. 200-206; idem, TDOT 7:31-33 s.v. דובכ; Tryggve N.D. Mettinger, The Dethronement of
Sabaoth: Studies in the Shem and Kavod Theologies (CWK Gleerup, 1982) Chapters Three and Four; J. E. Fossum, “Glory,” DDD
348-52; Rimmon Kasher, “Anthropomorphism, Holiness and the Cult: A New look at Ezekiel 40-48,” ZAW 110 (1998): 192-208;
Andrei A. Orlov, “Ex 33 on God‟s Face: A Lesson from the Enoch Tradition,” SBL Seminar Papers 39 (2000): 130-147.