Skip's Lighthouse: DOES THE ORDER ALWAYS MATTER?

Monday, January 6, 2014

DOES THE ORDER ALWAYS MATTER?

When God instructed Moses on the construction of the High Priest's ephod, He stated that there were to be two stones, made of onyx, each engraved with the names of Jacob's sons, in order of their birth; his first six sons were to be on one of the two stones, and his last six were to be engraved on the second (Ex. 28:6-14).

In addition, he was to make the High Priest's breastplate with each of the twelve tribes being represented by a precious stone, and they were to be placed in four rows of three each (Ex. 28:15-29). The first two rows of three represented the tribes named after Jacob's first six sons, and the last two rows of three represented the tribes of Jacob's last six sons. Their order was important to God.

But their order was apparently not as important to Jacob. In Genesis 49:3-27, when Jacob prophesied over his sons, and blessed them just prior to his death, for some reason unknown to me, he did so without concern for their birth order. He blessed his first four sons in order, and his eleventh and twelfth sons were listed last, but other six were blessed in the following order: seventh (49:16-18); tenth (49:21); eighth (49:19); ninth (49:20); sixth (49:14-15); and fifth (49:13).

And, while I am "displaying my ignorance," let me also say that I am not sure if there is a significant connection between the twelve precious stones which represented the twelve Tribes of Israel on the High Priest's garments, and the nine precious stones which "the King of Tyre" (Lucifer) wore before his fall, but I find it interesting that the nine appear in both lists. It is also interesting that the order varies. Here is a chart showing the two lists:

SONS

MOTHER

REFERENCE

STONE

REFERENCES

SATAN'S

EZ. REF.

1. REUBEN

LEAH

GEN. 29:32

SARDIUS

EX. 28:17; 39:10