Veils …
Hearing the word which is our topic for this blog, one cannot tell which of the two homonyms is meant - more context is needed. But our interest today lies not in the verdant scenes across the meadows, but in attempts at obscurity.
The Officiant says the words the Groom has been longing to hear, “You may lift your brides veil.” In those few seconds it takes to lift that fragile fabric, obscurity gives way to revelation and with it the smiles of wonder, acceptance, love and joy, affirmed in a kiss!
In ancient Middle Eastern practice, this part of the program seemed to have been missing. In the biblical Patriarchal accounts one wedding stands out in which Jacob had been sent to Rebekah’s family to acquire a wife. Arriving with only a staff and what he could carry, he worked 7 years to pay off the dowry price stipulated by his uncle Laban.
It is perhaps, one of the best known uses of a veil to obscure, the deception which Laban exercised on his soon-to-be son-in-law, Jacob. Jacob’s longing for Rachel was about to reach its culmination, or so he thought.
Finally, the day of the wedding arrives with all of its anticipation, hope and excitement. Whatever, if any, ceremony, soon moved into the celebration and carousing with food, drink, dancing and segregation of men and women. While darkness shrouded the festivities, the groom and bride retired to their private quarters with little awareness of who they were or what they were doing - drink had drowned discernment!
As the morning light crept across the landscape brushing aside the cobwebs and hangover of the previous night’s excitement, observation revealed what had been obscured behind the wedding veil – the deceiver had been deceived as obscurity became devious!
Rushing to confront his new father-in-law, Jacob is met with a calm assertion, “It is our practice to have the older sister marry before the younger.” Jacob’s bluster was deflated by an offer, that if he would honour the marriage week for Leah, he could then marry Rachel with one proviso - another seven years of working to pay off a second dowry!
Veils do not only find functionality at weddings, but also, within the life of Moses as Israel’s intermediary before God. Spending time in the glory of Yahweh, Moses does not realize that his countenance has absorbed the light of the glory of God to such an extent that his own face glowed so brightly that people could not look at him.
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. … When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.” Exodus 34:29-35
Is this another hint of the “light beings” we were created, in the image and likeness of God, prior to the Fall, when nakedness became observable?
Beyond the ceremonial obscurity of a wedding veil, there are veils which stand outside this formality. “Based on interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, it has been traditional in many countries for women to wear some form of Christian head covering in church. Many nuns use habits in order to cover their head as a sign of humility. Chapel veils, also called mantillas, are pieces of black or white lace that are draped over a woman’s head when attending Mass. Mantillas are associated as a pious religious practice among women in the Roman Catholic Church.”
Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent in different forms in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The practice of veiling is especially associated with women and sacred objects, though in some cultures, it is men, rather than women, who are expected to wear a veil.
The Sahara Desert and the Sahel zone are home to the Tuareg people who live nomadically on the African continent. The turban head covering of the Tuaregs, as well as the face veils worn by the men, protect them from the sun and sand. Yet they're not only worn for functional reasons: Head coverings convey respect and dignity, while donning the veil is also a male rite of passage into adulthood.
The veiling of sacred objects or spaces can often take the form of what a curtain – when closed, vision is obscured and mystery is invoked while when opened, revelation replaces ambiguity. This was the case in both of Israel’s sacred dwelling for Yahweh - the Tabernacle and the Temple.
Let’s look more closely at a veil within the Tabernacle/Temple context of Israelite religious practice. In both shrines of presence, God’s presence was to be obscured from all but the high priest, and that only once per year, on the Day of Atonement.
What was the purpose of the Temple veils? Yes, there was more than one. Josephus – (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 15, chapter 11.3.) - one which separated the Holy of Holies (heaven) from the Holy Place (earth) - the other was outside the entrance doors to prevent visual entry into the Holy Place from the sea.
( Psalm 78:69; Josephus Ant. 3:181, cf. 3:123: “signifies the earth and the sea, since these two are accessible to all; but the third portion he reserved for God alone because heaven is inaccessible to men”)
The whole Tabernacle/Temple structure was designed to separate God’s people from His holy presence (glory). It was between these curtains that the priest did Temple duty tending to the Menorah, the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense. This priestly tending was ensconced by a plethora of “commands” regarding conduct in proximity to the Holy Space. The veils/curtains ensured this separation for centuries.
In AD 30, this structure and its practices were dramatically changed.
“When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. At that moment the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom …” Matthew 27:51.
The confusion as to which veil was intended in Matthew’s account is complicated by translations of Hebrews 10:19 where we have a variety of possibilities: Most Holy Place, holy places, The Holiest, the sanctuary, the holy place. Confused?
But the mystery deepens when we read in the following verse, “… by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, …” while other translations have “body” replaced with “flesh”.
The death of Jesus was the initial step in removing the hindrances to re-entering the very presence of God. With the crucifixion and death of Jesus, the entrance into the Holy Place was no longer only available to the Levitical priesthood and obscured from the Israelite rank and file. He was opening a means by which all people would have access to the very presence of God, once again as at the time of creation.
“And they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:8.
I think we can read between the lines and understand that this walking in the cool of the day was a frequent practice.
Is it presumptive to suggest that this opening mentioned in Hebrews 10 above was a beginning of a return to the Paradise of Eden where God and humanity communed face-to-face?
God always wanted to tabernacle with His creation - until the veils …