Exodus 28:12
And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.
The names of the tribes of Israel were engraved on two stones that were carried on the High Priest's shoulders.
I imagine these stones as being relatively large. I do not know what they would have weighed, but it must have been enough to remember they were there.
I imagine the names to be facing upward toward the heavens because they were to be born "before the Lord."
They are only the names of the twelve tribes and not the names of each and every person. The tribes represented as a whole each person as an individual.
As a type of the work of the ministry,
I see the stones as bearing the burdens of each other in the church. We are not as the Israelites were. We are all priests before the Lord and we each have a responsibility to minister to the other for the sake of Christ.
I see those names being lifted before the Lord as representing our responsibility to pray one for another.
I see the fact that Aaron had the names of the twelve as representing the concept of delegation. In the church, if the pastor will lift up the names of the assistant pastors and deacons, and if the deacons will be assigned the names of several families in the church, then every family can be lifted up before the Lord.
I see the fact that the stones were fastened to his clothing representing the idea of keeping those names with us wherever we go. We can lift up those we love and are responsible for when we are at work, when we are at home when we go about our personal business.
I am going to take it literally and begin to carry the names of our families with me daily.
And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.
The names of the tribes of Israel were engraved on two stones that were carried on the High Priest's shoulders.
I imagine these stones as being relatively large. I do not know what they would have weighed, but it must have been enough to remember they were there.
I imagine the names to be facing upward toward the heavens because they were to be born "before the Lord."
They are only the names of the twelve tribes and not the names of each and every person. The tribes represented as a whole each person as an individual.
As a type of the work of the ministry,
I see the stones as bearing the burdens of each other in the church. We are not as the Israelites were. We are all priests before the Lord and we each have a responsibility to minister to the other for the sake of Christ.
I see those names being lifted before the Lord as representing our responsibility to pray one for another.
I see the fact that Aaron had the names of the twelve as representing the concept of delegation. In the church, if the pastor will lift up the names of the assistant pastors and deacons, and if the deacons will be assigned the names of several families in the church, then every family can be lifted up before the Lord.
I see the fact that the stones were fastened to his clothing representing the idea of keeping those names with us wherever we go. We can lift up those we love and are responsible for when we are at work, when we are at home when we go about our personal business.
I am going to take it literally and begin to carry the names of our families with me daily.
This devotion begs expansion into the pews. While being lifted up, each of us should also be lifting up our Pastors and Deacons on a daily basis.
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