Soon after the descendants of Israel agreed to become God’s chosen people (Exodus 19:8), God delivered directions to them for the creation of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was to serve as “a sanctuary, that [God] may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:1). The Tabernacle served an important role in the lives of the Israelites. Like many people, items or concepts in the Bible, God had an additional purpose for the Tabernacle that reached beyond the people of Israel. Many of the Tabernacle’s aspects were pictures, or types of greater concepts regarding God’s plan for mankind, and for the future Church class in particular. Furnishings such as the laver, the priests, and even seemingly mundane acts like washing can provide rich lessons to God’s followers today, thousands of years after the Tabernacle arrangement was first laid out to Israel.
Preparing to Enter the Holy – Types and Antitypes.
The Tabernacle’s laver is first described in Exodus 30:17-21. It was a copper basin that stood in the Tabernacle’s court and was filled with water. Verses 19-20 indicate that the priests, originally Aaron and his sons, were to wash their hands and feet in the laver’s water before entering the tent of the Tabernacle, which contained the Holy and Most Holy areas. The importance of this washing is emphasized in verses 20-21, as the act was necessary to prevent the priests from dying when they entered the Tabernacle’s tent areas to perform their duties. Verse 21 further specifies that the washing was to be a statute to the priests, as well as to their descendants. This wasn’t a detail that could be taken lightly. The term statute is Strong’s Hebrew word 2706, and means a law, decree or commandment. The statute was of critical importance to the priests, as it was literally a life-or-death decision on whether to follow it.
The fact that a commonplace act such as washing one’s hands and feet carried such serious consequences is curious enough to draw attention. Additionally, the need for the priests to wash their hands and feet to prevent death is specified twice; first in verse 20 and again in verse 21. The repetition adds to the impression that this requirement is to be specially noted. Many times, this type of emphasis means that God intends the concept to serve as a picture of an important lesson. In a broader sense, the Apostle Paul identifies the Tabernacle and its priests as a source of lessons and pictures (Hebrews 8:1-5, 9:1-24). Objects, people and events in the Bible that represent some future, usually grander or broader concept, are often referred to as “types.” The concept, person or evens pictured or foreshadowed by a type is sometimes referred to as an “antitype.” Specifically, the act of washing can be considered a type of a greater lesson.
The priesthood is a type of Christ’s church, head and body (Tabernacle Shadows p 26). The High Priest, of whom Aaron was the first, represents the head of the Church, Jesus. The other priests, who began as Aaron’s sons, represent, in some pictures, the members of the Church. Christ’s church consists of those, throughout the centuries since Jesus’ sacrifice of his perfect human life, have consecrated their lives to glorifying God. At the conclusion of their lives, each member is judged by God and if, found worthy of having kept their vows, will be rewarded with a divine existence alongside the glorified Jesus (1 John 3:2). This group is referred to by many names in the Bible, such as “the little flock,” “saints,” and “the body of Christ’s church” (Luke 12:32, Romans 1:7 RVIC, Psalm 50:5, Colossians 1:18).
Water, such as the water in the laver, often represents truth. Although the priests were to serve in the Tabernacle’s Holy and, in the case of the High Priest, the Most Holy, they did not live there. They spent parts of their lives in the world outside the Tabernacle’s tent, in contact with the world and with members of the greater Israel. Washing hands and feet in the laver’s water was a means of cleaning off the dust and dirt that came from interacting with the outside world. Washing was a prerequisite – a statute- for entering the tent to serve God. Washing pictures the need for those seeking membership in Christ’s church to constantly refresh and cleanse themselves with God’s word before being fit to serve God. God’s word is revealed to mankind through the Bible. Study of the Bible, therefore, plays a critical role in the lives of all those who have consecrated their lives to God. Since the Tabernacle’s priesthood was a combination of the High Priest and the under-priests, representing Jesus (the High Priest) and the consecrated members of the Church class (the under-priests), and washing was a requirement for all of the priesthood, the picture of washing has applicability to the Church.
Jesus, A Perfect Example
In the book of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul makes repeated references to Jesus as a High Priest, teaching a type and antitype relationship between Jesus and the Tabernacle’s High Priest. In Hebrews 2:17, in which he describes Jesus as “a merciful and faithful High Priest,” Paul explains that Jesus made “reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Reconciliation means the reestablishment of a relationship after that relationship has become strained or even broken. God cannot tolerate sin. Sin causes a breakage in the relationship between God and people. When Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, willfully disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6), their sinful action broke the relationship between them and God. The penalty for their disobedience was death, and that penalty was passed down through every subsequent generation. When the descendants of Israel agreed to become God’s chosen people, this did not change God’s inability to tolerate sin. Yet, because they were members of the fallen race of mankind, Israel, as a people, continued to sin. A means of reconciliation between God and Israel was thus necessary. In a broader way, reconciliation between God and all of the fallen mankind is also necessary.
In the type of the Tabernacle, the High Priest offered sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, which would restore Israel’s relationship with God (Leviticus 16:3-34, Tabernacle Shadows chapter IV). On this day, the High Priest, dressed in white linen, offered a bullock in sacrifice to God. This is a multi-layered picture. Because a perfect life (Adam’s) was lost due to sin, God’s justice required a perfect life in return. To pay this price of justice, sometimes referred to as “the ransom price” (1 Timothy 2:6), God’s only begotten son took on a human life, and as Jesus, perfectly obeyed all of God’s commandments, and willingly sacrificed that perfect life (Philippians 2:8). From this aspect, the sacrifice of the bullock represents Jesus’ sacrifice of his perfect human life (Tabernacle Shadows, page 51). The High Priest, who performed the sacrifice, represented Jesus, still in his human form, but being begotten of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17). Jesus, being the antitype of the Tabernacle’s High Priest, provided the means for reconciliation between God and mankind.
Being perfectly in harmony with his Father, Jesus had no need for the washing away of any defilements from his interactions with the world. Nevertheless, the Bible repeatedly demonstrates Jesus’ mastery of the Scriptures; not just their words but their deep meanings. The Bible does not explicitly record how Jesus came to understand the Scriptures. The earliest account given of Jesus and the Scriptures is in Luke 2:42-50. At twelve years old, Jesus and his family visited Jerusalem to observe the Passover. After they started for home, they realized that Jesus had become separated from his family. Eventually, they found him in the Temple, discussing scripture with teachers, who were “amazed at his understanding.” The account doesn’t specify to what extent Jesus knew the scriptures, or by what means he acquired his unusual knowledge of them. Further accounts of his life testify to both his ability to cite scripture and his deep and accurate understanding of their meaning. Soon after his baptism, Jesus withdrew to the wilderness to meditate and pray. While he was there, Satan offered various temptations to him. Jesus resisted each temptation, answering them with scriptures whose impact defused each of Satan’s arguments (Matthew 4:1-11). On various further occasions, various members of the Jewish religious leadership questioned Jesus, intending to lead him down traps of logic or doctrine that would, in their minds, discredit him to the Jewish people. However, each attempt failed, as Jesus demonstrated his masterful knowledge of the Scriptures, defusing the traps intended for him, often turning them back around onto the leadership (Matthew 19:3-6 and Matthew 22:35-40, as examples).
In Hebrews 7:26, Paul describes Jesus as a High Priest; however, unlike Aaron and his sons, who were as imperfect as the rest of mankind, Jesus is described as “holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners.” These adjectives, particularly “undefiled,” seem to have a direct relationship to the picture of the priests need to wash in the laver. The priests needed to clean away the defilements that had accumulated on their hands and feet while outside of the Holy areas of the Tabernacle. Antitypically, this washing represents the need for God’s people to clean away the defilements in their hearts and minds, resulting from their contact with the fallen world of mankind, with the cleansing spiritual “water” of God’s word. Jesus, being undefiled, had no such need for such cleansing. He was, at all times, perfectly attuned to God’s will. Jesus himself expressed this with statements such as “my Father and I are one” (John 10:30) and “he that has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). By these types of statement, Jesus didn’t mean that he and God were somehow parts of the same Being. Instead, he was expressing the totality of his harmonious relationship with his Heavenly Father.
In the type of washing, however, Aaron, and the High Priests who succeeded him, did wash in the laver prior to their services. This action wasn’t meant as a reflection on the eventual antitypical High Priest, Jesus. This particular washing was more of a personal symbol about Aaron and the other men who served as High Priests. Although their office represented the eventual antitype of Jesus, the priests themselves were men, and thus sinners and part of the fallen human race, just as every other person who ever lived (save Jesus himself). The High Priests thus needed to wash in the laver to clean away their accumulated defilements before serving in the Holy areas of the Tabernacle, just as the under-priests did, and in so doing, be able to represent the undefiled antitypical High Priest, Jesus (Tabernacle Shadows page 29).
Unlike Jesus, each one striving to become members of Christ’s church must contend with imperfect minds, bodies and hearts. Even the most noble or educated Christian has, at best, an imperfect understanding of the Scriptures. Along with developing a character that, through Jesus’ advocacy (1 John 2:1) may be acceptable to God, each one needs to devote their lives to studying the Bible. God’s standard is such that the lessons become “sealed in His followers’ foreheads” (Revelation 7:3). Although this is a large task, the Bible assures us that God will ensures sufficient time to complete it, assuming one maintains one’s dedication to the goal.
The Importance of Bible Study to God’s Consecrated
Just as the Tabernacle’s priests were required to wash their hands and feet in the laver prior to beginning their services, those who have made consecrations to God have a similar need. The water in the laver represents God’s word. The corresponding antitypical picture of washing is that the prospective members of the Church need to consistently study the Bible to scrub away the corruptions accumulated through contact with the world. The importance of renewing one’s concentration on God’s word was a frequent topic of the Apostle Paul. Paul potentially had reason for his concerns for church members of both Jewish and Gentile background. Brethren from Jewish backgrounds were subject to the risk of allowing their consecrations to devolve back into the practices of the system from which they had emerged. Paul’s lessons on circumcision (Galatians 5:1-13) are examples of this. When Paul concluded that Peter was seen as preferring the company of brethren with Jewish backgrounds from brethren of Gentile backgrounds, Paul confronted Peter, admonishing him to correct his behavior (Galatians 2:11-21). Both situations, if left unchecked, had the potential to allow the newly formed churches to devolve and be absorbed back into the Jewish religious system instead of focusing on the newly opened narrow way of consecrated service to God. Today, this type of danger still exists for God’s consecrated. Many consecrated ones have answered God’s call to “come out of her, my people” (Revelation 18:4) and left systems that were teaching errors to instead focus on the truth of God’s word. The danger of carrying forward old erroneous beliefs into their new fellowships is just as present as it was in Paul’s day.
Similarly, the influx of Gentile converts to the churches, although wonderful in its way, also brought its own dangers. As the call expanded outward, pagan influences and practices often came along with the people. Errors of belief began to creep into the early churches and take hold in people’s minds. In 2 Timothy 2:15-21, Paul cautions his brethren to “shun profane and vain babblings.” He cites a specific instance where outspoken individuals were promoting a great error, saying that the resurrection had already passed. He compares this erroneous message as “a canker” which would “overthrow the faith of some.” Today, many hundreds of years after Paul’s time, this danger still exists. With the rise of social media, ideas, positive and negative, reach an incredibly wide audience almost instantaneously. False “facts” can undermine a recipient’s confidence in what they consider to be truth. Negative ideas and beliefs can be pushed forward by a small segment, even a single misguided individual, and made to seem more widely researched and accepted than is true.
Paul often encourages his brethren to remain rooted in the Scriptures; to study them frequently and consistently, as a way to clean away the corrupting influences of the world. His words are as applicable today as they were during the time he wrote them. In 2 Timothy 2:15, he teaches that study leads to a character that will be approved by God, a key priority for any consecrated individual. He also teaches that study enables one to “rightly divide the word of truth.” Again, this fits with the type of washing in the waters of the laver before entering into the Holy for service, as God’s consecrated need to cleanse their minds of worldly influences before being prepared for consecrated activities. Romans 12:1-3 repeat the urging to remain separate from the world. Here, Paul refers to the transformative process of renewing one’s mind, similar to the picture of the refreshing and cleansing of the laver’s water. Verse three repeats the urging to prove God’s will, which cannot be accomplished without study. Later, in Romans 15:4, Paul assures us that the Scriptures were written for our leaning, but that their study requires patience.
Remaining rooted in the truth of God’s words isn’t always an easy course in life. It requires time and effort. There is a saying that “there are only so many hours in the day,” referring to the common experience of having more activities that either need to be done or that one would like to do than can feasibly be accomplished in a given day. Study takes time. With God’s understanding and Holy Spirit, understandings will come, but our imperfect minds may lose what we learn over time. Paul advises his brethren to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:15-17). “Redeeming the time” means scrutinizing how time is being spent, and making concerted choices to devote time to activities in God’s service such as study. Choosing study facilitates the spiritual “washing away” of the world’s influences while choosing worldly leisure or pursuits adds to the accumulation that, without “washing,” can prevent one from greater service. In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul contrasts “sowing to the flesh” with “sowing to the spirit.” He concludes that the former will lead to corruption (perhaps of the heart and mind), while the latter will contribute to an outcome of life everlasting. Brother Russell reflects on these scriptures, and adds some further examples of each case for consideration:
WE sow to the flesh every time we allow the fleshly, selfish, unjust, unrighteous desires of the flesh to have sway in our hearts and lives, and each sowing makes easier the additional sowing and makes more sure the end of that way which is death–Second Death. On the contrary, each sowing to the Spirit, each resistance to the desires of the flesh toward selfishness, etc., and each exercise of the new mind, of the new will, in spiritual directions toward the things that are pure, the things that are noble, the things that are good, the things that are true, is a sowing to the Spirit, which will bring forth additional fruits of the Spirit, graces of the Spirit, and which, if persevered in, will ultimately bring us in accord with the Lord’s gracious promises and arrangements–everlasting life and the Kingdom. (Z.’04-57 R3323:5; also found as the Daily Manna text for October 8)
A Possible Nuanced Lesson
Jesus used the parable of the wise man and foolish man to illustrate an important concept about developing one’s faith (Matthew 7:24-27). The wise man built his house on a foundation of rock. The house was able to withstand trials such as rain and winds because its underpinnings were built on a solid structure that was able to provide stability in the face of adverse conditions. The foolish man built his house on sand. This house might stand well enough during fair weather, but would soon crumble as storms eroded its shifting, unstable base. Jesus’ point was that faith, like the house, can only be as strong as the foundation upon which it’s built. Sand is nothing more than a collection of fragmented, pulverized rocks. Faith built on a mixture of pieces of human traditions, pagan religions and practices and erroneous “Christian” teachings will not be able to support a consecrated life. Only the single, sure, coherent rock of the truth of God’s word can do so. Even with this foundation in place, building a house requires a great deal of time and effort; just as required for building a structure of faith.
In the Tabernacle arrangement, the priests were required to wash in the laver before entering the Holy to perform their duties. Once in the Holy, they depended on the light from the candlestick to allow them to see. In general, the Holy’s candlestick represents the completed Church, head and body. The oil used in the lamp represented the Holy Spirit. (Tabernacle Shadows p 115-116). However, sometimes Tabernacle items or concepts can have additional meanings or interpretations, depending on perspective. A suggested additional interpretation is that the Holy’s candlestick, or perhaps the light that emanated from it, could also represent God’s word. The water in the laver also represented God’s word. However, the laver’s water was used by everyone in the Tabernacle’s court, including both the priests and the Levites. This would seem to represent aspects of God’s word that are more generally understood and accepted by not only God’s consecrated, but by a wider audience of the “household of faith” (Tabernacle Shadows p 26). Since the Holy was only accessible by the priests, who picture the Church, only they would experience the candlestick’s light. In this picture, the candlestick it, or perhaps its light, would represent truths of God’s word that are not meant for the wider household of faith, but are meant for consecrated minds and hearts alone. Even so, the under-priests were still required to wash in the laver’s waters regularly, and in this, perhaps, there is a lesson, intended for the consecrated, of the need to keep in continual touch with the foundational teachings of God’s word before attempting to go forward to greater depths of service.
Jesus once pointed out the lilies of the field to his disciples and told them to consider how the lilies grew (Matthew 6:28). Commenting on this scripture, Brother Russell pointed out how, by doing so, Jesus was calling their (and our) attention to “simple things” (R3313, as well as the Daily Manna for October 12). He cautions that the “heart that fails to consider the little things fails to be able to appreciate the larger things, and thus is hindered from a proper consideration of God and from a proper appreciation of His plan.” This same thought applies to the basic truths that form the foundation of our faith. Consecrated minds and hearts should expect to grow in the knowledge of God’s word, perform continuous acts in His service, and find an increasing number of ways to glorify Him. However, there is always value in returning to the foundations of our faith, especially when the opportunity arises to review them with others of the Lord’s people. Renewing the scriptural proofs for the concepts upon which we’ve built our faith, whether alone or with others, serves to strengthen our connections to the solid rock of our faith’s foundations. Perhaps, then there is a secondary, more subtle picture of the priests need to wash in the laver before being able to experience the light of the Holy’s candlestick. By constantly refreshing our consecrated minds with the basic truths of our faith, we are able to not only wash away the corrupting influences of worldly attitudes and teachings, but we become all the more prepared to understand and appreciate the deeper things of God meant only for the consecrated mind by building on the basics of our faith.
Summary
Jesus taught his followers that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The priorities of the world are fundamentally at odds with the requirements for consecration to God. Although becoming “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17), the new mind is still housed alongside the old, fallen mind and heart. As we interact with the world, we cannot help but accumulate influences, mannerisms and ideas that are at odds with God’s will. In the Tabernacle picture, the washing of hands and feet by the priests in the water of the laver represents the need to regularly cleanse one’s consecrated heart and mind of mannerisms and ideas accumulated through contact with the world. Through frequent study of the good, acceptable and perfect will of God, these accumulations are washed away. The new mind is renewed through a strengthening of the foundation upon which lasting faith is built. Through God’s grace and Holy Spirit, the transformation into a new creature in Christ will be furthered. (Romans 12:2).
References and Inspirations Not Quoted Inline
Notes on the Tabernacle by Anton Frey pp 161-172, 327-328
Featured image of Tabernacle priest washing in the laver – Image generated by ChatGPT (OpenAI), 2025
