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The Earthen Vessel from the Omar
Frankinsence Trail – Photo Tara Jerich
The Earthen Vessel of Moses
Has the Purification Vessel of the Red Heifer been Found?
Study into a recent discover of an Earthen Vessel identified as the Levitical Purification Vessel
of the Mishkhan (Wilderness Sanctuary at Sinai)
Commentary by Robert D. Mock M.D.
February, 2005
Part One
For more information about the Ancient Levitical Purification Earthen Vessel connect to the following websites: EliyahuArrival and the The Federation of Jewish Adventist Society or contact Rabbi Ben-Hayil Yellen with the Faithful Covenant Foundation. His email is Eliyahu@Eliyahuarrival.com.
Topics
Has the Levitical Purification Vessel used by Moses in the Wilderness Sanctuary been Found?
The Old Omar Frankincense Trail
The Mount where the God of Israel met His chosen People
The Earthen Vessel and the Mishkhan (Wilderness Tabernacle) of the Israelites
The Scientific Testing of the Earthen Terra Cotta Vessel
The Purpose and Role of the Earthen Vessels in the Mishkhan (Wilderness Sanctuary)
Has the Levitical Purification Vessel used by Moses in the Wilderness Sanctuary been Found?
A new archeological discovery of supreme Biblical importance is soon to be revealed to the international world. As with many recent archeological discoveries of recent years, this vessel too with be met with affirmation and skepticism by the experts of the archeological profession and will be especially attacked by the those with biases towards any artifact that may be identified with a literal people called the children of Israel. This vessel does not have a place of origin. How it arrived to this part of the world is a mystery. It does not have a historical trail to follow but the tale of its discovery and the revelations that are unfolding with its investigation can awaken and flame the inquisitive mind of any student of the Hebrews of old. We have to ask the unthinkable, are we seeing before our eyes an ancient earthen vessel that could have been used by Moses and his brother, Aaron, the high priest of Israel as they worshipped in the Mishkhan, the ancient tent sanctuary the Hebrews believed housed the dwelling place of their God, YHVH, in the golden chambered room called the Holiest of Holies?
This earthen vessel was first discovered in an Arabian Bedouin shop along the Bahraini Oasis Trail which was along the Old Omar Frankincense Trail that traversed from beyond the vast sand dunes of the “Empty Quarter” to the outer reaches of the Arabian desert. This vessel was sold to a young American female missionary, Heidi Crawford who was visiting the land of Bahraini along the trail of the ancient frankincense traders that carried the precious resin from the gum groves of Omar to the markets of Egypt, Jerusalem and ancient Babylon.
About two years ago, scientists began studying this ancient
vessel. It was dated to the Bronze Age about 3500 years ago very near
to the traditional date of 1450 BCE when the children of Israel were fleeing from their oppressive overlords of the ancient dynasties of Egypt. What they found was a fascinating pattern of coincidences. It was 
not a cooking vessel and had no evidence of being
touched by the flame of an open fire. The substances that it carried were
not held in the bottom of the vessel as one would normally expect like a
cooking vessel but on the side like a ceremonial vessel.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Robert Mock
The best of scientific technology challenged to unlock the secrets of this vessel examination under white fluorescent halogen, daylight, oblique tungsten filament and ultraviolet (UV) lighting. Surface dust samples from eight sections of less than 0.010 inch in depth were examined under an electron microscope at 200X and 1000X magnification. The eight samples were evaluated under the Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) performed using Oxford light element detector. The metallic elements were detected according to their specific atomic weight. The (FTIR) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was performed as per ASTM E standard procedures and specific comparisons of spectral fit were performed with computerized OMNIC searches on all the samples according to samples regarding spectrum.
The secrets of its contents came forth. The metal tracings were isolated to copper and zinc but not iron suggesting its origins in the Bronze Age. The DNA tracings were found for the blood of the oxen, sheep, goat and dove but not pigs. The evidence of the oriental herb, hyssop officinalis, and cedarwood were isolated but there was no evidence of any modern synthetic fibers. They found tracings of an organic red dye from the pomegranate fruit with red fibers of wool. The last ingredient to be tested is evidence of what is called the “Deshen” or the ashes of a heifer. What a strange mixture of ingredients.
It was the Jewish Nazarene author of the Book of Hebrews in the (New Testament) that wrote:
Hebrews 9:13 – “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a (red) heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh.”
The author continued to write:
Hebrew 9:19-22 – “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Torah, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the Torah almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
So it was in the Torah that these ingredients were used with an earthen vessel in the ceremonies formed in the most profound public heath program in the ancient world. The camp of the Israelites was separated from those quarantined with contagious dermatological diseases (lepers), contagious sexually transmitted diseases and from secretions of skin lesions or bodily and genital emissions that could have spread rapidly throughout the camp of the Israelites, who lived in very close proximity with each other. The vitality of this vigorous migration of Israelites heading back to their ‘Promised Land’ was protected.
This earthen vessel of the Mishkhan used these same ingredients. They were used in the ceremony to preserve the sanctity and the trusting bond of a Hebrew marriage when a jealous husband suspected his wife had entered into an adulterous relationship with another male. This earthen vessel was used also in the preservation of any young mother of Israel from transmitting any blood born diseases and secluding these mothers of Israel during the days when high maternal mortality and perinatal death occurred. Here the earthen vessel became the guardian for the bearers of Israel’s “new creations” and the guardians of the “babes of Israel assuring a vital foundation to maintain a vigorous Hebrew society.
The
religious drama of the ancient Hebrews was centered in a multi-layered 
tent sanctuary which
housed golden furnishings of exquisite beauty and the mysterious and famed “ark
of the covenant”. The ark was a constant reminder of their covenant
relationship to the Eternal One of Israel. Some scholars believe that a simple
earthen vessel was made by the ‘foot” of the God of Israel and given to Moses,
Aaron along with a delegation of priests and 70 elders of the tribes of Israel on the mount at Sinai.
The Wilderness Tabernacle at Sunset Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site
Hovering over the “tabernacle of the sanctuary” of the ark of the covenant was a mysterious vortex of light that descended from the ionosphere that glowed by night. When its motion came to rest, it always rested over the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. This was the supreme manifestation of the Shekinah glory of the Eternal One of Israel.
In a world in which many Israeli archeologists believe that the Exodus was a myth, and most Christians believe the Torah (law) that was given to Moses on Sinai is not relevant today, suddenly an earthen vase returns to the field of archeology and demands that the experience of Sinai be rediscovered, revisited and that Christians and Jews must reenter the dialogue of its spiritual relevancy and its literal reality. Can this vessel be proven to be the actual earthen Levitical vessel given by the Lord of hosts to Moses on Sinai and used in the ritual services of the Wilderness Tabernacle by the children of Israel? No! No weight of evidence can prove to a skeptic mind that such an event or such a vessel does exist. Besides the Eternal One of Israel would not want it that way? Every human must have the privilege to doubt or affirm the reality of the God of Israel and His covenant experience with His people, the children of Israel. Having a vessel that brings this ancient history to a focal point of reality in this modern age may be Yahweh’s way of saying to this modern generation, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.”
The Old Omar Frankincense Trail
It was seventeen years ago, in 1987 when
a young woman, Heidi Crawford, was commissioned by the
conservative Christian fellowship called the Evangelical Alliance Mission
to be a missionary to the Arabs in Alain, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab
Emirates.
The ancient Frankincense Trail from Shisr across Oman, U.A.E to the lands of the East.
One day during these months of getting acquainted with the Arabian Bedouins, she was invited to take a 4 wheel drive excursion to the Bahraini Oasis on the Old Omar Frankincense Trail.
Since biblical times, the Omar Frankincense Trail was “paved with gold” or in literal terms the silver-barked “gum” trees that grew in the region. They produced some of the most coveted incense in the Middle East. This incense was used as perfume, medicine and to embalm corpses. Frankincense was sought by Alexander the Great, the Queen of Sheba and the Three Wise Men. It was from the Queen of Sheba that Solomon the Great secured frankincense to be used in the Temple of the Lord on the golden altar of incense.
Two of the notable priests in scripture who serviced with honor at the altar of incense were Mordecai, the uncle of Queen Esther after he return to Jerusalem from the land of Persia and Zacharias the Levite who met Gabriel, the archangel of the Lord who announced the birth of John the Baptist.
Two thousand years ago the camel caravans would cut a pathway over the five hundred miles long trail through the Arabian Desert. They carried this “golden resin” from Oman and the unknown world beyond. For centuries the trading centers for the incense were in the southern region of Dhofar, situated between the oasis port of Shisr to the fortified cities of Khor Rori and Al-Balid. The wealth of Oman was legendary not unlike modern oil-rich cities of the modern era.
Click to open page and then click on picture for a slide show On the Old Frankincense Trail to Shisr
Unknown except in the historical archives of the Arabian geographers, Shisr was a major market town beyond the “Empty Quarter” and at the crossroads of the frankincense trade. Ubar was felt to be the ancient Omanum Emporium, Irem that Al Emad mentioned in the Quran as the ‘city of doom” for its evil ways.
Noble Quran, 89:6-6 - "Seest thou not How thy Lord dealt with the 'Ad (people) -- of the (city of) Iram, with lofty pillars, the like of which were not produced in (all) the land?”
The
city Iram (Ubar)
was inhabited by the people of Ad and built by King Shaddad bin Ad. There
he built his “paradise” on the trade of gold, silver, pearls, amber,
frankincense and the commodities of the wealthy. According to the Moslems, Ubar
was left in desolation under the sands of judgment for its corruption of
wealth. According to legends, the city was destroyed by a great
earthquake and ‘devoured 
by the earth the city fell into a
large hole, hence the Arabic word, Shisr, for ‘hole’. This was a city that
legends boasted had “lofty pillars” inhabited by a civilization of a tall race.
United Arab Emirates and Omar bordering on the Gulf of Omar and the Arabian Sea
By the time of Muawayah, one of the rulers during and after the era of the Prophet Muhammad, it is said that precious stones were found amongst its ruins In nearby Najran, a bronze lion’s head and a bronze piece of gutter with Sabaean inscription was described by the British Museum (British Museum Quarterly, Vol. XI, No.4, Sept, 1937)
It was not until the 1990’s, using satellite photography taken by the Shuttle Challenger, was the old caravan trail exposed to the modern world and to archeology. Beneath the sands of Sisr they found an ancient well, walls, towers, and gates along with glass vessels, pottery, incense burners dated from 1000 BCE to the Islamic era of 900-1400 CE.
City of Alain, Abu Dhabi on the eastern border with Oman.
Here was the central north bound overland trail the Bedouins of the deserts of Arabia, who carried frankincense and Arabian horses from the last watering hole in Oman before taking caravans up to 2000 camels. They would leave the Arabian peninsula of Omar and carry their valuable freight across the Arabian desert to Egypt, Palestine and the Sumerian and Babylonians civilizations in southern Mesopotamia. Here was the mecca of frankincense for the Queen of Sheba and the trading center for Arabian horses that Egypt and Solomon so zealously treasured
As described by Dr. Crawford, it was December, 1987, somewhere along the trail, they entered the Omani Oasis village in a region looking similar to Afghanistan today. Within the village was a small shop, described as ‘rank and quite unpleasant’ yet at the same time intriguing. Within the shop she was introduced to a “turbaned Omanian trader” and felt “led” to a certain earthen bowl with fascinating paintings in groups of seven rays of sunshine surrounding the bowl. She wanted to purchase it for a souvenir. Though she felt the price was high, after extensive bartering she purchased it for the equivalence of 40 American dollars.
Later
would she realize that the price would be the same as the ancient “30 
pieces of silver” but would now be
priceless for its historical and religious significance. It was a hardy
bowl and unlike other pottery she purchased was very durable and survived
transport back to the United States. There in her collection of memoirs it
stood for years.
The Empty Quarter by National Geographic
Here in the city of Alain on the border of Oman, Heidi Crawford lived and worked among the Arabian people, learning its culture and how to portray the Jesus of history to the Islamic people. She was not a novice to the importance of the “Forgotten Quarter” or the land of Arabia for there are today large archives of literature that believe the children of Israel did not live only in the Negev and the Sinai peninsula but traverse across the entire breadth of the Arabian peninsula during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
Here was a land known to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and was a valuable resource for the commodities that Solomon sought for the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Oman was the breeding area for the vast herds of Arabian horses that Solomon purchased for the military safety of his kingdom. In fact it was on the crossroads of this frankincense trail that began behind the sand dune barriers of the Forgotten Quarter that made Solomon’s empire a center of wealth and Jerusalem the commercial center for gold, frankincense and myrrh in the east. Today tours can be taken from Abu Dhabi to the oasis of Liwa, Al Ain to the Burami Oasis owned by the Sultinate of Omar.
Eight years later, Heidi was commissioned to be a lay-missionary to Israel by the Global Partnership of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists under the banner of the “Tentmakers to the World”. Her commissioning church was the Denver South Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was first sent to Israel between July 1995 and January 1996. Then on several month long visitations over the next two years she traversed to the Holy Land until January 1998.
United Arab Emirates and Omar bordering on the Gulf of Omar and the Arabian Sea
With the sight of the Temple Mount, where Solomon’s temple was purported to sit, the trail of the frankincense ended. Here at the crossroads of the East, is now a land of modern skyscrapers. It is so easy to forget of that era when the City of David was a hub of international travel and commerce, where camel caravans came and went from Arabia to Egypt and Mesopotamia. Here were the days of glory when the Temple of the Eternal One of Israel was honored and envied around the then known world and the God of Israel was seen as the supreme God of the chosen ones of Israel.
There would be a day, when unknown to this American missionary traveler, this earthen vessel would potentially become an artifact of legendary importance to the authentic Jews of Israel. All she knew was that in 2002, the Lord of hosts had impressed upon her to use all of her personal financial resources to establish a scientific profile on this earthen vessel.
To the believers of the Torah that the “ten commandments of the Lord” given to the children of Israel at Sinai are still valid today for the worshippers of the God of Israel. This vessel stands as literal authentication of the literal children of Israel who fled from Egypt. It was their hope that the Eternal One of Israel would be true to his promise of a homeland where their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob once resided. And so the saga of the identifying the role and purpose of the Levitical Purification Vessel began.
The Mount where the God of Israel met His chosen People
It was in the heights of Mount Sinai that Moses was given the instructions for building the sanctuary and the vessels of gold, silver and earthenware that would be used in the rituals of the tabernacle.
The 1st century orthodox Jewish writer of the Book of Hebrews records this experience of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness around Sinai when the children of Israel proclaimed their covenant with the God of Israel. The earthen vessel was used to seal the covenant with the God of Israel by sprinkling a blend of water, hyssop, pomegranate impregnated wool and the blood of the calf and a goat over the book of the covenant and all the children of Israel.
Hebrews 9:19-21 – “For when Moses had spoke every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying this is the blood of the testament (covenant) which God has enjoined unto you.”
The Biblical event at Sinai that preceded the building of the wilderness sanctuary or Mishkhan, was central to everything that is called Hebrew-Judaic. This Mishkhan Without this potent symbol in this auspicious moment in time, the people called the Jews would not exist today and Christianity would never have been formed.
Great controversy exists today as to the site of Mount Sinai. Traditional Christians view the site where God gave the Ten Commandments as being on the Sinai Peninsula. It was here where Flavia Iulia Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, went to visit and named the site Mount Sinai. Recent scholars and researchers have challenged this location mentioning the testimony of the Apostle Paul:
Galatians 4:24-25 – “For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar – for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.
These same researchers also appeal to the TaNaKh (Old
Testament) where the “mountain of God” is identified as being in Midian
“even to Horeb” where Moses came into the presence of the angel of the Lord
at the burning bush.
Mount Sinai at Jebel Lawz in Saudi Arabia
Exodus 3:1 - Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
At
the mount of the Lord, in the ancient land of Midian, Moses
was given the “Ten Commandments”, the model of the sanctuary, the Torah and all
the 613 commandments so that His chosen people were to live as a covenanted
or ‘separate’ people. This covenant relationship would give them protection
by their God, a healthy life, a rich and beautiful marriage, many
children and the bountiful blessings bestowed upon them by their
God. All they were asked to do was to obey the ‘commandments of the Lord’,
participate in the rituals ordained within the 
Wilderness Sanctuary,
The Charred Rocks looking down from the Peak of Jebel Lawz (Arabian Mount Sinai)
Dr. Crawford is currently presenting her research on the earthen vessel for her doctoral thesis at the Yeshiva University in New York City. This thesis states that the Mount Jebel Lawz located in the ancient land of Midian in northwestern Saudi Arabia most closely matches the Torah text of the Biblical Exodus. During the forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel could have wandered all over the entire breath and width of the wilderness of Arabia. By traveling along the coastline to the present country of Yemen, the home of the Queen of Sheba, they could have possibly traveled into the ancient land of Omar with its orchards of frankincense beyond the Hidden Quarter of Arabia today.
So began a two year investigation by Dr. Heidi Crawford, who was now a naturopathic physician in San Diego in southern California.
The Earthen Vessel and the Mishkhan (Wilderness Tabernacle) of the Israelites
After
the Mishkhan was built, the earthen 
vessel became an
indelible part of the entire shadow picture that the God of Israel sought to portray in the sanctuary services. These drama portrayals pointed to the
coming of the Jewish Messiah.
In a civilized culture that recognized the difference between good and evil, there was given a means to purify the life and body of an Israelite when he became sick, contaminated by blood or lived an unholy life and sought to be restored back into the social matrix of the Israelite economy.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
What is of interest, whereas touching blood to the Israelite was a contaminate that led to significant social ramifications of exile, it was also blood, only by the calf, ram, sheep and dove that was used in the purification or dedication rituals of holiness.
The author of the Book of Hebrews again described the critical role of the earthen vessel to purify the sanctuary, all the vessels and furnishings used in the ministry of the tabernacle and the whole camp of Israel. That Israel was a set-apart people who lived a covenanted or set-apart life was woven into every fabric of Jewish life and culture.
Hebrews 9:13 – “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh.”
The blood burnt offerings to the God of Israel were outlined by God in His instructions or commandments to Moses:
Exodus 24:5 – “…which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord...”
It was the burnt offerings that were described in Numbers 7:15 that included “one bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year.” Yet the peace offerings were different. The ‘peace offering’ included “two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first years.” There was a meaning and a purpose for the specific offerings.
What
is stranger than this is that the Earthen Vessel
from Omar gives scientific evidence that it
held all the sacred ingredients used in the earthen vessel used in the
Mosaic Wilderness Sanctuary. These ancient ingredients
included a divinely appointed recipe given by God Himself. Today we know that
scientific evidence has been documented for all of the ingredients that
were used in the ancient 
sanctuary service of the Hebrews: the blood of calves, goats, lambs, hyssop and scarlet wool
threads with trace elements of pomegranate juice for the red dye and
pomegranate rind.
The Twelve Pillars for the Twelve Tribes of Israel (BASE Institute)
Hearkening back to the Blood of the Covenant in the Book of Hebrews written by an apostle of the reNewed Covenant of Yahshua (Jesus), we find this covenant of blood first outlined in the Book of Exodus.
Exodus 24:4-11 – “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people. And said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’
Then Moses went up (on Mount Sinai), also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand (protected from the destroying hand of the Lord). So they saw God, and they ate and drank (a covenant meal in a final ceremony between parties of a covenant).”
Dr. Heidi Crawford holding the Earthen Vessel as it would have been held by a Levitical priest (Photo: Robert Mock)
Only after that covenant between God and the children of Israel , Moses, with the anointed priests of Israel and the appointed seventy elders of the tribes of Israel were directed by the Eternal One of Israel to return to the mount and there He would give Moses the
Exodus 24:12 - …“tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I (God of Israel) have written that you (Moses) may teach them.”
This encounter with the Divine leads us to evaluate an
enigmatic phrase, “And there was under His feet as it were a ‘paved
work’ of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its
clarity”. When we study the Hebrew we find that the traditional meaning for
the word “paved” is derived Hebrew from the word, pantothen, (Strong’s 3840) which describes a “whole
in its entirety coming from all directions round about on every side.” It
appears the word pantothen is describing a shape of this ‘work’ as being
round on every side like the Pantheon in Rome today.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
The word “work” comes from the Hebrew word, skia (Strong’s 4639) which describes a ‘shade, adumbration or a shadow’. From every appearance, it appears that the Eternal One of Israel came to the seventy-four leaders of Israel as a shadow or a shade veiling, shielding and surrounding them from the ‘right hand or destroying hand of the glory of the Lord. There they communed with the Almighty One of Israel along with a ceremonial meal of food and drink. Then the Lord of hosts made a covenant between He and them.
Dr. Crawford looked at this passage with a new ‘lens’ of understanding where the “paved work” in the Hebrew letters, lamed bet nun tav, actually describe a “white terra cotta molded clay ‘altar’ molded by the foot of God, which was the “transaction of the item offered by the foot of God.” In her transliteration the text (literal translation of the text) would read,
Exodus 24:10 (transliterated)– “And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as it were a paved work on a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness (purification and holy)”
Dr. Crawford believes that the God of Israel gave this vessel directly to Moses, a vessel made by His own Being. As the purity of the linen garments carried the sanctity of the priest, so the “Purity” of the God of Israel was imbedded in the white terra cotta molded vessel that He gave to Moses. This earthen vessel was to be used in all the rituals of the sanctuary that related to preserving or restoring purity and sanctity.
The Scientific Testing of the Earthen Terra Cotta Vessel
The first question that would come to any scientist is: what is the style of the earthen vessel in form and structure? What was the age of the vessel compared to the existing terra cotta vessels discovered over the last two centuries? Was there any evidence as to the use of the vessel, how it was held, was it used as a cooking vessel and are there any trace elements within it that would suggest as to what it contained when it was in use?
The services of Douglas Stok with the ISO Certified Metallurgical Engineering Services Inc (MES) in Richardson, Texas were hired to perform scientific studies on the vessel. These included:
Subtopics
- Visual examination under UV lighting and oblique tungsten filament.
- Scanning Electron microscopy
- Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) with Oxford light element detector identifying the atomic weight of each element.
- Iron Oxide Dating Technology used in dating of the vessel by using the copper/zinc brass elements.
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with spectral fit comparisons with computerized OMNIC searches on all samples.
Additional Scientific Testing include:
Visual Examination
The ancient earthen vessel was initially examined by the scientists under white fluorescent, halogen, daylight, oblique tungsten filament and ultraviolet (UV) lighting. The oblique lighting was used to illuminate the exterior surface features on the vessel and the clay impressions in relief. The UV lighting was used to energize fluorescent surface residue in order to enhance the identity of the following: oils, phosfluorescent (luminescent) minerals, biological residue and other fluorescent materials such as calcite or calcium carbonate.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
They were able to determine the areas of rust stains, red marks, red with tan decorations, hand and finger impression in the fresh clay and white residue of minerals remaining from evaporation of the water mixtures within the vessel.
Scanning electron microscopy was performed on the surface dust samples extracted by scratching to less than 0.010 inch depth and separating these into 8 sections. Microscope examination was done at 200X and 1000X magnification. Within these eight samplings were found and certified evidence of all the various components given by the Lord of hosts to Moses for the burnt, peace offering sacrifices and the ashes of the red heifer used in the purification of the people, the sanctuary and the vessels used in the ritual services of the Mishkhan. The following ingredients that were laboratory certified included: hyssop officinalis within the vessel as well within the splash site that has the Blood of the Covenant of bovine, goat, dove and lamb blood mineral patterns. This also includes cedarwood within the vessel and crimson wool cord that was dyed from the vegetable dye ‘pomegranate’. They also found pomegranate rind evidence in all 8 sample areas. The Biblical ‘recipe’ for all the offerings in the wilderness sanctuary was identified and certified by the nationally recognized ISO Certified Metallurgical Engineering Services Inc (MES) in Richardson, Texas.
Under the Scanning Electron Microscope the “entire 8 specimens have no evidence of synthetic or artificial based modern elements on this vessel”. It was the director of the lab, who personally stated that this vessel is ‘not a forgery.’ What was most interesting was that the liquids that were in the vessel were determined to come only from one side of the vessel as though when the vessel was used it was lying on its side while being held in a certain position with the appearance of hand imprints on the outside. Here was a vessel that appeared by all scientific methodologies to be a ceremonial vessel. It was never used near a fire according to the scientists. They also ruled out family and private use as a cooking vessel. This vessel was never used with any other liquids or chemicals except as specified in the “recipe instructions” dictated above and given to Moses by the Lord of hosts on Mount Sinai.
Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX)
Earthen Vessel – Photo Tara Jerich
The EDX testing was used to discover the atomic weight of the metallic elements. The only metallic elements identified were iron with copper and zinc which is used to make brass. This suggests that this vessel would have been made and used during the Bronze Age culture. It has now been officially dated to the Bronze Age. On sample #5 which was extracted from the exterior of the earthen vessel, the clay minerals were associated with fine sand particles with iron and copper/zinc (brass) residue. This outside sampling suggested that a fire grate or grid was used possibly dating to the “bronze age”. Whereas iron is part of the iron compound with clay and silica (sand), evidence of zinc was found in four of the eight samples coming from the alumino0silicate base of the clay (Al2O3 + SiO2) yet the element copper was unique to this one sample.
Iron Oxide Dating Technology: Using the Iron oxide dating technology, the certification of the vessel is dated to be about 3,450 years old or dated to about 1450 BCE. This in itself approximates the traditional dating for the Exodus of the Israelites from the land of Egypt. This dating has also been established to be in harmony with the dating by Professor Robert Duetch, lecturer at Haifa University, where he taught ancient inscriptions for the past 8 years, and was an active field archaeologist for the past 12 years at the Tel Aviv University Megiddo Expedition
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with spectral fit comparisons
The eight samples were subjected to FTIR in order
to use the spectroscopy to separate the identity of several compounds in
the splash site within the vessel. This splash site was represented as “natural
oils” from both plant and animal sources. Lanolin, a fatty
substance naturally found as part of the natural coating on wool fibers whereas
petroleum or mineral oils were rules out by UV opaqueness or lack of 
fluorescence in the mixture.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Also found in the splash site were evidence of polymerized or burned oil found in a substance heated over a fire. The presence of hydroxycinnomate, a 3, 4-dihydroxycinnamic acid was identified which is a component of the ancient hyssopus officinalis, a member of the lamiaceae (mint or marjoram) plant family. We now know that the ancient mint, hyssop was used extensively in the Mosaic rituals within the tabernacle complex.
Also within the organic mixture were identified both plant and animal oils, especially diglycerides, which is an animal fat. Once again the hyssop plant was identified by the presence of oleic acid, which resembles oleanolic acid, an ester of several triterpenoid acids found in hyssop. Here we can see the evidence of the ancient priests dipping the hyssop plant leaves into a fatty mixture of fresh sheep/lamb body liquids or fats. This hyssop/fat laden mixture was found predominately in the splash site at the side of the vessel and spilling over the rim of the vessel and ‘contaminating’ the other side. Along with the hydroxycinnomate and oleic (oleanolic acid) which has a triterpenoid skeleton, they found phenytoin, a phenol (aromatic hydroxyls or carbolic acids) which has a diterpenoid skeleton, all three components of that mysterious bitter mint/marjoram plant.
Finally as part of the infrared spectrum analysis were sheep/lamb byproducts which included: lanolin, tallow, animal fats plus a rose red inorganic pigmentation of metal oxides such as iron. In the final summarization of all eight samples analyzed, 87.5% had sheep-lamb by-products and 75% of the samples had hyssop plant constituents.
Ancient DNA traces of Bovine Ashes in water (Ashes of the Red Heifer):
Robert
Gentry with the Earth Science Associates and Robert Genesselen of the University
of Chicago are assisting Dr. Crawford in setting up further scientific
studies under the supervision of Mark Stoneking
with the The Laboratory
Facilities at the Max Planck Institute.
He has been recognized as a world expert in
identifying ancient DNA traces of bovine
ashes in water (Ashes of the Red Heifer). This has not been done to date. As
soon as contributions arrive Heidi Crawford plans to conduct final
confirmatory testing at the UC Davis Forensic Lab.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Additional studies in the following areas continued to enhance the research being done on the ancient earthen vessel.
Ancient Pottery Analysis
In the archeological literature research, Dr. Crawford has documented the earthen (Hebrew) vessel to be of ‘native (Hebrew) origin used in the first and second temple culture. The earthen vessel is recognized as being unique to the Arab Bedouin nomadic culture where it was discovered surrounding the Hidden Quarter of Arabia, Dr. Crawford made these observations. The Arab nomads preferred wood or skin vessels and had no use for earthenware pots. On the other hand, Israeli and Jewish pottery in the sanctuary and first temple culture used earthen pottery in the tabernacle and temple service for the purification rituals of the ‘clean and the unclean.’ This vessel was dated to ‘pre-exilic’ times with unique characteristics such as painted ornamentation of lines and patterns. One scholar is on record as stating, “The differences are so great as to permit one to regard this form of decoration as a native (Hebrew) production.”
On the surface the earthen vessel is noted to have seven sets of seven in a ‘thorn pattern.’ Below are seven sets of seven lines in a ‘crown pattern.’ A search analysis of ancient pottery does not record any other vessel that has these patterns depicted fully on the earthen vessel. One eminent archeologist who to date remains anonymous as written,
No textual analysis is complete today without an examination of the Torah Codes in reference to passages or objects written about in the Torah and the entire TaNaKh (Old Testament). With the assistance of Dr. Larry Mitcham, Research Associate for the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas the museum director, Dr. Carl Baugh, the Bible Codes were analyzed for the Torah texts referencing the earthen vessel used by Moses and Aaron. Dr. Mitcham is an international lecturer on “Scientific Biblical Creation” and “The Bible Codes”, author of the 2002 book called “September 11 is in the Bible Code”, inventor of 14 USA patents and 2 international patents plus the founder of the Genesis to Jesus Ministries in Temple, Texas.
The Bible Codes were initially documented by the research associates of Dr. Heidi Crawford and later documented separately by Dr. Larry Mitcham as they analyzed the Torah codes on the earthen vessel. Using the textual analysis of ELS, Equidistant Letter Sequence, the key words analyzed were ‘healing vessel’ which was associated with the words: lights, electricity, ashes of sacrifice, cedarwood, the pomegranate, the red heifer, the hyssop, the blood of the Covenant and purifying of holy things. The date of purchase or ‘ransomed’ in Omar in eastern Arabia was December 1987 and included the full name of Heidi Crawford, her birth date, the full name of her attorney and his birth date. More surprising to them, three times as if the import was of high significance, the object most closely associated with the “healing vessel” was the “Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.”
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
The Purpose and Role of the Earthen Vessels in the Mishkhan (Wilderness Sanctuary)
Subtopics
Cleansing the House of the Lord (Mishkhan or Wilderness Tabernacle
The Purification for Sin by the Sprinkling of Water (with Ashes of the Red Heifer)
The Use of Holy Water in the Ritual of a Woman suspected of Adultery – The Law of Jealousy
The Ritual for Unclean Bodily Emissions
The Purification for Sin by the Sprinkling of Water (with Ashes of the Red Heifer)
The Mishkhan, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, built in the wilderness by the skills given to noble craftsman, called Bezaleel under the supervision of Moses, was dedicated according to the Seder Ha Olam on the 1st day of the 1st month (Nissan) in the second year of the Exodus (Jewish year 2449 from Adam). The first day of services was completed and according to the Seder Olam, on the second day, Moses was instructed by the Lord of hosts to have the priest Eleazar, the priest, take a perfect red cow, under the age of three and who had not had a yoke put to her neck, and lead her out of the camp of Israel into the wilderness and slaughter her.
Numbers 19: 1-8 - “And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, ‘This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: And Eleazar the priest shall take of her (red heifer’s) blood with his finger and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: And the Priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.”
Then the priest shall
wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall
come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even…And he that
burneth her (red heifer) shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh
in water, and shall be unclean until the even. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay
them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel (“as a
keepsake for Israel’) for a water of
separation: it is a purification for sin. And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his
clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the
stranger that sojourneth among them, for a
statute forever.”
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
So the red heifer was taken without the camp into the wilderness and was then burned with a mixture of cedar, hyssop and scarlet covering. Here the cedarwood, oil from the juniper bush in the Sinai desert, would cause a skin irritation, which would stimulate the applicant to vigorously rub the solution in their hands. The hyssop oil was known for its antiseptic properties, as Hyssop oil contained 50 percent carvacrol, and antifungal and antibacterial medicinal agent.
Note carefully that we say burned the red heifer was burned as this demonstrates that whole body of the heifer, even the blood and organs were burned to ashes. The ashes would then be made into a liquid paste and used in the water of purification that a Jew or Israelite must undergo in a ceremonial purification cleansing before they can enter the Temple complex. The ashes were then gathered by another priest who was recognized to be ritually ‘clean’ and kept in a vessel in a place outside the camp of Israel that was also kept ritually ‘clean’.
After that a small fragment of these ashes could be placed in water in a vessel or thrown upon a body of water. How do we know if this water was purified? According to the rabbinic tradition, if the surface of the water became disturbed when the ashes touched the water, then purification had occurred.
It must be noted that the shadow picture of the rites of water purification in Number 19 were given as specific instructions to the children of Israel. We cannot be amazed at the details of the documentary records preserved for thirty five hundred years. Throughout this chapter is the message of corporate repentance.
With the red heifer there were specific agents that were to be used: cedarwood, hyssop and scarlet or the red dye of the pomegranate according the new documentation found in this earthen vessel of Moses. Here was the shadow picture of the Torah command for the ‘one who is slain before the Lord.’ Here is the Torah command of the ‘one who dies by being pierced and wounded with a sword in a wilderness location outside the camp of Israel. Here is the Torah command of the purification rites needed to for the Israelite who touches a dead body. Is it not amazing the shadow picture that point toward the Moshiach of Yisra’el who was “slain before the Lord” and died while being “pierced or wounded with a sword” outside the city of Jerusalem. And the one who pierced the Son of God was also accepted as clean if he accepted the cleansing grace of the blood of the real type of the red heifer, Yahshua, the Son of God was completed when Jesus ascended to His Father in heaven after He spoke with Mariam of Magdala,
John 20:17 – “Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father.”
The Use of Holy Water in the Earthen Vessel in the
Ritual of a Woman suspected of Adultery – The Law of Jealousy
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
According to the instructions given to Moses from the Lord of hosts if a husband was jealous or suspected his wife of adultery yet had no proof of her impropriety, the instructions were given to the husband and the priests to perform the ritual as outlined in Numbers 5:11:31. This ritual was to be conducted with the use of an earthen vessel.
Numbers 5:15-22 – “Then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephod of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, and offering for remembering, for brining iniquity to remembrance.
And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and it you have not gone astray to uncleanness, while under you husband’s authority, be free from this better water that brings a curse.
But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and it you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you;’ then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman – “ the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make you belly swell and your thigh rot.”
Here the “earthen” vessel comes from the Hebrew, cheres, (Strong’s 2789) which is a piece of pottery, earth-sherd plus stone vessel. (Leviticus 6:28, 11:33, 14:5, 14:50, Numbers 5:17, 2 Samuel 17:28, Jeremiah 19:1, Lamentations 4:2, 2 Corinthians 4:7)
Here we see the imagery of Israel being led astray and ‘suspected of adultery’. The ‘dust’ , aphar (Strong’s 6083) which was taken from the floor of the tabernacle was the same composition of the dust of the ground in which Adam was made by God in the garden of Eden; ashes, dust, earth, mortar, powder which all mixed together formed the ‘clay’ of the ground. If the wife of God, Israel, remains true to Torah, then she lives. If she does not remain true to Torah, then the curse of the ashes in bitter water will come upon her with exile, suffering and death.
The Earthen Vessel of Omar confirms that this vessel was used in such rituals as the ancient lines of the ‘holy water’ are imbedded in the side of the vessel as it was held on its side.
The Earthen Vessel and the Ritual for Unclean Bodily Emissions
The entire chapter of Leviticus 15 is devoted
to the ‘unclean’ genital emissions by both males and females. The discharge
suggests that it comes from the body without the normal process of
copulation for the male. This would include urethral discharges and skin
discharges from ulcerations and sores on the genitals of both males 
and
females. This would also include normal cyclical menstrual discharge with the
female plus abnormal uterine bleeding above and beyond the normal menstrual
discharge.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Modern medical science understands fully the implications of these regulations about putting the ‘unclean persons’ without the camp of Israel living in the wilderness. By separating the clean from the unclean, the health and vitality of the Hebrew people were preserved. To do otherwise, they might have been destroyed by a plague or rapid spread of an infectious disease, such as syphilis that killed entire villages of the Caribbean and Central American Indians when the Europeans landed to explore this New World.
What has puzzled many scholars are the verses related to ‘normal’ genital secretions such as seminal emissions from the male. On the face, this would seem normal and innocuous, but in reality, in the infectious disease discipline of medicine, it is known that normal looking semen can transport HIV and blood borne diseases such a Hepatitis B while Genital Herpes can be transmitted to a sexual partner even before the breakout of pain or blisters.
We have seen the devastation of HIV which is a blood born infection along with Hepatitis B and C as it has rampantly spread throughout villages of Africa killing millions of people. Entire tribes have been wiped out with the scourge of blood born infections transferred to sexual partners with open genital sores from skin, vaginal and urethral infections. The discharges coming from the unhealthy genital tissue and the potential of passing an infectious diseases such as genital herpes (with clear emissions from blisters), syphilis and gonorrhea (purulent emissions), Chlamydia (purulent discharges), candidiasis (cheesy discharge) and numerous other skin infections with discharges and emissions gave the Israelites one of the greatest public health departments in the world. Oh that we could have such vigilance today.
As Adam was made from the ‘dust of the ground’ so all mankind were regarded as earthen vessels and abnormal emissions or discharges caused the earthen vessel or the body of man to be broken. What a symbol of literal reality. According to Leviticus:
Leviticus 15:12 – “The vessel of earth that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
What we now have learned, every Israelite owned his own earthen vessel and when touched by an Israelite with a discharge, the earthen vessel is broken. So also the Israelite’s body, the vessel of the God of Israel is broken with the infectious and contagious disease that was acquired. On the other hand the vessel of wood only had to be washed to be restored to its pure state.
The Earthen Vessel and the Purification of the Mothers of Israel after the birth of their firstborn Son
The most famous mother of Israel, was the young maiden, Mariam, who had a son in the days of King Herod. The historical record leaves this testimony.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Luke 2:22-24 – “Now when the
days of her (Mariam) purification according to the law of Moses were
completed, they (Mariam and Yosef) brought Him (Yahshua) to Jerusalem to
present Him to the Lord. (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every
male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a
sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of
turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Here was the manifestation of the Eternal One of Israel who sent His Son as the Torah in the flesh. We must carefully note how every act that was done in the birth and life of Jesus was fulfilled according to the Torah (law) of Moses.
The dedication of Jesus which was fulfilled according to the letter of the halachah of the Torah
Leviticus 12:2-4, 6 – “If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days’ as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean.
And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled…
When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then he (priest) shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female.
And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.”
After Mary had spent forty days in seclusion, she now returned to the temple for her rites of purification as prescribed for a firstborn son. Here we see again clearly the detail account of obedience by the parents of Jesus to the Torah and the halachah (teachings and customs) of the Jews.
Whereas the time of dedication of a newborn infant girl was after the eighty days of seclusion, the time of dedication of a newborn infant boy was after forty days of seclusion. When we read the story of the dedication of the child, the Torah commands are specific.
Leviticus 12:6 – "When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting."
Provisions were made for the poor and those unable to bring a lamb to the temple.
Leviticus 12:8 – "And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons – one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
And so Mary, after the forty days of isolation and her time of purification was over, she brought Jesus to the temple and presented Him to the Lord
Luke 2:22 – "Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law (Torah) of the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
So Mary, according to the provisions of the law
for the poor, brought only a pair of turtledoves or pigeon. Here was a young
maiden about the age of fourteen who was without financial means. Her
husband, Joseph, was closing in on his years as a senior citizen. There
is also evidence that Joseph the father of Jesus could have been an Essene
and had given all his possessions to the 'brethren' and would have been
recognized as one of the 'poor'.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
According to the historical records of the parents of Mary outside of the Biblical canon, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna lived in the village of Bethlehem. Joachim’s profession was a prosperous shepherd with many flocks of sheep, goats and cattle. Could it be assumed that that Mariam could have received an unblemished lamb from her parents to take to the temple for her rites of purification? It appears that the purpose was not to make an appearance that was not the truth. Did not Peter many years later state to the cripple man by the temple gate, “What I have I give to thee.” It was not the will of God to borrow from your family to give the appearance of affluence. Yet there was a deeper truth. Mariam did bring a lamb. She brought the Lamb of God and the lamb for purification was fulfilled. The ritual of the offering of the doves for a burnt and sin offering was done with the earthen vessel by killing one of the birds over an earthen vessel with running water.
Cleansing the House of the Israelite from Mold
One of the most lengthy of rituals (Leviticus 14:33-57) involving the earthen vessel had to do with cleaning a Hebrew house from the invasion of a fungus-producing organism or mildew. The recent rash of insurance claims in America concerning mold invasion of human dwellings is nothing new. According to the Hebrews, this mold threat has been with us for over 3500 hundred years and they took it very seriously. The home was quarantined for seven days and all the possessions in the house “could not be made unclean.” According to the text, the priest would come out and:
Leviticus 14:37 – “He shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house,…and shut up the house seven days.
If the mold spreads in that period of time, the moldy area will be torn down and cast outside the city. The house would be scraped down and all the contaminant ‘dust’ would be taken to an unclean (dump) area outside the city. The house would then be repaired and replastered. If the mold returns, the house would be torn to the ground and discarded in the city dump. If the mold did not return after it was re-plastered, the priest would then pronounce the home clean with the earthen vessel as he cleanses the house.
Leviticus 14:49-53 – “And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. The he shall let the living bird lose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
The Earthen Vessel and the Time of the End
What should a believer in the God
of Israel think about the potential that this Earthen Vessel may actually be
the Levitical Purification Earthen Vessel used by Moses and Aaron? As
incredulous as it may seem, we may have to face this fact. This vessel was not
discovered with a label of identity on it. It also was found in the
most unlikely place on earth. It was not uncovered in a controlled
excavation site 
with
renowned archeologists. As the Lord of hosts seems to always do,
He brings His message in the most unexpected ways and still gives every human
the freedom to doubt and to reject.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Yet if you were the Lord of hosts the land of Omar may have been the safest place to hide a precious relic that has been under the watch and care of the angelic hosts for about three thousand five hundred years. If an archangel came and gave the exact story and province of this vessel to the Israeli Archeological Institute do you think they would believe God’s messenger? The ability of the Eternal One of Israel to communicate with his people is limited by the mental bias filter of our own minds and hearts. Yet for many there is a sense of watchfulness and anticipation. Is this another awaited “sign” from the Most High?
It was 2004 when the first Jewish Sanhedrin was convened in over 1600 years in the city of Tiberius. This will be the first legal body convened by the Jewish people since 425 CE when the last Sanhedrin disbanded. Is this just a coincidence? It was February, 2005 when this court convened for the first time. The first item on the agenda was: will the Jewish people rebuild a temple to the God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The first order of the court will be to determine where the temple of Herod and Zerubabbel actually stood.
If a new temple is built by the nation of Israel, a halachic rule will have to be made to determine how the temple site, the land, the temple itself, the furnishings, the vessels, the priests will be purified before the temple can be used. This will require an earthen vessel and the ashes of the red heifer according to the prescription given to Moses in the Torah.
Is it a coincidence that in 2002, a young red heifer was born and determined to be pure. No recent announcements have been made whether this heifer is still pure and not having more than 5 white hairs on her body. Will the red heifer be burnt according to the Talmud at the traditional site on the Mount of Olives at the Miphkad (Appointed) altar where the red heifers were slain during the second temple period?
In a special ceremony during the slaughtering of the red heifer, she was led out of the eastern gate, walked across the doubled tiered arched bridge called the Bridge of the Red Heifer to the Mount of Olive and then led up to the summit of the mount. (Middoth 1:3; 2:4; Yoma 7:2 plus the Talmud in Yoma 68a and Zebahim 105b). Here on the Miphkad (Appointed) Altar, the ceremony of preparing and burning the red heifer was performed. This ceremony was performed only nine times between the days the Wilderness Tabernacle was built at Sinai and the destruction of the temple in 70 CE.
There is still one problem. The ashes of the new red heifer must be mixed with the remnant of the ashes of the prior nine red heifers. According to the Jews, the Moshiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel) will come after the 10th red heifer is slain.
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
According to Josephus, this 10th red heifer was prepared for slaughter near the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. A strange and mysterious occurred and recorded in the historical annals of Jewish history. According to the Talmud, the tenth heifer was to be sacrificed in preparation for the final temple at the time of the end in preparation for the coming of the Moshiach (Messiah). The priests in Herod’s temple felt the impending forces of evil surrounding the city. In an effort to save the temple of Herod, they prepared the last red heifer to be slain in order to purify the corrupted and desecrated temple. By doing so, they hoped that their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would save His temple and bring salvation to His people. Flavius Josephus recounts the scene of the high priest making a desperate attempt to prepare a red heifer to be slaughtered for the purification of the temple while the walls of the city were being surrounded by the forces of Vespasian.
Flavius Josephus – “At the same
festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be
sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst
of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner, (court
of the temple) which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with
difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and
had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one
entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour
of the night. …But the men of learning understood it, that the security of
their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened
for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared, that this
signal foreshewed the desolation that was coming upon them. (Flavius Josephus,
Wars of the Jews, V:3)
Earthen Vessel – Photo Aaron Judkins
Was this the “handwriting on the wall” to the temple leadership that their salvation lay not with a red heifer but with the Lamb of God that was slain at the site of the Miphkad altar forty years earlier?
The Christian world will look upon the building of a new temple in Jerusalem either will anticipation or skepticism. Many Christians do not believe that a temple will be built in Jerusalem before the coming of the messiah. If a temple were to be built, many Christians feel that it would be a deception by the satanic forces. Did not Jesus Himself prophecy that there would be in His future another “abomination of desolation”?
Matthew 24:15, 21-22 – “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains….
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
Yet for an “abomination of desolation” to occur a literal purified temple must exist or it could not be “abominated.” Such a temple must be recognized as being purified according to the Jewish halachic legal code of law. This halachic legal code of law must be accepted by the Jewish Sanhedrin and the leading rabbis in Israel before the temple to their God, the Eternal One of Israel can be purified. Will the shadow picture of the destruction of Jerusalem and the desecration of the temple of Herod be a foretaste of the future “abomination of desolation” that will await this temple that the Sanhedrin is preparing to give a halachic ruling for it to be built? This temple like every other man made institutions, rituals, ceremonies and doctrines that have been devised will have to be destroyed so that all men will look only to the Lord of hosts for their salvation and redemption.
Why or why do not the Jewish rabbabim recognize that Yahshua ben Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph) was their messiah? Many of rabbis today do. But they are like the famed Pharisaic scholar and teacher, Gamaliel; they are secret believers in Yahshua haMoschiach (Jesus the Messiah). It was the Apostle Paul who suggested that the rejection of the Jews to Jesus was for the “reconciliation of the world” (Roman 11:15) and when they do receive Jesus as their Messiah it will appear to the world as if they have been awaken from the dead. (Romans 11:17)
Earthen Vessel – Photo Tara Jerich
There will come a day when the Jewish Sanhedrin and then all the Jewish people will have their eyes opened. They have remained in covenant with the God of Israel over the centuries but when their eyes have been opened, they will turn in faith to Yahshua as their Moshiach with the realization that their salvation will come by their faith in Him. Rabbi Shaul (Apostle Paul) is explicit in his answer:
Romans 11:25-27 - “Israel has experienced a hardening in part (partial blindness) until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel (House of Israel and the House of Judah) will be saved, as it is written;: ‘The delivered will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Where will those delivered at this time come from: Zion. This is the covenant of the God of Israel with the Jews which is separate from the reNewed covenant that Jesus gave to His disciples. It was Jesus who advised us to “watch and be ready.” This is the most crucial advice to all BibleSearchers at the time of the end. The Lord of hosts does not need us to be providences for Him. The destiny of this planet is in His Almighty hands. He is maneuvering all of His people, the ‘chosen ones of Israel” and the “spiritual Israelites” of the gentiles to be prepared with their whole body, minds and souls to live under the rulership of His Son the anticipated Moshiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel).
Does this Levitical Earthen Vessel have a destiny prepared for it as the final drama of the ages is unfolding around the world? Is it to be used in the preparation for a new temple in Jerusalem today? Will it rather be preserved to be used by soon coming Messiah, David son of David? Watch and let the God of Israel show us.
For more information about the Ancient Levitical Purification Earthen Vessel connect to the following websites: EliyahuArrival and the The Federation of Jewish Adventist Society or contact Rabbi Ben-Hayil Yellen with the Faithful Covenant Foundation. His email is Eliyahu@Eliyahuarrival.com.
Message from BibleSearchers
BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.
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