Day 310 cont.

Continuing on...I am amazed that I am still amazed at how 'alive' the Word seems to me the more I study, read and meditate upon it.  Truly, it is a joy to sit at the feet of the Master and 'listen' to Him.  Lord, that I might ever and always be desirous of sitting at Your feet and learning from You and encourage others to do so as well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Once Jesus was dead - the vail of the temple was rent in two - from top to bottom.


Here is a portion of Gill's commentary:

Just at the time that Christ spake with so loud a voice, and expired, and which was at the time of the offering up of the evening incense; and so must be seen by the priest that was then offering, and those that assisted him, for the incense altar was near the vail; and which must be a very astonishing sight unto them: the vail was of a very great thickness; it was made of fine twined linen, 

It never dawned on me that Christs' death occurred at the same time as the evening offering.  Can you imagine?  In the temple, performing your duties.  Knowing that ONLY the High Priest is to go into the Holy of Holies, once a year - and the vail which separates and hides the Holy of Holies is ripped in two?  A curtain which is a hand breadth (2.5 to 4 inches) ripped from top to bottom.

As I searched for information about the tearing of the vail, I came across this article.

http://www.well.com/~davidu/veil.html

Whether it is accurate as to which vail was torn I do not know.  However, I found the author's observation about the 'tearing' of the heavens at Jesus' baptism and how he relates it to a beginning and the vail rent as an ending, interesting.

This site gives the interpretation that I stated above:  http://www.gotquestions.org/temple-veil-torn.html

Further browsing brought this to my attention:

There were actually two curtains from within the Temple. The first separated the outer courtyard from the inner courtyard. Gentiles were permitted in the outer courtyard but only Jews could go in the inner courtyard.

I find this intriguing - and can see the validity of both views.  The inner vail being torn would have allowed full access to the mercy seat, by the shed blood of the sacrificial lamb of God.  The outer vail, if the information above is accurate would have allowed the Gentiles to 'come in.'

Here is a graphic of Herod's Temple:  http://www.bible-history.com/jewishtemple/JEWISH_TEMPLEHerods_Temple_Illustration.htm

Here is a graphic (small, I know) which shows a layout of the city: http://www.reformation.org/jerusalem3.jpg

From that graphic I do not 'see' how the centurion could have 'seen' from what appears to be a good distance.  If I remember correctly the link I provided on the medical diagnosis of Jesus' trial and scourging indicated that from the place of judgment to the place of execution was 650 yards (6.5 football fields), plus there was darkness over the land!

What a discussion I've had in working through this!  Amazing.  Unless the centurion was literally 'on top' of the temple, there wouldn't be anyway he could have seen the vail in the Court of the Gentiles being ripped.  Could it have?  That is another intriguing thought.  What if they both ripped?

I didn't get much further into the passage of what I read on Day 310...LOL!  I sure did learn a lot though!  I hope you have enjoyed my journey 1/2 as much as I have!