Bibliorum

 

出埃及记 28:30

Study

       

30 又要将乌陵和土明放在决断的胸牌里;亚伦进到耶和华面前的时候,要带在胸前,在耶和华面前常将以色列人的决断牌带在胸前。

Commentarius

 

Pure

  

To be "pure" in the Bible means -- unsurprisingly -- to be devoid of evil. Thus all the washing for purification prescribed in the Laws of Moses was not just a stab at public hygiene, but was symbolic of the state we should try to achieve when we approach the Lord, setting aside our evil desires and focusing on the good we want to attain. In some ways most of us still reflect this symbolism in the fact that we wash ourselves and wear nice, clean clothes to church, purity on the outside hopefully reflecting a degree of purity on the inside. Other uses of "pure" in the Bible are closely connected with a specific material: "pure gold" is common; "pure frankincense" and "pure linen" are among other uses. In these cases "pure" indicates that the spiritual quality being described -- the quality symbolized by the gold, or the frankincense, or the linen, etc. -- is genuine and authentic.