THE GLORY OF GOD

Rev.  Bertrand L. Comparet

    You have probably heard or read my material on Science in the Bible. But it did not exhaust the subject; and now I want to cover some of the electrical science found in the Bible. A number of incidents have been ridiculed as impossible by people who do not understand it; and those who have accepted these incidents on faith, have merely thought of them as some of God's mysterious magic. But the great God who originated all scientific principles uses His own handiwork according to His own laws.

   In Exodus 3:1‑12, we read that Moses saw a bush which was covered with fire, but it was not consumed; and God spoke to Moses out of the flames. People who like to think they are wise have ridiculed this idea of fire which did not burn the bush. Yet for many centuries, most of the sailors who served on the old tall‑masted sailing ships saw such fire when thunderstorms were overhead: they called it "St. Elmo's Fire", and were glad to see it, because when these flames flared on the tips of the masts, lightning never struck the ship. It was an electrical discharge, by which the terrific electrical charge which the storm had built up in the ship was released before it could attract the terrible thunderbolt. The same great streamers of electrical flame are sometimes seen at the wing‑tips of airplanes when they fly near to thunder clouds.

   We would naturally expect the presence of the God Who is the creator and source of all energy to be manifested in a tremendous charge of elec­trical energy, the purest form of energy. Since He was standing in the bush, naturally the electrical flames streamed out from His presence. Notice also that fie warned 'Moses not to come close, and told him to take off his shoes. By removing the insulation of the shoes, Moses was thus "grounded": he took on the same electrical potential as the ground on which he stood, and was no longer a target for a lightning‑bolt from the electric charge surrounding the bush; this made it safe for Moses to re­main and talk with God. Call it a miracle if you will, but it was done by natural means.

    Again, when God stood on the crest of Mt. Sinai to give Moses the Law, we read in the 19th and 24th chapters of Exodus that "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount * * And the sight of the glory of Yahweh was like devouring fire on the top of the mount."  Experienced mountain climbers have often been on the peak when a thunder cloud came overhead, and the electrical charge on the mountain became so great that the rocks would hiss and crackle with the discharge of current; and they had to hastily go down to lower levels, lest they be hit by lightening. This, but or. a proportionately greater scale was what the presence of God produced on the crest Mt. Sinai, with ­lightning and St. Elmo's Fire all over the crest.

    Both when Moses dedicated the Tabernacle in the wilderness during the Exodus, and when Solomon dedicated the first Temple in Jerusalem, we read that the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle and the Temple so that the priests dared not enter it. (See Exodus 40:34‑35; 1 Kings 8: 10-11) ­" ). Again this is the field of unimaginably great electrical energy which surrounds the presence of Yahweh. Likewise, when the Apostle John was permitted to see God upon His throne in heaven, he saw that lightning ­and thunder came out of the throne. (Revelation 4:2‑5) Obviously, this awful electrical field can be terribly destructive to those who incur HIS wrath.

Psalm 50:3 says, "There shall go before Him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about Him." A tempest is not just a wind or rain storm, but an electrical storm.

   We read of some examples of this. Leviticus 10:1‑2 tells how Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, presumptuously came into the presence of Sod in the Tabernacle to offer incense, but contrary to God's commandments, and " there went out fire from Yahweh and devoured them, and they died." Again, In II Samuel, chapter 6, we read that, when King David ordered the Ark of the Covenant brought from the village of Kiriath‑Jearim to Jerusalem, the Ark was put on a cart drawn by oxen; and when a rough place in the road rocked the cart, Uzzah (one of the drivers) put his hand on the Ark to steady it ‑‑‑and was struck dead at once. Obviously, these were cases of electrocution; but how did they happen? The Bible gives us a clear and scientific explanation.

   Those of you who have built their own radio or hi‑fi sets know that there is a device which can store up a heavy charge of electricity: it is called a "condenser" or "capacitor". Basically, it is a three‑layer sand­wich: the two outside layers are sheets of metal foil, which conduct elec­tricity; the center layer is some insulating substance (such as paper), which will not conduct electricity. About 1 1/2 centuries ago, at the University of Leyden, in Germany, scientists discovered that if you took a glass jar‑‑‑about like the Mason jars your mother used to can fruit ‑‑‑and lined It with tinfoil about half‑way up the inside, and covered it with tinfoil about halt‑way up the outside, a heavy charge of electricity could be stored In it. If you hooked up a battery of three or four of these Leyden Jars, they could give you a shock that would knock you silly. And remember that they had only very weak generators of electricity with which to charge these jars, in those days. Here was a form of condenser: two layers of tinfoil, separated by an insulating layer of glass. But glass or paper is not the only insulating material suitable for this center dry: dry wood is also good. Now let's turn to the Bible.

   In both the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem, there was an innermost chamber, the Holy of Hollies, in which the sacred furniture was placed, and into which the priests dared not enter: only the High Priest was permitted to enter it, and even he on only one day of the year, the Day of Atonement. This sacred furniture consisted of (1) the Ark of the Covenant‑‑‑a chest, about 3 feet, nine inches long, and two feet, three inches wide and two feet, three Inches deep; or top of this is the golden Mercy Seat. (2) a low Table, three feet long by 11/2  feet wide; (3) the Altar for incense; (4) The golden Candlestick, and (5) the two statues of Cherubim, angels standing so that their outstretched wings formed a canopy over the Mercy Seat. All of these except the Golden Can­dlestick were made of wood; and all of them were covered with a layer of pure gold, outside and inside. So the Ark of the Covenant and the Table and the Altar for Incense, each was a huge condenser, a layer of dry wood insulation between "two layers of gold.    The details are given in the 25th through 30th chapters of Exodus. When even a little Leyden jar can be charged by a small and weak generator with enough electricity to give a man a nasty shock, consider how powerful a charge would be accumulated in these huge condensers in the Tabernacle or Temple when charged by the ter­rific electrical field which surrounds the presence of Almighty God! Of course they could discharge a deadly lightning flash at one who intruded against God's express commands. The Tabernacle had walls made of gold covered wooden boards; but these were mounted in silver sockets which grounded them, and constantly drained off any electrical charge which might accumulate in them: thus it was made safe for the priests to work In the Tabernacle, as long as they kept out of the Holy of Hollies.

   Also, the priests were forbidden to wear garments of any material but linen: no wool, no silk. As nomadic shepherds, the Israelites had plenty of wool; but they were not in any one place long enough during the 40 years of the exodus to raise flax for linen, so they had to buy linen from other nations. But the animal fibers (wood or silk) generate static electricity. Haven't you ever walked around on a wool carpet, some cold, dry morning, then reached out to grasp a metal doorknob and received a shock? If the priests wore wool, and soon were charged with static elec­tricity, they would become natural targets for the lightning from the fur­niture of the Tabernacle or Temple; but linen does not generate electri­city, so they were safe. Exodus chapter 28 gives the rules for the priest’s garments.