The temple veil that cloaked God from mankind was ripped in half when Jesus died on the cross. The severed veil is well-known among Christians. Many worshipful songs allude to the holy curtain being torn from top to bottom. Its symbolism is simple enough for a child to grasp: come on in to God! God’s word, though, has nuances about the veil that uniquely magnify Jesus for His great works. How exhilarating and refreshing! “Great are the works of Yahweh; They are sought by all who delight in them” (Ps 111:2 LSB). Every nuance overflows with unfathomable blessing and love. Every nuance fixes adoring attention on a great work magnifying the Great Worker! I invite you with fresh eyes to view the veil with awe and wonder of our amazing God!
The veil first appears during the tabernacle construction phase on Mount Sinai, its blueprint (and purpleprint and scarletprint) dictated by Yahweh to Moses. Since the earthly tabernacle was a copy of the heavenly one (Heb 8:5), so was the veil. Here’s the key verse for how it was to be made:
“And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.”
Exodus 26:31 ESV
Here’s the chief purpose of the veil:
“And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy” (Exod. 25:33).
Now, in Hebrew the word for veil is pārōḵeṯ (pa-roh’-keth פָּרֹכֶת), which conveys primarily the idea of separation. A brief lesson on Hebrew vocabulary will demonstrate this point. The lexical usage, how words are used in context in the writings, are really critical to understanding their meaning. Hebrew words are typically constructed of a three-consonant stem or root. The first two letters often share a common meaning, which form these word families. The first two consonants of pārōḵeṯ are pe (פָּ) and resh (רֹ). The central idea of פָּרֹ is dividing or separation, as other Hebrew words indicate.
For example, pāraḏ (paw-rad’ פָּרַד) means to separate or divide (e.g., Gen 2:10: “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided [pāraḏ] and became four rivers.”) Another is p̄rḏṯ (per-oo-daw’ פרדת) for seed as that which is separated (Joel 1:17: “The seed [p̄rḏṯ] shrivels under the clods…”). This dividing motif has an interesting one-time usage in Amos 6:5: “who sing idle songs [pāraṭ] to the sound of the harp…” Pāraṭ (paw-rat’ פָּרַט), according to Strong’s, means to divide words into parts (in singing) or possibly to stammer, as broken speech. The masculine of pāraṭ is pereṭ (peh’-ret פֶּרֶט), meaning broken off (i.e., fallen grapes). “And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes [pereṭ] of your vineyard” (Lev 19:10a).
Other words in the פָּרֹ family add more color than just separation, connoting a breaking apart by force or even violence. “The priest who is chief among his brothers…shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear [pāram] his clothes” (Lev 21:10). Tear is pāram (paw-ram’ פָּרַם). Pāraś (paw-ras’ פָּרַשׂ) is to break or break in pieces (e.g., Mic 3:3, Lam 4:4 (to break bread)). Genesius also says of pāraś a secondary (and most common) meaning “to expand, to spread out (which comes from the idea of being broken apart and arranged).” From pāraś comes peres (peh’-res פֶּרֶס), a vulture, from tearing its prey (Lev 11:13, Deut 14:12). Then there’s pāraṣ (paw-rats’ פָּרַץ), to break, break up, break in pieces, break out or burst out. “And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, ‘The LORD has broken through [pāraṣ] my enemies before me like a breaking [pereṣ (peh’-rets פֶּרֶץ)] flood.’” (2Sa 5:20). There are even more, but these suffice to prove the point.
Returning to the veil, pārōḵeṯ has a masculine noun counterpart, pereḵ (peh’-rek פֶּרֶךְ), that yields valuable insights. Pereḵ stems from an unused root meaning to break apart; hence, it means harshness, severity, cruelty, oppression or tyranny. It’s a word oozing with hostility. Of the enslaving Egyptians it’s said, “They worked the Israelites ruthlessly [pereḵ]” (Exod 1:13 CSB). Well, pārōḵeṯ, the sister of pereḵ, shares the same Hatfield and McCoy proneness to open conflict. The veil was not merely a passive barrier like a wall in a house minding its own business. It was more like an electric fence that zaps you if you get too close, charged with hostility of God against man and animosity of man against God.
So when we read of cherubim woven into the fabric of the veil, what are we to think? The hostile separation of פָּרֹ infuses nuances of meaning into their presence at the veil. The cherubim are hostile; they’re God’s bouncers. Their first appearance confirms this. Cherubim in the garden of Eden with a flaming sword that turned every which way blocked humanity’s first sinners from approaching the tree of life. So as depicted in the veil, the cherubim stood guard as hostile adversaries ready to strike down any sinner who got too close to the Holy One.
Fast forward to the cross. Just a short time before our Lord Jesus dies, prompting God the Father to tear the temple veil from top to bottom, He has this very familiar dialogue with the crucified thief:
And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:42-43 ESV
Paradise is the Greek paradeisos (par-ad’-i-sos), which originates from the Hebrew pardēs (par-dace’ פַּרְדֵּס) (or Persian, which is similar). Pardēs is a member of the פָּרֹ family of words we’ve been examining, so its first two consonants embody separation; therefore, it communicates a garden or orchard that’s enclosed—separated—a park, both in our day and theirs. “I made myself gardens and parks [pardēs], and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees” (Eccl 2:5). The first park that had all kinds of fruit trees planted in it was the Garden of Eden. “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen 2:8-9). Paradise!
Jesus’ pledge to the dying thief to be with Him in pardēs was when the veil, the pārōḵeṯ, was still enforced. That pārōḵeṯ, as we’ve noted, stood as an immovable wall of hostility, God’s electric fence, charged with God’s harshness (pereḵ) toward man. This thief, nor glory thieves like you or I, had no way of entering pardēs with Jesus while the pārōḵeṯ with its pereḵ cherubim sentries blocking the way.
In reading Luke’s account, we might think that the thief who entered paradise was the nice thief whereas the other thief was the ornery one who went to hell. Not so. Other Gospel accounts paint a bleak picture of the “nice” thief.
“So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’’ And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Mt 27:41-44, emphasis added). Mark also points out that those (plural, not singular) who were crucified with Him also reviled Him (Mk 15:32). So both thieves were guilty of harsh words towards Jesus.
The problem in mankind’s broken relationship with God was not one veil but two. Man, too, has a veil, a pārōḵeṯ, his own electric fence of hostility towards God. The thief had a veil over his heart (see 2Co 3:15), zapping Jesus with electrified words of reviling, vilifying Him with contemptuous, abusive language. (We all know what that is, a presidential election is upon us!) Now, God performed a wondrous miracle in the dying thief’s heart—his pārōḵeṯ was torn from top to bottom!—which is not the focus for today, but you’d like to dive deeper, see this past blog: “A Day of Visitation in Fiery Trials Pt. 2: The Thief on the Cross”. But the point I’m making is this: the hostility of sinful man in his rebellion against God provoked the hostility of God against man. Therefore, the pārōḵeṯ in the tabernacle, and then the temple, was a perpetual reminder of the ruined, alienated relationship. Jude, in quoting the ancient prophet Enoch (the one who walked with God and then was taken up), sums up this duality of God’s and man’s pārōḵeṯ succinctly:
“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 1:14-15).
So catch the wonder of the greatness of God’s works. “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (Jn 5:17). When God the Son breathed His last, God the Father tore (pāram) the veil (pārōḵeṯ), breaking down (pāraṣ) the hostility (pereḵ) and opening up paradise (pardēs) to us! Separation from you has become separation with you! What grace! “Great are the works of Yahweh; They are sought by all who delight in them.” The wall of inclusion superseded the wall of exclusion. God rolled out the red carpet for mankind to enter paradise within a new wall of inclusion. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” God broke down the wall of danger, hostility, alienation, and enmity so that you and me can live inside a wall of safety, protection, intimacy and friendship. The cherubim have sheathed their swords and now worship around the throne of God and of the Lamb together with us and the angels (Rev 4:6-11, 5:11-12). Even when we’re at our worst, God won’t stitch that veil back together again. So come confidently, delighting in Jesus’ great work, on in to God, today and every day!
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 