Let’s consider the way in which the tripartite ordering of the tabernacle relates to the tripartite ordering of the human body. In the last post, we saw that as the threefold Tabernacle is anointed in Leviticus 8-10, so also is Aaron anointed as a threefold body- on his ear, on his thumb, and on his big toe (Leviticus 8:23). In the past, I have explored the threefold relation in which Man is created, each of which include the relations subordinate to it. Man is triply related to God, to Man, and to the World. We are related preeminently to God, in whose image we are made and towards whom we are directed as our final cause. Our life and character is derived at every moment from Him and measured in relation to Him. It is in God, then, that we are related to other human beings, likewise created in God’s Image, constituted in relation to us. We cannot love God and hate our brother, for that which we love most overflows into everything which calls our mind to that love. And it is in our relation to human beings, through God, that we find ourselves bound to the world at large, for it was not as individuals that we are created as heir of the world, but as the human family, male and female, generating offspring and standing in relation to each other (Genesis 1:26-28) that we inherit the world. God has promised the human race dominion over the creation and instructed us to subdue the world. All things over which we are set as master have their existence and being through God, and our reign over the world is through our communion with God through each other.
Hence, when St. Paul tells us that the glory which animates the transfigured body of the resurrected Jesus Christ is that which enables Him to “subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21), He speaks of our sharing in that single body as the Church- a corporate organism. It is not that He transforms “our lowly bodies to be like the body of His glory”, but the singular body of our lowliness. This theme is not plucked from nowhere, but develops the cohesive theology of the letter, in which the Apostle reminds the Church. to “complete my joy by being of the same mind” (Philippians 2:2)- to “have this in mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). The mind which belongs to the Church in Jesus Christ is that which St. Paul describes in 2:6-11- Christ’s perfect humility in setting aside what was His by rights to embrace the death of the cross, bringing about His exaltation above all things.
These threefold patterns are thus God-Man-World, Most Holy-Holy-Courtyard, and Ear-Hand-Foot. Let’s explore the nature of these links. Why would the ear be linked with God and with the Most Holy Place? The ear is the most innately receptive aspect of the human head. We cannot move our ears in a meaningful way- in order to cut off sound, we must plug our ears with our hands. Man stands in a perfectly receptive relation to God- while He lifts up hands in thanksgiving, he does not add anything to the riches of God’s glory. The ear is that by which other persons, in their minds, are made present to us- it is the instrument of listening rather than speaking. Looking at an ear does not tell us meaningful information about what a person is thinking. It thus captures the nature of our relationship to God, where we are to receive His word and let it transfigure our relations to man and the cosmos. This is also the symbolism embedded in the Holy of Holies, which contains, among other things, the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are engraved (Deuteronomy 10:2). The Holy of Holies is that place from which God comes to instruct us. The Holy of Holies is that place from which God speaks to Moses (Exodus 25:22). It is intriguing that in the human head, the two organs which stand out and extend outward to the world are the two most receptive organs- the ears and the nose. The ears and the nose receive, but do not give. One does not communicate with the eyes or nose- one embraces that which is communicated to one.
The mouth, obviously, is the most distinctly active of our sensible organs. It is through the mouth that we send forth speech into the world and communicate that which is received through the ears of others. [I would raise, however, the role of the mouth in eating as a point which should be taken into account, and which is noted in several places in scripture when scripture reflects on the idea of rumination, or having the word of God “in your mouth and in your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:14). This aspect does not neatly fit into this particular schema, indicating that the scheme is still incomplete in very important ways.] In the very ordering of the human body, the ear has primacy. Wisdom, which apprehends the meanings of creatures, teaches us that we must be slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19), and that it is the emblem of folly to “multiply words” (Ecclesiastes 10:14) and to b e “hasty” in our words (Proverbs 29:20). We find this lesson in the structure of Israel’s story: the five book Torah delivered through Moses is very dictation-heavy. Leviticus, as its central book, is made up almost entirely of divine dictation. For four and a half centuries, this divine Word soaks into the body of Israel until Israel is made capable of replying to God in the five-book Psalter of David. The Psalter contains precisely the opposite emphasis- almost nothing in the Psalter is made up of divine dictation- it is made up of the words of Israel, inspired by the Spirit in reply to God. The promises of God are constantly invoked- we know God through His Word, and it is in the Word that God promises to be faithful. The Psalter manifests the operation of that Word in Israel.But what about the eye? We will consider the symbolism of the eye in the next post.