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Ornaments of Jewelry What the Bible Says. . . By Pastor Ken Raggio Reprinted from the View From the Lighthouse, July 1998 From the earliest days, jewelry was a blessing from God. The bracelet he drew out of the tapestry bag was beautiful. Rebekah gasped at the sight. She somehow knew this stranger was going to give it to her. He respectfully lifted her wrist with his left hand while he slid the bracelet smoothly to her wrist. It was solid gold. "Crafted in Syria," he explained, "and very valuable." She didn't need to be told. She had always admired her grandmother's jewelry, but only in her fondest dreams could she think of having her own. Abraham's gifts to Rebekah were fine jewelry. While she studied it, she could not ignore the fact that Eliezer was still digging in the tapestry bag. When he produced another bracelet, identical to the first, she was dumbfounded. He placed it on her other wrist and reached into the bag again. This time an exquisitely designed earring, a one-of-a-kind to be sure, was laid in her hand. It was fine gold, trimmed in silver design, carefully inlaid with ruby, an emerald and a diamond. It was gorgeous. Her ears, pierced since she was a baby, had only known a pair of simple onyx studs. She nervously fumbled with each earlobe until she had the old piece out. Eliezer's compatriot thoughtfully pulled a looking glass from his camel pouch, and held it for her while she helped her donor place the new one in. Rebekah's eyes or the jewels, it was hard to say which sparkled more. Her subtle comeliness suddenly illuminated into stunning beauty. Abraham was wealthy in silver and gold. Eliezer's entourage had been standing quietly while observing the presentation. Suddenly, in unison, there came forth a burst of cheers and applause as they acknowledged how well suited she was to the elegant garnishings and, more importantly, at Eliezer's good fortune in finding such an outstanding young woman for his master's son. Little did she know that these were only tokens of a wealth of fine things that would eventually be bestowed upon her. Abraham was very rich, not only in livestock, but in much silver and gold. (Gen 13:2). He would spare no expense in lavishing his wealth upon his daughter-in-law. His generosity evidently reflected the very heart of God on these matters. Joseph was rewarded in Pharaoh's court with Gold and Jewelry. Years later, Abraham's great-grandson, Joseph, was selected to be used of God. It was God Himself who instigated Joseph's rise to power in Pharaoh's court. His family had boldly denounced him as a dreamer. But through Divine arrangement, Joseph would inevitably wear Pharaoh's priceless ring and golden necklace: God's reward for service. The fleeing Israelites spoiled the Egyptians of much precious jewelry. 200 years later, Israel's descendants numbered in the hundreds of thousands - even millions. But times had changed, and Egypt had been hard on them. Yet these people were under God’s divine direction. Their future prosperity was sealed in prophetic guarantees. "Moses, tell the women that on the night before you flee the land, they are to take a spoil of the jewelry of the Egyptian women. I want them to have great and valuable possessions when they go. Be sure they all understand that I am with them. The jewelry will be a sign to them that I am generous to my people" (see Ex 11:2 and 12:36). Afterward, a strange thing happened. Moses was called up to Mount Sinai, and for days, no one heard from him. Everyone expected him back soon, but this was ridiculous. It had weeks since anyone had seen Moses. Curiosity peaked. Moses had unprecedented authority over these Hebrews. Aaron wonder how he got by with it. As long as they did as Moses said, fine. But if they didn't, Moses could be a monster. And at no time would it be more evident than the day he finally came down from the mountain, and found them partying, recklessly, with no thought or care about what God thought of their reveling. Their jewelry became idols to the Israelites. The most awesome thing they had done. The most valuable gifts God had given them, they turned into idols! Those crazy people had forgotten God and His fabulous mercy, and had molded a golden calf out of a large quantity of the jewelry, dancing around it, having the time of their lives, actually imagining this golden calf had been their deliverance from Egypt. The Holy Spirit was utterly grieved at their foolishness. In fact, if Moses hadn't mercifully intervened, God would have destroyed them at once. Moses' righteous indignation flared, and angrily forced them to grind the golden calf to powder , scatter the dust in water and drink it! It was as if God had said, "My Spirit might have dwelled within you, now be filled with your phony god! I hope you get sick!" Not to be mocked, God threatened to remove the presence of His Cloud by day, and Fire by night, warning them that if they didn't remove all their ornaments immediately, he would come down and destroy them all. In a dramatic act of national repentance, all Israel quickly stripped themselves of their jewelry. All of it. God was appeased. At a later time, God instructed Moses to take up a free-will offering for the building of the tabernacle. At the top of the long list of suggested items: "GOLD!" He was not forcing it out of them, but the suggestion was conspicuously specific. They took the hint, because "every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord." (Ex 35:22). And not just portions of what they owned, but they brought "all jewels of gold" to the Lord (vs 22). That was not the end of the matter. For in the centuries to come, as surely as their military victories included the spoils of precious jewelry in great wealth, God strictly imposed upon them to bring it to Him. "Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels" (Num 31:51). Even though the men had taken these spoils, every man for himself, they were collected, "what every man had gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets" (perhaps gold beads) "to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord" (verse 50). God Declared Jewelry an Abomination. Now, everyone knows that jewels can't buy salvation, so we must deduce that their offering was somehow intended as a reprieve for their past idolatry of jewelry. Eventually, God verbalized his hatred for the sight of jewelry on his people by instructing that anytime in the future when their conquests gained these spoils from enemy kingdoms, "thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing" (Deuteronomy 7:25,26). Even the kings were forbidden to accumulate personal collections of jewelry In the eventuality that God would set up kings over Israel, each was instructed in advance not to "greatly multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deut 17:17). Solomon would later transgress, and it cost him his relationship with God. In the very next generation, Joshua pronounced the sentence of death by stoning and by fire upon Achan and his entire family. The charge: keeping in their possession precious gold and silver, instead of turning it over to the treasury of the Lord. (Josh 7:21). Gideon sinned by desiring jewelry. Gideon was a mighty man of valour, greatly used of God, but in his latter years, Gideon made a request of the men of Israel: "that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey". They spread a garment, and threw in golden earrings, ornaments, collars, even the chains from the camels' necks. Gideon had a priestly vestment molded from it all, and "all Israel went a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house" (Judges 8:24-27). The Bible reveals a trend against jewelry. Every time Israel began to possess jewelry, it became an occasion for spiritual decline, through some form of vanity such as pride, sensuality or idolatry. It literally turned their hearts away from God. The evidence grows, that jewelry became increasingly offensive to God. Gideon had requested the jewels of the Ishmaelites. Note that "they had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites". The strong implication is that the Jews didn't have earrings. God never forgot the mockery associated with jewelry. Ezekiel refreshed the issue, reminding them that God had girded them with fine linen, "and covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain upon thy neck. And I put a jewel upon thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver" (Ezek l:16, see also Hosea 2:13). God raged over the fact that they played the harlot, committing spiritual and physical whoredoms with them. Nowhere in the Old Testament did God ever give them permission to take back their jewelry. Did God drop his objections to jewelry in the New Testament? Evidently not, since Paul admonished, "...that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair" (a hairstyle interwoven with jewels), "or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." (I Tim 2:9). Are all ornaments undesirable? The only ornaments we can be sure are allowed are spiritual: "even the ornament of a meek and quite spirit which is in the sight of God of great price" (1 Pet 3:1-4). Peter said, "silver and gold, have I none" (Acts 3:6), while Paul stated, "I have coveted no man's gold or silver" (Acts 20:33). Jesus told the disciples to leave gold and silver out of their ministerial baggage in Matt 10:9. Here are several reasonable conclusions:
The personal possession of jewelry or ornaments was shown to induce vanity, pride, sensuality and idolatry; vices no Christian would want. Alternately, we are offered the privilege of wearing the most beautiful of all ornamentation: the virtues of Godliness, which are many and multi-faceted. (continued . . While the natural eye relishes outward garnishings, and criticizes comeliness and shamefacedness, the Spirit of the Lord scarcely acknowledges store-bought beauty, but lavishes praise on spiritual virtue. While no one can deny the natural beauty of a fine piece of jewelry, nor berate its value in material terms, it is important to remember whose eyes we seek to please. The ornaments He thinks are beautiful have never been crafted by even the finest jeweler! [][][][]
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