The Ebionites

THE EBIONITES.

Ebionites: (from Hebrew, “the poor ones”) A Jewish-Christian sect that fl ourished up to the fourth century but probably survived in pockets for much longer. Th e Ebionites retained Jewish practices, including full observance of the law of *Moses, and had an adoptionist *Christology, treating *Jesus as a human messiah who received the *Holy Spirit at his *baptism. Works attributed to the Ebionites include the *Gospel of the Ebionites and the *Gospel of the Hebrews, which survive only in quotation, and the Clementine Recognitions and Homilies.

The Nazoræans.

Epiphanius would have it that the Christians were first called Iessæi, and says they are mentioned under this name in the writings of Philo. The followers of the earliest converts of Jesus are also said to have been called Nazoræi. Even towards the end of the fourth century the Nazoræans were still found scattered throughout Cœle-Syria, Decapolis, Pella (whither they fled at the destruction of Jerusalem), the region beyond Jordan, and far away to Mesopotamia. Their collection of the logoi was called The Gospel according to the Hebrews, and differed greatly from the synoptic accounts of the Canon. Even to this day a remnant of the Nazoræans is said by some to survive in the Mandaïtes, a strange sect dwelling in the marshes of Southern Babylonia, but their curious scripture, The Book of Adam, as preserved in the Codex Nasaræus, bears no resemblance whatever to the known fragments of The Gospel according to the Hebrews, though some of their rites are very similar to the rites of some communities of the "Righteous" referred to in that strange Jewish pseudepigraph The Sibylline Oracles.

Who the original Iessæans or Nazoræans were, is wrapped in the greatest obscurity; under another of their designations, however, the Ebionites or "Poor Men," we can obtain some further information. These early outer followers of Jesus were finally ostracized from the orthodox fold, and so completely were their origin and history obscured by the subsequent industry of heresy-hunters, that we finally find them fathered on a certain Ebion, who is as non-existent as several other heretics, such as Epiphanes, Kolarbasus and Elkesai, who were invented by the zeal and ignorance of fourth-century hæresiologists and "historians." Epiphanes is the later personification of an unnamed "distinguished" (epiphanes) teacher; Kolarbasus is the personification of the "sacred four" (kol-arba), and Elkesai the personification of the "hidden power" (elkesai). So eager were the later refutators to add to their list of heretics, that they invented the names of persons from epithets and doctrines. So with Ebion.

The Poor Men.

The Ebionites were originally so called because they were "poor"; the later orthodox subsequently added "in intelligence" or "in their ideas about Christ." And this may very well have been the case, and doubtless many grossly misunderstood the public teaching of Jesus, for it should not be forgotten that one of the main factors to be taken into account in reviewing the subsequent rapid progress of the new religion was the social revolution. In the minds of the most ignorant of the earliest followers of the public teaching, the greatest hope aroused may well have been the near approach of the day when the "poor" should be elevated above the "rich." But this was the view of the most ignorant only; though doubtless they were numerous enough.

Nevertheless it was Ebionism which preserved the tradition of the earliest converts of the public teaching, and the Ebionite communities doubtless possessed a collection of the public Sayings and based their lives upon them.

It was against these original followers of the public teaching of Jesus that Paul contended in his efforts to gentilize Christianity. For many a long year this Petro-Pauline controversy was waged with great bitterness, and the Canon of the New Testament is thought by some to have been the means adopted to form the basis of a future reconciliation; the Petrine and Pauline documents were carefully edited, and between the Gospel portion and the Pauline letters was inserted the new-forged link of the Acts of the Apostles, a carefully edited selection from a huge mass of legendary Acts, welded together into a narrative and embellished with speeches after the manner of Thucydides.

The Ebionite Tradition of Jesus.

How then did the original Ebionites view the person and teaching of Jesus? They regarded their leader as a wise man, a prophet, a Jonas, nay even a Solomon. Moreover, he was a manifestation of the Messiah, the Anointed, who was to come, but he had not yet appeared as the Messiah; that would only be at his second coming. In his birth as Jesus, he was a prophet simply. The New Dispensation was but the continuation of the Old Law; all was essentially Jewish. They therefore expected the coming of the Messiah as literally prophesied by their men of old. He was to come as king, and then all the nations would be subjected to the power of the Chosen People, and for a thousand years there would be peace and prosperity and plenty on earth.

p. 129

Jesus was a man, born as all men, the human son of Joseph and Mary. It was only at his baptism, at thirty years of age, that the Spirit descended upon him and he became a prophet. They, therefore, guarded his Sayings as a precious deposit, handing them down by word of mouth. The Ebionites knew nothing of the pre-existence or divinity of their revered prophet. It is true that Jesus was "christ," but so also would all be who fulfilled the Law. Thus they naturally repudiated Paul and his new doctrine entirely; for them Paul was a deceiver and an apostate from the Law, they even denied that he was a Jew.

It was only later that they used The Gospel according to the Hebrews, which Jerome says was the same as The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles and The Gospel of the Nazarenes, that is to say, of the Nazoræans. It should be remembered that these Nazoræans knew nothing of the Nazareth legend, which was subsequently developed by the "in order that it might be fulfilled" school of historicizers.

The Ebionites did not return to Jerusalem when the emperor permitted the new colony of Ælia Capitolina to be established in 138, for no Jew was allowed to return. The new town was Gentile. Therefore, when we read of "the re-constitution of the mother church" at Ælia Colonia, in Church historians, little reliance can be placed upon such assertions. The "mother church," based on the public teaching, was Ebionite and remained Ebionite, the community at Ælia Colonia was Gentile and therefore Pauline.

p. 130

Christianity, as understood by the Ebionites, being an essentially national doctrine, Paulinism was a necessity if any public attempt at universality was to be made; therefore it was that the true historical side of popular Christianity (the original Ebionite tradition) became more and more obscured, until finally it had so completely disappeared from the area of such tradition, that a new "history" could with safety be developed to suit the dogmatic evolution inaugurated by Paul.

The later forms of Ebionism, however, which survived for several centuries, were of a Gnostic nature, and reveal the contact of these outer communities of primitive Christendom based on the public teaching with an inner Jewish tradition, which evidently existed contemporaneously with Paul, and may have existed far earlier.

Justin the Gnostic The Book of Baruch

 The Book of Baruch

The teachings of this Justin (not to be confused with the famous Christian apologist Justin Martyr) are among several different mythic and doctrinal systems summarized in an antihereticalwork probably composed in Rome by the Christian writer Hippolytus around 222–235 C.E.24 According to Hippolytus, Justin made use of several sacred books, but Hippolytus summarizes the myth found in a book that Justin himself deemed particularly noteworthy, a book bearing the name of one of its mythic figures, Baruch (Hippolytus, Ref. 5.24.2–3).

The following is the outline of the system.

There are three principles of the Universe: (i.) The Good, or all-wise Deity; (ii.) the Father, or Spirit, the creative power, called Elohīm; and (iii.) the World-Soul, symbolized as a woman above the middle and a serpent below, called Eden. From Elohīm (a plural used as a collective) and Eden twenty-four cosmic powers or angels come forth, twelve follow the will of the Father-Spirit, and twelve the nature of the Mother-Soul. The lower twelve are the World-Trees of the Garden of Eden. The Trees are divided into four groups, of three each, representing the four Rivers of Eden. The Trees are evidently of the same nature as the cosmic forces which are represented by the Hindus as having their roots or sources above and their branches or streams below. The name Eden means Pleasure or Desire.

Thus the whole creation comes into existence, and finally from the animal part of the Mother-Soul are generated animals, and from the human part men. The upper part of the Garden is called the "most beautiful Earth"; that is to say, Cosmic Earth, and the body of man is formed of the finest. Man having thus been formed, Eden and Elohīm depute their powers unto him; the World-Soul bestows on him the soul, and the World-Spirit infuses into him the spirit. Thus were men and women constituted.

And all creation was subjected to the four groups of the twelve powers of the World-Soul, according to their cycles, as they move round as in a circular dance

But when the man-stage was reached, the turning-point of the world--process, Elohīm, the Spirit, ascended into the celestial spaces, taking with him his own twelve powers. And in the highest part of the heaven he beheld the Great Light shining through the Gate (? the physical sun), which led to the Light-world of The Good. And he who had hitherto thought himself Lord of Creation, perceived that there was one above him, and cried aloud: "Open me the gates that I may acknowledge the [true] Lord; for I considered myself to be the Lord." And a voice came forth, saying: "This is the Gate of the Lord; through this the righteous enter in." And leaving his angels in the highest part of the heavens, the World-Father entered in and sat down at the right hand of the Good One.

And Elohīm desired to recover by force his spirit which was bound to men, from further degradation; but the Good Deity restrained him, for now that he had ascended to the Light-realm he could work no destruction.

And the Soul (Eden) perceiving herself abandoned by Elohīm, tricked herself out so as to entice him back; but the Spirit would not return to the arms of Mother Nature (now that the middle point of evolution was passed). Thereupon, the spirit that was left behind in man, was plagued by the soul; for the spirit or mind desired to follow its Father into the height, but the soul, incited by the powers of the Mother--Soul, and especially by the first group who rule over sexual passion and excess, gave way to adulteries and even greater vice; and the spirit in man was thereby tormented.

Now the angel, or power, of the World-Soul, which Baruch.especially incited the human soul to such misdeeds, was the third of the first group, called Naas (Heb. Nachash), the serpent, the symbol of animal passion. And Elohīm, seeing this, sent forth the third of his own angels, called Baruch, to succour the spirit in man. And Baruch came and stood in the midst of the Trees (the powers of the World-Soul), and declared unto man that of all the Trees of the Garden of Eden he might eat the fruit, but of the Tree Naas, he might not, for Naas had transgressed the law, and had given rise to adultery and unnatural intercourse.

And Baruch had also appeared to Moses and the prophets through the spirit in man, that the people might be converted to the Good One; but Naas had invariably obscured his precepts through the soul in man. And not only had Baruch taught the prophets of the Hebrews, but also the prophets of the uncircumcised. Thus, for instance, Hercules among the Syrians had been instructed, and his twelve labours were his conflicts with the twelve powers of the World-Soul. Yet Hercules also had finally failed, for after seeming to accomplish his labours, he is vanquished by Omphalē, or Venus, who divests him of his power by clothing him with her own robe, the power of Eden below.

Last of all Baruch appeared unto Jesus, a shepherd boy, son of Joseph and Mary, a child of Christology.twelve years. And Jesus remained faithful to the teachings of Baruch, in spite of the enticements of Naas. And Naas in wrath caused him to be "crucified," but he, leaving on the "tree" the body of Eden--that is to say, the psychic body or soul, and the gross physical body--and committing his spirit or mind to the hands of his Father (Elohīm), ascended to the Good One. And there he beholds "whatever things eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man"; and bathes in the ocean of life-giving water, no longer in the water below the firmament, the ocean of generation in which the physical and psychic bodies are bathed. This ocean of generation is, of course, the same as the Brāhmanical and Buddhistic saṁsāra, the ocean of rebirth.

Hippolytus tries to make out that Justinus was a very vile person, because he fearlessly pointed out one of the main obstacles to the spiritual life, and the horrors of animal sensuality; but Justinus evidently preached a doctrine of rigid asceticism, and ascribed the success of Jesus to his triumphant purity.

Sophia and Creation Proverbs 8:22

Sophia and Creation

SOPHIA is BORN

Proverbs 8:22 "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; (New International Version)

THE LORD BROUGHT ME FORTH AS THE FIRST OF HIS WORKS, BEFORE HIS DEEDS OF OLD: This section was anticipated by Pro 3:19,20: "By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew." Now it is to be greatly amplified.

BROUGHT ME FORTH: "There are two roots 'qanah' in Hebrew, one meaning 'to possess', and the other meaning 'to create'. The older translations did not know of the second root, but suspected in certain places that a meaning like that was necessary (eg, Gen 4:1; 14:19; Deu 32:6). Ugaritic confirmed that it was indeed another root" (NEtn). Instead of "possessed" (AV), this new translation is attested in Ugaritic with the meaning "to create, bring forth" (cp Gen 4:1, re birth of Cain; Gen 14:19,22). Pro 8:22 reads in the KJV: "The LORD POSSESSED me [Wisdom] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old" -- this uses the old meaning of 'qanith' (to get, or acquire), and was adamantly supported and expounded by earlier commentators. But that translation surely misses the point; the context of Pro 8 is the Creation! The RSV, following the more recent scholarship, translates the same passage: "The LORD CREATED ME at the beginning of his work"; and the NIV translates: "The LORD BROUGHT ME FORTH as the first of his works." And now 'Wisdom' is seen, rightly, as the first of emanation of Yahweh's "creations"!

"To be brought forth" should be understood as an emanation of the Deity:

7:25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.

7:26 For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. (Wisdom of Solomon) 

AS THE FIRST OF HIS WORKS: 'As the "reshith" of His ways, or works"; cp sw Pro 1:7; 3:9; 4:7. The word can mean either "first" in point of time, or "most important" overall. Here it may signify "firstborn" particularly -- bearing in mind that, paradoxically, the "firstborn" in Bible terms was not necessarily the one "born FIRST", but could (and often did) mean a younger one elevated to a leading role.

Sophia is the daughter of Sige or "silence", (Greek σιγή) Sophia is the youngest Aeon she was elevated to the position of the firstborn

29 They say that Silence, who is the mother of all who were put forth by Depth, with regard to what she had nothing to say kept silence about the inexpressible and with regard to what she did not understand she called it incomprehensible. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus )

Pro 8:23I WAS APPOINTED: The verb "nissakhti" is not a common word; it occurs here and in Psa 2:6 for the coronation of the king. It means "installed, set." WBC points out, however, that it may be derived from "cakak" in Psa 139:13: "For you created ['qanah': cp v 22 here] my inmost being: you knit me together ['cakak'] in my mother's womb." If so, this reinforces the "birth" analogy, that goes along with the personification of "Wisdom".

FROM ETERNITY, FROM THE BEGINNING, BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN: "Eternity" = "olahm" -- the hidden age, the age to come. "Beginning" = "rosh", the head, first, or primary time. "World" = "eretz", the earth, or land.

In the Septuagint the word "BEGINNING" is"Archee"; signifying "first in order", from root "arch, archon" = a ruler. Cp v 15. "The beginning":

Thus Sophia's first act was to put forth (by emanation) the Demiurge the chief Archon: 

47 Now the Saviour became the first universal creator. “But Wisdom,” the second, “built a house for herself and hewed out seven pillars” and first of all she put forth a god, the image of the Father, and through him she made heaven and earth, that is “heavenly things, and the earthly” – the things on the right hand and on the left. This, as an image of the Father, then became a father and put forth first the psychic Christ, an image of the Son, then the archangels as images of the Aeons, then the angels of the archangels from the psychic and luminous substance to which the prophetic word refers, “And the Spirit of God was superimposed upon the waters,” declaring that in the combination of the two substances, made for him, the simple was superimposed but the heavy and material substance is borne under, the thick and coarse. But it is even suggested that this was incorporeal in the beginning when it is called “invisible.” Yet it was never invisible to any man that ever lived nor to God, for he made it. But he has somehow declared its absence of form, shape and design. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus )

Proverbs 8:22 ¶ Yahweh brought me forth (by a process of emanation) in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths (before the creation of the Pleroma and the boundaries between the depths of the immeasurable deep), I was brought forth; when there were no fountains (the Pleroma) abounding with water (the Aeons). 

Note the Pleroma did not always exist it was created by the Logos and Sophia:

And through his word the holy Pleroma came into existence......He created the holy Pleroma in this way: four gates with four monads within it, one monad to each gate and six helpers (parastatai) to each gate, and twelve dodecads to each gate, and five pentads of powers to each gate, making 24 helpers (parastatai) ; and 24 myriad powers to each gate, and nine enneads to each gate, and ten decads to each gate, and twelve dodecads to each gate, and five pentads of power to each gate, and an overseer who has three aspects - an unbegotten aspect, a true aspect and an unutterable aspect - to each gate.  (The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens (the Pleroma), I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth (Bythos):
28 When he established the clouds above (the Aeons): when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

Sophia and Creation 

Sophia creates the heavens and the earth and the archangels

Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Note "God created" — The Hebrew is bar a Elohim: a verb in the singular number combined with a noun in the plural : "Mighty ones he created" these are all the spirits which serve before him

In the book of Jubilees we see the creation of the archangels

[The book of Jubilees Chapter 2]
1 And the angel of the presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works.
2 For on the first day He created the heavens (the Pleroma) which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits (the Aeons) which serve before him -the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels [of the spirit of fire and the angels] of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide <and night>, and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in the knowledge of his heart.
3 And thereupon we (the Elohim, the spirits or the Aeons the Eternals) saw His works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works; for seven great works did He create on the first day.
4 And on the second day He created the firmament in the midst of the waters, and the waters were divided on that day -half of them went up above and half of them went down below the firmament (that was) in the midst over the face of the whole earth. And this was the only work (God) created on the second day.

This is to say, it is the Church consisting of many men that existed before the aeons, which is called, in the proper sense, "the aeons of the aeons." This is the nature of the holy imperishable spirits, upon which the Son rests, since it is his essence, just as the Father rests upon the Son.

Sophia and the Tree of Life

SOPHIA is the TREE OF LIFE and the POWER OF GOD
Proverbs 3
13 Happy is the man that findeth Sophia, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
19 The Lord by Sophia hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.


This is in the Tanakh or the "Old Testament" and can not be denied. This is the "WORD OF GOD" not man's interpretation.
SOPHIA LIVES

James the Just

 James the Just, Apostle Brother of Jesus 

James (Ya'aqov) the Just was the Apostle brother of Jesus (Yeshua) the Nazarene who became the leader of the early Jewish-Christian community in Jerusalem. James and the other brothers initially didn't approve of Jesus' ministry. But they did become followers later, and were members of the early community of believers who lived in Jerusalem after Jesus departed. 

James was one of the three Apostles who were always with the Savior in the most intimate moments of His inner life and exaltation (James, John and Peter). Among the three he was the more learned on the formal side. James and the other early followers in Jerusalem still regarded themselves as Jewish and followers of The Way taught by Jesus. They worshiped regularly in the main Jewish Temple, and continued to adhere to many of the old Jewish laws and traditions. Outsiders regarded them as a new Jewish sect and refered to them as Nazarenes.

After Paul began to convert non-Jews to the faith, a dispute arose over whether these new converts had to follow the old Jewish religious laws and traditions. Around 48 CE, Paul traveled to Jerusalem to try to resolve the issue. According to the Canonical 'Book of Acts', it was James who made the final decision. The fact that James made the final decision indicates that at this time he was the highest authority in the existing Christian community in Jerusalem. 

According to Apostolic tradition, James was the author of the Canonical 'Epistle of James.'

Further evidence for the importance of his role was uncovered hidden in a cave in Egypt in 1945, with the discovery of 13 leather-bound codices containing 52 Apocryphal treatises buried in a sealed jar. Written in Coptic and Greek during the 3rd and 4th centuries the leather-bound codices became known as 'The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.' A passage found in 'The Gospel of Thomas', indicates that Jesus designated his brother James to take over the leadership after he departed. And 'The Secret Book of James' (Apocryphon of James) a letter attributed to James of esoteric revelations which Jesus made only to Peter and himself. Singled out at a time when the Apostles were together writing down their books of what they remembered of Christs words and life. 

But ultimately the overall leadership gradually shifted from James to Paul. This happened because the number of converts in other cities grew rapidly, and soon far outnumbered the members of the original group in Jerusalem. James died in 62 AD, as a result of conflicts with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. According to the 1st century Roman Jewish historian Flavis Josephus, a Jewish council condemned him 'on the charge of breaking the law,' then had him executed by stoning. Another account of James' death was reported by 3rd-4th century early Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea. It says that the Pharisees, upset by his teachings, threw him from the summit of the Temple, stoned him, then broke his skull with a fuller's club. 

In 2002 an ancient ossuary (stone box which Jews used as a storage vessel for the bones of dead relatives) was discovered in Jerusalem bearing an Aramiac inscription 

'Ya'aqov bar Yosef akhui Yeshua' 

(James son of Joseph brother of Jesus) 

The ossuary was discovered empty and dates between the 1st century BC and 70 CE. And currently belongs to a private antiquities collector, its authenticity is still being questioned. If aithentic as indicated, the inscription would be the earliest surviving written reference to Jesus (Yeshua) the Nazarene. 

~“The Lord imparted the gnosis (knowledge) to James the Just, to John and Peter, after His Resurrection these delivered it to the rest of the Apostles, and they to the Seventy.”

-Clement of Alexandria

~"We are aware that you will depart from us, who will be our leader?"

Jesus answered "No matter where you come from, it is to James the Just that you shall go, for whose sake heaven and earth have come to exist." 

-The Gospel of Thomas

~You have asked me to send you a secret book revealed to Peter and me by the master, and I could not turn you down, nor could I speak to you, so I have written it in Hebrew and have sent it to you, and to you alone. But since you are a minister of the salvation of the saints, try to be careful not to reveal to many people this book that the savior did not want to reveal even to all of us, his twelve students. Nonetheless, those who will be saved through the faith of this treatise will be blessed.

~Now, the twelve students were all sitting together, recalling what the savior had said to each of them, whether in a hidden or an open manner, and organizing it in books. I was writing what is in my book. Look, the savior appeared, after he had left us, while we were watching for him. Five hundred fifty days after he rose from the dead, we said to him, 

“Did you depart and leave us?”

Jesus said, “No, but I shall return to the place from which I came. If you want to come with me, come.”

They all answered and said, 

“If you order us, we shall come.”

He said, “I tell you the truth, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven because I ordered it, but rather because you yourselves are filled. Leave James and Peter to me that I may fill them.”

When he called the two of them, he took them aside and commanded the rest to keep doing what they were doing.

~Again after this we wished to send our spirits up to the majesty. When we ascended, we were not allowed to see or hear anything. The other students called to us and asked us, 

“What did you hear from the teacher? What did he tell you? Where did he go?”

We answered them, “He ascended. He gave us his right hand, and promised all of us life. He showed us children coming after us, having commanded us to love them, since we are to be saved for their sakes.”

When they heard this, they believed the revelation, but they were angry about those who would be born. Not wishing to give them reason to take offense, I sent each of them to a different location. I myself went up to Jerusalem, praying that I might acquire a share with the loved ones who are to come.

I pray that the beginning may come from you. This is how I can be saved. They will be enlightened through me, by my faith, and through another’s that is better than mine. I wish mine to be the lesser.

-The Secret Book of James

~But after Paul, in consequence of his appeal to Cæsar, had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews, being frustrated in their hope of entrapping him by the snares which they had laid for him, turned against James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem had been entrusted by the apostles.The following daring measures were undertaken by them against him.

Leading him into their midst they demanded of him that he should renounce faith in Christ in the presence of all the people. But, contrary to the opinion of all, with a clear voice, and with greater boldness than they had anticipated, he spoke out before the whole multitude and confessed that our Saviour and Lord Jesus is the Son of God. But they were unable to bear longer the testimony of the man who, on account of the excellence of ascetic virtue and of piety which he exhibited in his life, was esteemed by all as the most just of men, and consequently they slew him. Opportunity for this deed of violence was furnished by the prevailing anarchy, which was caused by the fact that Festus had died just at this time in Judea, and that the province was thus without a governor and head.

The manner of James’ death has been already indicated by the above-quoted words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club. But Hegesippus, who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the fifth book of his Memoirs. He writes as follows

“James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles.He has been called the Just by all from the time of our Saviour to the present day for there were many that bore the name of James.

He was holy from his mother’s womb and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people."

Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek, ‘Bulwark of the people’ and ‘Justice,’ in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him.

Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the Memoirs, asked him, ‘What is the gate of Jesus?’

and he replied that he was the Saviour.

On account of these words some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects mentioned above did not believe either in a resurrection or in one’s coming to give to every man according to his works. But as many as believed did so on account of James.

Therefore when many even of the rulers believed, there was a commotion among the Jews and Scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole people would be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, 

‘We entreat thee, restrain the people for they are gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat thee to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus for we all have confidence in thee. For we bear thee witness, as do all the people, that thou art just, and dost not respect persons. Do thou therefore persuade the multitude not to be led astray concerning Jesus. For the whole people, and all of us also, have confidence in thee. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple, that from that high position thou mayest be clearly seen, and that thy words may be readily heard by all the people. For all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, are come together on account of the Passover.’

The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said

‘Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.’

And he answered with a loud voice, 

‘Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.’

And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ 

these same Scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, ‘We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.’

And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh! oh! the just man is also in error.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.’

So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, 

‘Let us stone James the Just.’ 

And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, the son of the Rechabites, who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet, cried out, saying, 

‘Cease, what do ye? 

The just one prayeth for you.’

And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.

These things are related at length by Hegesippus, who is in agreement with Clement. James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him.

Josephus, at least, has not hesitated to testify this in his writings, where he says,  

“These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ. For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man.”

And the same writer records his death also in the twentieth book of his Antiquities in the following words “But the emperor, when he learned of the death of Festus, sent Albinus to be procurator of Judea. But the younger Ananus, who, as we have already said, had obtained the high priesthood, was of an exceedingly bold and reckless disposition. He belonged, moreover, to the sect of the Sadducees, who are the most cruel of all the Jews in the execution of judgment, as we have already shown.

Ananus, therefore, being of this character, and supposing that he had a favorable opportunity on account of the fact that Festus was dead, and Albinus was still on the way, called together the Sanhedrim, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, James by name, together with some others, and accused them of violating the law, and condemned them to be stoned.

But those in the city who seemed most moderate and skilled in the law were very angry at this, and sent secretly to the king, requesting him to order Ananus to cease such proceedings. For he had not done right even this first time. And certain of them also went to meet Albinus, who was journeying from Alexandria, and reminded him that it was not lawful for Ananus to summon the Sanhedrim without his knowledge.

And Albinus, being persuaded by their representations, wrote in anger to Ananus, threatening him with punishment. And the king, Agrippa, in consequence, deprived him of the high priesthood, which he had held three months, and appointed Jesus, the son of Damnæus high priest.”

These things are recorded in regard to James, who is said to be the author of the first of the so-called catholic epistles. But it is to be observed that it is disputed at least, not many of the ancients have mentioned it, as is the case likewise with the epistle that bears the name of Jude, which is also one of the seven so-called catholic epistles. Nevertheless we know that these also, with the rest, have been read publicly in very many churches.

-Eusebius 

-Church History

Calendar of Enoch

 Shabbat Shalom! week 1 (month 1—day 7)

Gematria

Gematria

or

The Meaning of Numbers in the Scriptures

Today we are accustomed to writing numbers as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. in Hindu Arabic numerals which are easily learned and allow calculations to be performed. But in the text of both the Old and New Testaments numbers were written out in full as words. 

In the centuries before Christ, the Babylonians, Greeks and, later, the Jews developed gematria systems for attributing numeric values to the letters of the alphabet. So, for example, the Hebrew letters א and ק and the Greek letters α and ρ were given values of 1 and 100, and so forth for each letter of the alphabet.

Gematria is the study of the numeric equivalents of Hebrew and Greek letters in order to find hidden meanings in the words.  In both Hebrew and Greek (the language in which the Bible is written), there are only alpha characters. There are no numeric characters. Therefore, when a Hebrew would want to write a number, he would use the corresponding Hebrew letter.   Various numbers are supposed to have spiritual meanings.

HOW GOD EMPLOYS NUMBERS IN THE HOLY BIBLE

No. 1 Just as number 1 is the foundation of all mathematics, so Yahweh is the
beginning of all. Number 1 therefore in Scripture pertains to God.

No. 2 The number of separation, witness or opposites.

No. 3 The number of Divine perfection. The complete number, the first perfect
number.

No. 4 The number of creative work—the number of organization, sometimes referred
to as the world number.

No. 5 The number of grace—free gift of God—the number of mercy.

No. 6 The number of flesh or pertaining to that which will be destroyed.

No. 7 The second perfect number. The number of spiritual perfection. The
covenant number. The number of God's seal.

No. 8 The number of resurrection—a new beginning. The number of immortality.

No. 9 The number of finality. The number of judgment.

No. 10 The third perfect number. The number of ordinal perfection.

No. 11 The number of disorganization. The number of incompleteness.

No. 12 The fourth perfect number. The number of governmental perfection.

No. 13 The number of sin. The number of rebellion.

No. 14 Double of seven. The number of double spiritual benefits.

No. 15 3 X 5—The number describing the ultimate of grace or mercy.

No. 17 Seventeen is not a multiple of any number. It has no factors. It is a
combination of 10 (ordinal perfection) and 7 (spiritual perfection). It is
therefore indicative of perfection of spiritual order, (see Rom. 8:35-39).

No. 19 Combination of 10 and 9. Denotes Divine order connected with judgment.

No. 20 The number of expectancy. It is one short of the ultimate of spiritual
perfection—3 X 7.

No. 21 The ultimate of spiritual perfection - 3 X 7.

No. 22 The double of 11. It carries the meaning of 11 (disorganization or
incompleteness in intensified form).

No. 24 The double of 12 (governmental perfection) and speaks of the new or
spiritual Jerusalem.

No. 25 Carries the essence of the square of 5 (mercy or grace).- ^

No. 27 The cube of 3 X 3 X 3. The ultimate of completeness.

No. 28 The product of 7 (spiritual perfection) X 4 (number of creation).

No. 29 The product of 20 (expectancy) plus 9 (judgment).

No. 30 Perfection of Divine order. 3 X 10 - see Luke 3:23.

No. 37 The word of God.

No. 40 The number of probation, trial and chastisement.

No. 70 Perfect spiritual order - 7 X 10.

No. 153 Gematria of "The sons of God."

No. 666, 666 is the number of the antichrist, the numeric value of his name in Greek equivalent gematria. 

No. 144,000 12 X 12  

The gematria of the name "Jesus" in Greek results in 888.  In John 21:11, after the resurrection the disciples caught 153 fish. The word "fish" in Greek is '' which has a numerical equivalent of 1224, or 8 x 153.  Also, 153 people received a blessing from Jesus in the four gospels (not counting the 5000 and examples like that).

The Gnostic Understanding of the Tabernacle

 The Valentinian Teachings on the Tabernacle 

Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכַּן‎, mishkan), a transportable tent of worship used by Israel; at times also called “the tent of meeting.” (Ex 39:32, 40; .) In Hebrew it is called mishkan´ (residence; dwelling; tabernacle), ´o´hel (tent), and miqdash´ (sanctuary). In Greek it is referred to as skene´, which means “tent; booth; residence; dwelling place.”

Irenaeus provides evidence that the Valentinians envisaged the divine world as a complex structure resembling a series of temple rooms, with the ‘Pleroma’ (Fullness) as the holy of holies. According to the Valentinian myth which he relates, in the Pleroma is the invisible and incomprehensible First-Father, who is responsible for a series of emanations, or Aeons. For the Valentinians entry into the Pleroma is the ultimate stage of salvation for the ‘spiritual’.

For Valentinians there are multiple levels of interpretation when it comes to the temple or Tabernacle for example the Gospel of Philip understands the three structures or three rooms or chambers of the Temple to refer to baptism, redemption; and the bridal chamber:

There were three structures for sacrifice in Jerusalem. One opened to the west and was called the holy place; a second opened to the south and was called the holy of the holy; the third opened to the east and was called the holy of holies, where only the high priest could enter. The holy place is baptism; the holy of the holy is redemption; the holy of holies is the bridal chamber. (Gospel of Philip)

Here in the Gospel of Philip the Temple is divided into three sections "the holy place, the holy of the holy and the holy of holies" the holy place could refer to the Inner Court (1 Kings 6:36), or Court of the Priests (2 Chr. 4:9), outside the temple building were the brazen altar and Laver are located. 

It is possible that the porch or vestibule is counted here as a separate room. Philo also mentions three sections in Mos. 2. 101, but he describes the Tabernacle, not the Temple in Jerusalem, like the passage in the Gospel of Philip.

Heracleon understands the holy of holies to refer to the divine realm or Peroma: 

The sanctuary is the Holy of Holies, into which only the High-Priest enters, into which the spiritual go. The temple courtyard, where the Levites also enter, is a symbol of the animate ones who attain a salvation outside the Fullness (Pleroma). (Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John)

The Testament of Levi recounts an ascent into the heavenly Temple comparable to 1 Enoch. Researchers have argued that earlier versions of this text rely on a cosmology of three heavens through which Levi journeys. Later versions have expanded the heavens to seven ( See RH. Charles, The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (repr.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. xxviii; Kee, O T P , I, pp. 775-80 and 788-89 nn. 2d and 3a; )

Whoever belongs to the priestly order can go inside the curtain along with the high priest. For this reason the curtain was not torn only at the top, for then only the upper realm would have been opened. It was not torn only at the bottom, for then it would have revealed only the lower realm. No, it was torn from top to bottom. The upper realm was opened for us in the lower realm, that we might enter the hidden realm of truth. (Gospel of Philip)

Therefore, he says, it has a veil in order that the things may not be destroyed by the sight of it. And only the archangel enters it, and to typify this the high priest every year enters the holy of holies. From thence Jesus was called and sat down with Space, that the spirits might remain and not rise before him, and that he might subdue Space and provide the seed with a passage into the Pleroma. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

According to Valentinians theologians, the divine Fullness (pleroma) corresponds to the Holy of Holies in the Temple (Herakleon Fragment 13). Like the Holy of Holies, the Pleroma is separated from the "outer tent" (i.e. the cosmos) by a boundary or Limit which is often described as a curtain or "veil". 

The Gospel of Philip compares the hidden nature of the Pleroma to that of the Holy of Holies: "At the present time we have access to the visible aspects of creation. We say that they are mighty and glorious, but the hidden things are powerless and contemptible. Are the hidden aspects of Truth like this? Are they powerless? Are they contemptible? No, rather it is these hidden aspects that are mighty and glorious. The mysteries of Truth are manifestly representations and images. Thus the bridal chamber (i.e. Pleroma) remains hidden. It stands for the Holy in the Holy." (Gospel of Philip 105)

In the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus. 38 the allegory of the Temple is related to the ascent of the pneumatics to the Pleroma. Jesus is identified with the High Priest who is allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies. Strikingly, the Holy of Holies does not depict the Pleroma, but the throne of the Demiurge, which has a veil so that the spiritual human beings are not destroyed by the sight of it. The task of the Savior is to subdue the flames and to provide an entrance for the pneumatics to the Pleroma. For the allegory of the Temple in the Gospel of Philip, see Ronald McL. Wilson, The Gospel of Philip. Translated from the Coptic Text, with an Introduction and Commentary (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1962), 139-141.

The Heavenley Tabernacle

Gen 1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

expanse: the Hebrew word raqia sometimes translated "firmament" means, literally, an "expansion", and so indicates the Scriptural anticipation by many thousand years, of the modern scientists' "expanding universe". Raqah the verb is used by Jeremiah to speak of "silver spread into plates" (Jer. 10:9). Job speaks of Him "which alone spreadeth out the heavens" (Job 9:8), and who "stretcheth out the north over the empty place" (tohu, "without form" of Genesis 1:2), (Job 26:7). The stretched-out heavens are likened to a tent or tabernacle.

"That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in" (Isa. 40:22).

"He that created the heavens, and stretched them out" (Isa 42:5).

"That stretched forth the heavens alone" (Isa. 44:24; 51:13; Zech. 12:1)

Not only is the firmament spoken of in language that reminds of the Tabernacle, there is a reference in Job, that suggests that the earth too, is looked upon as the ground upon which this tabernacle of the sky rests.

Psa 19:5 LXX (18:5) In the sun he has set his tabernacle; and he comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber: he will exult as a giant to run his course.

Hebrew 9:11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.

Ex 25:9 According to all that I shew thee, [after] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make [it].

Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

The tabernacle was built after the pattern that was shown to Moses in the mount.

XXXI. (95) Now, Bezaleel, being interpreted, means God in his shadow. But the shadow of God is his word, which he used like an instrument when he was making the world. And this shadow, and, as it were, model, is the archetype of other things. For, as God is himself the model of that image which he has now called a shadow, so also that image is the model of other things, as he showed when he commenced giving the law to the Israelites, and said, "And God made man according to the image of God."{46}{#ge 1:26.} as the image was modelled according to God, and as man was modelled according to the image, which thus received the power and character of the model. (Allegorical Interpretation, III)

The Zohar, a mystical text believed to have been written in the 13th century, saw the tabernacle as a reflection of the process of the creation of the universe. Indeed, the Zohar points out, the language used to describe how God created the universe in the Book of Genesis is identical to the language used to describe the artist Bezalel’s building of the tabernacle in the Book of Exodus.

The Building of the Tabernacle

The tabernacle is symbolic of inner purification

The setting up of the tabernacle means the establishing of a new state of perception within the mind.

"The tabernacle or the tent of meeting" means that a definite point shall be established in mind where we shall dwell in the spirit of the Divine Mind composed of archetype ideas, which moves as a tent wherever we go.

It was not that God needed a physical sanctuary on earth, but that each one of us is called to build a tabernacle for God in our hearts, preparing ourselves to become a sanctuary for God.

"The  tabernacle of Meeting" can also be said to symbolize the indwelling spirit in a believer 

Bestowal for Bestowal

The first step toward the building was the giving of gifts (Exod. 25:1-9). A great variety was called for. The gifts included jewels, gold, silver, brass, spices, oil, skins, linen, acacia wood, and help in preparing the materials for the tabernacle and its furnishings, and in erecting it. The gifts had to be a freewill offering from the heart (Exod. 25:2). We are here shown that we must give up the material things of value before we can build the spiritual. Back of these material ideas, however, is the substance that is converted into the new. Nothing is lost in the divine economy. Every experience leaves its form in the soul, and in the divine alchemy may be converted into gold for the tabernacle.

The freewill offering would refer to the aeon Theletos

The Tabernacle as a body

The Tabernacle is a tent this tent is symbolic of the human body:

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 Peter 1:13 Yes, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Exodus 26:6 New Living Translation

Then make fifty gold clasps and fasten the long curtains together with the clasps. In this way, the Tabernacle will be made of one continuous piece.

The phrase, "the Tabernacle will be one continuous piece" demonstrates that all its parts together form a single whole.

In man too, there are a number of different limbs, upper and lower. Some are on the inside [such as the brain, heart, liver etc.], and some are on the outside [such as the arms and legs]. Yet all together they form one composite body called a man.

The Talmud tells us (Tractate Makkot 23b) that there are 613 commandments (mitzvot) in the Torah; 248 Positive Commandments (do's) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not's).

the various parts of the Tabernacle, just like the 248 mitzvot and the 248 limbs of the human body, all form a composite whole that reflects the Divine Image in which man was created.

The tabernacle represents the temporal body:

From these slides above we can see the Tabernacle is made up of human body parts on a natural level it is symbolic of the church of God which is supposed to be a living Tabernacle joined together in fellowship. This is called the body of Christ or the multitudinous Christ

Next the Tabernacle is symbolic of Adam Kadmon the Cosmic Man in kabbalah the 10 Sefirot make up the body of Adam Kadmon

The anthropomorphic name of Adam Kadmon denotes that it contains both the ultimate divine purpose for mankind, as well as an embodiment of the Sefirot (divine attributes).

The tabernacle is symbolic of the human body. Yet it is not the natural body but the spiritual body this body is known to most people as Adam Kadmon the Cosmic Man the 10 Sefirot make the body of Adam Kadmon

There are ten Sefirot there are ten items in the Tabernacle which symbolize the sefirot as follows

The cherubs on the Ark - keter

The Ark - bina

The Curtain - chochma

The Menorah (Lampstand) - chesed
The Table - gevura
The Altar - tiferet with its connection to malchut
The Basin and Jug or Laver - netzach and hod

All in its Weight/shekel - malchut

Because of this [that all is included in its weight/shekel] Israel were commanded, "This [in Hebrew 'zeh'] they shall give…half a shekel according to the shekel of the Sanctuary." (Ex. 30:13)
The word 'zeh' hints at the sefira of malchut as in the verse "This [zeh] is the gate to God" (Psalms 18:20). We enter the realm of the spiritual through a properly rectified reality (malchut).

Note that malchut would correspond to the lowest aeon wisdom or Sophia 

The Pleroma is also described as a body: 

His members, however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the places which are adorned, so that they might receive from them resemblance to the images and archetypes, like a mirror, until all the members of the body of the Church are in a single place and receive the restoration at one time, when they have been manifested as the whole body, namely the restoration into the Pleroma. (The Tripartite Tractate)

The Aeons are also described as a body:

Just as the present aeon, though a unity, is divided by units of time and units of time are divided into years and years are divided into seasons and seasons into months, and months into days, and days into hours, and hours into moments, so too the aeon of the Truth, since it is a unity and multiplicity, receives honor in the small and the great names according to the power of each to grasp it - by way of analogy - like a spring which is what it is, yet flows into streams and lakes and canals and branches, or like a root spread out beneath trees and branches with its fruit, or like a human body, which is partitioned in an indivisible way into members of members, primary members and secondary, great and small. (The Tripartite Tractate)

Aeon=Age. Age= period. As a period of time is an accurate description of a interpretation of Aeon as applied to the Bible. However with Gnosticism Aeons are more complex Aeons are first aspects or attributes of the Father. For example, logos is an Aeon, Wisdom, hope, grace etc. Next aeons are spatial as well as temporal. They can be divine beings which have also emanated from the Father   

Body meaning: 

the use of the body domain to archetypal things that do not from the outset have anything to do with the human body, in other words, body metaphors. The body should be understood as a corporate being like the Body politic in Hobbes' Leviathan

Basically the pleroma is a body made up of the emanations of the Aeons 

The Aeons Make Up the Spiritual Tabernacle

According to Irenaeus in Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 18) the Tabernacle is made up from the aeons or emanations. Irenaeus does not go into detail only a summary of the teaching. I believe the purpose of the Aeons in the Tabernacle was to show the levels of ascension in the divine realm. However Philo of Alexandria gives us some information on how we are to understand this: 

XXXIII. (132) But, if indeed one is to understand these things as said not of the tabernacle or altar of sacrifice which are visible, and which are made of inanimate and perishable materials, but of those objects of speculation which are invisible and perceptible only by the intellect, of which these other things are only the images perceptible by the outwards senses; he will all the more marvel at the explanation. (133) For since the Creator has in every instance made one thing a model and another a copy of that model, he has made the archetypal pattern of virtue for the seal, and then he has on this stamped an impression from it very closely resembling the stamp. Therefore, the archetypal seal is the incorporeal idea being a thing as to its intrinsic nature an object of the outward senses, but yet not actually coming within the sphere of their operations. Just as if there is a piece of wood floating in the deepest part of the Atlantic sea, a person may say that the nature of wood is to be burned, but that that particular piece never will be burnt because of the way in which it is saturated with salt water. XXXIV. (134) Let us then look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas, the one being the idea of incorporeal virtue, and the other as the emblem of an image of it, which is perceptible by the outward senses. Now it is easy to see the altar and the things which are on it, for they have all their preparations out of doors, and are consumed by unquenchable fire, so as to shine not by day alone, but also by night; (135) but the tabernacle and all things that are therein are invisible, (Philo of Alexandria, On Drunkenness)

Philo tells us to look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas. These incorporeal ideas are the archetypal pattern from which the tabernacle was made. These ideas as Philo refers to them are the aspects or attributes of the Father which are called Sefirot in Kabbalah and Aeons in Gnosticism.

 According to Philo this tabernacle is wisdom:

Do you not see that also when he received the tabernacle from God, and this tabernacle is wisdom, in which the wise man tabernacles and, dwells, he fixed it firmly and founded and built it up strongly, not in the body but out of it; for he likens this to an encampment, to a camp I say full of wars and of all the evils which war causes, and which has not portion with peace. "And it was called the tabernacle of Testimony;"{29}{#ex 33:7.} that is to say wisdom was borne witness to by God.

 

The Following is a taken adapted and amplified from Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 18): 

The Triacontad

The outside length of the structure is calculated from the figures respecting the side boards in Exodus 26:16-18 which says each side contained 20 boards, each 1½ cubits wide, yielding 30 cubits overall for the Tabernacle’s outer side measurement.

Now the length of the holy tabernacle was thirty cubits; corresponds to the Triacontad.

The Triacontad is a group of 30 aeons

Each part of the Tabernacle is related to different Aeons. Each level has its emanations. it's Syzygies of male and female aeons. By level I mean the groups of the aeons which are referred to as the Tetrad, the Ogdoad, the Decad and the Dodecad 

Thirty is the sum total of the number of the Aeons the union of all these, which is called the Triacontad

Thirty is compounded of 6 χ 5 which is the number of flesh (6) blended with grace (5). That number was accepted of the angel.

Allowing thirty days to a month in a lunar year, the number of days totals 370. However, it is claimed that every alternate month in the Jewish calendar is limited to 29 days, making this period approximately 365 days, or a solar year.

The number 30 (2+4+6+8+10=30), which is also the total number of aeons in the Pleroma is called the Triacontad

triacontad: The group of thirty aeons divided into the ogdoad (eight), the duodecad (twelve), and the decad (ten). 

 the Dodecad (2+4+6) as well as the Triacontad (2+4+6+8+10=30)

The form of Valentinianism most familiar today espoused thirty aeons, the Triacontad. In this system, which seems to have been widespread and popular even then, the classical Ogdoad is expanded to include a Decad and a Dodecad. (chs.harvard.edu/)

In the Valentinian Exposition from The Nag Hammadi Library refers to the Triacontad four times:

But the Decad from Word and Life brought forth decads so as to make the Pleroma become a hundred, and the Dodecad from Man and Church brought forth and made the Triacontad so as to make the three hundred sixty become the Pleroma of the year. And the year of the Lord (Valentinian Exposition)

Sometimes the Triacontad led to yet more aeons. In a variation of this extended system, the Ogdoad, Decad, and Dodecad are synthesized to get 360 (8 × 10 × 12), “the Pleroma of the year,” which is then linked to the year of the Lord (Isaiah 61.2). What role these 360 aeons played is unclear (chs.harvard.edu/)

The Duodecad

As to the Duodecad, the twelve sons of Jacob, Genesis 35:22, Genesis 49:28 from whom also sprung twelve tribes — the breastplate of the high priest, which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little bells, — the twelve stones which were placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain, Exodus 24:4 

The Duodecad a group of twelve Aeons

A believer starts off in ignorance and error (See the Gospel of Truth) before entering the gate of the court 

The gate of the court would represent wisdom (Sophia) the last or the lowest aeon her partner is willed or Will (Theletos) a person has to will themselves into the outer court of the Tabernacle. 

Theletos meaning natural or free will,

This is the beginning of Ascension 

Upon entering the Tabernacle a believer becomes a Child of Ecclesia (Ecclesiasticus) and enjoys the Blessedness (Macariotes)

  

The Decad

The Tabernacle has ten curtains (Exodus 26:1, Exodus 36:8), and the gates measure ten cubits, all symbols of the Decad.

Exodus 36:21 Now the columns of ten cubits [high], and the ten sons of Jacob who were at first sent into Egypt to buy corn, and the ten apostles to whom the Lord appeared after His resurrection,--Thomas being absent,--represented, according to them, the invisible Decad.

Ex 26:1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle [with] ten curtains [of] fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: [with] cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.

Moses carefully enumerated the curtains as being ten, declaring these a type of the ten Aeons;

The length of the pillars as being ten cubits, with a reference to the Decad of Aeons.

The Decad is a group of ten aeons

The Ogdoad

Exodus 26:19 "You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons and two sockets under another board for its two tenons;

"And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver" — Forty represents eight multiplied by five. Eight is the number of a new beginning, being the day of Christ's resurrection: the eighth day, and the first at the same time.

Exodus 26:22 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards.

"Thou shalt make six boards" —This is the number of flesh, but with two corner boards, the west required eight boards in all, the number of perfection. In association with the Most Holy, flesh is perfected.

Exodus 26:25 "There shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board.

"And they shall be eight boards"

The eight boards were made up of six conventional boards, and two corner boards, split in two, and set at right angles to form two angle boards. This made eight in all, the number of perfection

The Hebdomad

Ex 25:31 “Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 35 One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 36 The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. 37 “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.

What of the lamp-stand, which had seven branches and seven lamps these indicate the holy hebdomad

hebdomad a group of seven aeons it also represents the seven heavens and the seven archangels

The Tetrad

The tabernacle was made of four things, and the stones on the high priest’s robe were arranged in four rows of precious stones, indicates the Tetrad (Genesis 1:14–19; Exodus 26:1, 28:17).

Ex 27:16 And for the gate of the court [shall be] an hanging of twenty cubits, [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: [and] their pillars [shall be] four, and their sockets four.

The courts of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, being composed of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, refer to the number of the Tetrad. 

Ex 28:17 And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones; in the first row will be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;

Now, the long robe of the priest coming down to his feet, as being adorned with four rows of precious stones, the precious stones arranged in four rows indicates the Tetrad; 

Tetrad a group of four aeons 

Bythos and Sige

Exodus 25:20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

brother (Exodus 25:20 37:9) and sister (Exodus 26:3) refer to the first syzygies Bythos (βυθός, "depth" Romans 11:33-36) and Sige ("silence Romans 16:25) 

The Archangels or Cherubims of Glory over-shadowing the Mercy Seat with their wings covering the mercy seat the two Cherubim represent Bythos and Sige. The top or lid of the Mercy Seat were the wings covering it represents the boundary between the One and the rest of the Pleroma

Summary

The Tabernacle is basically about ascension into the divine realm 

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