The Laver
Exodus 30:17
"The washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26).

LITTLE is recorded concerning this piece of furniture, yet it was extremely important. At the Laver the priests washed before attending on the Altar or entering the Tabernacle. Yet its shape or size is not given nor are we told what happened to it when it was conveyed from place to place. Paul aligns the Laver with the Word, writing:

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it (the Ecclesia) with the washing (Greek - loutron, or laver) of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26). The Word is the medium of sanctification (John 17:17), but its teaching is hot openly manifested but must be sought out and meditated upon. Perhaps that is why the Laver appears to be enshrouded with a certain element of mystery.

The Laver was a brazen vessel for the purpose of washing. It was made from the looking glasses of certain of the women of Israel (Exod. 38:8). In those days, mirrors (as the word should be rendered) were made of polished brass. The Laver was located between the Altar of Burnt Offering and the entrance into the Holy Place. Here the priests washed their hands and feet before approaching the Altar or entering the Holy Place.

These requirements impressed Israel with the lesson that all approaches to Yahweh, whether it he in sacrificial offering or tabernacle service and worship, must be preceded by the washing of the hands and feet.

The Laver was a very significant feature of the furniture of the Tabernacle. It acted like a pivot point in the activities of the priests as they went about their Ecclesial duties. The hands that performed the service to Yahweh were cleansed to ensure that all that was done was acceptable. The fact that typified the priest's walk before Yahweh and in His sanctuary, were cleansed of the pollutions of the earth. The cleansing was a regular experience to each priest occurring, no doubt, numerous times each day, as offering followed offering resulting from the many Israelites who needed to present their sacrifices at the Tabernacle door.

The principle of washing, or cleansing, finds frequent use in Scripture. The application of washing by water to illustrate the effect of the Word of God upon peoples' minds and lives, is also a familiar one.

The words recorded acted upon his mind like cleansing water to remove any human inclination to agree with the tempter's proposals. Thus figuratively, his hands and feet were "cleansed" as he prepared to enter his priestly service in the midst of the Israel Ecclesia of his day, and to be the sanctuary of Yahweh in Israel.

The Laver holds similar lessons for us. The water of the Word is able to cleanse us Sc) that our life's walk before Yahweh ("feet") and our service for Him ("hands") can he acceptable. (cp. Psa. 119.9; John 15:3; Titus 3:5; Eph. 5:26). In this last reference, Paul employs the original word 'loutron' which has been rendered "washing". As with the Lord, so we also must be mentally "washed" before we offer the sacrifice of service, or before we enter the fellowship and service of the Ecclesia Holy Place (Psa. 26:6).

The effect of such "washing" of the Word will influence eyes, tongue, hands, feet, the whole body, as the motor nerves respond to the brain's commands. Thus, "as a man thinketh in his heart (or mind), so is he" (Prov. 23:7)

When the power of the written word is thus changed from words to mental attitudes (Phil. 2:5) and Godly actions (v.12), it can be said that the Laver is fulfilling its purpose as a symbol of the fleshly or carnal mind being surrendered, or offered, as were the brass mirrors of Godly women in Israel. The vessel thus becomes one that is "meet for the master's use" - one that will be filled with the Word for the cleansing of the servants of Yahweh. So Paul exhorted: "If a man therefore purge himself of these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:21). He makes reference to the "laver of regeneration" in Titus 3:5, an expression that denotes the need of continual washing thereat. And the Psalmist declared: "I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass Thine altar, 0 Yahweh" (Psa. 26:6). We need constant recourse to the Word of God, the antitypical Laver, that its regenerative influence may so dominate us to make our worship acceptable unto Christ at his coming. Thus: "Christ loved the Ecclesia, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the Laver of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious ecclesia, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27).

That was the lesson the Laver taught from its prominent position outside the Tabernacle door, as Israelites saw the priests constantly washing thereat, that they may offer acceptably before their God. If priests had to constantly wash, whose lives were given entirely to the will of God, how essential was the antitypical Laver, the Word of God, to every Israelite desiring salvation.