The book of Ezra gives an almost odd amount of attention to vessels. These holy vessels, whether cups, bowls, or flagons, are either dedicated as tribute or were used in temple service. The two Hebrew words translated as ‘vessel’ in most English translations are used a total of 14 times. It seems that Ezra is trying to drive a point here. But what is it? Why would a book which we know to be mainly dealing with the rebuilding of the temple be concerned with cups and bowls? In what follows, I will demonstrate that temple vessels function as microcosms of God’s holy people, especially in regards to their holiness, participation in liturgical worship, and need for watchfulness and care.
The fact that Ezra is intentionally concerned with holy dishware is made more obvious when we read of his particular mention of the vessels that were confiscated by Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian exile. Ezra goes out of his way to make sure we know that, after Cyrus’ decree to have exiles return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, Cyrus, “also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods” (Ezra 1:7).
Ezra reminds us how the vessels spent their time in exile. They were subjected to the shame of being filled with Babylonian brews that were dedicated to false gods. In Daniel 5:1–4, we read of this striking scene:
Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
These vessels were looted and deported to Babylon. They went from Yahweh’s house to a stranger’s palace. They have been passed from the hands of a Levitical priest to the lips of pagans. Vessels that were once used in service to the God of Israel are now being used in drinking parties dedicated to false gods of gold.
But again, what is the point here? Hebrew narrative is notoriously stingy when it comes to giving away details. Why did Daniel go on about the vessels, and why does Ezra? The answer is found in appreciating the glorious weight and depth of Biblical symbology.
Not Mere Cups
For Ezra, Daniel, and even Paul and our Lord Jesus, cups are not mere cups. Vessels are meaningful symbols for persons. Cups are designed not only to receive and be filled but to quench thirst by giving and being poured out. They are filled only to fill another. Some cups are hypocritical and deceiving, as they are clean on the outside but filthy where it really counts (Matthew 23:26).
For Ezra in particular, vessels serve as a powerful metaphor for God’s elect, reflecting their creation, suffering, and ultimate restoration. They work well as microcosms of the exiled Israelite’s experience. These vessels need to be recovered. They need to go back to Jerusalem, for that is where they belong. They were created for service in the sanctuary of the true God. These holy vessels have a creation story. Like Adam, they were retrieved from the ground, formed and shaped by the Spirit of Yahweh (Bezalel, the chief artisan of the Tabernacle, is the first in the Biblical storyline to be explicitly described as filled with the Spirit; Exodus 31:1–3). Bezalel is a vessel full of the Spirit, forming other vessels for Yahweh’s house. It’s the same pattern we’ll see in the Apostle Paul, who pours out his very own life as a drink offering in service to the mission of God. Before he is poured out for the sake of the faith, Paul is at pains to ensure his child in the faith, Timothy, is a holy and useful vessel in the Master’s house (2 Timothy 2:20–22).
Later, the vessels that are cast by Huram-Abi for Solomon’s temple undergo the suffering and scourge of exile. Like metallic ore, the Israelites are extracted from their original habitation and separated to be smelted by the refining fire of exilic suffering. Like the metallurgical process, this fiery trial will refine the people of God, and they will come out in newfound glory under Ezra’s leadership. After being refined, their increased maturity shines forth, as they readily hearken to the voices of Haggai and Zechariah and quickly get to work rebuilding the house of God.
The restoration of the vessels are highlighted in Ezra 8. Very directly, Ezra associates the holiness of the priests with the holiness of the vessels. Speaking to twelve leading priests (symbolizing Israel as a restored priest to the world), Ezra says pointedly,
You are holy to the LORD, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the LORD (8:28–29).
The priests must stay alert and ensure that their vessels remain holy. They must guard and keep them. The same verb translated here as ‘keep’ is used in Genesis 2 when Adam is placed in the garden to ‘keep’ it. Such ‘keeping’ language signals that the danger of a fall lurks close by. Sadly, this is where the book of Ezra ends up, in the fall of the priesthood, with Ezra weeping and confessing that many have taken the forbidden fruit of foreign women and have failed to keep themselves clean. But the concern with vessels has not left the narrative. Given the nature of the sin (marrying foreign women), the priests’ very own vessels have been flagrantly defiled. Earlier in the Hebrew Scriptures, David uses vessel language to tell Ahimelech the priest that his men have kept themselves chaste from women before going out on their expedition (1 Samuel 21:5). By marrying foreign women, the returned exiles in Ezra have not kept their vessels holy. Vessel language, applied to sex and including the idea of ‘being filled with love’, is found elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, notably in the book of Proverbs where the son is warned of the forbidden fruit of the adulteress (7:18). Even in the New Testament, when discussing sanctification and the need for sexual purity, the Apostle Paul literally speaks of the need to control one’s own vessel, though most English translations obscure this by rendering the word for vessel as ‘body’.1 By taking the forbidden fruit of pagan women, the returned exiles, including some of the priests, have defiled holy Israel. The book of Ezra ends in an abrupt cliff, leaving the reader wondering how deep, lasting purification and rest will come to the vessels of God’s house.
Cup of the New Covenant
Centuries then pass from the time of Ezra. Reforms give way to setbacks, and even more sacrilegious torment is inflicted upon Israel by the hands of foreign powers. There are bouts of religious zeal for the peculiar purity of Israel and its worship, but by the opening of the New Testament, Israel is once again subjugated and defiled.
Hope is sparked by the birth of John the baptizer. His birth cues the prophetic message which announces that God’s people will soon be delivered from the defiling hands of their enemies in order to “serve Him without fear” (Luke 1:74). It’s no coincidence that John’s main duty is baptizing—that’s exactly what these vessels need. To prepare for the proper reception of the coming Messiah, a washing is in order.
Once Israel is washed and ready, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, comes forth filled with grace and truth. And from his fullness the people of God receive grace upon grace (John 1:16–17). The Messiah himself comes as a holy vessel. The fullness of the Spirit is in Him, even without measure, and so the gracious words of God pour forth from His lips. The Holy Vessel is baptized to fulfill all righteousness, and those who are thirsting for righteousness come to him and have their fill. Flocks of the faithful come as deers panting for living water. The Good Shepherd gives them true food and true drink and satisfies them. But satisfaction isn’t stagnant. The satisfied seek the good and joy of others so that their joy would be even more full (1 John 1:4). The satisfied are sent on mission. On mission, satisfaction moves to sacrifice. Christ the Holy Vessel from heaven, out of the fullness of love for his own, lifts up the cup of the new covenant in his blood and then drinks the cup that the Father has given. He was seized, spat on, scoured, and rejected. On the cross, he was “poured out like water” until he finally “poured out his soul to death” (Psalm 22:14–15; Isaiah 53:12).
As the resurrected high priest after the order of Melchizedek, our Lord Jesus is still handling and guarding holy vessels. With the Father by the Spirit, he is conforming vessels in his own holy image. We being made priests by him, filled by the Holy Spirit, are made ready to pour out our own blood as a drink offering for the sake of the faith if it comes to it. We are eager to be useful, ready for every good work. Being filled with hope, we pour ourselves out. Our steadfast hope is that we will one day raise our cups at the great marriage supper of the Lamb. We will celebrate the Bridegroom, the one who drank from the cup of suffering for those he has loved (John 18:11). Upon Christ was the wrath of God poured out, but upon us he has graciously poured out His Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we feast with the Lord now at His Table in anticipation of the fullness of joy to come.
With such a privilege as the Spirit Himself, it is no wonder the Apostle Paul has such an Ezrahite force behind his moral exhortations to the Corinthians: shall we take our vessels and fill them in the house of a prostitute? On the contrary, we must touch no unclean thing. We must beware lest we yoke ourselves to pagans and defile God’s holy temple (2 Corinthians 6:14–16). We must take care that our dedication to the Lord as holy vessels is not derailed by defilement. Cups are not mere cups for Ezra. And for the Apostle Paul, what we do with our bodies cannot be reduced to the mere physical and outward—the inside of our cups must be clean too. We have been washed, we have been sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11). And the good news of the kingdom is this: Christ our Lord has secured our place as holy vessels in the true temple in order to serve him forever without fear of defilement. The book of Ezra finds its satisfying fulfillment. Now, our task as priests is to transmit holiness: to pour the joy of holiness into the hollow, into those who have been hollowed out by the unhallowed, until the whole world itself will be as one vessel filled with the glory of the Lord, with praises being poured out by myriads.
Maranatha!
Jason Svintsitsky lives in Batavia, Ohio with his wife and three children where he serves as a pastoral apprentice at East River Church. He holds an MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary along with graduate certificates in Hebrew and Greek Exegesis.
NOTES
- See 1 Thessalonians 4:4. The King James Version and New King James retain the literal ‘vessel’. ↩︎