Rev 16:15
I wrote this for another site but will post it here also.
Rev. 16:15 (NASB)
"Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame."
(John quoting the risen Jesus.)
This is just one of the hundreds of verses in the Bible that has made no sense to me over the years. What does staying awake have to do with being naked? We keep our garments in a sense by keeping them unspotted from the world - but why naked? How can someone steal your clothing while you sleeping while you are wearing them? The word garment here does not seem to be talking about the symbolic white robe used for the believer. It seems to be talking about ordinary clothing. This is just another question that we in the twenty-first century try to imagine or speculate an answer for and we often cannot.
I finally ran across a logical answer - from history of course. The answer comes from tractate Middos. There were twenty-four guards at the Temple during the night. There were three Priests or Kohanim and twenty-one Levites. The guards were stationed at the various gates to the Temple itself and also at the gates of the Temple Mount. In some circumstances the guards were stationed outside of the gates in order to be located outside of the sanctified area of the Temple. This was so the guards could sit down and rest. Guards in the sanctified area had to stand at all times.
In the Temple there were a few cardinal rules. You did not turn your back to the Holy of Holies. All duties and tasks were arranged this way. You never sat or laid down at any time in the sanctified areas. During the night it was the job of the captain of the guard to make his rounds and see that all was well. He made his rounds with probably a couple of torch bearers. When he approached the guard he would say"Peace be unto you." The guard would arise, if he were sitting, and greet him with the proper response. If the guard were found to be asleep the captain of the guard would beat him with the whip that he carried. - or he also had the option of setting the guard's clothing on fire as punishment. This was considered to be the more severe method of the two. There was one recorded case mentioned where the Levite had his clothes set on fire - but it was not the captain of the guard that did it: in this case it was the guard's contemporaries. The three Kohanim guards were exempt from this practice. If my loose fitting clothing were on fire it seems that my first instinct would be to get them off - they may burn but hopefully I would not.
John the revelator was said to have been a priest in the Temple. So they were all very familiar with the practice.
Larry
I wrote this for another site but will post it here also.
Rev. 16:15 (NASB)
"Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame."
(John quoting the risen Jesus.)
This is just one of the hundreds of verses in the Bible that has made no sense to me over the years. What does staying awake have to do with being naked? We keep our garments in a sense by keeping them unspotted from the world - but why naked? How can someone steal your clothing while you sleeping while you are wearing them? The word garment here does not seem to be talking about the symbolic white robe used for the believer. It seems to be talking about ordinary clothing. This is just another question that we in the twenty-first century try to imagine or speculate an answer for and we often cannot.
I finally ran across a logical answer - from history of course. The answer comes from tractate Middos. There were twenty-four guards at the Temple during the night. There were three Priests or Kohanim and twenty-one Levites. The guards were stationed at the various gates to the Temple itself and also at the gates of the Temple Mount. In some circumstances the guards were stationed outside of the gates in order to be located outside of the sanctified area of the Temple. This was so the guards could sit down and rest. Guards in the sanctified area had to stand at all times.
In the Temple there were a few cardinal rules. You did not turn your back to the Holy of Holies. All duties and tasks were arranged this way. You never sat or laid down at any time in the sanctified areas. During the night it was the job of the captain of the guard to make his rounds and see that all was well. He made his rounds with probably a couple of torch bearers. When he approached the guard he would say"Peace be unto you." The guard would arise, if he were sitting, and greet him with the proper response. If the guard were found to be asleep the captain of the guard would beat him with the whip that he carried. - or he also had the option of setting the guard's clothing on fire as punishment. This was considered to be the more severe method of the two. There was one recorded case mentioned where the Levite had his clothes set on fire - but it was not the captain of the guard that did it: in this case it was the guard's contemporaries. The three Kohanim guards were exempt from this practice. If my loose fitting clothing were on fire it seems that my first instinct would be to get them off - they may burn but hopefully I would not.
John the revelator was said to have been a priest in the Temple. So they were all very familiar with the practice.
Larry