HEBREW WORD STUDY – A CLEAN VESSEL – BIKELI TAHOR בכלי טהור  Beth Kap Lamed Yod   Teth Hei Vav Resh

Isaiah 66:20: “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations upon horses and chariots and in litters and upon mules and upon swift beasts to my holy mountain Jerusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.”

II Timothy 2:20: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.”

Isaiah 66:20 is a reference to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after coming out of captivity.  I tend to disagree with a view that this represents the Jews entering the church as that is done by faith. This is showing a return by various modes of transportation.  It is a return after years in exile.  The Jews had lost their home, homeland, and all their possessions.  Perhaps many of us can relate to Israel being in captivity. Yet, they did return from their captivity as an offering in a clean vessel.

It is interesting that this return would be considered an “offering.” The word used for
offering is minchah. There are two possible root words for minchah. The Masoretic text pointed this up to indicate the root as manach which means a gift or offering.  However, I tend to agree with rabbinical writings that teach that the root word should be nuch which means a rest or a pleasant sweet smelling aroma. It could also mean a delight or pleasure. This would be more appropriate as it would fit the context and the words clean vessels. Hence the return from exile is not an offering to God but a pleasure to God. 

One modern translation renders the clean vessel as ceremonial clean. Such a rendering ignores the culture of the day that this was written in. A clean vessel is bikeli tahor in the Hebrew which spoke of a very common vessel in oriental culture as it is today. A potter often made vessels which were referred to as vessels for honorable use and vessels for  dishonorable use.  Say you go to the potter and ask to purchase a vessel. He will ask you if you want to use it to go to a well or fountain to fetch water. If that is the case he will give you a vessel of honorable use. This is what is referenced in II Timothy 2:20. The vessel for honorable use will be used to give out pure water to quench the thirst of visitors or strangers. If you go into the house of a peasant you will find three vessels. Two large vessels which hold about five gallons of water and one small vessel. You will be instructed to take the small vessel and pour water for one of the large vessels. Both large vessels look the same, but one is for honorable use, it contains pure water. The second vessel is for dishonorable use, it contains used and stale water. It is often the water used to wash one’s hands and feet after journeying through the dust of the desert. It appears to look like the vessel of honorable use, it too holds five gallons and has two handles. You could not tell the difference, but the potter can tell and explain to you the difference. The vessel of dishonor receives much but gives out very little. This is the empty vessel of pleasure that is mentioned in Jeremiah 22:28: “[Is] this man Coniah a despised broken idol? [is he] a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?”

After a while this vessel of dishonor becomes slimy and develops an odor. At this point it is placed in the backyard as sort of a garbage can and becomes known as the abominable vessel as mentioned in Isaiah 65:4: “Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels;”

The vessel of honorable use gives out life giving water to thirsty travelers. It is handled by many unclean hands and before long it’s looks are marred but it’s nature has not changed. So, the vessel is taken to the potter who will scrap it and file it to remove all the uncleanness that accumulated over time by being handled by dirty hands. After being scraped and filed, the vessel is then returned to the furnace and burned where it comes out clean without and within so it can again be put to use to give out life giving clean and pure water to thirsty travelers.  This is vessel is known as a clean vessel or the bikeli tahor.

I was praying this evening and I guess really belly aching to God. It seemed in the past when I would prayed I would get almost instant response. Now it appears like there is silence from heaven, God did not show up at that eleventh hour, I did not experience the  deliverance that would result in a real amen testimony. Instead’ I ended up like Israel in captivity. I asked God this evening, “Why? What did I do that was so wrong, why am I being driven into captivity?”  

I had a dream and in this dream I saw an honorable vessel that had faithfully been giving out the water of life for many years, but then I saw the years pass  as it was picked over by many soiled hands. During these many years these unclean hands have soiled this vessel with attitudes, guilt, failures, pride, and all sorts of uncleanness. Then I saw this vessel picked up by the divine “Potter” scraped, filed and put back into the furnace and the fires to be made into a clean vessel bikeli tahor for His pleasure, to be used again to serve an honorable use of giving out life giving water. 

There comes a time in the lives of all Christians when our vessel we must return to the Divine Potter to be scraped, filed and put back into the furnace so we can return as a bikeli tahor a clean vessel worthy of giving out the water of life.

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