The Tabernacle Colors and the Phi and Lucas Ratios
The Bible tells us God gave Moses certain colors relating to the construction of the Tabernacle.
As it says in Exodus 26:1, “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman.”
This reference to the combination blue, purple and scarlet in the construction of the tabernacle appears 24 times in Exodus 25 through 39, describing not only the colors to be used in the Tabernacle curtains, but also waistbands, breastplates, sashes and other garments of the High Priest.
Exodus 36 gives us details of the colors utilized in the veil of the Tabernacle depicting the Cherubim. Let’s consider some of this color symbolism in the services of the Tabernacle and Temple.
Exodus 36:35-36 And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work. And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.
The veil hung from four pillars, representing the terrestrial number, and the earth’s orientation to the four Cardinal Directions of the horizon. The symbolism of the number four is prominent in the imagery above, not only in the four pillars holding the Tabernacle’s veil, but also in the four colors of the Tabernacle shown in the veil. The four colors are blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. Blue represents peace, showing us the presence of God and is seen in the Son of God as the Prince of Peace. Purple represents royalty, and is seen in Christ the King of Kings. Scarlet or Red represents blood, and is seen in the innocent blood of the Man Jesus Christ, the high priest offering his perfect sacrifice and sin offering of his own life for our redemption. The linen was white, symbolizing the purity and righteousness of the Servant of God. Thus the four colors of the Tabernacle collectively embody the four-fold ministry of Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone in the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, showing his dominion over all Creation. We also find a relation in these four pillars corresponding to the four Cardinal Directions, known as the equinox and Solstice seen on the ecliptic and Equator at the four-corners of the heavens. These four cardinal points correspond to the tribes, zodiacal signs and colors as follows:
Eagle/Aquila [replacing Scorpius below]
North/Scorpion/Scorpius/Dan/White (omitted in Num. 24, & Ps. 75:3ff)
East/Lion/Leo/Judah/Purple. (Numbers 24:9)
South/Man/Aquarius/Reuben/Red. (Numbers 24:7)
West/Bull/Taurus/Ephraim & Manasseh/Blue (Numbers 24:8)
The vision of Ezekiel at the river Chebar describes these living creatures, specifically their four faces, matching the signs of the four Cardinal Directions of the heavens. As we have noted regarding the North, it was omitted for a number of reasons, which we will handle in more detail shortly. In the North we find the face of the sign Aquila the Eagle [Ezek. 1:10], replacing that of his natural born enemy, the Scorpion/ serpent, as is evident in the triple sign of the man Ophiuchus, as he wrestles Serpens the serpent, while stamping out the light of the star Antares, in the heart of Scorpius the scorpion. Ezekiel’s vision is recorded below.
Ezekiel 1:3-11
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. 4And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. 8And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
Hebrew Armillary Sphere 1
The matching of the faces of these four living creatures with the four signs at the cardinal points in Numbers 24, is worth a closer look. First, this correlation with the four Cardinal Directions of the horizon seems an obvious celestial reference, supported by the celestial wheels within wheels connected with these Cherubim, [Ezek. 1:16, 20-22, 10:1-22]. These wheels relate to the celestial structure of the ecliptic and the Equator, as one wheel is pictured above within the other, and the points where they cross are the equinoxes. One Hebrew word for “wheel” in Ezekiel, [10:2 & 10] is galgal [*H1534], a variation of Gilgal [*H1536], the “Hill of God,” [I Sam. 10:5] where Joshua set up an altar of twelve stones [Josh 4], one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The word galgal is also the root origin of our word “Galaxy,” showing a celestial application of these wheels even into the modern day. Similar to the stellar reference of the 12 precious stones of the High Priest’s breastplate, as symbols of the twelve signs of the zodiac, Joshua’s altar marked the entry of the 12 tribes into the promised land, that was first deeded to Abraham [Gen. 13:14-15]. God marked the end of the Israel’s sufferings in the wilderness even as He had marked their exit from Egypt, with a miracle of parting of the waters, both of the Red Sea at the start of the 40 years in the wilderness, and of the Jordan River at the end. He also marked the beginning of Israel’s reign of kings both in the anointing of Saul, along with the first Passover in the promised land at Gilgal. Joshua 5:9-10 has a figurative portrait of this initial Passover, as these “wheels of God’s justice” rolled over the heathen that stood in Israel’s way. Thus when we view the two phases of the return of the promised seed, first in his sufferings second in his glory, we can see the following division along the lines of Jesus’ ministry as seen in the four gospels:
He came as a man/Son of Man/Luke/Aquarius
He sacrificed his life/Servant/Mark/ Eagle for Scorpion
The Son coming in judgment/Son of God/John/Taurus
The Lion-king of Judah rending his prey/King/Matthew/Leo
The 4 primary colors of the Tabernacle not only embody the ministry of Christ, but also a Phi relation to the color spectrum and to the musical scale. As we investigate this field of study we can perhaps gain insight into movements of the Creator’s symphony of sound and light.
For example Fibonacci numbers appear in the musical scale and in pure harmonic intervals like the octave [2:1], the fifth [3:2], and major and minor sixths [5:3] and [8:5]. Also the entire overtone series is based on golden ratios. The octave divided by a perfect fifth, (13/20), produces the golden ratio. The perfect fifth divided by an octave, (8/13), produces the golden ratio. The perfect fourth divided by a major sixth, (6/10), produces the golden ratio. And The major third divided by a perfect fifth, (5/8), also produces the golden ratio. The overtone series appears across various forms of music, and is a natural order of notes that is played by horn instruments. The phi ratio not only rules over the musical scale but also over the structure of musical instruments.
Phi Ratio in the Construction of a Violin
In Part 1 of this study seen in our May 2017 Blog post, we noted a correlation in the structure of DNA both to the Fibonacci and Lucas number series. As Jean-claude Perez suggested there is a strong link between DNA and golden ratio in 1991,[1] then later in 1997 in his book l’ADN décrypté[2]. His work shows that relative proportions of nucleotides within coding DNA sequences like genes or RNA strings are governed by specific Fibonacci and Lucas number sets. The resulting “DNA supracode” is revealed by computing sets called “resonances” within any DNA sequence: specific nucleotide clusters like FFF (Fibonacci Fibonacci Fibonacci), LLL (Lucas Lucas Lucas), FFL (Fibonacci Fibonacci Lucas) or LFF (Lucas Fibonacci Fibonacci). An example of elementary FFF resonance: 144 contiguous TCAG bases contain exactly 55 bases T and 89 bases; A, C or G. This kind of screening is processed along the DNA sequence, for all possible Fibonacci/Lucas combinations, and for all possible values (example here 144-89- 55 are 3 consecutive Fibonacci numbers). There appear many “resonances”. For example, in the HIV whole genome, of about 9000 bases, there are more than 50,000 significant Fibonacci/Lucas resonances. The longer resonances (several hundred resonances) are overlapping about 2/3 of the whole HIV genome (6765 bases which is the 20th Fibonacci number-see chart below). 1
The Fibonacci and Lucas number series as reflections of the Golden Section are both additive, since each number is the sum of the previous two in the series, and the product of the previous term, multiplied by phi. No other number series displays these traits of geometric growth fusing both addition and multiplication. Yet it is also capable of division and subtraction as the Creator installed limits on the positive entropy of disorder and death in His reordering of the kingdoms in the fallen world. Thus like the nautilus that grows into the form laid out in the perfect geometry of its shell, various life-forms in the Kingdoms of Life follow the pre-ordained geometric patterns of growth, as built-in limitations to their species and genus. We find this stated in Romans below.
Rom. 8:19-23
19 For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been moaning together as in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only this, but we too, who have the first fruits of the Spirit [a joyful indication of the blessings to come], even we groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for [the sign of] our adoption as sons—the redemption and transformation of our body [at the resurrection].
The world is captive to sin and the destruction of entropy, as it groans for the redemption and deliverance of the Lord Jesus Christ, at his return. As the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Christ represents not only the restoration for all mankind, but all Creation. We can begin to see the impact of the Fibonacci number series as the determinant of the patterns of geometric growth in the 4 kingdoms of life, in the first 20 Fibonacci digits provided below.
Fibonacci Spirals in Nature and Science
Table A. The First 20 Fibonacci Numbers
n 1 Fn 1
2 1
3 2
4 3
5 5
6 8
7 13
8 21
9 34
10 55
11 89
12 144
13 233
14 377
15 610
16 987
17 1,597
18 2,584
19 4,181
20 6,765
Each [F number] represents the approximate geometric mean of its two adjacent numbers in the series. This geometric mean between the two numbers equals the square root of their product. In the numerical progression of this series, alternative [F numbers] require a +1/-1 correction. Lucas numbers operate on the same geometric mean principle, with a +5/-5 correction under the square root. This depicts how both series progressively converge on the Phi ratio to higher degrees of accuracy. A more direct relation between the two series is also apparent in that any 4 consecutive [F numbers] add up to the Lucas number linked to the 4th [F number]. Also odd [F numbers] sum to the next even [F number], while even [F numbers] converge to -1 of the next odd number.
Lucas series number values; [Ln] appear together with the first 10 Fibonacci numbers in the chart below for comparison: 4
| n: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | … |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fn: | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 55 | … |
| Ln: | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 47 | 76 | 123 | … |
The Lucas numbers share many similar properties with the Fibonacci Number series. As we note the numerical relations between the Fibonacci and Lucas Number series, perhaps further insights will come to light. Thus it is noteworthy that every 3rd Fibonacci number is an even number since it is divisible by 2. Every 4th Fibonacci number is divisible by 3, and every 5th Fibonacci number is divisible by 5. Also every 6th Fibonacci number is divisible by 8.
As we consider the spiritual unity of the body of Christ, with each member reflectinging the spiritual abilities of Christ in them [Col. 1:27], each Christian believer embodies a unique aspect of Christ in the spiritual body of his Church. God has called this church together as it has pleased Him, and its perfect union is likened to and centered around the love in Christian marriage, [Eph. 5:22-31]. As we find the phi ratio expressed in the Temple & Tabernacle of Israel, not to mention the human body ideally expressed in the perfect man Jesus Christ, we can see the elegance of the divine expression of this unity geometrically portrayed via the proportional symmetry of the golden section.
Footnotes
1. Jewish Encyclopedia.com
2. Wikipedia on the Phi ratio in the Human Body and DNA
3. The Golden Section, Nature’s Greatest Secrets, Scott Olsen
4. [www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hostedsites/R. Knott/fibonacci/lucasNbs.html]
Comment on Facebook Group