01 October 2011

The Seven-Sided Box: the Symbol of the Cube in the Bible


Awards Emblem
The Book of Revelation ends with a fascinating image:  It is a a "new heaven and a new earth," reborn after the final judgement and the expulsion of sin.
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

One of the actors in this final set piece, one of seven angels who had held seven bowls which poured out seven plagues in the destruction of the "first earth," emerges from the scene, takes the prophet to the top of a mountain, and gives him a preview of the coming kingdom--the New Jerusalem.  And is what is striking about the New Jerusalem is this:

It's a cube.

The near wall is 1,400 miles long (the distance between my house in Tennessee and Gallup, New Mexico, going west).  It is another 1,400 miles deep (I calculated this would take me to the middle of Hudson's Bay, Canada, traveling due north).  It is also 1,400 miles high (about ten times further away than the International Space Station).

So the Bible ends with a giant, gleaming cube descending to planet Earth.

There's more to that cube that I'll cover later, but I'm fascinated by the fact that the New Jerusalem is a cube...until I consider the rest of the Bible, and realize that the whole story is cube after cube after cube--box after box after box--beginning with Genesis 1 and ending in Revelation 21.

Moreover, the cube ties in neatly with another important element of Biblical symbolism: the Number 7.

There is another cube in the Old Jerusalem, the city where Christ taught and died, and it was a copy of a cube constructed by Solomon in his temple.  2 Chronicles 3 states that Solomon laid out the Most Holy Place of that temple to be 30 feet X 30 feet X 30 feet, a perfect cube, separated from the temple's Holy Place by a curtain.  (So important was the cube to Solomon's design, that a series of steps climbed from the high-ceilinged main room of the temple to the higher, cubic Most Holy Place.

Within the Temple cube was another box, the Ark of the Covenant (this was not a cube, but a box, about 2.25' X 2.25' X 4').  Within this box was the law of God.

Solomon's design dominated the Jewish imagination all the way to the time of John the Revelator--and not just Judaism, either.  The fire-worshipping Zoroastrians incorporated the cubic room into their temples.  (Pictured, right, is the Kaba-ye Zartosht, "The Cube of Zoroaster" in Persepolis, Iran, which has origins in the time of Persian King Darius I in the 5th Century BC.)
The Arabic word for cube, "Kaaba," echoes the name of the most sacred site in the religion of Islam:  the curtained black cube in the Masjid al-Haram Mosque in Mecca toward which every Muslim directs prayers.  (This cube is larger than Solomon's holy room, roughly 40' X 40' X 40'.)

I will describe more about this second cube later as we make our way backwards to Genesis,. Needless to say, Muslims are very aware of Biblical symbolism (moreso than western Christians), and provide an insight into the deep importance that the cube plays with God.

Of course Solomon didn't invent the cube.  He based his design for the temple on that of the tabernacle revealed to Moses from Mount Sinai.  The tabernacle (also known as the Tent of Meeting) also had a cube-shaped room, 15' X 15' X 15', exactly half the scale of Solomon's room. At the center of this room was also a box, the same box as the one Solomon placed in his Holy of Holies.  Within this box were a few artifacts besides the Ten Commandments: a budding rod (a symbol of Aaron's power) and a bowl of manna were missing when the box's contents were chronicled in Solomon's day (1 Kings 8.9).

Creation, the Cube, and the number Seven
Islamic mythology traces the cube back to Adam, who built a cubic worship space in the lands westward of Eden to the specifications of God himself.  Future prophets Noah and Abraham would return to Mecca,  the site of the Kaaba, to rebuild the shrine (it is important to note here that the current Kaaba dates back to the early 10th Century).

Indeed the creation story can be seen as the building of a cube.  Creation is divided into six days--the six sides of a cube.  Imagine the creation story as the sides of a cube. There is a square of light at the bottom.  The four sides are (1) land and water, (2) sky & vegetation, (3) sun, moon, and stars, and (4) birds & fishes. The top square of this box is the creation of beasts and humans on the sixth day.

When you see the creation story in the form of this cube, I think it grows stronger as a story--and explains some of the scientific contradictions that arise in more literal readings of Genesis 1.  The foundation of the cube is light--as John 1 affirms--and its top is mankind.  The middle four days are the walls, leaving the fact that Genesis shows plants on the earth a full day before there is a sun to sustain them, as a description of space, not linear time.

One could rewrite Genesis 1 along the lines of Revelation 21 this way: In the beginning, the Cube of Creation descended into chaos  This is how the first heaven and first earth were made.

We have known about the linear week, and I know that I have practiced it all my life. But there is a cubic week in Genesis 1: a complete, six-sided box in which everything is complete.

Imagine creation as a cube.  Turn it around in your mind and look at its individual sides. See the light, the water, the sky, the fishes, all moving in concert.  It is beautiful, isn't it?  It's amazing.

It isn't yet perfect.

Genesis 2 begins with the seventh side of the box.
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (verses 2-3).
In terms of the box, God needed a seventh side. That seventh side was holiness, and I believe that he put it in the middle of the box--a.k.a. the seventh side.  No one waits until the seventh day of the linear week to rest; no, we sprinkle rest throughout the week--it touches all six sides. Nor was holiness intended--I believe--to be a linear idea but a spatial one.

Look back through the Biblical cubes I mentioned.  The cubes--the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple--have boxes in them.  And in these boxes is the Law of God.  These cubes are filled with holiness.

As always, the prophet Isaiah describes the Seven-Sided Cube far better than I could ever do:
"This is what God the Lord says--
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
     who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
     and life to those who walk on it;
'I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness...." (Isaiah 42.5-6)
Here we have the sides of the box (heavens, earth) and the box's top--the "breath of its people and life to those who walk on it."  But there is also righteousness, holiness, the seventh side that touches upon all others.  It isn't just attached to the "man" side of the cube, it touches all sides of the creation.

The New Jerusalem and Me
There is another number in the Bible that has a symbolism quite opposite to the number 7.  Revelation states that "it is man's number. His number is 666" (13.18).  If the number 7 represents a created cube filled with holiness, it's pretty easy to interpret 666. It means "empty, empty, empty."

I want to close with the first cube--the massive New Jerusalem--because now that I understand the seven-sided box, I want to know this:

What's inside the big cube?

There is no temple in this New Jerusalem (I have written about this wrinkle in a previous blog).  This is
"because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp" (21.22b-24).
That's the inside of the box--the seventh side--and it touches on all six sides: the jewel-encrusted foundations, the four golden walls, and the crystal ceiling that glows with the light of the Creator.

There is so much to learn from this paradigm, but I want to close this blog and get your feedback.  Here are some questions I hope to answer in the future:

  • Did Jesus understand the seven-sided cube?  What are some of his teachings that can be understood spatially?
  • There are many references to empty boxes in the Bible--a desire to place God's law in the empty hearts of mankind.  Can these be better understood by the seven-sided box?
  • What are some other cubes mentioned in the Bible?  I almost added Noah's Ark to this discussion, but it wasn't a cube--although it was a box.  Another nominee might be Joseph's casket as it was carried to Caanan.

9 comments:

Katherine Doenau said...

Wow that was insightful!I have been trying to figure out a dream my then six year old daughter had two weeks before I lost custody of her and her two sisters aged 15 and 4 over the sex abuse of my youngest daughter in the family court to my doctor paedophile husband. I was accussed of being a lair and a coach this was two years ago and I still have not had access. My daughter had a dream that upset her so much that even thinking about it made her cry, I convinced her to tell me saying that dreams mean the opposite. She told me that her and her 4 year old sister were sitting in the lounge room. mummy and daddy in the kitchen which meant they could see, she said that daddy got a knife and cut the palms of my hands and I was screaming and it was extremely traumatising because he did this in front of our two youngest children.She then said that I went into the bathroom and stayed there for a while, and when I came out I had a cube in my hand with the blood from the palms of my hand put on the outside of the cube in the sign of the cross, that I put the cube in daddys face and laughed. Then I took my 6 and 4 yr old daughters by the hands and my hands were healed and we walked away. Maybe you could tell me what you think this means. My two youngest daughters are now being trafficked and I cant get authorites to take any notice. My husband is a freemason and I did not know, they are represented as a cube also, evil and satanic. My daughters are victims of ritual satanic abuse signed over for governemnt mind control programming called Monarch Training program. My uncle is a de la salle brother in charge of Boystown Australia behind my back he made it possible for my husband to get custody friends with the judge and both members of the satanic church, infact I discovered that my extended family are not catholics but satanists. I think the pope is a satanist. I have had several attempts made on my life.Katherine Doenau

Katherine Doenau said...

That was very insightful!I have been trying for two years to work out a dream that my then six year old daughter had two weeks before I lost custody of my three daughters the others aged 15 and 4 to my doctor paedophile husband over sex abuse allegations concerning my youngest child. I was told that I am a lair and a coach and was made hand over my two youngest daughters in the court house. This dream that my 6 year old had traumaised her so much that she was crying just thinking about it, I convinced her that dreams mean the opposite so that she would tell me. She said that she and her little 4 year old sister were in our lounge roon and mummy and daddy were in the kitchen and in front of her and her sister daddy got out a knife and cut the palms of both my hands and that I was screaming in agony. That I then went into the bathroom for a while and then came out with a cube in my hand, that had the blood off the palms of my hands on the outside of the cube in the sign of the cross. She said this part is funny, mummy put the cube in daddys face and stated laughing then mummy took her and her 4 year old sisters hands and mummy's hands were better and we walked away.My husband is a freemason but I did not know, the freemasons are also represented by a cube 33 degrees of freemasonary. My parents are dead and the extended family that I have that I thought were catholic are satanists. My uncle a de la salle brother who is in charge of Boystown Australia helped my husband behind my back with the judge who is his good friend and both members of the temple of set, the three colluded. My two youngest children are being trafficked signed over for govenemnt funded trauma based mind control programming called Monarch Training Program, which involves the child being ritually satanicly abused. I have black and white evidence of this and the police wont do a thing, I am being denied access to my children if I attempt to go to court I am stalked and attempts on my life made. I have nothing anymore all my possessions my husband has, no house, no possessions, no contact with my children,my car stolen by criminals who said they were going to murder me, and no job as a registered nurse because the court psychatirst declared me to be delusional. I really want the dream interpreted because its prophetic I want to know how I get custody of my two youngest daughters back like in the dream.Katherine

Ryan said...

wow all i can say is that maybe you are delusional. So everybody on the planet is all in cahoots against you. Just so you know paranoid people usually have an inferiority complex which is why they think that if everybody is after them they must be important. Hey i had a dream once where i was trapped in a building and attacked by zombies i guess that is prophetic and a zombie apocalypse is coming. Maybe your daughter had that dream due to you and your husband fighting.
In relation to the whole seven sided cube thing the seventh side is the "inside"

Unknown said...

A six sided cube means it lacks the seventh spirit (son) of God, the One Creator. The cube you held was painted in your own blood because you reject or do not seek the Seventh Spirit called the Spirit of Truth in both John 14 and 15. Now seek with contrite and penitent heart in Christ's name and ask for the final Redeemer.

A heptahedron. http://planetmath.org/Heptahedron.html

It's kinda like Chaotic Function or geometry of behavior.
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/51947.html

No more than six sides are equal. At least one is smaller or larger. Least and greatest mentioned by Christ means the seventh side/son. Seven spirits surround God. Nine planets surround the sun but two are still not accepted as planets. One considered a rougue moon and the other an uninitiated star. And so we have Sol with seven planets giving birth to the son of God. All it needs is a spark.

Two very bright comets this year and we pass through the tail of Ison.
http://planetsave.com/2013/01/14/comet-ison-and-comet-panstarrs-expected-to-be-brightest-than-the-moon/

Red Kachina and Blue Kachina of the Hopi, star watching society.
http://awakeningasone.com/the-signs/hopi-prophecy/

To believe that humans have not been this technologically advanced before is an act of ignorance. The Bible is the greatest work of the entire amassed scientific effort of ancient man which is a science completely incomprehensible to us today. It contains behavioral science over long periods of time. Our demographics only covers short term process. Daniel writes about the Chaldean knowledge and describes Laminin to a tee along with a small bit on genetic engineering.

Isaiah 43:28 - Online Parallel Bible
bible.cc/isaiah/43-28.htm
"Then I profaned holy princes, and gave up Jacob to the curse, and Israel to blasphemies." ואחלל might be an imperfect, like ואכל, "I ate," in Isaiah 44:19, and ...

Israel took every prophet, locked him in the basement and fed him bread and water because they deemed them to be insane. Records indicate that they cussed and spit upon their jailers to the point that they pushed their bread and water to them with a stick. I've had this conversation with you before.

Now consider the message the prophets all brought that eventually got them stoned to death. Would you, knowing yourself to be the word of God go down without profanity aimed at your persecutors. But you're a female and wouldn't know the way of a man. They came to tell them of their error of government and money. Do you realize how many have me blocked? Do you think they would want me locked away? They've already done so by blocking me. That's when I start cussing because the anger of the Lord for not listening.

There are two spirits we call God. The Father and Mother. What happens when fathers and mothers discuss their children? And if they argue in front of the child? What does the child do? Emulate. But those two were created by a higher One and were created to serve men, not rule them. The spirit of the Sun and the spirit of the Earth are those two created ones, the Adam and the Eve, the Father and Mother.

The Bible is layered in seven layers, one for each of the seven spirits (sons) of God. Look up
http://jdittes.blogspot.com/2011/10/seven-sided-box-symbol-of-cube-in-bible.html
All these cubes he depicts are 6 sided, not 7 sided. They all lack the final element. The seventh son of God.

JD said...

I find these comments all very interesting in their own way.

Unknown said...

Dear Katherine,
once man accepts that his imagination is creating his reality he moves beyond the realm of external control and takes it upon his spiritual sensations to confirm to his subconscious mind the presence of that which he truly desires. Bypassing any external 'authority', ceasing to believe in any external 'authority', gives authority over to your true husband , the Father of All, who mercifully grants your desire fulfilled. Read Neville Goddard on this subject. Put your children in your hands in your imagination. It is the power to bring ubconscious impressions to the physical world of expression. Equally, by imagining the worst, you will externalise that reality. CHANGE YOUR INTERNAL CONVERSATION. hAVE YOUR CHILDREN HERE, NOW, and watch life support you.

Unknown said...

My comment is for Katherine. First, if you are not a born-again Christian, now is the time. Second, all of the lawyers, in California, are advising mothers of children being sexually abused by their father to not mention the sexual abuse in court. This is because most of the judges are pedophiles. They will rule for the pedo. Third, with the strength you can get from God, go back to court and fight for your children. Ask the Holy Spirit, that resides in you when you become born again, how to proceed, and do it with all of your strength. When you have your children, whether in visitation or if you have custody, teach them about Christ and ask them if they want to get born again. The four of you as Christians will become impossible to defeat
I know how hard family law court is. I have seen things happen in there that shocked me. I have watched judges rip off the women and put the children into the custody of clearly criminal men. Only you with God can deal in that environment.

Unknown said...

I find this very interesting. I am trying to find a link between the Templars and the cube and somehow, this makes sense on a particular level on which I am thinking. Great work! Cheers!

Unknown said...

Very Good, It makes sense to me because the Cross forms a box, some say it was a pole, so what , you got a couple of negative comments, don't they realise, that as in this Heaven and Earth God is in all things through all things and is all things, and will be in the next Heaven and Earth and therefore you concept is just an explanation of understand that you are talking about a dwelling place of God HIMSELF He will still be in all things through all things and is all things in the Next Heaven and Earth, but His personal dwelling space will be in the New Jerusalem. Great post - Well done! makes total sense to me.