Half an hour of silence

 Significance of the Half an hour of Silence:

Rev 8:1  And when He opened the seventh seal, there came to be silence in the heaven for about half an hour.

 2  And I saw the seven messengers who stand before Elohim, and to them were given seven trumpets.

 3  And another messenger came and stood at the slaughter-place, holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the set-apart ones upon the golden slaughter-place which was before the throne.

 4  And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the set-apart ones, went up before Elohim from the hand of the messenger.

 5  And the messenger took the censer, and filled it with fire from the slaughter-place, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Silence in heaven for half and hour:

Much incense was given to the Messenger of Aluahym which are the prayers of the set apart ones, the incense was offered on the golden altar (incense altar before the throne)

In Torah Aharon was to take the golden censer and put the live coals from the brazen altar, take a handful of incense and walk into the Set apart place where the incense altar was and where the lampstands and shew bread was there before the veil which separated the Most Set apart place.

The only time Aharon was supposed to take much incense was on the Day of Atonement so that there is extra smoke when he first offers the incense on the incense altar then moves into the Most Set apart place with the golden censer, this was commanded so that he doesn't see the mercy seat during the sprinkling of blood  on the mercy seat lest he die.

This differed from the regular daily incense offering mentioned in

 Exo 30:7  “And Aharon shall burn on it sweet incense, morning by morning. As he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.

 8  “And when Aharon lights the lamps between the evenings, he shall burn incense on it – a continual incense before יהוה throughout your generations.

Day of Atonement incense offering:

Lev 16:12  and shall take a fire holder filled with burning coals of fire from the slaughter-place before יהוה, with his hands filled with sweet incense beaten fine, and shall bring it inside the veil.

 13  “And he shall put the incense on the fire before יהוה, and the cloud of incense shall cover the lid of atonement which is on the Witness, lest he die.

 14  “And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the lid of atonement on the east side, also in front of the lid of atonement he sprinkles some of the blood with his finger seven times

We see in Rev 8 that there was much incense in the hand of the Messenger of Aluahym which shows that it was a time of Atonement but it was not the actual day of Atonement/Yom Kippur but Pesach as there is something the Messenger did

Rev 8: 5  And the messenger took the censer, and filled it with fire from the slaughter-place, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

He took the fire/coals filled the censer and threw it to the earth after He offered to Alauhym, and indication of the fulfillment of the heavenly pattern while the earthly was destroyed...notice there were noises/qolot, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Qolot means voices. There were many voices preaching different basarah ...a carnal/fleshy one.

What is the significance of the half an hour of silence?

Torah is silent of the time taken by Aharon or an appointed priest to offer the daily incense, and also there is no time frame mentioned of Aharon offering it on the Day of Atonement.

But we can understand from Luke 1:10 that it was an hour of incense and Zacharyah was a priest of the 8th division of priests set by David of the division of Abiyah

Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herodes, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, a certain priest named Zeḵaryah, of the division of Aḇiyah. And his wife was of the daughters of Aharon, and her name was Elisheḇa.

 6  And they were both righteous before Elohim, blamelessly walking in all the commands and righteousnesses of יהוה.

 7  And they had no child, because Elisheḇa was barren, and both were advanced in years.

 8  And it came to be, that while he was serving as priest before Elohim in the order of his division,

 9  according to the institute of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to burn incense when he went into the Dwelling Place of יהוה.

 *10  And the entire crowd of people was praying outside at the hour of incense*.

 11  And a messenger of יהוה appeared to him, standing on the right side of the slaughter-place of incense.

Since it was a daily incense hour how come a normal priest could offer incense and not a high priest?

Only about 80 priests along with the chief priest out of the 24,000 were chosen for this task as set-apart to burn incense as seen in the account of Uzziah who took it upon himself in pride to offer incense and became leprous on account of it.

2Ch 26:16 But when he/Uzziah became strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he trespassed against יהוה his Elohim by entering the Hĕḵal of יהוה to burn incense on the altar of incense.

2Ch 26:17 And Azaryahu the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of יהוה, who were valiant/chayil sons/ban.

2Ch 26:18 And they stood up against Sovereign Uzziyahu, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziyahu, to burn incense to יהוה, but for the priests, the sons of Aharon, who are set-apart to burn incense. Get out of the set-apart place, for you have trespassed, and there is no esteem to you from יהוה Elohim.”

2Ch 26:19 And Uzziyahu was wroth. And he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the House of יהוה, beside the incense altar.

2Ch 26:20 And Azaryahu the chief priest and all the priests (80) looked at him, and saw that he was leprous on his forehead. And they hurried him from there. And he also hurried to get out, because יהוה had struck him. 

We see the 80 priests set-apart to burn incense stood against Uzziah (verse 18), these were valiant sons among priests who stood in the court of the king along with the chief priests. There is no mention of division of this special lot in scriptures in Torah but the fact that these may have been chosen among all priests as stated in 2 Chron 26:17 ...’who were vailant sons’ after the incident of Korah and the company being destoryed for offering incense as stated in Numbers 16:40

Num 16:39 And Elʽazar the priest took the bronze fire holders, which those who were burned up had brought, and they were beaten out as a covering on the altar –

Num 16:40 a remembrance to the children of Yisra’ĕl that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aharon, should come near to offer incense before יהוה, and not be like Qoraḥ and his company – as יהוה had said to him through Mosheh. 

Zecharyah the priest of the division of Abiyah would have been one of these valiant sons among priests who would without fear being set-apart to Yahuah go in to offer the incense in the Dwelling Place. That's why when he doubted the words of the Angel he was struck with dumbness until the promise made was fulfilled as more accountability is expected from a special class of priests.

These are the 24 divisions of the priests David appointed to serve in the tabernacle:

1Ch 24:3  And Dawiḏ, with Tsaḏoq of the sons of Elʽazar, and Aḥimeleḵ of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices in their service.

1Ch 24:4  And there were more leaders found of the sons of Elʽazar than of the sons of Ithamar. So they divided the sons of Elʽazar into sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and the sons of Ithamar into eight heads of their fathers’ houses.

1Ch 24:5  And they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the set-apart place and officials of Elohim, from the sons of Elʽazar and from the sons of Ithamar.

1Ch 24:6  And the scribe, Shemayah son of Nethanĕ’l, one of the Lĕwites, wrote them down before the sovereign, and the rulers, and Tsaḏoq the priest, and Aḥimeleḵ son of Eḇyathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Lĕwites, one father’s house taken for Elʽazar and one for Ithamar.

1Ch 24:7  And the first lot came forth to Yehoyariḇ, the second to Yeḏayah,

1Ch 24:8  the third to Ḥarim, the fourth to Seʽorim,

1Ch 24:9  the fifth to Malkiyah, the sixth to Miyamin,

1Ch 24:10  the seventh to Haqqots, the eighth to Aḇiyah,

1Ch 24:11  the ninth to Yĕshua, the tenth to Sheḵanyahu,

1Ch 24:12  the eleventh to Elyashiḇ, the twelfth to Yaqim,

1Ch 24:13  the thirteenth to Ḥuppah, the fourteenth to Yesheḇ’aḇ,

1Ch 24:14  the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immĕr,

1Ch 24:15  the seventeenth to Ḥĕzir, the eighteenth to Happitstsĕts,

1Ch 24:16  the nineteenth to Pethaḥyah, the twentieth to Yeḥezqĕl,

1Ch 24:17  the twenty-first to Yaḵin, the twenty-second to Gamul,

1Ch 24:18  the twenty-third to Delayahu, the twenty-fourth to Maʽazyahu.

1Ch 24:19  These were their offices in their service for coming into the House of יהוה according to their right-ruling by the hand of Aharon their father, as יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl had commanded him.

The 24,000 priests divided by lot of 1,000 per division x 24 can be seen in the spiritual picture of 24 elders seated around the throne.

1 Chronicles 24:4-5 tells us that the sons of Eleazar were more than Ithamar and 16 heads were chosen from Eleazar and 8 from Ithamar.

1Ch 24:4 And there were more leaders found of the sons of Elʽazar than of the sons of Ithamar. So they divided the sons of Elʽazar into sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and the sons of Ithamar into eight heads of their fathers’ houses.

1Ch 24:5 And they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the set-apart place and officials of Elohim, from the sons of Elʽazar and from the sons of Ithamar.

Nadab and Abhihu were killed by Yahuah for offering strange incense and hence only Eleazar and Ithamar remained of the sons of Aaron from whom these 24 heads were chosen.

We saw 80 of these valiant ones were appointed to even offer incense. Zacharyah was advanced in age and the Yahudite Talmud says lots were cast for priests to be in this special category of replicating the duty of a high priest of offering incense. 

Each division of the other priests changed every week on a Shabbat. 

Coming back to the hour of incense:

The daily incense was and could be only offered when the first lamb offering is made at 9am for the golden censer had to have the live coals from the brazen altar. Remember Nadab and Abhihu were killed because they offered strange fire i.e. the source of their fire was not the live coals from the brazen altar and hence they were killed by Yahuah.

The second time an incense offering was and could be made during the second male lamb offering at 3pm called as the 9th hour.

Daily two male offerings:

Exo 29:38  “And this is what you prepare on the slaughter-place: two lambs, a year old, daily, continually.

 39  “Prepare the one lamb in the morning, and the other lamb you prepare between the evenings,

So coming to the Zacharyah account, while we cannot know whether he was offering the incense offering in the morning or evening but it was an hour of incense offering while the people were praying outside and the people marvelled that he tarried so long...which means he would have been for more than an hour in the Set apart place speaking with the Messenger Gabriel.

The 9am (third hour) and the 3pm (9th hour) are of great significance as Yahusha was impaled at the third hour and cried out at 9th hour.

Mark 15:25  And it was the third hour, and they impaled Him

Matthew 27:46  And about the ninth hour יהושע cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Ěli, Ěli, lemah sheḇaqtani?” that is, “My Ěl, My Ěl, why have You forsaken Me?”

The exact time of the hour of offering of the lamb and then the incense.

The half an hour of silence is in reference to the 9th hour. How do we know this?

It's because the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.

Acts 3:1 says it was the 9th hour when Kepha and Yahuchanan went the hour of prayer

Acts 3:1  And Kĕpha and Yoḥanan were going up to the Set-apart Place at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

Cornelius was praying at the 9th hour when he encountered a visit from a Messenger of Aluahym. Being a  Yahudite in dispersion he still observed the hour of prayer.

The 9th hour is significant as when Yahusha cried again the veil was torn from top to bottom and it's evident that there was an interruption in the hour of incense

Matthew 27:50  And יהושע cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit.

 51  And see, the veil of the Dwelling Place was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split,

No priest standing in the Set apart place would continue with the incense hour with a Most Set apart place veil torn from top to bottom. He would have fled for his life to avoid being killed by Yahuah.

With the silence in heaven for the half an hour there was a transition from the physical to a spiritual pattern as the fire of the altar was cast to the earth.

YashaYahu 1:1  The vision of Yeshayahu son of Amots, which he saw concerning Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim in the days of Uzziyahu, Yotham, Aḥaz, Ḥizqiyahu – sovereigns of Yehuḏah.

I was looking up on Chapter 6 on in the year that king Uzziyahu died.

Uzziyahu died in 742 BC and that was probably the year Yashayahu was appointed in the office of a prophet in the year Uzziyahu died.

YashaYahu stood as prophet 1 year in the time of Uzziyahu and 16 years of the reign of his son Yotham, 16 years in the reign of his son Ahaz and 29 years in the reign of Hezekiah -total 62 years as a prophet

In the year Uzziyahu died YashaYahu had a vision and that vision took him to the Set apart place in the heykal where he saw Yahuah high and lifted up and his hem/shul filled the temple

And on the upper side he saw the saraphs/fiery serpents

And the picture is of the veil of the Most Set apart place open and that's why he said Woe is me ....one of the fiery serpents/saraph flew and took the live coal which came from the brazen altar to the incense altar, he took with the tongs of the altar and touched YashaYahu's lips.

The fiery serpents covered their face with their two wings/kanaph...the face/panayam which shows that the execution of Yahuah's wrath is withheld by the two kanaph/H3670 ...the same word means to be hidden from view or thrust aside 

The same saraph's as serpents had bit Yasharalites in the wilderness and Masha was asked to make a nachashath/brazen serpent/saraph and anyone bitten by a serpent with their face looked at it were healed.

With two he hid/H3670 his feet/ragal which shows a restraining of the judgment for not walking in the Torah 

And with the two kanaph/concealed or hidden they covered or elevated/auph which shows the Torah was in enforcement 

In the same place Uzziyahu was struck with leprosy for offering incense ...now here in the same place was Yashayahu and there was no much smoke to cover the mercy seat and hence Yahuah's train or hem/shul filled the heykal

It's interesting that it was Hezekiah himself who destroyed the nachashath Masha had made

2Kings 18:4  He took away the high places and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashĕrah, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Mosheh had made, for until those days the children of Yisra’ĕl burned incense to it, and called it Neḥushtan.

Notice Yasharal burned incense to the Nachashatan

Hezekiah was not even born when Yahuah showed the saraph's which he has restrained for generations after Masha, where people were burning incense to it

Whereas the saraph's in the vision were giving all esteem to Yahuah saying Qodesh Qodesh Qodesh is Yahuah tsabaoth, the whole earth is filled with His esteem

And Yahuah had restrained His wrath by not allowing the saraph's to bite and devour, instead he shows mercy to Yashayahu by cleansing his mouth with the live coal through the saraph for seeing him from behind the veil

Yahusha was that Messenger of Aluahym with much incense at the Mikhqad altar near which he was impaled on the Mount of Olives transitioning the entire pattern to its Completeness in the Ruach in Himself.

 Shalum