Out of one hundred pomegranates, ninety-six were exposed to the open air (Jer. 52:23). Since every row had one hundred pomegranates, why did Jeremiah 52:23 suddenly speak of ninety-six pomegranates? Because the record in Jeremiah 52:23 concerns the destruction of the pillars by the Babylonian army, some think that four of the pomegranates on each row of chainwork were broken. But if you read this chapter carefully, you will see that this was not the case. The King James Version says, "There were ninety and six pomegranates on a side." This rendering is incorrect. The Hebrew words translated "on a side" should be "towards the air." Hence, this verse should read, "There were ninety and six pomegranates towards the air, and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about." Notice that all the pomegranates upon the network numbered one hundred. All were there, but only ninety-six were towards the air. The Hebrew word translated "side" in the King James Version is ruach, the word for spirit, wind, breath, and air. Ruach denotes something real yet invisible. The New American Standard Version says that there were ninety-six "exposed pomegranates." However, the margin gives the literal translation of "windward," which means towards the wind or towards the air.
Ninety-six pomegranates were exposed and four were covered. What is the significance of this? Ninety-six is composed of twelve times eight. Twelve signifies eternal completion, eight signifies resurrection, and the air signifies the Spirit. Therefore, the expression of the riches of life is eternally complete, in resurrection, and in the Spirit. This is the nature and atmosphere of our expression of life. Our expression of the riches of life is twelve, eternal; it is not seven, temporal. Moreover, it is also the number eight, the freshness of resurrection, not the number three, the process of resurrection. Here, it is not the process of resurrection, but the freshness, the beginning, the new start, of resurrection. Also, it is absolutely a matter in the Spirit. That the ninety-six pomegranates were exposed to the open air means that the expression of the riches of life is in the reality of the spiritual air, which is invisible. While we can sense it, we cannot touch it. In John 3:8, the Lord Jesus spoke of both the wind and the Spirit, saying, "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." The regeneration of the Spirit resembles the moving of the wind. The wind blows and the Spirit regenerates. Our expression of the riches of life is not only eternal and in the freshness of resurrection, but is absolutely in the atmosphere of the Spirit. Whenever people see upon us the expression of the riches of life, they will immediately sense that they are in the Spirit and that there is some fresh wind, air, and atmosphere there. However, whenever we enter into a situation filled with death, we sense stuffiness. But when we are in a situation filled with the expression of the riches of life, we find ourselves in a spiritual atmosphere and sense that refreshing air is present. This is what it means for ninety-six pomegranates to be towards the air.