13
February 2016 ~ 4 Adar I
5776
Torah
Parashah - T ‘rumah ~ “Contributions”
Sh’mot
(Exodus) 25:1- 27:19 RSTNE p 67
Torah:
The
last two weeks were the ratification of
the Book of the Covenant.
Moshe
went up and down Mt Sinai meeting with YHWH and then the people Yisra’el.
The
10 Living Words were given to Moshe
Many
mishpatim were given
Sh’mot
24 - is the covenant ceremony with the people (ami) Yisra’el saying in
Sh’mot
24:7 “All that YHWH has said we will do, and be
obedient.”
Sh’mot
24:12 p 66
Tablets of stone were given- and a
“Torah” and “mitzvoth”....
Last
week’s parashah ends with
Sh’mot
24:18 - “Moshe was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights”
We
all know what happens after the 40 days and 40 nights....
-
the
Golden Calf....
-
and
Moshe smashes the tablets...
But
today’s Parashah - T’rumah - “Contributions”
we
are going to look at some of what YHWH gave Moshe while he was still up on the
mountain....
We
start the 7 chapters of instructions for building the Mishkan (Tabernacle)
Sh’mot
25:1 with and offering - given “willingly with his lev (heart)”
This
offering was to go to making the Mishkan and the instruments of it ...
Great
detailed instructions given for:
the ark
the shulchan (table) where the
Lechem ha Panayim (bread of the face - presence)
the menorah
curtains and hooks and walls
altar of acacia wood
outer courtyard
What’s
the big deal about this parashah - besides it is simply how to build the Mishkan....?
Let’s
back up a bit...
remember
these people - ami Yisra’el - are - or
were slaves...
Slaves
might have food and water... but they don’t have wealth...
But
remember, before they left - the Egyptians were giving them wealth!!
What
would be the reason?? - as they weren’t going to go buy anything...
Water
came from the rock, their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out... manna was their food....
Now
here in this parashah we see - why the wealth....
To
build a place for YHWH to live among them.... !!
Sh’mot
25: 8
YHWH
said...
“And let them make Me a Kadosh Place:
that I may dwell among them.”
And
look at the requirement for giving ...
Sh’mot
25:2
“”gives willingly with his heart”
So
this is about giving.... from our hearts... of “stuff”... and of TIME!!... (because it was going to take a lot of time
to build all this!!)
It
is a choice... volunteering....
Today
He makes His home in our bodies....
because we CHOOSE.... we have to
give willingly of our hearts, and our time, and our stuff is also given
willingly.
**
Let’s
look at this parashah in a different way...
We
know that in Sh’mot
24:12
- YHWH tells Moshe what is going to happen on the mountain...
“And YHWH said to Moshe, Come up to Me
into the mount, and be there: and I will give you tablets of stone, and a Torah
and mitzvoth that I have written; that
you may teach them.”
And
then there is the big time out... for all these 7 chapters of
instructions.... and then is the Golden
Calf story...
Why
wouldn’t the instructions be put in the Torah - right before the Mishkan is
built.... why here??
What
if the instructions are what is really happening during the time Moshe is on
the mountain??
What
if he is actually getting a tour of the Mishkan in the heavenlies... actually
seeing it?? !!
Think
about this... Moshe doesn’t have to be on Mt Sinai - for YHWH to speak to
him... Moshe has been getting instructions from YHWH right along....
So
what if Mt Senai is about something else??
(some notes from Aleph Beta)
-
a
POINT OF CONTACT -
**
Let’s
look at this...instruction giving....
In
parashah Vayak’hel - coming up
the
instructions are written - in order of
the way things were built....
the
outside first....
but
here in T’rumah - the first instructions are about the furniture....
and
later when YHWH explains where to put the altar
He
says........in front of the curtain which is before the ark’s cover which is on
top of the tablets of stone....
He
doesn’t just say - “put it in front of
the curtain”
The
text makes it clear that the altar does not have its own position - it’s
just in relation to the tablets in the ark!!
Another
thing....
the
name of the Mishkan...
It
is often referred to as “Tent of Meeting”
Sh’mot
25:22
Tells
us where YHWH will speak from....
not
just any place... but on top of the Ark’s cover between the two Cherubs....
and
this is repeated later in Sh’mot 30:6
“Where I will meet with you”
Then
by calling it the “Tent of Meeting” - the Torah actually defines the Mishkan by
the function of one thing -- the Tablets inside the Ark...!!
and
throughout the Torah - the tablets are called - “The Tablets of Testimony” = The tablets are testimony of the
revelation at Sinai.
Later,
in Parashah Pekudei the Mishkan is called the “Mishkan of Testimony”
again
- it is about the function of the tablets.
WHY??
Everything
about the Mishkan is focused around the
tablets!!
The
tablets aren’t just a bunch of laws....
they
are a constitution.... “The symbolic
representation of the most fundamental values upon which a nation is founded.”
It
is a constant reminder of who they are and what they believe.
The
Mishkan is how we guard and protect the tablets...
The
Mishkan was the center of the camp - and everyone camped around it.
YHWH
meets with us and speaks with us from atop the tablets - the values...
So
why did he get these instructions on Sinai...
BECAUSE
YHWH is saying.... these are the basis for your nation.... and this is how to
protect it....
And
to look at it further - The Tablets - the Written Word - are the Mashiach!! -
Just as Yahusha is the Living
Word.... These tablets are the written
Word.... !!
Now
let’s look at the Mishkan another way....
= as the type and shadow of Mashiach ...
The Mishkan (tabernacle) consisted of a tent-like
structure (the tabernacle proper) covered by rug-like coverings for a roof, and
an external courtyard (150 feet by 75 feet). The whole compound was surrounded
by a high fence about 7 feet in height.
The fence was made of linen hangings held by pillars.
The tent (tabernacle proper) was divided into the Holy Place and
the Holy of Holies.
The tent was made of acacia wood boards overlaid with gold and
fitted together to form the walls, measuring 45 by 15 feet. On top, four layers
of curtains acted as a roof to shield the tabernacle from sun and rain: The
innermost layer was woven with fine linen and embroidered with figures of
cherubim (angels), the second layer was made of goat’s hair, the third layer
was made of rams’ skins dyed red, and the outermost layer was made of porpoise
skins.
The curtains were pinned to the ground with loops and clasps.
The Gate:
Yochanan
(John) 14:6 p 770
“Yahusha said to him, I am the Derech,
the Emet, and the Chayim: no man comes
to My abba except through Me.”
Yochanan
10:9 p 765
“I am the door: by Me if any m an
enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
The act of entering the gate to the tabernacle was significant
to the Israelites. By entering, one could find forgiveness of sin and
fellowship with God.
The Brazen altar and sacrifices:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 1:4 p 81
And he shall put
his hand upon the head of the burnt offering: and it shall be accepted for him
to make keporah for him.”
Vayikra 17:11 p 94
“For it is the
chayim of all flesh; the dahm of it is
for Yisra’el, You shall eat the dahm of no manner of flesh for the chayim of
all flesh is the dahm of it: whoever
eats it shall be cut off.”
Hebrews 9:22 p 819
“And almost all
things are by the Torah purged with dahm:
and without the shedding of dahm there is no forgiveness.”
The Laver
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:22 p 820
“Let us draw near
with a true lev in full assurance of emunah, having our levavot sprinkled with
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure mayim.”
Washing = cleansing....
The Lamp stand - Menorah
Yochanan 8:12 p 763
“Then spoke
Yahusha again to them, saying, I am the light of the olam hazeh: he that follows Me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the Light of chayim.”
Yochanan 12:46 p 769
“I have come a
Light into the olam hazeh that whoever believes on Me should not live in
darkness.”
Table of Show Bread
Yochanan
6:36
“And Yahusha went up into a mountain,
and there He sat with His talmidim.”
Yochanan
6:50
“This is the lechem that comes down
from the shamayim that a man may eat of it, and not die.”
Mattityahu
26:26
“And as they were eating, Yahusha took
lechem, and made the bracha, and broke it, and gave it to the talmidim and
said, Take, eat: this is My body.”
Gilyahna
(Revelation) 3:20
“See, I stand at the door, and
knock: if any man hears My voice, and
opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”
Altar of Incense
incense
= symbol of prayer
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah) 56:7 p 339
Gilyahna
8:3-4 p 915
Yochanan
17: 1-26 p 772
Romans
8:34 p 844
“Who is the only One that could
condemn His chosen people? It is the
Moshiach who died, yes. But instead of
condemning us, He has risen, to the right hand of YHWH, and He now makes
intercession for us.”
Yochanan
14:13-14 p 770
Yakov
(James 5:15-16 p 813
Ark of the Covenant
Containing
the Mitzvoth - Torah... Living Torah = Mashiach
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah) 37:16 p
321
“”O YHWH, tzevaoth, Elohim of
Yisra’el, You who live between the chervuim, You are the Elohim, even You
alone, of all the malchutim of the earth:
You alone have made the shamayim and the earth.”
Schmuel
bet (2 Samuel) 6:2 p 231
“And Dawid arose, and went with all
the people that were with him from Ba-Ale of Yahudah, to bring up from there
the Ark of Elohim, whose name is called by the Name of YHWH tzevaoth that
dwells between the cheruvim.”
From
Refiner’s Fire:
k'ruvim (cherubim) must have held some
huge significance for YHWH that we can't begin to comprehend. They were clearly
not something the people worshiped; YHWH had commanded that man not make images
of Him, yet He clearly commanded images of the k'ruvim throughout the
tabernacle. Not only did two of these beings grace the ark (Exodus 25:18-21),
but YHWH ordered them "worked into" the woven linen walls and
curtains of the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:1, 31). The people must have known what
they were and what they looked like, because Moshe doesn't explain them
anywhere.
According to the Glossary in Stern's
Complete Jewish Bible, p. 1578, k'ruvim are: Heavenly creatures (angels) who
guarded the way to the Tree of Life in Gan 'Eden (Genesis 3:24), were described
by Ezekiel as having four faces and four wings (Ezekiel 10:20-21), and were
ridden by God (Psalm 18:11(10); compare the "living beings" of Rev
4:6. The term also refers to the gold-overlaid wooden images of same,
constructed in obedience to God's command, which overshadowed the ark of the
covenant in the tabernacle and in the temple. (Please take a few moments to
read the above-mentioned references!)
**
Rabbi
David Forman....
**
I
Kings 6:11-13
p 253
Ivrim
(Hebrews) 8:1-13
p 818
Gilyahna 21:3-4 p 926
May
we know Messiah ....
AMEIN.
