Offerings to Yahweh

CHAPTER 29

1. "Now this is what you must do to them to set them apart to serve in the office of priests to Me: take one bull, the son of the herd, and two completely healthy rams,

"Son of the herd" is a special way to describe a bull its third year. (Hirsch)

2. "and unleavened bread, and unleavened, pierced loaves with oil mixed into [them], and unleavened wafers smeared with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour.

3. "Then put them onto one wicker tray, and bring them close in the wicker tray, along with the bull and the two rams.

4. "Then take Aharon and his two sons to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment, and wash them in water,

5. "Then take the clothes and put the tunic on Aharon, along with the outer robe of the efod, the efod, and the [chest] pouch, and strap it to him with the specially-designed band of the efod.

6. "And put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown of setting-apart on the turban.

7. "Then you shall take the oil of anointing and pour it upon his head; that is how you shall anoint him.

"Anoint" means to show that someone is separate from everything unholy by pouring or smearing water upon him.

8. "And take his sons and clothe them with tunics,

9. "and belt them with waist-sashes--[both] Aharon and his sons, and on headgear for them, and it shall be a never-ending statute for them in the priestly office. Thus you shall consecrate Aharon and his sons.

10. "When you bring the bull near, in front of the tent of appointed time, Aharon and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the bull,

Laying hands on the animal shows that this animal represents you and that it is being killed instead of you.

11. "then you must kill the bull before [the face of] YHWH at the door of the Tent of Appointment.

12. "Then take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, then pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar.

13. "And take all the fat that covers the intestines, and the lobe that hangs over the liver, and the kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.

In Hebrew the word for liver is means "the heavy or important [organ]".

14. "Then burn the flesh of the bull, its skin, and its waste with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

This is why Y'shua had to die outside the gates of the city. He was a "sin offering" for us. (Heb. 13:12)

15. "And take one ram, and Aharon and his sons will rest their hands on the ram's head.

16. "But you must kill it, and take its blood and toss it onto the altar, all around.

The tossing was done with a jerking motion, against the sides of the altar. There was a particular section of the altar that the blood from each type of sacrifice had to be thrown against.

17. "Then cut the ram into pieces, and wash its intestines and its legs, and put them on top of its pieces and on its head.

Called the "crowned sacrifice", the intestines were wrapped around its head. This was also done with the Passover lamb--a picture ahead of time of Y'shua with his crown of thorns.

18. "And burn the whole ram on the altar; it is [an offering that] goes up to YHWH, a soothing aroma; it is a fire offering to YHWH.

19. "Then take the second ram, and Aharon and his sons will lay their hands on the ram's head.

20. "But you must kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aharon's ear--on the tip of Aharon's right ear and the earlobe of his sons, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and you shall toss the blood on the altar all around.

The blood was put on their ear lobes to show that they should hear and judge rightly; on their hands, it reminded them to do right in all their actions and treat everything they hold as holy. Putting it on their big toe would remind them to keep their "walk" (a Hebrew way of describing the way they lived) in balance. The same procedure was done for someone who needed to be cleansed of leprosy, a disease that is a picture of selfishness. (Lev. 14:14)

21. "And take some of the blood that is on the altar, and the oil of anointing, and spatter it on Aharon and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments along with him.

22. "Then take the fat from the ram, the fat-tail, and the fat that covers its insides, the lobe that hangs over the liver, both kidneys and the fat that is over them, and the right front leg, because it is a ram connected with the [priest]'s beginning his duties,

23. "along with one round loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened loaves which is before the face of YHWH.

24. "Then put them all in the hands of Aharon and the hands of his sons, and wave them [in four directions] as a wave offering in front of the face of YHWH.

25. "Then take them from their hands, and make them go up in smoke as a soothing aroma that goes up into YHWH's presence; it is a fire-offering to YHWH.

A soothing aroma means it would be accepted willingly by YHWH.

26. "Then take the breast of the ram of Aharon's inauguration and swing it back and forth as a wave offering before the face of YHWH; it will be the part that you get.

27. "Then separate the breast of the wave offering, which is being swung, and the front leg of the contribution, which is being lifted off from the ram of the inauguration, from the one for Aharon and the one for his sons,

28. "and it will belong to Aharon and his sons as the part they are assigned from the children of Israel forever. That is, it will be a contribution from the descendants of Israel from what is killed for their peace offerings--their contribution to YHWH.

29. "And the holy garments which are Aharon's shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed in and to have their hands filled in.

"Have their hands filled" may be a figure of speech for being assigned their particular jobs.

30. "The priest from among his sons who takes his place will wear them for seven days when he comes into the Tent of Appointment to minister in the Holy Place.

The altar also goes through a seven-day period of setting-apart. (v. 37)

31. "Then take the ram of the inauguration and boil its meat in a holy place,

32. "and Aharon and his sons will eat the ram's flesh and the bread that is in the basket [at] the opening to the Tent of Appointment.

Verse 23 identifies this bread as unleavened.

33. "And they will eat those things by which a covering is made to set them apart them; no one else may eat [them], because they are holy.

34. "And if any of the meat of consecration, or of the bread, is left over until morning, you have to burn what is left with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

This is like the manna that was not to be left until morning. Y'shua taught us to pray, "Give us today the bread we need for today." Yahweh is always there to continue providing for us tomorrow as He did today. But what is holy must not be allowed to spoil. It has to be destroyed by fire so no one else will become guilty by accidentally eating some of it.

35. "This is what you must do for Aharon and his sons--exactly what I have commanded you, and all of it; you shall fill their hand for seven days.

36. "And every day you must prepare a bull as a sin offering for the coverings, and as you make atonement you will cleanse it from impurity. Then anoint it to make it holy.

37. "You shall make atonement seven days for the altar, and shall [thus] sanctify it, and the altar will become especially holy. Everything that touches the altar becomes set apart.

38. "Now this is what you must prepare on the altar: two lambs a year old, regularly, [every] day:

39. "Prepare the one lamb in the morning, and prepare the second lamb between the evening [sacrifice]s.

40. "And for the one lamb, a tenth [of a measure] of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of pure pressed oil, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a libation offering.

A hin is a liquid measure holding about five quarts or five liters.

41. "Then offer the second lamb between the evening [sacrifice]s; do the same for it as [you did] with the morning grain offering and its pouring-out [offering], as a soothing aroma, an offering [made by] fire to YHWH--

42. "a regular [offering] that will go up throughout your generations [layer upon layer] at the door of the Tent of Appointment before the face of YHWH, at which I will meet you to speak to you.

43. "And indeed I will show up for My appointments with the descendants of Israel, and it will be made holy by how important I am.

44. "This way I will set apart the Tent of Appointment and the altar, and I will set apart Aharon and his sons to serve as priests to Me,

45. "And I will live in the midst of the descendants of Israel, and I will be an Elohim for them;

We need to make His temple--both our individual bodies and, more importantly, the community that we form as we become people among whom His presence can come to rest.

46. "then they will know that I am YHWH their Elohim, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I could live among them. I am YHWH their Elohim."


CHAPTER 30

1. "Then make an altar--a place for burning incense; you shall make it from acacia wood."

Incense: a sweet-smelling powder that represents the prayers of the holy ones. (verse 8; Rev. 8:4) This altar was the smallest piece of Tabernacle furniture, reminding us that we do not need long, fancy prayers in order to reach Yahweh, as Y'shua said. (Matt. 6:7)

2. "It must be a cubit long and a cubit wide. It must be a square two cubits high, its horns [being a part] of it.

A cubit is the length from the tip of a grown man's fingers to his elbow.

3. "Then overlay it [with] pure gold--its roof, its walls on all sides, and its horns--then make a border-work of gold all around it.

4. "And make two rings of gold for it, to go under its border, on its two sides; do the same on the other two, and they will become a place to slide the poles through, to carry it.

The altar of incense could be carried, reminding us that we can pray anywhere.

5. "And make the poles of acacia wood, and cover them with gold.

6. "Then set it in front of the veil which is beside the ark of the testimony, in front of the cover that is over the [written] witness--right where I meet you.

7. "And Aharon will burn sweet incense on it every morning; he must burn incense on it when he dresses the lamps.

8. "And when Aharon makes the lights go up between the evenings, he must burn it, as an incense that will constantly be in front of the face of Yahweh for your generations.

Between the evening [sacrifices] was one of the three times a day set aside as hours of prayer (as we see in Daniel 6:10), based on the fact that the Scripture mentions Avraham praying in the morning, Yitzhaq in the afternoon, and Yaaqov in the evening.

9. "You may not offer up any different kind of incense on it along with a going-up offering or a food offering, and you may not pour out a drink offering on it.

Aharon's own sons disobeyed this command very soon after it was given. (Leviticus 10) A different kind of incense is a picture of the wrong types of prayer, or having a mediator other than Y'shua. (See 1 Timothy 2:5.)

10. "And Aharon will make atonement on its horns once a year from the blood of the sin offering that covers up [sins]. Once a year he shall make a covering [for sins] on it for [all] your generations; it is most holy to Yahweh."

This once a year is on Yom Kippur.


Portion Ki-Thisa

11. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,

12. "If you take a census of the descendants of Israel, to muster them, each one shall give the ransom for his soul to YHWH; that way some of them will not be struck down when they are counted.

A census counts how many people there are in a nation or tribe. : literally, "lift up [thisa] the heads". An accounting, since this is what appened to both prisoners whose dreams Yoseyf interpreted, but with different results for each. A plague that struck many people down did come upon King David when he took a census, and the only thing that stopped it was his buying the Temple Mount (the threshing floor of Araunah) and building an altar there. People are not to be counted in Israel, because it shows that we are trusting in how many people we have who can fight an attacking enemy, rather than trusting Yahweh to rescue us either "with many or with a few".

13. "This is what everyone who crosses over among those who are counted [must bring]: half a sheqel (the sheqel of the sanctuary, [which is] twenty gerahs to a sheqel); half a sheqel as an offering to YHWH.

Crosses over: into the ranks of those counted. A gerah equals the weight of 16 grains of barley or 4 to 5 carob beans, so a sheqel was 320 barley corns, but Hirsch says that by the time of the second Temple it was increased to 384. This weight in silver is worth about now. A scale is a picture of judgment: there are ten gerahs (a complete round number) against you, and a half sheqel evens it out, or covers what you owe. Silver is a picture of covering up the guilt of killing someone in battle. It is only half a sheqel because in a community, no one is whole without the others. The other half of a beggar might be the king, but no one knows who his other half is, so everyone in the community must bring his share. Alone one has very little power, but many half-sheqels together can accomplish much.

14. "Everyone who crosses over among those who are counted, from twenty years of age and upward, must give a contribution to Yahweh.

Literally, "a son of twenty years", the way of expressing age in Hebrew. This was the age at which one could be required to serve in the army. Although it is not a sin to kill someone in war, as long as you are doing it for the sake of the whole community and not just for yourself, still a person's blood is where his soul dwells, and thus it is in a sense the one divine element that is in every person, and YHWH demands payment for it. If one did not bring the half-sheqel atonement and he killed someone in a war, he was counted a murderer, because he did not do it for the community. A Levite named Reuven Prager has brought back this custom of offering the half-sheqel for the Temple.

15. "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a sheqel when giving the offering to YHWH to make atonement for your souls.

The collection of half-sheqels could not grow from year to year, so by second Temple times, what was left over from what was needed for the Temple was used to repair the walls and streets of Yerushalayim and the roads that led there, to make the pilgrims' journey for the feasts easier.

16. "And you must take the money of covering from the descendants of Israel, and give it to the service of the Tent of Appointment, and for the descendants of Israel it will serve as a reminder before [the face of] Yahweh to make a covering for your souls."

17. Then Yahweh told Moshe,

18. "You must also make a washbasin from bronze, its base also from bronze, to wash oneself with, and set it between the Tent of Appointment and the altar, and put water in it.

This washing was not to clean off dirt, because that had been done ahead of time; it was symbolic of being no longer guilty of doing anything wrong.

19. "And Aharon and his sons shall wash their hands and feet from it.

Their work of the Temple service will definitely make their hands and their bare feet dirty again and again, so they must clean these again before doing something especially holy. Y'shua talked about this when Kefa wanted him to wash more than just his feet. We have been cleansed by "the washing of the water of the Word", but our "works" (what our hands do) and our "walk" (where our feet go) can easily become "dirty" as we are around bad influences. But we are to be set-apart people, so we have to be cleaned by confessing our sins to Yahweh. (1 Yochanan 1:9)

20. "As they enter the tent of appointed time they must wash with water, so that they may not die; or as they draw near to the altar to serve by burning a fire-offering to YHWH,

21. "And they must wash their hands and feet, so that they will not die. And this shall be a never-ending rule for them--to him and to his descendants for [all] their generations."

22. Then Yahweh told Moshe,

23. "You take spices for yourself--the best: 500 [sheqels] of pure myrrh and half as much, 250 [sheqels] of sweet-smelling cinnamon, and 50 of sweet-smelling cane,

24. "and 500 of cassia (by the sheqel of the sanctuary), as well as a hin of olive oil.

A hin is about five quarts. Olive oil represents the Holy Spirit's giving us light, and Israel itself. The many spices together form a holy compound; none of the spices by itsel can be set apart. Only by combining them all can the one Body be something uniquely put together by Yahweh. Each by itself may be very sweet, but together they form something even greater. One of the particular spices by itself does not smell very nice at all, and it is a picture of some members of our community, but when they willingly mix themselves with the rest, they become an important part of the whole, which is even more beautiful.

25. "And make it an oil of holy anointing, an ointment compound, the work of a perfume-maker; it will be an oil of anointing to set [the priest] apart,

Olive oil was added to the fragrances to make it an anointing oil. The fragrance came out more strongly when the sun was hot.

26. "and along with it, anoint the tent of appointed time and the ark of the testimony,

27. "and the table [of the bread of the faces] and all its tools, and the altar of incense,

28. "the altar of the offering that goes up [in smoke], and all its tools, and the washbasin and its base.

29. "Thus you must set them, apart and they shall become most holy; everything that touches them will become set apart.

30. "Now anoint [both] Aharon and his sons, and set them apart to serve Me in the role of priests.

31. "And tell the descendants of Israel, 'This will be a holy anointing oil to me for [all] your generations.

32. "'It must not be poured on any man's skin, and you may not make any mixture just like it. It is set apart; you must consider it holy.

33. "'Anyone who makes a compound like it or who gives any of it to a person other [than the priest] will be cut off from his people.'"

Just anyone may not receive every part of Yahweh's blessing whenever he wants. A man named Shim'on the sorcerer made Kefa angry because he thought the Holy Spirit was something that could be bought (Acts chapter 8). A spiritual thing cannot be treated so commonly.

34. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Take spices for yourself: gum resin, onycha, and galbanum (sweet spices) along with pure frankincense, each in the same amount.

35. "And make it into incense, an ointment, the work of a perfumer--salted, pure, and holy.

All of these spices come from plants, and most from trees, which are a picture of people whose gifts are all joined together.

36. "And grind some of it fine, and put some of it in front of the tent where I shall set a time to meet you. You must consider it most holy.

37. "And [any] incense which you make in the same combination, you must not make for yourselves; it will be set apart to you--for YHWH [alone].

38. "Any man who makes anything like it, [just] to [enjoy the] smell of it, must be cut off from his people."

The special blend of gifts that work for each other when we are all together cannot simply be "taken home" for our own personal use. Smells can bring certain things back to our memory. Yahweh wanted this aroma to be connected only with His dwelling place. Only His bride can understand the customs He says we must follow. They will seem foolish to an outsider, so they are kept in a safe, set-apart place.


CHAPTER 31

1. Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying,

2. "Take note: I have summoned by name B'tzal-El, the son of Uri, the son of Chuwr, of the branch of Yehudah,

B'tzal-El's name means "in the shadow or shade of Elohim". He was building something which Renewed Covenant writers would call "a shadow" (or outline)of things in heaven (the kingdom that is not yet seen). Uri means "my light", Chuwr means "white linen", and Yehudah means "praise". So his whole ancestry prepared him for this task.

3. "and I have filled him with the spirit of Elohim--for wisdom and understanding and knowledge, and all [kinds of] craftsmanship

He was given the know-how to accomplish a holy task. Yahweh puts His people in place for specific reasons. Not just anyone who wants to participate in holy tasks may do so. (2 Tim. 2:21)

4. "to design plans, to work in gold and silver and bronze,

Devise plans: Aram., "instruct artisans"; LXX, "to invent".

5. "and to cut stones for settings and carve of wood, and for all [kinds of] public service.

6. "And notice, I have appointed Aholiav, the son of Achisamach, of the tribe of Dan to be with him, and in the heart of everyone with a wise heart, I have given [more] wisdom, and they will make all that I have commanded you [to make]:

Aholiav means "a father's tent"--exactly what they both were building! Achisamach means "my brother supports". Dan means "judgment". Psalm 90 tells us that we can get a wise heart by numbering our days (remembering how short our lives are, but this also means knowing Yahweh's calendar). Wisdom comes from above, but we can collect it by the choices we make and by studying the things Yahweh considers most important.

7. "the Tent of Appointment, the chest of the testimony and its [atoning] cover which goes on top of it, and all the tools for the tent,

8. "and the table with its utensils, and the pure menorah and all its tools, and the altar of incense,

9. "and the altar of burnt ["ascending"] offering and all its tools, and the washbasin and its platform,

10. "and the woven clothes, and the holy clothes for Aharon the priest and the clothes his sons must wear when they serve as priests,

11. "and the oil for anointing and the sweet incense for the sanctuary; they must do everything just as I have given you orders."


12. Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying,

13. "You must also tell the descendants of Israel, 'Be sure to keep my Sabbaths, because [the Sabbath] is a sign between Me and you for [all] your generations, [so that you will] know that I am Yahweh, the one who sets you apart.

They would be busy at building the Tabernacle, but even when obeying His command to do holy things, the Sabbath must not be skipped. It is a sign like a wedding ring that seals Yahweh's special relationship with Israel. LXX: "They are a sign with me and among you." Anyone who does not follow this sign will not be able to know much about Yahweh or what holiness means.

14. "And you must guard the Sabbath, because for you it is set apart; anyone who treats it like an ordinary day it must certainly be put to death, because every soul who works on it will be cut off from among his people.

The kind of work here is work that serves yourself, not service to the whole community of Israel.

15. "Work may be done six days, but on the seventh day you must stop and rest, [because it is] set apart for Yahweh. Anyone who does work on the Sabbath must certainly be put to death.

The seriousness of this command is repeated over and over, yet it is probably the command most often disobeyed by people who say they belong to Yahweh. The construction of the Tabernacle stopped on the Sabbath, but the work in its courts continued on the Sabbath after it was built; in fact, twice as much work was done there on the Sabbath as on ordinary days, because it focused on Yahweh, not our physical needs.

16. "This way, the descendants of Israel will guard the Sabbath so they can examine the Sabbath, in order to do the Sabbath for [all] their generations; it is a never-ending agreement.

17. "It is a sign forever between Me and the descendants of Israel, because in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."

"Forever" means it will never be replaced by anything else. Through our actions now we are building the houses we will live in later. (1 Cor. 3:12ff) In the "seventh day"--the Millennial Kingdom--nothing new can be added; it will be too late.

18. And when He finished talking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moshe the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written on by the finger of Elohim.

The last time the finger of Elohim was mentioned was the finger of judgment (8:19), when Pharaoh's magicians could no longer imitate Moshe's miracles. If the Israelites now obey, the plagues of Egypt will not come upon them. Y'shua said He was expelling demons by the finger of Elohim, which proved that the first part of the Kingdom had arrived. (Luke 11:20)

The Golden Calf

CHAPTER 32

1. When the people saw that Moshe was slow in coming down from the mountain, the people came together to Aharon, and told him, "Rise up and make for us elohim who can go before us; because [as for] this man Moshe, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

The cloud that had led them had disappeared, so they thought they needed someone to lead them into the Land. They did not want to wait for YHWH's instruction or for Moshe to return.

2. So Aharon told them, "Tear off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.

3. So all the people tore off the rings of gold that were in their ears, and they brought them to Aharon,

4. and he took [the gold] from their hand and formed it with an engraving tool, and he made it a [molten] casted calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who made you go up from the land of Egypt."

5. And Aharon saw [this], and he built an altar in front of it, and Aharon called out and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to YHWH!"

So far they had not celebrated the feast that they had told Pharaoh was their reason for leaving. So Aharon wants to go ahead and fulfill this promise. They thought they were making an image of the true Elohim, but they were wrong, and He did not like this. How often do we try to worship YHWH in the way we think He might like, instead of letting Him teach us what He is really like?

6. So they got up early the next morning, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings near. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to wildly play.


7. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Go on down, because your people, whom you brought up from Egypt, have become rotten.

8. "So quickly they have turned off the path which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a statue of a calf and bowed down to it, and have offered sacrifices to it! And they have said, 'These are your elohim, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

9. Then YHWH explained to Moshe, "I have inspected this people, and they are a stiff-necked people.

Someone with a stiff neck can neither bow nor turn his head around to change direction. Someone else has to take his own time to persuade him to do the right thing.

10. "So now [if you] leave it to Me, my anger will burn against them, so I can consume them, and I will make a great nation from you [instead]."

YHWH was testing M oshe to see if he was more interested in the community of Israel surviving or only in his receiving a reward for himself. YHWH could not bless Moshe alone, but had to make another nation to replace this one, because only in a community can YHWH be known best. Y'shua said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them." (Matt. 18:20)

11. But Moshe tried hard to get YHWH, his Elohim, to back down by saying, "Why, O YHWH, should your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

YHWH called them Moshe's people, but Moshe turns it around and says, "They are YOUR people!" He reminds Him of all He has done to make this community possible.

12. "Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them up because He was mean, so He could kill them among the mountains, and to completely consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn back from your fierce anger and turn Your plans away from injuring Your people!

13. "Remember Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Israel, to whom You swore by Yourself and promised them, 'I will multiply Your seed like the stars of the heavens, and all this land which I have promised, I will give [it] to your descendants, and they will possess it forever."

Moshe reminded YHWH of the promises He had already made.

14. So YHWH let Himself to be persuaded to turn in pity from the harm that He had threatened to bring on His people.

15. And Moshe turned and went down from the mountain, the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets written on their two sides--on this [side] and on that [side] they were written.

16. And the tablets were the workmanship of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim; it was carved all the way through the tablets.

Tradition says the tablets were made of sapphire stones.

17. Then Y'hoshua heard the noise of the people as they were shouting, and he said to Moshe, "[There's] a sound of war in the camp!"

Y'hoshua had been waiting patiently for his master for forty days.

18. But he said, "It is neither the shout of bravery nor the response to defeat that I am hearing, but the sound of bowing down [in worship].

"The sound of bowing down" could mean "a sound that disappoints us"--in other words, "bad news".

19. And as he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moshe's anger grew hot, and what he did was throw the tablets from his hand and shatter them beneath the mountain.

These tablets were the marriage contract between YHWH and Israel, but how could it be "signed" if the bride was already unfaithful?

20. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and he ground it up until it was only powder, then scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.

The people did not want to drink the pure water of YHWH, so they had to drink water that tasted terrible. They were meant to see that their idol had no power at all.


21. Then Moshe said to Aharon, "What has this [group of] people done to you, that you have brought on them [such] a great sin?"

22. But Aharon said, "Don't let my master get so angry! You are familiar with this people--how it is [impatiently] set on evil.

23. "And they told me, 'Make for us elohim who may go ahead of us; as for Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

24. "So I told them, 'Whoever has gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave them to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"

25. Then Moshe saw that the people were [even] taking off their clothes (because Aharon had exposed them to derision among their enemies).

26. So Moshe stood in the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for YHWH, come [over] to me!" And all the sons of Levi moved over and came to him together.

It may have been because YHWH knew the Levites would do this that He had allowed them to be holy to Him in place of the firstborn of every family. (Numbers 3:12)

27. Then he told them, "This is what YHWH, [the] Elohim of Israel, says: Let each man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from door to door through the camp, and each one kill his brother, and each one his companion, and each one his near [relative]."

28. So the descendants of Levi did according to the word of Moshe, and from among the people about three thousand men fell that day.

By tradition, this took place on the day that would later be the feast of Shavuoth. The "repair" for this tragedy came more than 2,000 years later on the first Shavuoth after Y'shua's resurrection, when "3,000 souls were added". (Acts 2:41).

29. And Moshe said, "Set yourselves apart to YHWH today, since each one has been against his son and against his brother, so that you may be given a blessing today.

They were to be rewarded for choosing YHWH's standards over family relationships.

30. And it happened that on the next day Moshe said to the people, "You have made a big mistake; and now I will go up to YHWH. Maybe I can make a covering over your sin."

He made them stew in their guilt and fear of YHWH all night.

31. So Moshe went back to YHWH and said, "I beg [You] now, this people has made a great mistake, and have made elohim of gold for themselves.

32. "Yet now, if you are willing, take away their sin; and if it cannot be, then erase me now from the book which You have written."

33. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Whoever sinned against Me is the one I will erase from My book.

34. "But you go [ahead and] lead the people to what I have promised to you. My messenger will still go before your face, and at the right time I will attend to the sin that is on them."

35. So YHWH sent a plague upon the people because they had made the calf that Aharon had shaped.

Their sins were "taken away", but they still paid part of the price for them since they knew better.



CHAPTER 33

1. And Yahweh told Moshe, "Go on up from here--you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt--to the Land of which I promised to Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov, saying, 'I will give it to your children'.

2. "And I will send a messenger ahead of you (and I will drive out the Kanaanites, the Emorites, and the Chithites, and the P'rizzites, the Chiwites, and the Y'vusites)

3. "to a Land flowing with milk and honey, because I will not go up with you, since [if I did] I might finish you off you along the way, because you are a stubborn people!"

Yahweh saw that the people were not ready for Him to be among them. They could not stand to have Him there, because they were not holy enough, so He gave them someone else to speak directly to them. Y'shua said something similar: "The Father has let the Son do all the judging." (Yochanan 5:22) He was the one the Father sent, who went on ahead of us, and brings us back to holiness so that we can someday be ready to meet the Father for ourselves.

4. When the people heard this bad news, they cried like when somebody dies, and no man put on his fancy decorations.

Their earrings reminded them of the golden calf Aharon had made from such jewelry, and they wanted to forget that.

5. So Yahweh explained to Moshe, "Tell the descendants of Israel, 'You are a stubborn people; in one instant I could come up into the midst of you and put an end to you. So take your fancy decorations off yourselves now, so that I will know what to do with you.'"

To Him they looked like Egyptians when they wore such things, so He told them to let Him look at them without these things so He could be sure they were really Israelites.

6. So the descendants of Israel took off all their decorations not far from Mount Chorev.

7. Then Moshe took the Tent and set it up outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Appointment, and everyone who was seeking after Yahweh went out to the Tent of Appointment which was outside the camp.

Yahweh took Himself further away from their wickedness, but those who really wanted to be with Him made the effort to go out and meet Him even though it was inconvenient.

8. And when Moshe went to the Tent, all the people would get up and each man would stand at the entrance to his tent and pay attention, [watching] after Moshe until he had gone [all the way] inside the Tent.

9. And whenever Moshe would go to the Tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance of the Tent while He talked with Moshe.

Yahweh was telling Moshe, "When you need to talk, go there, and I will meet you there--but I can't stand to stay among these people."

10. When all the people would see the pillar of cloud appearing [standing] at the entrance to the Tent, all the people would stand up and bow down, each one at the entrance to his tent.

11. And Yahweh would speak to Moshe face to face, just as a man would speak to his friend, then he would return to the camp. Now his helper Y'hoshua, Nun's son, [who was] a young man, did not leave the inside of the Tent.

Moshe still could not see Yahweh's face, because then he could not survive (v. 20), but He could feel Yahweh's presence in a special way, and they had conversations together. Moshe could lead the people to the edge of the Promised Land, but Y'hoshua (whose name is the same as Y'shua's) had to be the one to take them all the way in.

12. And Moshe told Yahweh, "Look, You are telling me, 'Lead this people up', but You Yourself have not told me who You will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favor in My eyes as well.'

13. "So now, if I have [really] found favor in Your eyes, please let me see Your ways, and let me know You, so that I may find favor in Your eyes. Also, consider [the fact] that this nation is [after all] Your people."

He wanted to find even more favor in YHWH's eyes, so he could lead the people better.

14. And He told him, "My presence will go [with you], and I will give you rest."

15. And he told Him, "If Your presence does not go, don't make us go up from here.

16. "And now, how can it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your eyes? Isn't it by Your going with us, so that [others] can tell us (both me and Your people) apart from all the nations that are on the surface of the earth?"

Y'shua said others could tell His people apart by their love for one another.

17. So Yahweh told Moshe, "What you have said, I will do, because you have found favor in My eyes, and I know you by name."

18. But he said, "I beg You, show me how much authority You have!"

Moshe dares to ask for another step in knowing Yahweh. There are 32 steps leading to the first gate that goes into the Temple, then another 32 leading from the gate up to the Holy of Holies itself. We must not be satisfied to stay too long on one that seems especially nice, but keep letting Him take us higher and higher so we can become more and more specially His own.

19. So He said, "I will let all My benefits cross over your face, and I will call out the name of Yahweh in front of your face. But I will show favor to whomever I [wish to] show favor, and I will have mercy on whomever I [wish to] have mercy.

20. And He added, "You are not able to see My face, because no man who sees Me survives."

21. But YHWH said, "Look here! There is a place with Me, and you can stand on the rock,

22. "and as My heaviness is passing by, what I will do is put you in a crevice in the rock, and I will cover you with My cupped hand as I pass by,

Eliyahu experienced the same thing. (1 Kings 19) Y'shua is called Yahweh's right hand, and He shields us from the part of the Father that would destroy us if we got too close, like a fire.

23. "and I will take away My palm, and you will see [the tail end of] the glow that follows Me, but no one can see My face."


CHAPTER 34

1. Then Yahweh told Moshe, "Carve for yourself two blocks of stone like the first ones. Then I will write on these blocks the words which I wrote on the first blocks, which you broke.

YHWH had formed the first blocks (32:16), but Moshe had to make these.

2. "Now be prepared in the morning, and come up to Mount Sinai in the morning, and stand in front of Me there on the top of the mountain.

3. "Not one man may go up with you, nor may any man be seen on the whole mountain. Don't let the flocks and herds feed near the mountain either."

4. So he cut out two blocks of stone like the first, and Moshe got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had told him to, and he took in his hand the two blocks of stone.

5. Then Yahweh came down in the cloud, and he stood in front of Him there, and called out the name of Yahweh.

6. And Yahweh passed by above his face and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh! The El who is merciful and gracious, slow to get angry and very, very kind and truthful,

7. "who faithfully guards kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but not leaving entirely unpunished--charging what fathers do wrong to [their] sons and grandsons until the third and fourth [generation]."

Some had been slain for worshipping the golden calf, while others were spared.

8. Then Moshe hurried to bow [his head] toward the earth and lie down on his face [in worship].

He did not want Yahweh to think he was one of the "stiff-necked people"!

9. And he said, "If I have now found acceptance in Your eyes, O Master, please let my Master walk right among us, because this is a stiff-necked people; forgive our crookedness and our wandering the wrong way, and take us as Your very own!"

10. So He said, "Here, I am cutting an agreement; I will do amazing things in front of all your people--the kind that have never been done in all the earth or among any of the nations. And all the people (including, and especially, you) will see the work of Yahweh, because what I am about to do is astonishing.

11. "You yourself keep careful guard of what I am commanding you today. Watch: I am about to drive out in front of your face the Emorites, the Kanaanites, the Chithites, the P'rizzites, the Chiwites, and the Y'vusites.

12. "Be on your guard [to be sure] that you do not make any agreement with the people of the Land to which you are going, so that they will not be a trap right among you.

13. "Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles,

Asherah poles were tree-like pillars dedicated to a Canaanite goddess. They are what Christmas trees came from.

14. "because you must not bow to another elohim, because Yahweh's name is Jealous; He is a jealous Elohim,"

15. "so that you will not make a treaty with those who live on the Land, and when they follow their elohim into adultery, and sacrifice to their elohim, [someone might] invite you, and you [might] eat from his sacrifice,"

Eating from their festive meals like Christmas and Easter is indirectly participating in the worship of other gods, even if someone did not intend to do this. Becoming close friends with people who do these things might tempt you to join their celebrations. In fact, it is only because of people disobeying this command that those holidays could ever have come from being unmistakeably pagan to being considered mainly "Christian" at all. But Yahweh never gave us permission to just paste His name over pagan things; we saw with the golden calf what He thinks about doing that.

16. "or take [one] of their daughters [as a wife] for your son, and their daughters follow their elohim in commiting adultery, [then] they influence your sons to commit adultery by following their elohim.

17. "You may not make any cast-metal elohim for yourself.

18. "You must guard the festival-gathering of Unleavened Bread; you must eat matzah for seven days--just as I have commanded you--in the month when the barley ears turn green, because in this month of Aviv you came out from Egypt.

19. "Everyone who opens the womb is Mine, and of all your male livestock, a firstling of an ox or sheep.

One who opens the womb is another way of saying "the firstborn".

20. "But the firstborn from a donkey you shall buy back with a lamb; but if you do not buy it back, you have to break its neck. You must redeem every firstborn of your sons, and they shall not appear before Me empty.

You are not allowed to keep a donkey's firstborn for yourself. It is an unclean animal that can have some usefulness only if we give Him something in return for it. It is a picture of the wild animal side of us, which Yahweh can use, but only if we dedicate it to Him. If not, it has to be destroyed.

21. "You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must stop.

22. "You must also keep for yourself a Feast of [Seven] Weeks--the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat--and also the Feast of Gathering-in at the turn of the year.


23. "Three times during the year shall every one of your males appear before the Master Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel,

24. "because I will expel nations from in front of your face, and you will broaden your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before YHWH three times during the year.

We wouild think it was unsafe for all the men to leave their homes, wives, and children (if they had to stay back with a newborn baby) and travel to Yerushalayim, especially right after the harvest was gathered in, but Yahweh said that if they trusted Him, He would be sure all these things were kept safe while they made the trip in obedience to Him. No one would bother their families or possessions--a picture of the coming Kingdom, when "no one will make them afraid". (Yehezq'el 34:28; Micha 4:4; Tsefanyah 3:13) When we put Yahweh's Kingdom first, He makes sure we have enough of the other things we need. (Matt. 6:33)

25. "You shall not offer up the blood of [animals] slaughtered for Me along with anything leavened, and you must not let any of what is slaughtered for the festival-gathering of Passover be left over until the morning.

26. "The very first [and best] of the firstfruits of your ground you must bring to the house of Yahweh your Elohim; you must not raise a baby animal to maturity on its mother's milk."

You should not keep the firstborn of the animals until they are grown up before offering them to Yahweh, but do it as quickly as you can get them away from their mothers without harming them.

27. Then Yahweh told Moshe, "Write down these words, because by the force of these words I have made an agreement with you and with Israel."

28. And he ended up being there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He neither ate food nor drank water. And He wrote on the [stone] blocks the words of the agreement--the Ten Things.

The Ten Things were the instructions for what he was supposed to build: the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of the Bread of the Faces, the Menorah, the golden altar, the altar of burnt offerings, the washbasin, the garments, the anointing oil, and the incense.

29. Now Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in his hand, but as he was coming down from the mountain, the skin of Moshe's face had begun to glow because He had been speaking with [Yahweh], but he did not know it.

Moshe was becoming more like Adam and Chavvah had been in the Garden of Eden when they met with Yahweh each day before they disobeyed Him. By bringing us Yahweh's instruction, he was beginning to bring back what Adam and Chavvah had lost--a people who reflected what Yahweh is like.

30. And when Aharon and all the descendants of Israel saw Moshe, lo and behold, the skin of his face was shining! And they were afraid to get close to him.

31. But Moshe called them, so Aharon and all the leaders of the congregation came back to him, and Moshe began to talk with them.

32. Then after them all the descendants of Israel came close, and he gave [them] all that YHWH had discussed with him on the mountain of Sinai, in the form of commands.

33. When Moshe finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face,

34. and when Moshe would come into Yahweh's presence to talk with Him, he would take off the veil until he went out, and he would go out and tell the descendants of Israel what he was ordered [to say].

35. But when the descendants of Israel would notice Moshe's face (that the skin of his face had begun to glow) Moshe would put the veil back on his face until he went to speak with Him [again].

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3 that the reason he wore a veil is because the shining faded after he had not been with Yahweh for a while. He had to go back for his face to start glowing again, just as the sacrifices for sins had to be offered over and over. If the people had known this, they might have lost respect for Moshe. Y'shua is like the veil that shields us from the full strength of Yahweh's words, which are too bright for us to look at directly, just like the sun. He shows us how it is meant to be read in order to bring us life without burning us. (Deut. 32:47). By looking into Y'shua's face we as united Israel can also--without a veil--be transformed back into that same reflection of Elohim that Adam lost.


CHAPTER 35

1. Then Moshe gathered together all the congregation of the descendants of Israel and told them, "These are the words which YHWH has commanded in order that you should carry them out.

Moshe is now telling the people what YHWH told him. Much of it is repeated, but every word is there for a reason, and repeating things helps us remember them better. The description of the people carrying out the work shows us that they did exactly as they were told, without making changes because they thought something might be better a different way. The word for "assembled" has the same meaning in Hebrew as the word later used in Greek for those who responded to Y'shua's call to return to being Israelites (ekklesia--called-out ones).

2. "Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there will be for you a holy Sabbath of rest to Yahweh. Whoever does work on it must truly be killed.

ALthough the Sabbath is the fourth commandment, Moshe considers it important enough to begin with, because it is the sign that seals the covenant (31:13-17). Without it, none of the rest of his words make complete sense. The Sabbath is also a picture of the Kingdom--the seventh period of a thousand years, when Yahweh will dwell with us. So the Sabbath and the Tabernacle are both pictures of that time. The word for "work" here means something done to meet our own needs or build up our own riches; there is another Hebrew word that describes serving others. While we serve ourselves, we cannot serve the Body of Messiah. The work we do here is sent ahead of us like a messenger and stored in the Kingdom for us to use then. Only service will continue into the Kingdom (the seventh "day"). The people are getting excited about building the Tabernacle, since they know that the sooner they get it finished, the sooner Yahweh will again live among them. But Moshe reminds them that even constructing Yahweh's visible place to live was not to be done on the Sabbath. They were in the desert--another picture of the Sabbath, when they had no other responsibilities.

3. "You must not light a fire throughout your settlements on the Sabbath day."

In our congregations on the Sabbath, we must not cause unnecessary fighting, but remain in unity. Kindling a fire is also linked with YHWH's anger, which does not give us a picture of the Messianic Kingdom of peace.

4. And Moshe told the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel, "This is the thing that Yahweh has commanded:

The whole congregation: Everyone had to be there in unity before the Tabernacle was built, before He could build His dwelling place, because it begins with them all coming together in heart and purpose.

5. "Take from among yourselves a collection for Yahweh. Everyone whose heart is willing may bring it. This part belongs to Yahweh: gold and silver and bronze,

Everyone has something they can bring to the community of Israel. "Yahweh loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7) These former slaves were free now to give generously, and they did. If we give only because we have to, and not from the heart, our gift is not stored in the Kingdom.

6. "blue, purple, and crimson scarlet, bleached [linen], and goats' hair,

Crimson scarlet: LXX, "double scarlet spun".

7. "and rams' skins dyed red, tachash skins, and acacia wood,

8. "and oil for the lamp, and spices for the oil of anointing and for the sweet incense,

9. "and onyx stones, and stones to be set [filling] in the ephod and for the pouch,

The tabernacle was built out of things that once belonged to Egypt--just like those of us who are being "called out" from pagan worship to become the Temple built of living stones. Revelation 21 tells us that the New Yerushalayim, the Lamb's bride, will also be decorated with all kinds of precious stones.

10. "And let everyone who is wise-hearted among you come and make everything that YHWH has told us to:

11. "The Place [for Yahweh] to live, its tent, its covering, its hooks, its planks, its pillars, and its sockets;

Note that the tabernacle is different from the tent; what building can contain YHWH? The assembly of the people is the real place He lives, but the picture had to be built so we could see what we are supposed to become.

12. "the ark and its poles, the atonement-covering and the veil of the screen;

13. "the table, its poles, and all its tools; and the bread of the faces;

14. "the lampstand to bring light, its tools, its lamps, and the oil to light it up;

15. "and the incense altar and its poles; the oil of anointing, and the sweet incense; the curtain for the entryway to serve as the door for the place [for Yahweh] to live;

16. "the altar of burnt [ascending] offering, its poles, and all its utensils; the washbasin and its base;

17. "the drapes for the courtyard, its pillars and its socket-bases, the screen for the entryway into the courtyard;

18. "the stakes of the place [for Yahweh] to live, and the poles of the courtyard, and their cords;

The word for stakes, or tent-pegs, was also used for a word meaning nails to hang the Tabernacle's tools on. This word also describes the Messiah: "I will drive him like a nail into a sturdy place, and he be like an important throne for his Father's house, and they will hang on him all the glory of His father's house." (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 22:21-24)

19. "the woven garments to [wear while they] serve in the set-apart place, the special clothes for Aharon the priest, and the garments for his sons to [wear while they] serve in the office of priests."

20. Then all the descendants of Israel left Moshe

21. and came--everyone whose heart made him rise up, and everyone whose spirit made him willing. They brought a contribution to Yahweh for the work of the Tent of Appointment, and for all its service and for the holy clothes.

Yahweh did not necessarily choose the people who were most experienced, but those whose hearts were willing to do the job the way He said to. He would teach them how to do it.

22. And the men came in together with the women--everyone who had a willing heart and everyone who offered a contribution of gold unto Yahweh. They brought in bracelets, nose-rings, [signet] rings, ornaments--every [kind of] gold article.

They brought all the precious articles that had NOT been made into the golden calf (whatever had not been dedicated to paganism). Not everyone in the community had participated in this sin, but Yahweh withdrew from the whole community. Bracelets: or brooches, like safety-pins that held their garments together. (Hirsch)

23. And everyone who was found to have blue and purple and scarlet-crimson, and bleached [linen], and [the hair of] she-goats, and rams' skins dyed red, and tachash skins, |

They had been given many things by the Egyptians, and only now did they have time to sort out what each person had.

24. Everyone who gave up a contribution of silver and bronze brought the contribution to Yahweh, and everyone who was found to have acacia wood for any work of the service, they brought it.

25. And every wise-hearted woman spun with her hands, and they brought spun yarn--blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and bleached [white]--and they brought she-goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and tachash skins.

The capable woman who "lays her hands to the spindle, and [whose] hands hold the distaff...whose household is clothed in scarlet" (Prov. 31:10ff) reminds us of this passage. Therefore that chapter is about the Tabernacle! They probably did not have rolls of wool and dye with them. These were royal colors. They probably had to pull apart the fine clothing given by the Egyptians, thread by thread, and separate it out by colors. They could not use Egyptian clothes; they were dedicated to paganism. But when they separated it into its original parts again, some of it was still useful. This donation of the finest clothing left the people with the simpler clothes, but this way no one would have fancier clothes than others, and the only glorious things would all be part of the Place where Yahweh would dwell with the whole community.

26. And all the women whose hearts were lifted up in wisdom spun the she-goats' hair.

27. And the leaders brought the onyx stones, and stones to be set [in] the outer garment and for the pouch,

28. and the spice and the oil for illumination and for the oil of anointing, and for the sweet incense.

29. So every man or woman whose hearts moved them to bring [materials] for all the work that Yahweh commanded to be done by the hand of Moshe--the descendants of Israel--brought a voluntary [offering] to Yahweh.

30. So Moshe told the descendants of Israel, "Look: Yahweh has called B'tzal-El the son of Uri, the son of Chuwr, of the tribe of Yehudah, by name,

31. "and He has filled him with the spirit of Elohim in wisdom, intelligence, and in all knowledge and ability

32. "to devise inventive designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze,

33. "and in cutting stones to set, in carving wood, to work in any craft of [thoughtful] design.

34. "And He has put in his heart [the ability] to teach--he and Aholiav, son of Achisamach, to the branch of Dan.

B'tzal'El had to supervise others whose hearts were willing, but who were not used to this kind of work. He had to understand what it was a picture of so he would know they were building it rightly.

35. "He has filled them with wisdom of heart to do every [type of] work--of a craftsman, a skilled worker, an embroiderer of blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and fine linen, and of the weaver, workers in any kind of craftsmanship, and those who devise designs.


CHAPTER 36

1. So B'tzal-El and Aholiav worked along with everyone who was wise of heart, to whom YHWH had given skill and understanding of how to do all kinds of work for the service of the Holy Place--for everything that Yahweh had commanded.

2. And Moshe called B'tzal-El and Aholiav and everyone who was wise of heart, whom Yahweh had given a heart of wisdom--everyone whose heart had lifted him up to come close so they could do the work.

3. And they took from Moshe every contribution that the descendants of Israel had brought for the work of the service in the Holy Place in order to prepare it [make it]. And [without being asked] they brought him still more gifts one morning after another,

Only what they gave made it into the historybooks; what they kept has been long forgotten.

4. and all the wise men came--the ones who did every kind of work for the Holy Place, each man from his work which they were doing.

5. Then they told Moshe, "The people are bringing more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to be done!"

6. So Moshe made a proclamation, and they caused it to be spread throughout the camp. [They] said, "Let neither man nor woman make any more contributions toward the Holy Place!" So the people were kept from bringing [any more].

There will come a time when Y'shua's command to go into all the world and retrieve the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel and others in order to build His true dwelling place will reach its limit, and to bring in more would ruin it, like the mustard seed in his parable (Matt. 13:31-32) that grew too big and provided a place for the birds of the air (often a figure of speech for demon spirits). The net is thrown out to catch fish, but it is being pulled back in so the kosher fish can be sorted from the ones that we cannot eat.

7. And the property that they had was enough to finish all the work, and there was too much left over.

Y'shua's miracles of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Matt. 15; Mark 6) also represented the retrieval of the dispersed tribes, there was also excess, and he gave strict order that none be wasted. Excess: YHWH considered Y'shua's sacrifice to be above and beyond what was needed to restore the preserved of Israel; He would also make him a light to the nations, since there was enough bread to feed them also. (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 49:6).

8. And every wise-hearted [person] among those who did the work on the Dwelling Place made ten curtains of bleached [linen], blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet. He made them with kh'ruvim, the work of a craftsman.

9. One curtain was twenty-eight cubits long, and [each] was four cubits wide. The one curtain was the same size as all the [other] curtains.

A cubit (18 to 20 inches) was the distance from one's fingertip to his elbow.

10. And he joined five curtains one to [another], and five curtains he joined, one to [another].

11. And he made loops of blue [cloth] on the edge of the one curtain, from the end where it joined together; he did the same at the edge of the outermost curtain at the second place it joined together.

12. He made fifty loops on one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was at the place it joined to the second. The loops held one curtain to another.

13. And he made fifty hooks of gold, and he joined the curtains by the hooks, and to another, and so the Tabernacle became one.

Fifty days after Y'shua's resurrection, after the counting of the omer [grain-measure], his followers were "all united in agreement", and the presence of Yahweh came on them like tongues of fire just as it had in the pillar of fire over the Tabernacle, which was a model of this community. In the later Temple, stones were put together as the curtains had been in the Tabernacle, and Kefa says we are like "living stones" that make up a place for Yahweh to live. (1 Peter 2:5)

14. And he made curtains of goats' [hair] as a tent over the place [for Yahweh] to live. He made them [from] eleven curtains.

15. One curtain was thirty cubits long and four cubits wide; the eleven curtains [were all] the same size.

16. And he joined the five curtains separately [as one part] and the [other] six curtains as [another] part.

17. And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain at the place where they joined together, and he made fifty loops on the end of the other curtain that would come next to it.

18. And he made fifty hooks of bronze to join the tent together, in order to bring it together it as one.

The Hebrew word for "join" here is like the word for "friend".

19. Then he made a cover for the Tent [made] from rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of tachash skins from above [it].

20. And he made the boards for the Tabernacle from acacia timbers stood upright.

21. [Each] board was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

22. One board was connected to another by two pins. He did the same for all the boards of the Tabernacle.

23. So he made the boards for the Tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side toward the right,

Notice that the south side is called the right side. This was how it would be when looking out from inside the door of the tent. But although we make maps facing north nowadays, in ancient Israel, east was the most important direction and the rest was based on that.

24. and he made forty sockets of silver [to go] under the twenty boards--two sockets under each board for its two [parts].

One "foot" of silver with two slots in it held half of each board in its groove so that the two were held together firmly. (v. 30) A hole ran through the narrow side of the board so that several boards could be held together firmly by a long pole that slid through them all (v. 33). Then there were also clasps on the outside of the boards, holding two together (v. 22) so they would be especially sturdy.

25. And for the second side of the Tabernacle, toward the north, he made twenty boards,

26. and their forty silver sockets--two sockets under one board and two sockets under the [next] one.

27. And he made six boards for the western side of the Tabernacle.

28. And he made two boards for the corner posts of the Tabernacle on the two [long] sides.

29. And they were even at the bottom, and it was the same at the top, for each ring; he did the same to both of them on the two long sides.

30. So there were eight boards and their silver sockets--sixteen sockets [in all] (two sockets under each board).

31. And he made bars from acacia wood: five bars for the boards of the one side of the Tabernacle,

32. and five bars for the boards of the second side of the Tabernacle, and five bars for the flanks of the

33. And he made the central bar to run through the middle of the boards, from end to end.

34. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and he made the rings [of] gold (to slide the poles through), and he overlaid the bars with gold.

The part closest to the Dwelling-Place had to be of the purest metal, gold.

35. And he made a veil of blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and twined bleached [linen]. He made it of an artistic design, with kh'ruvim [on it].

36. And he made four pillars of acacia [wood] for it, and covered them with gold. Their nails [were also made of] gold, and he made four sockets out of silver for them.



CHAPTER 37

1. So B'tzal-El made the ark from acacia wood--two cubits and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.

2. Then he overlaid it with gold inside and outside, and he made a border of gold for it all around.

Again Yahweh emphasizes that the inside must match the purity of the outside--as Y'shua said, "Either make the tree good and its fruit also good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt." (Matt. 12:33) Not just the outside of the cup, but the inside must also be clean. One reason the pig is especially not kosher is that it looks kosher on the outside--it has a divided hoof. But you have to study it more carefully to realize that it does not chew its cud like a cow, which purifies what it eats, but is also a picture for us to imitate as we think about Yahweh's words over and over.

3. And he cast four rings of gold by its four feet: two rings on its one side, and two rings on its second side.

4. And he made poles of acacia wood, and he covered them with gold.

Over and over in Scripture we see wood being a picture of humanity, which can decay like wood. Covering it with gold represents the atonement that allows us as sinful human beings to take part in Yahweh's holy work.

5. And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark [by which] to carry the ark.

6. And he made an [atoning] cover of pure gold--two cubits and a half long and a cubit and a half wide,

Atoning: LXX, "propitiatory".

7. and he made two kh'ruvim of gold; he made them hammered [out] from the two ends of the atoning cover--

8. one kh'ruv from this end, and one kh'ruv from that end; he made the kh'ruvim out of the atoning-cover--from both of its ends,

The kh’ruvim are like a husband and wife, two and yet made from one piece of gold. The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel will be brought back together like this, and then together we will be Yahweh's bride.

9. with the kh'ruvim spreading their wings upward, forming a protective space over the atoning-cover, each one with his face toward his brother; the kh'ruvim faced toward the atoning-cover.

The real atoning-cover was not the lid of the ark, but the agreement between the two brothers.

10. Then he fashioned the table of acacia wood, its length two cubits, its width a cubit, and its height a cubit and a half.

11. Then he covered it with pure gold, and made for it a border-molding of gold all around.

12. And he made a rim for it, as wide as a spread-out hand, all around, and made a golden border all around for its rim.

13. Then he cast four gold rings for it, and set the rings on the four edgings that were for its four feet.

14. The rings were right up against the rims, [as] slots for the poles to carry the table.

15. And he made the poles from acacia wood, and covered them with gold, to carry the table.

16. Then he made the tools that [went] on the table from pure gold--its trays, its spoons, its cleaning-pans, and its pitchers which which drink-offerings are poured.

17. Then he made the lampstand of pure gold; he made the menorah hammered to hardness out of [one piece]: its base, its trunk, its calyxes, its knobs, and its flowers,

18. and six branches going out from its sides--three branches of the menorah from its one side, and three branches of the menorah from its second side.

LXX: "the stem solid, and branches from both its sides" (literally, "balanced supporting-shafts").

19. On the one branch were three almond-shaped calyxes, a knob, and a blossom, then three almond-shaped calyxes, a knob, and a blossom on one branch, and so on for the six branches that go out from the menorah.

20. Then on the lampstand [itself] were four almond-shaped calyxes, its knobs, and its flowers,

21. with a knob under two of its branches, a knob under [the next] two of its branches, and a knob under [the last] two of its branches, for the six branches that go out from it.

22. Their knobs and their branches were part of it; all of it was one [piece of] work hammered from pure gold.

It is all one piece; the branches, etc., were not made separately, then attached later. The menorah that has been made for the next Temple was cast from gold poured into a mold of the right shape and size.

23. Then he made its seven lamps, its [fire] snuffers, and its firepans from pure gold.

24. From a talent of pure gold he fashioned it and all of its implements.

A talent is a measurement of weight equal to 30 kilograms or about 66 pounds.

25. And he made the incense altar out of acacia wood: it was a cubit long and a cubit wide--a square. And it was two cubits high, and its horns were a part of it.

A part of it: again, shaped from the same piece, not attached separately. Incense is a symbol of prayer. This altar is the only piece of tabernacle furniture that has only whole numbers as its measurements--no half-cubits at all. Incense represents prayer, and so it may be teaching us that prayer must be whole-hearted .

26. Then he covered it with pure gold--its top and its walls all around, and its horns; he also made a border of gold for it all around.

27. Then he made two gold rings for it, from under the border-molding on its two corners on its two sides, as slots for the poles to carry it with.

28. And he made the poles from acacia wood, and covered them with gold.

29. Then he got the holy oil ready for anointing, and the pure incense of [sweet-] smelling spices, the workmanship of someone who mixes perfumes.


CHAPTER 38

1. Then he made the altar for ascending [offerings] out of acacia wood five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.

2. And he shaped its horns on its four corners. (Its horns were part of it.). Then he covered it with bronze.

3. Then he made all of the tools for the altar--the pots, the shovels, the pitchers to toss [the blood with], the meat-forks, and the firepans; he made all of its tools from bronze.

4. Then he made a grill out of bronze under its ledge extending [down] toward its midpoint,

5. and he cast four rings for the four edges of the grate, to hold the poles.

6. Then he made the poles from acacia wood, and covered them with bronze,

7. and he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with. He made the altar hollow with wooden panels.

8. And he made the bronze washbasin, along with its bronze base, out of the mirrors of the women who had gathered and who served at the doorway of the Tent of Appointment.

Some believe this means the mirrors belonged to the women whose husbands had opposed Moshe and had died. The word for "served" here really means "did battle". Donating their mirrors was a picture of giving up their vanity, which is important if we re to think more of our neighbors than ourselves. Only men were counted for physical war, but we are speaking of spiritual battle here. Since the washbasin was made from mirrors, it would be highly reflective, so that when the priests came to wash their hands and feet, they could also examine their faces--a picture, as Yaaqov tells us, of looking into the Torah to find out who we really are and making sure that our actions line up with what YHWH has already made us by putting within us the spirit of the Messiah--the Second, Restored Adam. (See also Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 2:8-10)

9. Then he made the courtyard: on the south side, toward the right hand, the fine-twined linen drapes of the enclosure--a hundred cubits on a side.

10. Their pillars [were] twenty, and their bronze socket-bases twenty; the pillars' nails and their attaching clasps were of silver.

11. Then for the northern border, a hundred cubits [long]; their pillars [numbering] twenty, and their bronze socket-bases twenty; the pillars' nails and their attaching clips were of silver.

12. And for the western limit, drapes of fifty cubits, their pillars [numbering] ten and their socket-bases ten; the pillars' nails and their attaching clasps were of silver.

13. Then for the eastern limit (toward the sunrise), fifty cubits.

14. Drapes of fifteen cubits for the shoulder-support, their pillars [numbering] three, and their socket-bases three.

15. And for the second shoulder-support from this [side] and that of the courtyard's gateway, drapes fifteen cubits [long], their pillars three and their socket-bases three.

16. All the drapes surrounding the courtyard were of fine-twisted linen,

17. and the bases for the pillars [were made] of bronze; the pillars' nails and attaching clips [were] of silver, the plating over their capitals [was] of silver, and all the pillars of the enclosure were banded together with silver.

Hirsch points out that the silver above the copper represents trying hard to make ourselves more pure so our lives can please YHWH.

18. And the screen for the gateway of the courtyard was the work of an embroiderer--blue, purple, scarlet-crimson, and fine-twisted linen--and twenty cubits long, and [both] five cubits high and [five cubits] wide, [running] parallel with the courtyard’s curtains.

19. Their pillars [numbered] four, their bronze socket-bases four. Their hooks [were made] of silver, the plating of their capitals of silver, and their attaching clips of silver.

20. And all the stakes of the Dwelling-place and the enclosure all around [it were] of bronze.

The stakes hold the ropes that keep the tent in place.


(Parashah P’Qudey)

21. These are the inventories [p'qudey] of the Tabernacle--the Tabernacle of the Testimony [Witness]--which were counted since Moshe said to do this--the service of the Levites under Ithamar's direction. (He was the son of Aharon the priest.)

An inventory is the total of each of the materials collected to build the Place for Yahweh to live.

22. And B'tzal-El, the son of Uri, the son of Chuwr, of the tribe of Yehudah, made all that Yahweh had commanded Moshe,

23. along with Aholiav, the son of Achisamach, of the branch of Dan, an engraver and an inventive craftsman, as well as an embroiderer in blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and bleached [linen].

24. All the gold used in making all the work of the Holy Place was 29 round weights and 730 sheqels [measured] by the Sanctuary Sheqel.

A round weight is equal to 3,000 sheqels. The Sanctuary Sheqel is specified because there were several kinds of sheqels used for different purposes.

25. And the silver of the things counted was 100 round weights and 1,775 sheqels, by the Sanctuary Sheqel--

The total is 301,775 when counted all in sheqels.

26. A beqa per head, [which is] half the sheqel, according to the Sanctuary Sheqel, for everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and over came to 603,550.

603,550 is exactly double the number of sheqels in v. 25, since it was 1/2 sheqel (or one beqa) per person. Why half? Because no Israelite is complete on his own; he must be together with the whole community. It is really built of people. Angus Wootten points out that the Jewish population in Israel did not reach this same number until 1948, and that is when it became a nation; 1967 was when the number of men who could be soldiers reached this number, and that is when Yerusahalayim was given back to them.

27. And the 100 talents of silver were [used] for casting the bases of the Holy Place, and the sockets of the veil: 100 sockets corresponding to the 100 talents--a talent per socket.

28. And the 1,775 [sheqels] he shaped into hooks for the columns, and he overlaid their tops [with silver] and attached them together.

The word for "attached" in Hebrew tells us that the many people who form Yahweh's place to live are to be joined together through love and commitment to one another.

29. And the bronze for the wave offering was 70 round weights plus 2,400 sheqels.

30. With it he made the bases for the entryway of the Tent of Appointment, the altar of bronze, its bronze grill and all the tools for the altar,

31. the sockets of the courtyard all around, and the sockets of the gate of the courtyard, all of the Tabernacle's stakes, and all the stakes of the courtyard on every side.

Bronze represents earthly things, not as valuable as gold (which represents purity) and silver (which often represents blood or what paid for blood). It stands between the holy and the earthly things. Rabbinic writings say that Yahweh dresses Himself in layers, hiding Himself deep behind the common things, where only those who really seek Him with all their heart will find Him. If someone looked at the Tabernacle from the outside, he would see only ordinary-looking things if he could even see over the high fence. The precious things were hidden inside from all but those who chose to draw near. (See 40:3) Y'shua hid His real teaching in parables so some people would never understand them.(Luke 8:10) You can never see all the way through it at one time. We must keep studying to find deeper meanings.



CHAPTER 39

1. Then from the blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet, they made braided clothing [in which] to serve in the sanctuary; they also made the set-apart garments which were for Aharon, just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

2. And he made the ephod from gold, blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and fine-twisted linen.

3. Then they hammered out thin sheets of the gold, and cut it into threads, so [they could] work it throughout the blue, the purple, the crimson-scarlet, and the bleached linen with imaginative craftsmanship.

4. Then they made its shoulder-pieces that join it together; it was joined together at its two edges,

5. as well as the imaginatively-designed fastening-band that is on them, of its same [type of] craftsmanship--gold, blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and fine twisted linen, just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

6. Then they made onyx stones set in a braided checker-work of gold, cut [like the] engravings of a signet-seal with the names of the sons of Israel.

7. And he put them in place on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod--stones [to be] a reminder to the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

8. Then he made the pouch--the work of imaginative craftsmanship like the design of the ephod: gold, blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

9. And they made the pouch as a square doubled over, as long as a man's hand from thumb to the tip of his little finger [spread out], and as wide as a man's [spread-out] hand [after it was] doubled over.

10. And on it they filled it in with four rows of stone[s]: sardius, topaz, and carbuncle as the first row;

11. and the second row, emerald, sapphire, and jasper;

12. and the third row, opal, agate, and amethyst;

13. and the fourth row: chrysolyte, onyx, and beryl, surrounded by a braided check-work of gold in their settings.

14. And what the stones were [all] about was the names of the sons of Israel; there were twelve of them, [with one of] their names [on each], cut like a signet-seal, [each] man according to his name for the twelve tribes.

A signet-seal was a ring that kings or important officials would use to press into the wax that held a scroll closed, so that everyone would know this had the king's approval. So that the words could be read by anyone who looked at the seal, the raised letters on the ring would have to be backwards. If the priest's garment had backward letters on it, he could read them any time he looked in a mirror and remember that he was there to carry the concerns of all the tribes of Israel into YHWH's presence.

15. And they made chains on the edges of the breastplate that looked like interwoven leaves, made of pure gold.

16. Then they made two braids of gold, and two gold rings, and they fastened both of the rings onto two edges of the pouch,

17. and they fastened both gold chains onto the two rings on the edges of the pouch.

18. Then the two ends of the leafy chains they fastened onto both of the braids, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod that faced frontward.

19. And they made two gold rings and fastened them onto the two edges of the pouch, on the opposite side of the ephod--[that is,] inside.

20. [Again] they made two gold rings and fastened them onto the shoulder-pieces of the ephod going from the lower [part] of its front surface across from its other connecting-place above the ephod 's imaginatively-designed band.

21. Then they connected the pouch by its rings to the ephod's rings with a twisted cord of blue [wool] so it could be above the imaginatively-designed band, so the pouch would not come off the ephod, just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

22. Then he made the outer robe of the ephod of woven craftsmanship, completely out of blue [wool],

23. with a [head] opening like the opening of a coat of mail (with an edging all around its opening so it would not be torn).

A coat of mail was armor made out of pieces of metal connected together, but its neck-hole was surrounded by especially strong chains.

24. Then on the [bottom] hem of the robe they maded pomegranates from blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet [wool] and twisted [linen].

25. And they made bells from pure gold, and fastened the bells onto the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates [that were] on the hem of the robe all around--

The pomegranates represent the fruitful nation of Israel, since they have so many seeds. Kings David and Shlomo had a scepter whose end was shaped like a pomegranate; archaeologists have found one. The word for pomegranate means something that calls us to "rise up" and enter Yahweh's presence.

26. a bell then a pomegranate, then a bell, then a pomegranate--all around the hem of the robe [which was] to serve in, just as Yahweh commanded Moshe.

27. Then they made tunics of fine linen--the work of a weaver--for Aharon and his sons,

28. and a winding turban of fine white linen, an ornamental head-dress made of fine white linen, and divided undergarments of fine twisted white [linen].

Divided undergarments: i.e., split into two parts like shorts to cover their private parts even better. The white linen weas bleached to make it even brighter.

29. Then a sash of fine twisted white [linen] skillfully embroidered with blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet [wool], just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

30. And they made the glittering plate of the crown of consecration from pure gold, and wrote on it with the writing [style] of a signet-engraving, "SET ASIDE FOR YAHWEH".

31. And they attached it to a twisted cord of blue, to fasten it over the winding turban, just as Yahweh had told Moshe to do.

Attached it to a twisted cord of blue: Aramaic, "suspended it on a thread of blue".

32. This is how all the work for the Tent of Appointment was done; the descendants of Israel really did do everything just like Yahweh had told them to do it.

33. And they brought to Moshe the sanctuary, the tent, all its tools, its hooks, its poles, its pillars, and its socket-bases,

34. and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of tachash skins, and the veil for the screen,

35. the Ark of the Witness, its poles, and [its] Cover,

36. the Table and all its tools, and the Bread of the Faces,

37. the pure lampstand along with its lamps--[which were] to be arranged in rows--all its tools, and the oil to light it up,

38. the golden altar and the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the tent's entryway,

39. the bronze altar, its bronze grating, its poles, and all its tools, the washbasin and its pedestal,

40. the drapes for the [boundary of the] courtyard, its pillars, its sockets,the screen for the gateway to the courtyard, its cords and its stakes, all the tools for serving in the Place where Yahweh would live--that is, the Tent of Appointment,

41. the woven garments [in which] to serve in the Set-Apart Place, the clothes only Aharon the priest [could wear], and the clothes for his sons to serve as priests [in].

Each person built a piece or a part of a piece, not knowing how it was going to all fit together or what it would all look like when it was put together. We are many different people, but we are all being shaped so we can become the real Place Yahweh is going to live. The Tabernacle was just a picture of this, not the real thing. We do not always know why we are chipped and cut the way we are, or why we are put in the water of Yahweh's Word to be smoothed out again. But it is so we will be able to fit tightly into our special slot and get along with the other "pieces" we need to sit beside.

42. This is how the descendants of Israel did carry out all the service that Yahweh had told Moshe [to do].

43. Then Moshe looked over all the work, and they really had done it just as Yahweh had said to. So Moshe blessed them.

In the same way, after Yahweh created the world, He looked over all He had created, saw that it was how He wanted it to be, and then blessed the Sabbath day. (Genesis 2)