Portion KI-THISA (30:11 - 34:35)
30:11. 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; this way there will not be a striking-down among them when they are numbered.

Take a census: 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. Striking-down: i.e., in the war for which they are mustered (v. 14)--or plague. Such a plague did come upon King David when he took a census, and the only thing that stayed the plague was his purchase of the Temple Mount (the threshing floor of Araunah) and construction of an altar there. People are not to be counted in Israel; a payment would be counted instead. It may be that it was lack of faith to count the number of armed men they could muster, because YHWH can accomplish His purposes with many or few. But those whose heart was not right would not bring the half sheqel, so by this the leadership would know how many hearts were really with them. This levy was only taken at the time of a census. For his soul: that is, the thoughts and desires that animate one's flesh--the foundational human cravings. These must be paid for so that they may be brought into subjection to the service of the Tent. YHWH has a right to tell us how to feel and what to desire. This is part of the renewing of our minds. (Rom. 12:2) Sometimes our souls work against the unity of the Body, so our thought patterns need to be stripped away and replaced by new ones. (Gal. 5:17) But our actions must then match our new thoughts, or they accomplish nothing.

13. "This is what everyone who crosses over in regard to those who are counted [will bring]: half a sheqel (by 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 sheqel is a monetary value. A gerah is a measure of the weight of silver formed into a sphere, equal to the weight of 16 grains of barley or 4 to 5 carob beans, and one omer (a volume of dry measure equal to about two liters) is worth half a sheqel, so 320 barley corns were worth a sheqel, but by the second Temple era it was increased to 384 grains. (Hirsch). So half a sheqel, which, as we see here, represents one person, was equal to 160 grains of barley. This weight in silver is worth about to 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 for you. It is not really a tax (though it came to be called this by Y'shua's day). Silver pictures atonement for blood. It was in a way "buying into" the worship of YHWH. It also symbolizes giving ourselves up to His service. Why only half a sheqel? Because in a community, no one is whole without the others. Some are shinier or newer, but all are still half sheqels. 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 sheqels together can accomplish much.

14. "Everyone who crosses over in regard to those who are counted, from twenty years of age and upward, shall give a contribution to YHWH.

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. One is not counted in Israel unless he is willing to fight for her. So this is a reckoning of who is really committed. But 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 self, 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 would not have a conscience clear of guilt. This also tells us that atonement is not needed for someone younger than 20, but he or she should start learning the Torah at a much younger age (hence the Bar/Bat Mitzvah), so he can be ready to take responsibility for his actions at this age.

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.

Reuven Prager, a present-day Levite who has revived this custom, states that the concept applies to richness in piety as well. Before YHWH, you are never less than half a sheqel, and I am never more. The coins were spent on a variety of items; each of us is "offered up" for different needs. The collection could not accumulate from year to year, so by second Temple times, what was left over from this was used to repair the walls and streets of Yerushalayim and the roads that led there, to make the pilgrims' journey easier. Once there is a temple treasury (as there now is), the temple as an entity has been established again.

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

Ultimately, the dwelling place of YHWH is the only thing worth warring for.

17. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,

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

Washbasin: In the second temple, this "laver" looked more like a large coffee urn with many spigots, but in Shlomo's temple, it was a large basin sitting on twelve statues of bulls (also a symbol of Efrayim). To wash: Aramaic, "for sanctification", because it was not for the purpose of cleanliness, that having been accomplished beforehand.

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

The priests could walk into it, but it was not deep enough for a full immersion. They have already bathed their entire bodies and been rendered ritually pure--a picture of putting off their selfishness before daring to serve YHWH, but in their work of the temple service they will definitely soil their hands and their bare feet, and so must re-cleanse these before doing something especially holy. Y'shua alluded to this principle when Kefa (Peter) 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" (hands) and our "walk" (feet) can easily become stained and must be dealt with, because our calling is to holiness. Mirrors were made of bronze at that time, and water symbolizes YHWH's word, so those who looked into it to see what needed washing depicted those who examine self to see how they need to change their actions; Yaaqov (James) 1:25 calls the Torah this "perfect law of liberty" which not only shows us who we will be (since we see YHWH's glory in Y'shua's face as in a mirror, 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Yochanan 3:2) but tells us where our needs for repentance and improvement lie. (Galatians 3:19)

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

No one may ascend to the Mountain of YHWH unless he has clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalm 24) Our selfishness and the evils that we have rubbed up against throughout the day must not be brought into His holy place. So the priests even built a private bridge from their homes to the Temple so they would not meet up with anyone who might be ritually unclean. We are called to be a set-apart people, and there is no reason to apologize for that. The two times the laver was used were when the priest approached the altar that had no crown (a picture of examining ourselves and seeing our need for atonement through Y'shua, the suffering servant) and when he would come to serve in the Tabernacle (for we also need to examine ourselves in order to fit into the community that now forms YHWH's dwelling place).

21. "And they shall wash their hands and feet, so that they may not die. And this shall be a never-ending statute for them--[that is,] to him and to his seed for their generations."


22. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,

23. "Now you, acquire spices for yourself--the best: 500 [sheqels] of pure myrrh and its half, 250 of aromatic cinnamon, and 50 of aromatic cane [calamus],

24. "and 500 of cassia, according to the sheqel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil.

Hin: a liquid measure (probably originating in Egypt) of about five quarts. Olive oil: representative of the Holy Spirit's illumination and Israel. The many spices together form the holy compound; no one alone can be holy, because it is in its natural form. Only in the combining of the many that make up the one Body can it be something uniquely orchestrated by YHWH. Each by itself may be very sweet or very useful, but together they form something greater than the sum of its parts. One of the particular spices by itself does not smell very good at all, and it is a picture of some members of our community, but when they willingly mix themselves with the rest and submit to the tempering of the unified life, they become an integral part, and the combination is still beautiful, because they add something uniquely necessary.

25. "And you shall make it an oil of holy anointing, an ointment compound, the work of a perfumer [apothecary]; it shall be an oil of holy anointing,

The olive oil was added to the fragrances to make it an anointing oil and not just incense. Oil comes from a word meaning "the best". The fragrance come out more strongly when the sun is hot.

26. "and with it you shall 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 utensils, and the altar of incense,

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

Everything that is a picture of something in the heavenlies (the Kingdom that is not yet revealed) must be anointed--and thus all are types of Messiah, the "anointed one".

29. "Thus you shall sanctify them, and they shall become most holy; everything that touches them must be holy.

Must be holy: could be read as, "shall become holy", but Haggai 2:12 and Yeshayahu 52:11 preclude this interpretation.

30. "And you shall anoint Aharon and his sons, and set them apart to serve Me in the role of priests.

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

32. "'It shall not be poured on the flesh of man, nor shall you make any like it in proportion. It is holy; it shall be [held as] holy to you.

Man: here, "Adam", thus emphasizing anything having to do with the fallen Adam, after he lost his covering of light and was given skin. Flesh cannot stand His presence; it must be done away with before we can again fellowship with Him. Nor...any like it in proportion (or composition): These fragrances may be mixed without the oil, though, in a form that cannot be burned as incense.

33. "'Anyone who makes a compound like it or who gives any of it to an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.'"

Outsider: literally, estranged person--an enemy, one alienated from Israel, one who turns aside; or even, as in Aramaic, "a layman"--a non-priest. Not everyone may partake in every aspect of YHWH's blessing at will, especially those who have rejected YHWH's instruction. They are not to be wasted on those not committed to Israel. Teaching from YHWH may not be co-opted for some other purpose. Shim'on the sorcerer thought the Holy Spirit was something that could be bought at some set price (Acts 8)--a wretched idea, for he was dealing with spiritual things in the flesh.

34. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Take spices for yourself: stacte, onycha, and galbanum--sweet spices along with pure frankincense, part for [equal] part.

Stacte: Aram., "gum resin".

35. "And you shall make it incense, an ointment, the [art] work of a perfumer [apothecary], salted, pure, and holy.

Incense: Aram., "a fragrant blend of aromatic incense". All of these spices come from plants, and most from trees, which symbolize people--so they picture a people whose gifts are all joined together.

36. "And you shall grind some of it fine, and put some of it in front of the tent where I shall designate a time to meet you. It shall be most holy to you.

37. "And [any] incense which you make in its proportion, you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for YHWH.

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

The beauty of holiness is found in the holy convocation of the community that forms YHWH's dwelling place, and this special blend of gifts that function when we are together cannot simply be "taken home" for personal use, though when burned at the Temple it could be smelled as far away as Yericho. Smells can elevate the mind to a different level, or bring certain things back to our memory. YHWH wanted this aroma to be associated only with His dwelling place. Only His bride can understand the customs He prescribes, which seem foolish to an outsider, so they are kept in a holy place for the mature, whose senses are trained to discern the deeper meanings and to spot counterfeits (Heb. 5:14). Eleven spices were used for this incense, and together they caused the smoke to rise straight upward each time.


CHAPTER 31

1. Then YHWH 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,

By name: B'tzal-El's name means "in the shadow/shade of (under the protection of) Elohim". He also was constructing something Renewed Covenant writers would call "a shadow" (outline) of things in heaven. (Heb. 8:4-5; 9:23) This word "shade" stems from a word meaning "hovering over", reminding us of the pillar of cloud and fire over the Tabernacle and like the Kingdom that awaits above Yerushalayim. (Psalm 122:3; Rev. 21:2) Uri means "my light" or "intense flame", Chuwr means "white linen", and Yehudah means "praise". So his whole pedigree bespeaks his calling. Chuwr was the one who upheld Moshe's arms when Yehoshua was fighting Amaleq.

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

He was given the know-how to accomplish a holy task. YHWH 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) This spirit of Elohim is not the better-known spirit of prophecy, but a necessary one nonetheless. There are many functions in Y'shua's Body, and we are commanded to use each according to the proportion of faith we have. (Rom. 12:4ff) How fully will we use what we have been given? B'tzal'el had to be confident of the fact that his calling was from YHWH, because he had to solicit from the people the treasures they had been given by the Egyptians. Knowledge is most emphasized in Scripture. Yeshayahu 33:6 tells us that wisom and knowledge are our stability and the strength of our salvation. This is not some other-worldly thing. Hoshea 4:6 tells us that the people are destroyed because they lack knowledge, and here (as well as in Mal. 2:7), knowledge is paralleled and equated with the Torah itself. Not knowing its actual words was what doomed them, for they were building without a foundation; the Holy Spirit needs cannot bring Y'shua's words to our remembrance (Yoch. 14:26) unless we actually know them! Torah knowledge is His building material; the rest is additional decoration. Without it, we are only building an imaginary structure. Understanding is the ability to distinguish--to see the purpose and meaning beyond the physical command. B'tzal-El needed to understand how the things he was making pointed to something deeper, or else they would become idols just as the brass serpent did. (Num. 21:9; 2 Kings 18:4) The Tabernacle was not for YHWH to actually dwell in; He said to build it so He could dwell among His people. (25:8) The ritual objects He designs must not be profaned, but still they are merely illustrations meant to teach us something greater. The ability to build these physical items was His gifting, but it is last on the list. The wisdom, understanding, and knowledge were necessary so they would know how what they were building was meant to affect the people, and thus they could keep it true to form. Without all of these, parts of the building may turn out right, but the whole will not. Wisdom (or simply "skill") is putting our knowledge and understanding to work--surrendering to the picture and thus being able to operate in it and make it useful. Hebrew mysticism describes the image of YHWH in terms of ten qualities that form the shape of a man, with an eleventh hidden one (knowledge) formed by the convergence of two others (wisdom and understanding, as mentioned here). Interestingly, these are among those qualities considered unattainable at present, hence the need for the filling of a spirit from YHWH. These two are part of the man’s "head", and Messiah is called the Head of the Body. He has attained these already as the firstfruits, as an earnest of the promise that we can participate in this energizing spirit as well--an opening that we must not waste.

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

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

5. "and in cutting of stones for settings and carving of wood, to work with all craftsmanship.

Craftsmanship: a word meaning "public service", based on the word for "angel" or "messenger"; i.e., he was one with a clear calling and responsibility to the whole community.

6. "And notice, I have appointed to be with him Aholiav, the son of Achisamach, of the branch of Dan, and in the heart of everyone with a wise heart, I have granted wisdom, and they shall make all that I have commanded you:

Aholiav means "a father's tent"--exactly what they both were building! Achisamach means "my brother supports". Dan means "judgment". Aholiav’s ancestry and lineage is not as traceable as B'tzal-El's, which is detailed in 1 Chronicles 2. He is thus in a sense separate from his heritage in Dan, which by tradition is the tribe from which the Counterfeit Messiah comes. (Dan is likened to a snake in Gen. 49:17, and is not represented among the forerunners of the Kingdom in Rev. 7:5-8. And Dan heads up the camp that brings up the rear when Israel travels through the wilderness, so Dan is the one who did not protect the weak and stragglers from Amaleq, Deut. 25:17-18.) There is no trace of the "snake" in Aholiav any longer, though that is where he came from. He joins himself to someone in Yehudah and builds a dwelling place for YHWH's name. He is thus a picture of those from the Northern Kingdom who leave the Church and rejoin their heritage in Israel, which has been preserved largely by Yehudah, in order to build YHWH's Kingdom. He used one from each house of Israel to build the copy of His real dwelling-place; why would the same not hold true for the real thing? Note that they had hearts that could readily contain wisdom, for they were inclined in that direction, but they still did not have the needed wisdom; their vessels had to be filled up with the proper quality. Yet if they set themselves to developing what they did have, they were given more. (Compare Y'shua's parable of the talents, Matt. 25:14ff, 29; Luk. 16:10.) A heart of wisdom can be gained by numbering our days (remembering the shortness of our lives, but also knowing YHWH's calendar--Psalm 90). Wisdom comes from above, but we can prepare containers for it by the choices we make and by studying the things He considers the basics.

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

8. "and the table with its vessels, and the pure menorah and all its instruments, and the altar of incense,

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

10. "and the woven garments, and the holy garments for Aharon the priest and the garments of his sons [in which] to minister as priests,

11. "and the oil of anointing and the sweet incense for the sanctuary; according to all that I have commanded you, they shall do."

12. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,

13. "You shall also speak to the descendants of Israel, saying, 'You shall be sure to keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you for [all] your generations, [so that you will] know that I am YHWH, the one who sets you apart.

You shall be sure: I.e., do not miss this! Aram., "Nevertheless, you should..." A contrast seems to be drawn since they would be busy at this work, but even when obeying His command to build holy things, the Sabbath was not overridden. The construction of the tabernacle was, after all, all about the "seventh day"--the Kingdom which it foreshadows. A sign: a distinguishing mark or token of an agreement. It is like a wedding ring, or a signet that seals YHWH's special relationship with Israel. If the sign over a store is gone, it means it is no longer in business. If someone deliberately leaves his wedding ring off, it makes us wonder whether he wants others to know he is married. Many teachers "hang out a sign" offering their services, but if they do not even obey this most basic command, they are not really licensed in YHWH's eyes. They may be apprentices, but we can hardly imagine that they can lead us deeper into holiness, for it alone teaches them what holiness means.

14. " And you must guard the Sabbath, because for you it is set apart; anyone who treats it as ordinary must certainly be put to death, because every soul who does [self-oriented] work on it shall be cut off from among his people.

Those who do not keep it have no part in the commonwealth of Israel. The Sabbath is often called a queen or a bride; refusing to participate in it is like the parable in which people gave excuses to not attend the wedding. Profane: desecrate or defile, based on a root that means to hurt or to make sick.

15. "Work may be done six days, but on the seventh day is a desisting for rest, [which is] holy unto YHWH. Everyone who does work on the Sabbath shall certainly be put to death.

The seriousness of this command is reiterated over and over, yet it is the command perhaps most frequently disobeyed by people who say they belong to YHWH. The word for "work" here is the same type that went into building the tabernacle, but the filling of the tabernacle is what the Sabbath is about. The construction stopped on the Sabbath, but the work of service in its courts continued on the Sabbath after it was built. For six days our work has to do with "laying up treasures on earth", which is necessary to some degree, but on the Sabbath we have the privilege of forgetting all that and spending time with our creator as if we were back in the Garden of Eden before the curse was placed on us. One day in seven we can "live in the Messianic Kingdom" before it comes.

16. "Thus the descendants of Israel shall keep the Sabbath in order to observe the Sabbath, in order to do the Sabbath for [all] their generations; it is a never-ending covenant.

Keep [it]...to observe it: don't just do the action, but examine what it is meant to teach you. Do the Sabbath: or, make the Sabbath: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel describes preparing our hearts for the Sabbath as "building a palace in time" and then quieting down to dwell in it, spending the time with YHWH. It is His ordained way of extending the concept of holiness to the realm of time.

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."

"Was refreshed" means "breathed in" or "withdrew into Himself". But it is the same root as the word for "soul", and perhaps this forms the basis for the tradition that on the Sabbath one receives a second soul. He draws back into Himself what He has already done. We must work while it is day, because the gates will one day be shut. 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 speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moshe the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of Elohim.

Two tablets of the testimony: What is on them is called the "ten words" or "ten items". (34:28; Deut. 10:4) This is often interpreted as the "ten commandments", but the first time Moshe had come down from the mountain he wrote those down (24:3-4), along with the other 57 commands he relayed from YHWH (listed in the intervening chapters). These words were written by YHWH Himself, and He had told Moshe that along with them He would give him a single instruction, as well as orders so he could teach Israel. (24:12) That one instruction was the Sabbath as recorded here, for it opens the door to the rest of the covenant. But what were these "ten items"? Hezekiah Haas points out that there are ten things YHWH told Moshe to make: the Tabernacle, the Ark, 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. These are what is to teach us. This "testimony" (witness) is to be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. (Deut. 10:4ff) But the book of the Torah was to be put beside the Ark as a witness against us. (Deut. 31:26) If we are not doing what the stone tablets says (forming a dwelling-place for YHWH among us), it accuses us. It is outside the Ark, guarding the true instructions for how to prepare for the Kingdom. We still have to come through it to get back to YHWH's real intent, but as Yitzhaq Luria said, it is only the garment beneath which the true Man is found. As Paul says, it was added because of our transgressions. (Gal. 3:19) It is not evil (Rom. 7:12), and indeed it shows us the shape of that Man, but it will kill us if we are not lining up with it as we are meant to. But the witness inside the Ark testifies for us. Each of the ten items was consecrated with blood and oil. The Messiah's blood and His anointing are what opens up t hese words to us. We can only understand how to build the Kingdom when the Tabernacle is seen in light of Messiah. Atop the Ark is an "atoning cover". When YHWH does at last find His house fit to dwell in, His atonement will be fulfilled, and our sin will finally be gone completely. This is His doing (Ps. 118:22-23)--an act of His own hand. 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. The connecting point is that if the Israelites now obey, the plagues of Egypt will not come upon them. The phrase is used again by Y'shua of his casting out demons and thus proving the Kingdom had come in its initial form. (Luke 11:20) Another time the same concept is seen, though not mentioned in these terms, was the hand writing on the wall (Dan. 5), when, like Pharaoh, a Gentile king was weighed and found wanting. The weighing scale hearkens back in the present context to the half sheqel making up for guilt.



CHAPTER 32

1. When the people perceived that Moshe was delaying in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together [and came] to Aharon, and said to him, "Rise up and make for us elohim that 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."

This foreshadows the servant in Y'shua's parable who says, "My Master has delayed" and behaves shamefully, doing his own pleasure. (Matt. 24:48; compare Prov. 7:19ff) Go before us: to the Land. The cloud that had led them had also disappeared, and to all appearances Moshe was dead, perhaps consumed by the fire on the mountain. Aharon was the logical choice, since their military leader, Y'hoshua, was also now missing. After all, he had accompanied Moshe since the start of the confrontation with Pharaoh. But this was not Aharon's position. He was to intercede on behalf of the people, but not particularly to interact with them; that is the prophet's job. His was to interact with YHWH Himself. The Hasmoneans repeated this error of putting priests in political positions. But the people had been told they were being given a land, and thought it was their right to move on; they did not care to wait for anyone, even the leader YHWH had appointed. If He had intended for there to be a successor already named, He would have done so. Moshe had already been told that the Ark was to go before them, but they did not wait long enough to hear this. Without Moshe and the instruction he brought, they were not ready to handle this journey. We do not know: Here is the key to their downfall. The tree of "knowledge" is the one that vies for the tree of life. It places experience and evidence over relationship and trust.

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,

Rings: the term often refers to "nose rings". A pig follows its nose (compare Proverbs 11:22), but we are meant to be led by our ears: "Hear, O Israel, YHWH your Elohim, YHWH is one!" Y'shua said "My sheep hear my voice...and follow me." (Yochanan 10:27) Gold is a symbol of purity, but they were misusing it, and thus corrupting this "form of righteousness".

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."

These: plural. Yet there was only one calf. It was as if the people had looked at Moshe as their god, since he had visibly delivered them. Now they thought they needed another god to replace him, in addition to still having YHWH (v. 5).

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!"

As yet they had not celebrated the feast that they had told Pharaoh was their purpose for leaving. So Aharon wants to bring closure to this promise. They thought they were making an image of the true Elohim, but they were wrong, and He was not amused. Aharon was applying His Name to other things. His heart was right--an excuse many use to think they can continue in their own ways. But those ways lead to death. (Prov. 14:12) He knows our heart because He tests it (Yirmeyahu 17:10), but they did not know His heart; they were doing exactly what He hates most--making a physical representation of Him--and putting Him in the same league as Hathor, the Egyptian cow-goddess. How often do we "make YHWH in our image" instead of allowing Him to teach us what He is really like? How often do we substitute worship of our own style for what He has prescribed, and say it is to honor Him?

6. So they rose 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 make merry.

Make merry: The word is actually the root for "Yitzhaq", which suggests that laughter was involved. It has the nuance of having an orgy, which is apparently how Paul took it (1 Corinthians 10:7). This is the next logical step of paganism, which often includes orgies in its rites of "worship"--the very opposite of holiness. Hirsch summarizes this event: "Before the Sanctuary of the Torah was to be erected, the people and the priests were first to be made conscious of their need for atonement."


7. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Go on down, because your people, whom you caused to ascend from Egypt, have become corrupt.

Your people: Moshe was held responsible to uphold what YHWH had done for them. He tests Moshe with the same kind of phrase we might hear from one spouse to the other: "YOUR child is misbehaving!" Become corrupt: in the form it appears here, the word actually means a spoiling ruin in the sense of digging a grave for one who had been making progress. I.e., they had made the whole purpose of Moshe's stay on the mountain useless by making it impossible to carry on the relationship they had begun. (Hirsch) Note that they had already ascended to a degree, but they were not invulnerable to temptation or immune to YHWH's wrath once they fell back into leaning on their own understanding--a warning for us all.

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

So quickly: A robust person can go without food for up to 40 days, but now he had reached that limit, so they gave up--seemingly as quickly as King Sha’ul did. (1 Shmuel 15) Perhaps this is why the creed says, "I believe... in the coming of the Messiah, and even though He tarries, still I will wait."

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

Stiff-necked: opposed to a command due to being accustomed to other ways--old habits that have not been overcome. ("We've never done it that way before!") With a stiff neck, one can neither bow nor turn his head (either to repent or to see the "big picture", which would usually remove the cause for complaining); an animal that is led by the nose cannot turn either to the right or the left. "Knowing one's right hand from his left" (cf. Jonah 4:11) is an idiom for understanding YHWH's instruction. If one will not allow himself to be instructed, he requires others to coerce him, bribe him, beat him into submission, just like an animal--or destroy him. Interestingly, by tradition the bone on which the neck pivots, called the lutz, is indestructible, and from the surviving DNA in it, at the resurrection YHWH will reconstruct the bodies of those who did not have stiff necks. YHWH says, in effect, "I delivered Israel from the house of prostitution, yet she has gone and found a boyfriend." Why should He think they would ever change? And their descendants have not done much differently in replacing His Name with Ba'al's (which translates best as "the lord" or "overlord husband")--like calling Him by the name of our old boyfriend. But approaching YHWH in any way other than the way He has prescribed is nothing but idolatry in His eyes.

10. "So now [if you] leave it to Me, my nostrils will flare against them, in order that I may consume them, and I will make a great nation from you."

"Leave it to Me": Aramaic, "Let go of your prayer from before Me." It is an implied challenge to see if Moshe will intervene and convince Him to change His mind. It is a conditional decree that He leaves room to be talked out of. It would show Him what kind of shepherd he really was. Compare His injunction to "Give Him no rest until he establishes Yerushalayim as a hymn of praise in the Land." (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 62:7) A great nation: the same promise He had given to the patriarchs and Menashe. Note that He could not bless Moshe alone, but had to make another nation to replace this one, because only in community can YHWH be fully known: Y'shua said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst." (Matt. 18:20) He was testing Moshe to see how he would respond to this offer of personal glory.

11. But Moshe endeavored to persuade the face of YHWH, his Elohim, to condescend, by saying, "Why, O YHWH, should your nostrils flare against Your people, whom You caused to ascend from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Tried to persuade...YHWH...to condescend: this is all expressed in one word used elsewhere in Scripture more as retarding or hindering by redirecting--i.e., making an effort to gain the favor of a superior. (Hirsch) Nostrils flare: Aram., "Your anger become strong". Now Moshe turns it around and says, "If they were indeed my children, you could do that to them. But consider it more carefully: they are YOUR children as well!" "The prayer of the upright is [YHWH's] delight... He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Prov. 15:9, 29; compare Yaaqov/James 5:16.)

12. "Why should the Egyptians say, 'For malicious reason did he cause them to ascend, in order to slaughter them among the mountains, and to utterly consume them from the face of the earth'? Relent from your fierce anger and turn Your purpose away from injuring Your people!

This would be like men who say in jest, "He finally got a woman but couldn't keep her!" He knew YHWH is jealous for His reputation. Why would He want to start all over again to build it?

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 seed, and they shall possess it eternally."

Moshe appealed to the promise the way YHWH had actually stated it, not any lesser desire. Remember Avraham: another who tried with audacity to persuade YHWH to relent.

14. So YHWH allowed Himself to be moved 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.

On this side and that side: Hirsch, "from one side through to the other side", yet could be read on both sides--evidence of their supernatural origin (v. 16).

16. Both the tablets were the workmanship of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim; it was engraved [unbroken] clean through the tablets.

Clean through: "in free mastery over", showing that the words held the tablets in place rather than vice versa, as otherwise the central parts of closed letters would fall out. (Hirsch) According to the Midrash, the tablets were made of sapphire and inscribed in normal lettering on one side and with the negative image (that which was cut out by the letters) on the other side so "what was between the lines" could be seen, suggesting "what else" YHWH wanted to say--the spirit behind the letter. Hirsch links these two concepts by saying that the Torah frees us from the mastery of the laws of nature, so that "humans who take upon themselves the spirit of this writing and make themselves the representatives of this spirit, are raised, borne, and held...above the blind force of 'you must', the lack of free will which clings to all matter --i.e., they become 'free'." Compare Yaaqov/James 1:25, which calls it the "perfect law of liberty".

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 unmentioned this whole time, but, unlike the rest of the community, he waited patiently on his master for forty days. He is a picture of the one who bore his name later: Y'shua stands with the Torah while YHWH gives us the instructions on how to build the tabernacle, every piece of which is also a picture of Him. We cannot have either one without the other.

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

Moshe has heard the sound of war from a mountain before; Y'hoshua has heard it only from the thick of battle. Shout of bravery: Aram., "sound of warriors who are victorious in battle"; LXX: "the voice of them that begin the battle". Humbling: LXX, "beginning the banquet of wine". Hirsch, "a sound which discourages us", i.e., "a disappointing sound" or "bad news".

19. And what took place was that, as he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moshe's anger grew hot, and he flung the tablets from his hand and shattered them underneath the mountain.

Literally, Moshe's nose flared--as Elohim's had earlier. Thus far he has withstood YHWH's wrath only in theory; now that he sees what is actually going on, he has the same reaction and does not blame YHWH. Who would want to live in their midst? The tablets were the ketubah--the betrothal contract--but how could it be "signed" if the bride was already unfaithful? The mountain that symbolizes the Torah may be the one that Y'shua said would be moved away (the threat removed) if we had faith. But these people did not have faith, and thus the mountain was like the stone that might fall on them and crush them into powder (Matt. 21:44)--especially in light of the next verse. Mystically speaking, the "ten words" on sapphire (suggesting the s'firoth, the ten aspects of YHWH's image that were also shattered when Adam sinned) were like the molten shards of gold that were scattered everywhere but began to be regathered when the Word became flesh, to be the Head that would begin rebuilding "Adam" and redeem the lost image of YHWH piece by piece as the Shepherd went looking for the lost sheep of the House of Israel everywhere in the world.

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

The people did not want to drink the pure water of YHWH, so they have made their bed; they must lie in it. That their calf could not oppose him showed how little power it had. This gave them the foundation for a way back to sanity. (Hirsch) Compare the special drink required of a woman accused of adultery (Numbers 5); this is exactly the case here, since idolatry is so often interchangeable in Scripture with the concept of unfaithfulness to YHWH.

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?"

The Midrash says that Chuwr opposed the people's intentions and was killed, so Aharon let them go ahead with their plan. But he was the one left behind to shepherd the nation, so he is the first one judged.

22. But Aharon said, "Don't let the anger of my master glow. You are acquainted with this people--how it is set on evil.

If Aharon already knew their tendencies, he should have been readier with a response.

23. "And they told me, 'Make for us elohim who may go before 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 throwing off their restraints (because Aharon had given their enemies an opening to put them to shame).

"Throwing off restraints": Literally "naked" or "neglected"; Aramaic, "worthless". The root meaning is "loosened", and Y'shua later said that whoever loosed one of YHWH's commands would be called least in the Kingdom. Yet that is exactly what Aharon, the man of weighty honor, did! He considered this a special situation, a "different dispensation"--the post-Moshe era! What to Aharon was just a desire for peace was in reality not standing up for what was right. Doing whatever the sheep want without question is democracy, not being a shepherd. He did not take up either rod or staff, though he had Moshe's. Exposed them to derision: "caused them to assume a bad reputation for their generation". Hirsch renders it, "Aharon had left them unrestrained to their moral weakness, up to complete lack of self-assertion." He removed their cover; they were vulnerable, fair game for demonic enemies as well as physical because they had torn down walls that YHWH wanted built for their spiritual protection. Enemies: "those rising up".

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

"For YHWH": In Hebrew this is phrased the same way as what was on the golden band on the high priest's turban as well as the lot that fell to the goat which was not sent into the wilderness on Yom Kippur. It bears a special sense of holiness, and this is the character of the Levite. Perhaps it was because YHWH knew they would do this that He allowed them to be holy to Him in place of the firstborn of every family. (Numbers 3:12)

27. Then he told them, "Thus says YHWH, [the] Elohim of Israel: Let each man put his sword on his thigh, and pass over back and forth from entryway to entryway throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, and each one his companion, and each one his near [kinsman]."

Near kinsman: or simply, neighbor--not the pagans or foreigners, but their friends and family.

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, the day on which Moshe brought the "ten words" to the descendants of Israel was what would later be the feast of Shavuoth. The "repair" for this tragic forfeiture of souls 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). But why was Aharon not punished? Probably because h e was a picture of perfection, and the weightiness of his position could not be compromised in the eyes of the people. Yet perhaps it is as a reminder of this incident that the high priest's offering on Yom Kippur is a calf. Idolatry remained a part of Israel's history hereafter. Efrayim, whose name means "doubly fruitful" bore twice as much as this bad fruit; its first king erected two golden calves. (1 Kings 12)

29. And Moshe said, "Consecrate yourselves today unto YHWH, 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 familial relationships. (Compare Mat. 19:29)

30. And it happened that on the next day Moshe said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to YHWH. Maybe I can make atonement [a covering] for 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 pray now, this people has committed a great sin, and have made an elohim of gold for themselves.

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

I.e., the book of the righteous, or the Book of Life--or perhaps even the Torah, which he was holding at this very time. Paul said essentially the same thing about those of the House of Israel who had gone astray. (Romans 9:1-5) Moshe says, in essence, "If you won't fulfill your promises in regard to them, then don't bother transferring the honor to me, as You had suggested." Lift away: The Lamb of Elohim "carries away the sins of the world", and the Book of Life is thus called "the Lamb's Book" (Rev. 21:27).

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

There is one ancient book current during Y'shua's time in which Moshe is mentioned often, but not by name. The apocalyptic book of 1 Enoch refers to him only as a prophet who led Israel out of Egypt.

34. "But you go, lead the people to that which I have promised to you. Behold, My messenger shall go before your face, and on the day of my reckoning, I will attend to the sin that is on them."

Day of My reckoning: i.e., His review of the troops, or accounting for what men had done. He deferred judgment until then. I.e., "I will decide whom to spare, but you go ahead and lead them; that's your job."

35. Then YHWH sent a plague upon the people because they had made the calf, which Aharon had fashioned.

Because they had made: Aram., "for having enslaved themselves to". Though their sins were "lifted away", they paid the price for them in part. They knew better; this was willful sin (see Heb. 10:26-27). When YHWH is angry with the shepherd, the goats are punished. (Zech. 10:3) This plague recurred every time the people rebelled (e.g., Num. 11:33; 14:37; 16:46; 25:8-9; 31:16) Amos 3:14 speaks of bringing destruction upon the altars of Beyth-El; again they turned to another approach to YHWH, for He named Yerushalayim as the place to approach Him. "There is a way that seems right to a man", but there are in reality only two ways--a right one, which is very narrow, and a wrong one, which is very wide. It may have many lanes, but it is still the same road to destruction. Y'shua said He was the way (Yoch. 14:6); we enter the narrow way by following the path He blazed and left for us to join Him in walking it.



CHAPTER 33

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

Ascend: Though physically most of the set-apart Land is not higher than Mt. Sinai, spiritually it is. And the people were at an especially low place spiritually. YHWH had already sent them a plague for their disobedience, and He was still very upset.

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

Messenger: or deputy, representative. This is Y'shua (Yahshua), the One who comes in His Father's Name and as the living Torah. But His sending the messenger was conditional on the people's "going on" and "ascending". The same is true for us today as YHWH prepares to re-establish His Land as a truly holy place, not just another of the nations. Our obedience to Torah while still in exile will determine how soon this can take place.

3. "to a Land flowing with milk and honey, because I will not go up among you, since otherwise I might consume you along the way, because you are a stiff-necked people!"

YHWH says, "Deal with My messenger; if I come back down, I'll kill you for sure." They were not holy enough for Him to dwell among. He will not remain where the camp is defiled. "The Father has committed all judgment to the son." (Yochanan 5:22) He, too, was the Father's "sent one", 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. One would think that after drinking the idol-tainted water they would have repented, and He wondered if He could ever get the point across to them that they were going to a Land that would rule the world and demonmstrate to all nations what righteousness and purity were. But He had found them too immature for His direct presence. (Siporno)

4. When the people heard this disagreeable utterance, they lamented, and no man put on his ornaments.

Disagreeable utterance: Aram., "distressing matter", i.e., bad news. Yet the news was, in part, that Y'shua would come. This is supposed to be glad news! It is for us, who have fallen much further, but for those who had known YHWH's direct presence, it was definitely a step backward. He is, in Philo's terms, the "lesser YHWH", crucial though He is to us. Ornaments: Were these their earrings, etc., that reminded them of the golden calf Aharon had made? Were they remnants of Egyptian culture? Yet this specifies that it was the men who did not put something on. What ornaments have Israelite men already been told to wear? Signs on their arms and between their eyes. (13:9, 16) The verses contained in it command us to pass on the knowledge of YHWH to our sons in particular. The liturgy quoted when putting the tefillin (phylacteries) on each day reveals that their purpose is to remind us of YHWH's bringing us out of Egypt and so that our hearts and our thoughts and senses will all be subjugated to His service. This is our responsibility as His bride. The hand tefillin is also wrapped around the finger like a wedding ring, to recall His betrothal promises to us. By not putting these on, they were confessing their infidelity.

5. So YHWH explained to Moshe, "Tell the descendants of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; in one instant I could come up into the midst of you and put an end to you. So take your ornaments down from yourselves now, so that I will know what to do with you.'"

If they did not put on their ornaments (v. 4), how could they take them off? Elsewhere the word for "ornament" here (heb., adi) is used of a harness connected with the bit and bridle put on a horse or mule that lack understanding, and thus need to be forced in the right direction. (Psalm 32:9) The term also refers to bridal jewelry. (Yeshayahu 49:18) There is another clue in Israel's later history. When the Greeks entered the Land, they spoke of something on the Hebrews' heads that made them think even the commoners were kings. It seems they wore the head tefillin all the time, and put the hand tefillin on and off. The Mishnah says the rabbis constantly wore tefillin. So though they had not put on their hand tefillin, they may have still had their head tefillin on. The Torah is what they are to remind Israel to preserve; it can give understanding to those who have none. (Psalm 119:99, 104, 130) There was no certainty of forgiveness. YHWH is telling them, "Get these off of yourselves, so I can decide more objectively what I should do with you. Whether I will spare you remains to be seen! You have not been genuinely seeking Me, so do not wear something that suggests you are." How would this help? He could see who would still love Him without the reminders. He did the same with us. For 2,000 years Efrayim was without the specific reminders He gave Israel--the Sabbath, festivals, nationhood, tefillin, tziztiyoth, and even the realization that it was our ancestors He had delivered us from Egypt; we always thought it was about someone else.

6. So the descendants of Israel stripped their ornaments off not far off from Mount Chorev.

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

Tent: Aramaic, "Tent of the Place of Instruction". Perhaps it was Moshe's own, because the Tabernacle had thus far only been described, not built. Nor could Y'hoshua, who was not a priest, stay in it (v. 11), nor is Aharon seen in this tent. YHWH distanced Himself from their wickedness, and those who really desired fellowship with Him went the extra mile and made the effort to seek Him out when it was inconvenient.

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

It seems they did not leave their tents except to collect the manna. Avraham was sitting at the door to his tent when YHWH visited Him (Gen. 18), and Yaaqov was called a complete man, dwelling in tents (Gen. 25:27)--an idiom for studying. So they were seeking the understanding they had proven to lack.

9. And whenever Moshe went to the Tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and remain at the entrance of the Tent while He spoke with Moshe.

Y’hoshua (whose name is the same as Y'shua's) was already in the tent. When Moshe entered (i.e., Torah and Y'shua were both present), YHWH's presence could be fully there. The same will hold true for the Sukkah of David which will be raised back up. It is as if YHWH told Moshe, "When you need to talk, go there, and I will meet you there--but I can't stay in the midst of this people." A cloud also descended when Moshe was speaking face to face with Y'shua. (Luke 9:34)

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

11. And YHWH 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 attendant Y'hoshua, the son of Nun, [who was] a young man, did not depart from inside the Tent.

This foreshadows another Y'hoshua (whose name was often shortened to Y'shua, cf. Neh. 8:17; Ezra 3:2ff, Z'charYah 6:11), who remained behind in the Temple when he was a lad, and who "ever lives to make intercession for us". (Heb. 7:25) Face to face: not that he saw His face, because then he could not survive (v. 20), but His tangible presence was very close and they conversed with one another. Interestingly, Moshe had not yet entered the Tent, but Y'hoshua never left it. Moshe could lead the people to the edge of the Promised Land, but Y'hoshua (Y'shua) had to be the one to take them all the way in. At this point, Aharon is not seen in the Tent, but Y'shua remains a priest forever (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 6:20). Y'hoshua was from the tribe of Ephraim, whom YHWH called His firstborn (Yirmiyahu/Jer. 31:9), yet he functioned as the first priest, though though the priests were later to be from Levi. Shmuel, who stayed all the time in the Tabernacle before there was a Temple, was also from Efrayim. Face to face: Aramaic, "literally".

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

Whom you will sned: He may be asking which messenger YHWH intends to send, or he may be saying YHWH had not yet told him which of the Israelites he was to take along. Thus far only the Levites had declared that they were on His side.

13. "So now, if I have [indeed] 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. Moreover, consider that this nation is [after all] Your people."

He wanted to increase the favor he found in YHWH's eyes, not rest on his laurels. He indeed wanted something for himself, but he kept the whole community in mind, so it was an upward spiral "from glory to glory". Moreover...Your people: LXX, "that I may know that this great nation is Your people." He was not just interested in himself, but in their restoration to favor through his teaching them the right way to view YHWH. Th'om also told Y'shua he did not know the way to follow Him, and Y'shua replied that He Himself was the way. (Yochanan 14:6)

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

YHWH brings calm to Moshe's fears.

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

16. "And now, by what can it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your eyes? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we--I and Your people--are distinguished from all the nations that are on the surface of the earth?"

Y'shua said his people would be known by their love for one another (being "face to face" as in v. 11). His presence is the key to this taking place, but we see His "face" through His community (1 Yochn./Jn. 4:20). Distinguished: Heb., pala', which means wondrous--visible but out of reach. This term is applied to the messenger of YHWH (Judges 13:18), which from many Scriptures we know is Y’shua. When we are fully united and He is truly dwelling among us again, we will be like the Messiah in the eyes of other nations. Then His authority will increase as well. (Yeshayahu 30:26; 49:6)

17. So YHWH said to Moshe, "Even this thing that you have mentioned, I will do, because you have found favor in My eyes, and I know you by name."

How can we really say we know YHWH? But to be known (or recognized) by Him constitutes our salvation. (Galatians 4:9) Y'shua will say he never knew many who called him "Master" (Matt. 7:23). For YHWH to put someone out of His mind would cause them to cease to exist.

18. And he said, "I beg You, show me Your [full] weight!"

Weight: or "glory". LXX: "Manifest Yourself to me!" Having received this assurance, still not content to "quit while he is ahead", he is emboldened to ask for yet another step in the knowledge of YHWH. There are 32 steps leading to the outermost gate of the Temple, then another 32 leading from the gate up to the Holy of Holies itself. We must not be content to camp too long on one that seems pleasant, logical, and tidy in its doctrines, but keep letting Him take us higher and higher into greater and greater holiness. Philip follows up on Y'shua's answer to Th'om in Yochanan 14, by asking Him to show them the Father. Y'shua answers that everything He has done has been done in the Father's authority--that is, a reflection of exactly what the Father is doing, so there was no other way to show anyone the invisible YHWH. (v. 20 here; compare Yoch. 1:18.) But He reinforced this with a promise like the one given to Moshe in v. 14: If you prove your love by keeping My commands, I will send another to share the load and not leave you as orphans. This was immediately after Y’shua had renewed the Covenant the Father had made here. (Mat. 26:28)

19. So He said, "I will cause all My virtue to pass upon your face, and I will call out the name of YHWH in front of your face. But I will favor whom I [wish to] favor, and I will have mercy on whomever I [wish to] have mercy.

Yochanan 14 contains Y'shua's promise again that H ewould manifest Himself to those who love Him and keep His Word, but not to the rest of the world, for a time. These are the ones on whom He wishes 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 shall stand on the rock,

22. "and as My glory is passing by, what will happen is that I will put you in a crevice in the rock, and I will cover you with My palm during My pass-by,

Compare 1 Kings 19. The word for "place" (v. 21) ties this passage to the one in which Yaaqov sees the vision of the stairway to heaven from the House of El (Gen. 28:17). That spot is where the Temple was later built--on a rock! Just beneath where the Ark of the Covenant sat is a crevice in the rock, called in Arabic, "the well of souls". It is a picture of the place under the true throne in Heaven from which, by tradition, souls are stored up until it is time for them to be born into human bodies. But Y'shua is also called "the rock" (cf. 1 Cor. 10:4) which was in the wilderness, and truly only by standing and (building our house) on him can we have any safety when facing the fury of the Father's full weight. The Aramaic explanation supports this, since it renders "cover you with My palm" as "shield you with My Memra [living word]". Indeed, Y'shua is called the Father's right hand, and He does protect us from the Father's fury if we take refuge in him, as Noach did in the ark. His words are the water that flowed from the rock, and as with the ground-up golden calf, His pure water was mixed with idolatry. The woman thus tested who is truly adulterous will swell up and look pregnant--as the church does--but only the one who is innocent will truly conceive. (Num. 5:28)

23. "and I will remove My palm, and you shall see [the tail end of] My afterglow; but My face cannot be seen."



CHAPTER 34

1. Then YHWH told Moshe, "Shape for yourself two slabs of stone like the first ones. Then I will write on these slabs the words which I wrote on the first slabs, which you shattered.

Shape: Aram., "carve". Unlike the first, which YHWH had formed (32:16), Moshe had to make these tablets. By tradition, Moshe quarried these stones from a sapphire mine directly under his tent, but Paul told us to work out the salvation that YHWH had wrought in us (Phil. 2:12). Moshe was the one whom YHWH trusted to give shape to the truths He had revealed. Perhaps he instead carved these tables from the Rock that had provided water, which Paul said was Y'shua. (1 Cor. 10:4) The pieces of them are not called rocks, but stones, which in Hebrew is related to the word for "sons" and really means "building materials". On them would be the directions for building the ten items that would provide the unity required to form a dwelling-place for YHWH. To make it work they would need to act on what Moshe gave them, in the same way that the repentant House of Israel needs to measure the pattern of the Temple for ourselves after the prophets shows it to us. (Yehezq'El/Ezk. 43) So the f irst step in bringing the Kingdom is having the Messiah's shape defined by Moshe (who represents the Torah). If we are not seeing Him through the eyes of the Torah, the Dwelling-place cannot be rebuilt, just as surely as His House would remain empty if He did not enter it once it is built.

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

He had a time limit within which to have the slabs ready, picturing the fact that there is a set time in which Messiah has to be define by the Torah. The term for "prepared" also means "firmly established", "in order", or "correct". Come up: When entering YHWH's presence, we should already be in an ascended state, having made things right with our brothers. (Compare Mat. 5:23)

3. "Not a man shall go up with you, nor shall any man be seen on all of the mountain. Also, do not let the flocks and herds feed toward the front of the mountain."

4. So he cut out two tablets of stone like the former, and Moshe got up early in the morning and ascended to Mount Sinai, as YHWH had ordered him, and he took in his hand the two slabs of stone.

5. Then YHWH descended in the cloudy mass, and he presented himself to Him there, and called out the name of YHWH.

6. And YHWH passed by above his face and proclaimed, "YHWH! YHWH! Merciful and gracious El, slow to anger and abundant in kindness and faithfulness [truth],

Passed above his face: Aram., "made His presence pass in front of him". Proclaimed: or "he proclaimed", which suggests that this is Moshe speaking, i.e., "O YHWH!..." It is ambiguous. Slow to anger: Aram., "who keeps anger at a distance".

7. "Faithfully guarding kindness for thousands, lifting off twistedness and transgression and sin, yet not leaving entirely unpunished--laying the iniquity of fathers on sons and grandsons as a charge to the third and fourth [generation]."

Faithfully guarding: Aram., "maintaining". Not entirely unpunished: Some had been slain for the golden calf incident, while others were spared. Lifting off: or carrying away. There are three categories in which we need His forgiveness. Twistedness is bending the truth or bending His words to fit our preferences or a different agenda than His. Transgression is revolting, rebelling, or simply breaking away from the community for our own selfish purposes. This is one of the key sins of the Northern Kingdom. Sin simply means "missing the target" or "wandering off track" (whether intentionally or not)--not living up to the standard He sets for us, or changing some details so that His building is no longer built according to the plans He provided. If a support wall is out of place, it will collapse. His forgiveness is not automatic, either, but has the prerequisites of our confession, asking for His pardon, and turning away from the same practices. Not leaving unpunished: or simply, not clearing (emptying out, cleaning, exempting). While for the sake of her children He paid the debts His straying bride had run up while she cheated on Him, He is not preventing her from getting back into debt again. He takes her back, but expects her to be a decent mother. He took her out of the pit, but did not cover it up; she is responsible to not go back to it or, better yet, to build a fence around it. He gives her the tools, but she (read: we) must learn to hate the things that tempted her (twistedness, transgression, and sin), changing her priorities so she will become the kind of person that such things do not stick to anymore. If she does not exercise this discipline, her children will end up with the same problems she had.

8. Then Moshe hurried to bow [his head] toward the earth and prostrated himself [in worship].

Hurried: literally, becamse liquid! He put himself in a position to "flow" in whatever direction YHWH wanted, saying, in effect, "I am in submission; aim me, pour me wherever You wish, and I will fill that container." Bow: He did not want to be mistaken for one of the "stiff-necked people"! The root meaning of bow in Hebrew is shriveling up--having all the life drained from his fleshly side and all placed at the disposal of YHWH's service.

9. And he said, "If I have now found acceptance in Your eyes, O Master, please let Adonai walk in our very midst; since this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our twistedness and our sin, and take us as Your possession!"

Master: also Adonai. Stiff-necked: i.e., it takes a long time to get through to them. Forgive: Note that he does not include transgression (which YHWH had included in v. 7). This is because he knew that breaking away from the congregation was not not a sin against YHWH as such, but a national problem—a sin against their own brothers, and thus he himself had to deal with it on that level, through discipline and legislation. (Compare Mat. 5:23) But he may also not want YHWH to take away their capacity to break away or rebel, because one day they would need it--not against Him (in which case it is wrong), but against the other nations that would subsume them (in which case it is righteous and necessary). Your possession: or inheritance; literally, place to flow, used of seasonal river beds. YHWH said He would return those He later exiled by such a route. (Yirmeyahu 31:9) He is asking that YHWH again make Israel the channel for His purposes in the earth, which cannot be fulfilled if there is no framework in which to carry them out.

10. So He said, "Behold, I am cutting a covenant; I will do wonders before all your people, such as have not been done in all the earth and among any of the nations. And all the people in whose midst you are shall see the work of YHWH, because what I am about to do is awesome.

Cutting a covenant: again. The testimony was what would be carved in stone and unchanged, but the covenant, written on a scroll and kept beside the Ark of the covenant, would keep being amended with added clauses as they were needed due to situations like this. "Do wonders": literally, make distinctions--i.e., deeds far different from normal, natural ones. The Torah was also given to teach us to make distinctions between holy and unholy things. (Lev. 10:10; 11:47)

11. "Guard for yourself what I am commanding you today, and watch [as] I am about to drive out before 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 cut a covenant with the people of the Land to which you are going, so that it will not be a snare in your midst.

Not cut a covenant: or make a treaty; Israel would do well to heed this command today as they have come back into the land, but are being ensnared by concessions to the other inhabitants. In other words, He had taken care of their past guilt in regard to idolatry, but He warned them not to leave an opening for the same temptation to return. In your midst: the place where He is supposed to reside; letting someone else be there will only usurp His place. His covenant and any other such agreement are mutually exclusive.

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

Asherah poles: sacred "groves" since they looked like trees, or phallic symbols dedicated to a feminine deity. This is the historical root of what today is known as the Christmas tree. While when in exile they might have to exercise a "live and let live" policy to ensure their own survival, in His Land there is to be no peaceful coexistence. Even now while still in exile, we are to be a set-apart people; if we are to have associations with churches in any way, we must be tearing down their false images of who YHWH and Y'shua are; if we cannot do this, we must recognize that there is no place for us there. If we have peace with any form of paganism, we have made an illegitimate covenant with them. To fail to break down falsehood is respecting it, which by definition is failure to respect (fear) YHWH:

14. "For you shall not bow to another elohim (since YHWH, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous Elohim),"

15. "lest when you make a pact with the dwellers on the Land, they play the whore after their elohim, and sacrifice to their elohim, and [someone] invite you [along], and you eat from his sacrifice,"

Making concessions only leads you to being drawn into their sins, eating their festive meals rather than YHWH's, and thus indirectly participating in the worship of other gods, even if one did not have this motive in one's heart, but only came, perhaps, because of a friendship. A case in point in our exile is the "meat offered to idols" issue in the Renewed Covenant. While at first Paul did not think it was a problem, since the idol is not real (Rom. 14), he later concurred with the other apostles’ ruling. (Acts 15:29; compare 1 Cor. 8, 10) Many festive meals of the pagans were plastered with a veneer of biblical names, justified because they had similar themes, and today have come to be thought of as innately associated with YHWH or Y'shua, when in fact it was simply participation by YHWH's people that ever gave them any perceived value to righteous people.

16. "and you take [one] of their daughters [as a wife] for your son, and their daughters commit fornication [to] follow their elohim, and [then] they lead your sons to play the harlot after their elohim.

A covenant with the inhabitants of the Land did not have to be on the national level to be a hindrance to Israel; it could be on the personal level through intermarriage, but it would leaven the whole nation. If those daughters become Israelites and leave their old practices behind, intermarriage is allowed. (Deut. 21:10-14) But if any of their practices are mixed in, the nation we have will no longer truly be Israel.

17. "You shall make for yourself no molten elohim.

18. "You shall observe the festival-gathering of Unleavened Bread; you shall eat matzah for seven days--just as I have commanded you--in the month of the greening of the barley ears, 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.

Opens the womb: i.e., the firstborn.

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

The donkey is an unclean beast, but may be domesticated like clean beasts on this condition. It can be useful if YHWH is paid for it in this way. Even our natural inclinations can be redeemed if dedicated to YHWH, but there is no option of keeping them for our selfish use once we are part of a people that belong to Him. The Hebrew word for donkey is based on the word for a measure of 100 omers, which symbolizes the world at large, from which one in ten are called out to be built into YHWH's holy altar and temple. It is also related to the word for "a pile of fermenting refuse"--a picture of "the world that is passing away with the lusts thereof". The world is stiff-necked, and anyone in it who is not redeemed by the Lamb of Elohim must be destroyed.

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

The rain comes in this season (v. 18), and one day can make a big difference in bringing the harvest in. One day of rain could mean its ruin. But still YHWH says to cease for His Sabbath, because nothing matters more than keeping His commandments. More immediately, when Moshe came down from the mountain and the people realized YHWH could not dwell among them again until the Tabernacle was finished, they would be likely to want to hurry and finish it quickly. But still no work even on this tent was to be done on the Sabbath.

22. "And you shall observe a Feast of [Seven] Weeks for yourself--the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat--and also the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

At the turn (or changing) of the year: Sukkoth is actually fifteen days into the new year, but in Hebraic thought, the end of one thing and the beginning of the next overlap. As another example, the time of Yaaqov's trouble [the "Great Tribulation"] is part of the end of this age but also the beginning of the Kingdom. LXX: "in the middle of the year", for on the religious calendar it is the seventh month.

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

Times: repeated occasions; literally, rhythmic beats.

24. "because I will expel nations from before 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.

Conventional wisdom would say it was unsafe for all the men to leave their homes, wives, and children (if they had to stay back with a newborn, etc.) and travel to Yerushalayim, especially right after the harvest was gathered in, but YHWH put their minds at ease--if they trusted Him--by saying that He would be sure all these things were kept safe while they journeyed in obedience to Him. No one would bother their families or possessions--a foreshadowing of the Kingdom, when "no one will make them afraid". (Yehezq'el 34:28; Micha 4:4; Tsefanyah 3:13) When we seek first YHWH's Kingdom, He makes sure the other things fall into place for us. (Matt. 6:33)

25. "You may not offer up the blood of My sacrifice along with anything leavened, neither may what is slaughtered for the festival-gathering of Passover be left over until the morning.

26. "The very first [and choicest] of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of YHWH your Elohim; you shall not raise a kid to maturity on its mother's milk."

Kid: LXX, "lamb". Just as one must not delay to bring the firstfruits of the crop, one must not wait until he has had some enjoyment from the firstling of the flock before offering it to YHWH. Eight days of age is the limit. (22:29-30)

27. Then YHWH told Moshe, "Write down these words, because by the mouth of these words have I cut a covenant with you and with Israel."

These words: the ones He has just spoken, which constitute an addendum to the covenant. (See note on v. 10.) The edge of a sword is also called "the mouth" in Hebrew, so words have a cutrting force; Paul calls the word of YHWH a sword. (Eph. 6:17;cf. Heb. 4:12). Out of Y'shua's mouth proceeds a two-edged sword (Rev. 1:16). His word is a fire. (Jer. 23:29) Our deeds will be tested by fire (1 Cor. 3), but if we listen to them now and judge ourselves by them, we will not need to be judged. (1 Cor. 11:31) A fire cannot burn in the same place twice. By his words we will be judged. (Yochanan 12:47-48)

28. And he ended up being there with YHWH forty days and forty nights. He neither ate food nor drank water. And He wrote on the slabs the words of the covenant--the Ten Items.

Hirsch says this forty-day period was from the first of Elul until the tenth of Tishri, the Day of Atonement. Food: literally, "bread", but the term can be more generic. (In Arabic it means "meat"!) A healthy person can go forty days without food (and no one was ever asked to do so), but going more than three days without water is a miracle. But he was directly in YHWH’s presence, and needed no other sustenance. Y'shua told His disciples, "I have food to eat that you don't know about: My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me, and to complete His work." (Yochanan 4:32-33) He wrote: The antecedent is ambiguous; it could read, he wrote over the slabs--i.e., that around the "blueprint" for the Tabernacle that YHWH had carved onto them , Moshe also wrote the terms of the covenant.

29. Now as Moshe was descending from Mount Sinai, the two tablets of testimony being in his hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moshe did not realize that the skin of his face had become luminous through his speaking with [YHWH].

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

Shining: denotes beams or rays of light.

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

Speak intensely: perhaps rapidly, being so excited about the fact that YHWH was going to forgive them if they built the Tabernacle, and dwell among them after all. He had so much to tell them. But perhaps he also gave them the leaders the deeper meanings of what he would only "translate" or "boil down" into concrete terms for the rest:

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

After them: In addition to proper protocol, perhaps, having seen that Aharon and the elders were not harmed by Moshe's glowing face, they finally got up the courage to approach him as well.

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

34. and whenever Moshe would come in before YHWH to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he went out, and he would go out and tell the descendants of Israel what he had been commanded.

35. But when the descendants of Israel would notice Moshe's face--that the skin of his face had become luminous--Moshe would put the veil back on his face until he went to speak with Him.

Being fully involved in YHWH and His work, Moshe was not only supernaturally sustained; not having fed his flesh for forty days, he began to look like the unfallen Adam. Moshe, representing the Torah--the "instruction" by which YHWH gave us a way to navigate safely through the perils of a fallen world--was a picture of the restoration of the fallen Adam, who emanated light as he showed forth the true image of Elohim before his fall into sin. Y'shua, the Torah that was made flesh and the one who, through his perfect obedience where the first Adam failed, finally came to be called the Head, the firstborn of the restored image, and the Second Adam, also appeared the same way at his transfiguration (when Moshe accompanied him again). Because "the letter kills", Moshe alone is too intense for us in our fallen state. Yet the reason for the veil, Paul tells us, is that the shining faded the longer it was since he had been with YHWH, and here it says the veil was put on after he finished speaking to the people. He had to replenish this luminescence, just as the sacrifices for sins had to be offered over and over. The Torah loses its glow when we fail to also seek YHWH's own face. Had the people known this, they might have lost respect for Moshe. He did not want them to be discouraged, so he would only show his face when he had a fresh revelation for them. When the veil is down, Messiah is hidden within the Torah, but at the appropriate times, the Torah reveals Him. Because of the veil, Yehudah by and large still cannot see that the Torah and Messiah are one and the same; our job, as those redeemed by the Messiah, is to go about "unveiled" so Yehudah can recognize this. The Torah-made-flesh shows us the spirit behind it--how it is meant to be read, and it becomes life to us again, as it was always intended to do (Deut. 32:47). As Moshe spoke with YHWH "face to face" (33:11), Paul says that by gazing into Y'shua's face (as if it were in a mirror) we too can--with an OPEN (unveiled) face--be transformed back into that same image of Elohim "from one degree of glory to another"! (2 Corinthians 3:18) We, too, become part of the restored Man when we gaze into the face of Y'shua, which also shone on a mountain (with Moshe present, no less; Luke 9). But after He was unveiled, some came along and re-veiled Him with lies about what was behind the veil, but now the veil is being lifted again. Let us receive the encouragement and act on what we "see".

Portion P'QUDEY (38:21 - 40:38)
38:21. These are the inventories [p'qudey] of the Tabernacle--the Dwelling Place of the Testimony--which were numbered at the command [lit., mouth] of Moshe--the service of the Levites in the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aharon the priest.

At the command: literally, at the mouth. Everything that was given for the Tabernacle was accounted for, and how it was used was recorded. We have to give an account to YHWH of all that He has entrusted to us. (Mat. 25; Rom. 14:12) The treasures we store up in heaven will be handed back o ut once the Kingdom is here in its fullness. Have we funneled our time, talents, resources, and energy into the world system or into Israel? All He gave us belongs to Him, and there should be none left unused when our allotted time is up. He wants us to take risks so that there will be a retun on our investment.

22. When B'tzal-El, the son of Uri, the son of Chuwr, of the branch of Yehudah, made all that YHWH had commanded Moshe,

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

24. all the gold put to effective use in the workmanship for all the representation of the Holy Place was 29 talents and 730 sheqels according to the sanctuary sheqel.

A talent (kikkar, or circle, hence a round weight) is 3,000 sheqels in weight. Sanctuary sheqel: There were several kinds of sheqels used for different purposes. Fitting to the context of this donation, the Hebrew phrases (found elsewhere in the Torah)"they shall bring in", "and they sacrifice", and "You keep alive" each have the numeric value of 29. The phrases "bow down", "gather", "for the veil", and "and he worshipped" have the value of 730.

25. And the silver of the things inventoried was 100 talents and 1,775 sheqels, by the sanctuary sheqel--

The total is 301,775 when counted all by 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 [a son of] twenty years old and upward came to 600,000 and 3,550.

Who crosses over: related to the word for "Hebrew". This can refer also to Gentiles who leave their paganism behind and choose to become part of the sanctuary the true Elohim is building. Per head: lit., for a skull--Heb. gulgoleth. Each is the "for the Head"--Y'shua--who purchased them at the place of the skull (Gulgol'thah). Silver represents both blood and redemption, and the phrase "he shall let her be redeemed" (referring to one who is betrothed) in Ex. 21:8 has the numeric value of 100. (See vv. 25, 27.) 603,550 is exactly double the number of sheqels in v. 25, since it was ½ sheqel (or one beqa) per person. Why half? Because no Israelite (one in the Body) is complete on his own; he must be together with the entire community to be sure he is connected with the one who complements his gifts and calling. "For a skull" may also relate to the fact that this was the payment for the blood shed in war--paid for in silver (see note on v. 31). YHWH's dwelling place 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 potential men of war 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 socket-bases of the Holy Place, and the sockets of the veil: 100 sockets corresponding to the 100 talents--a talent per socket.

Socket-base: with the connotation of making firm, since it comes from the word adon --a (strong) master, from which we derive YHWH's title, Adonai. "A talent per socket" could thus represent the "3,000 for the Master" who were added on Shavuoth after His resurrection. (Acts 2:41)

28. And the 1,775 [sheqels] he fashioned into hooks for the columns ["uprights"], and he overlaid their capitals [with silver] and attached them together.

Attached: elsewhere the word means "desire", "set one's love on", or "long for". The Hebrew language tells us so much more than mere details of the construction of one building. It reveals exactly how the many members of the one Body, the many components of the one sanctuary, are to be joined together--through love for and commitment to one another.

29. And the bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents plus 2,400 sheqels.

The Hebrew phrase "its sockets" has the numeric value of 70.

30. With it he made the socket-bases for the entryway of the Tent of Appointment, the altar of bronze, its bronze meshed grillwork, and all the vessels [instruments] of the altar,

31. the sockets of the court all around, and the sockets of the gate of the court, all the stakes of the Tabernacle, and all the stakes of the court all around [in a circuit, on every side].

Bronze represents earthly things, or that which is more ignoble than gold (heaven) and silver (which often represents blood--the mediation between heaven and earth, and that which paid for blood). Inside--closer to the indwelling presence of YHWH--was gold set on silver (founded on the blood of the covenant). Silver--atonement--stands between the holy and the profane. Rabbinic writings say that YHWH 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 one 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) He does not want to be profaned by those who do not believe in Him; Y'shua veiled his teaching in parables so some would never understand them.(Luke 8:10) He does not cast His pearls before swine. In another sense, each layer of an onion is transparent, but you can never see all the way through it at one time. We must study "precept upon precept, [measuring] line upon line", peeling back one layer of truth but knowing it will always lead to another. Even the "letter" of the Torah is "common" in this respect, because it is only the "clothing" for the One who dwells within it and enlivens it, giving it its meaning. According to the Midrash, the Tabernacle is a whole body: the Holy of Holies is like the brain, the Holy Place the heart, and the courtyards like arms to draw people in toward the heart.



CHAPTER 39

1. Then from the blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet, they made plaited clothing [in which] to attend to the sanctuary; they also made the holy garments which were for Aharon, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

Attend to: The term means to wait on someone, serve them directly like a butler or valet, being concerned to meet their every wish. The priesthood does not serve the people directly; it exists to serve YHWH, though in serving Him it does meet Israel's needs, and insofar as it serves Israel, it also serves Him. This chapter tells us how those who are concerned about what YHWH wants are to be clothed. And who is more concerned for what someone wants than his wife? Y'shua, who said, "Not My will, but Yours be done" made the restoration of this bride for YHWH possible.

2. And he made the efod 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 workmanship.

Imaginative: or calculated.

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

5. as well as the intricately-designed fastening-band which is on them, of its same [type of] workmanship--gold, blue, purple, crimson-scarlet, and fine twisted linen, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

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

7. And he set them in place upon the shoulder-pieces of the efod--stones [to be] a reminder to the sons of Israel, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

Reminder of what? Onyx stone was the stone of the tribe of Yoseyf on the breastplate. Sh'khem (which means "shoulder") was given to Yoseyf by Yaaqov as his "extra portion" as the one given the role of firstborn after Reuven failed. And the Messiah, who came to seek the "lost sheep of the House of Israel" (whose leader was the tribe of Efrayim, Yoseyf's son) speaks of the Shepherd (whom Yaaqov also linked ina special way to Yoseyf in Gen. 49:24) bringing the lost sheep back on His shoulders. (Luke 15:5) Thus the reminder is that all of the tribes of Israel have been lost, and that the one who is concerned for what YHWH wants (see v. 1) needs to go and seek them.

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

9. And they fashioned the pouch as a square doubled over, its length a span and its breadth a span [when] doubled over.

10. And on it they filled in 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 checker-work of gold in their settings.

14. And the stones were [based] on the names of the sons of Israel; there were twelve of them, by their names, engravings of a signet-seal, [each] man according to his name for the twelve tribes.

The third row was missing from the apparel of the "King of Tyre", whose description in Yehezqel 28 expands to be equated with that of Heylel (Yesh. 14) or haSatan, who used to attend to YHWH's throne, as the "anointed kh'ruv that covers"--in the very same position as the kh'ruvim which symbolize YHWH and His bride over the Ark of the Covenant. These stones are therefore the "uniform" of one who attends to YHWH. HaSatan was in Eden until lifted up with pride, and now through Israel and Y’shua, YHWH is creating another to fill this position, just as Hadassah replaced Vashti in the book of Esther, for the New Yerushalayim, made up of "living stones" who form a priesthood and a dwelling place for YHWH (1 Kefa 2:5), is decorated in the same way (Yeshayahu 54:11), as a bride for her husband. (Rev. 21:2-3; see note on v. 32 below.)

15. And they fashioned on the breastplate border-chains of interwoven foliage, produced from pure gold.

Border-chains of interwoven foliage: Aramaic: "corded chains".

16. Then they made two woven checker-works of gold, and two gold rings, and they fastened both of the rings onto two extremities of the pouch,

Rings are symbols of authority in Hebrew. That there are two of them hints at the two foremost authorities: Moshe (who transcribed YHWH's instructions) and Y'shua (who sits on the throne of David).

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

18. Then two extremities on both interwoven chains they fastened onto both of the plaitings, and set them on the shoulder-pieces of the efod toward its front surface.

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

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

21. Then they connected the pouch by its rings to the efod's rings with a twisted cord of blue [wool] so it could be above the imaginatively-designed band so that the pouch could not become dislodged from the efod, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

As the twisted cord of blue wool helps connect the priest's garment together (compare v. 31), the blue thread of the tzitzit (fringe on one's garment, Numbers 15:38) is now helping to connect Yehudah and Israel back together as a Kingdom of Priests unto YHWH.

22. Then he made the outer robe of the efod of woven workmanship, entirely of blue [wool],

This correlates with the blue tablecloth spread over the Table of the Bread of the Faces. (Num. 4:7) Both are connected with reminders of all twelve tribes of Israel.

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

This is to help prevent the high priest from disobeying the command to never tear his garment. (Lev. 21:10) That the high priest who tried Y'shua did tear his garment was one more commentary on the corrupt condition of the priesthood in His day.

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

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

Bells: the term indicates something struck in rhythm by being thrust, pushed, or impelled to action. The pomegranates represent the fruitful nation of Israel (depicted on David's own scepter), and the bells called attention to it too. The root behind the word for pomegranate (rimmon) is "ruwm", which means to "rise up". Thus they were a call to ascend to the presence of YHWH. The book of Revelation--another call to "come up here and see"--begins with a notice that the events therein would occur "in rapid succession" (1:1) to intensify the call to purify oneself and be ready. Being around the high priest's feet, they were thus a reminder of the coming Kingdom, which will begin when the Messiah (our high priest)'s feet stand on the Mount of Olives, on the last of the three "foot [pilgrimage] festivals" (Ex. 23:14, 17) which specifically relates to the Joyful Kingdom declared as good news by those who have "beautiful feet upon the mountains", announcing that the time of peace has come (Yeshayahu 52:7).

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 YHWH commanded Moshe.

Serve: literally "wait on".

27. Then they made tunics of fine [bleached] linen--the workmanship of a weaver--for Aharon and his sons,

Elsewhere in Scripture, priests are clothed with garments of deliverance (2 Chron. 6:40; Yeshayahu 61:10) and with righteousness (Ps. 132:9). We are called to be a "kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19:6), so we should all be dressed this way. Deliverance is more than redemption; it also includes our return to the Land where He is at home. White garments represent the righteousness of the set-apart ones. (Rev. 3:4; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9; 15:6; 19:8) It is how the angelic messengers appear. (Mark 16:5; Acts 1:10 et al) How do we obtain these white garments? By the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14), by overcoming (3:5), but also by purchasing them from Y'shua. (3:18) Hebraically, righteousness is defined through our actions. Most of His commands relate to how Israelites treat each other and the order by which things are run in Israel. Once we have them, we need to keep them. (16:15) HaSatan was wondrously adorned "UNTIL..." (Yehezq'el 28) If priests are defiled, they are to immerse and wash their garments as well--let our actions bespeak the inner righteousness Y'shua provides. Our deeds must line up with what we know. Otherwise after we get cleaned up, the stench will come right back on us.

28. and a winding turban of fine bleached linen, and ornamental head-gear of fine bleached linen, and divided undergarments of fine twisted bleached [linen].

Divided undergarments: i.e., split into two parts like shorts for added modesty. The term itself connotes something that hides.

29. Then a sash of fine twisted bleached [linen] skillfully embroidered with blue, purple, and crimson-scarlet [wool], just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

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 APART UNTO YHWH".

31. And they provided it with a twisted cord of blue, to allow it to be placed over the winding turban, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

Provided it with a twisted cord of blue: Aramaic, "suspended it on a thread of blue".

32. Thus was all the work [of service] of the Tent of Appointment completed; the descendants of Israel indeed carried it out in accordance with all that YHWH commanded them.

Completed: the very same Hebrew word means "a bride"; indeed, a bride completes her husband, as Adam discovered. Thus all the service described above also provided YHWH with a bride! Not all clothes a bride wears are pleasing to YHWH. There is a kind of righteousness that strikes YHWH as tantamount to "menstrual garments". (Yeshayahu 64:6) In ancient Israel, a woman in her monthly period would wear clothing that let men know not to touch her. The context here describes Israel as wearing such clothing designed to keep Him at bay lest He come close enough to see us as we really are. Verse 3 says He acts on behalf of the one who waits on Him. This is His bride. (See v. 1 above.) Yet this bride fails to be aroused by Him, fails to take hold of Him like a lover who wants to be intimate--which is the aim of all worship and Torah study. She does not even call on His Name; this is part of the reason we have been unclean. Now His Name is being restored to us, so we must whisper it the way His ears desire to hear it--as someone who longs for Him. This is what keeps us from being saved. This is what keeps us outside His Land. He wants to keep His water in a clean vessel, and we are not that yet. We are already in the season when the Kingdom is meant to come, but He is late coming because His bride is not ready. He will not marry a Gentile! Are we really concerned with what YHWH wants? Is it for our sake or His? What He wants us that we put self away and become unified. We need to put on those clean white garments that tell Him that we no longer consider ourselves niddah (off limits to Him). We prove whether or not we can love Him by how we treat each other. (Yochanan 13:35) We cannot ascend closer to Him apart from one another. So if we have ascended to some extent, we need to remind the rest of the calling that is before us and prod one another onward. This is the part we are missing, so it is where we must focus today.

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

Each person built a piece or a part of a piece, not knowing how it was going to all fit together or what the end product would look like, just as we are being shaped as individual components to fit in with all the other pieces of the true Dwelling-Place of YHWH, which this physical object foreshadowed. We do not always know why we are chipped and chiseled the way we are, or why we are set in the water of the Word to be smoothed out again ("Moshe" can be a shorthand for the entire Torah, and to the congregation of that day, he was a picture of the Messiah. Science has found that the dividing cells in a developing embryo's body have the potential to become any number of organs; which they actually do become depends on which part of the body they end up moving to. It is the same withg us as members of Y'shua's Body; He has equipped us with many spiritual resources, but the work on which we must focus depends on what position He places us in. The pieces of the Torah--the Hebrew letters--are, mystically, the joints and ligaments that hold the parts of the Body of the Restored Adam together. Walking together in the same Torah, which means "instruction", is what will finally bring the dry bones back together and make them function as a Body or army together.) But it is so we will be able to fit into our particular slot and form a tight seal with the other "pieces" we need to fit beside.

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 Testimony, its poles, and the Atoning Covering,

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

37. the pure menorah along with its lamps--lamps to be arranged in rows--all its implements, and the illuminating oil,

38. the golden altar and the anointing oil, the fragrant 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 of the courtyard-enclosure, its pillars, its socket-bases,the screen for the gateway to the enclosure, its cords and its stakes, all the vessels for the service of the Dwelling-place--for the Tent of Appointment,

41. the woven garments [in which] to serve in the Sanctuary, the holy garments for Aharon the priest, and the garments for his sons to serve in the role of priests.

42. So the descendants of Israel indeed carried out all the service that YHWH had commanded Moshe [to do].

43. Then Moshe surveyed all the work, and, behold, they had indeed done it just as YHWH had commanded. So Moshe blessed them.

Note the amazing parallels with Genesis 1:31-2:3, when YHWH surveys all He had created, sees that it is very beneficial--just as He wanted it--and then blesses the Sabbath day.


CHAPTER 40

1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,

2. "On a day--the first month, on [day] one to the month--you shall raise up the Tabernacle, the Tent of Appointment.

The first month brings us full circle to the time of preparation for the Passover and the Exodus a year before. But it goes much deeper. The root meanings of this unusual sentence read, "On the day of the first renewing of unity for the renewal", for the setting up of the Dwelling Place of YHWH was indeed a restoration of the light which had been lost when haSatan rebelled, creating the "ruin and desolation" that YHWH began to remedy on the very "first day". (Gen. 1:5) YHWH was creating a new bridal chamber for Himself. Even the Hebrew word for tent comes from a root meaning "to shine" or "be clear"--exactly what Adam was before he, too, fell. Israel, and particularly the Sanctuary, is this fresh start that includes Y'shua's removing our sin and will culminate in His enthronement, making us a united people once again. Just as Adam was created then brought into the Garden of Eden, so Israel and YHWH's Dwelling had to be brought back to order outside the Land, then brought into it. The same is taking place again today.

3. "And there you shall set the ark of the testimony, and you shall shut in the ark with the veil.

The root word for "ark" means "to pluck for gathering". So the word for "ark" normally means "a box for fruit". The things placed in it are all about "fruit": The ten words on the two tablets are instructions about how to build a unified dwelling place for YHWH. The omer of manna reminds us of YHWH's provision, but it corresponds with a half sheqel, which reminds us that we are incomplete without the rest of Israel. Aharon's rod that budded with almond blossoms speaks of the two comings of the Messiah (for the almond is edible at two stages, but inedible between them). This is the where the fruit that bears witness, or testimony, comes from. Yet how can something meant to give testimony be hidden from view? Because "it is Elohim's prerogative to conceal a matter, but the honor of kings to search it out (and ascertain it)." (Prov.25:2) Shut in: or block the approach to. The word for "veil" also stems from a word meaning "break apart" or "sever". Those who try to cross it at the wrong time are "cut off". But the high priest went in bearing the memory of the twelve tribes, as a picture of Y'shua, the one who made a breach in the foundation of the wall (of sin) that stood between us and YHWH. The word "kh'ruv" (cherub--one of the creatures that adorned the ark and which guard set-apart places like Eden) is very similar to the word "Q'ruv", which means "intimate acquaintance". It is a word play inviting us to "draw near" once we have been made holy.

4. "Then bring in the table and arrange all of its items that [need] to be set in order, then bring in the menorah and cause its lamps to ascend.

Note the order things are put in place. The table represents the twelve tribes in unity. After this is present--after there is something for the light to illuminate--the light is brought in.

5. "Then set the golden altar of incense in front of the Ark of the Testimony, and put in place the screen for the entryway to the Dwelling-place.

Once the light is present, we can pray knowledgeably, as the incense represents. Note that there is a secondary level of set-apartness established here. Y'shua opened this outer veil when He died, so we could come back into the Holy Place and serve Israel, but only He has entered the Holy of Holies. Our exile is meant to teach us how to be His bride so we can join Him there. We have to change our priorities and our motivation from selfish ones to what YHWH wants in order to become like Him. The closer we move to Him, the more He reveals about what is behind that veil. When we know what it looks like, there will no longer be a need for the veil--or the ark itself (Yirmeyahu 3:16), for what it represents will be present in reality. Yet a partial blindness is over Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles (Yoseyf's descendants, Gen. 48:19) comes back into the Commonwealth. (Rom. 11) And how will they know to come in if they are veiled to the truth of who they are? The priesthood came behind the veil first, and the priesthood represents all the firstborn among Israel. (Num. 3:12) If we are called to be firtsfruits (the same Hebrew word as firstborn), we do not need to wait until others catch up. But once we see what is behind the veil and bring out a description of it, others will see and come. Someone has to be the first to understand so they can teach the rest. We must keep climbing the steps even if no one joins us, and not drag our old motivations or priorities along with us to each new step, for they will only weigh us down.

6. "Then place the altar of ascending [offerings] in front of the entryway of the Tent of Appointment.

Once there is a tent to house His presence, the altar can be placed there to make a way for others to draw near. Without the death that it represents, no one can enter YHWH's presence. It takes care of what stands between our present state and where we need to be.

7. "And set the washbasin between the Tent of Appointment and the altar, and put water there.

8. "Then set up the enclosure all around, and set up the screen [for] the entryway to the courtyard.

9. "Then take the anointing oil and anoint the Dwelling-place and everything in it; thus you shall set it and all its vessels apart as sacred, and it shall be holy.

Once the set-apart space (a microcosm of the Holy Land) has been demarcated, what is to be used there and nowhere else is identified. Holy does not necessarily mean hidden away like the ark, but used for the sole purpose of maintaining the unified Dwelling Place of YHWH. It cannot be for profane or common use. Everything in our lives must likewise be dedicated to that purpose. We need to consider everything in our lives—our relationships, our use of time, what we invest our thought in--and ask whether it is useful to YHWH or whether He can have anything to do with it. If not, we must set it outside the fence. Set that apart--but for destruction. Setting apart the wrong thing will not get the job done as He wants it.

10. "Then anoint the altar of ascending [offerings] and all its implements. Thus you shall set the altar apart as sacred, and it shall be most holy.

Even the craftsmen who built these things could no longer touch them. He chooses to use some people to prepare things to be holy, but it does not necessarily mean He has chosen them to be the ones to use them.

11. "And you shall anoint the washbasin and its stand, and render it holy.

Messiah means "anointed one". He renders the water (Torah) and what holds it holy.

12. "Then bring Aharon and his sons to the entryway of the Tent of Appointment, and bathe them with water,

The order seems to be backwards. One would think those who put the Tabernacle together should have been sanctified first. But it is only when the tools are in the right order and our vessels are cleansed of whatever fouled them that the human component can also be set apart. There must be a task or an order to be set apart to, or the priesthood is a meaningless concept, as it has so often seemed while we have had no Temple.

13. "and clothe Aharon with the holy garments, and anoint him and set him apart to serve Me as a priest.

14. "Then bring his sons, and clothe them with tunics,

15. "and anoint them as you anointed their father, so they may serve as priests to Me, and it shall be that their anointing shall be for a perpetual [office of] priesthood for their generations."

16. So Moshe did so; he did everything just as YHWH had commanded him.

It was not enough to build these things; they had to be put to use. What we know is not complete or even acceptable until we are functioning in it. The knowledge must be there, but it must be applied. If the menorah does not give light, it is as useless as scrap metal, no matter how beautiful. The table still has no bread on it. If we do not fill it, the priesthood will go hungry.

17. Thus it came about that in the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the Dwelling-place was raised up

Second year: both words are based on the same root, which means a doubling or duplication--starting something over again. It was in a very real way a new creation--making the presence of YHWH that had been lost in Eden accessible again. This took place on a new moon, which YHWH has set apart as the way to measure His times and seasons. Was raised up: A "new man" unlike anything seen since Adam was standing up, and again this is taking place today. The religion will be gone from "him", but the set-apartness (from everything else) will abound here. But are we on schedule to have it done by the time He has set?

18. when Moshe erected the Dwelling-place, and put its socket-bases in place, and set up its boards, and put its bars [through them], and raised up its pillars.

Moshe himself probably had other people do much of the work under his command, but Moshe setting up YHWH's dwelling place symbolizes the Torah being the framework for the dwelling place He wants to build out of people who are so linked together.

19. Then he spread the tent over the Dwelling-place, and laid the covering of the tent over it from above, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

20. Then he took the articles of evidence and put [them] into the Ark, and put the poles in place on the Ark, and set the Atoning-cover onto the Ark from above.

With the poles in place, it was ready to move.

21. Then he brought the Ark into the Dwelling-place, and set the curtain in place to block the approach [to it]; thus he shut in the Ark of the Testimony, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

22. Then he put the table inside the Dwelling-place on its northward flank, outside the curtain,

23. and set the bread in order on it before the face of YHWH, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

24. Then he placed the menorah in the Tent of Appointment, across from the table, on the southward flank of the Dwelling-place,

25. and he caused the lights to ascend before YHWH's face, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

26. Then he placed the golden altar inside the Tent of Appointment, in front of the curtain,

27. and he caused spiced incense to smoke on it, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

28. Then he placed the screen at the entryway to the Dwelling-place,

29. and set the altar of ascending [offering] at the entryway to the Dwelling-place, and caused the ascending [offering] and the grain offering to burn on it, as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

30. And he set the washbasin between the Tent of Appointment and the altar, and put water there to wash oneself with.

31. Then Moshe, Aharon, and his sons washed their hands and feet from it;

32. Whenever they would enter the Tent of Appointment or approach the altar, they would wash themselves, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.

Wash: i.e., become ritually pure. We must be especially selfless and washed by the Word as we approach the day in which all that the Tent represented becomes a reality.

33. Then he raised up the enclosure surrounding the Dwelling-place and the altar, and set up the screen of the courtyard's gateway. Thus Moshe finished the work.

34. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Appointment, and the glory of YHWH filled the sanctuary,

Glory: Kavod, from the word for heavy, weighty, important. His honor, His reputation filled every piece of the Tabernacle, and He came to dwell in the place set aside for Him alone (which is what "holy" or "sanctified" means).

35. and Moshe was not able to enter the sanctuary, because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of YHWH filled the sanctuary.

Even the one whom YHWH talked with face to face could not fit a tent that was already full. YHWH's weightiness precluded anything else. When His things are in our vessels, there is no room there for self. When the ark was carried into the Holy Place, a link between heaven and earth was formed, so the cloud could come down and fill the room. But a cloud will penetrate outward wherever permitted, and thus it was visible outside the Tent as well. This is the perfect picture of what King Shlomo said when he finished the more fixed sanctuary over 400 years later: not even the heaven of heavens, much less one building, can ever contain the fullness of YHWH.

36. And whenever the cloud lifted from the sanctuary, the descendants of Israel would set out on all their journeyings.

37. But if the cloud did not lift, they did not travel, until the day when it lifted,

Note that they only traveled by day, since it was only then that the cloud was present (v. 38). Y'shua echoed this when He told us to walk in the light. (Yochanan 12:35) In Matithyahu 6, He told us that what brings light is a clear eye rather than an evil eye--a Hebrew idiom for being generous, not stingy. Loving our neighbor as ourselves brings light. When there was enough light in His people, He was able to move them closer to the Promised Land. The more veils we remove, thread by thread, the more light there will be in our eyes. We will know where we are going--not to Heaven, but to His Land to build His Kingdom, and the more we will be able to build a Tabernacle, not a Tower (Gen. 11), for we will recognize that His position is above us.

38. because the cloud of YHWH was over the sanctuary in the daytime, and fire was upon it by night, in front of the eyes of the whole house of Israel in all their travels.

Fire was upon it: or, in it. We must travel only when and where YHWH does, and not stay where we are or have become comfortable, when He is moving. We get in doctrinal ruts if we only keep doing what He taught us many years ago. He may give different orders tomorrow. We do need to set up camp on them, but only in tents, not fixed homes, for we must be ready to move. There were 32 steps to the Temple precinct in Herod's day (they are still there to this day). We are not meant to stay permanently on one of them, for now they are only museums, though each was necessary to bring us a "step" closer to holiness. For example, He once sat over the Protestant Reformation, but He moved on from there. He once camped over the Charismatic Renewal, but there is much more to move on to, or we will never learn as much as we can about Him. So "come, let us know--let us press on [pursue] to know YHWH"! (Hoshea 6:3).