1/31/2014

Parashat 20 Portion 65 – Tetzaveh - Shemot 27:20-30:10 Hosea 14:4-9 Heb 4:4-16


Blessing for the Torah Reading:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

“Tetzaveh” the name of this new Torah portion means “you shall command.” It takes the “piel” verb form which is a more intense expression of the verb. The use of the imperfect tense implies that this command has a future application as well. These commands must be carefully observed as they were given to all the generations of Yisrael – a law forever to their generations (vs 21). Obviously we wait for the rebuilding of the Temple in Yerushalayim for these commandments to once again be strictly guarded and obeyed by a willing and waiting restored Yisrael and her priesthood.

The Name of Moshe.

Tetzaveh is the only Torah portion in the book of Shemot where the name of Moshe is conspicuously left out. Why? The sages believe one of the reasons is that this Torah portion normally falls on the week of the 7 th of Adar. This was the date believed to be the death and the birth of Moshe rabbeinu (Moses our rabbi)
It is also believed that Moshe’s name is left out because Moshe asked YHVH in the next Torah portion to blot out his name from the book of life (Shemot 32:32). The request came about because YHVH wanted to bring a complete destruction upon Yisrael after the incident of the golden calf.

So great was our rabbi Moshe that he was willing to be cursed for the sake of his brethren. We see there was another great sage called Shaul who had the same heart as Moshe rabbeinu.

Rom 9:3  For I myself could have wished to be banished from Messiah for the sake of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh,
Rom 9:4  who are Yisra’ĕlites, whose is the adoption, and the esteem, and the covenants, and the giving of the Torah, and the worship, and the promises,
Rom 9:5  whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, Elohim-blessed forever. Amĕn.

Maybe Moshe’s name is left out of this Torah portion because the focus of this portion is Yisrael as a light and witness to all nations.

Speaking of the Messianic Torah observant community Yahshua says:

Mat 5:14  “You (plural) are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city to be hidden on a mountain.
Mat 5:15  “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines to all those in the house.
Mat 5:16  “Let your light so shine before men, so that they see your good works and praise your Father who is in the heavens.

It is rather interesting that in the context of being the light of the world the very next verse says:

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.1 I did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote: 1The Law and the Prophets is a term used for the pre-Messianic Scriptures.
Mat 5:18  “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.1 Footnote: 1Lk. 16:17.
Mat 5:19  “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.


Our Torah portion begins by giving a commandment throughout all our generations to provide oil for the light of the Menorah.

Let us consider for a moment the blessing that genuine unity based on the truth and fulfilment of Torah would bring into the Messianic restoration and into the world.

Psa 133:1  See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity –
Psa 133:2  Like the precious oil on the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aharon, Running down on the collar of his robes –
Psa 133:3  Like the dew of Ḥermon, That comes down on the mountains of Tsiyon. For there יהוה commanded the blessing, Life forever!

The anointing oil was also the oil that produced light for the lamps.

Exo 27:20  “And you, you are to command the children of Yisra’ĕl to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.
Exo 27:21  “In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is before the Witness, Aharon and his sons are to tend it from evening until morning before יהוה – a law forever to their generations, from the children of Yisra’ĕl.

כ  וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר:  לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר, תָּמִיד

“Catit” means to bruise to violently strike; to crush.

This is a “tzel” (tzadic,lamed) shadow of the “tzalav”(tzadic,lamed,veit) the execution of Messiah. It is the execution of Messiah that brings the shadow of the Torah into the full light of our redemption.

“shemen zait zach” means pure olive oil.

 An olive tree never dies. (Photo of ancient olive trees in the Garden of Getsemane). Neither does it ever cease giving fruit. When some branches become old and stop giving fruit, they are cut off so that new shoots can come up that will give fruit. The olive tree needs approximately 10 years in order to begin giving fruit, but the most fruitful time does not begin until 40 years have passed. The leaves are always green. It does not need a lot of water and can manage well in a warm and dry climate. The olives have three important ingredients, oil, water, and alpechin. Olive oil is very healthy for the body. It is used for cooking, among other things. It can be mixed with flour to bake cakes. It can be used on salads or directly on bread and can also be used as fuel for oil lamps, as in this case in the tabernacle.

Olives are harvested during the winter. During the second temple period, there were three harvests per year. First the olives that were furthest out on the branches and were ripe first because of the sunshine were harvested. After that, the olives, which were further in on the branches were harvested. The third harvest close to the trunk was the olives that had ripened slowly.

There is a midrash that compares these three pressing to the outpouring of the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Set Apart Spirit) on the earth. (The word Messiah means one who is anointed – olive oil was used to anoint)

The first pressing came at Sinai – Shavuot – where the Torah was given to Moshe - Psa 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. The Torah was given to a people that had come out of the bondage and suffering of Mitsrayim/Egypt for centuries.

The second pressing came after the suffering and death of Messiah on another “Shavuot” ( called “Pentecoste” in Greek from where the transliteration “Pentecost”) where the Ruach was poured out in Yerushalyim on the Temple Mount – Yahshua the light of the world.

The third pressing of olives was made with great crushing stones that grinded over each other. This could be a picture of the outpouring of the Ruach during the great tribulation, the coming together of Yisrael who will be a light to all the nations of the world. The olive tree was often beaten with rods to shake loose remaining olives that were situated close to the trunk of the tree.

Joe 2:1  Blow a ram’s horn in Tsiyon, and sound an alarm in My set-apart mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble, for the day of יהוה is coming, for it is near:
Joe 2:2  a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains – a people many and strong, the like of whom has never been, nor shall there ever be again after them, to the years of many generations.
Joe 2:27  “And you shall know that I am in the midst of Yisra’ĕl1, and that I am יהוה your Elohim and there is no one else. And My people shall never be put to shame. Footnote: 1See Isa. 24:23.
Joe 2:28  “And after this it shall be that I pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men dream dreams, your young men see visions.
Joe 2:29  “And also on the male servants and on the female servants I shall pour out My Spirit in those days.
Joe 2:30  “And I shall give signs in the heavens and upon the earth: blood and fire and columns of smoke,
Joe 2:31  the sun is turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of יהוה.

The first pressing was done by hand, the second by pressing weights and the third by was by a stone press.

“The word "Gethsemane" is derived from the Hebrew "gat shemanim" which means "oil press" - the implication being that the garden was in fact an olive grove...”

This stirs up within our hearts the image that the Father goes to a great deal of effort to bring the necessary forces to bear on the lives of those He has chosen to become like this precious olive oil used to bring life and light to His creation. When we submit to His processes and instruction we open our lives to receive the fullness of His Ruach. The same Ruach which was evident in and on the life of Messiah.

The true ministry of the Ruach can only take place as a result of crushing. We see this revealed in all the inner workings and material of the Set Apart place: the bread, wine, oil and spices for incense, each of these was subject to a process of crushing and burning before they were used to testify of and help usher in YHVH’s presence.

Exo 28:1  “And you, bring near Aharon your brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Yisra’ĕl, for serving as priest to Me: Aharon, Naḏaḇ and Aḇihu, Elʽazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aharon.
Exo 28:2  “And you shall make set-apart garments for Aharon your brother, for esteem and for comeliness.
Exo 28:3  “And you, speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the garments of Aharon, to set him apart, for him to serve as priest to Me.

The priestly garments remind us of the covering we lost in the garden and the restored covering that YHVH is in the process of restoring to us again.

Again we need to look into the deeper levels of Torah. When man was in the garden before he sinned, he was clothed with the esteem or the “shechinah” of YHVH, however when he sinned, he lost this covering of LIGHT and was aware of his nakedness. We see an interesting reference to this in the Hebrew words used for “light and skin”

The Hebrew word for "Light" is "OR"  spelled "aleph  vav  resh" - The Hebrew word for "Skin" is also "OR"  but is spelled "ayin  vav  resh" –
We know that man lost something very special when he sinned and became aware of his nakedness. He became aware of his own naked skin because he had lost the esteemed covering that came from YHVH.

The priestly garments represent the prophetic restoration of man’s original condition before Yahveh through the intercessory ministry of a chosen priesthood.

Let us midrash around this issue of representation for a moment. We somehow confidently assume that when Yahshua returns we are going to have automatic access into his presence. Yahshua’s priesthood and intercession would be sought above that of the established restored Aaronic priesthood.
Even this consideration reveals a condition of our hearts that will be remedied in the coming age by a submission to an earthly intercessory priesthood for 1000 years.

Today a lack of submission and unwillingness to provide “light” for His work reflect the sad condition of just about everyone who calls on His Name.

                                                       Priestly and High Priestly garments


High Priestly garment

Exo 28:4  “And these are the garments which they make: a breastplate, a shoulder garment, a robe, an embroidered long shirt, a turban, and a girdle. And they shall make set-apart garments for Aharon your brother and his sons, for him to serve as priest to Me.
Exo 28:5  “And they shall take the gold, and the blue and the purple and the scarlet material, and the fine linen,
Exo 28:6  and shall make the shoulder garment (Epod) of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine woven linen, the work of a skilled workman.

The Hebrew word “Ephod” means that which fits closely or tightly.

The “Ephod” marks the High Priest as the one who carried the people of Yisrael before YHVH. To the Ephod was attached the 12 precious stones each representing a tribe of Yisrael.  This was an extremely important intercessory function the High priest carried on behalf of the people.

Exo 28:7  “It is to have two shoulder pieces joined at its two edges, and so it is joined together.
Exo 28:8  “And the embroidered band of the shoulder garment, which is on it, is of the same workmanship, made of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine woven linen.
Exo 28:9  “And you shall take two shoham stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Yisra’ĕl,
Exo 28:10  six of their names on one stone, and the remaining six names on the other stone, according to their birth.
Exo 28:11  “With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Yisra’ĕl. Set them in settings of gold.
Exo 28:12  “And you shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the shoulder garment as stones of remembrance for the sons of Yisra’ĕl. And Aharon shall bear their names before יהוה on his two shoulders, for a remembrance.
Exo 28:13  “And you shall make settings of gold,
Exo 28:14  and two chains of clean gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.
Exo 28:15  “And you shall make a breastplate of right-ruling, a work of a skilled workman, like the work of the shoulder garment. Make it of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine woven linen.
Exo 28:16  “It is square, doubled, a span its length, and a span its width.
Exo 28:17  “And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row is a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald;
Exo 28:18  and the second row is a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;
Exo 28:19  and the third row is a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Exo 28:20  and the fourth row is a beryl, and a shoham, and a jasper. They are set in gold settings.
Exo 28:21  “And the stones are according to the names of the sons of Yisra’ĕl, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name, for the twelve tribes.
Exo 28:22  “And you shall make braided chains of corded work for the breastplate at the end, of clean gold.
Exo 28:23  “And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
Exo 28:24  “And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate,
Exo 28:25  and the other two ends of the two cords you fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the shoulder garment in the front.
Exo 28:26  “And you shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the shoulder garment.
Exo 28:27  “And you shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder pieces, underneath the shoulder garment, on the front of it, close to the seam above the embroidered band of the shoulder garment,
Exo 28:28  and they bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the shoulder garment, using a blue cord, so that it is above the embroidered band of the shoulder garment, so that the breastplate does not come loose from the shoulder garment.
Exo 28:29  “And Aharon shall bear the names of the sons of Yisra’ĕl on the breastplate of right-ruling over his heart, when he goes into the set-apart place, for a remembrance before יהוה, continually.
Exo 28:30  “And into the breastplate of right-ruling you shall put the Urim and the Tummim, and they shall be on the heart of Aharon when he goes in before יהוה. And Aharon shall bear the right-ruling of the children of Yisra’ĕl on his heart before יהוה, continually.

Likewise the Urim and Thummim  ("illuminator and verifier") (light and perfections or the light that brings perfect perfection) No one seems exactly sure what the urim and tummim were. There are a few possibilities. It would better serve our purposes if we consider the immense value that they have as the point us to the Messiah who was the perfect light that brought perfection into the world.

It is no co incidence that the gematria of breastplate – “ch o shen”is 358 the same as Moshiach.

Exo 28:31  “And you shall make the robe of the shoulder garment all of blue.  

This blue (techelet) tunic served to remind us that the High priest was connected to heaven for our sakes.

Exo 28:32  “And the opening for his head shall be in the middle of it, a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a scaled armour, so that it does not tear.
Exo 28:33  “And on its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around:
Exo 28:34  a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe all around.
Exo 28:35  “And it shall be upon Aharon to attend in, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the set-apart place before יהוה and when he comes out, so that he does not die.
Exo 28:36  “And you shall make a plate of clean gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: SET-APARTNESS TO יהוה.
Exo 28:37  “And you shall put it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban – it is to be on the front of the turban.
Exo 28:38  “And it shall be on the forehead of Aharon, and Aharon shall bear the guilt of the set-apart gifts which the children of Yisra’ĕl set apart in all their set-apart gifts. And it shall always be on his forehead, for acceptance for them before יהוה.
Exo 28:39  “And you shall weave the long shirt of fine linen, and shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the girdle of woven work.

Priestly garment

Exo 28:40  “And make long shirts for Aharon’s sons. And you shall make girdles for them, and you shall make turbans for them, for esteem and comeliness.
Exo 28:41  “And you shall put them on Aharon your brother and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and shall ordain them, and shall set them apart, and they shall serve as priests to Me.
Exo 28:42  “And make linen trousers for them, to cover their nakedness, reaching from the waist to the thighs.


Exo 28:43  “And they shall be on Aharon and on his sons when they come into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to attend in the Set-apart Place, so that they do not bear crookedness and die – a law forever to him, and to his seed after him.

Exo 30:1  “And you shall make an altar to burn incense on, make it of acacia wood,
Exo 30:2  a cubit long and a cubit wide – it is a square – and two cubits high, its horns of the same.
Exo 30:3  “And you shall overlay its top, and its sides all around, and its horns with clean gold. And you shall make for it a moulding of gold all around.
Exo 30:4  “And make two gold rings for it, under the moulding on both its sides. Make them on its two sides, and they shall be holders for the poles to lift it with.
Exo 30:5  “And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
Exo 30:6  “And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Witness, before the lid of atonement that is over the Witness, where I am to meet with you.
Exo 30:7  “And Aharon shall burn on it sweet incense, morning by morning. As he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.
Exo 30:8  “And when Aharon lights the lamps between the evenings, he shall burn incense on it – a continual incense before יהוה throughout your generations.
Exo 30:9  “Do not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.
Exo 30:10  “And Aharon shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement – once a year he makes atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most set-apart to יהוה.”

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn

Please note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no way a final authority on any subject.