Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch ata YHVH Elohim melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all
eternity. 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
‘’Moshe shattered the tablets and in so doing brings humanity face
to face with the depths of their brokenness. All brokenness can somehow be
traced back to some form of lawlessness – 1 John 3:4. The downfall and coming
judgment on the world is directly related to our failure to honour and uphold
YHVH’s Law.
Isa 24:1 See, יהוה is making the earth
empty and making it waste, and shall overturn its surface, and shall scatter
abroad its inhabitants.
Isa 24:5 For the earth has been defiled under its
inhabitants, because they have transgressed the Torot(a) changed(b) the law,
broken the everlasting covenant.(c) Footnotes: aTorot - plural of Torah -
teaching. b Jer_23:36. cSee also Isa_13:9, Isa_13:11, Isa_26:21,
Isa_66:24, Mic_5:15, Zep_1:2-18.
Isa 24:6 Therefore a curse shall consume the earth,
and those who dwell in it be punished. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth
shall be burned, and few men shall be left.
Rom
7:12 So that the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart, and
righteous, and good.
Rom
7:13 Therefore, has that which is good become death to me? Let it not be!
But the sin, that sin might be manifest, was working death in me through what
is good, so that sin through the command might become an exceedingly great
sinner.
Rom
7:14 For we know that the Torah is Spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold
under sin.
Rom
7:15 For what I work, I know not. For what I wish, that I do not
practise, but what I hate, that I do.
Rom
7:16 But if I do what I do not wish, I agree with the Torah that it is
good.
Deu 10:1 “At
that time יהוה said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the
first, and come up to Me on the mountain. And you shall make yourself an ark of
wood,
‘’When we read ‘at that time’ we understand that this refers to a
unique or once off event’’
‘’On 7 Sivan, Moses went up onto the mountain . . .
On 17 of the Tammuz the tablets were broken. On the 18th, he burned the
[Golden] Calf and judged the transgressors. On the 19th, he went up for forty
days and pleaded for mercy. On 1 st of Elul, he went up to receive the second
tablets, and was there for forty days. On 10 of Tishrei, YHVH restored His
goodwill with the Israelites gladly and wholeheartedly, saying to Moses, “I
have forgiven, as you ask,” and gave him the Second Tablets. Rashi, Exodus
32:1 and 33:11’’
Deu 10:2 then I
write on the tablets the Words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
And you shall put them in the ark.’ (renewing of the covenant in our
hearts – Yer 31:31-33)
‘’Moshe comes down the mountain to be confronted by
a shocking and perverse scene. Barely a month had passed since YHVH gave
the 10 Commandments; while the very echoes of the Sinaic revelation still
reverberated around the world, a number of the Israelites had rebelled and
built an idol, the Golden Calf
In a display of supreme displeasure Moshe smashes the
two luchot (tablets), punishes those who had sinned, and then
heads right back up the mountain to beseech YHVH’s's mercy. Eighty days later
(on the day later to be known as Yom Kippur), YHVH agrees to grant His
nation a second chance and symbolizes this by allowing Moshe to carve out a
second set of tablets.
The two sets of tablets, the broken ones and their
replacements, are stored together in perpetuity in the Ark of the Covenant
But why keep the broken pieces… Aren't they just a symbol
of our crime and punishment? Why stockpile a souvenir of the depravity to which
the Israelites sank?
Someone who has never struggled, never experienced
disappointments, can never truly connect with YHVH or His Torah.
Self-grandeur and aggrandisement preclude one from approaching the Set Apart
One. The scars the world has inflicted upon us, the vestiges of battles fought,
and temptations overcome are the entry fees to the Kingdom of YHVH.
Receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai was an unparalleled
ecstatic experience. The sense of accomplishment of being personally selected
for divine revelation must have been universally felt. How then could the Israelites
refrain from feelings of smug self-satisfaction?
By exhibiting the broken shards of the ‘’luchot’’
(tablets) we were constantly being reminded of our imperfect past and
blemished record. Displaying the evidence of our sins, and the subsequent
constant mood of regret, engendered a community-wide inspiration to reunite
with YHVH, and determination to avoid future pitfalls, thus guaranteeing our
right to not just receive but to live with YHVH and his Torah.’’ Rabbi Elisha Greenbaum – see also Num
10:33-36 – Stones Chumash p 787
– The second ark with broken pieces preceded
Israel into the wilderness, a symbol of the Messiah ‘’broken’’ to redeem us
from our lawlessness – Titus 2:14.
Deu 10:3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed
two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, with the two
tablets in my hand. Deu 10:4 “And He wrote on the tablets according
to the first writing, the Ten Words, which יהוה had spoken to you in
the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Then יהוה gave them to me, Deu 10:5 and I turned and came down
from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And they
are there, as יהוה commanded me.” – Acts 1:11 – Zech
14:4
Deu 10:6 Now the children of Yisra’ěl set out from
the wells of Beněi Ya‛aqan(Edomite – sons of twisting) to Mosěrah(chastising).
Aharon died there, and he was buried there. And El‛azar his son became priest
in his place. Deu 10:7 From there they set out to Guḏgoḏah, (slashings)
and from Guḏgoḏah to Yotḇathah, (pleasantness) a land of rivers of
water. Deu 10:8 At that time יהוה separated the tribe
of Lěwi to bear the ark of the covenant of יהוה, to stand before יהוה, to serve Him, and to bless in His Name, to this day. Deu
10:9 Therefore Lěwi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. יהוה is his inheritance, as יהוה your Elohim promised him.
Deu 10:10 “And I stayed in the mountain for
forty days and forty nights. And יהוה heard me at that time also, and יהוה chose not to destroy you. Deu 10:11 “And יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go before the people, to set out, and let
them go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give
them.’
Circumcise Your Heart – a sensitive heart to YHVH –
which YHVH alone can do – Deut 30:6
Deu 10:12 “And now, Yisra’ěl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your Elohim, to walk
in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve יהוה your Elohim with all
your heart and with all your being,
Deu 10:13 to guard the commands of יהוה
and His laws which I command you today for your good?
Deu 10:14 “See, the heavens and the heaven of
heavens belong to יהוה your Elohim, also the earth with all that
is in it. Deu 10:15 “יהוה delighted only in
your fathers, to love them. And He chose their seed after them, you above all peoples,a
as it is today. Footnote: aSee also Deu_7:6, Deu_14:2, Deu_26:18,
Psa_135:4 and Amo 1:1-9:15. Deu 10:16 “And you shall
circumcise the foreskin of your heart,b and harden your neck no more. Footnote:
bSee also Deu_30:6-8, Rom_2:26-29 and 1Co_7:19.
Deu 10:17 “For יהוה your Elohim is Elohim
of mighty ones and Master of masters, the great Ěl, mighty and awesome, who
shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
Deu 10:18 “He executes right-ruling for the
fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and a
garment. Deu 10:19 “And you shall love the stranger, for you were
strangers in the land of Mitsrayim. Deu 10:20 “Fear יהוה
your Elohim. Serve Him, and cling to Him, and swear by His Name. Deu
10:21 “He is your praise, and He is your Elohim, who has done for you
these great and awesome deeds which your eyes have seen. Deu 10:22
“Your fathers went down to Mitsrayim with seventy beings, and now יהוה your Elohim has made you as numerous as the stars of the
heavens. Deu 11:1 “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim and guard
His charge:a even His laws, and His right-rulings, and His commands, always.
Footnote: aSee Gen_26:5.
Mal 3:6 “For I am יהוה, I shall not change,a
and you, O sons of Ya‛aqoḇ, shall not come to an end. Footnote: a Jas_1:17. Mal
3:7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My laws and
did not guard them. Turn back to Me, and I shall turn back to you,” said יהוה of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what shall we turn back?’….
Deu 11:2 “And you shall know today – for it is not
your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of יהוה your Elohim, His greatness, His strong hand and His
outstretched arm, Deu 11:3 and His signs, and His works which He had
done in the midst of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and to all
his land; Deu 11:4 and that which He had done to the army of
Mitsrayim, to their horses and their chariots, when He made the waters of the
Sea of Reeds overflow them as they pursued you, and how יהוה has destroyed them to
this day; Deu 11:5 and what He had done for you in the wilderness
till you came to this place; Deu 11:6 and what He had done to Dathan
and Aḇiram the sons of Eliyaḇ, son of Re’uḇěn, when the earth opened its mouth
and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the
living creatures that were in their possession, in the midst of all
Yisra’ěl. Deu 11:7 “For yours are the eyes that saw all the great
work of יהוה, which He did. Deu 11:8 “And you shall guard every
command which I command you today, so that you are strong, and shall go in, and
shall possess the land which you are passing over to possess, Deu
11:9 and to prolong your days in the land which יהוה swore to give your
fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and
honey.
Psa
119:5 Oh, that my ways were established To guard Your laws! Psa
119:6 Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your
commands.
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, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn)