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.
The events of our parashah
clearly portray Mount Sinai as the model after which the Mishkan and then the
Beit Ha Mikdash (tabernacle and temple) would be constructed. There are three
distinct zones in our parashah; the foot of the mountain; an intermediate
ascent upon the mountain and the top of the mountain where the presence of YHVH
resided, covered by a thick cloud. The people remain at the foot of the
mountain while representatives of the people ascend to the intermediate area or
zone. Moshe alone continues to ascend to the top of the mountain where he alone
speaks to YHVH. These three zones compare to the courtyard of the tabernacle
where the people came; the Set Apart place of the tabernacle where only the
priests served and finally the most set apart place where only the High Priest
entered into once a year. It was now on this most set apart place on top of the
mount Sinai where the initial enactment of YHVH’s covenant would become a
pattern for His redemptive plan throughout the ages for mankind.
What is particularly amazing
about this parasha is the epiphany (a moment of sudden and great revelation or
realization) found in Exo 24:10
and they saw the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, and under His feet like a paved
work of sapphire stone, and like the heavens for brightness. Exo 24:11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against
the chiefs of the children of Yisra’ĕl! And they saw Elohim, and they ate and
drank
Was this perhaps the esteem of YHVH that would come upon a people(or
Person) who was faithful to His covenant?
What is the meaning of this? There has been much speculation concerning
this epiphany.
Exo 24:1 And to Mosheh He said, “Come up to יהוה, you and
Aharon, Naḏaḇ and Aḇihu, and seventy of the elders of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall
bow yourselves from a distance.
Exo 24:2 “But
Mosheh shall draw near to יהוה by himself,
and let them not draw near, nor let the people go up with him.”
Exo 24:3 And
Mosheh came and related to the people all the Words of יהוה and all the right-rulings. And all the
people answered with one voice and said, “All the Words which יהוה has spoken we shall do.”
These words refer to the words
given in the previous two parashiot – the ten words – aseret divrot - and the right rulings – mishpatim.
Exo 24:4 And
Mosheh wrote down all the Words of יהוה, and rose up
early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and
twelve standing columns for the twelve tribes of Yisra’ĕl.
Note the words are given to Yisrael – the renewed
covenant is once again only made with the 12 tribes of Yisrael and with the
‘’mixed multitude’’ or ‘’grafted in ones’’ – (Yer 31:33 and Rom 11:16-22)
Let us remind ourselves that YHVH did not make these
covenants with the church. He made them with Yisrael and all those who are
called to be grafted into Yisrael.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once gentiles1
in the flesh, who are called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called ‘the
circumcision’ made in the flesh by hands, Footnote: 11 Cor. 12:2.
Eph 2:12 that at that time you were without Messiah,
excluded from the citizenship of Yisra’ĕl and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no expectation and without Elohim in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Messiah יהושע you who once
were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.
Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the set-apart ones and members of the
household of Elohim,1 Footnote: 1Rom. 11:17-24, Isa.
14:1.
And all the people answered
with one voice and said, “All the Words which יהוה has
spoken we shall do.”
There is a view that the people
who uttered these words did so brashly not realizing that they would never be
able to keep them. There is another view that they uttered these words of
agreement because they knew that MEDIATION formed one of the key elements of
the covenant. They understood from the very beginning that priestly mediation
and intercession would be required for Israel to come to maturity obedience and
eventual perfection.
Jud 1:24 And to Him
who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the
presence of His esteem with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25 to the
only wise Elohim, our Saviour, be esteem and greatness and might and authority,
both now and forever. Aměn.
Exo 24:5 And he
sent young men of the children of Yisra’ĕl, and they offered burnt offerings
and slaughtered peace slaughterings of bulls to יהוה.
Exo 24:6 And
Mosheh took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he
sprinkled on the altar.
Exo 24:7 And he
took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they
said, “All that יהוה has spoken we
shall do, and obey.”
The following is a study of the Ark of the Covenant and
the Book of the Covenant.
Exo 24:8 And
Mosheh took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “See, the blood
of the covenant which יהוה has made with
you concerning all these Words.”
The blood always pointed to mediation and ultimately to
the Mediator himself – Yahshua. Half of the blood was sprinkled on the words of
the covenant and the other half on the people. YHVH reminding us that no
covenant can be made without blood and that the people in being sprinkled with
blood acknowledged they themselves had to receive the blood of the covenant to
be able to have atonement of sin.
Heb 9:16 For where a covenant is, it is necessary for
the death of the covenanted one to be established.
Heb 9:19 For when, according to Torah, every command
had been spoken by Mosheh to all the people, he took the blood of calves and
goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book
itself and all the people,
Heb 9:20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant
which Elohim commanded you.”
Heb 9:21 And in the same way he sprinkled with blood
both the Tent and all the vessels of the service.
Heb 9:22 And, according to the Torah, almost all is
cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has disregarded(Greek means
unplacing or repudiating – arorist active) the Torah of Mosheh dies without
compassion on the witness of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think shall
he deserve who has trampled the Son of Elohim underfoot, counted the blood of
the covenant by which he was set apart as common, and insulted the Spirit of
favour?
Many people today who
call themselves believers scorn the reintroduction of the temple service and
the offerings. There seems to be an attitude that this was once necessary but
no longer required. This is a grave error and ignores the critical issue that
without mediation we cannot receive the progressive working of His atonement
nor ever come into the presence of YHVH.
Exo 24:9 And
Mosheh went up, also Aharon, Naḏaḇ, and Aḇihu, and seventy of the elders of Yisra’ĕl,
Exo 24:11 Yet He
did not stretch out His hand against the chiefs of the children of Yisra’ĕl!
And they saw Elohim, and they ate and drank.
Exo 24:12 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Come up to Me on the
mountain and be there, while I give you tablets of stone, and the Torah and the
command which I have written, to teach them.”
Exo 24:13 And
Mosheh arose with his assistant Yehoshua, and Mosheh went up to the mountain of
Elohim.
Exo 24:14 And he
said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. And see,
Aharon and Ḥur are with you. Whoever has matters, let him go to
them.”
Exo 24:15 And
Mosheh went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
Exo 24:16 And the
esteem of יהוה dwelt on Mount
Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day He called
to Mosheh out of the midst of the cloud.
Exo 24:17 And the
appearance of the esteem of יהוה was like a
consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of
Yisra’ĕl.
Exo 24:18 And
Mosheh went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And it
came to be that Mosheh was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
These verses point us to Yahshua after he was immersed in
the Yarden river by Yochanan. The Ruach descended upon him and then led him
into the wilderness for 40 days.
Mat 3:16 And having been immersed, יהושע went up
immediately from the water, and see, the heavens were opened, and He saw the
Spirit of Elohim descending like a dove and coming upon Him,
Mat 3:17 and see,
a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did
delight.”
Mat 4:1 Then יהושע was led up by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the devil.
Mat 4:2 And after
having fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
The
Number Forty - Trial and Testing and Eventual Purification.
The
establishing of the Covenant comes about through great conflict and anguish of
soul by those who are truly willing to lay down their lives for others.
- Yisrael 40 years in the wilderness
- Yisrael under David's rule 40 years
- Yisrael mourns for Ya'akov 40 days
- Yonah preaches 40 days
- Saul rules 40 years
- Shlomo rules 40 years
- Yisrael under the Philistines 40 years
- Mosheh in Mitsrayim 40 years
- Mosheh in Midian 40 years
- Mosheh at Mt. Sinai 40 days
- Eliyahu walked 40 days to Mount Sinai – 1Kings 19
- Yechezk'el lays on right side 40 days
- Yahshua tempted 40 days
- Yahshua spoke of Kingdom of God 40 days (Acts
1:3)
- time of Noach - rained 40 days and 40 nights.
- Goliath defied Yisrael 40 days.
The Reading of the Law
Deu 31:9 And Mosheh wrote this Torah and gave it to
the priests, the sons of Lěwi, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and to all the elders of Yisra’ěl.
Deu 31:10 And Mosheh commanded them, saying, “At
the end of seven years, at the appointed time, the year of release, at the
Festival of Sukkot,a Footnote: aBooths.
Deu 31:11 when all Yisra’ěl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses, read this Torah
before all Yisra’ěl in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 “Assemble the people, the men and the
women and the little ones, and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that
they hear, and so that they learn to fear יהוה
your Elohim and guard to do all the Words of this Torah.
Deu 31:13 “And their children, who have not known
it, should hear and learn to fear יהוה your Elohim as long
as you live in the land you are passing over the Yarděn to possess.”
Deu 31:14 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “See, the days have drawn near for you to die. Call Yehoshua,
and present yourselves in the Tent of Appointment, so that I command him.” And
Mosheh and Yehoshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of
Appointment.
Deu 31:15 And יהוה
appeared at the Tent in a column of a cloud, and the column of a cloud stood
above the door of the Tent.
Deu 31:16 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “See, you are about to sleep with your fathers. And this people
shall rise and whore after the mighty ones of the strangers of the land into
the midst of which they shall enter, and forsake Me and break My covenant which
I have made with them.
Deu 31:17 “Then My displeasure shall burn against
them in that day, and I shall forsake them and hide My face from them, and they
shall be consumed. And many evils and distresses shall come upon them, and it
shall be said in that day, ‘Is it not because our Elohim is not in our midst
that these evils have come upon us?’
Deu 31:18 “And I shall certainly hide My face in
that day, because of all the evil which they have done, for they shall turn to
other mighty ones.
Deu 31:19 “And now write down this song for
yourselves, and teach it to the children of Yisra’ěl. Put it in their mouths,
so that this song is to Me for a witness against the children of
Yisra’ěl.
Deu 31:20 “And I shall bring them to the land
flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they shall
eat and be satisfied and be fat, then they shall turn to other mighty ones, and
they shall serve them, and scorn Me and break My covenant.
Deu 31:21 “And it shall be, when many evils and
distresses come upon them, that this song shall answer before them as a
witness. For it is not to be forgotten in the mouths of their seed, for I know
their thoughts which they are forming today, even before I bring them to the
land of which I swore to give them.”
Deu 31:22 And Mosheh wrote this song the same day,
and taught it to the children of Yisra’ěl.
Deu 31:23 And He commanded Yehoshua son of Nun, and
said, “Be strong and courageous, for you are to bring the children of Yisra’ěl
into the land of which I swore to them, and I Myself am with you.”
Deu 31:24 And it came to be, when Mosheh had
completed writing the Words of this Torah in a book, until their
completion,
Deu 31:25 that Mosheh commanded the Lěwites, who
bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, saying,
Deu 31:26 “Take this Book of the Torah, and you
shall place it beside the ark of the covenant of יהוה
your Elohim, and it shall be there as a witness against you,
Deu 31:27 for I myself know your rebellion and your
stiff neck. See, while I am still alive with you today, you have been
rebellious against יהוה, then how much more after my death?
Deu 31:28 “Assemble unto me all the elders of your
tribes, and your officers, so that I speak these words in their hearing and
call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.
Deu 31:29 “For I know that after my death you shall
do very corruptly and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And
evil shall come to you in the latter days, because you do what is evil in the
eyes of יהוה, to provoke Him through the work of your
hands.”
This Book of the Covenant/Torah was rediscovered – see:
Finding the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22:3-20; 2
Chronicles 34:8-28) June 15
''Around 622 B.C., six years after commencing his purge
of paganism from the land, King Josiah began his restoration of the temple,
putting the final seal on his plan to restore the true worship of the true God.
The writer of Chronicles mentions two men who made up the king's commission who
are not mentioned in Kings: Maaseiah, the city governor, and Joah, the son of
Joahaz, the recorder. "Josiah's choice of Shaphan to head the royal
commission was a wise one; for his godly influence was to be felt not only in
his own time but in that of his sons Ahikam (Jer 26:24), Elasah (Jer 29:3), and
Gemariah (Jer 36:10, 25), and his grandson Gedaliah (Jer 39:14)" (The
Expositor's Bible Commentary, footnote on 2 Kings 22:4).
The people were asked to contribute to the restoration
and, as had happened under the rule of Joash (2 Kings 12:15), no audit was
required. Josiah's appointments proved their loyalty in carrying out God's
work.
In the process of restoring the temple, the high priest
Hilkiah found the "Book of the Law." Various ideas have been put
forward about what the "book" was and why it was lost. The
Expositor's Bible Commentary notes: "It is later called the 'Book
of the Covenant' (v. 30) which suggests Exodus 19-24 (cf. 24:7). Yet the curses
that the book contained (v. 24) suggests Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28; and
the ensuing stress on the central sanctuary (2 Kings 23:8-9) implies
Deuteronomy 12, etc. 'The Book' thus was at least the Book of Deuteronomy [that
is, according to this source]. It is called 'the covenant' in Deut 29:1, for
example. It contains the curses (Deut 28) and it alone calls for a central
sanctuary and was stored at the temple usually by the side of the ark (Deut
31:25-26)" (note on 2 Chronicles 34:14). Some, however, believe the Book
of the Law to refer to the entire Law or Pentateuch—that is, the five books of Moses.
Oddly enough, Joshua is said to have written about the Israelites' recommitment
to God late in his life "in the Book of the Law of God" (Joshua
24:26), well after Moses had written the Pentateuch. So it is not entirely
certain what all is meant.
Continuing in Expositor's: 'The Book,'
however seems to have become misplaced during the apostate administrations of
the previous kings, Manasseh and Amon, under whom the ark had been moved about
(2 Chronicles 35:3)" (same note).
Realizing the newfound book was very likely of God—and
that His instructions had been flouted by the nation—Josiah was grief-stricken.
The tearing of clothes was an expression of extreme grief during biblical times
(compare Genesis 37:29; 44:13; 1 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 15:32; Matthew 26:65).
But God requires more than just an outward show of grief. He wants the same
tender heart that Josiah had (see Joel 2:12-14).
Josiah set up a delegation to seek God's will. The
delegation, headed by Hilkiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, a common practice
in the Old Testament (see 1 Kings 22:5-12; 1 Samuel 23:2). There have been a
number of prophetesses in the Bible, including Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Isaiah's
wife (Isaiah 8:1-4, 18), Deborah (Judges 4-5) and Anna (Luke 2:36-38).
"There were also false women prophets, such as Noadiah in Nehemiah 6:14
and those prophetesses in Ezekiel 13:17, but they were rebuked not because they
were women or because they prophesied; instead, they were rebuked because what
they said was false and not a revelation from God. Women were not chattel to be
ordered about and used as men pleased in the Old Testament, ranking slightly
above a man's ox or donkey! They were fellow heirs of the image of God, charged
with tasks that exhibited the originality, independence, and management ability
of the 'woman of valor' in Proverbs 31 and were called to enter holistically
into sharing all of the joys and labours of life" (Walter Kaiser
Jr., Toward Old Testament Ethics, 1983, p. 207). It should,
though, be pointed out that the New Testament makes it clear that women are not
to be ordained as elders or preach during worship services.
The Second Quarter of Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:14) most
likely refers to one of two districts referred to in Nehemiah 3:9-12 and
Zephaniah 1:10. Although the location isn't certain, it was most likely in the
commercial area and indicates that Huldah and her husband lived in poor
circumstances.
A puzzling question to some is why Josiah's delegation
went to a prophetess rather than the more well-known prophets of the time, such
as Jeremiah and Zephaniah. It could simply be that they weren't so well known
at the time—or perhaps they were then preaching in another part of Judah. In
any event, they were not needed for the task. Huldah was truly a prophetess of
God. She sent two messages back, one to the man who sent them to her and the
other to Josiah—a message of condemnation for Judah but of peace for the king.''
Huldah (Hebrew: חֻלְדָּה Ḥuldāh) was a prophet mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in 2 Kings 22:14–20 and 2 Chronicles 34:22–28. According to Jewish tradition, she was one of the "seven prophetesses", with Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther.[1][2] After the discovery of a book of the Law during renovations at Solomon's Temple, on the order of King Josiah, Hilkiah together with Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah approach her to seek the Lord's opinion.
She was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath (also called Tikvah), son of Harhas (also called Hasrah), keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District or Second Quarter. The King James Version calls this quarter "the college", and the New International Version calls it "the new quarter".[3]
According to Rabbinic interpretation, Huldah and Deborah were the principal professed woman prophets in the Nevi'im (Prophets) portion of the Hebrew Bible, although other women were referred to as prophets. "Huldah" means "weasel" or "mole", and "Deborah" means "honeybee".
The Huldah Gates in the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount are named for her. End quote
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 – Amein.)
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.