Parashat 23 Portion 73 Shemot 38:21-31 Yer 30:18-22 Rom 12:1-13

“Pekudei” – Accounts/Notations

Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!

Baruch ata YHVH Eloheinu 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.)

 Shemot/Exo 38:21  These were the appointments (or notations) (pekudei) of the Dwelling Place, the Dwelling Place of the Witness, which was appointed (or noted) (pukad) by the command of Mosheh, for the service of the Lĕwites, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aharon the priest.

     These are the ones who were enabled to give a full accounting for the construction of the Tabernacle. They made sure all instructions and materials were correctly performed and materials used accounted for.

The title of our parasha “pekudei” comes from a root Hebrew word “pakad” if we look carefully at the various definitions given in BDB (S6485) we will see that this is a very complicated word and various scholars interpret it differently. Perhaps this word in its “Pual” (perfect tense verb) form could mean – “to be called to account or to be paid in full”. In the light of the perfect tense verbs used in the last two portions, I believe we need to look a little deeper at something which directs us to the finished work of Messiah.

This same root word “pakad” appears in the Hebrew translation of Yoch/John 19:30.

Joh 19:30  So when יהושע took the sour wine He said, “It has been accomplished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

ל וַיִּטְעַם יֵשׁוּעַ מִן־הַחֹמֶץ וַיֹּאמֶר נִשְׁלָם וַיֵּט אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ וַיַּפְקֵד אֶת־רוּחוֹ׃

Directly translated could read: “Yahshua tasted the vinegar and said peace has been granted and he bowed his head and so his spirit did a full accounting (“vayifked” from the root “pakad”)

In the Greek translation of the above verse the word “Tetelestai” is used for “it is accomplished”. This was an accounting term used in those days when an outstanding account was fully paid.

“Pekudei” is a “pual” verb. This is the passive form of the active “piel.” The implication is that this is an intense passive verb form indicating that some intense action was taken on our behalf to make sure our debt was fully paid for by someone beside ourselves.

So we too will have to give an account of our lives before the Messiah.

Rom 14:10  But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah.

1Co 3:13  each one’s work shall be revealed, for the day shall show it up, because it is revealed by fire. And the fire shall prove the work of each one, what sort it is. 

1Co 3:14  If anyone’s work remains, which he has built on, he shall receive a reward. 

1Co 3:15  If anyone’s work is burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, but so as through fire. 

1Co 3:16  Do you not know that you are a Dwelling Place of Elohim and that the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you? 

1Co 3:17  If anyone destroys the Dwelling Place of Elohim, Elohim shall destroy him. For the Dwelling Place of Elohim is set-apart, which you are. 

1Co 3:18  Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become foolish, so that he might become wise. 

Exo 38:22  And Betsal’ĕl son of Uri, son of Ḥur, of the tribe of Yehuḏah, made all that יהוה had commanded Mosheh.

Exo 38:23  And with him: Oholiaḇ son of Aḥisamaḵ, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet material, and in fine linen.

Exo 38:24  All the gold prepared for the work, in all the work of the set-apart place – and it was the gold of the wave offering – came to be twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty sheqels, according to the sheqel of the set-apart place.

Exo 38:25  And the silver from the ones counted of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five sheqels, according to the sheqel of the set-apart place:

Exo 38:26  a beqa, half a sheqel for a head, according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, for everyone passing over to those counted, from twenty years old and above, for six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men.

Exo 38:27  And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the set-apart place and the bases of the veil: one hundred sockets from the hundred talents, a talent for each socket.

Exo 38:28  And of the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five sheqels he made hooks for the columns, and overlaid their tops, and made bands for them.

Exo 38:29  And the bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred sheqels.

Exo 38:30  And with it he made the sockets for the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the bronze altar, and the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils for the altar,

Exo 38:31  and the sockets for the courtyard all around, and the bases for the courtyard gate, and all the pegs for the Dwelling Place, and all the pegs for the courtyard all around.

The number 1175 is the gematria of all the Hebrew letters combined. Yahshua is referred to as the Aleph Tav – the beginning and the end. He is also the sum total of all of YHVH’s redemptive work and is therefore not only the beginning and the end but everything in between as well.

Summary of material used and cost of tabernacle:

29 Talents 730 Shekels of Gold
100 Talents 1,775 Shekels of Silver
70 Talents 2,400 Shekels of Brass (which most scholars believe to be copper)

1 Talent = 75.40 pounds
1 Shekel = 0.025 pounds

2204.85 Pounds of Gold
7584.38 Pounds of Silver
5338.00 Pounds of Copper

We use pounds instead of kilograms because gold is valued on the international market in ounces. There are 16 ounces per pound.

Gold $ 1900/oz
Silver $29.80/oz
Copper  $0.28/oz

35,276.73 Ounces of Gold X $1900.00 = $67 025 787.00
3,594,982.60 Ounces of Silver X $29.80 = $3,594,982.60
90,445.90 Ounces of Copper X $0.28 = $25,324.85

Total = $ 70 646 094.45

This does not include the rest of the material used on the tabernacle – which could be estimated at an additional $4.5 million – total approx. $75 million

In South African terms times this by 18 to get a rand value. It is about 1,350 billion rand.

Let’s compare this to the treasures captured in  Nineveh Bablyon:

(Note: Thus, to mention only one or two examples, the images in the temple of Belus, at Babylon, consisted of several thousand talents of gold, to say nothing of the golden tables, the bedsteads, and other articles of gold and silver (Diod. Sic. 2, 9; Herod. 1, 181, 183). In the siege of Nineveh, Sardanapalus erected a funeral pile, upon which he collected all his wealth, including 150 golden bedsteads, 150 golden tables, a million talents of gold, and ten times as much silver and other valuables, to prevent their falling into the hands of the foe (Ctesias in Athen. 12, 28, p. 529). According to a statement in Pliny's Hist. Nat. 33, 3, on the conquest of Asia by Cyrus, he carried off booty to the extent of 34,000 lbs. of gold, beside the golden vessels and 500,000 talents of silver, including the goblet of Semiramis, which alone weighed 15 talents. Alexander the Great found more than 40,000 talents of gold and silver and 9000 talents of coined gold in the royal treasury at Susa (Diod. Sic. 17, 66), and a treasure of 120,000 talents of gold in the citadel of Persepolis (Diod. Sic. 17, 71; Curtius, v. 6, 9). For further accounts of the enormous wealth of Asia in gold and silver, see Bhr, Symbolik i. pp. 258ff.) – Wiki.

The tabernacle used 29 talents of gold - in the above record we have one million talents of gold!

The tabernacle used 100 talents of silver -  in the above record we have 500 000 talents of silver!

What can we deduce from such a comparison?

The idolatry of Babylon knows no bounds to the extent its leaders will go to, to gather astronomical amounts of wealth.  Revelation 18 tells us what happens to this spirit of Babylon in the last days.

The values of a talent wikipedia

A talent (Ancient Greek τάλαντον, talanton ‘scale’ and ‘balance’) was a unit of weight of approximately 80 pounds (36 kg), and when used as a unit of money, was valued for that weight of silver.[12] As a unit of currency, a talent was worth about 6,000 denarii.[1] Since a denarius was the usual payment for a day's labour,[1] the value of a talent was about twenty years of labour, by an ordinary person.[13]By contemporary standards (ca. AD 2009) at the rate of the US minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the value of a talent would be approximately $300,000 over 20 years, while, at the median yearly wage of $26,363, a talent would be valued at about $500,000.

It can be compared to the spirit of Esav and Ya akov.

Oba 1:6  “How Ěsaw shall be searched out! His hidden treasures shall be sought out!

Oba 1:10  “Because of your violence against your brother Yaʽaqoḇ, let shame cover you. And you shall be cut off forever.

Mat 25:13  “Watch therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Aḏam is coming,

Mat 25:14  for it is like a man going from home, who called his own servants and delivered his possessions to them.

Mat 25:15  “And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and went from home.

Mat 25:16  “And he who had received the five talents went and worked with them, and made another five talents.

Mat 25:17  “In the same way, he with the two also, he gained two more.

Mat 25:18  “But he who had received the one went away and dug in the ground, and hid the silver of his master.

Mat 25:19  “And after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

Mat 25:20  “And he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents. See, I have gained five more talents besides them.’

Mat 25:21  “And his master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy servant. You were trustworthy over a little, I shall set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Mat 25:22  “Then he who had received two talents came and said, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents. See, I have gained two more talents besides them.’

Mat 25:23  “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy servant. You were trustworthy over a little, I shall set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Mat 25:24  “And the one who had received the one talent also came and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed,

Mat 25:25  and being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

Mat 25:26  “And his master answering, said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.

Mat 25:27  ‘Then you should have put my silver with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

Mat 25:28  ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to him who possesses ten talents.

Mat 25:29  ‘For to everyone who possesses, more shall be given, and he shall have overflowingly; but from him who does not possess, even what he possesses shall be taken away.¹ Footnote:¹See Lk. 8:18.

Mat 25:30  ‘And throw the worthless servant out into the outer darkness – there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Mat 25:31  “And when the Son of Aḏam comes in His esteem, and all the set-apart messengers with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His esteem.

Mat 25:32  “And all the nations shall be gathered before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats.

Mat 25:33  “And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Mat 25:34  “Then the Sovereign shall say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the reign prepared for you from the foundation of the world –

Mat 25:35  for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,

Mat 25:36  was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Mat 25:37  “Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, ‘Master, when did we see You hungry and we fed You, or thirsty and gave You to drink?

Mat 25:38  ‘And when did we see You a stranger and took You in, or naked and clothed You?

Mat 25:39  ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and we came to You?’

Mat 25:40  “And the Sovereign shall answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in so far as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.’

Mat 25:41  “He shall then also say to those on the left hand, ‘Go away from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his messengers –

Mat 25:42  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink,

Mat 25:43  ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, was naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

Mat 25:44  “Then they also shall answer Him, saying, ‘Master, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not serve You?’

Mat 25:45  “Then He shall answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

Mat 25:46  “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.”

2Pe 1:2  Favour and peace be increased to you in the knowledge of Elohim and of יהושע our Master,

2Pe 1:3  as His Mighty-like power has given to us all we need for life and reverence, through the knowledge of Him who called us to esteem and uprightness.

2Pe 1:4  Through these there have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the Mighty-like nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world, caused by lust.

2Pe 1:5  And for this reason do your utmost to add to your belief uprightness, to uprightness knowledge,

2Pe 1:6  to knowledge self-control, to self-control endurance, to endurance reverence,

2Pe 1:7  to reverence brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love.

2Pe 1:8  For if these are in you and increase, they cause you to be neither inactive nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Master יהושע Messiah.

2Pe 1:9  For he in whom these are not present is blind, being shortsighted, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins.

2Pe 1:10  For this reason, brothers, all the more do your utmost to make firm your calling and choosing,¹ for if you are doing these matters you shall never stumble at all, Footnote: ¹Mt. 20:16, Mt. 22:14, Rev. 17:14.

2Pe 1:11  for in this way an entrance into the everlasting reign of our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah shall be richly supplied to you.

Luk 16:8  “And the master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly, because the sons of this age are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

Luk 16:9  “And would I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they shall receive you into everlasting dwellings?

Luk 16:10  “He who is trustworthy in what is least, is trustworthy also in much. And he who is unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much.

Luk 16:11  “If, therefore, you have not been trustworthy in the unrighteous mammon, who shall entrust to you the true?

Luk 16:12  “And if you have not been trustworthy in what is another man’s, who shall give you what is your own?

He restores the years the locusts have eaten, the years we have been robbed of spiritual insight that has resulted in lasting genuine increase in our lives and in the lives of others. If we will repent and return to YHVH He is able to bring great increase over a short period of time.

Rom 12:1  I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship. 

Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim. 

Gifts of Favour/Grace

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the favour which has been given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he should think, but to think soberly, as Elohim has given to each a measure of belief. 

Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function, 

Rom 12:5  so we, the many, are one body in Messiah, and members each one of one another. 

Rom 12:6  Now having different gifts, according to the favour which was given to us, let us use them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of belief; 

Rom 12:7  if serving, in the serving; or he who is teaching, in the teaching; 

Rom 12:8  or he who encourages, in the encouragement; or he who is sharing, in sincerity; he who is leading, in diligence; he who shows compassion, joyously. 

Marks of the True Believer in the Elohim of Yisrael and in His Anointed One, Yahshua

Rom 12:9  Let love be without hypocrisy. Shrink from what is wicked, cling to what is good. 

Rom 12:10  In brotherly love, tenderly loving towards one another, in appreciation, giving preference to each other; 

Rom 12:11  not idle in duty, ardent in spirit, serving the Master; 

Rom 12:12  rejoicing in the expectancy, enduring under pressure, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 

Rom 12:13  imparting to the needs of the set-apart ones, pursuing kindness towards strangers. 

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.)