Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVHEloheinu 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.)
Why would YHVH give instructions concerning a census while amid giving
instructions about the construction of the set apart articles for the
Tabernacle?
Initially these census instructions may seem out of place. However,
counting of the men 20 years and over was including them to take responsibility
to establish and keep order in the affairs of the nation.
‘’Pirket Avot 5:21 He used to say: At five years of age the study of
Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the
commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At
twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty
wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of
years; At eighty the age of “strength”; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as
good as dead and gone completely out of the world.’’
Exo 30:11 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Exo 30:12 “When
you take the census of the children of Yisra’ĕl, to register them, then each
one shall give an atonement for his life to יהוה, when you
register them, so that there is no plague among them when you register them.
יב כִּי תִשָּׂא אֶת-רֹאשׁ
בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם, וְנָתְנוּ אִישׁ כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ לַיהוָה,
בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם; וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה בָהֶם נֶגֶף, בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם.
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12 'When you (sing) will lift up the
head of bnei Yisrael to cause them to
be called to account they cause a man to be given a covering atonement for
his soul unto YHVH, to be counted; and not to be for them a fatal plague-.
for a sheltering covering is with them.
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“Census”- pâqad
- BDB Definition
1d) (Pual) to be passed in review, be
caused to miss, be called, be called to account
1c) (Piel) to muster, call up.
If we directly translate the Hebrew of these verses it
sounds completely different.
“ki tisa et
rosh benei Yisrael” or “when you will lift up the head of the sons of Israel…”
This has
been translated “when you take a census of the children of Israel”
Note the
use of the word “rosh” or “head” it is written in the singular. Note also the
use of the words “ki tisa” can also be translated “because you will lift up”…
The
translators most probably had trouble in trying to understand what the text was
saying. It is possible that this scripture is trying to tell us the following:
“Because a time is coming when you will lift up the son of man who is the
head of Israel” in him all those who are redeemed will be counted”
Exo 30:13
“Everyone among those who are registered is to give this: half a sheqel
according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, twenty gĕrahs being a sheqel.
The half-sheqel is the contribution to יהוה.
“Half” implies that two parties
need to co- operate to make a whole.
Exo 30:14 “Everyone
passing over to be registered, from twenty years old and above, gives a
contribution to יהוה.
Exo 30:15 “The
rich does not give more and the poor does not give less than half a sheqel,
when you give a contribution to יהוה, to make
atonement for yourselves.
Exo 30:16 “And you
shall take the silver for the atonement from the children of Yisra’ĕl, and give
it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. And it shall be to the children of
Yisra’ĕl for a remembrance before יהוה, to make
atonement for yourselves.”
Shemot 38:25-26 tells us that the silver collected was
equivalent to 100 talents of silver and 1775 shekels – and was used for the
foundation sockets of the tabernacle. Silver symbolizes redemption and the
total gematria of the Hebrew alphabet is 1775 – if you include the “sofiet”
letters – kaph, nun and tzaddi. -
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 Appointment, and the bronze slaughter-place, and the
bronze grating for it, and all the utensils for the slaughter-place,
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 first time the word
‘’behah’’ appears is in Gen 24:22 – Importance of the law of first appearances.
Gen 24:22 And it came to be, when the camels
had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a
sheqel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten sheqels of gold,
Exo 30:17 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Exo 30:18 “And you
shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand also of bronze, for washing. And
you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water
in it.
Exo 30:19 “And
Aharon and his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet.
Exo 30:20 “When
they go into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to attend,
to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה, they wash
with water, lest they die.
Exo 30:21 “And
they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a
law forever to them, to him and his seed throughout their generations.”
Exo 30:22 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Exo 30:23 “And
take for yourself choice spices, five hundred sheqels of liquid myrrh,
and half as much – two hundred and fifty – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, and two
hundred and fifty of sweet-smelling cane,
Exo 30:24 and five
hundred of cassia, according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, and a hin of
olive oil.
Exo 30:25 “And you
shall make from these a set-apart anointing oil, a compound, blended, the work
of a perfumer. It is a set-apart anointing oil.
Exo 30:26 “And
with it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Witness,
Exo 30:27 and the
table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar
of incense,
Exo 30:28 and the
altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand.
Exo 30:29 “And you
shall set them apart, and they shall be most set-apart. Whatever touches them
is to be set-apart.
Exo 30:30 “And you
shall anoint Aharon and his sons, and set them apart, to serve as priests to
Me.
Exo 30:31 “And
speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘This is a set-apart anointing oil
to Me throughout your generations.
Exo 30:32 ‘It
shall not be poured on the flesh of a man, and make no other like it, according
to its composition. It is set-apart, it is set-apart to you.
Exo 30:33 ‘Whoever
compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, shall be
cut off from his people.’ ”
Exo 30:34 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Take sweet spices,
fragrant gum and cinnamon and galbanam, and clear frankincense with these sweet
spices, all in equal amounts.
Exo 30:35 “Then
you shall make of these an incense, a compound, work of a perfumer, salted,
clean, set-apart.
Exo 30:36 “And you
shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Witness in the
Tent of Meeting where I meet with you, it is most set-apart to you.
Exo 30:37 “And the
incense which you make, do not make any for yourselves, according to its
composition, it is set-apart to you for יהוה.
Exo 30:38 “Whoever
makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.”
Incense symbolizes the life of Yahshua.
2Co 2:14 But thanks be to Elohim who always leads us
on, to overcome in Messiah, and manifests through us the fragrance of His
knowledge in every place.
2Co 2:15 Because we are to Elohim the fragrance of
Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the smell of death to
death, and to the other the fragrance of life to life. And who is competent for
these?
Mat 17:24 And when they came into Kephar Naḥum,
those who received the tax came to Kěpha and said, “Does your Teacher not pay
the tax?” temple tax)
Mat 17:25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came
into the house, יהושע spoke to
him first, saying, “What do you think, Shim‛on? From whom do the sovereigns of
the earth take toll or tax, from their own sons or from the strangers?”
Mat 17:26 Kěpha then said to Him,
“From the strangers.” יהושע said to
him, “Then the sons are exempt.
Mat 17:27 “But, lest we cause them to
stumble, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.
And when you have opened its mouth, you shall find a stater.c Take that and
give it to them for Me and you.” Footnote: cA coin.
This is a strange
miracle and a hard to understand story. Was Yahshua maybe referring to the fact
that the foundation of his redemption had already been made – the first census?
The sons build on this foundation but the strangers don’t.
1Co 3:11 For no one is able to lay any other
foundation except that which is laid, which is יהושע
Messiah.
1Co 3:12 And if anyone builds on this
foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
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.
It appears that this
first Tent of Meeting was hidden while the two temples were destroyed.
2 Maccabees
2 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
Jeremiah Hides the
Tent, Ark, and Altar
2 One
finds in the records that Jeremiah the prophet ordered those who were being
deported to take some of the fire, as has been told, 2 and
that the prophet after giving them the law instructed those who were being
deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord, nor to be led astray in
their thoughts upon seeing the gold and silver statues and their
adornment. 3 And with other similar words he
exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts.
4 It
was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered
that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the
mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. 5 And
Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and
the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. 6 Some
of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. 7 When
Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: “The place shall be
unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. 8 And
then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the
cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon
asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”
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.)