Parashat 21 Portion 69 Shemot 31:1-32:14 Ez 20:1-17 Col 3:1-5

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.)

Col 3:1  If, then, you were raised (spiritually made alive with the real Yahshua ) with Messiah, seek the matters which are above, where Messiah is, seated at the right hand of Elohim.

Col 3:2  Mind the matters above, not those on the earth.

There is a pattern in heaven that needs to be reproduced on earth – Mat 6:10 -   let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Col 3:3  For you have died, and your life has been hidden(Gk – krupto – English – cryptic) with Messiah in Elohim.

Hidden –Cryptic - deliberately mysterious and seeming to have a hidden meaning – Encarta dictionary. This aptly describes those who have chosen to walk in the footsteps of Messiah.

Col 3:4  When(conjunction – whenever) the Messiah, who is our life, is manifested,(aorist passive 3person singular verb) then you also shall be manifested(future passive verb) with Him in esteem.

Col 3:5  Therefore put to death(aorist active verb) your members which are on the earth: whoring, uncleanness, passion,(inordinate affection) evil desire and greed of gain, which is idolatry.

Parashat 21 Portion 68 – Ki Tisa - Shemot 30:11-38 2Kings 12:1-16 2Cor 9:6-11

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.)

There is a view amongst some of the sages and rabbis that this Torah portion will be best understood in the latter days as it pertains to the coming of Messiah and the return of Israel to YHVH.

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.

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.

“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. -

https://noahsage.com/2012/10/02/a-little-mystery-hidden-in-the-hebrew-alphabet/ 

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. 

Parashat 20 Portion 67 Shemot 30:1-11 Mal 1:11 –2:7 & Rev 8:1-5

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.)

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.”

It appears that after the seven-day (29:35) ordination of priests and dedication of the bronze altar that the ministry of the priests could begin. The High priest could now enter into the set apart place and bring incense to burn on the ‘’golden altar of incense’’  Some believe that fire from the bronze altar was used for this purpose. This could explain why Adav and Abihu were killed as they offered  ‘’strange’’ fire on the golden altar of incense. Strange incense – Heb. ‘’kitoret zarah’’ – ‘’zarah is a stranger, can also mean ‘’harlot’’ referring to a form of mixed or pagan worship.

During these ‘’seven thousand years’’ the priestly calling will be internalized within a set apart priesthood over and over again until it is fully manifest in this priesthood.

The bride of Messiah is being prepared for these ‘’seven thousand years’’ to stand in the very presence of YHVH to minister to YHVH on behalf of His Set Apart people.

Haftarah and Second writings portion:

Mal 2:1  “And now, O priests,(Heb – Kohanim) this command is for you.

Mal 2:2  “If you do not hear, and if you do not take it to heart, to give esteem to My Name,” said יהוה of hosts, “I shall send a curse upon you, and I shall curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed them, because you do not take it to heart.

Mal 2:3  “See, I shall rebuke your seed, and scatter dung before your faces, the dung of your festivals. And you shall be taken away with it.

Mal 2:4  “And you shall know that I have sent this command to you, as being My covenant with Lĕwi,” said יהוה of hosts.

Mal 2:5  “My covenant with him was life and peace, and I gave them to him, to fear. And he feared Me, and stood in awe of My Name.

Mal 2:6  “The Torah of truth¹ was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and straightness, and turned many away from crookedness. Footnote: ¹Neh. 9:13.

Mal 2:7  “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and they seek the Torah from his mouth, for he is the messenger of יהוה of hosts.

Mal 2:8  “But you, you have turned from the way, you have caused many to stumble in the Torah. You have corrupted the covenant of Lĕwi,” said יהוה of hosts.

Mal 2:9  “And I also, I shall make you despised and low before all the people, because you are not guarding My ways, and are showing partiality in the Torah.”

Rev 8:1  And when He opened the seventh seal, there came to be silence in the heaven for about half an hour.

Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven messengers who stand before Elohim, and to them were given seven trumpets.

Rev 8:3  And another messenger came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the set-apart ones upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense, (Heb – kitoret) with the prayers of the set-apart ones, went up before Elohim from the hand of the messenger.

Rev 8:5  And the messenger took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

This most probably refers to the golden altar in the heavenly tabernacle.

You can find some basic outlines and illustrations of the Tabernacle on the following website:

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Word-of-God-Illustrated-in-the-Menorah

Midrash:

What comes to mind when we read these scriptures?

See again Mal 2:4-9

The end time restoration of all things begins with the restoration of Torah – there is no restoration of Torah unless there is a restoration of the Levitical priesthood and those from the nations called to be part of the Levitical priesthood – Is 66:21-  It is Aaron’s rod that is in the ark of the covenant alongside the Torah and jar of manna, which proved he was given the priesthood by YHVH – Numbers 16&17.

Somehow the whole purpose of our existence is found in our identification and acceptance of the priestly ministry of the Levites and by extension the bride of Messiah.

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. 

See Ex 28:16 – the pouch behind the breastplate which housed the the urim and thummim was about 1 square cubit. (a span is about half a cubit)

Hos 3:1  Then יהוה said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by a friend, and an adulteress, according to the love of יהוה for the children of Yisra’ĕl, though they are turning to other mighty ones and love their raisin cakes.”

Hos 3:2  So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and one and one-half ḥomers of barley.

Hos 3:3  And I said to her, “You are to remain with me many days, you are not to whore, nor become any man’s, and so I shall also be towards you.”

Hos 3:4  For many days the children of Yisra’ĕl are to remain without sovereign and without prince, and without slaughtering, and without pillar, and without shoulder garment or house idols.

Hos 3:5  Afterward the children of Yisra’ĕl shall return, and seek יהוה their Elohim, and Dawiḏ their sovereign, and fear יהוה and His goodness, in the latter days.

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).