Blessing for the Torah Reading:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(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.)
Yahshua himself will do an accounting of our lives as Moshe did an accounting of the construction of the tabernacle. That’s why we rejoice in the Sabbath and look forward to the millennium because Messiah himself will make sure we all measure up to YHVH’s required measurement of righteousness – Moshiach the goal of the Torah.
We too will stand before Yahshua and give an account of how our lives measured up to Torah the way he and his talmadim taught Torah.
Rom 14:10 … For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah.
Rom 14:12 Each one of us, therefore, shall give account of himself to Elohim.
Why will we give account (pekudei)?
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.
We know that we are saved by favour and we are saved to walk as Messiah walked.
Eph 2:8 For by favour you have been saved, through belief, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim,
Eph 2:9 it is not by works, so that no one should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
The Torah is the operating manual of how we should walk.
Abrahamic faith came before the giving of the Torah. We are saved by faith and our lives as was Messiah’s life is measured by the Torah.
Mat 24:12 “And because of the increase in lawlessness, the love of many shall become cold.
Mat 24:13 “But he who shall have endured to the end shall be saved.1 Footnote:1See 10:22.
Mat 10:22 “And you shall be hated by all for My Name’s sake. But he who shall have endured to the end shall be saved.1 Footnote: 1See 24:13.
We are reminded once again that only those servants of YHVH who are under His continual authority and His continual scrutiny will be able to accomplish the goal (telos) of the high calling of YHVH in Yahshua.
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal(note it is not yet achieved) for the prize of the high calling of Elohim in Messiah יהושע.
Php 3:15 As many, then, as are perfect,(mature) should have this mind. And if you think differently in any respect, Elohim shall also reveal this to you.
This Torah portion points clearly to our Messiah who fulfilled all the requirements necessary for our complete redemption. The extreme danger of modern religion is that we have added and taken away from what YHVH has established and determined as perfect for our redemption. We also like to impress ourselves that his work is finished in us and we like him have also reached our goal. This is called spiritual projection. An accounting has been made of all His ways and when we find fault or choose to disregard any of His instructions or commandments, we find ourselves on dangerous ground.
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. 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 a finished work.
“Parash’ot T’rumah, Tetzaveh, and Ki Tissa signifies the instructions (as can be observed by the fact that the verb tenses are in the future), whereas the latter two portions Vayekel and Pekudei are in the past tense, signifying the work that was completed according to instructions. “ Sages.
If we look to Messiah the goal of the Torah (Rom 10:4) we come to the conclusion that this work of establishing a presence (Mishkan) for the presence of YHVH has been “eternally secured” and paid for (pakad) by the price Messiah paid when he gave his life on an execution stake.
This same root word “pakad” appears in the Hebrew translation of 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.
What does all this mean? We are not to add or to take away from the complete work of our redemption as secured by YHVH and revealed to us in His Torah and other supporting writings.
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 $ 1382.96/oz
Silver $29.80/oz
Copper $0.28/oz
35,276.73 Ounces of Gold X $1382.96 = $48,786,306.52
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 = $52,406,613.97
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. $57 billion.
I
n South African terms times this by 10 to get a rand value.
It is about 570 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.
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 Ya’aqoḇ, let shame cover you. And you shall be cut off forever.
We are not defined by our multi million dollar church buildings and Christian Television stations. We are defined by the Torah. Our lives are not measured by how many souls we have led to Yahshua or big our congregations are – there is only one measurement of our lives and that is Yahshua the goal of the Torah.
Note how Moshe describes a people who belong to YHVH.
Deu 4:5 “See, I have taught you laws and right-rulings, as יהוה my Elohim commanded me, to do thus in the land which you go to possess.
Deu 4:6 “And you shall guard and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these laws, and they shall say, ‘Only a wise and understanding people is this great nation!’
Deu 4:7 “For what great nation is there which has Elohim so near to it, as יהוה our Elohim is to us, whenever we call on Him?
Deu 4:8 “And what great nation is there that has such laws and righteous right-rulings like all this Torah which I set before you this day?
Deu 4:9 “Only, guard yourself, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget the Words your eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children and your grandchildren.
Our Torah portion begins:
Exo 38:21 These were the appointments (pekudei) of the Dwelling Place, the Dwelling Place of the Witness, which was appointed (pukad) by the command of Mosheh, for the service of the Lĕwites, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aharon the priest.
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.
Joh 7:38 He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
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 – Ameyn
