23. Par'shah P'kudei, Counting

[alon]

This week we have a double-header; two par'shot are read:

Date of reading- March 10 2018/23 Adar 5778

Name of Par’shah- P’kudei, Counting

Par’shah- Ex 38:21 – 40:38

Haftara- 1 Kings 7:51-8:21

Brit Chadashah- Rev 15:5-8

D’rash: This is a tough one. As I read and reread the readings here I wondered if I could ever find a common thread. They seemed so different. However I persisted, and the few commonalities I found are nonetheless significant. We start with gathering materials to build the Mishkan. But at the same time there is a census taken of men of fighting age:

Exodus 38:26 (ESV) a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men.

Numbers 1:1-2a, 46 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,  “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, … all those listed were 603,550.

The census seems to have been commanded and taken later. Perhaps the census confirmed an honest tally of beka’s. It also gave the number of men of fighting age by tribe. So at the same time as the Mishkan is built we see YHWH-Sabaoth, the Lord of Armies/Lord of Hosts (1 Samuel 1:3) preparing for battle. And indeed, the Israelites would move as a cohesive army for forty years before entering HaEretz.

In Exodus 39 the dominant, recurring theme, stated seven times is that each item was made exactly as HaShem had commanded it. This harks back to the seven times in Gen ch. 1 when it was stated “and there it was so.” Everything is done to the specifications given to Moshe on Mt. Sinai in the minutest detail. Just as in the creation of the world.

Exodus 39:32a, 43 (ESV) Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished, …  And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.

Just as Elohim ended His work and blessed the Shabbath when He had seen His creation was good, so Moshe after inspecting the Mishkan and seeing it was done precisely as instructed blessed the end of their labors.

Genesis 1:31; 2:2-3 (ESV) And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. … And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 40:34-35 (ESV) Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

In our haftara we see the same thing happen when Shlomo dedicated the Temple:

1 Kings 7:10-11 (ESV) And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

And now in our B’rith Chadashah portion we see Elohim as Shofet, Judge (Psalm 75:7) come out and direct His avenging malachim as they apply His judgement:

Revelation 15:5-8 (ESV) After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

According to Strong’s (G4633) as well as Thayer’s Greek Lexicon the term “tent of witness” comes from the Greek word skene, which can mean tent. It’s derivative skenoo means to dwell in tents; and also can mean the dwelling place of the redeemed.

Since the partition separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was a heavy fabric, the word skene (often rendered tabernacle) could refer to this partition. Verse 8 seems to be describing the shekinah, which would support this interpretation. And indeed, Revelation 16 seems to be a picture of Eloah, The Mighty One (Nehemiah 9:17) coming out to command His host in judging the earth.

And so we come full circle, from creation where Adonai dwelled with man on the earth, to the Mishkan and later the Temple where He dwelt with the Hebrews, to His leaving the heavenly Temple to pass judgement on the earth.

Daniel Alon Caan

Mekorot: JPS Study TNK, DH Stern, Rav S, my father and others

[Elizabeth]

The kids and I came to similar themes today in our study as well! So it is reassuring me to know G-d is with me as I teach them. We talked about how G-d created the entire earth just to be with us; how unfair it is to Him that now we almost have to "hedge" Him in here because the earth is so unholy He can't abide it; and how much we have to be grateful for Israel who obeyed and invited Him to exist with us by preparing a holy place and a way for Him to be with us here.

It kind of spoke to my heart to realize that, although it is the other extreme, for our sake G-d is allowing Himself  to be hedged in. I feel very hedged in, and I know  we all do. G-d has allowed Himself to be hedged in, but unlike us who are suffering the consequences of unholiness, it is because He is holy. It just encouraged me to accept my dissatisfaction in this life and wait for what He sees coming. It humbled me a bit because of how much it says about Him.

Yeshua is where we dwell with G-d regardless of our situations and circumstances. He hedged Himself into a physical body and a tomb some 2,000 years ago, and even now He does the same as He abides in us. Meanwhile, I am desperate to find a place to just praise Him and rejoice over Him. Thats easier to accept when I realized that just speaks to His uncontainable Spirit within me, as well as His true identity because that has been Israel's desire all along.

I don't know how to say it, because the message you gave picked up on what we were talking about today, and from there it goes on and on until finally we are back where we started.  But this time we will worship G-d. That's the difference I think. We won't just be with Him; we will praise Him in joy and love G-d in a way we simply didn't know how to in the beginning. It's overwhelming how much He accomplished so I ramble. 

He is going somewhere with all of this and it's beautiful how much He will have changed us in perfecting us just to bring us back where we started from for when He returns.  It's even more beautiful that we will see that He hasn't changed, and yet this time we will love him wholly as our G-d.

Now, consider  hasatsn's strategy that caused our fall, the quest for wisdom.  How perfectly the tables will turn as it will be the wisdom we acquired in the fall that helps us gladly accept our place and truly love G-d, knowing more about Who He is. It's been about revelation of G-d to humankind from the beginning and hasatan has walked right into the trap he himself made.  If people don't know or haven't noticed, I often come back to G-d's question, "where are you?". How many faithful answerd, "Here I am."?  I love that, and meanwhile, here we are. We aren't hiding from Him thanks be to Yeshua who won't lose a one. On the contrary, this life is our chance to glorify G-d by being the pursuer and seeking Him.  In the process He is just blessing us in spite of our circumstances. And in the end we won't just be with Him in perfection, we will worship Him in perfection absolutely loving that He is our G-d. I just love how G-d does things, and I love that we have a chance to pursue Him so hasatan sees how much we know He is worth.