- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Mar 31, 2023 14:03:53 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Exodus 31:1-32:14
Haftara- Ezekiel 20:1–20
D’rash: The importance of the Sabbath is attested to “in the beginning” when it became the first thing YHVH Elohim, the Lord Your God (Gen 27:20) pronounces קָדַשׁ qadosh- holy, set apart:
- Genesis 2:3 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.
It is a commemoration of creation, wrought entirely by the hand of YHVH-Hose’enu, God Our Creator (Ps 95:6).
Keeping of the Sabbath is one of (if not the) most important things meant to mark true believers as belonging to God. We are in a covenant relationship with Him. Christians worship on Sunday, saying it is the day [The] Christ arose. But they get this wrong on two counts: 1) scripture never changes the day, nor does it give any man the authority to do so, and 2) since they use the Gregorian calendar in which the day starts at midnight, but God’s people use His calendar in which the day starts and ends at sundown; the hours between sundown and “midnight” are where Yeshua was resurrected! This is “the 1st day” in Judaism, and it starts well before “Sunday.”
Islam worships on Friday (Jumu’ah) mostly because Muhammad said it is the will of the false god Allah. So the two major competing religions outside of Judaism claiming to worship the God of the Bible changed by one day their day of worship. It would seem even the church fathers and the (false) prophet understood the importance of this day to God and His people as well as the necessity to change it to establish their own religions!
Christian commentators and pastors often say the Sabbath commandment is the only one not repeated in the so called “‘New’ Testament.” However it is mentioned at least 60 times in the “Renewed Covenant,” the term always referring to the weekly Shabbat with only one exception:
Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Here the apostle was of course referring to the Feasts of the Lord (moedim) which are also shabbatot and which include Shabbat.
Exodus 31:13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.
אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖ et’shabbatot- my sabbaths
תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ t’shamro- you shall keep, guard; protect, attend to, ; beware, be circumspect, take heed, mark, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, wait (for), watch
אוֹת ‘ôth- a signal, a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence; mark, sign
אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה ani YHVH- I The Lord
מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם m’qadashchim- make, (pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): appoint, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, holy, proclaim, purify, sanctify, set apart
This is a pretty strong statement by The Almighty concerning His Shabbat! We are to set apart the seventh day Shabbat wholly unto Him. And the biblical day goes from evening to evening:
- Bereshis 1:5 (OJB) And Elohim called the light Yom (Day), and the darkness He called Lailah (Night). And the erev (evening) and the boker (morning) were Yom Echad (Day One, the First Day).
So from evening to the next hours of daylight constitutes one day- evening to evening, as the next evening starts the next day. Meshiachim almost universally celebrate Shabbat as Friday sundown to Saturday sundown on the Gregorian calendar.
The importance of this observance is reinforced in the next verses:
- Exodus 31:14-15 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.
The rabbonim concluded the proscription here is against any unnecessary work. The priests later would work on Shabbat. Food, while prepared the day before still had to be served on Shabbat. Livestock had to be cared for and other chores attended if they could not be done any other time. Help for a needy neighbor was also allowed. But the idea is there should be no creative work done on Shabbat. This is a day to reflect on the ongoing creative work of God. In fact, the word “work” here is not עֲבוֹדָה avodah, the usual term for work such as would be done for one’s profession. Instead the text uses מְלָאכָה melâ’châh, which generally refers to those types of work forbidden on Shabbat. Chabad says this about it:
“Melachah has a very precise halachic meaning. On Shabbat, melachah is prohibited. Our Sages explain that melachah refers to the activities which were necessary for construction of the Mishkan, … Torah specifically mentions two melachot, kindling a fire and carrying. The Mishnah further explains that 39 different categories of melachah went into building the Mishkan. While these categories of labor refer to the construction of the Mishkan, they actually encompass all forms of human productivity. These melachot are not a haphazard collection of activities, and do not necessarily represent physical exertion. Rather, the principle behind them is that they represent constructive, creative effort, demonstrating man's mastery over nature. Refraining from melachah on Shabbat signals our recognition that, despite our human creative abilities, G‑d is the ultimate Creator and Master.”
How important is the Shabbat? This is inserted here with the term אַ֥ךְ ach, nevertheless as instructions are being given for work on the Mishkan. Even all work on God’s house of worship was to stop on Shabbat.
Exodus 31:16-17 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
עוֹלָם ‛ôlâm- time out of mind, eternity; eternal, forever, everlasting, perpetual, world without end
Elohei Olam, Everlasting God (Is 40:28) never placed a limit on this observance. He never said “until I come and say it is ok to pick your own day.” No, He said we are to observe His Shabbat forever!
Exodus 31:18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
“Written with the finger of God.” How dare man think to change it! But of course man takes it upon himself to change even God Himself:
"God created man in His own image, and man, being a gentlemen, returned the compliment." Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.
Or as Voltaire put it “"In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since."
If we can change God, why not change His appointed times as well?
Speaking of changing Elohei Olam, Everlasting God (Is 40:28), in this parashah we have the incident of the Golden Calf. I’m not going to dwell much on that, as it has been done many times. I just want to reiterate what I’ve said many times, but bears repeating:
Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
The people did not know what had become of Moshe since he’d been on the mountain 40 days. He was their connection with their Deity. Thinking they had lost Moshe, they reverted to what they had known in Mitzrayim and made an idol; a golden clad calf. They did not think this was actually their God, as idols in paganism were meant to be a representation of their gods and thus a conduit to that deity. They then disobeyed:
Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Acts 17:29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Green’s Interlinear Bible; D Prager; Chabad website; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Ex 32:15-34:26
Haftara- 2Sa 22:10-51
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Exodus 31:1-32:14
Haftara- Ezekiel 20:1–20
D’rash: The importance of the Sabbath is attested to “in the beginning” when it became the first thing YHVH Elohim, the Lord Your God (Gen 27:20) pronounces קָדַשׁ qadosh- holy, set apart:
- Genesis 2:3 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.
It is a commemoration of creation, wrought entirely by the hand of YHVH-Hose’enu, God Our Creator (Ps 95:6).
Keeping of the Sabbath is one of (if not the) most important things meant to mark true believers as belonging to God. We are in a covenant relationship with Him. Christians worship on Sunday, saying it is the day [The] Christ arose. But they get this wrong on two counts: 1) scripture never changes the day, nor does it give any man the authority to do so, and 2) since they use the Gregorian calendar in which the day starts at midnight, but God’s people use His calendar in which the day starts and ends at sundown; the hours between sundown and “midnight” are where Yeshua was resurrected! This is “the 1st day” in Judaism, and it starts well before “Sunday.”
Islam worships on Friday (Jumu’ah) mostly because Muhammad said it is the will of the false god Allah. So the two major competing religions outside of Judaism claiming to worship the God of the Bible changed by one day their day of worship. It would seem even the church fathers and the (false) prophet understood the importance of this day to God and His people as well as the necessity to change it to establish their own religions!
Christian commentators and pastors often say the Sabbath commandment is the only one not repeated in the so called “‘New’ Testament.” However it is mentioned at least 60 times in the “Renewed Covenant,” the term always referring to the weekly Shabbat with only one exception:
Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Here the apostle was of course referring to the Feasts of the Lord (moedim) which are also shabbatot and which include Shabbat.
Exodus 31:13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.
וְאַתָּ֞ה דַּבֵּ֨ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אַ֥ךְ אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖י תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ כִּי֩ א֨וֹת הִ֜וא בֵּינִ֤י וּבֵֽינֵיכֶם֙ לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם לָדַ֕עַת כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם׃
אַ֥ךְ ach- variously translated ‘shomer (faithful), verily, nevertheless, above all’אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖ et’shabbatot- my sabbaths
תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ t’shamro- you shall keep, guard; protect, attend to, ; beware, be circumspect, take heed, mark, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, wait (for), watch
אוֹת ‘ôth- a signal, a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence; mark, sign
אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה ani YHVH- I The Lord
מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם m’qadashchim- make, (pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): appoint, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, holy, proclaim, purify, sanctify, set apart
This is a pretty strong statement by The Almighty concerning His Shabbat! We are to set apart the seventh day Shabbat wholly unto Him. And the biblical day goes from evening to evening:
- Bereshis 1:5 (OJB) And Elohim called the light Yom (Day), and the darkness He called Lailah (Night). And the erev (evening) and the boker (morning) were Yom Echad (Day One, the First Day).
So from evening to the next hours of daylight constitutes one day- evening to evening, as the next evening starts the next day. Meshiachim almost universally celebrate Shabbat as Friday sundown to Saturday sundown on the Gregorian calendar.
The importance of this observance is reinforced in the next verses:
- Exodus 31:14-15 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.
The rabbonim concluded the proscription here is against any unnecessary work. The priests later would work on Shabbat. Food, while prepared the day before still had to be served on Shabbat. Livestock had to be cared for and other chores attended if they could not be done any other time. Help for a needy neighbor was also allowed. But the idea is there should be no creative work done on Shabbat. This is a day to reflect on the ongoing creative work of God. In fact, the word “work” here is not עֲבוֹדָה avodah, the usual term for work such as would be done for one’s profession. Instead the text uses מְלָאכָה melâ’châh, which generally refers to those types of work forbidden on Shabbat. Chabad says this about it:
“Melachah has a very precise halachic meaning. On Shabbat, melachah is prohibited. Our Sages explain that melachah refers to the activities which were necessary for construction of the Mishkan, … Torah specifically mentions two melachot, kindling a fire and carrying. The Mishnah further explains that 39 different categories of melachah went into building the Mishkan. While these categories of labor refer to the construction of the Mishkan, they actually encompass all forms of human productivity. These melachot are not a haphazard collection of activities, and do not necessarily represent physical exertion. Rather, the principle behind them is that they represent constructive, creative effort, demonstrating man's mastery over nature. Refraining from melachah on Shabbat signals our recognition that, despite our human creative abilities, G‑d is the ultimate Creator and Master.”
How important is the Shabbat? This is inserted here with the term אַ֥ךְ ach, nevertheless as instructions are being given for work on the Mishkan. Even all work on God’s house of worship was to stop on Shabbat.
Exodus 31:16-17 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
עוֹלָם ‛ôlâm- time out of mind, eternity; eternal, forever, everlasting, perpetual, world without end
Elohei Olam, Everlasting God (Is 40:28) never placed a limit on this observance. He never said “until I come and say it is ok to pick your own day.” No, He said we are to observe His Shabbat forever!
Exodus 31:18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
“Written with the finger of God.” How dare man think to change it! But of course man takes it upon himself to change even God Himself:
"God created man in His own image, and man, being a gentlemen, returned the compliment." Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.
Or as Voltaire put it “"In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since."
If we can change God, why not change His appointed times as well?
Speaking of changing Elohei Olam, Everlasting God (Is 40:28), in this parashah we have the incident of the Golden Calf. I’m not going to dwell much on that, as it has been done many times. I just want to reiterate what I’ve said many times, but bears repeating:
Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
The people did not know what had become of Moshe since he’d been on the mountain 40 days. He was their connection with their Deity. Thinking they had lost Moshe, they reverted to what they had known in Mitzrayim and made an idol; a golden clad calf. They did not think this was actually their God, as idols in paganism were meant to be a representation of their gods and thus a conduit to that deity. They then disobeyed:
Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Acts 17:29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Green’s Interlinear Bible; D Prager; Chabad website; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Ex 32:15-34:26
Haftara- 2Sa 22:10-51
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
