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30:11-16
A census of the people was to be taken, but every
male 20 years and above had to pay a quarter of
an ounce of silver to atone for himself. Why?
I think the best explanation is that numbering
the people was dangerous, since we could start
trusting in our numbers, in our own strength,
in our own power and ability, and not trusting
in the Lord. Atonement had to be made.
30:17-21
deals with the Keeyor N’cho-shet - the Bronze
Basin. Priests must be clean to serve the Lord,
especially their hands and feet, which represents
their actions and their life. Are you doing the
right things? Living the right way? Is there dirt
that needs to be washed from you life? Sins you
need to confess, and ask the Lord’s help to turn
away from?
30:22-33
deals with the Special Anointing Oil. It was olive
oil mixed with nice smelling spices. This special
oil was used to anoint the Mishkan, the various
items in the Mishkan, and the priests. Oil is
a symbol for God’s Holy Spirit, so this tells
us that the presence of the Spirit of God is essential
for true religion, real atonement, for a real
drawing near to God to take place. Do you have
God’s Spirit in your life? Is He living in you,
helping you draw near to God, and serve the Lord,
and accomplish His purposes?
31:1-11
describes the builders of the Mishkan. It was
the Spirit of God who gave these artisans their
artistic capacities, their gifts and talents and
skills, just as the same Spirit gives you every
talent, every skill, every ability that you have.
These men made the Mishkan and its items and the
priests’ clothes beautiful, because God is beautiful,
and the things associated with Him should also
be beautiful. Art enriches our lives, and there
is a special place for beautiful art in religion.
31:12-17
describes the importance of Shabbat. A Holy God
demands a Holy People, with Holy Priests, serving
in a Holy Place, with a Holy Day.
- The Sabbath accomplishes many purposes: it
helps us understand that it is the Lord who
makes us holy. We don’t make ourselves holy.
He has given us a way of holiness, with a holy
book, and holy sacrifices, with holy commands.
- It is to be a Shabbat Shabbaton - a Sabbath
of rest, a complete rest - no ordinary work
is to be done.
- It is an “ot” - a sign between God and Israel.
The holy day points us to a holy God. Like a
sign, it points us to the Creator, and that
our God made the entire universe in six days.
That’s how powerful He is. It is a sign pointing
us to Israel’s unique relationship to God. The
holy day points us to the holy people.
- It is a Breet Olam - an eternal covenant.
It is part of our covenant obligation with God.
It is to be observed throughout our generations,
including our generation. It is to be perpetually
observed, eternally celebrated.
Therefore
the Shabbat is an essential part of a healthy
Jewish life, including a Messianic Jewish life.
I know that in my own life, it has become, and
continues to become, even more important. I want
so much that all Jewish Believers everywhere would
really take this seriously, and enter into the
importance of the Sabbath.
31:18-32:35
tells us that Moses had now been on Mount Sinai
for forty days getting these various instructions.
Before Moses comes down, the Lord presents Moses
with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments -
they are called the Testimony, because they summarize
all the commandments, and testify what God expects
Israel to do. The are made out of stone, because
they are to be enduring. They are written by the
finger of God, telling us that they, and all of
Scripture are given by God, and divinely inspired.
Meanwhile,
at the bottom of Mount Sinai the majority of the
Jewish people are already losing sight of God,
and His commands, and our covenant obligations.
That tells us that it doesn’t take very long for
God to fade from our sight - only forty days -
less than two months. If we lose sight of God,
then we will start reverting to the ways of the
world around us.
So what
happens? Israel starts combining our religion
with the religions of the world around us. We
make a golden calf - other nations had visible
representations of their gods, so why shouldn’t
we too? O, we won’t deny the God of Israel altogether,
but let’s compromise the truth a little, a worship
God and have an idol too. Even Aaron, the brother
of Moses, the high priest, gets carried along.
Well,
God is not taken in, and calls us a people with
a stiff neck - we won’t bend to God’s will and
ways. We will not readily cooperate with God -
and that’s been true throughout our history, and
it continues to be true to this day.
Things
go from bad to worse. We won’t stay within proper
theological boundaries, and since things go with
things, the majority of the people don’t stay
within moral boundaries. They ate and drank and
began to “play” - it seems that a drunken orgy
was taking place!
God tells
Moses that He is so angry, that He is about to
destroy the entire nation, and begin a new nation
with Moses as the founding father. It’s a good
thing I’m not Moses, because think of it - to
have a whole nation, the Chosen People, come from
you! I probably would have said, “sure, go ahead
Lord - smite those wicked people! Make a fresh
start with me!” But I’m not Moses, a most humble
servant of God. So Moses prays, and asks God not
to destroy Israel, but to forgive us.
And, the
mighty Lord God, the Creator of the universe,
listens to the prayer of this man, and changes
His mind, and does not destroy the nation. The
prayer of a righteous man, a righteous woman,
can affect the destiny of a whole nation! Never
stop praying my friends!
The Lord
doesn’t destroy Israel, but there will be serious
consequences for us. Moses comes down from Sinai,
breaks the Two Tablets, written by God Himself,
showing us that we had broken God’s commandments.
The golden calf is ground up into powder, the
dust thrown into water, and the people forced
to drink it, showing that we should never make
or worship that which is no god. The Levites,
who didn’t engage in this debauchery, rally to
Moses, and they kill 3000 of the offenders.
The next
day Moses prays that the Lord would indeed forgive
the nation, and if not, blot him out of the Book
of Life - God’s special book that records who
lives, and who dies. “Kill me Lord, but not my
people”! That’s true love, sacrificial love; that’s
humility; that’s the kind of example we want to
try and follow.
Then the
Lord punishes the people, but does not destroy
us, as He promised Moses. That brings us to chapter
33. Due to lack of holiness, and as part of our
punishment, the Lord tells Moses that He wants
send a messenger, an angel, in His place. He is
going to withdraw His closeness to us. The people
find out, and go into mourning, removing their
ornaments. Moses doesn’t want the Lord to remove
His presence from Israel. How would the Chosen
People be distinguished from all the other nations?
Is it not the presence of the Living God among
us? So, Moses prays and intercedes, and again,
the Lord listens to a man, and promises not to
remove the manifestation of His presence from
Israel.
Moses
becomes even bolder, and asks God to show Moses
more of His glorious presence. Adonai agrees,
but warns Moses that he can’t see God’s full reality,
or he would die. So, Moses cuts two new tablets
of stone, climbs Mount Sinai, and Moses is protected
in a cliff, and the Lord descended onto the mountain,
passes by in front of Moses, who doesn’t see God’s
face, but only His passing, and God reveals Himself
in an even greater way to Moses, and declares
to Moses His 13 attributes.
God promises
to do great miracles among the Jewish people not
done anywhere else on Earth, so that all the other
nations of the world would know that Israel’s
God is the true God who alone can save them, redeem
them, restore them to life, which indeed took
place, and is taking place God warns us not to
worship any other gods, since His name is Kana
- Jealous. The Mighty One is extremely protective
towards His people and doesn't want to share our
affections with any other "gods." He demands our
complete loyalty. Does he have yours?
The parasha
ends with various laws: since our firstborn belonged
to God, the had to be redeemed - bought back,
especially the firstborn of donkeys, and firstborn
sons among Israel.
Three
times a year all Jewish men must appear before
God at the Temple in Jerusalem, to offer the proper
sacrifices that make atonement - which we can’t
do today..
No leaven
is to be offered among our sacrifices, since leaven
is a symbol for sin, and the worship of God must
not be contaminated by sin.
We must
not sacrifice a baby goat, and boil it in its
mother’s milk, like the perverted sacrifices for
fertility offered by other nations. By the way,
it’s the misunderstand of this mitzvah that has
occasioned all the burdensome and unnecessary
traditions about separating milk and meat. It
was other nations, like the Canaanites, who killed
a baby goat and boiled it in its mother’s milk,
and offered it to Baal or Astarte, hoping that
would please their “fertility gods,” so that they
would enrich the offerer. It was this kind of
perverted sacrifice that is being forbidden -
not a cheeseburger!
So, Moses
was up on Mount Sinai for a second 40 days and
40 nights, where he received all these things.
He came down again, with the new pair of stone
tablets of the Ten Commandments. His face was
shining, because he had been in the presence of
the God of glory, and the face of Moses reflected
some of the glory of God, just as face of the
moon reflects the glory of the mighty sun. And,
we will radiate the glory of God the closer we
draw near to Him and His Son, praying, worshiping,
studying, witnessing, fellowshipping.
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