21Parsha Ki Tisa – When you take

21Parsha Ki Tisa – When you take

Sh’mot 30:11-34:35,

1^st M’lakhim 18:1-39, Yechezk’el 36:16-38, ^1st Corinth. 8:4-13

Daniel ben Ya’acov Israel

Every time we read the Torah whether during the Shabbat or whether in our time of dedication, we need to get a right attitude, a willing heart and not by constraint (force). The reason why the Children of Israel and today many believers fail short to the Torah is because of the attitude toward the Torah! The Torah is יהוה’ Word, thus it is also his thoughts, and perfect will for us. : 
Rom 12:2 and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your m, ind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of YHWH.

I have seen many brethren who came to listen to a parasha and were not able to see behind the ink, they were limited to the literal (p’shat) level. One reason of that is that we all came from a Hellenistic (Greek) background I mean by this that we are all influenced by the Greek thinking. This was brought by Alexander who himself realized that conquest by power are limited in time but much more when people adhere (accept, cooperate, agree) with your view of things, they become willing to follow your concept of things, life or anything else; It is why today Greek thinking has become a powerful tool among the World Governments no matter what they proclaim to be, democrat, socialist, communist or else, they all use Greek thinking to manipulate people. Just an example with few words, find in the mouth of millions people....
Politic: Sagacious in promoting a policy; ingenious in devising and advancing a system of management; devoted to a scheme or system rather than to a principle; hence, in a good sense, wise; prudent; sagacious; and in a bad sense, artful; unscrupulous; cunning; -- said of persons (Everest dictionary)    Politician (a man practicing politic): One primarily devoted to his own advancement in public office, or to the success of a political party; -- used in a depreciatory sense; one addicted or attached to politics as managed by parties (see Politics, 2); a schemer; an intriguer; as, a mere politician (Everest dictionary).       

Democracy: Government by popular representation; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but is indirectly exercised through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative government; a republic (Everest dictionary)         

Hellenist: One who affiliates with Greeks, or imitates Greek manners; esp., a person of Jewish extraction who used the Greek language as his mother tongue, as did the Jews of Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, and Egypt; distinguished from the Hebraists, or native Jews (Acts vi. 1)(Everest dictionary).

Emperor Alexander the Great knew that using Greek philosophy would attract people to follow them in a new art of thinking and way of life.:  

Deu 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as YHWH my Elohim commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.  Deu 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

Alexander turned the World upside down and by subtlety enforced a new thinking a snare today for most of people living on earth. At the End of this parasha I give a full explanation concerning the Greek life style. You should take time to read it, because of its importance to understand why we should learn Torah in order to renew our mind which has been since our birth filled with Greek thoughts. So what then, how should we approach the Torah reading?  Today, our brethren from Yehuda (Jews) follow the Torah according to the letter and interpretation of the rabies, meaning they search to be justified before יהוה by keeping the Oral Torah according to the Letter (Tamud), but as Sh’aul say it “the Letter kills”. It is not the Torah that save, but יהוה . 

Isa 43:11 I, even I, am YHWH; and beside me there is no saviour.

יהושע means : יהוSAVE שע  saves! 

Isa 12:2 Behold, El is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for YAH YHWH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation (in Hebrew: y^ashû‛âh ישׁוּעה ). This is why when we come to Torah study we should look at our heavenly Father and study it because it is his will for us. Obedience is greater than sacrifices. We don’t look at the Torah in order to be saved but to know the way of a righteous life and change our carnal nature.  
Torah means: Instruction coming from the word Yarah to flow as water (that is, to rain); transitively to lay or throw (especially an arrow, that is, to shoot); figuratively to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach (Strong Concordance). Today we come to an important Parasha which will bring tremendous change in the life of the children of Israel (carnal man) and become a turning point in

the future life of Ya’acov descendants.

We will see that the Yetzer HaRa (evil inclination) cannot be brought unto control, but through Messiah יהושע by faith.  We are going to see once again how יהוה foretell what will be centuries later when יהושע come.  For those who do not have read other Parasha, I write “carnal man” beside “children of Israel”, because their life reflects our very carnal nature outside Messiah. This is what יהוה want us to understand.  It is not the purpose of the Torah to be just read in the P’shat (literal) level, but much more to scrutinized until we can come to see the “sod” (mystery), which is revealed in Messiah יהושע.  Remember that to understand this “mystery” one, must be in Messiah:  2^nd Corint.3:14: But their minds were hardened, for to this day, when the old covenant is being read, that same veil remains, not lifted, because in Messiah it is taken away. I am always amazed that many folks pretend to know everything, but reject the Torah! How can it be when the Torah says that “for to this day” which is Sha’ul’s day, the veil remains?

If we go to the context of this time we will see that Sha’ul was speaking of those following the Pharisee and didn’t accept יהושע to be the Messiah, those we call “orthodox”, but there is also those Christians who do not accept the Torah’s authority and therefore cannot recognize יהושע the Yehudin (Jew) as their Master (if you love me keep my commandments).  But let us go back to the Parsha and see step by step what we can learn.......
Chapter 30:11-16

……..you take a census……….then each one shall give an atonement for his life……..half shekel………………the half shekel is the contribution to Yehovah……….The silver for atonement.

Here we see the concept given by יהוה for the children of Israel (carnal man). First we see that the children of Israel will be counted (census) from 20 years to 50 years old. None is left apart the Levites (descendants from Levi one of Ya’acov son) who were not counted among them. Then each one shall give and atonement for his life…….

…..each one shall give atonement for his life…
We fund here the word “atonement” which is the Hebrew word:

Strong’s #H3724: Kopher, sometime like in the KJV translated as “ransom”. We found this word in the Book of B’reshit the Parasha “Noach”.: Gen 6:14 Make^H6213 thee an ark^H8392 of gopher^H1613 wood;^H6086 rooms^H7064 shalt thou make^{H6213 (H853)} in the ark,^H8392 and shalt pitch^H3722 it within^{H4480 H1004} and without^{H4480 H2351} with pitch.^H3724

Pitch: kôpher ko'-fer   From H3722; properly a cover, that is, (literally) a village (as covered in); (specifically) bitumen (as used for coating), and the henna plant (as used for dyeing); figuratively a redemption price: - bribe, camphire, pitch, ransom, satisfaction, sum of money, village......
This word will take its full meaning as we come to the parasha “Acharei Mot – After death” in the book of Vayyiqra (Levitique):  
Lev 16:14 “And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the lid of atonement on the east side, also in front of the lid of atonement (Mercy seat H3722 Kaporeth) he sprinkles some of the blood with his finger seven times.  Lev 16:15 “And he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and shall bring its blood inside the veil, and shall do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the lid of atonement(Mercy seat) and in front of the lid of atonement (Mercy seat). Lev 16:16 “And he shall make atonement (kaphar) (that is Yom Kippur) for the Set-apart Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Yisra’ĕl, and because of their transgressions in all their sins. And so he does for the Tent of Meeting which is dwelling with them in the midst of their uncleanness. ................

Remember that the tabernacle and the Temple are built after the pattern of the heavenly Temple.  The children of Israel (carnal man) had to bring contribution for atonement, which we have seen was only to cover, the contribution was not able to remove the sins, but act has a function to make the people acceptable for the sacrifices brought to the priests.  
Psa 49:7 None^H3808 of them can by any means^H6299 redeem^H6299 his brother,^H251 nor^H3808 give^H5414 to God^H430 a ransom^{H3724(Kaphar)} for him:

This is why יהושע Messiah had to come:  2Co 5:19 that is, that Elohim was in Messiah restoring the world to favour unto Himself, not reckoning their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of restoration to favour.

2Co 5:20 Therefore we are envoys on behalf of Messiah, as though Elohim were pleading through us. We beg, on behalf of Messiah: Be restored to favour with Elohim. 2Co 5:21 for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of Elohim. Gal 4:4 But^G1161 when^G3753 the^G3588 fulness^G4138 of the^G3588 time^G5550 was come,^G2064 God^G2316 sent forth^G1821 his^G848 Son,^G5207 made^G1096 of^G1537 a woman,^G1135 made^G1096 under^G5259 the law,^G3551 Gal 4:5 To^G2443 redeem^G1805 them^G3588 that were under^G5259 the law,^{G3551(nonos/torah)} that^G2443 we might receive^G618 the^G3588 adoption of sons.^G5206 
Redeem: Strong’s #G1805 ex agorazō ex-ag-or-ad'-zo  From G1537 and G59; to buy up, that is, ransom; figuratively to rescue from loss (improve opportunity): - redeem.....
Tit 2:14 Who^G3739 gave^G1325 himself^G1438 for^G5228 us,^G2257 that^G2443 he might redeem^G3084 us^G2248 from^G575 all^G3956 iniquity,^G458 and^G2532 purify^G2511 unto himself^G1438 a peculiar^G4041 people,^G2992 zealous^G2207 of good^G2570 works.^G2041 .............
Redeem: Strong’s G3084 lutroō loo-tro'-o

From G3083; to ransom (literally or figuratively): - redeem.............That is Messiah יהושע!

Rev 5:9 and they sang a renewed song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because You were slain, and have redeemed (agorazo) us to Elohim by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue (language) and people and nation, Rev 5:10 and made us sovereigns and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the earth.”...................

30:13….the half shekel is the contribution (offering) (H8641 T’rumah) to יהוה ……

Today it is hard to understand what a half shekel represents so we read and do not know. So let me show you how much it represents today from “The people that History forgot” chapter 9 “Associates for Scriptural Knowledge” (ASK)

"We [Romans] have given you leave to gather up that tribute which is paid to God [the Temple tax], with such other gifts that are dedicated to him: nor have we called those that carried these donations to account, nor prohibited them; till at length you became richer than we ourselves, even when you were our enemies."Josephus, Wars, VI.6,2  ………………..
This tribute was the annual half-shekel payment for the upkeep of the Temple which each Jewish male from twenty years of age upward had to pay each year. This money was collected from various sites all over the Roman Empire and conveyed in many instances under guard of the Romans themselves to the Temple treasury in Jerusalem. This tribute alone (besides all the other offerings of money and animals, etc.) that was sent to the Temple amounted to a prodigious quantity of revenue each year. Let us try to understand how much in 1993 U.S. dollars this might have been. The coin in the fish that Peter caught had the value of one shekel (called a stater in Greek Matt.17:27 ). This would precisely pay the annual tribute for Yahushua and Peter (Matthew 17:27). A stater was equal to four drachmae with each drachma being a little more in value to a Roman denarius. A denarius, according to Yehoshua, was what a common labourer would receive in one day (Matthew 20:2). Thus a half-shekel would equal about two days work. Since our minimum wage in late 1993 is just under $5 an hour, a twelve hour day would gain a person about $60 at the present. Thus, two such days would be $120. Based on our "work/pay" today, about $120 is what each Jewish male over twenty would have to pay each year to the Temple treasury. Since it is reasonably estimated that there would have been between 3 and 4 million Jewish males who would pay the tribute each year, this would amount to between $360 to $500 million U.S. dollars just for the half-shekel tribute alone, that is a lot of money! 
The Sanhedrin at the Temple in Jerusalem set the value of the half-shekel each year. The value was determined by the value of the animal sin offerings each year (Shekelim, II.4). If the value of sin offering animals went up because of a scarcity, then the Sanhedrin would require more of the common currency to equal the amount of the shekel at the Temple. The standard of value was set by the Temple authorities so that God would have the same amount being given to the Treasury each year no matter what the value of coinage (either inflated or deflated). Whatever the case, there were great quantities of money coming into Jerusalem each year and this helped make the economy of Judaea and Jerusalem a very prosperous one (and even the surrounding countries of the Gentiles who supplied materials to the Jews in Judaea were equally thriving). This wealth of the Jewish people made many Gentiles at the time want to share in this good fortune among the Jews. ...........................
That wealth, however, came to an end with the destruction of Jerusalem in C.E. 70. With all the metropolitan region of Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed (and much of Judaea devastated by the Romans) and with Jews beginning to be held in disdain and distrust by many Gentile peoples, there was little reason for Gentile peoples to want to be connected with the Jews after C.E. 70. After that date, only practicing Jews called themselves "Jews."........................

This is very interesting when we see this contribution. Can you imagine around 6000 pesos (for the Philippines) for each person to pay it means the daily wage was 3000 Pesos! Can you just grasp how it was compare with what a labourer get today for a day work? I am not sure that the proportion to the today’s $ value is right nevertheless it is interesting to have this calculation. If you compare with Europe or US, it is what a man got for a day work.................…..silver for atonement.....................

Here we see clearly that silver represent the price for atonement.....................
1-3…..as a contribution to יהוה …. We saw this word in the Parasha “T’rumah”

Strong’s #H8641 תּרוּמה T’rumah ter-oo-maw'......(The second form used in Deu_12:11); from H7311; a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tribute: - gift, heave offering ([shoulder]), oblation, offered (-ing).

We will see in the sacrifice procedure in the Tabernacle, later in the Temple, that the children of Israel were not able to enter the Tent of meeting, but only the inner court of the tabernacle, to bring their sacrifices to the priests.  This sacrifice system should be understand in order to see what יהושע has done for us in the heavenly Temple, which is the place were no blood and flesh has access but the soul only.  The body is not redeemed at this time. It is the last part to be redeemed when Messiah יהושע will come back to establish יהוה’s Kingdom on earth........

30:15 The rich does not give more and the poor does not give less than……..

Pro 20:10 differing weights and differing measures, Both of them are an abomination to יהוה………….יהוה

 doesn’t look at man’s possession, while looking not to put a burden on the poor and disfavor to the rich. Poor and rich have same value before יהוה ….Different weights and offering measures come from the balance to weight corn and other like rice or wheat. The balance has two parts, on one side we have the weight which will determine how much we get. Imagine the weight has been falsified and One Kilogram is only eight hundred grams. Every time the balance shows one kilogram, it is in reality eight hundred grams! Spiritually it is the same when we “cheat” brethren. ………..

Eph 6:9 and, masters, do the same to them, refrain from threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in the heavens, and there is no partiality with Him.

At this point I want us to look at the quantity the children of Israel gave for contribution to יהוה:  In Sh’mot 38:5 we read:  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:

Keil and Delitzsch give us these interesting details:  The result of the numbering gave 603,550 men (those who were above 20 and lesser as 50 years), every one of whom paid half a shekel. This would yield 301,775 shekels, or 100 talents and 1775 shekels, which proves by the way that a talent contained 3000 shekels. A hundred talents of this were used for casting 96 sockets (16 x 6=96 or 10+6 x6=96. 6 been the number for man) for the 48 boards (8x6=48. Eight been the number for “behind the natural”!), and 4 sockets for the 4 pillars of the inner court, - one talent therefore for each socket,(That is 3000 shekels for each pillars) - and the 1775 shekels for the hooks of the pillars that sustained the curtains, for silvering their capitals, and “for binding the pillars,” i.e., for making the silver connecting rods for the pillars of the court (Exo_27:10-11; Exo_38:10.)..........

This is amazing that Keil and Delitzsch could find so much detail, but were not able to see the connection with Messiah יהושע and the Assembly, as it reflects in the building material of the Tabernacle.  So we have 301 775 shekels which according to ASK would be around 36 213 000 US$ (Thirty six millions two hundred thirteen thousand). So we can see how costly the tabernacle was, or that the price Messiah paid for us was not in the measure of our ability.  Today people wonder when a company built a building and spend 10 or 20 million to build it! What can we say, is there anything better than what the children of Israel did to serve Elohim?  I want us to try to see something told by the prophet Yeshayahu and explain it: 

Isa 43:1 but now, thus said יהוה, your Creator, O Yaʽaqoḇ, and He who formed you, O Yisra’ĕl, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are Mine………….

Isa 43:3 “For I am יהוה your Elohim, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, your Saviour; I gave (past sentence)Mitsrayim for your ransom (^{H3724 Kopher)}, Kush and Seḇa in your place. Isa 43:4 “Since you were precious in My eyes, you have been esteemed, and I have loved you. And I give men in your place, and peoples for your life …

I am sure we all have read the verse 43 many times, and what is the meaning?  יהוה is speaking to Ya’acov through the mouth of Yeshayahu. Now where is the connection for the contribution brought by the Children of Israel (carnal man) and what the prophet Yeshayahu wrote? ...... This is the connection:  When the children of Israel were asked to bring the contribution which was as we read: 301 775 shekels, or more than 32 million US$, they were in the wilderness and were in the third month of leaving Egypt (Sh’mot 19:1). They were slaves for more than 250 years serving the Egyptians, how then is it possible to have so much money? This is where the words of the prophet Yeshayahu come in (Isai.43:3), just read:

A bit history: Yeshayahu, lived at the time of Uzziyahu, Yotham, Aḥaz, Ḥizqiyahu – sovereigns of Yehuḏah. (Yeshayahu 1:1).... Uzziah (who reigned 52 years, 811-759), Jotham (16 years, 759-743), Ahaz (16 years, 743-728), and Hezekiah (29 years, 728-699).(Keil and Delitzsch)

Prophets were called to admonish the people and bring them back to Elohim, one side of their “job” was proclaiming coming judgement because of rebellion, on the other side was the promise of restoration. In the first chapter Yeshayahu will deal with the children of Yehuda, later with all Israel............

2Ch 32:32 and the rest of the acts of Ḥizqiyahu (King Hezekiah), and his kindness, see, they are written in the vision of Yeshayahu the prophet, son of Amots, in the book of the sovereigns of Yehuḏah and Yisra’ĕl............Chapter 42, the prophet goes on saying:

Isa 42:1 “See, My Servant (that is Messiah) whom I uphold, My Chosen One My being has delighted in! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He brings forth right-ruling to the nations. Isa 42:9 Behold,^H2009 the former things^H7223 are come to pass,^H935 and new things^H2319 do I^H589 declare:^H5046 before^H2962 they spring forth^H6779 I tell^H8085 you of them. ..............This is for Israel and Yehudah (Jeshurun or Ya’acov)......The Ten tribes of the House of Israel have been scattered in 722B.C.E....

Exo 12:35 and the children of Yisra’ĕl had done according to the word of Mosheh, and they had asked from the Mitsrites objects of silver, and objects of gold, and garments.

Exo 12:36 and יהוה gave the people favour in the eyes of the Mitsrites, so that they gave them what they asked, and they plundered the Mitsrites. ………….Jamieson, Fausset and Brown give following explanation:

YHWH gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians — Such a dread of them was inspired into the universal minds of the Egyptians, that whatever they asked was readily given.  spoiled the Egyptians — The accumulated earnings of many years being paid them at this moment, the Israelites were suddenly enriched, according to the promise made to Abraham (Gen_15:14), and they left the country like a victorious army laden with spoil (Psa_105:37; Eze_39:10)........

Gen 15:14 “But the nation whom they serve I am going to judge, and afterward let them come out with great possessions.............

Psa 105:37 He (Yehovah) brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. ………….

This was spoken to Abraham centuries before it happens! Once again we see the Faithfulness of Elohim, and how we can rely on every word that proceeded out of the mouth of Elohim. How come than that so many people today dare to pretend that the Torah is a mere book. We are the people who need to have our eyes to be open and our understanding enlarged because of the lack of understanding. Today it is sad to see that people, brethren among the Israelites do not care to know historical events and do not make efforts to understand. We have today access to a lot of information and must compare with the Torah to get confirmation. Unfortunately, too many brethren chose to spend time on things which are not of importance and make strife and discord among the congregation, preferring worthless debate because of their personal “great knowledge”!  Knowledge is good when it is shared in love and based on the Torah, to help one another to build our faith on the truth of the Torah, not to make ourselves better or to bring discord.

Another point now that we have seen the value of the half shekel. יהושע gives a parable to his disciples based on the shekel value and spiritual application:   Mat 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants (plural).Mat 18:24 and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents (one talent equal 3000 Shekels).Mat 18:25 but forasmuch as he had not to pay, his master commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.Mat 18:26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, My master, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.Mat 18:27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.Mat 18:28 but the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

Mat 18:29 and his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Mat 18:30 and he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

Mat 18:31 so when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their master all that was done. Mat 18:32 Then his master, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?Mat 18:34 and his master was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.Mat 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.

Parables were spoken by יהושע in order that those outside would not understand. The certain King verse 23 is Messiah our King and the servants are the Jews who could not pay the debt. If we read the parable from this perspective we will understand the earnest of verse 35, for it is written: You shall love your neighbours as yourselves! No man can pay for his own redemption (debt)..........
Verses 18-38: The instrument used in the outer court of the Tabernacle and the anointing of the instruments and the Priests.…. you shall make a basin of bronze……………. Aharon and his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet.. When they go into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to attend, to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה, they wash with water, lest they die. ……………

We have already see that “bronze” is the Hebrew word “nechôsheth” from Strong and is used for copper, or brass. The particularity of this metal was that it is not pure it has a lot of impurity in its composition .  Webster gives following description:  1. A compound of copper and tin, to which other metallic substances are sometimes added, especially zink. It is brittle, hard, and sonorous, and used for statues, bells and cannon, the proportions of the respective ingredients being varied to suit the particular purposes.  .....The bronze or brass, copper was used to make the laver to contain water, for Aharon and his sons to wash hands and feet before they could enter the Tabernacle less the die (verse20)!  This was not a small matter, but a prerequisite to enter the Tabernacle. We need to remind ourselves that the tabernacle is a microcosm of יהוה’s Kingdom on earth.  Here we can see that in a close future, all people on the earth will have to follow יהוה’s Torah, because the Kingdom will be the all earth.  Let see some verses to understand the water and the Kingdom.  Eph 5:26 in order to set it apart and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,  Heb 10:19 So, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Set-apart Place by the blood of יהושע, Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He instituted for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, Heb 10:21 and having a High Priest over the House of Elohim, Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in completeness of belief, having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies washed with clean water (that is our baptism in the name of יהושע). …

Verse 19……his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet…….Hands represent the action......Feet represent the way to walk ...Verse 23 we are given the ingredients for the Oil to anoint the utensils, the Tent of Meeting, the Ark, The Menorah, and Aharon and his sons for the service.  
Verse 30 we read that this oil will be used to “anoint” Aharon and his sons:  Anoint, Strong’s #H4886 משׁח mâshach maw-shakh'...A primitive root; to rub with oil, that is, to anoint; by implication to consecrate; also to paint: - anoint, paint......

The purpose was to “sanctify”, “set apart” ... Strong’s #H6942 קדשׁ qâdash kaw-dash'.. A primitive root; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly.  .......
We all know this word as we many time sing to Abba יהוה, to make us “Qadosh”.  The Oil was necessary to be rubbed on the utensil, the Tent of Meeting, Menorah, Ark and Aharon and His sons in order to make them “Qadosh”(Set apart) unto יהוה.  We will see in another place that this Oil is so unique that it was commanded:  make no other like it, according to its composition.(verse 32).  It is amazing when we see today in many Christians assemblies “Pastors” coming with their “anointing oil” to rub on people. I have seen some just taking any oil, to put in a small bottle and go to people in order to “heal” them. I don’t think יהוה is pleased with this kind of action! The Oil is used, to anoint the priest and to sanctify, priest, utensils, Tent of meeting, the Ark, Menorah.  The Oil is a euphemism of the anointing of the Ruach HaQodesh (Set Apart Spirit) who was “poured out” on believer at Shavuot (Pentecost) (Acts 2).  Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Yahushua Messiah to the Nations, ministering the gospel of Elohim, that the offering up of the Nations might be acceptable, being sanctified (set apart) by the Ruach HaQodesh.^1......

The whole picture shows us that to enter the Tabernacle one had to be sanctified and so it will be in the coming Kingdom, those who want to enter it will have to be sanctified (set apart, Qadosh)..At the End of the Parasha you will find a picture of the Tabernacle in order to see the position of the laver and the place of the burn offering. This is fundamental to understand our redemption.  One of the points to see also fulfilled in Messiah יהושע is that the giving of the half shekel was given as contribution for the Tabernacle and the result of it was “there is no plague among them”. Today for all of us יהושע paid the price and we are delivered from all kind of plagues:

Psa 91:9 Because thou hast made YHWH, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;  Psa 91:10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

Don’t let any man tells you that you may be plagued with bird flu or swine flu or any other plagues if you dwell in the secret place of the Most High and are under the shadow of the Almighty, you shall fear no evil. I encourage you to put the psalm 91 in your heart because it will comfort you in time of pressure when all people around you will cry for fear of coming plagues! 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.

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.  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.”

Exo 30:17 and יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Exo 30:18 “And you shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand also of bronze, for washing. And you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water in it. Exo 30:19 “And Aharon and his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet. Exo 30:20 “When they go into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to attend, to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה, they wash with water, lest they die. Exo 30:21 “And they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a law forever to them, to him and his seed throughout their generations.” Exo 30:22 and יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Exo 30:23 “And take for yourself choice spices, five hundred sheqels of liquid myrrh, and half as much – two hundred and fifty – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty of sweet-smelling cane, Exo 30:24 and five hundred of cassia, according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, and a hin of olive oil. Exo 30:25 “And you shall make from these a set-apart anointing oil, a compound, blended, the work of a perfumer. It is a set-apart anointing oil. Exo 30:26 “And with it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Witness, Exo 30:27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand (Menorah) and its utensils, and the altar of incense, Exo 30:28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. Exo 30:29 “And you shall set them apart, and they shall be most set-apart. Whatever touches them is to be set-apart. Exo 30:30 “And you shall anoint Aharon and his sons, and set them apart, to serve as priests to Me. Exo 30:31 “And speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘This is a set-apart anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. Exo 30:32 ‘It shall not be poured on the flesh of a man, and make no other like it, according to its composition. It is set-apart, it is set-apart to you. Exo 30:33 ‘Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, shall be cut off from his people.’ ” Exo 30:34 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Take sweet spices, fragrant gum and cinnamon and galbanam, and clear frankincense with these sweet spices, all in equal amounts. Exo 30:35 “Then you shall make of these an incense, a compound, work of a perfumer, salted, clean, set-apart. Exo 30:36 “And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Witness in the Tent of Meeting where I meet with you, it is most set-apart to you. Exo 30:37 “And the incense which you make, do not make any for yourselves, according to its composition, it is set-apart to you for יהוה. Exo 30:38 “Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.” ………………..

Chapter 31.:  Here we will see that when we denied the different level of interpretation, we miss what יהוה want us to see.  Let us take the name Betsal’el (בּצלאל). This is a Hebrew name and we will make the connection with another mysterious word written by Yochanan:

Joh 21:10 יהושע said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” Joh 21:11 Shimʽon Kĕpha went up and dragged the net to land, filled with one hundred and fifty-three big fishes. And though there were so many, the net was not broken. ……………

This verse from Yochanan has two important midrash (teaching). He says that there was many fish but the net was not broken, why? We will compare with another verse:  Luk 5:5 and Shimʽon answering, said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught none, but at Your word I shall let down the net.” Luk 5:6 and when they did so, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking, ..................

We see here that the net was breaking! This was to me amazing in both situation it was the disciples fishing and one time in Luke, the net was breaking while in the book of Yochanan the net was not broken? I give you a hint to understand: The verse in the book of Luke is at the beginning of the walk of the disciple with יהושע, the second verse in the book of Yochanan is after יהושע’ resurrection, this is the first hint, the second is like so: Are not fish a picture of men in the world.  In the Book of b’reshit (Exodus), Ya’acov is about to die and call Yoseph to bless his children Manasseh and Ephraim saying:  Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them (Israel), and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

The Hebrew read:  Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow like fish in a multitude in the midst of the earth................

So we understand that Fish and Men are directly connected in a spiritual way.......

Now let us come to the number One hundred fifty three (153); In order to understand why Yochanan wrote this number, and see that speaking in the “sod” was not strange in the disciple’s time. We must accept the teaching of the “Pardes” to understand and see that there is more than the literal text.  The Hebrew name “Bezal’el” means: “in the image of El” or “shadow of El” and has a gematria (value according to the letter) of 153 as we can count: בּצלאל Bet 2, Tsade 90, Lamed 30, Aleph 1, Lamed 30, Total:153.....This is the reason Yochanan mentioned 153 fishes in the net which was not broken. Remember יהושע told them, he would make them “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19, Luke 5:10).  The net is a euphemism of the Torah and at the first catch with the “net” it broke because they did it in their own power (natural way). At the resurrection of יהושע they were already following their Master and were now “fisher of men”!  

Can you see the connection between Bezalel, Yeshuah (who is the image of El) and the Apostles who were made fisher of men? Bezalel was called to build the natural Tabernacle, while Yehoshua Messiah built the spiritual Tabernacle made not with hands!

Verse 2…..of the tribe of Yehudah….

Which tribe belong Yehoshua?........

Verse 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of Elohim in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge.  To understand, it is good to remind us that in the “Tree of life” which is compounded of Ten “Sefirot” (attributes) there are seven which belongs to man and three which represent the “Godhead”, “Ketter” (will), “chochmah”(wisdom), and “Binah” (understanding). When Chochmah and Binah fuse together it gives da’at (Knowledge). These Sefirot, (attributes) are pure light coming down from the throne of Elohim to man through “ketter” and only for those who have devoted themselves to serve Elohim with all their beings…………..

Pro 1:1 the proverbs of Shelomoh son of Dawiḏ, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl:

Pro 1:2 for knowing wisdom (Chochmah) and discipline, For understanding (binah) the words of understanding (binah), 

Pro 1:3 for receiving the discipline of wisdom, Righteousness, right-ruling, and straightness;

Pro 1:4 for giving insight to the simple, Knowledge (da’at) and discretion to the young.  Was not יהושע chosen to build the Assembly of יהוה? 

1Pe 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through יהושע Messiah.  First of all, יהושע was the son of Joseph, a descendant from David, himself been a carpenter. Carpenters were to build many things in the house, particular also utensils made of wood!  To understand what a sefirot is we need to understand the word: 

Sefirot Hebrew word meaning: Attribute.  Attribute: That which is attributed; a quality which is considered as belonging to, or inherent in, a person or thing; an essential or necessary property or characteristic (Everest dictionary)…………..

So we understand that the ten sefirot represent the unchangeable quality, characteristic belonging to the Eternal One also call Aiyn Sof the Infinite One dwelling in light that no man has seen!   1Ti 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.  Dwelling in the light meaning outside creation, for our world is a mixed of light and darkness.   Verse 6……. Oholiaḇ son of Aḥisamaḵ, of the tribe of Dan……….

Oholiab: אהליאב Strong’s #H171 meaning “Father’s tent”, very interesting as Oholiab was chose to be assistant to Bezal’el to build the most important part of the Tabernacle

…son of Ahisamak: 

Strong’s #H294 אחיסמך meaning in Hebrew: “brother of support”. Once again we see how the name depicts the nature of a person when used as such from birth.  Look that, it was Bezal’el who was commanded of Elohim to make:  -Tabernacle Strong’s# H168 אהל Ohel, From H166; a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance): - covering, (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.  

-Ark of witness Strong’s H727 ארון aron, From H717 (in the sense of gathering); a box: - ark, chest, coffin. 

- Kapporeth Strong’s# H3727 כּפּרת From H3722; a lid (used only of the cover of the sacred Ark): - mercy seat.    H3722 kâphar kaw-far'  A primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel: - appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation)...............

Remember that in the human body the ark is the place representing the heart of man, when the heart is cover (kaphar) with the mercy of יהוה, there is a change taking form to become sanctified by the Ruach HaQodesh.............-…the table and its utensils................Is it not the table the place where the saints (Qadosh one, Set apart Ones) will take place at the wedding ceremony?-…… gold lampstand (Menorah).  The candlestick which is to bring light day and night pointing to Messiah יהושע.  But we will see more in another Parasha concerning the other parts of the Tabernacle.  It is noteworthy to see that only one was chosen to build and it was Bezal’el. Again not after man wisdom but according to the divine wisdom Elohim.  Today we have all around the world universities which teach “Philosophy”. Many people since centuries write books after the Philosophy of men, a fruit from the Greek culture (see explanation at the End).  I want to stretch out that to the world it seems to be great and people receive great honour. The word Philosophy is a compound word from two Greek words:  - Philo meaning “man”(friend)

- Sophia meaning “wisdom”. So Philosophy means: wisdom of man! What does Yehovah says concerning man’s wisdom, 

1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not Elohim made foolish the wisdom of this world?1Co 1:25 for the foolishness of Elohim is wiser than men, and the weakness of Elohim is stronger than men.1Co 1:26 for look at your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble 1Co 1:30 and of Him you are in Messiah יהושע, who became for us wisdom from Elohim, righteousness also, and set-apartness and redemption, 1Co 2:5 in order that your belief should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of Elohim. 1Co 2:6 Yet we speak wisdom among those who are perfect, and not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age that are being brought to naught. 1Co 2:7 but we speak the wisdom of Elohim, which was hidden in a secret, and which Elohim ordained before the ages for our esteem,

Bezal’el, like Yehoshua was from the tribe of Yehudah,and was filled with the Spirit of wisdom (chochmah), and understanding (binah), and knowledge (da’at) the builder of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, a picture of the Assembly. יהושע in whom the fullness of Elohim dwell in bodily form, the builder of the Assembly (House of Ya’acov)…

Col 1:19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell (all of Yehovah attributes);Both were builder, the first Bezal’el who built the Mishkan (Tabernacle) foreshadowed the work of יהושע ...

Verses 13-18. The Shabbat is a sign between Elohim and his people through all generation. Let us look a bit more and see what this “sign” is!......Sign: Strong’s# H226 oth אות 'ôth oth  Probably from H225 (in the sense of appearing); a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.: - mark, miracle, (en-) sign, token. 

Webster gives following explanation:  1. A token; something by which another thing is shown or represented; any visible thing, any motion, appearance or event which indicates the existence or approach of something else. Thus we speak of signs of fair weather or of a storm, and of external marks which are signs of a good constitution.   7. Visible mark or representation; as an outward sign of and inward and spiritual grace.   3. To mark............

After having read this we can now, look at another “sign” and compare:  Rev 13:16 and he causes all, both small and great, and rich and poor, and free and slave, to be given a mark upon their right hand or upon (read “and”insrtead of “upon”) their foreheads, Rev 13:17 and that no one should be able to buy or sell except he that has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Thayer gives following translation:  charagma…….Thayer Definition:  1) a stamp, an imprinted mark

1a) of the mark stamped on the forehead or the right hand as the badge of the followers of the Antichrist

Tell me now who today can go to buy grocery during the Shabbat, is not those who have the mark of the beast. Are not the markets full of those who make business during the Shabbat and honor the day of the sun “Sunday”?

Here to avoid any confusion it is clear that the “Sunday rest” is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church which breaks the fourth commandment.  At the time we read this parasha a new law has been enforced in Germany since January 2010 proclaiming Sunday day of national rest. After having researched I found out that it was a request from the Roman Catholic Church (at this time the Pope is a German M; Ratzinger).What is amazing is that Germany is in majority Protestant! One year ago in 2009 it was Croatia a country in the Balkan (Mediterranean region) that established also the Sunday rest by law.  For all those who want to know here some statements from the Roman Catholic Church: -"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty."—Pope Leo XIII, in an Encyclical Letter, dated June 20, 1894.  -"Not the Creator of Universe, in Genesis 2:1-3,—but the Catholic Church can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days."—S. C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica, 1969, pp. 366-367…….

-"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, hidden under veil of flesh."—The Catholic National, July 1895…………-"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church."—Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.

-"It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest [from the Bible Sabbath] to the Sunday. . Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church."—Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.  -Baptist (in spite of that they break the Shabbat): "The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation."  - Episcopalian: "We have made the change from the seventh to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, catholic, apostolic church of Christ."—Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday.

-"The [Catholic] Church took the pagan buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon [the Roman], temple to all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. . The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom. Balder the beautiful: the White God, the old Scandinavians called him. The sun has worshipers at this very hour in Persia and other lands. . Hence the Church would seem to have said, ‘Keep that old pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. The sun is a fitting emblem of Jesus. The Fathers often compared Jesus to the sun; as they compared Mary to the moon."—William L. Gildea, "Paschale Gaudium," in The Catholic World, p. 58, March 1894.

- "The Church made a sacred day of Sunday, largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun;—for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and give them a Christian significance."—Authur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, 1928, p. 145.  -"Remains of the struggle [between the religion of Christianity and the religion of Mithraism] are found in two institutions adopted from its rival by Christianity in the fourth century, the two Mithraic sacred days: December 25, ‘dies natalis solis’ [birthday of the sun], as the birthday of Jesus,—and Sunday, ‘the venerable day of the Sun,’ as Constantine called it in his edict of 321."—Walter Woodburn Hyde, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, p. 60…………….

And to conclude with these words from M.E.Walsh:  -"It is not strange that Sunday is almost universally observed when the Sacred Writings do not endorse it? Satan, the great counterfeiter, worked through the ‘mystery of iniquity’ to introduce a counterfeit Sabbath to take the place of the true Sabbath. Sunday stands side by side with Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Whitsunday, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Soul’s Day, Christmas Day, and a host of other ecclesiastical feast days too numerous to mention. This array of Roman Catholic feasts and fast days are all man made. None of them bears the divine credentials of the Author of the Inspired Word."—M. E. Walsh………….

With this in mind you will easily see who has the “mark”, “sign” of יהוה or from the beast.  Exo 31:1 and יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,  Exo 31:2 “See, I have called by name Betsal’ĕl son of Uri, son of Ḥur, of the tribe of Yehuḏah, Exo 31:3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of Elohim in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all work, Exo 31:4 to make designs for work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, Exo 31:5 and in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, and to work in all work. Exo 31:6 “And I, look I have appointed with him Oholiaḇ son of Aḥisamaḵ, of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom in the hearts of everyone who is wise-hearted, and they shall make all that I have commanded you: Exo 31:7 the Tent of Meeting, and the ark of the Witness and the lid of atonement that is on it, and all the utensils of the Tent, Exo 31:8 and the table and its utensils, and the clean gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, Exo 31:9 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, Exo 31:10 and the woven garments, and the set-apart garments for Aharon the priest and the garments of his sons, for serving as priests, Exo 31:11 and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the Set-apart Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they are to do.”

Exo 31:12 and יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Exo 31:13 “and you, speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign¹ between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה, am setting you apart. Footnote: ¹The only sign of יהוה setting us apart, the only sign of the everlasting covenant, is His Sabbaths, one of them being the seventh day Sabbath. This is repeated in Ezek. 20:12 & 20.

Exo 31:14 ‘And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall certainly be put to death, for anyone who does work on it, that being shall be cut off from among his people. Exo 31:15 ‘Six days work is done, and on the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, set-apart to יהוה. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death.

Exo 31:16 ‘And the children of Yisra’ĕl shall guard the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Exo 31:17 ‘Between Me and the children of Yisra’ĕl it is a sign forever, for in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ” Exo 31:18 and when He had ended speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Mosheh two tablets of the Witness, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.

The Shabbat a sign between יהוה and Israel forever!...............

Forever: Strong’s H5769 Olam עלם  ....‛ôlâm

BDB Definition:  1) long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world.  1a) ancient time, long time (of past).  1b) (of future).  1b1) for ever, always.  1b2) continuous existence, perpetual.  1b3) everlasting, indefinite or unending future, eternity.  ......

Chapter 32: We step back to Moshe departure to the Mountain. Here again we are trying to see if we find parallel with what the Brit HaChadasha teach.

Verse1………..the people saw that Moshe was long in coming down……..Who is Moshe, is he not a picture of our Master יהושע Messiah? 

2Pe 3:3 knowing this first: that mockers shall come in the last days with mocking, walking according to their own lusts,  2Pe 3:4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as from the beginning of creation.”Where did Moshe went, was he not going up to meet Yehovah on the top of the Mountain? And how was it with Messiah Yehoshua, went he not up to the Father? What did the people said concerning Moshe?

Exo 32:1 and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us elohim, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. ………………

The Hebrew word for “delay” is:

Strong’s #H954 בּוּשׁ Bush Boosh …A primitive root; properly to pale, that is, by implication to be ashamed; also (by implication) to be disappointed, or delayed: - (be, make, bring to, cause, put to, with, a-) shame (-d), be (put to) confounded (-fusion), become dry, delay, be long. 

So we could read:  

Exo 32:1 and when the people saw that Moses didn’t came down out of the mount they were disappointed, and gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us elohim, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. ……………..

What do we read in the Epistle of Kefa? 

2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 2Pe 3:4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation………

Most of people today do not believe on a physical return of Messiah Yehoshua? :

Act 1:10 and while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Act 1:11 which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Yehoshua, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. ………..

Do you believe He will? Then stand fast and wait for he will not delay but come at the appointed time.  Do you know that today, many Christians from divers denomination do not believe in a literal return of יהושע Messiah?  I have seen people making joke in French TV concerning those waiting for the return of יהושע! People who boast about things they cannot even grasp because they have been sealed for the day of destruction.  Another interesting point to look at:  Moshe went up for 40 days. Forty is a pattern of the time between the two advents of Messiah. Here the explanation. The forty days represent 2000 years as it is with the forty years in the wilderness, 40 x 50 (years Yovel/ Jubilee) = 2000. At the end of the forty days, the Children of Israel were disappointed to see again Moshe coming down. After the same pattern Yehoshua went to the Father and will come back as we read in the book of Acts!  Once again we see the limitation of the “carnal man” (children of Israel) in the absence of Moshe. After 40 days they thought that this man, Moshe was disappeared. After having seen so many miracles they were not able to walk by faith:  Faith is a substance build in the inner man by the entrance of the word, the Torah:  Heb 11:1 and belief (faith) is the substance of what is expected (hope), the proof of what is not seen. Heb 11:6 but without belief (faith) it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to Elohim has to believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him

Read also what Shaul writes concerning hope:

Rom 8:24 for in this expectation (hope) we were saved, but expectation (hope) that is seen is not expectation, for when anyone sees, does he expect (hope) it?   Rom 8:25 and if we expect what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance. Rom 8:24 for^G1063 we are saved^G4982 by hope:^G1680 but^G1161 hope^G1680 that is seen^G991 is^G2076 not^G3756 hope:^G1680 for^G1063 what^G3739 a man^G5100 seeth,^G991 why^G5101 doth he yet^G2532 hope for?^G1679 Rom 8:25 but^G1161 if^G1487 we hope for^G1679 that^G3739 we see^G991 not,^G3756 then do we with^G1223 patience^G5281 wait for^G553 it. .........

This was not what the Children of Israel (carnal man) were doing they were in need of their old traditions from Egypt, Mitzrayim. Only three month after having left Mitzrayim they longed again for idolatry.  Are you surprised that today people are still the same. In the all world, people build statute and images for their “gods”. Christianity is full of idols and statutes. Without the Ruach (Spirit), people cannot walk after the spiritual things. 

1Co 2:13 which we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Set-apart Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual matters with spiritual matters.  1Co 2:14 but the natural (carnal) man does not receive the matters of the Spirit of Elohim, for they are foolishness to him, and he is unable to know them, because they are spiritually discerned (hidden).  Do you remember those who get the Ruach HaQodesh of Elohim?

Act 5:32 “And we are His witnesses to these matters, and so also is the Set-apart Spirit whom Elohim has given to those who obey Him.”…………….

To those who obey Him! This is really amazing to me, when we see today so many people claiming to have the Ruach HaQodesh and to do so “mighty” things by the “Holy ghost”!

In this chapter it is amazing to see that Aharon accepted to make the “Golden Calf”!  Tradition says that Aharon knew that he alone was not able to stop the people, so he made the golden calf in order to intercede for them.

יהוה is angry at the children of Israel (carnal man) and do not call them “His people”  יהוה said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim.  Moshe first reaction is to remind יהוה of His promise; he doesn’t take anything on himself: 

Exo 32:13 “Remember Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yisra’ĕl, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I increase your seed like the stars of the heavens. And all this land that I have spoken of I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”Moshe went down with the tablets written on both sides .  

Verse 16…….the tablets were the work of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim engraved on the tablets. 

Verse 19…….Mosheh’s displeasure burned, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.  The Mountain is the place where Elohim came down to speak to Moshe, and we should see the spiritual aspect of Moshe’s action. 

We read chapter : Exo 31:18 and when He had ended speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Mosheh two tablets of the Witness, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.

Here a commentary from Keil and Delitzsch:  Both the choice of stone as the material for the tables, and the fact that the writing was engraved, were intended to indicate the imperishable duration of these words of God. The divine origin of the tables, as well as of the writing, corresponded to the direct proclamation of the ten words to the people from the summit of the mountain by the mouth of God. As this divine promulgation was a sufficient proof that they were the immediate word of God, unchanged by the mouth and speech of man, so the writing of God was intended to secure their preservation in Israel as a holy and inviolable thing. The writing itself was not a greater miracle than others, by which God has proved Himself to be the Master of nature, to whom all things that He has created are subservient for the establishment and completion of His kingdom upon earth; and it can easily be conceived of without the anthropomorphic supposition of a material finger being possessed by God...........

Here the spiritual interpretation:  The two tablets of stone represented the heart conditions of the children of Israel (carnal man). The prophet Yechezk’el make things plain and write pointing back to the Ten Commandments written on the Tablets of stone: Eze 11:18 “And they shall go there, and shall take away all its disgusting matters and all its abominations from there.  Eze 11:19 “And I shall give them one heart, and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,   This is the clear allusion to the tablets of stone representing the heart of the children of Israel....Eze 36:26 “And I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh,  Eze 36:27 and put My Spirit within you. And I shall cause you to walk in My laws and guard My right-rulings (mishpat) and shall do them...........We see here that the removing of the “stony heart” is connected with the receiving of the Ruach HaQodesh to cause those who receive it to walk in the Torah and keep the commandments.....Joh 14:15 “If you love Me, you shall guard My commands....

Verse 20……. and made the children of Yisra’ĕl drinks it. ………….

Keil and Delitzsch have following explanation:  The dust, which consisted of particles of charcoal and gold, he then strewed upon the water,” or, according to Deuteronomy, “threw it into the brook which flowed down from the mountain, and made the children of Israel drink,” i.e., compelled them to drink the dust that had been thrown in along with the water of the brook. The object of this was certainly not to make them ashamed, by showing them the worthlessness of their god, and humiliating them by such treatment as compelling them to swallow their own god (as Knobel supposes). It was intended rather to set forth in a visible manner both the sin and its consequences. The sin was poured as it were into their bowels along with the water, as a symbolical sign that they would have to bear it and atone for it, just as a woman who was suspected of adultery was obliged to drink the curse-water (Num_5:24).................

Verses 21-24 again we read from keil and Delitzsch:

After the calf had been destroyed, Moses called Aaron to account. “What has this people done to thee (“done” in a bad sense, as in Gen_27:45; Exo_13:11), that thou hast brought a great sin upon it?” Even if Aaron had merely acted from weakness in carrying out the will of the people, he was the most to blame, for not having resisted the urgent entreaty of the people firmly and with strong faith, and even at the cost of his life. Consequently he could think of nothing better than the pitiful subterfuge, “Be not angry, my Master (he addresses Moses in this way on account of his office, and because of his anger, cf. Num_12:11): thou knowest the people, that it is in wickedness” (cf. 1Jo_5:19), and the admission that he had been overcome by the urgency of the people, and had thrown the gold they handed him into the fire, and that this calf had come out (Exo_32:22-24), as if the image had come out of its own accord, without his intention or will. This excuse was so contemptible that Moses did not think it worthy of a reply, at the same time, as he told the people afterwards (Deu_9:20), he averted the great wrath of YHWH from him through his intercession..................

Aharon knew his brother as an intercessor before Elohim on behalf of the children of Israel (carnal man).

 1Jn 2:1 My little children, I write this to you, so that you do not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, יהושע Messiah, a righteous One.  When Moshe came down he takes a decision he was angry and took the decision to destroy evil: 

Verse 26…………“Who is for יהוה? Come to me.” And all the sons of Lĕwi gathered themselves to him. The Levites were the descendants of Levi the son of Ya’acov. They were chosen to carry out the priesthood. They were responsible for the service in the tabernacle and for teaching the people in the Torah. In another parasha I explain why Yehovah chose the Levites for priesthood.  The golden Calf: I dare to explain the spiritual picture this way: I have say in another Parasha that the forty years in the wilderness reflect the two thousand years since Messiah came.

Fifty Yovel (one Yovel/Jubilee equal fifty years) equal two thousand years.  The golden calf reflects idolatry which is also spiritual adultery. Since almost two thousand years Christianity is built on idolatry. Moshe a forerunner of יהושע took the levites (Priest) to slain the idolaters.

Who are the Priest today and who is the prophet like Moshe (D’varim 18:15)?  1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Rev 5:10 and hast made us unto our Elohim kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Idolatry to be destroyed: Rev 17:1 and there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:  Rev 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication (spiritual adultery), and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Rev 18:1 and after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

Rev 18:2 and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev 18:3 for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (spiritual adultery), and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the bundance of her delicacies. Rev 18:4 and I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Rev 18:5 for her sins have reached unto heaven, and YHWH hath remembered her iniquities. ..Is the golden Calf a picture of this whoredom?

Let us read more to see who the great whore is! Rev 17:1 and there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters (nations): Rev 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Rev 17:3 so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Rev 17:4 and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: Rev 17:5 and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. ……….

Let us compare with what the prophet Yechezk’El writes: 

Eze 16:1 again the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, Eze 16:2  Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, Eze 16:3 and say, Thus saith the Master YHWH unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. Eze 16:4 and as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. Eze 16:5 none eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. Eze 16:6  And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. Eze 16:7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Eze 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Master YHWH, and thou becamest mine. Eze 16:9  Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. Eze 16:10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. Eze 16:11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. Eze 16:12 and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Eze 16:13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. Eze 16:14 and thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Master YHWH. Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. Eze 16:16 and of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, Eze 16:18 and tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.  Eze 16:19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Master YHWH. Eze 16:20  Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, Eze 16:21  That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? Eze 16:22 and in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. Eze 16:23 and it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Master YHWH;) Eze 16:24 that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

Eze 16:25 thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. Eze 16:26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. Eze 16:27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. Eze 16:28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. Eze 16:29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. Eze 16:30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Master YHWH, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; Eze 16:31  In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; Eze 16:32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! Eze 16:33  They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. Eze 16:34 and the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.  Eze 16:35 wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of YHWH: Eze 16:36 Thus saith the Master YHWH; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Eze 16:37  Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. Eze 16:38 and I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. Eze 16:39 and I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. Eze 16:40  They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. Eze 16:41  and they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. Eze 16:42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. Eze 16:43 because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Master YHWH: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. Eze 16:44 behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Eze 16:45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite…………………..

The Levites guardians of the truth, which is the Torah;Neh 8:9 and Neḥemyah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Lĕwites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is set-apart to יהוה your Elohim. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Torah. …………The people were weeping because the rediscover the Torah after having been in captivity among the babylonians. 

Deu 24:8 “Take heed, in an outbreak of leprosy, to diligently guard and do according to all that the priests, the Lĕwites, teach you. As I have commanded them, so you shall guard to do.

The Levites were the guardians of the truth, which is the Torah;  Verse 27 ……… and each one slay his brother, and each one his friend, and each one his relative……….Do you think it was an old doctrine, not for us today? This is the spiritual interpretation:

Mar 10:29 יהושע said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for the sake of Me and the Good News, Mar 10:30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, everlasting life. Verse 29………. Mosheh said, “You are ordained for יהוה today – since each one has been against his son and his brother – so as to bring upon you a blessing today.”………..

We can compare with Saul attitude when Sh’muel gave him and order from יהוה:

1Sa 15:3 ‘Now go, and you shall smite Amalĕq and put under the ban all that he has, and you shall not spare them, and put to death from man to woman, from infant to nursing child, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.’ ”1Sa 15:9 but Sha’ul and the people spared Aḡaḡ and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not put them under the ban. 1Sa 15:13 and Shemu’ĕl came to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul said to him, “Blessed are you of יהוה! I have performed the word of יהוה.”1Sa 15:14 but Shemu’ĕl said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear?” 1Sa 15:15 and Sha’ul said, “They have brought them from Amalĕq, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to slaughter to יהוה your Elohim. And the rest we have put under the ban.” 1Sa 15:19 “And why did you not obey the voice of יהוה, but swooped down on the spoil, and did evil in the eyes of יהוה?” 1Sa 15:20 and Sha’ul said to Shemu’ĕl, “I did obey the voice of יהוה, and I went on the way on which יהוה sent me, and brought back Aḡaḡ sovereign of Amalĕq, and I put Amalĕq under the ban. 1Sa 15:21 “But the people took of the spoil, of the sheep and cattle, the best of that which should have been put under the ban, to slaughter to יהוה your Elohim in Gilgal.” 1Sa 15:22 Then Shemu’ĕl said, “Does יהוה delight in burnt offerings and slaughterings, as in obeying the voice of יהוה? Look, to obey is better than an offering, to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1Sa 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of יהוה, He also does reject you as sovereign.” 1Sa 15:32 and Shemu’ĕl said, “Bring Aḡaḡ sovereign of the Amalĕqites here to me.” So Aḡaḡ came to him delightedly, and Aḡaḡ said, “Truly, the bitterness of death has turned aside.” 1Sa 15:33 and Shemu’ĕl said, “As your sword bereaved women, let your mother be bereaved among women too.” Shemu’ĕl then hewed Aḡaḡ to pieces before יהוה in Gilgal. …………

Shemu’el says that to obey is greater than an offering! Who are priest today? Are we not those who have been chosen to carry out the priesthood after the order of Melchitzedek, following our High Priest יהושע Messiah,  Rev 5:10 and made us sovereigns (kings) and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the earth.”Rev 20:4 and I saw thrones – and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them – and the lives of those who had been beheaded because of the witness they bore to יהושע and because of the Word of Elohim (Torah), and who did not worship the beast, nor his image, and did not receive his mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands. and they lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years

Verse 28……… And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. …………….

On this day 3000 people were killed and died. Now let us that when יהוה make restoration he does it according to His perfect knowledge in order for His people to see!..........Act 2:38 and Kĕpha said to them, “Repent, and let each one of you be immersed in the Name of יהושע Messiah for the forgiveness of sins.¹ And you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit. Act 2:39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as יהוה our Elohim shall call.” Act 2:40 and with many other words he earnestly witnessed and urged them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.”.   

Act 2:41 Then those, indeed, who gladly received his word, were immersed. And on that day about three thousand beings were added to them. …..

Don’t think this is a coincidence for this happen at the same time. The first was just after the children of Israel (carnal man) received the Ten Commandments, the second just after they received the Ruach HaQodesh both events during the time of Shavuot (Pentecost).

Verses 30-34. …….. You, you have sinned a great sin. And now I am going up to יהוה – if I might atone for your sin……………… Whoever has sinned against Me, I blot him out of My book. …………. in the day of My visitation I shall visit their sin upon them.”

I might atone for your sin, I blot him out of my books, and in the day of my visitation I shall visit their sin.  We shall first see that the word “sin” is singular and it is the “sin of idolatry”, which is the worst of all sin, because it implies the rejection of יהוה to turn to another “g-d”. The first commandment is to acknowledge that יהוה is Elohim and NO OTHER. (Sh’mot 20:2).  Which book?  According to tradition it is believed that there are three books: Dan 7:10 “A stream of fire was flowing and coming forth from His presence, and a thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, the Judge was seated, and the books (plural) were opened.  Mal 3:16 Then shall those who fear יהוה speak to one another, and יהוה listen and hear, and a book of remembrance be written before Him, of those who fear יהוה, and those who think upon His Name……..Php 4:3 and I also ask you, true companion, help these women who laboured with me in the Good News, with Qlemes also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Rev 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be dressed in white robes, and I shall by no means blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I shall confess his name before My Father and before His messengers.  Exo 32:1 and when the people saw that Mosheh was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aharon, and said to him, “Arise, make us mighty ones who go before us. For this Mosheh, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.” Exo 32:2 and Aharon said to them, “Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Exo 32:3 “And all the people took off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon. Exo 32:4 and he took this from their hand, and he formed it with an engraving tool, and made a moulded calf. And they said, “This is your mighty one (Elohim), O Yisra’ĕl, that brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!” Exo 32:5 and Aharon saw and built an altar before it. And Aharon called out and said, “Tomorrow is a festival to יהוה.” Exo 32:6 And they rose early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Exo 32:7 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves. Exo 32:8 “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have bowed themselves to it and slaughtered to it, and said, ‘This is your mighty one (Elohim), O Yisra’ĕl, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!’ ” Exo 32:9 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “I have seen this people, and see, it is a stiff-necked people! Exo 32:10 “And now, let Me alone, that My wrath might burn against them and I consume them and I make of you a great nation.” Exo 32:11 But Mosheh pleaded with יהוה his Elohim, and said, “יהוה, why does Your wrath burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Mitsrayim with great power and with a strong hand? Exo 32:12 “Why should the Mitsrites speak, and say, ‘For evil He brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from the heat of Your wrath, and relent from this evil to Your people. Exo 32:13 “Remember Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yisra’ĕl, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I increase your seed like the stars of the heavens. And all this land that I have spoken of I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” Exo 32:14 and יהוה relented from the evil which He said He would do to His people. Exo 32:15 And Mosheh turned and went down from the mountain, and in his hand were the two tablets of the Witness, tablets written on both their sides, written on the one and on the other. Exo 32:16 and the tablets were the work of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim engraved on the tablets. Exo 32:17 and Yehoshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted and he said to Mosheh, “A noise of battle in the camp!”

Exo 32:18 But he said, “It is not the sound of those who shout of might, nor is it the sound of those who cry out in weakness, but the sound of singing that I hear.” Exo 32:19 and it came to be, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw

 the calf and the dancing. And Mosheh’s displeasure burned, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Exo 32:20 and he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it into powder, and scattered it on the face of the water and made the children of Yisra’ĕl drink it. Exo 32:21 and Mosheh said to Aharon, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” Exo 32:22 and Aharon said, “Do not let the displeasure of my master burn. You know the people, that it is in evil. Exo 32:23 “And they said to me, ‘Make us mighty ones who go before us. For this Mosheh, the man who brought us out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.’ Exo 32:24 “And I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let them take it off.’ And they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” Exo 32:25 and Mosheh saw that the people were let loose, for Aharon had let them loose, to their shame among their enemies. Exo 32:26 and Mosheh stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Who is for יהוה? Come to me.” and all the sons of Lĕwi gathered themselves to him. Exo 32:27 and he said to them, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl: ‘Each one put his sword on his side, pass over to and fro from gate to gate in the camp, and each one slay his brother, and each one his friend, and each one his relative.’ ” Exo 32:28 and the sons of Lĕwi did according to the word of Mosheh. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

Exo 32:29 And Mosheh said, “You are ordained for יהוה today – since each one has been against his son and his brother – so as to bring upon you a blessing today.” Exo 32:30 and it came to be on the next day that Mosheh said to the people, “You, you have sinned a great sin. And now I am going up to יהוה – if I might atone for your sin.” Exo 32:31 And Mosheh returned to יהוה and said, “Oh, these people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves a mighty one (Elohim) of gold!

Exo 32:32 “And now, if You would forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out of Your book which You have written.”

Exo 32:33 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I blot him out of My book. Exo 32:34 “And now, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. See, My Messenger goes before you. And in the day of My visitation I shall visit their sin upon them.” Exo 32:35 and יהוה plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aharon made.

Chapter 33…………

Verse 2…. I shall drive out the Kenaʽanite and the Amorite and the Ḥittite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite and the Yeḇusite, ……..There is more than simple name, you can read at the end of the Parasha the spiritual interpretation for each name, which I found from somebody I forgot the name and to whom go the honor for the good work he did in researching. After having read the meaning of the name of this nations, you will understand why יהוה want the children of Israel (carnal man) to destroy them, natural for spiritual, beside the fact that this nations were all idolaters and make blood sacrifice from children to their “mighty ones”…..

יהוה is still angry with His people and Moshe raise his tent outside the camp! Is there any spiritual understanding to see in this verse?Compare:  Hos 5:14 “For I am like a lion to Ephrayim, and like a young lion to the house of Yehuḏah. I Myself tear them and go, I take them away, and there is no one to deliver.

Hos 5:15 “I shall go, I shall return to My place, until they confess their guilt and seek My face, in their distress diligently search for Me, and say,

Hos 6:1 ‘Come, and let us turn back to יהוה. For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up. Hos 6:2 ‘After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him.

When יהושע came, it was to establish יהוה’s Kingdom, but the people didn’t repented, the Pharisee kept their position and so יהושע went back to יהוה until the day appointed for the restoration of all things (after two days or seven from creation), and he will raise us up to live before Him (Elohim)(on the third day; or eight days from creation)…….

Verse 20…….. You are unable to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.”

Compare: 

Joh 1:18 No one has ever seen Elohim.¹ The only brought-forth Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He did declare.....

Joh 5:37 “And the Father who sent Me, He bore witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  1Ti 6:16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or is able to see, to whom be respect and everlasting might. Amĕn.  ....

Exo 33:1 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Come, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Mitsrayim, to the land of which I swore to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ, saying, ‘To your seed I give it.’Exo 33:2 “And I shall send My Messenger before you, and I shall drive out the Kenaʽanite and the Amorite and the Ḥittite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite and the Yeḇusite, Exo 33:3 to a land flowing with milk and honey. For I do not go up in your midst because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.” Exo 33:4 and when the people heard this evil word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. Exo 33:5 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Say to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. Should I go up in your midst for one moment I shall consume you. And now, take off your ornaments, and I shall know what to do to you.’ ” Exo 33:6 So the children of Yisra’ĕl took off their ornaments at Mount Ḥorĕḇ. Exo 33:7 And Mosheh took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tent of Meeting. And it came to be that everyone who sought יהוה went out to the Tent of Meeting which was outside the camp. Exo 33:8 and it came to be, whenever Mosheh went out to the Tent, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Mosheh until he entered the Tent. Exo 33:9 and it came to be, when Mosheh entered the Tent, that the column of cloud descended and stood at the door of the Tent, and He spoke with Mosheh. Exo 33:10 and all the people saw the column of cloud standing at the Tent door, and all the people rose and bowed themselves, each one at the door of his tent. Exo 33:11 Thus יהוה spoke to Mosheh face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Yehoshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the Tent. Exo 33:12 and Mosheh said to יהוה, “See, You are saying to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not made known to me whom You would send with me, though You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favour in My eyes.’ Exo 33:13 “And now, please, if I have found favour in Your eyes, please show me Your way, and let me know You, so that I find favour in Your eyes. And consider that this nation is Your people.” Exo 33:14 and He said, “My Presence does go, and I shall give you rest.” Exo 33:15 and he said to Him, “If Your Presence is not going, do not lead us up from here. Exo 33:16 “For how then shall it be known that I have found favour in Your eyes, I and Your people, except You go with us? Then we shall be distinguished, I and Your people, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” Exo 33:17 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Even this word you have spoken I shall do, for you have found favour in My eyes, and I know you by name.” Exo 33:18 Then he said, “Please, show me Your esteem.(Glory)” Exo 33:19 and He said, “I shall cause all My goodness to pass before you, and I shall proclaim the Name of יהוה before you. And I shall favour him whom I favour, and shall have compassion on him whom I have compassion.” Exo 33:20 but He said, “You are unable to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.” Exo 33:21 and יהוה said, “See, there is a place with Me! And you shall stand on the rock. Exo 33:22 “And it shall be, while My esteem(glory) passes by, that I shall put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand while I pass by. Exo 33:23 “Then I shall take away My hand and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Chapter 34…..

The first tablets were the work of Elohim’s hands (Chap.32:16, 19). Now this time, it is Moshe who hews the table and Elohim who write. The tablets reflect the heart’s condition in rebellion against Elohim in the five first commandments, and against the neighbors, the last five commandments.  

Verses 2-17: Elohim call Moshe to himself and reveal is nature to him (verses 6-7). 

Verse 10, Elohim proclaims a covenant, in Hebrew “Brit” Strong’s# H1262, to select, to choose, to render clear.

There are nations in number of six, the number of man that Elohim will drive out of the land. The reason is found in the verses 12-17. To make a covenant with unbelievers or people who do not share our faith, is a snare, which brings trouble in our walk with Elohim. We must completely “destroy”, “eradicate” all influences coming from outside (the world)……2Co 6:14 Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? 2Co 6:15 and what agreement has Messiah with Beliyaʽal? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? 2Co 6:16 and what union has the Dwelling Place of Elohim with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Elohim, as Elohim has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.”.....Here we can see that Sha’ul was divinely inspired to write to the Corinthians. Unfortunately today, is the reign of the Greek spirit of “humanism”: Everybody as the right to do what seems right to them, we are all equal, same right for everybody, women have the same right as men……..we fall into trouble when following the desire of the flesh (carnal man)…..

8-26.13………. and cut down their Ashĕrim

– Keil and Delitzsch give us following information:

The warning against friendship with the idolatrous Canaanites (Exo_34:11-16) is more fully developed and more strongly enforced than in Exo_23:23. The Israelites, when received into the covenant with Jehovah, were not only to beware of forming any covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan (cf. Exo_23:32-33), but were to destroy all the signs of their idolatrous worship, such as altars, monuments (see Exo_23:24), and asherim, the idols of Astarte, the Canaanitish goddess of nature, which consisted for the most part of wooden pillars (see my Comm. on 1Ki_14:23), and to worship no other god, because Jehovah was called jealous, i.e., had revealed Himself as jealous (see at Exo_20:5), and was a jealous God. This was commanded, that the Israelites might not suffer themselves to be led astray by such an alliance; to go a whoring after their gods, and sacrifice to them, to take part in their sacrificial festivals, or to marry their sons to the daughters of the Canaanites, by whom they would be persuaded to join in the worship of idols. The use of the expression “go a whoring” in a spiritual sense, in relation to idolatry, is to be accounted for on the ground, that the religious fellowship of Israel with Jehovah was a covenant resembling the marriage tie; and we meet with it for the first time, here, immediately after the formation of this covenant between Israel and Jehovah. The phrase is all the more expressive on account of the literal prostitution that was frequently associated with the worship of Baal and Astarte (cf. Lev_17:7; Lev_20:5-6; Num_14:33, etc.). We may see from Num_25:1. how Israel was led astray by this temptation in the wilderness.

Thus we see that whoredom is directly associated with a relationship between people and a pagan “g-d”, pointing to “adultery”: Mar 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinning generation, of him the Son of Aḏam also shall be ashamed when He comes in the esteem of His Father with the set-apart messengers.” .....

We can see clearly that יהושע is speaking of whoredom with strange “g-ds”!   We find now verses 18-27 to the Feast of יהוה. The first is the Feast of Unleavened bread in the month of Abib, the first month of the year, according to the time the children of Israel (carnal man) left Mitzrayim (Egypt), when the barley is ripe. This first Feast like the other one is directly linked to the agricultural move of the year. In this way יהוה could teach His people: Good walk according to the Torah was equal to a good harvest. This was pointing to the time of Messiah called “mystery”, because it is not seen in the literal text.  The children of Israel rejected the Shemita observance during 490 years, therefore יהוה had to send them for 70 years into captivity, in order that the land had its rest .....

Jer 25:11 ‘And all this land shall be a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the sovereign of Baḇel seventy years.Jer 29:10 “For thus said יהוה, ‘When seventy years are completed, at Baḇel I shall visit you and establish My good word toward you, to bring you back to this place. 

Dan 9:2 in the first year of his reign I, Dani’ĕl, observed (read understood) from the Scriptures the number of the years, according to the word of יהוה given to Yirmeyah the prophet, for the completion of the wastes of Yerushalayim would be seventy years.

Dan 9:3 So I set my face toward יהוה the Elohim to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. Dan 9:4 and I prayed to יהוה my Elohim, and made confession, and said, “O יהוה, great and awesome Ěl, guarding the covenant and the kindness to those who love Him, and to those who guard His commands.

Dan 9:5 “We have sinned and did crookedness, and did wrong and rebelled, to turn aside from Your commands and from Your right-rulings (mishpat). Dan 9:6 “And we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our sovereigns, our heads, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

The Feast of Unleavened bread (v.18) mark the deliverance from the power of sin in our life 5Rom. 6:3-13, 2^nd Corint. 5:21, Heb.9:28)……….

21. Shabbat is to be kept even during sowing and harvest time no work even during harvest…..22. The Feast of weeks coming seven Shabbats after the Feast of Unleavened bread, is the feast marked by the wheat harvest, representing the period of the outpouring of the Ruach HaQodesh (Set apart Spirit) (Acts 2);

22………but the Feast of ingathering at the year’s end…..

The Feats of יהוה occur between the first month, Abib, and the seventh month of Elohim’s calendar, the month of Etanim often called Tishrei, name coming from the Babylonian captivity. This time frame was prophetic of the coming events with Messiah coming in the name of יהושע of Nazareth and ending with the last harvest at the second coming of Messiah to establish יהוה Kingdom on earth at the end of the age.  The feats of יהוה are extended in a seven month period reflecting יהוה’ plan of salvation of seven thousand years.  23. Thrice a year shall man come to Jerusalem!   

The reason is given in the answer verse 24:

for I dispossess nations before you, and shall enlarge your borders, and let no one covet your land when you go up to appear before יהוה your Elohim three times in the year.  26……… Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk

The interdiction is due to the fact that it was an Egyptian tradition for pagan fertility practice.  29…….. Mosheh did not know that the skin of his face shone since he had spoken with Him. 30-35. The veil before Moshe’s face represent the lack of faith /trust of the people who couldn’t behold to look at Moshe who was so close to Elohim. 

2Co 3:13 and not like Mosheh, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Yisra’ĕl should not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 2Co 3:14 But their minds were hardened, for to this day, when the old covenant is being read, that same veil remains, not lifted, because in Messiah it is taken away.

2Co 3:15 but to this day, when Mosheh is being read, a veil lies on their heart. 2Co 3:16 and when one turns to the Master, the veil is taken away. ........

Again we see in Sha’ul’s explanation the spiritual behind the natural.

Today our brethren from Yehudah cannot see because the veil is still upon their heart until יהוה remove it when the fullness of the nations is come in (Rom. 11:25-26). In the Haftorah Yechezk’El 36:16-38, we see the promise of Elohim to change the heart of the people...........

Exo 34:1  And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I shall write on these tablets the Words that were on the first tablets which you broke. Exo 34:2 “And be ready in the morning. Then you shall come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain.

Exo 34:3 “And let no man come up with you, and let no man be seen in all the mountain, and let not even the flock or the herd feed in front of that mountain.” Exo 34:4 And he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Mosheh rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as יהוה had commanded him, and he took two tablets of stone in his hand. Exo 34:5 And יהוה came down in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name, יהוה. Exo 34:6 And יהוה passed before him and proclaimed, “יהוה, יהוה, an Ěl compassionate and showing favour, patient, and great in kindness and truth, Exo 34:7 watching over kindness for thousands, forgiving crookedness and transgression and sin, but by no means leaving unpunished¹, visiting the crookedness of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Footnote: ¹This is confirmed in Num. 14:18, and in Jer. 30:11.Exo 34:8 And Mosheh hurried and bowed himself toward the earth, and did obeisance, Exo 34:9 and said, “If, now, I have found favour in Your eyes, O יהוה, I pray, let יהוה go on in our midst, even though we are a stiff-necked people. And forgive our crookedness and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”Exo 34:10 And He said, “See, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I am going to do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of יהוה. For what I am doing with you is awesome. Exo 34:11 “Guard what I command you today. See, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Kenaʽanite and the Ḥittite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite and the Yeḇusite. Exo 34:12 “Guard yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. Exo 34:13 “But break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and cut down their Ashĕrim –

Exo 34:14 for you do not bow yourselves to another mighty one(Elohim), for יהוה, whose Name is jealous, is a jealous Ěl –

Exo 34:15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they whore after their mighty ones, and slaughter to their mighty ones, and one of them invites you and you eat of his slaughterings, Exo 34:16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters whore after their mighty ones(Elohim), and make your sons whore after their mighty ones.

Exo 34:17 “Do not make a moulded mighty one for yourselves. Exo 34:18 “Guard the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Aḇiḇ, because in the month of Aḇiḇ you came out from Mitsrayim. Exo 34:19 “Everyone opening the womb is Mine, and every male first-born among your livestock, whether bull or sheep. Exo 34:20 “But the first-born of a donkey you ransom with a lamb. And if you do not ransom, then you shall break his neck. Every first-born of your sons you shall ransom. And they shall not appear before Me empty-handed. Exo 34:21 “Six days you work, but on the seventh day you rest – in ploughing time and in harvest you rest. Exo 34:22 “And perform the Festival of Weeks for yourself, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.Exo 34:23 “Three times in the year all your men are to appear before the Master, יהוה, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, Exo 34:24 for I dispossess nations before you, and shall enlarge your borders, and let no one covet your land when you go up to appear before יהוה your Elohim three times in the year. Exo 34:25 “Do not offer the blood of My slaughtering with leaven, and do not let the slaughtering of the Festival of the Passover remain until morning. Exo 34:26 “Bring the first of the first-fruits of your land to the House of יהוה your Elohim. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Exo 34:27 and יהוה said to Mosheh, “Write these Words, for according to the mouth of these Words I have made a covenant with you and with Yisra’ĕl.” Exo 34:28 and he was there with יהוה forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread and he did not drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the Words of the covenant, the Ten Words. Exo 34:29 and it came to be, when Mosheh came down from Mount Sinai, while the two tablets of the Witness were in Mosheh’s hand when he came down from the mountain, that Mosheh did not know that the skin of his face shone since he had spoken with Him. Exo 34:30 and Aharon and all the children of Yisra’ĕl looked at Mosheh and saw the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Exo 34:31 but Mosheh called out to them, and Aharon and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Mosheh spoke to them. Exo 34:32 and afterward all the children of Yisra’ĕl came near, and he commanded them all that יהוה had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. Exo 34:33 and when Mosheh ended speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. Exo 34:34 But whenever Mosheh went in before יהוה to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out he spoke to the children of Yisra’ĕl what he had been commanded, Exo 34:35 and the children of Yisra’ĕl would see the face of Mosheh, that the skin of Mosheh’s face shone, and Mosheh would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him. ……………

To conclude I add a comment on today’s parasha from a brother from Yehudah Derek Lehman giving another aspect of the parasha

The Meaning of the Mishkan.

The most important issues in the Tabernacle, understood within the Hebrew Bible and its culture, are:–The dwelling of God.–Holiness, purity, and sacrifice.–Drawing near to God.

All of these themes come from the text itself, not human imagination, and relate to the culture of Israel and the Ancient Near East. The clear message of the tabernacle is that God cannot simply be approached on human terms. God’s holiness is fatal to sinful men. His presence dwells within an inner chamber of the tabernacle, approachable only once a year by the High Priest with blood and incense. The closer you move to the inner chamber where God’s presence dwells, the fewer people who can enter:

• In front of the courtyard … Anyone can come near.

• Inside the courtyard … Only those bringing offerings or doing the priestly work may enter.

• Inside the tent … Only the priests doing the work of the tabernacle may enter.

• Inside the Holy of Holies … No one may enter.

This message of the tabernacle does relate to Messiah. Messiah’s death and resurrection are the means which make it possible for man to dwell with God. The idea that man is not capable of being in God’s direct presence without purification flows from the Torah into New Testament teaching.

The concepts of purity abound in the tabernacle. Priests must wash before entering the tent. Sacrificial blood must be dashed against the altar and sometimes in the tent and once a year in the Holy of Holies. The purity laws of Israel have to do with God’s holiness. He is separate from sin and death (all purity laws relate to death or the loss of life). He is the God of righteousness and life.So Messiah can be understood in this way. His death is a purification, not of the altar or the sanctuary as in Leviticus, but of the follower of God, of Israel, of the nations. Every person is in need of a personal purification….God’s dwelling with his people is central to the tabernacle. The whole land of Israel, with the tabernacle as the spiritual center, is holy. God dwells in the tabernacle so that the people may sense their nearness to him. Yet the sins and impurities of the people pollute the tabernacle and must be continually cleansed with sacrifices. All that can be accomplished through this system is the people being able to draw near to God hidden in a tent.....This relates to Messiah’s work as well, for the idea must occur that if we are to live with God in the Age to Come, something better than the tabernacle must come. Instead of God dwelling in a tent, hidden from direct contact, there must be some way for us to directly live with him. This is where Messiah’s redemption is seen to be superior and the next step from the work of the tabernacle.....

Finally, the tabernacle is about humankind drawing near to God. God made us in his image and to have relationship with him. The tabernacle is the place to which the Israelites came for three annual festivals (Passover, Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkot (Tabernacles)) to worship before God and enjoy his provision in a great feast.

This too is made complete in Messiah, who brings us near to God. Through him, we will worship God in the Age to come directly and without separation.

Haftorah

1Ki 18:1 and after many days it came to be that the word of יהוה came to Ěliyahu, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Aḥaḇ, and I give rain on the earth.”1Ki 18:2 Thereupon Ěliyahu went to present himself to Aḥaḇ. And the scarcity of food in Shomeron was severe. 1Ki 18:3 and Aḥaḇ had called Oḇaḏyahu, who was over his house. Now Oḇaḏyahu feared יהוה exceedingly. 1Ki 18:4 And it came to be, while Izeḇel cut down the prophets of יהוה, that Oḇaḏyahu had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water. 1Ki 18:5 And Aḥaḇ had said to Oḇaḏyahu, “Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis, it could be that we find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, and not have any livestock cut off. 1Ki 18:6 And they divided the land between them to pass over it, Aḥaḇ went one way by himself, and Oḇaḏyahu went another way by himself. 1Ki 18:7 And as Oḇaḏyahu was on his way, then see, Ěliyahu met him. And he ecognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my master Ěliyahu?” 1Ki 18:8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Ěliyahu is here.’ ” 1Ki 18:9 And he said, “What have I sinned, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Aḥaḇ, to kill me? 1Ki 18:10 “As יהוה your Elohim lives, there is no nation or reign where my master has not sent to look for you. And when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the reign or nation swears that they could not find you. 1Ki 18:11 “And now you say, ‘Go, say to your master, “Ěliyahu is here” ’! 1Ki 18:12 “And it shall be, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of יהוה takes you away to a place I do not know. And I shall come to report to Aḥaḇ, and when he does not find you, he shall kill me. But I your servant have feared יהוה from my youth. 1Ki 18:13 “Was it not reported to my master what I did when Izeḇel slew the prophets of יהוה, how I hid one hundred men of the prophets of יהוה, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 1Ki 18:14 “And now you say, ‘Go, say to your master, “Ěliyahu is here!” ’ Then he shall slay me.” 1Ki 18:15 and Ěliyahu said, “As יהוה of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I shall indeed show myself to him today.” 1Ki 18:16 Oḇaḏyahu then went to meet Aḥaḇ and informed him, and Aḥaḇ went to meet Ěliyahu. 1Ki 18:17 and it came to be, when Aḥaḇ saw Ěliyahu, that Aḥaḇ said to him, “Is that you, O disturber of Yisra’ĕl?” 1Ki 18:18 and he answered, “I have not disturbed Yisra’ĕl, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commands of יהוה, and you have followed the Baʽals. 1Ki 18:19 “And now, send and gather all Yisra’ĕl to me on Mount Karmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baʽal, and the four hundred prophets of Ashĕrah, who eat at Izeḇel’s table.” 1Ki 18:20 Aḥaḇ then sent for all the children of Yisra’ĕl, and gathered the prophets on Mount Karmel. 1Ki 18:21 and Ěliyahu came to all the people, and said, “How long would you keep hopping between two opinions? If יהוה is Elohim, follow Him; and if Baʽal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 1Ki 18:22 And Ěliyahu said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of יהוה, but the prophets of Baʽal are four hundred and fifty men. 1Ki 18:23 “Now let them give us two bulls. And let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but set no fire. And I, I prepare the other bull, and shall lay it on the wood, but set no fire. 1Ki 18:24 “And you shall call on the name of your mighty one, and I, I call on the Name of יהוה. And the Elohim who answers by fire, He is Elohim.” So all the people answered and said, “The word is good.” 1Ki 18:25 And Ěliyahu said to the prophets of Baʽal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many. And call on the name of your mighty one, but set no fire.” 1Ki 18:26 So they took the bull which was given them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baʽal from morning even until noon, saying, “O Baʽal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they had made. 1Ki 18:27 and it came to be at noon, that Ěliyahu taunted them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a mighty one; he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or it could be that he is asleep and has to be awakened!” 1Ki 18:28 and they cried aloud, and cut themselves, according to their ruling, with knives and spears, until the blood gushed out on them (remember the tradition in the Philippines). 

1Ki 18:29 and it came to be when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of bringing the evening offering. But there was no voice and no one answered, and no one paying attention. 1Ki 18:30 Then Ěliyahu said to all the people, “Come closer to me.” And all the people came closer to him. And he repaired the altar of יהוה that was broken down. 1Ki 18:31 and Ěliyahu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Yaʽaqoḇ, to whom the word of יהוה had come, saying, “Yisra’ĕl is your name.” 1Ki 18:32 And with the stones he built an altar in the Name of יהוה. And he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 1Ki 18:33 and he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 1Ki 18:34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 1Ki 18:35 and the water flowed around the altar, and he filled the trench with water too. 1Ki 18:36 and it came to be, at the time of bringing the evening offering, that Ěliyahu the prophet came near and said, “יהוה Elohim of Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yisra’ĕl, let it be known today: You are Elohim in Yisra’ĕl, and I Your servant, have done all these matters by Your word. 1Ki 18:37 “Answer me, O יהוה, answer me, and let this people know that You are יהוה Elohim, and You shall turn their hearts back to You again.” 1Ki 18:38 Then the fire of יהוה fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 1Ki 18:39 and all the people saw, and fell on their faces, and said, “יהוה, He is the Elohim! יהוה, He is the Elohim!” 

Eze 36:16 and the word of יהוה came to me, saying, Eze 36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Yisra’ĕl dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. To Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her monthly period. Eze 36:18 “So I poured out My wrath on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols they defiled it. Eze 36:19 “And I scattered them among the gentiles, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. I have judged them according to their ways and their deeds. Eze 36:20 “And when they came to the gentiles, wherever they went, they profaned My set-apart Name for it was said of them, ‘These are the people of יהוה, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ Eze 36:21 “But I had compassion on My set-apart Name, which the house of Yisra’ĕl had profaned among the gentiles wherever they went. Eze 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Yisra’ĕl, but for My set-apart Name’s sake, which you have profaned among the gentiles wherever you went. Eze 36:23 “And I shall set apart My great Name, which has been profaned among the gentiles (nations), which you have profaned in their midst. And the gentiles shall know that I am יהוה,” declares the Master יהוה, “when I am set-apart in you before their eyes. Eze 36:24 “And I shall take you from among the gentiles (nations), and I shall gather you out of all lands, and I shall bring you into your own land. Eze 36:25 “And I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean – from all your filthiness and from all your idols I cleanse you. Eze 36:26 “And I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh, Eze 36:27 and put My Spirit within you¹. And I shall cause you to walk in My laws and guard My right-rulings and shall do them. Footnote: ¹See 11:19-20, 37:6-14, 39:29.Eze 36:28 “And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be My people, and I shall be your Elohim. Eze 36:29 “And I shall save you from all your uncleannesses. And I shall call for the grain and increase it, and I shall bring no scarcity of food upon you. Eze 36:30 “And I shall increase the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of scarcity of food among the gentiles. Eze 36:31 “And you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own eyes, for your crookednesses and your abominations. Eze 36:32 “Not for your sake am I acting,” declares the Master יהוה, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and blush for your ways, O house of Yisra’ĕl!” Eze 36:33 ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your crookednesses, I shall cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruined places shall be rebuilt, Eze 36:34 and the land that was laid waste tilled instead of being a ruin before the eyes of all who pass by. Eze 36:35 “And they shall say, ‘This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Ěḏen. And the wasted, the deserted, and the destroyed cities are now walled and inhabited.’ Eze 36:36 “Then the gentiles which are left all around you shall know that I, יהוה, have rebuilt the destroyed places and planted what was laid waste. I, יהוה, have spoken it, and I shall do it.” Eze 36:37 ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “Once again I shall let the house of Yisra’ĕl inquire of Me to do for them: I shall increase their men like a flock. Eze 36:38 “As a set-apart flock, as the flock at Yerushalayim at her appointed times, so shall the wasted cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am יהוה.” ’ ”

1Co 8:4 So then, concerning the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol is no matter at all in the world, and that there is no other Elohim but one. 1Co 8:5 for even if there are so-called mighty ones, whether in heaven or on earth – as there are many mighty ones and many masters 

– 1Co 8:6 for us there is one Elohim,¹ the Father, from whom all came and for whom we live, and one Master יהושע Messiah, through whom all came and through whom we live. Footnote: ¹Eph. 4:6, 1 Tim. 2:5, Mk. 12:32,34.1Co 8:7 However, not all have this knowledge. But some, being aware of the idol, until now eat it as having been offered to an idol, so their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 1Co 8:8 But food does not commend us to Elohim, for we are none the better if we eat, nor any worse for not eating. 1Co 8:9 But look to it, lest somehow this right of yours become a stumbling-block to those who are weak. 1Co 8:10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s place, shall not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols? 1Co 8:11 So this weak brother, for whom Messiah died, shall perish through your knowledge! 1Co 8:12 Now sinning in this way against the brothers, and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Messiah. 1Co 8:13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I am never again going to eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. …………………;…….

Spiritual Interpretation of the name of the nations…    

The Enemy within the Land -The Canaanites speak of the influence of the world upon our faith. The name Canaanite means ‘merchant, or trafficker’ and this is exactly what they were. Harpers Bible dictionary states that ‘the Canaanites enjoyed a reputation as traders.’ They lived within the land and were happy to remain there just so long as the trading and profit were good! Do we not see this Canaanite principle all around us in western (Christianity)? The principle of looking ‘religious’ or going to church, simply for what you can get out of it! This may be for monetary gain[1], or social gain… it is Canaanites within the land! How many ‘Christians’, while they would never say it, simply treat God like a Father Christmas to satisfy their every want? How can the ‘name it and claim it, blab it and grab it theology’ take such a hold upon so many believers? Or how could the self-centered ‘Prayer of Jabez’[2] pass itself off as biblical Christianity, and draw in ‘millions of followers’, if you believe the hype, unless the Canaanites are still very much a strong enemy within the hearts of believers?

Compare:2 Kefa 2:1-3, Revelation 18:11-15

The word Amorite means ‘a talker, to say, speak’. It is also interesting to see that it is derived from a word that can be used in the sense of self-boasting or commanding. So the Amorites speak of words without action[3]. It is the very principle that יהושע warned His disciples against when He spoke of the Pharisees saying ‘obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. (Matt 23:3) James spoke about these dangers as well saying ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’ (James 1:22) Paul reminds us that the goal of all instruction is love, from which, some have wandered away from, turning aside to meaningless talk. (1 Tim 1:5-6) Is not this something we can all be guilty of? When you read the Bible or listen to a sermon, are you merely after head knowledge or are you looking to how the word can be applied in your life? True understanding is important but it should always have a practical outworking[4]. (Psalm 119:34) All knowledge and speech is but a clanging bell is you do not have love. Beware of allowing the Amorites to settle and live in your life! The name Hittite is derived from the name ‘Heth’ and means ‘sons of terror’. It is the principle, or spirit, of fear that seeks to dominate our lives. Now the Hittite empire may have come and gone, but its principle of fear certainly hasn’t. How many believer lives are still held captive, and controlled by the Hittite enemy?

Compare: Psalm 34:4, 2^nd Timot. 1:7……

The names Hivites and Perizzites have the same meaning. Hivites means ‘a villager’, and Perizzites means ‘rustic or belonging to a village’. In the Amorites you had a talker, someone who liked to command and thought very highly of himself. The Hivites and Perizzites represent the other side of the coin – the villager or commoner mentality. Someone who constantly downplays him or herself to the point where they do not think God can use them. Now, some boast of self, some downplay self, but sure enough, self is still the focus! Into this category of the villager mentality we could put two great ‘stars’ of the Old Testament – namely Moses[5] and Gideon[6]. But both overcame this attitude and were greatly used of YHWH.

Jebusite means ‘to trample, tread down’ and speaks of the desired end result of our combined enemies. The Jebusites dwelt around and in Jerusalem and there is evidence that Jebus was the pre-Davidic name for Jerusalem.[7] So from this we see that just as the Jebusites desired to

---

[1] Have a look at 2 Cor 2:17, 1 Tim 6:5, Jude 11.......

[2]I Went into a Christian bookshop the other day and found a new book on the life of Jabez. Someone had written a 200-300 page novel on the life of this man who is only mentioned in three verses in the Bible (1^st Chron.4:9-10) . Wow! What insight that author must have had! Or maybe, just maybe, it was a desperate attempt to make money out of the latest ‘Christian’ cash cow! I smell Canaanites!!! Or for that matter, while I’m having a rant, when will the ‘Left Behind’ series ever come to an end? I’m not against the content of these books but is it just me or does each new book seem to occupy a smaller time frame of the tribulation? You don’t think they could possibly be squeezing it for all that its worth do you?

[3]  This cracks me up. You may remember that Christian and Faithful (Pilgrims Progress) met Talkative on their journey to the Celestial City. John Bunyan writes of Talkative saying ‘He was a tall man and somewhat better looking at a distance than close up.’ You probably all know someone like that! Someone who has all the right words, and when you meet them you think ‘wow, that person is spiritual!’ But a close up inspection of their life shows it to largely be a facade. They can talk the walk but are somewhat lacking walking the talk! YHWH save us all from that hypocrisy!

[4]  Good old Faithful (in Pilgrims Progress) makes another interesting comment about understanding and words without action (the Amorites)… ‘Faithful then said, “This reminds me of the words of Moses when he described the animal that is ceremonially clean. It is the animal that has a split hoof and chews it’s cud, not the one that has a split hoof only, or the one that only chews its cud. The rabbit chews its cud but it’s still unclean because it doesn’t have a split hoof. This resembles talkative. He chews the cud – that is, he seeks knowledge and chews on the word – but he doesn’t have a separated hoof; he doesn’t separate himself from the way of sinners. Like the rabbit, he retains the foot of a dog or bear, and so he’s unclean.”

[5]  You probably know the story but please read Exodus 3:10-12 and right through chapter 4 if you are really keen. Here is a loose, and I mean loose, paraphrase… In verses 10-12 God tells Moses that He will send him to deliver Israel. Moses responds with ‘oh, but who am I? I am nothing, a nobody, how can I go?’ With Moses’ eyes firmly upon himself, God simply rule in the center of Israel, where God’s rule should be established, so our enemies desire to rule from the very center and heart of our lives. Think about your life for a sec… have you been giving the enemy a place that should be reserved for God?

Compare: 2 Timot. 2:15, Hebr.6:4-6, 10:38   says ‘I will go with you! Isn’t that enough? Do you really need to know anymore?’ Moses carries on in 4:10 saying ‘Please YHWH, I have never been this, and never been that… I don’t have what it takes! Send someone else.’ At this point YHWH anger burns against Moses because his lowly opinion of himself was becoming his reason for disobedience to God! Moses is known for his humility, this is not humility! It is the flip side of pride and shows that at this stage Moses still very much had his eyes on himself.  

[6]  The same attitude is found initially in Gideon in Judges 6:11-16 although he did overcome it and was, after great assurances by YHWH, obedient to God..................

[7]  See (Josh. 15:8; 18:28; Judg 19:10, 2 Sam. 5:6-9, 24:18-25)

rule in the center of Israel, where God’s rule should be established, so our enemies desire to rule from the very center and heart of our lives. Think about your life for a sec… have you been giving the enemy a place that should be reserved for God?.............

Compare: 2 Timot. 2:15, Hebr.6:4-6, 10:38-39………….

Hellenism; Hellenist (ISBE. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

hel´en-iz'm, hel´en-ist: Hellenism is the name we give to the manifold achievements of the Greeks in social and political institutions, in the various arts, in science and philosophy, in morals and religion. It is customary to distinguish two main periods, between which stands the striking figure of Alexander the Great, and to apply to the earlier period the adjective “Hellenic,” that of “Hellenistic” to the latter. While there is abundant reason for making this distinction, it must not be considered as resting upon fortuitous changes occasioned by foreign influences. The Hellenistic age is rather the sudden unfolding of a flower whose bud was forming and maturing for centuries.

2. The Hellenic State

Throughout this course of development and expansion we speak of the people as Greeks, although it is evident that even such racial homogeneity as they may have had on coming into Greece must have been greatly modified by the absorption of conquered peoples. But the strong individuality of the Hellenic population manifested itself everywhere in its civilization. In the evolution from the Homeric kingship (supported by the nobles in council, from which the commonalty was excluded, or where it was supposed at most to express assent or dissent to proposals laid before it) through oligarchic (a form of government where the power is in the hands of few people, mostly the richest of the land) or aristocratic (people of rank in a community; one of a ruling class; a noble) rule and the usurped authority of the tyrants, to the establishment of democratic government, there is nothing surprising to the man of today. That is because Greek civilization has become typical of all western civilization. In the earlier stages of this process, moreover, there is nothing strikingly at variance with the institutions of the Hebrews, at least so far as concerns the outward forms. But there existed throughout a subtle difference of spirit which made it possible, even inevitable, for the Greeks to attain to democratic institutions, whereas to the Hebrews such a development was impossible, if not unthinkable. It is difficult to define this spirit, but one may say that it was marked from the first by an inclination to permit the free development and expression of individuality subordinated to the common good; by a corresponding recognition of human limitations over against one's fellow-man as over against Deity; by an instinctive dread of excess as inhuman and provoking the just punishment of the gods; and lastly by a sane refusal to take oneself too seriously, displaying itself in a certain good-humored irony even among men who, like Socrates and Epicurus (2 philosophers), regarded themselves as charged with a sublime mission, in striking contrast with the Hebrew prophets who voiced the thunders of Sinai, but never by any chance smiled at their own earnestness. Even the Macedonians did not attempt to rule Greece with despotic sway, leaving the states in general in the enjoyment of their liberties; and in the Orient, Alexander and his successors, Roman as well as Greek, secured their power and extended civilization by the foundation and encouragement of Hellenic cities in extraordinary numbers. The city-state, often confederated with other city-states, displaced the organization of tribe or clan, thus substituting a new unit and a new interest for the old; and the centers thus created radiated Hellenic influence and made for order and good government everywhere. But in accordance with the new conditions the state took on a somewhat different form. While the city preserved local autonomy, the state became monarchical; and the oriental deification of the king reinforced by the Hellenic tendency to deify the benefactors of mankind, eventuated in modes of speech and thought which powerfully influenced the Messianic hopes of the Jews.

3. Hellenic Life

The life of the Greeks, essentially urban and dominated by political interests fostered in states in which the individual counted for much, was of a type wholly different from the oriental. Although the fiction of consanguinity was cultivated by the Hellenic city-state as by the Semitic tribe, it was more transparent in the former, particularly in the newer communities formed in historical times. There was thus a powerful stimulus to mutual tolerance and concession which, supported as it was by the strong love of personal independence and the cultivation of individuality, led to the development of liberty and the recognition of the rights of man (i.e. in France the pillars of the Republic: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). A healthy social life was the result for those who shared the privileges of citizenship, and also, in hardly less degree, for those resident aliens who received the protection of the state. Women also, though not so free as men, enjoyed, even at Athens where they were most limited, liberties unknown to the Orientals. In the Hellenistic age they attained a position essentially similar to that of modern Europe. There were slaves belonging both to individuals and the state, but their lot was mitigated in general by a steadily growing humanity. The amenities of life were many, and were cultivated no less in the name of religion than of art, literature, and science.

5. Philosophy of Nature and of Conduct

The traditional views of the Hellenic peoples touching Nature and conduct, which did not differ widely from those of other peoples in a corresponding stage of culture, maintained themselves down to the 7th century bc with comparatively little change. Along with and following the colonial expansion of Hellenism there came the awakening intellectual curiosity, or rather the shock of surprise necessary to convert attention into question. The mythology of the Greeks had contained a vague theology, without authority indeed, but satisfactory because adequate to express the national thought. Ethics there was none, morality being customary. But the extending horizon of Hellenic thought discovered that customs differed widely in various lands; indeed, it is altogether likely that the collection of strange and shocking customs which filled the quivers of the militant Sophists in the 5th century had its inception in the 6th and possibly the 7th century At any rate it furnished the fiery darts of the adversary until ethics was founded in reason by the quest of Socrates for the universal, not in conduct, but in judgment. As ethics arose out of the irreconcilable contradictions of conduct, so natural philosophy sprung from the contradictions of mythical theology and in opposition to it. There were in fact two strata (layer, level) of conceptions touching supernatural beings; one, growing out of a primitive animism (The doctrine, taught by Stahl, that the soul is the proper principle of life and development in the body, i.e has nothing to do with the body)( The belief that inanimate objects and the phenomena of nature are endowed with personal life or a living soul; also, in an extended sense, the belief in the existence of soul or spirit apart from matter), regarded their operations essentially from the point of view of magic, which refuses to be surprised at any result, be it never so ill-proportioned to the means employed, so long as the mysterious word was spoken or the requisite act performed; the other, sprung from a worship of Nature in her most striking phenomena, recognized an order, akin to the moral order, in her operations. When natural philosophy arose in the 6th century, it instinctively at first, then consciously, divested Nature of personality by stripping off the disguise of myth and substituting a plain and reasoned tale founded on mechanical principles. This is the spirit which pervades pre-Socratic science and philosophy. The quest of Socrates for universally valid judgments on conduct directed thought to the laws of mind, which are teleological, in contradistinction to the laws of matter, which are mechanical; and thus in effect dethroned Nature, regarded as material, by giving primacy to mind. Henceforth, Greek philosophy was destined, with relatively few and unimportant exceptions, to devote itself to the study of human conduct and to be essentially idealistic, even where the foundation, as with the Stoics, was ostensibly materialistic. More and more it became true of the Greek philosophers that they sought God, “if haply they might feel after him and find him,” conscious of the essential unity of the Divine and the human, and defining philosophy as the endeavor to assimilate the soul to God..............

6. Hellenic and Hellenistic Religion............

The Homeric (from Homer) poems present a picture of Greek life as seen by a highly cultivated aristocratic society having no sympathy with the commonalty. Hence, we are not to regard Homeric religion as the religion of the Hellenic peoples in the Homeric age. Our first clear view of the Hellenic commoner is presented by Hesiod in the 8th century. Here we find, alongside of the worship of the Olympians (g-ds) (forunner of the Olympic Games), evidences of chthonian cults and abundant hints of human needs not satisfied by the well-regulated religion of the several city-states. The conventionalized monarchy of Zeus ruling over his fellow-Olympians is known to be a fiction of the poets, having just as much - no more - foundation, in fact, as the mythical overlordship of Agamemnon over the assembled princes of the Achaens; while it caught the imagination of the Greeks and dominated their literature, each city-state possessed its own shrines sacred to its own gods, who might or might not be called by the names of Olympians. Yet the great shrines which attracted Greeks from every state, such as those of Zeus at Dodona (chiefly in the period before the 7th century) and Olympia, of Apollo at Delos and Delphi, and of Hera at Argos, were the favored abodes of Olympians. Only one other should be mentioned: that of Demeter at Eleusis. Her worship was of a different character, and the great repute of her shrine dates from the 5th century. If the Zeus of Olympia was predominantly the benign god of the sky, to whom men came in joyous mood to delight him with pomp and festive gatherings, performing feats of manly prowess in the Olympic games, the Zeus of Dodona, and the Delphian Apollo, as oracular deities, were visited in times of doubt and distress. The 7th and 6th centuries mark the advent - or the coming into prominence - of deities whose appeal was to the deepest human emotions, of ecstatic enthusiasm, of fear, and of hope. Among them we must mention Dionysus, the god of teeming Nature (see DIONYSUS), and Orpheus. With their advent comes an awakening of the individual soul, whose aspiration to commune with Deity found little satisfaction in the general worship of the states. Private organizations and quasi-monastic orders, like those of the Orphics and Pythagoreans, arose and won countless adherents. Their deities found admission into older shrines, chiefly those of chthonian divinities, like that of Demeter at Eleusis, and wrought a change in the spirit and to a certain extent in the ritual of the “mysteries” practiced there. It was in these “mysteries” that the Christian Fathers, according to the mood or the need, polemic or apologetic, of the moment, saw now the propaedeutic (introducing or preliminary instruction) type, now the diabolically instituted counterfeit, of the sacraments and ordinances of the church. The spirit and even the details of the observances of the “mysteries” are difficult to determine; but one must beware of accepting the hostile judgments of Christian writers who were in fact retorting (reflecting) upon the Greeks criticisms leveled at the church: both were blinded by partisanship and so misread the symbols.................If we thus find a true praeparatio (leading to) evangelica in the Hellenistic developments of earlier Hellenic religion, there are parallel developments in the other religions which were adopted in the Hellenistic age. The older national religions of Persia and Egypt underwent a similar change, giving rise respectively to the worship of Mithra and of Isis, both destined, along with the chthonian mysteries of the Greeks, to be dangerous rivals for the conquest of the world of Christianity, itself a younger son in this prolific family of new religions. Space is wanting here for a consideration of these religious movements, the family resemblance of which with Christianity is becoming every day more apparent; but so much at least should be said, that while every candid student must admit the superiority of Christianity in moral content and adaptation to the religious nature of man, the difference in these respects was not at first sight so obvious that the successful rival might at the beginning of the contest have been confidently predicted.. As with other manifestations of the Hellenic spirit, so, too, in matters of religion, it was the free development of living institutions that most strikingly distinguishes the Greeks from the Hebrews. They had priests, but were never ruled by them; they possessed a literature regarded with veneration, and in certain shrines treasured sacred writings containing directions for the practice and ritual of the cults, but they were neither intended nor suffered to fix for all time the interpretation of the symbols. In the 5th and 4th centuries the leaders of Greek thought rebuked the activity of certain priests, and it was not before the period of Roman dominion that priests succeeded even in a small measure in usurping power, and sacred writings began to exercise an authority remotely comparable to that recognized among the Jews.  A most interesting question is that concerning the extent to which Greek civilization and thought had penetrated and influenced Judaism. During three centuries before the advent of יהושע, Hellenism had been a power in Syria and Judea. The earliest writings of the Hebrews showing this influence are Dan and the Old Testament Apocrypha. Several books of the Apocrypha were originally written in Greek, and show strong influence of Greek thought. The Septuagint, made for the Jews of the Dispersion, early won its way to authority even in Palestine, where Aramaic had displaced Hebrew, which thus became a dead language known only to a few. New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are almost without exception taken from the Septuagint. Thus the sacred literature of the Jews was for practical purposes Greek. Though יהושע spoke Aramaic (a dialect Hebrew based), one who is acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek literature instinctively feels in reading the New Testament that the national character of the Jews, as reflected in the Old Testament, has all (next page)but vanished, remaining only as a subtle tone of moral earnestness and as an imaginative coloring, except in the simple story of the Synoptic Gospels. But for the bitterness aroused by the destruction of Jerusalem, it is probable that the Jews would have yielded completely to Hellenic influences......

Explanations:

[1]I Went into a Christian bookshop the other day and found a new book on the life of Jabez. Someone had written a 200-300 page novel on the life of this man who is only mentioned in three verses in the Bible (1^st Chron.4:9-10) . Wow! What insight that author must have had! Or maybe, just maybe, it was a desperate attempt to make money out of the latest ‘Christian’ cash cow! I smell Canaanites!!! Or for that matter, while I’m having a rant, when will the ‘Left Behind’ series ever come to an end? I’m not against the content of these books but is it just me or does each new book seem to occupy a smaller time frame of the tribulation? You don’t think they could possibly be squeezing it for all that its worth do you?

[1]  This cracks me up. You may remember that Christian and Faithful (Pilgrims Progress) met Talkative on their journey to the Celestial City. John Bunyan writes of Talkative saying ‘He was a tall man and somewhat better looking at a distance than close up.’ You probably all know someone like that! Someone who has all the right words, and when you meet them you think ‘wow, that person is spiritual!’ But a close up inspection of their life shows it to largely be a facade. They can talk the walk but are somewhat lacking walking the talk! YHWH save us all from that hypocrisy!

[1]  Good old Faithful (in Pilgrims Progress) makes another interesting comment about understanding and words without action (the Amorites)… ‘Faithful then said, “This reminds me of the words of Moses when he described the animal that is ceremonially clean. It is the animal that has a split hoof and chews it’s cud, not the one that has a split hoof only, or the one that only chews its cud. The rabbit chews its cud but it’s still unclean because it doesn’t have a split hoof. This resembles talkative. He chews the cud – that is, he seeks knowledge and chews on the word – but he doesn’t have a separated hoof; he doesn’t separate himself from the way of sinners. Like the rabbit, he retains the foot of a dog or bear, and so he’s unclean.”

[1]  You probably know the story but please read Exodus 3:10-12 and right through chapter 4 if you are really keen. Here is a loose, and I mean loose, paraphrase… In verses 10-12 God tells Moses that He will send him to deliver Israel. Moses responds with ‘oh, but who am I? I am nothing, a nobody, how can I go?’ With Moses’ eyes firmly upon himself, God simply rule in the 

Jebusite means ‘to trample, tread down’ and speaks of the desired end result of our combined enemies. The Jebusites dwelt around and in Jerusalem and there is evidence that Jebus was the pre-Davidic name for Jerusalem.[1] So from this we see that just as the Jebusites desired to rule in the center of Israel, where God’s rule should be established, so our enemies desire to rule from the very center and heart of our lives. Think about your life for a sec… have you been giving the enemy a place that should be reserved for God?.......

---

[1]  See (Josh. 15:8; 18:28; Judg 19:10, 2 Sam. 5:6-9, 24:18-25)

Compare: 2 Timot. 2:15, Hebr.6:4-6, 10:38-39………….

Hellenism; Hellenist (ISBE. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

hel´en-iz'm, hel´en-ist: Hellenism is the name we give to the manifold achievements of the Greeks in social and political institutions, in the various arts, in science and philosophy, in morals and religion. It is customary to distinguish two main periods, between which stands the striking figure of Alexander the Great, and to apply to the earlier period the adjective “Hellenic,” that of “Hellenistic” to the latter. While there is abundant reason for making this distinction, it must not be considered as resting upon fortuitous changes occasioned by foreign influences. The Hellenistic age is rather the sudden unfolding of a flower whose bud was forming and maturing for centuries.

2. The Hellenic State

Throughout this course of development and expansion we speak of the people as Greeks, although it is evident that even such racial homogeneity as they may have had on coming into Greece must have been greatly modified by the absorption of conquered peoples. But the strong individuality of the Hellenic population manifested itself everywhere in its civilization. In the evolution from the Homeric kingship (supported by the nobles in council, from which the commonalty was excluded, or where it was supposed at most to express assent or dissent to proposals laid before it) through oligarchic (a form of government where the power is in the hands of few people, mostly the richest of the land) or aristocratic (people of rank in a community; one of a ruling class; a noble) rule and the usurped authority of the tyrants, to the establishment of democratic government, there is nothing surprising to the man of today. That is because Greek civilization has become typical of all western civilization. In the earlier stages of this process, moreover, there is nothing strikingly at variance with the institutions of the Hebrews, at least so far as concerns the outward forms. But there existed throughout a subtle difference of spirit which made it possible, even inevitable, for the Greeks to attain to democratic institutions, whereas to the Hebrews such a development was impossible, if not unthinkable. It is difficult to define this spirit, but one may say that it was marked from the first by an inclination to permit the free development and expression of individuality subordinated to the common good; by a corresponding recognition of human limitations over against one's fellow-man as over against Deity; by an instinctive dread of excess as inhuman and provoking the just punishment of the gods; and lastly by a sane refusal to take oneself too seriously, displaying itself in a certain good-humored irony even among men who, like Socrates and Epicurus (2 philosophers), regarded themselves as charged with a sublime mission, in striking contrast with the Hebrew prophets who voiced the thunders of Sinai, but never by any chance smiled at their own earnestness. Even the Macedonians did not attempt to rule Greece with despotic sway, leaving the states in general in the enjoyment of their liberties; and in the Orient, Alexander and his successors, Roman as well as Greek, secured their power and extended civilization by the foundation and encouragement of Hellenic cities in extraordinary numbers. The city-state, often confederated with other city-states, displaced the organization of tribe or clan, thus substituting a new unit and a new interest for the old; and the centers thus created radiated Hellenic influence and made for order and good government everywhere. But in accordance with the new conditions the state took on a somewhat different form. While the city preserved local autonomy, the state became monarchical; and the oriental deification of the king reinforced by the Hellenic tendency to deify the benefactors of mankind, eventuated in modes of speech and thought which powerfully influenced the Messianic hopes of the Jews.

3. Hellenic Life

The life of the Greeks, essentially urban and dominated by political interests fostered in states in which the individual counted for much, was of a type wholly different from the oriental. Although the fiction of consanguinity was cultivated by the Hellenic city-state as by the Semitic tribe, it was more transparent in the former, particularly in the newer communities formed in historical times. There was thus a powerful stimulus to mutual tolerance and concession which, supported as it was by the strong love of personal independence and the cultivation of individuality, led to the development of liberty and the recognition of the rights of man (i.e. in France the pillars of the Republic: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). A healthy social life was the result for those who shared the privileges of citizenship, and also, in hardly less degree, for those resident aliens who received the protection of the state. Women also, though not so free as men, enjoyed, even at Athens where they were most limited, liberties unknown to the Orientals. In the Hellenistic age they attained a position essentially similar to that of modern Europe. There were slaves belonging both to individuals and the state, but their lot was mitigated in general by a steadily growing humanity. The amenities of life were many, and were cultivated no less in the name of religion than of art, literature, and science.

5. Philosophy of Nature and of Conduct

The traditional views of the Hellenic peoples touching Nature and conduct, which did not differ widely from those of other peoples in a corresponding stage of culture, maintained themselves down to the 7th century bc with comparatively little change. Along with and following the colonial expansion of Hellenism there came the awakening intellectual curiosity, or rather the shock of surprise necessary to convert attention into question. The mythology of the Greeks had contained a vague theology, without authority indeed, but satisfactory because adequate to express the national thought. Ethics there was none, morality being customary. But the extending horizon of Hellenic thought discovered that customs differed widely in various lands; indeed, it is altogether likely that the collection of strange and shocking customs which filled the quivers of the militant Sophists in the 5th century had its inception in the 6th and possibly the 7th century At any rate it furnished the fiery darts of the adversary until ethics was founded in reason by the quest of Socrates for the universal, not in conduct, but in judgment. As ethics arose out of the irreconcilable contradictions of conduct, so natural philosophy sprung from the contradictions of mythical theology and in opposition to it. There were in fact two strata (layer, level) of conceptions touching supernatural beings; one, growing out of a primitive animism (The doctrine, taught by Stahl, that the soul is the proper principle of life and development in the body, i.e has nothing to do with the body)( The belief that inanimate objects and the phenomena of nature are endowed with personal life or a living soul; also, in an extended sense, the belief in the existence of soul or spirit apart from matter), regarded their operations essentially from the point of view of magic, which refuses to be surprised at any result, be it never so ill-proportioned to the means employed, so long as the mysterious word was spoken or the requisite act performed; the other, sprung from a worship of Nature in her most striking phenomena, recognized an order, akin to the moral order, in her operations. When natural philosophy arose in the 6th century, it instinctively at first, then consciously, divested Nature of personality by stripping off the disguise of myth and substituting a plain and reasoned tale founded on mechanical principles. This is the spirit which pervades pre-Socratic science and philosophy. The quest of Socrates for universally valid judgments on conduct directed thought to the laws of mind, which are teleological, in contradistinction to the laws of matter, which are mechanical; and thus in effect dethroned Nature, regarded as material, by giving primacy to mind. Henceforth, Greek philosophy was destined, with relatively few and unimportant exceptions, to devote itself to the study of human conduct and to be essentially idealistic, even where the foundation, as with the Stoics, was ostensibly materialistic. More and more it became true of the Greek philosophers that they sought God, “if haply they might feel after him and find him,” conscious of the essential unity of the Divine and the human, and defining philosophy as the endeavor to assimilate the soul to God..............6. Hellenic and Hellenistic Religion............The Homeric (from Homer) poems present a picture of Greek life as seen by a highly cultivated aristocratic society having no sympathy with the commonalty. Hence, we are not to regard Homeric religion as the religion of the Hellenic peoples in the Homeric age. Our first clear view of the Hellenic commoner is presented by Hesiod in the 8th century. Here we find, alongside of the worship of the Olympians (g-ds) (forunner of the Olympic Games), evidences of chthonian cults and abundant hints of human needs not satisfied by the well-regulated religion of the several city-states. The conventionalized monarchy of Zeus ruling over his fellow-Olympians is known to be a fiction of the poets, having just as much - no more - foundation, in fact, as the mythical overlordship of Agamemnon over the assembled princes of the Achaens; while it caught the imagination of the Greeks and dominated their literature, each city-state possessed its own shrines sacred to its own gods, who might or might not be called by the names of Olympians. Yet the great shrines which attracted Greeks from every state, such as those of Zeus at Dodona (chiefly in the period before the 7th century) and Olympia, of Apollo at Delos and Delphi, and of Hera at Argos, were the favored abodes of Olympians. Only one other should be mentioned: that of Demeter at Eleusis. Her worship was of a different character, and the great repute of her shrine dates from the 5th century. If the Zeus of Olympia was predominantly the benign god of the sky, to whom men came in joyous mood to delight him with pomp and festive gatherings, performing feats of manly prowess in the Olympic games, the Zeus of Dodona, and the Delphian Apollo, as oracular deities, were visited in times of doubt and distress. The 7th and 6th centuries mark the advent - or the coming into prominence - of deities whose appeal was to the deepest human emotions, of ecstatic enthusiasm, of fear, and of hope. Among them we must mention Dionysus, the god of teeming Nature (see DIONYSUS), and Orpheus. With their advent comes an awakening of the individual soul, whose aspiration to commune with Deity found little satisfaction in the general worship of the states. Private organizations and quasi-monastic orders, like those of the Orphics and Pythagoreans, arose and won countless adherents. Their deities found admission into older shrines, chiefly those of chthonian divinities, like that of Demeter at Eleusis, and wrought a change in the spirit and to a certain extent in the ritual of the “mysteries” practiced there. It was in these “mysteries” that the Christian Fathers, according to the mood or the need, polemic or apologetic, of the moment, saw now the propaedeutic (introducing or preliminary instruction) type, now the diabolically instituted counterfeit, of the sacraments and ordinances of the church. The spirit and even the details of the observances of the “mysteries” are difficult to determine; but one must beware of accepting the hostile judgments of Christian writers who were in fact retorting (reflecting) upon the Greeks criticisms leveled at the church: both were blinded by partisanship and so misread the symbols.................If we thus find a true praeparatio (leading to) evangelica in the Hellenistic developments of earlier Hellenic religion, there are parallel developments in the other religions which were adopted in the Hellenistic age. The older national religions of Persia and Egypt underwent a similar change, giving rise respectively to the worship of Mithra and of Isis, both destined, along with the chthonian mysteries of the Greeks, to be dangerous rivals for the conquest of the world of Christianity, itself a younger son in this prolific family of new religions. Space is wanting here for a consideration of these religious movements, the family resemblance of which with Christianity is becoming every day more apparent; but so much at least should be said, that while every candid student must admit the superiority of Christianity in moral content and adaptation to the religious nature of man, the difference in these respects was not at first sight so obvious that the successful rival might at the beginning of the contest have been confidently predicted.. As with other manifestations of the Hellenic spirit, so, too, in matters of religion, it was the free development of living institutions that most strikingly distinguishes the Greeks from the Hebrews. They had priests, but were never ruled by them; they possessed a literature regarded with veneration, and in certain shrines treasured sacred writings containing directions for the practice and ritual of the cults, but they were neither intended nor suffered to fix for all time the interpretation of the symbols. In the 5th and 4th centuries the leaders of Greek thought rebuked the activity of certain priests, and it was not before the period of Roman dominion that priests succeeded even in a small measure in usurping power, and sacred writings began to exercise an authority remotely comparable to that recognized among the Jews.  A most interesting question is that concerning the extent to which Greek civilization and thought had penetrated and influenced Judaism. During three centuries before the advent of יהושע, Hellenism had been a power in Syria and Judea. The earliest writings of the Hebrews showing this influence are Dan and the Old Testament Apocrypha. Several books of the Apocrypha were originally written in Greek, and show strong influence of Greek thought. The Septuagint, made for the Jews of the Dispersion, early won its way to authority even in Palestine, where Aramaic had displaced Hebrew, which thus became a dead language known only to a few. New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are almost without exception taken from the Septuagint. Thus the sacred literature of the Jews was for practical purposes Greek. Though יהושע spoke Aramaic (a dialect Hebrew based), one who is acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek literature instinctively feels in reading the New Testament that the national character of the Jews, as reflected in the Old Testament, has all (next page)but vanished, remaining only as a subtle tone of moral earnestness and as an imaginative coloring, except in the simple story of the Synoptic Gospels. But for the bitterness aroused by the destruction of Jerusalem, it is probable that the Jews would have yielded completely to Hellenic influences. .....

May Yehovah bless you as you keep following Messiah Yehoshua. Comments can be send to: danielchaud@yahoo.com