Scriptures

Exodus 30:11-34:35

Haftorah Reading
1 Kings 18:1-39

B’rit Chadashah
Titus 3:5
1 John 1:7;13:4–15
1 Corinthians 6:9–11
Hebrews 10:22
Revelation 1:5–6
1 Corinthians 1:21–22
1 John 1:20,27
1 Corinthians 12:1–31
Hebrews 4:9
2 Corinthians 3:1-18
Acts 7:39–42; 17:29–31
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
2 Peter 3:3–4
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Revelation 3:5; 17:8; 21:27; 22:19
Matthew 11:28
Romans 9:19
John 1:18
1 Timothy 6:16
2 Corinthians 3:13–18; 6:14–16
1 Corinthians 5:8
Acts 2:1; 20:16
1 Corinthians 16:8
John 17:1–2

Etz Chayeem Hoo (He Is a Tree of Life)

Yeshua is a tree of life to those who take hold of Him, and those who support Him are praiseworthy. His ways are ways of pleasantness and all of His paths are shalom. Bring us back YHVH to You, and we shall come, renew our days as of old.

As we begin to study the Torah let us never forget that YESHUA THE MESSIAH is the Living Torah, the Torah-Word of Elohim made flesh. He is the way, the truth and the life — the Living Manna sent from heaven. Without Him living in our lives through the indwelling Presence of his Set-Apart/Kadosh Spirit (Who leads us into all truth and revelation) the Written Torah can become the dead letter of the law!

Outline of This Week’s Parashah (Torah Portion)

• 30:11 The Census/The Sacred Half-Shekel
• 30:17 The Bronze Laver
• 30:22 The Sacred Anointing Oil: Its Contents and Uses
• 30:34 The Sacred Incense: Its Contents and Uses
• 31:6 Bezaleel and Oholiab Chosen to Be the Chief Artisans Over the Construction of the Tabernacle/Mishkan
• 31:12 The Sabbath: A Sign Between YHVH and His People, An Eternal Covenant
• 31:18 Moses Receives the Tablets
• 32:1 The Golden Calf Incident
• 32:7 YHVH’s Anger Against Israel for Their Idolatry
• 32:11 Moses’ Successful Prayer of Intercession
• 32:15 Moses Descends From Mount Sinai
• 32:19 Moses Smashes the Tablets, Grinds the Idol into Powder and Causes the Israelites to Drink It
• 32:30 Moses Intercedes to YHVH Again on Behalf of the People
• 33:1 Aftermath of the Golden Calf Incident
• 33:7 Moses Pitches the Tabernacle/Tent of Meeting Outside the Camp
• 33:12 Moses Pleads for YHVH’s Presence
• 33:19 Moses Sees the Glory of YHVH Through the Cleft of the Rock
• 34:1 The Second Set of Tablets
• 34:5 YHVH Reveals the Thirteen Attributes of His Mercy
• 34:8 Moses’ Request; YHVH Seals the Covenant With Israel and Forbids Israel to Make Covenants With the Pagans
• 34:17 Israel Is Forbidden from Making Idols and Is Commanded to Observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Shabbat, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of Tabernacles (the Three Pilgrimage Festivals)
• 34:27 Renewal of the Covenant
• 34:33 The Radiance of Moses’ Face

Study Questions For This Week’s Midrash
(Torah Discussion):

1. 30:11 Everyone was expected to contribute to the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). A literal interpretation would say that this could not apply to us today. But is there a spirit-of-the-law application here that does apply to the Saints about giving to the work of YHVH?
2. 30:17 What is the spiritual significance of the Bronze Laver? The priests had to wash in it before ministering to YHVH so they wouldn’t die (30:20). How does this relate to the concept of immersion/baptism (tevilah) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), and the washing of the water of the Word of YHVH (Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5; Heb 10:22)? What is the spiritual significance of the Bronze Laver being situated directly after the Altar of Sacrifice? Only after the priest had visited the altar of sacrifice and then washed in the water could he enter the sanctuary. What is the spiritual significance of the blood and the water to which John refers (1 John 5:6,8)?
3. 31:6 YHVH gifted Bezaleel and Ohaliab as artisans to oversee the building of the Mishkan. What giftings (Rom 12:6–8; Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12–14) has the Ruach (Spirit) of YHVH given to you and are you functioning in them yet (or at least getting training in preparation for functioning in them)?
4. 31:13–17 My Sabbaths you shall keep. The Sabbath is central to YHVH’s spiritual economy for Israel. Why did YHVH designate it as a sign (“signal, distinguishing mark, banner,” 31:12) between him and Israel? By keeping the Sabbath, whom was Israel distinguishing herself from? As YHVH’s set-apart people, she was distinguishing herself from the surrounding nations who do not keep the Sabbath. Can one truly be Messianic Israel without keeping the Sabbath? If one does not keep the Sabbath is one in reality not acting just like the heathen nations and in some sense cut off spiritually from YHVH (verse 14)? The sign of the Abrahamic Covenant was circumcision. If one was not circumcised one could not be part of that covenant. For the Mosaic/Sinaitic Covenant, the sign was the Sabbath. For the Renewed Covenant, many feel the sign is the blood of Yeshua. Covenantal signs, of which circumcision, the Sabbath and the blood of Yeshua are examples, are like a wedding ring on the finger: they are important symbols and reminders of who we are, whose we are and what our legal, moral and spiritual ethic, responsibilities and commitments are.

   The ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach translates verse 15 as follows:

   For six days work may be done and the seventh day is a day of complete rest, it is sacred to [YHVH] … (emphasis added)

   What is complete rest? What is the connection between “complete rest” and the idea of sacredness or being set-apartness or kadosh? The people of YHVH are called to separate the kodesh from the common or profane:

   Her priests have violated my Torah, and have profaned mine set-apart/kodesh things: they have put no difference between the kodesh and profane/common/polluted, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (Ezek 22:26)

   And [the priests] shall teach my people the difference between the kodesh and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. (Ezek 44:23)

   What is common or profane? It is that which is commonly done on the other six days of the week. Have you made this complete separation in your life so that you can completely rest on the Sabbath? If not, what are the excuses you use? What does YHVH think about it in light of his clear commands?

5. 32:1–35 The Israelites were saved by the strong arm of YHVH and the blood of the lamb on the door posts, left Egypt, and were given YHVH’s instructions in righteousness at Mount Sinai of how to live a set-apart life. Yet when the going got rough they reverted to pagan practices and gods of Egypt while saying they were worshiping YHVH (Exod 32:3–8):

   Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to YHVH.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Then YHVH spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”

   History repeated itself at the time of Jeroboam and again in the first-century a.d.—the early church era. On the day of Pentecost when Israel was again given the Torah (written on their hearts by the Spirit/Ruach of Elohim), yet when persecution arose at the end of the first-century a.d., Israel of the early church went into apostasy forsaking the weekly Sabbath and annual Sabbaths (appointed times/feasts), the kosher laws, etc., and accepted pagan practices (Christmas, Easter, Sunday, etc., etc.), which they melded with the truth of Scripture. How does “golden calf worship” reflect in the Christian culture of our day? In what way does the Christian church worship idols and end up breaking YHVH’s commandments? Why are so many Christians beginning to recognize that “our [spiritual] fathers have inherited lies” (Jer 16:19), and that they have followed “traditions of men by which the Word of Elohim has been made of none effect (Matt 15:6 and Mark 7:7,9)? Is the Father calling a people out of religious Babylon (confusion/mixture) (Rev 18:4), and preparing a set-apart people to be the bride of Yeshua who is without spot and blemish adorned in the robes of Torah-righteousness through the power of the resurrected Yeshua (Rev 12:17; 14:12; 19:7–8)?

6. 33:12–13 Grace. Despite our disobedience, YHVH is gracious. Grace is a more prominent theme in the Tanakh than in even the Apostolic Scriptures. What are some other examples of YHVH’s grace in the Tanakh? Example: Noah found grace in YHVH’s eyes (Gen 6:8). The Children of Israel while dead in their sins in Egypt were saved by the blood of the lamb. How many places in the Psalms can we find David talking about the mercy and grace of YHVH?
7. 34:6–7 lists various attributes of YHVH’s mercy. He is:
   • compassionate
   • gracious
   • abundant in kindness
   • abundant in truth
   • a preserver of kindness for thousands of generations
   • a forgiver of iniquity, willful sin (transgression) and error (sin)
   • cleanser of our sins

   Discuss the ramifications of each of these attributes. What parallel passages in the Apostolic Scriptures can you find that are built on these foundational principles of YHVH’s grace and mercy as laid out in the Torah?

   Notice that 34:7 mentions three categories of “sin.” The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash describes them as:
   • iniquity (ah-own/ayin-vav-nun sofit): an intentional sin that YHVH forgives if the sinner repents.
   • willful sin (pesha/pey-shin-ayin): sin that is committed with the intention of angering YHVH that will be forgiven with repentance.
   • error (chatah/chet-tet-aleph-hey): a sin committed out of apathy or carelessness.

   Reflect on these three categories of sin. What are you doing or not doing that may be categorized as one of the above? What are you doing to overcome?

8. 34:18-23 Once again YHVH commands Israel about the Pilgrimage (aliyot) festivals—the three festivals Israel was to go and keep in a designated place where YHVH would place his name. Are you marking your calendars and setting financial resources aside in preparation for celebrating these upcoming festivals? Remember, observing the Sabbaths (plural, both the weekly and the annual festivals) is a sign of Messianic Israel!

The Golden Calf Incident:
A Prophetic Picture of the Christian Church

On Shavuot (Pentecost), at Mount Sinai, YHVH entered into a marriage covenant with the Children of Israel, but they were not ready to live up to the terms of that covenant. Those terms, simply stated, involved being faithful and obedient only to YHVH, Israel’s Elohim (God) and spiritual husband, and to his instruction in righteousness, the Torah. This Israel quickly demonstrated they were not willing to do, for they had hardly said “I do” to their marriage vows (Exod 24:3,7) when they turned their hearts from YHVH and began worshipping the golden calf—a pagan deity from Egypt. Between the time of the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) and Yom Teruah (Trumpets) when Moses received the second tablets of stone from YHVH containing the Ten Commandments, Ancient Israel, the bride of YHVH, prepared herself not only to receive YHVH’s instructions again, but this time to be faithful to her marriage vows. This Israel did. She remained faithful to YHVH for approximately 38 years while trekking the wilderness of Sinai, after which she entered the Promised Land and “stayed the course” until after the death of Joshua.

Similarly, Messianic Israel of the first century a.d. received the Torah on the fleshly tablets of their hearts written by the finger of the Spirit of Elohim on Shavuot (Pentecost) as recorded in Acts 2. But starting at about a.d. 70 with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and continuing up through the Second Jewish Revolt of a.d. 135 until the time of Emperor Constantine (in the fourth century), the first-century bride of Messiah had, for the most part, abandoned YHVH’s Torah-commandments and turned, to one degree or another, to golden calf worship (Sunday worship, Christmas and Easter celebrations and many other pagan beliefs and traditions that exist in Christendom to this day).

In our day, is not YHVH calling out a remnant from Christianity who are leaving behind the pagan traditions of golden calf worship and returning to the ancient blessed paths of YHVH’s Torah-instructions in righteousness? Does not the book of Revelation speak of a group of end-time Saints who will say “I do” to YHVH, and whose identifying mark is their faith in Yeshua the Messiah (i.e., the gospel message) and yet who faithfully keep YHVH’s Torah-commandments (Rev 12:17 and 14:12)?

When Yeshua returns on or near Yom Teruah (the Day of the Awakening Blast) at the end of the age, he will be ready to marry a bride that is without spot and wrinkle who has come out of the Babylonish religious whore system (Rev 18:4). This bride who will be wearing the robes of righteousness of Torah-obedience (Rev 12:17; 14:12; 19:7–9) will be ready to receive and enter into a covenantal agreement—a wedding contract or ketubah —with Yeshua, the Bridegroom ever to remain faithful to him and never to stray into Baal/golden calf worship again. He will lead his wife into the Messianic Age or Millennium, even as he led the younger generation Israelites in the wilderness into the Promised Land.

Moses’ Ascension of Mount Sinai (The Second Time):
A Picture of the Saint’s Resurrection and Glorification

According to Jewish tradition, Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the second set of stone tablets containing the Ten Statements (Commandments) on the first day of the sixth month or 30 days before Yom Teruah (the Day of the Awakening Blast), which occurs on the first day of the seventh month. Forty days later on Yom Kippur he descended from the mountain carrying with him the second set of tablets as a sign of YHVH’s forgiveness of the Children of Israel after the golden calf incident. This signaled YHVH’s renewed relationship with Israel after they had repented of golden calf worship.

We know that a biblical Israelite bride, while waiting for her betrothed to arrive from his father’s house, would hear the sound of the shofar in the distance as her bridegroom approached. If she were alert and not asleep (as were the ten virgins in Matt 25) she would have had time to put on her wedding robes, trim her lamp’s wick and have it filled with oil and ready to light as soon as he arrived. Prophetically, Scripture tells us that the Saints of Yeshua are to be resurrected and to meet the returning Messiah Yeshua in the air at the seventh or last shofar blast on Yom Teruah (Day of the Awakening Blast) (1 Cor 15:52; Rev 11:15–18). From the time the Saints begin hearing the shofar blasts in the distance from the approaching Bridegroom Yeshua until their ascension (at the resurrection) to meet King Yeshua in the air roughly seems to correspond to Moses’ ascension of Mount Sinai on the first day of the sixth month. His descent with the stone tablets—the tokens of a renewed covenant between YHVH and Israel on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) seems to correspond to Yeshua returning to earth with his just-resurrected Saints. As Moses saw the glory of YHVH in the cleft of the rock the second time he ascended Mount Sinai (Exod 33:18–23; 34:5–9), and as he descended in a glorified state with his face shining with the glory of YHVH, so the Saints will resurrect to meet Yeshua in the air, see his glory, and will return with him in a glorified state with glorified immortal bodies (1 Cor 15:42–54; 1 Thess 4:16–17).

First John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of Elohim, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” These resurrect­ed Saints are those who have heeded YHVH’s call to come out of Babylonish (golden calf) religious systems (Rev 18:4) where paganism has been mixed with the truth of Scripture and who are now willing to enter into an everlasting (marital) covenant with YHVH-Yeshua.

Many Israelites along with those who have been grafted into Israel will turn from golden calf worship in the tribulation period leading up to the Day of Trumpets, and they will wholeheartedly repent and receive the covering of the blood of  Yeshua for their sins, as pictured by the Day of Atonement. This will be the rebirth of the nation of Israel containing both houses of Israel at last reunited into one olive tree or one new man in Yeshua (Rom 11:13–24; Ezek 37:15–28; Eph 2:11–19). This all occurs at his second coming prior to and on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

Haftorah Reading — 1 Kings 18:1-39
How Long Will You Waver Between Two Opinions?

Discussion Questions

The ancient Jewish sages evidently saw a connection between the golden calf worship and the Baal worship of ancient Israel. Moses and Elijah were both prophets and called of YHVH to confront this idolatry in Israel. One coming in the spirit of Elijah will again arise in the last days to confront the idolatry and Torahlessness of Israel and to turn the hearts of the children back to their ancient Hebraic roots before the coming of the Messiah (Mal. 4:4–6). Is that Elijah spirit active on earth today? If so, what are the manifestations of it?
1. 18:4 Jezebel cut off the prophets of YHVH. Under Ahab and Jezebel, king and queen of Israel, it was high treason to proclaim the Elohim of Israel. Jezebel pursued the prophets of El, who were the spiritual leaders of Israel, with murderous cruelty in attempts to eradicate obedience to YHVH from Israel. What are the forces and groups in our nation attempting to sever our society from its biblical roots? In some other English-speaking nations besides America, it is illegal for Bible teachers to take a biblical stand and speak out publicly against such sins as homosexuality and false religions such as Islam. It is called “hate speech” and those convicted of such “crimes” are liable to law suits, fines and imprisonment. Where and who are the Obediahs and Elijahs of our day?
2. 18:18 King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were the most ardent supporters of Baalism in Israel. What are the parallels of this in our day? Have we seen recent American presidents, for example, take public stands in favor of the false religion of Islam even going so far as to celebrate some Muslim holidays in the White House? Where has been the outcry over this in this nation—a supposedly Christian one? Let us pray that YHVH soon raises up end-time Elijah’s to confront the evil that is committed from the lowest to the highest levels of our society against the Elohim of Israel. In a sense, every worshipper of the Elohim of Israel, every believer in the Bible is called to be an Elijah within his or her sphere of influence—to take an -unmitigating stand for the righteousness absolutes of biblical truth—to be a light shining in the darkness, and contrasting salt to the evil insipidness that permeates our culture.
3. 18:20ff At Mount Carmel, two diametrically opposed religious philosophies were squaring off to determine who would capture the soul of the nation of Israel. The religion of Baalism was an immoral (hedonistic) nature-sex worship religion, while that of YHVH was a religion of moral absolutes and ethical standards. Can we find parallels between the history of ancient Israel in this regard and modern Western culture, in general, and America, specifically? What are the major issues that the leftists are championing in our day? Examples of this would be sexual “freedom” without the consequences of children (abortion), homosexual rights, and irrational and unscientific environmentalism all the way to a resurgence of earth worship religions would be some modern expressions of this ancient philosophy.
4. 17:1–18:45 Scripture reveals in many places that the land and people were connected in a spiritual sort of way. When Israel’s ways pleased YHVH, then the land rejoiced with rain in due season and a bountiful harvest, and the contrary was true when Israel disobeyed YHVH. The physical drought in the land of Israel at the time of Elijah correlates perfectly with the spiritual drought that also prevailed. Is it possible that Elohim may use natural events (floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) to “speak” to modern man about his spiritual condition? How would we know that it was him speaking as opposed to chance natural phenomena?
5. 18:21 Halt between two opinions. Or literally, “how long will you go limping, resting now on one foot, now on another?” Or, “hopping between two branches” like birds; that is, at one time serving Baal, at another YHVH (Soncino Pentateuch)? Read Yeshua’s statements in Matthew 6:24 and John 12:43 and compare. Do you have areas in your life where you vacillate between obedience and disobedience to YHVH’s Word, or as Matthew Henry terms it, halt between the service of Elohim and the service of sin.
6. 18:39 YHVH he is the Elohim. How sincere were the people when making this declaration? Were they converted or merely convinced? Similarly, how many thousands followed Yeshua for the physical food he gave them and for the spectacle of the miracles they witnessed at his hands? Yet how many were in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost? Where were the thousands then? Are you one of the faithful remnant that it can be said of, “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto Elohim and to the Lamb” (Rev 14:4)?