Thanks again for your contribution Rabbi Jack. -Brad
"He Provides Us A Way"
Parashat HaShavua Terumah / Offering
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 25:1-27:19
Melachim Aleph / 1 Kings 5:26-6:13
Mattityahu / Matthew 5:33-37
Ivrim / Hebrews 9:1-10
Shemot {25:1} HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses), saying, {25:2} "Speak to bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel), that they take a korban (draw near / offering) for Me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take My offering. {25:3} This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, brass, {25:4} blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, {25:5} rams' skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, {25:6} oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, {25:7} onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. {25:8} Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. {25:9} According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tent, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.
G-d didn't just tell Moshe how to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle) -- He showed him the pattern! I'm sure that, just as Moshe left Mount Sinai with the two tablets, he left with the architectural plans of the Mishkan in hand.
The Mishkan provided a method for G-d to live among His people -- despite their fallen condition! With the construction of the Mishkan a holy G-d could now live in the midst of an unholy people.
The reality is that the Mishkan was a recreation of the Gan Eden, a holy place for G-d to dwell. The Mishkan was, in essence, G-ds refuge, a place where there was no imperfection, a place where nothing related to death or uncleanness could enter. This Mishkan was totally G-d centered.
The entire system of korbanot (plural for korban), outlined for us in the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus) chapters 1-4, was man centered. Man coming to G-d. Our approach to G-d was through the korban, while G-d's approach to us was through the Mishkan. Due to sin man failed in coming to G-d because G-d cannot fellowship with sin, so G-d created a visible way for man to come to Him and for Him to come to man.
Shemot {25:8} And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
G-d is expressing three things here: HIS MISHKAN (TABERNACLE), HIS SHEKINAH (PHYSICAL PRESENCE), and HIS KEDUSHAH (HOLINESS). These three terms Mishkan, Shekinah, and Kedushah, represent G-d's desire to dwell among His people. The Mishkan always designates the sanctuary and is a synonym for the phrase, "tent of meeting." The word Mishkan places the emphasis on the representative presence of G-d:
Vayikra {26:11} And I will set My Mishkan among you: and My soul shall not abhor you. {26:12} And I will walk among you, and will be your G-d, and you shall be My people.
The Mishkan was a mobile Temple, a place for G-d to tabernacle among His people while they were wandering in the wilderness. It protected His Kedushah. A Kadosh (Holy / Separated) G-d was not able to walk freely among His people because of their sin. Therefore, a sanctuary that was Kadosh (Holy / Separated) had to be provided so that He could dwell among them, so that b'nei Yisrael could offer atonement for their sin and so that G-d and His most treasured possession could have fellowship, one with the other. The Mishkan was a place where bnei Yisrael could worship and commune with a Kadosh G-d.
Shekinah is a word that expresses the visible divine Presence of God, especially when resting between the cherubim over the Kaporet (the Atonement Seat). Shekinah refers to the instances when G-d revealed Himself in a visible fashion. For example: on Mount Sinai when the smoke, thunder and lightning came that was the Shekinah Glory of G-d. In the Kodesh HaKodashim (Holy of Holies), the luminous cloud that rested above the Aron HaKodesh (Ark of the Covenant) and lit up the room that was the Shekinah Glory of G-d. Also, the cloud and the fire that watched over and led bnei Yisrael in the wilderness that was the Shekinah Glory of G-d.
The Mishkan shows us the sinfulness of man. The separation necessary between a Holy G-d and sinful man is vividly demonstrated in its construction and existence.
The Mishkan shows us the Holiness of G-d so that we understand that we must approach G-d His way -- not our way!
Ivrim (Hebrews) {10:19} Therefore, mishpocha (family), having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Yeshua, {10:20} by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
And lastly the Mishkan shows us the grace of G-d. It shows us that, despite our sinfulness, G-d chooses to save us and to dwell among us anyway. He does this because of His love for us and His desire to dwell among us. He reaches down to man so as to have fellowship with him, and so that He can dwell among us. He provides us a way to overcome the barriers that separated us.
Yeshua is not always obvious in the Tanach. G-d has hidden Him in symbolisms, reserved for those who are willing to search for Him, find Him, recognize Him and believe in Him. In that way, if someone truly desired to find G-d, they would just have to look into the symbolism provided for us in the building material and construction method specified by HaShem for the building of the Mishkan.
If someone told you that there was $100, 000. 00 worth of gold hidden somewhere in your room, and you could keep it if you found it, then I bet that you would not waste a minute tearing the place apart to look for the gold, would you not? G-d has hidden eternal life with Him in Heaven. He has hidden it in His Word. Gold will only last your life time, if that, eternal life is, well, it is ETERNAL. Which do you think is more valuable to have?
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mishpatim-Rules
I have been getting a bit behind on these entries, but Rabbi Jack did send another, so I thought I should post it. The grace of Ha Shem to all, -Brad
"Vows, Slavery And Decisions"
Parashat HaShavua Mishpatim / Judgements
This Week's Reading List:
Y Shemot / Exodus 21:1-24:18
Y Melachim Bet / 2 Kings 12:1-17
Y Mattityahu / Matthew 5:38-42
Shemot {21:2} If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. {21:3} If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. {21:4} If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her bnei (children) shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. {21:5} But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free; ' {21:6} then his master shall bring him to G-D, and shall bring him to the door or to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
If you are like me then you have probably wondered why HaShem would allow people to buy other people. Like me as well, I am sure that you have also wondered why a servant who decided to stay with their master after the six years was over, would have to be brought to the doorpost and have their ear pierced with an awl.
Certain types of slavery in biblical times were not slavery as we know it today. The Bible has no allowance for a person to go bankrupt. Scripture instead teaches us that if we make a vow, then must fulfill it. Borrowing money or buying on credit always came with a vow to repay. Breaking a vow is taken very seriously by the L-rd.
Bamidbar (Numbers) {30:2} When an ish (man) vows a vow to HaShem, or swears an oath to bind his nefesh (soul) with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
However, people borrowed money during biblical times just as they do today. Farmers, I am sure, borrowed against their future crops, and during lean years they must have taken out mortgages on their land or borrowed against their farming equipment, like the ox that pulled the plow. If by any chance however, they could not repay their loans, then they could not go bankrupt. Therefore, there was absolutely no way to cancel their debt.
Bankruptcy is an invention of our modern times and is approximately four hundred years old. However, according to the Word of G-d, debt can not be cancelled -- it must be repaid. So what happened if someone could not repay their debt? Well, HaShem provided for that eventuality. The debtor had to payoff the creditor by working for him for free. However, HaShem knowing the wickedness of the human heart, placed a time limit on the servants labour. Six years was all that a creditor could get out of a debtor. Even then he had to provide room and board for the debtor, as well as treat him fairly as prescribed by Torah. At the end of the six years he had to send him away with sufficient goods to help him start his life over again as a debt free man. Because there is no cancelling of debt, other then by the mercy of the creditor, Scripture warns debtors as follows:
Mishlei (Proverbs) {22:7} The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes a slave to the lender.
Obviously from this we can surmise that borrowing is not encouraged in the Bible.
There is also another provision concerning servants in this weeks Parasha. If the person that sold himself into servitude, so as to pay off his debt, decided that he would like to stay with his master, for whatever reason, then he could do so by having his ear pierced at the doorpost of the house. This would obligate the servant to a life long servant-master relationship. However, we have to ask ourselves, why the piercing of an ear at the door or doorpost of the house?
Shemot {12:22} You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. {12:23} For HaShem will pass through to strike the Mitzrim (Egyptians) ; and when He sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, HaShem will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) was in true bondage and slavery to the Mitzrim. However, as we read above, they were given their freedom by applying the blood of a lamb to the doorposts of the doors of their houses. It is not, and never has been, HaShems will for His people to be in servitude to anyone but Himself. Therefore, someone choosing to be in servitude to a human master was, as a shame to himself, pinned to the doorpost of his masters house as a symbol that he or she was acting outside of the will of HaShem. The shame comes in because symbolically the doorpost, to which the servants ear is pierced, represents the doorposts in Mitzrayim to which the lambs blood was applied to for his or her very freedom.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
till King Mashiach Yeshua comes back!!!
Shalom Shalom
"Vows, Slavery And Decisions"
Parashat HaShavua Mishpatim / Judgements
This Week's Reading List:
Y Shemot / Exodus 21:1-24:18
Y Melachim Bet / 2 Kings 12:1-17
Y Mattityahu / Matthew 5:38-42
Shemot {21:2} If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. {21:3} If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. {21:4} If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her bnei (children) shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. {21:5} But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free; ' {21:6} then his master shall bring him to G-D, and shall bring him to the door or to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
If you are like me then you have probably wondered why HaShem would allow people to buy other people. Like me as well, I am sure that you have also wondered why a servant who decided to stay with their master after the six years was over, would have to be brought to the doorpost and have their ear pierced with an awl.
Certain types of slavery in biblical times were not slavery as we know it today. The Bible has no allowance for a person to go bankrupt. Scripture instead teaches us that if we make a vow, then must fulfill it. Borrowing money or buying on credit always came with a vow to repay. Breaking a vow is taken very seriously by the L-rd.
Bamidbar (Numbers) {30:2} When an ish (man) vows a vow to HaShem, or swears an oath to bind his nefesh (soul) with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
However, people borrowed money during biblical times just as they do today. Farmers, I am sure, borrowed against their future crops, and during lean years they must have taken out mortgages on their land or borrowed against their farming equipment, like the ox that pulled the plow. If by any chance however, they could not repay their loans, then they could not go bankrupt. Therefore, there was absolutely no way to cancel their debt.
Bankruptcy is an invention of our modern times and is approximately four hundred years old. However, according to the Word of G-d, debt can not be cancelled -- it must be repaid. So what happened if someone could not repay their debt? Well, HaShem provided for that eventuality. The debtor had to payoff the creditor by working for him for free. However, HaShem knowing the wickedness of the human heart, placed a time limit on the servants labour. Six years was all that a creditor could get out of a debtor. Even then he had to provide room and board for the debtor, as well as treat him fairly as prescribed by Torah. At the end of the six years he had to send him away with sufficient goods to help him start his life over again as a debt free man. Because there is no cancelling of debt, other then by the mercy of the creditor, Scripture warns debtors as follows:
Mishlei (Proverbs) {22:7} The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes a slave to the lender.
Obviously from this we can surmise that borrowing is not encouraged in the Bible.
There is also another provision concerning servants in this weeks Parasha. If the person that sold himself into servitude, so as to pay off his debt, decided that he would like to stay with his master, for whatever reason, then he could do so by having his ear pierced at the doorpost of the house. This would obligate the servant to a life long servant-master relationship. However, we have to ask ourselves, why the piercing of an ear at the door or doorpost of the house?
Shemot {12:22} You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. {12:23} For HaShem will pass through to strike the Mitzrim (Egyptians) ; and when He sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, HaShem will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) was in true bondage and slavery to the Mitzrim. However, as we read above, they were given their freedom by applying the blood of a lamb to the doorposts of the doors of their houses. It is not, and never has been, HaShems will for His people to be in servitude to anyone but Himself. Therefore, someone choosing to be in servitude to a human master was, as a shame to himself, pinned to the doorpost of his masters house as a symbol that he or she was acting outside of the will of HaShem. The shame comes in because symbolically the doorpost, to which the servants ear is pierced, represents the doorposts in Mitzrayim to which the lambs blood was applied to for his or her very freedom.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
till King Mashiach Yeshua comes back!!!
Shalom Shalom
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