United Together in God's Work: (Exodus 35:1-40:38) "VaYekel / Pikudei"

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

Bible Portion:   "VaYekel" ( and he assembled) and "Pikudei" (accountings of)   EXODUS 35:1-40:38

   The original commentary for this portion of study is very long.  I sent it to our Messianic congregation members, but for the sake of those in the Forum groups, I will shorten it a bit, and concentrate on the basic meanings of this portion of God's inspired Word.  

    The main point of this study is the construction of the Tabernacle, or in Hebrew, "Mishkan," which comes from three Hebrew letters: "Sh+k+n," which form the verb " to dwell, to live with or among."  It isn't that God needs a place to live, He lives everywhere, from the farthest and remote parts of the universe to the deepest part of the oceans.  It is "Man" who needs to "meet" with God, so God will meet with mankind in this place called the Mishkan. 

     God gives Moses the building plans while on Mt. Sinai in Exodus Chapter 25.  This was a "God to Moses" conversation and instructions.  Now, ten chapters later, it is the "Moses to the People" conversation.  "This is what God wants."

    The first thing that is mentioned in Exodus 35 is the "Shabbat."  Even before the building project starts, God is ordering a day of rest, do nothing, just rest in your tents Israelites, and meditate on the goodness you have received from me! in a manner of speaking.  Even when the building starts, they are to rest and stop work every Sabbath, which is every "Saturday."  It is the 7th day, and God gives the example back in Genesis.  "He rested on the 7th day from all his work"

    This works for us too.  We can work 6 days a week then rest on the 7th day.  Most of us have 5-day work weeks, then on Saturday and Sunday, we rest and either attend Synagogue services or Sunday services. Some believe that the Sabbath day was changed to Sunday.  Yet nothing was changed really.  In Acts, it mentions that the disciples and other believers got together the "First Day of the week to break bread" (Acts 20:7) this was when Paul met with them and preached until midnight.  The "First day of the week, or Sunday" starts when the sun goes down on Saturday afternoon-evening.  Bible study, food fellowship, and communion were at this time too.  So, Sunday, the first day of the week is also a blessing to get together and study God's Word at congregations.  

     Now for every building project, there are supervisors and workers appointed by the "Big Boss Man."   We might say that Moses was the "Boss Man" and God himself was the "Big Boss Man." In this project, there were two supervisors;  B'Tzal'el and "Aholiav"  Intereresting names.  B'Tzal'El  means 
"In the Shadow of God" and "Aholi-Av" "In My Father's Tent" or "My tent of the Father"  According to the Talmud, B'tzal'El was only 13 years old.  So, these guys worked under the "shadow of God" to build "Father's Tent."

    He was to build the furniture for the Tabernacle and AholiAv was to teach others how to do the work.  They were supernaturally gifted with the understanding and wisdom to do this work.  Imagine going to sleep one night and waking up knowing all about electrical engineering and the night before you were just a common day laborer.  The Israelites in Egypt were just that, laborers for Pharoah.

     God has gifted all believers with the "gifts of the Spirit"  To some he has given the gift of teaching, and pastoring, and being a rabbi (a teacher)
Some he has given the gift of administration, finances, music, singing, prayer warriors, and intercessors, some can speak different languages (tongues) in the Greek (Glossa) all for the Body of Messiah.

     God told Moses to "collect a free-will offering" from the people.  This is important because it had to come from their "hearts." All the materials would come from the people.  Where did the Israelites get all the material to build the Mishkan?  From the Egyptians of course.  Egypt went into bankruptcy.  The Egyptians gave them all their gold, silver, copper, bronze, fabric, fine wood, etc...just to get them "out of there" (and take your God with you!) 

    The people started bringing all that was needed to build the Mishkan.  Even "too much" as they were commanded to "stop giving".  Can you imagine a pastor telling his congregation to "stop giving, hey, we have too much already"  That will never happen. God wants us to be "cheerful givers" with a glad heart, not with a sour face as if you were sucking on a lemon. There are three ways to give, the three "T"s,  Time, Talent, and Treasure"  Some have a lot of "treasure" (money) but little available time, while others have not so much treasure (like me) yet a lot of time and talent to give.  Especially retired folks such as myself. Not enough treasure to keep living in the USA, but enough to live South of the Border. 

     Now, the furnishings that were built by the construction crews were;  The Tabernacle itself, with the boards and the tenting fabric, and then 6 main items, all of which point to and illustrate YESHUA!  The Ark of the Covenant, The Incense Altar, the Table of Shewbread, the Menorah, the Bronze Basin, and the Brazen Altar.  So, how do these items point to Yeshua or illustrate the person of Yeshua/Jesus?  

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT:  Made of gold and hardwood.  The humanity of Yeshua (wood) and the purity of His sinless person (gold)  Inside the Ark of the Covenant were: The Tablets of the Commandments (Yeshua, the Living Torah) Aaron's Rod that budded (The Authority and Leadership of Yeshua
The container of Manna (Yeshua, the Bread of Life) His provision for us all, both physically and spiritually, both physical food and food for the soul. 
The two cherubim on top of the covering of the Ark invited the High Priest to minister and come close to YHVH in the Shekinah glory that was between them.  Remember, there were two Cherubim at the entrance of the Garden of Eden to keep man from "returning" to the Garden, now, there is an invitation to "come back" into fellowship with God.  

THE INCENSE ALTAR:  Made of hardwood and gold. (The humanity of God in Yeshua, and his pure sinless self) The incense that went up towards heaven, our prayers, and the intercession of Yeshua on our behalf as our "High Priest" (Cohen HaGadol)

THE ALTAR OF SHEWBREAD:  Made of hardwood and gold. (The humanity of God in Yeshua, and his pure sinless self) the 12 loaves of unleavened bread, "Yeshua, The Bread of Life" who sustains us with his Living Word, and our daily bread (rice, beans, etc) The priests would eat the bread on the Sabbath and place more for that week. 

THE GOLDEN MENORAH:  Made of pure gold, seven branches and on top of each branch, a lamp with oil and wicks.  Yeshua is the "Light of the World" and so are we "lights of the world" to reflect the light of Yeshua.  We are the wicks and need to be connected to the oil in order to "shine brightly" 

THE BRONZE BASIN:  Made of bronze (which is a mixture of iron and copper). Bronze symbolizes judgment.  It held water which the priests used to wash their hands and feet after performing the animal sacrifices.  Yeshua is the "Living Water" He explained this to the Samaritan woman at the well.
We also identify water with the believer's baptism, and continuing fellowship with Messiah Yeshua, as when Yeshua washed the disciple's feet after Passover supper.  When we look at still water, we can see our reflection, so, we must "judge ourselves" where we come up short. 

THE BRAZEN ALTAR:  Made of Hardwood overlaid with bronze. (The Humanity of Yeshua who went through judgment by the Father, to pay the price of sin in our place.  This is where all the animal sacrifices were performed, they pointed to "Yeshua, The Lamb of God" who was "roasted in the fires of judgment" on the Cross of Calvary.  This was the first place at the entrance of the Tabernacle.  We could say that the "Tabernacle" is the community of believers worldwide.  The first step is accepting Yeshua's sacrifice for sin, once and forever.

Chapter 38:21 until the end of chapter 40 is all about "accountability" and the "finished product" (putting it all together).  The Tabernacle is finished and erected on New Year's Day (Nisan 1) which would be March 30th this year.  Like in any building project, the expenses are listed and recorded and the finished product is presented to the public.  The tabernacle was put together and the Glory of God filled it.  

One day, we will give an account of all that we have done for the glory of God, what we did with our Time Talent, and Treasure.  All will be revealed at the Judgment Seat of Messiah (The Bema) and rewards or loss of rewards will be revealed.  Are you ready for that time?  We only have this one earthly life to live, we don't know when our "clocks will stop ticking." Our rewards for eternity depend on what we do in the HERE and NOW.  

Please pray for traveling mercies, as we will be going back to Texas then to Florida for family time and ministry on the 28th of this month, so, I probably won't be back writing until mid May.  

Shalom / Shabbat Shalom  

Ben Avraham 
Kehilah Salem 
San Salvador, El Salvador