Tag Archives: The Tabernacle

What does badger skin have to do with love and Torah?

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Numbers 4:6, Badger skin [Heb. tachash]. When being transported, the ark of the covenant was covered with a tachash skin, which, according to rabbinic tradition was an unusually beautiful color of turquoise blue made from the hide of a now extinct animal. According to The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, this striking color of blue invited one to keep YHVH’s Torah-commandments by clothing them in physical beauty thus showing that obedience to them would be enjoyable (p. 745). Is obeying YHVH, keeping his commands, inviting and enjoyable, or is it a burden? In 1 John 5:1–3 we read:

Whosoever believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of Elohim, and every one that loves him that begot loves him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous [burdensome, severe, cruel, heavy].

John the apostle clearly states that obedience to Torah is centered on love—a love relationship between man and his Creator. John, in his Gospel, records Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, saying,

If you love me, keep my Torah-commandments (John 14:15).

Other scriptures that say the same thing in a different way include,

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.…Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom 13:8, 10)

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. (1 John 3:23)

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:2–3)

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. (2 John 5–6)

 

Three Doors, Five Bars and Four Pillars and How They Point to Yeshua

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Exodus 36:32, Five bars. To what might these prophetically point? Possibly two things. There are five books in the Torah, which contain the light of Elohim’s truth, and which point man to Yeshua the Messiah who is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim and the spiritual light of the world.

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Furthermore, upon his ascension, Yeshua gave the fivefold ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher) to bring the saints into “the measure of the stature of the fullness” of himself (Eph 4:10–13). It is the duty of those who hold these ministry offices to reveal to the world the light of Yeshua the Messiah and to show people the way to him.

Even as these five bars helped to hold up the tabernacle sanctuary containing the furnishings that pointed the way to a more intimate spiritual relationship with Yeshua, the Torah is the vessel that contains the truth that points the way to the Messiah, and he has commissioned his ministers to be anointed vessels who contain the message of Yeshua and are to proclaim him as the Savior of the world.

Exodus 36:35, He made a veil. There were three doors to the tabernacle or mishkan. In the previous chapter, two are mentioned (Exod 36:35–37; see also Exod 26:31–37). The three doors are the veil or parochet between the set-apart place and the most set-apart place, the outer door to the tabernacle and the door or screen to the tabernacle courtyard.

tabernacle veil

Yeshua likened himself to a spiritual door that one must enter in order to saved  and to experience an abundant life (John 10:7–10). As we have learned in our other studies on the Tabernacle of Moses, everything about it prophetically points to Yeshua the Messiah. The door to the set-apart place of the tabernacle was held up by four gold-covered acacia wood pillars. These represent the four Gospels, which proclaim the good news salvation through Messiah. Moreover, these four books of the Bible are the entry point through which most people come when first hearing the message of Yeshua.

Each of the three doors was blue, scarlet, purple and white. All three colors point to different aspects of Yeshua, his origin and mission (blue is for heaven, scarlet is for blood, white is for spiritual purity or righteousness, purple is for royalty or kingship). The four colors point to the four Gospels each of which highlights a different aspect of Yeshua’s life and ministry, and each of which are the doors through which one enters into a spiritual relationship with him.

Why was there a veil between the set-apart place and the most set-apart place? Who does this represent? (See Heb 10:19–20.) Why could no one except the high priest once a year enter through that veil into the most set-apart place without dying? (Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23; Ezek 18:4). How do we now have access to the Father through the veil? (Heb 10:19–22) Why was the veil in the temple rent at the time of Yeshua’s death on the cross (Matt 27:51)?

 

Does YHVH want us to freeze in the dark on the Sabbath?

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Exodus 35:2, The seventh day … shall be … a set-apart day. In our journey through the Torah, the subject of the seventh day Sabbath keeps popping up. When YHVH said in Exodus 20:8 to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it set-apart (Heb. kadosh),” he keeps reminding them of it so that they won’t forget it! What does this tell us about the importance YHVH places on the weekly Sabbath? With each reminder, he gives additional instructions about how to keep the Sabbath (see Gen 2:2–3; Exod 16:23–30; 20:8–11).

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Exodus 35:3, Kindle no fire…on the Sabbath day. There are several prevailing viewpoints as to the exact meaning of this passage. Let’s explore them.

The Orthodox Jews take literally the Torah’s prohibition to kindle no fire on the Sabbath. As such, many do not even turn on a light switch or start their cars (i.e., fire in the spark plugs) on the Sabbath for fear of violating this command. To counter balance this viewpoint, the Torah does indicate that the priest lit the menorah in the tabernacle each morning, the Sabbath not excluded (Exod 27:21–21; 30:7). So, for ministry purposes, lighting a fire seems not to be prohibited.

There is also the viewpoint that since the next verse (Exod 34:4) begins YHVH’s instructions to build the tabernacle, the immediate context of the Sabbath-fire passage has to do with not starting fires that pertain only to one’s trade or job—in Israel’s case, their job was the building of the mishkan. Fires would have been needed for tanning hides, working with metal, and possibly bending wood and dying cloth along with other activities.

This we know for certain. On the Sabbath, YHVH’s people are not to bake, cook or prepare food from scratch (Exod 16:23), but reheating food seems not to be Continue reading →