A fairly technical-minded blog might focus on a subject like POS systems. We, however, are spiritually-minded at MessianicMusings.com, so we focus on Torah. Here’s my Ki Tisa commentary. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is Ki Tisa, or “When you elevate,” and covers Exodus 30:11 through 34:35. This week’s reading is an emotional roller coaster, carrying us from the lowest of low points during the Israelites’ period in the desert – the episode of the Golden Calf – to the highest of highs as Moses is granted a type of intimacy with the L-RD that no one had known since the fall from the Garden; he is granted a chance to speak with the L-RD face-to-face, and even to gaze upon His Presence.
Before we get there, however, the L-RD is not done giving Moses instructions for the Ark of the Testimony and the Tent of Meeting. Our reading begins with instructions for how to take a census among the people without violating the Torah; each person, rich or poor, is to offer a half-shekel as a ransom for his or her life. In this way, the people themselves are not counted, and the money collected is to be used for purposes of the upkeep of the Tent of Meeting.
Instructions are then given for how to formulate unique perfumes to be used as anointing oil for the priests – the sons of Aaron. Although the formula is given in the Torah, it is shared with a stern warning from The L-RD that this perfume is to be set apart as holy and that no one should try to emulate it for personal, mundane use.
Chapter 31 closes out with a reaffirmation of the command to observe the Sabbath day.
Exodus 31:13-17
“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the L-RD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the L-RD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the L-RD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.’”
It is the trend in many churches to meet and celebrate the L-RD not on the seventh day, but on Sunday, because, they argue, that is when Messiah Yeshua rose from the dead. The trouble with that argument is that there is no Scriptural mandate to set aside the Sabbath day that the L-RD established. Nowhere in the Brit haDasha – the New Covenant writings – does Yeshua mandate a first-day Sabbath, nor do any of the apostles. It is, simply, a human tradition dating back to Constantine and the Council of Nicea.
By contrast, there are numerous passages like this, throughout the Torah, the Tenakh and the New Covenant writings, which urge one to observe the seventh-day Sabbath established by the L-RD, which demonstrate that Yeshua Himself celebrated the seventh-day Sabbath, and which make it clear that the failure to do so is not OK.
As Rabbi Stan taught a couple weeks ago, the L-RD Himself establishes in the Torah His appointed times, as well as the way He wants to be worshipped, and if we stray from that, either to the left or to the right, it’s not OK. We are not to worship the L-RD as other people worship their gods; we are to listen to the words of the L-RD and follow “everything the L-RD commanded.”
This lesson is painfully played out and demonstrated in what follows. It is one of the most disappointing episodes in the history of the Jewish people; the worship of the Golden Calf. Now, Rabbi Stan taught extensively on this episode only a couple weeks ago, so I won’t go into as much detail here, but I would like to call your attention to some key passages.
I’d like to focus for a bit on the actions of Aaron, because there is much that could be misunderstood about his role.
Aaron is the brother of Moses and has been at his side since Moses returned from Midian to Egypt to begin the Exodus. Yet when Moses is taking a while returning from the mountain, and the people get restless, we read this in:
Exodus 32:1-4
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
So, what we see here is that Aaron does bend to the pressure of the people. He takes their gold and uses a tool to fashion it into a golden calf. However, a few verses later when Moses comes down the mountain and sees the frenzy the people are in, and he questions his brother Aaron about how things got so out of control, we read this in:
Exodus 32:21-25
He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.
Did you notice the difference in Aaron’s story? We are told in the previous passage that Aaron fashioned the Golden Calf with a tool, but when confronted by Moses, he claims a calf just magically appeared out of the fire. Yet we see that Moses isn’t fooled by the wording of the final verse, “Aaron had LET them get out of control.”
Now some might argue that Aaron gets off lightly here; he is, after all, the person who made the Golden Calf for the people, yet he is not among those slaughtered. However, it’s important to take into context the whole passage. Shortly after this, Moses draws a line in the sand and says that everyone who is for the L-RD should stand with him. Obviously, Aaron stepped over the line and stood with Moses, repenting of his sin. Those who were killed by the Levites were all from among those who did not step over the line to stand with the L-RD – those who had not repented. So even though he offered a flimsy excuse – a golden calf just magically appeared – Aaron did repent of his sin by standing with Moses on the side of the L-RD. Had he not done so, he would have died with the others.
How like Aaron, though, are we, when confronted with our own sin? How flimsy are our own self-justifying excuses? The hope offered here is that even after making poor excuses for our own sins, we, like Aaron, can still repent of our wrongdoing.
The element that most impressed me from this parashah, however, comes after all this; it is the closeness and intimacy with God that Moses enjoys following all this. The basis for it begins in chapter 32, when Moses contends with God to be merciful to the people, and to protect His own reputation from falling into disrepute among Israel’s enemies. We read this in:
Exodus 32:12
Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.
Here, we see that Moses is interested in protecting God’s reputation among people who don’t even acknowledge Him. That kind of protectiveness builds a trust between the L-RD and Moses that has seldom been matched. It is an act of true friendship.
In His holiness, the L-RD would be justified in wiping out the people, just as He threatens to do; but Moses slowly talks him down. At first, the L-RD says He will keep his promise to deliver the Israelites into the land, but that He will only send an angel before them, and He Himself will not accompany them.
This is not enough for Moses, and he continues to build his relationship with the L-RD. By this time, the Tent of Meeting is constructed and the L-RD meets there with Moses. The Torah describes their meetings this way in:
Exodus 33:11
The L-RD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Can you imagine having that kind of relationship with The L-RD? One in which he would meet with you face-to-face?
This intimacy gave Moses boldness to make requests of the L-RD that many others might shy away from. He insists, for example, that The L-RD go with them into the land, even after God has said He intends not to. And when God changes his mind and agrees, he lets Moses know it is an act springing from their friendship and intimacy. As we read in:
Exodus 33:17
And the L-RD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Feeling bold, Moses then asks God to show him His glory. The L-RD grants Moses a portion of his request, allowing Moses to see Him from behind, after He passes, but not to see His face for no one can look on The L-RD’s face and yet live.
Exodus 34:5-8
Then the L-RD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the L-RD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The L-RD, the L-RD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
After this, Moses once again prevails upon The L-RD to not only accompany the Israelites into the land, but to become their inheritance. For the sake of Moses, the L-RD agrees, making His covenant this time with Moses, rather than the nation of Israel.
At a time when God’s anger burned at the great betrayal His people had shown Him in the wake of the Golden Calf incident, is it Moses who interceded with God, secured Israel’s relationship to Him and turned the L-RD’s heart from holy and righteous anger to forgiveness.
While all of these are qualities of the L-RD, and are part of His very nature, this week’s parashah should prove beyond all doubt that God’s forgiveness and grace does not come cheaply, easily or automatically; not to anyone. While we now enjoy the Intercessor of intercessors, the Messiah Yeshua, speaking to the L-RD on our behalf, we should never forget His intercession and forgiveness came at a price steep enough that we should never treat His grace casually, but as a treasured possession.
Shabbat Shalom.
Tags: Ki Tisa, Moses, POS system