Into His presence

Torah PortionKi Tisa (When You Take) Sh’mot/Ex. 30:11-34:35

Haftorah Reading: I Kings 18:1-39

This week we read the Torah portion concerning the rules for taking a census. If not followed, as in the time when King David took his own census, it caused disastrous consequences for the people of Israel. The result of King David’s actions 70,000 souls died. (II Samuel 24)

 

We also read of Moshe’s request to see G-d in all His majesty.  Exodus 33:18-34:7 covers his request and the Father’s response. We will look at this later. Now I want to cover my question of the week based on Exodus 33:18. Here we read, “And he said, ‘show me please, Your glory.’”  These are Moshe’s words to G-d after he had interceded for the Israelites following the incident of the golden calf. We read in Exodus 22:11, “So the L-rd spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” We then come to Exodus 33:18 which I quoted earlier. I want to look at the two verbs in the verse to give us a clear understanding of what he is requesting. 

The first is translated in English as, “And he said.” In Hebrew it is only one word, “Vayomar.” This is clearly translated as “And he said.” However, the form also indicates that Moshe paused before making his request. Remember, this is the same man who, on his first encounter with G-d, was afraid of looking at G-d. (Exodus 3:6) Now we see him asking to see the glory of G-d. The word used here has the clear meaning of glory or majesty. So exactly what was Moshe asking?  In G-d’s response in Exodus 33:22 we can get a clue. G-d was to show Moshe His Presence. G-d’s glory is simply G-d Himself. Moshe was asking to see G-d in all His glory. He was seeking reassurance from G-d that He was still committed to being with the people after their sin of the golden calf.

When we come to the Messianic scriptures we can find people who, like Moshe, were desperate for answers, such as, “Is Yeshua the Promised One or should we look for another?” Let’s look at the woman who had the issue of blood. She was seeking a touch from Yeshua. She had suffered from this disease for 12 years. We read her story in Mark 5:24-34. It is helpful to understand what effect this had on this woman.  To have such a problem made her ritually unclean. That meant she was basically cut off from human contact, from human touch. Anyone touching her would also then become unclean. In our reading in Mark we see her undeterred from getting to Yeshua. Her desperation overruled any reservations she had of touching others in a crowd that was gathered around Yeshua. She finally was able to touch His tassels on His garment and was instantly healed. Her persistence was rewarded by her being healed and Yeshua speaking directly to her. In Mark 5:34 Yeshua told her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed.” She knew what she needed and was not deterred.

In Matthew 15:22 we read of the Canaanite woman who came out crying, or screaming, pleading to Yeshua. The disciples tried to fend her off, asking Yeshua to send her away. She pushed past them to kneel at His feet and beg for His help. In Matthew 15:28 we read Yeshua’s response to her persistence. “O woman great is your faithfulness. Be it done as you desire.” This woman overcame the racial tensions as a Canaanite and pushed through the disciples to Yeshua to get the answer she and her family needed.

All  this brings us to the question for us, how strong is our desire to see the Father? There is surely many things that may pull us off track in the world today. Many things, people, problems around us, that try to discourage us and take our attention off Him. However, if we push ahead as Moshe did, as these women did, we will be able to push through into His presence and see His glory, hallelujah. 

Now to cover my last point this week look at Exodus 34:6-7. Here we read of the attributes of G-d. In verse 6 we read, in Hebrew, the words, “chesed and emet.” In Hebrew this is grace and truth. Yet in English it reads, goodness and truth. Now when we go to John 1:1-17 we read in verse 14 and 17, in English, grace and truth, directly translated from the Hebrew words chesed and emet. In verse 17 we read, “For the law was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.”

This causes a conflict between the Torah and Messianic scriptures. It also is the foundation of the false doctrine that G-d’s law has no bearing on Christians because now we are under grace and truth. This seeming conflict is caused by the lack of consistency in translation of exactly the same words in Hebrew found in the Torah and the Messianic Scriptures. In most bibles we use today, the Exodus verses where the word grace is found it is translated as goodness, setting up a conflict when in reality there is none. 

Grace and truth do not appear in the English translation of the Hebrew scriptures yet the same two words are translated in the Messianic scriptures as grace and truth. Is there a big difference if you say grace and truth or goodness and truth? 

I bring this out for us to realize that our English translations are sometimes lacking in accuracy of translation which can lead to false doctrine. If anyone has any feedback or other opinions on this I welcome your feedback. Blessings, David