Tetzaveh (You are to command) Exodus/Sh’mot 27:20-30:10
Tetzaveh(You are to command)Exodus/Sh’mot 27:20-30:10
Haftorah Reading: Ezekiel 43:10-27
This Sabbath I have a few points I want to cover with you. I believe each of these points are spiritually relevant to our lives today. They should speak to each of us in our personal walk.
To begin, I want to share an example I read this week from a good friend who lives in Jerusalem. It concerned him buying olive oil for lighting his menorah on the Shabbat. According to scripture, pure pressed olive oil was used to light the candles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. This friend lights his Shabbat candles each Friday at sundown to welcome the Sabbath. As he was shopping for oil he found it would be much cheaper to buy sunflower oil or other substitutes for his menorah than pure pressed olive oil. Olive oil was double the price of sunflower oil. After thinking about it he decided to follow scripture and use what was prescribed there and not use a substitute.
Beha’alotcha (When you set up) Numbers/B’midbar 8:1-12:16
Beha’alotcha (When you set up) Numbers/B’midbar 8:1-12:16
Haftorah Reading: Zechariah 2:14-4:7
Messianic Scripture John 19:31-37, Hebrews 3:1-6
Our reading today contains many themes from the highs of the Menorah to the lows of the verses about Miriam and Aaron complaining and gossiping about Moshe. Today I want us to spend our time mainly on two of these themes. The first is found in Numbers 11:4-5. Here we read of the people complaining about only having manna to eat. They go on and on with their list of just how good they had it in Egypt. They seem to have completely forgotten the part about being slaves there. Then in verses 11:14-15 we see Moshe come to the end of his patience and said to G-d, in verse 15, “And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you.” Moshe had reached the end and cried out to G-d.
Beha’alotcha (He Lifted Up) (Numbers) B’Midbar 8-12
Torah Portion: Beha’alotcha(He Lifted Up) (Numbers) B’Midbar 8-12
Haftorah Reading: Zechariah 2:14-4:7
This Torah section begins with the lighting of the Menorah in the Mishkan/Tabernacle for the first time. In the first three verses we read where G-d tells Moshe to relate to Aaron the instructions on the process he was to follow. There are a couple of interesting things that stand out in these verses. In Numbers 8:2 we read in English, “When you light.” The actual Hebrew word means, “When you lift up.” Here we get an idea of what the real purpose of the candles was. The Menorah symbolizes among other things, the light of G-d, the way to the Father. So we could see these verses as saying, “Lift up the light of the Father that people can find their spiritual way, that we can find our way in this world.” Really, here the words have much more to say to us than just a physical act of lighting the candles, but of lighting our way by being lifted up. It might give us a deeper understanding of John 12:32 where we read the words of Yeshua being lifted up and drawing people to Him. The ultimate purpose of that lifting up is that we should be filled with a longing to satisfy our Father. We look for ways to please Him and our own desires pale in comparison. This gives us a deeper understanding of the verses in Numbers 9:6-12 which covers the request of the men who missed Pesach/Passover because they were unclean from being in contact with a dead body. They came to Moshe and asked why they could not have the opportunity to fulfill Passover. Moshe went to G-d and G-d issued an additional commandment that allowed these men to celebrate Passover in the second month since they missed the appointed time in the first month.