Joy in the Messiah

       This parsha begins with instructions for building of the Tabernacle.  The children of Israel were to bring gold, silver, copper; blue, purple and red dyed wool.  They were to bring flax, goat hair, animal skins, wood, olive oil, spices and precious gems. This was a communal cooperation and event for the first house of worship; the first physical dwelling place that the children of Israel made for God. But the very idea is strange in itself, for how can you build a house for God? He is the universe yet He is not contained in the universe.
     King Solomon made this point when he dedicated The First Temple.  He wrote in 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!”   Isaiah made the same comparison in Isaiah 66:1-2 ‘Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? ² For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
       Not only does it seem impossible to build a home for God, but should it be necessary? The God of the universe is everywhere. He is omnipotent, omnipresence, and omniscience. He is with us and can be accessed anywhere, everywhere whether we are in the pit, or on the mountain.  The paramount answer is that God does not live in buildings but He lives in builders. He lives not in structures but in those that serve Him - Malachi 3:18 ‘So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.’
     Exodus 25:8 states: ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” He does not say: “that I may dwell in it.”
    Adonai dwells in the builders, but He desires that there is a place to worship Him. This is where worshipers come together in unity to worship God.

T’rumah / Offering
Exodus / 25:1-27:19
1 Kings 5:12-6:13

The Cherubim~

   There is a painting of the Ark that the artist paints the Ark as in the biblical text: a deep chest trimmed around with a gold molding and topped with a golden cover – the kapporet (from the Hebrew word kapper or kippur, which means atonement, purge, or purify) – and two cherubim placed on the cover. The artist explains that the verse about God speaking between the mercy seat and the cherubim gave him the vision of his painting. 
      Exodus 25:17-21 states: ‘“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. ¹⁸ And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. ²⁰ And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. ²¹ You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.”
     Adonai continues with ‘And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.’ Exodus 25:22.
      Why does God state that He will speak in that small space?  We don’t know, but we can discover some insight regarding the cherubim. 
      This painting of the Ark reflected a concept found in the Hebrew Bible, wherein winged cherubim guarded and carried the Divine Throne. We find references to the Ark of God as being the Ark of the “Lord of Hosts enthroned on the cherubim” in 1 Samuel 4:4 צְבָא֖וֹת יֹשֵׁ֣ב הַכְּרֻבִ֑ים וְשָׁ֞ם שְׁנֵ֣י - who sits [above] the cherubim; and the two/ which dwelleth [between] the cherubims: and the two / of hosts sits the cherubim there and the two. Also 2 Samuel 6:2. צְבָא֛וֹת יֹשֵׁ֥ב הַכְּרֻבִ֖ים עָלָֽיו׃ - who is enthroned [above] the cherubim. / that dwelleth [between] the cherubims. /of hosts is enthroned the cherubim.  It was regarded as the foot stool of God. 
     In Exodus25:19 the Hebrew is:  וַ֠עֲשֵׂה כְּר֨וּב אֶחָ֤ד מִקָּצָה֙  - transliterated:  Make one cherub at one end…
     Exodus 25:20 reads in Hebrew: וְהָי֣וּ הַכְּרֻבִים֩ פֹּרְשֵׂ֨י כְנָפַ֜יִם - The cherubim shall have [their] wings or And the cherubims shall stretch and/or shall have the cherubim spread wings.  It continues with the Hebrew  יִהְי֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הַכְּרֻבִֽים׃  - translated - the faces of the cherubim are to be [turned] toward, shall the faces of the cherubims be.
     We first read of cherubims in Genesis 3:24, where here they were the guardians of Eden; ‘So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.’
     Besides being placed on the mercy seat, they were to be sewn into the tapestry, ‘You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.’ Exodus 26:31.
     In the book of Ezekiel we see another aspect of the responsibility of cherubim in guarding, protecting, and transporting the glory of God in a vision of Ezekiel: ‘Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.’  Ezekiel 10:18-19.
     It seems as if access to God’s presence has been guarded by cherubim since the serpent in the garden of Eden and continued as God made a dwelling among men in the Tabernacle and the Temple. We see in Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah the importance of the cherubim; ‘Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, “O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.’ Isaiah 37:15-16.
   The Book of Hebrews speaks of this in chapter 9, specifically Hebrews 9:5 ‘… and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.’
     The voice of Adonai, so guarded and so Divine, it is uncommon, it is the holy Word. Yet, man has tried through the centuries to make His Word common, to fit the religion of the time.  The mercy seat represents atonement, and the cherubim represent the guards, this place between is the annex of the voice of God. The Ark was the manifestation of God's physical presence on earth, the shekina. When God spoke with Moshe in the Tent of Meeting in the desert, He did so from between the two Cherubs, Numbers 7:89. Once the Ark was moved into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, it was accessible only once a year, and then, only by one person. On Yom Kippur, the High Priest, HaKohen Gadol could enter the Holy of Holies to ask forgiveness for himself and for all the nation of Israel, Leviticus 16:2. Exodus 40:35 states that when God spoke from between the Cherubs, there was a glowing cloud visible there.
     Psalm 85:10 ‘Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.’
     1 John 2:1-2 ‘My children, I am writing you these things so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Yeshua the Messiah, the Tzaddik, who pleads our cause with the Father. ² Also, He is the kapparah for our sins — and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.’ (Complete Jewish Bible).   
     

תְּרוּמָה
Terumah / Offering
Exodus 25:1-27:19
HafTorah Portion 1 Kings 5:12-6:13
Brit Chadasha Hebrews 9:1-10

     The last Torah portions of Shemot that begins with this parsha, Terumah, and continues with Tetzaveh, Ki Tissa, Vayakhel and Pekudei, is interesting and might be difficult to understand.  First, it outlines the construction of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, the portable House of Worship the Israelites built and carried with them through the desert, in intricate detail.  Why so long? Why such detail? The Tabernacle was, after all, only a temporary home for the Divine Presence, to eventually be replaced by the Temple in Jerusalem, and then the Temple within us. The Temple of the Living God.
     So long as every crisis was dealt with by Moses and miracles, the Israelites remained in a state of dependency. Their default response was to complain. And they complained it seems consistently and about everything.
     Until they had to do something ‘together’.  This command transformed the Israelites. During the whole construction of the Tabernacle there were no complaints. The entire people contributed – some gold, silver, or bronze, some brought skins and drapes, others gave their time and skill. They gave so much that Moses had to order them to stop.  Maybe the truth is that not only is it what God does for us that transforms us, but also what we do for God. However, the offerings had to be from the willingness to give. ‘The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.’ Exodus 25:1-2.
     The Israelites built the Tabernacle together for God, for Him to dwell in their midst, for their benefit, not for His benefit. He was already with them, during the entire journey through the wilderness. But the Israelites needed to do something as a whole – to see that He was near.
     Matthew 18:20 ‘For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.’
     Acts 2:41-42 ^‘Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. ⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.’
     Psalm 95:6 ‘Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.’
     Psalm 34:3 ‘O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.’
     It is said that Jewish life revolves around two institutions, the home and the community. Each is unique and between these two–the private and public – we are immersed in the meaning of life and worship.
     Our homes should be one of identity into the Covenant of God. Following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., the rabbis decided the home would be the mikdash m’at–“small sanctuary”–a holy place responsible for fostering the family’s spiritual life. We have our mezuzahs, the Sabbath candlesticks, the menorahs and married couples display their ketubahs.
     But families cannot and should not live in isolation. To live a full Hebrew life requires engagement with others, a Messianic Community. The Messianic Synagogue provides services and experiences that the home cannot, and in addition, fellowship and participation in community have strong spiritual and emotional value.
     While we can pray individually, and should, the presence of a minyan (a quorum of 10 adults) is required for certain portions of the service. So, the synagogues emerged as the central institution of the community. This is true today in our Messianic Synagogues.
     We can offer contributions not only to the place that we worship, but to one another, through loving kindness and simply coming together. It is our covenant with Elohim that we walk in the realms of life and share the goodness that He bestows upon us.
     Sharing the truth is one way we can bestow loving kindness on another.
      Colossians 3:16 ‘ Let the word of Yeshua dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.’
     1 Peter 3:15-17 ‘But sanctify (set-apart) the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Messiah may be ashamed. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.’
     Hebrews 10:24-25 ‘And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.’     

Joel 2:27 ‘You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.’