Ki Tisa Slides (pdf)
Ki Tisa Notes (pdf)
Overview of Ki Tisa (“When You Number”) (Exodus 30:11 – 34:35)
In the last four Portions, Moses has been atop Mt Sinai receiving from Yehovah the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20-23; then that Covenant with Yehovah was confirmed (Exodus 24:1-10); and then he received additional “commandments” concerning the building of the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and the garments of the High Priest (Exodus 24:11 – 31:18). These Tabernacle instructions were not part of the Covenant Conditions contained in the Book of the Covenant; but they are also not part of the Book of the Law either (that won’t be completed until the very end of the 40-year wilderness journey). Yehovah had planned for the Tabernacle and the High Priest to function under the Sinai Covenant laws; but Israel committed spiritual adultery with Yehovah by worshipping the Golden Calf, so He modified His plans for the Tabernacle to add all of the Levitical/Aaronic Sacrifices that He would impose upon covenant-breaking Israel.
This week’s Portion concludes all of these Tabernacle / High Priest instructions, and it sets the stage for the beginning of the actual construction of these things. However….it is interrupted by this great turning point in Torah: the Sin of the Golden Calf. We have seen two other turning points: the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3 and the Great Flood in Genesis 7-9; the Sin of the Golden Calf ranks right up there with these other two. And we are anxiously awaiting the final turning point: the return of Yeshua to establish His Millennial Kingdom!
Chapter 30 Offerings for the Tabernacle
Yehovah instructed Moses to take a census of Israel by collecting from every man a half-shekel coin to finance the construction of everything we have seen described in the last two Portions. The total number of Israelite men would be determined by counting the half-shekel coins…not by counting the men themselves. Per Yehovah’s instructions, Moses will take a census by counting the men by Tribe, at the beginning of the wilderness journey (Numbers 1) and also at the end (Numbers 26); these censuses would determine the number of military age men fit for battle and also establish the size of each Tribe for Land distribution when the Land of Canaan has been conquered. But here Yehovah is only interested in the total number of Israelite men.
We also see here the description of the final element of the Tabernacle furnishings; the Brazen Laver. It was made of solid copper –made from the polished copper mirrors which the Egyptian women gave to the departing Israelites – and was used by the Priests to cleanse themselves during and after the offering of the very bloody sacrifices. And the laver’s description has been held until now because it could not be used until the Aaronic Priesthood had been established and the Priests had been consecrated.
The chapter concludes with the recipes for the anointing oil and the incense which was burned at the altar. Both include a warning that these are to be used only in the Tabernacle…not for personal consumption.
Chapter 31 The Chosen Workmen
Yehovah chose two men to lead the construction: Batzalel, meaning “in Yehovah’s shadow” and Aholiav, meaning “in my father’s tent” – one from the Tribe of Judah (the Tribe that would lead Israel’s wilderness march) and the other from Dan (the Tribe which would be last in the order of the march). These two men, from the first and last Tribes in the march, represented all the Tribes…because everyone from all the Tribes was involved in order to complete this massive construction project in less than six months.
The requirements for these men were simple: to be filled with the Spirit of Yehovah in wisdom, understanding and in knowledge; these are the basis for the Seven Spirits of Yehovah in Isaiah 11:2. The Hebrew for these three words is chochmah, binah and da’at; and they form the acronym Chabad, which is a large Orthodox Jewish movement today. They are especially known for their expectation that a man will arise as the Messiah and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel on Earth. We, as Believers, know that a man will arise and try to establish himself as the Messiah…and we know that man as the Antichrist! So the stage is set for the world to accept this Antichrist, but Yeshua warned us in Matthew 24 to not be deceived by him. He will appear in the Temple as a counterfeit Messiah; we are not to seek him, for “even the elect” would be deceived. And one final word about being deceived: do not count on a pre-tribulation rapture or even a pre-wrath rapture to “take us out of here.” That theory just does not fit the patterns that Yehovah has given us in Scripture. Noach was not “raptured out” of the Flood, but rather he was placed – along with his family- in an ark to be preserved in the midst of the Flood. Lot was not “raptured out” of Sodom but was instead moved to a (literal) city of refuge while Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. And the clearest pattern of all is the Egyptian Plagues. Israel was not “raptured out” by Yehovah; instead He placed them in a (literal, again) city of refuge: Goshen. They were subject to the effects of the first three plagues but were protected by Yehovah from the next (and worst) six plagues; the last plague – death of the firstborn – was their final exam… which the obedient ones passed!
So, as much as I would love to be taken out when the going gets tough, that’s not what Scripture says to me. We must be prepared to endure the wrath of Yehovah poured out upon others, knowing that “we are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Messiah Yeshua”. Yehovah will move us to His City of Refuge (we’ll talk more about this when we get to Numbers 35), or He will build one around us wherever we happen to be. We must be prepared to be present – but not affected by – all of the stuff we read about in the Book of Revelation…prepared physically, mentally, and, most importantly, spiritually!! Now…back to Exodus.
The chapter ends with Yehovah giving Moses the two Tablets of the Covenant which had been blood ratified in Exodus 24:1-8. This concludes Moses’ fifth trip up and down Mt Sinai, where he met face-to-face with Yehovah.
Chapter 32 The Golden Calf
Yehovah told Moses that he had better get down the mountain because his people were in the process of breaking the very covenant that he had in his hands by committing adultery with Yehovah as they worshipped the Golden Calf. Moses responded; they are not my people, but rather they are “your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt.” If nothing else, Moses had chupatzah! We know the story: when he saw all the people worshipping the Calf, he became so angry that he threw down the tablets and broke them to pieces. And then he did a very curious thing. He burned the Golden Calf, he ground it into dust, spread it upon the water and made all the people drink. What’s going on here?? This is the practical application of Numbers 5: the Test for an Adulterous Wife. This seems to be one of those bizarre Middle-Eastern traditions that make no sense to us here in the 21st Century Western world; but it perfectly explains what Moses did here. Numbers 5:11-31 says: if a man suspects his wife of adultery, he is to take her to the Priest. The Priest does a number of things, including sacrifices; but he also does some very strange things. He puts a handful of dust from the Temple floor into a cup of water; he writes her supposed offenses on a scroll and then (literally) scrapes the words off the scroll into the same cup of “bitter water” and then he has the woman drink from the cup. If she is guilty of the charge of adultery, then her “belly will swell and her thigh will rot”…whatever that means. If she is not guilty, then she is pronounced not guilty and is restored to her husband.
So here Moses did not have to write the sins of adulterous Israel upon a scroll…he just took the manifestation of their sins – the Golden Calf itself – and ground it up and spread it over the water to make it “bitter.” He then called for help in identifying the ring-leaders of this revolt, and his brothers, the Levites, responded (this is the beginning of the Levitical Priesthood). After all Israel had drunk the “bitter water” then the Levites went through the crowds looking for those with “swollen bellies and rotten thighs” and slew them – 3,000 in all! Incidentally, we see these same strange things going on when Yeshua intervened in the Adulterous Woman episode of John 1-11. The Pharisees were preparing to use the dust to make “bitter water” when Yeshua started writing their sins in that dust.
The Sin of the Golden Calf is all about Israel committing spiritual adultery with Yehovah…and Moses applied the Test of the Adulterous Woman to determine Israel’s guilt. That Sin broke the blood-ratified marriage covenant between Yehovah and Israel. In order for Israel to come back into a covenant relationship with Yehovah, the penalty for breaking this blood-ratified covenant must be paid. And that penalty is death! The two participants in a blood covenant would cut the bodies of the sacrificed animals in half and walk between them, saying to each other, “if I break this covenant, then you may do to me as we have done to these slain animals” (Genesis 15). So, in order for Israel (including us!) to come back onto a covenant relationship with Yehovah, someone had to die! When Yeshua said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you”, He was the one Who paid our death penalty and allowed us now to enter back into a covenant relationship with Yehovah….not with the covenant requirements written on stone tablets, but those covenant requirements are written upon our hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:33). Halleluyah!!!!
Moses, being a foreshadowing of Yeshua, interceded for the People. He went back up the mountain (this is his 6th trip up-and-down Sinai), and said to Yehovah, “If You will forgive their sin –“. We see this dash in the text, the only time we do – because Moses could not think of any possible reason for Yehovah to forgive this great sin. So Moses, the humble man, offered himself in their place: “but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” Who among us could make that offer? We might consider doing that for a righteous person…but what about a group that had just committed adultery???!
Yehovah did not blot Moses’ name from His book (not sure if it’s the Book of Life or one of the other Books of Yehovah); of all the people in the world, Yehovah knew Moses was innocent of anything to do with the Golden Calf because he was with Him when it happened. Instead Yehovah said, “whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” And He also said (my paraphrase), “you have sinned when you committed adultery against me, I’m out of here! But I will send My Angel to lead you for the rest of the journey.” I believe this Angel was actually the pre-incarnate Yeshua sent to lead Israel until their journey ends….when this same Angel (Yeshua) paid their death penalty with His own blood!
It cannot be over emphasized how important this Golden Calf episode is; it was the reason for all of the rest of the Bible! Had Israel not committed adultery then there would have been no need for Yeshua to shed His blood to pay for that sin and Israel would have continued in Covenant relationship with Yehovah…and the Bible would be a much shorter book!
Chapter33 Moses sees the Glory of Yehovah
This transfer of leadership from Yehovah to Yeshua continues here as Yehovah promised to send “My Presence” which literally means “His Faces” …another direct reference to the pre-incarnate Yeshua.
Moses moved his tent outside the (sinful) camp of Israel; the Glory of Yehovah fell upon this tent and it was called the Tent of Meeting; this is not the same as the Tabernacle…because the Tabernacle hadn’t been built yet. Everyone who sought Yehovah had to leave the camp and enter Moses’ tent; and when Moses would enter the Tent of Meeting, the Glory stood at the door. Moses talked with Yehovah face to face, and Yehovah revealed Himself to Moses as He placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered Himself with His Hand as he passed by so that Moses could His back but not His Face. Notice here all of the human characteristics that Yehovah used to describe Himself.
Chapter 34 The Second Stone Tablets
Yehovah had provided the first stone tablets that Moses broke, so now He told Moses that he must cut another set of tablets and bring them back up the mountain (trip #7) so that Yehovah could rewrite the same covenant words as the first set (plus the rest of the laws of the Book of the Law) which would not be blood ratified. Here Yehovah revealed His 13 attributes (see the notes) and made another (unconditional) covenant with Israel. In this one Yehovah promised unconditionally to do miracles that had never before been seen; that He will drive out the inhabitants of The Land; and they are not to make any covenants with them. He then reiterated some of the elements of the original Covenant: the Shloshim Reg’lim – the three pilgrimage feasts when all of Israel is to appear in Jerusalem with their first fruit offerings; all the firstborn of Israel belong to Him; and the importance of keeping (guarding) the holiness of the Shabbat.
The chapter, and Portion, closes with Moses returning down the mountain after another 40 days with the new set of tablets. The rabbis say the day that Moses returned was on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (and also the Day of Judgment). And Moses’ face shown so brightly that he had to wear a veil; he would remove the veil when he spoke with Yehovah and then put it back on when he faced the people.
The Haftarah (I Kings 18:1-39)
Just as Moses confronted rebellious Israel about their worship of the Golden Calf, the Prophet Elijah confronted the rebellious prophets of Ba’al on Mt Carmel over their worship of this lesser Yehovah. He challenged them to a duel: each would show the power and supremacy of his Yehovah. Elijah offered the prophets of Ba’al the opportunity to go first; they spent the entire day trying to summon their Yehovah, but nothing happened – he was a no-show! Then, at the end of the day, Elijah went into action; we read from I Kings 18:30-40:
“Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four water pots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord Yehovah of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are Yehovah in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord Yehovah, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is Yehovah! The Lord, He is Yehovah!” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.”
The Brit Chadashah (I Peter 2:1-10)
This reading takes us back to Yehovah’s Covenant with Israel at Mt Sinai, where He wanted them to be “a kingdom of priests” to all the nations. We have seen in this week’s Torah Portion that the Sinai covenant was broken; instead of Israel being priests, Yehovah would give them a priesthood – the sons of Aaron. The Apostle Peter tells us that, as the Bride of Messiah, we also are a Royal Priesthood; in the New Covenant, Yehovah is re-establishing His Melchizidek Priesthood through His Bride…us! We read from 1 Peter 2:1-10:
“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Yehovah and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Yehovah through Messiah Yeshua. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of Yehovah, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”