Parashas Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11 – 34:35
Haftarah
Melechim Alef “First Kings” 18:1- 9
Brit Chadasha
Qorintyah Bet “Second Corintians”3:1-8
Please Pray this
Prayer
First before reading.
In the name of Yahushua
Our Messiyah
I pray for the Spirit of
Understanding
The Spirit of Knowledge and
The Spirit of Wisdom
As I read through this Parashas
The sages teach that when anyone read this Torah
Portion, we awaken for the world the specific Light inherent in this passage.
Most Torah Portion contains uplifting events, but on the Sabbath of Ki Tisa,
after the instruction on how to construct the Tabernacle, we read about the
destruction caused by the sin of the Golden calf.
The obvious question is what is the spiritual
objective of Ki Tisa? What type of energy are we awakening on this Sabbath?
In this Torah Portion is the 21st in
the Cycle Ki Tisa means when you take,
we are told in this Portion of Ki Tisa on how to finish our spiritual
objective, and after that we are shown the consequence of sinning.
When believers fall spiritually it is the lack
of acknowledge, the error of their ways, there is always hope. However, if a
believer falls, and never acknowledges their mistake, there is no opportunity
to experience the Laver in the Tabernacle.
On the Sabbath of Ki Tisa, we are awakening to
the understanding that there was no negativity in the sin of the Golden Calf.
If we view sin for what it is, it is to show us what our fault are and what we
need to fix in order to take advantage of the Tabernacle.
Just like there is nothing called darkness, it
cannot be measured, darkness exist because there is a lack or absent of Light.
At the moment we achieve perfection, or the
complete light, we will be able to look back on all our failure during our
spiritual journey, and realize that they were not that bad after all, that the
entire mistake we have made, were the tools for our perfection.
When we are building a house we need scaffolding, when the house is
finish we get rid of the scaffolding.
This Torah Portion teaches us that it is
forbidden to count the Hebrew people in the ordinary manner, and when it is
necessary to conduct a census in the Wilderness, the people rich or poor alike,
were called upon to contribute half a shekel each, for the construction of and
upkeep of the Tabernacle.
The status of Yisrael is elevated by its
contribution to charity, and this is why they were counted by having the entire
nation join in contributing to a sacred cause. The literal meaning of the
commandment in verse 12 indicates this concept.
When you elevate the heads of the Children of
Yisrael, implying that the function of these contributions was not only to
facilitate a census and to provide for the Tabernacle, but also to raise the
spiritual profile of the contributors.
The equal participation of all the people
symbolizes that all Hebrews must share in achieving the national goals that
everyone should pass through the census by giving up his selfish, personal
interests for the sake of the nation. One who does so gains infinite benefit,
because the mission of Yisrael is dependent on the unity of the whole
community.
This Torah Portion also speaks in terms of
atonement that is achieved by the participation in this half shekel assessment.
There is great power in the unity of a nation or people who strive towards a
common goal. When anyone joins in a constructive cause, the spiritual merits of
all the individuals become the merit of the whole, as it were, so that not only
their funds, but also their personal attainment come together to assist one
another.
A solitary human being can seldom survive Divine
scrutiny; what person is free of sins and shortcomings? But when a nation
becomes one, it ascends to higher plane of spirituality, because all its
individual members merge their spiritual virtues with one another. As a result,
the national collective is judge far more compassionately. This is why it is so
important to pray with a quorum, rather than individually.
The word Terumah, or portion, is mention three
times in the next five verses, this describe three separate gifts of silver.
Two of which were required gifts of half a Shekel each, and the third was a
voluntary contribution of any amount of silver. The two compulsory gifts were
an annual contribution to cover the cost of all communal Temple offering, and a one-time contribution
of silver for the sockets upon which the walls of the Tabernacle rested. The
voluntary gift was apart of the general contributions for the construction of
the Tabernacle and its utensils.
The compulsory gifts are further illustrations
of the theme discussed above: Everyone, whatever his social or economic status,
had to be an equal partner in the Tabernacle that existed to bring together EL YAHWEH
and His people, and in the offering that represented the nation in achieving
that paramount goal.
The annual half shekel gift paid for the
communal offering was collected during the month of Adar the twelve months, so
that the funds would be ready in time for the month of Nissan, New Year.
Consequently, this chapter was read in synagogues the Sabbath before Rosh
Chodesh Adar, a practice that is still followed in commemoration of the
Commandment to participate in the offering.
Exo 30:11 And יהוה
spoke to Mosheh, saying, -
Exo 30:12 “When you take the census of the children of Yisra’ĕl, to register them,
then each one shall give an atonement for his life to יהוה , when you register them, so that there is no plague
among them when you register them. – When counting them” This phrase is repeated twice in this verse, to
teach that this manner of counting was decreed not only for Moses’ census, but
that it is forbidden for all time to make a head count of the Hebrew people.
King David erred in this regard, thinking that
this passage applied only to Moses. David violates this prohibition by ordering
a regular head-count, a sin for which the nation was struck by a plague and for
which He repented when he realize his error.
Another example of David sin is that it is
inconceivable that so great a scholar could have error in the interpretation of
Scripture.
Even Though David did used coins or some other
means to avoid a direct count, but he was still punish, because he did not have
a compelling reason to conduct a census.
A census was taken of all the half-shekel
contributions of the Israelites as a method of accounting each person. Only
half a coin, not a whole coin, was called for to remind us that we never really
know the whole story or see the whole picture.
The more we realize that we don’t see the more
we can connect to the light of the Creator so that we can see with our seven
eyes.
Exo 30:13 “Everyone among those who are
registered is to give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the
set-apart place, twenty gĕrahs being a shekel. The half-shekel is the
contribution to יהוה . – The half shekel was a
specific weight of silver that Torah institute as the standard coinage. The
verse goes on to specify that a full shekel consisted of twenty gerah.
As long as we are in the flesh we are only at
half our potential, for we are both Spirit and flesh. The half shekel is for
the atoning of our flesh, which needs constant restriction.
Exo 30:14 “Everyone passing over to be
registered, from twenty years old and above, gives a contribution to יהוה . – Twenty is the
number of redemption; everyone over the age of redemption is required to pay
this half shekel. Under the age of twenty they would be covered under the
parent’s atonement.
Exo 30:15 “The rich does not give more and the
poor does not give less than half a shekel, when you give a contribution to יהוה , to make atonement for yourselves. – Regardless of one financial position the price is the same. ½ shekel
weight of silver is about $11.00 Canadian. A shekel is $ 0.25 and ½ shekel is
about $ 0.13 Canadian.
Exo 30:16 “And you shall take the silver for the atonement from the children of
Yisra’ĕl, and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. And it shall be
to the children of Yisra’ĕl for a remembrance before יהוה , to make atonement for yourselves.” - This money was for the sole
purpose of the service of the Tabernacle. This was not to be use for the
support of the Priesthood.
In the next four verses the Torah now switch its
focus to another Altar in the Tabernacle, called the Laver. In the Outer Court
stood a large, copper utensil filled with water from which the Kohanim were
required to wash their hands and feet before performing the service in the
Tabernacle. It was like a cauldron or basin that was set upon a copper base and
it had two spouts at the bottom, through which the water would flow.
The purpose of this washing was for sanctity,
rather than cleanliness; it is for washing for sanctification. The hand and
feet represent our work and our walk, and by sanctifying them, the servant of
EL YAHWEH symbolize their total devotion to the service they are about to
perform.
The Laver is not mentioned with the other Altar
in the last chapter. The other Altar causes the Divine Presence to rest on the
Tabernacle, whereas the Laval served to prepare the people or the Kohanim to approach
a Holy Elohim.
Exo 30:17 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Exo 30:18 “And you shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand also of bronze, for
washing. And you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and
shall put water in it. – In this verse, orders are given for the making of a
Laver, a large brass vessel, that would contain a good quantity of water, which
was to be set before the entrance to the Holy Place.
The foot of brass, it is
supposed, was to make redemption the basses as to receive the water, which was
let into it out of the laver by spouts or cocks. They then had a laver for the
priests only to wash in, but to us now there is a fountain open for Judah and
Jerusalem to wash in (Zec. 13:1), an inexhaustible fountain of living water,
so that it is our own fault if we remain in our pollution. This altar has the
same spiritual meaning as the Red Sea was to the children of Yisrael, and the
Blood and Water that flow from Messiyah Side. This is the altar of inspection
or deliverance, where we examine ourselves of any spiritual defect and wash it
away by the Living Water that flows from Messiyah side, as Pharaoh arms was
destroyed by the Red Sea.
This verse signifies the
importance of washing our hands and feet before we perform any spiritual
actions. As our hand are the part of the body responsible for manifesting,
before participating in a spiritual connection, it is worthy to wash away any
negative energy that is gathered there. Like wise for the feet.
Exo 30:19
“And Aharon and his sons shall wash from it their hands
and their feet. – In this verse we see that the hand their work and the feet their walk
must be examined and was away any spiritual contamination. Sin makes the
believer unclean, there are sin unto death and sin not unto death. Sin not unto
death, is like touching a dead thing, or even sexual activity, we must wash our
body and be unclean until evening. This symbolizes the idea that the proper
service of YAHWEH requires that all of man’s faculties be directed towards the
same goal.
Sine EL YAHWEH is a Holy Elohim, we cannot
approach HIM anyway. If we were going to see the queen would we wear an unclean
set of cloth in her presence? Then why when we pray to EL YAHWEH, we do not
clean or repent from our sins before we approached HIM.
Exo 30:20 “When they go into the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near the altar to
attend, to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה , they wash with water, lest they die. – The Tabernacle is a pattern of the Heavenly Kingdom. EL YAHWEH
resides in the Holy of Holies. It is those of us who place the blood over the
doorpost, a type and shadow of the Brazen Altar, who must constantly exercise
this Altar. By going to the Laver we are repenting of our sins or if we touch
any dead things we can go and make our self ritually clean.
The Torah does not say directly that
transgressors will die, because that would imply that the death would take
place immediately. This is not the case, however, because a Heavenly death
penalty is weighed in YAHWEH’S scale and it is He who decides whether and when
to impose it or defer it (Grace.)
