21 KI TISSA (when you take); Ex 30:11-34:35, Mark 14

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 30:11-34:35; I Kings 18:1-39; Mark 14

This sections starts out with some last details concerning the building of the Tabernacle. A census will be taken of all males over 20, and an atonement given by each of one-half shekel. There is also a laver that needs to be made, which is a wash basin for the priests to clean off the hands and feet when they need to. Israel is also given instructions for making the holy anointing oil and the incense, which are not to be duplicated for casual use. God also designates a foreman (Bezalel – ‘in the shadow (or protection of) God’) and an assistant foreman (Oholiab – ‘father’s tent’) to oversee the work. It is said that Bezalel in particular, but by extension all of the people who work on the Tent, are filled with the spirit of God.

3“I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, (Exodus 31:3 NASB95)

God also points out that the Sabbaths are ‘His Sabbaths’ and that they are a sign.

13“But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. (Exodus 31:13 NASB95)

Six days are for work, one day is for rest, even in harvest season. So those who follow or observe the Sabbaths are those who know that the Lord is the one who sanctifies them.

Exodus 32 is where thing go severely south with Israel. Since Moses is taking a while to come down from the mountain, the people demand that Aaron make them a god. Aaron tells them to take off ornaments (earrings, nose rings, necklaces, etc.) like the voluntary offering taken for the tabernacle, and he fashions a golden calf image as a representation of the God who brought them out of Egypt. He proclaims a feast day and everyone makes offerings, then they get up to party. God, of course, is angry about this development and tells Moses He will wipe out the people and make a nation of Moses instead. Moses immediately intercedes for the people and reminds God of His plans for His own glory, so God relents. Moses makes his way back down the mountain, and when he sees for himself what is going on he gets angry as well and breaks the tablets that God had written on. The calf is burned and ground down and scattered on water which the people are made to drink. Moses confronts Aaron about the idol and Aaron makes it sound like he didn’t have anything to do with it, but Moses knows that it is Aaron who let them get out of control.

Moses calls out that whoever is for the Lord should come to him at the entrance to the camp, and all the Levites respond to the call. He instructs them to go through the camp and kill brothers, friends, and neighbors, and about three thousand die. Moses returns to God on the mountain and continues to intercede for the people on account of God’s glory, even offering to trade his own place in the book of Life for them. God listens and doesn’t follow through with immediate destruction.

33The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34“But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” (Exodus 32:33-34 NASB95)

God commands all the Israelites to put off their ornaments while He decides what to do with them. During this time a tent was pitched outside the camp (it is not very clear whether this was 'a tent' or 'the tabernacle') and when Moses goes in to talk with God the pillar comes down and all Israel prostrates themselves while Moses and God are speaking. Moses comes and goes from this ‘tent of meeting,’ but Joshua stays there all the time.

At one point God tells Moses that He won’t be going with them to the Promised Land, but an angel will. Moses continues to plead with God that this isn’t going to be the best thing. Again, God relents, and decides that His presence shall indeed go with them. Since Moses is on a roll, he tells God he also wants to see God’s glory. According to God, this can’t be done, but he compromises with Moses by agreeing to hide him in the ‘cleft of the rock’ (verse 33:22) and cover him with His hand while He passes by, then allowing Moses to see His back.

God instructs Moses in chapter 34 to get another couple of stone tablets so He could write on them again, and goes through a sort of an abbreviated recapitulation of some of the commands. Moses does not eat or drink for another 40 days while this process is taking place, and when he comes down he doesn’t know his face is shining. Aaron and the people are frightened at first, but after reassuring them and speaking to them of the renewed instructions he puts a veil over his face. When he goes into the tent to speak with God he takes it off, and after giving instructions to the people would put it back on.

In our Mark section, two days before the Passover while at the house of Simon in Bethany, a woman breaks an expensive jar of perfume and pours it on the head of Jesus. Some of the disciples are indignant thinking that it could’ve been sold for money for the poor. Jesus tells them they will always have the poor, but what she has done is a beautiful anointing of Him for burial, and will be included in the gospel as a memorial. Judas is said to go off and make his deal with the chief priests to betray Jesus at about this time. At Passover a couple days later Jesus and the disciples are having the meal when Jesus speaks of this upcoming betrayal. Sometime during the evening Jesus blesses bread and wine and tells them that this is His body and blood, and that He will not partake of wine again until He drinks it new in the kingdom of God. He also tells them the shepherd will be stricken and the sheep scattered, and Peter will deny Him three times before morning. After the meal, they all go to the garden at Gethsemane, where Jesus prays for a while before Judas comes with a group and betrays Him into the hands of the religious leaders who have been looking for a way to get Him. The trial begins with some elders, chief priests and scribes, and they look for charges they can pin on Him. Finally, they just make something up.

62And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” 63Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? 64“You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. (Mark 14:62-64 NASB95)

Before the dawn, Peter follows through on Jesus’ prophecy that he would deny Jesus.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

The obvious big event in this section of Exodus is the golden calf incident of chapter 32. Moses is cloistered with God on Mount Sinai and it’s been a while. The people of Israel get bored and start pestering Aaron into making an idol so they can worship it. Aaron takes ornaments such as gold ear rings and fashions them into a calf. This calf is perhaps representative of one of the gods so recently left in Egypt, such as Apis which was a god of nature (although no image is associated with this god. It may also represent fertility and sexual strength). See also Nehemiah 9:18; Psalms 106:19-26; and Acts 7:41.

The connection to fertility might also be seen in the drinking of the water after the idol has been ground to powder and sprinkled therein. In Numbers 5:11-31, for instance, a suspected adulterous woman would have to drink a similar potion. Maybe drinking the water is also where the plague comes from briefly mentioned in 32:35.

It’s easy at this point to wonder, or perhaps even mock or scoff at, how Israel could’ve deserted God so quickly after experiencing all the miracles of the preceding months. It might be easy, but our criticism then should not be limited to Israel alone. Humans in general turn aside in a similar fashion daily, frequently without thought and without giving Him proper acknowledgement or honor. We seem to have a talent for turning aside no matter how many blessings God rains on us.

It was probable that instead of completely turning away Israel was mixing the worship conceived by God-haters with the worship of the one true God. So instead of an abrupt break, it was a tendency to be ‘lukewarm;’ calling something that was not even a god by the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This type of thing was tried again during the time of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-33), and again it wasn’t a complete break (in each case they called the image after He who ‘brought you out of Egypt’ Exodus 32:4 and 1 Kings 12:28). But it is clear that whether there was a ‘lot’ of turning aside or just a little turning aside by mixing things slightly, the turning away was very significant.

In Mark 14 there are other examples of turning away. Jesus is betrayed by a disciple (Judas Iscariot) who had spent a great deal of time with Him yet chose instead to worship money. The apostles turn away (even James and John the ‘sons of thunder’ who told Jesus they could ‘drink the cup’ that Jesus was going to drink soon in Mark 10:35-30). The Sanhedrin turns away by holding a farce of a trial for Jesus, listening to one witness after another contradict the others until they just cut right to the chase and accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Then Peter turns away, in spite of being given three chances to acknowledge Him.

Like I said, it’s easy to criticize others for turning away. But how often do we in our own lives turn away from Him? We have so many blessings given directly to us by God, from our birth to our health and from the money we have to the ability to make more. We have a wonderful earth to live on with seasons and trees and little critters to enjoy. We have our families and friends and brothers and sisters in the household of God. God forgives our sins freely through the blood of His Son the Christ, and desires intimacy with us on a minute by minute basis. So how is it that we so frequently turn aside and act as if the mighty wonders He has done for us to this point are not worth our time or energy?

Shalom
Bruce

[Cindy in Wisconsin]

I was going through the Torah commentaries I had sitting in my email folders this morning and took the time to read this one from Alan Gilman at www.TorahBytes.org (also has a blog at www.torahblog.blogspot.com). I thought he made some very good points about how we've created "images" of God to worship, while neglecting to learn who our God truly is. Just had to share this...take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!
Love in our Messiah,
Cindy in Wisconsin

Ki Tissa & Parah
For the week of March 10, 2007 / 20 Adar 5767
Torah: Shemot / Exodus 30:11 - 34:35 &
Bemidbar / Numbers 19:1-22
Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16-38

Nothing Like an Idol
"Aaron answered them, 'Take off the gold earrings that
your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing,
and bring them to me.' So all the people took off
their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what
they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the
shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they
said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you
up out of Egypt.'" (Shemot / Exodus 32:2-4)

Idolatry comes in two forms. The first is a false god.
>From the days of the ancient world until now, people
have worshiped innumerable gods. Each of these gods
has a name and is ascribed particular characteristics,
is usually understood to have rule over some aspect of
life, and calls for specific types of service from its
followers. The second type of idol is of the kind we
encounter in this week's parsha (Torah portion). In
this case Aaron fashioned an image to represent the
god or gods who delivered them from Egypt. He ascribed
the words and power of the one true God to the idol he
made.

As in the case of all idolatry, the result for the
people was devastating. God commands us not to make
images of himself, because he loves us and fully
understands the destructive nature of idolatry.

It's hard to believe that the same people who
witnessed God's amazing reality through Moses would so
quickly give themselves to such a ridiculous
misrepresentation. Not only were the people so quick
to engage in phony spirituality, they also were
encouraged and led by Moses' own brother, Aaron, who
was also Moses' God-appointed partner in representing
God before the people and Pharaoh and was to be the
first chief priest of Israel. How could the people
engage in such error after all they had experienced?

Actually this quick turn to idolatry is not as strange
as it might seem, for it is something we are all prone
to do. While we may not literally fashion statues and
bow down to them, claiming that they are representing
the God of the Bible, it is a regular occurrence to
image God in ways of our own making. We claim to be
worshiping the one true God. yet we misrepresent him
by fashioning him according to our own ideas and
calling for behaviors that fit these images. In most
cases the falseness of these images are mixed with
some of God's true attributes. Instead of allowing God
to define himself to us in his own way, we determine
what he is really like according to our own
preferences.

Here are some of the golden calves of our day:

"The chicken soup for the soul god." This god says he
loves us, but only in a very sentimental sense. He has
our picture on his fridge, giggles when we mess up,
and never corrects our behavior. His goal is to give
us warm fuzzies to help us learn to always feel good
about ourselves.

"The vending machine god." This god suits our push-
button, fast-food society. He only exists to fulfill
our desires. He makes no demands of us, except to
encourage us to ask him for whatever goodies we may
want. Any lack of response on his part is usually due
to our not learning how to get him to perform
according to our wishes. He has many representatives
dedicated to help us get the most out of him.

"The fantasy god." This god lives in a realm detached
from human reality. He loves it when we view our lives
based on grandiose statements whether or not they have
any basis in reality. This god gives us the power to
say we are healed when we are sick, rich when we are
poor, and wise when we are foolish. He is nice most of
the time, until we ask too many questions.

How very different these attempts of imaging the true
God are from the God whom Moses encounters later in
the parsha, when he asks to see his glory. God
personally revealed himself to Moses by saying,

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious
God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and
forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does
not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the
children and their children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus / Shemot
34:6,7)

The true God is nothing like an idol. Moses knew that.
Unlike those who were easily satisfied with a
perverted, false version of truth and reality, Moses
yearned to know his God, not according to his own
perceptions, but according to who he really is. May we
not settle for anything else.

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 30:11 - 34:35; 1 Kings 18:1-39; Mark 14; Luke 11:14-20; Acts 7:35-8:1; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; 2 Cor. 3:1-18

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1 Kings 18:17–19, ESV)

What rich irony and lying hypocrisy is shown by Ahab, king of Israel! To him, it’s not the idolatry, murder, sexual immorality, and thieving that is causing the trouble for Israel. It’s not him and his corrupt, evil wife Jezebel (daughter of Ethbaal the Sidonian king of the Canaanites) that are the troublers. It’s not the altar building for Baal worship, the Asherah making, and doing more to provoke God to anger than all the evil done by kings before him (1 Kings 16:29-33). Oh no! It couldn’t be that! It must be the man of God who was picking on them for no reason by keeping the rain from the land for three and a half years!

Ahab was mad at Elijah because the man of God threatened Ahab’s power. All of Ahab’s moves, from marrying the daughter of a Canaanite king to making altars for false gods, were planned and executed for gaining power. Ahab thought he was something, because of the power of his kingship and the power he thought he had with the Canaanites and their false gods too. Elijah was showing that all those moves, the power that Ahab thought he’d acquired, amounted to nothing. A big fat goose egg. God trumps Ahab’s plotting with rain prevention. Nothing like dying of thirst to show a man how much power he really has.

To top off the effects of a water shortage Elijah rubs the king and queen’s face in it with a contest of sacrifices that leaves no doubt who has the real power. It’s not with a quiet ceremony in a tent somewhere. It’s on a mountain with hundreds of participants giving it their best shot in front of thousands of witnesses. It’s a showdown. Time to put your money where your mouth is and lay your cards on the table, player. Despite hours of shouting, begging, and bleeding, the prophets of Baal turned up aces and eights. God lays down a flaming royal flush and consumes Elijah’s water-soaked sacrifice. Bye-bye 850 prophets of Baal, and bye-bye to whatever power Ahab thought he had.

Troubler of Israel? It depends on which Israel you’re talking about. There has always been two, believing and unbelieving. Ahab’s Israel is the unbelieving one, so from his perspective Elijah, delivering the discipline of God, was a troubler. People who depart from God are always troubled. How can it be otherwise? When you leave the only place where peace can be found, you are not at peace. When you refuse to acknowledge the One who gives all good things, all you’ve got is bad things. It’s like the law of gravity. Jump off a building, and then act surprised it doesn’t turn out like you want?

Elijah’s Israel is, of course, the believing one. Believers are always troubling to unbelievers. For one thing we remind them that they refuse God. We are living monuments of the good things they deny. For another we can’t be beaten. We can be put down for a little bit, maybe even killed, but with God on our side (or us on God’s) we will always win. Believers remind unbelievers that all their power grabbing, their desire to become “like God,” will come to naught. We are at peace; they are troubled. We have love; they have only hate and maybe a stray sentiment or two. Our kingdom will never end; theirs is fleeting. We have life; they only have death. Yeah, it’s easy to see why Ahab would call Elijah a troubler of Israel. But that kind of trouble everyone who departs from God will always have. Believers get accused of trouble by the unbelievers because we interrupt their shameless power grabs and shine light on their lies. Ahab and company were the real troublers of Israel. Elijah wasn’t troubling Israel as much as he was troubling the anti-God powers that thought they had the upper hand.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods. (Deuteronomy 31:16–18, ESV)

The people of Israel had rejected God, just as He said would happen. The foreseen troubles were a natural result. The “troubler of Israel” was Ahab and people like him. Trouble like what Ahab refers to is what happens when you turn your back on God. It’s what happens when you try to live without the sun, or water, or food. When you separate yourself from the provider of all that is good, you are going to experience bad.

There are two kinds of trouble. One is called ‘consequences,’ and the other is called ‘discipline.’ We could add a third flavor too, called judgment, which is an irreversible consequence that lasts a really long time. An example of this is the 40 years in the wilderness. Once God dropped the hammer, it was all over with but the crying. With discipline and consequences, there is a chance of repentance. But with judgment there’s no longer chance for repentance. That’s why believers are told not to judge. Judgment belongs to God, and in the meantime we pray that people will see the light before judgment falls. God’s judgment is no picnic, and we want people to avoid it.

Discipline is trouble from God, but not necessarily because you asked for it by doing wrong things (although it could include it). Believers experience trouble from the world because the world hates us. God allows some trouble in a believer’s life to help with character development and growth. If we get complacent God sometimes introduces trouble to get us moving. Other times we get trouble to reveal the content of our character either positive (we pass the test) or negative (we need some more work). Trouble of this sort is His grace in action. He wants us to grow and become strong in Him, so He helps us with discipline to get there.

A consequence is trouble that comes from doing wrong things (although it could also be discipline). If you get caught stealing, you go to jail. If you stick your hand in a fire, you get burned. If you part ways with God, you have big trouble. When we walk out of the light, we are by our own efforts in the dark. God doesn’t want us to stay there, so He has devised consequences to encourage us to return.

5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7 KJV)

Ahab was being encouraged to return. We know this because God didn’t just zap him with a lightning bolt right where he stood. The evil we experience from turning away is intended to both keep us from continuing and get us to turn around (the basic meaning of repentance). Ahab didn’t want to return but God kept troubling him to do it anyway. Losing all those false prophets in an 850-to-one contest should’ve told him something. God was showing grace to Ahab, but it was troubling only because he didn’t want it.

We should be so lucky as to receive trouble from God that comes from His grace and encourages us to turn around and come back to His loving embrace.

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV)

Shalom
Bruce