Joy in the Messiah

תִשָּׂא 
Ki Tisa / When You Take
Exodus 30:11-34:35
1 Kings 18:1-39 
1 Corinthians 8:4-13

     Ki Tisa begins with the instructions on the census and the half-shekel ransom money for every man. This chapter continues with the bronze laver, the holy anointing oil, and the incense. Both the oil and the and incense were to be kept set apart and uncommon. Adonai states: “And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. ³² It shall not be poured on man’s flesh; nor shall you make any other like it, according to its composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ³³ Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.’ Exodus 30:31-33. 
     ‘But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.” Exodus 30:37-38.
     Chapter 31 continues with the calling of the artisans, ‘Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³ And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship...  And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans…’ Exodus 31:1-6.
   In Exodus 31:16-17 God reiterates the holiness and set-apartness of the Sabbath. He calls it a sign between Him and His people. It is part of the covenant for the children of Israel. ‘Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ 
    We understand that the Sabbath is for those in covenant. In Exodus 20:8-11, when the command to keep the Sabbath was first put in stone and the foundational concept of Shabbat was introduced, it was also for the strangers (foreigners) in the gates.  The sages ask, “But who were these strangers (gerim)? Biblical scholars identify them as outsiders who were living apart from their tribes, or as resident aliens, people who have left their own countries and are now residing among the Israelites either for a short or extended period of time. Being strangers, they would be natural targets for discrimination and abuse because they lacked the protection of their own clans or communities. The Bible, by its repeated admonitions on the strangers’ behalf, appeals to the Israelites’ better nature and the historical memory of their experiences in Egypt. Some rabbinic commentators specify that the prohibitions against wronging the strangers refer to abuse in commercial activities. Because the stranger has left his homeland and has come to a new place, he is at an economic disadvantage and easy to exploit. The stranger must not be exploited economically, neither by overcharging nor by high taxes.”  (JTS)
    Today, those of us in the Diaspora are the ‘strangers in a foreign land’ because we are not living in the land of Israel.  We are in covenant with the God of Israel which includes the signs of His covenant, but we live among those, and in a nation that is far from covenant with God. We do not rule over these people, nor do we force God’s covenant upon them. 
     Chapter 31 ends with the Tables of The Testimony written by the finger of God on tablets stone.  
     However, in Chapter 32, Israel once again falls apart.  Less than six weeks after their encounter with God at Mount Sinai, the children of Israel make a Golden Calf. Either this was idolatry or backsliding back to their ways of Egypt. It caused God to say to Moses in Exodus 32:10 who was with Him on the mountain, “Now do not try to stop Me when I unleash My wrath against them to destroy them”.
     In Exodus 32:25 it states that Moshe blames Aaron. ‘Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies)…’
    Why did Aaron cave to the cries of the people? What happened to Hur since he was also left in charge along with Aaron as we read in Exodus 24:14? Some sages speculate that Hur had opposed the people, telling them that what they were about to do was wrong, and then they killed him. However, Hur was not forgotten, for Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur was one of the main artisans. 
     After Aaron witnessing this decided that proceeding on and making of the Calf was the lesser of two evils. This can be eluded from the verse Lamentations 2:20 ‘See, O Lord, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, the children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?’ 
    The midrash teaches: ‘At that moment, Hur arose against them and said, “You stiffed (severed) necks! Do you not remember the miracle that our God did for you?” Immediately, they arose against him and killed him.’ Could Exodus 33:3 be alluding to this? ‘Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Could Exodus 34:8-9 allude to this, ‘Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.’ Could even Acts 7:51-52 be alluding to this? ‘You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become…’
    Chapter 33 continues with a very interesting dialogue between Moshe and God. Moshe asks God who will be with him, and God responds: ‘The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Exodus 33:14. Still, unsatisfied, Moshe asks to see the glory of God.  
     Here in the ending chapter of Ki Tisa we are made aware of the thirteen attributes of God.  Even after the rebellion, the golden calf, the murmuring, and the complaining, God responds with: 
       ‘Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ 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 parents to the third and fourth generation.’ Exodus 34:8.

Ki Tisa / When You Take
Exodus 30:11-34:35
1 Kings 18:1-39
1 Corinthians 8:4-13

The Two Signs and the Thirteen Attributes

     In Ki Tisa there are two obvious signs that mark us. The sign of the Shabbat; Exodus 31:12-17 – ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you.’ 
      Or the sign of a golden calf; 'And the Lord said to Moses: "Go, descend, for your people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned away from the path that I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf! And they have prostrated themselves before it, slaughtered sacrifices to it, and said: 'These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up from the land of Egypt.'  Exodus 30:7-8.
    One is engraved upon us by God, the other is engraved upon us by the idol of our heart, whatever that might be. 
     Ki Tisa also expounds on the perfect grace of God.  This chesed is not a free for all type of grace, but a sovereign grace, an uncommon grace, a Divine grace and often referred to as the Thirteen Attributes of God. ‘Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.’ Exodus 34:5-7. 
      God alludes to Himself twice, ‘Lord, Lord God/ YHVH YHVH EL  יְהוָ֣ה׀ יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל   It is taught this is God's Attribute of Compassion - repeated once for before the person sins, and once for after he sins and repents. Another interesting part of the equation is that the Scriptures state in Exodus 34:7 that God preserves lovingkindness. The Hebrew states: נֹצֵ֥ר חֶ֙סֶד֙ לָאֲלָפִ֔ים which can be translated as keeping loyal love to the thousands or keeping mercy for thousands.  
     Psalm 145:8 ‘The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.’
     Psalm 100:5 ‘For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.’
     Lamentations 3:22 ‘The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.’

Ki Tisa / When You Lift Up
Exodus 30:11-34:35
1 Kings 18:1-39
1 Corinthians 8:4-13

Show Me Your Way Show Me Your Glory….

    Exodus 33 is a chapter that is often struggled with.  It comes right after the sin of the golden calf and before the beautiful description of the thirteen attributes of God. 
     Moshe just completed a non-human like experience on the Mount as he received the Ten Words. God instructs him to descend the mountain because the children of Israel have built their idol, the infamous golden calf.  As Moshe descends, he and Joshua hear the camp celebrating. Exodus 32:19-21 ‘So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. ²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
     Aaron shifts the blame towards the people in Exodus 32:22-24 ‘So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³ For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”
    In Exodus 34 two new tablets are created and God shows His character: the thirteen attributes, to Moshe. Exodus 34:5-7 ‘Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
     The Covenant is repeated and renewed, and Ki Tisa ends with Moshe’s second descent where his face shines bright enough that the people of Israel were greatly afraid.
       In the middle of all this grandeur, in Exodus 33, Moshe asks God to ‘show him His way and to show him His glory.’
     Exodus 33:12-18 ‘Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”¹⁴ And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” ¹⁷ So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
      Had he not seen either before? Of course, he had, so why ask such a question of the great entity, The Almighty?  Don’t we daily see and feel God’s glory, but we too often doubt.
     God contains The Glory, He is glory and He gives His glory.  It is also something that we offer to Him and it is a gift given to whom He desires as He states in this parsha and again in the Brit Chadasha.
     Exodus 33:19 ‘And he said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’
     Romans 9:14-18 ‘What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.’
     God’s glory in the Hebrew word is the shekinah which is the light. The word itself is taken from such passages as to speak of God dwelling either in the Tabernacle or among the people of Israel. Occasionally the name of God, The Shekinah is spoken of as descending and to dwell, as in Jerusalem, the Temple and amongst the people.  Since the Shekinah is light, those passages of the Brit Chadasha which mention radiance, help us understand the resting of the Shekinah on man as the idea that God does dwell in man and that man is His glory. 
     2 Corinthians 4:6 ‘For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Yeshua. And -  1 Corinthians 3:16. ‘Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?’

      Luke 2:9 ‘And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.’
      Psalm 84:11 ‘For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
     Isaiah 60:1 ‘“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.’
     Luke 2:32 ‘A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
     1 Corinthians 2:7 ‘…but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory…’
    John 17:22 ‘The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.’
     2 Thessalonians 2:14 ‘It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Yeshua.’
     Romans 9:23 ‘And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory…’
    2 Corinthians 4:17 ‘For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…’
   Luke 2:25-32 ‘And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸ he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ²⁹ “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation ³¹ Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
³² A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

Psalm 72:19 ‘Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!’