פְקוּדֵ
P'kudei / Accounting Of
Exodus 38:21-40:38
HafTorah 1 Kings 7:51-8:21
Brit Chadasha 2 Corinthians 3:7-19
Chazak! Chazak! V’nitchazek! Be Strong! Be Strong! And May We Be Strengthened!
In the first book of Scripture, Genesis/Beresheeth, we see how important order is to God. Creation isn’t happenstance or whatever is happening scene of a big bang, rather it is premeditated and orderly. God systematically creates the world in which we live.
Numbers chapter 2 is the order of the encampment of the twelve tribes. The ten plagues are in a certain order, and the Ten Words are in a certain order, which man numerically ordered. Every detail of every offering has its own set of orders, and each time the Israelites traveled, the dissembling and then reassembling of the Tabernacle was ordered. 1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us that God is not a God of unruliness but of shalom.
The Prior Torah portions; Terumah, Tetzaveh, Vayakhel and Pekudei, is all about the order of the Tabernacle. The beginning of Exodus is all about miracles and freedom, unlike the closing of Shemot. These Torah portions are about the people who bring the contributions, the craftsman Betzalel and those who worked with him, the people who gave with a willing heart for the creation of the Tabernacle, including the women who spun goats’ hair into cloth, brought gifts and gave their mirrors for the bronze washbasin.
Exodus 39:32 & 43 tells us that the work was completed and blessed. These three words are used in Genesis 2:1-3 for creation, including humans which then created chaos: first Adam and Eve, then Cain, then the generation of the Flood, to the point at which the Torah tells us that God regretted that He had created humanity on earth in Genesis 6. Here we see order to chaos, not caused by God, but by His people.
It is taught that the building of the Tabernacle was a tikkun, Hebrew: תיקון a mending or a repair of the sin of the Golden Calf. There is not much said about the golden calf besides its construction, but there is a lot said about the Israelites' behavior. First, they gathered against Aaron, who seemed to have feared for his life. Then, once the calf had been made, they ate and drank and rose to play and when Moshe came down the mountain, he saw the people running wild, becoming a laughingstock to their enemies.
What an example of complete chaos. Order had completely broken down. The people had allowed themselves to be swept away by personal fears and then complete mayhem.
The tikkun for chaos is order. The Tabernacle, with its precise dimensions, materials, and construction, put together from the voluntary contributions of the people with willing hearts, was a huge example of pure order. The Mishkan, the Temple, and then the synagogue, are an order of place as the Shabbat is in time. They both represent an ideal realm of order, the way God wanted our world to be, leaving behind the secular places and events in time with their conflicts and strife, allowing us to enter His Divine Presence.
It is taught that Torah exists in the understanding of the lack of harmony between the order of God and the chaos we create. Torah is the path that leads us back from chaos to order, from discord to harmony, and from death to life.
Order creates unity – disorder creates division.
1 Corinthians 1:10 ‘I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of Yeshua, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.’
1 Peter 3:8 ‘Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.’
Psalm 133:1 ‘A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!’
Within order we prepare for the Divine presence, in chaos we miss the opportunity of the Divine, for we live outside of His Will, the Torah. Psalm 16:11 describes how we can prepare for The Divine Presence, and Psalms 145:17-20 tells us that the Lord is righteous. If we surround ourselves with pagan deities and objects, in a sense of chaos, we can’t be in the Cloud of Glory. Jeremiah 10:2-5 warns: ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them.’ And 2 Peter 2:15 ‘Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing…’
Proverbs 3:13-18 tells us that the Torah is likened to a tree of life Why would we choose anything else? ‘Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her.'
