CANDLEGLOW LESSON
PARASHAH T’RUMAH (Exodus 25:1-27:19) Week 19
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Parashah T’RUMAH, meaning Contribution or Free-Will Offering, is recorded just after the giving of the Ten Commandments by Moses, inscribed by Adonai’s own hand upon two sapphire stone tablets. Reading the descriptive narrative about the construction of a holy dwelling place in the desert for the Most High, we begin to see a design from heaven; Adonai’s blueprint, advancing the tapestry, stitch by heavenly stitch!
The Tabernacle, designed after Adonai’s heavenly throne, carved out a sacred place for His Divine Presence (Shekinah) to dwell on the floor of a desert wilderness, in a sanctified place so His new nation of people could draw near.
The materials for construction were specified by the Divine Architect. The furnishings and their functions were of the Divine Designer’s plan. Entering from the eastern side into the outer courtyard, Chamber One ushers the priestly line of Levi deeper and into the inner courtyard, Chamber Two, where the altar of sacrifice stood, enabling the priests to make atonement for the sins of the Nation of Israel.
Standing nearby was a laver or basin, filled with clean water to cleanse the priests before they dressed in their finest linen robes to minister to the Lord. There is a beautiful story in Torah crediting a few faithful Hebrew women who stood at the opening of the Tabernacle, day and night, praying. They offered their treasured mirrors, brought from Egypt, to line the basin for the priesthood. These women of faith sacrificed their own reflections, for that of the priesthood.
The Holy Place, Chamber Three, would be walked through by the priests in clean, bare feet, dressed in finest priestly linen, to fill the golden Menorah with pure olive oil and light the trimmed wicks. This illumination was commanded by Adonai to burn night and day. The southern curtained wall of the Tabernacle was the place showcasing the sixty-six pounds of pure hand-hammered gold of the Menorah, casting light and shadows throughout the holy place.
Opposite, on the northern curtained wall stood the acacia wood Showbread Table, only eighteen inches tall, overlain with pure gold. This table featured the fresh bread of sacrifice each day unto the Lord, which was also to be consumed for nourishment by the priests as they served inside the Tabernacle. The low table commanded a kneeling service, one which reflected the Priests faces in the shining gold table.
In the middle of the Tabernacle, facing the Tapestry Veil or Parochet, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, where the Shekinah of the Lord hovered over the Mercy Seat or Kapporet, there stood an Altar of incense. A sweet-smelling holy oil mixed with precious earthly elements would burn and emit a fragrant mist pleasing unto Adonai, and was an important element of worship and praise.
The layered Veil is believed to have been at least seven inches thick and designed as a boundary wall separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Inside this holiest of places stood the Ark of the Covenant. It was constructed of acacia wood, overlain with pure gold inside and out, to the exact specifications of Adonai.
Two hand-carved Guardian Angels or Cherubim, were overlain in pure gold, flanking each side of the Ark with wings in full extension over the Mercy Seat, eyes downcast onto the Kapporet. The Shekinah Glory of the Lord hovered over the Ark, which held the Covenant Laws etched on solid sapphire plates, a sample of two quarts of manna from heaven, which kept Israel alive in the desert, and the budding staff of Aaron, representing the eternal blossoming of the priesthood, culminating in Yeshua, as our Great High Priest or Kohen Ha Gadol, in heaven.
This is the Lesson of the Divine Design. As we read Parashah T’rumah we see the blueprint from heaven of Adonai’s throne, in the construction of the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. We acknowledge Adonai’s invitation to enter, but must step over the threshold of the crossbar of Christ, which also lay in the desert dust, holding His beloved Son. By love He was bound to the cross, not by nails. He was hammered for all mankind; hammered like the Menorah, bringing light, life, and holy fire into the Tabernacle of our hearts. Yeshua, like purest gold, softened for the Father’s will, laid down on the earth as the eternal threshold into the Father’s Divine Presence.
This is the Lesson of the Divine Design. Yeshua’s life fulfilled the shadow of redemption in the Sacrificial System of the Levitical Laws which were given at Mt. Sinai. Jesus said: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened.” (Matthew 5:17-18 CJB)
This is the Lesson of the Divine Design. The Veil was torn from top to bottom; from heaven down to earth, opening the portal into Adonai’s Divine Presence (Shekinah) for all who will come. This priestly walk through all three Chambers of the Tabernacle symbolizes the Holy Trinity and is a reflection of God’s love, which DESCENDED from heaven, enabling us to ASCEND to heaven.
CANDLEGLOW LESSON FOR SHABBAT
There is no longer a veil separating the sons and daughters from The Most-High! We have been redeemed, clothed in finest linen, and welcomed inside the Holy of Holies by our Father in Heaven. His will, which is His delight, is for us to dwell intimately in His Divine Presence. Rest on His mercy seat, dear seeker, and bask in His glory! The way into the secret place is a journey of faithful steps. Savor each one, breathe in the incense, hear the silver bells on the hem of your robe, for you have been clothed in the whitest linen of His righteousness. Walk as far as it takes, to come into His presence, and there find your REST.
Shabbat Shalom,
Sydney