CANDLEGLOW LESSON
PARASHAH VAYAK’HEL (Exodus 35:1-38:20) Week 22
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The assembly of Israel gathered to learn the Torah of Adonai, starting with the lesson of the Sabbath Rest on the seventh day. Just prior to the beginning of the construction of the Tabernacle, they were instructed by Moses to work for six days but on the seventh day, they would rest in Adonai.
The new Nation began to internalize what it meant to trust this God who extended forgiveness; this God who was faithful to keep His promise to dwell with them and lead them into the Covenant Land of their fathers. It was in the moment of their understanding of what forgiveness for rebellion against Adonai looked like, that the hearts of a stiff-necked people began to grow soft and pliable.
Hearts of flesh began beating inside the chest of the Nation of Israel. They saw their sin for what it was, as they turned away from Adonai and all He had accomplished for them since the first Passover night in Egypt. Their hearts were heavy with the weight of their sin, as they accepted forgiveness from Adonai.
We must understand the process of turning away, or turning toward, in the human experience. Created to bear the image of God, mankind wrestles with freewill urgings to live out life as we think best. What seems right in our own eyes is usually not of the Lord. This is rebellion. This is sin. This is the turning away.
He watches our daily walk or Halakha. He sees the gate of our steps, either straight on the path He has set before us in Torah, or to the left or the right, as we veer off course, walking in our own ways. Our turning away brings correction and judgement.
The Torah is heavenly instruction from Adonai, and the pathway to His heart. The Torah was the remedy for a stiff-necked people. Without the law from Adonai, there was no trespass, no awareness of their turning away from what was holy. They did not know…what they did not know.
In a supernatural cleansing bath or Mikveh of the heart, the nation turned back to Adonai. Yet this time it was different. They turned, not out of fear and dread, but in utter awe of His powerful love. It was in this moment of understanding, the beating hearts of the Nation of Israel united. At the request for generous giving, they gave in a way which embodied the selfless urge to give; all they had; all they could uncover, that would honor and bless Adonai.
This is the Lesson of the Torah of Love. We learn in God’s word how there are two kinds of Torah; the Torah of DEATH and the Torah of LOVE. It is all about the eyes of our hearts, as to which Torah we SEE.
Do we see the instruction of Torah as the legal laws of acceptable human value and behavior which must be perfectly followed in order to please a Holy God? Or, with the eyes of our hearts, do we see the instruction of Torah as the heavenly blueprint designed by the Father, equipping us to journey into His very presence?
This is the Lesson of the Torah of Love. “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,” says ADONAI: “I will put my Torah within them, and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33 CJB)
This is the lesson of the Torah of Love. It was out of the Torah of love that the hearts of the Nation of Israel softened and began to beat with zeal for Adonai. It was as they fell in love like a Bride, with her Bridegroom, that their giving became a Sacrament. Out of their zeal for Adonai, they emptied every box of golden rings, opened every locked lid of silver coins, and uncovered every hidden treasure from the layers of their lives. They gave, because of the Torah of love. They gave, as they gazed into the bottomless pit of their need, for forgiveness.
The Torah of love draws us into intimacy with Adonai, which is His delight for mankind. This is the way into His glorious light. Torah is like a heavenly garden path which leads us to the throne of the Father. There, we may rest or Shabbat in Him under the chuppah of His love for us.
On this beautiful rotation of the Shabbat of the Lord, may we see with the eyes of our hearts, the poetic procession through the chambers of His Tabernacle, all the way into the Holy of Holies, where He waits for an intimate set-aside time with those who SEEK Him and FIND Him, like this.
May our countenance, like Moses’, shine from His presence in our hearts, and may we SHARE this amazing journey with others.
SEEK FIND SHARE
Shabbat Shalom!
Sydney