Ki Tisa
When you take
“Signs of Life”
Exodus 30:11-34:35
1 Kings 18:1-39 (A); 18:20-39 (S)
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume I
Ki Tisa covers a wide variety of topics which range from describing the half-shekel tax collected,[1] to the infamous golden calf incident,[2] and to instructions regarding the Sabbath.[3] Additional instruction is given regarding hand washing,[4] anointing oil[5] and incense formulas,[6] and how the Tabernacle was to be used.[7] Moses also related significant interchanges which he had with the Holy One as he received the tablets of testimony, pleaded for the people of Israel, and then eventually witnessed the very glory of God.[8] These, and other events described, give students of the Torah much to ponder this week.
As one meditates upon this selection from Exodus, a multitude of impressions can be generated. For this student, three seemingly unrelated passages in the parashah became linked. The first Scriptural mention of the Book of Life (Exodus 32:32-33) generated some curiosity, which led to some reflections about how serious the Father is about His children and their actions. These thoughts were then coupled with the passage about Shabbat or the Sabbath being a sign between God and His people (Exodus 31:12-18). Finally, the passage about Moses desiring the Lord’s Divine presence struck a chord (Exodus 33:12-23). Let me explain.
Moses’ Intercession
Seeing the many things detailed in our parashah this week, the people of Israel were in serious trouble. Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive God’s Instruction. While there, Moses was informed that the impatient Israelites had fashioned a golden calf and were riotously worshipping it. The Lord threatened extermination of these sinners:
“Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation” (Exodus 32:10, WMB).
Thankfully, as a result of Moses’ intercession, God decided not to do this:
“So the LORD turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people” (Exodus 32:14, WMB).
At this point, readers should understand just how serious the Lord was about His people not worshipping other gods. Moses came down the mountain with tablets inscribed by the very finger of the Creator. Upon seeing the revelry over the golden calf, he shattered the tablets. Moses issued a call of loyalty to the Most High (Exodus 32:19-28a). At this point, all the Levites responded and they were summoned to take up their swords against all who worshipped the false god. Three thousand Israelites lost their lives (Exodus 32:28b), while the Levites were consecrated for the call He had placed upon them to fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood:
“then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the LORD’s side, come to me!’ All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. He said to them, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says, “Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.”’ The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. Moses said, ‘Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today’” (Exodus 32:26-29, WMB).
The next day, God and Moses had a debate. Moses offered himself as “an atonement” for the sins of the Israelites. (I believe that this offer is reminiscent of what Yeshua would later accomplish, actually being the permanent atonement for the sins of humanity.) The dialogue between Moses and the Lord continued:
“On the next day, Moses said to the people, ‘You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.’ Moses returned to the LORD, and said, ‘Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.’ The LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.’ The LORD struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made” (Exodus 32:30-33, WMB).
Interestingly, this is the first mention of the Book of Life in the Holy Writ, a record of those who stand under God’s favor. The most important place we see the Book of Life mentioned, though, is in the final judgment recorded by John in the Book of Revelation:
“I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Sheol gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. Death and Sheol were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12-15, WMB).
One thing is very certain from the interchange between God and Moses, when seen through the filter of Revelation 20:12-15: a person does not want his or her name to be missing from the Book of Life. The consequence of sinning against the Most High by worshipping another god (Exodus 32:33), and then being among those judged “according to their works” (Revelation 20:12, WMB), is a very frightening concept.
Another important thing is mentioned when the Lord spoke to Moses. God alone has the ability to blot out or erase a name from the Book of Life (Exodus 32:33). We should simply recognize that He has given His children ample understanding throughout the Scriptures to take loyalty to Him seriously. It is not impossible to truly be loyal to God, but demonstrating loyalty to Him is not something which is entirely passive, either.
While pondering the gravity and reality of the Book of Life, reflecting on Ki Tisa, two passages came to my mind from this parashah. First, God described an action which can serve as a tangible sign between His people and Himself, that they are striving to be His. Secondly, the evidence of His presence in they midst, as sought by Moses, was a definite sign how His people are His own. One is an action we can take, and the other is an action God takes.
Shabbat Observance
Earlier in this Torah portion (Exodus 31:12-18), the Lord gave His people some specific instruction about how to remember Shabbat, or the seventh-day Sabbath. This day of rest was to be an important sign between Israel and the Lord, which was to distinguish them among the nations. Remembering Shabbat was to serve as a tangible sign, for future generations, of how Israel was His chosen people and how God created the universe by His supreme hand:
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”’ When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger” (Exodus 31:12-18, WMB).
Here in these verses, as the finger of God had completed inscribing the Decalogue, He twice mentioned within the span of a few verses two important things. First, the remembrance of Shabbat was a sign between the Lord and His people “throughout your/their generations” (Exodus 31:13, 16). Secondly, the Ancient Israelites were told that anyone who profaned or worked on Shabbat would receive the penalty of capital punishment (Exodus 31:14b, 15b). This was extremely serious, and the fact that it was reiterated compounded the gravity of the statute.
Here in the Book of Exodus, we see how important the Lord considered the institution of the Sabbath to be. It is considered a Creation ordinance (Exodus 31:15), as His people remember how God Himself rested after His six periods of creating the universe (Genesis 2:2). Even if one believes in this post-resurrection era that the capital punishment for not remembering the Sabbath has been absorbed by the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah (cf. Colossians 2:14), why does it seem that many Christians today want to overlook the Biblical imperative to rest (on the seventh day)? At most, the being “cut off” they would experience would not be participating in all of the good things of resting for a complete day naturally offers human beings.
Much of the negativity which today’s Messianic people encounter, often when telling Christian family, friends, or associates that they are keeping the Sabbath, comes from various encounters we read in the Gospels (i.e., Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:1-5, 6-11; 13:10-17; John 5:10, 15-16; 7:22-23), and how they have been too commonly interpreted. Bible readers witness scenes where Yeshua the Messiah was either seen arguing with some of the religious officials in His day, or how He was rebuked by them for doing “unauthorized” things on the Sabbath. Bible scholars today are not all agreed that Yeshua opposed the keeping of the Sabbath, as much as He opposed the different streams of Jewish tradition present in His day which made it difficult for the Sabbath to be a legitimate day of rest for the normal person—and how some authorities opposed the legitimate doing of good on the Sabbath, as He was rebuked for healing people.[9] And notable to also remember, is how Yeshua did not oppose all tradition—just those traditions which specifically took away from accomplishing the purpose of His Father.
Yeshua’s ministry and teachings clarified much of what the Torah originally intended profaning the Sabbath to be. In His Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua spent a considerable amount of time working through various Torah commandments as they related to one’s heart intent (Matthew chs. 5-7). He did not come to fulfill and thus abolish the Law, as many may inaccurately teach—but instead to fulfill the Law by showing His followers how to live out its intentions properly in human life (Matthew 5:16ff). When it came to the issues concerning Shabbat, our Lord demonstrated that healing and doing good were appropriate. Yeshua stated how “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27, NRSV), and how its rest is something which can benefit all.
The Presence of God
A little further on in our parashah, we encounter a second visible sign which clearly is mark the people of God. God’s presence is to be among His people:
“‘Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.’ He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?” (Exodus 33:13-16, WMB).
Here, the Hebrew word panim or “face” is actually translated as “presence.” When the face of God Himself shined upon His people, it was evidence of His favor and blessing toward them. Such favor was to be so tangible toward Ancient Israel, that in their comings and goings, they would be distinguished among all others on Earth. As further detailed, this would involve God being merciful to His people:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’ Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ He said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the LORD’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’ He said, ‘You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.’ The LORD also said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen’”” (Exodus 33:17-23, WMB).
Here, as Moses pleaded for the presence of the Most High, He conceded how His glory would be evident, but that neither Moses nor any other would see His specific “face.” Instead, God’s glory, goodness, grace, and compassion would be evident among the people of Israel—demonstrating the substance of what His “face” really was. His attributes, which are frequently embodied in the later New Testament term agapē, would manifest themselves among the Ancient Israelites. In due time, the presence of His very Spirit would move beyond the Tabernacle or Temple, and would be fully dwelling within the hearts of His people (cf. Ezekiel 35:25-27). We see some of the specific aspects of God’s “face” listed, as He passed beside Moses on Mount Sinai:
“The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, ‘The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation’” (Exodus 34:6-7, WMB).
How much do these attributes sound like the summarizations of the agapē love demonstrated by Messiah Yeshua, who offered Himself up for human sin? Consider the Apostle Paul’s description of what Believers are to embody, as a direct result of Yeshua’s atoning work:
“Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Messiah forgave you, so you also do. Above all these things, walk in love [agapē], which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14, WMB).
The Apostle John also wrote about the great love of God manifested toward His own:
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:10-13, WMB).
We know that unlike Moses, whose offer of personal atonement was not acceptable (cf. Exodus 32:30), Yeshua’s offer, as the Son of God, is acceptable (Hebrews 9:26-28).
Two Signs
Today as Believers in Yeshua the Messiah, who have been washed of our sins by His work, we should be experiencing the presence of our Creator, as originally revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:6-7). We should have His love and His blessings enveloping us, ever-reminding us of how much the Lord really does care for us and wants us to commune with Him! This presence of God should fill us up with His love, which we are surely to demonstrate toward all people we encounter.
Yet if we possess the presence of God inside of us, are there any specific actions we can demonstrate which reflect on the goodness He has showered? I would submit to you that remembering Shabbat or the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 31:12-18), a day each week when we can rest and experience refreshment in Him, is something which we need to be considering. Shabbat is a time when we get to focus on the Lord in a very unique way, ceasing from our labors, and allowing Him to reveal His presence to us.
How do we learn to balance the value of these two aspects of our faith? How do we remember the many imperatives we see in the Scriptures to demonstrate love toward others (i.e., 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Romans 12:9-17)?
Many generations of Jewish people faithful to the Lord’s ways have experienced the blessings of Shabbat, and we can hope that many who truly pressed into Him on the seventh-day were supernaturally revealed the truth of Messiah Yeshua as they sought God for answers. Similarly—and whether or not today’s Messianics really want to admit it—many generations of Christians faithful to the Old Testament have also experienced the blessings of the Sabbath, albeit they have observed it on the first day. Even though a “Sunday Sabbath” was not our Father’s original intention, He has still honored the dedication of many Christians in past history who strived to make Sunday a day of abstention from work and commerce—something which only in the latter-half of the Twentieth Century was really lost.
In our day as the Father restores His people through the growth of the Messianic movement, not only should Jewish Believers get to experience the blessedness of the Sabbath by their faith in Messiah Yeshua—but many non-Jewish Believers should also get to experience some of the things which have made Jewish remembrance of Shabbat so special. The edifying traditions which enable God’s people to really focus on who the Lord is, and which bring us together as families and communities where He dwells, should help focus our remembrance of the Sabbath as we consider who we all are as His redeemed people. We all await the return of our King, and the much greater rest He will bring to us in the future (Hebrews 4:9-11).
NOTES
[1] Exodus 30:11-16.
[2] Exodus 32:1-35.
[3] Exodus 31:12-17.
[4] Exodus 30:17-21.
[5] Exodus 30:22-33.
[6] Exodus 30:34-38.
[7] Exodus 31:1-11.
[8] Exodus 32:11-34:35.
[9] Cf. S. Westerholm, “Sabbath,” in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992), pp 716-719, for a summary of some of the opinions present in academic thought.
