Terumah
Contribution
“The Heart of the Matter”
Exodus 25:1-27:19
1 Kings 5:26-6:13
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume II
This week’s Torah portion, Terumah, details the construction of the Tabernacle, which the glory of God occupied during the Ancient Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. This temporary dwelling place was used by Israel until the First Temple was constructed in Jerusalem by King Solomon. As you read through the details of the Tabernacle’s materials and its construction, you can marvel at the minute particulars which come forth from the instructions of the Master Builder. The finest natural materials were utilized, which are all thought to have significant symbolic interpretations. But regardless of the specificity of the blueprints and materials, two overwhelming themes bubble to the surface as you read the account:
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering’” (Exodus 25:1-2, WMB).
From the title of our parashah, terumah, meaning “contribution, offering, for sacred uses” (BDB),[1] you find that the Holy One of Israel was looking for people who had a strong heart’s desire to offer valuable contributions for the construction project. God was looking for a people who would love, honor, and respect Him enough so that they would be entirely willing—from the heart—to offer up their valuable resources in order to build the Tabernacle and fashion all of its furnishings and accoutrements, for the priestly service. We learn from some later comments that the response to the request was overwhelming, to the point that an order was issued to stop the outpouring of freewill gifts:
“They spoke to Moses, saying, ‘The people have brought much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded to make.’ Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, ‘Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing” (Exodus 36:5-6, WMB).
From the beginning of the wilderness journey—after witnessing the miracles of the defeat of the Egyptians, the provisions of manna, quail, and water, hearing the voice of the Lord bellowing from Mount Sinai, and receiving the Ten Commandments—the Ancient Israelites were prepared to give freely of their possessions for the assembly of the Tabernacle. The God of Israel articulated the second theme which is evident not only in this Torah portion, but throughout the Holy Scriptures, as He made His great desire made known to Moses:
“Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8, WMB).
The Lord has a strong desire to dwell (Heb. verb shakan)[2] among His people. This is an important statement, because even though He desired for a sanctuary or mishkan to be built, our Heavenly Father was really stating that He desired to just dwell among His people. Even though there was a construction project for a specific structure to represent His holiness, He actually said that He wanted to dwell among human beings. From this wording, you get the impression that the Holy One just wanted to walk among His people, in a similar fashion to the way He established the relationship He had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
“They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8, WMB).
As you ponder the theme of dwelling with the Creator, we see the intimate relationship which God was attempting to establish with His chosen ones. He desired a people whose hearts yearned for Him and with whom He could dwell! The rest of the account in Mishpatim simply concerned details which had significant meaning, and which conveyed the majesty and dignity of the Tabernacle and priestly service—serving as tangible manifestations of His heart’s desire.
When you take a look at the associated Haftarah portion in 1 Kings 5:26-6:13, you discover that in spite of the impressive construction project developed by Solomon and Hiram during their time of relative peace, the overwhelming theme was still God simply wanting to dwell with His people. For whatever reasons, it is apparent that humanity needs physical structures in order to imagine spiritual and relational principles. The Creator knew this attribute, and consequently fulfilled this need, by orchestrating both the wilderness Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple to be constructed.
The Good Shepherd
The most significant point which the Lord was trying to convey from the material in Mishpatim, regarded the melding of one’s heart attitude, and His intended residence among His people. Probably the most vivid analogy used to communicate the essence of this relationship, is the image derived from the relationship of a shepherd to his sheep. The Holy One is often described as a Good Shepherd who is constantly walking among His sheep tending to their needs. Recall how when the Patriarch Jacob communicated some of his final blessings, he referred to God as a shepherd (Heb. verb ra’ah)[3]:
“He blessed Joseph, and said, ‘The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day’” (Genesis 48:15, NASU).
Later, when blessing Joseph specifically, another reference to God as the Great Shepherd is witnessed:
“But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)[4], even by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers” (Genesis 49:24-26, WMB).
Of course, most Bible readers are eager to remember David’s reference to God being his Shepherd in Psalm 23:
“A Psalm by David. The LORD is my shepherd [YHWH ro’i]; I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3, WMB).
Less well-known words come from Qohelet, as he summarized his life experience:
“The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd [nittenu m’ro’eh]. Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:11-14, WMB).
The Prophets are also replete about referring to God as a Shepherd:
- “Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd [k’ro’eh]. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young” (Isaiah 40:10-11, WMB).
- “Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock [k’ro’eh]’ (Jeremiah 31:10, WMB).
- “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD [v’amad v’ra’ah b’oz YHWH], in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. They will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:2-4, WMB).
And of course, perhaps most important, Yeshua referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd to His Disciples, as He explained the mission and purpose of His ministry:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd [Egō eimi ho poimēn ho kalos][5]. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:11-16, WMB).
The author of Hebrews summarized his treatise by calling the workings of the Holy One, the works of the Great Shepherd:
“Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep [ton poimena tōn probatōn ton megan] with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Yeshua, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Yeshua the Messiah, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21, WMB).
Earlier in his work, the author quoted extensively from the Prophets, in order to communicate many of the principles relating to the wilderness Tabernacle ,and how it applies to Believers’ lives through the inauguration of the New Covenant:
“For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the Torah, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, ‘See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain’ [Exodus 25:40]. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as Torah. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he said, ‘Behold, the days are coming’, says the Lord, ‘that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,’ says the Lord. ‘For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws into their mind; I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will not teach every man his fellow citizen and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all will know me, from their least to their greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more’” (Hebrews 8:4-12, WMB; cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34, LXX).
In Hebrews chs. 8-9, the author gave his audience a description of the wilderness Tabernacle, and the distinction made between it “the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation” (Hebrews 9:11, WMB). This is what Yeshua entered into in Heaven, as He performs the required priestly duties, as our intermediary between God the Father and humanity at large (Hebrews 4:14-15). The author of Hebrews quoted directly from the Prophet Jeremiah, who described that the New Covenant which God will make, will write the Torah onto the hearts of the people by His Holy Spirit:
“‘Behold, the days come,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ says the LORD. ‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the LORD: ‘I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, “Know the LORD;” for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, WMB).
These conclusions come after Jeremiah described the work of God as Shepherd, to scatter and then gather His flock:
“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock’” (Jeremiah 31:10, WMB).
Hear O Israel
One of the awesome works of our God, as the Good Shepherd, is that He will supernaturally transcribe His Torah onto the hearts of His sheep, as He is their God and they will surely be His people. As this transformative action occurs in every heart, of every man and woman of God who recognizes Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel, he or she can fully live forth the Shema:
“Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, WMB).
The imperative here is that each individual is to love the Lord God of Israel with all of his or her heart, and to see that the principles of God’s commandments are embedded within his or her mind. This can be conducted by a number of crucial exercises and disciplines. The Father knows human beings’ propensity to wander and to avoid following His commands, and so in order to help inscribe His Instruction upon the heart and mind, He has detailed some basic guidelines to help with the process. This includes a daily routine of waking up and thinking about Him, and instructing one’s children about Him and His love for us. Going to sleep at night, a person’s final thoughts should be focused on the Lord. Everything which we put our hands to, or every thought we consider, should be viewed through the grid of His understandings. In the Shema, God’s people are even told to put His commandments of God on the very doorposts of their houses and gates, so that they will be reminded as they leave their homes and return—of the imperative need to focus all of one’s attention, love, and loyalty to Him!
As you read and reflect upon the Shema, you almost get the impression that the Holy One of Israel wants as much of our attention, just as your husband or wife would. He wants our hearts to be turned toward Him so that we will be one with Him in thoughts, deeds, and actions. We can yearn for such intimacy with our Creator, which many of our spiritual forbearers in the faith have modeled for us. Figures like King David knew the Lord intimately, and his Psalms reflected the great love he had for Him. Psalm 19 is an excellent example for us to consider:
“For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork. Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course. His going out is from the end of the heavens, his circuit to its ends. There is nothing hidden from its heat. The LORD’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. The LORD’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. The LORD’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. The LORD’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever. The LORD’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether. They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb. Moreover your servant is warned by them. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I will be upright. I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, LORD, my rock, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:1-14, WMB).
Here, we see how King David had such a desire for intimacy with the Lord, that he did not even want his thoughts to be unacceptable in His sight. I pray that each of our hearts would be as sensitive!
The Tabernacle of David
Today, our gracious Heavenly Father surely continues to look for people He can indwell with His intimate presence. We are each called to be a tabernacle for Him to occupy. We know that the Prophet Amos in the Seventh Century B.C.E., and James the Just First Century C.E., both affirmed a rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David as a key part in the eventual restoration of the Kingdom to Israel (cf. Acts 1:6). Amos first decreed,
“‘Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,’ says the LORD. ‘For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, “Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.” In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,’ says the LORD who does this. ‘Behold, the days come,’ says the LORD, ‘that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills. I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,’ says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:8-15, WMB).
Amos’ prophecy looked forward to the restoration of the fallen Tabernacle of David. This included the return of a sizeable part of Israel (mostly from the Northern Kingdom) which had been sown into the nations, as well as many of the nations themselves being integrated into the holy community. As God let him see into the future, Amos knew the time would surely come when the captivity of Israel would be over, and His people would return to the Promised Land to rebuild cities, plant vineyards, drink wine, make gardens, and eat their fruit.
At the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, upon hearing the testimony of Paul, Barnabas, and Peter regarding the salvation of Jewish people and various Greeks and Romans coming to faith in the Messiah of Israel—James the Just made a distinct connection between the non-Jews coming to faith and Amos’ prophecy. Rather than capitulate to the demands of a few hyper-conservative Pharisees that such non-Jewish Believers be ordered to keep the Mosaic Torah (Acts 15:5, Grk.), James instead acknowledged that the words of the Prophets were in play. He placed the salvation of the non-Jews in the First Century within the scope of expectations regarding the eventual restoration of Israel’s Kingdom:
“After they were silent, Jacob answered, ‘Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations to take out of them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written, “After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up that the rest of men may seek after the Lord: all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.” All of God’s works are known to him from eternity. Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God, but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood. For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who proclaim him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath’” (Acts 15:13-21, WMB).
The difference between what Amos prophesied is that James said “so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord—even all the Gentiles who are called by My name” (Acts 15:17, HCSB). Luke’s transcription in Acts did not follow the Hebrew text of Amos, but the Septuagint rendering which reads with hoi kataloipoi tōn anthrōpōn for the Hebrew sh’eirit Edom. The LXX Rabbis understood Edom to be connected to adam, also the Hebrew word for “mankind, people” (HALOT)[6] and rendered it in Greek as “those remaining of humans” (NETS), referring to God’s faithful remnant which would come forth out of humanity’s masses. James made a connection between the salvation of Israel and those of the nations coming to faith in Israel’s Messiah.
James would have had to recognize that a critical part of Israel’s restoration, would have been an obedience to God’s Torah by all coming into the fold. In Ezekiel 37:24, it is prophesied that when Israel’s Kingdom is restored, “They will also walk in my ordinances and observe my statutes, and do them” (WMB). As James was considering the salvation of the nations, he was reflecting on the restoration of the Tabernacle of David described by the Prophet Amos. Why force the non-Jewish Believers to keep the Torah, when prophecy should be allowed to take its natural course? The nations were to come to Zion to be taught God’s Instruction (Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-3), and the promise of the New Covenant was that the Torah would be supernaturally transcribed on redeemed hearts as a special work of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27).
Today, almost two millennia later, we have yet to see the complete fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy. The presence of today’s Messianic movement, and the unique work it has in seeing Jewish people brought to saving faith in the Messiah Yeshua and evangelical Protestants brought into a tangible appreciation of their faith heritage in Israel’s Scriptures—leads me to believe that the words of the Prophets (Acts 15:15) are going to become increasingly more important to recognize in the days to come. As we all begin to truly understand this, we need to allow ourselves, both individually and corporately, to be a people who can be filled up with the Spirit of God, serving as a living sacrifice which faithfully emulates the Lord Yeshua (cf. Romans 12:1-2). If we are truly able to do this, then we can all compose that holy nation and separated people, truly accomplishing the mission of God, which the Apostle Peter emphasized:
“Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Yeshua the Messiah. Because it is contained in Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious. He who believes in him will not be disappointed’ [Isaiah 28:16]. For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ [Psalm 118:22], and, ‘a stumbling stone and a rock of offense’ [Isaiah 8:14]. For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. But you are a chosen race [Isaiah 43:20], a royal priesthood [Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:6], a holy nation [Exodus 19:6], a people for God’s own possession [Isaiah 43:21; Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20; 7:6; 14:2], that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy [Hosea 2:23]” (1 Peter 2:4-10, WMB).
When we can all truly understand how every redeemed man and woman in Yeshua is a part of “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (NIV), then we can marvel in our privilege to serve the Lord fully—most especially in terms of “declar[ing forth] the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (NIV)! When the world at large can see us demonstrating the Lord’s goodness toward them, as we testify of the salvation He has provided, then we can really begin to see the complete restoration of David’s Tabernacle.
As we contemplate these awesome truths, we must reflect upon our own hearts, wondering in which capacity we can serve God and make a difference in our generation. We need to search our hearts and consider what the meditations of our hearts are. What motivates us? Do we wake up with His thoughts on our minds? Do we go to sleep considering His ways? Are we training up our young people according to His precepts? Everyone will be accountable for their actions, deeds, and thoughts.
In the end, it comes down to being a matter of the heart. May our hearts be His and His be ours!
NOTES
[1] BDB, 929.
[2] Appearing in the Qal stem (simple action, active voice) in Exodus 25:8, shakan means, “settle down, abide, dwell” (Ibid., 1014).
[3] Largely meaning “pasture, tend, graze” (Ibid., 944).
[4] Heb. m’sham ro’eh even Yisrael.
[5] John 10:14 includes one of the many “I am” sayings, where there is a deliberate connection being made between egō eimi and the Lord’s declaration in Exodus 3:14, ehyeh asher ehyeh, “I AM WHO I AM,” rendered in the Septuagint as egō eimi. The intention is to clearly associate Yeshua the Messiah as being the “I AM,” the Lord God in human flesh.
For further consideration, consult G.M. Burge, “‘I am’ Sayings,” in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992), pp 354-356.
[6] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, eds., The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2001), 1:14.
