Pekudei
Exodus 38:21 - 40:38

    This week, our Torah portion brings us to the end of the Book of Exodus.  It begins with the expenses for building the Tabernacle and continues with the description of the clothing of the High Priest and concludes with God coming to dwell in the Tabernacle. According to many of the Sages of Israel, the purpose of the Tabernacle was to re-enact the interaction of God with the Jewish people at Sinai.  According to others, it served as a way that God could dwell with the people with a degree of separation after the sin of the golden calf.  In either case, the “mishkan” (dwelling place) as it is called in hebrew served as a place where the Jewish people could meet with God.  The fact that there was a “place” where God would manifest Himself in this world raises some interesting issues. Many years later at the dedication o the Temple in Jerusalem ,, King Solomon said, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 kings 8:27).  The prophet Isaiah spoke along the same lines when he said "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? (Isaiah 66:1).  Both Solomon and Isaiah declare a very important truth about God - He is greater than any building; any Temple ; any Tabernacle. Yet in some way, yet at the same time, God dwells with man. This is a biblical paradox that is illustrated not only with the building of the Tabernacle and Temple but in other ways in the Tananch. For example, in the book of Genesis, God manifests himself to Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. In Genesis 16:13  when she sees the “Angel of the Lord”  we read, Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?"  Hagar understood that the person she was speaking to was a manifestation of God. In Judges 12-13, we read of the birth of Samson. Again the Angel of the Lord appears - this time to Manoah and his wife. We read in judges 13:22 the reaction of Manoah and his wife to seeing the angel of the Lord: So Manoah said to his wife, "We will surely die, for we have seen God."   Like Hagar, these people knew that god had come to their midst. There are many other illustrations of the presence of God in “time-space history” in the Hebrew Scriptures.  The point is that in the Tanach we see the fact that while God is everywhere and greater than any Temple or Tabernacle,  He is also personal and makes himself known in a particular place and at a particular time.              Therefore when we come to the pages of the New Covenant, it is not unheard of that God should manifest Himself in this world. In fact, it is in keeping with the way God has revealed Himself in the Tanach. However,  in the New Covenant, God reveals Himself in the highest manifestation possible - true humanity in the person of Yeshua.  Yeshua identifies Himself with God when he says in his prayer in John 17:6   "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  The manifestation of the “Name” speaks of the essence of God. In Deut. 12:5 we read "But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.  God says that his “name” will dwell in a particular location - which years later we know is Jerusalem .  His name is His “presence”, his “essence”.   So Yeshua is saying that He has manifested the “name” the “presence” or “esssence” of  God.   Perhaps the most famous passage in the New Covenant about God dwelling in this world in the person of Yeshua is John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  In this passage, Yeshua is identified as the “Word”.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, “word” is a term used for the creative power of God.  Psalm 33:6 we read   By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.  Yeshua is a manifestation of the “word” of God.  In these two illustration we see that Yeshua is the very presence of God in this world. He manifests the “name” and He manifests the “word” of God.   In the Torah portion we see that the presence of God in the Tabernacle is referred to as the “glory of God” (Ex. 40:35).  In the New Covenant we read in john 1:14    And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Yeshua manifests the “glory” of God.  In this same verse, the text says that he “dwelt” among us. The Greek word for “dwell” is skenoo.  It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “mishkan” or “tabernacle”.   In a sense we could say that Yeshua has come into the tabernacle of this world.  He desires to dwell inside each of us.  While we may believe “in God”, God desires much more. He desires to dwell with us and in us. It is only in this way that we can have assurance of life forever.  Hem came as the High Priest, making atonement for our sins. He came as the atonement. When He died He paid the judgment price for our sins. When He rose from the dead, He showed us that the atonement was received and that sin and death have been conquered.   When we believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel we can have the relationship with God that He has always desired.  He dwells within us via the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).  Today is the Bat Mitzvah of Rebecca Samuels. The theme of the passages that she will read today is that God wants to have a relationship with you and I.  Her New covenant portion is from john chapter 4. In this passage Yeshua invites us to come and drink from the water that only He provides. He offers the water of satisfaction and eternal life. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

(Jn. 4:14).  May this Shabbat help us to understand that the Messiah has come and His name is Yeshua. 

Shabbat Shalom.