MARCH 19, 2023 Deuteronomy 12:8-9 You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest. Until the Sanctuary was built in Jerusalem, it would seem that private altars were permitted, a fact that seems obvious in the day […]
What gift can you get for the Almighty? It's hard to shop for a God who has everything. The Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, could be translated as “something brought near,” or to put it another way, it could be translated as “gift.” The Israelites were to view the sacrifices as gifts that they could bring to God.
He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. (Leviticus 1:4)
In Romans 12:1, Paul urges us to present our bodies as a “living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.” What does this mean in practical terms? Is Paul asking us to build altars and literally sacrifice ourselves upon them? Of course not. Paul is using the sacrificial language as an illustration for obedience. He is urging us to set aside our stubborn wills, our wayward flesh and our self-centered egos and force them to submit to the commandments of God. When we set aside our own personal desires and inclinations for the sake of obeying God, we are sacrificing ourselves for the sake of heaven. Instead of offering a bull, a goat or a lamb to God as a gift, we are offering ourselves. This is why the prophet Samuel declared that obedience is better than sacrifice:
Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
Through the prophet Hosea, the LORD declared, “I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Yeshua was fond of quoting this verse to prove that God was more concerned with ethical behavior than perfunctory ritual obedience. This is an important principle for all religious people. Regardless of one’s religion, it is always easier to attend to ritual concerns than to live godly lives. The writer of the book of Hebrews says, “Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).
In today’s world there is no Tabernacle or Temple in which a person might offer a sacrifice. If we desire to give God a gift today, what can we give Him? We can give no better gift than our own humble submission to His will. We can give Him the simple sacrifice of grateful obedience.
Vayikra – ×•×™×§×¨× : “And he called” Torah : Leviticus 1:1-5:19 Haftarah : Isaiah 43:21-44:23 Gospel : Luke 1-3
MARCH 17, 2023 Deuteronomy 12:5-7 But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings … and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice … you and your households, in which […]
MARCH 16, 2023 Deuteronomy 12:5-7 But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings … and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice … you and your households, in which […]
MARCH 15, 2023 Deuteronomy 12:5 But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. When Moses referred to “the place” it should be understood that it was not just any place. Specifically, the Hebrew word ha’makom refers to the […]
MARCH 14, 2023 Deuteronomy 12:2-4 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods … and you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your […]
MARCH 13, 2023 Deuteronomy 11:29 Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. I find it interesting that the location of these two mountains is described as being “opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth […]
MARCH 11, 2023 Deuteronomy 11:26-28 Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. The translation here uses the word obey in regard to the blessing. Other translations […]
MARCH 12, 2023 Deuteronomy 11:26-28 Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. In the previous devotion we discussed the importance of hearing as it relates to […]
The children of Israel constructed the ark of the covenant according to the specifications revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. The ark of the covenant was lost during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE. No one knows what happened to it at that time.
When the Jewish people returned from captivity in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, they did not make a new ark. They built replicas of all the other Temple furnishings, just as Solomon had done, but they did not feel that they had the Almighty's permission to make a replica ark of the covenant. Therefore, the holy of holies was left ark-less throughout the entire second Temple period. The sages explain that inside the holy of holies was a foundation stone, a piece of bedrock, on which the ark used to sit during the days of first Temple.
Talmudic lore contains several traditions about the ark. Some of the sages insisted that the ark was carried away by the Babylonians and never seen again. Others held that Jeremiah the prophet or King Josiah had hidden the ark away prior to the Babylonian conquest.
One tradition has it that the ark was hidden in a secret cellar below the chamber of the woodshed where wood for the altar fires were kept. There it remained hidden through the Babylonian destruction, but its location was forgotten. According to this tradition, it once happened in the days of the second Temple that a priest whiling away his time in the chamber of the woodshed noticed that one of the floor pavers was different from the others. He was about to lift it to investigate when he was struck down dead. Later, two priests were gathering wood for the altar when one dropped his axe on that same paver. Fire leapt up from the floor and killed him. Though stories like this are entertaining, they are only apocryphal anecdotes with no real historical basis. They are no more reliable than the modern-day pseudo-archaeologists and sensationalist junk scholars who claim to have found the ark or to know where it is hidden.
The prophet Jeremiah says that in the Messianic era, when all nations are gathered to Jerusalem, the ark of the covenant will not even be missed. This implies that, though it will not be missed, it will still be missing:
“It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.” (Jeremiah 3:16-17)
Vayakhel-Pekudei – ויקהל־פקודי : “And He assembled” Torah : Exodus 35:1-40:38 Haftarah : Ezekiel 45:16-46:18 Gospel : Mark 15-16
