MARCH 6, 2022 Leviticus 8:33 And you shall not go outside the door of the tabernacle of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are ended. For seven days he shall consecrate you. Hebrew is a fascinating language for so many reasons. One reason I have been so intrigued by it through the years is […]
When discussing the levitical sacrifices, the Torah says, “all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13). The priesthood kept a pile of salt near the altar for this purpose. Unlike so many other rituals and ceremonial commandments, in this instance, the Torah explains the meaning of the symbolism, defining it as a covenant symbol: “the salt of the covenant of your God.”
The Torah coupled the commandment to salt the offerings along with the prohibition on leaven. Both rules helped avoid corruption and helped keep the holy things in an imperishable state. People in the ancient world used salt primarily as a preservative. In the days before chemical additives and refrigeration, heavy salting was the best means of preserving meat. Because the ancient world considered salt as a preservative, salt came to represent a state of permanence. The term “covenant of salt” indicates a covenant of perpetual obligation—an everlasting covenant relationship. Two other biblical passages refer to “salt covenants,” and both of the passages describe the salt covenant as everlasting and eternal:
A salt covenant with the Aaronic Priesthood: It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you. (Numbers 18:19)A salt covenant with the house of David: Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? (2 Chronicles 13:5)
The commandment to salt the sacrifices as a symbol of the salt covenant provides us with a key for unlocking the mystery of much of the sacrificial system. It provides a basis for interpreting the sacrifices as covenantal gestures. Salting of the offerings symbolizes the eternal nature of God’s covenant with Israel. If so, the offerings themselves must represent various aspects of that same covenant. Each korban and each function of worship within the Tabernacle will symbolize some characteristic of the covenant between God and Israel. In this sense, we can interpret the sacrificial services as dramatizations of the God’s covenant relationship with His people.
Traditional Jewish teaching says that every home is as a small temple. The table within the home corresponds to the altar. On every Sabbath and festival, we place bread and wine before the LORD on the table. We pronounce blessings over the cup and share the wine. We pronounce a blessing over the bread, salt it, break it, and share it. These simple covenant rites have survived over 3,000 years. By partaking in the cup and the bread on Sabbath and the festivals, we reenact a covenant remembrance that originated on the altar. We eat from the table of the LORD.
Vayikra – ×•×™×§×¨× : “And he called” Torah : Leviticus 1:1-5:19 Haftarah : Isaiah 43:21-44:23 Gospel : Mark 7:1-30
MARCH 5, 2022 Leviticus 8:22 And he brought the second ram, the ram of consecration. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. In Christendom, when something is consecrated, it is elevated to the status of being sacred, meaning it is set apart for service unto God. The same […]
MARCH 4, 2022 Leviticus 8:12 And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to consecrate him. Even though Moses anointed all the other parts of the Sanctuary, including the altar, only Aaron, the High Priest, had oil poured upon him. It is true that, in the process of consecration, Aaron […]
MARCH 3, 2022 Leviticus 8:6-7 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the tunic Moses had served as king, teacher and priest in that he alone communicated with God and led the people in, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him; […]
MARCH 2, 2022 Leviticus 8:1-3 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, a bull as the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; and gather all the congregation together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.” In everything related to the Kingdom of God, there […]
March 1, 2022 Leviticus 7:37-38 This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when He commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai. It occurs to me that, in midst […]
FEBRUARY 28, 2022 Leviticus 6:25-26 This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before the Lord. It is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of meeting. The […]
A sudden shout rose up through the assembly and all eyes turned to the mountain. The cloud, which had covered the top of the mountain those many days, began to descend, rolling and cascading down the mountainside like a sudden avalanche of vapor, mist, and smoke.
A panic spread through the people; a holy terror seized every heart. As if choreographed in advance, all Israel—every man, woman, and child—fell prostrate to the ground. A brilliant light emanated from the cloud as it dropped from the top of Mount Sinai. The peak of the mountain emerged visible, gleaming in the sun, for the first time in nine months. Without the towering cloud hovering over it, the mountain seemed small, humble, and insignificant after all. The LORD had left Sinai.
The cloud of glory settled onto the tent of meeting and the glory of the Most High filled the Sanctuary. Moses tried to enter, but he found he could not bear the weight of the glory. He was not able to enter the tent of meeting. God had come to dwell with His people; the Tabernacle was a success, but a fundamental problem with the entire Tabernacle concept emerged immediately.
Even if God can dwell among His people in a holy place, that does not mean that His people can draw near to him to enjoy communion or interaction with Him. God had taken up residence in the Tabernacle, but He appeared unapproachable. Even Moses, who was accustomed to standing upon Mount Sinai and basking in the glory of the presence of the LORD, could not enter.
The book of Exodus ends with the problem unresolved. The problem illustrates the classic theological paradox between the immanence of God and the transcendence of God. God is remote and inaccessible, and yet, at the same time, He is ever close and personal. The Tabernacle illustrated the paradox. On the one hand, the LORD moved into the midst of the camp of Israel, but on the other hand, no one could enter His presence.
The paradox between immanence and transcendence is also obvious in our sorry attempts to form a Christology to explain the divine nature of Messiah. Some explanations seem to be more theologically consistent than others, but aAny attempt at explaining how the infinite can occupy the finite necessarily involves an inversion in logic. The mystery of the Tabernacle is not less baffling than the mystery of God taking up residence within the Messiah.
The book of Exodus ends with a cliffhanger. It leaves the reader with the question, “How are the people supposed to approach God? How will they to come near to Him?”
Pekudei : פקודי – “Accounts” Torah : Exodus 38:21-40:38 Haftarah : I Kings 7:51-8:21 Gospel : John 6:1-71