Starting after Sukkot 2024, Hallel Fellowship switched to a three-year cycle of Torah and parallel Bible readings (2024–2027), outlined by TorahResource. While there’s ancient evidence for a triennial cycle, a major benefit is to provide more time to mine more of Scripture for lessons.
Readings
- Exodus 30:1–10
- Malachi 1:11–2:7
- Revelation 8:1–5
Corresponding reading from the 1-year Torah cycle
Insights from this week’s readings
Across Exodus 30:1–10, Malachi 1:11–2:7, and Revelation 8:1–5, a single thread runs from earthly sanctuary to heavenly throne: acceptable worship mediated through priesthood, atonement, and prayerful intercession. The altar of incense becomes the interpretive bridge, revealing how God desires to be approached and how that approach is ultimately fulfilled in Messiah.
In Exodus 30, the golden altar stands before the veil, closest to the Holy of Holies. Its function is daily incense offered by the high priest, purified annually by blood on Yom Kippur. The key Hebrew term is קְטֹרֶת qetōret, “incense,” from the root קטר, “to make smoke.” In the Septuagint, qetōret is translated θυμίαμα thymíama, a term consistently associated with sacred, priestly incense rather than pagan fumigation. The altar itself is מִזְבַּח mizbēaḥ, rendered in Greek as θυσιαστήριον thysiastērion, a sacrificial altar. This same Greek word appears in Revelation 8:3, explicitly tying John’s vision to the Tabernacle pattern.
The incense is offered “before YHWH”, stressing proximity rather than consumption. Fire is not for burning flesh but for transforming prayer into fragrant ascent. Psalm 141:2 makes the interpretive move explicit: “Let my prayer be incense,” using qetōret / thymíama. This verse underlies later Jewish and Messianic interpretation of incense as embodied intercession.
Malachi 1:11–2:7 shifts from ritual mechanics to priestly ethics. God rebukes corrupted worship while declaring that His name will be honored “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” with “pure offering” everywhere. The Hebrew phrase מִנְחָה טְהוֹרָה minḥāh ṭehôrāh is striking. Minḥāh, translated in the LXX as προσφορά prosphorá, denotes a gift or offering brought near. The same Greek term is foundational in the New Testament for Messiah’s self-offering (e.g., Ephesians 5:2, Hebrews 10:10). The purity God demands of the Levitical priesthood anticipates a greater, undefiled priest.
Malachi also defines priestly vocation: guarding knowledge, teaching Torah, and turning many from iniquity. The Hebrew כֹּהֵן kōhēn becomes ἱερεύς hiereús in Greek. This term reappears prominently in the New Testament, applied both to Temple priests and, theologically, to Yeshua Himself (Hebrews 7). The failure of Levi’s sons heightens the need for a faithful priest who embodies covenant faithfulness rather than merely officiating ritual.
Revelation 8:1–5 gathers these threads into a cosmic liturgy. Silence in heaven recalls the awe of Yom Kippur. An angel-priest stands at the altar with θυμίαμα πολύ thymiamata polla (much incense), explicitly interpreted as “the prayers of the saints.” The Greek προσευχαί proseuchaí aligns with Hebrew תְּפִלּוֹת tefillōt, often paired with incense imagery in Second Temple Judaism. The angel adds incense to the prayers, echoing Exodus where incense must be compounded exactly as God commands—human prayer purified by divine mediation.
The fire taken from the altar and cast to the earth recalls the blood-and-fire logic of atonement: what ascends as prayer returns as covenantal action. The altar here is thysiastērion, the same word used in the LXX for mizbēaḥ in Exodus, reinforcing continuity rather than replacement.
Messianically, these passages converge on Yeshua as High Priest and Incense-Bearer. Hebrews draws directly on this imagery: Messiah enters the heavenly sanctuary, offering not animal blood but Himself, fulfilling the meaning behind both minḥāh / prosphorá and qetōret / thymíama. The faithful priest Malachi longed for appears, the prayers Exodus symbolized are gathered, and Revelation shows them accepted before God’s throne.
Studies
Torah reading Tetzaveh (תצוה): Exodus 27:20–30:10
How the Tabernacle and Messiah ‘show us the Father’ (Exodus 27–30)
Tabernacle and Messiah: How we are transformed into Heaven’s character (Ezekiel 43–44)
What the Tabernacle and high priest’s uniform teach us about Messiah (Exodus 27:2–30:10)
Exodus 28: How to ‘altar’ your future to live with the ‘Lion of God’
Exodus 27:20–30:10: High priest foreshadows Messiah Yeshua’s redeeming humanity
Exodus 27:20–30:10: When suffering is a ‘soothing aroma before the LORD’
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