What’s so important about the meticulous detail in the instructions for the Tabernacle? These pictures are like the résumé for the Mashiakh, the Christ. This week’s Torah reading, Terumah (“heave offering”), covering Ex. 25:1-27:19, foreshadows the work of Yeshua (Jesus).
Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ) told us the two greatest commandments were to love God unreservedly and to love other people unselfishly (Matt. 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–31; Deut. 6:4–6; Lev. 19:18). Learning what the LORD would do in a situation — to walk as He walked (1Jn. 2:6) — is at the heart of this week’s Torah reading Mishpatim (“judgements,” Ex. 21:1-24:18).
Scripture likens people truly loyal to the Creator of Heaven and Earth to a bride. And the presentation of the Ten Commandments at Sinai is compared to the signing of a ketubah (wedding contract).
It’s not by coincidence there are a number of parallels between the events at Sinai recorded in this week’s Torah reading — יִתְרוֹ Yitro (Jethro), covering Exodus 18:1–20:23 — and the Jewish wedding ceremony. Marriage is about transparency, devotion and loyalty, and that’s the testimony of the LORD in the Ten Words of Exodus 20.
It took more to save Yisra’el from the House of Bondage than faith in lamb’s blood on the doorpost, as the Destroyer of the firstborn roamed the streets of Mitzraim during the first Passover. Then came being cornered at the Red Sea by a huge army and going into the desert without sufficient water or food. Discover the path of training in righteousness all believers in the LORD and His Passover (Yeshua the Lamb of God) must travel. It’s explained in this week’s Torah reading (בְּשַׁלַּח Beshalach, “when he sent” or “after he had let go,” Exodus 13:17-17:16).
The cost of freedom for enslaved Yisra’el (Israel) was the death of the firstborn of Mitzraim (Egypt), and the cost of our freedom from slavery to the deathward lifestyle away from the Creator is the death of the LORD’s Firstborn, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ).
The last three plagues, including the coming of the Destroyer for the firstborn of Mitzraim, and the first Pesakh are the focus of Torah reading בֹּא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1-13:16).
It’s no coincidence that the freedom of Yisra’el from bondage in Mitzraim was accompanied by 10 plagues and the release of mankind on the coming Day of the LORD comes after seven plagues. Why such drastic measures are required to give people freedom is behind this week’s Torah portion, וָאֵרָא Va’era (“I appeared,” Exodus 6:2–9:35).
“Man is free, but everywhere he is in chains,” wrote a French philosopher in the mid-18th century, setting off a firestorm in Europe against monarchy. But more than 3,000 years earlier, a greater shockwave resounded from within the superpower empire of Mitzraim (Egypt), and that’s what we see in this week’s Torah reading, שְׁמוֹת Shemot (“names,” Exodus 1:1–6:1).