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Discussions Torah

Exodus 34: Moshe Encounters God While Receiving the Replacement Tablets

Some commentators believe God was angry at Moses for breaking those tablets with the 10 Commandments, but I don’t believe so. When Moses broke the tablets, Moses was simply acknowledging the fact that the people had already broken the covenant that just 40 days earlier they had promised to uphold when they said, “What you say, we will do.” So it was appropriate for Moses to break those tablets. But it was also appropriate that the tablets had to be remade.

Moses had a friendship with God that His contemporaries did not have. Paul says that thanks to Yeshua, we can approach God without a veil.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Luke 21:25-28: Sign and sound of the coming of the Son of Man

Continuing our study of Yeshua’s “apocalyptic discourse” in Luke 21, Matthew 24-25 and Mark 13, this time we focus on the phrase “sign of the Son of Man.”

The Exodus from Egypt came before God gave the Law at Sinai. Israel was given freedom from slavery before they learned His law.

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Discussions Torah

Exodus 33: How do we find favor in God’s sight?

The events in Exodus 33 were a direct consequence of the golden calf in Exodus 32. After that incident, God commanded Moshe (Moses) to move his personal tent outside the camp where the people of Israel were camping. God is a gentleman. When He is not wanted, he leaves.

Moshe was a “shadow,” a teaching representation, of God; and Aharon (Aaron), of God’s Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).

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Discussions Torah

Exodus 31-32: Golden calf and its aftermath

The golden calf is synonymous with syncretism and rebellion against God. This incident profoundly shaped how Israel developed as a nation and how it devolved into two nations later. It also shows us how a small, powerful minority can change the character of a nation and indelibly mark it for good or bad.

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Appointments With God Atonement Discussions Torah

Exodus 30: Day of Atonement foreshadowed

The theme of Exodus 30 is what was to happen in front of the veil between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Moshe (Moses) was to make the oil and use it to anoint everything for the Tabernacle. It’s all about atonement, about Yom haKippurim, Hebrew for the Day of Coverings, a.k.a. the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:11-15).

It’s boring if you just sit there and read it. But if you ask God while reading this, “What did you have in mind?” it becomes fascinating. What God set up here is not mere ritual. It’s a picture of the Messiah’s actions to atone for the deviations of the people of God from the guidelines of Heaven.

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Discussions Torah

Exodus 29: Consecration of the High Priest reveals Messiah

Moshe (Moses) is still on the mountain and receiving the instruction from God about how to build the Tabernacle but in this chapter, God is telling Moshe the procedure He wants Moshe to do to prepare Aharon (Aaron) and his sons for ministry in the Temple. Why does God ask Moshe to this complicated, 7 day ritual? The end of the chapter tell us the punchline. Although Moshe will be doing all of this but it really God will do all the sanctification, not Moshe.

“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aharon and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.” (Ex. 29:44–46)

The entire purpose of ordaining Aharon in this laborious process is shown at he end of the chapter. Moshe did all this so God could dwell with His people in the Tabernacle and so Aharon and his sons could perform all the duties of the Tabernacle.

Yeshua did what He did so God can dwell with us.

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Appointments With God Discussions Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavuot teaches encountering God ‘in spirit and in truth’

This is a special time in God’s calendar. We have reached Shavuot, the “Feast of Sevens.” It’s also called Pentecost, which is Greek for 50th. This feast is, in a sense, a continuation of the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham.

When human beings try to obey God in the flesh without a redeemed spirit, they will inevitably fail.

We lift up two loaves at Shavuot, one made of wheat and one of barley. Both are His, and we will give both back to Him. There is so much hope for mankind at this time, even for those who are “not of us.”