Why was the altar mobile?

And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it.

(Ex. 30:4 ESV)

Why was the altar mobile?

All the artifacts for the tabernacle were made mobile. The tabernacle itself was a sanctuary specially prepared to travel with the sons of Israel in the desert. This is not only due to practicality for the sons of Israel's time of transit but it also represents a very important lesson for our personal lives.

Everything is moving in this world; the only one who doesn't is the Eternal. However, He interacts in this moving world as if He was moving too. (cf. Ez. 18).

Everything around us and within us changes from the moment we are born in this world. There is a trend in men that grows as years go by, the trend of not wanting to change. What we learn through life creates a safety barrier somehow, and it becomes easier to stand still within a comfort zone. That's why any change becomes a challenge for the comfortable mind that has gotten used to something. Change requires new efforts and new risks of being wrong. That's why the comfortable man becomes enemy of change. This comes from the yetser harah – the evil inclination.

If we look at the altar and we apply it to the righteous' prayer life and devotion, we can stress the fact that just as the altar, the latter has to be mobile and flexible. Our prayer life and devotion to the Eternal have to adjust to any new situation in which we find ourselves. As sacrifices were required every day, thus every day requires a new surrender to the Eternal.

We can't live before the Eternal based on the way we related to Him yesterday, we can't live in intimacy with Him in a hope of what could come tomorrow. We have to surrender every day, no matter how we feel, no matter what the circumstances. Our altar has to be flexible, mobile and has to be moving with circumstances in a way that our surrender to the Eternal can remain constant.

Dear disciple of Yeshua: If you have left your altar behind, go back and lift it again. Take it always with you. Don't neglect your daily devotion to the Eternal. Move forward in your prayer life and walk with the Eternal towards the goal He has for your life.

Shabbat shalom,

Ketriel

What is on the heart of the High Priest?

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly.

Ex. 28:29-30 ESV)

What is on the heart of the High Priest?

The narration about the breastplate of judgement reveals that the names of the sons of Israel are upon the heart of the high priest. Every time the Eternal sees the high priest He is seeing all the sons of Israel. The high priest represents the whole nation. He is like a door and a way between the Eternal and the people and vice versa. That's why it's written that he will have to bear the judgement of the sons of Israel on his heart. It's not only about transmitting messages from the Eternal to the people but also about the responsibility of the high priest before the Eternal. Whatever the people of Israel does will fall upon him. He is the people before the eyes of the Eternal. When he enters the sanctuary the people enter in him. He is the people's representative before HaShem.

The same happens in heavens with the heavenly High Priest. He takes on his heart not only the names of the sons of Israel but also the responsibility of their sins. The Messiah is the people of Israel in the Eternal's eyes. When the people sins he will have to bear the burden and guilt of that sin. The Eternal sees the people through him and the people can't come to the Eternal but through him. He is the way for the Eternal to come to the people of Israel and he is the way through which the people can come to the Eternal. His mission in heaven is extremely important. Through the Messiah, the prayers of the sons of Israel reach the Invisible One.

Now, what happens to all the other nations? Is the heavenly High Priest interceding only on behalf of the sons of Israel? No, Israel was created to be a priestly nation (Ex. 19:6). This means that Israel is the channel between the Eternal and the other nations. The task of the high priest in relation to the people is the same one the people has in relation to the gentile nations. In this way all nations are represented in Israel who, in turn, is represented by the heavenly High Priest. When Israel is blessed, the blessing reaches the other nations, and when Israel is cursed the other nations suffer for it too.

In Psalm 67 it is written: "To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! (ESV)

Now, the Messiah's heavenly ministry is also reaching each individual in the people of the covenant in particular, including the righteous ones grafted in from among the nations. The fact that there are twelve names on the twelve stones on the breastplate teaches us that the Eternal doesn't see the people only as a unity but also considers each one individually.

This also implies that your name is written upon the heavenly High Priest's heart. Yeshua is mentioning your name before the Eternal as it is written in Romans 8:34b: "...who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." (ESV)

Beloved disciple of Yeshua: Rejoice because you have a representative in heaven that is mentioning your name before the Almighty. He doesn't forget about you because you are engraved in his heart as the engraving on a stone that can't come off. Your value is immense more than a precious gem on a gold filigree mounting. Thanks to his prayers for you, you can reach the Father. He is your way, your entry door, the one who made himself responsible for your sins. Through Yeshua you are accepted before the Father. Out of him nobody will be accepted.

Blessed be the Eternal for accepting with please the service of our heavenly High Priest on behalf of the people of Israel and the nations!

What are the stones on the shoulder pieces for?

Exodus 27:20 – 28:12

...and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD.

(Ex. 28:12 NIV)

What are the stones on the shoulder pieces for?

The high priest on earth is a shadow of the heavenly High Priest. All that Moshe had to do in the earthly tabernacle was a copy of what he had seen in heaven. This shows us that Moshe saw the Heavenly High Priest.

We have to take into account that time in heaven isn't as time on earth. So, in spite of Messiah Yeshua's not having been born yet, nor died, nor risen, nor glorified, nor set in his eternal heavenly ministry in the order of Malki-Tsedek, Moshe saw him. What he saw was the Messiah's future ministry in the heavenly temple.

Now, we live in the time after the first manifestation of the Messiah, when he came as the suffering servant. After his resurrection he was lifted up, glorified, vested and appointed as High Priest in heavenly service.

So, if we study the garments of the earthly high priest we are able to know what kind garment the Messiah is wearing in heaven right now. On each shoulder, he has an onyx stone. The names of six sons of Israel are on one of the stones and the other six on the other one. The purpose of these stones is to bear the names of the twelve tribes in memory before the Eternal, so He remembers each one of them and their descendants.

This teaches us that when the Messiah is serving day and night in the heavenly temple as High Priest, he is mentioning before the Almighty all the descendants of the sons of Israel alive in the world and probably also the dead, who are waiting for the resurrection. Messiah Yeshua has been interceding for the restoration of the twelve tribes for almost 2000 years. Do you think his prayer will be heard?

When the sons of Israel cried out for 400 years there was a really mighty answer from heaven, with the deliverance from Egypt's bondage and all those miracles and wonders. How will the answer of the Messiah be, who has been praying five times more than they did with a totally pure and righteous soul from his heavenly position?

How will the restoration of the twelve tribes be? The prophet gives us the answer as it is written in Isaiah 49:5-6: "And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him-- for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength--.he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."” (ESV)

And in Zechariah 10:6 it is written: “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.” (ESV)

The heavenly High Priest's prayer will be heard in a powerful way. The twelve tribes will be remembered before the Eternal. And not only that, but salvation will reach the ends of the earth with the tribes' restoration. The world will see such powerful things that if they were narrated today nobody would believe them. Heavenly Malki-Tsedek's prayer will be heard! The names on his shoulders will be remembered and restored and then the world will be born again.

Blessed be the Eternal for His great plans! And blessed be the Eternal for having risen Yeshua as the heavenly High Priest! Blessed be Yeshua for having been faithful to bear the burden and the memory of the sons of Israel before the Eternal for almost 2000 years! Worthy is Messiah Yeshua of receiving honour, glory, power and praise for his priesthood!

Shavua tov – good week,

Why are the curtains called women?

Why are the curtains called women?

I have found eight temples of the Eternal in the Scriptures: the heavenly temple, the tabernacle, the three temples in Yerushalayim, the human being, the Eternal's congregation and the Messiah. All these were created to be a dwelling for the Deity. All these temples are similar and if we study the details of the tabernacle we can understand how a perfect dwelling for the Eternal should be.

Now we will look at the curtains that were made to cover the house in the desert. If the earthly tabernacle is similar to the Eternal's congregation, we can learn from it principles that also apply to the congregation.

In the Hebrew text the curtains are called women and sisters. The Hebrew text that was translated as "to one another" – ishah el-achotah, אשה אל-אחתה – means literally “a woman with (or toward) her sister”. Each curtain is compared to a woman and all the curtains are sisters. This teaches us that the women of the Eternal's congregation are sisters and they must remain together in a very strong manner so that they can never be set apart.

This unity is one of the conditions for the congregation to be a dwelling for the Eternal. Where there is no unity there can't be a abode for the Eternal. When women come together with each other and unite their hearts they become a very important part of the Almighty's dwelling.

May the Eternal take away from us anything that prevents us from being completely united so His glory can be manifested within, from and among us.

Blessings,

Where is the place of encounter with the Eternal?

Exodus 25:17-30 (Sephardi); 25:17-40 (Ashkenazi)

The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover... There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

(Ex. 25:20,22 NIV)

Where is the place of encounter with the Eternal?

Moshe had a revelation of the heavenly temple. HaShem showed him all the details and commanded him to make copies of the heavenly things on earth. The Eternal wanted the earthly sanctuary to be the image of the one in heaven.

The heavenly tabernacle is complete but the one on earth wasn’t. The Eternal commands to use half cubits as a measure on the earthly tabernacle. This fact teaches us that the earthly tabernacle is a smaller copy of the heavenly one in which there shouldn’t be half cubits.

The cherubs in heaven are alive. The ones Moshe made were of gold. However, the illustration of the earthly cherubs can teach us a very important truth regarding the place of encounter with the Eternal.

In the first place, the cherubs had to have their wings spread and their faces turned to the propitiatory that was between them. In that way they showed that their attention was not outside but focused toward the place where the Eternal revealed Himself, in the space between them over the cover of the ark. HaShem chose that place as His throne. The cherubs’ posture is one of worship with wings spread upward and faces bowed down. This teaches us that where the Eternal reveals Himself there is worship and where there is authentic worship He reveals Himself.

The cherubs didn’t have their faces looking forward, and in this way men didn’t feel the impulse of worshiping them. One doesn’t worship the worshiper, but the One who is worshiped by the worshipers.

In the second place, we see that there were two cherubs not only one, who had their faces looking towards each other. This teaches us that in the Eternal’s presence there is a close relationship between worshipers. In His presence there is no room for disputes and quarrel. In a place where there are divisions and lack of love the Eternal can’t manifest. So the place where the Eternal sets His throne has to be free of rivalry, critics, envy, evil tongue, selfishness and annoyances.

If a worshiper can’t be worshiped and if Yeshua is the greatest worshiper there is among men, how can we think of worshiping him? It is forbidden to worship a worshiper but only the One who is the object of worship of the true worshipers.

Let’s cleanse from all lack of love and ask the Eternal to bring us together so that He can meet with us, govern over us and manifest His glorious presence among us.

May we all be able to reach intimacy with our heavenly Father,

What are the consequences of pure worship?

Exodus 23:20-25

You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

(Ex. 23:24-25 ESV)

What are the consequences of pure worship?

The Eternal forbids not only to bow down to pagan gods but also to serve them. There is a very close relationship between these two words: worship – or bow down – in Hebrew hishtahavah השתחוה – and serve – in Hebrew avad. עבד. One thing leads to the other, worship leads to service.

Nevertheless, it's possible to serve pagan gods without bowing down to them. Many pagan practices are intertwined in all the cultures of the world, including the Jewish one, and many times we follow them by force of habit without knowing their reason and origins. When we follow pagan customs we serve pagan gods in a way. Let's be careful and check our behaviour.

Now, even if a person doesn't worship or serve pagan gods, he/she could be doing things that idolaters do. That's why the Torah also warns the people from imitating the idolaters' actions, even if they are nice or beautiful. Here we can mention many different customs: music styles, apparel, celebrations, ways of speaking, cooking, etc., but this is out of the scope of these messages.

What we are indeed going to stress is the great promise made by the Eternal to all those who reject pagan gods and idolaters' customs to serve only Him. If one turns from all form of idolatry and takes away from their daily practices and festivities all kinds of pagan traditions and turn their hearts to serve the Eternal in all areas of his life; then, he will experience a special blessing over his food and drink. The one who devotes all of the areas of his/her life to serve the Eternal exclusively will not suffer from hunger, as it is written in Psalm 37:25: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” (NIV)

Even more, not only food and drink will be blessed when a person lives serving the Eternal, fulfilling His commandments, but also no harmful thing in food or drink will have effect on him/her as it does in the idolaters. HaShem promises to take away sickness from among a people who keep from idolatry and its customs, to devote itself solely to Him.

Take into account that the promise doesn't say that sickness cannot come. The promise says that sickness will be taken away. So, don't be discouraged if you have been attacked by a disease. The important thing is to reject it and fight it with all the weapons that the Eternal has given us, including a life of prayer and study of the Torah, obedience, a healthy diet, exercise, medicine, healthy relationships, joy, etc.

May the Eternal give you total health, both in body and soul through Yeshua the Messiah who shed his blood to sanctify his people and confirm all the Eternal's promises.

Why is HaShem so interested in the weak?

Exodus 23:6-19

Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

(Ex. 23:6, 9 NIV)

Why is HaShem so interested in the weak?

There are many commandments that protect the weak in the society. Here we have two verses that highlight the importance of being careful not to harm the poor or foreigner in any way. The reason that the Eternal gives to not oppress the foreigner is that the people know how it feels to be foreigners. The emotional impact of being foreigners in Egypt must have remained for more than a generation because it is the basis for this commandment. Children born from Yehoshua's (Joshua) generation didn't experience the bondage or the feeling of being foreigners anymore. However, the Torah speaks of that feeling as if it had remained in the people forever.

This teaches us that even if we haven't experienced what a foreigner experiences in a personal way, we must remember the generations that went through that in Egypt and we must make an effort to try to put ourselves in the shoes of the foreigner to feel what he feels.

I remember the first time that I was in Spain alone living in a house in which everyone spoke only Spanish and Valencian. At that time I didn't speak Spanish and it was very difficult for me to communicate with the family who I lived with. I remember sitting at the table and not being able to ask for sugar, because I didn't know the word for it in Spanish. When I had the need to go to the washroom I couldn't excuse myself to leave the table and the others gave me weird looks, as an ignorant. I felt totally alone, isolated, abandoned with my frustration of not being able to communicate my most basic needs.

In that moment, I made a decision to never forget those emotions to be able to understand those foreigners that come as immigrants to a different country without being able to speak the language. It's very a humiliating feeling.

It's easy to humiliate a foreigner for the one who knows. Any attitude of despise, any belittling word, any scornful look increases the suffering and frustration of the foreigner.

HaShem knows those feelings and He wants His people never to forget what it means to be a foreigner in order to prevent an increased painful emotion that already lies in the heart of foreigners because of not being able to speak well, not knowing the culture that well, not knowing where to get things, not understanding jokes, not thinking as the rest of the people and because of many more things.

Let's take care of the weak and let's make an effort to make their lives a bit less difficult. Stay away from any joke about the disabled, the foreigners, other ethnic groups, the ignorant, the ones from the neighbouring country and all those who are not like you. This attitude of mocking and despising others doesn't please the Eternal. The Torah teaches us to be purified and cleansed from this.

May the Eternal help us express our love in a practical way always, also to those who are not like us.

Kol tuv,

Who directs circumstances?

Exodus 21:1-19

Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate.

(Ex. 21:12-13 NIV)

Who directs circumstances?

In this social decree we learn one of the most important truths. Beyond all that happens there is someone who rules and directs. If a person causes another one’s death by accident it is because the Eternal made it happen. What could be discussed is if the Eternal caused it actively – directly – or passively by just allowing it to happen. Anyway, it is the same. When the Eternal allows something to happen, then He is the one who causes it, directly or indirectly.

It doesn’t matter if we know the truth about the kingdom of darkness in the air, ruled by satan and his rebellious angels. If satan did it, it is because the Eternal allowed him to do it. Satan can’t do anything outside of the area the Eternal set for him. He has the right to act wherever there is disobedience of the commandments of the Eternal, but it is because the Eternal has given him that authority. If satan operates in someone’s life it is because he has received authority from the Most High.

There are not two parallel powers in the heavens, a good one and an evil one, fighting each other. We must get rid of this dualism. There is one Governor in Heaven and He rules over everything, even over the world of darkness. There is nothing in the invisible or visible worlds that is not watched and controlled by Him. He has full control over His creation, even that part of it that rebelled against Him.

If by accident, something happens in our lives it is because there are causes behind it. We sometimes don’t understand the causes that create negative events. It could be our disobedience, negligence, wrong attitudes or for being in a context that attracts evil. But it could also be to avoid worse evil in the future, to teach us an important truth, to polish our character, to induce us to seek him or to keep us from sinning. HaShem has thousands of reasons for allowing negative things to happen in our lives.

But if we blame the devil, we are creating two gods in our minds and then we commit a sort of idolatry.

This text shows us that satan is not the cause of an accident that causes the death of a person, but the Most High. Let’s learn the lesson that we have only one Elokim who governs over absolutely everything.

Entrust your life in His hands and your path will be successful.

Shavua tov, good week