Parasha Ki Tisa, part two - The Light of Torah Messianic Congregation

Sh’mot (Exodus) 30:11 – 34:35

Haftarah: M’lakhim Aleph (1st Kings) 18:20 – 39 and Num. 19:1 – 22

Brit Chadasha: Lk. 11:14 – 20; Acts 7:35 – 8:1; 1^st Corin. 10:1 – 13 and 2^nd Corin. 3:1 – 18

כִּ֣י תִשָּׂ֞א – meaning “when to lift, bear up, carry or take”

Parasha Highlights:

Moshe is directed by YaHaVah to “count the head” of the children of Israel.
The “temple” tax is initiated for the work of the Tent of Meeting.
The first and second sets of the “Luchot Ha Brit” are given (tablets of the testimony).
The golden calf is fashioned thus breaking Israels part of the betrothal agreement.
The Levites redeem themselves from the incident at Shechem and dedicate themselves to YaHaVah.

In part one of Parasha Ki Tisa we discussed the following: the commanded census of the Whole House of Israel, the water laver, the oil of anointment and the holy incense. These items relate to the whole House of Israel as the meeting place of Yah and humanity as well as the place where mankind receives atonement or a covering for the previous years sin.

In Ki Tisa part two we will begin in Ex. 31:12 – 18: “And YaHaVah spoke to Moses, saying, ‘speak also to the children of Israel, saying: surely My Sabbaths (אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖י ) you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am YaHaVah who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you.

Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to YaHaVah. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days YaHaVah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Yah.”
In this block of Scripture, YaHaVah makes a point of telling us twice, that keeping the Shabbat is a “sign” between Him and us. This is a word, then, that we should examine.
The Hebrew word for “sign” is אוֹת which means sign or signal. This word is comprised of three letters, the Aleph which means strength, power or leader, the Vav which means to add or secure and the Tav which means mark, seal or covenant.
In its ancient form this word would mean: “It was from the beginning that man was meant to secure himself to Yahs covenant.” From past teachings we understand that The Fathers connection to mankind would be manifested through a cut covenant with fire in between. This describes the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant of pieces.
The covenant of pieces did have fire in between the parts in the person of Yeshua, as the torch of fire. It would be the death of Yeshua that would pay the price for mankind breaking this covenant. This event is further seen in the numerical value of “owt,” which is 461: 4 6 + 1 is 11. Eleven is a number associated with Yeshua.
The fact that the word “sign” was used twice can speak to the two advents of Messiah Yeshua.
Yeshua is called the “Lord of the Sabbath” in Mt. 12:8: “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Lev. 23:1 – 44 speaks to eight annual Sabbaths; the weekly Sabbath, the first and seventh day of Unleavened Bread, one Sabbath for Shavuot, one Sabbath for Yom Teruah, one Sabbath for Yom Kippurim and the first and eighth day of Sukkot. We are to keep each and every one.
Ex. 31:18: “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Yah.” **These are the “two witnesses” to His covenant.
Ex. 32:1 – 5: “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘this is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’”
The gold Israel gave to Aaron to fashion the golden calf was her betrothal ornaments which she readily provided so they could worship another god.
Ex. 32:6 – 7: “Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And YaHaVah said to Moses, ‘go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.”
The Hebrew word for “corrupt” is שָׁחַת which means to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay (Niphal) to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined or to be rotted. At the beginning of this parasha, Israel was ritually pure, tahor. After the golden calf, they became tamei, ritually unclean.
In its ancient form “shahat” would read: The divine presence has separated Israel from His Covenant.”
So far Israel has been delivered from Egyptian slavery by YaHaVah beginning with the first Pesach. She has entered into a covenant relationship with The Father. (Ex. 12:1)
The Father offers marriage to Israel in Ex. 19:3 and she accepts thus the erusin stage of marriage has begun, the betrothal stage which we are still in today.
The Father covers her by erecting the Mishkan, the place where He will commune with her and the place where He will provide atonement for her.
In Ex. 31:18 Yah provides the “two witnesses,” the Ten Words which are the capstone of the Rules of the Kingdom.
She is impatient for Moses and defiles her part of His covenant of pieces with the golden calf Ex. Chapter 32. This is a death penalty offense. This event is at least one reason Yeshua had to die at His first advent.
***Ex. 32:15 – 17: “And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of Yah, and the writing was the writing of Yah engraved on the tablets. And when Joshua (יְהוֹשֻׁ֛עַ ) heard the noise (אֶת־ק֥וֹל ) the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, ‘there is a noise of war in the camp.’”
This is a war in the Spirit realm because we see YehHoshua (Yeshua) and the Et Kol. Furthermore, the Hebrew word for “war” is מִלְחָמָה with its root being לָחַם. With a simple change in nikkuds becomes the word for bread. Yeshua is the “bread of life.” The “war” is over obedience to the Ten Words that were given by the lawgiver, Yeshua.
Ex. 32:18: “But he said: ‘It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear.’”
The Hebrew word translated as “singing” isעָנָה which can mean a primitive root; properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce:—give account, afflict (by mistake for 6031), (cause to, give) answer, bring low (by mistake for 6031), cry, hear, Leannoth, lift up, say, × scholar, (give a) shout, sing (together by course), speak, testify, utter, (bear) witness. See also H1042, H1043.
This is significant because the two stone tablets are Yahs two witnesses so their revelry is against the stone witnesses. The Polyglot Septuagint defines this word as a “sound originating from wine.”
The Hebrew word translated as “singing” is עָנָה which can mean a primitive root; properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce:—give account, afflict (by mistake for 6031), (cause to, give) answer, bring low (by mistake for 6031), cry, hear, Leannoth, lift up, say, × scholar, (give a) shout, sing (together by course), speak, testify, utter, (bear) witness. See also H1042, H1043.
At His own appointed time, Yom Kippurim, we will be judged by King Messiah based on our obedience to the Ten Words. That is why they are called the testimony. When we are judged we will give our own testimony relative to the Ten Words. How we answer the accusations are our witness. With the events surrounding the golden calf, Israel lost her witness.
Ex. 32:19 – 20: “So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.”
The Hebrew word for “powder” is דָּקַק which means to crush or be fine. The ancient form of these letters provides an interesting point;
The Dalet – a picture of a door and means to enter or pathway
The Quph – a picture of the back of a mans head and means to be behind, last or least
To crush something takes us back to the first messianic prophecy of Scripture, Ge. 3:15, where the pure seed Yeshua will crush the head of the serpent.
Yeshua is the door, the pathway to heaven. The fact that we see a double Quph speaks to “double minded people.” These are those that want what is offered by Yeshua, namely eternal life, but are unwilling to be faithful to their own marriage contract.
Scattering speaks to The Fathers judgment for unfaithfulness.
The water was made bitter by the ground powder of the golden calf. A relationship to the bitter waters of the adulterous woman. The Hebrew root word for “scatter” is זוּר which means a strange woman, prostitute or harlot (meton). The very same word used with regard to the death of Nadav and Abihu.
The letter Zayin means to cut or cut off. It’s appropriate to say Israel would be “cut off” because they were unfaithful to the covenant of Yah.
Israel effectively disregarded her betrothal ornaments. The ultimate outcome of which was she became a stranger to Yah instead of His betrothed bride.
Ex. 32:25: “Moses saw the people, that it was exposed for Aaron had exposed them to disgrace among those who rise up against them.” (Artscroll Tanakh)
The Hebrew word for expose is פָּרַע which means to make naked, set at naught, perish, refuse or to uncover. Israel lost her covering altogether! She broke her marriage contract and willingly surrendered her betrothal ornaments.
The numerical value of “parah” is 350; 3 + 7 = 8. The number eight represents the covenant agreement between YaHaVah and Israel. In this case, their broken covenant. Our “take away” is this; while we are walking in covenant fidelity with our Creator, we are covered by the wings of eagles.
Ps. 91:1 – 4: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of YaHaVah, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.’”
Ex. 34:27 – 28: “Then YaHaVah said to Moses, ‘write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ So he was there with YaHaVah forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”
The second set of tablets of testimony would be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant which would dwell in the Holy of Holies of the Mishkan.
Israel would need a kinsman redeemer to pay their death penalty price in the person of Yeshua HaMashiach at His first advent.
The conclusion, Parts One and Two speak to the undeniable love and mercy The Father has for Israel, who is His inheritance. Israel has agreed to accept the terms and conditions of The Fathers proposal thus entering into the erusin stage of the marriage.
Moses “counts the head” of the whole house of Israel as to include them in what follows, namely, the way for them to be holy and set apart for His service. This includes the water laver which represents heaven, used for washing the blood from the earthly offerings. The water laver is followed by the oil of anointment which sanctifies every article of furniture, utensils and the priesthood.
The oil of anointment speaks to the Mashiach whose own blood offering makes it possible for mankind to be set apart, holy and ready for service. The holy incense also speaks to the completed work of Messiah Yeshua.
The first requirement for Israel was the fourth commandment, keeping the Sabbath day as it is a “sign” between The Father and us. This is how we begin our set apart walk.
The aforementioned items speak to what Yah has given us in order to commune with Him; namely the Mishkan, the detail of its furnishings, the priesthood and the offerings. All pictures of Yeshua.
Finally He provides, from His own throne, the first set of tablets engraved by His own finger! No other god could do such a thing.
All of His beautiful gifts went unappreciated as Israel removed her betrothal ornaments and used them to have Aaron fashion a golden calf, an idol represented at Mt. Sinai, named “sin” the moon god.
The Father had already destroyed the moon god by scorching the top of Mt. Sinai. At the golden calf, Israel invited that spirit of unbelief back into the land, truly a spiritual battle! They separated themselves from their covenant covering.
Everything changed for Israel. She broker her marriage contract and her part of the Abrahamic covenant of pieces thereby incurring the death penalty. Moses called this event a “grievous sin.”
They became ritually unclean and The Fathers judgment ensued, the plague. The Levites took action, redeeming themselves, slaying about three thousand men.
Finally, YaHaVah renews the covenant. If He hadn’t, no salvation would be possible. Halleluiah!
Blessed be His name forever!