Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hypocrite. That's right. I'm talking to you. How does it feel to be called a hypocrite? What even is a hypocrite? Yeshua criticized many of the Pharisees of his day for their hypocrisy, but they were looked up to as the spiritual leaders of their day. So can you be a hypocrite without even realizing it? Well, this week's Torah portion begins God's instructions for building the Mishkan, the tabernacle. And there's a certain item within the tabernacle that can teach us a great deal about hypocrisy and how to avoid it. Let's take a look at this idea together in this week's five minute Torah Shalom and blessings from Shalom Macon, the place where disciples of Yeshua learn, connect, and grow. I'm Darren, and before I get into the five minutes of my five minute Torah commentary, let's cover a few quick facts about this week's Torah portion. This week, we are studying the portion of Terumah. This is Exodus 25:1 through 27:19. And here are the three things that you need to know about it.
Number one, supernatural design. Learning to read the blueprints. This week's Torah portion begins with God telling the children of Israel to build a house for him. It would be a portable house where he would meet with them until they reached the land he had promised them. This temporary dwelling will be called the Mishkan from the root Shakan, which means to dwell. Some people find this Torah portion to be one of the most challenging to make it through. But our enjoyment of the Torah portions really depends on our perspective. Let me give you an example. A few years ago, I mentioned something to one of my sons about this week beginning this Torah portion, the portion of Terumah. He just got this big smile on his face and I said, what's up? He said, this is one of my favorite Torah portions. He was probably 16 or 17 at the time. When I asked him why, he said it was because he enjoyed reading about all of the intricacies and details of the tabernacle and how it was to be built. It just goes to show you that God put something in the Torah for everyone and we need to give it a chance to find the particular thing that we are drawn to as we study this monumental revelation that he has entrusted us with. Number two, Tabernacle furnishings. A lesson in holiness. After letting the children of Israel know that he wanted them to build a holy house for him, God gave Moses all of the instructions to build the furnishings of the tabernacle. These included the ark that would hold the commandments Moses received from God atop Mount Sinai, the table for the Bread of the Presence, and the golden Menorah. The instructions for each of these items were given with precision and required the skills of expert artisans to bring them to life. But yet each of these items would function within the holy Tabernacle and would not be seen by the general public. They would only be seen by the kohanim, the priests in their daily duties. The Ark of the Covenant would only be seen once a year and only by the Kohen Gadol, the high priest. So so why did they need to be so precise, so intricate, so beautiful? Because their nature had to reflect the nature of the one whom they were to serve. They had to be holy, unique, and set apart like the God they would serve. We can learn a lesson from these furnishings within the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in our service of the Lord. We can either try to bring God down to our level or purify ourselves so that he can draw us closer and to his level and Number three Outer Courts the Holy Business of God the last things God instructed the children of Israel to build in this week's tour portion were the bronze or the copper altar and the partition that would surround the outer courts of the tabernacle. The bronze altar would be the most used item inside the tabernacle courts, with multiple sacrifices being burned on it every single day and throughout the nights as well. It would constantly need to be stoked and cleaned. The partition surrounding the outer court set the boundary of the workings of the tabernacle and separated it from the common status of everything that surrounded it. What lessons can we learn from these things? I would love to hear what comes to your mind. Feel free to hit the pause button and tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
Are you ready to take your Passover.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Seder to the next level?
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Do you want to have a meaningful.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Connection to Yeshua during Passover?
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[00:04:06] Speaker B: Redemption, my Messianic Passover Haggadah, and crank it up a notch. It not only walks you through the traditional Seder, but it also connects Yeshua's last meal and his suffering with the various elements of the Seder. It's great for homes and Messianic synagogues as well as churches, and gives step by step instructions for conducting your own Seder. It also includes an appendix with articles that answer many questions and objections people might have about a traditional Seder like why do we have an egg on the seder plate? And what's considered leavening? And is price low enough to snag a copy for everyone at your seder table? Just use the link in the description box below to gear up early so you can be ready to make this.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Passover your best Passover this week's Torah commentary is called Lessons from the Holy Ark and comes from my book 5 Minute Torah, Volume 3. This week's Torah portion begins with a request from the Lord for materials to be used in the construction of the Mishkan, the Holy Tabernacle. It continues with detailed instructions for how the tabernacle and its furnishings should be made. One of the furnishings that was central to the tabernacle was the Aron, the Holy Ark, about which the Lord instructed Moses, you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. This is Exodus 25:16. He gave Moses specific instructions for making the ark, saying, they shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half, its breadth and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold all around it. Exodus 25:10 11 the ark was made of three parts, an inside box made of pure gold, a middle box made of acacia wood, and an outer box made of pure gold. All three of these things came together to make a single unit. It makes sense for the wood to be covered with gold on the outside. But why does it need to be completely encased in gold? Why does the inside of the ark, something that will almost never be seen by any human being on earth, need to be made of pure gold? On a spiritual level, we can learn a very important lesson from this. Our sages tell us that the ark is a reflection of what a person should be. Just as the ark is the same on the inside as it is on the outside, so must a person be. Our inward character should not be different than how we represent ourselves outwardly. This was the primary criticism Yeshua had against some of the Pharisees of his day. Woe to you scribes and physical Pharisees, hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence, you blind Pharisee. First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites For you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. This is Matthew 23:25 28. Hypocrisy is representing ourselves in one way to others while privately being someone or something else. Yeshua hated hypocrisy. He told his disciples to deal with the inside and let it work its way to the outside rather than pretending to be righteous outwardly and never dealing with our inside. This is important because our actions are determined by who we are on the inside. In the same chastisement against some of the Pharisees, Yeshua also deals with how some of the Pharisees were speaking more highly of themselves than they ought, saying, you brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This is Matthew 12:34. He also said, the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. This is Luke 6:45. Our actions can be motivated out of purity or impurity. Speech is one form of action and Yeshua says that our speech ultimately reflects the condition of our heart. Just as the Ark of the Covenant was covered with the same pure gold both on the outside as it was on the inside, disciples of Yeshua should reflect this reality as well. What people see on the outside should reflect what's on the inside. This means that our public lives should be a reflection of our private lives and not a cover up for them. While we all want others to look at us with some degree of approval and an admiration, we should work to develop our character rather than pretend to be someone we are not. Putting on a false front is like covering the outside of the ark with iron pyrite, fool's gold. It may glitter and resemble gold, but sooner or later it will be recognized for what it is and discarded. May we all be a true reflection of our Master Yeshua, both inside and out. A pure and precious treasure that houses the holy Torah within us. If you want to learn how to make the inside of your cup as clean as the outside of your cup, then you should check out my three part teaching series Killing My Old Man. It will help you overcome the struggles that come from the old man rising up within you. Just click on the link right here to get started.
