Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: As we start today, I just need to be honest with you. Recently, I was in court.
I was found guilty of being egotistical.
I'm appealing.
And also, I should say, I feel guilty about a parasite that I recently ingested. It's eating me alive inside.
Thank you.
Do you have any idea why the police arrested the popcorn?
It was guilty of all salt and buttery.
Do you know why earthquakes are always guilty?
Because they're always at fault.
You still don't get the first one. Come on, repeat it.
I was found guilty in court of being egotistical.
I'm appealing.
But what would some guilt jokes be without a good jewish guilt joke, right? A son calls his mom. He says, mom, how are you? Oi.
Not so well.
I haven't eaten in 38 days, mom. Why?
That's terrible. Have you been to the doctor? What's the matter?
I just didn't want to have food in my mouth when you called guilt, it's a powerful emotion. It's a feeling. It's some would say a manipulation. Right? And we make jokes about jewish guilt, but guilt is universal. I once read, every mother is jewish.
You get that one.
Okay, good.
But even Moses used guilt at the end of deuteronomy. He's finishing the whole thing. And you know what he says? I know you people. If this is how you act when I'm around, I know what you'll do when I'm gone.
And then he lays the guilt trip on him. Right. You'll turn away from everything I said last week. We talked about guilt, but I didn't actually label it as such.
The jewelry. I talked about the gold that God gave Israel, the gold from Egypt, worn at Sinai and presented as the wedding and then used for making the golden calf. It was an absolute tragedy. But we ended sort of positively last shabbat, understanding why Israel took off the gold, given what they had done with the gold he had given them. They were guilty, and they recognized it, and they knew it. And that was good.
That was a moment of repentance for Israel. And God's reaction to it was amazing that he demonstrated mercy and compassion to allow Israel to go forward.
I don't want to bring up any bad memories or situations for anyone, but I'll just say this. Israel committed adultery.
And for anyone who's ever been on the receiving end of that, it is absolutely one of the most painful emotional feelings you can endure. Incredibly difficult to recover from that, especially to forgive that offense, and not everyone does. And this isn't a message about that, but to move forward from that when that's been done to you is incredibly, incredibly hard.
And yet the God of the universe says to Israel, we can go forward together.
So as we move to the post calf narratives of the Torah, in this week's portion, we read about Israel's response to this forgiveness. The portion that we read this week is called Vayakel. It starts in Exodus 35. It opens with these words.
Then Moses assembled Vayakel. He assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel and said to them, these are the words which Adonai has commanded you to do. Who read the portion? Who read the Torah portion? What comes next? We have a long, long five chapters, actually, from here to the end of the book about the tabernacle.
And speaking of guilt, as I mentioned to you last week, what happens to the remaining gold and silver that didn't go into that golden calf or the gold? All of it, actually. What happens to that? In this portion we learn, because Moses gives the instruction to them. They took that off. In this portion, he says. He also says to the congregation of B'nai, Israel, to the children, this is the word which Adonai commanded, saying, take from among you an offering for Adonai. Whoever has a willing heart, let him bring. Adonai's offering, gold, silver, and bronze. And I don't have to read it all to you. Darren can scroll through it, but that's the whole text. And what happens next? They bring and bring and bring and bring. They brought free will offerings to him morning after morning. This should be every pastor or rabbi's tithing message.
Don't worry, we're not going to do that today.
But then, ultimately, what happens? Moses says, okay, enough. We got it. You did it. Amazing. Enough. We don't need anything else.
Why so much? Why so willing?
Why were they trying to overcome their feelings of guilt?
Was this that? Oh, my goodness. We're so lucky to have been given another chance.
Let's just over correct. We'll just bring everything we have to make them feel good. And you know people who do that, right?
They do some sleazy thing, or they get busted doing something, and somehow they're forgiven, and then they come back and they overcompensate and they're gross. Like they're saying all these words and sickeningly trying to make up for things with sappy words and gifts and compliments. Is that what's up here? Is that what Israel's doing? They're really feeling that guilt?
I don't think guilt is the main driver at this point, I think they dealt with their guilt earlier, but I do think they're motivated by a word that starts with G.
What might you think that word would be? Gratitude. Right.
Gratitude. They are giving from an immense sense of gratitude. And, of course, gratitude is a component of the emotion of being forgiven. You feel thankful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I won't mess that up again.
Sometimes that doesn't work out right, but what was the gratitude about?
Okay. Yes, I believe they're giving from gratitude. What was the trigger for the giving? What motivated them to dig so deep and just keep giving? The abundance of material and service and help that they were bringing. Was it the tabernacle?
Is that the motivator? Knowing that, oh, my goodness. Okay, we're still going to get to build this thing where God has said he'll dwell in our midst.
That's possible.
It's possible that they were driven by this incredible desire to build the tabernacle. But I want to suggest something else to you as we look deeper, that there's a real emotional chord, and it was struck by something else, that the realization of their forgiveness for the people was sparked by something else. You really have to pay attention to the text to see this, and I've taught on this many times before, but it never gets old to me. So let's look at the beginning of Viakel, the portion 35. I read you that first verse. Then Moses assembled all the congregation of Banay Israel and said to them, these are the words which Adonai has commanded you to do, but I tricked you because it doesn't move directly from there into talking about the tabernacle.
When we read the following verses, we read verse one and two before any of the next five chapters of Tabernacle stuff. Here's what the text says. Moses assembled all the congregation and said to them, these are the words which Adonai has commanded you to do. Work is to be done for six days, but the 7th day is a holy day for you. Shabbat of complete rest. Before any of the tabernacle stuff starts, we got a little section of Shabbat thrown in there.
Two little Shabbat verses. Now, the traditional interpretation. Darren did a fantastic five minute Torah on this yesterday. The traditional interpretation is that this is God's reminder to them before they get started building the tabernacle. Hey, just by the way, going to give you all this information, don't build it on Shabbat or I'll kill you.
Which.
That is true. That's a plain sense interpretation of this. And I agree with it. But I want to suggest something else to you. The deeper meaning of the placement of those verses still actually speaks to us today. And you say, so what, two verses about Shabbat? I mean, we've seen Shabbat before. It was in the ten Commandments. We've seen it multiple times by now. So what? What difference does this make? Well, we have indeed seen the Shabbat before, and we need to consider when we last saw this language. Does anyone remember the last mention of the Shabbat in the Book of Exodus? We're in chapter 35.
The last mention was back in chapter 31.
And I'm not going to read all this to you either. But it says, adonai spoke to Moses, saying, speak now to bne Yisrael, son, surely you must keep my Shabbatot, for it's a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I'm Adonai, who sanctifies you. He talks about the Shabbat, the six days of work, the 7th days of Shabbat, and then again in verse 17, he says, it is a sign between me and Banne Israel forever. For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth. And on the 7th day, he ceased from work and rested. That's Exodus 31. You know what comes next?
He gives him the tablets.
You with me?
When he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, this is right after this Shabbat discussion, he gave the two tablets of the testimony to Moses. Tablets of stone written by the finger of God. Here's the point. When was this? Of all that we've been studying recently. When was this happening?
Moses was there. What was happening down below?
From that moment in Exodus 31, we move into chapter 32 and the incident of the golden calf.
Moses is up there, hands him the tablets, and then the near death experience of Israel takes place. That's what it was. God said, I'm just going to kill them all. That's pretty near death when God says that about you.
The golden calf, adultery, idolatry, golden calf. Moses. Intercession. The jewelry, the forgiveness, the 13 attributes, God's compassion. Moses carves new tablets. He brings them down. He's got a shining face. He assembles the people and says, here's what I want to tell you. And what are the first words out of his mouth?
Honor the ShAbbat.
Now, you might still be saying, so what?
But who wants to go to seminary for a little while?
Let's go to seminary. Right? We get this. Here's the THinG. Shabbat Exodus 31. Prior to the golden calf, Shabbat is mentioned. Then the tablets are given to moses, then the golden calf. Then the tablets are given to moses, and then Shabbat. There's a little pattern here, and here's what we learn in seminary. It's called a chiasm. You know what a chiasm is? It's from the greek letter chi, which is an x.
It's a literary technique that the Bible uses, especially the HeBreW BIblE uses to emphasize patterns, ideas, narratives in this pattern, and that it will enhance their meaning. Chiasms are an important part throughout the Bible, especially, as I said, in hebrew, because of the unique structure, their role in emphasizing key themes and messages. They pick up key theological points, create connections between different parts of the text. They help in memorization and oral transmission. A chiasm or a chaosic structure. You'll be tested on that next week. Do not forget that.
You won't. Chiastic structure.
It looks like this. It's parallelism. The ideas are presented in this certain order. So what you have is A-B-C-B-A. This is the pattern. Okay, stay with me. I'll take you through it if you'Re bored. I was, too, in seminary.
But the structure here highlights the central theme, or pivot point of the passage, and it's typically, of course, found right in the midpoint. And guess what?
We've got one here. I just described it to you.
Frames one of the most significant events in Israel history with God. Here's what that chiasm looks like. Shabbat, Exodus 31 tablets. Exodus 31 golden calf. Exodus 32 34 tablets. Exodus 34, Shabbat, Exodus 35.
This is a kiastic structure. It's the order of events. And I've put the golden calf as the central point of emphasis in this chiasm.
But is that really the central point of emphasis of everything that's going on here? The golden calf? Is that the thing that we really, really should be focusing on? I mean, what was Shabbat and the Torah really about?
It's not about the golden calf. It's about relationship.
Relationship is at the center of the chiasm. Shabbat tablets, relationship tablets, Shabbat, God and his people. Shabbat and instruction for life. And at the center, we find this relationshIp. The most important component with God is to be in relationship with him. But I want you to note SOmething about this.
Those BOokending parts, the a parts of the chiasm are particularly important for several reasons. In that ABC CBA thing, the outer elements Are bookends. They're framing the entire passage. And we've got a big section of scripture here that is framed in, by our a terms, the a part which is Shabbat in Exodus 31. It sets the stage for what is to come. In exodus 35, it brings the chiasm to a close and reinforces an important idea, that kind of repetition. When you see that in the Torah or the Hebrew scriptures or the apostolic scriptures, that's something that the author, they want you to pay attention to. MOst people would never see that I understand.
But it's very powerful, because when you're living it on the ground and you're a part of this, this is communicating something to Israel, and it's this. It's this simple.
We are still in relationship.
Let me explain what I mean by that. The Shabbat is the bookend. It's the thing that says to ISRAel, after all we've been ThroUGH, when we last talked about this to now, as I reiterate it, God says, we are still in relationship. The sign, we talked about that in Exodus 31. The Shabbat is the sign between God and here, the first thing that God, that Moses, God has Moses say is the sign. I want you to remember it and know it. EXodus 31, it's a sign BETWEEn me and you. Throughout your generations. You'll know I'm Adonai, who sanctifies you. It's a sign between me and the children of Israel. When Hashem called the Sabbath a sign prior to the golden calf, this is God being prophetic for you.
Prophetic. God being prophetic. Why is this? Because he is saying, here's the shabbat. I know things are about to go really, really badly. Not my fault, your fault, but when I remind you again to observe this sabbath, it will serve as a unique and special relationship reminder. It closes the deal. It puts the kibosh on the golden calf. And so, IMMEDIately after the golden calf and all that had transpired, here are the words.
The loss of trust, the adultery, the pain, the near separation.
Now, just on the other side, God has Moses say, before building anything related to the tabernacle, before any of that, the oat. That's the hebrew oat. The sign is STILL there for us. Moses assembled them. He told them these words, our relationship is intact. And more importantly, what we see here from this, the people recognize God has done what only God can do. Only God has a teshuva time machine. Only God can see repentance and literally forgive and forget. When the Shabbat reiterates this closing bookend, it is to say, I will not be against you with this. Your mistakes are gone. Let's go forward.
That's the chiasm.
But I want to ask you this. Speaking of signs, which is what the Shabbat is, what is the sign of the mosaic covenant?
The tablets?
The tabernacle.
What's the sign of the mosaic covenant?
Every covenant has a sign. Circumcision for Abraham, a throne for David.
The sign of the mosaic covenant is the Shabbat.
This is the sign.
Why?
That also seems illogical. Why are the ten Commandments or the Torah not the sign of the mosaic covenant? That would be purely logical, right? I'm not off my rocker here. That would make sense.
And the Torah is clearly about relationship, right? Living with God and with man. But let me ask you this question, and I know I'm making you think here this week. I'm so sorry.
Did the tablets emerge from the golden calf incidents incident unscathed?
Were the tablets marred? Were the tablets.
Did that original set of tablets come through the golden calf unscathed? Of course not.
Of course not. Imagine if God had said, moses, here are the tablets of God, the sign of our eternal covenant forever.
Smash.
Hulk smash. No, Moses. Smash. My grandson loves hulk smash. So sorry. That just came out of nowhere. I'm sorry.
The sign of the covenant. The tablets by the hand of God smashed on the ground, did they emerge from the golden calf incident unscathed? Of course not. Even the second set of tablets were not in their original pure form. God had everything to do with the first set of tablets. Who carved the second ones?
Moses.
They were diminished in some way.
But the Sabbath remains pure and holy day, a sign for all generations unscathed by the calf incident, as it was before.
So it is after.
When Israel hears those words. Yes. When Israel hears Shabbat relationship, it's unscathed. We're back in business then. Yes. They come with incredible excitement to say, God, thank you. Here's everything we need. Let's go forward. Let's build a tabernacle. Let's party.
They're overjoyed. But here's another question.
Why isn't the tabernacle the sign of the mosaic covenant?
That would make sense.
Here's another interesting last kiastic consideration for you, because I know you want more. You're going to go home today and you're going to scour your bible for chiasms. I know what you're going to do.
Here's another consideration, though, which I told you about, the one I proposed. Right? Shabbat tablets. Relationship tablets. Shabbat. But looking at the Book of Exodus, we could expand that, because the tabernacle actually is the thing that gets the most real estate in the Book of Exodus.
So you could have this chiasm tabernacle, which is leading up to Shabbat, into the tablets, into relationship tablets. Shabbat tabernacle. That's a pretty good looking chiasm.
But here's what we need to consider.
Was the tabernacle permanent? No, it was not.
It became the temple.
Was the temple permanent? It was destroyed. We got a second temple.
Was it permanent?
It was destroyed. We're going to get a third temple. Is it permanent? It won't be destroyed. Baruch Hashem. But it's not permanent, is it? We read it in revelation.
I saw no temple in her, for its temple is Adonai Eloheitz vaot. But what always remained and still remains this very famous phrase in jewish thinking, not this one, but the next one.
There is a phrase that says, more than the jewish people have kept blank. Blank has kept the jewish people. What's the fill in the sign between God and his children? We sang a song today, yom Shekalo, a time that is all.
Shabbat. This word, this concept of Shabbat, is the thing that defines the age to come. Yom shekulo. Shabbat is a time that is all Shabbat.
Sabbath remains. It has never departed. And it has such a profound significance from our chaosic structure, from God choosing it as a sign for eternity and for the covenant and Israel's connections to it. You can see one more thing, and I'll close with this.
Given the importance of the Sabbath and what we can see here and how much it meant and everything that God communicates through it, given that in my illustration today, it's a sense of God's presence, now it's a foretaste of the world to come.
Question should it be any surprise then, that when it's so often such a beautiful entry point for people from the nations gentiles, is it any surprise that this has such a beautiful attraction for all of God's people? From antiquity to now, many tribes and tongues have appreciated the joy and the beauty of the Sabbath, what it meant for Israel, what it meant to God. Should it be any surprise that gentiles would read the Torah and the Bible and the story of the exodus and the Shabbat and say, wow, that's beautiful? I'd like to explore that, not be curious. I mean, from the God fearers of old to the messianic gentiles of today. Of course, it has an incredible attraction.
It offers this beautiful, eternal embracing message from a loving and compassionate God who maintained relationship despite the great emotional expense with his people. And you know what? Through Yeshua, God opens that to all, to all nations.
Is that surprising that people would be attracted to that? Of course not. But what does surprise me, what awes me?
I could say anger, but I don't get angry. What frustrates, what flabbergasts me is when gentiles are criticized and condemned for wanting to be a part of this.
When you read these stories, you see them from the perspective I've given you today and so many. There are hundreds of angles we could explore the beauty of Shabbat from. I don't know how people don't get it. And it does not mean what I'm saying that Sunday worship is bad, or the church is bad, or any of those things. That's not what I'm suggesting. Just that when someone grabs ahold of the revelation of God's Sabbath, brings it near to them, they should be commended for that, not criticized. And yes, there are differences in terms of Jews and gentiles and obligations and observance and Shabbat. I just did a podcast with my colleague Aaron Ebi at the Messiah podcast for first roots. About that there are differences, but you should be commended and encouraged.
And you see, the tabernacle was about worship and service. The Torah was about instruction and law.
The Shabbat is about intimacy and time with God for all of God's people.
So here's what I say.
If you are here representing the nations on this, the 7th day, the first thing God called Holy in the Bible, I commend you.
I celebrate you and us, and mostly him, because he does awesome and amazing things for his people.
The opportunity to be together for this, this sign between me and the children of Israel forever. But yes, the nations are grafted in and brought alongside. In six days, Adonai made heaven and earth. And on the 7th day, he ceased from work and rested. And it means so much. And so I say todal Rabba Hashem for this gift and for all its meaning for us, everyone in this room, the eternal gift of the Sabbath Shabbat Shalom.
[00:32:57] Speaker B: Please visit our website, shalomma.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world, or contribute to the work of Shalom Makin. Thank you for watching, and we look forward to connecting with.
