TERUMAH (תרומה) - HEARTFELT GIFTS - Audio Podcast March 4, 2023

By celebrating the feasts at Jerusalem at the resting place of God’s Presence and by bringing offerings to mark the occasions, we acknowledge Him as the Lord, who controls all aspects of life (Sforno)

maturity

Introduction

TERUMAH (תרומה) - HEARTFELT GIFTS

Exodus 25:1-27:19

Exodus 25:1–2 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.

The Lord is asking willing hearts to provide a gift

The Lord usually asks us to give a gift when in reality He is the one who is about to give a gift

Asking for the gift is usually a way of testing our hearts

Then He provides the list of materials He is asking for, to later cast the following vision:

Exodus 25:8 NKJV

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

The exact gift He is about to offer is His dwelling with Israel, and eventually with us.

To bring heaven to earth

He is asking them to build a Tabernacle- a dwelling place

God is about to lay down a blue print, a pattern, for His kingdom down on earth

After all this is the Lord prayed:

Matthew 6:10 NKJV

Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

We must understand this event is not separate from the previous Torah portion, Mishpatim.

We must have DEVARIM in the kingdom of God to know how to develop a relationship with God and with one another

This pattern is very specific. It is also called the Celestial Blueprint:

The Celestial Blueprint

A prominent characteristic of the narrative in both its parts is the repeated reference to divinely given instructions and celestial patterns for the terrestrial edifice and for its contents.

Sanctuary concept common in ancient world.

2200 b.c.e. in the narration of a building project - the Sumerian King Gudea of Lagash.

It also occurs in Egyptian texts

Idea of divine inspiration, initiation, and specification of a religious institution generally communicates the deity’s sanction and acceptance of the sacred structure, which is thereby endowed with legitimacy.

Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 156.

But there is a very specific difference between other religions and the Torah

Remember the Torah is given for direction

The Torah is the manual how to serve God- gives a sense of direction, like a compass

W/o direction you do not know where you are going or what you are doing.

Presentation

This Torah portion is all about the beginning of the pattern of the Tabernacle

Besides the pattern, I would like to present the importance of the Tabernacle and its most crucial elements: its foundation, significance, its origin, its destination, its function, and more importantly how it relates to the plan of creation and salvation

Let us begin with: the three distinct words in Hebrew that can be confusing to the English speaker, regarding the Tabernacle

Although all converge into one same place

English: Sanctuary - Holy Place

Hebrew: [mikdash] - מקדש

English: Tabernacle- Dwelling Place

Hebrew: [Mishkan] - משכן

English: Tent of Meeting - Tent of Appointment

Hebrew: [ohel moed] - אהל מועד

Last year we did a thorough description of each part of the tabernacle in the wilderness

The building of the Tabernacle, which include the sanctuary and the Tent of meeting goes from Exodus 25 to Exodus 31

It represents the pattern in Heaven to be on Earth

Remember it is about the physical and the spiritual

Exodus 25:8–9 NKJV

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

The Tabernacle and Creation

The series of instructions for the components of the Tabernacle is made up of seven subsections, each of which is introduced by the formula “The Lord spoke/said to Moses.”

Six of them deal with creativity, and the seventh features the Sabbath law.

1- Build a Sanctuary

Exodus 25:1 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Exodus 25:8 NKJV

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

2- Ransom Money

Exodus 30:11–13 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the Lord.

3- The Bronze Laver

Exodus 30:17–18 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it,

4- The Holy Anointing Oil

Exodus 30:22–26 NKJV

Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also take for yourself quality spices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;

5-Altar of Incense

Exodus 30:34–36 NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

6-Artisans Building the Tabernacle

Exodus 31:1–7 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. “And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle—

Numbers 8:4 NKJV

Now this workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was hammered work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Again, Six of them deal with creativity, and the seventh features the Sabbath law.

7- The Sabbath Law

Exodus 31:12–17 NKJV

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”

This 7th regulation is explicitly grounded in creation. The association of the Tabernacle with the Sabbath is given prominence in

Leviticus 19:30 NKJV

‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 26:2 NKJV

You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

Further, the completed Tabernacle is erected on New Year’s day, as in

Exodus 40:17 NKJV

And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up.

This underscores the idea that a new era in the life of the people has begun

the cosmogonic (creation of the universe) association to the Tabernacle is thereby strong- crucial

Finally, this confirms the interdependence of Genesis Creation with the Tabernacle.

The spiritual and the physical meet

Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 156. (adaptation mine)

The Lord makes emphasis that it has to be build in a specific pattern- His pattern

Exodus 25:9 NKJV

According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Exodus 25:40 NKJV

And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

Exodus 26:30 NKJV

And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.

Exodus 27:8 NKJV

You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.

the Tabernacle

Hebrew mishkan means the entire Tabernacle compound and not the Tabernacle proper, in which the accessories were of gold, not bronze.

Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 175.

In addition to the Sabbath, this structural pattern is intended to make an emphatic statement about the hierarchy of values that informs the Torah:

The Tabernacle enshrines the concept of the holiness of space; the Sabbath embodies the concept of the holiness of time.

The latter [Sabbath] takes precedence over the former, and the work of the Tabernacle must yield each week to the Sabbath rest.

Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 201.

It is therefore imperative for us to clarify the importance of the Tabernacle and its most crucial elements: its foundation, significance, its origin, its destination, its function, and more importantly how it relates to the plan of creation and salvation

As per creation we need to go back to Genesis, as God created this cosmos to be His temple first

The miracle of creation, as the heavens and the earth are created, there is a point between the physical world that connects to the spiritual world.

The same way there is a need for a corner stone to build a temple. In the case of creation, this is done by the foundations of the world

The idea of the Temple of God did not start with Moses

Proverbs 8:29 NKJV

When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth,

We identify this beginning of the physical world with the Foundation of the World and the Foundation Stone

The Foundation Stone, also known as Key Stone, Cap Stone, Chief Cornerstone is what holds everything together

On the other side of the Foundation Stone is completely Spiritual. No physicality at all.

1 Corinthians 15:46 NKJV

However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

On our side of the Foundation Stone is where the physical begins that’s what makes the Stone the essential core of the physical universe, by extension, as I hope you will see, Jerusalem and by extension the Holy Land.

Again, this idea did not start with Moses, David, Salomon or even Herod

Consider

Genesis 28:10–13 NKJV

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

Jacob went out from Beersheba to come close to a place in Haran

There is a certain place

We cannot talk about the temple unless we clarify where that temple is

The point of contact between heaven and earth

Genesis 28:15–17 NKJV

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

The house of God - the gate of heaven-

Where is it?

The point of connection between heaven and earth

1 Chronicles 21:2 NKJV

So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”

1 Chronicles 21:7 NKJV

And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.

God was displeased and struck Israel

1 Chronicles 21:15–16 NKJV

And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

An angel to Jerusalem - David could see the angel standing, destroying Jerusalem

Jerusalem is at the point where heaven meets with earth, as we will demonstrate

The prophet Gad instructed David to build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite

2 Samuel 24:18 NKJV

And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

The selection of the temple site seems to have come late in David’s reign, following his census of the nation (2 S. 24).

The prophet Gad instructed David to build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (24:16; in 1 Ch. 21:15 the name is given as Ornan).

We may assume that he purchased the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) some time prior to his decision to build a temple, since it was to be the place of an altar (2 S. 24:18).

Araunah is called “the king” (ʾarawnâ hamméleḵ) in the MT of 2 S. 24:23; the kethibh of 24:16 is hāʾawarnâ hayeḇusî, “the Jebusite ʾawarnâ.” B. Mazar suggested that this is a Hurrian title, ewrine, “lord,” found in Hittite as a title and in Ugaritic as a personal name (in Jerusalem Revealed, p. 4).

If the text and these suggestions are accepted, Araunah, or whatever his personal name may have been, was the last king of the Jebusites, the “lord” of the city.

The location of the threshing floor of Araunah is reasonably identified with the site of Solomon’s temple, N of David’s City (Josephus’s “third hill”), where the Dome of the Rock now stands.

According to tradition, the Rock over which the Dome stands is the surface of the threshing floor and the location of the altar in front of Solomon’s temple.1

1 W. S. Lasor, “Jerusalem,” ed. Geoffrey W Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 1007.

1 Chronicles 22:1 NKJV

Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

2 Chronicles 3:1 NKJV

Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Solomon is building in Mount Moriah

The same spot signifies the connection between the heavenly and the earthly

Psalm 122 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet have been standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.

Psalm 122:3 NKJV

Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together,

Original Text: Jerusalem built as a city she is jointed to her together

Earthly Jerusalem which will be joined together with Spiritual Jerusalem

Jerusalem as a point of contact with the earthly and the transcendent

Ezekiel 5:5 NKJV

“Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.

Ezekiel 38:12 NKJV

to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

Those who dwell

In the middle/ midst (navel- literal translation) The middle of the body

The navel is the center of the body from where all sustenance comes from to all the body.

What is the sustenance: The Foundation Stone, Jerusalem, The Land of Israel - that which sustains the entire world.

The concept of Going Up to Jerusalem:

Deuteronomy 17:8 NKJV

“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

Psalm 122:4 NKJV

Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

Not just Israel

Isaiah 2:2–3 NKJV

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Micah 4:1–2 NKJV

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

This is the place we identify as the Throne of Glory - The Throne of the Lord on high from the Beginning. The Sanctuary where everything starts

In Ezekiel we read an exceedingly high mountains

Ezekiel 40:1–2 NKJV

In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me; and He took me there. In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city.

The same in Proverbs 8, speaking about the city of Jerusalem

Proverbs 8:23 NKJV

I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

V-23 from the beginning before there was ever an earth

Jerusalem

Psalm 50:2 NKJV

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.

Isaiah 28:16–17 NKJV

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.

A tried stone in Jerusalem

Mishnah Yoma 5:

Introduction This mishnah teaches where the high priest would put the coal-pan in the Second Temple period when there was no longer an Ark.

With regard to the Ark, we have already learned in Shekalim 6:1-2 that there was a tradition that it was buried somewhere underneath the Temple floor.

Other sages hold that the Ark was taken to Babylonian during the first exile in 586 B.C.E.

After the Ark was taken into exile, there was a rock in the Holy of Holies from the days of the early prophets, David and Samuel, who laid the groundwork for construction of the Temple, and this stone was called the foundation rock. It was three finger breadths higher than the ground, and the High Priest would place the incense on it.

After the Ark had been taken away, there was a stone from the days of the earlier prophets, called “shtiyah”, three fingers above the ground, on which he would place [the pan of burning coals].

When the Ark was removed, there was a stone in the Holy of Holies that was there from the time of the early prophets.

According to the Talmud, this stone was there from the time of Samuel and David, before the Temple was even built. “Shtiyah” is usually interpreted as the “foundation stone” for according to Jewish understanding, the world was founded from this point, either physically or spiritually.

The stone was only three fingers high off the ground, but this was sufficient in order to put the coal-pan on it and then turn the incense into smoke.

Leviticus 6:12–13 NKJV

And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.

This was the portal

Genesis 3:23 NKJV

therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

The word Ground in Hebrew

[eth ha adamah]

את האדמה

The Ground -

Exodus 20:24 NKJV

An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.

“An altar of earth” - [eth ha adamah]

Genesis 3:23 NKJV

therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

He sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the “ground”

[eth ha adamah]

Jerusalem is home for all humanity

There is where we are all heading

all the nations

The key word for this is teshuva

Returning Home

When we return home, the heavenly Father will be waiting for us with open arms

Ps 87 Does not mention the word Jerusalem even once.

But there is no a single verse that does not refer to Jerusalem

Psalm 87 NKJV

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! Selah “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me; Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born there.’ ” And of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her; And the Most High Himself shall establish her.” The Lord will record, When He registers the peoples: “This one was born there.” Selah Both the singers and the players on instruments say, “All my springs are in you.”

Verse 6- when a person is born, we can say: a citizen of ____. Or a person born in___

When it comes down to Jerusalem - we can say, everyone is a child of Jerusalem

Verse 5- this one and that one- the one born there physically and the one who yearns to have been born there are equivalently called children of Jerusalem

Verse 7 - you - Jerusalem

Once we conceive that we are going to Jerusalem, we also learn that everything comes from Jerusalem

My eyes and my Heart shall always be there Jerusalem

God’s blessings over all the world.

In 1 Kings 8 His prayer goes through the Holy Temple, the special spot where the Foundational Rock (the key stone) is, where physically meets spirituality.

This is where physicality ends and the spiritual side starts- catching a glimpse of heaven.

Of course we can communicate with God anywhere we go. Yeshua made this possible for us.

What we are talking about here is the portal - entrance- the narrow gate into heaven the Lord made possible for us.

To experience this at the right place where heaven meets earth is an amazing experience.

1 Kings 8:41–43 NKJV

“Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

It is not only Israel, but all - including the foreigner

1 Kings 8:38–39 NKJV

whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men),

Give him according to his ways- what he deserves, as you know all hearts - a heart felt gift (Terumah)

The prayer of the stranger has a good status with the prayers of Israel.

Tough love- you do not give your child everything he wants, but everything he needs to grow.

So king Salomon says give them all they deserve.

And the stranger has heard (shema), but he still needs to know Your Name.

The Holy Temple is all about the bond of love with the Lord - to get to know Him

1 Kings 9:3 NKJV

And the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

The Lord made the temple Holy - the site - even when the Holy Temple is not standing there, in Jerusalem

His eyes will be there always

He says His presence is always there

Not just the temple, but the land

Deuteronomy 11:12 NKJV

a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

His eyes always there- what about the rest of the world?

The Bible says He sees everything

Zechariah 4:10 NKJV

For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

The 7 are the eyes of the Lord

Proverbs 15:3 NKJV

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

How do we reconcile these verses?

All verses are right- all express sublime truth

God says my eyes and my heart are there in the temple

Regarding the land of Israel and His temple His eyes are upon it always

And through the temple and Holy Land the blessings go to the entire world

An ancient midrash says it like this:

When the eyes of the God are here, the eyes of God are everywhere

Especially through that focal point where heaven meets earth - which represents the connectedness to God with the entire universe. This portal is the place from where holiness flows through into the whole world.

Psalm 73:28 NKJV

But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.

It is only by being close to God, and trusting Him, that we can find good.

Our deeper connection to Jerusalem

Jerusalem first appears in the Bible, but not by the name of Jerusalem in only two places:

FIRST

Genesis 14:18–19 NKJV

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;

Salem means complete

Where is Salem?

Let’s do a word search of the word Salem as a place in the Bible

Psalm 76:2 NKJV

In Salem also is His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion.

Old Testament

Jerusalem is not referenced by that name in the traditions prior to the rise of the Davidic Empire, though there are references to the area from the first chapters of Genesis.

The spring of Gihon that flows through Jerusalem is referenced in Gen 2:13 and 2 Chr 32:30. “Salem” is mentioned in connection with Melchizedek (Gen 14:18; compare Pss 76:2; 110:4). The sacrifice of Isaac takes place on Mount Moriah—the future Temple Mount (Gen 22:2; compare 2 Chr 3:1).1

1 C. E. Shepherd, “Jerusalem,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

The couplets style of poetry: different sides of the coin - the same thing:

Salem - Zion - no ambiguity

If you know where Zion is we know where Salem is that’s Jerusalem

No doubt the temple was built in Salem, Zion, Jerusalem

SECOND

The first time we find Jerusalem by her name is in

Joshua 10:1 NKJV

Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,

But, the second place where we find Jerusalem but not by its name:

Genesis 22:1–2 NKJV

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Where is Moriah?

2 Chronicles 3:1 NKJV

In Genesis 22 we are given a name for Jerusalem, not just Moriah, that Abraham calls that place:

Genesis 22:14 NKJV

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

The Lord will Provide - English

The Lord will See - proper translation - yhwh r’h

רָאָה‎ (rā·ʾāh)

8011 I. רָאָה‎ (rā·ʾā(h)): v.; ≡ Str 3070, 7200, 7202; TWOT 2095a—1. LN 24.1–24.51 (qal) see, look, view, i.e., use the perception of sight to view objects and make judgments based on the perceptions (Ge 40:6);11 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Or in the Mountain the Lord will be seen

Hebrew: Ya ‘ar ‘ah

יראה = Ya ‘ar ‘ah

But if we go back to Melchizedek

Genesis 14:18 NKJV

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.

Melchizedek is King of Salem

We do not really know who He is

We may consider the possibility that Melchizedek may not be a name, maybe a title

Melchizedek is a title:

Just like every king in Egypt was called Pharaoh

Just like every king in Phillistia of Gerard is called Avimelech because what the name means

When you are the king of Jerusalem you are “adonit zedek”

King of Zedek

King of Justice or Righteousness

We all know that Jerusalem is the city of righteousness

Isaiah 1:21 NKJV

How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.

Isaiah 1:26–27 NKJV

I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Zion shall be redeemed with justice, And her penitents with righteousness.

But right now is not the case unfortunately

But

Psalm 110:4 NKJV

The Lord has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Jerusalem Name

Melchizedek is king and priest as David

We tradition has it that in Genesis 14:18 is not other but the son of Noah, Shem

But by naming the city either by the name Abraham gave, we then disrespect Shem. And if the city is named according to what Shem called it, we disrespect Abraham

Abraham called it: Ya ‘ar ‘eh - The Lord will see

Shem called it: shalem - Salem

We put the two together and we get yerushalam

3731 יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yerû·šā·lǎ·mi): n.pr.; ≡ Str 3389; TWOT 912—LN 93-place (loc.) Jerusalem: major political/religious city of the Jews (2Sa 5:5), note: for symbolic names, see also 790, 1241, 2612.5, 2915.5, 3293, 8970

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Identity of Jerusalem and whose destination is it?

Psalm 122:3–4 NKJV

Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

The tribes of the Lord

Isaiah 2:2–3 NKJV

All nations shall flow unto it

and many people shall go and say come to the mountain of the Lord

Jerusalem is the destination for all

Shem son of of Noah represent all the children of Noah - all humanity

Abraham represents the nation of Israel

Everyone will be heading to Jerusalem because this is where Adam and Eve were created

Melchizedek is a King

so, it flows that king of Jerusalem is called - Lord of Justice/ righteousness

Closing

the Tabernacle

The Tabernacle of Moses is a type and a shadow what is to come

Hebrew mishkan means the entire Tabernacle

God proposed to build a permanent temple not only in us, but also in Israel

In 1 Kings 8 His prayer goes through the Holy Temple, the special spot where the Foundational Rock (the key stone) is, where physically meets spirituality.

The principle explained by Paul

1 Corinthians 15:46 NKJV

However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

Consider what Yeshua said about this

Matthew 21:42 NKJV

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Yeshua acknowledges He is the cornerstone

Paul said it like this

1 Corinthians 3:11 NKJV

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:20 NKJV

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

Cornerstone

Which connects two ends: the physical and spiritual

When you consider the key stone, the chief cornerstone as a precious stone it would look like this

Prism

The light of the world coming from Jerusalem

From the cornerstone, emanating light to all the world

From Israel

Jerusalem as a point of contact with the earthly and the transcendent

Ezekiel 5:5 NKJV

“Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.

Ezekiel 38:12 NKJV

Those who dwell

In the middle/ midst (navel- literal translation) The middle of the body

The navel is the center of the body from where all sustenance comes from to all the body.

What is the sustenance: The Foundation Stone, Jerusalem, The Land of Israel - that which sustains the entire world.

Everyone’s destination is Jerusalem

Because the King of Righteousness will reign from Israel, sitting in His throne

Joel 3:1–2 NKJV

“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

Revelation 21:9–11 NKJV

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

Jerusalem

Revelation 4:4–6 NKJV

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

Sea of Glass

Where the throne was

This is the place we identify as the Throne of Glory - The Throne of the Lord on high from the Beginning. The Sanctuary where everything starts and ends

Revelation 21:19–24 NKJV

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

People flocking

Zechariah 14:16 NKJV

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

TERUMAH (תרומה) - HEARTFELT GIFTS

Shabbat Shalom

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