Exodus 30:11 - 34:35

When a person sees a movie for the second time, he/she often gains additional insight into the story.  How much more when we read the Bible.  I often learn more the second, third, and fourth time I read a passage, than during the initial reading.  This occurs because the Bible is the best source for defining scripture.  The more you know, the more you will learn, like ground prepared to receive a new planting.  The experience is also a testimony to the faithfulness of God’s word, “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be open,” (Luke 11:10). 

Some related passages in scripture became clearer to me after reading this week’s (3/7/2015) Torah portion (Ex 30:11-34:35).  I have read these chapters at least four times in the last five years.  Yet, it was during my reading on Saturday when I saw so many connections to other passages in the text.  Here is a brief synopsis of a few, but you will find more and might not agree with all the ones I saw.

(1)   The payment of a half a shekel was said to be “a ransom” for each individual to the LORD, (Ex 30:12). Although not specifically commanded for his purpose, by the first century this “ransom” was collected for the daily sacrifices.  Connection:  Jesus’ referred to Himself as the “ransom”, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28).  Referring to Jesus’s life as “a ransom for many” and “a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6), draws on the image of the daily sacrifice that was continuously before the LORD for every member of the nation.  For those who place their faith in Jesus, He is the “ransom” continuously before the LORD in the "more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands," (Heb 9:11).

(2)   One passage I frequently refer to is Acts 3:19-21, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that time of refreshing may come from the presence of the LORD; and that He may send Jesus the Christ appointed to you..”  Connection: Although I believed this passage to be a reference to the Millennial Kingdom, I was not sure exactly how “refreshing” conveyed that understanding.  Then I read this, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor and was refreshed,” (Ex 31:17).  Refreshing is associated with the Sabbath, which we understand as a picture of the Millennial Kingdom.  RVL has suggested that Jesus often healed on the Sabbath to demonstrate the coming power of God in the Millennial Kingdom.

(3)   The Acts passage also holds another interesting nugget.  “Jesus the Christ” will come “from the presence of the LORD.”  Connection: In this week’s Torah reading, the LORD promised Moses, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest,” (Ex 33:14).  In Acts 3:20-21, Peter has defined for us that, “the Presence of the LORD” is “Jesus Christ” who led Israel through the wilderness.  We already knew from Paul, that the “spiritual rock which followed them…was Christ,” (1 Cor 10:4).  Now I see another connection to Jesus in the wilderness.

(4)   Exodus 33:14 concludes with God saying, “I will give you rest.”  Connection: These words remind us of what Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matt 11:28).  This is one of the numerous statements in the Greek text that directly connect Jesus to God the Father.

(5)   In describing the sin of the golden calf, scripture records, “The people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play,” (Ex 32:6).  Connection: When I read this passage, I immediately think of the Shema portion that seems written with the sin of the golden calf in mind, “You shall teach them (the words of God) diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up,” (Deut 6:7).  In the Shema, God appears to be saying, “Do not be like the generation in the wilderness that worshipped me part of the time, while the rest of the day they rose up to play.  I want you to be my people 24/7, both when you lie down and also when you rise up.”

(6)   One of Paul’s quotations in Romans comes from this week’s Torah reading, “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’  So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God Who has mercy,” (Rom 9:15-16).  Connection: Paul’s reference is the LORD’S response to Moses’ request, “I pray You show me Your glory!” (Ex 33:18).  The LORD responded by saying to Moses, “‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’ But, He said, ‘You cannot see My face for no man can see Me and live,’” (Ex 33:19-20).  In the context of the original passage, the LORD is referring to the revelation of His nature, which is completely at the LORD’S discretion.  He can choose to show mercy and have compassion, yet He is still limited by the nature of the finite creation, "No man can see Me and live."  The passage does not relate to the LORD predetermining an individual’s fate in the world to come.  Although some may like to read Paul’s words as predestining a person’s fate, that understanding is not consistent with good Bible interpretation, and only adds to the general impression of non-believers that you can make the Bible say anything.

(7)   The statement of the LORD, “You cannot see My face…and live,” (Ex 33:20), will cease to be true in the world to come where it is said of the saints, “They will see His face, and His Name will be on their foreheads,” (Rev 22:4).

These are some of my thoughts, what do you see in the weekly reading? - Scott