Exodus 26:31-27:19 Chavurah Shalom Saturday 12/31/16

Exodus 26:31-37 The Parochet The Tabernacle is to be partitioned into two unequal sections by means of a dividing curtain, or veil, called in Hebrew parochet. Its function is stated in verse 33. The inner section will form a perfect cube measuring 10 cubits (15 ft. = 4.6 m.) on each side. This is the , which will contain the Ark and the kapporet, as prescribed in Exodus 25:17. The outer section will measure 10 cubits in width, 20 cubits in length, and 10 cubits in height (15 ft. x 30 ft. x 15 ft.). It is called the “Holy Place” and will receive the table, the menorah, and the altar of incense. It is interesting to note that the Holy of Holies is a cube. In Revelation 21:15-16 you find the measurements of New also a cube of 1500 cubic miles. Ezekiel 42:15-20 outlines the inner house, with a square configuration of 500 cubits. While nothing is said of the height, there are few designs that give such a square, and it would not be too far from our thoughts to regard this a cube also. The parochet is made from the same fabric and designed with the same colors as the lowest coverings. It is adorned with figures of cherubim. Its size is not given, but both reason and tradition require 10 x 10 cubits (15 x 15 ft. — 4.6 x 4.6 m). In later Hebrew the term parochet was transferred to the ornamented curtain covering the Ark that contains the Torah scrolls in the . Ashkenazim hang it in front of the doors, while Sephardim place it behind them. Jewish religious law requires that a parokhet no longer in use not be destroyed; it must be stored away. separated the entrance of the Holy Place on ,מָסָך ,(A second screen (Heb. masach the eastern side from the outer court. It was made of the same multicolored fabric as the parochet, but was not decorated with cherubs. It also differed from it in that it was embroidered, v. 36, and rested on five pillars instead of four, and its pillars ,מַעֲשֵׂה רֹקֵם ,fitted into bronze rather than silver sockets. Hebrew ma'asayh rokaym another specialized type of weaving, required less skill than that required for the coverings of the Tabernacle and the parokhet.

- 1 - Of the three entrance curtains only the innermost veil is called holy, Leviticus 4:6. The other terms for the Parochet are: paroket hammasak, "the screening curtain," Exodus 35:12; 39:34; 40:21; Numbers 4:5; hammasak, "the screen," Numbers 3:31; and paroket ha'edut, "the screen of the testimony," Leviticus 24:3. Two items separate this middle entrance from the veil. First, the veil is "the work of a craftsman," v. 31, while this curtain opening the way into the holy place is the "work of an embroider," v. 36. Second, the "silver" bases for the pillars of the veil, v. 32, are here "bronze," v. 37. One can imagine a sign hung on both of these curtains: "authorized personnel only."--Victor P. Hamilton in Exodus in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, p. 473. There was a third screen, separating the entrance into the outer courtyard from the camp of Israel. You would then go through one curtain in order to enter the area of the Bronze Altar of Sacrifice. Through the next curtain, only the priests could go in order to trim the wicks, fill the lamps, burn the incense, and set out the

- 2 - showbread. Through the final curtain, the Parochet, only the High Priest could go, and that only once a year on the Day of , the Day of Atonement. The Chumash asserts that any Cohen could go into the Holy Place for the purpose of prostration.--p. 193. The entire structure is 30 cubits from front to back, the Holy Place occupies its eastern two-thirds, and the Holy of Holies the westernmost third. Solomon's Temple had doors in form of the entrance into the inner sanctuary, 1 Kings 6:31-32. The walls were 1 cubit thick, and so was the doors. This was to guard against intrusion into the Holy Place. It would be much more important to incorporate signs on the curtains than on such doors. These doors were determined to be of such value that Hezekiah was compelled to give them as tribute to the King of Assyria, 2 Kings 18:16. They may have been 20-30 feet tall. Being overlaid with gold, they rivaled anything to be found in the Ancient Near East. Hegg noted that the minutiae of the description is hard to decipher. In dealing with the outer covering of 11 panels and the inner tapestries of 10 panels, Hegg noted that this would have kept all light out of the Holy of Holies, except for the light of the Shekinah itself, and out of the Holy Place, except for the light of the Menorah.--Parashah 64, p. 6. All three Synoptic Gospels mention the rending of the veil of the Sanctuary in connection with Yeshua's death. Luke seems to place the rending of the veil in association with the thick darkness, and seen then as a sign of the Father's displeasure in humanity's rejection of His Son. The others seem to associate the even with what follows, Yeshua committing Himself to the Father, which comes close to the emphasis on the veil in Hebrews. All seem to indicate that God is the one who rends the veil. None specify which veil was rent. This then gives rise to much speculation. Is it the parochet which separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, Exodus 26:31-35? Or is it the curtain at the entrance into the Holy Place of Exodus 26:36-37? Most have assumed it was the veil in front of the Holy of Holies. The reference in Hebrews 6:19-20, "the inner sanctuary behind the curtain," seems to indicate this. If this is the one, then no one would have actually seen it happen. The general public saw the darkness, and felt the earth tremble, but only the priest ministering in the Holy Place would have seen the Parochet torn in two. However, the impact would have been more impressive on the general population if they had been able to see the event.

- 3 - There are three references in Hebrews. Hebrews 6:19-20 speaks of Yeshua, who enter into the inner sanctuary behind the curtain on our behalf. Here the writer uses three figures of speech: a nautical one, "hope as an anchor for the soul;' a cultic one, heaven is a sanctuary; and an athletic one, Yeshua has gone there as our forerunner. Hebrews 9:3 describes the Tabernacle, saying that behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. Finally, Hebrews 10:19-20 speaks of the believer's confidence to enter through the curtain into this holy place through Yeshua and His blood. This is designating the immediate presence of God more than a location. So, is this good news or bad news? Is it a picture of the destruction of the body of Yeshua and the Temple because of the rejection of the Messiah. However, it could be a picture of God's immediate presence available to all who receive the Messiah. That is the thrust of Hebrews, that we have access unto God and will one day behold the Godhead in all of its revealed glory.--Hamilton, pp. 474-475. Hegg argues from a completely different perspective. The point in fact for the time of Yeshua has to do with lengthy presentations concerning the nature of the second Temple, and its corrupted leadership. It also has to do with information concerning the location of a veil or curtain which hung over the doors into the Temple structure, and the very large stone lintel that held the doors and curtain in place, and the doors of the Temple suddenly opening on their own. Along with this is rabbinic recognized halachah that until the doors were opened, no sacrifice could be accepted upon the altar. Thus the leadership of the Temple could control the practice of worship by keeping the doors closed. From this I will give you the final paragraph from his summary concerning the Parochet, and refer you to his paper, "Separating the Most Holy from the Holy." The Second Temple built by Zerubbabel and expanded by Herod marked an attempt by Israel to fashion her own means of atonement. Though certainly God commanded through His prophets the rebuilding of the Temple, and encouraged that it be utilized as a regathering of the people to Him, in fact the Temple never functioned as it was supposed to. Overrun by the institutions of the Sages, the Shekinah (by some accounts) never entered the structure and the never rested there. Enshrined in man-made religion, the Messiah Himself declared that what should have been a House of Prayer had, in fact, become a den of thieves. The glorious description of the Temple which the prophet Ezekiel gave to the exiles was not to be realized in the Second Temple. Though in His mercy HaShem accepted all who worshipped there in spirit and

- 4 - truth, the inevitable destruction of the Temple was prophesied by the prophets, and sealed by the rejection of The Messiah. The breaking of the Lintel, the tearing of the outer veil, and the opening of the doors symbolically demonstrated that in her attempt to regulate worship, Israel's Sages had missed the very object of worship itself, Yeshua HaMashiach. Destroyed by her enemies, Israel, dispersed among the nations awaits the day of the eschaton when the Temple prophesied by Ezekiel will fact be built, and the universal rule of the Messiah from that place will commence.--p. 15-16. The Temple Institute is fully prepared to reinstitute the Temple Worship as soon as an Altar is reconstructed. This was the first item to be built at Sinai, and the first item to be rebuilt by both Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Maccabees. There will be, according to most, a Third Temple built for the purpose of housing the AntiChrist. This will NOT be the Temple described by Ezekiel, but another intermediate Temple. The Millennial Temple will be built with the return of Yeshua to this earth. Exodus 27:1-8 The Altar of Sacrifice The prescriptions now move from the Holy Place to the enclosure of the Tabernacle. Once again, they begin with the most important item in it, the “altar of -so , מִּ ְ ז בֵּ חַ הָעוֹלָה ,burnt offering,” Exodus 30:28. Hebrew mizbayach ha-'olah called because that specific sacrifice, performed twice daily, was the mainstay of the religious system for Israel, Exodus 29:38-43. This altar was also known as “the altar of bronze,” Exodus 38:30, on account of its metal overlay and also to distinguish it from the altar of gold, which was used for incense. A third name, found in rabbinic literature, is “the outer altar.” This name derives from its location and is to be contrasted with the “inner altar,” the golden incense altar that stood in the Holy Place. This altar was used for all types of offerings, Leviticus chapters 7-11. The sacrifice was an expression of honor and gratitude, and a means of purification and expiation, not a way of feeding God; God derives from it only the "pleasing odor" (Exodus 29:18, 25, 41; Leviticus 1:9), an expression perhaps meant literally or perhaps to indicate God's pleasure at the worshipper's devotion. That the sacrificial altar is located outside the Tabernacle building, and that none of the sacrifices are ever taken inside where God's presence abides, nicely expresses the idea that the acrifices are not His food.--The Jewish Study Bible, p. 169-170. The precise position of the altar of burnt offering is not specified, but its

- 5 - approximate location is given in Exodus 30:18; 40:6–7, 29–30. The details of its construction are quite complicated and imperfectly understood. It formed a square of 5 cubits (7 1/2 ft. = 2.3 m.) and stood 3 cubits high (4 1/2 ft. = 1.35 m.). It also had four bronzed, horn-shaped projections on top of each corner. The inside was hollow. No mention is made of the “top” of the altar, in contrast to the incense altar, Exodus 30:3. It is assumed that it was filled with fieldstones and earth in the wilderness encampments. This would have satisfied the requirement of Exodus 20:24 that there be “an altar of earth.” It would also have protected the wooden structure below from the fire on the altar. Porterage was facilitated by means of bronzed poles inserted, when necessary, into rings affixed to its sides. A great importance was attached to the horns, a conclusion reinforced by the ritual connected with them. They were daubed with blood from the slaughtered animal sacrifices in rites of consecration and expiation. It also seems to have been an ancient custom for fugitives to seek asylum by clutching the horns of the altar, as demonstrated by the stories in 1 Kings 1:5–53; 2:28–34. Psalm 118:27 mentions tying sacrifices to them. These horns were not a later addition, but were to be made as one piece with the altar. Some suggest they also were hollow. Archaeologists have uncovered such horned altars throughout the Ancient Near East. While the horns served as emblems of the gods in other lands, this was not refers to the ,קֶרֶן ,the case with this altar. In the Hebrew Bible, a horn, qeren horns of a powerful animal, such as a ram or a bull, and so comes to be a symbol of strength and power, Deuteronomy 33:17; 1Samuel 2:1, 10; 2 Samuel 22:3; Psalm 75:4-5; 89:17; Jeremiah 48:25; Zechariah 1:18-21. According to Amos 3:14, one manifestation of divine judgment is that God will cut off the horns of the altar, causing them to fall to the ground. That is to say, even the last refuge for a condemned individual, 1 Kings 2:28-33, will be no more. Or maybe the hornless altar will be rendered useless because without horns it can no longer hold the sacrifice in place.--Hamilton, p. 477. from the stem z-r-k, “to sprinkle,” is a vessel in ,מִזְרָק ,basins - Hebrew mizrak which the blood of the sacrificial animal is collected for sprinkling on the altar. This exercise was an integral and important part of the ritual. The biblical idea is that blood constitutes the life essence and therefore belongs exclusively to God, the Giver of all life. That is why the Torah strictly and repeatedly forbids its consumption. The act of sprinkling the blood on the altar symbolizes its return to God.

- 6 - is an implement that is dug into the flesh to ,מִזְלָגָה ,flesh hooks - Hebrew mizlagah ,מַּזְלֵג ,turn it over while it is being burnt on the altar. In 1 Samuel 2:13 a mazleg used on the meat by the priest, is clearly a three-pronged large fork. The verbal stem means “to scoop up coals, to .מָחְתָּה ,htahצfire pans - Hebrew ma rake embers.” Thus, the noun would be an instrument with which to perform this task. The most obscure detail of the Altar’s structure and function is the grate, which has been understood as a kind of trellis-work base (so Kennedy, Dictionary, 657– 58) that served in part as a step (McNeile, 174) or formed a kind of “Collar” (Good, “Grating,” IDB 2:470) with only an ornamental purpose (Cassuto, 363– 64). Since the altar was only 4 1/2´ high, however, and since the grate extended downward for half of this height, such a step would have been both unnecessary and a cumbrance, as it would have meant that the top of the Altar would have been below the waist of even a short priest standing on the step. The description of the grate as tvr a “strainer” or “network” of copper may just as easily be taken as suggesting that the grate was inside the Altar, not outside of it, and that it functioned as both a holder for the Altar fire (the melting-point of copper is 1,083° C; cf. Lucas, Egyptian Materials, 243–44) and a kind of strainer that would permit ashes and grease to fall to the bottom of the Altar, while holding both the fire and anything placed upon it in the top half of the Altar. This would create the draft necessary for a hot fire, yet protect the wooden Altar and its copper overlay from a direct exposure to the fire itself.--Word Biblical Commentary, p. 376. The placement of the Altar is to be just inside the opening of the courtyard, the first thing encountered by the worshippers. This emphasizes the centrality of the Altar and of the sacrifice which points to the coming Messiah Yeshua. The laver is put further inside the courtyard and not in front of the Altar. The washing was connected with taking the sacrifice inside the Mishkan, and not for preparation to offer the sacrifice. The laver is for the priest and not for the Israelite. The altar was the rallying point of all the people. Here people would bring their sacrifices in order to be able to draw near to God and have their sins forgiven. This was as close as anyone outside of the priesthood could approach. The altar speaks of the sacrificial death of our Messiah Yeshua, the one sacrifice that could wash away sins once and for all time. The splendour of the building, as the earthly reflection of the glory of the

- 7 - kingdom of God, was also in harmony with this explanation of its meaning. In the dwelling itself everything was either overlaid with gold or made of pure gold, with the exception of the foundations or sockets of the boards and inner pillars, for which silver was used. In the gold, with its glorious, yea, godlike splendour (Job 37:22), the glory of the dwelling-place of God was reflected; whilst the silver, as the symbol of moral purity, shadowed forth the holiness of the foundation of the house or kingdom of God. The four colours, and the figures upon the drapery and curtains of the temple, were equally significant. Whilst the four colours, like the same number of coverings, showed their general purpose as connected with the building of the kingdom of God, the brilliant white of the byssus stands prominently out among the rest of the colours as the ground of the woven fabrics, and the colour which is invariably mentioned first. The splendid white byssus represented the holiness of the building; the hyacinth, a dark blue approaching black rather than bright blue, but the true colour of the sky in southern countries, its heavenly origin and character; the purple, a dark rich red, its royal glory; whilst the crimson, a light brilliant red, the colour of blood and vigorous life, set forth the strength of imperishable life in the abode and kingdom of the holy and glorious God-King. Lastly, through the figures of cherubim woven into these fabrics the dwelling became a symbolical representation of the kingdom of glory, in which the heavenly spirits surround the throne of God, the heavenly Jerusalem with its myriads of angels, the city of the living God, to which the people of God will come when their heavenly calling is fulfilled (Heb. 12:22, 23).--Keil & Delitzsch

- 8 - Exodus 27:9-19 The Courtyard As in all temples and sanctuaries, the sacred area must be well demarcated to separate it from the profane space outside. The prescriptions now deal with the in Hebrew. This חָצֵר ,enclosure of the entire Tabernacle compound, termed chatser area constitutes an oblong measuring 100 cubits (150 ft. = 45.7 m.) on the north and south sides, and 50 cubits (75 ft. = 22.9 m.) on the east and west sides, thus giving a total of 5,000 square cubits (approximately 11,250 square feet). The perimeter measures 300 cubits (450 ft. = 137.2 m.) and is surrounded on three sides by hangings of fine white twisted linen fabric. On the east side, the entrance, an area of 15 cubits from each end toward the center, was covered by hangings; the 20 remaining cubits in the middle were enclosed by a screen. The hangings were to be suspended from sixty pillars, each 5 cubits (71/2 ft. = 2.3 m.) high and spaced at intervals of 5 cubits. These are distributed as follows: twenty pillars on both north and south sides, and ten on the west side. Three pillars are to uphold the fabrics on each of the extremities of the east side, and four to support the entrance screen. The pillars rest in sockets of bronze. The hangings are held down by pegs and guy- ropes (v. 19). The instructions do not fix the location of the Tabernacle proper within the larger area of the enclosure. It is widely assumed that the entrance to the Holy Place on the eastern side was positioned along a north-south line that divided the enclosure into two equal squares of 50 by 50 cubits. Since the length of the Tabernacle on the east-west axis was 30 cubits, it follows that 20 cubits separated its from the western boundary of the enclosure. It is also likely that the Tabernacle was equidistant from the enclosure on the northern and southern sides. Because the Tabernacle was 10 cubits wide, there would have been a space of 20 cubits on either side. Such positioning would have placed the point of intersection of the diagonals of the western square precisely in the center of the Holy of Holies. It is likely that the Ark was at exactly this location. Similarly, for the sake of symmetry, the altar of sacrifice would most likely have been placed at the point of intersection of the diagonals of the other square, the outer court, east of the Holy Place. Between it and the altar stood a bronze laver (30:18; 38:8). This describes for us the outer court and the separation through the hangings. This outer court was the place of assembly. All of Israel had access to the outer court as long as they were clean, or ritually pure. Here is where the worship, the prayers,

- 9 - the celebrations and songs, and the teachings took place. Here the animals were slaughtered, the blood sprinkled upon the horns of the altar or at its base, their fats burned up on top of the altar. Here they heard the Aaronic Benediction daily. Psalm 84:10 – A day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside! I would rather stand at the threshold of the House of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” If we inquire still further into the design and meaning of the court, the erection of a court surrounding the dwelling on all four sides is to be traced to the same circumstance as that which rendered it necessary to divide the dwelling itself into two parts, viz., to the fact, that on account of the unholiness of the nation, it could not come directly into the presence of Jehovah, until the sin which separates unholy man from the holy God had been atoned for. Although, by virtue of their election as the children of Jehovah, or their adoption as the nation of God, it was intended that the Israelites should be received by the Lord into His house, and dwell as a son in his father’s house; yet under the economy of the law, which only produced the knowledge of sin, uncleanness, and unholiness, their fellowship with Jehovah, the Holy One, could only be sustained through mediators appointed and sanctified by God: viz., at the institution of the covenant, through His servant Moses; and during the existence of this covenant, through the chosen priests of the family of Aaron. It was through them that the Lord was to be approached, and the nation to be brought near to Him. Every day, therefore, they entered the holy place of the dwelling, to offer to the Lord the sacrifices of prayer and the fruits of the people’s earthly vocation. But even they were not allowed to go into the immediate presence of the holy God. The most holy place, where God was enthroned, was hidden from them by the curtain, and only once a year was the high priest permitted, as the head of the whole congregation, which was called to be the holy nation of God, to lift this curtain and appear before God with the atoning blood of the sacrifice and the cloud of incense (Lev. 16). The access of the nation to its God was restricted to the court. There it could receive from the Lord, through the medium of the sacrifices which it offered upon the altar of burnt-offering, the expiation of its sins, His grace and blessing, and strength to live anew. Whilst the dwelling itself represented the house of God, the dwelling-place of Jehovah in the midst of His people (Ex. 23:19; Josh. 6:24; 1 Sam. 1:7, 24, etc.), the palace of the God-King, in which the priestly nation drew near to Him (1 Sam. 1:9; 3:3; Ps. 5:8; 26:4, 6); the court which surrounded the dwelling represented the kingdom of the God-King, the

- 10 - covenant land or dwelling-place of Israel in the kingdom of its God. In accordance with this purpose, the court was in the form of an oblong, to exhibit its character as part of the kingdom of God. But its pillars and hangings were only five cubits high, i.e., half the height of the dwelling, to set forth the character of incompleteness, or of the threshold to the sanctuary of God. All its vessels were of copper-brass, which, being allied to the earth in both colour and material, was a symbolical representation of the earthly side of the kingdom of God; whereas the silver of the capitals of the pillars, and of the hooks and rods which sustained the hangings, as well as the white colour of the byssus- hangings, might point to the holiness of this site for the kingdom of God. On the other hand, in the gilding of the capitals of the pillars at the entrance to the dwelling, and the brass of their sockets, we find gold and silver combined, to set forth the union of the court with the sanctuary, i.e., the union of the dwelling- place of Israel with the dwelling-place of its God, which is realized in the kingdom of God. The design and significance of the court culminated in the altar of burnt- offering, the principal object in the court; and upon this the burnt-offerings and slain-offerings, in which the covenant nation consecrated itself as a possession to its God, were burnt. The heart of this altar was of earth or unhewn stones, having the character of earth, not only on account of its being appointed as the place of sacrifice and as the hearth for the offerings, but because the earth itself formed the real or material sphere for the kingdom of God in the Old Testament stage of its development. This heart of earth was elevated by the square copper covering into a vessel of the sanctuary, a place where Jehovah would record His name, and come to Israel and bless them (Ex. 20:24, cf. 29:42, 44), and was consecrated as a place of sacrifice, by means of which Israel could raise itself to the Lord, and ascend to Him in the sacrifice. And this significance of the altar culminated in its horns, upon which the blood of the sin-offering was smeared. Just as, in the case of the horned animals, their strength and beauty are concentrated in the horns, and the horn has become in consequence a symbol of strength, or of fulness of vital energy; so the significance of the altar as a place of the saving and life-giving power of God, which the Lord bestows upon His people in His kingdom, was concentrated in the horns of the altar.--Keil & Delitzsch

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