Exo 35:1-36:38
Hebrew paragraph divisions:
35:1-3 {p} Work shall be done on six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest
35:4-29 {p} Freewill offering for the work of the tabernacle commanded + children of Israel brought
35:30-36:7 {s} Bezalel and artisans called to do the work/ received what the children of Israel brought
36:8-13 {p} He made the fine linen curtains for the tabernacle
36:14-19 {s} He made the goats’ hair/ rams’ skins dyed red/ seals’ skins coverings for the tabernacle
36:20-38 {p} He made the boards/ sockets/ bars/ veil/ screen for the door and its pillars
In the first paragraph of this Torah portion we see the repeat of the Sabbath commandment which concludes the Exo 31:12-35:3 chiastic structure previously noted. The Sabbath commandment has been repeated more times in Exodus than any of the other commandments so far. Why is YHVH so adamant about the seventh day rest? Is it because He likes to burden His people with commandments? No!
Moses was not to deviate from the blueprint for the tabernacle, because we have learned, it is a beautiful prophetic picture of Messiah. If he were to change the design of the tabernacle, then he would misrepresent Messiah. He would be prophesying falsely, because the tabernacle was a prophecy of Messiah to Israel.
I think it is the same thing with the Sabbath commandment. Follow with me:
And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because in it He had rested from all His work which God had created and made. Gen 2:1-3
While the heavens and the earth were new, and still perfect, unmarred by any evil or sin, God set apart the seventh day – the Hebrew meaning of “hallowed” – as a day of resting from work. But then sin did enter the perfect creation in the very next chapter:
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate it; and she also gave it to her husband with her, and he ate it. Gen 3:6
God meted out the consequences of their sin, first to Eve:
To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your pain and your labor; in pain you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” Gen 3:16
And then to Adam:
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree that I commanded you, saying: ‘You shall not eat of it;’ cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground; for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gen 3:17-19
The word pain, toil in these verses is the same word in Hebrew: Strong’s H6093, itstsabon, a concrete noun indicating pain from grief or heavy toil; labor, hardship, sorrow. It is from Strong’s H6087 עצב atsav, a primitive verbal root meaning, “to labor.” The ancient pictographs are ayin + tsadey + bet.
ayin ע = the eye, thus to see, watch, look, know, understand
tsadey צ = trail, thus a man concealed, journey, chase, hunt
bet ב = house, thus house, household, family, in, within
The parable being told is of looking ahead (ayin) at a lifelong journey (tsadey) to maintain the house and family (bet). Its association to pain from grief or heavy toil, is of endless work: a job that is never completed. Housework, cooking, laundry, home repairs, raising crops, tending livestock, going to a job: it is the same work over and over again, constantly repeating, which continues until the man and the woman return to the dust from which they were taken.
An alternate meaning of atsav according to Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon, is “to worry or be vexed,” and I think that is a very common side effect of the responsibility men and women have in caring for their family.
The traditional understanding of Gen 3:16, the woman’s painful toil, is that she will experience pain in childbirth. But I think the Hebrew makes it clear that her role of bringing forth children does not stop with just bearing them, but also raising them. The husband’s painful toil is similar in that it is never-ending; with the added responsibility of knowing that the buck stops here, that his success at farming or at his career means the difference between his wife and children being able to eat or go hungry.
So we see that painful toil, never-ending labor, is our daily consequence of sin from our first parents, Adam and Eve, with death waiting for us at the journey’s end. But God in His grace extended mercy to man and woman before they ever sinned: He set aside the seventh day as a day of rest from labor from the foundation of the world. Every seventh day, men and women can lay down the consequence of their sin, their painful toil, burden, and responsibility, and enjoy a respite of grace. Every seventh day, His people shall cease suffering the consequences of sin.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Mat 11:28-30
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:23
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eph 2:8-9
Sabbath rest is the first teacher of the Gospel of grace. The earned wages of sin leads to death, but the undeserved free gift of God is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord, not by work, lest any man should boast.
When God’s people work on the seventh day, God’s people are prophesying a false prophecy to the world, that there is no rest from the consequences of our sin in Yeshua. And that is why I believe YHVH was so adamant that His people do no work on the seventh day.
Exo 37:1-38:20
37:1-9 {p} He made the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat
37:10-16 {p} He made the table of showbread and its utensils
37:17-24 {p} He made the lampstand and its utensils
37:25-29 {s} He made the altar of incense + utensils + anointing oil + incense
38:1-7 {s} He made the altar of burnt offering + utensils
38:8 {s} He made the laver of bronze and its base
38:9-20 {s} He made the hangings + pillars + sockets + screen of the gate for the outer court
This section is part of a massive chiastic structure from Exo 25:1-39:31, which has as its two bookends, the blueprints for the tabernacle given, and the blueprints for the tabernacle followed in its construction:
1A) 25:1-31:11 Tabernacle offering commanded/ tabernacle instructions given/ Bezalel called;
1B) 31:12 YHVH spoke to Moses;
1C) 31:12-17 Sabbath commandment;
1D) 31:18A YHVH made an end of speaking with Moses;
1E) 31:18b YHVH gave Moses the two tablets of the Testimony;
1F) 32:1-6 Idolatry committed + the covenant broken;
1G) 32:7-20 Moses interceded for the wrath of YHVH to turn from them;
1H) 32:21-29 Idolaters restrained at the entrance to their tents;
1I) 32:30-32 Confession of sin and plea for forgiveness;
central axis) 32:33-33:3 Consequence for sin = separation from YHVH’s presence;
2I) 33:4-6 Repentance of sin;
2H) 33:7-11 Every man worshiped at the entrance to their tents;
2G) 33:12-34:9 Moses interceded for the Presence of YHVH to go with them;
2F) 34:10-27 Idolatry forbidden + the covenant renewed;
2E) 34:29a Moses came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony;
2D) 34:29b-35 When YHVH spoke with Moses his face shone;
2C) 35:1-3 Sabbath commandment;
2B) 35:4 Moses spoke to all the congregation of Israel;
2A) 35:5-39:31 Tabernacle offering brought/ Bezalel called/ tabernacle instructions followed.
We find at the heart of it, that separation from YHVH is the consequence for sin. This is exactly the same gospel that was preached from Genesis, at the Fall of Man, and the sin of Cain, and the Flood of Noah.
What is interesting here, though, is that wrapping around the judgment for sin, is Moses’ intercession and intervention. Two consequences should have come about as a result of Israel’s idolatry: 1) the children of Israel should have been consumed in the wrath of God, down to the last man, woman, and child. They were not. 2) YHVH’s Presence should not have gone up with them. However, He did.
The Torah had been given to God’s people. These are not unbelievers and pagans. These are the ones who applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorposts of their houses and were baptized through the Red Sea. These are the ones who said to Moses, “All that YHVH has said, we will do and be obedient,” (Exo 24:7).
Scripture is revealing the grace of God poured out upon His people for their transgression of Torah, through the intervention of Messiah, that is, Moses as a type, the Mediator between God and men.
Or another way to say it: the Old Covenant is a covenant of grace under Moses the Messiah foreshadow, just as the New Covenant is a covenant of grace under Yeshua, the Messiah prophesied from the foundation of the world.
EXODUS 35:1-38:20 ANNUAL VAYAKHEL “AND HE ASSEMBLED” OUTLINE | EXODUS in CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
FINDING MESSIAH in TORAH: A MESSIANIC DISCOVERY THROUGH the TORAH PORTIONS
THE LAW of LOVE: THE GOSPEL of GRACE REVEALED in the COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
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