Parashat Ki-Thisa

Delaying: This foreshadows the servant in Yahshua's parable who says, "My Master has delayed" and behaves shamefully, doing his own pleasure. (Matt. 24:48; compare Prov. 7:19ff) But the term actually also means “disappointing [them]”. He was not living up to their ideas of how long he should be there, but he was on YHWH’s schedule. He would return when YHWH was ready for him to come back. Over Aharon: or, against Aharon. There is a hint that they threatened him, which is probably one reason he acted as he did. The cat was away, so the mice would play; the people called the assembly themselves rather than being called by the authorities, and an unlawful assembly is rebellion. They were following their own hearts, and this always leads to trouble. They wanted a leader whom they could control, and whom they could blame if things went wrong, but Israel was not meant to be a democracy. One who comes into leadership because rebellious people have put him in that position will have “hell to pay”. Go before us: to the Land. The cloud that had led them had also disappeared, and to all appearances Moshe was dead, perhaps consumed by the fire on the mountain. Aharon was the logical choice, since their military leader, Y’hoshua, was also now missing. After all, he had accompanied Moshe since the start of the confrontation with Pharaoh. But this was not Aharon’s position. He was to intercede on behalf of the people, but not particularly to interact with them; that is the prophet’s job. His was to interact with YHWH Himself. The Hasmoneans repeated this error of putting priests in political positions. But the people had been told they were being given a land, and thought it was their right to move on; they did not care to wait for anyone, even the leader YHWH had appointed. If He had intended for a successor to already have been named, He would have done so. Moshe had already been told that the Ark was to go before them, but they did not wait long enough to hear this. Without Moshe and the instruction he was yet to bring them, they were not ready to handle this journey. We do not know: Here is the key to their downfall. The tree of "knowledge" is the one that vies for the tree of life. It places experience and evidence over relationship and trust. Some probably said he had died from the strain, being aged; others that he had just given up on them and gone down the other side of the mountain back to Yithro’s camp. Yet no one volunteered to venture into the fiery clouds to find out what, if anything, had befallen him; they used their ignorance—or even the command to stay away--as an excuse to do what they had really wanted all along. They decided to do what would make them feel better, though they had no idea what they were really supposed to do. Psalm 25:20-21 appears to have been written in response to this verse.

He did not tell them to tear off their own earrings, although archaeology shows that at this time in history men wore much more adornment than women, except possibly on their wedding day. The rest of their families had not come along, which would have brought more balance to the assembly. And indeed Aharon may have been trying to show them in a discreet way that by not waiting on the one who was in charge, they were actually removing the adornment from their families ina much deeper way. This adornment was in their possession only because Moshe had told them to ask the Egyptians for such things. But Aharon was also probably trying to buy time in case Moshe might arrive before they did something he knew would be foolish, as this camp was several miles wide and it would take them quite some time to go get these things and come back.

Rings: the term often refers to "nose rings". A pig follows its nose (compare Proverbs 11:22), but we are meant to be led by our ears: "Hear, O Israel, YHWH your Elohim, YHWH is one!" Yahshua said "My sheep hear my voice...and follow me." (Yochanan 10:27) Gold is a symbol of purity, but they were misusing it, and thus corrupting this “form of righteousness”. They did not follow his instruction, but gave their own earrings instead, so Aharon could not buy tinme. They probably thought they were being very generous and doing something their whole nation needed.

If it was a poured-metal image, how could he form it before melting it down? He apparently engraved a model or a pattern for it. Psalm 106:19ff calls it the “pattern of an ox that eats grass, and says they exchanged what was very weighty for something so unthreatening—much as Christians have replaced Yahshua with “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”. This was very different from the pattern that Moshe was bringing down the mountain for them. Aharon seems to have been trying to communicate this by designing it as a calf instead of a full-grown bull like Ba’al, whom many in the region already worshipped. A calf is unlearned, weak, and helpless if not nursed, and this is exactly how the nation was acting at this point—immature and childish, which is summed up in the word “selfish”. This is the only way a baby might survive, but it is not acceptable for adults. Elohim is a plural word, but there was only one calf. It was as if the people had looked at Moshe as their “god”, since he had visibly delivered them, though the credit really went to YHWH (v. 5). But it was apparently Moshe that they felt they needed to replace. Moshe deserved much honor, but he never asked for this.

As yet they had not celebrated the feast that they had told Pharaoh was their purpose for leaving. So Aharon wants to bring closure to this promise. And now they have a “logo” with which to associate YHWH, and they probably had it in mind to make all sorts of necklaces in the same style—just as Christians have done with the “cross” which really bears litrtle resemblance to the stake Yahshua died on and bears all the resemblance in the world to pagan Tammuz symbols that existed before his day. In the same way, these people were not seeking to return to idolatry or polytheism. They had heard, “Have no other Elohim.” So they decided to put His name on something they were used to. They thought they were making an image of the true Elohim, but they were wrong. They were applying His Name to other things, and He was not amused. Their hearts may have been right—an excuse many use to think they can continue in their own ways. But those ways lead to death. (Prov. 14:12) They were practicing a “form of Torah”, but their practices diminished the truth of who He is. Now they had an elohim they could touch He knows our heart because He tests it (Yirmeyahu 17:10), but they did not know His heart; they were doing exactly what He hates most—making a physical representation of Him—and putting Him in the same league as Hathor, the Egyptian cow-goddess. How often do we "make YHWH in our image" instead of allowing Him to teach us what He is really like? Do think we can give Him credit for what is really our own rebellion, just because it is nice and shiny? The only offering ever associated with a calf is a sin offerinmg, but all of the offerings to the calf are sin. They think it is for YHWH, but it repulses Him. Aharon did not actually make the image, as this is the first time he is seeing the completed object. But he had designed it. But he is still trying to buy time for Moshe to return, so he tells them to come back the next day. He has authority, though of a different nature, but does not walk in it. He is afraid to simply stand up to the people and tell them this is the wrong thing to do.

Make merry: The word is actually the root for "Yitzhaq", which suggests that laughter was involved. It can mean to tickle or to play like a child, but also has the nuance of having an orgy, which is apparently how Paul took it (1 Corinthians 10:7). This is the next logical step of paganism, which often includes such dissipation of energies in its rites of "worship"—the very opposite of holiness. Hirsch summarizes this event: "Before the Sanctuary of the Torah was to be erected, the people and the priests were first to be made conscious of their need for atonement."

Your people: Moshe was held responsible to uphold what YHWH had done for them. He tests Moshe with the same kind of phrase we might hear from one spouse to the other: "YOUR child is misbehaving!" YHWH has disowned them! How could anything so beautiful as the worship of YHWH make Him respond this way? They are not calling it by the name of another deity. It is like coming up to a man who is clearly experiencing pain in his back and immediately beginning a deep back massage without ever bothering to ask him what is bothering him, then finding out it was sunburn! He would not feel better, and would certainly not be pleased, no matter how well-intentioned the gesture was. We need to first find out how He wants to be worshipped, and He has already told us this in the Torah and the psalms. Become corrupt: in the form it appears here, the word actually means a spoiling ruin in the sense of digging a grave for one who had been making progress. I.e., they had made the whole purpose of Moshe's stay on the mountain useless by making it impossible to carry on the relationship they had begun. (Hirsch) They had already ascended to a degree, but they were not invulnerable to temptation or immune to YHWH’s wrath once they fell back into leaning on their own understanding—a warning for us all.

So quickly: A robust person can go without food for up to 40 days, but now he had reached that limit, so they gave up—seemingly as quickly as King Sha’ul did. (1 Shmuel 15) This may be particularly why the creed says, “I believe… in the coming of the Messiah, and even though He tarries, still I will wait.” Yahshua’s parable of the ten virgins (Mat. 25:1ff) strongly suggests that he will delay, testing the obedience of his followers yet again.

Stiff-necked: opposed to a command due to being accustomed to other ways--old habits that have not been overcome. ("We've never done it that way before!") With a stiff neck, one can neither bow nor turn his head (either to repent or to see the "big picture", which would usually remove the cause for complaining); an animal that is led by the nose cannot turn either to the right or the left. "Knowing one's right hand from his left" (cf. Jonah 4:11) is an idiom for understanding YHWH's instruction. If one will not allow himself to be instructed, he requires others to coerce him, bribe him, beat him into submission, just like an animal--or destroy him. Interestingly, by tradition the bone on which the neck pivots, called the lutz, is indestructible, and from the surviving DNA in it, at the resurrection YHWH will reconstruct the bodies of those who did not have stiff necks. YHWH says, in effect, “I delivered Israel from the house of prostitution, yet she has gone and found a new boyfriend.” Why should He think they would ever change? And their descendants have not done much differently in replacing His Name with Ba’al’s (which is carried over into Englsi as “the Lord”, essentially meaning “an overlord husband”)—like calling Him by the name of our old boyfriend. Approaching YHWH in any way other than the way He has prescribed is nothing but idolatry in His eyes, at least for those who should know better.

He knows Moshe would do things right and he already has two sons who could become a new nation. But "Leave it to Me" (Aramaic, "Let go of your prayer from before Me") is an implied challenge to see if Moshe will intervene and convince Him to change His mind. It is a conditional decree that He leaves room to be talked out of. It would show Him what kind of shepherd Moshe really was. It clues him in on the fact that he needs to fight for those who have been put under his charge, or they will not survive. Compare His injunction to "Give Him no rest until he establishes Yerushalayim as a hymn of praise in the Land." (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 62:7) A great nation: the same promise He had given to the patriarchs and Menashe. Note that He could not bless Moshe alone, but had to make another nation to replace this one, because only in community can YHWH be fully known: Yahshua said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst." (Matt. 18:20) He was testing Moshe to see how he would respond to this offer of personal glory.

Tried to persuade...YHWH...to condescend: this is all expressed in one word used elsewhere in Scripture more as retarding or hindering by redirecting--i.e., making an effort to gain the favor of a superior. (Hirsch) Moshe asked Him in effect if He hadn’t invested too much in them already to just destroy them. Nostrils flare: Aram., "Your anger become strong". Now Moshe turns it around and says, "If they were indeed my children, you could do that to them. But consider it more carefully: they are YOUR children as well!" He also restores to YHWH the honor that the people tried to give him. Only by looking out for YHWH’s reputation can one protect His people, and only by protecting His people can His reputation by saved. He has heard the hint of mercy in the wrath, so he addresses Him as YHWH (the one who will be all that His people need Him to be), not Elohim (the judge). "The prayer of the upright is [YHWH's] delight... He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Prov. 15:9, 29; compare Yaaqov/James 5:16.)

This would be like men who jest, saying, “He finally got a woman but couldn’t keep her!” He knew YHWH is jealous for His reputation. Why would He want to start all over again to build it? And why would He want to give ammunition to His enemies? And Moshe was wise to bring up the Egyptians, because they were a people who were very repulsive to YHWH, and in contrast He might look more favorably on Israel if reminded of something far worse, like two brothers who are fighting, but who would fiercely defend one another if an outsider tried to harm one of them.

This was his “trump card”. Moshe appealed to the promise the way YHWH had actually stated it, not any lesser desire. Remember Avraham: another who tried with audacity to persuade YHWH to relent. Israel: To mention him by the name of Yaaqov (the one who did not even look out for the reputation of his own daughter) would not have been as effective, for Israel is the name given to the man who “strove with Elohim and man and prevailed”. Now Moshe is doing the same.

15. And Moshe turned and went down from the mountain, the two slabs of the testimony in his hand, tablets written on both of their sides--on this [side] and on that [side] they were written.

On this side and that side: Hirsch, "from one side through to the other side", yet could be read on either side and it would say the same thing--evidence of their supernatural origin (v. 16).

Engraved: the same term used for what Aharon had done to the model or mold of the image, but in the Talmud, Rabbi Y’hoshua ben Levi points out that it is spelled exactly like it, but means “liberty”. Hirsch says it means the words held the tablets in place rather than vice versa, as otherwise the central parts of closed letters would fall out. According to the Midrash, the tablets were made of sapphire and inscribed in normal lettering on one side and with the negative image (that which was cut out by the letters) on the other side so "what was between the lines" could be seen, suggesting "what else" YHWH wanted to say--the spirit behind the letter. Hirsch links these two concepts by saying that the Torah frees us from the mastery of the laws of nature, so that "humans who take upon themselves the spirit of this writing and make themselves representatives of this spirit, are raised, borne, and held...above the blind force of ‘you must', the lack of free will which clings to all matter --i.e., they become ‘free'." Compare Yaaqov/James 1:25, which calls it the "perfect law of liberty", and says we must live in light of the fact that we will be judged by it. (Yqv. 2:10ff) Many try to tell us there is freedom from the Torah, but that was the philosophy of these people here; rather, the freedom is found within it. If it is engraved on us, we can freely celebrate and dance and bring offerings in the right context, and it is upright. But if the context is selfish reasons, we will end up full of death like those who had the calf “on their hands”.

Y’hoshua had been unmentioned this whole time, but, unlike the rest of the community, he waited patiently on his master for forty days. He is a picture of the one who bore his name later: Yahshua stands with the Torah while YHWH gives us the instructions on how to build the tabernacle, every piece of which is also a picture of Him. We can’t have either one without the other. Being a warrior, this is naturally the first impression that comes to him.

Moshe has heard the sound of war from a mountain before; Y’hoshua has heard it only from the thick of battle. Shout of bravery: Aram., "sound of warriors who are victorious in battle"; LXX: "the voice of them that begin the battle". Humbling: LXX, "beginning the banquet of wine". Hirsch, "a sound which discourages us", i.e., "a disappointing sound" or "bad news".

Literally, Moshe's nose flared--as Elohim's had earlier. Moshe’s own account of this incident, as he recounted it to the next generation, is found in Deut. 9:15ff. Thus far he has withstood YHWH’s wrath only in theory; now that he sees what is actually going on, the impact is different; he has the same reaction and does not blame YHWH. Who would want to live in their midst? If YHWH had let him see what they were doing first, he might have said, after all, “Go ahead and kill them all!” They have already broken the covenant, so why should its symbol not be broken as well? The tablets were the ketubah (betrothal contract)--but how could it be "signed" if the bride was already unfaithful? A community with both the tablets and the calf operative cannot function properly. The mountain that symbolizes the Torah may be the one that Yahshua said would be moved away (the threat removed) if we had faith. But these people did not have faith, and thus the mountain was like the stone that might fall on them and crush them into powder (Matt. 21:44)--especially in light of the next verse. Mystically speaking, the "ten words" on sapphire (suggesting the s'firoth, the ten aspects of YHWH's image that were also shattered when Adam sinned) were like the molten shards of gold that were scattered everywhere but began to be regathered when the Word became flesh, to be the Head that would begin rebuilding "Adam" and redeem the lost image of YHWH piece by piece as the Shepherd went looking for the lost sheep of the House of Israel everywhere in the world.

The people did not want to drink the pure water of YHWH, so they have made their bed; they must lie in it. The idol was destroyed quickly; the rest of this process would take some time. That their calf could not oppose him showed how little power it had. This gave them the foundation for a way back to sanity. (Hirsch) Was he actually trying to poison the people here? Maybe not, but they did have to drink their curse and suffer punishment for what they had done. Compare the special drink required of a woman suspected of adultery (Numbers 5); this is exactly the case here, since idolatry is so often interchangeable in Scripture with the concept of unfaithfulness to YHWH. This was a test of jealousy, so the truth about them could indeed come out.

The Midrash says that Chuwr opposed the people’s intentions and was killed, so Aharon let them go ahead with their plan. But he was the one left behind to shepherd the nation, so he is the first one judged.

If Aharon already knew their tendencies, he should have been readier with a response.

24. "So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave them to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"

Now he is obviously covering himself . He was saying, “I didn’t really have much to do with tis; I did not actually go down to the forge myself.” But his weakness is highlighted by the fact that he did not stop them. It was a similar mistake—the fact that he did not stop Moshe from striking the rock when he could have (Num. 20:10-11)—that kept him from entering the Promised Land. He just stood by, and for that he was held at least as accountable as Moshe.

"Throwing off restraints": Literally "naked" or "neglected"; Aramaic, "worthless". He had put out the fire and surveyed what had survived; now it was time to inquire into the cause so it would not occur again. The fact that even Aharon no longer felt constrained to tell the truth showed Moshe where the real blame lay. The root meaning is “loosened”, and Yahshua later said that whoever loosed one of YHWH’s commands would be called least in the Kingdom. Yet that is exactly what Aharon, the man of weighty honor, did! He considered this a special situation, a “different dispensation”—the post-Moshe era! What to Aharon was just a desire for peace was in reality not standing up for what was right. Doing whatever the sheep want without question is democracy, not being a shepherd, for rarely is leaving them to their own preference profitable for them; sheep are not as intelligent as goats. He tried to teach them indirectly, through mere suggestion and nuance, but should have been more blatant in showing them the stupidity of their intent. He did not take up either rod or staff, though he had Moshe’s. Exposed them to derision: "caused them to assume a bad reputation for their generation". Hirsch renders it, "Aharon had left them unrestrained to their moral weakness, up to complete lack of self-assertion." He removed their cover; they were vulnerable, fair game for demonic enemies as well as physical because they had torn down walls that YHWH wanted built for their spiritual protection. Enemies: literally, "those rising up".

"For YHWH": In Hebrew this is phrased the same way as what was on the golden band on the high priest's turban as well as the lot that fell to the goat which was not sent into the wilderness on Yom Kippur. It bears a special sense of holiness, and this is the character of the Levite. Perhaps it was because YHWH knew they would do this that He allowed them to be holy to Him in place of the firstborn of every family. (Numbers 3:12)

Near kinsman: or simply, neighbor—not the pagans or foreigners, but their friends and family. The Levites are not part of the army, but they all own swords, for they are the defenders of the sanctuary. Those whom they killed were those who, when given the call to repent, did not do as these men did. As Levites they were the ones responsible for teaching the rest of Israel; so they were held to a higher standard, and they did not even admit they were guilty for not having restrained them.

By tradition, the day on which Moshe brought the "ten words" to the descendants of Israel was what would later be the feast of Shavuoth. The "repair" for this tragic forfeiture of souls came more than 1,400 years later on the first Shavuoth after Yahshua's resurrection, when "3,000 souls were added". (Acts 2:41). But why was Aharon not punished? Probably because he was a picture of perfection, and the weightiness of his position could not be compromised in the eyes of the people. It may be as a reminder of this incident that the high priest’s offering on Yom Kippur is a calf. Idolatry remained a part of Israel’s history hereafter. Efrayim, whose name means “doubly fruitful” bore twice as much as this bad fruit; its first king erected two golden calves. (1 Kings 12)

They were to be rewarded for choosing YHWH's standards over familial relationships. (Compare Mat. 19:29)

He made them stew in their guilt and fear of YHWH all night. Yet still he is fighting for them. He cannot forgive them, because their sin was against YHWH.

32. "Yet now, if you will, lift away their sin; and if it cannot be, then erase me now from the book which You have written."

I.e., the book of the righteous, or the Book of Life--or perhaps even the Torah, which he was holding at this very time. Paul said essentially the same thing about those of the House of Israel who had gone astray. (Romans 9:1-5) Moshe says, in essence, "If you won't fulfill your promises in regard to them, then don't bother transferring the honor to me, as You had suggested." Lift away: The Lamb of Elohim "carries away the sins of the world", and the Book of Life is thus called "the Lamb's Book" (Rev. 21:27). But he is also asking YHWH to let him die for their sin, but even the New Testament says there is no atonement for willful sin. (Heb. 10:26)

There is one ancient book current during Yahshua’s time in which Moshe is mentioned often, but not by name. The apocalyptic book of 1 Enoch refers to him only as a prophet who led Israel out of Egypt. But Moshe’s death for the people would not be enough, because he had not committed the crime; we die for our own sins. (Y’hezq’el 18:4, 20) If we do not want to, we must die to self. We cannot get away with sin just because Yahshua died. His was an extreme example of dying to self. The innocent had to perish, or we would have all kept ignoring things YHWH said. It was not his death but his life that opened the door for our repentance. The Torah is about life, not death; it is horrible that the instrument of his death should adorn so many places of worship..Those whom the master finds acting properly when he returns will receive a different treatment from those who act on the basis of his apparent delay, thinking he can get away with it because there is time left, and do not prepare. But those who walk in Torah will not be surprised when the Kinmgdom comes; they will be the ones bringing it! They are not idle while they wait, but do all they have been told, being glad for the time to practice at being even better. They wait for the next step, but run to it as soon as it is revealed, knowing the door will not remain open forever.

Day of My reckoning: i.e., His review of the troops, or accounting for what men had done. He deferred judgment until then. I.e., "This is not over yet; I will decide whom to spare, but you go ahead and lead them; that's your job." They failed to wait for Moshe; now what they have to wait for is YHWH’s vengeance.

Because they had made: Aram., "for having enslaved themselves to". Though their sins were "lifted away", they paid the price for them in part. They knew better; this was willful sin (see Heb. 10:26-27). When YHWH is angry with the shepherd, the goats end up being punished. (Zech. 10:3) This plague recurred every time the people rebelled (e.g., Num. 11:33; 14:37; 16:46; 25:8-9; 31:16) Amos 3:14 speaks of bringing destruction upon the altars of Beyth-El; again they turned to another approach to YHWH, for He named Yerushalayim as the place to approach Him. “There is a way that seems right to a man”, but there are in reality only two ways—a right one, which is very narrow, and a wrong one, which is very wide. It may have many lanes, but it is still the same road to destruction. Yahshua said he was the way (Yoch. 14:6); we enter the narrow way by following the path he blazed and left for us to join him in walking it.

CHAPTER 33

Ascend: Though physically most of the set-apart Land is not higher than Mt. Sinai, spiritually it is. And the people were at an especially low place spiritually. YHWH had already sent them a plague for their disobedience, and He was still very upset. They needed to ascend! So He takes them out of the context where the golden calf was made. He knew to whom He had made the promise, but they needed to live like they were the seed of these patriarchs. He calls the last one Yaaqov rather than Israel, because they are acting more like the natural man than the spiritual. Sometimes it is necessary to leave behind the places—or people or ideas—that have caused us to stumble, whether they instill in us bad memories or unrighteous longings. This is one of the reasons Israelites must leave the church—to remove ourselves from that paganism. We need to change our context so we can see things from the right perspective.

Messenger: or deputy, representative. This was not a warrior, but someone or something bearing a message to the peoples in the Land. Exodus 23:27-28 had already told us what that message was and who the messengers would be: “I will send the terror of Myself before you, and I will confuse all the people upon whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you [and flee].And I will send hornets before you, and they shall drive out the Chiwites, the Kanaanites, and the Chittites before you.” Even the song Moshe sang after crossing the Reed Sea had foretold that the peoples around them would hear of what YHWH had done and be afraid. (15:14ff) So there must have been eyewitnesses to some of the events we have read about who went around to other nations and recounted them, possibly embellishing them with some legendary factors as well. Terror comes on someone suddenly, unlike fear, which may be the result of long reflection. One has no time to think straightly; the most skilled warrior will fall quickly if frightened, for confidence and courage are more important in battle than skill is. That is why Moshe and YHWH kept telling Y’hoshua to be brave and strong. The shofar is a special tool YHWH gave Israel by which to strike fear in its enemies. (Deut. 2:25; Amos 3:6) We cannot, on the other hand, be fearful of anything besides YHWH and remain in His presence, for it is a place of safety and confidence. His sending the messenger was conditional on the people’s “going on” and “ascending”. The same is true for us today as YHWH prepares to re-establish His Land as a truly holy place, not just another of the nations. Our obedience to Torah while still in exile will determine how soon this can take place. YHWH would not literally come down with a sword Himself to drive these peoples out; His people would do it, but He would arrange circumstances to work to their advantage.

Flowing with milk and honey: This was long thought to have been limited to honey made from melting down fig and date preserves, but it was announced on the Associated Press on 9/5/07 by archaeologist Amihai Mazar that evidence had been unearthed at Tel Rehov in Israel of a highly-organized beekeeping industry dating from around the time of King David. So literal honey was part of the fulfillment of this promise as well. YHWH says, "Deal with My messenger; if I come back down, I'll kill you for sure.” So there was mercy in this harsh response. By their actions He now knew that they were not holy enough for Him to dwell among. They had not done things the way He said, but their own way. When their bluff was called, they had made no effort to change. They thought they should not be blamed for doing what they thought was right. They did not even ask Moshe what they could do to fix what they had broken. So why should they benefit from the presence of the One they had sinned against? He will not remain where the camp is defiled. Our presence is our approval, and YHWH could not approve of the condition the people were in. They needed time to deal wit their selfishness. Shutting one’s children out of one’s presence is very effective in making them come around to repentance. “The Father has committed all judgment to the son." (Yochanan 5:22) He, too, was the Father's "sent one", who went on ahead of us, and brings us back to holiness so that we can someday be ready to meet the Father for ourselves. One would think that after drinking the idol-tainted water they would have repented, and He wondered if He could ever get the point across to them that they were going to a Land that would rule the world and demonstrate to all nations what righteousness and purity were. But He had found them too immature for His direct presence. (Siporno) Since water is symbolic of YHWH’s word, we, too, have been drinking water tainted by paganism for centuries, but now YHWH has allowed us to repent.

Disagreeable utterance: Aram., "distressing matter", i.e., bad news. Yet the news was, in part, that Yahshua would come. This is supposed to be glad news! It is for us, who have fallen much further, but for those who had known YHWH’s direct presence, it was definitely a step backward. Ornaments: The men had used their wives’ and children’s ornaments to make the golden calf. But now they are not putting their own ornaments on. What ornaments have Israelite men already been told to wear? Signs on their arms and between their eyes. (13:9, 16) The verses contained in it command us to pass on the knowledge of YHWH to our sons in particular. The liturgy quoted when putting the t’fillin (phylacteries) on each day reveals that their purpose is to remind us of YHWH’s bringing us out of Egypt and so that our hearts and our thoughts and senses will all be subjugated to His service. This is our responsibility as His bride. The hand t’fillin is also wrapped around the finger like a wedding ring, to recall His betrothal promises to us. By not putting these on, they were confessing their infidelity.

If they did not put on their ornaments (v. 4), how could they take them off? Elsewhere the word for “ornament” here (Heb., adi) is used of a harness connected with the bit and bridle put on a horse or mule that lack understanding, and thus need to be forced in the right direction. (Psalm 32:9) The term also refers to bridal jewelry. (Yeshayahu 49:18; Yirmeyahu 2:32) In the t’fillin is the Shema, which states that YHWH alone is our Elohim. This is Israel’s way of saying, “I do.” If we do not feel bridal on a given day, we have the “bridle” as an alternative way of being motivated. There is another clue in Israel’s later history. Rob Miller has pointed out that when the Greeks entered the Land, they spoke of something on the Hebrews’ heads that made them think even the commoners were kings. It seems they wore the head t’fillin all the time, and put the hand t’fillin on and off since it is less practical to carry on one’s labors with them on. The Mishnah says the rabbis constantly wore t’fillin. So though they had not put on their hand t’fillin, they may have still had their head t’fillin on. The Torah is what they are to remind Israel to preserve; it can give understanding to those who have none. (Psalm 119:99, 104, 130) By necessity, not everything we do with our hands will have direct Kingdom benefit, but the things we do with our minds can. Even sweeping a floor can keep our minds attuned to the Torah if we see the pictures in everything around us. Here YHWH is telling them, "Get these off of yourselves, so I can decide more objectively what I should do with you. Whether I will spare you remains to be seen! You have not been genuinely seeking Me, so do not wear something that suggests you are." How would this help? He could see who would still love Him without the reminders. His judgment might be less harsh if they were not wearing the Shema, for it would witness against them. He might be more likely to forgive someone who is not wearing something which purports to symbolize a commitment to Him. For 2,000 years Efrayim was without the specific reminders He gave Israel—the Sabbath, festivals, nationhood, t’fillin, tziztiyoth, and even the realization that it was our ancestors He had delivered us from Egypt; we always thought it was about someone else. On the other hand, the word t’fillin (related to the term for prayer) comes from a root word meaning “to judge”. The way they keep YHWH’s negative judgment away is not through some magic but because we must judge ourselves in order to properly pray. He may have recognized that they were beyond the point of being able to judge themselves properly anymore.

Because of us the wedding would have to wait. The Hebrew bride does not know when the groom will come for her. She has to keep judging herself to make sure everything is ready at all times.

Tent: Aramaic, "Tent of the Place of Instruction". It was probably Moshe’s own, because the Tabernacle had thus far only been described, not built. Nor could Y’hoshua, who was not a priest, stay in it (v. 11), nor is Aharon seen in this tent. But even Moshe distanced himself from the people. He represents the Torah, and the history of Christianity shows that when people separate themselves fro the Torah, it departs from them as well. They had taken YHWH’s presence for granted, and now He shows them that they cannot do so. He distanced Himself from their wickedness, but not too far away for those who really desired fellowship with Him to go the extra mile and made the effort to seek Him out when it was inconvenient. This is how He could know who was still after His heart. The ones who overcome—who “go the distance”—are the ones who have the promises of blessing.

The entrance to the tent is where the Levites had gone to kill their brothers who had failed. It seems they did not leave their tents except to collect the manna.

Y’hoshua (whose name is the same as Yahshua's) was already in the tent.(v. 11) When Moshe entered (i.e., Torah and Yahshua were both present), YHWH's presence could be fully there. The same will hold true for the Sukkah of David which will be raised back up. It is as if YHWH told Moshe, "When you need to talk, go there, and I will meet you there--but I can't stay in the midst of this people." A cloud also descended when Moshe was speaking face to face with Yahshua, and his disciples also wanted to build sukkoth—or tents—for them! (Luke 9:34)

YHWH was living with Moshe, but not among them. This would not only teach them to respect him more; they are showing signs of trying to learn from what he is doing—imitating him instead of doing things their own way. Avraham was sitting at the door to his tent when YHWH visited Him (Gen. 18), and Yaaqov was called a complete man, dwelling in tents (Gen. 25:27)—an idiom for studying. So they were seeking the understanding they had proven to lack. This is as close as one man could come to YHWH, but because the plans for the Tabernacle were destroyed, He could not dwell in the midst of a whole people as He preferred to do. Today we are in a similar dilemma, though at least we do have the instructions, depsiet Christianity’s many attempts to stamp them out.

Out of all Israel, Moshe had one absolutely true student. He is even fulfilling Aharon’s role in this tent, so that he can be close to YHWH. He foreshadows another Y’hoshua (whose name was often shortened to Yahshua, cf. Neh. 8:17; Ezra 3:2ff, Z'charYah 6:11), who remained behind in the Temple when he was a lad, and who "ever lives to make intercession for us". (Heb. 7:25) Face to face: not that he saw His face, because then he could not survive (v. 20), but His tangible presence was very close and they conversed with one another. Y’hoshua never left the tent, while Moshe sometimes did. Moshe could lead the people to the edge of the Promised Land, but Y’hoshua (Yahshua) had to be the one to take them all the way in. At this point, Aharon is not seen in the Tent, but Yahshua remains a priest forever (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 6:20). Y’hoshua was from the tribe of Efrayim, whom YHWH called His firstborn (Yirmiyahu/Jer. 31:9), yet he functioned as the first priest, though though the priests were later to be from Levi. Shmuel, who stayed all the time in the Tabernacle before there was a Temple, was also from Efrayim. Face to face: Aramaic, "literally".

Whom you will send: Is he asking which messenger YHWH intends to send? No; he knows the name of that messenger. He is saying YHWH had not yet told him which of the Israelites he was to take along. Thus far only the Levites had declared that they were on His side. Only a leader can understand his conundrum. Which of these people are worth investing his t ime in? 3,000 of them had just beendstroyed. How many will live through this? Who is just dead weight? Who will cause trouble next? Like a drill sergeant during triage, he wonders who to promote and who to demote. He was only one man; where should he spend his efforts? Like Shlomoh, he is asking YHWH to teach him how to judge.

He wanted to increase the favor he found in YHWH's eyes, not rest on his laurels. He indeed wanted something for himself, but he kept the whole community in mind, so it was an upward spiral "from glory to glory". Moreover...Your people: LXX, "that I may know that this great nation is Your people." He was not just interested in himself, but in their restoration to favor through his teaching them the right way to view YHWH. Th’om also told Yahshua he did not know the way to follow him, and Yahshua replied that he himself was the way. (Yochanan 14:6) Note that he said he was the way to the Father—not the goal himself.

YHWH brings calm to Moshe’s fears, though this is not exactly the answer he wanted. It is an eternal answer, typical of YHWH, and He gives no specifics. There is no way that He could give one answer that would cover everything. Moshe will still have to judge on a case-by-case basis, for everyone is different. Some will make it, som ewill not. But if YHWH goes along, he has no reason to sweat it. If He is there, it will be all right.

This is the perfect answer. Not only do we not have what it takes to survive there without Him; it will not work for a bride to show up there without her husband. His presence is necessary for Israel to be Israel. We cannot be what we need to be if we do not learn to live in His presence. We will end up just like everyone else

Yahshua said his people would be known by their love for one another (being "face to face" as in v. 11). His presence is the key to this taking place, but we see His "face" through His community (1 Yochn./Jn. 4:20). Distinguished: I.e., if He was gone, what would make Israel unlike the other nations? When we are fully united and He is truly dwelling among us again, we will be like the Messiah in the eyes of other nations. Then His authority will increase as well. (Yeshayahu 30:26; 49:6)

How can we really say we know YHWH? But to be known (or recognized) by Him constitutes our salvation. (Galatians 4:9) Yahshua will say he never knew many who called him "Master" (Matt. 7:23). For YHWH to put someone out of His mind would cause them to cease to exist. Though He does not want to remain with the people, He will do so for Moshe’s sake. He no longer needs to act on behalf of Avraham, Yizhaq, and Yaaqov, for there is a man in this generation who merits a favor from Him, because they are friends.

Having received this assurance, still not content to "quit while he is ahead", he is emboldened to ask for yet another step in the knowledge of YHWH. There are 32 steps leading to the outermost gate of the Temple, then another 32 leading from the gate up to the Holy of Holies itself. We must not be content to camp too long on one that seems pleasant, logical, and tidy in its doctrines, but keep letting Him take us higher and higher into greater and greater holiness. He is asking YHWH to show him how this works, for he needs some reassurance. Weight: or authority. Philip responds to Yahshua’s answer to Th’om in Yochanan 14, by asking Him to show them the Father. Yahshua answers that everything he has done has been done in the Father’s authority—that is, a reflection of exactly what the Father is doing, so there was no other way to show anyone the invisible YHWH. (v. 20 here; compare Yoch. 1:18.) But he reinforced this with a promise like the one given to Moshe in v. 14: If you prove your love by keeping My commands, I will send another to share the load and not leave you as orphans. This was immediately after Yahshua had renewed the Covenant the Father had made here. (Mat. 26:28)

He wants to see YHWH’s authority, so YHWH shows him that this is how leadership is to be done. He leads by treating the people rightly. And Moshe is to follow suit, proclaiming His Name to the people. Let them know that he is doing what he does for YHWH’s sake, not his own. This will, of course, make him careful about what he does. Then the people have to accept his rulings. It seems an overwhelming task to Moshe, but He cannot hand him a single formula, for some need mercy, and others need chastisement. If he puts what he needs to into each one without worrying about the consequences or whether it seems fair until this actually presents a problem, he will be able to go with YHWH’s flow and handle the job as a whole. Yochanan 14 contains Yahshua’s promise again that he would manifest himself to those who love him and keep his word, but not to the rest of the world, for a time. These are the ones on whom He wishes to have mercy.

21. But YHWH said, "Look here! There is a place with Me, and you can stand on the rock,

22. "and as My glory is passing by, what will occur is that I will put you in a crevice in the rock, and I will cover you with My palm during My pass-by,

This rock appears to have been right in Mt. Sinai, where Moshe seems to have stayed when the people moved on fro there. Compare 1 Kings 19. The word for "place" (v. 21) ties this passage to the one in which Yaaqov sees the vision of the stairway to heaven from the House of El (Gen. 28:17). That spot is where the Temple was later built--on a rock! Just beneath where the Ark of the Covenant sat is a crevice in the rock, called in Arabic, "the well of souls". It is a picture of the place under the true throne in Heaven from which, by tradition, souls are stored up until it is time for them to be born into human bodies. But Yahshua is also called "the rock" (cf. 1 Cor. 10:4) which was in the wilderness, and truly only by standing and (building our house) on him can we have any safety when facing the fury of the Father's full weight. The Aramaic explanation supports this, since it renders "cover you with My palm" as "shield you with My Memra [living word]". Indeed, Yahshua is called the Father’s right hand, and He does protect us from the Father's fury if we take refuge in him, as Noach did in the ark. His words are the water that flowed from the rock, and as with the ground-up golden calf, His pure water was mixed with idolatry. The woman thus tested who is truly adulterous will swell up and look pregnant—as the church does—but only the one who is innocent will truly conceive. (Num. 5:28) It will “give birth only to wind (spirit without substance).”

I.e., “I cannot teach you everything I know. I cannot let you know all of My secrets. YHWH is YHWH, and everyone else is less. And if you saw how useless you really are, you would not be useful to Me. No flesh can contain all you would see; you would be consumed. My full anger, wrath, and jealousy alone would crush you, but if you were to get beyond that to My love, compassion, and mercy which are even greater than this creation could comprehend—if you fully ascended, you could never descend again. If I let you enter fully into My presence, you would forget about these people and never want to go back to them to be the leader they need. All you can handle now is to see My hand—My actions. Do not focus on tomorrow. If you knew too much about it, you would certainly find a way to mess up My plans. You can never compare to Me, so you must unite with Me and let My actions become yours. Through following My instruction (torah), you will g o where I am going, even if you cannot now see where that is.”

CHAPTER 34

Carve for yourself: Unlike the first set, which YHWH had formed (32:16), Moshe had to make these tablets. There is no gap between the last scene and this one. Moshe has requested to know how to lead these people as YHWH would, since He has put them in his jurisdiction. This is part opf His answer: First, repair what you broke, as an example to Israel of taking responsibility for one’s actions. What we carve out for ourselves will be more valuable to us than something that is just handed to us free of charge. Whatever his motive for breaking them, he now needs to prepare another place for the instruction to come forth. Every time we are to be taught we likewise need to prepare our hearts to hear. Sometimes we have to sand off old things that were carved into the tablets of our hearts in order to have room for the right instruction to fit. (see Prov. 3:3; 7:3) This is the only way a heart of stone is acceptable—if it is prepared to receive His word. The way we prepare a place is to do the works of the Torah, then YHWH can write the instruction’s deeper meaning upon it. But the heart has two parts just like these tablets—the atria to receive the inflow (corresponding to the first four commands regarding our relationship with YHWH) and the ventricles to pump it throughout the rest of the body, corresponding to the six latter commands regaring our responsibilities toward our fellow Israelites). It only works if the right information is written on it, just as the brain sends the right signals to the heart, telling it to keep beating. And there must be a balance between the receiving and distributing, or we will die. The Torah is our “pacemaker” since the signals from our own minds often make the heart work improperly. When YHWH says He will put the Torah in our minds and write it on our hearts (Yirm. 31:33), it does not mean He will magically do it all for us. We have to study it and practice it before we come to love it. It is no coincidence that the heart is the size of a clenched fist. What we grasp and hold tightly to is what becomes important to us. I.e., what we hold onto becomes our heart. Paul told us to work out the salvation that YHWH had wrought in us (Phil. 2:12). Moshe was the one whom YHWH trusted to give shape to the truths He had revealed. And again in us, YHWH writes on what is prepared by Moshe (the Torah). On these slabs would be the directions for building the ten items that would provide the unity required to form a dwelling-place for YHWH. To make it work they would need to act on what Moshe gave them, in the same way that the repentant House of Israel needs to measure the pattern of the Temple for ourselves after the prophets shows it to us. (Yehezq’El/Ezk. 43) So the first step in bringing the Kingdom is having the Messiah’s shape defined by Moshe (who represents the Torah). If we are not seeing Him through the eyes of the Torah, the Dwelling-place cannot be rebuilt, just as surely as His House would remain empty if He did not enter it once it is built.

He had a time limit within which to have the slabs ready, picturing the fact that there is a set time in which Messiah has to be define by the Torah. Even if it took him all night, they needed to be ready by the next morning. The term for “prepared” also means “firmly established”, “in order”, or “correct”. Come up: When entering YHWH’s presence, we should already be in an ascended state, having made things right with our brothers. (Compare Mat. 5:23)

It was an extremely set-apart and dangerous place; what was coming on that side of the mountain would consume anything that was there. Not a man: Before when “no man” was said to be with Moshe, Y’hoshua was still there.

5. Then YHWH descended in the cloudy mass, and he presented himself to Him there, and [He] called out the name of YHWH.

In the midst of Moshe’s fear, as he goes up hoping his actions will satisfy the judge and let forgiveness come to the people, YHWH uses His Name of mercy. Knowing that YHWH had come to bring provision to His people had to be a relief to Moshe, though He still would not make it easy on them.

The very fact that He allowed Moshe to replace the slabs he had broken was mercy. The Muslims have a similar saying, and this must be whence they derived it. Yet Yonah used this very concept as his excuse to avoid bringing YHWH’s message to Ninweh. (Yonah 4:2)

Faithfully guarding: Aram., "maintaining". Not entirely unpunished: Some had been slain for the golden calf incident, while others were spared. Lifting off: carrying away; figuratively, forgiving. There are three categories in which we need His forgiveness. Twistedness is bending the truth or bending His words to fit our preferences or a different agenda than His. Transgression is revolting, rebelling, trespassing across a line, or simply breaking away from the community for our own selfish purposes. This was one of the key traits of the Northern Kingdom. Sin simply means “missing the target” or “wandering off track” (whether intentionally or not)--not living up to the standard He sets for us, or changing some details so that His building is no longer built according to the plans He provided. If a support wall is out of place, it will collapse. The first two—which are essentially moving the target (i.e., trading the Torah for morality, changing what it is that we are shooting for) and ignoring the target—are far worse than sin, which implies that one respects the true target and is trying to hit it, but does not fully succeed. His forgiveness is not automatic, but has the prerequisites of our confession, asking for His pardon, and turning away from the same practices. He has not declared rebellion to be a clean thing just because He decided to forego the punishment a few times in His patience. Psalm 78:38-39 tells us that He forgave because He remembered that we were flesh. I.e., if He allowed His full fury against us, there would be nothing left of us. He looked on His people’s errors as we would a small child’s—needing correction for sure, but cognizant of the fact that they do not know as much as we do. By no means making them innocent: or, not leaving them entirely unpunished, or simply, not clearing (exempting or making clean). We can be forgiven, but do not expect to get away with the same things again. Before we break His rules we need to consider whether we will be able to fix what we have broken, because we should not expect to be forgiven if we do not. Forgiveness is a precious thing not to be had by those who will do nothing with it. We are meant to learn from the process of forgiveness to stay away from the problem! While, like Hoshea, for the sake of her children He paid the debts His straying bride had run up while she cheated on Him, He is not preventing her from getting back into debt again. He takes her back, but expects her to be a decent mother. He took her out of the pit, but did not cover it up; she is responsible to not go back to it or, better yet, to build a fence around it. He gives her the tools, but she (read: we) must learn to hate the things that tempted her (twistedness, transgression, and sin), changing her priorities so she will become the kind of person that such things do not stick to anymore. If she does not exercise this discipline, her children will end up with the same problems she had. Notice that it is only the twisting of His word that He says our children will inherit. What you treat is clean is what they will think “clean” is. Our fathers have inherited lies (Yirm. 16:19). It becomes almost genetic. Protestants repented for some things, but retained most of the distorted definitions of the Catholics they protested against.

Hurried: literally, became liquid! He put himself in a position to “flow” in whatever direction YHWH wanted, saying, in effect, “I am in submission; aim me, pour me wherever You wish, and I will fill that container.” Bow: He did not want to be mistaken for one of the "stiff-necked people"! The root meaning of bow in Hebrew is shriveling up—having all the life drained from his fleshly side and all placed at the disposal of YHWH’s service.

Master: also Adonai. Stiff-necked: i.e., it takes a long time to get through to them. Moshe just showed that this was not true of him personally, yet he includes himself in the guilt, for they are one community. He is asking for a renewal of a covenant that was broken when the bride cheated on the groom before the honeymoon was even over. Forgive: Note that he does not include transgression (which YHWH had included in v. 7). This is because he knew that breaking away from the congregation was not not a sin against YHWH as such, but a national problem—a sin against their own brothers, and thus he himself had to deal with it on that level, through discipline and legislation. (Compare Mat. 5:23) But he may also not want YHWH to take away their capacity to break away or rebel, because one day they would need it—not against Him (in which case it is wrong), but against the other nations that would subsume them (in which case it is righteous and necessary). Your possession: or inheritance; literally, place to flow, used of seasonal river beds. YHWH said He would return those He later exiled by such a route. (Yirmeyahu 31:9) He is asking that YHWH again make Israel the earthly channel for His purposes, which cannot be fulfilled if there is no framework in which to carry them out.

Cutting a covenant: again. The testimony was what would be carved in stone and unchanged, but the covenant, written on a scroll and kept beside the Ark of the covenant, would keep being amended with added clauses as they were needed due to situations like this. But we are not to add to it or take away from it. (Deut. 4:2) "Do wonders": literally, make distinctions--i.e., distinguishing signs, deeds far different from normal, natural ones. The Torah was also given to teach us to make distinctions between holy and unholy things. (Lev. 10:10; 11:47) The only way we will see the wonders is if the Torah is present. It was not necessarily a compliment that He did this for them, for it was an extra measure they needed just to overcome their stiff necks. It is a reminder that we are not rraslly back yet.

12. "Be on your guard [to be sure] that you do not cut a covenant with the people of the Land to which you are going, so that it will not be a snare in your midst.

Not cut a covenant: or make a treaty; Israel would do well to heed this command today as they have come back into the land, but are being ensnared by concessions to the other inhabitants. In other words, He had taken care of their past guilt in regard to idolatry, but He warned them not to leave an opening for the same temptation to return. In your midst: the place where He is supposed to reside; letting someone else be there will only usurp His place. His covenant and any other such agreement are mutually exclusive. So He actually set them at war with these people to try to preclude this from taking place. Any covenant with those that are occupying what belongs to Israel (as Christianity now does, holding hostage the lost sheep of the House of Israel)—or to YHWH in any way—will stand the way of ourt covenant with Him. Those who are not agreed cannot walk together. How can we see His wonders if we are asking help from His enemies?

Asherah poles: sacred "groves" since they looked like trees, or phallic symbols dedicated to a feminine deity. This is the historical root of what today is known as the Christmas tree. While when in exile they might have to exercise a “live and let live” policy to ensure their own survival, in His Land there is to be no peaceful coexistence. They cannot peacefully coexist or just avoid trouble from them; we are not to be on a witch hunt, but as we move into the territory He is now saying to take back, we will certainly encounter them, and when they are in our way, we must make war on them. We cannot tinker with this. If we do not destroy them, we will inevitably end up serving them. Even now while still in exile, we are to be a set-apart people; if we are to have associations with churches in any way, we must be tearing down their false images of who YHWH and Yahshua are; if we cannot do this, we must recognize that there is no place for us there. If we have peace with any form of paganism, we have made an illegitimate covenant with them. To fail to break down falsehood is respecting it, which by definition is failure to respect (fear) YHWH:

We must not allow others to defile what He has made pure. We cannot butter the Torah up and slide it back into the Church; it simply cannot work in that context.

Making concessions only leads you to being drawn into their sins, eating their festive meals rather than YHWH's, and thus indirectly participating in the worship of other gods, even if one did not have this motive in one's heart, but only came because of a friendship they developed with someone who worshipped them. A case in point in our exile is the "meat offered to idols" issue in the Renewed Covenant. At first Paul did not think it was a problem, since the idol is not real (Rom. 14), so he said it was allowable to go if one wanted to. But he later realized it was better to not even want to go—to change desires--and concurred with the other apostles’ ruling to eat only with those who shared the same dietary standards. (Acts 15:29; compare 1 Cor. 8, 10) Many festive meals of the pagans were plastered with a veneer of biblical names, justified because they had similar themes, and today have come to be thought of as innately associated with YHWH or Yahshua, when in fact it was simply participation by YHWH's people that ever gave them any perceived value to righteous people. In the context immediately following this, it clearly applies to Easter.

A covenant with the inhabitants of the Land did not have to be on the national level to be a hindrance to Israel; it could be on the personal level through intermarriage, but it would leaven the whole nation. Fornication: though they did not see it as unfaitfulness to their husbands, most pagan women did participate in sexual acts as part of their worship. The Greek nobility even regarded it as a great privilege if their virgin daughters were deflowered in the context of their temples. But any form of His people’s participation in pagan worship is seen as adultery by YHWH. It starts with a simple acceptance of an invitation to dinner, and ends up with your children as idolaters. So there is no room for “dating” pagans in any manner. If those daughters become Israelites and leave their old practices behind, intermarriage is allowed. (Deut. 21:10-14) But if any of their practices are mixed in, the nation we have will no longer truly be Israel. This is the history of the Church in a nutshell.

There is to be no substitute for YHWHVerses 18ff are antidotes to the poisons of which He has just spoken—the things that are effective in keeping us away from their elohim.

The antidote for eating at a pagan table is to eat matzah—a ritual that will teach us and confirm YHWH’s desires.

Opens the womb: i.e., the firstborn.

“Your sons belong to me” is the antidote to them being allowed to belong to the daughters of pagans. The donkey is an unclean beast, but may be domesticated like clean beasts on this condition. It can be useful if YHWH is paid for it in this way. Even our natural inclinations can be redeemed if dedicated to YHWH, but there is no option of keeping them for our selfish use once we are part of a people that belong to Him. The Hebrew word for donkey is based on the word for a measure of 100 omers, which symbolizes the world at large, from which one in ten are called out to be built into YHWH's holy altar and temple. It is also related to the word for "a pile of fermenting refuse" --a picture of "the world that is passing away with the lusts thereof". The world is stiff-necked, and anyone in it who is not redeemed by the Lamb of Elohim must be destroyed.

The rain comes in this season (v. 18), and one day can make a big difference in bringing the harvest in. One day of rain could mean its ruin. But still YHWH says to cease for His Sabbath, because nothing matters more than keeping His commandments. He is what keeps us alive, not the means He usually uses as intermediaries. More immediately, when Moshe came down from the mountain and the people realized YHWH could not dwell among them again until the Tabernacle was finished, they would be likely to want to hurry and finish it quickly. But still no work even on this tent was to be done on the Sabbath.

At the turn (or changing) of the year: Sukkoth is actually fifteen days into the civil new year, but in Hebraic thought, the end of one thing and the beginning of the next overlap, just as the time of Yaaqov's trouble [the "Great Tribulation"] is part of the end of this age but also the beginning of the Kingdom. The LXX reads, "in the middle of the year", for on the calendar specific to Israel it is the seventh month.

Times: repeated occasions; literally, rhythmic beats. Here is the third antidote to being at a dinner in honor of other mighty ones. During the “down times”, when we would be more likely to have the leisure to yield to the temptation to go there, He summons us to meet with Him.

Conventional wisdom would say it was unsafe for all the men to leave their homes, wives, and children (if they had to stay back with a newborn, etc.) and travel to Yerushalayim, especially right after the harvest was gathered in, but YHWH put their minds at ease--if they trusted Him--by saying that He would be sure all these things were kept safe while they journeyed in obedience to Him. No one would bother their families or possessions--a foreshadowing of the Kingdom, when "no one will make them afraid". (Yehezq'el 34:28; Micha 4:4; Tzefanyah 3:13) When we seek first YHWH's Kingdom, He makes sure the other things fall into place for us. (Mat. 6:33) He takes care of our livelihood if we keep His feasts, though not necessarily in ways we would expect.

Anything leavened: see note on 23:18. There is no more bread in a leavened loaf than in matzah, so do not present to YHWH what looks like more than it really is. Left until the morning: Keeping some for later is acting like a Gentile. There will be something new tomorrow which He will have to hold back if we are still focused on what He gave yesterday. He might not want it or need it beyond that specified time. He cannot put the new blessing where there is something in the way, so make room for it. If the heart does not pump the blood back out (note on v. 1), it will back up and explode.

Kid: LXX, "lamb". Just as one must not delay to bring the firstfruits of the crop, one must not wait until he has had some enjoyment from the firstling of the flock before offering it to YHWH. Eight days of age is the limit. (22:29-30; see note on 23:19)

YHWH had said He would write the words on the slabs (v. 1), but He tells Moshe to write them. The first time Moshe spoke the Torah as his understanding of what YHWH had in mind, and YHWH gave His approval to his wording. A king is responsible to write his own copy and read from it every day. (Deut. 17:18ff) Moshe was the first “king” of Israel, though not in name, so he is making a copy of what YHWH is writing. The more spend time intimately with them, like a king, the more the kingdom will be in us. The mouth: He was to write them, but the force is stronger when read aloud. We are not only responsible to know His words, but to teach them to the rest of Israel as well. Don’t let them lie idly on the stones. Interact with them, for they are alive. Even if they are carved on the heart, they are still dead words if we do nothing with them. Now Moshe has to carve them into this stiff-necked people. When we speak the Torah to one another, we help carve the covenant into one another’s “slabs”. So be sure that yours are prepared to receive as well. The mouth reveals what is in our heart. (Mat. 12:34) These words: the ones He has just spoken, which constitute an addendum to the covenant. (See note on v. 10.) The edge of a sword is also called "the mouth" in Hebrew, so words have a cutrting force; Paul calls the word of YHWH a sword. (Eph. 6:17;cf. Heb. 4:12). Out of Yahshua's mouth proceeds a two-edged sword (Rev. 1:16). His word is a fire. (Jer. 23:29) Our deeds will be tested by fire (1 Cor. 3), but if we listen to them now and judge ourselves by them, we will not need to be judged. (1 Cor. 11:31) A fire cannot burn in the same place twice. By his words we will be judged. (Yochanan 12:47-48)

Hirsch says this forty-day period was from the first of Elul until the tenth of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, a period which now focuses us on repentance in preparation for that day. Food: literally, "bread", but the term can be more generic. (In Arabic it means “meat”!) A healthy person can go forty days without food (and no one was ever asked to do so), but going more than three days without water is a miracle. But he was directly in YHWH’s presence, and needed no other sustenance. Yahshua told His disciples, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about: My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me, and to complete His work.” (Yochanan 4:32-33) He wrote: The antecedent is ambiguous; it could mean that YHWH wrote them, or it could be that Moshe wrote over the slabs—i.e., that around the “blueprint” for the Tabernacle that YHWH had carved onto them, Moshe also wrote the terms of the covenant. He is bringing a new covenant here—or really the same one, but presented in a different order. YHWH realized the people could not handle the ten words until we learned to be a set-apart people, so He begins with that this time before He ever says anything about the ten words,