Terumah describes the building of the Tabernacle, or Mishkan. It was how Adonai planned to abide among the Israelites both individually and as a nation. Its services would provide continuity with its daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices. Even the weavings of the fabrics were important, such as the blue threads that were also to be attached to the corners of the Israelites' garments. Each detail of the Tabernacle reiterated this abiding Presence, such as:
- The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. (Ex 25:15)
The poles are for carrying purposes only. Why leave them inside the golden rings if the Ark is at rest in its place?
The sages comment that leaving the poles in place is a posture of readiness. The poles cannot be disconnected from the Ark so that those who carry it will not lose them, or in haste, substitute poles unable to carry the weight. They can carry the Ark of the Presence and the tablets of the commandments in haste if a sudden war arises. Concerning the abiding position of the poles:
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The Ark is the ‘dwelling-place’ of the Torah, and it is our entire mainstay and glory. Therefore, we were commanded not to remove the poles of the Ark from it, for fear that we might need to go with it out to some place swiftly, and perhaps, amid the anxiety and haste, we will not check well if its poles are as strong as necessary, and then, Heaven forbid, it may fall from their hands. (Sefer HaChinnuch to §96 p. 371)
In other words, the strength of the carrying poles signifies one’s ability to move continuously in/with the Torah and clouds of glory and judgment, not away from them. Strong, gold-encased poles are always ready to move with the Spirit. Disengaged, lost, or substitute poles not made according to the pattern cannot move with the Ark and the cloud. Ark-carrying is not a job for a lost pole in high weeds.
Based on verses of Scripture concerning the movement of the Ark and cloud as the guiding and abiding Presence of Adonai, the following is sung in the synagogue whenever the Torah scroll is removed:
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When the Ark would travel, Moses would say, 'Arise O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let them that hate You flee from You. For from Zion will go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Blessed be He, Who in His holiness, gave the Torah to His people Israel.'
A battle with the Word is a running battle. As long as the poles remain in the Ark, its carriers at the ready. The Word goes forth, and the enemy will run!
The Jewish sages’ interest in the functionality of the abiding poles as readiness for sudden movement is mirrored by Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians:
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Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. (1 Th 5:1-10)
A beliver should always be on the alert, prepared as a warrior, contemplating the abiding Presence with which he is charged move on command, even until the sudden destruction of darkness: Although there is no Mishkan today, nevertheless readers study these passages every year and contemplate their spiritual applications and the ability of the Spirit-filled words to transform one's life to readiness. “Every object in the Sanctuary must imply and connote supernal themes, so that a man will be influenced toward the good through his contemplation of them. And God wished, for our good, that it should not lose that form even for a moment.” (Sefer HaChinnuch to §96 p. 373)
Continuity is possible even when there is no Mishkan or Mikdash (Temple), for it is through our contemplation (study) of the construction of the Mishkan that we can eat of the Garden’s good fruit and/or be healed of sins that distance us from Adonai. We leave His Presence running in our spirit at all times. This leads to the next commandment:
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You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times. (Ex 25:30)
The commandment of perpetual bread is because it is by this, the "staff of bread," that man lives throughout the generations. The physical bread is a reminder of the spiritual bread because its frankincense, which remained atop the Bread of the Presence for the week it remained on the Table, became a fire offering (Le 24:7) of fragrance. Since Heaven does not eat Bread, it is mankind who benefits from eating the perpetual bread of the abiding Presence through the representation of the priesthood, the cohanim.
“The fragrance is the pleasure that Adonai takes when a human being does His will and not his own. Wherever it is stated in Scripture, ‘a pleasing scent to the Lord (Le 1:9),’ it means that I asserted My wish and My will was done. Similarly, ‘the Lord smelled the pleasing scent (Ge 8:21) is to be understood in the same way.” (ibid) Those who eat the Bread of His Presence release a fragrance with their obedience just as the Bread's frankincense released a fragrance on the altar. Yeshua connects this for us:
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Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ (Mt 6:9-13)
Each natural offering reflects its expected consequence from Heaven. The reward flows from a corresponding Heavenly well above:
- The omer of barley at Pesach results in a blessing on the fields.
- The water libations at Sukkot result in timely rain.
- The animal sacrifices remove the “animal intelligence/soul” and heighten spiritual awareness.
- Natural Bread of Faces [“shewbread” KJV] brings satiety from the Bread of Heaven.
Every Shabbat, the bread is removed, and the new bread is immediately arranged. When the new bread was no farther than a hand’s breadth from the old, two cohanim would switch them “to fulfill what Scripture says, ‘before Me always’ (Ex 25:30).” In other words, there was to be a seamless replacement and the table was never left without bread even for an instant.
The two watches of the cohanim would share the bread, the outgoing watch and the incoming watch, forming a seamless change of watches with the eating of bread. Tradition says that each cohen who ate only the amount of a bean was completely full.
A moral of the story Terumah?
Each part of the Mishkan teaches us to weave the motor running on our spiritual service. We should maintain that blue thread of Heaven always, weaving its commandments into the fabric of every part of our lives. Join us on the YouTube livestream on Shabbat for a more complete examination of how we "weave it running."
We will do the Shabbat afternoon live stream at approximately 4:00 pm Eastern on Saturday b'azrat HaShem.
