Parashat Terumah:
Torah: Exodus 25:1 – 28:19
Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:12 – 6:13
Gospel: Hebrews 8: 1-6 & 9:23-24 & 10:1
A few points of interest:
· Exodus 25:5 & 14 – Say again, what skins?
Opinions vary: Dolphin skins or Sealskin or merely leather died purple, all opinions come with Rabbinical rationale. The Hebrew word “Tachash” means “dolphin”, but then again there are different opinions.
Some opinions include beautiful stories of dolphins herding fish and accompanying Israel through the Red Sea, before turning back to watch the Egyptian army drown. Some dolphins were slain and their bodies washed up on the shore, providing the skins. The primary objections note that dolphins are not kosher and pose the question why GOD will issue an instruction to use an unclean animal’s skin for the Tabernacle.
Other opinions state that it was another type of marine mammal skin like seals (also not Kosher) or even a mystical animal which was created purely for providing their skins as a covering for the Tabernacle, and which became extinct there-after.
The down to earth opinions are that it was ram or bovine skins, stained purple with a rare and expensive die extracted from sea shells.
But then it is entirely possible that the covering was made of dolphin or seal skins, which was bought from traders caravanning along the ancient trade routes. We cannot say for certain.
It will be an interesting question to ask when we meet Moses in the New Jerusalem.
· Exodus 27:1 & 2 – Was the Altar made of wood? Did it not burn?
All of the construction of the Tabernacle was from Acacia wood, i.e. “Shittah” in Hebrew. The Acacia family offers several “candidates” – Acacia Tortillis, Acacia Seyal or Mimosa Nilatica aka Spina Egyptiaca. Growing in arid environments, Acacias have dense wood because of the scarcity of water but also because these trees uniquely deposit waste products into their wood. This increases its density, making it less permeable to water and also makes it unpalatable to insects. Both these factors delays decay.
(Of course, the wood reminds us of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach’s crusification and the fact that most of the construction wood in the Tabernacle was cladded with gold, also reminds us of Yeshua’s deity. Acacia wood is long-lasting, almost indestructible if not broken down by fire or termites. This characteristic reminds us that Yeshua’s Millennial Kingdom will last for 1,000 years and that GOD’s Kingdom which follows there-after, will be everlasting.)
(The Acacia thorns remind us of Yeshua’s Crown of Thorns. At the time, it also reminded Israel that being GOD’s chosen people don’t mean that life with be smooth, plain sailing, an idyllic life in the land of milk and honey. No, the thorns reminded Israel that life will have its pricks and stings. It is an earlier version of the modern Israeli “bee” image, containing the honey and the sting!)
Do you remember the 3 requirements to make a fire?
– Without a source of ignition, a spark of a flame any substance will not easily caught alight. Without the source, any fuel’s temperature has to be raised above its auto-ignition temperature before a fire can start. In the case of wood, the auto-ignition temperature is determined by many factors, not limited to its type (soft vs. Hard wood), its state (green/weathered/decayed) and size (dust/fines/logs), but the initial irreversible changes require about 2500 C.
– The 2nd requirement for a fire is indeed a fuel to burn. Acacia being a hardwood is more difficult to burn than soft woods.
– The 3rd requirement is of course, oxygen or air containing oxygen as burning and fire is essentially an exothermic oxidative process. Without oxygen, no oxidative process can occur. A durable cladding of a fuel source acts as a barrier to oxygen reaching the fuel in order to cause a fire.
The Altar was cladded with bronze – so called “yellow copper”. Bronze, like all the well-known copper alloys, is an exceptional conductor of heat. The heat generated by the burning of offerings would be dissipated very rapidly, so that no “hot spots” can develop which will raise the temperature in that spot above the auto-ignition temperature of the wood. Once dissipated, the heat will escape to the surrounds through conduction into the soil, through radiation in every direction and through convection which will envelope or “shroud” the pleasant aroma of the offering upwards, into the heavens. Furthermore, the bronze cladding effectively acted as a barrier to oxygen and so doing, protected the acacia wood from catching alight.
Bronze is much harder than gold, making it durable i.e. much slower to be worn away. It has another very “modern” characteristic – bronze (like many copper and nickel bearing alloys do) is a natural anti-microbial, viruses, bacteria and fungi are killed on contact through its keen electrical conductivity which literally shocks these agents of disease to death upon contact, by “stealing” their electrons.
The design of the altar was/is safe to use and fit for its purpose.
· 1 Kings 5:12 – 6:13
King Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs! What a productive career he had.
Evidence to confirm the Biblical account was documented in a recent video – showing cedar and cypress beams and planks exposed after an earthquake, during reconstruction: https://www.israelunwired.com/rare-footage-of-the-secret-archaeology-on-the-temple-mount/
· Hebrews 8:1-6, 9:23-24 & 10:1
The Torah is a shadow of the things to come.
