Tetzaveh (You shall command) Ex 27:20 to 30:10; Ezek 43:10-27; Heb13: 10-16
Moses was told: “Command the Israelites to bring clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.” (Ex.27:20)
The Temple menorah was formed by beating one piece of gold weighing 100 pounds. It had 7 branches and was seen only by the priests in the holy place. here again is a prophetic illustration of the people of God (Jew and Gentile) united as one, pure and undefiled as His priests serving Him as His light to the world.
The olive oil used for the Menorah also had other uses such as for consecration of someone or something which was to be set apart for sacred use. This anointing combined the calling upon a person’s life wight he enabling to accomplish that task. The word ‘Meshiach’ is derived from the word for anointing (‘meshichah’).
The olives were harvested using long sticks to beat down the olives from the trees which fell on blankets and then gathered. The bitter juices from the olives were then squeezed out in a large press.
We can better understand this illustration with the refining of the olives within the spiritual application to our lives. The Lord refines us through difficult circumstances to purge us of the ‘bitter juices’ in our lives to bring us into a deeper healing and wholeness.
Having the impurities of our imperfections removed from our lives involves great pain and in a real sense, ‘death’ to self, but when we allow God to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight, the end product is pure gold. We are transformed into a vessel meet for His use – a small price to pay compared to the eternal weight of glory that awaits us!
The oil used for service in the Temple was the purest, most precious oil available. Our sages say that the oil was so pure that only the first drop of oil from each olive could be used that took 7 days to make a single batch. But before the oil could be released and the fragrance distributed throughout the Tabernacle and beyond, the vessel had to be broken. And it reveals to us that our light can only truly shine when we allow the purest oil to burn within us. Anything less is a pale imitation. We learn that God’s light is always sufficient even when the oil appears to be just enough for one night!
God chooses colours and material strategically not randomly in service to Him (cf Romance of the Hebrew Calendar)
“You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (Ex 28:2)
The ephod, or garment underneath the breastplate, was made of fine linen and woven out of gold, blue (heavenlies) purple (royalty) and scarlet (Scarlet, like crimson, is used to describe sin) threads.
Although a priestly garment, King David also wore the priestly garments when he brought back the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
“Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. David also wore an ephod of linen.” (1Chron.15:27; 2 Sam.6:14)
This responsibility was delegated to the Levites “as a permanent regulation throughout all generations.” (v21) So, when the Temple was destroyed in 70AD it created a problem. Had God given the Israelites an impossible command? God had everything under control because before the beginning of time He had already prepared for Yeshua, His only begotten Son, to provide the means whereby every Jew and Gentile believer would become ‘priests of the Most High who serve Him day and night in our physical bodies, a dwelling place of the Shekinah glory (Holy Spirit) which is a ‘dwelling place’, or ‘tabernacle’ that is transformed into a Temple of His Holy Spirit.’ (1 Cor 6:19; Heb.10:6)
The rabbis in the midrash ask the following question:
“You are the light of the world, so why do you ask us to light a candlestick with oil.” Rabbi Maier said: “The Lord said that the lights that the sons of Aaron light in the tabernacle are more precious to Me from the lights that I have hung in the heavens.” For the Lord has said, “For the Lord will be your everlasting light.” (Isa.40:1-5)
“Arise, shine, for your light has come! The glory of Adonai has risen on you.
For behold, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness the peoples.
But Adonai will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
Nations will come to your light, kings to the brilliance of your rising.
Lift up your eyes and look all around they all gather—they come to you—
your sons will come from far away, your daughters carried on the hip. Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will throb and swell with joy.
“No more will the sun be your light by day, nor the glow of the moon be your light,
but Adonai will be your everlasting light, and your God for your glory.
No more will your sun set, nor will your moon wane,
for Adonai will be your everlasting light, as the days of your mourning end.” (v’s 19-20)
And so, we can see how the Tabernacle (Mishkan) became a “home” for the infinite God within a finite space. It was set in the middle of the camp, not just for protection but as a perpetual sign for the people to understand the importance of placing God in the centre of everything.
Until now the Hebrew word, ‘kavod’ meaning ‘honour’ was used and confined only to God. Now a new word is introduced which in the Hebrew is, ‘tiferet,’ meaning ‘glory’ and ‘beauty’ as applied to the priesthood. They were to carry His glory as they served Him in the beauty of holiness in the Temple.
“Everything God creates in His physical world helps us understand His spiritual world. The use of physical gems on the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol is no different. Since these stones represent the 12 tribes, and the breastplate is connected with discovering the will of God, the stones represent how precious Israel is to the Lord and His desire to lead them into His will.
The precious stones embedded in the foundations of the New Jerusalem also represent the 12 tribes. From this we can understand the continued importance of Israel in the Messianic Age.
All Believers in Yeshua play a significant role, as well. Scripture says that we are a holy priesthood and living stones, a spiritual house through Yeshua the Messiah:
‘And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah Yeshua.’ (1 Peter 2:4–5)
Like a precious jewel, precisely cut, shaped and polished by a master lapidary, we each have the ability to uniquely reflect the beauty and glory of God’s Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) as we serve Him.” Messianic Bible.com
In the time of the Temple it was filled with music. There were choirs of Levites worshipping God continually with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and making music to the Lord in their hearts as referred to by Paul in Eph. 3:19. Since the destruction of the Temple, the Jewish people have retained the Torah but lost the sweet melody of true worship that can only be discovered through Yeshua.
Should any believer relegate Yeshua to any place other than the centre we will also lose sight of Him and our ‘song’ will be no more than a sounding gong and an empty shell.
All that remains of the great structure of the 2nd Temple is the Temple Mount and the Western wall in Jerusalem. On one of their visits there the Apostles were staggered by the architectural grandeur of the building and as Yeshua was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples commented, ‘“Rabbi! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!’ and he replied “Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Mk. 13:1-2)
This is exactly what happened 40 years later when the Romans destroyed the Temple to help finance and build the Colosseum in Rome where the early believers were torn apart by lions as a spectacle for the entertainment of the Roman people. The physical destruction of the Temple now in a sense reflected the destruction of these martyrs because every believer is a receptacle or Temple of the Holy Spirit. Though countless people down through the ages have given their lives for their faith in Yeshua, tortured and destroyed in the most unimaginably evil ways down through the centuries, no-one can ever be robbed of their eternal inheritance stored up for them.
In the early days of His ministry, Yeshua publicly declared to the religious hierarchy, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn. 2:19) In other words, our true Temple is not made by human hands but through His victory over death. None of Yeshua’s hearers understood this or its implications as regards His gift of Divine grace for every person who yields their life to Him.
In the discussion between Yeshua and the Samaritan woman, Yeshua made it clear that the Temple worship in Jerusalem was far superior to their worship on Mt Gerazim in Samaria. Just to briefly clarify things here. The Samaritans embraced a syncretistic religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry (2Kings17:26-28). During their period of exile, the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted many of their pagan customs and consequently were overwhelmingly hated by the Jews.
However, true worship is not about Temples built by man or sacred mountains but our response to who Yeshua is. And so Yeshua responded to the Samaritan woman, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” Jn. 4:23)
Yeshua clearly understood that it was necessary for His own earthly body to be destroyed, as a sacrifice for our sins making it possible for our bodies to be transformed into Temples of His Holy Spirit. We have seen down through history how temples have been destroyed by Kingdoms seeking to retain or expand their power, always justifying it as being in service of the true faith or for the welfare of the people. Even now many churches are distracted by arguments over buildings and conditions of worship during COVID, being blind to the real issue. It is what happens at the altar of our hearts that determines whether true worship occurs or not. Here, in the heart, there is a great struggle to protect what is holy. And we can see the effects of this in deep conflicts and rifts between and even within church congregations.
What is the root problem here? If we dare to look, we see that what many people really mourn is not loss of access to temples made by human hands, but the failure to offer true worship at the altar of their hearts. What they avoid mourning is the recognition of their own lukewarm, Laodicean faith sponsored by the familiar rhythms of life. The “new norm” is a clarion cry and wake-up call for us to engage as labourers in the vineyard before it’s too late. One person wrote:
“Ideologies, myths, political and social constructions, and even church life to which we have grown emotionally attached, all too easily serve to eclipse recognition of our place together in the Temple of Yeshua’s Body that is not made with human hands. The altar of the heart is under siege by all sorts of “powers and principalities” that tempt us to betray God in order to serve lesser worldly interests without Him. They tempt us to look for how to find happiness and preserve our life in this world… This entails gaining freedom from substitutes such as worldly satisfaction and religiosity in place of faith. It entails the loss of everything on this earth which we treasure including life itself, when it is received without being offered to God in thanksgiving in a living relationship.” Fr. Stephen Muse – “Send That Annoying Foreigner Away!” https://orthodoxcolumbus.org/send-that-annoying-foreigner-away/
We are the Temple of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that can only be removed by our own choice. So let’s tread gently with our eyes fixed on Yeshua careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and keep the command ”to bring clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that our lamps may be kept burning.” (Ex 27:20)
