After spending seven days in the Tabernacle, Aaron and his sons are called by Adonai to make offerings. The number eight in Hebrew is sh’mona and is represented by the letter chet. The number eight symbolizes ‘new beginnings.’ Eight people in Noach’s family were saved on the Ark and had a ‘new beginning’ in a changed world. The circumcision of a baby boy happens on the eighth day, a ‘new beginning’ as a child of the covenant. Feast of Tabernacles is an eight-day festival prophetic to the restoration and ‘new beginning’ of the Messianic Era. Yeshua was resurrected on the first day of the week, but in a continuous cycle of days, it was the eighth day, ‘a new beginning.’ All dedications of the Tabernacle took eight days, and the account of the holy oil lasting eight days during Hanukkah brought a ‘new beginning’ through purification for the Temple.
Category: Torah Portions
Parashah 25: Tzav (Give an order)
Fire is a symbol of the Divine Presence of Adonai. In the bush that didn’t burn, Moshe encountered the presence of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. The presence of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh was in the column of fire that led the Israelites during the night as they trekked through the wilderness. When Adonai gave His Torah, the mountain was covered in smoke and fire.
Parashah 24: Vayikra (He called) – LEVITICUS
The sacrifices and offerings stopped in 70 CE because there was no longer a Temple where they could be done. In other words, whenever there is a Temple, there will be a sacrificial system. In the coming Millennial Kingdom, another Temple will be built. According to the prophet Ezekiel, there will be an Altar of Sacrifice in this Temple and there will be regulations for its consecration as well as its offerings (Ezekiel 43). The ‘prince’ will be obligated to present burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings on the Altar for the House of Isra’el (Ezekiel 45:17).
Parashah 23: P’kudei (Accounts)
Had Moshe’s intercession been enough? Would Adonai forgive them? Or would He continue to keep His distance? Would He be merciful and compassionate to them? Would they worship the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as they had been promised in Egypt or had they lost that privilege? Would the Shekinah of the One who redeemed them, guided them, protected them, fought for them, and spoke with them, appear and live among them in the Tabernacle they built with their skilled hands and willing hearts? Did Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh still consider Isra’el His treasured possession?