Moses on the Mountain – VaYekhel & Pekudei – March 14

Exodus 35:1 – Exodus 40:38

“So he was there forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water” – Exodus 34:28

Moses was on the mountain with the LORD for forty days and forty nights. Moses enjoyed sweet communion with God and he was literally changed by being in God’s presence and talking with Him. Moses’ face shone with the radiance of God (Ex. 34:29). This wasn’t just a nice shiny look like after one washes one’s face. It was a penetrating shine that caused fear in Aaron and all the sons of Israel when they saw Moses. Aaron and the sons of Israel were afraid to come near Moses because of the marked presence of God on his face (Ex. 34:30-31).

For eleven chapters (Exodus 24-34) God had been giving Moses the Law and providing all of the instructions for the children of Israel to build the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. The Tabernacle was to be a place of worship and sacrifice where God would dwell in the midst of the people and meet with them.

God had called Moses to come up to the mountain to give Moses these instructions and he was on the mountain for forty day and forty nights (Ex. 24:12-18). These instructions were interrupted by the great sin of the sons of Israel as they requested from Aaron to make them a god (the golden calf) to lead them as they were tired of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain (Ex. 32:1). After the great sin of the golden calf Moses interceded for the people before the LORD, there was judgement, and then God continued to lead the people by the hand of Moses (Ex. 32:30-35).

God then called Moses up to the mountain a second time to speak with him and to replace the two tablets that Moses had shattered in his anger (Ex. 34:1). Moses was on the mountain for another forty days and forty nights and Moses wrote the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, on the tablets (Ex. 34:27-28). Then Moses descended from the mountain, with his face shining bright having been in the presence of God, and he brought the instructions of the LORD to the people.

Time with God

After the second set of forty days and forty nights with God on the mountain, neither eating nor drinking, Moses came down with the words of the covenant which are summarized in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:27-28). Moses had been on the mountain with God for a total of eighty days and eighty nights all together. Moses was a man who was intimate with God. Moses knew God and God knew Moses. Moses was changed by being in God’s presence.

How much time do you spend with God? Are you able to set aside an hour a day? A half an hour? Fifteen minutes? It is not just a matter of spending time with God but of being in God’s presence and communicating with Him and more importantly, allowing God to communicate with you. Take time to spend with God. Make meeting with God a daily priority in you life. You will not be disappointed and you will be changed!

Waiting for the Word of the LORD

“Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, ‘These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do’” (Ex. 35:1).  Moses descended from the mountain, gathered the people, and began to speak to them about the commands of the LORD. The first words to come out of the mouth of Moses would be heard by all the sons of Israel. What did Moses have to say to the people after spending this second set of forty days and forty nights on the mountain?

Moses’ First Words to the People

The children of Israel had just committed a gross sin in the face of God a couple of months earlier. There had been severe punishment with 3000 people being killed by the sword. Moses had just received the words of the covenant afresh from the LORD with the Ten Commandments being the representation of this covenant and Moses called the people together to speak to them. After eighty days and nights in the presence of God, listening to God, and being changed by God how did Moses choose to begin his talk with the people? What was burning in Moses’ heart to share with them?

The Sabbath

Moses gathered the people together and then began with these words:

… These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD” – Ex. 35:1-2

Moses  instructed them about The Sabbath!  It is not Moses’ own words but rather the command of the LORD.  Why do Moses and the LORD focus on the Sabbath out of all of the commandments that God had given him?  Is the Sabbath really that important?

The first three verses of Exodus chapter 35 stand out from the remaining five chapters of the book of Exodus. Outside of Exodus 35:1-3, all of the following chapters and verses of the book of Exodus focus solely on the contribution for the Tabernacle, the construction of it, the assembling of it, and the initial worship there. From all that the LORD spoke to Moses, from all of the details of the building of the Tabernacle, Moses spoke about the Sabbath. What is so special about the Sabbath? What does the Sabbath teach us about life and spirituality?

The Foundation of the Sabbath

The Sabbath is a foundational principle of life and creation. The Sabbath reminds man that there is a God, this God created the heavens and earth, this God worked six days and rested on the seventh day, and by resting on the seventh day man is being like God. Through observing the Sabbath man would learn to trust God for provision on the Sabbath day. Man would learn to trust God for all that is still undone from his labors from the week before. Man would learn to trust God for all of his life.

The Sabbath principle is a foundational principle to faith in God. If man will not stop and rest he will not be able to listen and trust. By honoring the Sabbath, man acknowledges that God is the Creator and sustainer of life. If man is willing to obey God in Sabbath rest he will be able to obey God in the other commandments as well. This is why Moses spoke first about the Sabbath.

What did God command about the Sabbath?

• Work six days. We often forget that God commanded us to work six days. God gave work to man before the fall (Gen. 2:15). Work is not evil.  Work is a part of the good created order.
• The seventh day is to be a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD.
• Don’t work on the Sabbath day. Whoever works should be put to death.
• Don’t light a fire. 

There is very little further written about the Sabbath.  The instructions were clear; work six days, rest on the seventh, and don’t light a fire.

Why does God specify to Not Light a Fire?

Have any of you been camping before? What is involved in making a fire? Wood needs to be gathered and possibly chopped. This alone can take an hour or two. The wood then needs to be properly arranged with kindling (smaller sticks) set under the wood. Then the fire needs to be lit and properly managed to get a good fire going. This can take another hour. Making a fire is work. It is a lot of work and God wanted to keep His people from working. God wanted to set His people free from the burden of work and gave them clear guidelines; No work and No lighting a fire!

Why is God so severe in His punishing Sabbath Breakers?

God knows that man is stubborn and obstinate, wanting to go his own way. God knows that if He did not command us to rest, we would want to continue to labor. I believe God was telling the children of Israel that Sabbath rest is so important to Him that it is a matter of life and death.

God has given us life, the ability to work and the opportunity to live a fulfilled life. He knows that we need limits and He made the Sabbath principle very clear: work six days and rest one. It was as if God were saying, “Obey Me in this and everything else will fall into place. Disobey Me in this and there is only death.”

The Sabbath and the Tabernacle

This week’s Torah Portion (for March 15, 2015) is a double portion, meaning that two Torah Portions are read for the same week. It is a total of six chapters and from these six chapters only three verses talk about the Sabbath and all the rest are connected to the Tabernacle construction and assembly.  The children of Israel were being commissioned to build the Tabernacle and this great project could easily consume them. Once they started they would want to finish it. It is easy to get consumed with any project and want to see it through until the end.  God wanted to protect them from this human trap and He reminded them to take a weekly rest.

A Personal Testimony

I recently started my own building project in my apartment in Jerusalem. I built two buffet tables for my dining room area. I designed the buffet tables, ordered the wood from the lumberyard, bought all of the necessary bolts, hinges, knobs, etc… and then I started building. The process from start to finish took me about two weeks as I was working on it before and after work and on days off. For two weeks in a row I struggled to not work on the Sabbath. I wanted to finish the job sooner rather than later but I knew that God’s ways are higher than my ways and I needed to continue to practice the “work six days – rest one” principle.

God does not give us rules to take away our joy. He guides us in paths that lead to life if we are willing to follow Him. God wanted the children of Israel to always take a Sabbath rest, to always remember that He is God, and to constantly depend on Him and not their own strength. God reminded the children of Israel through Moses, before they began this grand project of the Tabernacle, that the children of Israel were to work six days and rest one.

How to Apply the Sabbath to Life Today?

Living life according to the Bible in light of the New Testament and faith in Yeshua is somewhat challenging today. Life according to the Old Testament Law was very straight forward. It was more black and white with very little gray area. Living life by faith in the Messiah with the indwelling Holy Spirit along with the Bible gives a bit more freedom but requires more effort to apply God’s Word to our current situation.

I believe that the Sabbath principle to work six days and rest one is still valid for today. I’m not a Seventh Day Adventist and don’t want to teach others that they must observe the seventh day only. I believe God is more concerned with our hearts than with a day. I follow the teaching laid out for the believers in the letter to the Romans that each person needs to be fully convinced in his or her own mind concerning how we observe our days (Romans 14:5-8). The most important thing is to be fully convinced in our own minds before the LORD in how to work this out. If we don’t set a weekly day of rest aside and make it something consistent, we will most likely forfeit our weekly Sabbath rest because of the busyness of this world. For more information about how to live out a weekly day of rest I recommend my book on the Sabbath; Practicing the Sabbath in Community!

Honoring a weekly Sabbath day reveals a genuine reverence for God and faith in His Word, the Bible. Let us each consider this principle of the Sabbath, enjoy the days that God gives us on earth with the family and friends, and live a life in balance with the created order and with the Creator Himself.

Shabbat Shalom!

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Torah Portion: Ex. 35:1 – Ex. 40:38

Hafatara: 1 Kings 7:51 – 1 Kings 8:21

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