All Stitched Up

Exodus 35:1-38:20, Vayak’hel, “And He Gathered Together”

Over the last few days, I have been thinking back over the last few weekly readings and thinking about how they link together.  I have been trying to hear from the Holy Spirit and move confidently into writing on what I have been thinking.  Then I read the meaning of this week’s parsha.  “And He Gathered Together”.  I am taking this as a confirmation to where I was being led because this is exactly what I have been thinking about doing, gathering together some key concepts from the past few parshas.

Going back a few weeks, when we were discussing the priests’ garments, the concept that kept coming up was “glory and beauty”.  From there, in last week’s parsha, we find Moses moving up onto the mountain and asking HaShem to show him His “glory”.  This week, we move into the description of the coverings for the tabernacle.  As I read the description of the coverings my mind took me back to the priestly garments.  It seems to me that the image of the “coverings” for the tabernacle are an image of the garments or “coverings” that were meant for the priests.  As I thought about this, I considered that the priests’ garments were meant to reveal His “glory and beauty”.   So, with this, I started pondering if the “coverings” that were meant for the tabernacle were designed to reveal the same attributes.  The concepts of the “glory and beauty” came to mind, and this led me back to Moses asking HaShem to reveal to Him His “glory”.

So, with all this, I started contemplating what exactly did HaShem reveal to Moses when Moses asked to see “His glory” and how these attributes are revealed in the priests’ garments and again in the coverings of the tabernacle.  Ultimately, here is where I am going with this.  Is there something particular about HaShem’s nature that He wants us to see, that Moses sought, and that is specifically revealed in the priests’ garments and the tabernacle coverings.  In other words, is there something about HaShem’s “glory” that He knows is particularly important to our relationship with Him and that He wants us to see as “beautiful”?  And is this revealed in these coverings? 

The point is these “coverings” were the first things that the people would see each morning when they gazed upon the tabernacle.  It is what they would see all day when they looked toward it. It is the last thing they would see each night if they took the time to look toward the tabernacle and thank HaShem for His presence amongst them.  And it is what they would see as they stood in line waiting to see the priests and offer their sacrifices.  At the same time, each time they would take a sacrifice up to the priest they would see the priests’ coverings and be reminded of the same imagery as the coverings of the tabernacle itself.  

I believe that ultimately, when we gaze upon Yeshua, we are to see the same things.  However, is there a chance that something is being lost that maybe through the imagery of taking ourselves back in time and joining the children of Israel in the desert, and gazing upon the tabernacle ourselves, that we might discover something about His “glory” that we might be missing?

What I am seeing, is that all of this was created to reveal particular aspects of His nature.  More specifically, the very nature of how He views His glory and what He wants us to see as beautiful about it.    First on the macro scale of the tabernacle as being the image of His presence amongst His people and the work He is doing on us cumulatively.  Then on the micro scale of the personal relationship that He offers each of us individually as He takes us on our own personal journey with Him as His priest.

With this in mind, I sought to consider what He might be attempting to communicate that He specifically references as His “glory" that He sees as "beauty”.  I have to believe that what these garments were intended to communicate go well beyond a physical concept of “glory” or a physical concept of “beauty”.

This led me to taking a little deeper look into the word “glory” from the Hebrew perspective.  In the Hebrew, the word for “glory” is translated as glory, honor, or abundance. It gets a bit more interesting when we look at the root word that “glory” is made up from.  The root word leads us to seeing something as being heavy and weighty.  When we put the two together, we get a form of “glory” that is found in the heavy or weighty aspect of being in relationship with Him.  From here, let’s take a look at what HaShem said to Moses when He was revealing His “glory” to him to see if we find this concept repeated in HaShem’s words. 

In Exodus Exo 33:19, after Moses asks HaShem to show him His glory, HaShem responds with “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” (NASB)

From there, the next thing we find HaShem saying to Moses about Himself is in Exodus 34:6-7 “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (NASB)

I find it interesting to see that this is the way that HaShem chose to speak into Moses during this most intimate moment when Moses asked to “see” His glory.  The thought of this led me back to the priests’ garments and the concept that they were to reveal both “glory” and “beauty”.  With this in mind, I felt that I had been given what I was called to share in this week’s summary. 

What I am seeing is that Moses was able to see a beauty in this “heavy” side of what it is to be in relationship with God, and that in and through the process of being in relationship with Him in this way, we will bring Him glory.

The questions then become, do the priests garments and the coverings for the tabernacle reveal these same characteristics of His nature?  Taking this one step further, how does this connect to the concept of this week’s parsha title “And He gathered together”.

Let’s start with the title.  The concept of “gathering together” is repeated on so many different levels when considering what we are discussing.  First, the materials had to be “gathered together” from the people.  Once the materials were gathered together, they had to be “put together” with some form of intentionality.  Once put together under the intentionality of the one for whom they would represent commanded, the people became capable of “putting together” an image that was intended to be seen.  Specifically, the image of Him in all of His glory and beauty.  Now it is our turn to use this same process and “gather together” for ourselves a complete image of His relationship with us individually, and His relationship with His people cumulatively.

From here, let's go back to what I believe to be the real key of what HaShem was attempting to reveal as He “gathered together” the elements that would best represent His “glory” and that which He desires for us to see as “beautiful”.  I believe we can find this in the words that He spoke to Moses in response to his asking to see His glory and from the Hebraic understanding of the word "glory".

Once we take the Hebrew understanding of “glory” into the context of what HaShem is saying we gain a greater ability to understand the last few lines in each of the two sections of what He spoke to Moses.  Sure, it is easy to see the beauty in the first half of each section of what He shared.  He will “make His goodness known (pass before him)”, and He will be gracious to whom He chooses to be gracious, and compassionate to those whom He chooses to show His compassion.  But wait a second, what happens to those that He doesn’t chose to be gracious toward?  Or those that He chooses not to show compassion to?  Where is the glory and beauty in that?

The second discussion doesn’t go much different.  Again, He starts out by telling Moses how compassionate and gracious He is.  He goes on to share how He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.  He goes on to share that He keeps lovingkindness for thousands.  He even goes on to describe His glory as having the capacity to forgive iniquity, transgression and sin.  But then He adds in that He will “by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Just like in the first section, right there at the end of the second, things seem to go astray.  Is it really to His glory to “visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations”?  And how is this “beautiful”?

Let’s take a look at another example that might help us relate.  Proverbs 23:13-15 “Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge.  Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.  You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.” (NASB)

From the child’s perspective, are we capable of seeing the “glory” and “beauty” of how HaShem is calling parents to parent?  The same principle can be applied when looking at Deuteronomy 28-30 where we read about the blessing and the curse as relative to the children of Israel as a whole.  Again, can we see the “glory” and “beauty” in what HaShem tells us about how He will parent His children as a nation?

The question then becomes, is it possible that these coverings were intended to lead the children of Israel into reflective meditation whereas they could ponder this aspect of His sovereignty relative to the desert journey that He was about to take them through?  From there, the question becomes, are we capable of moving into the same place of meditative contemplation as we reflect on our own journey with Him?  When I think about the various materials that the tabernacle, its covering, the priests’ garments, and the various utensils were to be made of, the list is quite diverse.  Let’s take a look at the list:

• Gold, silver, and bronze metals
• Blue, purple, and scarlet material
• Fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and porpoise skins
• Acacia wood, oil for lighting and consecrating
• Spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense
• Onyx and other fine gems for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

Without going into all the detail of what each of these materials could have represented, I think we can all agree that the various colors can easily represent different moods and emotions.  Additionally, the different materials can represent different feelings and lead us into remembering different life experiences that may have felt soft and comforting or hard and unbending.  The same can be realized when looking at the various metals and how those metals are refined and how the greater the refinement, the greater the value. 

It is interesting to me to note how the various elements were set in gold, held together with gold, and even stitched up with fine gold thread that had been beaten flat and precisely cut into thin enough strands to sew with.  This takes me back to the title of this parsha and forces me to think about the gold and what has to be done when transforming raw gold into a precious metal of the highest quality.  Considering all this and knowing that the gold was at the center of the “bringing together” truly helps me make sense of my life and the journey of the nation as a people in the context of a loving father whose ways are truly “beautiful”.

As I think about Yeshua speaking to Nicodemus and telling him that we must be born of the water and of the spirit, I tend to think about how HaShem didn’t tell us what each of these elements stand for or what they represent.  I think much of Torah is meant to simply lead us into a personal journey were the spirit leads us into a revelation that is unique to us and our own personal journey with Him.

With this in mind, I will cut my writing off before I impose too much, lead too far, or share too much of what the Holy Spirit is speaking into me.  What I am seeing in these things, and how they reveal His “glory” and how I see this side of His relationship to the creation of a nation as a whole as “beautiful” is unique to my relationship with Him.  At the same time, as I reflect on the dynamic of the unique journey of my life with Him, I again find His “glory” to be quite “beautiful” in the context of the diversity of the journey with all its ups, downs, joys, and hardships.

In the end I am left considering that a rainbow of a single color just wouldn’t be that darn special.  Similarly, a life of nothing but joy wouldn’t be that joyous.  A diet of nothing but sweets isn’t healthy.  And, a life of never being challenged to grow would become boring.

With this said, I trust that the point has been made, and that each of you will, in your own time, and in your own way, meditate upon these things and allow Him to reveal to you how the various elements come together as an expression of who He is to you and who He is to the “nation” that He is creating.  

As we close, I ask you to pause, take a moment, and put yourself out in the desert with the nation of Israel.   Can you picture yourself gazing upon the tabernacle?  Can you see all the colors, textures, materials, and metals?  Can you smell the burning fire and the giving of the sacrifices?  Can you see all the people around you and relate to their journey and how they are relating to Him?  With all this in mind can you slow down and look at each element individually and consider how that element might be there to remind you of one aspect of your life journey with Him?  Can you see your emotions in the colors?  Can you relate to the gold, the silver, or the bronze?  Are you able to see the various elements as an expression of who He is, and gain an appreciation of the diverse nature in which He chooses to interact in our lives? 

I pray that as you allow yourself to go down this road that you can see His presence with you throughout all the transitions of your life, that you can appreciate the times that were a bit weightier, and that in this you see a new aspect of His glory.  I pray that as you see the glory in these more difficult aspects of your journey with Him you have the ability to see the beauty found therein.  In and through this, I pray that you are set free in one way or another, and that you grow in your relationship with Him.  Amen