A depiction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
TORAH: Exodus 27:20-30:10
HAFTARAH: Ezekiel 43:10-27
GOSPEL: Matthew 5:13-20
Portion Outline:
Tetzaveh is the twentieth reading from the Torah. Tetzaveh means “You shall command,” as in the first verse of the reading, which says, “You shall [command] the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually” (Exodus 27:20). This Torah portion continues to narrate the instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle, focusing particularly on the priesthood that was to serve in that sanctuary. The Israelites are commanded to make special garments for Aaron and his sons to wear while ministering as priests. After describing the priestly garments, the portion concludes with instructions for the ritual inauguration of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood.
Torah
Exodus 27:20 | The Oil for the Lamp
Exodus 28:1 | Vestments for the Priesthood
Exodus 28:6 | The Ephod
Exodus 28:15 | The Breastplate
Exodus 28:31 | Other Priestly Vestments
Exodus 29:1 | The Ordination of the Priests
Exodus 29:38 | The Daily Offerings
Exodus 30:1 | The Altar of Incense
Prophets
Eze 43:13 | The Altar
Portion Commentary:
The Daily Continual Burnt Offering
A day in the Temple began with the sacrifice of a lamb and it concluded with the sacrifice of a lamb.
God ordained a daily worship service in the Tabernacle called the continual burnt (tamid, תָּמִיד) offering. Every day, the priesthood offered two male lambs as burnt offerings for the daily service.
The continual burnt offering began each morning with a male lamb offered as a burnt offering (olah, עוֹלָה). The priests slaughtered a lamb and placed it on the fire of the altar as the first sacrifice of the day. The lamb burned on the fire all day—a continual burnt offering. The priests placed each subsequent sacrifice they made on top of the pyre on which the lamb was burning.
When the day’s service concluded and the priests had completed all the sacrifices for that day, they brought a second lamb. They slaughtered it as an olah and placed it on top of the remains of that day’s offerings, sandwiching the whole day’s services between the two lambs of the continual burnt offering. They left the second lamb on the altar to burn through the night. The next morning, the priests removed the ashes and slaughtered a lamb, placed it on the altar, and started the process all over again. In this way, a lamb remained continually burning on the altar before the LORD.
The continual burnt offering set a baseline pattern as the most basic and regular function of the Tabernacle and the Temple. The prayer services, the singing of psalms, the lighting of the menorah, and the burning of incense all occurred in conjunction with the continual offering. The two lambs of the continual burnt offering, offered at the set times of sacrifice, created the structure upon which the rest of the Temple services hung. To this day, the Jewish times of prayer correspond to the hours at which the continual burnt offering used to be made.
The continual burnt offering commemorated the offering made during the Exodus 24 covenant ceremony at Mount Sinai. It remained continually upon the altar as a permanent token of the covenant. Its blood, splashed daily against the altar, provided a constant reminder of the “blood of the covenant” that Moses applied to the altar and to the people at Mount Sinai.
Read complete commentary at First Fruits of Zion.
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