TORAH: Exodus 25:1-27:19
HAFTARAH: 1 Kings 5:26-6:13
GOSPEL: Mark 12:35-44
Portion Summary
The nineteenth reading from the Torah is named Terumah (תרומה). In Exodus 25:2, the LORD commanded Moses to “tell the sons of Israel to [take] a contribution for Me.” The word translated as “contribution” is terumah (תרומה), which is the name of this Torah portion. Terumah is a word with no real English equivalent. In the Torah, terumah refers to a certain type of offering dedicated to the Temple, like a tithe or firstfruits offering. In Exodus 25, the contribution is for the building of a holy place. This Torah reading is occupied with the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
Portion Outline:
Torah
Exodus 25:1 | Offerings for the Tabernacle
Exodus 25:10 | The Ark of the Covenant
Exodus 25:23 | The Table for the Bread of the Presence
Exodus 25:31 | The Lampstand
Exodus 26:1 | The Tabernacle
Exodus 26:15 | The Framework
Exodus 26:31 | The Curtain
Exodus 27:1 | The Altar of Burnt Offering
Exodus 27:9 | The Court and Its Hangings
Prophets
1Ki 5:1 | Preparations and Materials for the Temple
1Ki 6:1 | Solomon Builds the Temple
Portion Commentary:
The Tearing of the Veil
Bible teachers usually interpret the tearing of the Temple veil as a sign of God’s displeasure with the people and the Temple, but Jewish tradition points to another meaning.
You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies. (Exodus 26:33)
God commanded that a veil should be made to separate the holy of holies from the holy place. According to the Gospels, the veil tore into two pieces when Yeshua breathed His last upon the cross: “And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38).
Bible teachers usually interpret the tearing of the Temple veil as a sign of God’s displeasure with the people and the Temple, but according to Hebrews 10:19-20, the veil symbolizes the Messiah’s body. He is the veil. As the life was rent from His body, the curtain was rent with the result that we might have access to the throne of glory in the supernal Temple through Him. This is not the same as abrogating the Temple worship system; rather, the rending of the veil vividly dramatized what the death of Messiah accomplished for us: access to God through the Messiah’s suffering.
Embroidered upon the veil were two cherubim. The cherubim invoke the imagery of the Garden of Eden and the way to the tree of life, as it says in Genesis 3:24, “And at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” The cherubim on the veil stood sentry in front of the Holy of Holies like the two cherubim that guard the way to the tree of life (immortality) and the Garden of Eden (paradise). As the curtain was rent into two pieces, the tear created a path between the two cherubim, symbolizing the way back to Eden.
Read complete commentary at First Fruits of Zion.
