Terumah/Donation
Exodus 25:1-27:19
IKings 5:12-6:13
The readings this week are like ‘fishing in a stocked pond’; there are so many easy things to draw my attention to or learn from. One of the most difficult things in devotionally approaching scripture is not to just repeat the messages you have heard over the years that ‘echo’ in your head as you read. It’s especially difficult when you feel dull, and the word seems flat. Isn’t it funny how easy it is to feel a false sense of God’s judgment, when we aren’t getting anything out of our reading? Sometimes I live like there is some kind of quiz at the end of my life, to be found righteous…instead of it being the blood of Jesus all along. Anyway, back to the reading for this week. In Exodus there is the building of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, with the promise of God dwelling in their midst (some interpretations of the Hebrew text say “living ‘in’ them”) and all the personal implications of that for them and us alike. Let’s also keep a ‘heavenly’ perspective on the ‘giving’ and construction of this project: “..Willingly from his heart…”; and “I will meet with you…:”; and the reminder to build “according to the pattern…” Oh how the preachers and teachers in the pulpit or in our heads could go on for hours with instruction and exhortation from these verses! “But wait, there is more!” (as the infomercials on tv say); the haftorah IKings 5:12-6:13, is the ‘two for the price of one’ to receive even more teaching and exhortation.
We have Hiram (a Gentile) and his rich resources of materials and people to help build this glorious structure for the presence of God. Jew and Gentile (one new man); world evangelism from the “light to the nations” (God’s first born: Israel); everything prepared at the quarry so“…no iron tool was heard in the temple…” (maybe the private ‘quarry’ where God privately works on the our hearts; not the show for all to see) and the spiritual implications of that; yes there is so much more to ‘mine’ for our hearts and minds here…until I got to the last 3 verses (11-13). “The word of the Lord…Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk…”. “But Father, can’t you see what a good job I’m doing? I have reached out to my neighbors and told them the ‘good news’ of Jesus! I have more than tithed! I have prayed for Israel! I have; I have…!” But the Lord would say: “Have you walked…so that I may dwell among (in) you?” Have we been too busy or too ‘right’ to care about our own hearts and His? Or our character and ways of doing life? I know I have! “Lord, thank you for the occasional ‘sting’ of Your Word, that rescues me from myself.” By john eisner
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