28th February 2025
Week of 23 February – 1 March
Torah portion: Exodus 25:1-27:19 Haftarah: I Kings 5:26-6:13
Theme: The Gift (Ex 25:2)
The parashah and haftarah for Shabbat this week, reflect periods of Israelite history about three centuries apart: the era of Moses at Sinai around 1250 BCE, and the reign of Solomon in Jerusalem around 950 BCE. They hold in common what both perceived to be the Lord’s expressed desire for a structure dedicated to the worship of the God of the covenant. As the parashah states, the design of the structure was entrusted by God to Moses and, as the haftarah indicates very briefly, that design would finally be fully realized in Solomon’s reign. In the parashah, the intended structure is consistently called, in Hebrew, “mishkan” (25:1), that is, “the tabernacle” installed within the “Tent of Meeting” (ohel moed, 33:7). In the haftarah, Solomon’s construction is “the house of the Lord.” (beit leAdonai, 1Kg 6.1), though later texts refer to it as simply “ha beit – the house” and English translations often render this as “the temple.” A reverential spirit is conveyed in 1Kings 6:7 that “only finished stones cut at the quarry were used, so that no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.” The structure became a central institution in the life of the Israelite community.
Exodus 25 opens with an essential qualification of the construction of the tabernacle, which also gives this parashah its name: every material required is to be terumah, a gift, offered to God “from every person whose heart so moves him” (25:2). Acacia wood overlaid with gold is used for the construction of the ark of the covenant, in which will be placed the tablets of the covenant (25:16). Four gold rings attached to the ark’s four feet will hold the two poles for transporting the ark. On top of the ark, two golden cherubim, with wings spread, identify the place from which God will speak to Moses and will impart to him all that he will command concerning the Israelite people (25:22).
Chapters 26 and 27 elaborate on the construction of the tabernacle, and its various other sacred furnishings, which are separated from the ark by a curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine twisted linen, with a cherubim design. There we find the portable table of acacia wood overlaid with gold, bearing the loaves of Presence, and the menorah of pure gold, plus the large square altar of acacia wood and copper, with its copper utensils.
During the desert years, the Tent of Meeting had served as the place of encounter between God and Moses (Ex. 40:34, Ex. 25-40). God’s revelation to David, through the prophet Nathan, spoke of “a house for me to dwell in” (1Chr 17:1-15), the “first temple,” which would be the work, not of David but of his son, Solomon. The haftarah recalls that it was in the 480th year after the Exodus that Solomon began building “the house of the Lord” (1Kg 6:1). The first temple suffered the ravages of the Babylonian siege including the sacking of Jerusalem (c. 587 BCE), and the exile of the people. An edict of Persian King Cyrus, in 538, authorized the “return to Zion,” where reconstruction soon began. The “second temple,” completed by Persian-appointed Jewish governor, Zerubbabel, was consecrated in 516 BCE, then considerably embellished by Herod (c. 30 BCE); it endured till its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.
Reflection and Discussion: 1. What is a feature of your present place of worship that appeals to you? Reflect on why you chose this place of worship and on why worship is important to you.
Bibliography: Coogan, Michael D., The New Oxford Annotated Bible (Oxford University Press, New York: 2001)
This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Diane Willey, Canada, Bat Kol Alumna 2005, 2006
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