Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Min Hazaqen Torah Study Group on Facebook
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
Tehillah 48 - Day 2 (yom Sheiny)
Great is YHWH, and greatly to be praised In the city of our Elohim, His set-apart mountain.
Beautiful on high, The joy of all the earth, Is Mount Tsiyon on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
Elohim is in her citadels; He is known as her refuge.
For look, the kings met, They passed by together.
They saw, so they marvelled; They were alarmed, they hastened away.
Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in labor, With an east wind You break the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so we have seen In the city of YHWH of hosts, In the city of our Elohim, Elohim establishes her forever. Selah.
We have thought, O Elohim, of Your mercy, In the midst of Your Hěḵal.
According to Your Name, O Elohim, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Tsiyon rejoice, Let the daughters of Yehuḏah exult, Because of Your judgments.
Walk about Tsiyon, And go all around her. Count her towers; Set your heart upon her rampart; Go through her citadels; So that you report it to the coming generation.
For this Elohim is our Elohim, Forever and ever; He Himself leads us, Even to death.

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Min Hazaqen Torah Study Group on Facebook
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
Parshath T’rumah – תרומה – “Heave Offering”
Torah: Exodus 25:1-27:19
Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:12-6:13
Kethuvym Hatalmidym: Hebrews 6:13-20
Shalom achym, b’shem YHWH Shadday ~ Peace to you, my brothers, in the name of YHWH Almighty.
As we move further into the heart of the Torah, we encounter the Mishkan – the dwelling place, or “Tabernacle” – which is the heart of the encampment within the people of YHWH. Brothers, this is an all-important place to you and a vital part of the community of Yisrael. This importance cannot be understated. In order to know YHWH and understand your own place within that community, you must learn about it.
V’asu Li Miqdash v’ Shakanti b’tokam ~ “And they shall make for Me a Set-apart place, and I shall dwell within them.”
The Mishkan was a very richly appointed, but temporary, tent. Like all tents, the Mishkan was portable and not as durable as a permanent building. In this way, it was very much like our own present bodies.
The Mishkan was, quite literally, the center of all activity in ancient Yisrael. It was the beating heart of daily life, continually performing its necessary functions and rituals, whose effect spread outward, like blood and nutrients in the body, giving life to the extremities of the camp. Around the Mishkan dwelt the Kohanym and the Leviym – the priests and their attendants – who, like internal organs carried out vital internal operations. Outward from there dwelt the tribes of the people, like the appendages which help us do the physical business of living in this world.
At the center of the Mishkan was the Qodesh Haqodeshym – the “Most Set-apart of all Set-apart Places.” In it was the Aron – “the Ark of the Testimony.” Its lid was called the Kapporeth – “the covering.” Upon the kapporeth were two keruvym – winged angels. Precisely at the center between these keruvym, at the center of everything else, resided the Shekanyah, “the dwelling” or presence in this world, of YHWH.
As you can probably imagine, YHWH has a difficult time dwelling now in this present world as we have remade it. Because of our sins and causeless hatred, we have no physical Mishkan presently on earth. The visible and tangible presence of the Shekanyah has departed from here. But YHWH has left us an “anchor” – a “tent peg” tethering us in His set-apart place. This is our savior, Yehoshua Hamashiach. Hold onto him, brothers, and do not let go. Through him, begin to rebuild the spiritual Mishkan within yourselves, even as we longingly wait for his return to this world and the establishment of his final physical Temple. As he promises in scripture,
“And they shall make for me a Set-apart Place, and I shall dwell within them,”
so will He do for you. Until the time when YHWH restores all things and brings the true heavenly Mishkan to earth, along with our own permanent dwelling places, this is what we must do – and yes, it can be done. With YHWH, all things are possible.
B’shalom, Ovadyah

Christi Banks SHALOM!

Here is your question for Yom Rishon found in today's Torah portion in Shemoth 25:1-16:

Where did YHWH tell us He would dwell?

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
19 T'rumah – Day 1
Sh’moth 25:1-16
And YHWH spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, that they take up a contribution for Me. From everyone whose heart moves him you shall take up My contribution.
“And this is the contribution which you take up from them: gold, and silver, and bronze, and blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and rams’ skins dyed red, and fine leather, and acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, shoham stones, and stones to be set in the shoulder garment and in the breastplate.
“And they shall make Me a Set-apart Place, and I shall dwell in their midst.
“According to all that I show you – the pattern of the Dwelling Place and the pattern of all its furnishings – make it exactly so.
“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
“And you shall overlay it with clean gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it. And you shall make on it a molding of gold all around.
“And you shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners, two rings on one side, and two rings on the other side.
“And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to lift up the ark by them.
“The poles are in the rings of the ark; they are not taken from it.
“And into the ark you shall put the Witness which I give you.

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
Tehillah 24 – Day 1 (Yom Rishon)
The earth belongs to YHWH, And all that fills it – The world and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas, And upon the waters He does establish it.
Who does go up into the mountain of YHWH? And who does stand in His set-apart place?
He who has innocent hands and a clean heart, Who did not bring his life to naught, And did not swear deceivingly.
He receives a blessing from YHWH, And righteousness from the Elohim of his deliverance.
This is the generation of those who seek Him; Ya‛aqoḇ, who seek Your face. Selah.
Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And let Melek Hakavod come in.
Who is this Melek Hakavod? YHWH strong and mighty, YHWH mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates! Even lift up, you everlasting doors! And let Melek Hakavod come in.
Who is this Melek Hakavod? YHWH of hosts, He is Melek Hakavod! Selah.

"Seek Yahweh, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire"

Amos 5

Original Hebrew Scripture from Proverbs 19 Original Hebrew Scripture from Proverbs 19
"A scorner smite, and simple ones will be made prudent"
לֵץ תַּכֶּה וּפֶתִי יַעְרִם

THIS WEEK
Terumah תְּרוּמָה
Heave Offering

TORAH Exodus 25:1-27:19
PROPHETS I Kings 5:26-6:13
GOSPEL Matthew 12:35-44

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

1 KINGS 5:1 Preparations and Materials for the Temple
1 KINGS 6:1 Solomon Builds the Temple

And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”
Ezekiel 40:4

What else would you look with than your eyes? The eyes, ears, and heart in this verse are spiritual, not physical senses. It follows then that the ensuing survey of the temple, city, and country are also spiritual. All of the measurements and structures described are metaphors meant as a pattern to which God wanted Israel to conform. Unfortunately, I have no idea what all of those measurements are supposed to mean.

And the man said to me, "Son of man..."
Ezekiel 40:4

"Son of man" has two meanings in apocalyptic literature: 1) a male prophet, literally a descendant of Adam or 2) the Messiah, the heir of Adam, whose flesh was created by direct divine action, like Adam's.