Torah Commentary Archives

Ki Tisa

Exodus 30:11-34:35

1Kings 18:1-39

Luke 11:14-20

Acts 7:35-8:1

1Corinthians 10:1-13

2Corinthians 3:1-18

Basin of Revelation     

Between the Altar of Sacrifice and the entrance to the Tabernacle tent was a basin of water. It is fascinating we are not told what it looked like. I have seen many depictions through the years. I do not know which one, or if any of them, are right. The greatest message though is not in what it looked like, but in the fact we are not given dimensions concerning this basin, or laver. To bring forth the reason for the possible lack of description we must consider its meaning. The placement of the laver gives us a hint as it is between the Altar of Sacrifice (a place which is a shadow of our redemption) and entering into His Presence. The Laver speaks of the written Word, which gives us the protocol of entering, which I wrote of last week. We could see the laver and the water it holds the same as a Bible in your hand. The bronze metal can be likened to the cover and the pages which hold the ink the words are written on.

Before we talk about the lack of dimensions, we have something else to think about the Laver. It is the standard of purity we must have to walk forward into His presence. Inside the laver were mirrors. As a person was looking at his reflection in the mirrors he would be looking through the purity of the water of the Word. Have you ever tried that, looking at your mirror through the purity of His Word? Ever come up short?

When the priest washed his hands in the Laver after a sacrifice his hands were bloody. The blood and the water would mingle in the Laver. It is the blood from the Altar of Sacrifice or should we say the One placed upon the altar which raises us to the standard of the water of the Laver.

Now for the possible reason why there were no dimensions given for the laver. It is a very simple message pointing to the fact His Word has no dimensions. Process this for a moment. When is the last time you saw something “new” in Scripture? Not to be judgmental, but if it has been more than a week you may need to consider your reading habits! Truth is there is nothing “new” in Scripture. It has always been there, we just did not see it until it was time for it to be revealed to us. When Truth is revealed to us we are now responsible to walk in the revelation.

With this thought we proceed to the golden calf. In Exodus 20 they had been told to not have any other god before Him and to not make an image of a god. Consider that if Aaron and the people had made this image prior to the revelation of these words, they may not have been judged so harshly by them. Yah is just and merciful. There are consequences for violating His principles, however, when we do not know them, Yah's great mercy often prevails to either cancel or lesson the severity of the consequences. For example, I start a new job. I'm given a grace period to learn the responsibilities of the position. Mistakes made are not overlooked, but the consequences may not be as severe or even forgiven because I may not know what's required.

We have to remember though Yah's Word is eternal and in effect whether we know it or not! If we aren't held accountable by His Truth then there we would be no need for Yeshua's Blood or our repentance. When we first encounter Yeshua we begin to understand and recognize how we have transgressed His Word. We deserve the death penalty! We have opportunity to trust Him and repent which annuls the penalty making our slate clear. Now that's something to celebrate!

Aaron created a manmade way to enter into Yah's presence. Israel had already been given the instructions on entering His Presence. They understood the guidelines and violated them. There was no ignorance on their part. Their choice did not work out well for them that day. It doesn't work well in today's world either! May this inspire us to follow His Word and not our own ideas!  

The golden calf would be recorded as one of the greatest sins of the Hebrews. That sin would in the end lead us to one of the greatest revelations of who YH VH is in Exodus 34:6-7. The sin would bring forth an opportunity for grace to abound toward those who would turn from their sin, repent and return to Him. Maybe some would say the sin of the calf was a good thing, for it brought forth a greater revelation of Yah? Is this the attitude Paul was trying to overcome in Romans 6:1?

The blood mixing with the water in the laver was not to be looked at as a license for golden calves, but rather the power to overcome golden calves. Today, the blood has never lost its power! Yeshua's blood overcomes the golden calf images that separate us from Him!

Before the people could move on, the calf was ground into a fine powder and placed into water for them to drink. Powdered gold in water would have turned the water a reddish color, a picture of the blood and water in the Laver. I wonder if only those who were given to repentance on that day were the ones to drink? Was Aaron the first in line? Is this the reason the leader of the calf incident was not killed in the judgement for the calf incident? Were the ones who died that day the ones who refused to drink the “blood” and were judged by the water? Selah!