As I mentioned on the video for the parsha, my friend Jim Barfield’s success in getting on the History Channel with his theory about where he thinks the Ark of the Covenant is, inspired me to look at my existing research on the subject and improve it. This new video and the new notes are the result. Explore the mystery with this video and the notes that go into vast detail from the Scriptures, Josephus, Philo, 2 Maccabees and fresh translations on certain key Scriptures not usually consulted for this topic but become relevant when translated properly. Enjoy!
“Vayachel” means “and he assembled.” The verb is derived from KAHAL, Hebrew word for “assembly, congregation.” After a brief sermon on the importance of Shabbat, Moshe then gets the Israelites to work on the manifold details of building the Tabernacle and related furniture and objects.
“Pekudei” means “these are the records/expenses” and the portion opens with giving the pricing values for the materials that will be used in the Tabernacle. Many exacting physical (and spiritual) details are given for all the wondrous objects and the Tabernacle. But after all these long lists (from this portion and the previous ones) we finally get to the “payoff” in lovely chapter 40. It is in chapter 40—the last of Exodus—that time begins again as the priests begin their official service for Israel.
“Vayachel” means “and he assembled.” The verb is derived from KAHAL, Hebrew word for “assembly, congregation.” After a brief sermon on the importance of Shabbat, Moshe then gets the Israelites to work on the manifold details of building the Tabernacle and related furniture and objects.
“Pekudei” means “these are the records/expenses” and the portion opens with giving the pricing values for the materials that will be used in the Tabernacle. Many exacting physical (and spiritual) details are given for all the wondrous objects and the Tabernacle. But after all these long lists (from this portion and the previous ones) we finally get to the “payoff” in lovely chapter 40. It is in chapter 40—the last of Exodus—that time begins again as the priests begin their official service for Israel.
“Ki-Tissa” means “when you take,” referring to what Israel is to do when it takes a census of all the people. Most censuses in the ancient world are used for the purposes of taxation. This census is no different, except the “tax” is not for an emperor, but for YHWH’s Tabernacle. This “innocent” start though is misleading as it will then progress from those details to the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, only to culminate in disaster when Israel worships the golden calf. In a sense it parallels the pattern we saw with Yitro, except instead of preparation of infrastructure leading to enlightenment it leads to despair and grief. Fortunately though the portion does also end on a hopeful note.
“Ki-Tissa” means “when you take,” referring to what Israel is to do when it takes a census of all the people. Most censuses in the ancient world are used for the purposes of taxation. This census is no different, except the “tax” is not for an emperor, but for YHWH’s Tabernacle. This “innocent” start though is misleading as it will then progress from those details to the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, only to culminate in disaster when Israel worships the golden calf. In a sense it parallels the pattern we saw with Yitro, except instead of preparation of infrastructure leading to enlightenment it leads to despair and grief. Fortunately though the portion does also end on a hopeful note.
From a grudge that dates back to Jacob and Esau, to a feast Yahweh commands the Israelites do while still in Egypt that did not happen, to waiting nearly a thousand years for that placeholder of a feast to be fulfilled, few feasts have a greater reach both backwards and forwards than Purim. There is even a deep connection between Purim and one of the most famous battles that ever happened in antiquity, as well as a deep linkage to Yochanan 5. Enjoy! Keep Reeding
“Tetzaveh” means “you will charge/command,” which opens with requirements for worship that are so important that failure to comply is simply not an option. If these needs are not met, nothing good will ever come about from that nation of Israel. We then get a lot of details about the designs of the priestly garments (ch. 28) and how the priests themselves are to be consecrated (ch. 29). The remaining 11 lines in ch. 30 concern instructions for building the altar.
“Tetzaveh” means “you will charge/command,” which opens with requirements for worship that are so important that failure to comply is simply not an option. If these needs are not met, nothing good will ever come about from that nation of Israel. We then get a lot of details about the designs of the priestly garments (ch. 28) and how the priests themselves are to be consecrated (ch. 29). The remaining 11 lines in ch. 30 concern instructions for building the altar.
Terumah means “the contributions” concerns a list of the offerings Israel gives to help build the Tabernacle in the wilderness as well as detailed instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant and other “divine furniture. Video #3 also contains the “Windows of Heaven” teaching which I get requests on from time to time.
Terumah means “the contributions” concerns a list of the offerings Israel gives to help build the Tabernacle in the wilderness as well as detailed instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant and other “divine furniture. Video #3 also contains the “Windows of Heaven” teaching which I get requests on from time to time.
In 2017 I did a teaching called “The Lost Biography of Peter” Click here to see the post and video
which proved that St. Peter was buried on the Mount of Olives and not in Rome. Now, six years later, my friend Lawrence Zupan confirmed my findings by actually getting unprecedented access to Peter’s ossuary that reads in Aramaic “Shimon bar Yona” or “Simon son of Jonah” (see Matthew 16:17). The tomb was confirmed to be a Jewish-Christian cemetery that dated back to the time of the apostles according to the Italian archaeologists who issued their report in 1958. Zupan’s expedition to Dominus Flevit and the Church of the Flagellation brought the world’s first color photographs of this and other precious artifacts of early Christians buried there, including Martha, Mary and Lazarus. These are also the first photographs of these items taking in more than 60 years. He will actually show some of these photographs for the first time here!
But Zupan also explains some curious activities that might prove to be part of a cover up from the Roman Catholic Church, who moved Peter’s bone box from its original tomb for “restoration” and then locked it away at another church (Church of the Flagellation) that has at this moment neither restored it nor displayed it. Zupan got special favor and permission to photograph and handle the ossuary, and but for that grace given to him by sympathetic leaders in that church, we might still be unaware of the location of this precious object.
Also, as an exclusive for One Faith One People Ministries members, go deeper into this mystery with images from the original 1958 Italian expedition to Dominus Flevit, as well as the new groundbreaking photographs that Lawrence Zupan took in this PDF. Hear the truth for yourself from the man who was actually there and saw the ossuary with his own eyes!