WORD STUDY MINCHAH, KORBAN מנחה קרבנ רומ- AND RUM Exodus 35:21: And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, [and] they brought the LORD S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. As I am not a theologian I have no obligation to explain the finer points which express the differences between rauch spirit and a lev heart, except that I know there is a difference between these two as this verse indicates that there is a difference. In Exodus 35:21 we find that the heart lev is stirred up and the spirit rauch is willing. This distinction is important as it is talking about the motivation for bringing an offering to God. There are many motivations for giving an offering. The
word used here in the Hebrew for offering is curious as it is a word rarely used for an offering. It is the word teruvmah which comes from the root word rum which means to be high or exalted. It is a lifting up. What is also curious is that this word is preceded by an eth in the Hebrew text indicating that it is a direct object to the word YHWH. This is literally saying that the people bringing the offering to the Lord where exalting or lifting up the Lord. It is more precisely rendered as the Lord s lifting up. We find in John 3:14 the words: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That word lifted up in the Aramaic is the word raum which is the Aramaic equivalent to the Hebrew word rum which is the word used here in Exodus for an offering. Every Sunday I hear our worship leader say something like, Let us lift up or offer up our praises to God. Here where the people were bringing gifts of gold and silver for the tabernacle out of a heart that was stirred and a spirit that was willing, the word offering has the idea of lifting something up. In ancient times when a sacrifice was offered up it was literally picked up by the priest and raised over his head. It is interesting that Jesus was raised up on the cross. He was not executed on the ground by a sword or spear, he was raised up to die. His death on the cross was a picture of an offering a sacrifice. We have a number of words in Hebrew that are rendered as offering. Aside from rum, there is a minchah which is a gift and is often used to express an offering such as a meal offering which is not necessarily a sacrificial type of gift. There is the ishsheh which is an offering made with fire, a zevach which is an animal sacrifice, an olah which is a burnt offering and there is a general all purpose word korban which
is used for a variety of offerings but offerings of a sacrificial nature, an offering where you part with something of importance to you. Of course you have also have the word masser which is the tithe which was offered once a year to support the priest and maintain the tabernacle. Rarely is rum used for an offering. Yet in Exodus 35:21 people gave a free will offering and it was called a rum, more precisely it was called the Lord s offering or the lifting up of the Lord. Some offerings were given to support the priest, some were given to decorate the tabernacle, as it was in this case, and some were given to pay the light bill so to speak. We had a guest speaker at church last Sunday who worked with children in South America rescuing them from sexual slavery or slavery working in mines and people gave an offering to help support him in his work. For many it was just a minchah a gift to help the work. My study partner emptied her wallet, that was both a minchah and a korban as this was not only a gift but a sacrificial gift on her part. Later as I kidded her about be moved by an emotional appeal and we both concluded her minchah gift was not only a korban a sacrificial gift, but a rum as well. It was not given to just help this missionary pay for his plane ticket, or to fund soccer scholarships for these children, it was ultimately given to exalt or raise up the name of Jesus. It is interesting that in Exodus 35:21 the word rum is used rather than korban. Even though this was a sacrificial gift on the part of the people, their motivation was to exalt the name of Jehovah. Note it says that those whose hearts were stirred. The word stirred is nasa which is another word for lifting up, but a lifting up to carry or take away. Their hearts were lifted up or carried away. Just as my study partner s heart was carried way or nasa when hearing the
story of these children in South American who were being sold into slavery and rescued by this missionary. You heart is carried away by an emotional appeal such that you will empty your wallet, but that is not bad when it is for a cause such as rescuing children from the sexual slavery. I mean the very nature of the cause is the emotional appeal. The heart is the very seat of you emotions and passions. These people gave their valuables to the tabernacle because their hearts were carried way with some emotion, in this case it was just an emotion of love for God and thus it was a rum. Ultimately, my study partner was motivated to give purely out of a love for God. It was this type of offering that was used for the tabernacle, the house of God. No other offering, or giving for any other motivation was acceptable. No offering that came with a request that a seat have inscribed on it Through the generous donation of Reuben was acceptable for the tabernacle. The house of God had to be built to exalt the Lord and not man. Then we learn it was a giving that the spirit made willing. I am no theologian but I do understand that the spirit or ruch is that part of us that is connected to God. The word for made willing is nadab in Hebrew. We have a free will. Our spirit connected to the Spirit of God is nadab. That is it is impelled or incited. The word nadab comes from a Canaanite root for a soldier that volunteers to a mission that could cost him his life. When our hearts are joined with the heart of God he is rum, He rises above all our personal agendas, desires and plans and we can t help but nadab have a willing spirit or spirit is impelled to give. Just as my study partner s spirit was joined with Spirit of God when she heard the appeal for these young people who were being sold into slavery her spirit was nadab compelled such that God became
more important than what she originally intended to use that money in her wallet for. Whether it is to pay a light bill, a soccer scholarship to keep a young person out of sexual slavery, or to just pay someone s salary or plane ticket or even if you are the victim of some religious con job, ultimately the greatest offering is the rum given through a nadab, an offering to exalt the name of the Lord given when your spirit is joined with the Spirit God and He rises above all your personal goals and agendas. WORD STUDY A CLOSED PORTAL Genesis 4:5-7: But unto Cain and his offering he had no respect, and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are thou wroth and why has thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. I remember as a child in Sunday School watching my Sunday School teacher tell the story of Cain and Abel using the
flannel graph. Abel kept falling off the board (guess he had more graph than flannel) leaving only Cain on the board kneeling down with his fruits and vegetables clutched to his hands and looking up to heaven with a forlorn look. Maybe it was Abel s continued departure from the flannel graph board leaving a lonely Cain with a sad face looking up to God that made a lasting impression on me, as I could not help but feel sorry for the old boy. Of course I could never condone his actions in wasting his brother, however, I could not help but think that if God could have cut Cain a little slack and accepted his offering, which was given in good faith, the story could have been quite different. But, no, God had to play it by the book and only an animal sacrifice would do. But come on, this animal sacrifice was not really made law until the time of Moses. Surly God could have given the poor guy a break. Years later after studying Hebrew I began to realize that God having no respect for Cain s offering really had the idea of conveying no power, and insight into this offering. For one thing the ground had been cursed, So Cain was offering something that was cursed. The second thing is God telling Cain that if he does well he will be accepted. God was really playing hardball at this time. Without the law, or a Bible, how was one to know if he was doing well. The Hebrew word for doing well is tov. This word was used quite a bit at creation. After God created something, He then saw that it was tov or good. As explained in earlier devotionals, this word means to be in harmony with God. Cain offered something that was cursed to God and was not in harmony with Him. Note that God warns that if you don t do what is in harmony with God, sin lies at the door. The word sin here is chatak which means unintentional mistakes or sins, Apparently, the act of offering fruits and vegetables may not necessarily have been a sin, but at most it was an unintentional mistake, yet it was
still not in harmony with God. Perhaps Cain killing his brother was more manslaughter than murder, more unintentional. It is possible he did not even understand physical death. Well, that s another issue. What I am pondering is this idea that if you do not do what is in harmony with God, unintentional sin is lying at the door. I don t believe that this is as metaphoric as we think. The word in the Hebrew for door has the preposition Lamed before it which could be rendered as to, for or unto with the definite article the. This is a definite, specific door. Not only that the word used here comes from a Semitic root word patach which is often rendered as a portal. This is more than just a doorway to another room, it is an entrance to something entirely different. My metaphoric Looking Glass that I talk about in my upcoming book, Beyond the Daleth is an example of a portal. We never seem to stop to ask why Cain and Abel were offering their sacrifices to God. The Bible is not clear, but I think the answer is buried in the Hebrew. They were seeking to open a portal to the presence of God. Note that when Cain s offering was not accepted his countenance fell. That word countenance is pani in the Hebrew which is often a reference to one s presence. His presence was fallen. In verse 7 God says if he does what is in harmony he will be accepted. The word accepted in Hebrew is se eth which really means to be lifted up. It would seem that the offerings were made so their presence would be lifted up to God s presence. When Cain offered something that was cursed, out of harmony with God, he could not feel God s presence. This also appeared to be a messianic picture which involved the shedding of blood for redemption and of course fruit had no blood so it could not be used as a blood sacrifice. When he did not feel the presence of God in giving his offering, he
was wroth. The word for wroth is charah. In its Semitic root means to be hot. Being hot does not necessarily mean to be angry. Other things can make you hot. You get hot or charah when you feel sorrow as in the pain of rejection. It is possible Cain s countenance fell because he did not feel the anticipated presence and fellowship with God that should have followed his offering. God explained to Cain that even though he did not intentionally make a mistake or sin or do something that was out of harmony with God, it stilled blocked the entrance through the portal to His presence and fellowship. Like most Christians I have periods when I seek the presence of God but somehow I cannot find it. I cannot open that portal. I do not intentionally sin (well maybe sometimes) nor do I intentionally seek to be out of harmony with God, but if I am not opening that portal to his presence, it could be a sure sign that I am unintentionally doing something out of harmony with God. Whether we call it sin or not, something that is not in harmony with God will block our entrance to God s presence. We may be giving a gift or sacrifice to God, maybe a tithe or offering yet if our motives for giving that gift are not in harmony with God, it will not open a portal to His presence. I mean a husband can come home one day with a bunch of flowers and say, Well, here are some flowers, now that I have given you something you have to give me something, you have let me go on that fishing trip with my buddies tomorrow. She will give him something alright, but it won t be permission to go on a fishing trip. Those flowers did not bring him into harmony with his wife. Now if he were to bring home some flowers and say, Honey, I ve been thinking about you all day and just wanted to give you something to just show you how much I love you and I thought of these flowers whose beauty reminded me so much of you. Now those same flowers will bring this man into harmony with his wife such that he may not even want to go on that fishing trip or he may just
want to take her with him on that trip. Yet, do we not do the same to God, we throw ten dollars into the offering plate and say, Well, God here is ten dollars that I should be using to pay the rent but I am giving it to you so you will have to keep your end of the bargain and multiply that, open the flood gates of heaven and give me a hundred fold return. You may get the same thing old Cain got which was a closed portal. However, if you take ten dollars and throw it into the offering plate and say, God, I don t know how else to express my love to you but to give you this ten dollars which I could use for other things, but more important than anything else is just to somehow tell you that I love you. You may just open that portal to His presence and not even care about a hundredfold return. You see the word for portal is spell Pei, Taw and Cheth. The Pei represents speaking from the heart, the Taw represents the truth of God and the Cheth represents passing through a gateway or portal. If you speak from the true intents of your heart to God, and it is harmony with him, God will open the portal to His heart and presence to you. Please don t forget to join our mailing list and follow us on Facebook You are more than welcome to join me in my journey and search for the heart of God.
WORD STUDY KNOWLEDGE (INTIMACY) Hosea 6:5: For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Action speaks louder than words, but nearly as often. Mark Twain This is a very curious passage. On the surface this passage means exactly what it is saying: God would rather we show mercy or kindness than offer sacrifices and that a knowledge of God is desired more than burnt offerings. Based upon this passage the Jews are able to continue their worship of God even though the temple no longer exist to offer up their sacrifices and burnt offers. This is why you find so many Jews involved in the field of medicine, medical research, law, government, humanitarian pursuits because showing mercy and kindness to others is considered a form of worship. The word mercy here is chasad. This word itself means kindness, but the spelling of the word which is Chet, Samek and Daleth tells us that this is a kindness which comes from joining yourself with God to offer comfort and shelter as a doorway to worship. Thus, just simply being nice to someone, offering a helping hand, feeding the hungry or any one of the numerous acts of mercy and kindness we perform each day would not be considered a form of worship unless is it offered in the name of God. For God seeks a human vessel to carry out His acts of mercy and when we perform these acts in connection with God we are carrying out His heart s desire. The word
desire here is chapas which carries the idea of pleasure. God receives great pleasure in performing acts of kindness and pleasure in seeing us carry out these acts of kindness in His name. His pleasure is only that much greater when he has you at His side and He is watching you go about His business. God takes great pleasure in watching us care for the ones that He loves. To bring pleasure to God is really the main reason for worship. He mentions two things which brings him more pleasure than temple worship. The first is showing His mercy to those He loves and the second is to have a knowledge of Him. The word for knowledge is yadah. This is an intimacy. Yadah is the same word used for Cain knowing his wife. It is a relationship that a man and woman share that they will share with no one else. Should they share that intimacy with anyone else, it would result in great pain and heartbreak. We can go to church and offer up great sacrifices of praise and worship, sing beautiful songs to God, tell him how much we love him, but if we have a bone to pick with another believer, or we go out in the world showing a lack of mercy to others, God get s no pleasure from our little songs and words of love. We can pay our tithes, and help build and support a church, but if we are not intimate with God, He will take no pleasure in any of that for as Mark Twain said: Actions speak louder than words but not nearly as often. Not when those actions are not followed with mercy and intimacy with God. In the 19 th century there was a very beautiful, wealthy young woman who had many suitors. These suitors lavished her with expensive gifts and praises as to her great beauty and
character. None could win her hand in marriage. One day a young man came to her, not as a suitor but as one who was seeking her financial support for a mission he was trying to establish. The young woman visited the site where the gentleman hoped to establish his mission to reach out to the poverty stricken children. She found her true heart s passion in reaching out to those who were so unfortunate and before long fell in love with the man who established the mission. He could not afford to buy her expensive gifts, he was too pre-occupied to lavish her with compliments but he won her heart because he cared for those who were on her heart. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord God with all your heart, and the second is like unto the first, love your neighbor as yourself. You re neighbor is just as much on God s heart as you are.