Hidden Gems in Ki Tisa — "Grace and Truth," the Sabbath as Wedding Ring, and the Red Heifer

"Grace and Truth" — Hidden in Plain Sight

There is a hidden truth in this Torah portion that most Christians have never noticed. The Lord reveals to Moses, while Moses is standing on the rock, the very essence of His character. Here is the text:

But in the Hebrew text it says: "rahum v'hanun erech apayim v'rav hesed v'emet" — meaning,

In most Christian translations of the Old Testament, the phrase "grace and truth" does not appear at all, not even here in Exodus 34:6. Why? Because of a misunderstanding of John 1:14,17. If "grace and truth" came from Jesus Christ, how could "grace and truth" exist in the Torah and in the Old Testament? So, the easiest thing to do is mask the original Hebrew phrase with synonyms. And those who don't know Hebrew and don't read the Old Testament will never know that grace and truth are from deep within God's nature and character.

The Hebrew text of the Tanach has the phrase "grace and truth" in the following places: Genesis 24:27, 49; 47:29; Exodus 34:6; Joshua 2:14; 2 Samuel 2:6; 15:20; 1 Kings 3:6; Isaiah 16:5; Hosea 4:1; Micah 7:20; Zechariah 7:9; Psalms 25:10; 26:3; 40:11,12; 57:4, 11; 61:8; 69:14; 85:11; 86:15; 89:15; 108:5; 115:1; 117:2; 138:2; and Proverbs 3:3; 14:22; 16:6; 20:28.

There is also another word hidden by tendentious translation. The word "gospel" in Hebrew is "besorah." In English the same word is translated in the Old Testament as "good news," and in the New Testament with the non-English word "gospel" — adopted from the Celtic and Germanic "Gotspil," meaning "God's story." The result is that you don't find the word "good news" in the New Testament, and you don't find the word "gospel" in the Old Testament. John chapter 1 is actually a classic midrash of Exodus 33:18–34:7. It is easy to see the two major common elements: who has seen God, and grace and truth.

The Sabbath — Not Just a Day of Rest but a Wedding Ring

This Torah portion also contains one of the most overlooked commands regarding the Sabbath. In our text the Sabbath takes the role of a wedding ring. It is a sign that God and Israel have a relationship:

The Sabbath is first a covenantal sign between Israel and the Lord, and second comes the "solemn rest" and "holy to the Lord." Isaiah gives us the fullness of what this means:

When Yeshua declares that "the Son of Man" is the Lord of the Sabbath, He declares that He is the master of the Sabbath — the One who ratifies the covenantal aspect of the Sabbath, the One who gives the rest to those who are in covenantal relationship with Him, through their participation in His death, burial and resurrection.

The Red Heifer — Outside the Camp, Like Yeshua

The reading of Ki Tisa coincides most of the time with "Shabbat Parah" — the Sabbath of the Red Heifer — with an additional reading from Numbers 19. The Red Heifer is one of the most mysterious ceremonies in the Torah. There must be a cow that is red in color — all red. This cow is taken outside the camp to a special place prepared for it. The cow is offered as a sacrifice fully burned. The ashes of this red cow are used for purification from leprosy, impurity from touching the dead, and other forms of ritual defilement.

It is very interesting that the writer of the book of Hebrews likens the Red Heifer to Yeshua, and Yeshua to the Red Heifer:

This is the only sacrifice that is offered outside the camp — and so was Yeshua. The writer of Hebrews is inviting you and me: therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. The establishment, and especially the religious establishments today, are all trying their best to be politically correct, and please the people to build bigger and richer churches. The Hebrews writer is inviting us to step out — outside the comfort zone, outside the camp — and follow Yeshua there.

Dr. Wendell Jones, who is the real character behind the "Indiana Jones" stories and was a Baptist Missionary in Jerusalem in the early 1970's, actually found the place of the Red Heifer near Qumran on the shore of the Dead Sea. He was an amateur archaeologist, and the real archaeologists really did not like him because he was a bit wild like in the stories of Indiana Jones.

Israel, the Nations, and the Master Plan

The Torah and the prophets and the New Testament are all connected, because these texts are a product of the same Holy Spirit. Mark Twain wrote in 1899, in Harper's Magazine:

"According to statistics, the Jews are no more than one percent of humanity, a speck of stardust, lost in the glow of the Milky Way. It would be appropriate not to hear about the Jew, but we hear about him well, you hear about him since forever, he is the most prominent on this planet."

This was written long before the Zionist movement was active and long before the establishment of the State of Israel.

There is no better proof in the world that God exists than the fulfillment of His promises to Israel — the good ones and the bad ones are all fulfilled and are being fulfilled daily even in front of our own eyes. If Israel fails in the accomplishment of God's eternal plan for the future of humanity, God fails. An artist that has to destroy his art because his work has disappointed him, is an artist that has failed and disappointed himself. God is the creator of this world and all humans are His children. Therefore, He can't fail — and He won't.