Our home is our Mishkan!--Parsha Terumah, and Bread of the Presence

And on the table you shall set the bread of the Presence, to be before Me always.  Exodus 25:30

With this week's parsha Terumah in mind and heart, I felt inspired to make our Shabbat table like the "shulchan".  Shulchan is the table in the Mishkan on which the bread of Presence is set.  

Mishkan is the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to have the children of Israel build for Him to dwell in soon after they received His commandments at Mt. Sinai.

I love this parsha for all the details of the instructions that God gives!! Look at the colors, the attention to detail in materials, the exquisite combinations of colors and the gold overlaying the wood.  One chapter is all on the curtains and their layering and specifics.  Oh it makes my artists soul just come to life and desire to create something, and to honor Him and invite His presence in our home!!

There is an expression, you've heard, comparing our homes to a castle, but for this week I really like the idea of "our home as a mishkan"!!!   I learned that one of the great Jewish sages made such a statement!! (*note below)

 And of course our LORD Yeshua is the living expression of that, that we ourselves should be a dwelling place for Him and our whole being becomes the "portable" dwelling place where His Holy Spirit lives in us.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1Corinthians 3:16 

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So here is my little shulchan at home with the breads of the Presence on it !

With the details of the Tabernacle, there is also an elaborate description of the menorah, another of my favorite descriptions for the BLOSSOMS motif and the branches.  So for the flowers for this Shabbat I picked a Cherry Blossoms branch, the shape of it nicely with two branches of three small branches each!

There are to be six branches coming out of the sides, three branches of the menorah out to one side, and three branches out to the other.  Exodus 25:32

The whole passage from Exodus 25:31~36 is a beautiful description of the menorah and its "cups made like almond blossoms, with bulbs and flowers" (25:34)

 I just noticed about the table, it is set with  two of my favorite things, Blossoms and Bread!
An exquisite offering, to be set out always!!

His presence (represented by bread) and Light (menorah) are eternal.


Even the Hebrew word for the Bread of the Presence is actually "Lechem ha panim", lechem meaning bread, and panim meaning "face".  Why "bread of faces"? Actually I am not sure exactly, but there is much we see in this representation that points to the Bread of Life, Messiah Yeshua, and His presence with us.   It makes me think of constantly seeking His face, acknowledging He is our everything and our Provider.
 We turn our faces towards His,  seeking always to observe all He commands. 

Your face Lord, I will seek.  Psalm 27:8b

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Of course by the end of Shabbat, there were a few less breads!

I made the 12 breads as  the "challah" this week. Whereas I usually divide the challah dough into 12 equal strands (6 for each challah) when I make two braided challot, this time I left the 12 portions of dough as rounds, and simply shaped them into the breads.

The actual breads of the Presence were unleavened cakes, or "Matza".  The ones I made are puffy and leavened.  And their actual arrangement was "stacked" vertically made with special shaped molds, and here they are laid out in horizontal rows.   So as to say, mine is not supposed to be a reproduction of the table and the bread, but to offer from my heart an expression of the parsha, and inviting His presence in a joyful way on this Shabbat!!

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  Psalm 16:11

The name of the parsha, Terumah, refers to the offerings that were given by the children of Israel to go into the making of the Tabernacle.

The word can translate as "offering" or "portion" though it is said to have no exact English equivalent.  "It implies a separation of a portion of one's resources to be set aside for a higher purpose."**    When we acknowledge that all that we have is provision from God and the wealth we have is that which God blessed us with, when we lift up or elevate a portion of it to give to God, we thus elevate the purposes of that which we are given, and acknowledge our desire to use all of it for His glory and purposes. 

In our spiritual being as well as our physical life in Messiah Yeshua, may we offer up all that we are and all that we have to Him!   Invite His presence,  and may we know the fullness of joy of abiding in Him!! Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!!

Love,
♡
Shayndel

Behold the dwelling place of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle among them.

Revelation 21:3

They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 

Revelation 22:4

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Notes--
  from in the post:
* I was inspired by this idea of *My home is my mishkan*  from a book called Parsha in Pink, a weekly inspiration from the Parsha to ignite the lives and hearts of women today, by Rebbetzin Mindy Bodner-Lankry

**ArtScroll Chumash

Being in God's presence! Scriptures HERE

A Song, In Your Presence, by Paul Wilbur  

Note:  and on Joanne`s Challah-cast channel, Parsha Terumah Challah-cast Here!  Please agree in prayer at the end that Japan will know Messiah Yeshua and become a Messianic Nation, and walk in the ways and days of the LORD!!!