Exodus 24 – NEWPROTEST Publishing

Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and behold, he saw the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
Genesis 19:27-28 (NASB)

In Genesis 11, which covers the Tower of Babel, I wrote about the relationship between the bricks and the furnaces that made them, tying bricks and furnaces to human bondage. To Empire.

So when Abraham sees “the smoke of a furnace” (literally kiln), I wondered about the connection.

The word for “furnace” here is כִּבְשָׁן (kivshan), and it is not the same word used in Daniel for the furnaces in Babylon. That word is אַתּוּן (atun).

Both mean “furnace.”

The Babylonian furnace is tied to human bondage and enslavement. But what about the kivshan here in Genesis 19?

Perhaps kivshan isn’t man’s furnace, but God’s. Here in Genesis, it’s used to describe fire and brimstone from heaven, but later, it describes the very presence of God, descending on Sinai.

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the entire mountain [a]quaked violently.
Exodus 19:18 (NASB)

This presence is tied to a different picture of “bondage” or “enslavement.” Here, we have the 10 Commandments that show up in the next chapter, followed by several chapters of laws and ordinances, which all culminate in the commitment made in Exodus 24. The whole time, and for the next 40 days, God is the Fire on the Mountain.

Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!”
Exodus 24:3 (NASB)

Kivshan, or “God’s furnace” as I’m calling it, has an interesting root: כָּבַשׁ (kavash) which means… bondage. Slavery.

But this isn’t slavery under man. In scripture, this word is most frequently used to describe ordered servitude under God, starting in Genesis 1.

I. to subject, subdue, force, keep under, bring into bondage
– 1. (Qal)
– – 1. to bring into bondage, make subservient
– – 2. to subdue, force, violate
– – 3. to subdue, dominate, tread down
– 2. (Niphal) to be subdued
– 3. (Piel) to subdue
– 4. (Hiphil) to bring into bondage
Strongs H3533 כָּבַשׁ: kavash

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 (NASB)

This word is often used to describe land being subdued for God’s people, for God’s purposes, which makes the Exodus kavash so poignant: God’s presence is tied to commitment. That commitment is akin to being a “slave” for God.

It sounds quite awful, unless you know that God is Good.

But there’s something else here. In Micah, we read that God, in His great compassion, will kavash our iniquities. Capture it, subdue it, wrestle it down and cast it into the depths of the sea.

He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:19 (NASB)

So what we learn is that the furnaces of man (Babylon) are a corruption of the furnace of God, because slavery under the boot of Empire is not like slavery under God who loves us.

The furnace of God is God’s own presence among us, wiping out our sin and cleansing us.

We have this religious word “Tabernacle,” which sounds quite grandious and holy and spiritual, but it’s just the latin word for fancy tent. It’s “Tabernaculum,” whereas a normal tent would be “taberna.”

Fun fact: taberna is where we get the word tavern – a place where people eat and drink together. It’s a meeting place. One might call it a holy place!

Anyway, we get this word “Tabernacle” as a translation of the Hebrew word “Mishkan.”

The Mishkan is the physical place where God dwells with Israel in the Scriptures: it’s “God’s tent,” as it were. It’s quite an extravagent tent, with blue and purple and scarlet fabric, and gold latches and curtains of goat hair.

Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and violet, purple, and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled embroiderer.
Exodus 26:1 (NASB)

Then you shall make curtains of goats’ hair as a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all.
Exodus 26:7 (NASB)

You shall also make fifty clasps of gold, and join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle will be a unit.
Exodus 26:6 (NASB)

But the point isn’t the structure or the appearance.

The Hebrew word Mishkan is the noun form of the verb shakhan, which means “to dwell.” To be with.

The understanding is that the Mishkan is God dwelling with us in a physical place in our world. But the concept of it is greater than the physical material that built it. The Jewish people understood this, and they created a word to describe this spiritual reality: The Shekhinah. (sheh-ken-AH), or the “Presence of God.”

This word isn’t in the Bible, but I’ll break the Hebrew down for you.

When a Hebrew verb becomes a concrete noun, it often gets an “M” sound in front. That’s how shakhan (שָׁכַן) becomes Mishkan (מִשְׁכָּן). Again, that’s “tabernacle” or “great tent.”

But when the verb becomes an abstract noun, it gains an “H” at the end along, with some additional vowel changes. So shakhan (שָׁכַן) becomes Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה).

The Mishkan/Tabernacle is the concrete image of God’s dwelling place (a tent), whereas the Shekhinah is the abstract concept of God’s spiritual presence.

Interestingly, concrete nouns are often masculine, and abstract nouns are feminine.

Consider the Hebrew words for man and woman. Man is Ish; Woman is Ishah. The woman is identified with the “H” at the end, so there’s the feminine link.

But also, I’ve previously written that the woman represents the Spirit of humanity, whereas the man represents the Flesh.

When we get to Genesis 17 where God changes Abram and Sarai’s names, in the Hebrew it’s very clear: God adds an “H” to each of their names… which can be understood to mean something. Not that they’re now both “feminine,” but they are now both “spiritual.”

In the same way shakhan (to dwell) becomes the Shekhinah (the Presence), Abram/Sarai become Abraham/Sarah – the spiritual carriers of the Presence of God. And this happens in the same chapter as the Covenant of Circumcision. Or as I call it, the Commitment.

This idea of God’s presence linked to a Covenant that requires our commitment happens in an interesting way in Torah. Remember: shakhan just means “to dwell.” Every instance of this word in Genesis is talking about a person dwelling somewhere. Always a human.

But EVERY time in Exodus, beginning when it first appears in chapter 24, the word is NEVER used to mean the dwelling place of a person.

It’s exclusively used to describe the dwelling place of GOD.

And wouldn’t you know it, Exodus 24 is the outlay of… the Covenant.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”
Exodus 24:7 (NASB)

So we have a very clear relationship between Covenant-and-Commitment and The Dwelling Place of God. But how do we see this with Abraham? What evidence is there that God has made his dwelling within Abraham?

Look at these 3 instances of the way the text describes how God meets Abraham.

Genesis 7:15 – “then appeared Yahweh to Abram”
Genesis 17:1 – “and appeared Yahweh to Abram”
Genesis 18:1 – “And appeared to him Yahweh”

The Rabbis see significance in this change.

In the first two instances, God’s name is first, as you’d expect. But in the third, God’s name appears second, after the reference to Abraham. And the rabbis say that this is the meaning: God now dwells WITHIN Abraham.

Going forward, Abraham isn’t described as having visions or glimpses of the Divine. He now walks WITH God. It’s in this same chapter that God says He will not hide things from Abraham. It’s because God lives within him.

The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,”
Genesis 18:17 (NASB)

Abraham IS the Mishkan living out the Shekhinah.

The notion that God’s people are the temple, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in us is tied to this very thing. This is the root of the teaching.

But it’s linked to a Covenant where we must engage in a “spiritual circumision.” We must lean in.

What I’m describing here is not a “heaven vs. hell” scenario. Rather, I’m describing a life where God is either perceived as something on the outside, leading the way… or God is living inside of you and allowing you to see the world through God’s eyes.

According to the text, this isn’t automatic. It requires our heart. Our whole committed heart. “Circumcision.” This is what it means to walk with God.

Is this your desire? I hope so. Because it is also God’s desire.

Tag: Exodus 24

Furnace of God

The Dwelling Place