Parsha T'rumah (Sh'mot (Exodus) 25:1-27:19)

Parsha T'rumah (Sh'mot (Exodus) 25:1-27:19)

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Weekly Stick of Joseph Torah Study (2/20/21)
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Torah Parsha T'rumah:  Ex. 25:1-27:19
Haftorah: 1Kings 5:26-6:13
Stick of Joseph: 2Nefi  4:3 (LDS 5:16)

 This weeks parsha deals with the Tabernacle and it's furnishings which were "made after a pattern" shown to Moshe (Ex. 25:9, 40).  The haftorah reading deals with Solomon's Temple, which was modeled after the Tabernacle. And the Stick of Joseph reading deals with the Temple built by the people of Nephi, which was constructed "after the manner of the temple of Solomon" (2Ne. 4:3 (5:16 LDS).

Of particular interest is the Torah's description of the Ark of the Covenant:

[17] And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
[18] And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
[19] And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
[20] And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
[21] And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
[22] And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
(Ex. 25:17-22 KJV)

We know that the Ark was "made after a pattern" of the heavenly Ark, and we read in the Stick of Joseph that the elements of Torah have topological or symbolic meaning:

And now ought you not to tremble and repent of your sins? And remember, only in and through Mashiach can you be saved. Therefore, if you teach the Torah of Moshe, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come. Teach them that redemption comes through Mashiach YHWH, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen (Moshiyah 8:15 (16:13-15 LDS)

The first Century Jew Philo of Alexandria wrote some very interesting comments on the symbolism of the opposing Cherubim on the Mercy Seat of the Ark:

(97) But the ark is the depository of the laws, for in that are placed the holy oracles of God, which were given to Moses; and the covering of the ark, which is called the mercy-seat, is a foundation for two winged creatures to rest upon, which are called, in the native language of the Hebrews, cherubim, but as the Greeks would translate the word, vast knowledge and science. (98) Now some persons say, that these cherubim are the symbols of the two hemispheres, placed opposite to and fronting one another, the one beneath the earth and the other above the earth, for the whole heaven is endowed with wings. (99) But I myself should say, that what is here represented under a figure are the two most ancient and supreme powers of the divine God, namely, his creative and his kingly power; and his creative power is called God; according to which he arranged, and created, and adorned this universe, and his kingly power is called Lord, by which he rules over the beings whom he has created, and governs them with justice and firmness; (100) for he, being the only true living God, is also really the Creator of the world; since he brought things which had no existence into being; and he is also a king by nature, because no one can rule over beings that have been created more justly than he who created them.
(Life of Moses II)

(57) Why God places a cherubim in front of the Paradise, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life? (Gen. 3:24). The name cherubim designates the two original virtues which belong to the Deity, namely, his creative and his royal virtues. The one of which has the title of God, the other, or the royal virtue, that of Lord. Now the form of the creative power is a peaceable, and gentle, and beneficent virtue; but the royal power is a legislative, and chastising, and correcting virtue.
(QA1Gen)

(27) I have also, on one occasion, heard a more ingenious train of reasoning from my own soul, which was accustomed frequently to be seized with a certain divine inspiration, even concerning matters which it could not explain even to itself; which now, if I am able to remember it accurately, I will relate. It told me that in the one living and true God there were two supreme and primary powers–goodness and authority; and that by his goodness he had created everything, and by his authority he governed all that he had created; (28) and that the third thing which was between the two, and had the effect of bringing them together was reason (the LOGOS), for that it was owing to reason that God was both a ruler and good. Now, of this ruling authority and of this goodness, being two distinct powers, the cherubim were the symbols, but of reason the flaming sword was the symbol. For reason (the LOGOS) is a thing capable of rapid motion and impetuous, and especially the reason of the Creator of all things is so, inasmuch as it was before everything and passed by everything, and was conceived before everything, and appears in everything. (29) And do thou, O my mind, receive the impression of each of these cherubims unadulterated, that thus becoming thoroughly instructed about the ruling authority of the Creator of all things and about his goodness, thou mayest receive a happy inheritance; for immediately thou shalt understand the conjunction and combination of these imperishable powers, and learn in what respects God is good, his majesty arising from his sovereign power being all the time conspicuous; and in what he is powerful, his goodness, being equally the object of attention, that is this way thou mayest attain to the virtues which are engendered by these conceptions, namely, a love and a reverential awe of God, neither being uplifted to arrogance by any prosperity which may befall thee, having regard always to the greatness of the sovereignty of thy King; nor abjectly giving up hope of better things in the hour of unexpected misfortune, having regard, then, to the mercifulness of thy great and bounteous God. (30) And let the flaming sword teach thee that these things might be followed by a prompt and fiery reason combined with action, which never ceases being in motion with rapidity and energy to the selection of good objects, and the avoidance of all such as are evil.  (31) Do you not see that even the wise Abraham, when he began to measure everything with a reference to God, and to leave nothing to the creature, took an imitation of the flaming sword, namely, “fire and a Sword,” being eager to slay and to burn that mortal creature which was born of him, that so being raised on high it might soar up to God, the intellect being thus disentangled from the body.
(On the Cherubim 27-31)

XXXIV. (165) And he apportioned cold and heat, and summer and spring, the different seasons of the year, divided by the same dividing Word. And the three days which passed before the creation of the sun, are equal in number to the three days of the first week which came after the creation of the sun, the number six being dissected equally in order to display the character of eternity and of time. For thus God allotted three days to eternity before the appearance of the sun, and those which came after the sun he allotted to time; the sun being an imitation of eternity, and time and eternity being the two primary powers of the living God; (166) the one his beneficent power, in accordance with which he made the world, and in respect of which he is called God; the other his chastening power, according to which he rules and governs what he has created, in respect of which he is further denominated Lord, and these two he here states to be divided in the middle by him standing above them both. “For,” says he, “I will speak to you from above the mercy-seat, in the midst, between the two Cherubims;”(Exodus 25:22). that he might show that the most ancient powers of the living God are equal; that is to say, his beneficent and his chastising power, being both divided by the same dividing Word.
(Who is the Heir of All Divine Things )

XIX. (100) These, then, are the six cities which Moses calls cities of refuge, five of which have had their figures set forth in the sacred scriptures, and their images are there likewise. The images of the cities of command and prohibition are the laws in the ark; that of the merciful power of God is the covering of the ark, and he calls it the mercy-seat. The images of the creative power and of the kingly power are the winged cherubim which are placed upon it. (101) But the divine word which is above these does not come into any visible appearance, inasmuch as it is not like to any of the things that come under the external senses, but is itself an image of God, the most ancient of all the objects of intellect in the whole world, and that which is placed in the closest proximity to the only truly existing God, without any partition or distance being interposed between them: for it is said, “I will speak unto thee from above the mercyseat, in the midst, between the two Cherubim.” (Exodus 25:22). So that the word is, as it were, the charioteer of the powers, and he who utters it is the rider, who directs the charioteer how to proceed with a view to the proper guidance of the universe.
(On Flight and FInding)

The symbolism Philo of Alexandria ascribes to the opposing Cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark, reminds one of Lechi's words to Ya'akov:

7 Wherefore, the ends of the Torah which HaKodesh has given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement — for it must necessarily be that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad; wherefore, all things must necessarily be a compound in one. Wherefore, if it should be one body, it must necessarily remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must necessarily have been created for a thing of nothing; wherefore, there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must necessarily destroy the wisdom of Elohim and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of Elohim. And if you shall say there is no Torah, you shall also say there is no sin. And if you shall say there is no sin, you shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness, there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness, there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, there is no Elohim. And if there is no Elohim, we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.
8 And now my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is an Elohim and he has created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon. And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man — after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, and in short, all things which are created — it must necessarily be that there was an opposition, even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life, the one being sweet and the other bitter. Wherefore, AdonaiYHWH gave unto man that he should act for himself; wherefore, man could not act for himself except it should be that he were enticed by the one or the other. (2Nefi 1:7-8 (2:12-14 LDS)

These words are very much like those of Philo's expatiation of the symbolism of the opposing Cherumbim on the Ark.  The two cherubim represent Elohim's opposing virtues of mercy and justice, and the space between combines the two into one compound "power" of Elohim towards the ends of atonement, the Messiah who is the incarnate the Word (Logos).