PARASHAT VAYAKEHL PEKUDAI

 PARASHAT VAYAKEHL PEKUDAI

וַיַּקְהֵל־פְקוּדֵי 

- And He Assembled-Accounts

Torah: Exodus 35:1-40:38; Prophets: Ezekiel 45:16-46:18; Gospel: Luke 22:1-1

SUMMARY:

Vayak'hel

Moses gathers the Israelites and commands them to observe Shabbat. They bring contributions for the Mishkan. Bezalel and Oholiab lead the construction. The people bring an overabundance of materials, prompting Moses to halt further donations. The workers construct the Mishkan’s curtains, beams, and coverings. They also prepare the anointing oil and incense and fashion its sacred furnishings: the ark, table of the bread of the Presence, menorah, altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering for the courtyard.

Pekudei

Moses gives an account of all materials used in constructing the Mishkan, ensuring transparency and integrity. Skilled artisans, under Bezalel and Oholiab’s leadership, fashion the priestly garments, including the ephod and breastpiece. The completed Mishkan and its furnishings are presented to Moses, who inspects and blesses the work. Moses assembles the Mishkan, and upon its completion, HaShem’s glory fills His new dwelling place. The cloud and fire descend, and HaShem’s presence is so heavy that even Moses cannot enter.

The Lost Tribes - Where are the ten lost tribes of Israel (2 Kings 18:11)?

Where are the lost tribes? If we knew that, they wouldn’t be lost, would they?

The location of the mysterious ten northern tribes fascinated the Jewish imagination for thousands of years. It’s also been a favorite subject of speculation for Christians.

The Bible reports that “the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 18:11). Those place names indicate a broad scattering across Northeastern Mesopotamia extending from Turkey’s border with modern Syria as far as the Iranian plateau (areas that are today Muslim nations).

From time to time, seemingly sober-minded ethnographers make suggestions about potential Israelite origins for this remote people group or that one, but the evidence they offer is usually scarce. Jews did spread far and wide. For example, several secluded populations of Jews that once lived outside of contact with the rest of the Jewish world have now found their way home from East Asia, India, and Ethiopia. Perhaps the descendants of lost tribes are also living in isolated pockets among the nations but unaware of their ancestry.

On the assumption that the lost tribes assimilated into the nations, some people eagerly attempt to identify their own ancestry with people groups they suppose to be descended from the lost tribes. Such claims are spurious, usually based on false etymologies, historical speculation, and wishful thinking.

Nevertheless, the return of the ten lost tribes is a prominent feature of Jewish eschatology as a hallmark of the end of the age. Their reappearance signals the final redemption, the reunification of Israel, and the beginning of the Days of the Messiah. So where are they?

When the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah predicted their return, the ten lost tribes were not yet lost. They remained in Mesopotamia, as it says, “So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day” (2 Kings 17:23, emphasis added). But they were not lost.

What’s more, many refugees from the ten tribes defected to Judah before the final fall of the north (2 Chronicles 15:9). Hezekiah made intentional political and religious overtures to the remnant of his northern neighbors (2 Chronicles 30:1–11, 18, and 31:1). After the fall of Samaria, survivors fled south to Judah.

 The size of Jerusalem expanded dramatically during Hezekiah’s day to accommodate the influx of people from the north. Those refugees and survivors intermarried with the tribe of Judah. Even so, some retained records of their ancestry. By the time Judah went into exile, the nation was already composed of families from all twelve tribes of Israel.

When Cyrus allowed the “Jews” to return to their homeland, the decree included all twelve tribes. The Persians applied the term “Jews” to everyone who practiced the religion of Judea (Esther 2:5, 8:8, 17). During the Second Temple Era, representatives of the twelve tribes could still be identified. For example, the New Testament introduces Hannah from the tribe of Asher and Saul of Benjamin.

Nevertheless, most Jews, including those with northern ancestry, remained spread across the wide Diaspora. They were all called Jews. James, the brother of the Master, addressed his epistle, “To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (James 1:1).

Taken together, all of this implies that the ten lost tribes are primarily lost within the Jewish people. The book of Revelation indicates that at least twelve thousand from each of the tribes will be identified in the last days (Revelation 7:4–8).

In the Messianic Era, the Messiah will sort through the Jewish people and restore families to their original tribal identities. Maimonides explains how it will happen:

In the days of King Messiah, when his kingdom is established and all Israel are gathered into it, the ancestry of each one of them will be confirmed by Messiah through the Holy Spirit which will rest upon him, as it is written [in Malachi 3:3], “He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.”

And he will first purify the children of Levi and will say: “This one has priestly ancestry, and this one has Levitical ancestry.” And he will disqualify for priesthood any who are not descended from Israel, as it is written [in Ezra 2:63], “The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.”

From this you learn that those presumed to be of a certain lineage will be confirmed, and those with established lineages will be announced by the Holy Spirit. And he will not merely establish ancestry from Israel, but from each tribe. For he will announce that this one is from such and such a tribe, and this one from such and such a tribe. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 12:3)

The story of Joseph in Egypt hints about how the Messiah will sort out the tribes. When the tribal fathers came to Egypt, he astonished them by seating them according to their birth order (Genesis 43:33).

In that day, the Messiah will also identify Gentiles with ancestry in Israel. Some of the people from the nations ascending to Jerusalem will come from families that inadvertently lost their ancestry through assimilation. The Messiah will recognize them. Perhaps some Muslims previously dedicated to Jihad will be shocked to learn the truth. Among the nations will be some who qualify for the service of the Temple, as it says, “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites” (Isaiah 66:21).