Posted on 09/19/2016 8:13:10 AM PDT by left that other site
Ha, what this generated! :)
This brings to mind the money (half shekel offering) that was to be put into the treasury for the upkeep of the Tent of Meeting and for the atonement of souls (Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11-16). This was a command for those aged twenty and up. No more, no less. Everybody the same, rich or poor. The amount of this offering was independent of salary and financial net worth.
Therefore, while twenty was the age for military duties, it was the age at which one was expected to pursue a livelihood (Pirkei Avot 5:22).
What IS important, though, is how they obtained that wealth.
THIS offering was for the atonement of souls, and was the manner in which the census (head count) was conducted. The half-shekel was put in, then those coins counted for the census. The head count was not direct... it was routed through the coin. Now if that coin were obtained by extortion, theft, treason, or embezzlement, then it is (was) not righteous at all. And of course God would know who was doing what with their hands, how they pursued their livelihoods. He would know exactly how that donation to His treasury was obtained. He would know by what manner these half shekels were produced and then given to Him. Honest or dishonest. No escape there, as this was the manner of the census, a command to take that coin and put it in the box.
So how does a coin - a physical object - atone for a soul, which is spiritual? Never the twain shall meet, so how then? It's a paradox. This question is the fundamental element (pun intended) of the midrash about Moses and the coin of fire. Whoever wishes to read the commentaries and analyses may look them up easily enough (Chabad.org has several articles). However,what's in the commentaries [that I have seen, anyway] doesn't address livelihoods, only in a general sense of a fire in the soul.
Sure seems important, though., as it is the manner in which people survive and thrive in the material world. Righteously, or unrighteously... from what type of soul did the money to pay the bills and put food on the table come? The soul, therefore, IS the livelihood, the livelihood the soul - the spiritual inner workings made manifest in the physical world. The works of the heart are routed through the works of the hands and minds to be materialized in the physical realm. The order (way of doing business) of Melchizedek ("my king is righteousness") is that the king (that which rules the soul) is righteousness. Or not. Alive, or dead. Not too bright to be placing unrighteous wages into God's treasury. It's a census - an accounting (summing up of) souls.
Speaking of accounting, ever notice how many times the root pakad is stuffed into those few verses? Five times in three verses. The context IS the redeeming of souls. Pakad - specifically its repetitive usage - is at the very heart of the Redemption (" God shall surely visit you"), being the secret code by which the Redeemer is identified. The supposed code is the subject of much commentary, because as logic dictates, what good is a code if everybody knows the code? It is a paradox (like a coin atoning for a soul), or at the least an entertaining mental exercise that invites creative solutions (of which there are several). Hence all the writings and analyses concerning the paradoxical "code".
How does a coin redeem a soul? Same way a code that is a plain statement, or a code that "everybody knows", manages to be the secret code for the Redeemer. Redemption/release/atonement/how the bill is paid (covered, kapar) - the accounting (taking notice of, taking the sum of, all rooted in pakad) is routed through the coin, which is a product of the livelihood. Redemption, routed through the Redeemer, is routed through the one who comes to visit, to take account, to take care of business, to call up, to muster, to command, to be at the head, to lead... this is who he is. These ARE the meanings of the root pakad and its offshoots.
To follow *that guy* is to follow his lead - same direction i.e. same goal - which IS the Redemption, for by his manner, his lead, we have our wealth. What's he doing? DO that. He simply is who he is, nothing shady about his business whatsoever. Out in the open, with a high hand...
So when God told Moses go tell the people "I AM" has sent me to you, it really is the simple meaning. The Redeemer is who he is - pakad pakad pakad pakad pakad, personified. Turn it over and over and over. Every nuance. Points to the same person. It's his essence, his bones so to speak. Moses's name (identity) is like that - Moses (mem shin hei) being the mirror of Hashem (hei shin mem). Reflects right back. How does a Hebrew end up being named by an Egyptian? Gotta be a reason for that sort of weirdness, besides the death decree. It happened to Joseph, his Egyptian name (identity) based on his ability to know how to take the spiritual (the content of a dream) and merge/connect it to the physical world (how to order, arrange Egyptian agricultural business in order to survive and thrive through a famine).
And that ability was a repeat of his interpretation of the dreams of the butler and baker. Souls, livelihoods, same interpretation - each according to his soul; one restored, one hanged. The butler did his job in the dream with a high hand, out in the open. The baker had two baskets of unknown contents (maybe empty, who knows) and he was so idle the birds could swoop down to eat out of the top basket. Too lazy or uninvolved to protect the contents even. Joseph had a year of listening to these guys, having been put in charge of them. He already knew them. The baker must have been a real whiner, so maybe Joseph had to endure a daily dose of "I was set up." We all know the type.
Gen 50
24. And Joseph said to his brothers, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob:
25. And Joseph took an oath from the people of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here:
26. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt:
Egypt - house of bondage. 110 = quf vav dalet, which spells "code". The time, the code preserved in Egypt at the 110 mark.
Bones - essence, substance, strength, framework... the plot of a story
Pakad, pakod - pei + code, hence mouth code. Speaking of a person's essence, constitution (the aggregate of a person's physical and psychological characteristics),
Joseph's mindset was one of diligence, of paying attention. There's the concept of pakad again. It's rolled right into his identity. Makes sense that his bones are intrinsic to the process of Redemption. Joseph, the Tzaddik, was a veritable "king" of righteousness. Again with his identity. Joseph was a mashal over all the land of Egypt. Mashal - governor; mashal - parable.
Exo 3
2. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed:
3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt:
4. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses; And he said, Here am I:
And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the PARADOX, and said, Moses, Moses; And he said, Here am I:
v. 11 And Moses said to God, Who am I...
v. 14 And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and he said, Thus shall you say to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you:
We are all aware that there are two millionaires who want you vote this November. The fact that these people both have more money than you or I is really not relevant.
Electing leaders at this critical life or death juncture for We the People - perfect timing for a mashal of Redemption. Everybody is who he is.
In prayer...for all mentioned.
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