Tzav: Fire on the Altar, Bread of Heaven, and Living Water

Parashah Tzav (2014): Commanded Fire and a Holy Center

This week’s Torah portion is called Tzav—“Give an order.” Adonai instructs Moshe to tell Aharon the rules of the burnt offering and then details further sacrifices, concluding with the consecration of Aharon as High Priest and his sons as kohanim to serve in the Mishkan.

The Tabernacle stood at the center of the twelve tribes, teaching Israel that worship, covenant, and holiness belong at the center of our lives. Later, the Temple in Jerusalem would embody this same center.

Gamaliel, Two Students, and a Turning Point

In the time of Yeshua, two great academies shaped Jewish thought: the schools of Shammai and Hillel. Hillel’s grandson, Rabban Gamaliel, led with widely respected wisdom. In the Brit Chadashah, we meet Gamaliel in the Sanhedrin advising restraint toward Yeshua’s emissaries.

Gamaliel’s two renowned students were Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) of Tarsus. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Yochanan ben Zakkai secured “Yavneh and its sages,” shifting the center of Jewish learning from Jerusalem to Yavneh near modern Tel Aviv. This became a watershed moment for Jewish practice without the Temple.

Torah, Oral Torah, and the Question of Authority

Many Orthodox authorities elevated the Oral Law (eventually committed to the Talmud) to parity with, and sometimes priority over, the Written Torah, citing passages such as Deuteronomy 30:12. Yet read in context, the Torah emphasizes accessibility—near to mouth and heart for obedience.

Not all Jewish streams embraced the same posture. The Karaites, for example, rejected giving the Talmud that level of authority. Still, mainstream tradition followed the Yavneh trajectory. Readers can weigh these claims for themselves; the point here is to show how Yeshua’s followers read Torah and Prophets as converging on the Messiah.

Moshe and Yeshua: Echoes Across the Covenant

From our vantage as believers in Yeshua’s Messiahship, the contours of Moses’ calling foreshadow Messiah’s ministry. Below are paired glimpses showing the pattern of first and greater redemption.

Persecution in Infancy

Signs in Water

Mastery of the Sea

Bread from Heaven

Torah and Fulfillment

Forty-Day Fast, Foreknowledge, and Faithfulness

Leadership of Twelve and Deliverance

Hidden, Revealed, and Raised

Donkey, Bread, Water: First and Last Redeemer

Midrashic readings preserved in Kohelet Rabbah envision the last redeemer mirroring and exceeding the first. Rabbi Itzhak Shapira (The Return of the Kosher Pig) highlights three signs shared by Moses and Messiah: the donkey, bread from heaven, and life-giving water.

Riding on a Donkey

In many teachings, the donkey symbolizes worldly desire. Abraham separates from it ascending Moriah; Moses and Messiah are depicted as “above” it. Messiah’s holiness lifts the people themselves as though riding—overcoming the pull of this world.

Bread from Heaven—More Than Manna

Moses mediated manna; Yeshua declares Himself the true bread that gives life to the world. The sign matures from provision to Person.

Water from the Well—Owner of Life

Moses sits by a well; Messiah is the source. Water symbolizes the Ruach HaKodesh and resurrection life. The final redeemer grants living water freely.

Authority, Salvation, and a Call to Unity

Yeshua claims comprehensive authority—heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18)—and fulfills the Torah’s promise of a prophet “like Moshe.”

Some of our Jewish brothers and sisters admire Yeshua as a “good man” yet deny His Messiahship. But a merely “good man” cannot truthfully claim what Yeshua claims. The Tanakh and the Writings of the Emissaries present Him as the cornerstone once rejected yet now exalted.

A Closing Prayer

Avinu shebashamayim, You promise to grant requests aligned with Your will. Send Your Son, Yeshua HaMashiach, to renew us by Your holiness in His presence. And if not today, grant us strength and courage to do all we can so that He may come without delay. Amen.