Terumah (Offering)
(Sefer Shemot) Exodus 25:1-27:19

25:2- “Speak unto the children of Yisrael, that they bring Me an offering: of every man that gives it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering.
8- And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
9- According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
10- And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
11- And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall thou overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold round about.
16- And thou shall put into the ark, the testimony which I shall give thee.
17- And thou shall make a cover 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 shall make two keruvim of gold, of beaten work shall thou make them, in the two ends of the cover.
20- And the keruvim shall stretch forth their wings on high, overshadowing the cover with their wings, and their faces toward another; toward the cover shall the faces of the keruvim be.
21- And thou shall put the cover above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shall 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 cover, from between the two keruvim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Yisrael.
23- Thou shall also make a table of acacia wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
24- And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
31- And thou shall make a menorah of pure gold: of beaten work shall the menorah be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
40- And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shown thee in the mount.
26:30- And thou shall raise up the tabernacle according to the manner shown to thee in the mount.
33- And thou shall hang the veil under the hooks, and there thou shall bring within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide you between the holy place and the most holy.
34- And thou shall put the cover upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
35- And thou shall set the table without the veil, and the menorah over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shall put the table on the north side.”

“Blessed is the man whom thou chooses, and causes to approach unto thee,

that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,

even of thy holy temple.”
(Psalms 65:4)

“Then David gave to Shlomo his son the pattern of the…treasuries and of the upper chambers
and of the inner parlors and of the place of the ark cover.…and of the pattern of all that
he had by the spirit…of all the chambers round about…of the treasuries of the house of
Elohim, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.”
(1 Chronicles 28:11-12

“And YHVH said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine
ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of YHVH and all the
Laws; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.”
(Ezekiel 44:5)

“Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: Let
thy kohanim, O YHVH Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.”
(2 Chronicles 6:41)

“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O Elohim, is in the
sanctuary: who is so great an Elohim as our Elohim?.”
(Psalms 77:12-13)

Terumah Summary:
1. A Prepared Pattern Unfolding from Abundance:
With willing hearts, the children of Yisrael would fulfill the words of HaShem, as they’d bring the essential offerings to divinely furnish the Sanctuary, based on the pattern provided from the mount. And, as this influence was coming directly from the Throne to Moshe, the Tabernacle’s instruments were to become an archetype of the Eternal. With gold from the bounties of Egypt, the ransomed of Yaakov were to bring back the to their Redeemer, great worth, reflective of His glory. By providing his son with the materials to build his temple, King David prophetically tells of The Sovereign in 1 Chronicles 22:14:
“Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of YHVH an hundred thousand talents
of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight for it is in
abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou may add to it.”
As HaShem is desirous to see his people enter the Sanctuary to worship Him, similarly David equipped his son with the full complement of servants for the construction of the Holy Temple in ibid. 15-16:
“Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber and
all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the
iron, there is no number. So, Arise, and be doing, and YHVH be with thee.”
The abundance unveiled in the building of the Mishkan speaks poignantly to us today. What value do we place upon the Sanctuary of HaShem? Does not Elohim maintain precious thoughts towards His Sanctuary? Amid all the instructions in this parasha, Exodus 25:8 reveals the purpose, plainly:
8 “And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Yet, In Psalms 27:4, King David echoes the heart of one who has understood the glory of the Sanctuary:
“One thing have I desired of YHVH, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of YHVH
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of YHVH, and to inquire in His temple.”
It is praise that brings us before His Opulent Presence, as it is written in Zechariah 14:14:
“And Yehudah (praise) also shall fight at Yerushalayim; and the wealth of all the heathen round
about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel in great abundance.”
And so, ought we to face His Holy Place as Psalms 5:7 describes the welcoming assurance:
“But as for me, I will come into Thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in Thy fear will I
worship toward Thy holy temple.”

2. Preparing to Seek out Salvation within the Sanctuary:
Kings David’s culminating exhortation to the faithful attendant of the Sanctuary was that his heart be fixed. Calling out from beyond the generations, 1 Chronicles 22:19 exhorts us in this manner:
“Now set your heart and your soul to seek YHVH your Elohim; arise therefore, and build ye the
Sanctuary of YHVH Elohim, to bring the ark of the covenant of YHVH, and the holy vessels of
Elohim, into the house that is to be built to the name of YHVH.”
Parasha Terumah reverberates to us today: Prepare the Sanctuary! Yisrael was forever called to be a kingdom of kohanim, who have been afforded the opportunity to go by way of the altar, past the curtain, into the Menorah-lit chamber to look upon the showbread and pine to enter beyond the veil of separation, only to witness the Keruv-covered ark of the Covenant. Becoming steadfast in determination while remaining patience in the process, we learn from Lamentations 3:25-26 that the Salvation will be there:
“YHVH is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of YHVH.”