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There
are 613 commands in the Torah, but not all 613
laws are meant to apply to everybody. There are
laws that only apply to priests, as chapters 21
and 22 will show us. There are laws that only
apply to the king (like writing his own copy of
the Torah). There are laws that apply to men and
not to women, and vice-versa. Most of the laws
of the Torah apply to the Jewish people, but not
the Gentiles. All of us are to “fulfill the Law,”
but the requirements of the Law are different.
Let me
also point out an important principle: to whom
much is given, much is required. The cohaneem
were given much, and so more was required from
them. Chapters 21 and 22 list God’s commands specifically
directed to the priests.
Under
the older covenant, touching a dead body defiled
a person, making him unable to draw near to God
at the Mishkan - the Tabernacle. An ordinary Israeli
could touch a dead body, to help with the burial,
but there was a higher standard for the sons of
Aaron. They could mourn and touch the dead bodies
to those relatives who were closest to them. Of
course, they should never engage in any pagan
practices of mourning, like making parts of their
head bald, shaving off the edges of their beards,
or making cuts into their bodies. No, they must
be holy, clean, set apart to accomplish the special
purposes that God has for them - bringing the
infinitely holy and terrifyingly pure God to an
unholy people, and bringing impure men and women
closer to that Supreme Being who is free from
the slightest amount of evil or corruption.
An ordinary
Israeli could marry a woman who was properly divorced,
but not so the cohaneem. They were held to a higher
standard, and could not marry a woman who was
divorced. Nor could they marry a woman who had
engaged in prostitution.
To whom
much is given, much is required, and so even more
was required for the High Priest. He was not allowed
to take time off and show the customary signs
of mourning for anyone - not for his closest relatives,
not even for his father or mother. He was held
to an even higher standard regarding women he
was permitted to marry. Like the other priests,
he could not marry a woman who had engaged in
prostitution, or who was divorced. But, in addition,
who could not marry a woman who was a widow.
Sin has
affected all of us - body, soul and spirit. The
priests represented a glorious and perfect God,
and so this God of perfection demanded that His
priests not be marred in their physical appearance.
A priest who had any number of severe physical
defects or handicaps could not serve as a priest
of the God of Israel. He could receive a priest’s
due, and eat the bread that was offered at the
Mishkan, but he could not offer the bread or sacrifices.
While
the priests were ritually unclean, they could
not eat from the offerings given by the worshipers
of Israel. If he did become unclean, by having
leprosy, or having a discharge, a emission of
semen, or by touching a corpse, or touching something
that had touched a corpse, or touching someone
else who was unclean, or one of the teeming creatures
on Earth, he was unclean until he bathed, and
the new day began at sunset. Then he could eat
those holy foods offered by the people of Israel.
Other
Israelis, if they ate the meat from an animal
that died by itself, or was killed by another
animal, were unclean, but a priest was not allowed
to eat animals which died that way at all. Priests,
and their immediate family, could eat the food
that came from the offerings, but not an ordinary
Israeli. If by mistake a regular Israeli did eat
this special food, he had to give that amount
of food back to the priest, and add a 20 percent
penalty as well.
All animals
that were offered as offerings of dedication,
offered to fulfill a vow or given as a free-will
offering, out of love and gratitude to our great
God, must be males, free from physical defect.
An animal that was sacrificed as a peace offering,
showing that we are at peace, in a right relationship
with the Holy God, must be tahm - perfect. Our
infinitely pure and holy and great God only gets
the best. You don’t offer God that which is defective,
or shoddy, or something that is not of much use.
That shows that you don’t really know Him, respect
or fear Him, love or appreciate Him.
“That’s
horrible” Rabbi Loren. “Who would do such a thing?”
How about you? Do you give Him the best? The best
of what you have? Or simply that which is left
over - your left over time, your left over energy,
your left over money at the end of each month?
Baby
bulls, goats or sheep could only be sacrificed
on the eighth day - not before. Was it not sufficiently
strong? Did it have to nurse from its mother?
We are not told the reason why, but an animal
was not to be killed until the eighth day.
Nor could
a mother animal and its young be sacrificed on
the same day. Perhaps the reason is God didn’t
want the young animal killed in the sight of its
mother. Many animals who are mothers know their
young, and the pain or the deaths of their young
affects them and adds to their pain. The love
and tenderness of a mother animal toward its young
should be respected. We want to respect all of
God’s creation, even the animals, and not add
any unnecessary suffering to it.
Sacrifices
offered to give thanks to God had to be eaten
the same day they were offered. They could not
be eaten on the next day, even if there was left-over
meat. That wasn’t convenient? Oh well, we don’t
go by our convenience, but by what God requires.
Chapter 23: Yeshua
in the Jewish Holidays
The Holy
God wanted a Holy People. They lived in a Holy
Land, which had a Holy City. Within that Holy
City was a Holy House, in which was a Holy Place
and a Most Holy Place. Serving in the Holy House
were Holy Priests, mediators who brought the Holy
God closer to unholy men and women, and who brought
unholy men and women closer to the Holy God.
The Holy
People needed to be holy in God’s sight to draw
near to God at the Mishkan. They needed holy laws,
which we have been studying. They also needed
holy days and holy months and holy years set apart
to draw near to God.
God's
holy times, described in Leviticus 23, accomplish
many purposes. Year by year they pace our lives
according to the cycle God has designed into creation.
They remind us of the great things God has done
in Israel's history. In addition, each holiday
is a prophecy which looks forward to what God
is going to do in human history. If understood
properly, these holidays reveal God's master plan
to save humanity.
The Sabbath: Creation,
Salvation and Consummation
The first
holiday mentioned is the Sabbath. Perhaps it heads
the list because it can be considered the most
important holiday of them all. It is observed
every week while the other holidays take place
only once each year. The word "sabbath"
means "rest." Every seventh day, beginning
Friday night at sunset and continuing through
Saturday night at sunset, is set aside for rest
- physical and spiritual rest.
The Sabbath
reminds us that God created the universe in six
literal days, and on the seventh day He rested.
The Sabbath also reminds us of salvation. It wasn't
until the Jewish people were delivered out of
Egypt that we began observing the Sabbath. The
Sabbath also reminds us of the salvation provided
by our wonderful Messiah, the "Lord of the
Sabbath" who alone is able to give rest to
the human soul, as He promised when He said, "Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and
I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and
learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;
and you shall find rest for your souls"
(Matthew 11:28-29).The Sabbath also reminds us
of the future consummation of all things. A day
is coming when the Son of God will return to Earth
and bring rest to this weary world.
Passover: The First
Of The Seven Annual Holidays
The first
of the seven annual holidays is Passover, which
begins God's yearly calendar (see Exodus 12:2:
This month shall be the beginning of months
for you; it is to be the first month of the year
to you). Passover occurs in the month of Nisan,
during the Spring, when the Earth is full of new
life. It makes sense that God's calendar would
start in the Spring - certainly more sense than
beginning the new year in the dead of winter,
as we do in the Western world.
Just
as Passover begins God's calendar, it also marks
the beginning of Israel's history as a free nation.
The story of Passover begins with the Jewish people
going down to Egypt in the time of Joseph. Joseph
became the savior of Egypt as well as his own
people. Years later, a new Pharaoh came to power
who did not remember Joseph. Instead of showing
gratitude towards the Jewish people, he enslaved
us. God raised up Moses, who went to Pharaoh and
demanded that Israel be released.
But Pharaoh
hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go,
so God sent ten plagues upon the land of Egypt.
The tenth plague was the most severe of all -
death of all first-born sons living in the land
of Egypt, both the first-born of man and of animals.
There was only one way a first-born son could
survive that first Passover night. God instructed
us to take an unblemished year old lamb, kill
it, and drain its blood into a bowl. Then we were
to take hyssop, dip it in the bowl of blood and
apply it to the two doorposts and the top of the
door of our homes. The Lord said: "when I
see the blood on the door I will pass over that
house."
The Almighty
went throughout the land of Egypt that night and
struck every house. There was a great outcry in
Egypt, for there was no home where there was not
someone dead. But as He had promised, on each
door where He saw the blood of a spotless lamb,
God passed over that home and spared the first-born
son from death. The next day Israel was redeemed
from Egypt. Then God took us by the hand, and
led us through the wilderness to the promised
Land of Israel.
Passover
was a prophecy of a greater Lamb, a more profound
Redemption, and a greater Exodus that was to come.
Messiah Yeshua is the Lamb of God who died on
Passover to take away the sin of the world. Just
as the Jewish people took the blood of the Passover
lamb and applied it to the doors of our houses,
we must take the blood of Messiah Yeshua the Son
of God, the perfect and final sacrifice, and apply
His blood to our lives. Then God will deliver
us from our "Egypts" - our
slavery
to sin, our servitude to self, our bondage to
the world, our captivity to the flesh and our
enthrallment to the adversary. The Lord will take
us by the hand, walk with us through the wilderness
of this world, and lead to us the New Jerusalem,
where we will live forever with Him!
It’s
no coincidence that Messiah Yeshua died on Passover.
His last supper was a Passover Seder and He died
the next day, the first day of Passover - in fulfillment
of Passover. We will see a similar pattern throughout
the rest of the holidays. Each one looks forward
to something that the Messiah would accomplish,
and each one finds fulfillment on its own day.
The Feast of Matzah
The Feast
of Matzah begins with Passover and continues for
seven days. Nothing with yeast is to be eaten
during that period. One reason why we eat matzah
is to remind ourselves of our hasty departure
from Egypt. By eating matzah we remember that
when God did redeem us, He redeemed us quickly,
so quickly that there wasn't even time for our
bread to rise.
There
is, however, another reason why we eat matzah.
In ancient times, before a batch of leavened dough
was baked into bread, part of the dough was pinched
off and set aside. Later, that piece of leavened
dough was added to a new batch of flour, leavening
the new batch. This symbolizes the generational
cycle of sin, which began with our first parents,
Adam and Eve, who sinned and alienated themselves
from God. Their sin was transmitted to each ensuing
generation. The Feast of Matza symbolizes the
breaking of this cycle of sin that has been transmitted
from generation to generation.
This
observance reminds us that there is hope for mankind,
and that through Messiah Yeshua, the forces of
sin and death can be overcome, and one day we
will be made completely and eternally righteous!
We must
not allow sin to rule in our lives, fulfilling
its desires. Just as we systematically cleanse
our homes of leaven in order to celebrate the
Passover, so we must search our hearts, asking
God to reveal and remove any sin from our lives,
in order that we break the cycle of sin, and enjoy
all the blessings that come from Messiah Yeshua,
our Passover Lamb, and the true Matza, who has
made it possible to conquer sin and death. The
Feast of Matzah teaches us that when we are joined
to Messiah by means of our faith in Him, He empowers
us to have more and more victory over sin in our
lives, until the day we meet Him face to face,
and have final victory over all the power and
presence of sin!
Yom HaBik-kur-eem:
The Day Of First Fruits
The Feast
of First Fruits is the third yearly holiday, and
it’s connected to the third day of Passover. On
this day Israel's High Priest took the first sheaves
of the barley harvest, and waved them in the air.
This ceremony was like a prayer: by waving the
first fruits of the very beginning of the new
year’s harvest, the High Priest was praying:
"Lord God of Israel, thank You for the beginning
of this year's harvest. We offer to You the first
fruits of this year's harvest. Lord, accept the
first fruits, the beginning and best of the harvest.
And O Lord, accept us, Your people, and please
bring in the rest of the harvest." If God
would accept the offering of the first fruits,
it was a guarantee that He would bless us with
the remainder of the harvest during the year.
Yom HaBik-kur-eem
- the Day of the First Fruits, was also a prophecy
that the Messiah, who died on Passover, would
come back to life! Death would not be able to
hold the Sinless One. God would raise Him from
the dead, and He would be offered as the "first
fruits of those who have fallen asleep"
(see 1 Corinthians 15:20). That means that Messiah
is the beginning of the harvest of humanity, the
First to be raised from the dead. He is the first
and the beginning and the best of the sons and
daughters of God, the prototype for all those
who join themselves to Him. Because God found
Him acceptable, raising Him from the dead as the
first fruits, it is a guarantee that those who
believe in Him, the rest of the harvest of humanity,
will likewise be raised and be given eternal life.
It seems
likely that Messiah Yeshua was raised from the
dead on the holiday of First Fruits. It was "on
the third day" that Messiah Yeshua rose from
the dead. The Passover lambs were killed on the
afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. Passover
and Matzah began later that evening, beginning
the 15th of Nisan, and Yom HaBik-kur-eem
- the Day of the First Fruits, began on the 16th
day of Nisan. It is likely that the very same
day the High Priest was offering the first fruits
of the barley harvest, God was raising the Messiah
from the dead as the First Fruits of redeemed
humanity! The Feast of First Fruits is the true
Biblical Resurrection day! May the Resurrected
one give each one us a greater measure of His
resurrection life and power in our lives!
Shavuot: The Feast
Of Weeks
The next
holiday is Shavuot, which means "weeks."
It takes place seven weeks and one day after the
Feast of First Fruits. "Pentecost,"
the Greek name for this holiday, means "fiftieth"
because this holiday takes place on the fiftieth
day after First Fruits. At Shavuot, Jewish men
were required to make a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Once there, we would offer to God the first
fruits of the wheat harvest. This time the High
Priest waved two loaves of wheat bread that
had been made with leaven. This is unusual,
since it may be the only offering anywhere in
the Scriptures that includes leaven. In general,
the Biblical principle is that anything offered
to God had to be without leaven, since leaven
was usually symbolic of sin (see Leviticus 2:11-12).
This
offering up of the two loaves was another visual
prayer. Through this ceremony the High Priest
was in essence praying: "Lord, thank You
for extending the harvest to the wheat. We offer
up to You the first fruits, the beginning, the
best of this crop. Lord of the harvest, we ask
you to bring in the rest of the harvest throughout
the year."
Shavuot
was also a prophecy that Messiah's resurrection,
which took place fifty days earlier, would be
expanded to include more of humanity . The
second chapter of Acts records the fulfillment
of this holiday: fifty days after Yeshua rose
from death His first followers were gathered together
in Jerusalem for this holiday. The same Spirit
that raised Yeshua from the dead was poured out
on those first Jewish disciples. The new Messianic
Community was given His Spirit, and His resurrection
life and power. This happened on Shavuot, and
in fulfillment of Shavuot.
Why were
two loaves of bread waved, and not one? The two
loaves of bread can be understood as symbols of
the two groups of peoples that make up the Messianic
Community. In Romans 11, Rabbi Paul gives us the
analogy of an olive tree made up of the original
branches, the Jewish people. Later, wild olive
branches, the Gentiles, are grafted into the olive
tree of salvation and blessing. It could be that
the two loaves of bread waved by the High Priest
at Shavuot represent the original branches, the
Jewish people, and the wild branches, the Gentiles
grafted into the Olive Tree. Each loaf is incomplete
without the other. The Jewish loaf needs the Gentile
loaf to be complete, and the Gentile loaf needs
the Jewish loaf to be complete.
The first
four annual holidays are intrinsically connected.
They each take place in the spring. They are each
symbolic of events connected to the First Coming
of Yeshua. They were all fulfilled on their specific
day in the calendar. For example, Passover was
a prediction of the death of the Messiah, and
Yeshua actually died on Passover, in fulfillment
of Passover. We will see a similar pattern with
the three Fall holidays.
The Summer
After
the four spring holidays comes the summer, during
which time the crops are ripening. Each day brings
the crops closer and closer to the fall harvest.
The summer seems to be symbolic of the past two
thousand years of history. Messiah’s Holy Community
began in Israel among the Jewish people, but since
the First Century it has been spreading to all
the nations of the world. For two thousand years
the Good News has been taking root throughout
the Earth. The harvest of humanity is getting
ready to be reaped!
The Day For Blowing
The Shofar
Just
as the four spring holidays are connected, so
are the final three Fall holidays. They are connected
to Messiah's Second Coming. They all take place
in the seventh month - the month of completion.
If the pattern evidenced in the Spring holidays
holds true for the Fall holidays, they too will
be fulfilled on their own day. The Fall holidays
will bring to completion God's plan to rescue
humanity.
The first
Fall holiday is the Feast of Trumpets. It takes
place on the first day of the seventh month, which
is the month of Tishri. Among the Jewish people,
it is more commonly referred to as "Rosh
HaShana" - the Jewish "New Year"
but it should more properly be understood as the
Feast of Trumpets. On the first day of the seventh
month we are told to rest and blow the shofar,
a special trumpet made from a ram's horn. The
shofar was blown in ancient Israel for various
reasons: If there was danger, the shofar was blown.
If important information was being proclaimed,
the shofar was blown. If the king was coming to
visit our town, the shofar was blown. Messianic
Jews blow the shofar on this day because we are
announcing the soon return of King Messiah to
planet Earth. Throughout the New Testament Yeshua's
return is promised to be accompanied by the blowing
of the shofar (see 1 Cor. 15:51-52 and 1 Thes.
4:16). In the book of Revelation, with the sounding
of the seventh trumpet, Messiah Yeshua returns
to Earth. The shofar is designed to wake us up
and get us ready for the Second Coming of Messiah
and the other events connected with the seventh
month.
The Day of Atonement
Ten days
later, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, takes
place. This was the one day when the High Priest
was allowed to enter into the Most Holy Place
in the Temple, sprinkle blood on the Ark of the
Covenant, and atone for the sins of Israel. This
is a very solemn day, when Jewish people fast
and pray and ask for forgiveness. The rabbis teach
that we have ten days from the beginning of the
Feast of Trumpets to the close of Yom Kippur in
which to repent.
According
to this tradition, if you do not repent during
those ten days, God will blot your name out of
the Book of Life, and sometime during the coming
year you will die. This is a day for judgment,
atonement and cleansing. Prophetically, it looks
forward to a future day of judgment and cleansing
immediately following Yeshua's return. That judgment
is further described in the twenty-fifth chapter
of the book of Matthew. Yeshua tells us that after
He returns, He will establish His throne and judge
all the nations. Those nations and individuals
who turned to God will be welcomed into His kingdom.
Those nations and individuals who have not repented
will be turned away from life in the Kingdom.
It makes sense that this judgment will occur on
the very day of some future Yom Kippur.
Sukkot
Finally,
we come to the last of the seven yearly holidays,
Sukkot - the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the seventh
holiday and it falls in the seventh month. With
this holiday God will complete His plan to redeem
humanity. Sukkot takes place on the fifteenth
day of Tishri and lasts for eight days. For the
third and last time of the year, the Jewish people
went up to Jerusalem to celebrate this final harvest
festival. We built booths, decorated them with
branches and the fruits of the harvest, and lived
in them for the duration of the holiday. We also
took willow, palm and myrtle branches, waved them
in the air, prayed and rejoiced with them. These
temporary booths, which go up and come down one
week later, remind us of the Exodus from Egypt
and our forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
They also remind us that our brief sojourn in
this world is temporary. We are pilgrims while
on this earth, wanderers with no permanent dwelling
place.
Prophetically,
Sukkot looks forward to a greater Exodus to come.
It looks forward to the final harvest of humanity.
It anticipates the eternal dwelling places which
Messiah Yeshua has prepared for us. At the end
of this age, God will gather the fruit of redeemed
humanity into His kingdom. This is the goal of
God's efforts in human history, leading to the
eternal kingdom which awaits redeemed humanity.
My friends,
according to the Torah, the Jewish people needed
to offer very special sacrifices on these days,
in order to really celebrate them. With the destruction
of the Temple, and without the sacrifices, its
impossible to fully and properly observe these
holidays. We can’t draw near to God through them
as we need to.
But God
has a master plan to save fallen humanity which
is revealed in the Jewish holidays, and they are
fulfilled in the Messiah, in Messianic Judaism,
in true Christianity. To reach the goal to which
the holidays point, salvation - you must start
at the beginning of God's calendar. You must cease
from your own works and enter into the Sabbath
rest that the Messiah alone provides.
You must
believe that Yeshua is the Passover Lamb who died
for your sins, and that He is the unleavened bread
that was victorious over sin.
You must
believe that He is the fulfillment of the Feast
of First Fruits, the One who was raised from the
dead.
In fulfillment
of Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) you must receive
His Spirit and become part of the Messianic Community.
Then
you can look forward to His return, and so partake
of the Feast of Trumpets.
As part
of Yom Kippur, you need to remember that when
He returns to planet Earth, judgment will take
place. Those who believe in Him will not be condemned,
but have already passed out of judgment and into
life.
Then
at the very end, you will be welcomed into that
glorious and eternal kingdom awaiting redeemed
humanity. Then those that have been reconciled
to the God of Israel, through he wonderful Messiah
whom He sent, will reign with Him forever and
ever, which is the fulfillment of the Feast of
Sukkot.
Messiah
Yeshua is the fulfillment of these holy days!
He has filled them fuller of meaning and significance
and power and life, for anyone who desires to
celebrate them! Do you know Him? I hope so! Your
eternal destiny depends on it!
Leviticus 24
The beautiful
seven-branched Menorah gave light for the priests
to serve the Lord in the Mishkan. The oil used
to light the beautiful golden menorah, must be
made of pure, clear olive oil. It was to be a
Ner Tamid - a light that was to shine continually.
It’s light was never to go out. The number seven
is the number of completion, so this beautiful
and valuable seven branched Lamp tells us that
the God of Israel will always be the fullness
of truth, eternal wisdom, infinite purity, the
One who can always bring victory and salvation
to His people.
Every
week fine wheat flour was baked into 12 loaves
of bread. The 12 loaves were than brought into
the Holy Place, place on the Golden Table of God’s
Presence, and arranged in two rows of six. In
addition to the bread, on each row was place some
frankincense.
The bread
remained on the Table all week, and was renewed
each Sabbath. Before the new bread was placed
on the Table, the incensed was burned to show
that the Lord accepted the bread. Then the bread
was removed from the Table, and it was eaten by
the priests.
The 12
loaves of bread represented the 12 tribes of Israel.
The bread tells us that God is to be trusted to
provide for our daily needs. He knows our needs,
and the Lord is the One who takes care of our
needs. The God of Israel is able to sustain His
people, so always trust Him! And remember Messiah,
the Bread of Life, for those who trust Him will
never hunger, and will have all their deepest
needs met.
No human
being should ever blaspheme, speak something evil
against, or curse “Ha-Shem” - The Name - The Supreme
Being. When the son of a Jewish woman and an Egyptian
man did, he was brought outside the camp, and
everyone who heard him say evils things about
the all-Perfect God, laid their hands on his head,
transferring his sins back onto the man, who was
then stoned to death. Wow - and so many say bad
things about God, or take His name so lightly,
all the time. They are in for a terrible surprise
one day!
Murderers
of human beings are to be killed - not rehabilitated.
But the one who kills someone else’s animal must
replace it. And, if you injured your neighbor,
the Law of God required you to be punished fairly
- fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth. Now, that is not to be understood that
if you got into a fight with someone, and knocked
out his tooth, that your tooth was to be knocked
out. The point is that justice, not personal revenge
was to prevail. A fair punishment was to be given
by society. The punishment must fit the crime.
These laws applied to Israelis, as well as those
foreigners living among us. We couldn’t take advantage
of them just because they weren’t citizens.
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