|
The parasha
for this Shabbat is entitled Tzav, which is an
imperative translated “Command” or
“give the command”. The reading takes
us from Leviticus chapters six through eight.
God instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons
how they are to carry out their priestly duties.
The previous chapters had to do with the offerings
from the perspective of the people of Israel.
These chapters concern the offerings from the
priestly perspective.
One of
the very first things commanded is that fire be
kept burning continually on the altar; it was
never to go out (6:9, 13). Josephus recorded (and
it was confirmed by rabbinical writings) that
during the time of the Second Temple there was
a special day set apart when everybody was to
bring wood to the Temple, so that the supply would
never be depleted in order to keep the fire of
the altar going. The command of God that fire
be kept burning continually on the altar is the
basis for the traditional ner tamid - the perpetual
light in synagogues. It hearkens back to the days
when the Temple still stood, and represents a
yearning that it be built once again, so that
those sacrifices could be offered to Adonai in
obedience to the command.
All of
chapter six and the first part of seven include
instructions for the burnt offerings, grain offerings,
sin offerings and guilt offerings. But in chapter
seven we are instructed about the peace offerings.
These were especially significant, as they were
entirely voluntary. Serving the Living God was
meant to be so much more than obligatory religious
activity. A person could be at peace with God
and simply want to give thanks to Him for His
tender mercies and for reconciling us to Himself.
But the peace offerings were also a very serious
matter - anyone who ate any of the meat of a peace
offering in a state of uncleanness was to be put
to death! The most significant of the peace offerings
was the thanksgiving offering. If you were delivered
from the attack of an enemy, or were healed of
a sickness or had taken a vow during a time of
distress and were now safe and sound, you could
bring a thanksgiving offering. Another of the
peace offerings was the free-will offering. Perhaps
for no other reason than that your heart moved
you to express appreciation to God for His goodness
and kindness, you might bring a free-will offering.
Rabbi Hertz notes concerning this passage that
the rabbis regarded the thanksgiving offering
to be of the highest order, declaring that during
the Messianic Age, whereas all other sacrifices
will have served their purposes, these will continue
on.
In thinking
about the thanksgiving offerings, two incidents
in the life of Yeshua come to mind. The first
was the man at the pool of Bethesda whom Yeshua
healed, who had been lame for thirty-eight years.
With just a word Yeshua enabled him to rise and
walk again! Not only did this man not bother to
thank Yeshua for such a wondrous gift, but ended
up reporting Him to the religious authorities.
Where was the appreciation?
The other
incident took place while Yeshua was on His way
to Jerusalem for the last time before being put
to death. Heading south from the Galilee, He was
approached in a certain village by ten leprous
men who begged Him to have mercy on them. Yeshua
granted their request, and as they went their
way, every one of them was instantaneously healed!
Yet of those ten, only one man came back to give
glory to God, and that one was not even an Israeli.
Yeshua wondered aloud at the lack of thankfulness.
May we never come to the place of ingratitude!
Chapter
eight describes the consecration of Aaron and
his sons as priests. We read of this in Exodus
chapters 28-30, when God commanded Moses while
he was up on Mt. Sinai. Here in Leviticus 8 Moses
carries out the command of God. Their ordination,
if you will, was attended with great and very
detailed ceremony. There were washings and anointings
and ceremonial robes and head coverings and the
sacrifice of a bull and two rams. A little of
the blood of the second ram was put on Aaron and
his sons’ right ear lobes, their right thumbs
and the big toe of their right feet. This is a
picture of the necessity of the servant of God
to have attentive ears, obedient hands and cautious
feet. The mind, the will and the ways of a man
of God must all be in submission to the will of
God. There was no sense of a man’s private
life and the public discharge of his duties being
separate and unrelated matters. The whole man
must be consecrated to God. So should it be for
all of us who are called “a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation”. So, please re-dedicate
yourself to serving God will clean hands and a
pure heart. That is what we are called to.
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn
|
