CHAPTER 21
1. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Speak [emor] to the priests, Aharon's sons, and tell them, ‘None [of you] shall be defiled for the soul among his people,
What does it mean to be “defiled for the soul”? It refers to touching the body of a dead person (made more explicit in v. 11). The preceding context (20:27) forbade attempts to communicate with the dead (compare Deut. 18:9-11). The Torah is about restoring the simple, innocent, complete trust in YHWH that Adam originally had, which does not need to seek understanding and security from other sources, especially the dead, from whom the breath of Elohim has been withdrawn. This priesthood exists to restore that wholeness, so the following commands are given to put another step between these cohanim and the dead. (Rabbi Ari Kahn) Like a Nazir, the Aharonic priests are to remain as far from death as possible. The word for “soul” in Hebrew itself often connotes "life", not death, so we can also read this as saying they should not let the affairs of ordinary life interfere with our service to YHWH. (Compare Mark 4:19.) Usually, however, YHWH does not want religious duties to take precedence over true responsibilities to our own families. (Mark 7:11) Honor for our parents comes before purity. But the priests are an exception. They are held to a higher standard than even the rest of Israel because they have a special privilege of being the authoritative teachers of Torah, which is about life, so their job is to impart life. Those who direct us toward perfection are to stay away from a dead body as often as possible. (Rabbi Zev Leff, commenting on Psalm 82:6-7.) The whole community depends on the Levites being uncontaminated so they can enter the Temple to do their duty. An ordinary priest cannot even prepare his cousin, uncle, or aunt for burial; he is restricted to seven types of relatives who are closest to him, which is his filial obligation:
2. "‘except for his relative who is close to him, for his mother and his father, and for his son or his daughter, and for his brother.
In ancient Israel, it was the family’s duty to bury a relative; there were no funeral homes, and one would certainly not entrust one’s relative’s body to a stranger as many do today, and in many places this is actually mandated by law. It is the deadness of the corpse--which is now nothing but meat and bones, with no soul--that defiles a person. And one does not even have to touch the corpse to be defiled; simply being in a room with a dead body renders one ritually impure. Jews normally bury a body within 24 hours of death rather than embalming it to minimize contact. Sometimes burial societies have been formed to keep the care of the body within an Israelite context while allowing experts to prepare the body more quickly. (Rather than displaying the dead body, one remembers the joyful times one had with the deceased while he was alive and well.) In ancient Israel, everyone would be more directly exposed to the process of preparing the body for burial than we normally are in today’s sanitized context, where we are insulated from death, even the slaughter of meat. This was not a quick process. It required washing, perfuming, and dressing the body in burial cloths. Sometimes the body would be wrapped in cloth strips soaked in resin so it formed something like the casts used to set broken bones today. It required a lot of contact with the corpse, which is what is being discussed here.
3. "‘Also for his virgin sister who is closest to him and has not been [betrothed] to a man--for her he may become ritually impure.
Closest: possibly in age, if there were other brothers who could be responsible for sisters closer to themselves in age. One relationship that is conspicuous by its absence from this list is his wife! So “the relative who is close(st) to him” (v. 2) is interpreted by the rabbis to be one's wife. (Torath Kohanim 21:5) The term for “relative” means, essentially, one’s “flesh and blood”, and who could be closer than the one with whom he becomes “one flesh”? (Gen. 2:24)
4. "‘A leader shall not defile himself among his people, in order to profane himself:
The priests are the ones to whom judgment is given when questions arise. (Mal. 2:7; Y’hezq'el 44:24) They must be especially irreproachable. Leader: The Hebrew term is baal. It literally means master or husband in the sense of ownership or headship. (Hos. 2:16) The same term was used for a group of pagan deities because their adherents directed the expression of intimacy with their gods to their priests or temple prostitutes. Since pagans reject authority, they conflated the two aspects of marriage (intimacy and authority) into only one. YHWH wants no mediator in this respect; His priests only assist us in drawing near, but He Himself is the one to whom we draw near. The priest is the one who ensures that the entire community remains obedient, so he may not allow anything to contaminate him so that he can be there for them any time they need him. His people: even among Israel (a set-apart people), he is never to be “one of the sheep”; he is a shepherd, and is not to be involved in civilian affairs.
5.
"‘They shall not make their heads bald, nor shall they shave off the edge of their beard, nor shall they make a cutting in their flesh.
"‘They shall not make their heads bald, nor shall they shave off the edge of their beard, nor shall they make a cutting in their flesh. All of Israel is to be holy, but the standard is even higher for the priests. The general population of Israel is not to "mar" the edge of the beard in any way (19:27); the priest is particularly told not to shave it. Personal taste or creativity have no say here. He must continue to look like a complete man. No Israelite is to make a bald spot between our eyebrows for the dead. (Deut. 14:1) These practices, such as cutting temporary or permanent designs into one’s body, were pagan mourning rituals practiced throughout the whole Near East. This generation of priests had grown up in Egypt, where preparation for death consumed the greatest energies of one’s life, especially among leaders, as proven by the thousands of mummified bodies found there in the past century of archaeology. But Israel is not to focus on death, but on the Torah, which is life. (Deut. 32:47) So the priest may not engage in any open mourning ritual, even though it is not pagan, for any except these select, closest relatives to whom he has a special duty, especially if they would have no one else to bury them. He has no time to be defiled for seven days; he has a job to do.
6. "‘They are holy for their Elohim; they shall not profane the Name of their Elohim, because they [are the ones who] bring near the fire offerings of YHWH [and] the bread of their Elohim; thus they are set apart.
Profane: pierce, puncture (like a package that has been opened already), thus representing Him as common. They cannot do what is common for everyone else to do, for a higher degree of separateness is expected of them. Fire and bread: They also tend the oil, the blood, etc.; why are only these two things mentioned? Fire represents YHWH's presence, and bread is linked with YHWH’s word (Deut. 8:3), and symbolizes the unified community. They symbolically bring a united Israel into YHWH’s presence, and teach the unity of YHWH to the people. The Levites' fruit is offered to YHWH Himself, and others will eat of it in order to learn of Him, so what they present must be undefiled and the purest among the pure.
7. "‘They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute or one who is desecrated, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband, because he is set apart to his Elohim,
The only way the invisible Elohim could be known at this point was by our seeing the lives of those He allowed into His presence—His "gatekeepers". So YHWH gets involved in the most private aspects of their lives: whom they can marry, whom they can bury, how they can mourn—all things with heavy emotional weight. He has a right to regulate even these; we have no right to feel any way we wish to feel. What the priests touch is everyone’s business, because the whole community will be affected. Desecrated: by having had relations with anyone not qualified to be a priest. Even the wife of a priest must be beyond accusation, for she will also be the mother of his sons, who will also inherit his position as the next priests. The prophet Hoshea was told to do just the opposite to portray how serious Israel's spiritual condition was.
8. "‘so you shall set him apart, because he brings near the bread of your Elohim; he must remain holy for you, because I, YHWH, the one who is setting you apart, am holy.
If we are to represent Him in His holiness, we, too, must be holy. But we must also honor and be careful to treat as holy those whom YHWH has declared to be holy. We must recognize that these men are not to be defiled, and if we are unclean, it is our responsibility to avoid touching them with our uncleanness. We are also to hold them to these standards, making sure they are not touching the wrong bodies or marrying the wrong people. Love and lust are very powerful things, as seen in Ezra’s day when priests married foreigners, and the whole community is thus needed to hold them accountable, even while holding them in the highest regard, for we need to make sure they remain the right kind of examples for us. It helps them to know that everyone else knows who they are supposed to be. In this day in which there is no active priesthood, it is common to allow a known descendant of Aharon to be the first among any company to commence a matter or to be the ones who bring blessings at a meal.
9. "‘Moreover, if a daughter of a man [who is a] priest defiles herself by playing the prostitute, she is profaning her father, and she shall be burned with fire.
Profaning her father: She might thus cause her father to be “de-frocked” from his office. The Aramaic says, "She has become degraded from the level of sanctity that is her father's." The seed she carries could be anyone’s, and she could bring an illegitimate child into the household of a priest. While one from nearly any “race” can enter the congregation of Israel under the right circumstances, the DNA of Aharon is one line YHWH demands must remain pure. (Its genetic markers can still be isolated today.) And worse, she might be prostituting herself after the manner of a pagan temple, and this is something with which YHWH does not want His dwelling place associated. Only fire can purge anyone who profanes her lineage. So severe a sentence should prove a great deterrent. The only other situation in which one receives this sentence in Israel is one who takes his wife’s mother—from which great confusion can result. (20:14) But technically the Hebrew allows us to read this as simply going to a pagan temple to eat, whether there is any sexual activity involved or not. And it never actually says to kill her. In a context where all of Israel is not acting in a holy manner, the burns might be less than lethal. She might be scarred by fire so no man will want to take her again. It may mean that after her death she is not to be gathered to her fathers, but cremated rather than buried. Where all Israel is living up to the standards, the only proper interpretation might be to burn her at the stake. It is left vague, so that the priests at the time can determine just how profaned they feel and what the standards of the place dictate. (Gibor)
10. "‘Now the priest who is chief among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and whose hand is consecrated to put on the garments--his head must not be uncovered, nor his garments torn,
Chief: that is, the one who succeeds his father as high priest. He has an even higher standard to follow than the ordinary priests (compare Luke 12:48 and Yaaqov 3:1), and this position is one from which he has no option of resigning. One who has lost a relative has suffered the only true loss--that of contact with another's soul. The high priest belongs to another world, so he may not even mourn to the extent the other priests may. His head is not to be uncovered (or unbound): His anointing is not to be something thoughtlessly exposed to the world at large. (Mat. 7:6) The Aramaic targum interprets this as, "He shall not let his hair grow wild" as a sign of mourning. (In Y’hezq’el/Ezekiel 44:20, the priests are even told how their hair must be cut so that they will present a uniform message and not draw undue attention to individuals, much like soldiers today.) Garments torn: a mourning ritual or done if one witnessed something horrifying, but Aharon was told not to mourn even when his own sons were killed in front of him. The holiest garment of the high priest was designed so that it could not be easily torn. (Ex. 28:32) But he is not to tear any of his garments. The Talmud (in tractate Moed Katan) stipulates that at a blasphemy trial the presiding judge must tear his garments if the defendant incriminates himself. This tells us that it is the high priest’s responsibility to not participate in this type of trial. (Compare Yochanan 12:46, where Qayafa breaks this rule.) It is thus not the high priest's job to be the judge of individuals, but only to rule on matters of lifestyle [halachah] where there is ambiguity.
11. "‘nor shall he come near any dead body; he shall not defile himself [even] for his father or mother,
Dead body: not that of a slaughtered animal, but of a fellow human being. Father or mother: Not even this cardinal responsibility of every firstborn son applies to the high priest. But with no Temple or priesthood in place, how does this apply today? Yeshua’s brother Yaaqov, who succeeded him in his position as “king” in Israel, tells us that any teacher will be judged more strictly. (Yaaqov/James 3:1ff) Teaching is the role of the priest, so when we teach others, we are in one sense acting in the priestly role, and the responsibility to both judge and be judged applies. When Yeshua told one of his disciples to let the dead bury their dead (Mat. 8:21ff), he might have simply meant that this man should not wait until his father died and was buried, since there was work to be done for the kingdom right away. But if his father had already died, then Yeshua held him to a standard as high as the high priest’s, so those who leave all to follow Yeshua take on the sanctity of not just a priest, but the high priest. The Israel he rules is, after all, a “kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6). Once one has put his hand to the plow, if he looks back, he is not fit for the kingdom. (This is a reference to Elisha burning the plow to make an offering of his father’s oxen, feed the people, and follow Eliyahu, 1 Kings 19:19ff.) Not just any Israelite may be a priest. Not just any priest may minister at the altar, and not just anyone may follow Yeshua, but only those with unquestionable commitment.
12. "‘nor shall he leave the set-apart place, nor profane the sanctuary of his Elohim, because the [crown showing] devotedness of the anointing oil of his Elohim is upon him; I am YHWH.
This does not mean he was to live in the sanctuary itself, but that even if he was told that his wife had died while he was in the midst of something that only he as the high priest could do, he had to finish the service; he could not delegate the work to someone else.
13. "‘He may also take a wife [only] during her virginity.
14. "‘He may not take a widow, or a divorcee, or anyone defiled, or a prostitute, but must take a virgin from his own people as a wife.
Again, he is held to a higher standard of purity than even the other priests, who were permitted to take a widow for a wife. The high priest’s wife must be above reproach since everyone looks to her husband as an example. And this protects his sons’ reputations from other people calling their mother’s integrity into question. Generally, Israelites are permitted to take more than one wife if they can sustain them, but for the high priest, only one wife is mentioned. Part of the reason for this is that he was simply too busy for more than one. A parallel again came up in the second generation of Yeshua’s followers: An overseer and a deacon (a menial servant who waits on tables as in Acts 6) is also to be the husband of only one wife at a time (1 Tim. 3:2, 12). The priest is the closest one could see to YHWH in a man, and Israel as a whole is corporately one bride for YHWH; He does not have many individual brides. His own people: The LXX says, "from his own tribe", but this is only by tradition, because Y’hezq’el 44:22 explains that this means anyone from the House of Israel. The narrower ruling was a “fence” so that the events of Ezra 10 would not be repeated.
15. "‘Thus he must not desecrate his seed among his people, because I am YHWH who sets him apart.'"
Desecrate his seed: i.e., treat it as common, sowing it among those not as set-apart as he, or scatter it among women other than his wife. One of his sons will be the high priest, and he cannot afford to have a bad reputation even if he did not earn it himself. But mixing Yeshua's teaching with the teaching of Babylon is the same thing; it has left us a defiled people in need of cleansing.
16. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
17. "Speak to Aharon, telling [him], ‘No man of your descendants throughout their generations shall draw near to offer the bread of his Elohim if there is a blemish in him.
Blemish: disfigurement or defect. The rabbis say that if a blemished offering is not acceptable, the one offering it should not be blemished either.
18. "‘For no man in whom there is a blemish shall draw near--[neither] a blind man, or one who is lame or disfigured or deformed,
Lame: or, having mismatched limbs; from the same root word as Pesakh (Passover), that is “skipping”, i.e., hobbling, with one leg less sound than the other. This is the same idea as the next two categories: The term for “disfigured” literally means "flat-nosed" or “sunken-nosed”—in other words, truncated in some way. The nose is considered the seat of judgment, so if one is impaired in this way, he cannot fulfill his role properly. Deformed: literally, prolonged or over-extended--anything superfluous, too long; it is not right for the Body of Messiah to have one arm much longer than the other (i.e., too much mercy and not enough judgment), because that is imbalance, nor should any of the giftings be emphasized over the others. The LXX says, "with his ears cut". This is probably why Yeshua healed the ear of the high priest's servant. (Yochanan 18:10) While the high priest at that time was not one truly qualified by his pedigree, Yeshua may have been upholding the office of the one next in line to act in the high priest’s position were he to become defiled on Yom Kippur. This does not mean YHWH is cold or cruel, does not love these individuals, or wants to belittle them, but because they are a picture of imperfection, they are not suitable as "object lessons" in the sanctuary, and are thus not to be seen there; the fact is, people look at His messengers, and by looking at the priests we are meant to understand His heart. His representatives must reflect His perfection, to show that we can achieve it as well—not as individuals, but as a corporate body; what one is lacking, another supplies as we each strive to participate in His perfection. Even their garments are meant to be dazzling. YHWH provided the best for them (v. 22), and the Talmud says these people were permitted to do certain jobs in the temple precincts, such as sorting the wood. Some of the wood brought in for Temple use had defects, just as they did, and they were the judges of which was suitable for the altar, and which could only be used for the hearth on which the bread was baked. They were especially out of place in a place dedicated to teaching purity, holiness, and redemption from the curse, so they were hidden away. Their imperfections would be likely to make people stare and forget why they were there, and would detract from the pleasant experience YHWH intends our being in His presence to be. But a special promise is given to such people in Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 56:3-8, provided their heart is right, as well as their actions, despite their outward defects. That one is physically crippled need not mean he is spiritually crippled.
19. "‘or a man with a broken leg or a broken arm,
Broken leg: a picture of not walking in the Torah; broken arm: a picture of one with defective works. These two imperfections are only temporary if the bone heals properly. If his defect goes away, he is fit to serve. (Torat Kohanim 21:55) But there is the possibility the bone would not set properly, so it is incumbent on the priestly father not to allow his sons to engage in unnecessarily-dangerous activities likely to precipitate such a fracture.
20. "‘or one [who is] hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or with a spot in his eye, or scabbed, or having a rash, or one with crushed testicles.
Hunchbacked: a picture of one who does not walk uprightly or who cannot properly shoulder a burden. A spot in his eye: idiomatically, one in which something stands in the way of generosity. Scabbed: LXX, "having a malignant ulcer". Scabbed or having a rash: or possibly, having severe eczema or a running sore (or even a ringworm). These again are qualities not allowed in an animal brought for sacrifice either (22:22), and associated with leprosy, a picture of wanting another’s position. Crushed testicles: damaging to the seed; alt., missing, and thus unable to carry on the line of Israel into new generations. Nothing less than a perfect body can depict the man in Ephesians 4, which does walk uprightly and in balance, is generous, lives up to its full potential, appreciates its assigned place, and wants to bear spiritual offspring. Corporately we have to become this man; individually, we only need to fulfill our particular role properly. The whole burden is not on individuals, but the entire community.
21. "‘No one of the descendants of Aharon the cohen in whom there is a blemish shall come near to offer the fire offerings of YHWH: a blemish is in him; he shall not come near to offer the bread of Elohim.
22. "‘He may eat of the bread of his Elohim--of the most holy things, and of the [other] holy things.
This is his food (22:7) and he has no other livelihood. He shares in the rights of all Levites, so they will not be denied him, whatever his condition as an individual.
23. "‘But he must not enter inside the veil, nor may he draw near to the altar, because there is a disfigurement in him, and he must not profane my set-apart places, because I am YHWH who sets them apart.'"
Veil: the outer one, behind which many priests would serve, not the inner, behind which only the high priest could go anyway. Profane: to make it less than it should be; simply to make it common rather than holy.
24. So Moshe told [this] to Aharon and his sons, as well as to all the descendants of Israel.
Everyone had to know about it so that everyone would hold them accountable. We are all responsible for one another.
CHAPTER 22
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Tell Aharon and his sons to treat as sacred the holy things of the descendants of Israel so as to not profane My holy Name in [regard to] what they devote to Me; I am YHWH.
Treat as sacred: This means to keep certain things at a distance. But this phrase can also mean to devote oneself to the things set apart to YHWH. This is an even more refined calling than simply being set apart, as all of Israel is called to be. The term is from the same root as a Nazirite—one who abstains from certain things for a given time so he can dedicate himself to serving YHWH in a special way. The priest is allowed to come closer to YHWH than anyone else, but because of this, the level of holiness required of the rest of Israel is not enough. He must handle the things that Israel has set apart to YHWH with care, because while he has a unique right to use them, they belong to YHWH. And because there will be times when he is not the best example of holiness or perfection (as specified below so they are not left to private interpretation), there are times when he is not permitted to touch those things at all. How is this practical for us today, with no sanctuary and no active priesthood? It tells us to pull our lives out of contexts others consider normal. Not that we have to leave the world, but we must not be caught up in its priorities, and must be dedicated to what is set apart. But we, who have been in exile for so long, still have many Gentile-like habits and thought patterns to overcome. If we are not careful, we will defile those holy things. We have been given some time now to learn them before the Kingdom is fully restored, so that when the time comes to do them rightly, we will not “screw up”. It is not enough to avoid serving the evil inclination; they must also dedicate themselves to carrying out the positive commandments just because YHWH wants them done. Hold yourself to standards that others might not. Gold is not adequate if platinum is possible. Doing right will benefit us and others, but if done for that reason, we are not really keeping the commandment. The first thing He set apart is the Sabbath, then Israel itself, the Torah, His feasts, certain foods, then the Land of Israel and Yerushalayim, and more specifically, the sanctuary, the altar, and the offerings—literally, the things that allow us to draw near to YHWH. Treat them with care!
3. "Tell them, ‘Out of all your descendants throughout your generations, any man who draws near to the holy things which the sons of Israel set apart to YHWH while his uncleanness is upon him shall be cut off from before Me; I am YHWH.
This reminds us to operate in fear, which is the beginning of wisdom, when handling things that do not belong to us. They are YHWH’s, because His Name is on them. These “holy things” are, in short, everything that is to be used in or at the Sanctuary. Each of them is a picture of some aspect of the Kingdom. While uncleanness is upon him: symbolic of using the things of YHWH for selfish ends. These things are not about self, and those who use them must not be, either. The priests receive from these things, but they cannot treat them like they are their own. They must treat them as YHWH would, and be in the right condition when they even touch them. If they do not take care of them, they will lose the privilege. There are only certain ways they can be approached. If the priests come near at the wrong time, they cannot come back anymore at all.
4. "‘Any man of the descendants of Aharon who is leprous, or has an oozing discharge, shall not eat of the holy things until he has become ritually pure, as well as anyone who touches any uncleanness of a person or a man whose seed has gone out of him,
Not all unclean things are listed here, so the specific things that are remind us to be especially on our guard against particular sins. Leprosy is associated with wanting another’s position or authority. A discharge is a picture of a free-flowing mouth, whether it be complaining, gossip, or just giving too much information about what is sacred to those who might turn out to be Israel’s enemies (2 Kings 20:12ff). Uncleanness of a person: that is, a dead body, for death is a picture of the opposite of the Torah, which is called our life. (Deut. 32:47) Death is abnormal in the universe as YHWH intended it. And wasted seed is a picture of letting our children lead worthless lives by turning them over to their own wishes.
5. "‘or a man who touches any swarming thing which is unclean to him or touches a man who is unclean to him in whatever form his uncleanness [may be]--
Which is unclean: that is, when it is dead.
6. "‘the person who touches it shall be ritually unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things until he bathes his flesh with water,
The animal being brought is a picture of the one bringing it, so as long as one is selfish (as uncleanness symbolizes) instead of having the community’s interests at heart may not partake of another’s drawing near to YHWH. For leaders, the standard is higher; grace gives way to a penalty and finally "repossession" for those who continue taking advantage of it. But if he gets rid of what stands in the way, he can partake of another’s ascension. The reason not to even touch it is to avoid forgetting that it cannot be eaten by one in his condition and accidentally eating it. Bathes with water: a picture of getting back into the Torah and repenting. We need this cleansing more often as there are more “germs” around.
7. "‘then when the sun goes [down], he will be ritually clean, and afterwards he may eat of the holy things, because this is his food.
When the sun goes down: By this time he has to have already bathed. We prepare for the dark times (when the real test comes) by using the light to recognize what is wrong and taking steps to become selfless while there is still light. Woe to those who are still selfish when the time of Yaaqov’s trouble comes, because the only light then will be the light that is in our assemblies, as during the plague of darkness in Egypt. This is his food: It cannot be withheld from him longer than until the end of that day, since it is his right to eat of it, but if he is hungry prior to that time, he must buy his own food elsewhere. Here he is eating from what represents all of Israel; and we are not to partake of one another in a selfish way. (Laziness is the twin brother of selfishness, and if we take advantage of one another just because we are conveniently close by, we are missing the point of community.) Eating of what is holy while we are unclean may even be worse than eating something unclean. The community of those drawing near is what feeds YHWH’s servants; if this is no longer your purpose, we will all starve. But after the price is paid, there is a remedy available if the directions are followed correctly.
8. "‘He shall not eat a carcass [of an animal that has] died [of natural causes] or anything torn, because it is unclean; I am YHWH.
Torn: understood to mean by a wild beast. It is a picture of being pulled in many directions, instead of being established in loyalty. We are not to eat of what has not been killed by the hands of those who respect YHWH’s standards. All must experience some kind of death, but what we want to partake of is the humane type of slaughter found in Israel, not a violent or horrible death. When we present ourselves as a living sacrifice and let go of the flesh, it is a clean and peaceful “death”, and from it we step into the Kingdom.
9. "‘And they must guard what I have given them to watch over, and must tolerate no error in regard to it, so that they will not die when they pollute it; I am YHWH who is setting them apart.
The Mishnah says there were armed Levites on duty to prevent anyone from getting out of line. They are responsible to see that things are done rightly in this house over which they have been given authority. In second Temple times, if a watchman guarding the gate fell asleep on duty, his clothes would be set on fire!
10. "‘No one who has become alienated may eat of the holy things, nor may a guest of the priest or a hired servant of his eat of the holy thing.
One alienated: This might mean nothing more than one who is not a priest. Only the absolutely committed can truly partake of the ascension. If opened up for general consumption, it will be defiled. Guest: one who does not intend to remain with him. Hired servant: one who is in it only because he needs a job and will quit when he gets an offer of a better salary. If we insist on gaining from YHWH’s service, then we have the means to buy food for ourselves elsewhere, whereas one who has left all for His sake and has no way to provide for himself will be provided for:
11. "‘However, if a priest purchases a person with his [own] money, he may eat of it; also, anyone born in his house--they must eat of his bread.
Those owned by the household may partake of the intimacy of the household. If we refuse, there is nothing else left to nourish us Anyone born in his house: Those with a permanent connection to the holy ones—who are never going anywhere else—may eat from what is cooked on the altar.
12. "‘But a priest's daughter, if she comes to belong to man who is an outsider, she shall not eat of the contributions of the holy things,
Outsider: in this case, she marries any Israelite who is not a priest. Contributions: or, elevated things. These are not for someone who has lowered herself. When she becomes part of another household, she has not done wrong, but the privileges of the priestly household are lost to her.
13. "‘but if a priest's daughter returns to her father's house as in her youth after being widowed or divorced and having no seed, she may eat of her father's bread, but no one who is estranged [from Israel] shall eat of it.
She does not permanently bear her husband’s identity unless she gives him children, in which case she remains connected to his house, because this continues after his death. She has grown attached to that place, and can never truly take her former place, because the children and their associations have added new factors to the relationship. There are consequences to sowing one’s wild oats in a foreign field. But if she has no one left in that household to care for her (as she still would if she has grown children), then she is a true widow and may be provided for by her original family. Some things cannot be undone; if they could not be repaired, we had better be sure not to break them.
14. "‘ Now if a man [should] eat of a holy thing by mistake, then he must give its [value] plus one-fifth to the cohen along with the holy thing,
He cannot simply say, “Oops! Sorry, it was an accident!” and be relieved of the penalty. Even if he only took one bite before he realized what he was doing, he must repay with an entire animal, plus more (20% of its monetary value). He must give back to the priest more than he cost him.
15. "‘so that they will not profane the holy things of the descendants of Israel--that which they lift up to YHWH--
We must not allow those who should not be eating—who refuse to wash the self off themselves with the Torah--to eat of what is dedicated to YHWH.
16. "‘and thus cause them to bear the guilt of committing a trespass by eating their holy things, because I am YHWH who sets them apart.'"
Sha'ul (Paul) likewise warns of eating in a selfish manner the meals that were meant to bring us together into unity. (1 Cor. 11) In his scenario, "bearing the guilt" meant becoming sick and even dying.
17. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
18. "Speak to Aharon and his sons, and to all the descendants of Israel, and tell them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or of the proselytes in Israel, who brings his offering near for any of his vows or any of his free-will offerings that they bring near to YHWH for an ascending offering--
19. "‘to be accepted, [it must be] a healthy male of the oxen, sheep, or goats;
Though a freewill offering, there are still parameters around what may be offered. YHWH accepts love from our hearts, but He forbids us from offering what does not meet His standards. Just because Constantine dedicated the Feast of Ishtar (Easter) to what he thought of as YHWH, does not mean He is obligated to accept it; He will not accept Sunday worship as equivalent to the Sabbath, which He Himself prescribed. "To obey is better than sacrifice." (1 Shmuel 15:22)
20. "‘you must not offer that which has a blemish, because it will not be acceptable for you.
21. "‘And when a man brings near a slaughter of peace offerings to YHWH to mark off his vow as separate, or a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, to be acceptable it must be completely sound, without any defect in it.
His vow: as a Nazirite, for example. Acceptable: or pleasing. He will not accept second-best.
22. "‘You shall not bring near to YHWH [anything] blind or crippled or mutilated, or [one with] a running sore, a scratch, or skin disease, nor shall you set any of them upon YHWH's altar as a fire offering.
Mutilated: or maimed; the picture is that YHWH does not accept “lame” excuses. Do not wait until you are too tired from everything else to give Him your time, for what is left over is usually of the lowest quality, after everything else has been picked over.
23. "‘Now with an ox or the lamb [that is] overstretched or stunted, you may make a freewill offering, but for a vow it is not acceptable.
Overstretched or stunted: in some body part. Either extreme is out of balance. We can give YHWH gifts that are not perfect from our excess, but where a promise has been made, only what is perfect is allowable. And even this one exception, allowed only for absolute necessities, is only allowed in an offering mainly to be eaten by the giver and those whom he chooses to share with; only a token portion goes to the priest.
24. "‘And you shall not bring near to YHWH [anything] bruised or crushed, torn apart, or cut off; even in your Land you may not do this.
The Aramaic and Greek translations say this verse specifically deals with injuries to the testicles. Even though it is not going to reproduce anymore, but is only to be killed and eaten, YHWH does not want it, because it is a picture of the lack of fruitfulness, which goes directly against the first command YHWH gave to Adam. What you offer represents yourself; if you do not intend to bear fruit in the Kingdom, but only to enjoy for yourself, then do not bother offering yourself for YHWH’s service.
25. "‘Nor shall you bring near the bread of your Elohim--or any of these things--from the hand of a stranger’s son, because their corruption is in them and there is a blemish in them; they are not acceptable for you.'"
If an outsider wants to contribute to Israel, but is not willing not give his best, YHWH would prefer not to have his contribution. This raises the bar, for how can we accept any less from His people? Corruption: or disfigurement. But because one who was disfigured beyond any other man has redeemed Yerushalayim, those who bear YHWH’s vessels are again able to depart from the nations with enough leisure to be able to avoid touching anything unclean. (Yeshayahu 52:9-14)
26. Then YHWH told Moshe,
27. "When an ox, sheep, or goat is born, and has remained under its mother for seven days, then from the eighth day onward it will be favorably accepted as a "drawing-near"--a fire offering to YHWH.
This clarifies the command not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk (which can also be translated “raise it up on its mother’s milk”—i.e., do not let it grow to maturity, if it is to be offered as a firstfruits offering, Ex. 23:19) But no animal may be killed before it has experienced one Sabbath.
28. "But you may not slaughter a herd or flock animal and its offspring on the same day.
Just as one may not take both a mother bird and its eggs to eat, the hope of continuity must not be taken away. We must not discourage our brothers. This is also why YHWH says He will not punish the sons for what their parents have done. YHWH always made sure a seed was left as a remnant during our exile so repentance would be possible.
29. "Now when you slaughter a thanksgiving sacrifice to YHWH, of your own free will you must slaughter it.
Of your own free will: not under duress or out of a sense of guilt. If you are not glad to bring it, do not “fake it”, for it will not count as a true offering, and will only be wasted.
30. "It must be eaten on that day; you must not leave any of it until morning. I am YHWH,
Here there is no provision for the second day as there has been in other similar passages. This is His ultimate preference. After we turn it over, it is no longer ours, so why should we be concerned whether any of it is “wasted”?
31."and you must observe My commands and carry them out; I am YHWH,
"and you must observe My commands and carry them out; I am YHWH,32. "and you must not profane My holy Name. Rather, I will be treated as holy among the descendants of Israel. I am YHWH, the One who is setting you apart,
Profane: Be careful that our actions do not dishonor our Father or diminish His reputation. He wants to express love to His children without wrath, but He cannot do so if we do not follow His instructions.
33. "the One who is bringing you out from the land of Egypt [so I can] become an Elohim for you; I am YHWH."
The standards laid out in chapters 21 and 22 set the stage for the priests to be able to have everything ready when the masses of Israelites descend on the sanctuary for the festivals outlined in the next chapter. One cannot be taking time off to bury his third cousin when it is time for YHWH’s appointments.
CHAPTER 23
1. Then YHWH told Moshe,
2. "Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall inform them of the appointed times of YHWH, which you must proclaim--holy rehearsals. These are My appointed seasons:
This is one of the most important chapters of the Torah. Appointed times: or, agreed-upon times--that is, appointments He has with all of Israel. YHWH has fixed the times for these, for they are called His, though He allows us and even requires us to participate in them if we want to be part of His covenant. And we must show up at the right time—not the most convenient day nearest to them—or we will not find Him there. But if we call one another together at the right time, we can come with the expectation that the Director will be there to meet us, because He made the appointments. The term “appointed” is even used of becoming engaged for marriage. This is exactly what YHWH intends for us, and He gave us many occasions to rehearse for the wedding. Today, without the Temple, we can only do rehearsals for the Rehearsals, yet they bring us one step closer in our training. No one can do a rehearsal on his own; he can only practice. But as we do show up for the rehearsal and gather in unity, with our whole selves turned over to Him, we are indeed rehearsing for the Kingdom.
3. "‘Work is to be done six days, and in the seventh day [there is] a sabbath of desisting, a holy calling-forth; you shall do no work at all. It is a sabbath for YHWH anywhere you [may] live.
The first appointed time when YHWH allows us to meet Him is the Sabbath, and we could therefore deduce that it is the most important; in any case it is the most frequent. The most basic of His appointed seasons is this seven-day cycle. Calling-forth: An Aramaic targum interprets this as, “You should be assembled.” Though it may be better to do it poorly than not at all, the Sabbath cannot be properly celebrated unless we are gathered. We cannot carry out its full symbolism when alone. We can only prove we are brothers if we gather when the community is gathered. Work: i.e., remunerative or which meets earthly needs. The best way to avoid it is to put our full focus on serving one another by remaining assembled. If thoughts of personal gain start knocking, find someone to serve! In all your dwellings: or, wherever you live. This is not an excuse to stay home, because the word also means “places of sitting”, which includes the gathered assembly. This is what begins to define us as Israel. If we are faithful to do so, He will come sit among us. (Z’kharyah 2:14) We are not faithful as its keeper of Torah if we simply dismiss it as useless or replace it with something of our own making!
4. "‘These are YHWH’s appointments--holy callings-forth that you shall announce in their appointed seasons:
We cannot stop with the Sabbath, or we are just another denomination, rehearsing but having nothing scheduled to practice for. Announce: Make sure the presence of the Aviv barley and the sighting of the new moon in Israel are clearly communicated, so that everyone can show up for the appointment on the right day. (Torath Kohanim 23:146) If we announce them to others, we are not likely to forget to keep them ourselves. The Hasidic masters say that each of them is a tool for “calling forth” a gift of spiritual nutrition, for specific things are especially accessible as we arrive at these junctures each year: embedded in Passover is the gift of freedom. The Torah can be especially understood at Shavuoth, Yom T’ruah is a time when the Kingdom is the special focus, and repentance is most available at Yom Kippur.
5. "‘In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to YHWH.
Passover: specifically not the day or the meal, but the slaughtering of a particular lamb. Between: from a root word meaning "discernibly distinct". Evenings: Most literally the term means "mixtures" or "transitions"--i.e., so "between the evenings" means the time after there is a noticeable difference marking the fact that day is waning and the time there is a noticeable transition from dusk to darkness, so the lamb is slaughtered around sundown, at the end of the fourteenth.
6. "‘And the fifteenth of that month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto YHWH; you shall eat unleavened [food] for seven days.
This week begins with the Passover seder as the 14th moves into the 15th--the full moon, a symbol of Israel at its zenith of reflecting YHWH. (The way to write the number”15” in Hebrew spells “Yah”.) You shall eat: a positive command which is just as important as the command not to eat anything leavened. In fact, this time He does not even mention the part about eating no leaven, as in Ex. 12. It is little help to refrain from evil influences if we do not also partake of what is pure. (Compare Mat. 12:43-45.) In this season leaven is a picture of sin, especially pride, which makes us appear to be more than we really are, because the puffing up of the bread adds no nutritional value. Any other time, leaven is a picture of anything that permeates everything it touches, whether positive or negative. Y’shua used it in a positive sense in regard to the Kingdom. (Luke 13:20-21)
7. "‘On the first day you shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no work of service,
Work of service: This is a combination of the two different Hebrew words for work, so it makes us pause and examine what is meant. It is essentially “service for pay”. The type of work done by the Levites in the Temple on all the holy days is described the same way (1 Chron. 23:28), because what Israel brings to YHWH is their pay. Here it refers to labor that serves anything other than YHWH and His community—and that includes not serving self. (Ezk. 33:30-31; Yochanan 6:27) On Passover we are permitted to act like the priesthood in that we deal with the blood of the lamb ourselves. Any other time we are overstepping our rights to deal with the blood. This time it teaches us, so we are “paid” in this way.
8. "‘and you shall bring near to YHWH a fire offering for a week of days. The seventh day will also be a holy rehearsal; you must do no work of service.'"
According to Exodus 12:16, the only permissible labor on the high days of the festivals (other than the Sabbath and Yom haKippurim) is that which has to do with the preparation of food.
9. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
10. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, and you shall tell them, ‘When you enter the Land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest and brought in the omer--the beginning of your harvest--to the cohen,
Reaped its harvest: literally, "cut off its cutting-off". Omer: the dry equivalent of about two liters; more precisely the measure of the final processed results of one sheaf of grain. According to the Mishnah, 16 pounds of harvested grain, after being fully processed, produce five pounds of sifted flour. This reminds us of Gideon's sifting down his army at YHWH's command--and becoming a formidable barley loaf! An omer was deemed by YHWH to be the appropriate measure of “manna” that an average person could eat in one day. (Ex. 16:16-18) So it symbolizes one person, and is thus a picture of bringing oneself to be turned over to YHWH to be tested, honed, and made useful as part of a community (as bread symbolizes, 1 Cor. 10:17).
11. "‘then he shall wave the omer before YHWH so you will be accepted [favorably]; on the day after the sabbath the cohen shall wave it.
Sabbath: the next weekly sabbath that falls after the Passover, according to the Tzadduqim (Sadducees). The P'rushim (Pharisees) interpreted it as the "high sabbath", the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But in that case one would expect the Hebrew term “shabbaton”. Nonetheless, the rabbinical reckoning has followed the Pharisaical.
12. "‘And you shall prepare a lamb--a perfect one, a year old, to be an ascending offering to YHWH--on the day that you wave the omer.
At any other time, a bread offering is supplemental to the offering of an animal, or the substitute for an animal or bird if one is extremely poor. (e.g., Lev. 5:11; 6:13; Num. 15:4) Here, however, the bread is primary and the lamb is supplementary. Since this Firstfruits of the Barley Harvest falls on the same day that Y’shua was resurrected (compare I Cor. 15:20), it reminds us that the reason that Lamb was offered was for the sake of the one bread (1 Cor. 10:17)—the community of unified Israel, not the other way around. The lamb is not offered until the bread is completely ready; it is the only thing that can make Y’shua’s offering effective.
13. "‘And its grain offering shall be two-tenths [of an eyfah] of flour mixed with oil--a fire offering to YHWH, a soothing aroma; and its drink offering, a quarter of a hin of wine.
14. "‘Now you may not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh ears [of barley] until this very day, until you have brought the offering to your Elohim. [This is] a never-ending statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling-places.
I.e., eat nothing from the new harvest until the firstfruits are offered. Fresh grain may not be eaten in any form until YHWH has been brought His portion. And we should not use for our own benefit any form of increase we receive (whether in finances, skills, honor, knowledge, or strength) until we have recognized YHWH for it and acknowledged our responsibility to use it for His people. This very day: or "selfsame" day, but the word used literally means "bones", which reminds us of Y'hezq'El/Ezekiel's vision of dry bones coming back together again. This is the day on which we commence the counting of the measure—a metaphor of a Body, also called "one bread", growing into a mature person. Yeshua is called the Firstfruits (same as Firstborn in Hebrew) of the resurrection, and this was the "very day" his "flesh and bones" rose from the dead. The Body--to be gathered in from the lost sheep scattered throughout the world in many "dwelling-places"--could not be born until the Head was:
15. "‘Then from the day after the Sabbath you must [begin] counting off for yourself seven complete Sabbaths--from the day you bring in the omer of the wave offering
Complete Sabbaths: Note that it does not say “weeks” (shavuoth) here. This will be important to the next verse:
16. "‘until the day after the seventh sabbath. Count fifty days, then bring near to YHWH a fresh grain offering.
If one could begin any other day than the first of the week, the day after the Sabbath would not add up to seven sevens plus one. Passover is the barley harvest; the feast of Shavuot ("weeks”) is the wheat harvest, so whenever barley is mentioned in Scripture, it falls during this season. Fresh: or new, i.e., from the new harvest. This time it is not barley, but wheat, which is much more refinable than barley, which remains more coarse no matter how it is sifted. These fifty days are a time to transform us into more refined people, so we can more easily be mingled into a unified “loaf” for YHWH to enjoy:
17. "‘You shall bring bread from out of your dwelling-places to be a wave offering--two loaves; they shall be of two-tenths [of an eyfah] of fine [wheat] flour. They shall be leavened and baked [as] firstfruits to YHWH.
Wheat flour was more costly than the barley more commonly used in ancient times. By tradition, the two tablets of stone (were brought down from Mt. Sinai on this very day of Shavuoth. They correspond with these two loaves, one representing the kingdom of Yehudah, to whom Yeshua came first, and the other, the "lost sheep of the House of Israel", the "other flock", who were scattered among all nations. Fine: In Second-Temple times it was sifted 13 times. Leavened: this is why they had to be a wave offering; no leaven can be offered on the altar. Leaven is a picture of sin during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua, who was considered sinless, was offered first. But here, it depicts the complete permeation of the Kingdom in our lives so that we come to full maturity as His unified household. (Mat. 13:33) So remove the old leaven (1 Cor. 5:7)—so the new, the right kind of leaven can have its full effect.
18. "‘And in addition to the bread, you shall bring near seven male lambs--perfect ones, a year old; one bull, a son of the herd; and two rams. They are an ascending offering to YHWH, along with their food offering and their drink offerings, as a slaughter of peace offerings.
It does not say to burn them up, though that is what was literally done, but rather to bring near those who ascend to YHWH; thus it can also refer to the people who are brought back into the Land as the dry bones, since a person who immigrates to Israel is indeed called an "ascender". Each slaughter has its bread offering, coinciding with what we are to become--"one bread and one body"—to supplement Yeshua's blood that was shed.
19. "‘And you shall offer one he-goat to be a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old, to be a slaughter as peace-offerings.
20. "‘And the priest shall wave them, in addition to the bread of the firstfruits, [as] a wave offering before YHWH in addition to the two lambs; they are holy to YHWH for the priest.
21. "‘And you shall make a proclamation in regard to this very day; it is a holy rehearsal to you. You shall do no work of service; [this is] a never-ending statute in all your dwelling-places throughout your generations.
22. "‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the corner of your field, nor shall you gather up the gleaning of your harvest; you shall leave them for the needy and for the sojourner; I am YHWH your Elohim.'"
Ruth, a prototype of the Northern Kingdom's return through our kinsman-redeemer, benefitted from this law; a way was made for her to survive, though Naomi had lost the link to her inheritance. But Boaz did more than he was required to. If this law is followed, the poor are truly cared for, and those who pass through the Land see that, in contrast to the evil report the ten spies gave, this Land does not devour its inhabitants, but provides bread without price and no one lacks. YHWH wants His Land to be honored. How large is a corner? It depends how generous one is. The more we leave, the more it takes care of the stranger, widow, or orphan. How great do you want YHWH’s reputation to be?
23. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
24. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a high sabbath--a reminder, an awakening blast, a holy rehearsal.
Seventh month: This day is often called Rosh ha Shanah (the head of the year), but only on the civil calendar; YHWH changed Aviv to the first month for the holy festival calendar. The biblical name for this day is the Feast of Trumpeting (this “awakening blast” or shout, ear-splitting clamor). Reminder: a warning that the Day of Judgment is about to come after only nine more days. This day has long been associated with the resurrection of the dead in Jewish tradition. One of its events is called the "last trump”, so the time the dead will be raised is likely to actually be on this day one year. It is the only festival that falls on a new moon, which is never fully predictable, because it commences only when the new moon is actually sighted. Thus it is called the "hidden day". One way of describing it was "no man knows the hour or the day", so when Y’shua said this his hearers would immediately know which festival he was talking about. But if one is watching for the signs (as with watching the moon), he can estimate fairly closely when it will appear. It is also the day of the coronation of our King. (Psalm 98:6)
25. "‘You shall do no work of service, and you shall bring a fire offering to YHWH.'"
Work of service: even the normal Temple ceremonies which continued every sabbath and on the other festivals; on this day, the focus is completely on blowing the trumpets and this one offering. The fire correlates with our works being tested “by fire” so they will survive on the great Day of Judgment:
26. [Again] YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
27. "On exactly the tenth of this seventh month there shall be the Day of Coverings; you shall have a holy rehearsal, and you shall be occupied with what motivates you, and bring to YHWH an offering made by fire.
Exactly: or firmly; the date is not moveable. Rehearsal: also a "calling together" (convocation). Be occupied with what motivates you: often translated "afflict your souls", which is taken to mean a complete fast (e.g., Yesh./Isa. 58:3). It can read "suppress your appetites", but the main point is to drop everything and force yourself to think about where your priorities lie, where you have wronged others, and what needs to be done to fix them, so that you may enter into the fullness of joy intended for the next festival that follows hard on its heels. A whole day is allotted in which we can concentrate on this, having no other responsibilities. “What motivates you” or “where your appetites are” (nefesh, our life-force or “soul”) is also described in Torah as where we are to set YHWH’s words and what we are to guard so that we do not forget what He has done. So it is more a mental exercise. Fasting is never commanded as such, but this tradition stemmed from not requiring anyone to work for someone else, even to prepare meals, just like on the Sabbath, only even more intensely, so that one’s full focus can be given to soul-searching and bringing closure where we still have something against our brothers or sisters, so that we can enjoy the feast together with no ill will getting in the way. In the original Hebrew text, there were no vowel points, and the word for "fire offering" is spelled exactly like "woman" or "wife", so on the deeper level it tells us that when we suppress our own appetites, we can bring YHWH a bride, because when we get our eyes off ourselves, we can become one body. (See note on v. 30.) This comes at the end of the day, but first Yeshua tells us to get things right with our brothers. (Matt. 5:24) Jewish tradition says YHWH will not forgive us on this day if the humans who have suffered because of our sins have not already forgiven us.
28."And you shall do no work at all on this very day, because it is a day of atonements, to effect a covering for you before YHWH your Elohim.
"And you shall do no work at all on this very day, because it is a day of atonements, to effect a covering for you before YHWH your Elohim.In the sanctuary, some rituals are carried out that symbolize a covering (or sealing-over) being made for times we have treated set-apart things as ordinary or common. It is a national event about a covering on Israel as a whole. The focus shifted to personal practices after there ceased to be a cohesive structure to the nation, especially in exile. But the traditional fasting itself never appears in Torah. Fasting is usually a practice associated with calamity, whether trying to keep it at bay or mourning over it, and that does not fit the flow of the days the precede and succeed this one. Yeshayahu 58 may even call into question whether we should fast at all; at the very least, we should not make some people work so that others can fast, looking down on the rest. It is meant to be a day to learn to share our resources with the needy. Our focus should not be on the details of what not to do (especially when it causes great argument), but on the reason we cease: so there are no distractions that take our thoughts away from what must be accomplished if we are to be refreshed (the root meaning of nefesh), having laid the old problems to rest so that we can make a fresh start. This is a day when no one is to have anything else to worry about so that nothing stands in the way of dealing with things we have not had leisure all year to think about because of having other fires to put out—or things we have avoided confronting. What a rare gift! It should not be something we dread, but something we welcome!
29. "For any person who is not [thus] occupied on this particular day shall be cut off from his people,
Person: or soul, individual. Occupied: often rendered “humbled”. On this day it is especially honorable to confess our sins, to establish the fact that it is always honorable to do so, for the thoughtfulness put into this day is meant to carry over into the rest of the year. It chiefly means “get busy”, pushing yourself to do the hard things—the actions that prove our repentance. It means subjugating your emotions and desires, so that you will continue to be considerate of others and prevent the need to repent of the same sins again. The “soul” or “self” we are to “suppress” is part of a whole; the covering offered on this day is not just about the individual. Cut off: not necessarily put to death, but if someone does not participate, he no longer shares in the common memories the rest of us have. He no longer has the connection that these shared experiences bring, and is effectively isolated and “lives alone”. So we must judge ourselves so we will not need to be judged. Most religions speak of a Day of Judgment, but Torah alone allows us such a new beginning every year.
30. "and anyone who does any work at all on this particular day, I myself will banish that soul from the innermost part of his people.
This particular day: On this day alone is it possible for willful sins to be forgiven, and on this day alone does the high priest forge a covering in the holiest place for the entire community as a whole unit. Doors are opened on this day in the heavenlies to give us the power to overcome our sins, but if we do not calculate the appointed day according to His sign in the New Moon, we will miss them. Such a person is like the one who comes to the wedding feast without the proper garment and is cast into the "outer darkness", away from where all the joy is. (Matt. 22:13) If we have not repented by now, additional efforts will be futile, and we must “lie in the bed we have made”--or rest in the fact that our sins are covered.
31."You shall do no work at all; [this is] a never-ending statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling-places.
"You shall do no work at all; [this is] a never-ending statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling-places.32. "A sabbath of desisting it is for you, and you must occupy yourselves [beginning] in the ninth of the month at evening; from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath."
This is the only festival actually called a "sabbath" rather than a Shabbaton ("high sabbath"). (Passover is not, thus precluding the Pharisaical interpretation as in verse 11.) The ninth: the evening of the ninth actually begins the 10th of the month, since, as we see in the creation account, the day begins at evening, in darkness, and the Day of YHWH will begin with wrath and great terror on the earth. Days overlap in Hebraic thought, so if we do not begin while it is still the ninth, we will miss the very beginning of the Day. The number 10 symbolizes a complete congregation, so on the 10th we should be putting our own selves away, thus enabling our joy to be made complete.
33. YHWH also spoke to Moshe, saying,
Also: this passage is linked to the one before it. One reason we strive to purify our souls on Yom Kippur is to be ready for Sukkoth, which is called "the season of our joy".
34. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a Feast to YHWH of Temporary Dwellings [Sukkoth] for seven days.
A bare sliver of moon is visible on the Day of Trumpets. By the evening of the 9th, the moon is 2/3 full, yet still needs to be further clothed until we reach the fullness of joy on the 15th. (Gibor)
35. "On the first day there shall be a holy gathering: you shall do no servile labor.
36. "Seven days you shall bring a fire offering to YHWH; on the eighth day, you shall have a holy rehearsal, and you shall burn the fire offering unto YHWH. It is an affectionate farewell; you shall do no servile labor.
Affectionate farewell: continuation, extension, detaining for an extra day, or closing encore. Now called the "Eighth Conclusion" [Sh'mini Atzeret], this day is a separate festival added onto Sukkoth, since technically it only has seven days. It is sometimes also called "Rejoicing in the Torah". This is the day on which Yeshua called out loudly in the temple that if anyone was thirsty for living water (a symbol of the Torah as applied through its spirit, not just the letter), they should come to him and drink. (Yochanan/John 7). Holy rehearsal: an ingathering of the flock, because "atzeret" also means to assemble and enclose, as in an embrace or in a sheepfold. It suggests retaining what has been accomplished during the seven days—a prophecy of the world to come after the Kingdom. One could work during the intermediate days, but how can one be part of bringing the offering in Yerushalayim on those days if he is somewhere else? We learn most if we assemble for the whole week.
37. "These are the appointments of YHWH which you shall proclaim—set-apart rehearsals, to bring a fire offering to YHWH--an ascending offering, and a food offering--what pertains to each day on the day to which it belongs,
Proclaim: or summon the people for.
38. "in addition to the sabbaths of YHWH, and besides your vows and freewill offerings which you shall present to YHWH.
In Egypt, altars were behind closed doors and no one but their priests knew about them. In Goshen, the first slaughter was one we all ate from, not just the priests. All we have left by which to remember these offerings is the community table, which Y’shua, the Qumran community, and much later the Rabbis, all correlate with the altar, because even before there was an altar (which did not come about until after the Passover), YHWH gathered us to eat together. What we did before we had an altar is what we can still do whenever none is accessible to us. Even after the actual altar is restored, the community table is like it because only certain kinds of animals can be on it. So do not eat, especially of the Sabbath meal, without remembering the altar and YHWH’s bringing us out from Egypt. What He loves to “eat” is our dwelling together in unity.
39. "That is, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the increase of the land, you shall keep the Feast of YHWH for seven days; on the first day is a high sabbath, and on the eighth day, a high sabbath.
40. "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of majestic [ornamental] trees, [date] palm branches, and boughs of trees with interwoven foliage, and willows of the brook, and shall rejoice before YHWH your Elohim for seven days.
Fruit of majestic trees: traditionally, the citron (better known by its Aramaic name, etrog), which looks like a large, bright lemon. Interwoven foliage: traditionally, the one that best meets this requirement is the myrtle (hadassah). The palm’s component is a lulav, and traditionally these four are held together and waved in four directions, symbolizing the reuniting of the community that constitutes the image of Elohim from the north, south, east, and west. Long willow branches were also gathered in a valley west of Jerusalem called Motzah ("the source"), and carried in a swishing motion all the way to the temple, where they circled the altar of burnt offerings seven times (on the seventh day as Y’hoshua had done at Y’rikho) and then built a sukkah [booth or hut] out of them over the top of the altar.
41. "Thus you shall keep a feast to YHWH seven days per year [as] a never-ending statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month, you shall celebrate it.
Celebrate: the term connotes dancing in a circle: the wave offering itself may have been a gracefully-choreographed dance. Revolving around His cycles of creation, starting with the Sabbath, keeps us ascending on the spiral staircase that leads us closer to Him. He reiterates that we are to do so in the seventh month, because of our tendency to want to bend the rules; as soon as the Northern Kingdom separated from Yehudah, Yarav’am moved it to the eighth. If you participate in Constantine’s “changing of the times and laws, you are doing no betterInterestingly, it is all but certain that Y’shua was born during Sukkoth, but the commemoration of that, too, was moved to another month.
42. "You shall live in temporary dwellings for seven days; all who are home-born in Israel shall live in temporary dwellings,
Temporary dwellings: Hebrew, sukkoth. Live: literally, "sit", not necessarily sleep. It is being in them during each of the seven days that counts. Home-born: literally, "springing up from the native soil". Deut. 16:14 tells us that this includes slaves born in the household. In another sense, it could refer to those who are of Israelite stock, though not born in the Land, who "spring up" from among the nations unexpectedly as they are doing in these last days. Visitors are not required to go the whole distance, though it is traditional to have guests in the Sukkah, and during the Messianic Kingdom all nations will be required to send representatives to Yerushalayim for this feast in particular. (Zkh. 14:16-19).
43. "So that your descendants shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in temporary dwellings when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am YHWH your Elohim.
YHWH Himself is said to dwell in a "sukkah of darkness and thick clouds" (Ps. 18:11), so the sukkah was present in the Tent of Appointment. Living in the sukkah is training for living in His presence as a whole people, as our ancestors did around the Tabernacle. As we see in Gen. 33:17, a sukkah is a place for livestock, and He sees us as His flocks following one shepherd, which is what His tent is all about.
44. So Moshe announced the appointed times of YHWH to the descendants of Israel
CHAPTER 24
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Command the sons of Israel, and they shall bring to you clear, crushed olive oil for the illumination, to cause a lamp to continually ascend.
YHWH does not merely say, “Tell them” this time; He uses a military term related to His favorite title for Himself, YHWH Tzva’oth—Master of Armies, a general with as many stars as there are in the sky! We do not see Moshe on the front lines as a literal soldier like Y’hoshua, but while Y’hoshua was already the clear leader on the ground, Moshe commanded him while he was alive. He himself has proven to yield to YHWH quickly, no matter how far-fetched the thing he is told to do, but a great leader must also exert his authority and make sure the people do what YHWH has commanded. If he is at all vague, they may do the wrong thing; they will certainly tend to take the easiest path, if he leaves any way around it. He may not do it himself; he must delegate this, even if he thinks he could do it better or doubts that they can be depended on to get the job done on time. Even if they have done it wrong many times, he is still to uphold the expectation that they can do better. Those who have no expectations placed on them become useless very quickly. Moshe must receive the oil, but he may not provide it, even if there are diamonds left over from the people’s contribution to the tabernacle which he could easily use to buy this oil from passing merchants (for no one in the camp would have an olive orchard). If he brought it himself, YHWH’s command would be violated, and he would rob the people of an occasion to participate. YHWH did not start mentioning the consequences of not obeying His commands until the people started rebelling, because “if they do not” was never an option He left. He must be very sure he is telling them to do the right thing, and that he knows what that is. This had to be a specific kind of oil—not whale blubber, bitumen, or petroleum. It must be olive oil—something full of the most beneficial type of fats, useful as a skin moisturizer, and a clean-burning fuel for lamps; i.e., it is very valuable. But olives do not just gush with liquid when scratched open like plums do. The oil has to be pressed out of them. In ancient times, the olives were often put in mesh bags and tightened down with a giant screw. It was often done with a giant wheel in a track, driven by a donkey harnessed to the axle (much like a millstone). This bursts the olives themselves so they will respond to the pressing. We, the individual “olives”, or descendants of Israel, often need to have pressure applied to us if our potential is to be released. This is done so the lights will “ascend” constantly. Pressures allow us to ascend closer to YHWH, and thus are really something to thank Him for and evidence that He is smiling upon us. (Yaaqov/James 1:2ff) If a lone olive went through this process, it would be destroyed and not produce enough oil to even prime a wick. We need community so we can share the pressure. We should approach with a spirit of expectation, not fear. The oil for sanctuary must burn cleanly, since it is going in YHWH’s “living room”. So it can only come from the first pressing--only the finest “extra virgin” oil with no pulp in it, when the oil is not yet clouded by the flesh of the olive. Only what is given willingly is acceptable. Y’shua was our forerunner though His suffering in the garden of Gath-sh'maney (which itself means "oil press")—on none other than the Mount of Olives. He sweat great drops of blood there from the intense stress, long before anyone ever beat him physically, because this ultimate test of his willingness to obey YHWH at any cost was the real crushing. The oil of this first pressing is clear and transparent, a revelation of the true heart, with no pretense. When all that we do is as it appears, with no hidden motives, we are serving one another without self in the way, and giving light to all who are in YHWH’s house. (Mat. 5:14ff) It is the Torah that provides us with the light with which to illuminate one another. It teaches us to bear one another’s burdens. How do we know when our fruit is producing light? The true measure of its fruitfulness is whether it causes all of Israel (the “light to the nations”) to ascend closer to YHWH. Continually: This is the true “eternal flame”. While any of the lamps was being cleaned and its wick trimmed, the rest were kept burning. Considering how our actions will affect one another and putting our fellows above ourselves is not to be a one-time event, but who we are to be all of the time. This oil must keep being brought so there is always light.
3. "Outside the veil of the testimony in the Tent of Appointment shall Aharon arrange it in order from evening until morning before YHWH perpetually--a never-ending statute throughout your generations.
Arrange: literally, set in rank as in battle formation. Again, a military term is used. When we praise YHWH, when we serve one another, when we are transparent with one another with the proper motives, we are forming this lamp. The purpose of a congregation set in order is to make war on darkness--undermine the authority of any enemy of YHWH (anything that, like Pharaoh, will not let go of us, and anything we do not need to be part of anymore) so that whatever is not of Him has less and less control over us. Our actions must prove to any adversary that we are not guilty of whatever he accuses us of. Lust for money, power, or recognition will also hinder us from putting forth light. The setting in order is done as night—the time when the darkness has the most power—approaches. (Lk. 22:53) Many other things in the Torah become ritually clean at evening. No one would be in the Temple at night, so he had to make sure the fire did not go out before someone came in to tend it again in the morning. The woman in Proverbs 31 “whose lamp does not go out by night” is, on one level at least, a poetic description of the Tabernacle, YHWH’s dwelling place which in turn is a picture of His bride.
4. "He shall arrange the lamps on the pure lampstand before YHWH continually.
Pure: a reminder to the priesthood to not touch them or enter here when they are in a ritually-impure state. The lamps are arranged directly across from something else that they are specifically designed to cast light on:
5. "And you shall take flour, and bake twelve loaves with it; two tenths [of an eyfah] shall be in each cake.
Twelve loaves: one representing each of the tribes. Two tenths of an eyfah: that is, two omers, which symbolize two people (an omer being one person’s ration), yet here they are one (like Adam before Chawwah was taken out of him). The loaves were shaped to imitate the two kh’ruvim that faced each other and were made out of a single piece of gold. Likewise, an omer is worth only half a sheqel, which is each warrior's temple tax, showing that another person must always be present for any of us to be complete. A sheqel is also a measurement of weight, so this shows us that alone no one carries enough weight before YHWH, but united we do. In 1 Cor. 10:16-17, we who are many are called “one bread” as well as “one body”.
6. "And you shall set them in two rows, six per row, on the pure table before YHWH.
7. "And you shall put clear frankincense on the row, and it shall be the bread of remembrance, an offering made by fire to YHWH.
Pure frankincense: literally, transparent whiteness (a feminine term reminding us that we are YHWH’s bride). When we are truly one people again, we will remember—and become like—what Adam was before he fell (transparent instead of befleshed, so that light could shine out from him), and again accurately reflect the image of YHWH, "walking in white" (a symbol of righteousness, Rev. 3:4-5) Made by fire: While some offerings are consumed by fire, here fire is the constructive force that makes this delicious offering possible.
8. "On each Sabbath he shall arrange it before YHWH continually, [being taken] from the descendants of Israel, an eternal covenant.
In the context of serving the sanctuary, something that could not be done anywhere else on the Sabbath (baking bread) was allowed and even required. This refreshing would symbolize the renewing of the covenant every Sabbath forever.
9. "And it shall belong to Aharon and his sons, but they must eat it in a set-apart area, because it is most holy to him out of YHWH's offerings made by fire--a never-ending statute."
It was not meant to be eaten by anyone else, but in an emergency the priests gave some to David and his soldiers. (1 Shmu’el 21)
10. Now the son of an Israelite woman, being [also] the son of an Egyptian man, went out among the sons of Israel, and a man of Israel and the son of the Israelite woman struggled with each other within the camp,
The first man was not raised as a son of Avraham, though somehow he rode out of Egypt on the coattails of his mother. He is trying to be loyal to two different camps. In contrast with Moshe and even those Arabs who make peace with Israel because of their common ancestor, he is fighting against the wrong part of his heritage. He is listening to the Egyptian part of himself that echoes Pharaoh in saying, “Who is YHWH?” (Ex. 5:3) He is the genetic opposite of Ephraim and M’nashe, the sons of Yosef and an Egyptian woman. Because their father was an Israelite, they could still inherit from Israel. The woman, once married to the Egyptian, becomes part of his nation, not vice versa. The former combination was redeemable; the latter was not. This depicts the struggle between the hybrid church (which is part Hebraic, part pagan) and those who are totally Israelite in outlook. Those of us who were raised in the former face this challenge each day. Like Moshe, we need to kill off the “Egyptian man” in us. (Gibor)
11. but the son of the Israelite woman profaned the Name, and took it lightly. So they brought him to Moshe. (Now his mother's name was Sh'lomit, the daughter of Divri, from the tribe of Dan.)
Profaned: literally, pierced, hollowed out, or wounded. He treated it casually, as if it was something ordinary. Took it lightly: One who says there is no power in YHWH’s name (or that He is just one of many equals) is not counted as a son of Avraham. He lived among Israel and took advantage of one part of his heritage, while rejecting the most important part of it. Since he did not take YHWH’s name seriously, his own name was stricken from the record; His name is not found here in the Book of Life. This does not mean we should not speak YHWH’s Name. There are many commands to know and use His Name; cautious reverence is one thing, but total abstinence from its use obscures what He wants us to know about Himself. There is a clear death penalty for taking one's parents lightly (20:9), and this may have been why his sentence was so severe. (v. 23) His only connection to Israel was his mother, and apparently he turned from whatever influence she may have had. Shlomit means "peaceable", a picture of trying to make peace when division was still necessary. This woman avoided confrontation with her Egyptian husband at the expense of disciplining her son, considering how he turned out. Divri means "my word", "my business", or “wordy” (thinking all that was important was what he had to say, instead of listening—the cardinal command to Israel). As the daughter of wordiness, she would rather “talk things out” than do anything about her son’s rebellion, but Moshe did not bargain with Pharaoh. Talk with action is what brings true results. Dan means "judgment"—the kind of response that should have been her nature, but which she was not living up to, being interested instead in “peace talks”. Because of this verse, tradition says that the Counterfeit Messiah spoken of by Daniel and other prophets will be from the tribe of Dan, and will be contending with the true Messiah.
12. And they put him under guard until [the verdict] could be clarified for them by the mouth of YHWH.
13. So YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
14. "Bring the reviler outside the camp, and all those who heard [what he said] must lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation must pile stones over them.
Lay their hands on his head: To refuse to put one’s hand in on this judgment is to be counted guilty of the same sin. Since his mother did nothing about him, someone else must, but they are not responsible for his death; he is. The altar of incense, the other piece of furniture in the Holy Place, which represents our prayers to YHWH, is not mentioned in vv. 1-9. This man had committed the “unpardonable sin” (Mat. 12:32). There was no interceding for him. (Compare Heb. 10:26)
15. "And you shall declare to the sons of Israel that whenever anyone takes his Elohim lightly, he will bear [the consequences of] his sin.
16. "And whoever profanes the Name of YHWH shall certainly be put to death. The whole congregation indeed shall pile stones over him. As it is done to a proselyte, so shall it be done to a native, if he blasphemes the Name: he is put to death.
One way that we can profane His Name (wound His reputation) is by simply not believing what He says He will do. This violates the first commandment, and therefore puts out the rest of the candles as well. We certainly put holes in His Name by substituting other titles, especially "God", since it is specifically the name of a pagan Norse deity. (Ex. 23:13) YHWH takes this occasion to draw analogies that show just penalties for various injuries caused:
17. "And when a man strikes the life from any man, he shall certainly be put to death.
Thus we see that, since the penalty is the same, making light of YHWH’s name is of equal weight with killing someone.
18. "And whoever strikes an animal mortally must make restitution [satisfaction] for it--life for life.
Life: literally, soul. I.e., one for one—replacing it so the owner of the lost animal has what he had before. This does not refer to killing for food, but carelessly killing a neighbor’s livestock.
19. "And when a man causes a disfigurement in his fellow, as he has done, so shall it be done to him:
20. "fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; however he has caused a disfigurement in another man, so shall it be done to him.
This is to limit the victim from trying to out-do the offense. In practice, a fair sum of money as compensation was usually exacted by the judges rather than literal wounds. When Y’shua mentioned this verse in Mat. 5:38, was he doing away with this ruling, as so many believe? He was no pacifist, for to refuse to fight those who come against Israel is treason against our brothers, though it may appear to be kind and understanding to the enemy. The poor translation “Do not resist one who is evil” has led to the horrible injustice of forgiving someone who kills one’s children. What made YHWH bring this up at all? Someone who had not been disciplined because his mother was a pacifist! A clue to understand that this is no contradiction is in the fact that Y’shua did not say, “It is written”, but “You have heard that it was said.” So he was referring to the attempt of some to apply this passage when someone offends our pride by teaching us a lesson. In his day, intolerance not for sin but for variations in doctrine was all too common, and it led to unjust hatred for one’s brothers. He does not even mention physical wounds. A slap on the cheek was the prerogative of one’s master or teacher (Lam. 3:25ff; Yeshayahu 50:5), and was a reprimand, not a wound. Y’shua was saying “an eye for an eye” did not fit the context of rebellion against authority. This is not a time to strike back. The right response would be to humbly ask for further teaching to understand why the first blow offended your pride or why the loss of one’s possession was so important to us in the first place. I.e., say “Thank you that you care enough” rather than getting defensive about it.
21. "Now he who kills an animal must make compensation for it; but anyone who strikes a human being shall be executed.
Strikes: This may mean mortally, for in every other case here the punishment meted out is exactly what one has done to his fellow. But this is already stated in v. 17. Elsewhere the only time someone is executed for merely striking someone is if it is one of his parents. (Ex. 21:15) So Rashi deduces that this is also what is being spoken of here. Notice that YHWH considers a human more valuable than an animal.
22. "There shall be one [and the same] legal procedure for [all of] you, whether sojourner or native, because I am YHWH your Elohim."
Consistent judgment will again be a prerequisite to our entering the Land permanently. There are not to be double standards or second-class citizens in Israel.
23. So Moshe spoke to the descendants of Israel, and they brought the reviler to the outside of the camp and made a pile of stones [over] him. Thus the sons of Israel carried out what YHWH had commanded Moshe.
Stones: literally, "building material"--for the reviler had removed himself from being a "living stone". What YHWH had commanded: a reference not only to v. 14, but to v. 2 as well. This part of the chapter does not change the subject at all. Part of the crushing of being an Israelite, which makes the light shine brighter, is the subjection of our opinions to YHWH’s clear commands. The hardest thing to do is to kill an Israelite’s son, but no one was allowed to be “peaceable” when YHWH had given the verdict. Where the Torah is clear, our moralizing is only selfishness. Once the command is given, no one has the right to an opinion; if we are to experience and promote justice, this is the sentence that must be carried out. Y’shua said that when we let our light shine through our works, men would glorify His Father. (Mat. 5:16) Hebraically, “glorify” means “give weight to” or take seriously—the opposite of what this half-Israelite reviler did. By carrying out the sentence on someone who did not think his words mattered, people would realize that YHWH was a force to be reckoned with, not ignored.
TORAH PORTION
Emor
(Leviticus 21-24)
INTRODUCTION: This section is very much a continuation of the previous one’s emphasis on being a set-apart people. It begins with those at the top in Israel: the priests. The main point here is how much higher the standards are for them than even for the rest of Israel. But Israel is to be a “Kingdom of priests”—YHWH’s showcase people meant to both attract other nations to Him, introduce them to Him, and teach them His ways so that they can benefit as well. When Yeshua was sending his trainees out to the nations, he certainly had this parallel in mind, because he put the same kinds of restrictions on them as were put on the priests, telling us that our standards, too, must be higher than those to whom we are called to be an example—a shining light fueled with purer oil than other things may require. (24:2)
The next chapter deals with how the priests are to guard the holy things entrusted to them from being abused, contaminated, or profaned in any other way. Again, the Apostle tells his understudy, “Guard that which was committed to your trust”, again emphasizing keeping it out of the reach of what is profane, useless, and false. (1 Timotheos 6:20) So this is clearly very relevant for today, even when the priesthood has not yet come back into its own. He considered his own life to have been a success because he had guarded the faith. (2 Tim. 4:7)
This is followed by the kinds of offerings that will be acceptable to bring to YHWH and how and when they may be eaten to retain their sanctity—again, standards that set YHWH’s reputation apart from others, for He must be shown to be different from the useless things the rest of the world worships. He also puts in some reminders to be considerate of the animals even in their slaughter.
The third chapter is one of the fullest catalogues of His appointed times in all of Scripture. (Don’t overlook the first!) It shows their agricultural context very clearly, and more agricultural commands not related directly to the festivals are interspersed. But the undercurrent even here is still the setting-apart He has been talking about for the last several chapters: do things just this way, because these are His appointments, His rehearsals of something to come later, in which all these numbers will have strategic importance. And, amazingly, we get to play a role, both in the dry run and the real thing!
We then return to an added layer of detail about the menorah and how it is to be lit and just what it is meant to illumine: a table whose contents are a picture of us being set in order at last. But then we encounter this strange story of two men fighting and one taking YHWH’s Name lightly, and His own verdict on what to do about it. There is a clear prophecy in it of the final struggle at the dawn of the Age to Come, and who the players will be. But it is not out of place; it is the culmination of the commands about setting things—and ourselves—apart, for it deals with the sanctity of His very Name. While He wants us to know it and to call it out (otherwise we would be nullifying it in a different way), still this is a sobering reminder to maintain the sense of awe and propriety that must always accompany its use.
A few comments on the sanctity of human and even animal life wrap up the chapter as part of this anecdote, with reiteration of the famous “eye-for-eye” compensations due from any who would mar the image of YHWH in the human body—again, highly penalizing any who would not remember and respect what YHWH has set apart.
Love Expressed Through Standards
We continue with the theme begun in the last Torah Portion: being set-apart people (q’doshim). Most of the standards here pertain directly to priests, but we must remember that Yeshua gave his followers standards similar to those required of the priests (compare Lev. 21:10-12 with Matithyahu 8:22), so maybe these hit closer to home than we think. The priests are to be examples to the rest of Israel; even if we cannot always reach their level, the standard is not to be lowered, because by aiming for it we will at least do better than we otherwise would have.
If nothing else, all the people were told about the priests’ responsibilities (21:24), so they could be held accountable—a principle applicable to governments, public servants, and authorities everywhere. As is borne out elsewhere in Scripture, leaders are held to a higher standard (21:4), especially in matters pertaining to what could defile others. Those with permanent physical defects (21:16-23) are not permitted to draw nearest, possibly because they would be a distraction to those who came to worship, and they were definitely not a picture of the perfection we aim for. But YHWH is not cruel to those who cannot remedy their condition; He ensures that they are well-provided for nonetheless. (21:22) In Second Temple times, they were also given jobs that were out of the public eye but still critical.
Chapter 22 holds a strange twist: There are times when we need to separate ourselves from what is holy—that is, when we are not. We all have “down times” when we are in the state Torah describes as impurity (physical or spiritual contamination). Maintaining the integrity of the community means, for that moment, bowing out of its inner workings so the highest functions can continue unimpeded. If one is careless about this, he will be permanently barred from serving (22:3) In other matters, there is only a fine (22:14), but other errors of this sort can even be deadly. (22:9)
There are standards even for where our food comes from. It must have “provenance”. (22:8) Even if it is a clean animal, if it was not slaughtered or prepared in the right way, it is still not kosher. There are even higher standards for those who eat things specially-dedicated to YHWH. Only certain types of clean animals are acceptable to bring to His altar, and they must not have anything wrong with them; there is nothing holy about giving away something that we don’t want anyway. (22:19-29) If they are left until the next day, they are no longer valid. He only gets the first and the best. (23:14)
Notice that those only temporarily associated with a priest may not eat of his food; only those permanently associated with him. (22:10-11) We can’t claim any special status before YHWH just because we occasionally find ourselves in the “company of the committed”.
He does not assign us random or capricious standards; they all have a purpose—though sometimes it takes more work to search it out—and they reflect a thoughtful analysis of the human condition. YHWH’s standards even for the appointments He sets for us are very considerate of every level of our neediness. The poor are fed (23:22), but our need for unmarred rest and celebration is also built into His calendar. Just as on the weekly Sabbath we are not just allowed to, but have to, stop working (23:3), there are a full eight days when we are not just permitted, but commanded, to be joyful (23:40)--even if it requires a strong drink to prime the pump! (Deut. 14:26) Who could ever call those standards repressive? And at the times we are most thankful to Him, He gives us enough time off to be able to express it in the fullest way (23:24, 39)
Those who are just observing for the sake of learning are not held to the same standards as those who are part of Israel (23:42)—at least not yet (Zekh. 14:16-19)--though they are permitted to participate in many of our celebrations, though we know from elsewhere that there are certain standards to which even they are held. (e.g., Ex. 12:44-48) But if a problem breaks out between a full member of Israel and a guest, there is no double standard; both are entitled to as high a level of justice as the other. (24:22) In the time when this was written, such respect for outsiders was all but unheard of.
Such standards are not upheld by accident; we must work hard to ensure that this freedom endures. That is why YHWH pays great attention to details (look at 24:2-9 for some examples), for if the little things are not in a certain order, the big things cannot flow smoothly.
Some of YHWH’s standards couldn’t be understood or explained until we had a story—an incident that exemplified what He had in mind. (Lev. 24:10-16) He knows all the best ways to teach us. Maybe that is why speaking evil of THIS benefactor carries the very same penalty that murder does. (24:16-17) His standards are merciful, but they are not to be taken lightly.
Study Questions:
1. What degrees of holiness do we see in chapter 21 of Leviticus (VaYiqra)?
2. Why is it so important for a priest (officiator) for YHWH to avoid contact/associations with death (21:1-4)? What deeper lesson is being taught by this physical prohibition?
3. A priest is not one of the ordinary people (21:4), but does this mean these specific laws (especially 21:5-7, 13-15) pertain only to him, or might they be intended as an example for the rest of Israel in order to raise us all to a higher level of thought and practical living?
4. What underlying reason that we should be a set-apart people is given in 21:8?
5. What kind of people are not permitted to serve as public representatives of YHWH? (21:16-21) Is such discrimination an evidence of cruelty on YHWH’s part (21:22) or might there be another reason for it? If so, what? (cf. 21:23-24)
6. What is the focus of the holiness discussed in Lev. 22:1-16? How is YHWH’s mercy seen even in this? (22:7)
7. What are some examples of how someone who handles holy things (including YHWH’s word or His people) could profane them by his own uncleanness?
8. The context is ritual uncleanness, but what unstated reason may also lie behind the command not to eat an animal found already dead? (22:8)
9. Why the differences between 22:10 and 11 and between 22:12 ad 13?
10. If the offerings in 22:18-24 are freewill/voluntary, why are there stipulations attached to them? Why cannot one just bring anything he wants?
11. Why would bread not expressly prepared by the one bringing the offering be assumed to be corrupt or blemished? (22:25)
12. Whose welfare do the commands in 22:26-28 chiefly have in mind?
13. How would eating an offering the next day (22:29-32) be profaning it (making it common when it had been set apart)?
14. How does calling the holidays “appointments” affect the way you look at them? What does it lead you to expect?
15. Which holiday is most frequent, but often left out of the lists of YHWH’s festivals? (23:3-4) Are we allowed to slacken this command outside the Land of Israel? (23:3)
16. To be sure you do not eat leaven, is it permissible to simply abstain from all bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread? (23:6) How does it being called “YHWH’s Passover” (23:5) affect the way you view it?
17. Why is it important to not eat of the new harvest until a portion has been offered to YHWH? (23:14)
18. How might Yochanan/John 21:17-18 be better understood in light of the firstfruit offerings (Lev. 23:10-14)?
19. How are the results different if we merely count 7 weeks as opposed to the specification in Lev. 23:15-16 of “seven complete sabbaths”?
20. Why do you think leaven is only used in one offering at the altar each year (23:17)? Why do you think the particular animals in the assigned numbers accompany this unique offering? Why are they waved and not burned?
21. How does this first “welfare system” (23:22) provide both sustenance and dignity for the needy?
22. What are the blowing of horns or shouting on Yom Teruah (23:23-25) meant to remind us of?
23. Why is it necessary to specify “this” seventh month (Lev. 23:34)? What other seventh month is there? (Compare Exodus 12:2 with Gen. 8:4, which are speaking of the same month.)
24. Does the addition of these holy days and their obligations diminish what we otherwise owe to YHWH from our ordinary resources? (23:38)
25. What is the reason YHWH gave for celebrating Sukkoth? (23:43) Since it is also seen as relating to the Messianic Kingdom, how might this relate to the second, greater Exodus (Yirmeyahu/Jer. 16:14)?
26. How is Lev. 24:2 related to “Gethsemane” (in meaning and what occurred there)? (Mat. 26:36, 38; Luke 22:44)
27. What would the twelve loaves be a reminder of? (Lev. 24:5-7)
28. How might the names of the offender’s ancestors in Lev. 24:10 be a clue as to the deeper significance of this unique event? Might it be a prophecy of two particular people in the latter days?
29. If we are not sure how to proceed, what does 24:12 tell us about what to do?
30. Should non-Jews who want to follow Torah be told it is enough to keep the “Noachide laws”, based on Lev. 24:22?
22:26-23:44 is a special reading for Passover
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for Kids
Be an example!
There’s more in these chapters about how Israelites are supposed to be different from other people in a good way. We start off with how the cohanim (priests) are not always allowed to do what everybody else is allowed to do. Why? Because they are YHWH’s special messengers. (Mal’akhi 2:7) They are supposed to be an example to us of what YHWH is like, so they have to especially stay away from dead and dirty things, which are not pictures of what the rest of us are supposed to learn to be like.
And in the same way, Israelites, who are all called “a Kingdom of priests” to the other people in the world, are supposed to be examples for them. We don’t have to follow our natural inclination to hit back if someone does something wrong to us. We have a choice. We have a power that they might not have—YHWH’s own Spirit that supplies us with the “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—and those are really just examples of more attitudes like them. Not the opposite: hate, bitterness, anger, envy, etc.-- things that eventually lead us to kill. Anybody can be that way; we have more options of how to respond.
“But he hit me first!” Still, that doesn’t mean we should do the same thing back. Do you want to be just like someone who did something bad? Does that make you any better? I think it makes you just as bad, and nothing gets better for anybody. But if someone does something unexpectedly better than you’d expect, everybody can learn to move a step higher by following his example.
You have to think about who you are. Are you the kind of person who does things like that, even if it was done to you? You are not a slave to what the other person does; you are free to choose a higher response. The Torah shows us what kind of people YHWH has made us to be when He redeemed us. We are people who “march to a different drum”, who “answer to a higher authority” like the Hebrew National commercial says. Right, that’s us! Hebrews! What somebody else does to us does not change who we are, and we need to act like what YHWH has made us to be, not like what other people who have never learned right from wrong might do.
“But it’s not fair that I got hurt and he gets away with it!” This Torah portion holds the key to this too. If someone hit you, you’re right, he should get hit—but it has to be done in the right way. You’re not allowed to decide what a fair payback is for yourself. Most of us might think we had to give our attacker an even bigger black eye than he gave us, right? “That will teach him not to mess with me again!” But YHWH says to take it to the people in charge—whether it’s your Mom and Dad, the police, a teacher, principal, or judge—people who have more experience and can see more clearly than someone who’s just been punched in the eye. They have learned how severe and how merciful they should be about each thing someone does wrong. And the Torah sometimes even makes it simpler for them: if someone knocks one tooth out, one of their teeth has to go missing too—not two or three, and maybe the dentist can be the one to do it, rather than Knuckles Goldberg.
That separates you from having to take your own revenge. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay”, says YHWH. (Lev. 19:18; Prov. 20:22; 24:29; Psalm 94:1) And He is the one who decides who His human tools for this job will be. If you are in a position of authority someday, that may be you. But now it is not. So that sets you free from having to react to what somebody else does. You just have to tell the facts about what occurred, and let the judges do the punishing. And you get to stay on the high road.
The Renewal of EMOR
As an almost-extreme example to the rest of Israel, “the priest who is greatest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured”—he is literally “the Messiah-priest”—“shall not come near any dead body; he shall not defile himself [even] for his father or mother…” (21:10-11)
So was Yeshua (our high priest of a different order, per Hebrews 5-7) defiled when he raised dead people or touched lepers or was touched by a woman with a long-standing issue of blood? Would it have contaminated him in his condition?
Ritually, yes; he couldn’t go into the Temple for a set amount of time, and he noticed that something had changed when the woman grasped even his tzitzit. (Mark 5:25-30) But physically, it probably was not a threat since without the genetic defects from sin, his immune system would not have been compromised and he would not have contracted any diseases. So all the more reason to risk touching and healing them.
And, though some of his followers did similar things for the sake of healing, the concept of defilement, whether of body or, even more importantly, of spirit, remains a strong theme in the Renewed Covenant. But the emphasis shifts from avoiding physical dirt to being sure that the effects of the already-defiled “heart” should not escape through our words or deeds and corrupt someone else as well. (Mat. 15:18-20) And more importantly than the physical altar and Temple implements, as the Temple of the Holy Spirit, our bodies must not be contaminated in this way (1 Cor. 3:17).
Though he “hung around” many sinners, this high priest was judged to be "undefiled and separate from sinners". (Heb. 7:26) It was a different kind of separateness. But his primary association is to be with someone who has kept herself pure:
“The priest that is highest among his brethren… must take a wife in her virginity.” (Lev. 21:10-13) Paul caught the drift of this when he wrote, “I am jealous toward you with the jealousy of Elohim, for I have betrothed you to one husband, an undefiled virgin to present to Messiah! But I am afraid lest, just as the serpent drew Chawwah out [with deception] through his crafty sophistry, your minds might somehow break you down from the simplicity and integrity that lead [us] in toward the Messiah.” (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3)
And not just any virgin: “A virgin of his own people shall he take as a wife.” (Lev. 21:14) This, too, is a prophecy of Messiah, and YHWH follows His own limitations. This is another salient reason to believe that the core group of those who have responded to the Shepherd, Messiah’s voice are, at least in part, descended from Israel. (Mat. 15:24)
“Any of your descendants throughout their generations who may have a blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his Elohim.” (21:17) This is why, when carried to its fullest meaning, none of Aharon’s descendants could be the ultimate high priest. Yes, there were many “normal” men among them with no obvious blemishes, and that is acceptable for those who live out the picture, but to fully “bring Elohim His bread” requires one without even the genetic defect passed on to all of us from the forbidden fruit. Only the “seed of the woman” could crush the serpent’s head. (Gen. 3:15)
“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall inform them of the appointed times of YHWH, which you must proclaim--holy rehearsals. These are My appointments.” (Lev. 23:2) And Yeshua’s entire life is built around them—born on Sukkoth, slain on Passover, raised on the day of firstfruits (23:11), etc. And he will keep the latter appointments in the fullest sense as well. Follow especially the books of Yochanan (1:14; 2:23; 6:4; 7:2, 37; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1, etc.), 1 Corinthians (5:7; 15:20, 23, 52), 1 Thessalonians (4:16), and Revelation (4:1, etc.) to see this most overtly.
The appointment that starts the list is the Shabbat: “Work is to be done six days, and on the seventh day [there is] a sabbath of desisting, a holy calling-forth…a ceasing for YHWH...” (Lev. 23:3) And Yeshua built his life around this one no less. Though he challenged many prevailing traditions about it, not wanting it to be a burden, he never profaned the day itself as Torah commanded it—even to the part about it being a holy calling-forth, or convocation: “On the Sabbath day, as was his custom, he went into the synagogue…” (Luke 4:16) to gather with other worshippers.
“Eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until you have brought the offering of your Elohim…” (Lev. 23:14) This may be one reason Yeshua told Miryam on that very day of firstfruits, “Don’t touch me, because I have not yet ascended to my Father.” (Yochanan 20:17) He hadn’t yet “presented the bread”.
“Then from the day after the Sabbath, [begin] counting off for yourself seven complete Sabbaths--from the day you bring in the omer of the wave offering until the day after the seventh sabbath. Count fifty days, then bring near to YHWH a fresh grain offering.” (Lev. 23:15-16) Yeshua did not wait around for this event, but told his followers to (Luke 24:49), and “when the day of Shavuoth had fully come” (the count was complete), they were endued with power from on high (Acts 2), a second visitation with fire on the tops of his followers’ heads as it had been on the top of Mt. Sinai, and even the fulfillment of the tradition of a voice going out to all nations—and this time it was accepted.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corner of your field, neither shall you gather the gleaning of your harvest; you must leave them for the poor, and for the stranger.” (Lev. 23:22)
Yeshua’s followers took advantage of this when walking through a field. It may have even been the Shmittah or Yovel (Jubilee) year (see Luke 4:19). The problem was that it was on a Sabbath, and some self-appointed judges interpreted that as “harvesting”, but Yeshua told them, “If only you had understood what 'I desire mercy [more than] sacrifice' meant, you would not have condemned these who are blameless” (Mat. 12:7)
The book of Hebrews goes into great detail about how the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27ff) relates to Yeshua and what he accomplished.
“Command the sons of Israel to bring to you clear, crushed olive oil …to cause a lamp to continually ascend.” (Lev. 24:2) Such oil can only come from the first pressing, when it is not yet clouded by the flesh of the olive. Only what is given willingly is acceptable; it is also clear and transparent, with no pretense. Yeshua underwent the “first pressing” in the garden of Gath-sh'maney (which itself means "oil press"]—on none other than the Mount of Olives. Long before anyone ever beat him physically, his willingness to obey YHWH at any cost brought the real light. And by the “sweat of his brow” (Gen. 3:19), which became drops of blood from his intense resistance to the truer defilement (Luke 22:44), did he forge the “bread” of a unified, undefiled community (1 Cor. 10:17) that will bring the Father satisfaction.
The strange story of the “Man of Israel” fighting the “son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was Egyptian” who “blasphemed the Name” (24:10ff) is a unique prophecy about what awaits the counterfeit Messiah, who, unlike Yeshua (Philippians 2:6), claims to be Elohim and demands to be worshipped. (2 Thessalo-nians 2:4; compare Daniel 7:25-26) Even his image is stoned! (Dan. 2:34, 45)
Finally, “There shall be one [and the same] legal procedure for [all of] you, whether sojourner or native, for I am YHWH your Elohim.” (Lev. 23:22) Though the Apostles were surprised that YHWH allowed Gentiles the same experience they had had that Shavuoth after the resurrection (Acts 14-15), some of them soon went to great lengths to ensure that Gentiles who want to join in could be “no longer strangers but fellow citizens with the holy ones” (Ephesians 2:19), for “there is neither Jew nor Greek; in Messiah you are all one.” (Galatians 3:28) No double standards.
Separate from Death
Why must the priests stay away from dead people, when much of their work consists of slaughtering animals? (Lev. 21:1-6) Because the death of a human being is especially repulsive to YHWH, having been made in His image, despite our current truncated condition. Death is not where He wanted His crowning creation to end up. It is is a reminder of the sin by which we repudiated His claims on our lives. So a big part of holiness—especially for the anointed high priest (21:10-11), a special prototype of of YHWH‘s messiah--is staying as far from death as possible. Those with blemishes (21:17-23) are also reminders of our fallenness. Not that YHWH loves these individuals any less, but they are not appropriate pictures of the high standard He is upholding as examples for His people of being set-apart.
Animals with blemishes are not permitted as offerings to YHWH, for (in addition to just being an inferior gift that suggests that we do not value our Recipient very highly) they are also a reminder to Him that all of creation is subject to decay because of humanity’s sin (Rom. 8:19-22). There are many things that now contaminate us in this world that we have ruined (Lev. 22:3-11), and anyone in that condition dare not touch or use things set apart to YHWH, since they are poles apart from what is dedicated to the Perfect One who must be disgusted with what we have done to His world. He does not want any reminders of this in the special precincts that represent His willingness to still be present in the world despite its corruption. Nothing associated with death, putrefaction, or imperfection belongs to the world as He made it; all of this is how we re-made it, and He does not approve of the ways we thought we could improve upon His order.
Time is also a reminder of the limits imposed by our mortality (Psalm 90:12), so zones of holiness extend into time as well. Since our time is limited, it is one of our most precious resources. For that among many other reasons, we give some of it back to YHWH, with our own hands off the choice of our activities, just like the tithe of our increase. (There is freedom in this, because even if “wisdom” says we can’t afford to give back, His decree means no one gets to make us feel guilty if other things must fall the wayside.)
Although we profaned His world, He carves out not just holy space but holy seasons in which to meet Him. While some commands are limited to the Land of Israel, the Sabbath is for “every place you may settle”. (Lev. 23:3) The same for all the appointed times. (23:31) They also do not expire (no matter what Messiah may do in the meantime), as long as there are generations of Israel still living. (23:41)
But Israel’s generations will also bring forth this strange fight at the end of chapter 24 between the man who is Israel—the Servant of YHWH, the nation quintessentially represented in one of its sons (compare Isaiah 49:3 with 49:5-6)—and the man who is a mixture of Israel and Egypt (i.e., paganism). The gradual migrating of the image of Messiah away from his “Israelitishness” sets the stage perfectly for the one who will come take his seat in the Temple of Elohim, claiming (though a man) to be Elohim, thus blaspheming the true Elohim. (Dan. 7:23-25; 11:36-38; 2 Thessalonians 2:4)
But that blasphemy will cost him not just his throne but his life (24:16), and the one who did not presume to grasp for equality with Elohim, though, unlike Adam, he never lost the image of Elohim (Philippians 2:6), will be rewarded with the kingship. The one who was crushed in the oil press (“Gath Shemen” in Hebrew, i.e., “Gethsemane”) and was beaten violently (24:2) will make the lights of YHWH’s sanctuary shine purely again over the twelve loaves on a single table (the Israel who dwells in His presence). By letting this enemy bruise his heel, he dealt the blow to all these reminders of death, for since he resisted the temptation to the point of his blood vessels bursting, and thus stayed away from the root of death (sin), death had no claim on him. “He partook of [flesh and blood] so that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death.” (Hebrews 2:14) The tempter who animates that blasphemous man lost all his claim to the earth because there was again a man in Elohim’s image, and so all these decaying things could, when the whole fight was over, be restored to the way He created them.
“By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, YHWH decisively exposed sin in the flesh for what it really is…” (Romans 8:3) By showing us what a sinless man could be, Yeshua shone the spotlight on all our false claims to be better than others, by showing the high standard of what we could have been but were not. (Even the most normal of us, without those outward defects that disqualified some priests, are shown to be far below the real standard. The fruit Adam ate caused many not-so-obvious defects that the “Adam Again” brought to light, since seeing the real thing is the best way to expose counterfeits.)
But this was all “…in order that the just requirement of the Torah may be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” (Romans 8:4) Through being willing to get in the fight—and hurt in the fight--Yeshua gave us, too, the power to regain that unfallen image of Elohim, even to some degree while still in our flesh, decaying though it still is (Ephesians 4:22), because it is no longer our master; we can override its demands and live by the reality that is coming—the “power of the world to come”, of which that “spirit” is the down-payment or earnest (2 Corinthians 1:22) that guarantees the rest. That “spirit” is like the law of aerodynamics, and thus we can experience flight even while the law of gravity still exists.
And with our bodies serving as temples of that spirit of holiness from Elohim (1 Cor. 6:19), we ourselves can be islands of holiness in a still-corrupt world, harbingers of what the whole world will be like when the real Israelite man takes his properly-earned throne.
We Are All Deformed,
But There is a Way Out
Again YHWH demonstrates perfect balance toward fallen mankind in His Torah. Priests who have deformities are not allowed to serve at the holiest parts of His sanctuary. (Lev. 21:17-21) This is not discrimination against the disabled (His concern for them was proven in 19:14); it is not their fault, but their condition is the most vivid physical reminder of the sin of Adam, which (probably as a direct result of the poisonous fruit wrongfully eaten in the Garden) caused all the genetic defects in his progeny. Their condition, we must remember, is not YHWH’s fault, but humanity’s. He told us what not to do, and we did it anyway, not thinking of what terrible results could ensue—not just these, but worse: causing many of the same kinds of defects through our own anger or carelessness. (24:19)
If Adam was deported from the holiest earthly place for the sin that ended up causing all these heartbreaking mutations, those whose bodies bear the most obvious marks of this condition may not approach the place that represents Eden. Though all of us are actually diminished and truncated from what the human genome originally was, we tend to forget this until we see these more obvious outward signs that something is wrong. Those in whom the effects of the fall are impossible to ignore are not to act as mediators, because they do not show the right picture of the perfection required to draw near to YHWH.
While what the other priests offer is a stand-in to cover the gross corruption of our hearts until the truly perfect mediator actually heals us, those who look least complete can never give an accurate depiction of him. Since he is the demonstration of what humanity could have been and can again be through him, the highest standards are required for those who prefigure him (21:1-15). The same standards also apply to the animals offered through him (22:20-25), because they too prefigure him.
On the other hand, YHWH does all He can to alleviate the results of the fall for those who choose to work along with Him right now, despite the deficiencies we all inherited from Adam, and so though the deformed may not do the most glorious public work, they are still provided for just like the rest of the priests. (21:22-23) They get to eat of the holy things even “more perfect” ordinary Israelites do not. (Rabbinic writings tell us the disfigured priests, during Second Temple times, were given a job to preserve their dignity--aptly tasked with sorting wood acceptable for the altar from wood that was not.)
Ordinary priests, too, temporarily have similar restrictions when ritually impure (22:3-6), for that contamination too is a result of Adam’s sin and so cannot accurately represent YHWH’s holiest things. But their food is only withheld from them for a limited amount of time because He knows they have no other sustenance, having foregone ordinary means of livelihood to dedicate all their energies to His service. (22:7) And those who are constantly dependent on the priest (who have no other livelihood than maintaining his household) also get to share in the holiest things designated for the priests that no one else may eat. (22:11-13)
Even the animals offered are treated humanely (22:28) and guaranteed the experience of at least one Sabbath (22:27)—microcosm of all the times of pausing, “the appointed seasons of YHWH” (chapter 23)—before they become a lesson about what we deserved and a picture of the substitute our loving Creator mercifully provided—that “Israelite man” who furiously defeated the impostor born of the union of pure and impure, who was careless about what is holy. (24:10-11)
To give clear light, the oil must be pure (24:2), and so must its stand (24:4). The ingredients in the “bread of our Elohim” must be the best (24:5, 7), the table that holds it pure as well (24:6), and the place it is eaten holy--dedicated to that alone (24:9). Seeing such distinctions is the first step out of imperfection, for till we recognize that we are sub-normal, we will never be motivated to change. Until we glimpse what we could be, we won’t be desperate enough to start the journey back to completeness.
Why Are Some People Placed Higher Than Others?
A cohen (priest) may not defile himself or profane himself in any way, as he is a leader. (Lev. 21:1-15) This may seem like arrogance—as if he was above having to do the dirty work like others--but it’s not that simple; it’s actually highly unselfish, since he cannot indulge in things others may, as Aharon was not allowed to overtly mourn when his sons died. And he has his own kind of dirty work; even if it is highly honored in Israel, it is not by any means pleasant.
Many priests did not fulfill their calling, especially that of guarding the holiness of the sanctuary, as we find in the haftarah and its background earlier in Ezekiel 44. Only a select few, the sons of Tzadoq, stayed faithful at 3 critical times in Israel’s history, and they were rewarded with special privileges that no other priests got after that. Fairness as many people think of it does not allow for just rewards, but YHWH wants to give credit where extra credit is due.
Their faithfulness may have extended to a seemingly-extreme measure of leaving the Temple complex altogether in disgust of the political intrigue that was going on there early in second Temple times, and forming the Qumran community (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). One might ask, though, whether they were serving the needs of the rest of the nation by abandoning their post for the sake of being undefiled in a different way. Was making the chosen priesthood unavailable to those who wanted to worship purely worse than the compromise that they fled from?
But maybe I dare not question, for Ezekiel says that during the Kingdom (if these are in fact the same people) they will have the top positions in the service of YHWH. They are given the exclusive right to interpret Torah when disputes arise (44:24) YHWH is their only “inheritance”; their sustenance comes only from people’s gifts to Him. (44:28-30) That is an unfathomable privilege. Most of the rules Ezekiel applies to them are the same as in this Torah portion, but he adds a few that must have addressed problems of his own day—priests wearing holy garments in the street so they’d be treated as special when off duty (44:19), when they’re human like the rest of us, or paying too much attention to their individual appearance, and thus distracted from their responsibilities. (44:20) Such practices were still common enough 600 years later for Yeshua to rail against. (Mat. 23:5-7, 14) So it is a significant clarification of what Torah intended but did not say.
But now we come to the other end of the social ladder. A disfigured priest “must not go in unto the veil or come near the altar, because he has a blemish…” This too sounds cruel and unfair, because how is it his fault that he was born blemished? There is a reason: “…so he will not profane My holy places; for I am YHWH who set them apart.” (Lev. 21:23) These days, we don’t often think in these terms, trying to make things as “accessible” to everyone as possible, and in ordinary affairs that is a good thing. But these are things so special that they need to be guarded in a way that cannot be left to the untrained. The highest Authority makes sure there is no disputing it. Holiness is a bigger deal than we think.
A priest who is permanently blemished gets to eat of the holy things (21:22) because that is still his due as a descendant of Aharon, but one who has a temporary uncleanness like “leprosy” may not eat holy food while in that condition (22:4), probably because it often was contracted through a fault of one’s own; it was imposed on some directly by YHWH as a punishment. (Think Miryam, Gehazi, and King Uzziyahu.) He gets to come back only when it will affect no one else. And “no common man may eat of the holy thing”. (22:10) Again this sounds rather undemocratic. But while YHWH’s mercy and provision are offered to everyone (Mat. 5:45), He has every right to choose whom He wants for special tasks, and is obligated to give no one special treatment for any other reason. Do we think we know better than Him who knows all?
But He is more equitable than most kings in this sense: “You shall have one manner of law, the same for the foreigner/guest as well as for the home-born.” (Lev. 24:22) No double standard. This applies to the priests, too—except that they are allowed to do some things on the Sabbath that no one else may—but not for their own sakes, but rather to serve the rest of us.
The cohen is an example to those he leads. One of his goals is to influence and inspire them all to step up to his higher level—at least. He is not trying to remain above them, just maintain the highest standard and call others to aim for the same, so we all end up on a higher plane, not the same lowest common denominator, which is usually the result if we emphasize inclusion more than excellence (as we have seen when schools no longer offer advanced placement courses lest someone feel left out); that ends up with everyone being mediocre and no one challenging anyone else to be all that they can be. So YHWH risks being thought “undemocratic”, for ultimately, His wisdom trumps “the people’s” ideas of what is best. If we don’t think high enough, we don’t aim high enough, so He prods us into better ways to think.
Does YHWH Have Favorites?
When I was in high school, I watched a modern drama paralleling the book of Job (Iyov) called God’s Favorite. At that time I bristled at the title, having had it drummed into me that the Creator of all loved all of His creations equally.
And in a sense He does. He offers salvation or wisdom to anyone who asks for them. (Rev. 22:17; James 1:5) In His justice to recompense our deeds, for better or worse, He is “no respecter of persons”. (Rom. 2:10-11; Col. 3:25; 1 Peter 1:17) That is something we are particularly called to emulate. (Eph. 6:9; James 2:1)
But YHWH did seem to be exceptionally “proud” of Job (if we dare call YHWH proud). He both commended and rewarded Kalev for being of “a different spirit” than most of his fellows. (Num. 14:24) He made a special covenant with Pin’has because of the zeal he showed for the things dear to His own heart. (Num. 25:7-13) YHWH said He’d replace King Sha’ul with David, whom He described as “better” than he (1 Sam. 15:28)—again, a “man after [His] own heart”. (1 Sam. 13:14)
This portion's haftarah holds another such example of His assigning special roles and authority to those who stayed true to their calling when other priests did not. (Ez. 44:15ff) He said they’d be privileged to “minister to Me” while the others would be relegated to merely “ministering to the House.” (44:10-16) So those who further His purposes since they understand why may receive a higher rank from YHWH.
Torah is one of His interventions in the hostile environment created when haSatan deceived us and co-opted the authority YHWH had given to humanity. Just as the righteous can stand up to and subvert the crafty forms of evil making inroads into a given country, YHWH took steps like this to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 Yochanan 3:8), creating Yeshua being another, as this passage indicates. When a given Torah command does not make sense to us, we may want to look into which of haSatan’s tactics it may be trying to combat. Many of them exist to limit the effects of corruption in our flesh, if not the devil, or to prevent “the world’s” complete takeover of every institution or nation, even Israel.
YHWH wants to bring order from chaos, which is why He designates specific people as authorities on certain decisions—especially the most controversial. He says the verdict will be rendered by those He has deemed reliable because of their past record. (Ez. 44:24) This may be (one) reason He originally chose the Levites as recipients of a unique inheritance--Himself. (44:28; for the background, see Ex. 32:26-28.)
Of course, even faith is “not from yourselves” but “the gift of YHWH, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9) as we have been reminded in so many presentations of the Gospel. He prepared particular good works beforehand for us to walk in, as the very next verse says, so there is nothing wrong with good works, as a careless, cursory reading might lead us to infer! What we do with His gifts can earn us not only more esteem in His eyes, but also rewards from Him that others will not receive, though they are included on the outer margins of His Kingdom. (Mat. 25:14-30; compare Mat. 5:19)
But as Spiderman reminded us, “With great power comes great responsibility.” (Compare Luke 12:48) What is the job of those who deserved YHWH’s special favor? “They must direct My people between the holy and the ordinary and between the defiled and the pure, and make them clearly discernible.” (44:23)
That is a tall order. So if we find ourselves so blessed, we would do better to focus on getting that done than on whether we are more beloved than others; if we don’t, we could lose our position as easily as those other priests did who were not faithful to their once-high calling. (cf. Romans 11:17-21)
