Category Archives: Holiness and Righteousness

Leviticus 19 on Welfare, GMOs, Beards

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Leviticus 19:2 and 3, Be holy…revere. Reverence for or fear of parents is part of walking in holiness. The Jewish sages say that this commandment prohibits, for example, children from sitting in their parents’ favorite chair, from interrupting them, contradicting them in a discourteous manner or otherwise showing them disrespect. Honoring one’s parents, as mandated in the Ten Commandments, also refers to caring for their personal needs. This is sometimes easier said than done, but it is part of the walk of holiness and a fulfillment of Torah. How would our society be improved were all members conscious of this one commandment alone? Though the Scriptures admonish children to obey their parents, obeying YHVH’s commandments (e.g., the Sabbath) takes precedence over the wishes of parents should these be contrary to the Word of Elohim. Observing the seventh day Sabbath is a way of honoring our Heavenly Father, as well, since he is our Creator. This is one reason that the instructions of verse three follows verse two.

Leviticus 19:3–4, You shall fear/revere…sabbaths. What is the relationship between children revering (or honoring) their parents, observing YHVH’s sabbaths (including the annual appointed times or festivals) and shunning idols? Is there a cause-and-effect chain reaction relationship between these three things? If so, what does this teach parents about how to raise their children to help keep them in the paths of righteousness later on? Honoring our parents teaches us to fear and reverence Elohim who gifted us with life through our parents, while keeping YHVH’s weekly and annual sabbaths (the biblical feasts) helps us to stay in the paths of righteousness and, hence, in a right spiritual relationship with our earthly parents and our Heavenly Parent.

Leviticus 19:7–8, Not be accepted. What are rejected offerings? The Torah teaches that offerings can be disqualified because YHVH’s protocols for making the offering were not followed. The peace offering was a voluntary offering where the offerer’s expresses thanks to Elohim and seeks friendship or communion with him. It celebrated a good relationship between YHVH and the offerer who had repented of his sin, and was now at peace with his Maker. (Actually, this is a prophetic picture of and the Torah basis for the New Testament communion or the Lord’s supper ritual.) What lessons are in this for us? In the larger picture, for example, YHVH has given us specific instructions to come into a spiritual relationship with him and to obtain his free gift of eternal life. How is this relationship achieved? (See John 3:15–18, 36; 5:24; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 1 John 1:9; Rom 10:9–10,13; 16:31.) Who is the doorway into that forever relationship with our Father in heaven? (Read John 10:7–10.) What does Yeshua say about those who invent self-styled religious systems in an effort to obtain immortality while circumventing YHVH’s spiritual door? (See John 10:1.) YHVH sets the rules, and it is up to man to follow them. Those who don’t will be rejected.

Leviticus 19:6–7, It shall be eaten…the third day. In Scripture, the terms first, second and third day can have prophetic significance (e.g., Hos 6:2; Gen 22:4; Luke 13:32; Exod 19:11, 15) by referring to the salvational work of Messiah Yeshua that occurred at his first coming, and which will continue through the first, second and third millennia after his first coming. Day three would correspond to the beginning of the seventh millennia from the creation of man—a date we must be very near. 

If Torah reveals that the peace offering was not accepted on the third day, what is this suggesting prophetically? Leviticus 7:17–18 says of the same offering that the portion of the sacrifice which remains until the third day shall be burnt with fire, while Leviticus 19:6–8 says that the person who eats the peace offering on the third day will “bear his iniquity” and “will be cut off from his people.” That is, the peace offering will be of no avail to that person, and they will not have peace with their Redeemer. What is this seem to be telling us prophetically?

Is a day coming when the door of opportunity for salvation will be shut (as was the case when the door of Noah’s ark was shut before Elohim brought judgment upon the earth by the flood, Gen 7:16)? That is, in the end times, will the period of grace that we are now in end just prior to that time when the wrath of Elohim will be poured out upon the unregenerate (Rev 15–16) just prior to the return of Yeshua? If so, this begs the following question: Are you saved by the blood of Yeshua, the Lamb of YHVH? Have you repented of your sins (violation of YHVH’s Torah-laws [1 John 3:4]), and are you walking in a righteous and obedient relationship with your Heavenly Father through Yeshua the Messiah by the power of the Ruach Kodesh (Set-Apart Spirit)?

For he says, “I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2)

Leviticus 19:9, Corners of your field.Leaving the corners of the fields unharvested, and leaving the gleanings in one’s field for the poor was a wonderful way to help the impoverished and disadvantaged—the poor that Yeshua declared would always be among us (John 12:8). There was no government welfare system in the Torah for those who were able to work. Moreover, YHVH commands us to work for six days and then to rest on the seventh day or Sabbath (Exod 20:8–11), and that if a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat (2 Thess 3:10), and that a righteous man provides for his household (1 Tim 5:8). However, just because a person is poor doesn’t mean that they are lazy. They may be poor for a variety of reasons other than slothfulness. So, since there will always be poor people (John 12:8), helping the poor is a timeless principle of how YHVH expects his people to show love for those who are less fortunate. The Torah here, as understood by the Jewish sages, teaches that we are first obligated to help the needy of our immediate physical family, then our extended family, and finally the poor in general (Deut 15:7–8 cp. Deut 14:28–29 and 26:12–13). What do you do to help the poor? When was the last time you extended your hand of love to a person in need? (Let’s not forget what Yeshua teaches us in Matt 25:31–46. Also note Jas 1:27; John 3:16.)

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Mishaptim—Love Is the Fulfilling of WHAT Law?

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Exodus chapters 21–23 (Parashah/Torah Portion Mishpatim) contain many laws of right conduct between people that YHVH gave to Moses and the children or Israel. These commandments teach us how to love our neighbor as ourself (i.e., Yeshua’s famous golden rule concept) and how to have peace and justice in a society. These same laws are what Paul refers to as showing love by fulfilling the law (Rom 13:8–10). Many of these same laws are those that mainstream Christianity tells its sheeple were “done away with.” So who is right? The mainstream church, or YHVH, Moses, Yeshua and Paul, that is, the Bible the Word of Elohim? This video contains the answers to these questions and much more.

 

The Psalmists’ Extreme Passion for Elohim and YOU

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David dancing before Elohim.

David, the author of the majority of the psalms in the Bible, along with several other psalmists, were men who followed hard after Elohim. No less than Elohim himself called David a man after his own heart (1 Sam 13:14–16). The spiritual cup of David’s heart as well as the hearts of other psalmists were full and overflowing with passion for Elohim, which expressed itself in quantifiable, extreme and radical ways by today’s Western standards. What can we learn from such individuals, and how can we come to this same place of passionate and enthusiastic (meaning “inspired or possessed by God”) devotion to YHVH Elohim?

David’s wife despising him dancing.

David did not merely express his passion for Elohim intellectually in the psalms through music and poetry, for Scripture records that in one case he actually removed his kingly robes that hindered the movement of his arms and legs, and danced leaping and whirling, almost naked, with all of his might in the streets of Jerusalem praising and worshipping YHVH to the disdaining scorn of his less than passionate wife. Needless to say, after that incident, David refused to have intimate relations with his wife ever again to the day of her death (2 Sam 6:23). This was likely because her heart was in a very different place than that of her husband, and he could never get close to her again. This incident demonstrates the seriousness with which David took his passion for YHVH and how he viewed those close to him who were of a dissimilar or antithetical passionate disposition.

To be sure, David was not the only Hebrew given to outward displays of passion. The Hebrews, in general, like many inhabitants of the Near East to this day, were a dynamic and emotionally passionate people, whose lives were a river that customarily overflowed its banks with a emotionally enthusiasm for their Creator. David was a quintessential stereotype of this cultural norm. But many of the Hebrew prophets demonstrated a similar emotional exuberance when urging the Israelites to return to YHVH and to worship and obey him only. This passion worked itself out in many seeming bizarre stunts in their attempts to capture the attention of a people who had lost their passion for Elohim. For example, on one occasion, Isaiah prophesied virtually naked through the streets of his city for three years warning Israel of its impending doom (Isa 20:3). One prophet even adorned himself with iron horns and then prophesied to the kings of Israel and Judah (1 Kgs 22:11). Once Jeremiah prophesied with a wooden yoke wrapped around his neck (Jer 22:11). Another time, YHVH instructed Ezekiel to build a model city of Jerusalem and to construct siege walls and battering rams to symbolize the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians (Ezek 4:1–4). After that, YHVH commanded Ezekiel to lay on his left side for 390 days and then on his  right side for another 40 days to symbolize YHVH’s judgment against Israel (Ezek 4:4–6). If that was not enough, during this time, YHVH instructed Ezekiel to eat only beans, lentils, millet and spelt baked on a fire fueled by human excrement (Ezek 4:9–12). These are just several example of the extreme passion with which the biblical people of Elohim were willing to serve and obey their Creator.

Admittedly, in our day, YHVH is seldom asking his people to engage in such extreme practices as the ancient biblical prophets did in service to him. But sadly, most people are not even passionate enough to do the minimum that YHVH expects. For example, how many people are willing to put aside their electronic devices to which they are addicted along with their other secular activities long enough to pray for an hour a day as Yeshua instructed (Matt 26:40–41)? 

Make no mistake, we are capable of becoming passionate about many things that are of interest to us—things that we really want to do, and we definitely make time in our busy schedules for these things. We can spend hours glued to our television and computers screens watching movies, engaged in social media on our electronc devices, listening to podcasts, watching sports events, playing video games and the like. In fact, today how many people hoot and holler acting crazy cheering their favorite sports team, but when it comes to being fanatical for YHVH, well, “that’s emotionalism” and “I’m not that kind of person,” we tell ourselves. “What will people think of me?”

There is no lack of distractions out there whose octopus-like arms laden with suction cups will grab us and suck us in to its jaws, while drawing us away from seeking YHVH. Why is this? Its is because too many of us have let our hearts become hard and cold for Elohim and as a result of this we have fallen into a state of lukewarmness, lost our first love for Yeshua along with the joy of our salvation.

So what is the aim and goal of this brief written homily? It is to hold up in front of each of us a mirror in which to see ourselves, and then to compare what we see with what pleases YHVH Elohim as recorded in Scripture, and thus hopefully to challenge each us to repent of our lassitude and incite us to “break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek YHVH, till he come and rain righteousness upon you,” (Hos 10:12). Our as Jeremiah chides us to do, “For thus saith YHVH…Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to YHVH, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings,” (Jer 4:3–4). Or as Yeshua warns us, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent,” (Rev 2:4–5). These are sober and challenging warning words from our Messiah!

Do you long to see and experience spiritual revival in these days of overwhelming darkness and evil? Well, revival starts in the heart of each individual as each of makes the conscious and determinate decision to seek YHVH and to allow him to revive us. Revival starts with YOU! Selah and amein.

How intense is YOUR worship of YHVH Elohim?

Shout joyfully to YHVH, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.…Shout joyfully before YHVH, the King. (Ps 98:4, 6)

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments. (Ps 119:164)

Oh come, let us sing to YHVH! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.… Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.…Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before YHVH our Maker. (Ps 95:1–2, 6)

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. (Ps 132:16)

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless YHVH. (Ps 134:2)

I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods [or mighty ones] I will sing praises to You. (Ps 138:1)

Let them praise His name with the dance. (Ps 149:3)

Let the high praises of Elohim be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand… (Ps 149:6)

Praise Him with the timbrel and dance… (Ps 150:4)

How intensely passionate are YOU in seeking YHVH Elohim?

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