Is the Book of Enoch a credible source for spiritual truth? How does it compare with the truth of the Bible? Who are the sons of God? Who are the watchers? What about giants or the nephilim? This video answers these questions and much more.
Leviticus 7:26, Not eat any blood. YHVH revealed in the Torah that the life of flesh is in the blood (Lev 17:11). Therefore, the blood symbolizes the whole life of the living being. This is why the blood being poured upon the altar made atonement for the souls of men (Lev 17:11), since it represented and pointed to the shedding of Yeshua’s blood when he sacrificed his life on the cross in atoning for men’s sins.
Respecting the blood is necessary not only because it symbolizes the sanctity of the life of man who was made in the Creator’s image (Gen 1:26 cp. 9:6), but more importantly, because of the blood of Elohim’s Son that was shed for man’s redemption (Lev 17:11). For one to eat the blood showed disdain for what the blood typifies. In times past, such a violation resulted in the punishment of being banished from the nation of Israel.
The blood was to be reserved for the sacrificial service where it was used symbolically to represent Yeshua’s shedding his blood on the cross.
The blood of a lamb was put on the door posts to protect men from YHVH’s judgment against sin (Exod 12:7,13). Moses sprinkled the blood of oxen on the people symbolizing their coming into covenantal relationship with YHVH (Exod 24:5–8).
Additionally, the blood of sacrificed animals was sprinkled throughout the tabernacle, on Aaron and his sons, and all around the altar to sanctify it.
All these acts and uses of the blood were illustrative of the unrestricted cleansing power of the blood of Yeshua, which is why YHVH expected his people to treat the blood with a reverence. Those who didn’t evidenced a heart of indifference for the set-apart or kadosh things of Elohim—an intolerable offence in the Creator’s eyes.
Parashat Tzav — Leviticus 6:1(8)* – 8:36
Haftarah — Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22-23 | Malachi 3:4 – 3:24**
Prophets — Isaiah 19:1 – 26:21
Writings — Proverbs 22:1 – 28:28
Testimony — John 19:1 – 21:25; Acts 1:1 – 2:47
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day. One each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian Bibles when it differs from the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh.
** A different Haftarah is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week is Shabbat HaGadol.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 3/22 through 3/28/15.
The Tabernacle of Moses when viewed from the outside looking in reveals one spiritual mystery relating to the redeemed believer, but when viewed from the inside looking out, it reveals another spiritual mystery. This video also explains how the number three in the tabernacle relates to the human makeup and that of the Godhead, as well our theosis, or our union with Elohim as his adopted and glorified children.
The focus of Leviticus is holiness and holy living. Holiness is the chief attribute of Elohim and the most defining aspect of his character. It has to do with the fact that Elohim is entirely good and without evil and moral defect and sinless. This is why the spiritual beings around his heavenly throne are constantly crying, “Holy, holy, holy” in his Presence (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). This is why one of his titles is The Holy One of Israel,which is used more than thirty times in the Tanakh (e.g., 2 Kgs 19:22; Ps 71:22; Isa 1:4; Jer 50:29).
The Hebrew word for holy and holiness is kadosh, which is defined as “sacredness, consecrated, set-apartness or separateness.” That which is holy or kadosh relates to that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred, godly or heavenly and is distinct or separate from the sphere of the common, profane, defiled or polluted. Everything about Elohim is holy or set-apart compared to man who is completely polluted and defiled by sin and is thus unholy (Jer 17:9; Rom 3:23; Isa 64:6).
The Tabernacle of Moses had two rooms: the holy place and the holy of holies. The nomenclature of these rooms relates to the chief attribute of Elohim, which is his holiness.
Elohim gave Moses, Aaron, the priests and Levites strict protocols to follow to insure that the tabernacle stay holy and keep from becoming profane, polluted or defiled. This involved caring for and properly handling the building and its furnishings as well as the priestly attire and their bodily, ritualistic and spiritual cleanliness. If these protocols weren’t followed, there were penalties — sometimes involving the death of the violator. If they were followed, the result was a blessed relationship with Elohim.
The requirements for coming into and ministering in the Tabernacle of Moses, the dwelling place of Elohim’s Presence (Exod 25:8) teach us several things.
First, Elohim is holy and undefiled and is thus transcendent above the earthly and human plane. He is pure, set-apart and undefiled by.
Second, heaven and the Presence Elohim is a holy and undefiled place. The tabernacle was the earthly dwelling place of Elohim’s Presence (Exod 25:8). It and everything about it was to remain holy or set-apart. Nothing was to defile it.
Third, maintaining a high standard of holiness with regard to everything pertaining to the tabernacle teaches us that no one can come into the Presence of Elohim without first going through proper protocols to become undefiled.
Forth, there was a death sentence upon those who refused or neglected to follow these protocols. This teaches man to fear, honor, respect and even to dread Elohim who has the power over life and death. Man cannot come into Elohim’s Presence in a casual, cavalier or arrogant manner in a defiled or polluted state.
Fifth, the Tabernacle of Moses was a “processing center” to aid man in going from an unholy, polluted and sinful state to progressively becoming more and more holy and sinless. Eventually, man could come to a place — by following YHVH’s protocols of holy living — of intimate fellowship with Elohim. This is pictured by the inner room, or holy of holies, of the tabernacle where the Presence or Kavod of Elohim was dwelt. The holy of holies is representative of Elohim’s heavenly throne room.
Sixth, man was created in Elohim’s image to have an intimate relation with him and with the capability of reflecting his divine character. When man sinned in the garden, man’s relationship with Elohim was cut off. The Tabernacle of Moses shows man how to deal with the pollution or defilement of sin through blood atonement and the eventual sacrifice of Yeshua on the cross to which all the bloody, sacrificial rituals of the tabernacle pointed.
Seventh, there is no other way for man to come into the Presence of Elohim except through the protocols that he has established. Man has to recognize his sinfulness, turn away from his state of unholiness or pollution by making the proper sacrifices. He must then turn to and embrace Elohim’s holy or righteous standards for living a sinless life.
Holiness is the greater message of Leviticus as it relates to the redeemed believer coming into conformity with the exalted and righteous standards of a holy Elohim. This occurs when one recognizes their unholiness or sinfulness, puts their faith in the blood atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of Elohim, Yeshua the Messiah who died on the cross in payment for men’s sins, and then turns from sin by adhering to Elohim’s standards of righteousness as outlined in the Torah and the rest of the Scriptures, and as lived out by Yeshua and his immediate disciples.
Holiness involves heeding Elohim’s call to become his special and treasured possession by following him and allowing him to separate us from the defilement or pollutions of the heathen nations around us (Lev 20:26; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:19).
This message of holiness — and the message of the entire Bible — can be succinctly summed up by Elohim’s loving and longing cry to his people on several occasions to be holy as he is holy (Lev 11:44, 45; 20:7, 26; 1 Pet 1:16). The Torah shows us how to be holy (Lev 20:7–8). The Torah (and the rest of Scripture) shows us that being holy not only involves behavior, but man’s thoughts and attitudes, words and physical cleanliness as well as the observance of holy times (e.g., the Sabbath and biblical festivals), and respect of things that are dedicated to Elohim. Men must learn to make a division or separation between the spheres of the holy and the profane and to keep them separate (Ezek 44:23; 22:26), and to not let the latter pollute the former.
The message of holiness has serious implications for each individual, for as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews declares, without holiness, no one will see Elohim (Heb 12:14 cp. Ps 15:2ff).
Burnt or Elevation (Olah) Offering (Lev 1:3–17)
This offering involved the burning of the entire animal. This was not a partial burning with what remained to be eaten by the priests and/or worshippers. The burning of the animal prophetically pictures the sufferings of Yeshua, the Son of Elohim, for the sins of the world. The burning of the animal was but a faint representation of the punishment that all sinners deserve and that which unrepentant sinners will experience in the lake of fire at the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:11–15). Yeshua took that punishment upon himself at the cross.
Here are some examples of how the burnt offering pointed to Yeshua (and how he fulfilled it):
Leviticus 1:16, Beside the altar on the east part. It is interesting to note that in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, the east side of the altar of sacrifice in the temple faced the Mount of Olives, the base of which is only a few minutes walk (less than 1000 feet) down from the Temple Mount and across the small Kidron Valley.
This is the same area where the Garden of Gethsemane is located (also at the base of the Mount of Olives just above the Kidron Valley) where Yeshua prayed before his crucifixion and sweat great drops of blood (Luke 22:44).
Directly above this same spot is where the altar of the red heifer was located (see Mishnah Parah 3:6c and The Temple, Its Ministry and Service, p. 283, by Alfred Edhersheim).
Furthermore, the writer of Hebrews links the place of Yeshua’s crucifixion to the spot where the red heifer was killed (Heb 13:12–13 cp. 9:13).
And finally, we know that from the place of the crucifixion, the front of the temple was clearly visible (Luke 23:45, 47).
We see that the sprinkling of the blood on the east side of the altar (on the side of the altar facing the exact spot where Yeshua died on the cross) is a prophetic shadow picture pointing to the eventual death of Yeshua the Lamb of Elohim slain from the foundation of the world to take away the sins of the world once and for all!