Category Archives: Sin, Wickedness, Evil, Judgment

Premarital Sex and Passing Children Through the Fire

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Leviticus 18:21, Pass through the fire.In the juxtapositioning of this passage directly after the Torah’s prohibition of illicit sex, it would appear that YHVH is broadcasting a clear message to his people. Extra-marital sex often results in unwanted babies. In our day, many choose to murder their unwanted offspring through abortion. In ancient times, some of these undesired children were likely sacrificed to the pagan Canaanite god Moloch by being burned alive. That is certainly the implication in this passage. Whatever the case, YHVH hates the murder of children for any reason!

This passage (along with Exod 21:22) is one of the strongest pro-life, anti-infanticide verses in the Scriptures. The penalty for those who sacrificed their children to Molech (or Moloch) was that the land of Israel would vomit the people out of it (vv. 25 and 28.) Could any clearer statement be made about how the Creator feels about the sanctity of life? 

The murder of the innocent children is perhaps the greatest sin that a nation can commit. Abortion is a form of child sacrifice, which is something many ancient cultures practiced (the Aztecs, Incas, Phoenicians, pre-Islamic Arabs, and the biblical Canaanites). In the Bible, YHVH condemns the practice of heathens and apostate Israelites who made their children pass through the fire in worship of the demon-god Moloch (See Lev 18:21; 20:2–5; Deut 12:30–31; 18:10.) What judgment did YHVH place on the Jewish nation for sacrificing its children to Moloch? (See Jer 7:30–34; 32:35–36.)

 

The Two Birds Ceremony, Yeshua and YOU

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Leviticus 14:4–32, Tsaraath, sin and Yeshua. Read this scripture passage and see how many clues you can find that point to Yeshua. We’ll give you hints along the way by providing you with the scriptures verses to look up that will give you the answers. The purpose of this exercise is to show you that all the ceremonies and rituals that were part of the sacrificial system all prophetically pointed to Yeshua the Messiah, who fulfilled them all. This means that if we place our trusting faith in him, we no longer have to do the laborious and involved rituals that our ancient forefathers had to do in order to atone for their sins—we simply have to repent and believe in, love, follow and obey Yeshua and his word.

Now let’s look at the ritual for cleansing a metzora (one with a skin disease—a picture of our sinfulness) who had tsaraath (an infectious skin disease caused by sin).

  • Verses 4–7, two birds: One bird (likely a dove or pigeon) was killed in a clay pot over running water. The other bird along with the cedar wood, scarlet cloth and hyssop were dipped into the clay pot containing the blood from the killed bird and the running water. The water blood mixture was then sprinkled on the diseased person (metzora) who was being purified, and the living bird was let loose and allowed to fly away. There is a lot going on here, but it all prophetically pointed to Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection. Before deciphering this ritual out, perhaps it would help to understand the spiritual meaning of the wood, scarlet and hyssop, which we will explain next.
  • Verse 4, cedar wood: What was Yeshua crucified on? (Read John 19:17–18; Acts 5:30.)
  • Verse 4, scarlet: Scarlet is the color of blood and in the Bible pictures blood. What did Yeshua’s blood do for our sins? (Read Isa 1:18; Rev 1:5.)
  • Verse 4, hyssop: Hyssop (in reality, probably thyme or oregano) represented an essential oil that was known for its healing, cleansing and disease-killing properties. How would this point to Yeshua’s death on the cross? (Read Exod 12:22; Ps 51:7; John 19:29.)
  • Verses 7–8, The metzora was sprinkled with the water and blood mixture, he then bathed himself and washed his clothes. What is this a picture of in the redeemed believer’s life? (Read Acts 2:38; Rom 6:3–6.)
  • Verses 10–32, Three yearling lambs were offered for a trespass, sin and burnt offering. How does this point to Yeshua? (Read John 1:29, 36; Rev 13:8; 1 Pet 1:19.)
  • Now let’s take another look at verses 4–7 and the two birds to see how they pointed to Yeshua. The one bird being sacrificed and his blood being sprinkled as part of the cleansing process for the sinner is an obvious picture of what? But what about the bird that was let loose? What does this picture? Imagine letting a live bird loose out of your hands. What would he immediately do? Fly up and away, right? If the birds represent Yeshua, and the killed bird represents his death on the cross, then what does the live bird flying away represent? (Read Acts 3:15; 4:10; 1 Pet 1:3.)
  • What does the blood of the bird in verse 6 represent? How does it point to Yeshua? (Read Lev 17:11; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; 1 Pet 1:18–19; 1 John 1:7; Rev 1:5).
  • What does the clay pot in verse 5 represent? How does this point to Yeshua? (Read Gen 2:7; 2 Cor 4:7; 5:1.)
  • What does the running or living water in verse 5 represent? (Read Eph 5:26.) Who is the Word of Elohim? (Read John 1:1–14.) Who is the sources of that living water? (Read John 4:10–14; 7:37–39.)

So now let’s connect the dots to form the complete picture. We have before us a picture of a clay pot filled with living water, into which is poured blood from a sacrificed bird. Into all that is dipped hyssop, a piece of wood and some scarlet cloth. This is a perfect picture of Yeshua’s death on the cross and how that death atoned for our sins. But though Yeshua died on the cross, he did not stay dead, but resurrected out of the grave three days later and returned to his Father in heaven. This is pictured by the bird that was let loose to fly away.

Although this was such a simple ceremony, described in a few short verses in Leviticus 14, yet when you look carefully at it, do you notice how rich in meaning it is? Thankfully, we have the Scriptures in the Testimony of Yeshua to help us to understand the meaning of this otherwise mysterious cleansing ritual!

 

Are YOU “Unclean, unclean!”?

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Leviticus 13:45, Cry, “Unclean, unclean/tawmay.” A skin disease was like a red flag, which if a person had it was regarded as a judgment from Elohim for the sin of slander, gossip, murder with the mouth, false oaths and pride as well as sexual immorality, robbery and selfishness. That person was considered to be physically and spiritually contagious and so was put outside the camp of Israel until the disease was gone. According to Samson Hirsch, quarantine was a means of shocking the sinner into recognizing his moral shortcomings and his need to repent (The ArtScroll Chumash, p. 613).

What if each time we sinned with our mouth we were quickly struck with a visible sin disease for all to see resulting in our being quarantined and shunned? Perhaps the incidences of lashon hara (the evil tongue) would greatly diminish. If you received heaven’s judgment each time you misspoke, how would you change your speech habits and heart attitude toward others? Now live your life from this point on as if the next time you spoke evil of someone (without a righteous and biblically justifiable reason) you would be instantly judged by YHVH in a visible and public way.

What is the connection between Leviticus chapters 11 and 13? Both involve the mouth. The former Torah passage deals with uncleanness that goes into the mouth through what we eat. This defiles the man from within. The latter passage deals with what comes out of the mouth and how the man with a defiled heart corrupts society through the wrong use of his mouth. What did Yeshua say about this in Mark 7:14–23? What were the penalties in the Torah for eating unclean meats? (Read Leviticus 11.) Though the Torah calls eating unclean meats an abomination and declares that doing so defiles a person, interestingly there are no stated penalties for doing so. Now what are the penalties for speaking gossip and slander? It is a skin disease and required excommunication from the camp of Israel. Both eating unclean meats and speaking gossip and slander are sins to be sure, but the penalties for the one is much greater than for the other indicating the seriousness YHVH places on the right usage of the mouth. Ponder this for a moment: How easy it is for us to overly focus on what goes into our bellies, while at the same time ignoring the raw sewage spewing out of our mouths at times.

In conclusion, lest anyone think that clean and unclean meats is not a serious issue, YHVH clearly states in Isaiah 66:17 that in the end times during the day of Elohim’s wrath (referred to as the great and terrible day of the YHVH), those who are found to be eating swine’s flesh and other abominable foods will be consumed by the fire and sword of YHVH Elohim. We can infer from this that by then (presumably, the Millennium or Messianic Age) if people still have not repented of their sins and are refusing to turn to YHVH and obey him, they probably will deserve to die because of the perennial rebellious state of their hearts. This all the more underscores the fact that the mouth—what goes in and what comes out of it—are difficult issues for humans to deal with, but YHVH demands that we take personal responsibility for the use of our mouths. Let us not forget the warning admonition of Yeshua,

“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matt 12:36)

 

Did Elohim create evil?

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Isaiah 45:7, Create evil. Based on this verse some may be led to believe that all the evil that occurs in the world is YHVH’s fault, therefore, as the creator of evil, how can he be good? Some have even refused to serve and obey YHVH and rejected the truth of Scripture on the basis of this logic. But what is the truth?

First, let us analyze the Hebrew word for evil/רָעָה/רַע (Strong’s H7451; TWOT 2191). It is the generic Hebrew word meaning evil also meaning “bad, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, sad, unhappy, wicked, distress, wrong, injury. 

As we can see, evil is only one of the many and varied definitions of the Hbrew word ra wich can also mean distress, adversity, unhappiness, sadness and so on. Can “bad” things happen to people that end up being good for the person? Of course. Such has happened to all of us many times in our lives. Keep this point in mind.

According to The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, the word ra has as its primary definition the lack of quality or inferior quality of something or someone and is thus unable to meet standards of value or function beneficially. The word can connote moral deficiencies and is contrasted to the Hebrew word tov which is the generic word meaning good. TWOT notes that Elohim [as the Just Judge of the universe] acts with painful punishment against evil (ra) people who refuse to repent of their wicked or evil actions. If he failed to do this evil would take over the earth and universe.

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COVID-19—The Similarities Between Sin and Germs

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In this time of viral epidemics whether they be as serious as we are being told they are or not, the fact remains that plagues and pestilences do occur and affect people’s lives in dramatic ways. This should be a time of reflection for all of YHVH’s people, a time to search our own lives, to evaluate our own spiritual walk before YHVH Elohim and our relationship with Yeshua our Messiah. Life is a divine gift, and good health, next to salvation, is one of the greatest gifts of all. The following piece that I wrote many years ago when considered against the backdrop of the current Coronavirus/COVID-19 virus will hopefully give us some food for thought as we compare the spiritual virus of sin with the physical virus that is raging all around us. Please take a moment to pause and reflect on this…selah! — Natan

How Leviticus chapters 12, 13 and 14 relate to you

These several chapters are some of the most difficult ones in the Torah for us to wrap our brains around spiritually. What is the relevance of these arcane laws of ritual impurity and “leprosy” to modern people? With a little thought, we can see that there are some deep and relevant spiritual truths contained in these biblical passages!

As Matthew Henry points out in his classic gospel-oriented commentary on the Bible, after the laws concerning clean and unclean foods in Leviticus 11 come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons. As germs are contagions causing physical disease, so man is infected with the spiritual contagion of a sin nature that brings about spiritual disease ultimately leading to death. Henry explains that man imparts his depraved sin nature to his offspring at conception, which is why the woman needed to go through ritual cleansing after childbirth. Similarly, the Bible teaches us that the plague of leprosy (Heb. tsaraasreferring to a generic skin disease) was a judgment by Elohim against the sins of rebellion, greed and misuse of the tongue (e.g. Miriam, Gehazi and King Uzziah).

The spread of and cure for spiritual diseases is similar to those of physical diseases, as we’ll discuss below. First, however, let’s compare and contrast how physical germs are similar to spiritual sin “germs.”

What are germs?

With the help of several modern health care professionals, we first need to learn about germs. 

“Our bodies are pretty amazing. Day after day, they work hard—digesting food, pumping blood and oxygen, sending signals from our brains and much more.

“But there is a group of tiny invaders that can make our bodies sick—they’re called germs.

“Some kids may think that germs are bugs or cooties or other gross stuff. Actually, germsare tiny organisms, or living things, that can cause disease. Germs are so small and sneaky that they creep into our bodies without being noticed. In fact, germs are so tiny that you need to use a microscope to see them. When they get in our bodies, we don’t know what hit us until we have symptoms that say we’ve been attacked!” (from: kidshealth.org/en/kids/germs.html).

Where do germs live?

“Germs have favorite places to live, preferred ways to travel, and if they are harmful, have their own unique ways of causing disease. Germs can live in or on dirt, water, countertops, our skin, our intestines, and in many other places around us. Some germs can survive on their own while others prefer living in people or animals. Some germs live only in hot areas of the world while others live only in cold areas. When germs find a place that is good for them, they multiply and set up a home for themselves” (from: www.sfcdcp.org/germs.html).

How do germs spread diseases?

“Germs spread in different ways. To catch an infectious disease, you first need to be exposed to a harmful germ. Then it needs to get on or into your body and act in its unique ways to cause disease. Our bodies are good at fighting infections; not everybody who is exposed to germs will get sick, but some will. Here are the most common ways to be exposed:

“Touching. Some germs live in body fluids like mucus, pus, and stool. Even the invisible drops released when people talk, cough, or sneeze can carry germs. Touching a contaminated surface or object, then touching your eyes, nose, mouth, a cut, or other opening in the body, can lead to an infectious disease.

“Eating or drinking. Some germs exist in food and untreated water. Unwashed fruits and vegetables, and foods not properly cooked or kept at the right temperature, may carry harmful germs.

“Breathing. Some germs spread through the air. When someone coughs, sneezes, or talks they can release germs. When harmful germs are inhaled, they can cause illness.

“Getting bitten. Animals can carry and spread infectious diseases to people. Bites from wild animals, pets, or even a small animal like a bat or insect can cause illness. Even if the animal doesn’t look sick, it may carry harmful germs” (from: www.sfcdcp.org/germs.html).

With very little imagination, we can see how sin, like germs, are always trying to attack us spiritually and infect us with sinful thoughts, words and deeds. This is one reason that the Bible likens sin to yeast. As one rotten apple can cause a whole box of apples to rot, so it only takes miniscule amount yeast to “infect” a lump of bread dough thus causing it to rise.

How can we prevent the spread of unhealthy germs and thus diseases?

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Dealing with the viral pandemic of the disease of sin (part 2)

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Leviticus 12–13 Explained

These chapters are perhaps some of the most difficult of the Torah for modern people to understand much less to ascertain the relevance of, so often we pass over them without much thought. However, when we view them from a more drash or allegorical level of biblical interpretation, suddenly they take on a whole new meaning and are packed full of deep revelations pertaining to our perennial internal struggle against sin as well as with sin in the world around us we explain in the discussion below. Sin is not a popular subject to discuss, but if we are to rise to the spiritual level for which Elohim created us—to be in some sense like him (1 John 3:1-3).

The Hebrew Terms Relating to This Passage Defined

  • Tzaraas: a skin disease (improperly translated as “leprosy” in some Bibles). This Hebrew word means “to be struck with leprosy” (BDB) or “to smite heavily, to strike, or scourged of Elohim” since the leprosy was viewed as a special divine infliction (Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, pp. 248–249) against such sins as jealousy (cf. Miriam, anger, lack of full compliance with Elohim’s commands (cf. King Uzziah), and covetousness (cf. TWOT, p. 777).
  • Niddah: this refers to someone who is separated or menstruous.
  • Tumah: this refers to spiritual impurity.
  • Metzora: one with a skin disease; Metzora is a contraction of the Hebrew word motzi and ra meaning “one who speaks slander.”

The Issues Explained

Leviticus chapters 12 and 13 deal with the subject of human contamination and delineates what could seem to be a lot of irrelevant and archaic, if not arcane, regulations relating to childbirth and skin diseases. Why is YHVH so concerned about “human contamination”? What is the larger picture here to help us gain understanding into the Father’s intent and heart behind these Torah-laws? The Jewish sages teach that man must not forget that even the gnats and earthworms preceded him in the creation. This is to teach man humility. But conversely, each stage of Elohim’s creation added something to that which had been created previously and that man was the final, crowning touch that would pull all the creation together to fulfill its purpose of spirituality in the performance of Elohim’s will. Man is therefore the last of the creatures to be created, but the first in significance because he is the purpose of it all and that if man is not worthy of his calling, then he has added nothing of substance to YHVH’s handiwork (The ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra, p. 184).

All this is to say that YHVH has a plan to redeem man from his sinful or depraved (animalistic) state. Man can choose to be elevated to this higher spiritual plane or to remain in a state no better than that of a gnat or a worm having added nothing to the creation’s spiritual betterment. 

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Dealing with the viral pandemic of the disease of sin (part 1)

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As I write this, the viral pandemic called the Coronravirus or COVID-19 is sweeping the globe and taking lives with it. The world has not seen anything like this since the influenza epidemic of more than 100 years ago which killed tens of millions of people at that time. Viruses are analogous to sin: both are a lethal infectious diseases and a silent killers. With the stark images of the ravages of the Coronavirus in our minds and the ruination in its wake, let’s now switch over to the concept of the infectious spiritual disease of sin and where it leads to if it’s not appropriately dealt with.

Leviticus Chapters 12–15

Leviticus chapters 12 through 15  are some of the most distasteful and difficult to explain in the whole Bible, much less to relate to and to apply to our lives. After all, who wants to talk about diseases, disgusting molds and mildews, and bodily discharges? And who can relate to leprosy? Yuk!

Yet the Torah contains these subjects for a reason. Yes, sanitation, cleanliness and our physical good health is important to our Creator for obvious reasons, but lurking behind this distasteful and, at times, even revulsive subject is a much deeper issue: the disease of sin. When we view sin in terms of a contagious spiritual disease, suddenly we gain a new and deeper understanding of its destructive nature.

Even though the old adage, “Cleanliness is next to godliness” is not in the Bible, it is a biblical truism. Our cleanliness at all levels, body, soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit are vital to a right relationship with Elohim. He is holy or set-apart (i.e. from the pollution, filth and defilement of this world), and without holiness, no one can see Elohim (Heb 12:14). In essence, holiness is nothing more than spiritual cleanliness. This is the deeper meaning behind Leviticus chapters 12 through 15.

Overview of Parshiot Tazria-Metzora (Lev 12–13 and 14–15)

Often these two parshiot (the plural of parashah meaning “Torah portion” in Hebrew) are combined in the yearly Torah reading cycle depending on how the biblical calendar falls for the year. Their combining is likely due to the fact that each is relatively short and deals with related subjects: namely, the ritual purity laws. 

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