Tag Archives: Leviticus

Divine Judgment for Disobedience to YHVH’s Torah-Word

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Leviticus 26:1–46, Blessing and curses are based on obedience to YHVH’s Torah-Word. The corollary to this passage is Deuteronomy chapter 28. These judgments come upon a people who have forgotten their Elohim because they have been blessed materially and in their self-sufficiency have forgotten who the source of their blessings is, and that their blessings are contingent upon obedience to YHVH. These principles are universal, yet how we tend to forget the cycles of history that repeat themselves over and over again like the unstoppable turning of giant millstone grinding into powder those who refuse to learn the lessons from the past. Each generation proudly asserts it’s exceptionalism and that, somehow, it’s immune to YHVH’s inexorable and immutable principles of divine judgment. Only in the perfect hindsight of history can we see the fallacy of this assumption. Ancient Israel failed to learn these lessons as have subsequent nations who claimed to follow the Bible.

Judgment, Divine

In the case of America, and Great Britain before her (and other Christian nations as well), there was in former times a national consciousness of core biblical values and, to one degree or another, a public acknowledgement, acceptance of and respect for the God of the Bible. However, as a nation becomes blessed, it reaches an apogee of prominence, power and wealth where it becomes rich and increased with goods and no longer needs Elohim — or so it thinks. It become fat and forgets the source of its wealth and falls into a state of self-sufficiency leading to spiritual blindness to recognize its true spiritual state (recall YHVH’s warning to a lukewarm church in Rev 3:14–22). This can happen to individuals, churches and to whole societies.

Because YHVH loves his people and wants to walk among them, to be their Elohim and to bless them (Lev 26:12), when they disobey him and walk in ways that are harmful to their well-being, like any loving parent, he is forced to discipline them. Again and again he sends them his prophets and watchmen to warn them that they’re on a path of self-destruction. But because their hearts are uncircumcised, they refuse to humble themselves and repent (Lev 26:41). It’s the same old story over Continue reading →

 

The Biblical Social Welfare System

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Leviticus 25,  Chapter 25 lays out Israel’s social welfare and economic system. Basically, it was a capitalistic economic system where private individuals owned property and small businesses and controlled the means and productions of goods and services. This is not the case in a purely socialistic (or Marxist or communistic) economic system where the government owns most of the property and controls the means and distribution of goods and services.

Do government hand outs in the Bible?

Do government hand outs in the Bible?

However, the capitalistic system that YHVH gave to Israel contained some quasi-socialistic checks and balances in that greedy or exceptionally gifted and ambitious individuals couldn’t excessively rich at the expense of the poor. Socialistic economic philosophy demands that the wealth of the nation be equally distributed among everyone including the poor. This may sound good in theory, but it doesn’t work. In reality, socialism stifles individual initiative by punishing (often through taxation and other means of wealth confiscation and redistribution by the government) those who, through hard work, sacrifice, initiative, and inventiveness have become wealthy. So, it stands to reason, why should the wealthy work hard if the fruits of their labors will only be confiscated and be given to the poor or the “have nots, ” or to those who refuse to work?

At the same time, capitalism is also a flawed system, since in time, the wealthy often end up owning own much of the land and control most of the wealth. Human nature being what it is, the greedy wealthy will turn a capitalistic system into oligarchic capitalism where only a few rich capitalists control nearly everything including the economic and political systems. This is the end times system that is described in Revelation 13 and 18 and is called Babylon the Great. Such a system ends up enslaving people through economic and political means, and creating a veritable serfdom of those who are under its rule (see Rev 18:13, 23).

With these things in mind, as you are reading through chapter 25, note how YHVH instructed the poor to be cared for. There was no government welfare system based on taxing the producers and giving to the non-producers. Everyone worked. In fact, the Torah commands everyone to work for six days, and then to rest on the seventh day (Exod 20:9). Sloth and laziness wasn’t an option.

Notice how debt was handled, and how people worked to pay off their debts. Bankruptcy wasn’t an option.

Notice how the jubilee year prevented the wealthy from acquiring all the land, and how every 50 years there was a redistribution of land, so that those who through sloth or mismanagement of their resources lost their land. Such individuals were mercifully given a second chance to start over again and learn from their past mistakes. Lending to the poor was encouraged, and the charging of interest was prohibited.

As you read through this chapter, consider how YHVH deals with the perennial social and economic ills that have plague the world from time immemorial compared to how men currently deal with these same problems, and usually end up making the problems worse.

Though it would be difficult to implement such a system in our highly collectivized and industrialized society of today, it is likely that in the future, during the Millennium, when the Torah will be the rule of the earth and agrarianism will likely be the dominant paradigm, that such a Torah-based system will once again be put in place.

 

The Feasts, Yeshua the Sun of Righteousness and the Calendar

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Leviticus 23, The Biblical Feasts. Yeshua the Messiah is the Light of the world or the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) or the Greater Light to show man the path of spiritual darkness of this world. The saints are like the moon or lesser light that reflects the light of the sun or the greater light into the darkness of this world.

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The biblical feasts are calculated based on the lunations of the moon. They YHVH’s plan of salvation to show man the way to Yeshua who is spiritually the Greater Light as represented by the sun. The feasts are like a tract or sermon by which the saints preach the gospel message of salvation to the world. The saints as the lesser light reflect the message of salvation through Yeshua the Greater Light into the darkness of this world through their adherence to the biblical feasts. This is why the moon — the lesser light — is so pivotal to YHVH’s calendar and feasts.

Judah’s calendar is off; it’s not in accordance with the moon. It claims to be, but it’s not. At the same time, they’re not bring the gospel message of Yeshua to the world — only the doctrines of men and men’s traditions. Their whole message is askew and fails to reflect the Greater Light of Yeshua.

Similarly, the mainstream church tries to preach the gospel, but without understanding the moon, feasts and biblical calendar their message of the gospel is only a partial one and is also off.

A time may come in the future when the calendar and feasts will go off the sun and not the moon. This may occur when there is a new heaven and a new earth when Yeshua is ruling on this earth and he will be the only Light of the world. That time isn’t yet, though, for it’s still the saints’ job as the lesser light to be like the moon to reflect the truth of Yeshua, the Greater Light, to this world through a lunar-based calendar and the biblical feasts.

 

Should Men Wear Beards?

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Leviticus 19:27, You shall not shave around the sides of your beard.

Some Torah scholars say that there is no place in the Torah, or anywhere else in the Scriptures, that explicitly commands men to wear beards. Others who are of the opinion that men should wear beards agree that while there may be no direct command to wear a beard, the Scriptures give an implied or indirect command to do so. In other words, it’s assumed that men will have a beard. I am of the latter opinion.

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Some will point to Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5 in attempts to prove that men are to wear beards — that they are not to shave their beards. In reality, this command related specifically to shaving the beard in honor of the dead according to some ritual the ancient pagans practiced. In other words, YHVH is telling the Israelite men not to shave their beards as the pagans did in honor of the dead. What exactly that pagan practice was, we don’t know for sure.

Can these two verses be taken as a prohibition against a man shaving his beard? Those who say no will say that there is no direct command in the Bible to have a beard, but if you do have one, don’t shave it in honor of the dead as the pagans did. Those who say yes will say that these two verses imply a command for men to have a beard; that is, how can you cut something that you don’t already have? There are well-meaning people on both sides of this debate.

These things we know for sure. Aaron the high priest had a beard (Ps 133:2). Yeshua had a beard or else Isaiah 50:6 was a false prophecy. Ezekiel had a beard (Ezek 5:1), Ezra had a beard (Ezra 9:3); David had a beard (1 Sam 21:13); and many Israelite men wore beards (2 Sam 10:4-5; 1 Chr 19:5; Jer 41:5). It is also a religious Jewish tradition to this day for men to have beards, and we know that this tradition is rooted in antiquity.

In addition to this, sometimes a man comes to a point in his life that his hair refuses to grow up top, and wearing a beard can be great compensation for this loss, although this isn’t a scriptural reason for sporting a beard.

As for me, I have chosen to wear a beard. At the very least, it’s quite a Hebraic thing to do. Besides, Yeshua had one, and I like imitating him as much as possible.

Beyond this, what you do is your choice.

 

Video: The Omer Count & Our Destiny

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The Israelites’ Passover exodus from Egypt as ex-slaves and their journey to Mt. Sinai where they received the Torah 50 days later and become the Priest-Wife of YHVH prophetically parallels our spiritual journey out of the world to become the bride of YHVH-Yeshua. This video, like a road map, explains the count of the omer, so you’ll understand where you’ve come from, where your at, and what spiritual destiny is.

 

The Story of Two Goats

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Leviticus 16:8, The scapegoat. The Soncino Pentateuch says of the azazel goat of Leviticus 16:10 that the word scapegoat, as used in the KJV, is a poor translation and should be rendered as dismissal. In the Septuagint it is translated as the one to be sent away which agrees with the term used in the Mishnah. Azazel is not a proper name, but a rare Hebrew noun (kZtZG from ZG meaning goat and kZt meaning to go away) meaning dismissal, or entire removal. It is the technical term for the entire removal of sin  and guilt of the community, that was symbolized by the sending away of the goat into the wilderness.

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There is some difference of opinion as to the symbolic meaning of the azazel goat. Some say it is a picture of Satan who initially tempted man to sin or to rebel against Elohim, and has been doing so ever since. Since he is the source of sin and since he is responsible for man sinning, he must consequently bear the responsibility for his actions which he will do when he is bound and thrown into the bottomless pit at the beginning of the millennium. The azazel goat being dismissed into the wilderness is a picture of this. On the other side, there are those who teach that the azazel goat is a picture of Yeshua who bore our sins upon himself and died alone in our place. Which view is correct? Well, both. Sort of…

The most important key to determining who this goat represents is found in Lev 16:10,

 But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before YHVH, to make atonement over him, to send him away for azazel into the wilderness. 

Note the highlighted portion. Who made atonement for our sins? Satan or Yeshua? Scripture does not reveal the devil as the redeemer of mankind. Of Yeshua being our atonement the Scripture say:

And not only so, but we also joy in Elohim through our Master Yeshua the Messiah, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Rom 5:11)

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb 1:3)

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. (Heb 7:27)

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb 9:26)

Furthermore, the act of laying on of hands (Lev 16:21) onto the azazel goat symbolizes the transference of sins from the guilty party (the children of Israel) to the innocent azazel goat. The innocent becomes the sin-bearer. Of course, who can deny that this is a perfect picture of Yeshua, and not Satan!

Spiritually, the azazel goat represents the entire removal of sin’s defilement from the camp of Israel into the wilderness. In Psalms 103:12 Elohim removes our sins from us as far as the east  is from the west. YHVH does this, not Satan!

In Lev 16:22 we read, “And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” Throughout the Scriptures there are numerous references to Yeshua bearing our sins.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and YHVH hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:6)

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa 53:12)

So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Heb 9:28)

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Pet 2:24)

I believe that the azazel goat has a secondary meaning, as well. Though it doesn’t outrightly represent Satan, but Yeshua, we will see that our Savior, blessed be him, while hanging on the cross represented sin in its totality and in its extreme, and so for a brief moment took on the image of the serpent himself. Yeshua said of himself in John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” In Scripture, the serpent is a picture of the Satan, the adversary (Gen 3:1, 2, 4, 13, 14, 15: Rev 12:9; 20:2).

In Lev 16:8 we see that as the two goats stood before the high priest, one on his right hand and one on his left, the lots would be cast and one would become the azazel goat and  one would be the goat that would be sacrificed in the tabernacle sanctuary itself. An interesting note that may have a bearing here: Hebraically, the right hand is the hand of strength, power and judgment, while the left land is the hand of mercy and grace.

Both Adam Clarke and Matthew Henry in their commentaries say that both goats refer to a different aspect of Yeshua’s atonement. Henry says, “Thus [Yeshua] was prefigured by the two goats, which both made one offering: the slain goat was a type of [Messiah] dying for our sins, the scapegoat a type of [Messiah] rising again for our justification…[after which] the entrance into heaven which [Messiah] made for us is here typified by the high priest’s entrance into the most holy place (Heb 9:7)” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible, vol. 1, p. 509). Henry doesn’t explain just how the goat going into the wilderness typifies Yeshua’s redeeming us, but I should like to offer an alternative idea in this regard. Perhaps, the azazel goat represented Yeshua’s soul descending into hell and there taking the keys of death (1 Pet 3:18–20; Rev 1:18). Some fun speculation to contemplate!

 

What Is leprosy and what were its causes?

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Leviticus 14:3, Plague of leprosy. Some of the English translations of this scripture verse use the word leprosy for the skin disease described in these passages. This is a mistranslation. A better translation would be infectious skin disease.

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The Jewish sages teach that the skin disease described here is a supernaturally caused ailment that falls only on Israelites who are actually living in the land of Israel. They also teach that this is YHVH’s way of identifying the evil sins of gossip and slander (along with haughtiness, selfishness and jealousy) before this sin spreads throughout the land engulfing it like a forest fire from hell. (Read James 3:5–6!) This may explain why Miriam while wandering in the wilderness outside of Israel contracted this skin disease.

The disease would cause the sinner’s face to resemble a red flag for all to see. An afflicted person would be forced to live outside the camp until repentance along with atonement and purification rituals had occurred, and all this occurred under the watchful eye of a priest.

As you read this, you may be wiping your brow with a sigh of relief thankful that Continue reading →