Tag Archives: Leviticus

Are you giving YHVH your best…or the leftovers?

Posted on by
2

Being the best

Leviticus 22:1–31, Profane Vs. Holy.  In this section of the Torah, YHVH makes some strong delineations between that which is profane, polluted or contaminated and that which is kadosh or set-apart in service to YHVH. To come into his Presence demands that men follow high and exacting standards. Why? It is to teach sinful man that although YHVH is high and lifted up above the mortal and mundane plane in his set-apartness and righteousness, he is not unapproachable by men if they will prepare themselves properly to come into his Presence. (Read Eccl 5:1–2.) He wanted to impress this upon the Israelites as they began the service of the tabernacle.

Therefore, YHVH specifies that certain offerings brought to his altar that are contaminated will be rejected if (a) the offerer is in a state of physical contamination, (b) he is contaminated through improper marriage, or (c) he is offering a blemished animal. What can we learn from this? What offerings do we bring to YHVH’s altar now? Our time, our money, our energy, our talents and spiritual gifts, our devotion? Do we give him the best? Do you pray to him and study his Word in the morning when you are the freshest, or do you give him the crumbs of your day after a hard day’s work just before bed when you offer up “sleepy time” prayers and read the Scriptures as your drifting off to sleep? Are your tithes the crumbs and leftovers after all the bills are paid, the government has taken out its portion and your play money has been set aside?

If you are a young person, are you serving YHVH while you have the health and vigor of youthfulness, or are you planning on playing now and serving YHVH after you have sated the lusts of the flesh? (Read Eccl 11:9–10; 12:1–14 and Matt 6:24.) Examine your life. Are you giving YHVH the best in all areas? If not, repent and change your priorities. Then see what happens in your spiritual walk and relationship with him!

 

The Torah on Capital Punishment

Posted on by
2

Leviticus 20 (entire chapter), The death penalty. In this chapter, YHVH lists the penalty for the sins that he considers to be the most abominable, grievous and ruinous to a society. He then prescribes the punishment for these sins—usually the death penalty.

23096406

As you read through this chapter, consider the penalties for these sins in our society. That’s right…there are none (with the exception of incest with one’s minor children)! Additionally, not only are most of these sins tolerated (bestiality, incest, adultery, sex during menstruation), but many of these abominable practices promoted and even celebrated (e.g., homosexuality, abortion, witchcraft, necromancy).

In our society, there is punishment for animal neglect, failing to pay taxes, or violating a building code,while there is no penalty for the sins of abortion, witchcraft, homosexuality, etc. What’s wrong here?

Notice that the punishments that YHVH prescribes for these crimes would, in most cases, in our society be considered uncivil, barbaric, or cruel and unusual (e.g., banishment, stoning, burning by fire).

The question must be asked, if we accept the Bible as the revealed truth of Elohim, then who knows best what punishment fits a crime—man or the Creator?

Interestingly, the U.S. has the highest criminal incarceration rate of any nation in the world (743 adults per 100,000 people). By year end 2010, the U.S. had 2,266,800 people incarcerated in its prisons and jails (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States). Yet ancient Israel had no Continue reading →

 

Should men wear beards?

Posted on by
3

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.

Beard 2

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.

Beyond this, what you do is your choice.

 

The Torah has something to say about GMOs

Posted on by
2

Leviticus 19:19, Livestock breed with another kind…sow your field with mixed seed.

What does the Torah have to say about genetically modified organisms (GMO) or foods? This verse addresses the issue. The type of genetic modification of plants and animals that we’re concerned about is that of forcing the DNA of one species into that of another. In reality, it’s a form of man-induced macro-evolution where one species takes on the characteristics of another species. Micro-evolution is a natural phenomenon that occurs between like plant and animal species (e.g., diverse kinds of cats, apples, palm trees, etc.).This can occur through naturally (called adaptation) and through the human-induced processes of hybridization. This isn’t a bad thing, in most cases. However, there are no examples of macro-evolution in the creation despite evolutionists’ best efforts to prove otherwise. Evolutionists have failed to find the missing links between monkeys and men, or lizards and birds, or slime and amphibians—at least not until genetic engineering came along. Now they can create the missing link. This is not only an affront to the Creator, and goes contrary to the Bible, but it’s the opening of a Pandora’s box of all sorts of unintended evil consequences where man is playing God, while not knowing what the consequences will be.

The ancient biblical writings are amazingly prescient on this issue when the Torah forbids the mixing of dissimilar species (such as seeds and animal species), which were separated in the creation by Elohim, and which he established to reproduce after their own kind.

The Creator simply commands men not to mix diverse kinds (species) without giving the reasons. We are to assume that he knows best whether we understand the technical reasons or not.

Since the recent emergence of the science of genetic engineering and the negative consequences of some aspects of it, perhaps the Creator’s prohibitions against mixing Continue reading →

 

The First, Second and Third Day—Prophetic Significance

Posted on by
1

Leviticus 19:6–7, It shall be eaten. The terms first, second and third day are often significant prophetically (e.g. Hos 6:2; Gen 22:4; Luke 13:32; Exod 19:11, 15) referring to the salvific work of Messiah Yeshua that occurred at his first coming, and which will occur in the first, second and third millennia after his first coming. Day three would correspond with the beginning of year 7000—a date we must be very near. If Torah reveals that the peace offering was not accepted on the third day, what is this prophetically telling us? 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 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.

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), the period of grace that we are now in will end when the wrath of Elohim will be poured out upon the unregenerate (Rev 15–16) just prior to the return of Yeshua? 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)

 

How the Two Goats Point to Yeshua

Posted on by
10

Leviticus 16:7, The significance of the two goats. Why were there two goats? Do both goats represent Yeshua and the atoning work he accomplished on the cross, or will accomplish yet in the future? If so, how does each goat represent a different facet of this work? Some see in the meaning of the name azazel some satanic implications leading them to believe that this goat represents the adversary himself and his ultimate exile from mankind. This belief derives from Jewish folklore, but has no scriptural support. What does verse 10 say the azazel goat was to accomplish? Is this something Satan did? However when we read John 3:14, we see that Yeshua, while on the cross bearing the sins of the world, in a sense, became like the serpent—a picture of devil who was the first sinner and the one who led man into sin. He become man’s sin offering (see Isa 53:6,10). When this occurred, what did Yeshua accomplish in the spiritual realm for our benefit? (See Gen 3:15; Col 2:15; 1 Cor 15:54–56.)

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 meaning “dismissal, or entire removal.” It is the technical term for the Continue reading →

 

After Passover, why do we need the Day of Atonement?

Posted on by
5

Leviticus 16:1–34, Passover and the Day of Atonement compared. A cursory reading of the Scriptures seems to indicate that there exists overlapping similarities between some of the blood atonement ceremonies of Passover or Pesach and the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

Question mark 20148326

What are the differences between the sin atonement offerings of Pesach and Yom Kippur?

Perhaps realizing the fact that the Passover occurs during the spring feast day season and the Day of Atonement occurs during the fall feast day season may answer this question.

Prophetically the spring feast days picture Messiah Yeshua’s first coming, while the fall feast days prophetically point to his second coming. How does this understanding shed light on the answer to this question?

Both Pesach and Yom Kippur picture redemption through the shed blood of Yeshua; that is, being delivered from bondage to sin and the rudiments of this world.

Passover symbolizes the first steps a new believer takes when coming out of spiritual Egypt and accepting Yeshua, the Lamb of YHVH, as one’s Savior and Master.

Yom Kippur, on the other hand, pictures the blood of the Lamb covering over the sins of the individual and the corporate sins of the nation of Israel. Yom Kippur also prophetically points to the time when Yeshua will return to the earth to initiate the final regathering of lost Israel, and to prepare to marry his bride, redeemed Israel.

Perhaps this understanding will help to answer why another Passover-like feast is needed. Yom Kippur doesn’t focus so much on leaving Egypt, but rather on YHVH’s people preparing to enter the millennial kingdom under the Messiah.