Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through Your commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Yisrael. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the House of Yisrael, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Yisrael. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
Lev 24:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev 24:2 “Command the children of Yisra’ĕl that they
bring to you clear oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn
continually.
“shemen zait zach kativ” means crushed pure olive oil.
An
olive tree never dies. Neither does it ever cease giving fruit. When some
branches become old and stop giving fruit, they are cut off so that new shoots
can come up that will give fruit. The olive tree needs approximately 10 years
in order to begin giving fruit, but the most fruitful time does not begin until
40 years have passed. The leaves are always green. It does not need a lot of
water and can manage well in a warm and dry climate. The olives have three important
ingredients, oil, water, and alpechin (olive mill wastes are known as alpechin).
Olive oil is very healthy for the body. It is used for cooking, among other
things. It can be mixed with flour to bake cakes. It can be used on salads or
directly on bread and can also be used as fuel for oil lamps, as in this case
in the tabernacle.
“Kativ” means pounded or
crushed. Typically, the olives were crushed in three crushings – the first
crushing produced the purest oil used for the lamps that provided light for the
menorah.
Isa 53:5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He
was crushed for our crookednesses. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.
Yahshua was declared to be the
light of the world.
Joh 8:12 Therefore יהושע spoke to them
again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall by no
means walk in darkness but possess the light of life.”1 Footnote: 1
See 11:9-10.
Following Yahshua means that
our lives will know crushing and sorrow. We will also experience times of deep
joy and peace. However, to be a ‘’light’’ comes at a cost. Oil was used to produce light.
Believers are called upon to
be the light of the world – Matt 5:14
The Bride of Messiah is called
to pay the price so that this light may be kept burning and show a lost world
the way back to the Torah.
Psa 119:105 Nun
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Rabbinic legend has it that the all the oil burned out
during the night except for the western most lamp. This lamp was the first to
be lit and by some miracle kept on burning until the following day. This
burning wick was once again used to light the other lamps once refilled with
new olive oil.
According to the Talmud – Yoma 39a – after the death of
the last legitimate high priest (second temple) Shimon Ha Tzadik the western
most wick would go out with the others.
Did the western most wick symbolize a faithful
remnant? The Ebionites and later the Amish
and Mennonites and today a small remnant of Hebrew roots believers?
Today there does not appear to be a unified group of
‘’light bearers’’
Isa 27:12 And in that
day it shall be that יהוה threshes, from the channel of the River to
the wadi of Mitsrayim. And you shall be gathered one by one,[a] O
children of Yisra’ěl. Footnote: a Jer_3:14-15.
Jer
3:14 “Return, O backsliding
children,” declares יהוה, “for I shall rule over you, and shall
take you, one from a city and two from a clan,[a] and
shall bring you to Tsiyon. Footnote: aSee Isa_27:12.
Jer 3:15 “And I shall
give you shepherds according to My heart, and they shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding.
Mat 25:1 “Then the reign of the heavens shall be
compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom.
Mat 25:2
“And five of them were wise, and five foolish.
Mat 25:3
“Those who were foolish, having taken their lamps, took no oil with
them,
Mat 25:4
but the wise took oil in their containers with their lamps.
We get oil from an oil press. Gethsemane- Hebrew: גת שמנים, Gat Shmanim; lit. "oil press"
What about the remnant called-
out priests? Maybe they needed that oil to spend all night in the presence of
YHVH interceding for the set apart ones.
Lev 24:3 “Outside the veil of the Witness, in the Tent
of Meeting, Aharon is to arrange it from evening until morning before יהוה continually – a law forever throughout
your generations.
Lev 24:4 “He is to arrange the lamps on the clean gold
lampstand before יהוה continually.
Lev 24:5 “And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes(Heb – challot – or pierced breads) with it, two-tenths of an ĕphah in each cake.
Lev 24:6 “And you shall set them in two rows, six in a
row, on the clean table before יהוה.
Lev 24:7 “And you shall put clear frankincense on each
row, and it shall be on the bread as a remembrance portion, an offering made by
fire to יהוה. (Shemot 25:30 Lechem panim – bread of
faces)
Lev 24:8 “On every Sabbath he is to arrange it before יהוה continually, from the children of Yisra’ĕl
– an everlasting covenant.
Lev 24:9 “And it shall be for Aharon and his sons, and
they shall eat it in the set-apart place, because it is most set-apart to him
from the offerings of יהוה made by fire –
an everlasting law.”
Midrash about covenant with
YHVH – intimacy – remnant priesthood.
The giving of the Torah can be compared to the giving of a “ketubah” a marriage covenant.
Mt. Sinai (cloud hovering over the Sinai) is likened to the wedding chuppah or canopy under which the bride and groom stand for their betrothal ceremony. The final event of the marriage covenant was the shared meal. Exodus 24:9-11
Exo 24:9
And Mosheh went up, also Aharon, Naḏaḇ, and Aḇihu, and seventy of
the elders of Yisra’ĕl,
Exo
24:10 and they saw the Elohim of
Yisra’ĕl, and under His feet like a paved work of sapphire stone, and like the
heavens for brightness.
Exo
24:11 Yet He did not stretch out His
hand against the chiefs of the children of Yisra’ĕl! And they saw Elohim, and
they ate and drank.
Exo
24:12 And יהוה said to
Mosheh, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there, while I give you tablets
of stone, and the Torah and the command which I have written, to teach them.”
The very next words that the YHVH spoke to Moshe were to make for Him an offering, and in Ex. 25:8 – “Let them construct a set apart place for Me, that I may dwell among them.” A set apart place likened to the special bridal chamber prepared for the bride, where the marriage was consummated following the ceremony, a set apart place where the manifest presence of YHVH dwelt with His people.
Lev 24:10 And the son of an Yisra’ĕlite woman, whose father
was a Mitsrite, went out among the children of Yisra’ĕl. And the Yisra’ĕlite
woman’s son and a man of Yisra’ĕl strove in the camp.
Lev 24:11 And the Yisra’ĕlite woman’s son blasphemed
the Name, and cursed. So they brought him to Mosheh. Now his mother’s name was
Shelomith the daughter of Diḇri, of the tribe of Dan.
Lev 24:12 And they put him in under guard, that it
might be declared to them at the mouth of יהוה.
Lev 24:13 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh,
saying,
Lev 24:14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the
camp, and all those who heard him shall lay their hands on his head, and all
the congregation shall stone him.
Lev 24:15 “And speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl,
saying, ‘Anyone who curses his Elohim shall bear his sin.
Lev 24:16 ‘And he who blasphemes the Name of יהוה shall certainly be put to death, and all
the congregation certainly stone him, the stranger as well as the native. When
he blasphemes the Name, he is put to death.
The only time this word for
blasphemy is used in Torah – “nakav” It means to pierce.
The word “blaspheme” is not an
accurate translation of the Hebrew word “nakav.” The fact that it is only used
once in the Torah in this context reminds us that Yahshua was only pierced once
for our iniquities.
When we misrepresent Messiah
we too become guilty of “piercing” him. All manmade religion has misrepresented
Messiah.
Lev 24:17 ‘And he who smites the life from any man
shall certainly be put to death.
Lev 24:18 ‘And he who smites a beast repays it, body
for body.
Lev 24:19 ‘And when a man inflicts a blemish upon his
neighbour, as he has done so it is done to him:
Lev 24:20 ‘Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth
for tooth; as he inflicts a blemish upon him, so it is done to him.
Lev 24:21 ‘And he who smites a beast repays it, and he
who smites a man to death is put to death.
Lev 24:22 ‘You are
to have one right-ruling, for the stranger and for the native, for I am יהוה your Elohim.’
”
Lev 24:23 And Mosheh spoke to the children of Yisra’ĕl,
and they brought the one who cursed outside the camp, and stoned him with
stones. And the children of Yisra’ĕl did as יהוה commanded
Mosheh.
Midrash
on blasphemy – Essentially the
transgression of the first five sayings.
Midrash – it is easy to get sentimental about having intimacy
with YHVH. However, this Torah portion
gives us a sober reminder that there can be no lasting intimacy with YHVH if we
don’t keep Sabbath and treat others around us in a righteous manner.
Why it is that righteousness
does not prevail in the earth today?
Why is it not common to see
the sick healed and the dead raised back to life?
Mat 10:1 And having called His twelve taught ones
near, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to
heal every disease and every bodily weakness.
Mat 10:8 “Heal the
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received
without paying, give without being paid.
It appears that only those who
were drawn closer to YHVH through Yahshua were able to perform such miracles in
his name.
Maybe that is what the Hebrew
roots movement was meant to do – draw us closer to the Father through the true
Messiah.
This Torah portion may give us
some valuable insight into this challenge because you cannot have intimacy with
YHVH outside of the Torah.
Isa 45:2 I go before you
and make the crooked places straight; I shatter the gates of bronze and cut
down the bars of iron.
Isa 45:3 And I shall
give you the treasures of darkness and hoarded wealth of secret places, so that
you know that I, יהוה, who are calling you by your name, am the
Elohim of Yisra’ěl.
Isa 45:4 For the sake of
Ya‛aqoḇ My servant, and of Yisra’ěl My chosen, I also call you by your name, I
give you a title, though you have not known Me.
Isa 45:5 I am יהוה, and
there is none else – there is no Elohim besides Me. I gird you, though you have
not known Me,
Isa 45:6 so that they
know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none but Me. I am יהוה, and there
is none else,
Isa 45:7 forming light
and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil. I, יהוה, do all
these.’
(Blessed are
you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you,
YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn.