Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His 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 Israel. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, 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 Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
בראשׁ – on/with/in the head
Lev 13:29 “And when a man, or a woman, has an infection
on the head or in the beard,
Lev 13:30 then the priest shall look at the infection and see, if it appears deeper than the skin, and there is thin yellow hair in it, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean, it is an eruption, a leprosy of the head or beard.
This week’s Torah portion continues with the portion on ‘’tzra at’’ and the scribes give us a useful hint by beginning the portion with the word ‘’berosh’’ ‘’on the head’’ or ‘’on or ‘’in the beard’’ (‘’zaken’’)alluding to the reality that many of our difficulties can be traced back to authority figures in our community - Pro 11:14 Without guidance the people fall, But in a great counsellor there is safety - Isa 1:23 Your rulers are stubborn, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and runs after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow reach them.
‘’Berosh’’ or the
head also brings us into the realm of man’s mind will and emotions – it is
common knowledge that many sicknesses are found in the realm of thoughts,
emotions and feelings generally termed as ‘’psychosomatic’’ A Psychosomatic disorder is a psychological condition that leads to
physical symptoms, often without any medical explanation. Studies have found
that certain circumstances in life may make people more likely to have somatic
symptoms:
·
Chaotic lifestyle.
·
Difficulty recognizing and
expressing emotions.
·
Childhood neglect.
·
History of sexual abuse.
·
Other psychological conditions,
such as depression or personality disorders.
·
Substance abuse (such as
alcoholism or drug addiction).
· Unemployment.
As one grows older a sense of feeling
overwhelmed by life’s challenges face mankind.
The Torah stresses the need for laying down a Torah foundation from birth. It was not unusual for a Hebrew infant to start learning Torah at the age of 3 years after being weaned – Gen 21:8 2Sam 1:22
As modern-day believers we must return
to a Scriptural world view on how to raise our children –
I
Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul and returned to rest in YHVH.
Psa
131:1 O יהוה, my heart has not been
proud, Nor have my eyes been haughty. Neither have I concerned myself with
great matters, Nor with those too wondrous for me.
Psa 131:2 Have I not calmed, and kept my being silent, Like one weaned by its mother? My being is like one weaned. Psa 131:3 O Yisra’ěl, wait for יהוה, Now and forever.
Most people living on earth have been ‘’robbed’’ of a ‘’proper’’ Scriptural foundation. Praise YHVH He restores and heals.
Jer 30:17 For I restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ declares יהוה, ‘for they have called you an outcast saying, “This is Tsiyon, no one is seeking her.” ’
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a renewed creature – the old matters have passed away, see, all matters have become renewed![d] Footnote: d Rom_6:2-22, Gal_2:20, Eph_4:22-24, Col_3:10, 1Jn_3:9-10.
Lev 13:31 “But when the priest
looks at the infection of the eruption and sees that it does not appear deeper
than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up the
one with the infection of the eruption seven days. (including millennium?)
Lev 13:32 “And on the seventh day the priest shall look
at the infection and see, if the eruption has not spread, and there is no
yellow hair in it, and the eruption does not appear deeper than the skin,
Lev 13:33 then he shall shave himself, but the eruption
he does not shave. And the priest shall shut up the one with the
eruption another seven days.
Lev 13:34 “And on the seventh day the priest shall look
at the eruption and see, if the eruption has not spread over the skin, and does
not appear deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. And
he shall wash his garments, and he shall be clean.
Lev 13:35 “But if the eruption spreads further over the
skin after his cleansing,
Lev 13:36 then the priest shall look at him and see, if
the eruption has spread over the skin, the priest need not seek for yellow
hair, he is unclean.
Lev 13:37 “But if the eruption appears to have stayed,
and there is black hair grown up in it, the eruption has healed. He is clean,
and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
Lev 13:38 “And when a man or a woman has bright spots
on the skin of the body, white bright spots,
Lev 13:39 then the priest shall look and see, if the
bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is a white spot that
grows on the skin, he is clean.
Lev 13:40 “And when a man loses the hair of his head,
he is bald, he is clean. (‘’grass doesn’t grow on busy streets)
Lev 13:41 “And if the hair has fallen from his
forehead, he is bald on the forehead, he is clean.
Lev 13:42 “And when there is on the bald head or bald
forehead a reddish-white infection, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head
or his bald forehead.
Lev 13:43 “And the priest shall look at it and see, if
the swelling of the infection is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald
forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body,
Lev 13:44 he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The
priest shall pronounce him unclean, without fail, his infection is on his head.
Lev 13:45 “As for the leper who has the infection, his garments are torn, and his head is uncovered, and he has to cover his upper lip and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ (tamei tamei)
When did man first
become ‘’tamei or unclean’’? In the garden when man refused to listen and obey
YHVH’s commandment not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. Why would YHVH issue such a commandment? It was YHVH’s intention from
the beginning that man would live His life according to every word and desire
that came from His Heart.
One of the first consequences for man’s disobedience was witnessed on his skin – ‘’they became aware of their nakedness’’
And so, when
the skin infection has white hair, and you are declared ‘’tamei’’ or in need of
healing, you are sent to a place of solitude for your restoration.
If the infection has black hairs, you remain in the community and receive ministry from the ‘’kehellah’’.
As long as we are unaware or ignorant of our condition, we will have great difficulty in hearing the Word of YHVH. That is why we need wise and righteous leaders to guide us. (Millennium?)
Isa 6:5 And I said, “Woe to me,
for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean(tamei) lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips – for my eyes have seen the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts.”
Isa 6:6 And one of the seraphim
flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs
from the slaughter-place.
Isa 6:7 And he touched my mouth
with it, and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your crookedness is taken
away, and your sin is covered.”
The human condition recognized and explained:
Isa
6:8 And I heard the voice of יהוה, saying, “Whom do I send, and who would go
for Us?” And I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Isa
6:9 And He said, “Go, and you shall say to this people, ‘Hearing, you
hear, but do not understand; and seeing, you see, but do not know.’
Isa
6:10 “Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut
their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and shall turn and be healed.” (Today most human beings do not
receive or understand YHVH’s prophetic warnings)
Isa
6:11 Then I said, “יהוה, until when?” And He answered, “Until the cities are laid waste
and without inhabitant, and the houses are without a man, and the land is laid
waste, a ruin,
Isa
6:12 and יהוה has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in
the midst of the land.
Isa
6:13 “But still, there is a tenth part in it, and it shall again be for a
burning, like a terebinth tree and like an oak, whose stump remains when it is
cut down. The set-apart seed is its stump!”
Lev 13:46 “He is unclean – all the days he has the
infection he is unclean. He is unclean, and he dwells alone, his dwelling place
is outside the camp.
Lev 13:47 “And when a garment has an infection of
leprosy in it, in a woollen garment or in a linen garment,
Lev 13:48 or in the warp or in the weft of linen or
wool, or in leather or in any leather-work,
Lev 13:49 and the infection shall be greenish or
reddish in the garment or in the leather, or in the warp or in the weft, or in
any leather object, it is an infection of leprosy and shall be shown to the
priest.
Lev 13:50 “And the priest shall look at the infection
and shut up the infected one seven days.
Lev 13:51 “And he shall look at the infection on the
seventh day. And when the infection has spread in the garment, or in the warp
or in the weft, or in the leather or any leather-work, the infection is an
active leprosy, it is unclean.
Lev 13:52 “And he shall burn that garment, or the warp
or the weft, in wool or in linen, or any leather object in which the infection
is, for it is an active leprosy. It is burned with fire.
Lev 13:53 “But if the priest looks and sees that the
infection has not spread in the garment, or in the warp or in the weft, or in
any leather object,
Lev 13:54 then the priest shall give command, and they
shall wash that in which the infection is. And he shall shut it up another
seven days.
Lev 13:55 “And the priest shall look at the infection
after it has been washed and see, if the infection has not changed its
appearance, though the infection has not spread, it is unclean, and burn it in
the fire – it is eaten away, in its inside or outside.
Lev 13:56 “And if the priest shall look and see that
the infection has faded after washing it, then he shall tear it out of the
garment, or out of the warp, or out of the weft, or out of the leather.
Lev 13:57 “And if it is still seen in the garment, or
in the warp or in the weft, or in any leather object, it is a spreading
infection. Burn it with fire, that in which the infection is.
Lev 13:58 “And if you wash the garment, or the warp or
the weft, or any leather object, if the infection has disappeared from it, then
it shall be washed a second time, and shall be clean.
Lev 13:59 “This is the Torah of the infection of
leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, or in the warp or in the weft, or in any
leather object, to pronounce it clean or to pronounce it unclean.”
According
to the sages these two Torah portions “tazria and metzorah” reveal great
mysteries of the Messiah. These ancient sages believed that these two
Torah portions had more to say about the Messiah than any other Torah portions
in the Torah. The Sages believe that the one true evidence that the Messiah had
come is that he would be the one to heal “leprosy” or “tzarat”.
Thus the Talmud
(Sanhedrin 98b) describes Moshiach as a metzora, signifying that the
messianic age is a time in which evils that have infested the world and mankind
rise to the surface, so that they can be decisively overcome and cured.
Vs 48 introduces us to
when certain objects are infected with this contagion – “the infection of
leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, or in the warp or in the weft, or in any
leather object…”
This are all about the
covering of our skin. In the beginning of creation we believe Adam was covered
in the light of YHVH’s esteem – Hebrew for light is “or” (aleph resh). When
Adam sinned YHVH made an atoning cover for his skin – Hebrew “or” (ayin resh).
Is there a connection?
The only
disease discussed in the Torah that includes laws pertaining to its
manifestation and cure is tzara'at. This renders tzara'at the
archetypical, all-inclusive disease.
The sages
go on to say that Tzaraat, is derived from a lack of humility, from the
failure to yield one's own will to the will of one's Creator.
‘’Tzraat’’ is the only
disease mentioned in the Torah and only the true Messiah as revealed by the
Ruach of YHVH in all of scripture will be able to show and bring us into the
path of healing and heal us from this archetypical disease – tzra at. In the last day’s
signs before Messiah returns we may well see people being healed from tzra at.
Most of
mankind are simply not going to listen. To those who are listening they will
begin to hear and understand clearer than before the words of Yahshua’s first
sermon:
Mat 5:3 “Blessed (contentment
awaits) are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the reign of the
heavens.
Mat 5:4 “Blessed are those who
mourn, because they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 “Blessed are the meek,
because they shall inherit the earth.[a] Psa_37:11. Footnote: a Psa_37:9,
Psa_37:11, Psa_37:22, Psa_37:29, Psa_37:34.
Mat 5:6 “Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness,[b] because they shall be filled. Footnote:
b Isa_55:1-2, Mat_4:4, Joh_6:48-51.
Mat 5:7 “Blessed are the
compassionate, because they shall obtain compassion.
Mat 5:8 “Blessed are the clean in
heart,[c] because they shall see Elohim. Footnote: c Psa_24:3-4.
Mat 5:9 “Blessed are the
peacemakers, because they shall be called sons of Elohim.
Mat 5:10 “Blessed are those
persecuted for righteousness’ sake,[d] because theirs is the reign of the
heavens. Footnote: d 1Pe_3:14.
Mat 5:11 “Blessed are you when
they reproach and persecute you, and falsely say every wicked word against you,
for My sake.
Mat 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad,
because your reward in the heavens is great. For in this way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
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 – Amein.