Blessing
for the Torah Reading:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher
bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah.
Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
One of the
greatest surprises waiting for us before and when Yahshua returns to rule and
reign over all the earth is going to be in the area of personal relationships.
I believe this is true because in Hebraic thinking truth has two wings – the
physical and the spiritual – these two realms will be restored to be in perfect
harmony with each other. Looking at the present state of relationships in the world
as well as within families and including the believing community makes us
realize that we have a v e r y l o n g way to go.
When Yahshua
returns he is not going to wave a magic wand and all relationships are going to
be in perfect harmony. It will take one thousand years to reach perfect
maturity and unity amongst Yisrael and the nations of the world. There will be
one last final rebellion when ha Satan is released from his chains and after
that never again will there be disunity amongst mankind.
At last the
Torah will be our final authority over all relationships, personal conduct and
worship. Yahshua had a very good reason in mind when he said that heaven and
earth would pass away but not one word (jot or tittel) of the Torah – Mat
5:17-19.
Why stick
around for one thousand years if we and everything about our lives and worship
is going to be perfect.
Let’s look
once again at what happens when the Covenant is renewed in our hearts.
Jer 31:31 “See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall
make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’ĕl and with the house of Yehuḏah1,
Footnote: 1See Heb. 8:8-12, Heb. 10:16-17.
Jer 31:32 not like
the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke,
though I was a husband to them,” declares יהוה.
Jer 31:33 “For
this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’ĕl after those days,
declares יהוה: I shall put My Torah in their inward
parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they
shall be My people.
Jer 31:34 “And no
longer shall they teach, each one his neighbour, and each one his brother,
saying, ‘Know יהוה,’ for they
shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares יהוה. “For I shall forgive their crookedness,
and remember their sin no more.”
We look at
this scripture and somehow think that we will not have to be taught Torah.
That’s not what the scripture says. It says we will not have to be taught to
know YHVH. That is why the “shemah” is so central to our faith. The sad
commentary of many believers is that we do not know YHVH as He is meant to be
known.
I believe we
need to fear YHVH knowing that He will never allow anyone in His presence who
has a history of unresolved conflicts in his or her life. That’s why we will be
placed in tribes to work out our differences and come into a perfect unity of
the faith during the millennium.
Yahshua said
that we were not to even bring an offering (by the way there will be offerings
in the millennium) if we knew that a brother had some grievance against us.
Mat 5:23 “If, then, you bring your gift to the altar,
and there remember that your brother holds whatever against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and
go, first make peace with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Mat 5:25 “Be well-minded with your opponent, promptly,
while you are on the way with him, lest your opponent deliver you to the judge,
and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
Mat 5:26
“Truly, I say to you, you shall by no means get out of there till you
have paid the last penny.
Reconciliation is more important than
bringing an offering and worship to YHVH with a wrong heart.
Perhaps the remainder of these verses imply
that strong demonic bondages come upon us when we leave the door open in the
area of troubled or broken relationships.
Shaul addresses this very critical
situation when he says:
1Co 11:27 So that whoever should eat this bread or
drink this cup of the Master unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Master.
1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him
eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29 For the one who is eating and drinking
unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the
Master.
1Co 11:30 Because of this many are weak and sick among
you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31 For if we were to examine ourselves, we would
not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by
the Master, that we should not be condemned with the world.
The problem of unresolved conflict
and unconfessed sin is so huge that it will take the devastation of the great
tribulation to bring us to our senses.
Our Torah portion begins:
Exo 29:1 “And this is the task you shall do to them to
set them apart to serve Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams,
perfect ones,
א וְזֶה הַדָּבָר
אֲשֶׁר-תַּעֲשֶׂה לָהֶם
Note the use of the
word “davar” in Hebrew which means “word or thing” The sages say that the word
“davar” is used so that when there is no temple so that we would always be
reminded that while heaven and earth were still in existence this “word” too
was valid and to be obeyed for an appointed time when the temple service and
priesthood would be restored.
Exo 29:2 and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes
mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil – make these of wheat
flour.
Exo 29:3 “And you shall put them in one basket and
bring them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams.
Exo 29:4 “Then you shall bring Aharon and his sons to
the door of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water.
Exo 29:5 “And you shall take the garments, and shall
put on Aharon the long shirt, and the robe of the shoulder garment, and the
shoulder garment, and the breastplate, and shall gird him with the embroidered
band of the shoulder garment,
Exo 29:6 and shall put the turban on his head, and
shall put the set-apart sign of dedication on the turban,
Exo 29:7 and shall take the anointing oil, and pour it
on his head and anoint him.
Exo 29:8 “Then you shall bring his sons and put long
shirts on them,
Exo 29:9 and shall gird them with girdles – Aharon and his sons – and put the turbans
on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs for an everlasting law. So you
shall ordain Aharon and his sons.
It was only Aaron and his sons and their descendants who could enter
into the set apart place to minister at the table of show bread and the altar
of incense and to keep the Menorah burning. Only Aaron and his sons and those
of their descendants appointed as High Priests could enter into the Most Set
Apart place once a year during Yom Ha Kippurim. Sadly in later years this began
to change as spiritual corruption began to prevail amongst the priesthood.
(Korach and his followers till this day question this Aaronic authority)
This problem of rejection of YHVH’s appointed authority is very deeply
rooted in those who call themselves believers.
Most people who claim to have a relationship with “Christ” would
undoubtedly reject the true Messiah if he were to suddenly appear to them
today.
So deep was the rejection of YHVH’s authority in Yahshua’s day that the
religious elite along with the majority of their followers executed the Messiah
while he was here on earth 2000 years ago.
The same hateful attitude still lives on even in our day when believers
are challenged with that fact that Yahshua the anointed One was a Jewish rabbi
who taught Torah observance.
Exo 29:10 “And you shall bring
near the bull before the Tent of Meeting, and Aharon and his sons shall lay
their hands on the head of the bull.
Exo 29:11 “And you shall slaughter the bull before יהוה, by the door
of the Tent of Meeting,
Exo 29:12 and take
some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your
finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar.
Exo 29:13 “And you
shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage on the
liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the
altar.
Exo 29:14 “But the
flesh of the bull, and its skin and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the
camp. It is a sin offering.
Yahshua was presented as the perfect sin offering OUTSIDE
the camp as well.
Exo 29:15 “And
take one ram, and Aharon and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the
ram,
Exo 29:16 and you
shall slaughter the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all
around on the altar.
Exo 29:17 “And cut
the ram in pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and place them upon its
pieces and on its head.
Exo 29:18 “And you
shall burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to יהוה, it is a sweet fragrance, an offering made
by fire to יהוה.
Exo 29:19 “And you
shall take the second ram, and Aharon and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,
Exo 29:20 and you
shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of
the right ear of Aharon and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the
thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle
the blood all around on the altar.
Exo 29:21 “And you
shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing
oil, and sprinkle it on Aharon and on his garments, on his sons and on the
garments of his sons with him. And he and his garments shall be set-apart, and
his sons and the garments of his sons with him.
Exo 29:22 “And you
shall take the fat of the ram, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the
entrails, and the appendage on the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat on
them, and the right thigh – it is for a ram of ordination –
Exo 29:23 and one
loaf of bread, and one cake made with oil, and one thin cake from the basket of
the unleavened bread that is before יהוה.
Exo 29:24 “And you
shall put all these in the hands of Aharon and in the hands of his sons, and
you shall wave them – a wave offering before יהוה.
Exo 29:25 “Then
you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt
offering, as a sweet fragrance before יהוה. It is an
offering made by fire to יהוה.
Exo 29:26 “And you
shall take the breast of the ram of Aharon’s ordination and wave it – a wave
offering before יהוה, and it shall
be your portion.
Exo 29:27 “And
from the ram of ordination you shall set apart the breast of the wave offering
which is waved, and the thigh of the contribution which is raised, of that
which is for Aharon and of that which is for his sons.
Exo 29:28 “And it shall be from the children of
Yisra’ĕl for Aharon and his sons by
a law forever, for it is a contribution. And it is a contribution from
(with) the children of Yisra’ĕl from their peace offerings – their contribution
to יהוה.
Tim Hegg makes an interesting comment on this verse which
is implied by the Hebrew text that this second offering or peace offering was
shared by the Aaronic priesthood with fellow Yisraelites. Foreigners (zar) were
not permitted to partake. Imagine the honour of sharing this second wave or peace offering with a
fellow high priest.
Exo 29:29 “And the
set-apart garments of Aharon are for his sons after him, to be anointed in them
and to be ordained in them.
The Hebrew word for ordained literally means to “fill the
hands” This could imply that priests received in their hands blessings from YHVH
that they were to pass on to the Yisraelites. Laying on of hands is not some
new church invention it comes from ancient Hebraic times.
Laying on of hands requires an act of submission from the
one receiving the blessing.
Exo 29:30 “The
priest from his sons in his place, puts them on for seven days, when he enters
the Tent of Meeting to attend in the set-apart place.
Exo 29:31 “And
take the ram of ordination and cook its flesh in a set-apart place.
Exo 29:32 “And
Aharon and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in
the basket, by the door of the Tent of Meeting,
Exo 29:33 and they
shall eat those offerings with which the atonement was made, to ordain
them, to set them apart. But let a stranger not eat them, because they are
set-apart.
Exo 29:34 “And if
any of the flesh of the ordination offerings, or of the bread, be left over
until the morning, then you shall burn up what is left over. It is not eaten,
because it is set-apart.
Exo 29:35 “And so
you shall do to Aharon and his sons, according to all I have commanded you.
Seven days you shall ordain them,
Exo 29:36 and
prepare a bull each day as a sin offering for atonement. And you shall cleanse
the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to set it
apart.
Exo 29:37 “For
seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and set it apart. And the
altar shall be most set-apart – whatever touches the altar is to be set-apart.
Exo 29:38 “And
this is what you prepare on the altar: two lambs, a year old, daily,
continually.
Exo 29:39 “Prepare
the one lamb in the morning, and the other lamb you prepare between the
evenings,
Exo 29:40 and
one-tenth of an ĕphah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil,
and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering, with the one lamb.
Exo 29:41 “And
prepare the other lamb between the evenings. And with it prepare the grain
offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet fragrance, an
offering made by fire to יהוה –
Exo 29:42 a
continual burnt offering for your generations at the door of the Tent of
Meeting before יהוה, where I shall
meet with you to speak with you.
Exo 29:43 “And
there I shall meet with the children of Yisra’ĕl, and it shall be set apart by
My esteem.
Exo 29:44 “And I
shall set apart the Tent of Meeting and the altar. And Aharon and his sons I
set apart to serve as priests to Me.
Exo 29:45 “And I
shall dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra’ĕl and shall be their Elohim.
Exo
29:46 “And they shall know that I am יהוה their Elohim, who brought them
up out of the land of Mitsrayim, to dwell in their midst. I am יהוה their Elohim.
Any priesthood which is appointed by men and not by YHVH
and does not teach and proclaim obedience to Torah IS A FALSE PRIESTHOOD.
Shaul addresses this issue of a priesthood that was meant
to lead YHVH’s people onto maturity.
Heb 5:1 For every priest taken from among men is(present passive nominative 3person sing) appointed(present tense) on behalf of men
in matters relating to Elohim, to offer(present
tense) both gifts and offerings for sins,
Heb 5:2 being able to have a measure of feeling for
those not knowing and being led astray, since he himself is also surrounded by
weakness.
Heb 5:3 And on account of this he has to offer for
sins – as for the people, so also for himself.
Heb 5:4 And no one obtains this esteem for himself,
but he who is called by Elohim, even as Aharon also was.
Heb 5:5 So also the Messiah did not extol Himself to
become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, today I
have brought You forth.”1 Footnote: 1See 1:5, Ps. 2:7.
Heb 5:6 As He also says in another place, “You are a
priest forever according to the order of Malkitseḏeq,”1
Footnote: 1Ps. 110:4.
Heb 5:7 who,
in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and petitions with
strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was
heard because of His reverent fear,
Heb 5:8
though being a Son, He learned obedience by what He suffered.
Heb 5:9 And
having been perfected, He became the Causer of everlasting deliverance to all
those obeying Him,
Heb 5:10
having been designated by Elohim a High Priest “according to the order
of Malkitseḏeq,”
Heb 5:11
concerning whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have
become dull of hearing.
Heb 5:12 For
indeed, although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you again the first elements of the Words of Elohim. And you have become
such as need milk and not solid food.
Heb 5:13 For
everyone partaking of milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness, for
he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But
solid food is for the mature whose senses have been trained by practice to
discern both good