Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. 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.
The
Hebrew word and title of this parasha “kodesh” has two significant and also
opposite meanings. “Kodesh” means to be “set apart.” We mortals have the choice
to set ourselves apart unto blessing or to destruction. This same Hebrew word
is used to describe a people dedicated to YHVH’s salvation and also describes a
people who have dedicated themselves to YHVH’s destruction – Yesh 45:7
This portion is known as the heart of the Torah,
because the majority of the most important laws in the Torah are connected to this
Parashah - This short Parashah contains a total of fifty-one commandments.
Our concept of “kedoshim” does not define what is set apart. Only the Set Apart One Himself can fully define what it means. To be sure we understand this, the phrase “I am YHVH your Elohim” appears sixteen times in chapter nineteen alone! Chapter twenty sees another four uses of these phrases. The lesson is obvious:
YHVH alone determines what is set apart to Him among mankind, only He has the power and authority to set the standard of set apartness—for He alone is the fullness of set apartness—for He alone is YHVH and He has chosen Yahshua His Mashiach as the standard and bearer of His set apartness to which He has purposed us to be fully conformed to – Rom 8:29.
Note once again the positioning of chapter 19. Chapter 18 and 21 describe unthinkable sexual perversions. Perhaps we can learn from this that when men especially religious men change
YHVH’s Torah they set themselves up for terrible perversion and destruction – See Yesh 24
Isa 24:5
For the earth has been defiled under its inhabitants, because they have
transgressed the Torot1, changed2 the law, broken the
everlasting covenant3. Footnotes: 1Torot - plural of
Torah, teaching. 2Jer. 23:36. 3This is the only reason,
according to all Scriptures, why the earth shall be burned in the day of
judgment – see also 13:9, 13:11, 26:21, 66:24, Mic. 5:15, Zeph. 1:2-18.
Isa 24:6
Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, and those who dwell in it be
punished. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men
shall be left.
This week's Torah Portion:
Lev 19:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘Be set-apart, for I יהוה your Elohim am set-apart.
ב דַּבֵּר
אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים
תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
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2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: You shall be set apart; for I YHVH your Elohim am Set Apart.
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Note
the use of future tense – “tiheu” you shall become set apart, implying a
progressive work of becoming set apart.
2Co 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we
might become the righteousness of Elohim.
Gk –
may be becoming – present passive plural verb. The action of verb indicates an
ongoing action happening to the person, not an action he or she is initiating.
Lev
19:3 ‘Each one of you should fear his
mother and his father, and guard My Sabbaths. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Returning
to Sabbath keeping is usually a sign that one is returning to the ancient paths
–Jer 6:16-19
We
should fear our parents if they have brought us up in the ways of YHVH, but we
should also fear for them if they
have not.
We
cannot honour our parents above honouring YHVH and His Word.
Luk 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his
father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and his
own life too, he is unable to be My taught one.
Jer 16:19 O יהוה, my strength
and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come
to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only
falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.”1 Footnote: 1See
Ps. 147:19, Isa. 2:3, Isa. 60:2-3, John 4:22, Rom. 2:20, Rom. 3:2, Rom. 9:4.
Deu 5:16 ‘Respect your father and your mother, as יהוה your Elohim
has commanded you, so that your days are prolonged, and so that it is well with
you on the soil which יהוה your Elohim is giving you.
Failing to fear set apart parents can cause doorways for
demonic attack in our lives.
Lev
19:4 ‘Do not turn to idols, and do not
make for yourselves moulded mighty ones. I am יהוה your Elohim.
A
moulded image implies false ideas about the truth of YHVH, His Son and His
Word. “Moulded” suggests that these false ideas have been carefully created and
developed in our minds and manifest in our lives – for example, Sabbath, dietary
laws, appointments etc. For this reason Yahshua had severe warnings for the
religious teachers of his day and even for our day – see Matt 5:17-19.
Lev
19:5 ‘And when you bring a peace
offering to יהוה, bring it for
your acceptance.
Lev
19:6 ‘It is eaten the same day you slaughter it, and on the next day(the second day). And that
which is left on the third day is burned with fire.
Lev
19:7 ‘So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable, it is not accepted,
Lev
19:8 and he who eats it bears his
crookedness, because he has profaned the set-apart offering of יהוה, and that being shall be cut off from his
people. (emphasis and brackets added).
A
future reference to the season of our Messianic redemption – we have 2000 years
since Messiah was born and in the third millennium when Messiah returns it’s
too late.
Lev
19:9 ‘And when you reap the harvest of
your land, do not completely reap the corners of your field or gather the
gleanings of your harvest.
Lev
19:10 ‘And do not glean your vineyard or
gather every grape of your vineyard, leave them for the poor and the stranger.
I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
19:11 ‘Do not steal, do not lie, do not
deceive one another.
Lev
19:13 ‘Do not oppress your neighbour or
rob him. The wages of him who is hired is not to remain with you all
night until morning.
Lev
19:14 ‘Do not curse the deaf or put a
stumbling-block before the blind, but fear your Elohim. I am יהוה.
Lev
19:15 ‘Do no unrighteousness in
right-ruling. Do not be partial to the poor or favour the face of the great,
but rightly rule your neighbour in righteousness.
Lev
19:16 ‘Do not go slandering among your
people. Do not stand against the blood of your neighbour. I am יהוה.
Heb “You shall not stand on(upon) the blood of your
neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering
here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in
court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A.
Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129).
Lev
19:17 ‘Do not hate your brother in your
heart. Reprove your neighbour, for certain, and bear no sin because of him.
Lev
19:18 ‘Do not take vengeance or bear a
grudge against the children of your people. And you shall love your neighbour
as yourself. I am יהוה.
Lev
19:19 ‘Guard My laws. Do not let your
livestock mate with another kind. Do not sow your field with mixed seed. And do
not put a garment woven of two sorts of thread upon you. (Deu 22:11 “Do not put on a garment of different kinds,
of wool and linen together.)
The
famous Rashi says that this is the “quintessential chukim” (decree) for which
no man knows the reason.
Maybe
another great Hebrew sage – Shaul gives us some insight in 2 Cor 6:14
Lev
19:20 ‘And when a man has intercourse
with a woman who is a female servant, engaged to a man, and who has not at all
been ransomed nor redeemed, there should be an inquiry. But they are not put to
death, because she was not free.
Lev
19:21 ‘And he shall bring his guilt
offering to יהוה, to the door
of the Tent of Meeting, a ram as a guilt offering.
Lev
19:22 ‘And the priest shall make
atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before יהוה for his sin which he has done. And the sin
which he has sinned shall be forgiven him.
Shifchah Charufah – The designated maidservant.
This unusual decree is unlike any other commandment in
several ways. According to the sages this verse deals with a non Jewish slave
woman owned by two partners. As a slave she was forbidden to live with a Jew,
but her master was allowed to let her live with a Jewish or non Jewish slave.
When a Jewish owned non Jewish slave goes free he or she has the status of a
fully fledged proselyte. Now this woman was freed by one of the partners,
meaning that she is half free and half slave. Because she is half free she is
prohibited to a now Jewish slave, and because she is half slave she is
prohibited to an Israelite. Now a Jew slave or free takes her as wife or
concubine, but since she is not completely free she does not receive the full
status of a married woman, so therefore there is no death penalty for adultery.
This is a strange law (chok) maybe one can make more
sense of such decree when thinking of the slave woman as the “gentile bride”
who is “half slave and half free.”
She needs to be fully ransomed and redeemed by her Jewish
husband – Yahshua Ha Mashiach.
There must be other deeper hidden truths around this
commandment. Perhaps one needs to investigate the giving and receiving of a
pure unmixed seed.
Lev
19:23 ‘And when you come into the land,
and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall reckon their fruit
as uncircumcised. For three years it is as uncircumcised to you, it is not
eaten.
Lev
19:24 ‘And in the fourth year all its
fruit is set-apart – praises to יהוה.
Lev
19:25 ‘And in the fifth year you eat its
fruit, so that it increases its yield to you. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
19:26 ‘Do not eat meat with the
blood. Do not practise divination or magic.
Lev
19:27 ‘Do not round the corner of your
head, nor destroy the corner of your beard.
Lev
19:28 ‘And do not make any cuttings in
your flesh for the dead, nor put tattoo marks on you. I am יהוה. (The one Hebrew word that was translated
as tattoo is kahakah)
Lev
19:29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by
making her a whore, so that the land does not whore, and the land becomes
filled with wickedness.
Lev
19:30 ‘Guard My Sabbaths and reverence
My set-apart place. I am יהוה.
Lev
19:31 ‘Do not turn to mediums, and do
not seek after spiritists to be defiled by them. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
19:32 ‘Rise up before the grey-headed.
And you shall favour the face of an old man, and shall fear your Elohim. I am יהוה.
Lev
19:33 ‘And when a stranger sojourns with
you in your land, do not oppress him.
Lev
19:34 ‘Let the stranger who dwells among
you be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For
you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
19:35 ‘Do no unrighteousness in
right-ruling, in measurement of length, in weight, or in measuring liquids.
Lev
19:36 ‘Have right scales, right weights,
a right ĕphah, and a right hin. I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the
land of Mitsrayim.
Lev
19:37 ‘And you shall guard all My laws
and all My right-rulings, and do them. I am יהוה.’ ”
Lev 20:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev
20:2 “Say to the children of Yisra’ĕl,
‘Any man of the children of Yisra’ĕl, or of the strangers who sojourn in
Yisra’ĕl, who gives any of his offspring to Moleḵ, shall certainly be put to death. The people of the land
shall stone him with stones.
Lev
20:3 ‘And I, I shall set My face against
that man, and shall cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has
given of his offspring to Moleḵ, so
as to defile My set-apart place and to profane My set-apart Name.
Lev
20:4 ‘And if the people of the land at
all hide their eyes from the man, as he gives any of his offspring to Moleḵ, and they do not kill him,
Lev
20:5 then I shall set My face against
that man and against his clan, and shall cut him off – and all who go whoring
after him, even go whoring after Moleḵ –
from the midst of their people.
Lev
20:6 ‘And the being who turns to
mediums, and to spiritists, to go whoring after them, I shall set My face
against that being and cut him off from the midst of his people.
Lev
20:7 ‘And you shall set yourselves
apart, and shall be set-apart, for I am יהוה your Elohim,
Lev
20:8 and you shall guard My laws and do
them. I am יהוה, who sets you
apart.
Lev
20:9 ‘For everyone who curses his father
or his mother shall certainly be put to death – he has cursed his father or his
mother, his blood is on him.
Lev
20:10 ‘And a man who commits adultery
with the wife of another man, who commits adultery with the wife of his
neighbour: the adulterer and the adulteress shall certainly be put to death.
Lev
20:11 ‘And a man who lies with the wife
of his father has uncovered the nakedness of his father, both of them shall
certainly be put to death, their blood is upon them.
Lev
20:12 ‘And a man who lies with his
daughter-in-law: both of them shall certainly be put to death, they have made
confusion, their blood is upon them.
Lev
20:13 ‘And a man who lies with a male as
he lies with a woman: both of them have done an abomination, they shall
certainly be put to death, their blood is upon them. (See also Rom 1:24-32)
Lev
20:14 ‘And a man who marries a woman and
her mother: it is wickedness, they are burned with fire, both he and they, that
there be no wickedness in your midst.
Lev
20:15 ‘And a man who has intercourse
with a beast: he shall certainly be put to death, and the beast you kill.
Lev
20:16 ‘And a woman who approaches any
beast and mates with it: you shall kill the woman and the beast, they shall
certainly be put to death, their blood is upon them.
Lev
20:17 ‘And a man who takes his sister,
his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter (in other words, sister or half
sister), and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness: it is wickedness,
and they shall be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has uncovered his
sister’s nakedness, he bears his crookedness.
Lev
20:18 ‘And a man who lies with a woman
during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness: he has laid bare her flow, and
she has uncovered the flow of her blood, both of them shall be cut off from the
midst of their people.
Lev
20:19 ‘And do not uncover the nakedness
of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that is laying bare
one’s own flesh, they bear their crookedness.
Lev
20:20 ‘And a man who lies with his
uncle’s wife: he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness, they bear their sin, they
die childless.
Lev
20:21 ‘And a man who takes his brother’s
wife: it is uncleanness, he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, they are
childless.
Lev
20:22 ‘And you shall guard all My laws
and all My right-rulings, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you
to dwell does not vomit you out.
Lev
20:23 ‘And do not walk in the laws of
the nation which I am driving out before you, for they do all these, and
therefore I loathed them.
Lev
20:24 ‘But I say to you, “You are going
to possess their land, and I Myself give it to you to possess it, a land
flowing with milk and honey.” I am יהוה your Elohim, who has separated you from
the peoples.
Lev
20:25 ‘And you shall make a distinction
between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean birds and clean. And do
not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or whatever creeps on the
ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
Lev
20:26 ‘And you shall be set-apart to Me,
for I יהוה am set-apart, and have separated you from
the peoples to be Mine.
כו וִהְיִיתֶם
לִי קְדֹשִׁים, כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה; וָאַבְדל אֶתְכֶם מִן-הָעַמִּים,
לִהְיוֹת לִי.
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26 And ye shall become set apart unto Me ; for I YHVH am Set Apart, and have set you apart from the peoples that ye should be Mine.
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1
Pet 1:16 uses the aorist Greek tense when quoting this same verse.
Lev
20:27 ‘And a man or a woman in whom
there is a medium, or who are spiritists, shall certainly be put to death, they
are to stone them with stones. Their blood is upon them.’ ”
Baruch atah
YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(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