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.
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.’
The Hebrew word and title of this parasha “kodeshim” has two significant and opposite meanings. “Kodesh” means to be “set apart.”
‘’Kodesh or kodeshah also means a male or female who have ‘’set themselves apart’’ to prostitution and depravity – see Prov 7 – this applies to all who refuse to accept YHVH’s instructions on how to be set apart unto Him and His anointed Messiah.
This short Parashah contains a total of fifty-one instructions for a set apart people.
Our concept of “kedoshim” does not define what is set apart. Only the Set Apart One Himself determines and defines how we will act if we are set apart – these instructions are engraved upon the hearts of them who YHVH has called to be set apart. 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 and YHVH alone determines what and who is set apart to Him, 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 called 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 perversion and destruction – they prove themselves to be as one who is like a spiritual whore.
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 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. |
2 Speak
unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: You
shall be set apart; for I Yaveh your Elohim am Set Apart. |
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 –
‘’might become’’’’ – 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.
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. Returning to guarding Sabbath is usually a sign
that one is beginning to return to the ancient paths –Jer 6:16-19
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.
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.
Lev
19:4 ‘Do not turn to idols, and do not
make for yourselves moulded mighty ones. I am יהוה your Elohim.
A molded
image implies false ideas about the truth of YHVH, His Son and His Word. “Molded”
suggests that these false ideas have been carefully crafted, 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.
1Ti 4:1 But the Spirit distinctly says that in latter
times some shall fall away from the belief, paying attention to misleading
spirits, and teachings of demons,
1Ti 4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having been
branded on their own conscience,
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. 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.
A
reference to the season of Messianic redemption – we have had 2000 years
(2days) to make peace with YHVH and in the third millennium(third day) 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.
Mat 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! Because you tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, and have
neglected the weightier matters of the Torah: the right-ruling and the
compassion and the belief.[d] These need to have been done, without neglecting the
others. Footnote: d The wording in Luk_11:42
is somewhat different.
Lev
19:11 ‘Do not steal, do not lie, do not
deceive one another.
Lev
19:12 ‘And do not swear falsely by My
Name and so profane the Name of your Elohim. I am יהוה.
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.
Allegorically
this means that one should not deceive someone for the benefit of exploiting
them.
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. (Deut 16:20)
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 (consider the implications of the
‘’’threshold covenant’’)
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.
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
2Co 6:14 Do not become unevenly yoked with
unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness? And what
fellowship has light with darkness?
2Co 6:15 And what agreement has Messiah with
Beliya‛al? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?
2Co 6:16 And what union has the Dwelling Place of
Elohim with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Elohim, as Elohim
has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their
Elohim, and they shall be My people.”a Lev_26:12 Footnote: aSee also
Exo_29:45, Lev_26:12, Jer_31:1, Eze_37:27.
2Co 6:17 Therefore, “Come out from among them
and be separate, says יהוה, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. Isa_52:11.
2Co 6:18 “And I shall be a Father to you, and
you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says יהוה the Almighty.” Isa_43:6, Hos_1:10.
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.
CLV In case a man who lies with a woman has an emission of semen when
she is a bondmaid designated for another man, yet has not been ransomed, yea
ransomed nor freedom given to her, a distinction shall there be: they shall not
be put to death since she was not freed.
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 non - 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.
Her penalty is lashes and he is required to bring a sin offering. (Stones Chumash)
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 (offerings) 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.
Rounding
off refers to the removal of the hair from the sideburns area – the edges. In fact,
it is believed that it was forbidden to shave your beard until the skin
according to some sages.
Lev
19:28 ‘And do not make any cuttings in your
flesh for the dead, nor put tattoo marks on you. I am יהוה.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZC7Cd3KrOI
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.
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, 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; וָאַבְדִּל אֶתְכֶם מִן-הָעַמִּים, לִהְיוֹת לִי. |
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. |
1Pe 1:13 Therefore, having girded up the loins of your
mind, being sober, set your expectation perfectly upon the favour that is to be
brought to you at the revelation of יהושע Messiah,
1Pe 1:14 as obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance,
1Pe 1:15 instead, as the One who called you is
set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behaviour,
1Pe 1:16 because it has been written, “Be
set-apart, for I am set-apart.” Lev_11:44, Lev_19:2.
1Pe 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without
partiality judges according to each one’s work, pass the time of your
sojourning in fear,
1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were redeemed from your
futile behaviour inherited from your fathers, not with what is corruptible,
silver or gold,
1Pe 1:19 but with the precious blood of Messiah, as
of a lamb unblemished and spotless,
1Pe 1:20 foreknown, indeed, before the foundation
of the world, but manifested in these last times for your sakes,
1Pe 1:21 who through Him believe in Elohim who
raised Him from the dead and gave Him esteem, so that your belief and
expectation are in Elohim.
1Pe 1:22 Now that you have cleansed your lives in
obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, love one
another fervently with a clean heart,
1Pe 1:23 having been born again – not of
corruptible seed, but incorruptible – through the living Word of Elohim, which
remains forever,
1Pe 1:24 because “All flesh is as grass, and all
the esteem of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower
falls away,
1Pe 1:25 but the Word of Elohim remains
forever.” Isa_40:6-8 And this is the Word, announced as Good News to
you.
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.’ ”
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
fight according to the flesh.
2Co 10:4 For the weapons we fight with are not
fleshly but mighty in Elohim for overthrowing strongholds,
2Co 10:5 overthrowing reasonings and every high
matter that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, taking captive every
thought to make it obedient to the Messiah,
2Co 10:6 and being ready to punish all
disobedience, when your obedience is complete.[a] Footnote: aSee also Joh_3:36.
1Jn 5:19 We know that we are of Elohim, and all the
world lies in the wicked one.
Rev 13:7 And it was given to him to fight with the
set-apart ones and to overcome them. And authority was given to him over every
tribe and tongue and nation.
Rev 13:8 And all those dwelling on the earth, whose
names have not been written in the Book of Life of the slain Lamb, from the
foundation of the world shall worship him.
Rev 13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown out,
that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads all the world
astray. He was thrown to the earth, and his messengers were thrown out with
him.
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.)