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.
Let us consider what we
have discussed so far in the first parashah of ‘’Vayikra’’: YHVH calls
(‘’Vayikra’’) His people to draw near (Heb ‘’karav’’) to Him from the Most Set
Apart Place in the Tabernacle –‘’ Lev
1:1 And יהוה called to Mosheh, and spoke to him from the Tent of Appointment’’ YHVH then introduces a series of offerings (Heb
‘’korbanot’’) The first three offerings (Burnt, Peace and Grain offerings) were
voluntary offerings. The remaining two offerings (Sin and Guilt offerings) were
compulsory offerings. What is particularly striking about these offerings is
that they encapsulate the most important of all commandments as well as the
very heart of the Torah – to love YHVH with all your heart, being and might
(the first three offerings) and to love your neighbour as you love yourself -the
last two offerings – (sin and guilt offerings) – Sin causes both separation
between YHVH and His people as well as separation between believers in His
community.
The Great Commandment
Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes coming near, hearing them reasoning together, knowing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first command of all?”
Mar 12:29 And יהושע answered him, “The first of all the commands is, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ěl, יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one. Deu_6:4.
Mar 12:30 ‘And you
shall love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Deu_6:5. This is the
first command.
Mar 12:31 “And the
second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Lev_19:18.
There is no other command greater than these.”
Mar 12:32 And the
scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is
one Elohim, and there is no other besides Him. Deu_4:35.
Mar 12:33 “And to
love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the
being, and with all the strength, Deu_6:5 and to love one’s neighbour as
oneself, is more than all the ascending offerings and offerings.”
Mar 12:34 And when יהושע saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the reign of Elohim.” And after that no one was bold enough to question Him.
The apostolic scriptures/Second
Writings teach that if you truly love YHVH you will obey YHVH’s commandments
and love your neighbour - 1Jn
2:3 And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands.[a]
Footnote: aSee 1Jn_3:6. 1Jn 2:4 The one who says, “I know
Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in
him. 1Jn 2:5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim
has been perfected[b] in him. By this we know that we are in Him.c
Footnotes b Gen_17:1, Psa_119:1, Mat_5:48. cSee 1Jn_3:24. 1Jn
2:6 The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as
He walked.
1Jn 5:2 By this
we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His
commands.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands,[a] and His commands are not heavy, Footnote: aSee 1Jn_5:2, 2Jn_1:6 and Joh_14:15.
1Jn 2:9 The one who says he is in the light, and hates his
brother, is in the darkness until now.
1Jn 2:10 The one who loves his brother stays in the light, and
there is no stumbling-block in him.
1Jn 2:11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Jas 5:16 Confess
your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, so that you are
healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous one accomplishes much.
Jas 5:17 Ěliyahu was
a man with feelings like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain.
And it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. Rev 11:2
Jas 5:18 And he
prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the land brought forth its
fruit.
Jas 5:19 Brothers,
if anyone among you goes astray from the truth, and someone turns him
back,
Jas 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the straying of his way shall save a life from death and cover a great number of sins. Pro_10:12.
ונפשׁ כי תחטא
Three more specific sins (Chatat) are mentioned – the sin of denying testimony; the sin of false or unkept oaths and the sin of contaminating set apart things.
Lev 5:1 ‘And when a being sins in that he has heard the voice of swearing,(‘’alah’’) and is a witness, or has seen, or has known, but does not reveal it, he shall bear his crookedness.
In ancient Israel most agreements and contracts were verbal.
Lev
5:2 ‘Or when a being touches any unclean
matter, or the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean
livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping creatures, and it has been hidden
from him, he is unclean and guilty.
Lev 5:3
‘Or when he touches uncleanness of man, any of his uncleanness by which
he is unclean, and it has been hidden from him, when he shall know it, then he
shall be guilty.
Because YHVH ‘’walks’’ in the midst of His
people He expects they will show the necessary respect - Lev 26:12 ‘And I shall walk in your
midst, and shall be your Elohim, and you shall be My people.
Deu 23:13
and you shall have a sharp implement among your equipment, and when you sit
down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your excrement.
Deu 23:14
“For יהוה your Elohim walks in the
midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you. Therefore
your camp shall be set-apart, so that He does not see unclean matter among you,
and shall turn away from you.
Lev 5:4
‘Or when a being swears, speaking rashly with his lips to do evil or to
do good, whatever it is that a man swears rashly with an oath, and it has been
hidden from him, when he shall know it, then he shall be guilty of one of
these.
Zec 5:2 And
he said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll,
twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”
Zec 5:3 And he said to me, “This is
the curse (‘’alah’’)that goes forth over the face of all the earth: ‘everyone
who is stealing shall go unpunished,’ on the one side, according to it, and,
‘everyone who has sworn falsely shall go unpunished,’ on the other side,
according to it.”
Zec 5:4 “I shall send it out,”
declares יהוה
of hosts, “and it shall come into the house of the thief and the house of the
one who shall swear falsely by My Name. And it shall remain in the midst of his
house and shall consume it, both its timber and stones.”
‘’The judgment is “a consequence of the
theocracy” - Moreover, the curse or judgment does indeed
begin at the house of YHVH: “The fact that the writing, which brings
the curse upon all the sinners of the earth, has the same dimensions as the
tabernacle, signifies that the measure will be meted out according to the
measure of the The Most Set Apart
Place;” With this measure
would all sinners be measured, that they might be cut off from the congregation
of the YHVH.’’
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 5:5
‘And it shall be, when he is guilty of one of these, that he shall
confess that in which he has sinned,
Lev 5:6
and shall bring his guilt offering (asham)to יהוה for his sin which he has sinned, a female
from the flock, a lamb or a female goat as a sin offering. And the priest shall
make atonement for him, for his sin.
These additional three sins
were to be accompanied by a guilt offering which implies a greater degree of
guilt than the sin offering because these three sins were committed were more
serious because they were committed with some measure of intention and prior
knowledge.
Lev 5:7 ‘And if he is unable to bring a lamb, then he
shall bring to יהוה, he who has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one
for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
Lev 5:8 ‘And he shall bring them to the priest, who
shall bring near that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its
head from its neck, but not sever it.
Lev 5:9 ‘And he shall sprinkle some of the blood of
the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be
drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
Lev 5:10 ‘And he shall prepare the second as a burnt
offering according to the right-ruling, and the priest shall make atonement for
him, for his sin which he has sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.
Lev 5:11 ‘But if he is unable to bring two turtledoves
or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring for his offering one-tenth
of an ĕphah of fine flour as a sin offering. He puts no oil on it, nor does he
put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
Lev 5:12 ‘And he shall bring it to the priest, and the
priest shall take his hand filled with it as a remembrance portion, and burn it
on the altar according to the offerings made by fire to יהוה. It is a sin
offering.
Lev 5:13 ‘And the priest shall make atonement for him,
for his sin that he has sinned in any of these, and it shall be forgiven him.
And it shall be the priest’s, like a grain offering.’”
Lev 5:14 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Lev 5:15 “When a being commits a trespass, and has
sinned by mistake against the set-apart matters of יהוה, then he shall
bring to יהוה as his guilt(asham) offering a ram, a perfect one, from the
flock, with your valuation in sheqels of silver according to the sheqel of the
set-apart place, as a guilt offering. (Heb – ‘’asham’’)
Asham
or guilt offering –
this is when you begin to feel extremely guilty about an offence you committed
and tried to cover up to avoid taking responsibility or perhaps the guilty
party is struggling to deal with their guilty conscience and the consequence of
their sin – it is also about restitution.
Lev 5:16 “And he shall make good for the sin that he
has done against that which is set-apart, and shall add one-fifth to it and
give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram
of the guilt offering, and it shall be forgiven him.
Lev 5:17 “And when any being sins, and has done what
is not to be done, against any of the commands of יהוה, though he
knew it not, yet he shall be guilty and shall bear his crookedness. (ignorance
no excuse)
Lev 5:18 “Then he shall bring to the priest a ram, a
perfect one, from the flock, with your valuation, as a guilt offering. And the
priest shall make atonement for his mistake he committed unintentionally,
though he did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him –
Lev 5:19 it is a guilt offering, he was truly guilty
before יהוה.”
Lev 6:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev 6:2 “When any being sins, and committed a
trespass (Heb – ma al to act treacherously or unfaithfully) against יהוה, and has lied
(kachash – to deceive) to his neighbour about a deposit,(
pledge, security, deposit) or
about a robbery, or shall extort(violate or defraud) from his neighbour,
Lev 6:3 or has found what was lost and has lied
concerning it, or did swear falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of
all these that a man does,
Lev 6:4 then it shall be, when he sins, and shall be
guilty, that he shall return what he took by robbery, or what he has extorted,
or the deposit which was deposited with him, or the lost item which he found,
Lev 6:5 or all that about which he swore falsely. He
shall repay its total value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whom it
belongs, on the day of his guilt offering.
Lev 6:6 “Then he brings his guilt offering to יהוה, a ram, a
perfect one, from the flock, with your valuation, as a guilt offering, to the
priest.
Lev 6:7 “And the priest shall make atonement for him
before יהוה, and he shall be forgiven for whatever he did that made him
guilty.”
Additional instruction
regarding guilt offerings:
Lev 14:13 “And he shall
slay the lamb in the place where he slays the sin offering and the ascending
offering, in a set-apart place. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering,
belongs to the priest. It is most set-apart.
Lev 14:14 “And the
priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall
put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the
thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
Lev 19:20 ‘And when a
man has intercourse with a woman who is a female servant, engaged to a man, and
to be ransomed, but she has not been ransomed nor set free, 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 Appointment, 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.
The Torah teaches ‘’an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth’’ this not necessarily mean that you exact
revenge on the offending person – it does however require some form of
compensation for any loss or harm inflicted on the injured person.
Retaliation
Mat 5:38 “You heard that
it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’[j] Exo_21:24. Footnote: jThis was the principle for the judges to follow, while
יהושע speaks in the next verse of our personal conduct.
Mat 5:39 but I say to
you, do not resist the wicked. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn
the other to him also. Mat 5:40 “And he who wishes to sue you and
take away your inner garment, let him have your outer garment as well. Mat
5:41 “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
Mat 5:42 “Give to him
who asks of you, and from him who wishes to borrow from you, do not turn
away.
Love
Your Enemies
Mat 5:43 “You heard that
it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour Lev_19:18 and hate
your enemy.’[k]
Footnote: kHate your enemy was “said,” not “written.” Mat
5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do
good to those hating you, and pray for those insulting you and persecuting
you, Mat 5:45 so that you become sons of your Father in the heavens.
Because He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and on the unrighteous.[l]
Footnote: l Luk_6:35, Act_14:16-17. Mat 5:46 “For if
you love those loving you, what reward have you? Are the tax collectors not
doing the same too? Mat 5:47 “And if you greet your brothers only,
what do you do more than others? Are the tax collectors not doing so
too? Mat 5:48 “Therefore, be perfect,[m] as
your Father in the heavens is perfect. Footnote: m Gen_17:1, Psa_119:1,
1Jn_2:5, Heb_6:1.
We need to note in Yahshua’s
response that he was not negating compensation for material loss or serious physical
harm. Yahshua is warning against retaliation and taking revenge -
Deu 32:35 Vengeance is
Mine, and repayment, At the time their foot slips; For near is the day of their
calamity, And the matters prepared are hastening to them.’
Rom 12:19 Beloved, do
not revenge yourselves, but give place to the wrath, for it has been written, ”Vengeance
is Mine, I shall repay,” says יהוה. Deu_32:35.
Rom 12:20 “Instead,
if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink, for in so
doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.” Pro_25:21-22.
Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome
by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Let us remind ourselves that
this Torah portion is addressing the conduct of a covenant community and as
such they need to discern when to act in self-defense or to withdraw and allow
YHVH to intervene whenever and however He chooses.
Concluding
statement: What is a Torah Community look and act like?
It is a group of men women and
children who have become aware of the unique calling of YHVH to embrace and
follow Him according to His instructions in the Torah and to separate
themselves from people that have not received or desire to follow such a calling.
This unique calling happens when you are ‘’born from above’’ and you receive
and surrender to a continual infilling of His Set Apart Spirit.
Rom 8:4 so that the
righteousness of the Torah should be completed in us who do not walk according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
This unique lifestyle manifests
itself in mutual submission and caring for one another, as well as caring for
those outside of your community.
The Torah based community is a
patriarchal society led by men who lead by example, who lay down their lives
for YHVH’s flock and exercise an accountable authority over YHVH’s people.
Failure to honour and obey these appointed leaders carries severe consequences
including been disciplined and possible expulsion from the community.
All woman and girls and other vulnerable
people are to be protected and honoured in such a community.
Wives must submit to their own
husbands and be encouraged to live creative and fruitful lives according to
Pro 31:10 Who does find
a capable wife? For she is worth far more than rubies.
Pro 31:11 The heart of
her husband shall trust her, And he has no lack of gain.
Pro 31:12 She shall do
him good, and not evil, All the days of her life.
Pro 31:13 She shall seek
wool and flax, And with delight she works with her hands.
Pro 31:14 She shall be
as the ships of Tarshish, She brings in her food from afar.
Pro 31:15 She also rises
while it is still night, And provides food for her household, And what is lawfull
for her girls.
Pro 31:16 She shall
consider a field and buy it; From her profits she shall plant a vineyard.
Pro 31:17 She shall gird
herself with strength, And strengthen her arms.
Pro 31:18 She shall
taste when her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out by night.
Pro 31:19 She shall
stretch out her hands to the distaff, And her hand shall hold the
spindle.
Pro 31:20 She shall
extend her hand to the poor, And she shall reach out her hands to the
needy.
Pro 31:21 She is not
afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is dressed in
scarlet.
Pro 31:22 She shall make
tapestry for herself; She is dressed in fine linen and purple.
Pro 31:23 Her husband is
known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
Pro 31:24 She shall make
fine linen and sell them, And shall give girdles for the merchants.
Pro 31:25 Strength and
splendour are her garments, And she rejoices in time to come.
Pro 31:26 She shall open
her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the Torah of
loving-commitment.
Pro 31:27 She watches
over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Pro 31:28 Her children
shall rise up and call her blessed; Her husband too, and he praises
her:
Pro 31:29 “Many
daughters have done nobly, But you have risen over them all.”
Pro 31:30 Loveliness is
deceptive And prettiness is vain, A woman who fears יהוה is to be
praised.
Pro 31:31 Give her of
the fruit of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.
In fact, women play a critical
role in the Torah community and determine the health and prosperity of such a
community. Why do you think Satan targeted Eve in the garden and not Adam? See
Ex 38:8
In this regard there is an end
time prophecy which suggests the reversal of this curse:
Jer 31:22 “Till when
would you turn here and there, O backsliding daughter?(addressing entire nation) For יהוה has created what is new on earth: a woman
encompasses a man!” - נקבהH5347 תסובבH5437 גבר׃H1397
The appointed time for such a
community is at hand may YHVH have mercy on us and include us in such a
community - Hos 2:14 “Therefore,
see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak
to her heart, - Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the
wilderness, where she has a place prepared by Elohim, to be nourished there one
thousand two hundred and sixty days - Eze 20:35 “And I shall
bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and shall enter into judgment
with you face to face there.
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.
The Jezebel Spirit Destroys Community:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/don-basham-powerhouse-teachings/id1611300380