YHVH who created all that
exists has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation.
Why would He do such a
thing?
I don’t have an answer,
but I’m very glad that He did. That’s one of the reasons I worship Him. YHVH
didn’t have to do or create anything, but He did, and He revealed Himself to
His Creation.
Tragically the greatest error
of mankind especially religious mankind was to attempt to re-create the Creator
according to their understanding and doctrinal imagination, contrary to Torah.
This is called idolatry.
To prevent this grave error
YHVH established a Kingdom; a Constitution; a “Ketubah” (marriage agreement)
and a Covenant with a Set Apart People – He called Yisrael – This arrangement
has never changed and is revealed to us in detail in His Torah.
YHVH appointed His only brought
forth Son (before the foundation of the world)– Yahshua Ha Mashiach as King of
all kings and imbued him with all of His power and authority to establish
YHVH’s desire(Torah) on earth and over all His Creation.
This
Torah portion is about YHVH’s appointed authority and instruction for righteous
living in His Kingdom.
Rom 13:10 Love does no evil to a neighbour. Therefore,
love is completion of the Torah.
Rom 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that it
is already the hour for us to wake up from sleep, for now our deliverance is
nearer than when we did believe.
Rom 13:12 The night is far advanced, the day has come
near. So let us put off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day, not in
wild parties and drunkenness, not in living together and indecencies, not in
fighting and envy,
Rom 13:14 but put on the Master יהושע Messiah, and
make no provision for the lusts of the flesh.
Rom 13:1 Let every being be in subjection to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from Elohim, and the authorities
that exist are appointed by Elohim.
Rom 13:2 So he who opposes the authority withstands
the institution of Elohim, and those who withstand shall bring judgment on themselves.
2 Pet 2:10 speaks of an end time people who
despise authority.
How many people who call themselves believers
despise the authority of YHVH’s Word?
How many people who call themselves believers
despise YHVH’s appointed leaders?
Heb 13:17 Obey those leading you, and be subject to
them, for they watch for your lives, as having to give account. Let them do
so with joy and not groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
1Pe 2:13 Be subject to every institution of man
because of the Master, whether to the sovereign(king) as supreme,
1Pe 2:14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by
him for the punishment of doers of evil, and a praise for those who do good.
1Pe 2:15 Because such is the desire of Elohim, that by
doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,
1Pe 2:16 as free, yet not using your freedom as a
cloak for evil, but as servants of Elohim.
1Pe 2:17 Respect all, love the brotherhood, fear
Elohim, respect the sovereign.
The consequences of
disobeying a policemen or not paying your taxes can be disastrous – how much
more disastrous will it be if you disobey the spiritual authorities that YHVH
has appointed?
Our Torah portion begins:
Deu 18:1 “The priests, the Lĕwites, all the tribe of
Lĕwi, have no part nor inheritance with Yisra’ĕl. They are to eat the offerings
of יהוה made by fire,
and His inheritance.
Deu 18:2 “But(and) among his brothers Lĕwi
has no inheritance. יהוה is his
inheritance, as He has spoken to him.
Jer 33:18 ‘And for the priests, the Lĕwites, there is
not to cease a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain
offerings, and to slaughter continually.’ ”
Hebrew for “continually” is “kol ha amim” or “all the days.”
YHVH did not want the priesthood to accumulate wealth.
This was possible for those who were not priests – they could hire or inherit
more land, increase their agricultural output etc – not so for the priest. The
priest was to live off the offerings THAT BELONGED TO YHVH.
The priesthood was cut off because of the people of YHVH
strayed from His Ways.
It is
clear from scripture- – Ezekiel 45:5 – 48:11-13 – that there will be a restored Levitical Priesthood operating
during the millennium.
Contrary to the dispensational
teaching of the church - YHVH never intended that every believer functions as a
Cohen or priest in the Temple or Tabernacle.
Definition of Dispensationalism-
“It is a Christian evangelical, futurist, Biblical interpretation that
believes that God has related to human beings in different ways under different
Biblical covenants in a series of "dispensations," or periods in
history.” Wikipedia.
Dispensationalist will use a scripture like 1 Pet 2:9 to
prove that the Old Testament Levitical Priesthood was done away with and is
replaced by a new Christian priesthood.
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should
proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous
light,
This scripture was not written to all
believers, it was written to a dedicated set apart group of people who were
called to dedicate themselves to the service or priesthood of YHVH.
It is impossible to be a priest unto
YHVH and ignore Torah. You can only teach the erroneous doctrine of “priesthood
of all believers” if you do away with the Torah.
The following scripture serves as a
sober reminder of a remnant priesthood that will form part of the first
resurrection:
Rev 20:6 Blessed and set-apart is the one having part
in the first resurrection. The second death possesses no authority over these,
but they shall be priests(Kohanim) of
Elohim and of Messiah, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7
And when the thousand years have ended, Satan shall be released from his
prison,
In the apostolic writings Shaul speaks of a Priestly
leadership in the assembly.
Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some as emissaries, and
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers
Eph 4:12 for the perfecting of the set-apart ones, to
the work of service to a building up of the body of the Messiah,
Eph 4:13 until we all come to the unity of the belief and of the knowledge of the
Son of Elohim, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
completeness of Messiah,
Eph 4:14 so that we should no longer be children,
tossed and borne about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, in
cleverness, unto the craftiness of leading astray,1 Footnote: 15:6,
also 2 Cor. 10:5, 2 Cor. 11:3-14, Gal. 1:6-9, 2 Tim. 3:1-8, 2 Tim. 4:2-4, 2
Peter 2:2-22, Jud. vv. 10-19.
Eph 4:15 but, maintaining the truth in love, we grow
up in all respects into Him who is the head, Messiah,
Eph 4:16 from whom the entire body, joined and knit
together by what every joint supplies, according to the working by which each
part does its share, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in
love.
Eph 4:17 So this I say, and witness in the Master,
that you should no longer walk as the
gentiles walk,1 in the futility of their mind, Footnote: 11
Cor. 12:2, and Jer. 10:2.
Eph 4:18 having been darkened in their understanding,
having been estranged from the life of Elohim, because of the ignorance that is
in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
The goal of such a so
called “five fold ministry” was to establish a unity of the One faith that existed before the foundation of the world.
It was not a “new” teaching discovered by the church. (Eph 4:5,6 – Yesh 66:21)
Deu 18:3 “And this
is the priest’s right from the people, from those who bring an offering,
whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and
the two cheeks, and the stomach;
Deu 18:4 the
first-fruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the
fleece of your sheep, you give to him.
Deu 18:5 “For יהוה your Elohim has chosen him out of all your
tribes to stand to serve in the Name of יהוה, him and his
sons forever.
Deu 18:6 “And when
the Lĕwite comes from one of your gates, from where he has sojourned among all
Yisra’ĕl, and shall come with all the desire of his being to the place which יהוה chooses,
Deu 18:7 then he
shall serve in the Name of יהוה his Elohim,
like all his brothers the Lĕwites, who are standing there before יהוה.
Deu 18:8 “They are
to have portion for portion to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his
inheritance.
Deu 18:9 “When you
come into the land which יהוה your Elohim is
giving you, do not learn to do according to the abominations of those gentiles.
Deu 18:10 “Let no
one be found among you who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire,
or one who practises divination, or a user of magic, or one who interprets
omens or a sorcerer,
Deu 18:11 or one
who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
Deu 18:12 “For
whoever does these are an abomination to יהוה, and because
of these abominations יהוה your Elohim
drives them out from before you.
Deu 18:13 “Be
perfect before יהוה your Elohim,
Deu 18:14 for
these nations whom you are possessing do listen to those using magic and to
diviners. But as for you, יהוה your Elohim
has not appointed such for you.
Deu 18:15 “יהוה your Elohim
shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers.
Listen to Him,
Deu 18:16
according to all you asked of יהוה your Elohim in
Ḥorĕḇ in
the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of יהוה my Elohim, nor let me see this great fire
any more, lest I die.’
Deu 18:17 “And יהוה said to me, ‘What they have spoken is
good.
Deu 18:18 ‘I shall
raise up for them a Prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I
shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command
Him.
Deu 18:19 ‘And it
shall be, the man who does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I
require it of him.
This is clearly a reference to Messiah as attested to in
Stephen’s last sermon before he was stoned.
Act 7:37 “This is the Mosheh who said to the children
of Yisra’ĕl, ‘יהוה your Elohim shall raise up for you a
Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’
Deu 18:20 ‘But the
prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him
to speak, or who speaks in the name of other mighty ones, even that prophet
shall die.’
2Pe 1:21 for prophecy never came by the desire of man,
but men of Elohim spoke, being moved by the Set-apart Spirit.
Rev 19:10 …I am your fellow servant, and of your
brothers who possess the witness of יהושע. Worship
Elohim! For the witness of יהושע is the spirit
of prophecy.”
Deu 18:21 “And
when you say in your heart, ‘How do we know the word which יהוה has not spoken?’ –
Deu 18:22 when the
prophet speaks in the Name of יהוה and the word
is not, or comes not, that is the word which יהוה has not
spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Deu 19:1 “When יהוה your Elohim
cuts off the nations whose land יהוה your Elohim is
giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their
houses,
Deu 19:2 separate
three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to possess.
Deu 19:3 “Prepare
a way for yourself, and divide into three parts the border of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to inherit, that
anyone who killed someone shall flee there.
Deu 19:4 “And this
is the matter of the one who killed someone who flees there and live: He who
smites his neighbour unintentionally, not having hated him in time past,
Deu 19:5 even he
who goes to the forest with his neighbour to cut timber, and his hand swings a
stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle
and strikes his neighbour so that he dies – let him flee to one of these cities
and live,
Deu 19:6 lest the
revenger of blood, while his displeasure is hot, pursue the one who killed
someone and overtake him, because the way is long, and shall smite him, though
he was not worthy of death, since he had not hated him before.
Deu 19:7
“Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘Separate three cities for
yourself.’
Deu 19:8 “And if יהוה your Elohim enlarges your border, as He
swore to your fathers, and has given you the land which He promised to give to
your fathers –
Deu 19:9 when you
guard all this command to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love יהוה your Elohim and to walk in His ways all
the days – then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these
three,
Deu 19:10 so that
innocent blood is not shed in the midst of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an
inheritance, or blood-guilt shall be upon you.
Deu 19:11 “But
when anyone hates his neighbour, and shall lie in wait for him and rise against
him and smite the life from him so that he dies, then he shall flee to one of
these cities,
Deu 19:12 and the
elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and give him into the
hand of the revenger of blood, and he shall die.
Deu 19:13 “Your
eye shall not pardon him, but you shall purge the blood of innocent blood from
Yisra’ĕl, so that it might be well with you.
Accidental death –The Torah teaches that until sin is
entirely removed from our existence, we will deal with the sorrows and woes of
everyday life.
Deu 19:14 “Do not
remove your neighbour’s boundary, which those in the past have set, in your
inheritance which you inherit in the land that יהוה your Elohim is
giving you to possess.
Deu 19:15 “One
witness does not rise up against a man concerning any crookedness or any sin that
he commits. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses a
matter is established.
Deu 19:16 “When a
malicious witness rises up against any man to accuse him of turning aside,
Deu 19:17 then
both men who have the dispute shall stand before יהוה, before the
priests and the judges who serve in those days.
Deu 19:18 “And the
judges shall diligently search and see if the witness is a false witness, who
has falsely accused his brother,
Deu 19:19 then you
shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother. Thus you shall purge
the evil from your midst.
Deu 19:20 “And let
the rest hear and fear, and never again do this evil matter in your midst.
Deu 19:21 “And let
your eye not pardon, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot.
Compensation must be made for damages incurred against a
fellow Yisraelite.
Deu 20:1 “When you go out to battle against your
enemies, and shall see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you,
do not be afraid of them, for יהוה your Elohim,
who brought you up from the land of Mitsrayim, is with you.
Deu 20:2 “And it
shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall come and
speak to the people,
Deu 20:3 and shall
say to them, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: You are drawing near today to battle with your
enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not fear, or tremble, or be afraid
before them,
Deu 20:4 for יהוה your Elohim is He who goes with you, to
fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
Deu 20:5 “And the
officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man who has built a new
house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die
in the battle and another man dedicate it.
Deu 20:6 ‘And who
is the man who has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use it? Let him also
go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man should
begin to use it.
Deu 20:7 ‘And who
is the man who is engaged to a woman and has not taken her? Let him go and
return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’
Deu 20:8 “And the
officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Who is the man who is
afraid and tender of heart? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart
of his brothers faint like his heart.’
Deu 20:9 “And it
shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they
shall appoint commanders of the divisions to lead the people.
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject
