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
19:12 ‘And do not swear falsely by My
Name and so profane the Name of your Elohim. I am יהוה.
