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This week’s parasha is titled Emor, which means “speak.” Our passage is Leviticus, chapter 21:1 – chapter 24:23 and covers further rules for priests on how they are to be holy ones, separated for God’s purposes.
Additional responsibilities come with leadership, so it is appropriate that the Levites would be held to a higher standard than others and that the priests and the high priest, would be held to a higher standard than everyone.
Chapters 21 and 22 detail further instruction that Aaron and his sons, the priests of Israel, must follow in order to maintain holiness to the Lord. Priests were not allowed to touch a dead body, walk over the grave of a dead person or even be in the same room with a dead person. They would only be allowed to minister to dead relatives, for example their own mother or father. Regarding marriage, priests could not marry a divorced person or one who was a prostitute.
For the high priest, the rules were even more strict. A high priest could not even approach his own parents in death so as not to defile himself. A high priest was not even allowed to show signs of grief, such as tearing of one’s clothes, which was a sign of mourning. It is interesting that Caiaphas, the high priest who was trying Yeshua for blasphemy sinned against this command as he tore his clothes in Matthew, chapter 26:65.
I want to bypass chapter 23 for moment and look at chapter 24. Not only were the priests who made these offering supposed to keep themselves clean and without defect, but the offerings themselves were to be without defect. These verses echo the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, where Adonai gives instructions regarding the types of animals to be used as well as the different types of offerings to be made. From verse 17, in chapter 24, we can see that these animals must be males, without defect and must be from cattle, sheep or goats.
I think that you can see the build-up that is happening through these several chapters: Rules for the people to be pure and holy, rules for the priests and high priest regarding purity and holiness and rules for animals that are offered to be without defect.
All this sets us up for one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament, Leviticus, chapter 23, where we have the holy convocations of the Lord. In this chapter, we have the command for Sabbath rest, as well as instructions concerning the 7 major yearly holidays.
Let’s briefly look at the 7 holidays. They start with Passover. Passover reminds us that God provided us with a physical redemption from Egypt by passing over the houses when he saw the blood of a spotless lamb, applied to a door. Yeshua provided us with eternal, spiritual redepmtion through His death on the Cross when we apply His blood to the doorposts of our hearts and accept his as Savior.
Next is the Feast of Unleavened bread. Biblically, leaven is a smbol for sin. Jewish people still spend weeks before Passover trying to clean the leaven, the sin, out of their houses. Messiah Yeshua was sinless. On the night before He died, he took unleavened bread, broke it and said, “This is my body which is given for you.” Only one who was sinless could be the ultimate sacrifice to be the final atonement for sin.
3 days after Passover is First Fruits. In ancient Israel, this was the offering of the first and best of the barley harvest. The high priest waved this offering at the Temple. If it was accepted, it was a sign that the initial crops that came would be accepted. Three days after his death, Messiah Yeshua was raised from the dead as the “..firstfruits of thse who are asleep.” (1Corinthians 15:20)
50 days after First Fruits, we have the Feast of Weeks, Savuot. In ancient days, the high priest waved two loaves of wheat bread, made with yeast at the temple. This was a wave offering that the next round of crops, the wheat would be acceptable and abundant. In the same way, 50 days after First Friuts we have the giving of the Holy Spirit, in Acts, chapter 2. Messiah was pure and holy and was accepted as the First Fruits; we who come later have yeast, sin, in our lives, but we trust in the sinless One who went ahead.
Those are the first 4 of the 7 holidays and they were fulfilled during the time of Yeshua. The last three have yet to be fulfilled.
In the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, around September/October, we have the last three holidays. Interesting that 7 is the biblical number for completion.
The first of the last three holidays is the Feast of Trumpets. Leviticus 23 specifically tells us to blow the trumpets, which in ancient times were sounded during different times, such as when the king was coming or there was danger. The New Testament tells us that Messiah’s return will be heralded with a great trumpet blast. The Suffering Servant will return as the Conquering King.
The second holiday in the 7th month is the Day of Atonement. In biblical times, this was the day of national repentance for all of Israel. This was the only day that the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies to offer atonement for Israel’s sin. The prayer through that whole day is that Israel’s atonement offerings would be accepted and that the nation would be forgiven. In the New Testament, in Matthew, chapter 25, we read about a great judgement that takes place after the Messiah returns.
Finally, the last of the fall holidays, the 7th holiday, the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot. In ancient times, this holiday was a reminder that life on this earth was temporary and in order to follow the commands in Leviticus, chapter 23, we built booths and lived in them for a week to recognize how temporary life on this earth is. But there is something lasting and eternal. In John, chapter 14:2, Messiah reminds us that he has gone ahead to make a place for us in His Father’s House. There are eternal dwelling places for those who believe.
Additionally, in ancient times, this holiday also involved many prayers for rain since it was necessary for rain to fall within 3 weeks after Sukkot to assure the future harvest. Just as the water drawing ceremony, done for each of the days during Sukkot reminded the Jewish people of the need for rain, so too, did Yeshua remind us so many times that He is the true living water. From John, chapter 7, verse 37: “If any man is thristy, let him come to Me and drink. And, In John 4:10: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”
I pray that for those who have not yet found the Living Water, such as my brothers and sisters still following Rabbinical Judaism, can find that these holidays, which are still celebrated every year by Jews around the world, contain the path and the truth towards the Water that will forever take away thirst and provide eternal salvation.