There are 613 commands in the Torah, but not all 613 laws are meant to apply to everybody. There are laws that only apply to priests, as chapters 21 and 22 will show us. There are laws that only apply to the king (like writing his own copy of the Torah). There are laws that apply to men and not to women, and vice-versa. Most of the laws of the Torah apply to the Jewish people, but not the Gentiles. All of us are to “fulfill the Law,” but the requirements of the Law are different.
Let me also point out an important principle: to whom much is given, much is required. The cohaneem were given much, and so more was required from them. Chapters 21 and 22 list God’s commands specifically directed to the priests.
Under the older covenant, touching a dead body defiled a person, making him unable to draw near to God at the Mishkan – the Tabernacle. An ordinary Israeli could touch a dead body, to help with the burial, but there was a higher standard for the sons of Aaron. They could mourn and touch the dead bodies to those relatives who were closest to them. Of course, they should never engage in any pagan practices of mourning, like making parts of their head bald, shaving off the edges of their beards, or making cuts into their bodies. No, they must be holy, clean, set apart to accomplish the special purposes that God has for them – bringing the infinitely holy and terrifyingly pure God to an unholy people, and bringing impure men and women closer to that Supreme Being who is free from the slightest amount of evil or corruption.
An ordinary Israeli could marry a woman who was properly divorced, but not so the cohaneem. They were held to a higher standard, and could not marry a woman who was divorced. Nor could they marry a woman who had engaged in prostitution.
To whom much is given, much is required, and so even more was required for the High Priest. He was not allowed to take time off and show the customary signs of mourning for anyone – not for his closest relatives, not even for his father or mother. He was held to an even higher standard regarding women he was permitted to marry. Like the other priests, he could not marry a woman who had engaged in prostitution, or who was divorced. But, in addition, who could not marry a woman who was a widow.
Sin has affected all of us – body, soul and spirit. The priests represented a glorious and perfect God, and so this God of perfection demanded that His priests not be marred in their physical appearance. A priest who had any number of severe physical defects or handicaps could not serve as a priest of the God of Israel. He could receive a priest’s due, and eat the bread that was offered at the Mishkan, but he could not offer the bread or sacrifices.
While the priests were ritually unclean, they could not eat from the offerings given by the worshipers of Israel. If he did become unclean, by having leprosy, or having a discharge, a emission of semen, or by touching a corpse, or touching something that had touched a corpse, or touching someone else who was unclean, or one of the teeming creatures on Earth, he was unclean until he bathed, and the new day began at sunset. Then he could eat those holy foods offered by the people of Israel.
Other Israelis, if they ate the meat from an animal that died by itself, or was killed by another animal, were unclean, but a priest was not allowed to eat animals which died that way at all. Priests, and their immediate family, could eat the food that came from the offerings, but not an ordinary Israeli. If by mistake a regular Israeli did eat this special food, he had to give that amount of food back to the priest, and add a 20 percent penalty as well.
All animals that were offered as offerings of dedication, offered to fulfill a vow or given as a free-will offering, out of love and gratitude to our great God, must be males, free from physical defect. An animal that was sacrificed as a peace offering, showing that we are at peace, in a right relationship with the Holy God, must be tahm – perfect. Our infinitely pure and holy and great God only gets the best. You don’t offer God that which is defective, or shoddy, or something that is not of much use. That shows that you don’t really know Him, respect or fear Him, love or appreciate Him.
“That’s horrible” Rabbi Loren. “Who would do such a thing?” How about you? Do you give Him the best? The best of what you have? Or simply that which is left over – your left over time, your left over energy, your left over money at the end of each month?
Baby bulls, goats or sheep could only be sacrificed on the eighth day – not before. Was it not sufficiently strong? Did it have to nurse from its mother? We are not told the reason why, but an animal was not to be killed until the eighth day.
Nor could a mother animal and its young be sacrificed on the same day. Perhaps the reason is God didn’t want the young animal killed in the sight of its mother. Many animals who are mothers know their young, and the pain or the deaths of their young affects them and adds to their pain. The love and tenderness of a mother animal toward its young should be respected. We want to respect all of God’s creation, even the animals, and not add any unnecessary suffering to it.
Sacrifices offered to give thanks to God had to be eaten the same day they were offered. They could not be eaten on the next day, even if there was left-over meat. That wasn’t convenient? Oh well, we don’t go by our convenience, but by what God requires.
Chapter 23: Yeshua in the Jewish Holidays
The Holy God wanted a Holy People. They lived in a Holy Land, which had a Holy City. Within that Holy City was a Holy House, in which was a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place. Serving in the Holy House were Holy Priests, mediators who brought the Holy God closer to unholy men and women, and who brought unholy men and women closer to the Holy God.
The Holy People needed to be holy in God’s sight to draw near to God at the Mishkan. They needed holy laws, which we have been studying. They also needed holy days and holy months and holy years set apart to draw near to God.
God’s holy times, described in Leviticus 23, accomplish many purposes. Year by year they pace our lives according to the cycle God has designed into creation. They remind us of the great things God has done in Israel’s history. In addition, each holiday is a prophecy which looks forward to what God is going to do in human history. If understood properly, these holidays reveal God’s master plan to save humanity.
The Sabbath: Creation, Salvation and Consummation
The first holiday mentioned is the Sabbath. Perhaps it heads the list because it can be considered the most important holiday of them all. It is observed every week while the other holidays take place only once each year. The word “sabbath” means “rest.” Every seventh day, beginning Friday night at sunset and continuing through Saturday night at sunset, is set aside for rest – physical and spiritual rest.
The Sabbath reminds us that God created the universe in six literal days, and on the seventh day He rested. The Sabbath also reminds us of salvation. It wasn’t until the Jewish people were delivered out of Egypt that we began observing the Sabbath. The Sabbath also reminds us of the salvation provided by our wonderful Messiah, the “Lord of the Sabbath” who alone is able to give rest to the human soul, as He promised when He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).The Sabbath also reminds us of the future consummation of all things. A day is coming when the Son of God will return to Earth and bring rest to this weary world.
Passover: The First Of The Seven Annual Holidays
The first of the seven annual holidays is Passover, which begins God’s yearly calendar (see Exodus 12:2: This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you). Passover occurs in the month of Nisan, during the Spring, when the Earth is full of new life. It makes sense that God’s calendar would start in the Spring – certainly more sense than beginning the new year in the dead of winter, as we do in the Western world.
Just as Passover begins God’s calendar, it also marks the beginning of Israel’s history as a free nation. The story of Passover begins with the Jewish people going down to Egypt in the time of Joseph. Joseph became the savior of Egypt as well as his own people. Years later, a new Pharaoh came to power who did not remember Joseph. Instead of showing gratitude towards the Jewish people, he enslaved us. God raised up Moses, who went to Pharaoh and demanded that Israel be released.
But Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go, so God sent ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. The tenth plague was the most severe of all – death of all first-born sons living in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man and of animals. There was only one way a first-born son could survive that first Passover night. God instructed us to take an unblemished year old lamb, kill it, and drain its blood into a bowl. Then we were to take hyssop, dip it in the bowl of blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the top of the door of our homes. The Lord said: “when I see the blood on the door I will pass over that house.”
The Almighty went throughout the land of Egypt that night and struck every house. There was a great outcry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. But as He had promised, on each door where He saw the blood of a spotless lamb, God passed over that home and spared the first-born son from death. The next day Israel was redeemed from Egypt. Then God took us by the hand, and led us through the wilderness to the promised Land of Israel.
Passover was a prophecy of a greater Lamb, a more profound Redemption, and a greater Exodus that was to come. Messiah Yeshua is the Lamb of God who died on Passover to take away the sin of the world. Just as the Jewish people took the blood of the Passover lamb and applied it to the doors of our houses, we must take the blood of Messiah Yeshua the Son of God, the perfect and final sacrifice, and apply His blood to our lives. Then God will deliver us from our “Egypts” – our
slavery to sin, our servitude to self, our bondage to the world, our captivity to the flesh and our enthrallment to the adversary. The Lord will take us by the hand, walk with us through the wilderness of this world, and lead to us the New Jerusalem, where we will live forever with Him!
It’s no coincidence that Messiah Yeshua died on Passover. His last supper was a Passover Seder and He died the next day, the first day of Passover – in fulfillment of Passover. We will see a similar pattern throughout the rest of the holidays. Each one looks forward to something that the Messiah would accomplish, and each one finds fulfillment on its own day.
The Feast of Matzah
The Feast of Matzah begins with Passover and continues for seven days. Nothing with yeast is to be eaten during that period. One reason why we eat matzah is to remind ourselves of our hasty departure from Egypt. By eating matzah we remember that when God did redeem us, He redeemed us quickly, so quickly that there wasn’t even time for our bread to rise.
There is, however, another reason why we eat matzah. In ancient times, before a batch of leavened dough was baked into bread, part of the dough was pinched off and set aside. Later, that piece of leavened dough was added to a new batch of flour, leavening the new batch. This symbolizes the generational cycle of sin, which began with our first parents, Adam and Eve, who sinned and alienated themselves from God. Their sin was transmitted to each ensuing generation. The Feast of Matza symbolizes the breaking of this cycle of sin that has been transmitted from generation to generation.
This observance reminds us that there is hope for mankind, and that through Messiah Yeshua, the forces of sin and death can be overcome, and one day we will be made completely and eternally righteous!
We must not allow sin to rule in our lives, fulfilling its desires. Just as we systematically cleanse our homes of leaven in order to celebrate the Passover, so we must search our hearts, asking God to reveal and remove any sin from our lives, in order that we break the cycle of sin, and enjoy all the blessings that come from Messiah Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, and the true Matza, who has made it possible to conquer sin and death. The Feast of Matzah teaches us that when we are joined to Messiah by means of our faith in Him, He empowers us to have more and more victory over sin in our lives, until the day we meet Him face to face, and have final victory over all the power and presence of sin!
Yom HaBik-kur-eem: The Day Of First Fruits
The Feast of First Fruits is the third yearly holiday, and it’s connected to the third day of Passover. On this day Israel’s High Priest took the first sheaves of the barley harvest, and waved them in the air. This ceremony was like a prayer: by waving the first fruits of the very beginning of the new year’s harvest, the High Priest was praying: “Lord God of Israel, thank You for the beginning of this year’s harvest. We offer to You the first fruits of this year’s harvest. Lord, accept the first fruits, the beginning and best of the harvest. And O Lord, accept us, Your people, and please bring in the rest of the harvest.” If God would accept the offering of the first fruits, it was a guarantee that He would bless us with the remainder of the harvest during the year.
Yom HaBik-kur-eem – the Day of the First Fruits, was also a prophecy that the Messiah, who died on Passover, would come back to life! Death would not be able to hold the Sinless One. God would raise Him from the dead, and He would be offered as the “first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (see 1 Corinthians 15:20). That means that Messiah is the beginning of the harvest of humanity, the First to be raised from the dead. He is the first and the beginning and the best of the sons and daughters of God, the prototype for all those who join themselves to Him. Because God found Him acceptable, raising Him from the dead as the first fruits, it is a guarantee that those who believe in Him, the rest of the harvest of humanity, will likewise be raised and be given eternal life.
It seems likely that Messiah Yeshua was raised from the dead on the holiday of First Fruits. It was “on the third day” that Messiah Yeshua rose from the dead. The Passover lambs were killed on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. Passover and Matzah began later that evening, beginning the 15th of Nisan, and Yom HaBik-kur-eem – the Day of the First Fruits, began on the 16th day of Nisan. It is likely that the very same day the High Priest was offering the first fruits of the barley harvest, God was raising the Messiah from the dead as the First Fruits of redeemed humanity! The Feast of First Fruits is the true Biblical Resurrection day! May the Resurrected one give each one us a greater measure of His resurrection life and power in our lives!
Shavuot: The Feast Of Weeks
The next holiday is Shavuot, which means “weeks.” It takes place seven weeks and one day after the Feast of First Fruits. “Pentecost,” the Greek name for this holiday, means “fiftieth” because this holiday takes place on the fiftieth day after First Fruits. At Shavuot, Jewish men were required to make a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Once there, we would offer to God the first fruits of the wheat harvest. This time the High Priest waved two loaves of wheat bread that had been made with leaven. This is unusual, since it may be the only offering anywhere in the Scriptures that includes leaven. In general, the Biblical principle is that anything offered to God had to be without leaven, since leaven was usually symbolic of sin (see Leviticus 2:11-12).
This offering up of the two loaves was another visual prayer. Through this ceremony the High Priest was in essence praying: “Lord, thank You for extending the harvest to the wheat. We offer up to You the first fruits, the beginning, the best of this crop. Lord of the harvest, we ask you to bring in the rest of the harvest throughout the year.”
Shavuot was also a prophecy that Messiah’s resurrection, which took place fifty days earlier, would be expanded to include more of humanity . The second chapter of Acts records the fulfillment of this holiday: fifty days after Yeshua rose from death His first followers were gathered together in Jerusalem for this holiday. The same Spirit that raised Yeshua from the dead was poured out on those first Jewish disciples. The new Messianic Community was given His Spirit, and His resurrection life and power. This happened on Shavuot, and in fulfillment of Shavuot.
Why were two loaves of bread waved, and not one? The two loaves of bread can be understood as symbols of the two groups of peoples that make up the Messianic Community. In Romans 11, Rabbi Paul gives us the analogy of an olive tree made up of the original branches, the Jewish people. Later, wild olive branches, the Gentiles, are grafted into the olive tree of salvation and blessing. It could be that the two loaves of bread waved by the High Priest at Shavuot represent the original branches, the Jewish people, and the wild branches, the Gentiles grafted into the Olive Tree. Each loaf is incomplete without the other. The Jewish loaf needs the Gentile loaf to be complete, and the Gentile loaf needs the Jewish loaf to be complete.
The first four annual holidays are intrinsically connected. They each take place in the spring. They are each symbolic of events connected to the First Coming of Yeshua. They were all fulfilled on their specific day in the calendar. For example, Passover was a prediction of the death of the Messiah, and Yeshua actually died on Passover, in fulfillment of Passover. We will see a similar pattern with the three Fall holidays.
The Summer
After the four spring holidays comes the summer, during which time the crops are ripening. Each day brings the crops closer and closer to the fall harvest. The summer seems to be symbolic of the past two thousand years of history. Messiah’s Holy Community began in Israel among the Jewish people, but since the First Century it has been spreading to all the nations of the world. For two thousand years the Good News has been taking root throughout the Earth. The harvest of humanity is getting ready to be reaped!
The Day For Blowing The Shofar
Just as the four spring holidays are connected, so are the final three Fall holidays. They are connected to Messiah’s Second Coming. They all take place in the seventh month – the month of completion. If the pattern evidenced in the Spring holidays holds true for the Fall holidays, they too will be fulfilled on their own day. The Fall holidays will bring to completion God’s plan to rescue humanity.
The first Fall holiday is the Feast of Trumpets. It takes place on the first day of the seventh month, which is the month of Tishri. Among the Jewish people, it is more commonly referred to as “Rosh HaShana” – the Jewish “New Year” but it should more properly be understood as the Feast of Trumpets. On the first day of the seventh month we are told to rest and blow the shofar, a special trumpet made from a ram’s horn. The shofar was blown in ancient Israel for various reasons: If there was danger, the shofar was blown. If important information was being proclaimed, the shofar was blown. If the king was coming to visit our town, the shofar was blown. Messianic Jews blow the shofar on this day because we are announcing the soon return of King Messiah to planet Earth. Throughout the New Testament Yeshua’s return is promised to be accompanied by the blowing of the shofar (see 1 Cor. 15:51-52 and 1 Thes. 4:16). In the book of Revelation, with the sounding of the seventh trumpet, Messiah Yeshua returns to Earth. The shofar is designed to wake us up and get us ready for the Second Coming of Messiah and the other events connected with the seventh month.
The Day of Atonement
Ten days later, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, takes place. This was the one day when the High Priest was allowed to enter into the Most Holy Place in the Temple, sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant, and atone for the sins of Israel. This is a very solemn day, when Jewish people fast and pray and ask for forgiveness. The rabbis teach that we have ten days from the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets to the close of Yom Kippur in which to repent.
According to this tradition, if you do not repent during those ten days, God will blot your name out of the Book of Life, and sometime during the coming year you will die. This is a day for judgment, atonement and cleansing. Prophetically, it looks forward to a future day of judgment and cleansing immediately following Yeshua’s return. That judgment is further described in the twenty-fifth chapter of the book of Matthew. Yeshua tells us that after He returns, He will establish His throne and judge all the nations. Those nations and individuals who turned to God will be welcomed into His kingdom. Those nations and individuals who have not repented will be turned away from life in the Kingdom. It makes sense that this judgment will occur on the very day of some future Yom Kippur.
Sukkot
Finally, we come to the last of the seven yearly holidays, Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the seventh holiday and it falls in the seventh month. With this holiday God will complete His plan to redeem humanity. Sukkot takes place on the fifteenth day of Tishri and lasts for eight days. For the third and last time of the year, the Jewish people went up to Jerusalem to celebrate this final harvest festival. We built booths, decorated them with branches and the fruits of the harvest, and lived in them for the duration of the holiday. We also took willow, palm and myrtle branches, waved them in the air, prayed and rejoiced with them. These temporary booths, which go up and come down one week later, remind us of the Exodus from Egypt and our forty years of wandering in the wilderness. They also remind us that our brief sojourn in this world is temporary. We are pilgrims while on this earth, wanderers with no permanent dwelling place.
Prophetically, Sukkot looks forward to a greater Exodus to come. It looks forward to the final harvest of humanity. It anticipates the eternal dwelling places which Messiah Yeshua has prepared for us. At the end of this age, God will gather the fruit of redeemed humanity into His kingdom. This is the goal of God’s efforts in human history, leading to the eternal kingdom which awaits redeemed humanity.
My friends, according to the Torah, the Jewish people needed to offer very special sacrifices on these days, in order to really celebrate them. With the destruction of the Temple, and without the sacrifices, its impossible to fully and properly observe these holidays. We can’t draw near to God through them as we need to.
But God has a master plan to save fallen humanity which is revealed in the Jewish holidays, and they are fulfilled in the Messiah, in Messianic Judaism, in true Christianity. To reach the goal to which the holidays point, salvation – you must start at the beginning of God’s calendar. You must cease from your own works and enter into the Sabbath rest that the Messiah alone provides.
You must believe that Yeshua is the Passover Lamb who died for your sins, and that He is the unleavened bread that was victorious over sin.
You must believe that He is the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits, the One who was raised from the dead.
In fulfillment of Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) you must receive His Spirit and become part of the Messianic Community.
Then you can look forward to His return, and so partake of the Feast of Trumpets.
As part of Yom Kippur, you need to remember that when He returns to planet Earth, judgment will take place. Those who believe in Him will not be condemned, but have already passed out of judgment and into life.
Then at the very end, you will be welcomed into that glorious and eternal kingdom awaiting redeemed humanity. Then those that have been reconciled to the God of Israel, through he wonderful Messiah whom He sent, will reign with Him forever and ever, which is the fulfillment of the Feast of Sukkot.
Messiah Yeshua is the fulfillment of these holy days! He has filled them fuller of meaning and significance and power and life, for anyone who desires to celebrate them! Do you know Him? I hope so! Your eternal destiny depends on it!
Leviticus 24
The beautiful seven-branched Menorah gave light for the priests to serve the Lord in the Mishkan. The oil used to light the beautiful golden menorah, must be made of pure, clear olive oil. It was to be a Ner Tamid – a light that was to shine continually. It’s light was never to go out. The number seven is the number of completion, so this beautiful and valuable seven branched Lamp tells us that the God of Israel will always be the fullness of truth, eternal wisdom, infinite purity, the One who can always bring victory and salvation to His people.
Every week fine wheat flour was baked into 12 loaves of bread. The 12 loaves were than brought into the Holy Place, place on the Golden Table of God’s Presence, and arranged in two rows of six. In addition to the bread, on each row was place some frankincense.
The bread remained on the Table all week, and was renewed each Sabbath. Before the new bread was placed on the Table, the incensed was burned to show that the Lord accepted the bread. Then the bread was removed from the Table, and it was eaten by the priests.
The 12 loaves of bread represented the 12 tribes of Israel. The bread tells us that God is to be trusted to provide for our daily needs. He knows our needs, and the Lord is the One who takes care of our needs. The God of Israel is able to sustain His people, so always trust Him! And remember Messiah, the Bread of Life, for those who trust Him will never hunger, and will have all their deepest needs met.
No human being should ever blaspheme, speak something evil against, or curse “Ha-Shem” – The Name – The Supreme Being. When the son of a Jewish woman and an Egyptian man did, he was brought outside the camp, and everyone who heard him say evils things about the all-Perfect God, laid their hands on his head, transferring his sins back onto the man, who was then stoned to death. Wow – and so many say bad things about God, or take His name so lightly, all the time. They are in for a terrible surprise one day!
Murderers of human beings are to be killed – not rehabilitated. But the one who kills someone else’s animal must replace it. And, if you injured your neighbor, the Law of God required you to be punished fairly – fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Now, that is not to be understood that if you got into a fight with someone, and knocked out his tooth, that your tooth was to be knocked out. The point is that justice, not personal revenge was to prevail. A fair punishment was to be given by society. The punishment must fit the crime. These laws applied to Israelis, as well as those foreigners living among us. We couldn’t take advantage of them just because they weren’t citizens.