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This week’s Torah portion is called Tzav.  It covers Leviticus, Chapter 6:8 – Chapter 8:36.  Tzav means, “command.” This Torah portion is the culmination, the fulfillment, of the instructions that God gave Moses 6 Torah portions ago, in Parasha Tetzaveh, regarding the priestly ordination.

Leviticus, Chapters 6 and 7 are an extension of the explanation that was provided about the various sacrificial offerings in Leviticus, Chapters 1 – 5.  Also, in this chapter, we read a very interesting point about the sacrifices for burnt offerings, beginning in verse 9.  The burnt offering was actually to be on the altar with the fire burning all night.  Perhaps your sense of the sacrifice was that there was this extremely hot fire and the animal that was being sacrificed was burned up in a matter of an hour or so, but actually, the sacrifice remained burning on the altar all night, until morning.  The fire on the altar and the sacrifices were to be burned continually.  The fire on the altar was not to go out.

How are the fires on our own altars regarding our sacrifice to the Lord?  Are you passionate about God and His Word?  Do you look forward to coming to services and joining with other believers or is this an unwelcome chore?  Do you look forward to reading your Bible, to praying?  Or has your fire gone out and you don’t spend too much time with any of these activities or even rarely think about God?  We need to keep that altar fire continually alive in ourselves as we worship Adonai.

Chapter 7 continues discussing the guilt offering as well as certain rules and regulations concerning the grain offering and peace offering.  This chapter contains three instructions for which someone could be, “…cut off from Israel.”  Being, “cut off,” has the following meanings:  Since a person participated in willful disobedience against God, that person was no longer considered part of the nation of Israel.  In many cases, he/she would be required to leave the camp or be put to death.  If one left the camp during the wilderness journey, it meant almost certain death as the person was leaving the safety of the encampment.  The other meaning for being cut off is that God would no longer consider this person as part of His covenent with the Jewish people due to the sin.  That person would no longer enjoy the blessings of God’s covenent.  In either case, being cut off had terrible consequences.

From the beginning of the giving of the instructions for sacrifices in Leviticus, Chapter 1, all the way to Chapter 7, this is the first time we read anything about the potential for someone to be “cut off.”  Chapter 7 describes the following 3 situations that will cause a person to be “cut off.”

1. v. 20: eating the flesh of a peace offering sacrifice in an unclean state
2. v. 25: eating the fat of an animal offered to the Lord by fire
3. v. 27: eating blood

Again, we see the importance of offering proper worship to God and the consequences of improper worship, or worship that disregards God’s instructions.

Finally, in Chapter 8, we have the consecration of Aaron and his sons.  The instructions that were given for this ordination of Aaron and his sons in Exodus, Chapter 29 are performed here in Leviticus, Chapter 8.  If you go back and compare the two chapters, you will see that they are very similar.  When God gave an instruction, it needed to be carried out in that exact way.  The instructions are quite detailed, and include ceremonial washing, dressing in the priestly robes, being anointed by oil and sacrifices of one bull and one ram as burnt offerings and one other ram, the ram of ordination.  They were also sprinkled with annointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar.  Then they ate boiled meat and some of the unleavened bread that was in the basket of the ordination offering at the doorway of the tent of meeting.  Finally, v. 35 is very interesting:  “At the doorway of the tent of meeting, moreover, you shall remain day and night for seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord, that you may not die, for so I have been commanded.”  This seems to indicate that this entire ordination ceremony was repeated daily for 7 straight days.

Let me offer a few, concluding thoughts regarding this passage:

1. Worshiping the Lord needs to be done in the proper context with the right attitude. We serve an awesome and Holy God and He has given us the format for how to worship Him.  We need to be careful of people and teachings which differ from what is presented in Scripture.
2. Worshiping God is not a once-a-week, one-hour activity. Just as the fire on the altar should never go out, so too, our worship of The Lord should never cease.  He should be constantly present in our thoughts and actions as we go about our daily lives.
3. Finally, as I read through the Torah with all the commandments that are listed, it gives so much significance to the fact that Yeshua never sinned. He followed all the laws and commandments to the letter.  I personally do not think that I would last a day, much less a week in trying to follow all the 613 commandments outlined in the Torah.  And this is why I am truly comforted by the words that Yeshua spoke and which we often pray about during services at Shema:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and might and love your neighbor as yourself.  As we consider today’s passage regarding proper worship, let’s try to keep and act on those words that Messiah gave to us.