If you’re interested in a site for an effective admin job search, that’s not what MessianicMusings.com is all about. We focus on Torah here, and the Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my commentary on Sh’mini. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is Sh’mini or “Eighth” and covers Leviticus 9:1 through Leviticus 11:47. In this week’s reading, we learn of a very critical series of sacrifices; they’re not critical because of the sacrifices themselves, but because of what they set the stage for.
A few weeks ago, in the Torah portion known as Ki Tisa, Moses prevailed upon the L-RD to show him His glory, and was rewarded with a more direct appearance of the L-RD than anyone likely had experienced since the fall from the Garden. While that much is itself highly interesting, what happens in this week’s portion is even more interesting.
After ordering a series of sacrifices, Moses explains their particular purpose. We read this in:
Leviticus 9:6
Then Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.”
Let’s read that last part again… so that the glory of the L-RD may appear to you. Can this be right? Could the L-RD really be sharing with all of the people of Israel a kind of intimacy that he had, only a few weeks ago, shared only with Moses?
Yes! And, well… not quite.
As we will see as we go on, the L-RD does show his glory to all the people of Israel in this week’s reading; but is it quite as complete and revealing as the time when the L-RD revealed His glory to Moses, hiding Moses in the cleft of a rock? Probably not quite the same. After all, how do you hide millions of people in the cleft of a rock.
But the fact that the L-RD does this at all is a testimony to how complete the L-RD’s forgiveness can be. Following the incident with the golden calf, the L-RD’s anger against Israel was so great, He considered destroying them all and starting over with Moses alone. Now, He is showing these same people His glory. After Aaron performs all the sacrifices as Moses has instructed, we read this in:
Leviticus 9:23-24
Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
What an overwhelming experience that must have been! Remember, these are the same people who turned down the L-RD’s offer to speak to them directly, choosing instead to have Moses and his successors speak to them in the L-RD’s place. Yet here they are, struck with awe and respect at the sight of even a fraction of the glory of the L-RD.
What is their response? They shout for joy! They fall facedown in worship of the L-RD! Isn’t that the kind of response we should offer the L-RD all the time? Of course it is!
But, as with all good things, something goes wrong. There’s a fly in the ointment, and not only does it ruin a wonderful time of closeness with the L-RD between the L-RD and his people, but what happens holds relevance, perhaps, for us today. Let’s take a look at:
Leviticus 10:1
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command.
Now, the key words there are, “contrary to His command.” And what are the results of these actions? Let’s read on in:
Leviticus 10:2-3
So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: “‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Aaron remained silent.
So, you see, what was the result of this offering of Nadab and Abihu? It cost them their lives. The L-RD Himself brought an end to them. This has to be a sobering thought.
When I first read this passage, I have to admit, I thought it seemed a bit unfair. After all, there’s no golden calf around, is there? They’re not misapplying the L-RD’s name to something else, are they? They’re not worshiping a false god, right? I mean, what did they do? They simply took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense. Even the steps seem right. So what happened? What happened that it was so serious that it cost two people their lives?
The key words are right there. It was unauthorized fire, wasn’t it? It was also an action contrary to the L-RD’s command. That’s the issue.
Now, some might say, “Come on! Their hearts were in the right place! They were simply trying to worship the L-RD in their own way! Isn’t the L-RD being just a little nitpicky here?”
Yet the very question itself is misleading. If we understand the context of what is going on here, there ought to be no room for misunderstandings. Moses had ordered Aaron, very specifically, exactly what needed to be done to invite the L-RD in to this time of close fellowship between the L-RD and Israel. Aaron had done all those things, precisely.
What Nadab and Abihu did was… what? They added to the commands of the L-RD, the very words He had given through Moses. And what does the L-RD tell us about adding to His words? Let’s remind ourselves with this from:
Deuteronomy 12:32 (13:1)
Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.
That’s why I say the question is misleading. The L-RD is sincere about his words and his commands. We are to take them as genuinely as He offers them! And part of that is not to add to or subtract from anything the L-RD commands! It’s a theme that’s repeated over and over. How many times have we read of the L-RD in both Genesis and Exodus warning various heroes of the faith to do everything He has commanded of them, veering off neither to the left or to the right?
I’ll give you a hint: plenty of times.
So it’s not like Nadab and Abihu were ignorant, right? They were there when Moses gave Aaron his instructions. And they saw that all that Aaron had done was sufficient to bring the L-RD to this place and to have Him show His glory.
So, what’s with the adding to bit here? If everything’s going as planned, why are they adding to what the L-RD had commanded? Well, there’s a hint in all this: Aaron had performed everything the L-RD had commanded through Moses… but Nadab and Abihu had not. So is this act seeming quite so innocent now? I don’t think so.
It’s beginning to look more and more like a cry for attention, like a ploy to get in on the action, perhaps even take some of the credit for what was going on to themselves. It’s ego! And in an unfortunate and ironic way, they pair got the notoriety they sought, didn’t they? But not for the right reasons. Instead of being remembered for how they served the L-RD, they are remembered for how they ignored Him to, “do their own thing, in their own way.”
I think the L-RD’s being rather clear here, isn’t He? If you want to worship the God of Israel in spirit and in truth, there’s the way He has shown us He wants to be worshipped … and then, there’s everything else.
There’s obeying all that God has commanded us to do … and then, there’s doing our own thing. What the L-RD is trying to teach us here is, He does not take worship of Him casually.
Now, the trend today is, “Hey, anything goes! Whatever you do, do it unto the L-RD as an act of worship!”
And there’s some truth to that. I believe we are to live our lives as an act of continual worship. But that’s not quite what we’re talking about here, is it? Of course not. What we’re talking about here is that God made an appointed time with Israel to make his glory known to them … and for Nadab and Abihu, that wasn’t good enough. And it cost them their lives.
Let’s read on in:
Leviticus 10:4-11
Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.” So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered. Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the LORD has destroyed by fire. Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said. Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.”
This can be a tough passage. Moses actually orders Eleazar and Ithamar not to mourn. That’s what is meant by not letting their hair become unkempt and not tearing their clothes. That’s what grieving people did back then, to show that they are grieving.
Why would Moses order them not to grieve? Because Eleazar and Ithamar were members of the temple priesthood. Their garments were special garments for serving in the Tent of Meeting. Their calling and their duties in the Temple had to come before their own grief, because if they entered the Temple with messy hair and torn clothes, would that be obeying all of the L-RD’s commands? Or would it be subtracting from them?
Yes, it’s just the opposite of what Nadab and Abihu did, but the penalty is still the same, right? And after a tragedy like this, Moses doesn’t want any more tragedy on top of what’s already happened, does he? Of course not.
You know, I was talking to a friend of mine this week and the topic arose of the passing of his oldest daughter. It was several years ago and she died in a car accident. The L-RD had warned her parents in a dream that they would be losing a child. And he told me that the most amazing thing was, that after it happened and for the next few days while they held the funeral and put her in the ground, as parents, they were riding a spiritual high.
It sounds just the opposite of what you’d naturally expect. But he told me they both felt the anointing oil of the L-RD was on them, carrying them through, and so through the entire experience of losing their oldest child, they were lifted above their grief and they spent every possible moment witnesses the L-RD’s goodness to those around them, preaching His word.
And now, years later, they are still being approached by people who were at that funeral – some dropping by just on an instinct or a prompting of the Ruach haKodesh – and are being told of how being at that funeral, hearing them speak, seeing how they handled their time of grief with such amazing grace, caused people to turn their lives around and rededicate themselves to the L-RD.
I was amazed when he told me this because of how much it lined up with this week’s reading, and when I shared with him this passage on how Moses asked Eleazar and Ithamar not to grieve their brothers while on duty in the Tent of Meeting, we talked about how God is the same today as He was in the time of Moses. How the L-RD can use a time of tragedy to reach people, if they are simply willing to obey Him.
You see, being on duty in the Tent of Meeting, the job of Eleazar and Ithamar was, in their duties, to focus the attention of the people on the L-RD, not themselves. If they had grieved so outwardly, the attention of the people would have been misdirected from the L-RD to them.
The lesson we can draw from this is that while we can rejoice that the L-RD does not always deal so harshly with those who add to or subtract from His commands as He was with Nadab and Abihu, we ought not take it for granted that He is pleased when we veer off course from His explicit commands, either. It goes back to that central truth: there is obeying everything the L-RD has commanded… and then, there’s everything else.
Shabbat Shalom.
My Sh’mini Commentary
Monday, April 20th, 2009
If you’re interested in a site for an effective admin job search, that’s not what MessianicMusings.com is all about. We focus on Torah here, and the Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my commentary on Sh’mini. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is Sh’mini or “Eighth” and covers Leviticus 9:1 through Leviticus 11:47. In this week’s reading, we learn of a very critical series of sacrifices; they’re not critical because of the sacrifices themselves, but because of what they set the stage for.
A few weeks ago, in the Torah portion known as Ki Tisa, Moses prevailed upon the L-RD to show him His glory, and was rewarded with a more direct appearance of the L-RD than anyone likely had experienced since the fall from the Garden. While that much is itself highly interesting, what happens in this week’s portion is even more interesting.
After ordering a series of sacrifices, Moses explains their particular purpose. We read this in:
Let’s read that last part again… so that the glory of the L-RD may appear to you. Can this be right? Could the L-RD really be sharing with all of the people of Israel a kind of intimacy that he had, only a few weeks ago, shared only with Moses?
Yes! And, well… not quite.
As we will see as we go on, the L-RD does show his glory to all the people of Israel in this week’s reading; but is it quite as complete and revealing as the time when the L-RD revealed His glory to Moses, hiding Moses in the cleft of a rock? Probably not quite the same. After all, how do you hide millions of people in the cleft of a rock.
But the fact that the L-RD does this at all is a testimony to how complete the L-RD’s forgiveness can be. Following the incident with the golden calf, the L-RD’s anger against Israel was so great, He considered destroying them all and starting over with Moses alone. Now, He is showing these same people His glory. After Aaron performs all the sacrifices as Moses has instructed, we read this in:
What an overwhelming experience that must have been! Remember, these are the same people who turned down the L-RD’s offer to speak to them directly, choosing instead to have Moses and his successors speak to them in the L-RD’s place. Yet here they are, struck with awe and respect at the sight of even a fraction of the glory of the L-RD.
What is their response? They shout for joy! They fall facedown in worship of the L-RD! Isn’t that the kind of response we should offer the L-RD all the time? Of course it is!
But, as with all good things, something goes wrong. There’s a fly in the ointment, and not only does it ruin a wonderful time of closeness with the L-RD between the L-RD and his people, but what happens holds relevance, perhaps, for us today. Let’s take a look at:
Now, the key words there are, “contrary to His command.” And what are the results of these actions? Let’s read on in:
So, you see, what was the result of this offering of Nadab and Abihu? It cost them their lives. The L-RD Himself brought an end to them. This has to be a sobering thought.
When I first read this passage, I have to admit, I thought it seemed a bit unfair. After all, there’s no golden calf around, is there? They’re not misapplying the L-RD’s name to something else, are they? They’re not worshiping a false god, right? I mean, what did they do? They simply took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense. Even the steps seem right. So what happened? What happened that it was so serious that it cost two people their lives?
The key words are right there. It was unauthorized fire, wasn’t it? It was also an action contrary to the L-RD’s command. That’s the issue.
Now, some might say, “Come on! Their hearts were in the right place! They were simply trying to worship the L-RD in their own way! Isn’t the L-RD being just a little nitpicky here?”
Yet the very question itself is misleading. If we understand the context of what is going on here, there ought to be no room for misunderstandings. Moses had ordered Aaron, very specifically, exactly what needed to be done to invite the L-RD in to this time of close fellowship between the L-RD and Israel. Aaron had done all those things, precisely.
What Nadab and Abihu did was… what? They added to the commands of the L-RD, the very words He had given through Moses. And what does the L-RD tell us about adding to His words? Let’s remind ourselves with this from:
I’ll give you a hint: plenty of times.
So it’s not like Nadab and Abihu were ignorant, right? They were there when Moses gave Aaron his instructions. And they saw that all that Aaron had done was sufficient to bring the L-RD to this place and to have Him show His glory.
So, what’s with the adding to bit here? If everything’s going as planned, why are they adding to what the L-RD had commanded? Well, there’s a hint in all this: Aaron had performed everything the L-RD had commanded through Moses… but Nadab and Abihu had not. So is this act seeming quite so innocent now? I don’t think so.
It’s beginning to look more and more like a cry for attention, like a ploy to get in on the action, perhaps even take some of the credit for what was going on to themselves. It’s ego! And in an unfortunate and ironic way, they pair got the notoriety they sought, didn’t they? But not for the right reasons. Instead of being remembered for how they served the L-RD, they are remembered for how they ignored Him to, “do their own thing, in their own way.”
I think the L-RD’s being rather clear here, isn’t He? If you want to worship the God of Israel in spirit and in truth, there’s the way He has shown us He wants to be worshipped … and then, there’s everything else.
There’s obeying all that God has commanded us to do … and then, there’s doing our own thing. What the L-RD is trying to teach us here is, He does not take worship of Him casually.
Now, the trend today is, “Hey, anything goes! Whatever you do, do it unto the L-RD as an act of worship!”
And there’s some truth to that. I believe we are to live our lives as an act of continual worship. But that’s not quite what we’re talking about here, is it? Of course not. What we’re talking about here is that God made an appointed time with Israel to make his glory known to them … and for Nadab and Abihu, that wasn’t good enough. And it cost them their lives.
Let’s read on in:
This can be a tough passage. Moses actually orders Eleazar and Ithamar not to mourn. That’s what is meant by not letting their hair become unkempt and not tearing their clothes. That’s what grieving people did back then, to show that they are grieving.
Why would Moses order them not to grieve? Because Eleazar and Ithamar were members of the temple priesthood. Their garments were special garments for serving in the Tent of Meeting. Their calling and their duties in the Temple had to come before their own grief, because if they entered the Temple with messy hair and torn clothes, would that be obeying all of the L-RD’s commands? Or would it be subtracting from them?
Yes, it’s just the opposite of what Nadab and Abihu did, but the penalty is still the same, right? And after a tragedy like this, Moses doesn’t want any more tragedy on top of what’s already happened, does he? Of course not.
You know, I was talking to a friend of mine this week and the topic arose of the passing of his oldest daughter. It was several years ago and she died in a car accident. The L-RD had warned her parents in a dream that they would be losing a child. And he told me that the most amazing thing was, that after it happened and for the next few days while they held the funeral and put her in the ground, as parents, they were riding a spiritual high.
It sounds just the opposite of what you’d naturally expect. But he told me they both felt the anointing oil of the L-RD was on them, carrying them through, and so through the entire experience of losing their oldest child, they were lifted above their grief and they spent every possible moment witnesses the L-RD’s goodness to those around them, preaching His word.
And now, years later, they are still being approached by people who were at that funeral – some dropping by just on an instinct or a prompting of the Ruach haKodesh – and are being told of how being at that funeral, hearing them speak, seeing how they handled their time of grief with such amazing grace, caused people to turn their lives around and rededicate themselves to the L-RD.
I was amazed when he told me this because of how much it lined up with this week’s reading, and when I shared with him this passage on how Moses asked Eleazar and Ithamar not to grieve their brothers while on duty in the Tent of Meeting, we talked about how God is the same today as He was in the time of Moses. How the L-RD can use a time of tragedy to reach people, if they are simply willing to obey Him.
You see, being on duty in the Tent of Meeting, the job of Eleazar and Ithamar was, in their duties, to focus the attention of the people on the L-RD, not themselves. If they had grieved so outwardly, the attention of the people would have been misdirected from the L-RD to them.
The lesson we can draw from this is that while we can rejoice that the L-RD does not always deal so harshly with those who add to or subtract from His commands as He was with Nadab and Abihu, we ought not take it for granted that He is pleased when we veer off course from His explicit commands, either. It goes back to that central truth: there is obeying everything the L-RD has commanded… and then, there’s everything else.
Shabbat Shalom.
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