It has nothing to do with computer memory, but everything to do with timing… as promised, audio versions of my commentaries will soon be up on my site, but they’re not quite ready yet, including this one. Check back later this week and it ought to be up… I’ll start with the most recent commentaries and work backward. In the meantime, here’s the text version of my commentary for Acherai Mot-K’doshim. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashahs for today are Acharei Mot or “After the death” and K’doshim or “Holy ones,” covers Leviticus chapters 16 through 20. As our reading begins, the L-RD declares a new appointed time for Moses and the children of Israel to celebrate: The Day of Atonement, otherwise known as Yom Kippur.
Interestingly, this appointed time is declared, we are told, in the wake of the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who perished when they offered unauthorized fire before the L-RD, contrary to His commands. We read this in:
Leviticus 16:1-2
The L-RD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the L-RD. The L-RD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
This passage may give us a further clue as to why Nadab and Abihu perished as they did. Here, the L-RD tells Moses that Aaron is not to enter the Holy of Holies – or, as the NIV translates it, the Most Holy Place – any time the mood strikes him, or he will die. It can reasonably be inferred that this is part of why Nadab and Abihu perished; they did not simply offer unauthorized fire, but apparently in offering it, did so in the Holy of Holies without making the proper preparations for entering there. And why could no one – even Aaron – enter the Holy of Holies whenever they wanted to, even as close as they were to the L-RD? Because, we are told, the presence of God dwells there and, as we learned last week, not only can the L-RD not allow any sin in His presence, but neither can he allow anything unclean in His presence.
So in establishing this appointed time for dealing with cleansing the people of Israel of their sin, the L-RD is showing His concern for the loss of Nadab and Abihu by establishing some rules to ensure that such a loss of life might not be repeated.
Now, the Day of Atonement is a very important part of the Fall Festival season. It comes seven days after the Jewish New Year, Rosh haShanah, which is two days long but is called “one long day” because no one knows exactly when the New Moon will appear over that two-day stretch. The importance of the Day of Atonement is spelled out in the L-RD’s command to observe it in this week’s reading, beginning in:
Leviticus 16:29-31
“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work–whether native-born or an alien living among you–because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the L-RD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.
Now, to “deny yourselves” here means that the Day of Atonement is to be a day of fasting. No food shall be prepared or eaten during this time, and with that time now freed up, prayer, repentance and drawing closer to the L-RD becomes the order of the day.
We can learn more about the significance of the Day of Atonement from the sages.
R. Kruspedai said in the name of R. Johanan:
Three books are opened [in heaven] on New Year, one for the thoroughly wicked, one for the thoroughly righteous, and one for the intermediate. The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of life; the thoroughly wicked are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of death; the doom of the intermediate is suspended from New Year till the Day of Atonement; if they deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of life; if they do not deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of death.
So, there are seven days between Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur. And we know the fall festivals are a teaching of the second appearance of Messiah, so how does this all fit together?
Well, Rosh haShanah is also known as the feast of trumpets, and it signifies the catching away of the righteous, the day when we shall go to meet the Messiah Yeshua in the air. We also know that Yom Kippur points to the time of the Great Throne of Judgment, when all who lived will come before the L-RD and be judged according to their deeds. Yet these two appointed times are separated by seven days. Is there significance to these seven days? Of course there is.
You see, these seven days symbolize the time of Jacob’s Trouble – that time which Christians call the Tribulation. And we know that the Tribulation period lasts seven years, after which the judgment begins, kicking off Messiah’s 1,000-year reign on Earth.
So what we have here is indeed a perfect picture of Messiah Yeshua’s return, and in this Day of Atonement, we receive part of the picture of what that day will be like. It is a time, as the Jewish tradition I just shared reflected, when those who are in the book of the Intermediate will either be included with the righteous in the book of life, or included with the wicked in the book of death. They get those seven years, that “week,” and then their time runs out.
There are no more fence-sitters in the reign of Messiah, and the Day of Atonement is when the fate of all – including the intermediate – is decided.
Now, there are some specifics surrounding the offerings for the Day of Atonement which set it apart from all other holidays, most notably the two goats and how they are handled. We read about this in:
Leviticus 16:8-10
He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the L-RD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the L-RD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the L-RD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.
Now, when most people teach about this sacrifice, they compare this scapegoat to Messiah Yeshua, but that is simply not the case. You really have to dig into the Hebrew language and culture to understand what’s going on here. The Hebrew word used here, translated as scapegoat, is AzAzel.
5799 `aza’zel
• AV – scapegoat 4; 4
1) entire removal, scapegoat
1a) refers to the goat used for sacrifice for the sins of the people
Who is AzAzel? Well, in the limits of a commentary, I can’t go into as much detail as I might like, but Stan has an extensive teaching on this as part of his Feasts of the L-RD series. Briefly, however, we learn the following from:
Encyclopedia Judaica
The great majority of moderns regard Azazel as the personal name of a demon thought to live in the wilderness. The name of a supernatural being mentioned in connection with the ritual of the Day of Atonement. After Satan, for whom he was in some degree a preparation, Azazel enjoys the distinction of being the most mysterious extra human character in sacred Literature.
So, if AzAzel is indeed a name of the Adversary of the L-RD, why would there be any provision made for him in the ceremony of the Day of Atonement? After all, we are to worship the L-RD and have no other gods before him, so what’s with this goat for AzAzel?
Well, first we must pay attention to what is done with this goat. Like all sin sacrifices, these goats are to be a year old and without defect. That being the case, it might even be hard to tell the two goats apart; they could look nearly alike. One is cast for the L-RD and sacrificed as a sin offering; the other is not slain, but is used to make atonement by sending it into the desert.
Now, which of these two goats appears to resemble Messiah more? The goat declared to be for the L-RD and offered as a sin offering? Or the goat declared to be for AzAzel and sent out to perish in the desert? I don’t know about you, but I think the first goat sounds a lot more like Yeshua to me.
So what is the significance of this goat for AzAzel? Well, both goats are the same age, probably about the same size, they look the same and both are without defect; yet one is for the L-RD and the other for this demon, AzAzel. Well, who is it in sacred literature that would appear to be almost the same as the Messiah, but who is destined for destruction, rather than for the remission of sins?
How about the false Messiah?
So, how strong is this connection between the goat for AzAzel and the false Messiah? We read this in:
II Thessalonians 2:3
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Like the Man of Lawlessness spoken of here, the goat for AzAzel is doomed to destruction. His presence in the ceremony is the same as any other element; it is a shadow of what is to come, a shadow of the false Messiah and his fate, which is destruction.
So, it won’t be Yom Kippur for another five months or so. Yet what can we take away from this teaching on the Day of Atonement at this time? Well, we know that the time of Yeshua’s return is drawing closer all the time. Some of those we know are inscribed in the book of life, some in the book of death, and some are in the book of the intermediate.
Perhaps the most important lesson to draw from this is to know that, when that final Day of Atonement arrives, there will be no one left who is in the book of the intermediate. This is spoken of in:
Revelation 3:15-16
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
While the Day of Atonement and all of the fall festivals teach of Yeshua’s return, it is the fate of the intermediate, the lukewarm, that is perhaps most critical. The lukewarm are those who know enough about the L-RD, his Messiah, the Torah and all the L-RD’s commands to know what is right, but who do not obey all that the L-RD has commanded them.
As the fate of Nadab and Abihu should teach us, it is a dangerous thing to dwell among the intermediate. I mean, you can’t be in Messiah if he’s just spit you out, can you? And if you’re not in Messiah, then your fate is the same as Nadab and Abihu. They shared in the fate of AzAzel, suffering sudden destruction. Yet the L-RD has provided a Day of Atonement, a Messiah, a way for others to avoid that destruction. Amen?
Shabbat Shalom.
My Tazriah-Metsora 2010 Commentary
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Well, I made a successful return to Torah commentaries this Shabbat. Hopefully what I shared was enlightening. You can now all judge for yourselves. Here’s my 2010 Tazriah-Metsora commentary.
Shabbat Shalom.
This week, we have a double portion for our parashah. It includes Tazriah, a Hebrew word that means, “She bears seed” or “She conceives,” as well as the portion known as “Metsora,” a Hebrew word that means, “Infected one,” or “diseased one.” This double portion covers Leviticus chapter 12 through Leviticus chapter 15.
Now, this week’s reading covers such topics as pregnancy and childbirth, skin diseases, bodily discharges and the laws surrounding purification from all of these afflictions. But before we delve into that, I want to share a word of encouragement from this week’s portion for a select portion of this congregation – and you’ll know who you are in just a moment.
Now, some of you might remember the 1980s. One of the big trends back then was custom T-shirt shops. You could walk in, select the size and color of T-shirt you liked best, and then select just about any kind of saying or cartoon that you wanted and it would be added to the shirt while you waited.
I’ll always remember one we got my father. It’s not a Biblical saying, but it might sound like it. The t-shirt read, “God made only a few perfect heads. All the rest, he covered with hair.”
I thought it was pretty funny back then, too. Of course, those of you who’ve known me for a few years now will testify that, as the years go on, my head’s getting a little closer to perfect all the time.
Yet the word of encouragement for those of us who are a bit closer to perfect atop our heads comes to us from:
So, that’s good news, right? Some of us may be balding, men, but at least we’re clean! Now, joking aside, the passage does go on to say that if baldness is accompanied by sores of various kinds, it can indeed indicate ritual uncleanness. Of course, so can a whole lot of other things. And what we see in this week’s double-portion is that there is so much ritual uncleanness in the world, it’s almost impossible to avoid!
Yet it’s important to note that ritual uncleanness is not always the same as sinfulness – though, at times, it can be. For example, that which is unclean can often be remedied in this week’s parashah by simply bathing and separating oneself from the community until evening. Can water grant remission of sins? No, the Torah is clear that blood must be shed for sins to be pardoned. So if some types of uncleanness can be remedied by washing with water, they must not be sources of sin, but a simple lack of purity.
Yet even this insight misses something more important. What both of these portions talk about is what? Ceremonial uncleanness, right? As we read, for example, in:
So you see, many of these purity laws have to do with one’s fitness to enter the Temple … the Tent of Meeting … and since that Temple no longer stands, it would seem many of these laws are of limited relevance and use to us today. Right?
Not so fast. Because while the laws of ritual purity were specific to Jewish people living in the Land, and relevant to entering the Temple or the Tent of Meeting, they also have a more symbolic, spiritual aspect to them.
Let’s start by looking at the word for impurity or infection. The Hebrew word for our second portion is “metsorah.” It is derived from two root words. The first, “motzi,” means “source or well-spring.” The second, “ra,” means “evil.” So the word “metsorah,” in addition to meaning “infected one” or “diseased one,” could also be said to mean “well-spring or source of evil.”
When one thinks about this, it begins to make sense. After all, on a spiritual level, what causes infection or disease in our spirit? Evil, right? Specifically, exposure to evil or a source of evil. And often, simple exposure is enough.
We see the truth in this in the story of the fall of man. What happens when Adam and Chavah are exposed to the lies of the serpent? They become infected, diseased with doubt. Doubt about what? Whether to trust in the words of the L-RD, or the words of the serpent. Exposure alone to that doubt is enough to produce what comes next: rebellion against God’s only command at that time, as they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
In the same way, we can see how simple exposure to impurity can infect us in our daily walk, in our witness, in how we view, understand and even explain our faith in the L-RD to others.
For example, what does the Tenakh teach us about where to invest our faith and trust? We read this in:
This is what the L-RD asks of us, right? To simply put our trust in Him, rather than our own understanding of things. We can all agree on that, right?
Yet we live in a world that is full of people who don’t do that; who put their trust in their own understanding, rather than in the L-RD. Still with me? Good.
One of the most prevalent theories out there in the world today, in the understanding of men, is the theory of evolution.
Like atmospheric yeast, it’s out there in the world, like it or not. And this idea that man was not created but evolved from lower life-forms, and all the ideas that spring forth from that core theory, such as that the earth is, as scientist Carl Sagan always said, “billions and billions of years old,” rather than nearing the end of the six thousand years of human history spoken of in the Bible, has been entrenched in public education and the public mind so firmly for so long, that the fact is that today, many believers would prefer to cast aside the first few chapters of Genesis in an attempt to lure those who view the world through evolutionary, so-called scientific eyes, than to even attempt to believe what God has revealed about the nature of His creation.
The rationalization many use is that they “don’t want a few chapters in one book of the Bible” to be a barrier to someone entering the kingdom of heaven. “It’s not important enough,” they’ll claim.
Yet, is that what we’re called to do? Are we to stake claim only in the words of the Torah that make sense to the unbelieving? Or are we to simply trust in the L-RD with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding?
And that’s what simple exposure can do! Simply by being in the same atmosphere as this well-spring of evil, we become infected, diseased in our own thinking. We start to change what we believe to make it easier for the unbelieving to accept, rather than simply standing firm in our trust in the L-RD… which is what the L-RD has called us to do!
This is just an example. There are many. Perhaps the well-spring of evil in your home is broadcast television, which contains so many shows that are rooted in evil and untruths that can infect you, make you impure in your simple, commanded trust in God. Perhaps for your children, it’s videogames that is the source of infection. It could be an unhealthy amount of time spent on the Internet, rather than in the Word of the L-RD.
It could even be something as simple as evil speech – known as lashon horah in Hebrew – the practice of speaking of people in a way meant to diminish them in the eyes of others, even if what you’re saying is true. If the intention is to diminish rather than to build up, it’s lashon horah and it can destroy a sense of safety and trust in a community.
Now, perhaps, we begin to see the pieces come together from what seems on the surface like a rather dry and boring pair of Torah portions. For you see, for all these detailed instructions on how to rid oneself of impurity, there is one remedy that is never recommended. Whether an impurity is a result of sin, or a simpler impurity that isn’t necessarily sin but does make you ceremonially impure – in other words, unfit to come before the L-RD – one solution that the Torah NEVER endorses is to do nothing about it!
That’s amazing to think about, isn’t it? I mean, you read about how touching a mildewed cloth makes you impure, but the solution is to wash and wait until evening, the start of a new day, and one is tempted to think: well, then that’s not sin! Why is the Torah being so nitpicky? If it’s not sin, why all the fuss over simple impurity.
Well, it’s because while God does desire for us to come to Him through Messiah Yeshua and experience His yeshua – His salvation – he isn’t done with us once the sin is dealt with. God wants us to live a life far above that minimum standard required to attain eternal residence in His kingdom! He wants us to, as he repeats throughout the Torah, including just before this week’s parashah in:
Holiness – not just freedom from sin but freedom from all impurity – is the nature of God. To experience intimacy with God, we must strive to be like him. Not just forgiven of our sins, but pursuing holiness, which is the lack of all metsorahs – the lack of any sources or well-springs of evil in our lives.
Let us, therefore, pursue lives that are holy – free of all spiritual infection and disease – in how we live and walk through this life and live by our beliefs, our trust in our creator. Let us be holy, because the L-RD our God is holy, and may we accomplish this through our redeemer, the Messiah Yeshua.
Shabbat Shalom.
Tags: commentary, Metsora, Tazriah
Posted in Torah | No Comments »