“You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am Adonai your God.” - Leviticus 18:4
Tim O’Connor – Center for the Preservation of Humanity – 4/3/2024
“You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am Adonai your God.” - Leviticus 18:4
A Parsha is a weekly reading from the Torah. The section to be read this week is Leviticus 9:1–11:47. In addition, we will read from the Haftarah (the Tanack [Old Testament] minus the Torah) in Ezekiel 45:16-46:18 and from the B’rit Hadashah (the New Testament) in Luke 22:1-13. If you choose not to invest 20 minutes reading these passages, we will start with a synopsis of each reading.
The passage from Luke starts off with the approach of the Seder meal and the plotting of the Jewish authorities plotting the fall of Yeshua. Judas Iscariot (Y’hudah from K’riot) negotiated with the Temple guard about betraying Yeshua to them for payment. The day prior to Pesach the Seder meal must be prepared (according to Exodus 12:1-29). Yeshua prophesied to his disciples that they will meet a man and take them to a place to prepare the Seder.
In the passage from Ezekiel we are reminded of the sacrifices for the Shabbats and the Rosh-Hodesh (the first Shabbat of each month). The Festival of Unleavened Bread begins with the Seder on Pesach (Passover). The preparation for Sukkot (Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles) is recalled. The way the prince making the offering in the Temple is to enter and depart is made clear. The daily offering is declared. The last verses of the passage in Ezekiel pertains to inheritance.
The Torah portion is the meat of the weekly lesson. In chapter 9 from Leviticus we are informed that Aharon performed the sin, burnt, and peace offerings as described in Leviticus 1:1-8:36. The entire people of Israel was assembled at the Tent of Meeting and they all brought the offerings required of them. After Aharon made the offering, Moshe and Aharon entered the Tent of Meeting and when they came out, the glory of Adonai appeared and fire came from Adonai which consumed the burnt offering upon the altar. Israel prostrated themselves.
I’m saving chapter 10 for a moment. So we will go to chapter 11 which consists largely of dietary laws. More broadly, Leviticus 11 informs us what is clean and what is unclean. It is unclean to eat mice for instance; however, it is also unclean for us to touch the carcass of a mouse or a living mouse, and anything which makes contact with a mouse is unclean as well. How to make the unclean, clean is also included in this chapter. To start, water is required to make those who touch a mouse carcass and the articles a mouse carcass falls upon clean and the vessel holding the water as well as the water and anything else in the vessel becomes unclean. There is much more to this but the point of Leviticus 11 is found at verse 47, “Its purpose is to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’”
Understanding the Torah is incredibly important to decipher what is going on with prophesies concerning the end of the olam hazeh – the world in which we live – and the olam haba – the world which is to come. Eschatology is the study of the transition between these two worlds including what causes lead to the transition, the times during which the transition manifests, and what it will be like in the world after the transition. Many are fascinated with this study and the proliferation of theories regarding it already comprise a massive volume of work which grows daily. It is possible that this is just another theory – but it is one I have never encountered.
I have encountered the concept that everything about eschatology is dependent upon the beliefs and activities of Israel. It is likely that you have encountered this as well. And that is a good thing to recognize because it is absolutely true. I saved chapter 10 because at the very opening of Leviticus 10, we encounter G-d’s wrath. While G-d was manifesting Himself before all of the people of Israel and they prostrated themselves, two of Aharon’s sons offered incense in the presence of Adonai.
Leviticus 10:1-2 reads, “But Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon, each took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before Adonai, something he had not ordered them to do. 2 At this, fire came forth from the presence of Adonai and consumed them, so that they died in the presence of Adonai.”
Numbers 3:2-4 also records the event, “The names of the sons of Aharon are: Nadav the firstborn, Avihu, El‘azar and Itamar. 3 These were the names of the sons of Aharon the cohen, whom he anointed and ordained as cohanim. 4 But Nadav and Avihu died in the presence of Adonai when they offered unauthorized fire before Adonai in the Sinai Desert, and they had no children; El‘azar and Itamar served as cohanim in the presence of Aharon their father.”
Aharon’s cousins were called to take the bodies of his sons away following these events in Leviticus 10. Moshe then warned Aharon and his two surviving sons to not rend their clothing nor to unbind their hair. The entire community was to mourn instead. He Aharon and his sons to stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting otherwise they would die because they were covered with the anointing oil. Moshe also related that no alcohol was permitted in the Tent of Meeting.
Aharon’s purpose was revealed next. He and his descendants were charged with judging the clean and the unclean and to pass down the teachings of G-d as revealed to Moshe. In order for Aharon and his descendants to fulfill their charges they must remain clean and they must have their sins atoned for.
Several lessons should be drawn from here. Nadav and Avihu were severely punished for their transgression. They did what G-d did not ask them to do. As they served in high leadership roles their power as well as their responsibility was great, thus their transgression needed to be dealt with aggressively and immediately. Another lesson to be taken from here is the fact that these sacrifices were fulfilled when Yeshua died on the execution stake. The sacrifices described in this chapter of Leviticus are no longer required for salvation from sin – looking to Yeshua is.
Several decades after the death of Yeshua an event took place similar to the story of Nadav and Avihu. Instead of G-d taking the lives of those making offerings Adonai didn’t order, the Temple was destroyed so that no sacrifices could be made. To this day it still has not been rebuilt and it never needs to be rebuilt – Yeshua is the sacrifice which offers salvation for the Jews as well as everyone else. Unfortunately, there are those who will not receive Yeshua and demand that sacrifices be resumed at a rebuilt Temple.
This is not what HaShem wants. He wants us to all look upon His son for salvation from the sins we commit. He would really like us to all stop sinning. Of course, we are not going to do that; however, we can make an earnest conscious effort to stop sinning, to love HaShem with all of our hearts, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But, we aren’t going to do that either it seems. So what we are left with are a certain people who reject the Yeshua of the Bible who want to go back to making sacrifices G-d hasn’t asked for….
This is not good, but it is prophesied in several places in the Bible. Ezekiel 43:4-7, Matthew 24:15-16 and Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11 all state that there will be a new Temple established. Yet, Nadav and Avinu still serve as warnings about doing things G-d never intended for us to do – especially in connection to worshiping Him. Because HaShem sent Yeshua to this earth to serve as the sacrifice for all men’s sins – that we may become clean once more – we don’t need a new Temple, we don’t need sin sacrifices in particular, and we don’t need to be seating men who have not been called forth by G-d to rule over anything from a new Temple. If G-d didn’t ask us to worship Him in a manner we choose to worship Him by anyway things will not go well with us. In this case things will go so wrong that the entire world will once more need to be purged of the evil upon it.
This is all in the hands of certain Jews. These certain Jews have not and will not accept the sacrifice and salvation of Yeshua. Denying their salvation, they seek to rebuild the Temple, consecrate it, and immediately resume offering HaShem sacrifices He doesn’t want. The Christians in support of rebuilding the Temple have, basically, absolutely no idea what they are talking about being as though the Tanack is little more than a trivialized account of a G-d they reject in favor of the new ones they have created. Moslems could legitimately be described as from a foreign planet in this equation because they follow nothing G-d taught and actively attempt to claim Yeshua as their own to the point he will return to earth to kill all of the non-Muslims.
Jews want their salvation through sacrifice back as well as ushering in a universal peace. Christians want their Messiah to return on earth to usher in a universal peace. Moslems want everyone besides other Moslems who agree with them dead so they can enjoy their ‘universal’ peace. Everything revolves around the Temple and the Temple Mount and the return of G-d to a secular and rebellious Israel. That ugly al-Aqsa shack dedicated to the darkness and death that is Islam needs to go, and it will go. That doesn’t mean that a new Temple needs to be built there, but it will be….
With all of these religions claiming they want peace they have a funny way of finding pretexts to make war. Peace is only ever going to come through every member of the human race adopting a stance of ruling over the evil inclinations in their hearts and being able to discern the snakes of the Adversary. Those guidelines are drawn out in the Torah. They were lived by one single person in all of human history – Yeshua HaMashiach. Overall, HaShem wants us to do two things. Yeshua told us those two things. Every single one of us is to do as Yeshua stated in Mark 12:28-31:
28 One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them engaged in this discussion. Seeing that Yeshua answered them well, he asked him, “Which is the most important mitzvah of them all?” 29 Yeshua answered, “The most important is,
‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], 30 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this:
‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other mitzvah greater than these.”
We love G-d through obedience to His teachings. We love our neighbors as we want to be loved. What is ignored is that these are not one-and-done events. Obeying G-d and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves are both relationships. There will be joy as well as sorrow, frustration as well as success, hope and despair, victory as well as defeat in both of these relationships. The important part is to rule over the mistakes we make and to not make them anymore. When we fail G-d we know that G-d will never fail us which should be all the cause we need to repent and atone for our sins as soon as we recognize them. When we fail one another there are ways to offer peace to make up for the trespasses we committed against them. Now, whether the other person will reciprocate or offer peace to us is another story….
The point of this article is twofold. It reveals that the Torah is still applicable to our everyday lives. It is applicable because it instructs us about how to worship HaShem as He desires and tells us in no uncertain terms how we are to treat one another and what the consequences for failure are. It also reveals that when we try to worship G-d in ways G-d did not tell us to worship Him we will meet with disaster.
That point is extremely important today and will only be magnified in the future. The global technocratic fascist government and all of it’s fancy gadgets and technologies are meant to instill in the entire human race one thing – compliance to decrees issued by Satan-inspired men and women until the dragon itself sits at the helm of the beast system being built right now. The point of that global government and that beast system and that dragon is to destroy our ability to worship G-d at all and force us all to worship the dragon, the beast, and that government with all it’s fancy technology.
I see all of us in the same spot that Yeshua was taken to while he was tempted by Satan upon the mountain. Satan offered the entire world to Yeshua if only Yeshua would worship him. Yeshua had no evil in his heart to rule over. We do. Yeshua also knew exactly who Satan is and what it was Satan was trying to do. We are not necessarily keyed into the tricks Satan will play to try to get us onboard with the global government, beast system, and the worship of the dragon. This means we must have discernment and discernment comes from study and prayer. It comes from the relationship we have with G-d and those around us. Strengthen both relationships.
Bless G-d and G-d bless.