Shemini (Eighth)

(Today's Torah portion is Shemini. I wrote this post about Shemini in my previous blog 04/19/2007.)

TORAH: Vayikra (Leviticus) 9:1-11:47
HAFTARAH: Shemu'el Bet (2 Samuel) 6:1-7:17
KETUVIM NETZARIM: Ivrim (Hebrews) 7:1-19; 8:1-6

The seven days of the ordination of Aharon and his sons were completed, and on the eighth day, they began offering atoning sacrifices for themselves and the people. After all the slaughtering was completed and the offerings laid out as commanded, YHWH showed His approval by consuming the offerings with fire.

Lev 9:23 And Mosheh and Aharon went into the Tent of Meeting, and came out and blessed the people. And the esteem of YHWH appeared to all the people,
Lev 9:24 and fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. And all the people saw and cried aloud and fell on their faces.

All of us can probably imagine ourselves doing exactly the same--crying out and falling on our faces--upon seeing the esteem of YHWH and fire coming out from before Him!

It was during this episode of the fire coming out from before YHWH that Nadab and Abihu decided to bring "strange fire" before YHWH.

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aharon, each took his fire holder and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and brought strange fire before YHWH, which He had not commanded them.
Lev 10:2 And fire came out from YHWH and consumed them, and they died before YHWH.

These newly ordained priests should have followed the example of the people and remained humble with their faces in the ground before YHWH. Apparently they thought it was a fireworks show that they were worthy of participating in and decided to do things their way instead of waiting upon YHWH. It reminds me of the old saying, "If you play with fire, you WILL get burned."

We cannot play around and do things for YHWH that we think He will like. He has given us His Word and spells out exactly what is pleasing to Him and what is not. Leaning on our own understanding is deadly.

Yeshua Messiah tells us that we need to be like little children to be able to enter into His Kingdom.

Mat 18:3 and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become as little children, you shall by no means enter into the reign of the heavens.

He wants our childlike trust that He knows best so that we will live according to every word from His mouth instead of doing what we think or feel is best. This is because He wants us to live with Him forever.

Vayikra (Leviticus) 11 is where YHWH teaches us what animals are food for us and which are not. YHWH is our Creator, and He knows how His creation is to be fueled and maintained. We are foolish if we do not heed what He says. When we buy a car, we are careful to put in the fuel the manufacturer recommends, so why is it so difficult to follow what YHWH says in this area?

Lest we be tempted to underestimate the importance of heeding and obeying YHWH's Word regarding what to eat and what not to eat, we need to remember that the entire journey mankind has been on since Adam is because he and his wife ate something YHWH told them not to. Why would we think our fate would be any different than theirs if we do exactly the same as they did (eat something YHWH said not to eat)?

In YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 66, YHWH has told us what is to come:

Isa 66:15 "For look, YHWH comes with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His displeasure with burning, and His rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 "For by fire and by His sword YHWH shall judge all flesh, and the slain of YHWH shall be many –
Isa 66:17 those who set themselves apart and cleanse themselves at the gardens after 'One' in the midst, eating flesh of pigs and the abomination and the mouse, are snatched away, together," declares YHWH.

This has not happened yet, but because YHWH said it, we can be assured that it will. If we continue to eat the abominations that YHWH said not to eat, we will end up exactly as Nadab and Abihu.

Yeshua Messiah and the Apostles never taught that we could eat whatever we want. The first key to knowing the Truth is that such a teaching is in direct contradiction to:

Mal 3:6 "For I am YHWH, I shall not change, and you, O sons of Ya'aqob, shall not come to an end.

Heb 13:8 Yeshua Messiah is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

Jam 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of turning.

If something is an abomination to Him yesterday, we can be sure it is an abomination to Him today and forever because He doesn't change. Why would we ever want to worship a variable changeable god?

The key to knowing the Truth about what the 'New Testament' says about foods is to use the Creator's definition of what foods are. Unclean animals have never been food for us and never will be. He created them, just as He created everything, so obviously He knows what He created to be food for us and what He created for a different purpose, and it is because He loves us that He instructs us so well about this along with everything else that we need to know.

Just one little item as 'food for thought' about this: If Yeshua Messiah had taught His disciples that the instructions in His Torah (Yochanan/John 1:1-3) about what to eat and what not to eat were no longer in effect, then why did Kefa (Peter) three times insist that he had never eaten anything unclean during his vision of the unclean animals? (Acts 10:9-16) Hint: Kefa reveals what his vision was about in Acts 10:28, and it wasn't about animals at all, but Kefa's response to the voice telling him to eat unclean animals tells us a lot about what Yeshua taught His disciples about what to eat and what not to eat.

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In the Haftarah portion, we learn about the fate of poor Uzzah:

2Sa 6:6 And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of Elohim and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
2Sa 6:7 And the wrath of YHWH burned against Uzzah, and Elohim smote him there for the fault. And he died there by the ark of Elohim.

The first problem in this situation is that YHWH specifically instructed how His ark was to be transported, but David failed to follow those instructions:

Num 4:5 "At the breaking of camp, Aharon and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Witness with it,
Num 4:6 and shall put on it a covering of fine leather, and spread over that an all-blue wrapper, and shall insert its poles.
Num 4:15 "And when Aharon and his sons have finished covering the set-apart objects and all the furnishings of the Set-apart Place at the breaking of camp, then the sons of Qehath shall come to lift them, but let them not touch that which is set-apart, lest they die. These matters are the burden of the sons of Qehath in the Tent of Meeting.

The Qehathite clan of the Levites were to be the ones conveying the ark by the poles in their hands after it had been properly covered by the sons of Aharon--the Kohenim.

Sadly, because the ark was on an ox-cart, it was susceptible to toppling, and even though Uzzah was probably only trying to keep the ark from falling off of the cart, he still suffered the fate YHWH warned of hundreds of years earlier.

The lesson of Uzzah is excellent for teaching us that even if we think we're doing something good, we simply cannot lean on our own understanding nor trust in our own deceitful heart. We need to put all of our trust in YHWH and listen to His voice and simply obey.

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Heb 7:11 Truly, then, if perfection were through the Lewitical priesthood – for under it the people were given the Torah – why was there still need for another priest to arise according to the order of Malkitsedeq, and not be called according to the order of Aharon?
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

Malkitsedeq preceded Aharon. The earthly is a shadow of the heavenly. Yeshua, a priest according to the order of Malkitsedeq, has always been. Unlike the earthly Aharonic priests who had to present offerings day by day for their own sins and for those of the people, Yeshua offered Himself up once for all of us who hope in Him from the beginning of time, so that now the law of sin and death no longer has any power over us. How blessed is our Messiah, who bought us with His own shed blood. May we always praise and honor Him.