Leviticus 21:1-24:23
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Speak to the cohanim, the sons of Aharon; tell them …’” Leviticus 21:1).
“They are to be holy for their God and not profane the name of their God. For they are the ones who present Adonai with offerings made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they must be holy” (Leviticus 21:6).
The priests of Adonai are to be holy. They are not to defile themselves with a dead body unless it’s their mother, father, son, daughter or virgin sister. They are not to make bald spots on their heads, mar the edges of their beards, or cut gashes in their flesh. Each of these instructions are mentioned in previous parashot and relate to pagan worship.
Priests and Marriage
A Levitical priest is not to marry a widow, divorcee, profaned woman or prostitute because he is ‘Kadosh l’Adonai.’ Priests were not to marry any woman who followed a pagan religion or who did not profess faith in the Elohim of Isra’el. Adonai did not want His people, especially His priesthood intermarrying and producing offspring that would profane His Altar. The high priest, the one who had been anointed with oil on his head, was only allowed to marry a virgin.
“God hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16). This verse is quoted to support all manner of opinions regarding marriage, divorce and re-marriage. It is important to remember two things. First, Elohim divorced Isra’el for breaking the marriage covenant. According to some theologies, He may never remarry –– ever. Through Yeshua, however, He renewed the marriage covenant and all Isra’el who put their faith in him are restored to Elohim as Husband.
Secondly, the words in Malachi are about willful divorce. He writes about men willfully violating their marriage covenants because they lusted after pagan women (Malachi 2:11). He calls this ‘treachery’ and a betrayal of trust. It is for this reason, betrayal of trust, Elohim hates divorce.
When it comes to remarriage in Leviticus, Adonai speaks only to the men who are priests because they are ‘Kadosh l’Adonai.’ This did not mean that other divorced men (and women) within Isra’el did not remarry; they just could not remarry someone from the priestly line.
“Yeshua said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife; and if a wife divorces her husband and marries another man, she too commits adultery’” (Mark 10:11-12).
These words are also taken out of context when trying to defend certain remarriage positions. This is Yeshua’s response to a question about divorce in Torah. He is asked if a man is permitted to divorce his wife. Yeshua knew the hearts of those who asked this question and responded with his own question, “What did Moshe command you?”
Moshe allowed a man to give his wife a ‘get’ and divorce her. A ‘get’ is like divorce papers that make effective the separation and gives the wife her marital rights back so she is not labeled an adulteress. The ‘get’ annuls the ketubah or the wedding vows. King David required all of his soldiers, before going to war, give their wives a ‘get’ so that if they were taken captive or were missing in action, their wives would be free to remarry without being adulteresses.
The problem was not the ‘get’ as it was allowed in Torah. The problem was the reason for the divorce. Jewish religious law still states that a ‘get’ can be given to a wife who spoils her husband’s dinner, the husband finds another woman attractive or no reason at all.
The concept of the marriage covenant had been distorted and perverted. It is because of this hardness of the heart that Yeshua reminds them “at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two are to become one flesh. …No one should break apart what God has joined together” (Mark 10:6-7). Marriage is a covenant between a man, woman and Adonai.
When a marriage breaks apart because of another person, adultery has already been committed. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life brings the iniquity of adultery into the heart until it grows into the sin of adultery. If the man asking for the divorce (women didn’t ask for divorce) immediately marries the woman he lusted after, he commits the sin of adultery making his new spouse an adulterer as well. The two became one flesh in the marriage covenant and his sin affects both him and his new wife equally. For a man to divorce his wife in order to marry another woman or for a woman to divorce her husband in order to marry another man is adultery. What about the wronged spouse, the one left ‘in the dust’ after a divorce?
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry” (1 Timothy 4:3).
This verse refers to more than just catholic priests and nuns taking a vow of celibacy, but the actual forbidding of people to marry. Those who offer no grace or mercy for remarriage for the one who did not request the divorce could be considered ‘forbidding’ people to marry. This is also ‘hardness of heart.’ According to Sha’ul, this doctrine comes from a deceiving spirit and a lack of faith. Only the Levitical priesthood was told not to marry a divorced woman, not every man (or woman) in the Body of Messiah.
“To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?” (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)
Sha’ul explains the believer who is married to an unbeliever should not separate from the unbeliever. This is because the believer sanctifies the unbeliever as well as their children. If the unbeliever chooses to separate from the believing spouse, that situation is allowed so the believer can live a life of peace. However, too often I hear of believing women leaving their unbelieving husbands so that they can find and marry a believing husband. This is not what Sha’ul teaches and would, because of the intention in the heart, be considered hardness of heart and adultery.
The sanctification of the believing spouse has great impact on the family unit. My mother was a believer and I didn’t realize how much her sanctification affected my family until she passed. Almost immediately our family unit disintegrated. My father wasn’t sanctified and neither were my siblings or myself. We had family friends who saw what happened and still remark about how fast our family fell apart. For a believer to want to leave the unbeliever is not only destructive to the family, it is also against Adonai’s will for the sanctification of husband, wife and their children.
“Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house. She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife; but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies. In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to Adonai, and you are not to bring about sin in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance” (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
These verses deal with remarriage after divorce and remarrying the first spouse. Apparently, the nations around the Israelites made marriage, divorce, and remarriage a routine of life, similar to today. Adonai gives the instruction that remarrying a previous spouse defiles both the man and woman, and is detestable to Him.
I knew a woman many years ago who was divorced and remarried. With her second husband, she had five children. They began attending a church whose leaders told her that she was an adulteress and needed to return to her first husband. She became distraught at the thought of destroying her family to return to a man she no longer knew was dead or alive. The leadership pressured her until she began researching the whereabouts of her first husband, preparing for a second divorce to restore the first marriage. She celebrated when she learned that her first husband had passed away. She was now free, according to Adonai (and her misguided leadership), to remain with her husband and children. In this situation, the grace and mercy of Adonai far outweigh the ‘letter of the law’ that would have destroyed an entire family unit.
“An elder must be blameless, husband to one wife” (Titus 1:6).
In order to be an elder or leader within the community of believers, the leader is to have only one wife. Men in leadership, like the priesthood, are not to be divorced and remarried. This means that when a man divorces his wife and marries another, he loses the privilege of being in leadership.
“For if a man cannot manage his household, how will he manage the family of God?”
(1 Timothy 3:5)
Because divorce and remarriage has become normalized in our culture, and even in the Body of Messiah, the instructions of Adonai are ignored. The teachings of Yeshua are distorted until more men (and women) in leadership are divorced and remarried contrary to the teachings of Sha’ul. Perhaps if followers of Yeshua really understood their loss of divine privilege, they would work harder at salvaging their marriages, ridding themselves of sin and hardness of heart.
Yeshua and Two Women
The Adulteress Woman
In John 8:1-11, a woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to Yeshua by the leaders while he is teaching in the Temple Court. They tell him that according to Torah, this woman needs to be stoned to death. Yeshua bends down and writes in the dust with his finger. Eventually he responds, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again.” With those words, the men left one by one.
The men leaving is significant. To condemn anyone to death by stoning, there needs to be two or three witnesses. In order to be a witness, one would have to be there and see the crime. To witness adultery means either watching it happen or taking part in the act. For any of these men to be a witness to adultery, they would have condemned themselves.
When the woman is finally alone with Yeshua, he tells her that without anyone to condemn her, he does not condemn her. With the words, “Now go, and don’t sin any more,” he sends her away. He never suggests that she will not enter the Kingdom because he knew her situation. She was either innocent of the claims or had repented from her sin.
The prophet Jeremiah reveals a little about the writing in the dust and perhaps the destiny of those who had tried to trap him with the adulteress woman: “Hope of Isra’el, Adonai! All who abandon you will be ashamed, those who leave you will be inscribed in the dust, because they have abandoned Adonai, the source of living water” (Jeremiah 17:13).
The Woman at the Well
In John 4:5-25, Yeshua is walking in the hills of Samaria, the western bank of the Jordan River. The Samaritans had been at one time part of the priesthood, but married out of the Levitical tribe contrary to Adonai’s instructions. Though they had a type of religious system, they had loss the understanding of Torah and were worshiping that which they did not really know.
Yeshua is exhausted from walking and he sits down by Jacob’s well. It was about noon and a woman comes to the well to draw some water. Yeshua asks her for a drink. She responds by asking why a Jew would ask a Samaritan for water. Yeshua’s answer begins the conversation, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”
When she asks for some of the living water, Yeshua tells her to go get her husband. She responds that she has no husband. At this, Yeshua reveals that she has had five husbands and is not married to the man with whom she is currently living. If this woman was committing adultery, this would have been the perfect segue to condemn her lifestyle. However, Yeshua understood her condition from some factors given in the account. First, it is about noon and this woman is coming alone to the well. This suggests she was an outcast in her community as women generally gathered at the well in the early part of the day and visited with each other. Second, barren women were considered an outcast and were often given a ‘get’ because they could not bear children for their husband(s). Third, perhaps she was an outcast because all of her husbands died and the last man didn’t want to fall into that pattern and took her into his home just to provide for her needs.
Yeshua continues the conversation by telling her that salvation will come from the Jews, and a time is coming when one will worship the Father neither in Samaria or in Jerusalem. Because Elohim is Spirit, He will be worshiped in Spirit and Truth. The woman responds that she knows the Messiah is coming and when he arrives, he would teach them all things. At these words, Yeshua responds, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”
At no time during their conversation does Yeshua tell her to return to her first husband; nor does he tell her to ‘go and sin no more’ as if she was committing adultery through divorce or fornicating by being unmarried. In fact, Yeshua reveals to her that he is the promised Messiah for whom she is waiting. Because of their conversation and her witness to the community about him ‘knowing everything she ever did,’ many people in Samaria put their faith in him.
“Do not commit adultery” is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14). As Yeshua showed with the woman ‘caught’ in adultery, it is a sin that with a tender heart can be forgiven. Marriage and remarriage is not always considered adultery as Yeshua proved with the woman at the well. Elohim knows divorce will happen due to the hardness of men and women’s hearts. Divorce is not His perfect will, not probably even his pleasing or good will, yet because He knows human nature, He gave instructions for marriage, remarriage and the ‘get’ of divorce.
The Bread of Presence
“You are to take fine flour and use it to bake twelve loaves, one gallon per loaf. Arrange them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure table before Adonai. Put frankincense with each row to be an offering made by fire to Adonai in place of the bread and as a reminder of it” (Leviticus 24:5-7).
Twelve loaves of bread were baked with fine flour and arranged in two rows of six as a reminder of the 12 Tribes of Isra’el who are always in the presence of Adonai. Every Shabbat, the priest was to arrange the loaves on the Table which were ‘especially holy.’ Only Aaron and his sons were allowed to eat this bread.
These are the same consecrated loaves that the priest gave David and his soldiers when they were hungry (1 Samuel 21:1-7). Yeshua used this historical event when he was accused of breaking the Shabbat to explain that we are to ‘live by Torah, not die by it’ (Matthew 12:3-6).
The Holy Name
“Then tell the people of Isra’el, ‘Whoever curses his God will bear the consequences of his sin; and whoever blasphemes the name of Adonai must be put to death; the entire community must stone him. The foreigner as well as the citizen is to be put to death if he blasphemes the Name’”
(Leviticus 24:15-16).
Selah
“There is however another type of cursing that happens with the Name of God. Because the Name was considered too holy to speak except on Yom Kippur, the actual rendering of yod-hey-vav-hey has been lost. The most acceptable form is Yahweh, but so many self-appointed scholars seem to think they know the real pronunciation. Nuances and transliterations have come about that His Name has become a matter of pride and arrogance to those who think they are wise, a laughingstock to those who know better and a mockery to those who believe it is too holy to even be used casually. I know those who throw the Name around with such familiarity that it loses its holiness and reverence especially when their life actions do not line up with His teachings. The whole verbage becomes ‘vanity’ or ‘taking His Name in vain.’”
“Though it is a separate issue, I want to take this opportunity to state my position regarding the usage of the Holy Name. Believe it or not, I do know and indeed say it at appropriate times. I don’t have any reason to prove that, since the name of Yeshua has become the Name above all Names, and the One in whom I trust. I regard the Holy Name as holy, holy, holy. Saying/writing it casually makes it casual. I will refrain from doing that because so many of my Jewish friends also regard it as holy, holy, holy.”
“Regarding the usage of ‘Yahshuah’ or Yahuwah,’ I don’t understand why people have accepted the opinions of self-appointed Hebrew scholars when there are brilliant actual Messianic Jews who are highly educated and speak Hebrew as their primary and natural tongue who have made it abundantly clear that “yashuah” is impossible nonsense.”
The consequence for blaspheming Adonai, was death. The foreigner as well as the citizen was to be put to death. This is a high price to pay for ignorance and arrogance with the Name of Elohim. Until Yeshua returns, no one will know the exact pronunciation of yod-hey-vav-hey. Yeshua is the name above all names. The Hebrew spelling for yeshua found in a Hebrew dictionary is ישוע and literally means ‘salvation.’ – Ted Pearce
“Anyone who strikes another person and kills him must be put to death. Anyone who strikes an animal and kills it is to make restitution, life for life” (Leviticus 24:17-18).
Human life is so valuable to Adonai that if someone kills another, they are to be put to death: a life for a life. The same holds true for an animal as it is defenseless against human brutality. Though with an animal, the consequence is not life for life, but restitution. If an animal kills a human, the animal needs to be put to death because human life is more valuable than an animal.
Leviticus 24:20 is the famous “break for break, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, whatever injury he has caused the other person is to be rendered to him in return.” Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof reminds his villagers that if this rule was strictly followed, everyone would be blind and toothless. It would follow from Tevye’s reasoning that cutting off the hand of someone who steals would render everyone ‘hand’-icapped.
“You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too! If someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well! And if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, carry it for two! When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something from you, lend it to him” (Matthew 5:38-42).
The Feasts of Adonai
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el: The designated times of Adonai which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are my designated times’” (Leviticus 23:1).
The Hebrew word for ‘feasts’ is mo’edim and means ‘seasons’ or ‘appointed times.’ Moed’im is used in Genesis 1:14 for ‘seasons’ as the lights in the sky were to be used for determining the days (sunset to sunset), weeks (seven days), months (by the lunar cycle) and for the ‘appointed times.’ The Feasts are the ‘appointed times’ of Adonai, not Jewish festivals as rendered in the new testament. They appear to be Jewish as Adonai gave them to His people to ‘proclaim,’ and for millennia that is what they did through their traditions. As the ‘appointed times’ of Adonai, there are many prophetic ‘shadows’ that Yeshua brings to ‘reality’ with his life, death, resurrection, and coming Messianic Era. Celebrating the ‘appointed times’ throughout their generations wherever Isra’el lived, they fulfilled the calling of being a light to the nations while revealing the ‘shadows’ of Yeshua. As the nations celebrate the ‘reality’ of Messiah within these ‘appointed times,’ they more effectively fulfill the calling to make Isra’el envious.
Selah
“So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah” (Colossians 2:16-17).
When I was being discipled many years ago, I was taught a different perspective of ‘shadow’ or tzel. We know that a substance, a reality, casts a shadow. We see it and say, “Hey, there the shadow of ….” In Jewish thought, however, a shadow is the evidence of a reality that needs to be sought out. This is the purpose for the Feasts of Adonai. They are ‘shadows’ with the ‘reality’ in Messiah Yeshua.
For most gentile believers, once they have the ‘reality’ of Messiah, they feel they don’t need the ‘shadows.’ In fact, many say that no one is to judge them for not taking part in the ‘shadows.’ However, it is the ‘shadow’ that proves the ‘reality.’ If someone claims to have the ‘reality’ of Messiah, then as evidence they should be casting his ‘shadow.’ When a foreigner or gentile follower of Messiah keeps the Shabbat or any of the ‘appointed times’ focused on Yeshua, a ‘shadow’ is cast and a Jewish person will seek out the ‘reality’ (the substance). The veil of ‘shadows’ will be removed from their eyes and they will see the ‘reality’ of their own Messiah, Yeshua.
‘Holy convocation’ is mikrah in Hebrew and also means ‘rehearsal.’ This is why no one should be judged for celebrating Adonai’s holy days. They are a ‘rehearsal’ of events that are coming as there still remain ‘appointed times’ that need to be fulfilled by Yeshua.
Those who are part of a wedding party go to the rehearsals followed by a rehearsal dinner. They are the inner circle friends of the bride and groom. Those who don’t attend the rehearsal are the guests invited to the wedding. There are always some guests who excuse themselves and don’t attend the wedding celebration.
This is how it is with the mo’edim. Those who are in the inner circle of the groom attend the rehearsal dinners, the Feasts of Yeshua’s Father. There are many, too numerous to count, who make excuses and do not take part in the rehearsal dinners and will fill the wedding hall as guests at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
“For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14, Luke 14:15-24).
Shabbat – Sabbath
The first ‘appointed time’ of Adonai is the Sabbath.
“Work is to be done on six days; but the seventh is a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy convocation; you are not do to any kind of work; it is a Shabbat for Adonai even in your homes”(Leviticus 23:3).
Elohim set-apart the seventh day of creation as the day to cease work. It is not a day of personal choice as the Israelites learned when they were given instructions about gathering manna. When Yeshua called himself ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’ he referred to the seventh day created by his Father. Sabbath remains the seventh day during the Millennial Kingdom until its complete fulfillment as the eternal Sabbath ‘day’ in the restored heavens and earth and the New Jerusalem. As one of Adonai’s mo’edim, Sabbath is a ‘sign’ between Him and His people forever (Ezekiel 20:20).
Pesach – Passover
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai” (Leviticus 23:5).
This is a memorial to the Passover in Egypt. It is established as one of the mo’edim by Adonai. It was fulfilled by Yeshua when he died as the ‘Lamb of Adonai’ on the cross. His blood redeemed all men back to his Father.
Matzah – Unleavened Bread
“On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. On the first day you are to have a holy convocation … on the seventh day is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work” (Leviticus 23:6-8).
This is a memorial to the exodus from Egypt. It is established as one of the mo’edim by Adonai. It was fulfilled by Yeshua when, as a ‘sinless’ (unleavened bread) man, he was quickly taken from the cross, wrapped in burial clothes, and placed in a tomb. Matzah is called a ‘rehearsal’ or mikrah.
Yom HaBikkurim – Early Firstfruits
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el, “After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen”’” (Leviticus 23:9).
This mo’ed was to be celebrated when the Israelites entered the Promised Land and harvested their crops. The celebration of this ‘appointed time’ was delayed 40 years while they wandered in the wilderness.
Early Firstfruits included bringing a sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest to the priest who would wave it before Adonai so that the person bringing the offering would be accepted by Adonai. The sheaf was waved on the day after the weekly Sabbath or the first day of the week. Offerings of a male lamb, a gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and a drink offering of one quart of wine accompanied the wave offering.
This is a memorial to the firstfruits of Isra’el set free from a life of slavery and death in Egypt. It becomes one of the mo’edim. It was fulfilled by Yeshua when he was resurrected on the first day of the week as the firstfruits of those who are raised from the dead and released from the captivity of Abraham’s bosom (Matthew 27:52-53, Ephesians 4:7-9).
“This is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live
(Leviticus 23:14).
Feast of Weeks – Shavuot – Latter First Fruits
Sefirat HaOmer – Counting the Omer
“From the day after the day of rest [weekly Shabbat] — that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving — you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to Adonai” (Leviticus 23:15-16).
The 50 days of counting the days between Yom Habikkurim and the next ‘appointed time’ is known as ‘counting the omer’ of the barley harvest. At the end of the 50 days, is the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. This festival is celebration of the latter firstfruits of the wheat harvest. The offering for Adonai consisted of two loaves of leavened bread made with one gallon of fine flour.
The Israelites had to wait to celebrate this mo’ed until they entered the Promised Land for they could not grow grain during their wilderness travels. It was only after they entered the Land they could actually make fine flour from their wheat harvest.
I have an electric grain mill and no matter which setting I use, my flour is not ‘fine’ nor can I run it through a second time to make it finer; it sticks to the mill stones. Fine flour needs to be sifted numerous times until it is aerated and much lighter than when it was first ground. In ancient Isra’el, grain was put between two huge mill stones for grinding. The flour would be coarser than what comes out of my electric mill so the number of times it would have to be sifted to aerate to the consistency of powder would be determined by the coarseness after each sifting. From this powdery fine flour two loaves of leavened bread were made and waved before Adonai along with a burnt offering, drink offering, sin offering, and a peace offering. Shavuot was a permanent regulation and called a mikra or ‘rehearsal.’
“When you harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don’t harvest all the way to the corners of your field, and don’t gather the ears of grain left by the harvesters: leave them for the poor and the foreigner; I am Adonai your God” (Leviticus 23:22).
Shavuot was also a memorial Adonai giving the Torah at Mount Sinai. It becomes a mo’ed of Adonai at this time. Yeshua fulfills this ‘appointed time’ by ascending to his Father and asking him to pour out His Ruach to comfort, teach, and unite his followers (John 14:16, Acts 2).
Though Shavuot is referred to as the ‘birthday of the church,’ a new and separate religion from the Jewish faith called Christianity was not born on this day. Shavuot was the fulfillment of the promise in the new covenant that the Ruach haKodesh would write the Torah on the hearts of men and women from the House of Judah and the House of Isra’el. Their sins and lawless deeds would be forgiven and forgotten (Jeremiah 31:31).
Because Adonai discusses the poor and the foreigner in reference to harvesting crops, He reminds Isra’el that His promises and provision are not only for them. Foreigners would join them in the new covenant promises and through faith in Yeshua, the wild olive branches (the nations) would join with the natural olive branches (the Jews) to become a representation of His Kingdom on earth: the two leavened loaves of bread waved before Yeshua our High Priest.
“And he [Yeshua] told them yet another parable. The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with a bushel of flour, then waited until the whole batch of dough rose” (Matthew 13:33).
Yom Teruah – Day of Blowing
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el, In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar’” (Leviticus 23:23).
This is the first mo’edim that Yeshua has not yet fulfilled and it remains in the ‘shadows.’ It is a day for ‘remembering,’ but Adonai doesn’t reveal what is to be remembered or what will be remembered by blowing the shofar. It is a day of complete rest and a mikra or ‘rehearsal.’
Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘The tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur; you are to have a holy convocation, you are to deny yourselves, and you are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai’” (Leviticus 23:26-27).
On the tenth day of the seventh month is another mikra or ‘rehearsal.’ The regulation for this mo’ed is to deny oneself (fast) or be cut off from the people of Isra’el. No work is to be done on this day; it is a permanent regulation through the generations wherever the Israelites live. This ‘appointed time’ for the nation of Isra’el has not yet been fulfilled by Yeshua.
Sukkot – Feast of Tabernacles
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Sukkot for seven days to Adonai’” (Leviticus 23:33-34).
Sukkot is the plural for the Hebrew word sukkah meaning ‘shelter.’ Sukkot is another mo’ed of Adonai also called The Feast of Ingathering. It is a ‘Season of Rejoicing’ when all Isra’el lives in shelters or temporary dwellings for seven days as a reminder of the Israelites who lived in tents in the wilderness, and Adonai’s Mishkan that was in the center of their tribal camps. The first and eighth days is a ‘rehearsal’ and no ordinary work is to be done.
On the first day of Sukkot, palm, myrtle, and willow branches were bound together with an etrog or citrus fruit and waved in the presence of Adonai for seven days. When the Jews gathered palm branches and welcomed Yeshua into Jerusalem with shouts of Hoshana, they believed they were ushering him into his Messianic reign in Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophetic ‘shadow’ of Feast of Tabernacles; however, this was not the ‘appointed time’ for its fulfillment. This mo’ed is still in the ‘shadows’ only to become ‘reality’ when Yeshua returns to set up his Millennial Kingdom.
“Thus Moshe announced to the people of Isra’el the appointed times of Adonai” (Leviticus 23:44).
Yeshua in His Father’s Feasts*
Sabbath
“Then Yeshua left and went to his home town, and his talmidim followed him. On Shabbat he started to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded” (Mark 6:1).
Passover
“For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed…” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Yeshua is the ‘reality’ in the Pesach lamb. The lamb’s blood was put around the doors of the Hebrews homes in Egypt so that death would ‘pass over’ them. Yeshua’s blood redeems Elohim’s people by removing sin and its consequence of death from those who trust in his blood on the cross.
Unleavened Bread
“Get rid of the old hametz [leaven], so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Yeshua, the unleavened bread from heaven creates a ‘new batch of dough,’ his Body of followers who exit ‘Egypt’ and leave their pagan idols and religious practices behind. They are set free from slavery to worship Adonai as He intended.
Early Firstfruits
“But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man. For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming“ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
The Firstfruits sheaf offering alludes to a coming harvest of crops. The risen Yeshua offered a sheaf of grain to his Father in the heavenly Tabernacle and it was accepted on his behalf and ours. Yeshua becomes the intercessor between Adonai and us while showing us the ‘way’ to the eternal Land of Promise.
“At that moment the parokhet in the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom; and there was an earthquake, with rocks splitting apart. Also the graves were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life; and after Yeshua rose, they came out of the graves and went into the holy city, where many people saw them” (Matthew 27:51-53).
Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, The Latter Firstfruits
“If you love me, you will keep my commands; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforting Counselor like me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever”
(John 14:15-16).
“You will receive power when the Ruach haKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y’hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!” (Acts 1:8)
“The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach haKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4).
At his last Pesach seder, Yeshua promised the Ruach haKodesh would be given to his followers. Before he ascended to his Father, he explained the Ruach Elohim would empower them to be his witnesses to the whole world. The Ruach Elohim came upon the first Jewish believers on this ‘appointed time’ as evidence that Yeshua had instituted the new covenant for Judah and Isra’el.
Feast of Trumpets
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
Day of Atonement
“I [Adonai] will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me [Yeshua], whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son. When that day comes, there will be great mourning in Yerushalayim” (Zechariah 12:9-11).
Feast of Tabernacles
“The Word became a human being and lived with us and we saw his Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
“And the Dvar Hashem [Word of God] took on gufaniyut (corporeality) and made his sukkah, his Mishkan (Tabernacle) among us, and we gazed upon his Kavod [glory] the Shechinah of the Ben Yachid from Elohim HaAv, full of Hashem’s Chesed v’Emes” (John 1:14, OJB).
“Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them received authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for testifying about Yeshua and proclaiming the Word of God, also those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands. They came to life and ruled with the Messiah for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).
Eternal Sabbath
“Then the culmination, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after having put an end to every rulership, yes, to every authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24).
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away, and the sea was no longer there. Also I saw the holy city, New Yerushalayim, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, ‘See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God-with-them, will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death; and there will no longer be any mourning, crying or pain; because the old order has passed away’”(Revelation 21:1-4).
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