PARASHAH METZORA
(Leviticus 14:1-15:33) Week 28
METZORA: One afflicted with TZARA’AT (This shall be the law of the Leprous person)
MIKVEH: The Ceremonial Bath for the Ritual Purity Ceremony
Must be held in a naturally- gathered, fresh Spring of water.
T’VILAH: Total Immersion (Our present-day Baptism in most churches)
NEGA: Infection
TAM’EI: Ritually Impure
UNCLEAN UNTIL EVENING: Since the Creation, God’s new day on earth for us begins at sundown,…not sunrise!
NIDDAH: Menstrual discharge
TZURIS: Troubles (The anticipated troubles of each day can be made much worse by NOT guarding our speech, thus bringing upon ourselves the heaps of burning coals!)
MOTZI’RA: One who speaks evil There is a Hebrew NAME for the speaker of evil! We become the speaker of evil when we ‘say or repeat’ the evil thing.
Speaking the truth, in love: For guidance here, read your Red Letter Bible and learn of the fruit of Yeshua’s lips! Yeshua always spoke the truth, especially privately, one on one, with people. Look at the verses in John 4: 1-42 as he met the Samarian woman at the well.
What we see about Yeshua’s approach is that he was totally truthful, yet with no condemnation!
His words convicted others of the truth…and His words SET THE CAPTIVES FREE!
Cedar Wood: Represents pride, as it is the most elegant and coveted of all trees, strong wood, strong trunk and branches
Hyssop Leaves: Represents humility, as a willow, this tree had weak wood, weak branches, but was plentiful. The willow needs the River Bank!
Red Thread: Represents Jesus sacrifice, His blood, and how He ties everything together.
At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting: SEE how there is much dramatic action taking place just outside the Tent of Meeting?
As we DRAW NEAR TO ADONAI, there is a boundary from His holiness.
We must PREPARE for our entry into the outer court as we approach His Holiness!
Dramatic events were taking place just outside the tent of meeting! See more clearly the specialness of the sincere women who gathered at the opening every day, to serve and make war, through prayer.
May we serve like those faithful women at the entrance to His Tent! They interceded for all gathered there, for the anointing of forgiveness of sin through the life for life principle of animal sacrifice…a shadow of the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Se Ha Elohim, the Lamb of God, Yeshua the Messiah.
PLEASE CONSDER: We were created with the need to imitate others. This is how babies learn. This is how teens find identity.
As adults, we struggle to find our WAY in the ritual imitation of others in the world system. WHO AND WHAT ARE WE IMITATING?
- WHAT ARE OUR RITUALS?
- WHY ARE RITUALS IMPORTANT AS TO THE DIRECTION IN WHICH WE LEAN?
- DO WE LEAN INTO HIS LIGHT OR DO WE LEAN INTO THE RITUALS OF THE WORLD SYSTEM?
The Waters of the Mikveh: Rabbis today still order the Mikveh bath for a variety of healing reasons.
Will we ever see Baptism by immersion the same way after this lesson from the Wilderness?
From our Roman~Greco religious training…to a new understanding of the Mikveh? I pray each student of Torah has a renewed understanding of ‘total immersion’ Baptism, as Yeshua demonstrated with John the Baptist in the Brit Chadashah.
To be submerged in God’s living water at Baptism, represented in the Mikveh ~ Immersion Bath, is a Spiritual re-entry into the womb of rebirth!
REBORN of the Spirit of God…NEW CREATION!
Is anyone needing the Mikveh Baptism? How have these instructions convicted anyone who has not ever voluntarily walked into the Mikveh bath to be proclaimed CLEAN … utterly clean … by HIS LIVING WATER?
The Mikveh is the representation of returning to the pure state of the womb, emerging totally healed of all that life has wrought in us that is un-holy and profane, or common to man.
We have been taught that Baptism is a re-birth.
His delight is for us to be made clean, whole, and new, by the immersion into the Sacrifice of Yeshua!
HAFTARAH (Old Covenant) READING: 2 Kings 5:20-27
We see that Elisha’s servant Gehazi was afflicted with TZARA’AT because of his greed, and the unbelieving captain of Israel doubted the prophet Elisha’s words that Israel would be delivered from Syria!
When we scoff at the prophetic truths in God’s word, we become vulnerable to correction for our lack of faith.
Have you known a family member or a friend to scoff at Biblical Prophecy?
BRIT CHADASHAH (New Covenant) READING: Matt: 8:2-3, Mark 1:40-41
Reflect in these verses of the miraculous healing by Yeshua of several instances of lepers healed by His TOUCH! Jesus touched the unclean!
Please consider the irony of a Sinless Savior coming from heaven to TOUCH the sinful and unclean, restoring us unto the Father!
Remembering the 13 Attributes of Adonai HE listed HIMSELF! (Ex 34:6-7)
Post ADONAI’S timeless Self-Disclosure where you will see it every day!
REMEMBER THE FOUR CUPS OF PASSOVER: Adonai said “I WILL”…
Cup one: I Will Sanctify you (Take you OUT of slavery)
Cup two: I Will Rescue you (FREE you from your bondage)
Cup three: I Will Redeem you (PAY for your sins with His own Sinless Life)
Cup four: I Will Restore you (RESTORE you unto the Father, in state of purity)