PARASHAH SHEMINI
(Leviticus 9:1-11:47) Week 26
SHEMINI: “Eighth”; “On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders…”
“8” The number 8 signifies “New Beginnings” in a biblical sense (Gematria)
EIL HA MILU’IM: The Ram of Ordination
ROSH CHODESH NISAN: The New moon (or month) of Nisan, remembering the Hebrew calendar is lunar. (Considered the wedding day of Israel and Adonai!)
ROSH CHODASHIM: The New Jewish Year
Nadav and Avihu: Aaron’s 2 older sons who were Leaders and considered greater than the 70 Elders!
TAZDDIKIM: Righteous! Even though Nadav and Avihu were considered Tzaddikim, they were not spared the death sentence due to their entry into the Holy of Holies in an unauthorized way, with unauthorized sacrifice in the censer.
Adonai warned Aaron of the prohibition of Drinking Wine prior to Avodah, Holy Service in His Tabernacle…AFTER the deaths of sons Nadav and Avihu.
It is believed the poor decision by Nadav and Avihu was a result of drinking celebratory wine before entering the Holy of Holies.
ESH ZAROH: Strange Fire, UNAUTHORIZED…UNAPPROVED…IN THE FLESH!
KEVOD ADONAI: Glory of God
OHEY SHALOM: Lover of Peace (This describes Aaron!)
MIDDOT HA LEV: Qualities of the Heart
SANHEDRIN: The Judges of Israel in the time of 2nd Temple,
(Sanhedrin appointed the High Priests when necessary)
KASHRUT: Kosher Laws divides animal species that are unclean from unclean
TAHOR: Denotes clean or pure… acceptable for consumption and sacrifices
TAMIA: Denotes defilement or moral deficiency… contaminates the soul of man
RUMINANT: A mammal which chews and swallows twice (cows, lambs, goats) and is Kosher
FISH: Must have fins and scales in order to be Kosher (Tuna, Salmon, Mackerel, Trout…)
MAMMALS: Must have split hooves and be cud-chewing Ruminants
*The dietary laws instilled ‘ritual purity’ and differentiated between PURE and IMPURE
“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:44)
“There is nothing outside a person which by going into him can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!” Mark 7:14-15 (Yeshua)
Please consider : Holy Fire vs. Strange Fire
The more we learn of Adonai and His instruction, the more we learn of His deep, faithful and abiding love for all mankind. There is an unchanging truth attached to the deepening intimacy with the Lord, however. The Lord our God is utterly HOLY and UNCHANGING! Therefore, as we draw NEAR, and NEARER, what can we learn and discern from the story of Nadav and Avihu?
If God’s Word is the SWORD of truth, is this where we will get the definition for HOLY FIRE and for UNAUTHORIZED UNHOLY FIRE?
Maybe the ideas about HOLY FIRE come from others, from the world, from the culture, or from our own minds?
STRANGE FIRE? How will we know?
If called “Priests for the Nations” now, in the New Covenant, our first area of ministry is to the Lord God Almighty; like Aaron and his sons were trained to do. The first things they did were to serve the Lord in His Tabernacle. The transference of sin through the sacrificial system for the people… was the secondary role.
Knowing this, is there an area of your relationship with Adonai that might be “Strange Fire”? Are we putting secondary things before the primary thing…Worship and Praise and Honor to the Lord (Means we must approach HIM as undefiled!)
Are we coming into His presence with what WE THINK He wants from us, instead of by way of the “walk through the Tabernacle, element by element”? Or, do we attempt to enter straight into His Holiness, through the Holy of Holies…without Viduy, (confession) Teshuva (Repentance) and Worship as our primary form of approaching His Holiness?
We know the command by God to Aaron about abstaining from drunkenness while serving in the Tabernacle came AFTER the death of his sons! At the level of closeness and training inside the Tabernacle, the sons of Aaron were presumed to know and understand “Ritual Purity”! Moses had modeled the role of the priest hood for 7 straight days before them. They approached the Holy of Holies uninvited, unsolicited by the Lord because “they thought they would be favored and they desired to do this”! (Pride)
This was a pride issue with the brothers which might have surfaced because of having tasted the wine of the festival, or even if they were not drunk from wine…for we do not really know for sure…They approached a FEARSOME GOD with common practice as if HE were one of the little ‘g’ gods from Egypt!!!!!
The Service of God requires the death of the EGO. (Rabbinical Commentary)
How does knowing this lesson of Nadav and Avihu impact how we:
- Approach the Lord in prayer
- Serve the Lord in our lives
- Seek Him in a deep and intimate way
- Discern His will and His ways to the best of our limited abilities
- Offer our First Fruits to Him (Rosh Chodesh)
Haftarah (Old Covenant) Reading: 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17
The story of Uzzah, son of Abinadab and his brother Ahio might present questions! It seems on the surface of the story that Ahio did the right thing by grabbing the ARK of the COVENANT as the wagon began to teeter on the roadway. (The transport of the Holy Ark was unauthorized! It was not to be transported on a Cart, but by the poles, atop the shoulders of the Aaronic Priests who were appointed to transport the ‘footstool of Adonai’!)
The Davidic Covenant:
- A great name for David
- The removal of external threats to the Nation
- The eternal descendant-line
- The Temple House built by David
- He eternal kingdom rules by the Davidic Line
- An eternal throne for David’s family / descendants (Yeshua)!
David felt the ‘Fear of the Lord’ in the death of Ahio. God used this experience to actually draw David closer and into more intimacy with Himself! As the story goes forth, David delights in the blessings of the Lord by leaving the Ark in the home of Obed-Edom of Gittite. Upon seeing the blessings there; David becomes enthralled again to take the Ark to Jerusalem, and the plans for the Davidic Temple became David’s REVELATION!
Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) Reading: Hebrews 8:1-6
Heb 7:22-25
“Moreover, the present Cohanim are many in number because they are prevented by death from continuing in office. But because he lives forever his position as Cohen does not pass on to someone else; and consequently, he is totally able to deliver those who approach God, through him, since he is alive forever, and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf”.
Heb 8:1-6
“Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: We do have just such a Cohen Gadol as has been described. And he does sit at the right hand of HaG’dulah (The Greatness) in heaven. There he serves in the holy Place that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one erected not by human beings but by Adonai.
For every Cohen Gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so this Cohen Gadol too has to have something he can offer. Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a Cohen at all since there already are Cohanim offering the gifts required by the Torah. But what they are serving is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly original; for when Moshe was about to erect the tent, God warned him, ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain’.
Yeshua is our Great High Priest and the eternal Mediator of the New Covenant!
We live in the “8th” Day of NEWNESS! We now can enter into the Holy of Holies with our worship and praise, without having to sacrifice, because our Cohen Gadol, Yeshua, has REDEEMED (paid for) us by HIS BLOOD!
Instead of sacrifices offered by ‘earthly priests’ in a Temple made by men, Yeshua offered Himself as the Se Ha Elohm…Passover Lamb, for all time, IT IS FINISHED!
The sacrifice of Yeshua ASCENDED up into the Temple of the Lord God Almighty, in the temple not made by the hands of men!
This is the Passover Story, again this week!
Every element in the Tabernacle and every Seder element in the Passover celebration, points us to Yeshua!
As Priests in His Kingdom, do we treat our relationship with our Kohen Gadol with a most honorable service and sacrifice?