PARASHAH KEDOSHIM STUDY NOTES
(Leviticus 19:1-20:27) Week 30
KEDOSHIM: Holy People … “You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.”
KEDUSHAH: Holy and Set Apart
KADDOSH: Holy
KIDDUSH: Sanctifying Wine
KADDISH: Sanctifying ‘the name’
KIDDUSHIN: The Ring Ceremony at the marriage
HAKODESH BARUCKH HU: The Holy One, blessed be He!
RASHA: Wicked person
YETZER HARA: Testing, by means of the natural bent toward evil
(Remember Lashon Hara…evil tongue!)
How is ADONAI set apart by His own words?
Omniscient: All Knowing…transcending time and space…NO limitation in His intellect…I AM THAT I AM
Omnipresent: All present…transcending time and space…NO physical or heavenly boundary…Y H V H
Omnipotent: All Powerful…transcendent! NO limitation in the physical or spiritual realm…ADONAI
The HOLY vs. The PROFANE: What is set apart as Holy verses what is the common practice of the world bent on evil…are antagonistic! Holy is the opposite of common ~ profane.
The repeated command by Adonai in this Parashah is: “Be Holy for I am Holy!”, in consideration of the eternal holiness of YHVH.
The Divine Presence cannot dwell alongside what is common to man in his sinful state.
The opposite of Holy is Sinful.
This is the crux of the matter!
The crux required a crucifixion of an utterly Holy substitute for the sin of the world…to usher in a New Covenant of YACHAD or UNITY!
Yehi’Or Vehi’Or: Let there be light, and there was light! (Genesis 1:3)
Please consider how the Divine breath of G_D, in the person of Yeshua, breathed the Universe into creation. His lips commanded: ‘Yehi’Or Vehi’Or!
The coming Savior, the coming Sacrifice, the coming REDEMPTIVE FORCE, created what He had agreed to die for to redeem, before the foundation of the world!
The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world:
“Everyone living on earth will worship it except those whose names are written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb slaughtered before the world was founded.” Rev. 13:8 CJB
TO SAVE through His suffering, death, and resurrection.
How would Adonai accomplish the infusion of knowledge for a barbaric nation, Isra’el; the knowledge of good ~ evil, light ~ darkness, common ~ Holy?
Remember: Without the LAW there is NO Trespass! By giving the LAW or TORAH, Adonai began to teach and train mankind in His TRUTH!
The Commandments are God’s instructions for living the life of the Tzaddik or the Righteous Person!
- To teach His people: The Lord God is HOLY and commands His people to to be Holy as He is Holy, by keeping His Laws…His Torah
- To train His people: Keeping His Law resulted in positive outcomes to make them “fit” for a relationship with a Holy God.
- The first 3 commands direct the people in their Vertical Relationship with their Creator!
- The next 7 commands direct the people in their Horizontal Relationships with mankind; many of these commands begin with, “Thou Shalt Not”!
The Decrees are given to “set apart” the Nation of Isra’el from all other Nations of the World, as Priests of the Kingdom of ADONAI.
- Isra’el could not be in relationship with Adonai if they engaged in idolatry and profane practices of the other Nations which He commanded the Isra’el to expel out of the land.
They were to be utterly ‘set apart’ by HIS Commandments, which result in sanctification.
- Israel was to understand that they had been “taken out of Egypt” to become a Nation of Priests.
- Israel was to agree with Adonai to accept the Covenant blessings He promised by showing their love for Him, by their obedience to Torah!
Everything about Torah was to bring Light ~ Life ~ Unity
- The Nation of Isra’el was to agree to be set apart for God’s glory and purposes!
- They must remain set apart from the profane practices of barbaric Nations.
Honoring parents and the Shabbat:
The 4th and 5th commandments are about honoring our parents and ancestors, and about keeping the Sabbath or Shabbat HOLY and set apart from all other Days of the Week as commanded by God. The observance of the Sabbath was also intended to extend to all Holy Days of the Lord!
Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other God Before Me:
The second commandment (A vertical one) prohibits placing anything in the high place reserved for Adonai in our lives. (Called Avodah Zarah or Strange Service)
Remember Avodah means Holy Work/Service…AVODAH ZARAH = STRANGE FIRE!
The gleanings of your harvest for the poor: Peia or ‘edge’ of the fields was planted for the poor to gather the gleanings and be fed! 1/50th of the farmer’s planting would be for the Mitzvah of Peia! AND (Leket…leaving stalks for the poor in the fields)
“We are to CULTIVATE from our abundance…for the POOR!” This means INTENTIONAL GIVING…NOT THE LEFTOVERS!
The EDGES made It easier and less humiliating for the POOR to GLEAN!
Forgetting the plight of the poor is considered stealing from God, in Judaism.
Lying, commandment #9, is forbidden!
We may not curse others. “You shall not curse the deaf,” If not to curse the deaf how much more important to not curse those who can hear our words!
We must not put a stumbling block before the blind by intentionally misleading others with misinformation or bad advice!
This is manipulation which is considered ‘witchcraft’!
We must judge others favorably. “In righteousness shall you judge your neighbor”… be forgiving and gracious when we think of others.
This mitzvah is in unity with the prohibition of Lashon hara (spreading evil speech even if the facts are TRUE) by means of gossip.
How many times have we heard: “Well I would not repeat this if I did not know, in fact, it is true!” Doesn’t matter!
Rechilut: Lashon Hara, evil speech even though the repeated information is true, still defames a person!
Motzira: One who brings forth evil because 3rd hand information is often a source of misunderstanding, ill will, and confusion in the lives of others.
B’tzedek tishpot amitekha: Constrained by God’s Spirit, the Spirit ~ Governed life is to see the best in each person, not the defect!
Aeyin Tovah…the Good Eye!
We must not hate our brother: This command undergirds the principal that “All of Israel is responsible for one another”.
We are brothers and sisters in the Lord! This means to take the TIME and the RISK to lead others into His glorious LIGHT!
Love your neighbor as yourself: Who is our neighbor? Only those who are WITH us and LIKE us?
V’ahavta I’re’akka kamokha: The Silver Rule written by a contemporary of Yeshua, Hillel.
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole of TORAH…the rest is commentary.”
Sha’atnez: Avoiding Ad-mixtures (Kilayim)
Midrash states this admonishment is to further hammer the truth of God’s perspective of being wholly HOLY, Set Apart from the commonality of the world!
The law forbids: mixing 2 crops together, 2 fabrics in one garment together, breeding 2 animals into a different animal.
There are boundaries around the Holy Order of God’s Creation!
MAN is not to MAN-ipulate this!
Please consider the reasons for seeking branding.
Whether in pure-bred animals from an exclusive breeding farm, or couture clothing custom-designed as a one-of-a-kind garment, the concept of a Brand is EXCLUSIVITY!
Adonai is the architect of EXCLUSIVITY! We were created and placed in HIS Garden of Eden, or Delight, to have an exclusive relationship with HIM.
How many examples in the universe will it take to SEE His message to us, from Nature to His Law?
He desires us to be exclusively HIS, set apart, Holy people, His PERSON created by HIS OWN HANDS, for relationship with Him.
This is a beautiful truth which He wants us to rejoice in!
Adonai spared NOTHING in order to redeem His Creation and to retain His original Master Plan or ‘Blueprint’, which is exclusively of HIM!
ORLA: Forbidden Fruits / Orla refers to the first fruits of a new tree … Adonai commanded the first 3 years of first fruits were not to be eaten.
The 4th year all the fruit was to be brought to Adonai as a sacrifice or sold and the money given to the Temple.
The 5th year was to be available to the farmer for his use.
4 types of Tithes: Ma’aser Behemah, Ma’aser Rishon, Ma’aser Sheni, Ma’aser Kesafim, see below:
- 1/10th of kosher cattle; 1/10th of all animals brought to Jerusalem, sacrificed in the Holy Temple
- 1/10th of farmer’s produce given to Levites who didn’t have their own land in Israel, as a tithe
- 1, 2, 4, 5th years in a 7-year Sabbatical cycle…the land was tithed a second time after the first tithe
- 1/10th of money, every Jew is obligated to give a 10th of his earnings to charity, a custom that goes back to Abraham (Gen 14:20)
Laws for Holy People: The eating of blood is strictly forbidden and is subject to having your life “cut short”…
In the same way, the penalty for participating in witchcraft or with ‘familiar spirits’ leads to death.
We are to honor Torah Scholars, Zakein, and the elderly, because of their wisdom from Torah Study!
Respecting our teachers and elderly, in general, is promoted in Jewish culture.
THESE ARE ABOMINATIONS UNTO THE LORD:
(Manifestations of Ashtoreth Worship, one of the 3 Principalities of the Air)
Child sacrifice (Abortion, Child Abuse of any kind, Child Sex Trade, Child Slavery)
Homosexuality (Male / female homosexuality, Gender Blurring, Trans-Gendering)
Bestialities (What can be said here, except UNHOLY!)
Sexual immorality (Any Sexual Activity outside the marriage bed of a man and woman, including open doors into perversion such as pornography.)
HAFTARAH (Old Covenant) READING: Amos 9: 7-15
Amos the prophet predicts the exile of Israel, due to the failure of Israel to fulfill God’s command and their intended destiny to be a “Holy Nation”. Yet, there is the everlasting promise that Israel will eventually be restored, and that all Covenant promises will be fulfilled at the end of the Tribulation and during the Millennial reign of Yeshua Massiache! The Jewish people have been scattered and sifted, but will never be utterly destroyed, on the contrary, they will be “reborn”! EX 37!
“The days will come” says Adonai, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one treading grapes, the one sowing seed. Sweet wine will drip down the mountains, and all the hills will flow with it. I will restore the fortune of my people Isra’el; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities; they will plant vineyards and drink their wind, cultivate gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their own soil, no more to be uprooted from their land, which I gave them says Adonai our God.”
BRIT CHADASHAH (New Covenant) READING: 1 Peter 1:13-16, 1 Cor. 6: 9-20
I love this reading in the Brit Chadashah. It puts light on the subject of many of the questions from the preceding months of Torah study, by our Talmidim. How to understand the commands of Torah, against the backdrop of contemporary life, in the grace period of our risen Savior in the Brit Chadashah?
The call in 1st Peter is a call to HOLINESS.
In 1st Corinthians, Paul repeats the same moral code that describes a people “Set Apart for Adonai”. Believers in Yeshua Massiache are to be free from the sin of the culture of their DAY!
We are to be from the other side of the sin-of-the-day, like Joseph who RAN from Potiphar’s wife! We are to RUN from sin, especially sexual sin…a form of idol worship!
As believers, a people set apart, we are not exempt from God’s call to personal holiness! Jesus made it very clear that He came to ‘expertly expound’ the TORAH, not abolish it!
Remember that the Holy One of Israel (Kedosh Israel) is the same yesterday, today, and forever! We can trust in this, therefore, be Holy as Adonai is Holy!
The Progression of Personal Holiness as a Child of God:
Be Holy as YOUR God Adonai is Holy (Observe His Mitzvah!)
- Keep Adonai’s Shabbat Holy (Observe His Rest which sets YOU apart)
- Honor your earthly parents (Honor: Give importance ~ give weight to)
- Adonai YOUR God is Holy! Do not turn to idol worship. Worship Adonai alone!
- Offerings to Adonai must be kept Holy, unlike how the world worships idols.
- Cultivate generosity for the less fortunate, the poor!
- Treat each other with respect, not with slander, lies, stealing, or cruelty.
- Never dominate with cruelty: the blind, the deaf, the infirm, rather, show kindness.
- Be just and fair, as Adonai is with YOU, when you are in a position of judging.
- Guard your lips from evil. (Lashon Hara)
- Stand up for the oppressed. Do not stand idly by and watch evil!
- Guard your heart by speaking truth in love when necessary, to a brother, lest a root of bitterness grow inside of you.
- Love your neighbor as you love yourself! This means every other person in your life!
- In all your cultivating, observe Adonai’s laws of order and EXCLUSIVITY!
- Treat women with respect! Keep the marriage bed undefiled!
- Allow new fruit bearing trees to mature before harvesting, and the first fruits always must be to Adonai! This sets you APART from the world!
- Never eat the blood. The life Adonai creates is in the blood. The blood He creates institutes new life. It is used to offer up as a sacrifice of atonement, which is very holy to Adonai!
- Respect all women, especially the young ones. Never put them into prostitution which will bring curses upon the Nation!
- Keep Adonai’s Shabbat and honor His Sanctuary as HOLY!
- Never seek out spiritual mediums; as this is EVIL and will DEFILE YOU.
- Stand in the presence of the elderly! They have authority over the younger generation because of their life experiences!
- Treat a traveler in the land or in your home with the same love and kindness as your own people. This sets you apart from the world who do evil!
- In all your business dealings be honest and just! Adonai is just with you!
- Observe ALL Adonai’s rulings and instructions, for HE IS YOUR LORD!!