Joy in the Messiah

בְּחֻקֹּתַי 
B'chukotai / In My Statutes 
Leviticus 26:3-27:34 
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14 
2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Chazak! Chazak! V'nitchazek! Be Strong! Be Strong! And May We Be Strengthened!

     This parshat begins with beautiful promises from Adonai. He begins these promises with the word ‘IF’ - ‘If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands…’ Leviticus 26:3. 
    God promises rain in due seasons, abundant crops, and an overflowing grape harvest. He promises peace, no fear, and that enemies will fall.  He will look upon us with favor, increase our numbers and He will keep His covenant with us.  Dwelling with us, He will walk among us and be our God. We will no longer be slaves as He breaks the yoke that imprisons us.  Leviticus 26:3-13.
    These promises are followed with the consequences for disobedience. He will bring upon sudden terror, we will be defeated by our enemies, sky like iron and ground like bronze.  He will multiply afflictions, send wild animals, destroy cattle, and rob us of children. He will send plagues, cut off food, and punish us seven times over for our sins.  Leviticus 26:14-39. 
    Leviticus 26 ends with another ‘IF’.  ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward Me, ⁴¹ which made Me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, ⁴² I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.’ Leviticus 26:40-42.
     Promises mentioned in the first half of Leviticus 26 connect our life with Yeshua and The Word now.  Rain is likened to His Word, Isaiah 55:10-12. Crops can be seen as growth and provision, 2 Corinthians 9:6-12. Grapes are mentioned more often than any other fruit in the bible and are considered a symbol of redemption and renewal in Jewish tradition. Grapes are a representation of Joy-Simchat. Judges 9:13 states: "My wine which makes joyous God and men."  Peace is given to us through Yeshua, John 14:27 and He erases all our fear, John 16:31-33.
     Leviticus 27 is about the redemption of people and property. Leviticus 27:16-21 is specifically about the redemption of land. Leviticus 27:20-21 states: ‘But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; ²¹ but the field, when it is released in HaYovel, shall be holy to the Lord, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest.’
     The Field. 
     Rabbi Shau’l uses an agricultural metaphor for God’s people in 1 Corinthians 3, calling it “God’s field” ‘For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.’ 1 Corinthians 3:9.  Agricultural images in Scripture typically carry messages of growth—or lack thereof.
     Redemption.
     Job 19:25-27 ‘As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God Whom I myself shall be held, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!
Colossians 1:14 tells us: ‘He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.’
Psalm 107:1-3O: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. ² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.’
   Every year during Shavuot as we read the book of Ruth we see the picture of redemption and our Messiah. Ruth 4:3-6 ‘Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.” ⁶ And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
     Ruth is a picture of the Gentiles/the Nations who have lost their inheritance. Gentiles were without God being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. Ephesians 2:12. Sin/lawlessness/torahlessness separates us from God as stated in Romans 7:9-14, and leaves us without the ability to redeem what we have lost. Ruth was in this dilemma. Boaz being a picture of Yeshua Messiah, met all the requirements of the kinsman-redeemer as does Yeshua. Boaz showed favor toward Ruth, redeemed her, and restored her inheritance. Yeshua shows favor toward us, redeems us, and restores our lost inheritance, Ephesians 2:13-22. A Jewish Messiah took to Himself a included the nations to be His bride, thus redeeming the nations or Gentiles.
     Holiness.
1 Peter 1:15-16 ‘But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 
1 Peter 2:9 ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.’
     The Priest.
Hebrews 4:14-16 'Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,  Yeshua the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.'
     We are the masterpiece of the High Priest, Ephesians 2:10, we were bought with a price, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and all souls are His, Ezekiel 18:4.
    Fields, people, nations, holiness, and redemption; are all seen through this Torah portion, the closing of the book of Leviticus, Vayikra. 
      
 

     בְּהַר 
B'har/ On the Mount 
Leviticus 25:1-26:2
Jeremiah 32:6-7
 Luke 4:16-21

        Behar opens with God speaking to Moshe. The word debar Hebraically means more than just speak. Strongs #1697 gives these definitions: promise, pronounce, speak, tell, warn, command, even sing. When Elohim speaks it is ultimate authority. 
      Debar begins with the Hebrew letter D – Dalet – representing ‘door’.  When we hear Elohim speak, when it is written that Elohim spoke, that is the door to His Kingdom. We enter His Kingdom through His Word. 
    Yeshua references Himself as ‘The Door’ in John 10:1-10. Before that, He is called the Word in John 1:1-5. He is the Door to the Kingdom.  Words in the Tanakh are in the Brit Chadasha, and words in the Brit Chadasha are found in the Tanakh. They are all the Words of Elohim.
     The Hebrew word for salvation is The word ישועה (yeshu'ah, Strong's #3444) is a noun derived from the verbal root ישע (Y.Sh.Ah, Strong's #3467) which means "relief" in the sense of being rescued from an enemy, trouble or illness. (Ancient Hebrew/org).
      There is another word in Scripture for national salvation/relief/release. The Hebrew word deror (דרור) seems to mean “free flowing” or “running.” This word also begins with the D/Dalet/Door.
 Leviticus 25:10 ‘You shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release (deror, דרור) through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.’
     Behar holds the key to the Year of Jubilee / Ha Yovel, the year of freedom. According to the Torah, a Hebrew slave could only be enslaved for six years. Exodus 21:2 states that he shall go out as a free man without payment. This shows the difference between personal salvation and the national salvation of Israel for all slaves shall be free. We as individuals experience redemption but we see from Romans 11:26 that when Messiah comes, ‘All Israel will be saved.’
     This word Deror appears in Isaiah 61:1-2. ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty (deror) to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn…’ 
     This is the Scripture that Yeshua read in the Synagogue (Luke 4:16-22). However, Yeshua dropped the last half of Isaiah 61:2, “the day of vengeance of our God” and added a phrase from Isaiah 58:6, “to release the oppressed.” Incidentally, this is the first recorded reading of the HafTorah.  This Torah portion now is no longer included in any of the HafTorah readings; however, the date of this exception is unknown. 
     It is taught that the Isaiah 61 passage had been linked with the biblical theme of Jubilee, freedom from slavery and return to the land (when in exile). But it also was seen as the promise of the coming Messiah, who would bring not only Ha Yovel for Israel but God’s judgment on their oppressors. This explains why many expected the messiah to bring freedom by coming with a sword. However, in Matthew 10:34 Yeshua states; “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”
       In last week’s parsha we read Leviticus 23:15-16 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.’
     These two acts of counting are similar, yet there is a difference that tends to be missed in translation. The counting of the Omer is in the plural: u-sefartem lakhem. The counting of the Sabbatical Years is in the singular: vesafarta lekha.  It was the sages’ teaching that the difference between the two was ‘who’ was to do the counting.  They taught that in the case of the Omer the counting is each individual’s duty, therefore, the plural use. In the case of Ha Yovel, it is the singular, therefore, the counting was the Bet Din’s responsibility, specifically the supreme court, the Sanhedrin.  
    However, that doesn’t coincide with the singular, since Bet Din would represent a plural, a minyan, ten men. If it is the case of singular, who would be responsible for the counting?
     There is only One who is qualified to do the counting or to cease the counting for a season-Elohim. He alone is the author of HaYovel.  Yeshua started it, He will continue it, and He will end it. 
     But why did HaYovel cease? The sages teach: “According to biblical law, the Jubilee is only observed when all twelve tribes are living in Israel, as is derived from the verse, “And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live on it,” which implies that the Jubilee is only sanctified when “all who live on it”—meaning, all who are meant to be living there—are in the Land of Israel.’  
    In Deuteronomy, we read of the promise. Deuteronomy 30:3-5 ‘…that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ⁵ Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.’ 
     God led captivity into captive, freeing us through Messiah. Rabbi Shau’l quotes Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:7-

            Psalm 68:18                                                                Ephesians 4:8-10
After you went up into the heights,                     ‘When He ascended on high,  He led captivity captive
you led captivity captive,                                        and gave gifts to men. Now this, He ascended -
you took gifts among mankind,                             what does it mean but that He also first 
yes, even among the rebels,                                  descended into the lower parts of the earth? 
so that Yah, God, might live there.                        He who descended is also the One who ascended 
                                                                                    far above all the heavens that He might fulfill all things.