Joy in the Messiah

אֱמֹר
Emor / Say
Leviticus 21:1-24:23
Ezekiel 44:15-331
1 Peter 2:4-10

The Holiness of Time…

      We are spiritual yet we live and operate in the physical. Our souls are holy, yet we live and operate in the flesh. 
Ecclesiastics 12:7 ‘And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.’
Ezekiel 18:4 ‘Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.’
Genesis 2:7 ‘Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.’
     God created a secular time and a holy time. One day in seven, we stop working and enter the presence of the God of creation. We set aside a specific day that He sanctified, blessed and hallowed. It is His own seven-day cycle for God and man.   On certain days of the year, the moadim, the High Holy Days, we celebrate the God of history, the present and the future.
        Whereas the High holy days represent events of past, present and future; and the holiness of these days relate specifically to these events; the holiness of Shabbat is determined by God alone because He alone created the universe. 
     The Sabbath being part of creation, was implemented at the beginning of time.  It is the blueprint of God.  It is a specific holy day, a holy time for no other reason than for man to be set apart with Adonai. Genesis 2:3 clarifies: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it, He rested.” This is the first time the word “holy” is used in the Bible.  Abraham Heschel, in his book The Sabbath, writes: “… the word kadosh (holy), “a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine,” is first used in the Torah in relation to time.” It wasn’t a holy place or a holy person.  It was holy time.  Mark 2:27 'And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'
      The Moadim/Set-Apart Days were implemented as man walked the earth, as each event unfolded. Within each High Holy Day there is an undisputed event or reason, set in stone on the calendar of Elohim. Each Appointed Time represents a time because of God. Sabbath and the High Holy Days are equally set apart, yet both different in structure.
    Another measure of time in Scriptures is the New Moon. Each month there is a beginning, a point of entry for a new cycle.  Numbers 10:10, Isaiah 66:23, Psalms 81:3.
     Leviticus 23 has always been referred to as the calendar of holy time. Leviticus 23 is explicit: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’
    As we observe these Moadim and specifically the Sabbath set aside a time of holiness. It is a time of spiritual elevation towards the God of the universe, The Creator.  When we ignore these days, His holy word and His times are negated and replaced with a compromise that elevates our self, our own time, our own concept of time. And what we want to do with that time.
     Time is a precious commodity often overlooked, yet always coveted.  We never seem to have enough time. We lack time to accomplish what we need, want and have to do.  Throughout history, one of the things difficult to comprehend and unravel is the concept of time. On one hand, it appears to flow constantly and irreversibly, intertwined with everything, encompassing life itself, and connecting all things. Time gives witness to all changes and touches everything, playing a role in everything that exists, and we know we cannot escape time. But time being abstract; we cannot physically touch it; we can only grasp its effects.  It moves at rapid speed and then sometimes seems to stand still. Minutes drag on as we wait for appointments, but months and years seem to fly by and suddenly our children are grown and we are old. 
     We measure time's passage by hours, days, months, and years, but what are we are measuring? The movement of the heaven is circular, but the human sense of time is linear. On the physical level, the earth turns around today just like it turned around yesterday and it will continue until the end of time as we know it. In our essence of time, we somehow know that yesterday should not be just a repeat of today, and this year should not be just a repeat of last year, because we somehow know that our lives must move not in circles, but in spirals, with every rotation higher than the preceding one.  It is called Aliyah.  We move up in our beings, we grow, we change toward God and His will in time.
     Psalm 46:10 ‘He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
     Psalm 62:1 ‘Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him.’
     Psalm 19:14 speaks of meditating on God’s word, ‘May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.’ This Psalm is repeated at the end of the Amidah, which is read daily.
     The Aliyah of spiritual living is not to gain a wealth of information, but to create sacred moments with the Creator – at His calling.  This is a time to be attached to holiness.
     For a moment, time can stand still as we honor the Shabbat and His Appointed Times.

אֱמֹר
Emor / Speak
Leviticus 21:1-24:23
HafTorah Ezekiel 44:15-31
Brit Chadasha 1 Peter 2:4-10 

       Emor continues with the theme of holiness, beginning with instructions regarding priests, purity, and cleanliness, Leviticus 21:5-6.  Leviticus 22 contains commandments regarding the holy Name: “Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord. ³² You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.”
     This parsha, Emor is unique because of how it includes the Shabbat in Leviticus 23 which is considered to be the Calendar of Sacred Time.  Leviticus 23:1-3: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: The appointed times [moadei] of the Lord, which you are to proclaim [tikre’u] as sacred assemblies [mikra’ei kodesh]. These are my appointed festivals [mo’adai]. Six days shall you work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of sabbaths, a day of sacred assembly [mikra kodesh]. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.” 
     The word kodesh/holy appears no less than twelve times in Leviticus 23.  This chapter also emphasizes the number and impression of seven.  There are not only seven holy days in the annual calendar but there are also seven paragraphs in the chapter. The word “seven” or “seventh” occurs repeatedly (eighteen times) as does the word for the seventh day Shabbat in one or other of its forms (fifteen times) and the word “harvest” appears seven times.
     We are called to live and worship in spirit, but we are physical beings living in the flesh.  How can we be spiritual as we battle the daily fleshly happenings in the world? That is why there are secular times as well as holy times.  One day in seven, we stop working, stop worldly affairs, and enter the presence of the God of creation.  During the appointed festivals on certain days of the year, we celebrate the God of history because each festival represents something, some event. But the holiness of Shabbat was set at the time of creation. We can’t always be spiritual, for God put us in the flesh in a fleshly world in which to live and maneuver about. But on the seventh day of the week, the Shabbat, God has given us a space in time to feel His closeness and rest in His truth and love.  Taking part in creation.
      Rabbi Sha’ul in Galatians 5:17- exhorts us, ‘I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ The antidote is continued in verses 22-26.
     This is one of the reasons why the Sabbath is paramount to our beings.  It is a holy day, set apart by God, from creation. The holiness of Shabbat began at creation. It is the predecessor; it is the beginning, and this is why it is at the beginning of this chapter.  
     Shabbat is often the cut-off point for many people. A Passover can be attended, we can blow the shofar on Yom Teruah, and one can visit a family during Sukkot to share a meal. But to cross over and commit our lives to the holiness of Shabbat is a grand leap of faith and obedience.
    Emor ends with Leviticus chapter 24, concerning care for the lamps, the bread of the Tabernacle and the punishment for blasphemy, which seems to be out of place. 
    The Hebrew word for lamp/light in Leviticus 24:2 is ma’or, a relatively rare word, which occurs in Genesis 1:14 to describe the lights of creation. It states that their specific job was to mark sacred time. ‘Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years…’ Are these lamps in the Tabernacle to remind us of the sacred times?
    Next, we see twelve loaves of bread being brought before the lights on a Sabbath and remaining until the next Sabbath. These loaves are a representation of the twelve tribes of Israel coming into the presence of God and His light, Sabbath to Sabbath, basking in His glory. 
    Suddenly, there is a story about a man who blasphemed the Name of God, by cursing the Name, Leviticus 24:10-15. The people bring this person and accusation before God, where His answer is clear in verses 13,14. God’s point is that the Torah is applied to everyone living in the camp, Israelites and foreigners. The camp is a sacred space and the rules apply to all within, for they are to be a people of God, holy as He is holy.
    Leviticus 24, sandwiched between two chapters about sacred times is about sacred space. The space of the Tabernacle in Leviticus 24:1-9 and the space of community in Leviticus 24:1-15. The Tabernacle is holy, but the whole camp is holy, explaining that the people are to be holy for He is holy and must be aware of their actions as Rabbi Shau’l in Galatians 5:17-26 exhorts us.