Joy in the Messiah

שְּׁמִינִי 
Shemini / Eighth
Leviticus 9:1-11:47
HafTorah 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17
Brit Chadasha Acts 10:9-22     

     There are three chapters in Shemini. Chapter nine describes offerings of atonement. Chapter ten is about the disobedience of Aaron’s: Nadab and Abihu with strange fire. In chapter eleven, God gives His people the Torah of clean and unclean food. 
     This Torah portion begins with commands about the eighth- day offerings. This whole process reveals the glory and holiness of Adonai. Leviticus 9:1 ‘It came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.’ Leviticus 9:5-7: ‘So they brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. ⁶ Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.” ⁷ And Moses said to Aaron, “Go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.” Leviticus 9:22-24: ‘Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. ²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, ²⁴ and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.’
     When the people witnessed this miraculous event, they surely felt the glory and holiness of the LORD as the fire consumed the offerings. 
     In Luke 2:21-38 the glory of the LORD was quite visible again on the eighth day.  Simeon a ‘devout’ man declared the salvation of the LORD.  Contrary to what is often taught, the Holy Spirit did appear before Yeshua’s death. Simeon was covered with the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, thirty years before the death and resurrection of Yeshua, Luke 2:25-26. In Luke 2:29-32 Simeon declared God’s anointed salvation: ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles (nations/goyim) and the glory of Your people Israel.’
      Simeon’s declaration that a light had come to the Gentiles, referencing the prophet Isaiah, connects him to the Torah. Rabbi Sha’ul also quotes the prophet in Acts 13:47. ‘For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
     Isaiah 42:6 ‘I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles…’  
      Isaiah 49, especially Isaiah 49:6 ‘Indeed He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
    The ‘Light to the Nations’ comes in the form of Yeshua, who is the walking and living Light, the Torah of God. 
     Isaiah 9:2 ‘The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.’

 שְּׁמִינִי 
Shemini / Eighth
Leviticus 9:1-11:47
HafTorah 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17
Brit Chadasha Acts 10:9-22
    This Torah portion begins by glorifying God on the eighth day. Leviticus 9:22-24 states: ‘Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, 24 and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.’  When the Israelites saw the power of the Shekinah, they realized the fierce greatness of The LORD as the verse states: ‘they fell on their faces.’ 
    It is a mystery why the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu would go before Adonai in such a frame of mind.  ‘Then Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.’ Leviticus 10:3. 
    The death of the two sons ends with God making a declaration: ‘And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:
‘By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.’  So Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:3.    
    There are many theories and commentaries on the death of the two sons.  One clue we have is the statement from God to Moses directly after their death. ‘By those who come near to Me…I must be regarded as holy…’
    This seems to be the infraction, the sin of Nadav and Avihu.  Did they not regard Adonai as holy? In Numbers 3:4-5 they are mentioned along the word profane. ‘Nadav and Avihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.’
    The word profane can also be translated as common or foreign.  In Leviticus 10:3 God specifically states that it He must be regarded as holy to those that come before Him.  When we come before God on our time, in our place on our day that we choose, we might perceive Him holy in our mind, yet that is a fleshly ‘holiness’ for we have tried to bring His holiness down to us. Our minds are not structured to comprehend the vastness and greatness of God.  He made the universe but is not contained in the universe. This is a supernatural thought and realm that humans can not fully understand. Therefore, when we come to Him on our preferred time, we demote Him to serve our very needs and likes in the manner that we have chosen.  The only way to fully glorify Him His Way is to come before Him during the times and seasons that He specified, not the ones we substituted.  This is how we come before Him and regard Him as holy. This is how He is Holy.  He doesn’t need us to make Him Holy – He is the epitome of holiness. We are to honor His holiness His way. 
    Proverbs 16:18 ‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’  
    Philippians 2:3 ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.’
    Proverbs 16:5 ‘Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.’
    Proverbs 12:15 ‘The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.’
    Galatians 6:7-8 ‘Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.’
    We are used to thinking of God as an always loving Father, sometimes lessening Him as ‘our friend’. But in one of the most profound things shown in Scripture is that the Divine is a being who is “Wholly Other, Completely Set-Apart, and Uncommon,” from a reality different from ours.  God cannot be limited to our terms or to our simple understanding.  There is Divine power from another realm that demands our awe and wonder, but with whom we must be exceedingly careful to remember what and who He is.
    Therefore, we must take our attention off of the strange fire of Nadav and Avihu and put it on The Divine, God Himself.  The corresponding HafTorah in 2 Samuel 6, the Ark was mounted onto a wagon, pulled by a team of cattle. When along the way the cattle tripped, and the Ark was about to fall, Uzza stretched out his hand to catch the Ark and prevent it from falling to the ground.  ‘And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.’ 2 Samuel 6:6-7. Other Hebrew translations use the word “exploded” (פרץ). Uzza had only the best intentions: he didn’t want the Ark to crash. Where did he go wrong?  He did a good thing but was it the right thing?
    Uzza forgot that God does not tolerate any impact by the impure on anything that is directly connected with the Divine.  We see that God could not tolerate for a second the less-than-divine hand of Uzza making contact with the holy Ark, the seat of God’s presence.  This is the same as the strange fire coming from Nadav and Avihu going before the Lord. 
    These two stories have a strange connection in the Bible. Avinadav is the person who had been keeping the Ark at his home in Gibeah before it was taken to Jerusalem.  His name is a strange reflection of the names of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu.  Uzza, who was the one who tried to stabilize the Ark is Avinadav’s son.
    Did everyone become just too comfortable with God?  Did everyone become too sure of themselves?  James 4:8 states ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’ But what does that really mean? We are to draw near to God His way according to His will, not our own.  
     

שְּׁמִינִי
Shemini / Eighth
Leviticus 9:1-11:47
HafTorah Portion 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17
Brit Chadasha Acts 10:9-22

  The Timeless Order of the Priests,

     Shemini opens with God summoning Moshe with instructions for the eighth day of the beginning of the priestly ministry. Chapter 9 ends with a grand display of God’s greatness and glory. ‘Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. Leviticus 9:23-24.
     Immediately following Moshe and Aaron's obedience to God's instructions and the Divine Glory of Elohim, Aaron’s two sons offer strange fire and are consumed themselves by fire. Another display of Diving Greatness. ‘So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Leviticus 10:2-3a.
    What was it? What was the strange fire? What was wrong with Nadab and Abihu acting spontaneously? Or did they behave presumptuously? Moshe had acted spontaneously when he broke the tablets after the sin of the Golden Calf. Centuries later, David would act spontaneously when he danced as the Ark was brought into Jerusalem. Neither of them was punished for their behavior. What made Nadab and Abihu deserve such a punishment? What was the unauthorized fire? What was the difference?
     The difference was that Moshe was a Prophet, David was a King. but Nadab and Abihu were priests. Prophets and kings sometimes act spontaneously, maybe even presumptuously because both live in the world of time: a time for battle, a time for circumstance, a time for display, a time to live and a time to die. They often operate in the moment and in a moment’s notice.  For them, yesterday is not today, and tomorrow will be different again. That can give them situations to act spontaneously. Even presumptuously, even to make mistakes.
     But priests have a different role altogether. They inhabit a world that is timeless, in which nothing that is significant changes. The daily, weekly and yearly sacrifices were always the same. Every element of the service in the Mishkan was bound by its own intricate, detailed rules, and nothing of significance was left to the discretion of the Priest. We have just studied the past Torah portions, which included the detailed accounts of the Tabernacle, the items within it and the details of each sacrifice.
      The priest was the guardian of order. It was his job to maintain boundaries between sacred and secular, pure and impure, perfect and imperfect, permitted and forbidden. His realm was that of the holy as God tells Aaron in this Torah portion: Leviticus 10:8-11 ‘Then the Lord said to Aaron, ⁹ “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, ¹⁰ so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.’
     Ezekiel 44:23-24 ‘And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.’
      The key verbs for the Kohen were lehavdil to distinguish and lehorot to teach.  The Kohen made distinctions and taught the people to do likewise. The duty and responsibility of the Priests was to remind the children of Israel that there were limits and an order to the Ways of Elohim.  There is an order to the universe, and we must respect it. Spontaneity has no place in the life of the priest or the service of the Sanctuary. That is what Nadab and Abihu failed to honor. It may have seemed like a minor transgression, but it was the opposite of everything the Divine Tabernacle and the Priesthood stood for.
     We read in Hebrews about Yeshua the High Priest, Hebrews 7:14-17 ‘For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. ¹⁵ And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest ¹⁶ who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. ¹⁷ For He testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’
     Hebrews 5:1-10 ‘For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. ³ Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. ⁴ And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. ⁵ So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” ⁶ As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'
     Psalm 110:1-4 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies our footstool.” ² The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! ³ Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth. ⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not relent,
“You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
      The High Priest represents order and teaches order. Yeshua’s order was even unto death. ‘John 19;28 ‘After this, Yeshua knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.
     Rabbi Shau’l reiterates this;
     1 Corinthians 14:33 ‘For God is not a God of disorder but of peace as in all the congregations of the Lord's people.'
     1 Corinthians 14:40 ‘But all things should be done decently and in order.’
     The order in our lives should and must copy the High Priest. If we are not walking in the order of the High Priest, we are walking in an order of our own. John states in Revelation that we are priests and kings in the order of God, ‘…and from Yeshua, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ⁶ and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.’ Revelation 1:5-6.
    Lehavdil – to distinguish, and lehorot – to teach.  We can’t distinguish and teach the principles of God until we walk in His Ways, learn His Ways and be still in His Divine Order.