Vayikra (Leviticus)
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Meaning
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Day Five
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Haftara
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B'rit Hadashah
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1 Our Father, we receive Your Words and hide Your commandments with us; 2 we incline our ear unto wisdom, and apply our hearts to understanding; 3 We cry after knowledge and lift up our voices for understanding; 4 we seek it as silver; and search for it as for hidden treasures; 5 We declare that we shall understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Declaration of Proverbs 2:1-5
Leviticus 11:1-28 (NASB)1
1 The LORD spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth. 3 'Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. 4 'Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you. 5 'Likewise, the shaphan, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; 6 the rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; 7 and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you. 8 'You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you. 9 'These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 'But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you, 11 and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. 12 'Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you. 13 'These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, 14 and the kite and the falcon in its kind, 15 every raven in its kind, 16 and the ostrich and the owl and the sea gull and the hawk in its kind, 17 and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, 18 and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture, 19 and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 'All the winged insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. 21 'Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth. 22 'These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kinds, and the cricket in its kinds, and the grasshopper in its kinds. 23 'But all other winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you. 24 'By these, moreover, you will be made unclean: whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, 25 and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. 26 'Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof, or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean. 27 'Also whatever walks on its paws, among all the creatures that walk on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, 28 and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.
It's a lovely 54 F degrees and it's not yet ten o'clock in the morning! It rained through the night and the lumber has arrived for the fencing. It appears that Nault's Ark will be expanding to include a young mare that my granddaughter, Paige has purchased. After much discussion, the location for the paddock was decided and the clearing of the land began. There are a lot of tree stumps and brush to remove and I called dibs on the brush and detritus to be removed to the front where it will be placed in piles along the border between the frontage at the highway and our living space. I saw this recently on my way to the little community where we go on Fridays to shop for the Seniors' Club on Mondays. The farmer had put intermittent piles of tree trunks and branches along the border between his living space and the field where he plants his crops. I thought it looked odd and wondered why in the world he was doing such a thing. Then I saw it on the Internet! The brushwood is piled between T-bar posts and includes any garden detritus like leaves and such to fill in open spaces. It provides a windbreak, a shelter for small animals and birds, a privacy screen, and provides some protection against agricultural spray drift. The multi-useful nature and minimal inputs make this style of fence well-suited to permaculture designs. I've always pictured something along that open frontage but wasn't sure what and now I know what it's going to be.
I joined the permaculture movement last year when I filled the bottom of my raised garden boxes with brush and parts of trees left after being harvested for the wood stove. Then I topped up the boxes with a mix of black soil and the marvelous black gold that the chickens provide each year. The decaying brush and wood provide a sort of compost in situ. As it degrades it feeds the plants above. Permaculture is somewhat new and it involves using a holistic approach to land management and design that mimics natural ecosystems. It integrates various elements like plants, animals, and human activities promoting efficient methods of working 'with' God's natural world. But best of all, it will no longer be necessary for me to be using the natural “landfill” behind our storage sheds. I was dumping everything there to fill in the gully. Now it can be even more efficiently placed at the front of the property as a brush fence.
There is still much groundwork to be done, but our son-in-law is overseeing the entire project. Our carpenter grandson, Zachary is also involved in this project for his sister. It will require much work at the onset, but many benefits thereafter, as far as I'm concerned. There's about 250 feet from the highway to where our property living space begins. I'm sure that larger animals like moose and deer use that frontage to lay down at night on their travels, Many times during the summer I've noted that the tall grasses and ferns are all flattened in areas that are reminiscent of crop circle indentations. Noticing those piles of brush from the highway over the past month and then coming across the information about this added permaculture knowledge was no coincidence! The older I get the more I am beginning to adamantly believe that there is no such thing as coincidence! It is more like God-incidence!
Now the homestead blather is at an end as we turn to The Word and John Wesley's Notes on the Bible parsed chapter eleven succinctly and accurately. The dietary inclusions and exclusions for Israel are noted.
“Of clean and unclean beasts, ver. 1-8. Fishes, ver. 9-12. Fowls, ver. 13-19. Creeping things whether flying, ver. 20-28. or creeping upon the earth, ver. 29-43. An exhortation to holiness, ver. 44, 45. The conclusion, ver. 46, 47.”
This list and all things associated with this list are the content of the next two days that will close out our reading for this week.
Did you know that our Jewish brethren begin the teaching of their children with the book of Leviticus? Perhaps the reason for doing so is that it's such a basic primer on the basics of holy living. If one is led to a career in the military, one starts in “boot camp” first. Another term for boot camp would be “basic training”. Leviticus is taught first because it is “basic training”. I believe that basic training is the time when the soldier learns the functions and care of his side arms, rifles, and other various weapons. The recruit learns how to take it apart, oil the mechanical moving parts and reassemble the weapon, in the dark as well as in the lighted area. The notion of basic spiritual warfare is almost unknown to the denominational church in our day. Leviticus is basic training in spiritual warfare. The very basic truths one can learn about spiritual warfare are those notions that have to do with clean and unclean; holy and unholy; the sacred and the profane.
I can think of no better time for Torah than the time in which we live. We’ve become desensitized to the notions of clean and unclean! When you think about it, the world has already been sold on eating and using unclean animals in our food and cosmetic products for centuries so the only barrier left is to eradicate the distinctions between those remaining unclean insects of the unclean species. I think that many believers might be thinking as I once thought about the following Word; that people would still be partying when the Son of man returned, but it means much more than just partying!
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24:37-39.
In the days of Noah, mankind had fallen to every conceivable act of degradation and rebellion—even the animals who breathed the air had to be destroyed because of the things they were subjected to by the men of that time. If we have a strong case of “déjà vu” then we perceive correctly that our society is going the same way as the one in Grandfather Noah’s day. If we submit to the obedience that is so very high on the list of God’s “to-do” list for all of us, then Torah helps us to make distinctions—to do or not to do, that is the ultimate question. And Torah answers that question!
We know that there was that distinction between clean and unclean among the animals before our chapter today because Noah was instructed to bring “clean and unclean” into the ark.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 7:2-3.
And so we see the instruction, the Torah of God has always been there and is right now as we talk about it in this journal and will always be because it originated with and in our Creator. The Bible doesn’t seem to come right out and say it, but in the communications between the Creator and Creation, there must have been teaching on these matters before the flood and after. But today we see the official, absolute; okay we have no question about it, clear-cut information as to what is “clean” and what is “unclean” for diet. To this very day, our Israeli population, which is made up of the sons of Judah and all the other tribes who joined them after Solomon and the Kingdom split, who are now collectively known as Jews maintain this manner of diet.
In my time B.T. (Before Torah), when I was still in the denominational church stream, I remember often that teachers would say that believers are exempt from Biblical dietary laws. They always pointed to the Scripture describing the vision that Peter had in Acts, chapter ten. That portion has been completely taken out of context. God used Peter’s hunger to instigate that vision and it wasn’t to tell him that God had “changed His mind” about dietary matters. Peter himself will tell us what the meaning of that dream vision was:
28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? Acts 10:28-29.
In the old B.T. days, nobody referred to the entire chapter, they only referred to the verses up to and including verses one to sixteen. If one reads the entire chapter and doesn’t rip part of it right out of its original context, then one sees an entirely different lesson! But in this day, as we live in such perilous times, the remnant of believers can’t afford to get hung up on issues of food. I only know the way I was convicted to follow the Biblical menu, and my husband, without any word from me, later followed suit. So read and see how it went for Israel in the days of old and let The Marvelous Creator speak to your heart and then be at peace with it and we shall determine that at least “food” should not be a cause of division among us!
I joined the permaculture movement last year when I filled the bottom of my raised garden boxes with brush and parts of trees left after being harvested for the wood stove. Then I topped up the boxes with a mix of black soil and the marvelous black gold that the chickens provide each year. The decaying brush and wood provide a sort of compost in situ. As it degrades it feeds the plants above. Permaculture is somewhat new and it involves using a holistic approach to land management and design that mimics natural ecosystems. It integrates various elements like plants, animals, and human activities promoting efficient methods of working 'with' God's natural world. But best of all, it will no longer be necessary for me to be using the natural “landfill” behind our storage sheds. I was dumping everything there to fill in the gully. Now it can be even more efficiently placed at the front of the property as a brush fence.
There is still much groundwork to be done, but our son-in-law is overseeing the entire project. Our carpenter grandson, Zachary is also involved in this project for his sister. It will require much work at the onset, but many benefits thereafter, as far as I'm concerned. There's about 250 feet from the highway to where our property living space begins. I'm sure that larger animals like moose and deer use that frontage to lay down at night on their travels, Many times during the summer I've noted that the tall grasses and ferns are all flattened in areas that are reminiscent of crop circle indentations. Noticing those piles of brush from the highway over the past month and then coming across the information about this added permaculture knowledge was no coincidence! The older I get the more I am beginning to adamantly believe that there is no such thing as coincidence! It is more like God-incidence!
Now the homestead blather is at an end as we turn to The Word and John Wesley's Notes on the Bible parsed chapter eleven succinctly and accurately. The dietary inclusions and exclusions for Israel are noted.
“Of clean and unclean beasts, ver. 1-8. Fishes, ver. 9-12. Fowls, ver. 13-19. Creeping things whether flying, ver. 20-28. or creeping upon the earth, ver. 29-43. An exhortation to holiness, ver. 44, 45. The conclusion, ver. 46, 47.”
This list and all things associated with this list are the content of the next two days that will close out our reading for this week.
Did you know that our Jewish brethren begin the teaching of their children with the book of Leviticus? Perhaps the reason for doing so is that it's such a basic primer on the basics of holy living. If one is led to a career in the military, one starts in “boot camp” first. Another term for boot camp would be “basic training”. Leviticus is taught first because it is “basic training”. I believe that basic training is the time when the soldier learns the functions and care of his side arms, rifles, and other various weapons. The recruit learns how to take it apart, oil the mechanical moving parts and reassemble the weapon, in the dark as well as in the lighted area. The notion of basic spiritual warfare is almost unknown to the denominational church in our day. Leviticus is basic training in spiritual warfare. The very basic truths one can learn about spiritual warfare are those notions that have to do with clean and unclean; holy and unholy; the sacred and the profane.
I can think of no better time for Torah than the time in which we live. We’ve become desensitized to the notions of clean and unclean! When you think about it, the world has already been sold on eating and using unclean animals in our food and cosmetic products for centuries so the only barrier left is to eradicate the distinctions between those remaining unclean insects of the unclean species. I think that many believers might be thinking as I once thought about the following Word; that people would still be partying when the Son of man returned, but it means much more than just partying!
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24:37-39.
In the days of Noah, mankind had fallen to every conceivable act of degradation and rebellion—even the animals who breathed the air had to be destroyed because of the things they were subjected to by the men of that time. If we have a strong case of “déjà vu” then we perceive correctly that our society is going the same way as the one in Grandfather Noah’s day. If we submit to the obedience that is so very high on the list of God’s “to-do” list for all of us, then Torah helps us to make distinctions—to do or not to do, that is the ultimate question. And Torah answers that question!
We know that there was that distinction between clean and unclean among the animals before our chapter today because Noah was instructed to bring “clean and unclean” into the ark.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 7:2-3.
And so we see the instruction, the Torah of God has always been there and is right now as we talk about it in this journal and will always be because it originated with and in our Creator. The Bible doesn’t seem to come right out and say it, but in the communications between the Creator and Creation, there must have been teaching on these matters before the flood and after. But today we see the official, absolute; okay we have no question about it, clear-cut information as to what is “clean” and what is “unclean” for diet. To this very day, our Israeli population, which is made up of the sons of Judah and all the other tribes who joined them after Solomon and the Kingdom split, who are now collectively known as Jews maintain this manner of diet.
In my time B.T. (Before Torah), when I was still in the denominational church stream, I remember often that teachers would say that believers are exempt from Biblical dietary laws. They always pointed to the Scripture describing the vision that Peter had in Acts, chapter ten. That portion has been completely taken out of context. God used Peter’s hunger to instigate that vision and it wasn’t to tell him that God had “changed His mind” about dietary matters. Peter himself will tell us what the meaning of that dream vision was:
28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? Acts 10:28-29.
In the old B.T. days, nobody referred to the entire chapter, they only referred to the verses up to and including verses one to sixteen. If one reads the entire chapter and doesn’t rip part of it right out of its original context, then one sees an entirely different lesson! But in this day, as we live in such perilous times, the remnant of believers can’t afford to get hung up on issues of food. I only know the way I was convicted to follow the Biblical menu, and my husband, without any word from me, later followed suit. So read and see how it went for Israel in the days of old and let The Marvelous Creator speak to your heart and then be at peace with it and we shall determine that at least “food” should not be a cause of division among us!
“Vehalachta Bidrachav—you shall walk in His ways!”
1 NASB www.lockman.org for daily reading and KJV in commentary unless otherwise specified
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