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Vayikra (Leviticus)
sh'mini 9:1-11:47 |
Meaning
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Day Two
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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 10:1-11 (NASB)1
1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. 6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled . 7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. 8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman… 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes... 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you... 29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. Ezekiel 36:17; 23; 25; 29.
The most commonly thought origin of the haftara readings occurred in 168 BC when the Jews under the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes were forbidden by law to read Torah. The decree was limited to the Five Books of Moses, so the sages instituted that a section of the Prophets be read instead of Torah. Usually, the haftara will be connected by ideas or a similar event in Torah but it has been known that some have no connection whatsoever. This week’s portion of haftara is one of those similar portions that do not connect quite as well as the selection from Ezekiel.
Nadab and Abihu took on an aspect of the worship that wasn’t theirs. They were, in other words, ‘out of order’.
1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Leviticus 10:1-2.
They may have been slightly intoxicated from the celebrations of the ordination to which verse nine alluded. They may have felt that since they were in the group who were allowed to go up on the mount when the elders had that banquet that they had an exalted position.
9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. Exodus 24:9-11.
Whatever these two men did it was ‘strange fire’ and it is clear that they didn’t take God seriously while carrying out an ‘unclean’ act, attitude, or practice. Moses and Aaron were understandably shocked by this turn of events.
3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:3.
Adam Clarke commented on this portion:
“... Aaron was dumb. How elegantly expressive is this of his parental affection, his deep sense of the presumption of his sons, and his own submission to the justice of God! The flower and hope of his family was nipped in the bud and blasted; and while he exquisitely feels as a father, he submits without murmuring to this awful dispensation of Divine justice. It is an awful thing to introduce innovations either into the rites and ceremonies, or into the truths, of the religion of Christ: he who acts thus cannot stand guiltless before his God. It has often been remarked that excessive grief stupefies the mind, so that amazement and deep anguish prevent at once both tears and complaints; hence that saying of Seneca, Curae leves loquantur; graviores silent. "Slight sorrows are loquacious; deep anguish has no voice.”
Adam Clarke posits that it’s very bad to “introduce innovations” into the “truths” or the “religion” of Christ and it is clear that in that era in which Moses lived, the same notion stood for the truths and ‘religion’ of the tabernacle! Leviticus 10:3 still rebounds in my mind as the command to “take God seriously!”
Commentators think that perhaps the brothers had taken too much wine because of the instructions to Aaron after the tragedy.
8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Leviticus 10:8-11.
Have you noticed so far that sin is equated with being unclean and defiled? Israel in a state of filthiness was due to idol worship. Ezekiel carried the message that they could be saved from their uncleanness. The priests were the first ones to learn and were then obligated to teach the rest of Israel to “put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean”. This is a state of being that has largely gone unknown and unappreciated by the mainline so-called ‘church’ of our day because of the huge disconnect between the two Testaments of the Bible! Instead of recognizing that Israel was the root of their faith, the early church's so-called ‘fathers’ made the split between Jews and Gentiles almost permanent for a very long time. But in the decade of the seventies Jews for Jesus originated and that divide became less and less as the years went by. Now many ministries link together the Jew and the Gentile recognizing Yahweh/God and Jesus The Anointed/Yeshua and the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh altogether in unity.2
In these days of such lawlessness that seems to have its roots in the decade of the sixties, men have been doing everything “that is right in their own eyes”. This is no different than the state of Israel in the days of the Judges:
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6.
It’s my opinion that this time has come around for the entire world again where truth is ‘relative’. In the time of the Judges of Israel, what was truth for one wasn’t truth for some other. Truth was relative—it changed from person to person. There was no ONE UNIFIED ABSOLUTE truth. And frankly, as we look around us now, there is none of it in our generation either. I wonder about some of the television programs of the fifties. Leave it to Beaver, Lassie, and Father Knows Best hold memories that almost seem corny to us now. I have an inkling that Hollywood was just phasing out the notion of an absolute truth where everybody was on the same page and there were consequences for actions. Even the Andy Griffith Show which ran until 1968 promoted the idea that parents need to curb bad behavior and teach their children not a way but the ‘right’ way and it was all orchestrated in the little vignettes between the Andy and the Opie characters. It was like Hollywood telegraphing the masses, “Get a good gawk at this way of life, folks, ‘cause it ain’t gonna last!”
We’re all reading Torah here in our assembly separated only by geography because we’re convinced that the Bible is The ABSOLUTE truth. It’s a very sad thing indeed when new believers are instructed to read only the New Testament. There are so many connections that are lost if one relegates the biggest part of the Bible to the dustbin! Maybe Nadab and Abihu lived to tell us all that we need to take God seriously about this unclean and clean thing. Maybe we all just need to get back to the basics and put this ‘politically correct’ nonsense in the ‘round file’ (AKA the dustbin) and take the Bible in its entirety, and in proper exegesis (that is proper critical interpretation of the text).
The most commonly thought origin of the haftara readings occurred in 168 BC when the Jews under the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes were forbidden by law to read Torah. The decree was limited to the Five Books of Moses, so the sages instituted that a section of the Prophets be read instead of Torah. Usually, the haftara will be connected by ideas or a similar event in Torah but it has been known that some have no connection whatsoever. This week’s portion of haftara is one of those similar portions that do not connect quite as well as the selection from Ezekiel.
Nadab and Abihu took on an aspect of the worship that wasn’t theirs. They were, in other words, ‘out of order’.
1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Leviticus 10:1-2.
They may have been slightly intoxicated from the celebrations of the ordination to which verse nine alluded. They may have felt that since they were in the group who were allowed to go up on the mount when the elders had that banquet that they had an exalted position.
9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. Exodus 24:9-11.
Whatever these two men did it was ‘strange fire’ and it is clear that they didn’t take God seriously while carrying out an ‘unclean’ act, attitude, or practice. Moses and Aaron were understandably shocked by this turn of events.
3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:3.
Adam Clarke commented on this portion:
“... Aaron was dumb. How elegantly expressive is this of his parental affection, his deep sense of the presumption of his sons, and his own submission to the justice of God! The flower and hope of his family was nipped in the bud and blasted; and while he exquisitely feels as a father, he submits without murmuring to this awful dispensation of Divine justice. It is an awful thing to introduce innovations either into the rites and ceremonies, or into the truths, of the religion of Christ: he who acts thus cannot stand guiltless before his God. It has often been remarked that excessive grief stupefies the mind, so that amazement and deep anguish prevent at once both tears and complaints; hence that saying of Seneca, Curae leves loquantur; graviores silent. "Slight sorrows are loquacious; deep anguish has no voice.”
Adam Clarke posits that it’s very bad to “introduce innovations” into the “truths” or the “religion” of Christ and it is clear that in that era in which Moses lived, the same notion stood for the truths and ‘religion’ of the tabernacle! Leviticus 10:3 still rebounds in my mind as the command to “take God seriously!”
Commentators think that perhaps the brothers had taken too much wine because of the instructions to Aaron after the tragedy.
8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Leviticus 10:8-11.
Have you noticed so far that sin is equated with being unclean and defiled? Israel in a state of filthiness was due to idol worship. Ezekiel carried the message that they could be saved from their uncleanness. The priests were the first ones to learn and were then obligated to teach the rest of Israel to “put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean”. This is a state of being that has largely gone unknown and unappreciated by the mainline so-called ‘church’ of our day because of the huge disconnect between the two Testaments of the Bible! Instead of recognizing that Israel was the root of their faith, the early church's so-called ‘fathers’ made the split between Jews and Gentiles almost permanent for a very long time. But in the decade of the seventies Jews for Jesus originated and that divide became less and less as the years went by. Now many ministries link together the Jew and the Gentile recognizing Yahweh/God and Jesus The Anointed/Yeshua and the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh altogether in unity.2
In these days of such lawlessness that seems to have its roots in the decade of the sixties, men have been doing everything “that is right in their own eyes”. This is no different than the state of Israel in the days of the Judges:
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6.
It’s my opinion that this time has come around for the entire world again where truth is ‘relative’. In the time of the Judges of Israel, what was truth for one wasn’t truth for some other. Truth was relative—it changed from person to person. There was no ONE UNIFIED ABSOLUTE truth. And frankly, as we look around us now, there is none of it in our generation either. I wonder about some of the television programs of the fifties. Leave it to Beaver, Lassie, and Father Knows Best hold memories that almost seem corny to us now. I have an inkling that Hollywood was just phasing out the notion of an absolute truth where everybody was on the same page and there were consequences for actions. Even the Andy Griffith Show which ran until 1968 promoted the idea that parents need to curb bad behavior and teach their children not a way but the ‘right’ way and it was all orchestrated in the little vignettes between the Andy and the Opie characters. It was like Hollywood telegraphing the masses, “Get a good gawk at this way of life, folks, ‘cause it ain’t gonna last!”
We’re all reading Torah here in our assembly separated only by geography because we’re convinced that the Bible is The ABSOLUTE truth. It’s a very sad thing indeed when new believers are instructed to read only the New Testament. There are so many connections that are lost if one relegates the biggest part of the Bible to the dustbin! Maybe Nadab and Abihu lived to tell us all that we need to take God seriously about this unclean and clean thing. Maybe we all just need to get back to the basics and put this ‘politically correct’ nonsense in the ‘round file’ (AKA the dustbin) and take the Bible in its entirety, and in proper exegesis (that is proper critical interpretation of the text).
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly [that is: without reserve and sincerely] furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
1 Scripture reading from the NASB www.lockman.org and KJV unless otherwise stated.
2 http://jewsforjesus.ca/ USA Home - Jews for Jesus
http://www.chosenpeople.ca/ Chosen People Ministries USA: http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/
(These are only two of the many ministries existent today since the seventies)
2 http://jewsforjesus.ca/ USA Home - Jews for Jesus
http://www.chosenpeople.ca/ Chosen People Ministries USA: http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/
(These are only two of the many ministries existent today since the seventies)
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