CHAPTER 19
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Speak to the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy [q'doshim], because I, YHWH your Elohim, am holy.'
This message is so important that the whole nation must gather to hear it so they cannot use the excuse that they have not heard it. YHWH may not trust it to trickle down effectively in this case. Descendants: Thus the congregation addressed here includes us today. "Holy" simply means "set apart" and "separate" from all that is not Israel--in a category of its own. This more than anything else makes Israel hated by so many and loved by others who are in tune with YHWH. What YHWH uses to make Israel separate is the Torah, which also defines for us who YHWH is and how He wants us to know Him. It defines the nature of the relationships we are to have with one another—not just negatively, as seen in the last chapter, but positively, as seen in this one. Wherever our actions conflict with it, we are in sin (“missing the target”). At first, it seems like we have hit the “bull’s eye” if we have rid ourselves of the obvious, big sins. But as we mature and move closer to YHWH, our vision is more refined and we can see the target better and realize how far from the “bull’s eye” we really are. Holiness means constantly separating ourselves from more and more habits, attitudes, and thought patterns, because as we walk further upward, the bar keeps being raised. The definition of “sin” tightens its focus to meaning anything that disrupts our relationship with YHWH (and one another). Now we may have to disassociate from people who may have seemed harmless before. We must be generous, not as our own hearts define it, but as YHWH does. The Hebrew words will show us: For example, the word for “thank” means “to stretch out one’s hands”. It means demonstrating our thankfulness by our actions, not just our words. As our knowledge increases, we become more and more of a mystery to those whose categories are defined by other standards. Yet the more we walk in the Torah, the less foreign and the more natural and beautiful it will be to us. But a wall of separation not only sets us apart from what is outside; it sets us apart unto what is inside. Each time it says "you" here, it is plural. Ironically, it is impossible to be truly separate in isolation! We are not holy for the sake of separateness in itself, nor are we truly separate until we are all together in our set-apartness. More important than being separated from all other loyalties, we are separated unto YHWH and His flock; without that element, it is just an exercise in self-righteous pride. We screen out other things so we can concentrate our commitment on Him and His Kingdom’s priorities. What follows is a description of how we must live if we wish to remain in YHWH’s Land and a part of His people. Otherwise, it is Israel from which we will end up being separated. (Deut. 28:47ff) Maturing as a Body is a weeding process that sifts out and throws away more than we keep. We must define what is outside, and leave it there. Loyalty to things, people, or ideas on the outside will separate us from our true brothers. (Mat. 12:48ff) But we are always surrounded by the world; how do we remain set apart? We carry the walls with us. If we remain defined by the Torah, we remain holy, no matter where we are. YHWH has some degree of attachment to everything He has created, but He is not close to all things or all people. He chose Israel, and specifically Yerushalayim, in a way in which He never chose Washington, D.C. or Rome. While we have a responsibility to the whole world, the channel by which we do so has a much narrower scope, and this intensifies the light we are to exude to the nations into something as potent as a laser. Rabbi Noson Weisz summarizes this chapter by saying that we have to be detached from the natural urges of the last chapter, not to do away with them completely, for then there would be no next generation to pass the responsibility on to, but so that we can give them a meaning that will outlast us. This requires making choices and setting definite boundaries so that while we partake in the natural world, we can make it a tool toward a deeper life that can bring the world to its fullest potential by joining body to spirit and setting apart unto YHWH more aspects of life on earth.
3. "‘Every one of you shall stand in awe of his mother and father, and guard my sabbaths; I am YHWH your Elohim.
Stand in awe of: respect or fear. A child begins his understanding of the authority structure in Israel through the respect for his parents. Sixteen times in this passage He repeats, "I am YHWH your Elohim." The point seems to be not just, "Do it because I said so”, but, “In the obeying you will come to know Me as I am." Apart from your parents, you would not have been able to enter this world, and apart from the Sabbath, the commandment which is a "sign", you would never be able to enter even the most basic aspects of YHWH's cycle of appointed times. Such things are the “milk” by which we must mature so that we are ready for the “meat” they alone can prepare us for. (Heb. 5:12, 13) This is also a message to parents to teach a child to fear not keeping the Sabbath, and the best way is to teach them to guard it. Of course, if one’s parents are still pagan, they are not to be respected above YHWH's commands; we can never have the deepest intimacy with those who do not keep the Torah. We need to separate ourselves unto our more ancient parents, who are more worthy of honor—Avraham, Yaaqov, Moshe, David, etc. But we do honor our parents by keeping the Sabbath, even if they do not, because by thus being people of integrity we cast them in the best possible light, since we are the fruit by which they are known. Mother and father: Why in that order? Our first mother took the first step away from holiness, then our father followed, by failing to guard the one thing that was set apart. They tore down a wall YHWH had set up. Their loss of Paradise warns us to be fearful of failing to guard the Sabbath in the same way. We could blame our violation on our employers not allowing us to keep the Sabbath, or on the work we had no other time to get done. But continuing to make excuses is why we have not gotten back to the other side of the wall. The Sabbath is the one remaining time in this age of our fallenness during which we can deeply partake of Eden. It is the door that enables us to begin our return. This chapter gives us a tremendous head-start; other nations were left to learn by trial and error, and they are still trying and erring. It can work if we keep all of these elements in balance.
4. "‘Do not turn yourself to the idols, nor shall you make cast-molten gods for yourselves; I am YHWH your Elohim.
Idols: Heb., elilim, from the word for "not", thus meaning something worthless, insufficient, and ultimately not even truly existing--an illusion that cannot deliver what you expect, which is exactly the technique that worked for the serpent in the Garden. How do we find out what this encompasses? By being deeply familiar with what is genuine, and that is defined through His instruction (Torah). The best defense against counterfeits is to know the real thing intimately.
5. "‘Now if you slaughter an offering of peace, you shall slaughter it of your own free will [with pleasure].
Pleasure: This is about recognizing YHWH’s greatness and delighting in who He is, not about enjoying the killing. It takes training to find delight in giving our wealth and livelihood, but as we become His friends and learn His way of seeing things, we will become more and more generous as He is.
6. "‘It may be eaten on the day you slaughter it, or on the next day, but anything that is left over on the third day must be burned with fire.
Must be burned: preventing it from being eaten after it may have become tainted. Once it is offered, the gift belongs to YHWH, and we have no say in what is done with it. The ideal is to invite enough people to share in the praise to YHWH that we have none left over even until the second day. We are permitted to partake again if necessary, but not for long enough to begin to think of it as our own again. It is about YHWH, not about us. We have no right to stay in the place that is His, unless we bring another animal. The privilege of His mercy is not to be profaned into a right that everyone deserves.
7. "‘Moreover, if any of it is eaten on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be accepted.
Continuing to come back to partake of it would make the Tabernacle seem more like a soup kitchen than a holy place, and the focus would shift from the offering to the eating, and this is not what the Kingdom is really about. (Rom. 14:17) We must do things in season; doing them at the wrong time--a "love that comes too late"--leaves an abhorrent taste in His mouth, as when the Israelites tried to go conquer Kanaan after YHWH had already pronounced their sentence on them. Yeshua said his work would be finished on the third day (Luke 13:32); it is no longer be the right time to harvest. It is time to thresh and winnow, parch, sift and bake. (See note on Ephesians 4:11.)
8. "‘Whoever eats [it] shall bear his consequences, because he has rendered common the holy thing belonging to YHWH, and that person shall be cut off from his people.
Bear his consequences: This would cancel it as one’s offering and become only a meal, and one would have to start over if he wants his peace offering to count. Cut off: Misusing what is holy and getting out of season turns the knife of the slaughtering back against us.
9. "‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap all the way to the corners, nor shall you gather up the gleanings of your harvest;
By rabbinic tradition, one was considered to have an "evil eye" (be stingy) if he did not leave at least 40% of his crop for the needy when he had the means to do so. (This was after the regular tithes!) So it is an issue of generosity vs. selfishness. How much of his hard labor is one willing to donate? It also requires faith: once he leaves it ungleaned, he loses control over who will glean it. He cannot choose those who deserve to receive it; he has to leave that to YHWH's sovereign justice. If we worry about the part that is left behind, we will not carry out the things that we ARE responsible to do--serve each other and become a unified people, a Temple for Him to fill. Yeshua said when one’s eye is sound (as opposed to evil), his whole body would be full of light. When our eye is clear (which Prov. 22:9 associates with giving bread to the poor), we can see clearly that the whole Land is really His, and we are only stewards of it; it is a privilege to partake of any of it. The Hebrew word for joy also means “full of brightness”.
10. "‘nor shall you thoroughly [reap] your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and the sojourner [among you]; I am YHWH your Elohim.
The poor still have to go there for themselves and glean; it is not brought to them already cooked. This preserves their dignity too. But He is concerned for the disadvantaged and is zealous for the reputation of His Land. I am YHWH: i.e., "This is what I am like; get to know Me better by doing this." Sojourner: YHWH wants those who pass through His Land to understand whose Land they are in, and how generous He is. In what other land is there food without price so even passers-by will not starve? They will ask why things are so different here than anywhere else, and we can tell them that it is because He is the true and supreme Elohim. Then never again will they give a bad report about the Land like the ten spies would do, showing that it does not consume its inhabitants as they thought it would; quite the opposite. The antidote is given before the temptation. Contrast how the Edomites and Emorites treated Israel when Moshe asked to simply pass through the Land and not even eat any grain. (Num. 20:17; 21:22) YHWH intends to bring Israel to great heights of power, but we must not abuse it. So just as YHWH told Israel to treat slaves well because they had experienced in Egypt how slaves should not be treated, He gave them a taste of the opposite treatment to drive home the point that generosity is a requirement for anyone who will live in His Land (Prov. 22:9), for it is intended to be an unmixed representation of what He is like.
11. "‘You must not steal, nor fail to do what you have promised, nor shall you lie to one another.
We can steal things less tangible than possessions—time, joy, courage, or credit. We can steal someone’s reputation through gossip, or take advantage of a kindness once given and make a person feel obligated to do more for us than we deserve. Lie to: or, trick. These are all really different forms of the same thing, because deceit is a form of stealing.
12. "‘Nor shall you take an oath deceptively in My Name, nor shall you profane the Name of your Elohim; I am YHWH.
Oath: The word is rooted in a term meaning “completeness”. We must therefore not declare that we will complete something, and then not do so. Do not call something YHWH’s work if it is only your own agenda. It can be a scam to promise someone the Kingdom when you do not know their motives or if you want them in the door so they can tithe to your congregation! Do not try to put an appearance of authority on what is only an opinion by adding His apparent endorsement. Yeshua said not to swear falsely by anything, for if our word is normally true, why do we need to risk our integrity to add weight to what should already be sufficient reason to trust what we say? Profane the Name...YHWH: Literally, pierce, weaken, or wound. This can include using it lightly, but also "weakening" its impact by substituting the names of pagan gods out of supposed respect for His true name, because this only causes greater confusion about who He is. We honor a name by bringing it glory, not shame. Who would have ever known who Nun was if it were not for Y’hoshua, his son? We have YHWH’s Name on us, so any lack of integrity in us puts a stain on His Name.
13. "‘You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob [him]; the wages of a hired hand shall not remain with you until morning.
In a hand-to-mouth agricultural economy, workers must be paid immediately so they can buy food for the next day--or that very evening. Thus to withhold this is to take the very bread from his family's mouths. (Compare Proverbs 3:27.) Robbery is evidence that a man sees himself as separate from the whole community and more deserving than others. And paying someone his due also includes respect, thanks, and the fulfillment of any promise we make.
14. "‘You shall not treat the deaf as of little importance, or put anything in front of the blind that would make them stumble, but you shall fear your Elohim; I am YHWH.
YHWH is not fond of cruelty and making sport of those who can do nothing to strengthen themselves, especially if it is to make ourselves look better. If he cannot hear it, why does it matter? Because words have a real effect even if they are not heard by their object. We are truly capable of blessing and cursing, so we must be careful what we say. This could also include speaking about someone "behind his back", since he, too, is deaf to what we are saying. Blind: In a broader sense, we are not to make things harder for those who are unable to hear or see. The deaf do not have to hear so many useless words, and the blind have fewer distractions from the job at hand. So we should not take advantage of them, but rather honor them, especially when they do not let their handicaps limit them in other areas.
15. "‘You shall do no injustice when deciding a case: you shall neither lift up the face of the weak, nor show partiality in the presence of the distinguished. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
We must not give special immunity to either the poor because he "deserves a break" (see Prov.6:30f), nor overcharge the rich and powerful just because he is able to pay a fine. The case is to be judged strictly on the merits of what the person actually did. Sometimes there may be a need for more witnesses to establish better credibility, but all must be held to the same standard. If a man’s word can convict a poor man, he should be able to convict a rich man as well. Our own special interests are never to be protected through the court system; there is to be no other influence than the facts. But this is also a command to judge; though Yeshua says that if we judge, we will be judged by the same measure, this is not meant to stop us from judging, but to learn to do it correctly, judging ourselves first. Yes, get the plank out of your eye, but do not ignore the speck in your brother's eye. To do so is to say he is not important enough to lay our comfort on the line for.
16. "‘You shall not go around as a talebearer among your people, nor shall you stand [idly] by [when] your fellow's blood [is being spilt]; I am YHWH.
Talebearer: one who spreads information, whether true or not, for the purpose of diminishing another. One who allows gossip to spread or receives it without protest is like one who watches his friend being attacked and does not try to intervene. Nothing "kills" faster than words. We can make amends for robbery, but we can never make full restitution for gossip, because the proverbial feathers have already been scattered to the wind and irretrievable. We can never undo it completely, so avoid it from the start.
17. "‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall certainly rebuke your fellow, and not put up with sin [remaining] upon him.
Here YHWH tells us how to feel, no matter whether it suits our personality or not. This removes the power the emotion has to mislead us. Your brother: YHWH never commands us not to hate His enemies, such as Amaleq. In your heart: the sins on the list are growing less and less tangible. No one knows about the hate in your heart but yourself. But it is already a sin. (Matt. 5:22) The Torah equates hating a brother with allowing him to remain in sin and not warning him. This goes against conventional ideas that love never offends someone and always wants him to feel nice. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son." Failing to warn our fellows of impending danger means their blood is upon us, not them. (Ezk. 33:2-6) Withholding an occasion to repent is the best way to prove we do not love someone. Rebuking a fool gives him an occasion to learn. (Prov. 9:7ff) Put up with sin: or bear sin because of him--i.e., share in his guilt by not rebuking him. We need to bring correction rather than holding it in. Be sure you have your facts together first. But keep the slate clean between brothers, or we will never achieve true unity.
18. "‘You must not take vengeance nor carry a grudge against the children of your people, and you shall love your fellow as [you love] yourself; I am YHWH.
Obviously, this precludes “family feuds”. Children: i.e., those less able to receive harsh correction, or those who do not know any better. So we are not to bear a grudge against those less mature than ourselves; our fellow is someone on our own level. Do not take it personally if they do not receive our correction (the context in v. 17). Instead, pray for YHWH to teach them in the most effective way, even if that means bringing them trouble. Remove your covering over them if they won’t respond to the “easy way”, so they will need what you offered. Or bring someone who may be better at explaining the particulars. As yourself: It is much easier to forgive someone you like, and reprove someone you don't, but our feelings must be kept in check as well as our actions. Yeshua found in this phrase the commandment on which all the others that regard our relationships with other human beings “hang”. (Mat. 22:40)
19. "You shall keep My ordinances: you must not let your livestock crossbreed with other species; you shall not sow your field with [two] different kinds [of seed]; and you shall not allow a garment of mingled wool and linen to be upon yourself.
Sow your field: it does not mean you cannot grow more than one crop, but they are not to be mixed. These are all different ways of depicting the same principle. Things must be kept distinct, so we can tell which is the crop and which are weeds. This includes mixtures like "YHWH our God"--one acceptable name combined with one that is not--or mixing paganism into Biblical faith, which is where most of the church is today. The Torah forbids intermarriage—not with other races, but with those who do not keep the Torah. Seed represents the Sons of the Kingdom (Mat. 13:38), which are not to be sown among the sons of the evil one in unequal yokes (2 Cor. 6:14), for how would the children of such mixed marriages be taught to serve YHWH? And garments represent our works, which are to have only one motivation. This hearkens back to the story of Qayin and Hevel (Abel): linen comes from the earth; wool comes from a being with life coursing through it that can shed blood and picture redemption (which comes from heaven). There is a place for each, but the two are not to be mixed. Dr. Heidi Yellen used a machine invented by Bob Graham to measure signature frequencies of plants and the human body, and found that linen and wool have the same value but when mixed, cancel each other out. They both have high vibrational frequencies that aid in healing the body and providing extra energy, while their combination has debilitating effects. But linen was part of a holy blend used in some of the priestly garments (Ex. 28:6; 39:29); this was reserved exclusively for the sanctuary, not for the lay person. Some garments found in Dead Sea caves from c. 135 C.E. had white tassels of linen and blue tassels of wool woven together. Thus the tassels which every Israelite is to wear on the extremities of his garments (Num. 15) were of this mixture, symbolizing that we are a "kingdom of priests". (Ex. 19:6)
20. "‘And when a man lies with a woman [and there is] seed, and she is a slave-girl betrothed to a man but not actually redeemed or [if] she has not been given freedom, there shall be an investigation; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free,
This man is not the one she is betrothed to, but she was not given a choice in the matter, so it is not consensual. It appears that one of the purposes of her betrothal is to buy her freedom, but the promise has not yet been delivered upon.
21. "‘but [the man] shall bring his trespass offering to YHWH--to the entrance to the Tent of Appointment: a ram for his compensation [for guilt],
22. "‘and the cohen shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before YHWH for his sin which he has committed, and it will be forgiven him from his sin which he has committed.
This is not a capital crime like full-scale adultery (which applies when the woman is not just betrothed but is already married), but he has still done something he had no right to do. In Israel, a slave who belongs to another house is not to be mistreated by outsiders as he could be in other cultures. Within the household, too, the slave is like another member of the family, and is a slave only to the head of the house. This also shows that one who is not part of a household in Israel has no protection in such a circumstance.
23. "‘Now when you have arrived in the land and have planted any fruit tree, for three years you shall count it as [having a] foreskin. Its fruit will be "uncircumcised" to you; it must not be eaten.
24.
"‘And in the fourth year, all of its fruit is set apart for the praise of YHWH.
"‘And in the fourth year, all of its fruit is set apart for the praise of YHWH.Fourth year: The minor festival of the 15th of Shvat was established to have a date by which to count the age of trees for this purpose. For the praise of YHWH: or for those who praise YHWH, i.e., the Levites. It is only consumed by those who are directly serving Him. If Israel does not provide for them, they cannot fulfill their unique duties in the fullest way, because they would have to sustain their families by other means, causing all of Israel to lack part of what is necessary for YHWH’s economy to function properly. This is a form of firstfruits offering that differs slightly from the firstfruits of each year’s crop.
25. "Then in the fifth year, you may eat the fruit, so that it may increase its yield for you; I am YHWH your Elohim.
The fruit of a tree is indeed bitter or lacks robustness the first few years. If eaten before its time, it will be of no profit to us, and may actually harm us. The firstfruits of the edible yield belong to YHWH, but He requires all this so that the tree may become as fruitful and effective as possible. Is He only speaking of literal fruit? A tree is a picture of a person. (Psalm 1:3, etc.) Metaphorically this means a novice should not be a congregational leader (1 Tim. 3:6). The word there for “novice” (neophyte) literally means “one newly-planted”—just like these trees! He is likely to become puffed up and brag about how special he is if allowed to teach too soon, and then it would be only about self, not YHWH. Before he is pruned (before he is mature enough to teach), his fruit may be genuine, but it is not to be fed to others, because it lacks a well-rounded perspective that only time and study can bring. The revelation given to him in his patience is what will feed us all. On the other hand, by a certain time we should all have something to teach others. Fifth: when one is "full of the five books of Moshe", and well-trained in this foundation, he should feed others.
26. "‘You must not eat [any meat] with blood, nor may you practice sorcery or observe times.
Sorcery: enchantment or fortune-telling: nakhash--the same word as the "serpent" in the Garden. But its root meaning is "whisper", as the snake makes a hissing sound. People pay more attention to a whisper than even to a shout. It makes us feel like insiders in the club of the few who are “in the know”. It can be done with false innocence: “I don’t want to say anything, but did you notice…?” “I just don’t know if it is right that…” These "whisperers" incant their secret spells, which may or may not be speaking truth; the point is not whether it works or not, but that they are forbidden. It is obtaining information through the wrong channels. YHWH has a chain of command in Israel, and what we do must be above board. If you have a question, ask it in front of the proper authorities, not behind their backs. Go to the Levite to gain general knowledge of Torah; go to the high priest for a specific answer. If it is meant to be revealed, YHWH will reveal it; otherwise, it is off limits to individuals, for it belongs to all Israel, not just those who may find the question interesting; more often than not, that has no purpose beyond self-edification. Whispering is juxtaposed with not eating blood: we suck the life out of someone when he is diminished in someone else's eyes, and that is what gossiping about him does--even when it is not overt; Yeshua says that hating someone in our hearts also curses him in a similar way. "Observe times": This clearly cannot refer to the times and seasons that YHWH has set up as signs, but rather it means considering certain times auspicious or "lucky", following horoscopes, doing magic, etc. The term can also include conjuring, producing rain-clouds by magic, etc.--in short, divination.
27. "‘You shall not round the corner of your head, nor mar the corner of your beard.
Round: or "strike off"; Aramaic, "cut around"; LXX, "make a round cutting of the hair""--possibly like the type of artificial bald spot monks later made based on the superstition that wearing a certain type of cap over it would protect them or make them more spiritual. Mar: literally, spoil, ruin, or destroy; LXX, "disfigure". Corner: edge, extremity, or side part. This suggests that YHWH tailor-makes everyone’s hairline and beardline to look best with their face, and to change the border (as with a goatee or “fade” haircuts). First of all, this assumes a man has a beard and will not shave it (the exceptions being the Nazir, who completes a vow, and those declared clean after having leprosy, where hygiene may be one of the reasons to shave the hair). A man should not be mistaken for a woman. But what is the picture He is intending by this? It is part of "writing His laws on our gates". Our eyes, ears, and mouth--all the openings of our bodies, really--are like gates to our fortress, which we must guard. Having hair around them symbolizes the fact that we need to screen or filter what goes in and what comes out. Many pagan "holy" men also had distinctive hairstyles (1 Cor. 11:7, 14) which marred the particular way by which YHWH has decided each man will look best. He wants to avoid any association with this sort of disfigurement. While there is some ambiguity to the command, the extremity would seem to be the ends, not the part close to the face. The uncut beard is a symbol of being an Israelite; Y'chezq'el/Ezekiel chapter 5 uses the cutting off of the beard to symbolize the destruction of the house of Israel, so we do not wish to participate in this picture by shaping our beards according to Gentile standards, and obscuring our Israelite identity at the very time YHWH is bringing it back to light. If a beard is thereby unruly, it reflects the fact that we are not the ones in control; YHWH is.
28. "And you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for [the sake of] the dead, nor imprint any tattoos upon yourself; I am YHWH.
The dead: This probably relates to ancestor worship and its association with bringing the strength of the ancestor into one’s body. Tattoos: related to the term for writing, so the prohibition may refer mainly to words; it is specifically forbidden in connection with someone dead, so at minimum this type of tattoo should be avoided. But we should always hesitate to make changes to our bodies that cannot easily be reversed. The mourning ritual of shaving one’s head is not forbidden here. Whether the prohibition of marring beards is limited to the context of mourning or is more general is not clear. If so, any beard style would seem allowable as long as one has some form of beard; but if uncertain, the firmest interpretation is safest. We should take the high road whenever possible.
29. "‘You shall not desecrate your daughter by [giving] her to the cult prostitutes, so the Land may not fall to unfaithfulness, and the Land become filled with lewdness.
Pagan cult prostitutes were male more often than female. Putting one’s very body in the service of money quickly spreads from the sexual realm to any other kind of compromise for the sake of wealth. She will raise your grandchildren, and they will absorb her ways. Again YHWH is concerned for the reputation of His Land, and it is tied to the reputation of His people. A landslide can start with just one small dislodged rock. Fathers therefore have a duty to make sure that not just their sons but their daughters as well are Torah-observant.
30. "‘You must keep my sabbaths, and you must hold my sanctuary in reverence; I am YHWH.
The only time one could see inside the court nearest to His sanctuary and thus catch a glimpse of the Temple itself was when the doors were open, and this was only on Sabbaths and on the festivals (prescribed times), which were considered sabbaths in an even stronger sense. This is the closest we can approach to His presence. He dwells closer to us then, so we must especially watch what attitudes we bring into our gatherings on those days. On Sunday He turns his back and begins to go back to work.
31. "‘You shall not turn [your face] to necromancers nor seek out soothsayers, in order to be defiled by them; I am YHWH your Elohim.
Necromancer: one who contacts the dead, or has a familiar spirit--i.e., who is possessed by a spirit that impersonates a dead relative. The Hebrew term is the same as a water bottle made from a sewn-up animal stomach, which must have been used in these rituals. Soothsayers: better translated "knowers"--i.e., clairvoyants. This does not mean that everything they do is fraudulent; in fact, they can be irritatingly truthful. (Acts 16:17) But YHWH has not authorized knowledge to be passed on in this way. King Sha’ul turned to them for something more because YHWH had withheld knowledge from him, and he wanted it anyway. Seeking information about tomorrow is forbidden. YHWH will tell us anything that we need to know in advance.
32. "‘You shall rise up in the presence of the grey-haired, honor the face of the elderly man, and hold your Elohim in awe; I am YHWH.
Elderly: literally, "bearded", since a full beard comes only with a certain degree of maturity. It does not necessarily have to do with great age, though one raised up in Israel from his youth should have the kind of experience that brings wisdom. And He adds the phrase about the gray-haired so that both bases are covered. Elohim: probably, "judges", in this context. We are to show appreciation for the wisdom He has granted those who are chosen as leaders for this reason. These are the people responsible for what we have now.
33. "‘If a foreigner stays for a while with you in your land, you must not mistreat him;
34. "‘as the native among you [is treated], so shall be the alien who resides with you. Moreover, you must love him as [you love] yourself, since you [yourselves] were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am YHWH your Elohim.
The sojourner is to be treated as part of the same "flock", since he is under our temporary protection while within our jurisdiction. The sojourner in Israel is usually either seeking asylum or seeking to know the Elohim of Israel, because full commitment to Torah is too demanding for someone "just along for the ride". Therefore he should not be excluded from anything the Torah does not specifically forbid him to do (such as eat the Passover if uncircumcised). He is allowed some accommodations an Israelite is not, but he should not be discouraged from entering into any aspect of obedience to YHWH for which he feels he is ready.
35. "‘You shall do no injustice in a courtroom, in measures, weights, and quantities [of liquid].
36. "‘You must have righteous balances, righteous weight-stones, a righteous eyfah, and a righteous hin. I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
According to Levite Reuven Prager and Cohen Gershon Ferency, the word “righteous” itself (tzaddiq) is related to balance: it comes from tzad daq (a narrow edge), i.e., the fine line between two extremes, which we need great balance to walk on. Thus it is no coincidence that the symbol for justice is the scale which must be balanced on both sides. Even the modern use of tzadaqah to mean charitable giving brings balance between the rich and poor elements of society. Eyfah: a unit of dry measure. Hin: a liquid measure. Cheating merchants would use slightly-differing weights which were both called by the same unit of measure, to their own advantage in commerce. This says that all the receptacles that are called an "eyfah" need to actually be the same size, and all weights called by the same name must actually weigh the same. We also cannot forbid someone else from using the same rules of argument or appeal that we permit ourselves to use. This also means there are no second-class Israelites. The Torah is not only for one tribe, while the rest are relegated to only noachide standards. Conversely, we need to hold ourselves to the same standard to which we hold others. Eyfah and hin are two specific measures used for offerings to be brought to the Temple. We would be stealing from YHWH if we had the wrong measure and brought too little.
37. "‘and you must observe all My statutes and all my judgments, and carry them out. I am YHWH.'"
Observe: not just perform them according to the letter, jumping through hoops so that YHWH can be entertained, but scrutinize them first. Look deeply into them and ask for their real meaning. The term particularly means “to guard”—make sure they are not changed, eitehr diminished or added to. Then enter into doing them literally. These are two separate commands. I am YHWH: Do these, and you will know what YHWH is like. The recipe for holiness is to follow all of these commands in the proper balance. The main point of them all is justice and concern for one’s neighbor. Israel cannot function separately from the world unless we help one another to stay disconnected from what would take us back into slavery. We are our brother’s keepers.
CHAPTER 20
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "In addition, to the descendants of Israel you must say, ‘Any man of the sons of Israel or of the visitors who are living in Israel, who gives any of his seed to the Molekh shall certainly be put to death; the people of the Land must pile up stones over him.
We now come to the penalties for those who do not remain set apart. There is an undercurrent of YHWH getting us to deal with the fact that our ways conflict with His. This chapter delineates the consequences for certain actions, mainly those forbidden in 18:6-23. While in some cases, we need to ask ourselves whether someone else’s action is worth reacting against, YHWH has already specified that these situations call for a reaction. Pelt him: it actually means “pile up stones (over someone)”. Stones: The word means “building materials”, hence, not small stones, but ones large enough to make a stable house from. The frequent practice was to throw the person off a cliff and then finish killing him by crushing him with these stones, thrown down on top of him after he was stunned enough to be unable to run away. The result would be a pile of stones that resembled a memorial altar, so all of Israel would be reminded of the seriousness of this offense. It is also the responsibility of the whole community to make sure a person does not do this in the first place. This would also resemble the ruins of a house (one taken to an unclean place because the leprosy in it did not go away). Turning our children over to the ways of our pagan neighbors does cause not only our own households but the House of Israel to fall, as it did for the Northern Kingdom. But by returning to the obedience to YHWH’s direct commands even when we would prefer to do otherwise, we can rebuild the house. The same penalty is required of those who are just visiting Israel, for all are held to the same standard: no paganism is permissible in His Land. Though we cannot carry out such commands in their completeness while in exile under other governments, we must remember all of its parts so they can be restored when we are in the right context. This part of Torah, too, is about freedom, not bondage. We need to embrace all of it, however difficult, because this is the rule book by which the Kingdom will be governed. If we are too understanding of how people got to the point at which they sinned, justice will not be done. Even if they did it because their parents did the same thing to them, the cycle must stop and someone must take responsibility for it. Not that we should ever enjoy or get used to or become comfortable with capital punishment, but it must be carried out by the whole community; we cannot just leave it to the leaders. We do not have the right to disagree. “People of the Land” is an idiom for the locals; those who are closest to the person who committed such an offense (with the exception of his parents) are those most responsible to “cast the first stone”. (Deut. 13:9)
3. "‘And I myself shall set My face against that man, and shall cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to the Molekh, resulting in the defilement of My sanctuary and to the desecration of My holy name.
Molekh: “The one that rules.” Tradition says the idol was actually called the Melekh (king), but that Moshe substituted the vowels from “bosheth” (which means a shameful thing). The practice described here consisted of burning one’s firstborn son for the sake of guaranteeing a decent harvest or greater fertility themselves. How odd to kill one’s child to guarantee more children! Why did they not simply ask YHWH to make them fruitful? Evidence of sacrifice to Molokh (another name for Molekh) has been found as far afield as Scotland, and only 100 years ago people there still gathered on May Day (or Beltone, from another name for Baal) and threw their children across the fire to one another in commemoration of this ancient practice!
4. "‘Moreover, if the people of the Land indeed conceal their eyes from that man in order to avoid executing him,
Conceal their eyes: refusing to acknowledge that a capital offense has taken place. While we are permitted to mourn the loss, the execution must be carried out. Putting up with evil deeds is indirectly participating in them, for it hinders righteous judgment and disrupts the chain of command YHWH has set up for Israel, stopping up the orderly flow He intended. Letting people off the hook can be based just as often on laziness, fear, or ignorance as on true compassion and mercy. If it goes against His clear command, it is wrong, even if it feels right.
5. "‘then I [Myself] will concentrate My attention against that man and his family, and shall cut off [both] him and those who follow after them in committing prostitution with Molekh, from among their people.
If we carry out his order, only the offender is YHWH’s enemy (v. 2), and the rest of his family survives; if we fail, and He has to personally make sure it gets done, all those associated with him will also incur his wrath. This verse may also be saying that those who ignore His command out of a false sense of mercy are counted just as guilty and complicit in the same crime. We are where we are today because our kings failed to hold our ancestors’ feet to the fire (Yirmeyahu 6:29).
6. "‘And the person who turns to those who have familiar spirits, and to the soothsayers, in order to follow them to commit prostitution, I will concentrate My attention against that person, and cut him off from among his people.
It is human nature to want to know what is ahead and around the corner so that we can have the upper hand when it comes, but we are not even promised tomorrow; we have not even finished carrying out the orders He has given, so why are we concerned to take on a responsibility that He has not yet given? As Yeshua said, “Today has enough trouble of its own.” Tomorrow belongs to YHWH, not to you, and He counts it tantamount to prostitution when we seek information about from an unauthorized source when He has not chosen to reveal it. Going to another spiritual advisor when YHWH has put you under a different authority is making light of one’s spiritual parents. (See v. 9.) Seeking an inside track on tomorrow from a source other than YHWH is nothing less serious than “sleeping around“ on Him.
7. "‘So you must set yourselves apart, and be set apart, because I am YHWH your Elohim,
This clearly does not occur by magic. He sets us apart, but we must enter the open door He gives us, or what He does for us will still lack results. Once He has “washed us”, we must continue to wash ourselves. We who have seen the results of not being set apart must be especially committed to being set apart.
8. "‘and you must observe My statutes and carry them out; I am YHWH who is setting you apart.
His orders are not a smorgasbord from which we can pick and choose; we must “eat” all that He “puts on our plate” to be strong in every area, for He knows what is best for us, even when it does not all “taste” pleasant.
9. “‘Also, any man who treats his father and mother with contempt must certainly be executed; he has despised his father and his mother. His [own] blood shall be upon him.
This is not speaking about young children who have not yet learned to obey. Treats with contempt: despises, curses, or takes lightly. Father and mother in a Hebrew context extend beyond the immediate family. The terms include anyone in authority over us (YHWH called King Shlomoh a father to Israel), and certainly our righteous ancestors. Blood...upon him: i.e., he and no one else will be held responsible for his death, because he did not take seriously enough those whom YHWH has set over him. His family has no right to take vengeance on the court, because he asked for this. This sentence is meant to fill us with the fear of YHWH (fear of being out of His favor) as a deterrent, like a warning shot fired in the air, and tradition says this sentence never had to actually be carried out. One reason one would not fear YHWH is because he did not start by fearing his parents. (19:2)
10. "‘And a man who commits adultery with a[nother] man's wife--who commits adultery with his fellow man's wife--[both] the adulterer and the adulteress shall certainly be executed.
11. "‘And a man who lies with his father's wife (who has uncovered the nakedness belonging to his father) both of them shall surely be executed; their [own] blood shall be upon them.
Both: since his seed is now in her along with another man’s. When the woman taken in adultery was brought to Yeshua for judgment, her partner was not brought, in violation of this command. (Yochanan 8) Thus Yeshua could not render the sentence. The local congregation had no authority to execute the man in Corinthos who was doing this, so Paul said to hand him over to haSatan for the destruction of his flesh--the next best thing that could be done.
12. "‘And a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be executed; they have produced confusion. Their blood shall be upon them.
Yehudah did this, though unwittingly, but Tamar’s husbands had died, so by then she was really just one of his household, not specifically his son’s wife. Confusion: The same man would thus be both his child's father and his grandfather. And it would not be clear whether the man or his son was this child’s father. How could the child not be confused? But the word also signifies a shameful mixture or a scrambling of the natural order. It destroys the picture YHWH intended to reveal about His own nature when He created a marriage of one man with one woman.
13. "‘And a man who lies with a male in the same way that one lies with a woman, both of them have done an abominable thing. They shall certainly be executed; their blood is upon them.
Abominable: abhorrent, detestable, disgusting—a far worse offense than merely sinning (missing the target), no matter how normal it is considered in society today. So excusing it by saying that we have our sins, too, is not using the same measure in YHWH’s eyes, for most are not sins unto death. The male body is not equipped to receive semen; this foreign substance, like a cancer, totally confuses the immune system and can cause it to stop functioning altogether.
14. "‘Also, a man who takes both a woman and her mother--this is a lewd scheme! They shall burn both him and the [women] with fire, [so] there will be no lewdness among you.
This is the only time a male is burned--a punishment otherwise accorded only to a priest’s own daughter. (21:9). We are responsible to keep the camp clean so YHWH will want to walk in it. We do not get to define what things are the “excrement” He does not want lying around the camp; He has defined it here.
15. "‘And a man who lies with an animal shall certainly be executed; you shall kill the animal as well.
Note the progression of deeper and deeper confusion of the intended order. These sins deviate further and further from the right way. The animal must be killed because it contains mixed seed, nor can the reminder of this heinous offense be left in the camp; the man who does this has also therefore murdered an animal.
16. "‘And if a woman should approach any animal in order to spread [her legs] for it, you shall indeed execute both the woman and the animal; you shall be sure to put them to death. Their blood [is] upon them.
17. "‘Now if a man takes his sister (the daughter of either his father or his mother) and has seen her nakedness, and she has seen his, this is a shame, and they shall be cut off in front of the eyes of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his guilt.
Takes: for the purpose of sexual relations or marriage. Has seen: a deliberate gaze, not an accidental one, and by a grown man, not a young child. A brother's special duty is to defend and guard his sister's purity; instead, he has literally made defenseless her most vulnerable part. Thus his actions are diametrically opposed to his intended position. David’s daughter Tamar's full brother avenged her half-brother who had so violated her. (2 Shmu’el 13) Though this is not the main point here, if merely marrying one’s cousin intensifies the likelihood of genetic defect, how much more would a brother mixing DNA with his own sister’s?
18. "‘And if a man lies with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain, and she has revealed the fountain of her blood; both of them shall be cut off from the nearness of their people.
This may only mean he is liable if he realizes too late that her flow is present. But this is a form of death (of her egg), and he is not to participate in it. They are cut off from the Temple for seven days (15:24), and thus are not permitted to be part of the corporate worship.
19. "‘And you shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, nor of your father's sister, because he has laid bare his near kin; they shall retain their guilt.
The penalty is not specified; it is up to the local authorities to determine what is just. A half sheqel is paid so one will not be held guilty when he must kill enemies, but when the sin is against a kinsman, what will the consequences be?
20. "‘If a man lies with his aunt, he has uncovered the nakedness of his uncle. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
This could mean their own children will die before they do. This highlights the value of the child in Israel. So this man is essentially placing a death sentence on his cousins and his own children, if he has any, though probably one to be carried out by YHWH, not the court. The penalty may only refer to the fruit of this union, as in David’s punishment for his sin in taking Uriah’s wife (though there is no indication that he was David’s uncle).
21. "‘And if a man takes his brother's wife [while] this is off-limits, he has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be childless.
Childless: literally "stripped", so, metaphorically at least, the punishment fits the crime. Being childless is another form of being cut off, because then one has no posterity. Off-limits: the same word as for a woman in the monthly time when she is off-limits even to her husband. But in this case, she is not always off-limits, and at a particular time the complete reverse is true. If a man dies childless for reasons in which he bears no guilt (unlike v. 20), it is his brother's DUTY to take his wife and try to give his brother children, so he will NOT be without descendants. The impurity lies in doing so while his brother is still alive, because he is mixing the seed of two different men within her. And mixture is the core meaning of "impure". A brother and an uncle are one’s nearest kinsmen, because they are the avengers of one’s blood and his redeemers if he is in danger of losing his inheritance. So such a betrayal of the closest of relationships hurts the entire nation, and this kind of breach cannot be fixed; they cannot be forgiven, so there are serious consequences, whatever form of childlessness this means. Yeshua adds a fence to keep us a step further from this type of sin: do not even let your thoughts go there. (Mat. 5:28)
22. "‘Thus you must guard all My statutes, and all My ordinances, and carry them out; [if you do so] the Land to which I am bringing you in which to live will not vomit you out.
Guard: I.e., not let them be forgotten, and keep careful track of them. This is one reason He told this to the entire congregation. Instead of spoiling the Land, we should “cultivate” it by our righteous deeds.
23. "‘And you shall not walk according to the customs of the nation which I am sending away from before you[r face], because they have done all these [things], and this made me feel sick.
Sending away: the same word as for "divorcing". Sick: disgusted or repulsed. It “turned His stomach”. I.e., “Don’t do this to Me again on My own Land!”
24. "‘Rather, [as] I have told you, "You shall certainly take possession of their Land", and I Myself am giving it to you to possess--a land gushing with milk and honey! I am YHWH your Elohim, who has made you distinct from the nations.”
YHWH will destroy those who destroy the Land (Rev. 11:18; compare 1 Cor. 3:16ff; 6:19ff.). He has His people participate in His cleansing of the Land. This way they also have a stake in it, and will be the more motivated to care for it properly. He trains them on the “house rules” before they enter so that the Land can be pure from the time they take over. He is now training us again while we are still outside the Land so that we will not defile it either. Distinct: divided out from them, and set alone in a separate category, mixed with no one else.
25. "‘So you must make a distinction between the clean and unclean animals, and between the unclean and clean fowl, and you shall not defile your souls by beast or by fowl, or by anything that swarms the ground, which I have delineated for you as unclean.
Since He has already set us apart, we must judge what is to become part of us and what is not, so that we can learn principles for making distinctions in any part of life. How do we define what actions are selfless and which are selfish? If He has already made the distinction, then we must make the same. The Torah may not state every specific, but it does lay the foundation for them all with enough analogous precedents that can be applied to every situation.
26. "‘This way you can become holy, because I, YHWH, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to become My own.’
This way: It was too big a jump from the beginning of this passage to this point, but the parts in between were the steps to holiness. He starts where we are, and takes us through the varying degrees of selfishness which we must address to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves. Though these ways are not foreign to His Land, we are foreign to it, and we need to become intimate with His ways again by remembering them and restoring them so we can become like Him.
27. "And if there is found among them a familiar spirit or a wizard, man or woman, they shall certainly be executed; they shall kill them by stoning. Their [own] blood is upon them.'"
A familiar spirit: one who tries to contact a departed relative's "ghost"; wizard: or "knower". These people try to set themselves apart from the rest through secret, illicitly-gotten knowledge rather than in the manner YHWH prescribes above. So they are responsible for their own deaths. No one who carries out the sentence, if authorized to do so, is guilty, no matter what our misinformed conscience or the United Nations may say. This was one of the reasons for King Sha’ul’s early death (1 Chron. 10:13), though there was no human above him to carry out the sentence. YHWH let it be done by a foreign army.
TORAH PORTION
Q'doshim
(Leviticus 19-20)
INTRODUCTION: Everybody longs for something better than the norms this world has to offer. And the profiteers come up with countless ways to present us with their products as “the one thing you’ve really been waiting for!” And of course, even if it is something of value, it’s never all it’s cracked up to be.
So how do we rise above the muck and doldrums that beset our everyday lives? YHWH says we can—by being holy.
“Holy.” Seriously? Well, before Batman and Robin came along and (ironically) profaned the term, it would conjure up in our minds images of something ethereal and hard to grasp—a very good thing, we felt, but hard to explain. The term basically means “set apart unto a particular purpose”. It can mean “special”, “unique”, “one of a kind”, or any number of variations on that theme. But what does it mean when YHWH tells us it is how we are supposed to be?
Of course, serious Bible students (since long before Yeshua) have always come up with their own definitions of holiness and “separation from the world”. That is a worthwhile pursuit, but without a timeless standard, most have come up with definitions that may fit their own situation well but are not sustainable in every situation--you know, “Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t chew, and don’t go with girls that do.” They can end up becoming unbearable burdens to others—the very thing Yeshua stood against.
And some of them—like “don’t drink” or “Sunday blue laws”, while well-intentioned, don’t stand up to Scripture itself. That’s because people have been misinformed by the “memo” that the instruction book is outdated, but they look only at the supplement added to revise it for a different context, and don’t even look at the main document, or just occasionally refer to it, but think they can still use the product properly. But of course, the warranties are voided if we misuse the product, and YHWH Himself can’t uphold all of our interpretations. He may uphold our intentions and be forgiving about that, but still there are consequences for using the product—life—improperly, because things will get broken.
So here He gives us general principles through some specific examples, and from them we can draw precedents for every other situation to which holiness really does apply. The Torah does give us the best solutions possible for the world in which we find ourselves, and the promise of a better replacement for those who do their best to use the product properly but still fall victim to the extenuating circumstances which are not totally avoidable even when we do our best, simply because the world is fallen and nothing but a resurrection can fully solve that problem.
So take each huckster’s claim on its own merits, but don’t expect dazzlingly-different results from anything but the guidelines YHWH Himself gives—right here.
“When to Be Different, and When Not To”
This portion starts with YHWH’s declaration that we are to be holy because He is holy. But “holy” is one of those religious-sounding words that most of us might find hard to define. Just what does it mean?
The Hebrew meaning of words is much more down-to-earth and often defines things in physical terms. Elsewhere, the term is used for anything from days to places, from garments to gatherings, a firstborn son, and even a pagan temple prostitute! (Deut. 23:17) How is that possible? Isn’t that the opposite of holiness? Actually, it is an example of someone dedicated--to something other than YHWH, yes, but set aside for a particular purpose nonetheless. At the end of this chapter, YHWH Himself defines the kind of holy that we are to be as “separated from all others.”
So we will be different. We had better make our peace with that fact early on, for if we want to follow our calling, it is inevitable. But that does not give us license to be quirky and full of idiosyncracies; it is a better kind of “different”—a notch higher, bringing more benefit to the world than others might. Our job is to be a “special force” to fix what others before us have marred. (20:23-24)
I like to look at it as “special” or “in a category all one’s own”. It’s easy to see how YHWH is that, but what about us? Well, this portion is composed of examples of just what it means, and we will look at several of them to help narrow the scope.
The very first example is how we treat our parents. (19:3) That is significant. Most children today think they know better than their elders just because they are more adept at the newest electronic devices! But how refreshing it is to see a child who actually knows how to be respectful not just to strangers, but to those closest to them.
That Israel’s court proceedings are to be different from those of other nations (19:15) has got to be refreshing to anyone. They are to be without partiality either to those who could pay off the judge or to those whom we would naturally want to pity and give whatever allowances we can. Either might be wrong. If there is any special treatment, it is to be for those who by their age and experience have earned respect. (19:32) If only King Rehav’am had heeded this, we might never have been divided into two kingdoms.
And don’t defraud your neighbor. (19:13) Don’t make things more difficult for the weak or handicapped. (19:14) If someone is doing wrong, don’t neglect to warn him. (19:17) Don’t carry a grudge. (19:18)
A pattern emerges: holiness as defined here is not about much religion, but chiefly about how we treat one another. It’s not just that we are specially-privileged; we are also supposed to act differently and, for that matter, have a different outlook on the world. YHWH doesn’t like confusion—confusion over who one’s father is (19:29; 20:12), what one’s "gender identity" is (20:13), or what species something is. (19:19; 20:15-16) He wants us to know how to make distinctions between what’s just ordinary and what is the very best. (20:25)
Whether or not there is any validity to spiritists, mediums, or clairvoyants (not all seem to be quacks), still YHWH does not want us to seek such secret knowledge from alternate sources. (19:26-28, 31; 20:6) As King Shlomo found, “With much knowledge comes much grief” (Qoheleth/Eccles. 1:18), and YHWH wants to spare those who are under His care and who serve Him from unnecessary sorrow; if the news that’s coming to us is bad, He wants to filter it through His unique love, mercy, and understanding of just how we need to grow. No smoke and mirrors. Again, just simple and straightforward. He doesn’t want to be seen as one of the “gods” who are capricious and bloodthirsty. (19:12; 20:4) While they may be put there to keep other nations in line, we have something better—direct access to the one to whom they have to answer. We are not just set apart from other things; we are set apart for Him.
Oh, and one distinction that many people make, He doesn’t want us to make: between full citizens and foreigners. (19:34) If they want to follow the same path as you, you are not to look at them as any different or treat them any differently—and that in itself makes us different!
Study Questions:
1. How is respecting one’s parents a holy thing? (19:2-3) How might it, as well as honoring our elders (19:32), teach us a better understanding of how to treat YHWH?
2. Meat left out until the third day may indeed be disgusting (19:7), but how else could something set apart to YHWH be profaned it if we keep partaking of it beyond its intended context and parameters?
3. What are some examples of how YHWH set what could otherwise just be considered common courtesies in a religious context to ensure that they are not neglected? (19:9-19, 33-36) Why do we need this in order to motivate us?
4. How might 1 Timothy 3:6 hint at a deeper application of Leviticus 19:23-25?
5. How would you summarize the difference(s) between the ways of YHWH (chapter 19) and the customs of the peoples (chapter 18)?
6. What categories of actions can get someone cut off from YHWH or His people? (Chapter 20)
The Sidewalk
for Kids
How would you feel if someone described you as “a little…uh, different…”?
You might not like it, right? We like to fit in and not stick out. Sometimes that’s good, because some people just want to be different because they don’t like other people or don’t like rules or just want to do what they think is fun, but a lot of times that hurts other people, or just makes things not flow smoothly. Ask anybody who’s been in the army if things work rightly when everybody tries to be different or when they all follow orders the same way.
But there’s a kind of “different” that’s “better”, because what people consider “normal” isn’t good enough for YHWH. Since they see that everyone does wrong sometimes, they say we have to lower the standard and not expect much of anyone. But YHWH’s kind of different is the “outstanding” kind, because it is possible to do better—just not by our own power, but by His.
He wants other people to see Israelites and say, “Wow! I wish I had what they have!” He has given us all we need to do much better than the rest of the world: first the Torah, then a new spirit that He put in us to make us want to obey Him and want to be better people. If we, who are given these advantages, don’t make things better, who will?
So where does He start when telling us what it means to be the right kind of different? First of all, show honor to your parents. That’s where we start learning what it means to listen and obey people who are over us, and if we do, then it’s so much easier to do what your boss or the police or your army commander says. You’re used to it, and even though that would seem to just make you ordinary and the same, it really is different because most people don’t want to have anyone tell them what to do, and as soon as the authorities’ backs are turned, they sneak around and do whatever they can get away with. But if you understand that YHWH wants things to be in order, it’s easier to listen to people who know better or at least have more experience than us and at least give their advice a try. Usually it turns out to be smart.
Then, “keep My Shabbats”—that is, the weekly and yearly feasts. It doesn’t make much sense that people who can’t wait for the weekend to come get upset when YHWH tells them to stop one day each week and take a break, does it? But still they do—I guess, again, because they don’t want anyone telling them they have to. But if you go longer than that without a rest, you’ll not only make a lot of mistakes but you’ll be grumpy and sleepy and all of the other seven dwarfs! But, kidding aside, it will make us healthier than people who don’t relax and recover. YHWH also wants us to take time to talk to Him and get to know Him along with His other people, together, and the Shabbat lets us do that too.
The third thing is to not have idols. Now that really was extremely different when YHWH told our ancestors this. But even they had a hard time with it back then. As the news that we could come back to being YHWH’s people spread around the world, it became much less common to make figures to worship, but it kind of went underground; people still worship plenty of things other than YHWH. It’s just not as obvious. Whatever you spend too much time and energy on, especially if it makes you want to skip the Shabbat or keep doing what you want to do even when it means stepping on other people to get it, you have an idol.
YHWH then goes on to give a lot more examples of ways to set Him apart so other people will notice Him and also to set ourselves apart so we can focus on the special work He gave us to do and be dedicated to it. We can use the ideas they teach about to help us know what YHWH wants us to do in the areas He didn’t talk about, too.
The Renewal of
Q'DOSHIM
Why is “You shall be holy, because I, YHWH your Elohim, am holy” followed immediately by “Each of you shall stand in awe of his mother and father”? (Leviticus 19:2-3) Because seeing someone honoring his parents in our day of “children’s rights” and hyper-democracy that says everyone’s opinion is equal, is truly something that really stands out as different. Yeshua’s student Kefa understood the connection:
“Tying up the undisciplined aspects of your mind, set your hope fully on the empowering being brought to you with the disclosure of Yeshua the Messiah, like compliant children, not aligning yourselves with the things you formerly craved in ignorance; rather, just as the One who is calling you is set apart, you be set apart too in every [aspect of your] conduct, since it is written, ‘Become set apart, because I am set apart.’ Indeed, if you are calling on a Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, let the time of your sojourning be passed in fear, knowing that it was not with perishable things (silver or gold) that you were ransomed out of [the] pointless way of life handed down from your ancestors, but with the highly-valuable blood of the Messiah, as of an unblemished and unspotted lamb…” (1 Peter 1:16-19)
“Now if you slaughter an offering of peace…it may be eaten on the day you slaughter it, or on the next day, but … if any of it is eaten on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be accepted. Whoever eats [it] shall bear his consequences, because he has rendered common the holy thing belonging to YHWH, and that person shall be cut off from his people.” (Lev. 19:5-8)
Yeshua is called our “peace offering” (Ephesians 2:14) and he said we had to figuratively “partake of his flesh” to have a share in him. But two “days” (per Psalm 90) since his resurrection are just about up. He said his work would be finished on the third day (Luk. 13:32); it will apparently then be too late to begin to “partake” of him. It has to be decided and sealed before his Kingdom begins. To change to another analogy he used, it will not be time to harvest anymore (Revelation 14:15, based on Joel 3:13), but to thresh, winnow, grind, and cook. But he said in his day that it was high time the harvest began. (Mat. 9:37; compare Mat. 13:30)
That is the very theme of the next verses in this portion:
"‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the corners, nor gather up the gleanings of your harvest; … you must leave them for the needy and the sojourner.” (Lev. 19:9-10)
Exodus 22:31 also takes up this portion’s theme of holiness, but from a different angel—but Yeshua ties it all together: “You must be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; you must cast it to the dogs.” Something thrown to the dogs is therefore no longer holy.
Now read Yeshua’s words from the opposite angle: “Do not give what is holy to dogs…” (Mat. 7:6). They won’t appreciate it, is basically what he is saying, and may even end up throwing it back in your face all torn up. But to a Gentile woman whom he apparently thought was not even from one of the lost tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Mat. 15:24-27), he said, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.”
But her response amazed him: “Yes, Master: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.” (Mark 7:27-28) She was willing to even put herself in the category of a dog to get her daughter healed, and he may have been as amazed by her humility as he was by her faith! But she was the needy sojourner who got to glean some of what was left behind.
“You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor; the wages of a hired hand must not remain with you until morning.” (Lev. 19:13) Yeshua’s brother Yaaqov renews and elaborates on this: “Come on now, you who are rich! Mourn and wail over the calamities that are overtaking you… the wages of the laborers who mow your fields, of which you have defrauded them, are crying out for vengeance, and the cries of those who harvested [them] have entered the ears of [YHWH] the Master of Armies!” (James 5:1-4)
“You shall not treat the deaf as of little importance, or put anything in front of the blind that would make them stumble, but you shall fear your Elohim.” (Lev. 19:14 This verse is so far ahead of all other ancient cultures! Yeshua focused much of his healing ministry on blind and deaf people (Luke 4:18; 7:22, etc.), as a sign that the Kingdom was in its infancy stage already. (Yeshayahu 29:18; 35:5; 42:7)
But not all blind and deaf people would be healed yet, and he made it a hallmark of the embryonic stage of the Kingdom to include them in events we would normally reserve for invitees who could one day return the favor: “Rather, when you make a feast, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, or the blind, and you will be blessed, because they do not have anything to give you in return, and you will be paid back proportionately in the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14)
He wants them included even before the fullness comes, because the ill effects of the Fall are not their fault any more than the rest of ours. He knew YHWH’s heart must especially weep for what they could have been, knowing better than we how our irresponsible ancestor in cooperation with the enemy had marred His works of art. But undoubtedly they, who have been deprived of more, will enjoy the wholeness of the Kingdom more than those who had closer-to-perfect bodies (for still, not one of us is what we were planned to be).
“You must not hate your brother in your heart; you shall certainly rebuke your fellow, and not put up with sin [remaining] upon him. You must not take vengeance or carry a grudge against the children of your people, and you must love your fellow as [you love] yourself; I am YHWH.” (Lev. 19:17-18) We would not want someone to hold a grudge against us, would we, knowing what we do about our own motives, pressures, and limitations? So give them the same benefit of the doubt. But He also tells us to love the foreigners among us as ourselves (19:34)—a much less-known verse!
Notice how putting up with sin in our neighbors is NOT loving them, no matter how “nice” we seem when we do so. But “love your neighbor as yourself” is one of the two “hooks” on which Yeshua said the whole Torah and all the prophets “hang”; the other is loving YHWH with all that we are and have. (Mat. 22:36-40) They sum up all the rest; the detailed commands are just examples of how to live these ideals out. (Romans 13:9)
The Renewed Covenant brings out the deeper meaning in the laws against mixtures in Lev. 19:19, as it does for so many parts of the Torah: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, because what …does light have in common with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
Paul brought out the principle YHWH wanted us to derive from His prohibition of eating the fruit of immature trees (Lev. 19:23-25): “An overseer must…not be a novice [literally, neophyte, one “newly-planted”], lest, lifted up with pride, he might fall into the Accuser’s condemnation.” (1 Timothy 3:2, 6)
Execution of homosexuals? (Lev. 20:13) Did the Renewed Covenant “update” that? I see nothing different—maybe even something stricter—in 1 Corinthians 6: “Don’t be deceived: neither … effeminate [men] nor males who engage in same-sex copulation… will receive a portion in the Kingdom of Elohim.” But…what about those who can’t help it? The next verse holds great hope: “Such were some of you, but you were washed off [completely], but you were set apart [as holy], but you were justified in the name of our Master Yeshua the Messiah and by the spirit of our Elohim.”
It is not as unchangeable as those with a vested interest would have us believe. That is the Glad News: We don’t have to remain the same!
Love Your Neighbor--HOW??
As the portion's name suggests, holiness is the theme here. (19:8, 12) It’s about not profaning things YHWH wants to be taken seriously—like sexuality, our word, or those who are old and frail but wise from experience —not turning things He designed as sources of joy into objects of ridicule, because when they are turned into something commonplace, they are cheapened and are no longer special or protected as He wanted them.
One of the most familiar lines in this Torah portion is “love your neighbor as yourself”. Yeshua said it summarizes half of the Torah! But the original context for it comes as a surprise to many:
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall certainly rebuke your fellow, and not put up with sin [remaining] upon him. You shall not take revenge or carry a grudge against the children of your people, and you shall love your fellow as [you love] yourself; I am YHWH.” (19:17-18)
Today it seems counterintuitive that NOT rebuking someone means you hate him; our first reaction to a reprimand is often, “Why do you hate me so much as to judge me?” But neglecting to correct someone who is on the wrong track means you really don’t care that he is headed for disaster, and that is the opposite of real love.
Proverbs gives us many examples of how this is the case:
“YHWH corrects those He loves as a father [corrects] a son in whom he delights.” (3:12)
“Discipline your son while there is hope…” (19:18)
“He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him corrects him early.” (13:24)
“Do not hold back correction from the child; if you hit him with the switch, he’s not going to die!” (23:13) I.e., don’t worry; the danger of what he’ll become if you don’t do this is far greater than if you do. Of course, only wallop the well-padded parts, and never with cruelty, excess, or to humiliate. (Deut. 25:1-3) A rebuke can be just as effective, if not received with scorn, but still at least gets us off the hook. (Prov. 9:7-9)
The difference between revenge (forbidden here) and justice (mandated everywhere in Scripture) might seem a fine line. One is carried out on one’s own terms; the other is done through the right channels to ensure all the necessary factors are taken into account, so when blood runs hot we don’t do something we’ll later regret.
When we see the rapidly-increasing corruption in governments all around us today, we appreciate the radical justice of YHWH’s laws, like, “Do no injustice when deciding a case: neither unduly favor the weak nor show partiality in the presence of the distinguished. You must judge your neighbor rightly.” (19:15) Perfect balance!
When governments propose laws that would allow infanticide up to 28 days AFTER birth, it shows the desperate need for these first laws that protect the handicapped or disadvantaged (19:9-14, 33-34), and the later rulings by more sane, just, and merciful lawmakers that have wisely applied them more broadly.
Chapter 19 may seem like a hodgepodge of unrelated laws, but if we read it carefully we see in it specific examples of what holiness is about: maintaining separation where things should not be mixed up.
Chapter 20 returns to the theme of justice: If we neglect to try one who deserves to be convicted, YHWH Himself will single that person out for wrath, and his family will suffer too (20:2-6), so bite the bullet and do it. Yet the things that deserve this justice are those that impede this portion’s theme—holiness (20:7), for it is YHWH Himself who sets us apart. (20:8) The main reason to be holy is that it makes us more like Him. (19:1)
He won’t put up with certain alternative lifestyles for which people are pushing for special rights today, because He knows what horrors they lead to. He has zero tolerance for things that hurt those He loves. So by rebuking we mirror His kind of love.
Things merely forbidden in chapters 17 and 18 are now given sentences—mostly capital punishment, but for some, the strange penalty of dying childless (20:20-21), which is actually worse, because in the case of condemned rebels like Qorakh, there can at least be descendants left (Num. 26:11) who will correct their ancestors’ errors and make even their wasted lives fruitful in the final analysis.
Defining Holiness…
and Love
All of the commands in this portion have to do with being dedicated to YHWH, because “be holy” is the “bookend” at the beginning (Lev. 19:2) and again at the end (20:26). It’s not about an ethereal folding our hands with angelic choirs in the background. Our whole daily life—from the foods we eat to our sexual practices, from the kind of clothes we wear to how we cut our hair (19:27)—must be independent of the norms of the world “which lies in the [power of the] evil one”. (1 Yochanan 5:19)
Oh, they may sometimes look the same by accident, but we must always maintain the standards defined by YHWH Himself, fashionable or not. A worldly-wise youth calls his father “old man”; YHWH says to revere him. (19:3; 20:9) The world thinks of the aged as worn-out relics of a past prime and relegates them to nursing homes or euthanasia; YHWH says to stand up in their presence (19:32) as one would a judge, for the wisdom they have amassed by their many years of service is deserving of such honor.
But even when we don’t live up to this holy calling, YHWH keeps careful track of the people He guards like a treasure. This is the subject of the haftarah (companion passage) for this portion:
“The eyes of Adonai YHWH are on the sinful kingdom…I have sifted the House of Israel among the nations, yet not one grain will fall to the ground.” (Amos 9:8-9)
When Yeshua said something similar—“Not one sparrow falls to the ground”, he added “…without Your Father [noticing it].” (Mt. 10:29) Is the same sense implied here? Or does it mean these stubborn “kernels” are refusing to be sifted? The ambiguity may be deliberate, so that if either shoe fits, we can wear it.
There is a parallel verse in another prophecy about the Northern Kingdom’s return: “My eyes are on all their ways…neither is their iniquity hidden from Me.” (Jer. 16:17) There again you have both elements—His attention to both us and our record of behavior. He promised to bring us back into His favor nonetheless, yet goes on to say, “But first I will repay their crookedness and their sin doubly, because they have profaned My Land…” (16:18) Similarly, when Amos says, “Not one grain will fall”, he adds that “all the sinners of My people will fall by the sword.”(9:10) Only then can the falling sukkah of David be restored. (9:11)
Do we see a pattern here? The same words can be a comfort or a cause for alarm, depending on which side of the commandment one is on. Once we are set apart to such a high calling, we have farther to fall if we abandon it. We are ruined if again used for an ignoble purpose—like using your finest china teacup to bail out a clogged toilet. Who would ever drink from it again? That’s why the consequences for profaning ourselves again are so severe.
Lest we define love the way the world does, in a vague, feel-good manner, YHWH tells us not only to love our neighbor as ourselves, but how to do so (19:17-18) One way is to be sure to rebuke him if he is going off track! Nowadays, that would be considered “hate speech” because it is unpleasant, but the world does tend to call good evil and evil good (think of all the modern usages of “Wicked!” or “I’m bad!”), and call light darkness. But the prophet says “Woe to those who” do that. (Isaiah 5:20) Just because it feels uncomfortable does not mean it is wrong. “YHWH corrects those He loves.” (Prov. 3:12) That’s what He is doing to Israel in the haftarah, and we are called to be like Him—NOT by “knowing good and evil” (the serpent’s definition), but separating right from wrong.
And the “love as you would love yourself” is not just your neighbor—the one like you--but any guest or visitor too. (19:33-34) Again, it’s not about how you feel about him, but about commitment to a standard of conduct that has his best interests as its goal. That can be quite painful, as one who took love to the point of death on a cross could tell you. Do you think YHWH liked scattering and exiling His beloved treasures? But it was what we needed in order to learn the value of holiness.
And now that we have exhausted ourselves on trying to follow the world’s carrot that is inevitably always out of reach because it is a nonexistent happiness, even while the defacing of bodies (19:28) increases in popularity, the blurring of lines (19:19) reaches epic proportions, and the evil powers demand respect for things YHWH calls repulsive (20:13), we are starting to understand what it was we forfeited. And once that sifting has run its full course, He is going to again elevate the treasures that remain intact.
The Right Kind of Different
Being declared a “chosen people” by the Almighty led some of these people to feel invincible. We could be that, if we remained allied with Him. (Numbers 14:9)
But these people in our haftarah were saying, “Calamity will never overtake us” (Amos 9:10) and taking that to mean “I can do whatever I want and get away with it; I’ll just show my membership card!” (Lk. 3:8)
But YHWH makes it clear: even His people, if we join the Rebellion, can still be defeated, cut down in a most undignified way—by “the sword”, with blood and gore, not a reasonably-peaceful settling for amnesty or even a safe enough escape into anonymity.
To bring us down from our arrogance, YHWH approaches us by saying, “Aren’t you just like the Kushites to Me?... Didn’t I bring Israel out of Egypt, the Philistines out of Kaftor, and the Arameans out of Qir?” (Amos 9:7) He treats us here as emphatically unholy. He doesn’t let us brag that never until us has a nation been brought out of another. “I’ve done this before; I can do it again. Why do you think you’re entitled to special treatment? You didn’t treat Me as set apart; why should I treat you that way?”
He prized us as a “peculiar treasure”, but we’re just being idiosyncratic--and not in a good way, so to get our attention He has to say, “You’re just like anyone else!” If we don’t follow His instructions, that’s true, no matter what our pedigree.
He got our attention in a more positive way by the seemingly-backwards juxtaposition of the commands regarding hate and rebuke. (Lev. 19:17) He does not call a reprimand “hate speech” as many would today, but rather says that if we withhold rebuke, that is when we’re unloving, because as the adage goes, “the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference” (just not caring). This is why the elderly deserve to be heard. (19:32) To those not old enough to remember that adage, it seems unthinkable that love could mean you’d actually correct someone. After all, then you are saying that you know better than he and that certain actions are more right than others; that is so undemocratic! “Their truth is as right as yours!”
This just goes to show how far we have come from even common sense, let alone the truly-revolutionary revelation from above that can actually change the world for the better. Talk of being holy and you are immediately assumed to mean “holier than thou”. We are actually meant to be holier than others, but not in the sense that this idiom implies, for we were not born set-apart, as if it was an innate privilege, nor have we made ourselves holy (if we have had any success at being the right kind of set apart); it was done for us by Another who’s able to make us right but not conceited about it, moral but not sanctimonious, outstanding but not for the sake of our own advancement, and truly different, but only so we can lighten the dark and be capable of actually pulling others out of the quicksand because we are on solid ground.
The Rebellion, in contrast, wants to pull everyone down with it. So He says things that seem backwards, calling Himself “the high and lofty One…whose name is Holy, yet who dwells with the contrite and humble.” (Isa. 57:15). Sounds upside-down and inside out! But only because we too have been part of the Rebellion, whether on purpose or not, by buying into its philosophy, which really is backwards. To Him it makes perfect sense.
YHWH aims to redeem us from the Rebellion and make us allies of the true Power, the legitimate Authority, but that entails, in Michael Card’s words, being “confronted by the Friend that we most fear”, admitting there’s a price to be paid but we’re too bankrupt to pay. Card also sings, “The power of paradox opens our eyes and blinds those who say they can see.”
Everyone has to wrestle Him and trip over the stumbling-stone. (Isa. 8:14) There’s no choice but to end up different; which kind of different will you be? Just lame—or broken but reset stronger? Just odd–or truly “peculiar”? Just set aside--or truly set apart?
