Set Apart and Carried Away

Some Torah portions are much harder to study and teach than others. I love everything about Genesis; it's stories lend themselves very well to theological concepts. Exodus and Leviticus with their detailed descriptions of the priestly duties, the tabernacle, and the various articles of worship are not so easy to parse. On one level, it is very simple: make this object in this manner and do this with it. There's nothing complicated about that. However, God threw a very large wrench into this simplistic understanding when he said to Ezekiel,

Ezekiel 43:10-11  You, son of man, give the children of Israel an account of this house, so that they may be shamed because of their evil-doing: and let them see the vision of it and its image.  (11)  And they will be shamed by what they have done; so give them the knowledge of the form of the house and its structure, and the ways out of it and into it, and all its laws and its rules, writing it down for them: so that they may keep all its laws and do them.

Huh? Israel is supposed to look at God's house, note the dimensions and materials...and be ashamed? How could the ins and outs of the Tabernacle or the Temple make the people ashamed of anything? It was built by people who lived long before Ezekiel and was used almost exclusively by the priests. What does any of it have to do with Joe the Shepherd or Tina the Chef?

If you've been reading my material for any length of time, then you'll know that I don't believe anything in the Torah has only one meaning. Very little, if anything, in this universe is single dimensional. It turns out that there are so many things to talk about in these seemingly dry, technical passages, that I have difficulty focusing on any one thing! In Tetzaveh (Exodus 27:20–30:10) we can learn about the character of God, the role of the Messiah, our relationship with both of those, salvation from sin and judgment, the role of a father in his family, and much more. Let me give you just one example that shows how much God loves his people.

Exodus 28:36-38  And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and carve on it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO YHWH.  (37)  And you shall put a ribbon on it, and it shall be on the miter; to the front of the miter it shall be.  (38)  And it shall be on Aaron's forehead, so that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which will sanctify the sons of Israel in all their holy gifts. And it shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before YHWH.

The High Priest wears a gold crown of sorts. Engraved across the front, resting on his forehead, are the words, "Set Apart to YHWH." This Torah portion tells us that this is because he takes onto himself the "iniquities of the holy things." What a contradiction! How can holy things be sinful? These things are holy because they are set apart from other things, not because they are perfect. The Hebrew word for holy is kadosh, and it literally means "set apart." The holy offerings of Israel are like you and me. In fact, they are you and me. We aren't perfect, and we never will be. There is no way in heaven or on earth that you and I can present ourselves to God perfectly unblemished. We need a High Priest who will take our meager, pathetic offerings and take responsibility for their faults onto himself.

Through the blood of Yeshua, our Messiah, shed by the thorns dug into his forehead, our inadequacies are lifted off our own heads and placed on his. Without God's grace to accept that shift, we would be without hope. We would be condemned as forever separated from our Creator, set apart forever, but away from him and not to him. In his mercy, he provided a way for us to approach him, to offer him our broken and scarred hearts as if they were a perfect and holy living sacrifice, completely acceptable in the highest court of Heaven.

What greater love could there be?

Love?

Leviticus 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:34  But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 10:12  And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deuteronomy 10:19  Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 11:1  Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

Deuteronomy 13:3  ...for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 30:16  ...I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Joshua 22:5  But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Joshua 23:11  Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

Nehemiah 1:5  ...O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments...

Psalms 31:23  O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

Psalms 97:10  Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Proverbs 10:12  Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

Proverbs 17:9  He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Matthew 5:44  ...Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

Matthew 19:19   ...Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mark 12:29-31  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,  Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:  (30)  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  (31)  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:33  And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 15:9  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

John 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Romans 12:10  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Romans 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Ephesians 4:2-3  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  (3)  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 5:1-2  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  (2)  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

1 Thessalonians 3:12  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

1 Thessalonians 4:9  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1 Timothy 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Titus 2:4  ...teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children...

Hebrews 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works...

Hebrews 13:1  Let brotherly love continue.

James 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well...

1 Peter 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

1 Peter 2:17  Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

1 Peter 3:8-9  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:  (9)  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

1 John 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 4:7-8  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  (8)  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

2 John 1:5-6  And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.  (6)  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Love. Love. Love. Love. Love.

We are commanded over and over again to love, but do we even know what love is? The scriptures are clear to an extent: To love God is to obey his commandments. To love others is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick. We have heard these things so many times that they have become meaningless!

What does it really mean to feed the hungry? Do we all need to go volunteer at the local Rescue Mission? Should we haul a pot of soup under the nearest bridge? What? What if there aren't any destitute nearby? What if you don't know where to find them? Should we just give some money to the Salvation Army and let them handle it? Is it enough just to be kind to those closest to you?

What does it really mean to obey God's commands? Do I love God if I wear my tzitziyot religiously? Do I love him if I read the Torah and teach it to others? What!?

It truly bothers me that I am asking these questions. I feel that I should know without any hesitation what it means to love in every circumstance. I pray for the time when God's law will be fully written on my heart, but that day isn't now. There are many things that I don't understand, many instances in which I have not shown love or even knew what love would be.

I have written a book examining the manual on marital and familial love, and I intend to write a few more, but still my understanding of love has not approached what it ought to be. This will be the focus of my Torah studies from now on because if keeping Torah doesn't teach you to love, then you are not keeping Torah. "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees you will in no case enter the kingdom of heaven." The pharisees didn't love God; they loved their traditions. If you obey all the rules and say all the right things, yet don't have love, you don't have anything.

The Authority of a Father over an Adult Daughter

Mishpatim lists a seemingly random set of commandments, but a closer look shows that they are not really so random. The common theme is property rights.

Exodus 21:1	Introduction
Exodus 21:2-11	Rights of a master over a slave.
Exodus 21:12-36	Rights of a person over his own life and limb
Exodus 22:1-15	Rights of the owner of livestock, crops, and other property
Exodus 22:16-17	Rights of a father and future husband over a daughter and future bride
Exodus 22:18-23:19	God's expectations of those to whom he has delegated authority
Exodus 23:20-23	God's expectations of those under delegated authority
Exodus 23:24-33	Rights of God over his property
Exodus 24:1-18	Closing

A word about the rights of fathers over their daughters...I once wrote that a father always has the right to veto his daughter's choice of husband. I am no longer so strongly convinced.

Matot (Numbers 30-32) says that a father may annul the vows of his unmarried daughter still living in his house. I have had occasion since then to learn something of the life of an unmarried daughter who is not still living in her father's house, and it seems to me that Matot should be taken literally on that point. If she left her father's house with his consent and has lived on her own for many years, then she should probably be accorded the status of a widow or divorcee, responsible for her own finances, decisions, and vows. A situation like that would have been extremely rare in ancient Hebrew culture, so there would have been no particular reason to include it.

The Designer Knows His Design

From Science Daily:

…A study shows that eating these animals can have side effects that call into question the wisdom of eating this ‘delicacy.’

God’s rules for what animals you should eat and what you shouldn’t are not about health. Let me say that again: Eating kosher isn’t about health. It’s about obedience. However, having said that, eating kosher is almost certainly healthier than not.

Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.