Click HERE to return to main site

And Thou Shalt Read and Do

Our Parasha begins this time in Leviticus 19:1-20:27. It is tiled Kidoshim, which means set apart. The Hebrew people were to be set apart from the world, which still holds true for us today. This parasha is chock full of the do’s and don’ts of life, so we should pay close attention to its contents. First, let’s take a look at 19: 12, where it says you shall not swear by my name falsely. We’ve discussed this subject before, but let’s review it a little here. This passage has been twisted and taught wrong to many people, along with Matthew 5:33-37, which some say is the New Testament equivalent to it. But if Yeshua was saying in Matthew not to swear by YHVH’S name, he would be going against the Torah.

For example, in Deut.6:13 it says, You shall fear YHVH your God, and you shall worship him, and in His name shall you swear (note- we are not speaking of the type of foul mouthed speech we generally refer to as swearing). In 1st Samuel 20:3 we see where David says, as YHVH lives. Look at Jeremiah 12:16, it says, And it shall be if they nevertheless learn the way of My people to swear by my name, here it is speaking to the Gentiles. The content of the passage however, is saying for the unbelievers to learn to swear by YHVH like His people do, as those people were taught to swear by Ba’al in the past.. So let’s fast forward to Matthew. Let’s take a look at Matthew 5:33-37 in the Hebrew Matthew (found in the scroll of Evan Bohan) as opposed to the English version. (33)You have further heard what was said by the ancients, “you shall not swear falsely by my name” but you must pay your vow to YHVH. (34) But I say to you that you must not swear by anything falsely, not by Heaven which is the throne of YHVH, (35) nor by the earth which is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, which is His city, (36) nor by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black, (37) But let your yes be yes and your no, no.

Anything added to this is evil. So what Yeshua is saying here is to not swear falsely! The Torah said in Leviticus 19:12 not to swear falsely in the name of YHVH. So the Pharisees took this and twisted it into saying you had permission to swear falsely, just as long as you didn’t use the name YHVH. Now don’t read something into this I’m NOT saying and that is, to run around swearing vows in the name of YHVH all the time. It’s still not a casual thing to do and all seriousness should be used in doing so. I’m also not referring to using bad words in connection with YHVH’S name! I’m referring to saying things such as, as YHVH lives I’ll do such and such. But you’d better be prepared to do what you’re vowing to do or you’re going to be up a creek without a paddle as they say, because YHVH WILL hold you to your vow. Later in this 19th chapter we see where it says not to curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind. Literally, if you curse the deaf, can they hear and respond to the curse in a proper way, no they’re deaf. Can the blind see the stumbling block and avoid it, no. So going past the literal of this verse, in the New Covenant we read where it talks about those who have ears let them hear and those that are blind let them see. So, you could derive from this passage not to curse the unbelievers (those blind and deaf to the gospel), that’s not your place.

After all, you don’t know who is going to be born again down the road that is a real problem now to you. But let’s take another viewpoint on this issue. Isn’t keeping Torah a stumbling block to those out there who do not have ears to hear what the Messianics are saying to them? These people do not want any part of the Torah, to them it becomes a stumbling block. In reality, it is the constitution of the Kingdom of YHVH. We all know Yeshua is not a stumbling block either, He’s life, but He’s a stumbling block to the unbeliever who refuses to accept Him. Also it goes on to say, you shall not hate your brother in your heart. YHVH made sure we understood that He wasn’t just speaking about outward appearances of hatred. You can hate someone bitterly in your heart and yet be nice to them to their face. So it’s not the actions that condemn you, it’s what in your heart. Hate is such a wasted emotion, it only hurts the one who carries it. Notice also in verse 18, it says not to take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people. I’ve known people who because they disliked something the parent did, they took out their hatred against that person’s child, how sad. I believe there’s a lot of that going on today with all the broken homes we have out there. Next we see where it speaks of mixing seeds, cattle, and certain garment material. When it comes down to it, we shouldn’t be mating our animals with other species. If mankind had been following the Torah all along, all our animals would be pure bred now. We also are not supposed to be getting the pets spayed or neutered. We mix everything now, crops, animals, you name it, and we’ve cross bred it. Man wasn’t content in mixing just simple things together. People have really messed up when they are trying to mix human DNA with rice, which they have done! There are more experiments going on out there with GMOS and DNA than everyday people would ever imagine. Now let’s get into another sticky passage, again, we’ve discussed this before, but some people did not read or hear that discussion, so we’ll give it another whirl?. That is verse 27 of Leviticus, chapter 19. What it says is, you shall not round the corners of your head, nor destroy the peot of your beard. So people have taken this to mean you don’t cut your hair or trim your beard. You will also notice in verse 28 it says not to get tattoos either.

So in these two verses we are forbidden to make four types of cuttings;

1. Cutting the head or hair

2. Cutting the face or beard

3. Cutting the flesh

4. Inscribing writing on the flesh You not only have to look at the content of the text, but take a broader look at it in the context of the entire Torah and the world as it was when it was written.

First, Pe’ah (Pe’ot plural) in itself simply means the side or edge of anything. In different verses it speaks of the west side (pe’ah) of the Tabernacle, or the east side, or the north side. The word side there is Pe’ah. (Ex. 26:20, Eze. 47:29) To round the sides of your head, simply means to cut off the hair around the sides of the head. So let’s take a look now at Deu. 14:1-2; you shall not cut yourselves, nor shall you place baldness between your eyes for the dead. Most people do not have any significant hair between their eyes, so this phrase is generally meant the hair above your eyes. Notice this is referencing doing that in mourning (read Amos 8:10, Micah 1:16 for reference). In ancient times, when someone died, the surviving relatives were so distraught they cut their skin until they bled and shaved bald spots on their head. This was not unusual for the pagan people of that day to do. Thus YHVH tells His people, don’t be like the pagans and adopt this practice. It does not mean you have to grow long locks of hair at the sides of your head as the Orthodox Jews do today. However, I think having a beard in general was pretty much the norm for YHVH’S people.

Now let’s go to Chapter 20:11, 20, 21. We have all heard the story of Noah and how his son Ham went in to his father’s tent and “uncovered his Father’s nakedness.” There have been more explanations as to what that meant and what Ham did than you can shake a stick at?. But if you let scripture explain scripture, you’ll understand things much better. Especially if you look in the Torah to check out statements made in the New Covenant. So if you read verses 11, 20, and 21 you will see the statement uncovering his father’s nakedness, along with 2 more examples of this saying. What it meant was, he (Ham) had sexual relations with his mother. It doesn’t get any plainer than verse 11, And the man that lies with his abba’s (father) wife has uncovered his abba’s nakedness. Then in verse 20 it says, If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. The same thing in verse 21 applies to a man taking his brother’s wife. So here the scripture gives you the definition of uncovering a man’s nakedness. So when it says Ham uncovered his Father’s nakedness, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened. I think the lying with an animal whether it be a man or woman is pretty much clear enough not to have to comment on. Notice also it says for a man not to take a wife along with her mother in a relationship. If he does they are all to be put to death by fire.

Notice it didn’t say they are all supposed to go on the Jerry Springer show and tell the world about it?. Then as we’ve mentioned in the past, a medium or a fortune teller was to be put to death. (20:27) Today we give them their own TV show! A lot of us have been to a “so called fortune teller” sometime in our lives, most of us before we knew any better. If so, you would do good to repent of that act! So all in all, stay away from having relations with your relatives, or animals. Keep all hatred out of your heart. Don’t mix your seeds or animals. Don’t be running out getting a tattoo. Give honor to older people. Don’t go have your tarot cards read. Be very careful about how and when you swear a vow in YHVH’S name. Wait until the fifth year to eat of the fruit from a newly planted fruit tree. Then last, don’t become a stumbling block to “anyone!” Oh yea, I almost forgot, now where did I see that verse that said, thou shalt read all of Diane’s parasha writings??