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Heading Into the Coral

   The parasha this time is Leviticus 26:3-27:34, it’s called BeChukkotai. This parasha begins with all sorts of good news to the people who walk in YHVH’S commandments. It sounds like a bit of rehash from Deu. 28. If you read what things YHVH will do for you/them for their obedience, it would be hard to understand why anyone wouldn’t do them. It has always amazed me when faced with good things or bad things in life, we seem to always choose the bad. So, YHVH describes what will happen to them if they DO NOT keep his commandments. Rashi has divided these punishments up for the most part into groups of sevens. The first series of punishments are; (a) swelling lesions (b) burning fever (c) frustrated longings (d) sowing seeds that will produce crops for the enemy (e) being struck down by the enemy (f) being subjugated and (g) fleeing with no one in pursuit. The next set of seven punishments are; (a) destruction of the temple (b) the heavens will be like iron (c) the earth will be like brass (d) you will extend your strength in vain (e) the earth will not yield it’s crops (f) trees will not yield their fruit (g) whatever fruit does grow will drop to the ground prematurely.

The third group is (a) wild beasts (b) domestic animals (c) poisonous snakes (d) death of children (e) loss of livestock (f) population reduction (g) desolation of roads. If a king goes to war against another country and conquers it, he does not punish the inhabitants, even though they fought against him fiercely. At that time those people owed him no allegiance and were entitled to defend themselves, so their struggle did not represent disloyalty to him. However, if a king’s lawful subjects rebel against him, he will punish them for breaking their covenant of allegiance. So to, YHVH warns Israel they will be punished for their disloyalty. So the next set of punishments are; (a) the sword of foreign invaders (b) siege, forcing people into cities (c) plague (d) food shortage (e) lack of fuel (f) crumbling bread (g) constant hunger. If that weren’t enough, the next set are, (a) cannibalism (b) destruction of defense structures (c) death of people (d) loss of the Shechinah (e) destruction of cities (f) desolation of the sanctuaries (g) YHVH’S refusal to accept offerings. It’s important to realize the Hebrew people got into big trouble by not keeping the Sabbatical years. Yet after all their disobedience, YHVH was still willing to make a way for them to return to Him. In the last chapter of Leviticus, we read about gift giving, but not for any holiday?.

These gifts are basically either monetary sanctification or physical sanctification. An animal or object with monetary sanctification is sacred, not because the animal or object in and of itself is scared, but because it has been dedicated to the Temple or the Tabernacle. Many times it was left up to the Kohen to put the amount of monetary value on the item. If a man dedicated a field for example, the Kohen would determine its worth by how many crops it would produce before the Jubilee year. We are also back to making vows in this last chapter. You will also see the marking of the tenth animal of the flocks for a tithe offering unto YHVH. The herd would pass under the owner’s rod and the tenth one would be marked as a tithe. Today we are the tithe unto YHVH. You are a set apart people, the upcoming leadership in the Kingdom. That’s not to say you stop your monetary tithes. YHVH is preparing his bride to take her place. YHVH has to prepare His leaders first, then gather the rest of the people. He didn’t prepare the Israelite people first, He prepared Moses first to go after the people and then lead them to the Promised Land. Being on the cutting edge is not always fun. It’s certainly not the most popular thing to do! So as far as Leviticus is concerned, it’s time to round up the cattle and head back to the corral?. But we look forward to seeing you in the book of Numbers. So don’t go away, we’ll be right back after a word from our sponsor, Yeshua HaMoshiach, author of the all time best selling book,The Bible! Shalom?