Joy in the Messiah

Kedoshim / Holy Ones
Leviticus 19:1-20:27
HafTorah Portion Ezekiel 20:2-20
Brit Chadasha 1 Peter 1:13-16

  This Torah portion begins with ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’ Leviticus 19:1-2, and continuing with instructions beginning with honoring parents and observance of the Sabbath.  
    In the Torah portion, Kedoshim, are three different types of instructions. Those that relate to the relationship with God are; Leviticus 19:3, Leviticus 19:4, 19:5-8, 19:12, 19:19, 19:23-25,19:30-31 and 19:37.  
     There are instructions for personal conduct, some crossing over to the relationship with God. Leviticus 19:4, 19:5, 19:19, 19:23-25, and 19:26-28. 
     The third category are the instructions that relate one to relationships between one another. The first one is the statement that collectively speaks to all of Israel to be holy, as a unit, Leviticus 19:2 continuing with Leviticus 19:9-18, 19:20-22, 19:29, and 19:32-36.
    To be holy as God is holy takes more than mere observance of laws such as eating clean, keeping the Sabbath, growing a beard, not enticing a medium, or getting a tattoo, although that is the place to start. It is to be holy within us, not just outward actions or appearances, but how we interact with others. It is how we behave within the relationships.
     Leviticus 19:32 states: ‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.’  What is old? Are we teaching our young children to speak respectively to elders? Just to be in the presence of an elder should be an honor to us.
   Leviticus 19:15-18 is very important as it breaks down judgment and how to judge.  ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.’ You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.  You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.’  
    These verses also describe who is our neighbor, someone within Torah.  The words describing our neighbor are: ‘Your people’, ‘Your brother’.  This explains that we are not to judge those outside of Torah, but rightly judge the actions of those walking within the guidelines of Torah. 
    Given instructions to judge we are not spread gossip or slander, nor take a stand against, nor hate, but rather rebuke our brother so that we do not bear the sin. 
    It might seem that the Brit Chadasha conflicts with the Torah regarding judging.  Studying the verses, ‘judge not lest you be judged’ we can see the Brit Chadash does not conflict with Torah, but rather Yeshua is repeating it. Both John 7:27 and James 4:11-12 speak of judging according to the Torah. 
    John 7:27 ‘Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.’
    James 4:11-12 ‘Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, He who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?’
    Judging must be done in righteousness, according to the Torah, otherwise it is possible and probable to loft ourselves above the person we judge.
    Ephesians 4:29  ‘Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.’
     In Matthew 7:1-5, Yeshua explains that with whatever judgement we judge, we will be likewise judged. This is the same for the measure we use. The righteous judgment comes from examining ourselves first, in order to see clearly.  Yeshua is not advocating to not judge, rather judge with righteousness to ‘see clearly’. 
     Matthew 7:1-5 ‘Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.’
    In Luke 6:37-45 Yeshua breaks it down even more. ‘Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” ³⁹ And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? ⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. ⁴³ “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.’
    Judging is not mere discerning.  It is coming to the realization that each person must judge themselves before we judge others.  
      

Kedoshim / Holy Ones
Leviticus 19:1-20:27
HafTorah Portion Ezekiel 20:2-20
Brit Chadasha 1 Peter 1:13-16

     This Torah portion opens with: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’    Leviticus 19:1-2. Kedoshim continues with repeated instructions, beginning with honoring your parents and observance of the Sabbath.  What is holy?
     Couldn’t “Be holy” mean, “Have the courage to be different.” The root meaning of kadosh in Hebrew means something distinctive – it means set apart. “Be holy for I the Lord your God am holy” is one of the most unexplainable instructions in Scripture. How can we be holy like God? He is infinite, we are finite. He is eternal; we are mortal. He is the universe but isn’t contained in the universe; we are a mere speck on its surface. Yet Torah says to be holy for ‘I Am Holy’. God is in the world but not of the world. So too are we called on to be in but not of the world. John 17:15-19 ‘I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.’
     Kadosh also relates to the meaning of marriage, kiddushin, because to marry means to be faithful to one another just as God makes the covenant to be faithful to us and we then out of love and obedience become in covenant with Him, thus being faithful to Him. To be holy means to bear witness to the presence of God in our lives and to live according to Him, away and out of the world.  To be in covenant means to live in the Divine presence of The God that we can’t see but we know is the Divine force within ourselves, causing us to be set apart and courageous. As Rabbi Shaul, Paul, reminds Timothy and us in 2 Timothy 1:7 ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’
To be courageous means to be different, to be set apart, to not conform to the world. That is our calling.
    Deuteronomy 31:6 ‘Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.’
     Joshua 1:6-7 ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.’
     Psalm 27:14 ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.’
     Psalm 31:24 ‘Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.’
     We have the courage given to us by God to be different and to be set apart. It takes strength to walk away from conformity and the masses. We don’t behave like everyone else just because everyone else does. We don’t conform. 
    Why are we set apart? Deuteronomy 7:6-8 tells us that we are set apart for Him.  ‘“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. ⁷ The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; ⁸ but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.’ 
     1 Peter 2:9-10 ‘But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.’
1 John 2:15-17 ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.’
     In 2021, 85 percent of people living in the United States celebrated Christmas. (statista.com). Also, it is estimated that over 2 billion world-wide celebrate Christmas. Not to pick on the holiday of Christmas, but it is fact that the holiday has nothing to do with the birth of Yeshua who they call Jesus. It is a worldly celebration of a false deity on a false day.
     About 24 million tons of pork products are produced in the European Union each year, and the total production volume of pork in the United States is about 24.9 million pounds per year. (Statista). Not to pick on the pig, but to be set apart means to Shema! to hear and obey Leviticus 11:4-8  ‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; ⁵ the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; ⁶ the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; ⁷ and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. ⁸ Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.’
     According to the market research firm IBISWorld, the tattoo industry generates an estimated $1.6 billion in revenue. Tattooing is the 6th fastest growing American industry and there are twenty-one thousand tattoo parlors in the US, and this number grows by one each day. But Leviticus 19:28 instructs: ‘You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.’ (In the Hebrew context the word is nefesh, soul.)  In Hebraic thought, the soul is the unified body and spirit.  The words commonly used "for the dead" is grammatically connected with the word commonly rendered as "cutting." These two words are שרט לנפש.  In scripture there existed a heathen practice of cutting the flesh as part of an attempt to appeal to the gods, a kind of unholy sacrifice: 1 Kings 18:28 ‘So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.’
Leviticus chapter 19 can be confusing as God instructs seemingly unclear directives that wouldn’t relate to today, like the tattoo some might argue.  For instance, the cutting of the hair? What was the reasoning? To not do as they (the world, the pagans) practice. It is taught that in the ancient pagan practices the sun-god who was the great lamented god had his hair cut in a circular form, and the priests who lamented him had their hair cut in a similar manner in honor of him.
    We are to be set apart, to be different, to be courageous and to stand for the Covenant of Elohim.