Joy in the Messiah

‎Tazria / She Bears Seed
Leviticus 12:1-13:59
HafTorah Portion   2 Kings 4:42-5:19
Brit Chadasha Matthew 8:1-4 

      Continuing with the laws of purity and impurity that began in Shemini, Tazria/ She Bears Seed contains a beautiful set of purification laws regarding the length of time a woman must wait after giving birth, according to the birth of a son or the birth of a daughter.   
    There are many teachings and theories regarding the difference of the purification time. One opinion comes from the book of Jubilees about Leviticus 12.  ‘In the first week, Adam and the flank, his wife, were fashioned, and in the second week he (God) showed her to him. And for this reason a commandment was given to maintain [postpartum mothers] – seven days for a male [child] and for a female two seven-day [units] – in their impurity. Afterwards, when for Adam forty days had been completed in the land where he had been fashioned, we brought him into the Garden of Eden to till and maintain it. And his wife was brought [there] on the eightieth day. Afterwards, she entered into the Garden of Eden. For this reason a commandment was written in the heavenly tablets for the one who gives birth…’
      Another interesting teaching is that a woman who gives birth to a female births the cycle of life, thus the protection time is doubled.  
     Luke 2:21-22 records the literal fulfillment of Leviticus 12 by Miriam and Joseph regarding Yeshua.  ^‘And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Yeshua, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. ²² Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
    Another key aspect in Tazria was one of the roles of the Priest. He, the Kohen, was to distinguish tahor from tamei, pure from impure, the latter excluding an individual from entering the sacred space of the Sanctuary. There were different situations that defined a person’s state as impure, and there were different ways in which that person was to be purified, especially regarding the Metzora. While all the other impure people were forbidden from entering the Temple or coming into contact with the sacrifices, the metzora was made to sit alone outside the city and act as a mourner, wearing torn clothes. The sages teach that the significance of this was due to the fact that the impurity is not just in relation to the holiness of the Temple or sacrifices but rather that it dives deep into the inner soul of holiness or lack of, exposing their expression of thought, ego and inner circle. Their hearts had hardened with arrogance.
    The questions are: ‘Does the pure make the impure pure again?  Does the unclean defile the clean?  Or does the clean make the unclean clean? 
     Pure is the result of avoiding contact with the unclean, and impure is the result of coming into contact with the unclean.  If a dead body is touched, we become unclean. We don’t become the dead body, but for a period of time we are unclean.
     The condition of tzara’at – often translated as leprosy – is the subject that dominates both Tazria and Metzora. It is taught that it was punishment rather than a medical condition. The interpretation was based on evidence in Torah.  Moses’ hand became leprous when he expressed doubt about the willingness of the people to believe in his mission, Exodus 4:6-7. Miriam was struck by leprosy when she spoke against Moses in Numbers 12:1-15. The metzora (leper) was a motzi shem ra: a person who spoke degradingly about others.
     We all understand the consequences of forbidden speech, lashon hara, which is laid out in Leviticus 19:16 and Exodus 23:1; but what about the most egregious lashon hara? The defamation of Messiah which was done by and heralded as The True Teaching by the Christian Church. 
     The Jewish Messiah was erased and the new version was the invention of the Vatican – ‘Jesus’ as the first Christian.  ‘Jesus’ is the central figure of Christianity, believed by Christians to be the Messiah, the son of God and the second person in the Trinity. Christian religions see Jesus as the founder of Christianity; however, it is important to note that Yeshua did not establish a new religion, and He never used the term “Christian.” He was born and lived as a Jew, and His earliest followers were Jews as well. Romans 1:16, 2:10, 3:1-2. This complete transformation of the true Messiah caused some Jews to associate the name ‘Jesus’ to be synonymous with pogroms and Crusades; centuries of Christian anti-Semitism. 
     Christianity emerged as a separate religion in the centuries after Jesus’ death, most specifically 321 AD.    The lashon hara didn’t stop there. For most years of Christianity, it was taught that Jews in the time of ‘Jesus’ were responsible for His death.  Due to ignorance, the Gospels in the Brit Chadasha were interpreted to put blame about the death of ‘Jesus’ specifically on the leadership at that time and more generally on Jewish people as a whole, or unit.  However, in John 10:17-18, Yeshua prepares the people when He tells them that it is He who lays down His life. 
     It wasn’t until 1965 that the Vatican publicized a document called Nostra Aetat (Latin for “In Our Time”) which stated that Jews in general should not be held responsible for the death of Jesus.  Unfortunately, by that time and due to the ideology of the Holocaust, antisemitism was well grounded. 
     Before the World War II, a man named Jules Isaac was France’s inspector general for education and an author on world history.  However, when the Germans invaded France in 1940, he and his family were forced into hiding. Most of his family was discovered and shipped to Auschwitz. Only Isaac and his son survived the Holocaust.  During his years in hiding, Isaac tried to figure out why so many people in German-occupied Europe collaborated with the Nazis. He believed that one answer was the long history of the “teaching of contempt” for Jews and Judaism in Christian churches. Isaac explained: “Christian [teaching], once started in this direction, never stopped. Utterly convinced of its rights, it has repeated and [spread] these mythical arguments tirelessly, with methodical thoroughness, through all the powerful means that were—and still are—at its disposal . . . The result is that the myths . . . have eventually taken on the shape and consistency of facts, of facts that have become incontestable. They have ended up by being accepted as though they were authentic history. They have become an integral part of Christian thinking; nay, of the thinking of all educated people living in a traditionally Christian civilization.”
     When Yeshua is replaced with Jesus, when Israel is replaced with western civilization mantra, dogma and thinking, when times and seasons are negated and new holidays incorporated, then that is the ultimate form of Lashon hara. It is a statement blatantly saying that God is wrong – the denomination of our choice has it right. It is indeed lashon hara against God Himself. 
     Psalm 33:4 ‘For the Word of the LORD is right and true.’

מְצֹרָע‎ ‎ 
Metzora / Infected One
Leviticus 13:1-15:33
HafTorah Portion 2 Kings 7:3-20
Brit Chadasha Romans 6:8-23

     From the past Torah portions and the other related stories in the Scriptures regarding metzora, we can understand that the impurity of this disease of the skin and the disease of the house is gossip and slandering the name of someone else.
     We read that the different situations define a person’s state as impure, and there were different ways in which that person was to be purified as in the case and separate law pertaining to the metzora. While all the other impure people were forbidden from entering the Temple or coming into contact with the sacrifices, the metzora was made to sit alone outside the city and act as a mourner, wearing torn clothes. The sages teach that the significance of this was due to the fact that the impurity is not just in relation to the holiness of the Temple or sacrifices but rather that it dives deep into the inner soul of holiness or lack of and divulges their expression of thought, ego and inner circle. Their hearts grew arrogant.
     Some examples that we are familiar with are Miriam, (Numbers 12:10), of course Naaman (2 Kings 5), and King Uzziya who became metzora because he wanted to take on the role of a priest and burn incense in the Temple and was then dethroned (2 Kings 15:5, 2 Chronicles 26:19-21).  
     Yeshua confirms that the metzora is a physical manifestation of an inner defilement when He gave instructions that the pure must be brought to the High Priest, Luke 7:14 and Matthew 8:4. Of course, we know today He is The High Priest, and we must humbly go before Him for our cleansing.
   What is the root case of metzora? Slander and gossip always begin with conceit. Gossip and slander are birthed from conceit and are expressions of arrogance.  In the Scriptures, arrogance is synonymous with ‘the heart being lifted up’.
      In 2 Kings 14:8-10 Amaziah is warned of his arrogance. ‘Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.” ⁹ And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰ You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”
     Deuteronomy 2:30 tells us about the defeat of King Sihon as it was God who hardened his heart, ‘But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.’
     In 2 Chronicles 32:24-26  Hezekiah learns to humble himself. ‘In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore, wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.’
     In Deuteronomy 8:11-17 we are warned that if we neglect the commandments of God, we lift up our hearts and give glory to ourselves. ‘Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, ¹² lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴ when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵ who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— ¹⁷ then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
   The arrogant will lay traps Psalm 140:5. Adonai is aware of the arrogant from afar Psalm 138:6. The arrogant will boast of his heart’s desire and will not seek God Psalm 10:3-4. Arrogance loves transgressions Proverbs 17:19. The arrogant turn away from Torah, try to fool others into believing walking in Torah when they aren’t, are cursed and will be rebuked Psalm 119:21.  Even the arrogance of a city will be broken Ezekiel 16:49.
    Romans 11 is a perfect example of arrogance of the heart being lifted up of conceit against the Jewish people.
     Romans 11:1-2 ‘I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.’
     Romans 11:11 ‘I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles…’
     Romans 11:17-18 ‘And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.’

     Proverbs 16:18 ‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.’
     1 Samuel 2:3 ‘Boast no more so very proudly, do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with Him actions are weighed.’
     Ecclesiastes 7:8 ‘The end of a matter is better than its beginning; patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.’
     Isaiah 13:11 ‘Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.’

     If we are not walking in God’s Torah, if we make our own holidays as Queen Vashti, if we degrade the Messianic Synagogues, if we allow anti Semitism to rise, aren’t we being swallowed up in our own conceit?