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John 1:4
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Studying the Biblical laws of clean and unclean seem to take us to a world far removed from our present society. We cannot though, read these passages in the Book of Leviticus and assess them according to the dynamics of our present world; we need to understand them according to their own context. All the issues of ritual impurities in the Bible have to do with separating the holy from death, decay and corruption. All the regulations mentioned about ritual purity in the Torah can be understood in the idea that God, being life itself cannot, and does not have anything to do with whatever decays and dies. All the earthly elements therefore that represent him must be (at least symbolically) free from corruption. We easily see these ideas in the gold covered acacia wood that makes the Holy Ark, a wood with the properties of cedar that fights corruption. Salt also, which is a preservative has to be added to meat offerings and the meat discarded within three days before it turns rancid. Of course, as long as we are in this mortal body and on this temporal earth, we cannot fully get rid of corruption; the whole idea is therefore a message from the Father to teach us about himself. Ritual uncleanness has nothing to do with us committing any particular sin. For example, a woman has done nothing wrong when she enters her monthly time and even less when she has a baby, the fulfillment of one of Hashem's greatest commandment, but yet, at these times she is considered ritually unclean. Being ritually unclean is a mere acknowledgment of our mortal human condition. Also the condition of ritual uncleanness mostly relates to the Temple and its service. All one needs to do to be ritually clean again is immerse in a mikveh (ritual immersion pool). The best way to understand it is to relate it to protocol. There is certain protocol to enter for example in the presence of a President of any country, or even in the presence of a King; it doesn’t mean that we are criminals. In the days of Yeshua, some people went overboard in their concerns with ritual purity. The Master tells us about it in this story about a dying wounded man on the road to Jericho. Both a Levite and a priest pass him by but choose not to help him because they were concerned about ritual cleanliness which forbids the touching of blood (Luke 10:25—37). This shows a misunderstanding of the idea. The Master himself who is sinless and coming from the halls of heaven was not afraid to put on the impurity of humanity and make himself impure in order to rescue us from our mortality. Again, ritual purity is not about having committed a sin; one can obey every dictum of the Torah and still be impure. It is solely about our human condition. May we in our sense of righteousness not be found to be like the afore-mentioned Levite or priest who because they were so concerned about their own purity, failed to obey the commandment to reach out to those in need. The Master did not discard the practices of ritual purity which came from him to start with, but he does teach us to have a proper balance and perspective in our commandment observance; he says, "These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23).
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John 1:14
‘We have seen his glory, glory … full of grace and truth.’ With the Golden Calf episode, Israel has done irreparable damage to their relationship with God. Can broken trust ever be repaired? Can it ever be like it was before? God is calling off the wedding with Israel but Moses, the ‘best friend’ of the groom takes upon Himself to intercede and repair the relations between the two parties. He throws every argument on the table; nothing is too small nor too great to present to the God of Heaven. Again we see mortal man bargaining with the Eternal God like a mere merchant would on the market place. God desists from going with Israel to the Promised Land. He will send them there thus making good on His promises to the fathers, but He will send an ‘Angel’ in His place. A plague also afflicts those who participated in the idolatrous orgy (Exodus 32:24-25; 33:1-6). Moses initiates ‘talks’ with the Creator. As He does, all Israel stands at attention and worship; It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Exodus 33:7-10;Hebrews 10:31). The negotiations begin. They will go on for forty days, during which Moses fasts. On what seems to be the fortieth day, Moses opens his mouth using a new strategy. He had formerly appealed to the righteousness of the patriarchs as leverage (Exodus 32:13). He now noticed that since the dire event, God has quit referring to Israel as ‘His people’. Suddenly they became ‘Moses’ people’. This resembles a mother and father arguing about the ownership of their kids according to their attitude. Moses also noticed that God mentioned ‘favor’ towards him. The Hebrew word is ‘chen’, usually translated as ‘grace’. (Exodus 33:12-17). Moses is mortal man. He is a man of flesh and blood; a sinful man raised in Diaspora Egypt. He himself committed unrecoverable grave mistakes (Deuteronomy 31:2). Yet, Moses was a man who was able to accumulate grace and righteousness credit to be used to ‘cover’ for Israel. This grace seems to have very little to do with personal ‘goodness’, but everything to do with a free gift from God. Even the Master while on earth couldn’t claim goodness, but He had the grace of the Father upon Him (Matthew 19:17). Sin is like debt, and righteousness like credit (Matthew 6:12). From the favor he had with God, Moses had enough available credit to ‘cover’ for Israel’s debt. Thus Moses was called the first ‘redeemer’, showing us what Messiah, the second ‘righteous’ redeemer would do for the world. Moses could appeal to the virtue of mortals such as the former patriarchs. He could also add his own mortal virtue on the bargaining table. Universal redemption has always been by virtue of a remnant, or a first fruit representing the whole. As we dedicate our lives to Him, by the Virtue the Master vested in us, may we also live in such manner as to accumulate grace and favor to ‘cover’ those we love and care for. 1 Peter 2:12
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. With literacy almost universal, the Word of Torah is made available almost to all. Even though originally recorded in a Semitic language, through Hebrew Jews have been able to preserve its text. They have also developed easy ways to learn Hebrew so that many of us can actually study the Words of God in their original language. In a way, this should save us from the divisive curse of so many translations. Jews and Muslims do not have this problem because they study their Holy Texts in their original languages, and the language of the Bible is not Elizabethan English nor even Greek, but Hebrew. Reading the Bible in the culture of its original tongue is a first step in properly comprehending it, but the litmus test of whether we properly understand, live and apply the Words of our Father accurately is in this exhortation given by Moses to the Israelite generation ready to enter and conquer Canaan at God’s command. He said, Keep them (the Words of Torah) and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today (Deuteronomy 4:6-8)? There is s popular saying among secular folks these days, ‘Lord, deliver me from Your children!’ I would like to think that people who say these things are incorrigible atheists, but the truth is that this saying is popular even among believers. It is the feeling often uttered by people who have been burned and abused by some of the ungodly ways some of God’s people represent Abba’s Words through their societal manners. It is true that at times the Word will cause persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), but opposition to our obnoxious ways is not persecution for righteousness’ sake, it is rather the just reward of our lack of wisdom. In the mean time though, the Word is negated and people do not know God as He would be portrayed, would we walk out Torah knowledge the way Yeshua taught us to. I am always amazed at the fact that whereas Yeshua, the Ultimate Righteous One on earth who came down from His heavenly station to walk our dirty roads, was so sociable that people sought and followed His uncertain ways for miles. Yeshua sent His disciples in the same manner He was sent (John 20:21). Their life in Israel and even in the nations which is well documented in the Book of Acts and other historical accounts had the desired effect of creating a hunger for God in the people they came in contact with. The question we now need to ask ourselves is, “When people come in contact with me, do they see God’s wisdom as the Torah say they should (Deuteronomy 4:6-8)?” John 9:3
"It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. The Torah teaches us the notions of right and wrong according to the Father Creator of the universe. It sets before us the rewards of obedience and warns us of the chastisements for breach of contract. God says to His Children who know His Name, have witnessed His power, and lived of His bounty, "If you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you (Leviticus 26:14-17). As the Messiah was the executer of God’s will at creation (John 1:3; Proverbs 8:22-31) so will Messiah be the executor of God’s judgment on the disobedient (Revelations 19). He will come in His time. In the mean time, should we deduct that all diseases, fevers, business and military failures are the direct consequences of our sins? Should we assume that one who is sick with cancer sins more than the one who is healthy? It is neither safe nor true to come to such conclusion. The Torah instructs us in this matter. The book of Job for example tells us of a man who was righteous and yet suffered affliction without measure (to be righteous doesn’t necessarily mean that one does not sin ‘for all have sinned’ (Romans 3:23). To be called righteous by God simply defines our status with Him). The whole Job event seems to be for the purpose of creating a Messianic analogy that teaches us about Messiah the True Righteous One who like Job, unduly suffered, was condemned by his friends for it (Isaiah 53:3-4), but who at a later time will be justified and vindicated by God in plain sight of those who accused him (Revelations 19). It seems like Job’s suffering were solely that God may tell us of His work through Messiah. It is just like with that time when the disciples asked the Master when they saw a man who had been blind from birth, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Master answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him (John 9:2-3). In a sense, the wise and safe conclusion we can make from our passage in the Book of Leviticus is that, ‘whereas sin and disobedience always result in calamities, calamities are not always the direct consequence of sin and disobedience’. Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Holiness: God ordained separation. Righteousness: right standing with God through obedience. The two concepts are closely related but different. Caiphas who was a holy man by virtue of his office lacked in righteousness in that his heart was corrupt and full of malicious disobedience. Another person to look at is Samson. Samson was to be set-apart (holy) as a Nazarite from the womb like John the Immerser (John 13:7). This meant that he was not to have contact with carcasses, drink wine or cut his hair. Samson inherited this status of holiness/separation by virtue of the word of God before he was born, but he did not inherit the spirit of obedience without tribulations and suffering (Acts 14:22;Hebrews 5:8). Some of the records of Samson’s life tell us of him drinking wine with the Philistines, handling the jaw-bone of a dead animal as a weapon, eating honey out of the carcass of a lion and finally allowing his hair to be cut. These things would have been alright for any other individual but because of his status of Nazarite they were wrong for Samson and were imputed to him as sins for which he had to repent before regaining his right standing with the Father. While in disobedience, all his effort proved futile and even caused trouble, but when subject to the boundaries of holiness that God had blessed him with, Samson succeeded to deliver his people. It seems that Yeshua Himself was very careful to observe these principles (John 5:19, 30). In Judaism the Messiah is referred to as: the Righteous One. Once we enter the sheepfold of Messiah, we also become holy/set-apart and this holiness/’set-apartness’ is defined by certain rules of behavior. It is like if you were to rent my downstairs’ apartment. You would be set-apart and allowed to live there by virtue of my acceptance, but you would also have to obey the rules of the contract. In the case of a believer, the rules are also clearly defined and they range from the ritual to the ethical. Some of these rules are to revere parents; to keep the Sabbaths; to shun idolatry in all its forms; to respect temple procedures (non-applicable at this time); to tithe; to be honest in business, compassionate of the weak and not pervert judgment (using right weights and measures); to not indulge in gossip and slander; to assist a person in danger; not yield to hatred; to exhort a brother or sister, to not harbor vengeance, to not cross breed, commit adultery or indulge in gluttony; to not practice the occult or prostitution, to rise before the elderly and to love the stranger in the land (Leviticus 19). Some of these seem to be tall order for many of us, but I believe that ‘grace’ refers to the power Abba has given in striving to obey and live by virtue and not by instinct (Romans 1:5). May we avail ourselves of that grace always that as Messiah was to us the image of the Father, we may also show Messiah to this straying world. |
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