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John 17:17
“Your word (Torah) is truth.” Due to the present inexistence of the Temple, Biblical texts on offerings or about the Yom HaKippurim rituals in Leviticus 16 may today seem irrelevant. They may feel to us like texts pertaining to a distant people and past, and as having very little to offer us today. As we wonder in this train of thought, we must remember the words of King David, "The Torah of God is perfect, pure and eternal" (Psalms 19. If these things are part of the divine oracle, they certainly have perpetual pertinence. There are some who teach that Yeshua initiated a new Temple-less era. This is strange when apostolic texts as well as historical books pertaining to fist-century life in Israel tell us that for forty years after the resurrection of the Master, that is until the roman invasion of Jerusalem, the Jewish disciples of Messiah continued Temple and synagogue attendance as a sect of Judaism. They continued in the Passover traditions, as well as in those pertaining to the atonement rituals of Yom Kippur. If they found relevancy in doing so, shouldn't we? Is there then something that we are missing and should learn from these long descriptions in Leviticus? Stepping aside a little from the realm of the ritual and entering that of the social, much indeed should be learned from Temple and offering protocols. Here are some examples. The Torah acknowledges that appointed judges can sometimes err in judgment and therefore cause the people to sin. In such a case, a public admission of error is required through an offering (Leviticus 4:13). I am thinking right now of the court which wrongfully condemned our Master. There is a provision for them to eventually confess and publicly acknowledge their error thus atoning for the sin of the people of their day. We also learn that Hashem understands our financial pressures and makes provisions for cheaper offerings to be made (Leviticus 5:1–11). Also, though Hashem understands involuntary mistakes, they still require acknowledgment and retribution. In our system, the punishment for a thief is incarceration. The Torah is concerned with retribution and as such a thief is required to restore that which he had gotten deceitfully, plus a fifth to the person he stole it from. He is also supposed to make amends with God for breaking his commands. The offering process is also quite interesting. The person comes to the altar and with his hand on the forehead of the animal to be offered confesses his sins to Hashem, (not to the priest). Doing so, he in fact transfers his sinful identity on the poor animal. Then, except in the case of a bird offering, the offerer is the one who has to kill the animal, hear it die, get splattered with its fluids, and feel its life’s warm blood run through his hands. Along with having to pay for a good quality animal, one of the best of the flock, this becomes to him a very good illustration of the horribleness and cost of disobedience and sin, which should provoke in him a healthy fear of Hashem. This makes me wonder: Christianity at large claims a theology that affirms they are no more sinners and as a result they invalidate the Torah. When the their sinful reality dawns on them they realize that they need rules, a social structure, moral guidance, and a penal system. This leas them to institute their own sense of law and righteousness. The question is: Why didn’t they keep God’s system in the first place? P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.
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Matthew 5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. People invariably feel uncomfortable when I suggest to them that we ough some due diligence to Hashem's commandments. In order to soften the blow, they usually quickly protect theselves with the statement, “Oh yes, but he forgives me”, or "We are not under the Law!". These people usually understand very little about the Bible but they know how to use that statement like a theological security blanket. They allow themselves to be proud, to lie, to be selfish with their time or finances, while forgetting that these are the real offenses that are an abomination to Hashem (Proverbs 6:16-19), There is a theology out there claiming that 2,000 years ago Yeshua came and abolished the need to obey the commandments of the Torah. Think about what this means. This means that 2, 000 years ago, Yeshua came and abolished the moral code that helps us discern right from wrong, good from bad, holy from profane, and sanctified from common. That same theology also claims that the Torah has become obsolete to whoever recognizes Yeshua as his Messiah because he is the Torah written in their hearts. If it were all true, the facts on the ground show me a different reality as those who claim to have Hashem's Torah written in their heart certainly don’t act like it. If it were, our Yeshua believing Western world should be a paradise certainly not facing the sort of social issues it presently faces. Actually, the people who adhere to that theology are doubly guilty for their ungodly actions because they live in opposition to the Torah written in their conscience. This notion that the Torah is obsolete not only takes away the understanding of right and wrong, but also the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is therefore the utter foolishness and lawlessness, which is the exact etymological root of the word iniquity. If 2,000 years ago, as people claim, Yeshua abolished to need to live by the Torah commandments, what need is there then today of a Savior to cover our sins? My friend, the role of Messiah is and has always been to teach us the proper application of obedience to Torah. He came teaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17), which means, “turn your ways towards God for the days of his kingdom are near; start living by his Torah and by his instruction.” In Yeshua, nothing of the sort becomes obsolete, not even the sentence of death that is written against us because of our sins. What happens is that he takes it all upon himself. We therefore owe him our lives. From the Yom Kippur on Mt Horeb when the Moses brought down the Torah for the second time to today, he is our atonement; he is our covering. PRAYER: Abba Father: may we understand that your Kingdom is ruled by the commandments that you have outlined in your word. May we realize that we are responsible to your Torah; that repentance means to turn back and start living by your teachings and principles. Forgive us for following erroneous teachings that negate the importance of obedience while we forget the teachings of the Messiah You sent to tell us that, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19); Amen אמן. P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. John 3:3
Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Looking for meaning in the concept of a formerly ostracized now-declared-clean leper, let's follow the path of his rehabilitation in the presence of the Almighty and amidst the community of Israel. One of the last stages is a tevilah טבילה, or an immersion, commonly called in Greek: baptismo. Our sages have always understood ritual immersion as an illustration of being born-again. They say that people "immerse in order to emerge a born-again new creature in God" (Yevamot 47b and 48b). The whole idea illustrates returning into the maternal waters in order to be reborn. In a sense, this pronounced clean leper now shaved from head to toe looked like a new-born baby and was going to immerse in baptismal waters of rebirth (Leviticus 14:9). He was one who was alive, who went though some form of death, was healed of this death, and was now going to be reborn as a new/renewed creature. In ancient Israel, the idea of the born-again ritual immersion was used as a mode of proselityzation, for people desiring to become Jewish. The idea is that as they totally immersed, it was as though they died. They went in the water as pagan Gentiles, they died and were reborn as new "members of the commonwealth of Israel" (Ephesians 2:12).In a sense again, he who was alive died and was reborn a new/renewed creature. When Yeshua therefore tells Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3), the Master actually tells the great teacher of Israel that unless he goes through a procedure of conversion to Judaism, he cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God. That explains the shocked teacher’s answer, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? (John 3:4)" By this he meant, "How can I convert to Judaism if I am already Jewish?" To which Rabbi Yeshua wisely answers, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6), or in other words, “It is not enough to be well bred; you must also have an immersion of repentance from sin!” This was the reoccurring theme in both John the Immerser and Yeshua’s teaching (Matthew 3:9–11). Saved and redeemed Israel went through rebirth through a national /immersion. Both the converted pagan proselyte and the leper enter the community of Israel through rebirth/immersion. What does this teach us? All of us share the fate of the leper. We are all lepers in his sight and we all need healing and rebirth through immersion. That's what Yeshua told Nicodemus. The master sent us into all the world to make disciples of all nations by immersing them (Matthew 28:19:20). Reborn that we are, may we remember each day to also immerse in his renewing words that we may continue in the new life he died to give us. P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. Mark 1:41
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." Rabbi Yeshua touched the leper, declared him healed and therefore cleaned, then told him to go through the purification process as instructed by Moses (Mark 1:41–44). Doing so, Yeshua purposely made himself ritually unclean thus fulfilled the Messianic hope, "Adonai has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6). The ritual to declare a healed leper ritually pure is very mystical and the Torah does not give us any explanation to help us understand it. We are therefore left to define it by association. The ritual required that a bird should be killed over a vessel of water thus creating a blood and water mixture. Another live bird was tied up with a scarlet yarn and bound with hyssop to a cedar wood board. The entire package was then dipped into the clay pot of blood and water. The priest then sprinkled the leper seven times with the blood and water mixture, then released the live bird who did not need any more encouragement to quickly flee the scene. It was not finished. The priest then had to shave the healed/cleansed leper from head to toe and anoint him with the same markings as those of a priest. It is only after our now shaved and anointed man went to offer the required offering at the Temple that he was restored to full fellowship in the community (Leviticus 14). Looking at this whole ritual, it is hardly possible to miss the messianic symbolism. The live bird tied to a piece of wood with a tie of red (blood) yarn then dipped in a vessel of blood and water of a dead bird (Messiah shed blood and water from his side after is death), and then released to fly to the heavens, speaks so clearly of the death and resurrection of Messiah. This event creates in us a rebirth represented by the totally shaved man, and an anointing into the priesthood call promised through of Moses seen in the particulars of the oil application. Biblical leprosy representing death, corruption and sin, the issue of the leper is therefore a good illustration of how we are to God in our unredeemed state. Yeshua, as he touched the lepers took upon himself our sins and iniquity. The Messiah became a leper as the Talmud points out. He then subjected himself to stripes and his bloody body was tied to a wood from where he died shedding blood and water to finally rise and ascend to the heavenlies where he sits, interceding for us at the right hand of his and our Father (Luke 24:26). P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. Ephesians 2:12-13 (C.J.B.).
… You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. (13) But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood. We are in the ninth century BCE. Joram the son of Ahab rules in a Samaria besieged by Ben-Hadad the Aramean king. This is the same Ben-Hadad who sent Naaman to Israel to be healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5). During a siege people living in villages and encampments around the city took refuge within the walls inside. Not all the people though as according to the Torah, lepers had to live in special quarters outside the city (Leviticus 13:46), and even in a case of siege, they were not allowed inside. Once all the people were in, all the invading armies had to do was to cut off food and water supplies. Famine and starvation followed and the city fell like a ripe fruit. The siege induced famine in Samaria was desperate 2 Kings 7). Prices sky-rocketed and as was prophesied, people cannibalized their young trying to survive (Deuteronomy 28:53). Outside the gate were four lepers literally caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one side a city that rejected them, on the other side the Syrian armies. Some people have suggested that those four lepers were Gehazi, Elishah’s servant who contracted leprosy by lusting after Naaman’s rewards (2 Kings 5:27) and his four sons. One day these lepers said to themselves, "Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die" (2 Kings 7:3-4). So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. … And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news (same word used in Hebrew for Gospel: Besora). If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household" (2Kings 7:5-9). Lepers are the disfranchised of society and this story reminds of the Master’s special concern for lepers. Crossing Samaria on His way to Jerusalem ten lepers cried out to the Master saying, "Yeshua, Adon, have mercy on us." We are all lepers in the sight of God and as the four lepers in our story, we have cried to the Son of David for help and found the good news of God’s victory over the enemy of our soul. We are now responsible to share it with all, even with those who showed no mercy to us. P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. James 4:6
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. At a time when Elishah was prophet in Israel Naaman, a proud general of the Assyrian Empire, was afflicted with leprosy. A young Israelite girl in the service of his wife told him about the prophet in Israel that could heal him. This must have been hard to hear for this proud general for the Assyrians looked down at Israel and what seemed to them their backward religion, so. If that was not enough, Naaman also had to ask permission from his enemy, the King of Israel, before approaching Elishah. Naaman desperately sought healing so he decided to give it a try. He took with him monies and rewards and set himself to visit the prophet in Israel. To the general's great humiliation, Elisha did not even come and see him but sent Gehazi his servant to talk to him. Here is the transcript of the story, Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean' (2 Kings 5: 10–12)? Somehow it seems that Naaman's leprosy was related to his pride. What leprosy does to the flesh, pride certainly does to virtue. The story continues and says, So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2 Kings 5:12–14).' What a miracle! But the greatest miracle of all is that Naaman 'returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel (2 (Kings 5:15)." God always seems to get good mileage out of things, and these are just a few 'miles' He got associated with that event. Hashem did heal the general of his sickness, He addressed the pride issue that created the disease, and he got the Naaman to recognize the God of Israel. That, my friend, is complete healing! P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. Mark 1:40
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called leprosy. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18–59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4–8). On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Ritual contamination and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting. Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called lashon harah which literally means the evil tongue. The term refers to gossip and slander because after slandering Moses, her brother and divinely appointed leader of Israel, Miriam was afflicted by this leprosy (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity are irrelevant today because they technically only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time. At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would ignore the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fear of defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where he met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7). The Talmud tells of one called, The Leper Messiah. It presents a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come and by what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because he might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is: ‘The Leper Scholar’. Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of his days who stayed away, Yeshua came to us and voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He even contaminated himself by touching our leprosy. While were still in our mortal decaying condition, he entered our house to fellowship with us. But the story doesn't end here; the most wonderful part of it is that as he goes back to his Father and our God, he takes us with him to partake of his pure resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days! P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. Luke 2:22
And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Leviticus we are told" 'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed’ (Leviticus 12:2-4). Luke ties this verse to the birth of Messiah when he says, "And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to Adonai" (Luke 2:22). Miriam therefore came to make an offering at the end of the days of her purification as was prescribed by Moses and that is when she meets Simeon (Luke 2:25). Luke actually makes sure to tell us how Miriam and Joseph did everything according to the Levitical process. It is important here to note that even though most English Biblical texts relate to Miriam’s post-natal state as unclean and therefore having to present an offering at the Temple; her condition has nothing to do with moral deficiency or spiritual unworthiness. A woman giving birth actually performs one of the highest of Hashem's commandments. She fulfills what she was created for. What the Torah refers to as the ritual unclean state is solely the reality of being human and therefore impure before. Ceremonial contamination is solely Temple related. We are told in the Gospel of Luke that, When the time came for their (Miriam and Joseph) purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him (Yeshua) up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:22-24). We see in Luke’s rendering of the story that Miriam and Joseph brought "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’, and that is because they could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:6-8). Little did young Miriam know, oh how little did she know that whereas she could not afford to bring Lamb to the Temple for her purification, she actually brought with her the ultimate Lamb, he who would end up purifying not only her, but the whole world with her! P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. Hebrews 9:28
Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. The middle verse of the Tanach says, "Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up!" (Leviticus 10:16). To understand what happens in this passage we must go back to chapter 9 when the grand-priesthood inauguration begins. Hashem, who is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24) had established a very serious protocol whereby Israel was to approach him. Moses gave very specific instructions about it. Nadab and Abihu, two of the sons of Aaron were careless in their application of the protocol and were utterly burned by the fire of God as they approached the Sanctuary in an unauthorized manner (Leviticus 10:1—3). Aaron was obviously devastated and in mourning but he and his other two sons were in the middle of the grand inauguration (Leviticus 9) so they couldn’t stop for mourning; Aaron therefore held his peace (Leviticus 10:3). Some may argue that God’s punishment of Nadab and Abihu was out of proportions and could be qualified as the tantrums of a capricious deity, but instead of reviewing God’s actions, maybe we should review our own sense of what is important and what is not. Intersection with God is not to be taken lightly. There may also be more to the event than meets the eye! Part of the priesthood’s inauguration was that Aaron and his sons were to eat sections of the goat offered as a olah עולה, burnt offering inside the Tabernacle precinct. Moses couldn’t find that goat so he searched diligently for it until he discovered that it had been fully consumed. The patriarch then got angry and asked for an explanation to which Aaron answered, Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before Adonai, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would Adonai have approved?" (Leviticus 10:19). What happens here is that Aaron reminds Moses that it was unpleasing to God for a priest to do office while in sadness or mourning (Deuteronomy 26:14; 16:11), a theme even found later among Semitic kings (Nehemiah 2:1-2). So because he was uncontrollably saddened at the death of his two sons, Aaron felt he could not do proper justice to that part of the service which he then forewent. Moses was pleased with the explanation (Leviticus 10:20). What is to be noticed here is that this center verse of the Torah verse tells us to "search diligently" for the goat of the sin offering which is an early representation of Yeshua’s covering. Therefore the central goal of studying to Torah is the search for Messiah's covering. The Talmud explains that the death of Aaron’s sons is not really justifiable, so that it can only be counted as the ‘death of the righteous which creates atonement for others’, a very prevalent theme in Biblical text. Whether we agree or not with the Talmud’s interpretation, since Yeshua is our High-Priest as well as our covering (Hebrews 9:25), this is an idea that very much fits the theme of the priestly inauguration. May we also spend our lives seeking diligently to approach God through the atonement of Yeshua. P. Gabriel Lumbroso For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. 1Peter 1:15
But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, On the second Sabbath after Yeshua's second Passover with his disciples, Jerusalem Pharisees who came to check out this itinerant Rabbi caught his followers not being particular about the ritual hand washing before eating (Luke 6:1 KJV/DHE).Most English texts report the issue with Yeshua declaring all foods clean/edible which leads to readers to assume that Yeshua abrogated the Torah's dietary laws (Mark 7:19). The aforementioned clause in the ESV is in parenthesis. This was done to tell us that this particular clause is not part of the translated text, but rather an addendum to the text, which the editors pointed out. This part of the text does not even exist in the KJV which in general tries to keep a more literal translation of Greek sources. As we read this sort of issue in the apostolic texts, before coming to any conclusion, we also need to remember that the instructions Hashem gave the Children of Israel at Mt. Horeb are meant to be eternal and that according to his own words, Yeshua did not come to change them (Matthew 5:17-18). Some of the mix-up may come from a poor choice of words in English translations. There are two forms of what English biblical texts of Levitical instructions call clean or unclean foods. 1-What meats are edible or non-edible defined today with the Hebrew words, kasher כשר or taref טרף. 2-What is ceremonially fit or contaminated defined by the Hebrew words, tahor טהור and tamei טמא. The latter one concerns foods, walls, fabrics, and even skin afflictions. English texts usually use the expressions clean/ unclean for both which causes confusion. In the days of the Master the still new pharisaic religious majority was in the process of defining religious observance for everybody. In Judaism, one cannot come to the Temple or even in the presence of the Almighty in a ceremonially contaminated state. As a fence commandment, some Pharisees established that everybody should go though the ritual washing of hands before ingesting any food so as not to contaminate it. This was not part of Torah commandments but rather an interpretative application. In the days of the Master the discussion was still raging among rabbis, and as a Jewish Rabbi, Yeshua took part in the conversation giving it his own perspective, which reflected not only a better understanding of the laws of contamination, but also another side of the Talmudic teachings of the day. Rabbis always expected that the Messiah would one day come and settle their controversies and Yeshua did just that. The editorial mention that Yeshua made all foods clean with an understanding of an abrogation of the laws of kasherut really is out of place. The concern of the discussion between Yeshua and the Pharisees was not about the Disciples (not Yeshua) eating grains (not meat) with unwashed hands. To therefore interpret that added clause as being about edible or non-edible foods in the Bible is in itself erroneous. Thus again I advocate that is its crucial for one to know and understand the Levitical Laws, as well as the politics, the culture, and the linguistics present in the days of the Master in Israel in order to properly interpret the narratives left us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The laws kasherut and ceremonial fitness were not given to us for health nor any other than an identification of being holy/set-apart as the people of God (Leviticus 11:44). Even today, we can tell people's cultural background by their eating habits, thus the old adage is true: "you are what you eat!" May we learn to apply these rulings in the perspective of the Master just because Daddy said so! P. Gabriel Lumbroso For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here. |
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