Sh’mini (The Eighth) Leviticus 9:1-11:47 and II Samuel 6:1-7:17
1.When you read this Torah portion what was the order in which the sacrifices were done? What can we learn from that order?
What was the sacrifice order?
Sin offering
Burnt offering
Peace offering
They were offered in that order.
Why do you think they were in that order?
An Israelite felt the need to approach the Father had to conform to this pattern.
First he brought a sin offering.
His sin had to be confessed, a sacrifice brought so he could enter into the presence of G-d.
Second he brought a burnt offering
What was the burnt offering?
It represented his giving over of himself completely to the will and purpose of G-d with nothing held back.
All was put on the fire.
Lastly, came the peace offering
It was exactly what it sounds like.
It represented the spiritual fact that the person and G-d were okay
The person was at peace with G-d.
They sat and ate a memorial meal with the priests, themselves and G-d in attendance.
This was symbolized by each partaking of the offering.
Is this a pattern for our spiritual life?
It should be an exact pattern for us.
First we realize that there are sins in our lives that must be covered
by the sacrifice Yeshua made for us.
Then we should proceed to the burnt offering stage
Here we completely surrender ourselves to the Father and His will for our lives.
Then we are at peace with the Father
We can sit and share with Him and our priest Yeshua.
If we have not proceeded to these last two offerings we have not finished the process.
To grow, I think requires us to finish this cycle of offerings
We want to go on to the heights to which G-d has for us.
This could be the reason so many believers do not reach their potential of what G-d has for them. They never proceed past the repentance sacrifice. I pray we go on through the burnt offering and peace offering.
2.If you notice, Aaron and his sons are told to take a calf as one of their sin offerings. Leviticus 9:2 and in Leviticus 9:3 we also see the people were told to bring a goat as a sin offering. Do you think there is any historical significance in the choice of these two animals?
The choice of a calf would not have been lost on the people.
Aaron had been involved in the sin of the golden calf.
The symbolism would have made it clear that the sin of the golden calf may not have been dealt with on a national level and now, here, it was dealt with by this sacrifice.
What was the significance of the goat offering?
The people also brought a goat as a sin offering.
Genesis 37:31-32, “Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
The brothers were trying to cover up their sin
These two incidents could be called national sins.
Maybe this was a way to fully deal with the past
Sin that has not been repented of can cause a block between us and G-d
It should move us all to be sensitive to times when we need to immediately repent
Never let sin distance us from the Father.
In our Parasha the Glory of G-d fell after this personal and national repentance took place. Evidently the slate had been cleared of any past sins.
3.In Leviticus 11:45 we read, “For I am the L-rd who is bringing you up out of the land of Egypt. To be your G-d; you shall therefore be holy; for I am holy.” Another translation says, “brings you out.” Why do you think the verse does not say, “brought you out,” since the exodus had already happened?
“Bringing”, implies continual movement out of Egypt.
How does this affect our understanding of this sentence?
G-d was saying, “I am the L-rd who continues to lift you higher.”
it is an on-going process.
G-d does not want our spiritual life to be stagnant.
He wants us to be progressing and growing in our faith.
He lifted us up out of our sins (Egypt), He is lifting us up from our sins and He will lift us up from our own personal Egypt.
It should be a continual, never ending process.
His goal is to be our G-d
His will is that we be transformed. “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”
His will is that our lives reflect who He is,
His will is that we walk after Him daily.
His will is that we resemble Him in characteristics, conduct and concepts, “for I am holy”.
The statement of holiness comes at the end of a chapter devoted to clean and unclean food. I think this gives us insight into holiness.
Holiness should impact every area of our life.
It should affect everything.
Food is a basic human need. Everyone eats.
Even in something as fundamental as eating we are to be different, set apart.
How we dress should reflect G-d.
What we read should reflect G-d and His holiness.
Sometimes we compartmentalize life.
G-d is saying He expects everything we do to reflect Him.
We are a holy people
I Peter 1:15. Peter is quoting Leviticus 11:45. “We are holy because He is holy.”
In Titus 2:14 we read where, “the Messiah gave Himself for us.” Why?
To redeem us from all lawlessness.
We as followers of the Messiah are expected to live holy lives.
Each day we are on a continuous walk allowing Him to continue bringing us up out of our own personal Egypt.
4.In our Torah portion Moses was quick to remind Aaron and the remaining two sons that the framework given by G-d must be followed. The sin offering had to be eaten in the place of holiness, not carried home to eat later or to be taken outside of the tabernacle. Why was he reminding them of this law? Do you think the priest physically eating this offering symbolized anything to the sinner? Instructions for the sin offering are found in Leviticus 6:24-26, or Leviticus 6:18-19 (Hebrew) “The L-rd said to Moses, “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the L-rd in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.”
In this week’s Torah portion we read, Leviticus 10:16-17, “When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked, “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the L-rd. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”
So why was Moses angry?
Why was it important that they had not eaten the sin offering as laid out in Leviticus 6:24-26?
First of all this was a holy act
They were accepting the offering from the person asking for forgiveness.
When the priest ate the offering it symbolized the act of G-d removing the guilt from the person or community.
This would have been a powerful picture for the person bringing the offering.
The role of the priest was to lift up the offering
carry the weight of the sin and take it away.
In the mind of the person bringing the offering the priest took that sin, carried it away and took it upon himself by eating the meat of the animal.
The early believers in the Messiah understood this whole process,
They understood Yeshua’s sacrifice
Yeshua took on their sins and our sins in His own body.
I Peter 2;24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.”
John 1:29, “The Lamb of G-d Who takes away the sin of the world.”
When the priest consumed the offering
his actions symbolized holiness had swallowed up sin.
Isaiah 25:8, “He will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign L-rd will wipe away the tears
from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The L-rd has spoken.”
This is repeated in I Corinthians 15:54. “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
As the priest ate the sin offering and symbolically made atonement for the people
so Yeshua absolved our sin and took them to the cross.
II Corinthians 5:21, “ G-d made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of G-d.”
Yeshua as our high priest, over the household of G-d consumed our sins.
This Torah portion laid the ground work for understanding the coming Messiah.
It is important for us to understand this connection between Torah and our faith as believers. G-d has not changed. We are able to see His preparations for us and for all people to have our sins swallowed up by the Lamb of G-d. These verses point us to Him.