Shemini (Eighth) Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Shemini(Eighth)Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Haftorah Reading: II Samuel 6:1-7:17
Tonight I want us to look at our portion and search for new revelation and connections to our faith. Let’s look at Leviticus 10:17 and see how it relates to us. To do this we will later look at Isaiah 25:8 and I Corinthians 15:52, 54.
To begin, let us examine Leviticus 10:17 from our Torah portion. This verse covers the rebuke of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar by Moshe. The verse reads, “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of holiness, for it is the holy of the holies, and He gave her to you to take away the sin of the congregation.” Remember this rebuke came immediately after Nadav and Avihu had perished after bringing strange fire before the L-rd. Their death was caused by them being overcome with zeal. This action caused the fire of G-d to come forth and kill both boys. This in its self teaches us an important lesson. Zeal for G-d is a good thing unless it causes us to lose sight of the holiness of G-d and as a result lose respect for His word. Even in our zeal there are boundaries not to be crossed.
Shoftim (Judges) Deut. D’varim 16-21
Torah Portion: Shoftim (Judges) D’varim(Deut.) 16:18-21:9
Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 51:12-52:12
Tonight we read a Torah portion filled with many different commandments and situations. I want us to take a few minutes and see what we might discern from several of these verses. I also want us to remember these scriptures form the foundation to what we read in the New Testament and should give us a deeper, more complete understanding of what we read there. My goal as a teacher is to always better equip each of us to grow deeper in our faith as G-d’s grafted in ones.