Torah Commentary Archives

Tzav (Give an Order)

Leviticus 6:1-8:36

Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22-23

Mark 12:28-34

Romans 12:1-2

1Corinthians 10:14-23

Nothing Held Back

This week we look at the offerings in more detail. Each one has specific meaning and differs in some nature. They all have one thing in common; they are to be an act of worship unto the Holy One. A fact which has been misunderstood, is there is not an offering for intentional sin listed here. I thought intentional sin is what got us here in the first place, so why no sacrifice listed?

To understand this principle we must understand what Leviticus is and what it isn't. Leviticus is not a book given to redeem, but rather instructions on how a redeemed people are to worship the One who had redeemed them. We will come back to that statement in a moment.

“Where then,” we ask, “is the offering for intentional sin”? Let us travel back to Egypt and the Passover sacrifice. A lamb was brought into the house on the tenth of the first month and slaughtered the evening of the fourteenth. This was the sacrifice pointing to intentional sin! What sin had the Hebrews in Egypt committed? First we must reflect on why the Hebrews are in slavery and bondage to begin with. After so many years in a foreign land living amongst an idol worshiping nation, you might consider it had some effect on the belief system of the Hebrew people. Could the sin Israel committed have something to do with forgetting who they were and the calling they had been given? Let me explain.

Where was the first intentional sin committed? In the Garden of Eden, correct? After Adam and Eve's devastating decision, Elohim slaughtered an animal and made coverings for them. Please consider that offering as a shadow of the offering of Messiah. The understood purpose of this offering was passed down generation to generation. Abraham had been taught of this offering, which is wrapped up in the account of taking Isaac to the mountain. Isaac then passed this offering to his son Jacob who passed it to his twelve sons. Each of these people would come to “Faith in Elohim” based upon faith in a sacrifice for intentional sin. This faith would then lead them to a life of offerings of worship unto Yah. I will share more on this in a moment.

What is the intentional sin of the Hebrews in Egypt which caused them to be in slavery? They had forgotten they were a people called to accept and proclaim the way of redemption prophesied in the garden. Many of them took on the pagan ways of the people group around them and were assimilated. To make these statements personal for me and you, when you or I forget who we are in Him and take on the pagan ways of this world, we are destined to travel down the briar filled path toward slavery and bondage.

The Passover offering in Egypt was not an institution of an offering, but rather a reinstitution. Only those who slaughtered the lamb and applied the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of their homes would be set free from the bondage of Egypt. Maybe a clue to this is found in a writing which says only twenty percent of the Hebrews actually left Egypt. Was it only twenty percent who came back to faith in Elohim through the meaning of the shed blood of the innocent lambs?

What is the purpose of Leviticus? Is it to teach a people who have trusted in the sacrifice for their intentional sin how to worship now that they are redeemed? Absolutely! How do we transition in our minds the bringing of an offering to the Tabernacle to an act of worship for us today?

Let us look at the first offering. It is the “'olah” or ascending offering. This is an offering which is given entirely. The giver does not take back a portion for him. Now let us read Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service”. Is this verse comparing the olah offering to our very lives? Are we to present ourselves totally and completely to Him without holding anything back? The answer is, “yes”! How can we do such a thing in the first place? Read further to Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Only redeemed people who have trusted in the offering for their intentional sin can offer themselves and in return, be given the power to transform their minds through the Word and Spirit of our Elohim.

As we read through the instructions of Leviticus may we see it not as a book of outdated rules and regulations, but rather as a book relevant in every way to our modern lives, as a book of instructions on how to become a sweet smelling savor to the One who gave Himself for our intentional sin.