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Monthly Commentary:  Commentary on Leviticus 1-5. Today’s reading comes from Leviticus 1 through 5 and the name of this passage is Vayikra or "AND HE CALLED". The Humash mentions that the LORD called to Moshe or Moses from the tabernacle in order to discuss the sacrificial system and it says that HIS voice was very loud like the voice of a father or mother calling to children. The reason no one but Moshe heard the voice is because his ears were the only ones spiritually tuned for the voice of G-d. I am going to briefly outline the sacrifices and offerings in chapters 1 through 5 and then relate them to our Messiah Yeshua or Jesus. Chapter 1 talks about the elevation offering or whole burnt offering and was given by the LORD to elevate the spirituality of the person bringing it. The offering was generally made when someone felt that they had drifted from the LORD due to internal thoughts and actions not known by the assembly but noticeable to the individual. The animals ofered here were the bull, or the lamb, or two turtle doves. All of these animals were kosher. The priests were instructed to burn these in a specified way, and to sprinkle some blood on the alter, and to pour the remainder beside the alter. On Tuesday night Joyce taught us that the bull was the 1st animal on the Jewish calendar and it is the first animal mentioned in Leviticus 1. Also note that the LORD told Noah to always pour out the blood of an animal before eating or consuming it. So it is no surprise that Moses was instructed to pour the blood out by the alter. Chapter 2 discusses the grain offering and first fruit offering. The grain offering consisted of flour mixed with oil and frankincense. The first fruit offering contained barley grain, the first grain crop in Israel, mixed with oil and frankincense. The offerings were not to contain honey or leaven but the grain offerings were to contain salt as a requirement. The Humash tells us that salt was required in part because G-d wanted all areas of HIS creation to participate in the offerings. Flour comes from the ground, frankincense comes from the trees and salt comes from the ocean. Chapter 3 talks about the peace offering. This was an animal from the flock that a person would present to the priest. The fat and entrails would be burned and the priests would be given a portion of the meat for food. The person making the offering would also be given some of the meat so he could celebrate with family and friends God's provision or unexpected blessing. This aspect reminds me of the father in the prodigal son when the father killed the calf after the safe return of his son. There are three things I want to point out about the peace offering: 1. Japhath (Moses father in law) offered a peace offering and an elevation offering when his son n law returned from Egypt. 2. This is a material offering provided to bring peace between men & G-d & men in general. Finally 3) G-d forbids us in this passage to eat blood and fat. In Acts 15 James gave non Jewish believers a list of 4 laws they had to keep in following Christ, but he did mention that the Gentiles had heard the Torah teachings already. So it was up to them if they chose ignore things that the FATHER wrote specifically to HIS chosen people in the TORAH. Today, doctors tell us that eating fat can cause many health problems. We should speak to our friends in the church about this. It is our duty as believers to share the entire WORD of G-d (the WORD that became flesh). Christ commands us to be the salt of the world. The sin offerings in chapter 4 were for sins committed in ignorance. If a cohen gdol (high priest) committed the sin he had to offer a bullock. He had to lean his hands on him and kill him and use the blood sprinkling it toward the holy of holies. Blood also had to be put on the alter of incense and the remaining blood had to be poured out by the alter. He had to burn some parts of the animal on the alter but some parts like the liver had to be burned outside the camp. A specific offering was made for a leader that committed a sin unknowingly. He had to lay hands on a kid slaughtering it transferring his guilt to the kid. The priest had to burn his fat on the alter as done with the peace offering. He also had to sprinkle the alter of incense with blood and pour the rest by the alter. Chapter 4 goes on to say that the sin offering for the entire assembly had to be performed in a manner similar to what was done for the high priest signifying the strong relationship with the people of Israel and her Messiah. The Messiah could never leave his people 2000 years with no atonement for sin!!! Chapter 5 discusses the trespass offering. With this offering the perpetrator was commanded to make restitution for the trespass. This begs the question – are believers today ever required to make restitution for our sins? Trespass offerings were offered for sins such as: • If a person swore to do something they didn’t do and someone hearing did not report what he said. • If someone touched a dead unclean animal. • If someone did not keep the word they swore by. The trespass offering required a female kid, two turtle doves or two young pigeon. A kid refers to a young goat or calf. If these offerings were two expensive the trespasser could bring 1/10 of an ephat of flour for the offering. The priest burned part of the trespass offering and kept part of it as a peace offering. The passage also said if a person profaned or damaged an item in the temple they had to provide a young ram for atonement and provide adequate compensation for the item. Leviticus chapter 5 says after atonement is made the sins shall be forgiven. Was this a prophesy of the future? Messiah is our whole burnt Ola offering. He offered HIS entire life to bring us closer. Christ is our grain offering and our first fruit offering. His life is remembered often in our lives through the passover feast and in the church through the communion. HIS life and HIS WORD sustains us like the flour, it anoints and heals us like the oil, and it preserves us for greatness as does the salt and frankincense. He is the firstborn of the resurrection and when we come together to commemorate his blood and flesh we can all say together as Psalm 133 says hene ma tov u ma naim shevet akim gam yakad. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to sit together in unity. And, of course Messiah Yeshua is our sin and trespass offering. In Romans 12 Paul refers to us as a living sacrifice. In II Timothy Paul refers to himself as a drink offering saying that he is about to be poured out as he suffers martyrdom. However, we are never referred to as the atoning sacrifice, the whole burnt offering, or the blood sacrifice because only Yeshua can be that. No amount of prayers or charity can atone for our corruption. We were all there when they yelled out crucify HIM because we had to trade our sin for HIS righteousness and we all have darkness. We have all rejected him and gone our own way. We can not hold any group of people responsible for the sacrifice that we have to bring as sinners. Christ shed HIS blood inside the inner court inside Jerusalem and he was lifted up as a burnt offering outside the camp. He was not given the option of having his throat cut before the crucifixion like the animals being sacrificed. Though we did not see it between the why have you forsaken me and the it is finished the FATHER was burning our sins away, sanctifying us from our darkness... It is finished and we are now holy to the LORD because of what HE has done. In second Corinthians 12 Paul asked the LORD three times to remove an infirmity in his flesh and the LORD finally told him MY grace is sufficient for you. No amount of burnt animals or blood from these kosher lambs can remove our sin because they are not holy enough. The blood of Yeshua is sufficient for our needs. The blood of Yeshua is sufficient. It is always sufficient. Amen. The next holiday is Purim on 28-Feb-2010 to 02-Mar-2010.