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Discussions Torah

Don’t do dumb stuff, and don’t be like everyone else (Leviticus 16–20)

Don't do dumb stuff, and don't be like everyone else (Leviticus 16-20)
Don't do dumb stuff, and don't be like everyone else (Leviticus 16-20)

There’s an old saying that is common among parents who are trying to teach their children to resist the temptation to follow their peers into making disastrous life-changing mistakes: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” 

God was preparing the children of Israel to enter the Promised Land, a land where the Canaanites who, by God’s account, lived immoral or amoral lives. Underlying the lessons in the Torah passages אחרי מות Acharei Mot and קדושים Kedoshim (“after (the) death” and “holiness,” Leviticus 16–20) on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and morality is that God did not want the Israelites to follow His laws on autopilot — not in apathy or indifference — but mindfully and purposefully. Learn more through this Bible study.

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Discussions Torah

Grace and response: What ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ are really about (Leviticus 11; 2Samuel 6)

Grace and response: What 'clean' and 'unclean' are really about (Leviticus 9-11; 2Samuel 6)

What is holy and not holy? What is clean and not clean? Both are defined by God alone. Heaven sets up appointments for His people to meet with Him and how they are to prepare themselves and show up at the appointed times in the appointed ways.

A key lesson of the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11) is the leaders of the people, such as the priests, kings and nobles are called to a higher standard, because of their higher education and proximity to God than the common people.

It is our duty as those who consider ourselves citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven to know our position and to know and follow the Torah instructions that apply to us.

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Discussions Torah

How to be a ‘nation of priests’ to a world that needs closeness to God (Leviticus 6–8)

How to be a ‘nation of priests’ to a world that needs closeness to God (Leviticus 6–8)

We may think the instructions in Torah readings Vayiqra and Tzav (Leviticus 1-8) about Tabernacle/Temple offerings is quaint history, but Kefa (Peter), an apostle of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) wrote that in the “world to come” the people of God will be a “nation of kings and priests” (1Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10), then we need to put our mind to study Torah to understand the different kinds of offerings and how to properly handle them.

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Discussions Torah

How our lives can become a ‘soothing aroma to the LORD’ (Leviticus 1–5)

How our lives can become a ‘soothing aroma to the LORD’ (Leviticus 1–5)

The Creator of the heavens and the Earth wants to live among humankind, but there humankind is too attached with the muck-and-mire ways of this world. Heaven’s solution is acted out in the imagery and ceremony of Israel’s Tabernacle and in the work of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). Discover in the Torah reading ויקרא Vayikra (“and He called,” Leviticus 1:1-6:7) how our heart’s cry determines whether we are a “soothing aroma” as Heaven transforms us.

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Discussions Torah

Why we must guard Heaven’s tabernacle in our hearts (Exodus 25)

Why we must guard the Tabernacle of our hearts (Exodus 25)

The focus of the Tabernacle/Temple of Israel is the Ark of the Testimony, aka the Ark of the Covenant. That’s a key lesson of the Torah reading תְּרוּמָה Terumah (“contribution,” Exodus 25:1-27:19). The Ark protected the founding documents, the constitution of the People of God. This document binds all the people of God together, just as the people of the United States are bound by the U.S. Constitution, honor that document and work to put it into practice.

Heaven put the Word of God into action in the midst of the people of God with the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Messiah/Christ).

If the people of God don’t put the 10 Commandments into practice, we run a real risk of losing our first love and going astray from God. We can end up in a very bad place. When we realize we have gone astray, the first thing we do is to turn back to the foundation.

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Discussions Torah

When God shouted 3 times to fight oppression (Exodus 21–23)

When God shouted 3 times to fight oppression (Mishpatim: Exodus 21:1-24:18)

Are “white lies” covered by the Torah prohibition on lying? What does it mean to curse your parents? Does the Torah really contain a time bomb for human slavery? How is that connected to the LORD’s warning about oppression? And was the Angel of the LORD during the Exodus a manifestation of the Messiah? How does this angel compare with Yeshua (Jesus)? These are topics covered in the Torah reading מִשְׁפָּטִים Mishpatim (“judgments,” Ex. 21:1–24:18).

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Discussions Torah

New covenant = Sinai + Spirit (Exodus 18:1–20:22)

Mt. Sinai on the left and a dove in flight on the right with the text "New Covenant=Sinai+Spirit" over it

Rather than the Law and the Spirit of God being in opposition to each other and the latter usurping the former, as some teach, we will see in this study of the Torah passage Yitro (“Jethro,” Exodus 18:1–20:22) that we receive the “new birth” in Mashiakh Yeshua (Christ Jesus) via both Sinai and Spirit.