As the Torah reading בהעלתך Beha’alotcha begins, the menorah and the Levites are dedicated to God’s service, and the Tabernacle is ready for business. However, this reading is permeated with all sorts of ingratitude and complaining, from the people complaining about the manna to Miriam and Aaron complaining about Moses. God doesn’t put up with any of it. Whether it’s sending down a consuming fire or a plague, God doesn’t put up with people grumbling about His provision.
The accounts recorded in the Torah reading נשא Nasso (Numbers 4:21-7:89), whether it’s about removing the lepers and those exposed to death from the circumference of the God’s House, dealing with a husband’s jealousy husband, or dedicating the Tabernacle, it’s all about how the people who are near God are to be pure, holy and righteous. That purity only is possible by the work of our “great High Priest,” Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ).
As Leviticus ends with the Torah reading בחקותי Bechokotai (“in My statutes,” Leviticus 26-27), we should remember the point of this book seen at its beginning: The LORD wants Israel in His presence, but each must be transformed to make that journey. That’s the lesson of the Tabernacle, offerings, priesthood, appointed times and years, distinguishing between clean and unclean, etc.
As promised in the New Covenant prophecy (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:25–26), the LORD will give us a “new heart,” written upon with His laws and empowered by His Spirit.
The lessons of rest and release in the biblical sabbatical year (shemitah) and Yobel (Jubilee) teach us how we are to be good masters and how good of a Master our Messiah Yeshua is. Embedded in the lessons of the Torah reading Behar (“on the mountain,” Leviticus 25) is we are to treat each other with the kindness Yeshua gives us — the Golden Rule.
The Torah reading אמר Emor (“say,” Leviticus 21–24) calls YHWH’s servants to model a different way of life and keep anniversaries of important things Heaven has done, is doing and will do to make things right again, particularly the mission of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).
Seven shows up repeatedly in Scripture. It appears first with the seventh day of creation, threads through God’s cycles of appointments with mankind, and foreshadows the timing of Messiah Yeshua’s arrival as the Word become flesh and culminates with many of the symbols of the Day of the Lord.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so the saying goes. There are things that bring us closer to God and things that move us away from God. There are things that happen to us that are beyond our control that can make us unclean before God, but there are also things that we do to ourselves that make us unclean. That’s the underlying message of the Torah reading מצורע Metzora (“leper,” Leviticus 14–15).
Without Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ), we are basically “the walking dead.” Does God want us to “come as we are” and “stay as we are”? No, God wants to bring us up and if we claim to be the sons and daughters of Israel, we should be willing to follow God’s instructions to elevate us from our base selves to His higher self.