Leviticus 24: Tabernacle oil and bread plus use of God’s name

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Anything that is brought to God must be clean, pure and sincere, not just our olive oil and bread but our words and hearts are to be clean, pure and sincere, too. When a person blasphemes God’s name, that desecration of God’s reputation has to be dealt with in the most severest of terms, regardless of whether the person is a native born Israelite or a “stranger.” We can’t understand the depths of God’s mercy without understanding the depths of God’s justice.

There are three subjects in this chapter: 

1. Olive oil
2. Bread of Memorial
3. Blaspheming the Name

These are separate incidents, they are not necessarily connected that I can see. I look at chapter in a different way. 

“Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.” (Leviticus 24:2 NASB)

The children of Israel are to bring the beaten or pressed olive oil to the High Priest for the eternal flame. In Hebrew this word as “pure” is the Hebrew word זַךְ zakh (Strong’s lexicon No. H2134). This is the very first pressing, there’s nothing else in it but oil. It must be clean, pure and bright so it will burn efficiently. Was this extra virgin olive oil or some other type of olive oil?

This brings me to something Apostle Paul said:

“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:7–8 NASB)

This is what the people are to bring to the High Priest, not only in relation to bread, but into anything that is brought to the High Priest. It must be clean, pure, sincere and true. There is a pattern here. 

“It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself If his conduct is pure and right.” (Proverbs 20:11 NASB)

The Messiah told His disciples to become like children. 

“The way of a guilty man is crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.” (Proverbs 21:8 NASB)

If our work is pure, our work will be upright. If the olive oil is pure, the work it does will be right. 

It wasn’t just the olive oil that was to be clean and pure but the lamp-stand (Ex. 25:31-39; 27:20-21; 40:25-26) was clean and pure, too. 

“He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lamp-stand before the LORD continually.” (Leviticus 24:4 NASB)

The High Priest was responsible to make sure the lamp-stands and the bread were in order. We see this same imagery in Revelations. For example: 

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp-stands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp-stand out of its place — unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:1–7 NASB)

What is the first love we are to have? Love the Lord your God with all your heart. They had forgotten love and thought their works, which were good, were more important than their love for God. 

The High Priest’s job was to keep the lights going, night and day and our High Priest Yeshua is doing the same thing. Why is it Aaron’s job? Can’t someone else do it? No. He was appointed to do that job. Yeshua warns the Church that if we don’t do the job, He has to take what is out of order back into order. 

“You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the LORD.” (Leviticus 24:7 NASB)

What is this memorial? This is a memorial of the 12 Tribes. How are they made? 

“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. “You shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.” (Leviticus 24:5–6 NASB)

All of the loaves are to be equal size. They are stacked in two rows, six in each. This how God looks at His people, who they are. This is how God sees His people, not how history sees His people.

The frankincense is supposed to be pure, or zakh, just as the olive oil is to be pure.

This is similar to the burned grain offering when the flour is mixed with frankincense and burned on the altar. 

All the offerings were exactly the same, God is not a respecter of persons. All the tribes are equal in God’s eyes. 

What is God saying to us abut this offering? God’s words come back to Him and when His words come back to Him, He responds to them. God doesn’t desire to kill the wicked. He is not against the wicked, He wants them to repent. As He looks at the 12 tribes, He sees that they all belong to Him, they are equally loved and valued by Him. 

We often compare ourselves with one another. It’s a futile exercise to hold someone else up as smarter, wiser, prettier, etc. 

This arrangement is done by the High Priest every Shabbat according to the order God has instructed Him. The entire house of Israel belongs to God. They are like a burnt offering to Him as a sweet aroma.

The last story in this segment is about a man who was the son of a Danite woman and an Egyptian father. He had somehow blasphemed God’s name and even Moses, who was God’s best friend, didn’t know how to judge this situation. 

His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. Her name means peace. She was a peaceful woman. It wasn’t the mother or the Egyptian father who cursed but the son. 

“They put him in custody so that the command of the LORD might be made clear to them.” (Leviticus 24:12 NASB)

They basically put the man in a jail, in a holding cell, while Moses consulted with God to figure out how to deal with the situation. God tells Moses exactly what to do. 

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him. You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.'” (Leviticus 24:13–16 NASB)

What is the difference between a curse and a blasphemy? Can you get mad at God? Yes. There is a difference between a blasphemy and a curse. Not all sins lead to death. 

Lev. 24:17-21 discusses God’s justice. We say that God is love, which is true, but without justice, mercy becomes a crime that encourages lawlessness. If a person is not willing to live at peace in society, we cast them out of our society. But if the witnesses don’t act, no one will. 

“There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 24:22 NASB)

The fact that this man’s father was an Egyptian, not an Israelite was not an excuse for his wrongdoing. Any blasphemer, whether native or foreigner, is to be executed on the testimony of multiple witnesses. Justice is a deterrent. How God brings forth justice is up to Him, but mercy is up to Him, too. Why doesn’t God carry out His justice in every single circumstance? Because God is waiting for repentance. 

“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17 NASB) 

We take God’s mercy for granted. We say that God gave us mercy but it might be that God hasn’t completed His justice and we haven’t completely repented. We have to wait upon God to give us mercy. He doesn’t grant mercy overnight. 

If you are being punished, you aren’t being punished by HaSatan. He doesn’t love you. He hates you. You punish a child you love. God may seem harsh, blunt or cruel but His goal is our repentance. His tribulation and correction is against the House of Israel first.

Speaker: Richard Agee. Reader: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.