Leviticus 6:8–8:36: God wants a relationship with you that responds and grows

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Normally when God spoke to Moses and gave him an instruction, God said “tell,” “speak” or “instruct.” This time, God told Moses to “command” Aaron.

The relationship that God wants with you is a relationship that responds and grows. If we respond and grow, we are like a tree that will produce good fruit. If we don’t grow and respond, we won’t produce good fruit. The High Priest is supposed to encourage the relationship between God and His people produce good fruit for eternity.

When God commands one to do something, deviation from the instruction isn’t tolerated. The Torah reading צו Tzav (“command,” Lev. 6:8–8:36) includes detailed instructions on how the priests are to handle other people’s offerings, symbolizing their approach to God. The LORD told Aaron that doing this right matters, not just to the people, but to God.

Most offerings were done by the heads of household, not by the individuals in the household. One household usually made 1-2 offerings a year. An average person also did not bring offerings every day to the Tabernacle.

Incense offerings were symbolic of prayer and incense altars never were used to sacrifice animals. Animal sacrifices were symbolic of praise offerings, not prayer offerings. Hebrews 13 tells us that the animals offerings that were burned up, and taken outside the camp, were praise offerings.

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15–16 NASB)

The praise offerings were continual offerings, they were to never be extinguished. Who is supposed to bring them? Anyone and everyone can do so. We are not supposed to ever stop praising God. Look around you. Can you make any of that? Praise Him and don’t stop.

The incense offerings were also continual, at least twice a day. We are also to pray continually, talking to God all the time.

Moses didn’t fit in completely culturally with either the Egyptians or the Hebrews. He only grew up with his Hebrew family until he was 3 years old or so before moving into Pharaoh’s household. He entered Pharaoh’s household old enough to know that he didn’t fully belong there either. God needed for Moses to be truly an outsider before He could effectively use Moses as a leader of the Hebrews out of Egypt. That’s why God took him to Midian for 40 years.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it.” (Leviticus 6:8–9 NASB)

Normally when God speaks to Moses and gives him an instruction, God says “tell”, “speak” or “instruct.” This time, God tells Moses to “command” Aaron.

When one is commanded to do something, no deviation from the instruction is allowed. No mistakes will be tolerated. This is an instruction on how to handle other people’s offerings.

God is telling them that doing this right matters, not just to the people, but to God. The priests are the go-between between the people and God. If the priest makes a mistake, he interferes with God’s relationship with His people. The priest becomes a ha-Satan, an adversary in the relationship between God and the people.

“‘Now this is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall present it before the LORD in front of the altar.” (Leviticus 6:14–15 NASB)

All grain offerings are unleavened. Leavening represents being puffed up and we aren’t to offer those things that puff us up to God. What makes bread puffed up is hot air. The air we breathe comes from God and even though we can breath air in and out and it keeps us alive, we can’t make that air.

The leavened loaves that are presented in the Temple are not burned up. They are eaten by the people.

Unleavened bread is sincerity and truth. That’s what flat bread is.

If we start out puffy, God can’t fill us. If we start out puffy, we have no sincerity and truth and God can’t use us.

When God works on us, we start out flat without God’s spirit. Then when God fill us with His spirit, we rise up but we rise up with His spirit, rather than with our own hot air and personal pleasure.

The only items God allowed in the flat bread offerings were: flour, oil, salt and frankincense. No honey, no leavening.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NASB)

Yeshua’s last supper was 1-2 days before the Passover. This bread was NOT unleavened bread. Yeshua is offering leavened bread here. Yeshua is full of God’s Spirit. Yeshua is life. This leavened bread represents the infilling of God’s spirit, not human puffiness and arrogance. We have to work hard to make our sourness go away.

God takes our sincerity and truth, and fill it with His spirit. Then He give it back to us. What we make isn’t worth anything. If we do make it, don’t give it to God, He doesn’t want it.

“It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their share from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it; it is a permanent ordinance throughout your generations, from the offerings by fire to the LORD. Whoever touches them will become consecrated.” (Leviticus 6:17–18 NASB)

This is strange. Sin and meal offerings have this unusual property that other offerings don’t have.

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests for a ruling: ‘If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.”” (Haggai 2:11–13 NASB)

When Yeshua touches something unclean, that person becomes clean. That is because He is filled with God’s spirit. Yeshua became our sin offering.

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB)

Yeshua is God’s meal offering, and our sin offering. When we touch Yeshua, we become Yeshua. We can’t make Yeshua unclean. No one who touched Yeshua, whether they were lepers, menstruating or even dead could make Yeshua unclean. If we accept His meal and sin offering, we become clean.

There are two types of healing:

1. Physical
2. Spiritual

When Messiah was on earth, He performed lots of physical healing, He even raised the dead. However, everyone one who received physical healing from Him still died. His death on the cross brought about the spiritual healing of all mankind and is even more valuable.

When someone is healed of an intractable ailment, they will wonder and figure out how it happened. Spiritual healing does the same thing on a spiritual level. Both produce relief, and gratitude.

When people went to the Prophets or the Apostles for physical healing, it brought them to a knowledge of God and gratitude to God.

When people receive spiritual healing, it is also supposed to bring about a greater knowledge of and gratitude to God.

When you want God’s forgiveness, you ask God directly because you have a relationship with Him. It should be the same thing we have with our friends and acquaintances. When they have wronged us or we have wronged them, extending forgiveness doesn’t do any good if you don’t extend it. That is how forgiveness encourages spiritual healing.

Lev. 7 discusses how priests are to treat the fat part of the sacrifices. Most of it was to be burned up. What does the fat symbolize? It’s hard to get rid of and it’s non-responsive. When you sin and you don’t respond, does God forgive that sin? No, of course not. If someone is living in sin and has no desire to change, God can’t forgive that sin. The non-responsive part of us has to be burned up. We shouldn’t want to be so insulated that we can’t feel God’s prompting.

God doesn’t want unfeeling, uncaring people.

Lev. 8 is a ceremony to dedicate priests, any priests eligible to make animal offerings.

“Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.” (Leviticus 8:14–15 NASB)

When they laid hands on the animal, they were confessing their sins upon the animal, then the animal is killed, to take away our sins, but we don’t get the “benefit” of the sin by eating the animal. Anyone making a sin offering has to do this process, priests are not exempt.

Once the high priests has dealt with his sin, he is ready to help others deal with theirs. He is able to stand between the penitent Israelite and God.

Our journey towards Yeshua isn’t a one time experience, it’s continuous. Every time we mess up, we have to respond. We have to continuously respond to God all the time.

The relationship that God wants with you is a relationship that responds and grows. If we respond and grow, we are like a tree that will produce good fruit. If we don’t grow and respond, we won’t produce good fruit.

What it comes down to is do you want a relationship with God or not. If you want a relationship with God, you will make the changes in your life and make the investments necessary. Learning about His level of holiness and caring enough about Him to want to live it up to it means something to God.