Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Called, filled, sent: What the Torah says about anointing, service and spiritual fruit (Exodus 29; Isaiah 61–62; Hebrews 2)

The Holy One of Israel outfits believers with new garments, anointing, and overflowing Spirit for service. Ordaining the Tabernacle priesthood, filling them with the Spirit for service, points to how apostle Paul’s statement “Christ is the end of the Law” actually relates to His bringing righteousness to fullness. What this means for today: Seek spiritual gifts for the common good, guard against coveting these gifts, value inner devotion over outward form, and follow the Messiah’s example of humble service and sacrificial leadership.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Leviticus 12-13 and Passover: God of the newly living, Healer of the ‘walking dead’

It seems bizarre that the Bible packages instructions for purifying new bothers and newborns together with what look like public health instructions for dealing with chronic skin diseases and toxic mold. And this passage in Leviticus 12–15 (Torah readings Tazria and Metzorah) comes between a big failing of the priesthood (deadly use of “strange fire” in Leviticus 10) and Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16). Discover the important messages that come from these passages, unwrapped as a packaged set. Why are the instructions for purify childbirth packaged together with those for cleansing the “walking dead?” Why does the miracle of birth require a sin offering? What is it about baby girls that doubles the exclusionary period from the Tabernacle? Why is there an elaborate ritual for the cleansed leper? How is the rebirth of the leper similar to the resurrection of Israel from the house of bondage?So we can start to see links to Pesach (Passover) and the forethought, continued caring and compassion of God and the one and only Son of God, the Lamb of God.