Tag: Parashat Shemini

Torah reading Shemini (“eighth”) covers Leviticus 9–11.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Renewing our taste: Messiah transforms our desires to crave God above all else (Leviticus 11; Genesis 2–3; Acts 10)

Renewing our taste: Messiah transforms our desires to crave God above all else (Leviticus 11; Genesis 2-3; Acts 10). AI artwork by Adobe Firefly showing a woman's hand grasping fruit on a tree.

The distinction between “clean” and “unclean” animals in Leviticus 11 and Acts 10 echoes the choice between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad/Evil in Genesis 2–3. By eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve sought to determine good and bad for themselves, instead of trusting in God’s provision and boundaries.

In this study of Torah reading שְׁמִינִי Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11), we’ll see that learning the underlying lesson of distinguishing clean from unclean teaches the commonwealth of Israel to accept God’s designations rather than relying on their own understanding. Those who “eat” what God deems “unclean” place themselves outside of His blessing and life, just as Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. But by obeying God’s instructions on diet and ritual purity, Israel can enjoy communion with the holy God and partake continually of His life-giving presence, prefigured by the Tree of Life.

Peter’s vision in Acts 10 teaches this fundamental lesson of how “cleaned” believers in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) are elevated/separated from the “unclean” way of the world.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

6 lessons from when fire comes from God

The closer we desire to be to God, the more He expects of us — more repentance, more humility, more love and compassion for those He created. We know who God and what He expects of us because of His words, the instructions He has given us to follow.

This is a key lesson from the deaths of two key priests in the Tabernacle from the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11). God has given us counsel and instructions on how we are to conduct ourselves in the world, in our families, in our communities. He also tells us how we are to interact with Him.

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Discussions Torah

Mercy red with Truth and awe: Arrival of the ‘fittest’ for the Kingdom of God (Leviticus 11)

Mercy red with truth and awe: Arrival of the 'fittest' to enter the Kingdom of God (Leviticus 11)

There’s a big difference between learning Torah on an intellectual level, through hearing lectures and reading books versus doing it in the real world.

In the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11), ancient Israel high priest Aaron and his sons are taking what Moses has taught them about being their role in the Tabernacle and starting to step into the hands-on role. We have to do the same thing. It’s a good thing to read the Bible, listen to it being spoken, but then we have to actually do what it says before it can change us and make us who God wants us to be.

Amid all the instructions about “clean” and “unclean” foods in this passage, the underlying lesson is profound: It’s in God’s great mercy and love for mankind to lift us up from the mire we’re knowingly or unknowingly trapped in then set us apart to join Heaven in the restoration of the world (Eph. 2:10; 2Tim. 2:21).

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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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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

How to treat God, ourselves and others with respect (Leviticus 9–11; Mark 7)

The concept of ritual impurity is confusing to the gentile mindset. The Torah says that if one is “ritually impure” one can’t participate in the work of worship that happens in God’s house. It seems like God is punishing us for things that are beyond our control.

However, it is not a sin to be ritually impure, and God isn’t out to punish us for things outside our control. Everything God says in the Torah is there to teach us lessons about Himself — and about ourselves in the process.

In the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Lev. 9:1–11:47), discover the things Heaven says make one fit and unfit to enter God’s Presence. Some of those things are out of our control living in a world under the curse since Eden, so Heaven has to transform us. Focus on what’s in our control.

Heaven is taking each of us and humanity on a journey to a new beginning: from bondage to rest.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Leviticus 10: How to avoid ‘strange fire’ on our closer walk with God

The closer we are to God, the closer God looks at us. We may come to God as we are, but we shouldn’t stay as we were. A key lesson of the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth”; Leviticus 9–11) is the more understanding God gives us, the more God expects of us (Luke 12:48). This is also why the sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus) was the only sacrifice that could take away our sins, transgressions and iniquities (Lev. 16:15, 18, 27; Heb. 9:13; 10:4).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Become clean and holy from the inside out (Leviticus 9-11; Mark 7; Acts 10)

"Peter's vision" by Julius Schnorr, circa 1909.

The people of Yisrael had a long history of forgetting what made them Holy. It was God who made them holy. They didn’t make themselves holy. They also lost sight of the fact that being declared tame or unclean doesn’t make one sinful or wicked either.

Yeshua’s frequently argued with the Pharisees over their emphasis on their man-made traditions over the plain word of scripture and how their man-made traditions were doing more to keep people away from God than brining them into God’s embrace.
Even after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, these false ideas about the inherent holiness of the Jewish people and the inherent wickedness of the Gentiles was hindering God’s goal to lift up, bring near, make clean, declare holy believers from the nations in the same way Heaven does for the “native-born.”