Parasha B'har-B'chukotai 5783 - Brit Ahm
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Me
Me
This week we read a double Parasha—B’har-B’chukotai, Leviticus 25:1-27:34. B’har is focused entirely on the Shmita which would occur every seven years and the Yovel which would occur ever 50 years. In the beginning of Leviticus 25 we see the Lord tells Moses to speak to Israel that they are to begin the counting of the Shmita and Yovel cycle upon entering the Land.
Adonai commands that for six years the Land is to be worked and harvested, and on the seventh year the Land is to have a Shabbat to Adonai. In this Shmita year B’nei Yisrael is not to work the land at all, and whatever it produces on its own will be food for B’nei Yisrael, their servants, the outsiders dwelling with them, and even their livestock and animals. The Shmita would be a year of complete reliance on HaShem while allowing His Holy Land to rest.
Likewise, the Yovel (or Jubilee year) is also reliant on our ability to count. Just like with Shavuot in which we are commanded to count the Omer for 49 days and on the 50 day celebrate Shavuot, for the Yovel we are to count 49 years, or seven Shmita cycles, then on the 50th year on Yom Kippur proclaim the Yovel and all territory is to return to its tribal possession and all in servitude are set free.
Both the Shmita and the Yovel are to be held Holy and are Moedim (Appointed Days of Adonai) like Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.
And B’chukotai is also the final parasha of Sefer Vayikra. Bechukotai kicks off with a discussion of the blessings and miraculous provision that would be upon Israel if we were faithful in maintaining covenant with Adonai. With verse 14 we see the tables turn in the discussion some, with a series of potential progressive chastisements for not being faithful, all with the ultimate goal of causing B’nei Yisrael to make T’shuvah. At the close of chapter 26 we see Adonai reassure Israel that no matter what, He will never break covenant with Israel.
Chapter 27 closes out Leviticus with a discussion on the calculation of various pledges to Adonai and the reminder of the mitzvah to tithe to HaShem.
A while back I listened to a really interesting book on Audible called “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” by Nabeel Qureshi (of blessed memory) who was a Pakistani-American. The book is about his years-long journey from being a devout Muslim to faith in Yeshua as Messiah.
In the book he makes a pretty interesting point about the Pakistani culture he was raised in that I thought was pretty eye-opening and I never knew before. He was talking in an early chapter about his relationship with his parents and how he grew up in a very loving and supportive home. But he discussed that he almost never heard his parents just flat out say, “I love you” to him or his sister, and he and his sister rarely ever said it to them either.
He said in Pakastani culture that it is not at all common to say “I love you” to a loved one or relative, it is just an understood reality. There are certain nicknames that are used for your kids as terms of endearment and that is about as close as it gets to saying “I love you.” Rather than it simply being said, which really doesn’t take much effort at all, it is believed that one’s love for a family member is more important to be shown than verbally expressed.
So a parent’s love for their children is shown in their nurturing, provision, and protection of them, in providing a good home, meeting their needs, and through a loving and intimate relationship—not through words. And on the other side, the kids are to show their love through obedience, respect, and reverence of their parents.
He even makes reference of something his mother would say to him from time to time when he did something he wasn’t suppose to, it was something along these lines, “What good is it to say you love me if you don’t also show it…?” Qureshi talks about how in Pakistani culture both children and parents knew without a doubt of the others’ love because their actions expressed it, not because of lip service with no action backing.
We
We
This concept really got me thinking about our walk with the Lord and how we live our lives. Are we living our life to actually show our love for God? Or are we simply saying we love God but with no real change or transformation to show for it?
Our lifestyle and practices of faith, are they because we simply want to live out our love for God? Or because we feel like it is necessary to be a good believer?
If we strive to honor Torah as a believer in Yeshua, is it because of a transformed heart on the inside ushering righteous living on the outside? Or is it because we believe it is necessary to do so to be a follower of Yeshua?
If we are believers who don’t follow Torah, are we doing so because that is actually what the Bible says to do, or because we are working on the outside to prove that Torah observance is no longer needed?
What is the “why” behind our actions? Transformation and love? Or a feeling of obligation and legalism?
God
God
As we look deeper into our Parasha today we’re going to focus in primarily on Leviticus chapter 26 and specifically on the idea of the attempt or desire of the heart of the individual to honor Torah, or for that matter, the Word of God as a whole—from Genesis to Revelation. Ultimately, the call of Torah—and the entirety of the Bible as a whole—is a call to righteousness, to upright living… As we wrestle with this concept I’d like us to keep this principle in mind…
Principle: Our righteousness must be rooted in faithfulness to the Lord as a response to Salvation, not in a legalistic effort to earn anything by our works.
(Repeat)
So let’s dig into the text together…
“If you walk in My statutes, keep My mitzvot and carry them out,
then I will give you rains in their season, the land will yield its crops, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit.
“I will bring shalom in the land, and you will lie down, with no one making you afraid. I will remove dangerous beasts from the land and no sword will pass through your land.
“I will turn toward you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you.
Now, you will notice quickly how similar Leviticus 26 and the Blessings and Curses of Deuteronomy are. These themes of blessing and curse in choosing to walk in righteousness with the Lord or not to do so repeat in several places throughout the Torah. But, pay attention to the three distinct passages we just took a look at.
Leviticus 26:3 says if Israel walks in Adonai’s ways He will give them rain in its season and they will yield significant harvests
Leviticus 26:6, continuing with this same point of faithfulness says that Israel will have Shalom, both from her enemies and from the wild beasts of the land.
Leviticus 26:9 says that Adonai will turn toward Israel, they will be fruitful and multiply, and He will confirm His covenant with Israel.
Here’s what stands out to me the most about all of this… Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and granted it shouldn’t have been that long but humans have a tendency to making a mess of things… In that wilderness journey they had to rely 100% on HaShem for all their needs, all their sustenance, all their security. But, notice that the Lord is, in essence, promising Israel if they should remain faithful to their covenant with HaShem in the Promised Land… They will never have to worry about anything because Adonai will meet all their needs. Another way of wording this is that if Israel will remain faithful to Adonai then they will continue to rely completely on His provision for all things. If we have to begin to make things happen on our own it is likely because we have stepped outside of His will and covenant.
But, verses 11-13 are even more key to this whole discussion...
I will set My Tabernacle among you, and My soul will not abhor you.
I will walk among you and will be your God, and you will be My people.
I am Adonai your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.
What is the primary reason Israel should diligently yearn to be faithful to their covenant with Adonai? Is it for sustenance and peace? Is it for protection and to grow as a people? No… Those are added bonuses, they are fantastic byproducts of a right relationship with the Lord… But they are not the primary reason…
Adonai says if we remain faithful and walk in His ways He will place His dwelling, His Mishkan among us, He will walk in our midst, and He will be our God and we will be His people. The single most important driving factor for Israel to walk in Adonai’s statutes, keep His mitzvot, and carry them out is to continue to experience His Presence with us all our days.
This reminder to walk in faithfulness to Torah is followed by the second part of Leviticus 26 in which we see five warnings of chastisements. Each of these five are progressive levels or degrees of consequence. In four (Leviticus 26:14, 18, 21, and 27) of these the Lord says, “If you will not listen (root: shama) to Me” and in the fifth one (verse 23) He says, “if you continue to walk (root: halach) contrary to me”. With each one the severity of consequence continues to grow, and the Lord continues the next warning in the sequence with, “if in spite of these things” you still won’t listen to me then things will just get worse from here.
Then, after this sequence of consequences are laid out and Israel has had opportunity after opportunity to turn their hearts back to the Lord and still continued to walk contrary to Him and experience the fullness of all the curses, we read Leviticus 26:40-43
“But if they confess their iniquity and that of their fathers, in the treachery they committed against Me, and how they walked contrary to Me
—in return I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if at that time their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled, so that they accept the punishment for their iniquity,
then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and also My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
But the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its Shabbatot while it lies desolate without them, and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.
God’s goal is not punishment, judgement, chastisement or separation… He doesn’t enjoy having to get our attention because we have chosen to chase after the ways of this world. No, His goal is always T’shuvah, hence why there are degrees of consequence. He doesn’t want to punish just for the sake of punishment, He isn’t a vengeful and vindictive God. He is a loving, merciful, and compassionate God who, when we choose to chase after the ways of this world, He wants to correct our ways for the sake of T’shuvah and restoration.
With regards to our walk with the Lord, when we are walking in sin and contrary to the Word of God He doesn’t hammer us into the ground every time we sin, or even immediately… But, with each step we take farther from Him and His ways He will give us wake up calls to draw us back. And if we continue to drift farther and farther away despite His wake up calls, the more intentional and deliberate we are to walk contrary to Him and His ways, the more intense or severe the wake up calls will seem.
If we pay close attention to Leviticus 26:14-39 we will note that there is a steady progression of sin and a steady progression of response with wake up calls. But, at any point in time in the midst of these divine chastisements Israel could choose to realize their errors and make T’shuvah and walk in restoration in right relationship with God. We see the exact same reality in the Blessings and Curses of Deuteronomy… God isn’t trying to smack us around, but He does want us to realize the error of our ways and to make T’shuvah and experience true restoration in Him.
Principle: Our righteousness must be rooted in faithfulness to the Lord as a response to Salvation, not in a legalistic effort to earn anything by our works.
And much like verses 11-13 are the key to the first part of Leviticus 26, verses 44-45 are the key to this second part of Leviticus 26. See, here’s the unique reality about Avinu Shabashamayim… Unlike all the other gods (little “g”) of the world around us, He is exactly that… Our Father in Heaven, and He loves His creation, His children more than we will likely ever comprehend in the Olam Hazeh…
Even when we are living in sin and walking contrary to His ways He never completely rejects us nor does He hate us. He never breaks His covenant with us, even when we are breaking our covenant with Him over and over again. He is always faithful, and His heart’s desire is for our faithfulness in T’shuvah.
And here’s the thing that makes so many other believers so confused or put off with the idea of Torah observance and obedience in the Body of Messiah. When we read through things like Leviticus 26 or even the Blessings and Curses found in Deuteronomy there can be a perceived sense of earning something by our actions. But this is not at all the case… Nor is it the context of the text itself. In fact, living in obedience to the Word of God has one primary purpose, to be a part of the restoration of what God created mankind for in the first place, to dwell in His Presence. And what is it that Leviticus 26:11-12 says God’s desire is?
I will set My Tabernacle among you, and My soul will not abhor you.
I will walk among you and will be your God, and you will be My people.
We are called to be righteous and holy to become a dwelling place for the Presence of God, specifically in the Olam Hazeh… The disconnect comes into play with the idea of legalism, or an excessive adherence to law with the goal of earning something—such as thinking one must obey Torah to be saved…
What’s the difference between walking in Torah in faithfulness and legalism? It is in the “why” of what we are doing… Is our walk in Torah for the sake of not experiencing the chastisements or to earn the blessings of rain and harvest? Or is it because we love the Lord and want to honor our covenant with Him?
As believers within a Messianic Jewish context, whether Jewish or Gentile, our relationship to Torah should never be to earn anything… It should never be to gain brownie points or extra lives like in a video game, or anything along those lines. It should solely be out of faithfulness and love. All the promises connected to Torah are not to be earned by us, they are to be freely given by Avinu Shabashamayim who loves us.
Principle: Our righteousness must be rooted in faithfulness to the Lord as a response to Salvation, not in a legalistic effort to earn anything by our works.
See, Israel’s covenant relationship with God is likened throughout Scripture as a marriage. Israel is the bride of God… We see this same language carried on in the Brit Chadashah when the Body of Messiah, the commonwealth of Israel made of both Jews and non-Jews, are called the Bride of Messiah. But, in a marriage our relationship is very much different than that of a business relationship. In a business relationship both parties are typically looking for what they can get from the other, what is in their own best interest, etc… But, in a marriage, the groom and bride are more concerned about what is in the best interest of the other person. When the husband is only concerned about what he can get, he has broken covenant… When the wife is only concerned about what she can get, she has broken covenant. As the Bride of Messiah we are not obedient to Torah so that we can see what kind of crackerjack prizes we might win… We are obedient to the Word of God because we want to love and honor our groom.
As a prime example, I don’t avoid sexual temptation so my wife doesn’t get made at me, or so I don’t have to deal with negative consequences… That’s equivalent to obeying Torah solely so the bad things don’t happen to us.
I also don’t avoid sexual temptation thinking that doing so will buy me special benefits or privileges with my wife… This is equivalent to obeying Torah solely to earn the good things God has said go with it.
No, I avoid sexual temptation because I love my wife and she is the only one I want to be with and the only one I want to have eyes for. Because I love her I want to make her happy, I want to make her feel cherished and valued.
A covenant relationship is entered into by two voluntary parties. And much like a covenant relationship between a husband and wife, our covenant relationship with Adonai is one that is built upon intimacy. This is the whole reality behind God saying in Leviticus 26:11-12 that if Israel is faithful to His Word He will place His Mishkan among them, He will walk in their midst, and He will be their God and Israel will be His people.
This is exactly why Adonai brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, to be our God and for us to be His people. He called us out from among the nations to live a life of holiness so that we could be a light unto the nations. But, Israel ultimately failed time and time again, not just in being a light to the nations, but in being faithful to our covenant relationship with Adonai. Time and time again we faltered, chasing after not only the ways of world around us, but also chasing after their gods (little “g”) instead of walking in faithful covenant with the Lord.
Israel is ultimately removed from the Promised Land and taken into Babylonian captivity, and experiences the fullness of what Leviticus 26 lays out in a divine wake-up call to make T’shuvah. Ultimately, we get to the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Anshei Kennesset Gedolah, and Israel has made T’shuvah and is seeking restoration.
But, by the time we get to the first century most of what Judaism is doing in terms of Torah observance has less to do with faithfulness and more to do with legalism. This isn’t to say that rabbinic tradition and Halachah is wrong or bad, not by any means. But rather to point out that, as Yeshua points out in Matthew 6, those supposedly practicing righteousness were more so doing it to be seen on the outside rather than because of a transformative work on the inside.
None of the issues Yeshua addresses in Matthew 6 and throughout the Sermon on the Mount are wrong, and in fact all of them are in connection with being obedient to our covenant relationship with Adonai. But the question Yeshua was driving them to in the Sermon on the Mount is to examine the “why?” of what we are doing… What is the purpose in our heart behind doing these things? Are we striving to uphold Torah, or any other part of the Bible, because we think it is going to give us any advantage in heaven? Are we obeying the Word of God out of some felt obligation in which we’re afraid we aren’t really saved if we don’t? Do we think it has something to do with earning favor before God?
Or are we doing so simply because we want to honor our relationship with the Lord? What is the purpose of our obedience? Are we even obedient to the Word of God at all?
What is the difference between walking in Torah in faithfulness and walking in Torah in legalism? It’s all a matter of the heart…
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—that is, a righteousness of faith.
But Israel, who pursued a Torah of righteousness, did not reach the Torah.
Why? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were from works. They stumbled over the stone of stumbling,
just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in Him shall not be put to shame.”
See, we cannot rely on Torah for our salvation, or for our means of righteousness. Our salvation is only found in the Name of Yeshua! And He is our means of being made righteous and holy, of being redeemed and restored from our sins.
For Messiah is the goal of the Torah as a means to righteousness for everyone who keeps trusting.
But, our salvation from sin does not mean we are free to continue on to sin. Instead, we have been called from our sinful ways to walk in the righteousness of the Lord. As such, as believers in Messiah Yeshua we can, through a transformed heart, actually strive to walk in obedience to the Word of God with a right heart. Not to earn or gain anything, but solely out of our love for the Lord and our trusting He has our best interest at heart.
And here’s the thing, walking out a Torah observant life isn’t difficult or impossible (as we see in Deuteronomy 30 and Romans 10)… We don’t have to ask who will go up into heaven to bring it down? Or who will go into the abyss to bring it up?
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in shalom, keep warm and well fed,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is that?
So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works.
You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder!
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Messiah is the Word made flesh, and if we are bought by the Blood of the Lamb then He now resides in our heart. This means when we live in right relationship to the Word of God today we do so, not out of legalism or a desire to earn anything, but rather because the New Covenant is etched upon the flesh of our hearts. And as Yeshua discusses in the Sermon on the Mount, our interaction with and obedience to the Word of God is now something flowing from the internal to the external. It is a transformed heart being lived out in an external expression as a light unto the nations.
Principle: Our righteousness must be rooted in faithfulness to the Lord as a response to Salvation, not in a legalistic effort to earn anything by our works.
You
You
What is your life and practice professing? Probably every single person here today would say they love God with all their heart, soul, and strength… But as was mentioned earlier from Nabeel Qureshi’s book, speaking of love without action isn’t really saying much is it?
So, what about your life? Are you simply talking the talk? Or are you walking the walk as well? Is your life modeled after Yeshua and the emissaries, emulating the way they lived, or does it look entirely different? Have you experienced a transformation of heart that impacts every aspect of your life?
Is the New Covenant etched upon your heart because of the Blood of Messiah? Is the Word etched upon your heart changing you from the inside out? When the world looks at you and your walk are they seeing your love for God flowing through your actions, or are they just hearing you talk about it from your mouth?
We
We
Our Salvation and justification is in Messiah Yeshua alone, not in anything we do. But, our Salvation should change our lives to be more in alignment with the Word of God. Our Salvation should be working true sanctification in our hearts and lives.
Brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom—only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
For the whole Torah can be summed up in a single saying: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not destroyed by one another.
But I say, walk by the Ruach, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh sets its desire against the Ruach, but the Ruach sets its desire against the flesh—for these are in opposition to one another, so that you cannot do what you want.
But if you are led by the Ruach, you are not under law.
Now the deeds of the flesh are clear: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency,
idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, just as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.
But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control—against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Notice Paul’s call for us to walk in the Ruach not in the flesh… Our hearts and lives should be completely transformed by the Ruach HaKodesh and everything we do, everything we say, everything we think should show our love for God and God’s love for us and all those around us...