Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 19 — “Set-Apartness is our goal”

Lesson date: 7/8/5856AA

Continuing with the theme of the chapters since the death of Nadab and Abihu, “our refresher safety briefing”, we learn more of what we need to know to be set-apart so that we can serve our Creator.

Verses 1-2 – I am sorry for not emphasizing the first verse in many of these chapters and I want to do so now because something happens in this chapter that we don’t see very often. In verse one we see And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Isn’t that how we are still spoken to today, through Mosheh – Torah?

So, what happens in this chapter that we do not see very often? The phrase “I יהוה your Elohim” is used 16 (2 x 8 =16) times in this one chapter alone. ((The number 2 can mean union, division or verification in Scripture. Put 2 and 8 together and we get Union + New Beginning = Union with YHVH brings a New Beginning.))

Next, we are told that we WILL be set apart. This is not an option but rather a precondition to having a lasting and loving relationship with our Creator and Father in Heaven. “You must do this first and then you can have a relationship with YHVH.” The main word we see being used is qodashim the plural form of H6918 – קדשׁ / קדושׁ – qâdôsh – BDB Definition: 1) sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart and in Greek in the LXX is “hagiasmos” which is normally translated “saints”: (KJV) Rev_14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The doctrine of the “church” has made the word “saints” or “holy” into an unachievable office title of those that are faithful out of the definition of those that our Father wants to have a relationship with and we see it right here in Wayyira 19. If we keep the commands of Elohim we are Set Apart, Qadoshim or saints. YHVH wants us to be set apart from the rest of the world by bein obedient to His Commands: 1Th 4:3 For this is the desire of Elohim: your set-apartness! – that you should abstain from whoring,

1Th 4:4 that each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in set-apartness and respect,

1Th 4:5 not in passion of lust, like the nations who do not know Elohim,

1Th 4:6 not to overstep and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Master is the revenger of all such, as we indeed said to you before and earnestly warned.

1Th 4:7 For Elohim did not call us to uncleanness, but in set-apartness.

Look at the word “whoring” G4202 – πορνεία – porneia – por-ni’-ah- From G4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry: – fornication.

Even in Greek the true meaning comes out “idolatry”. The worshiping of other gods other than YHVH. It is the word from which we get our modern word “pornography”.

‘Be set-apart, for I יהוה your Elohim am set-apart.’ Being ‘holy’ as it says in the KJV sounds unachievable. Many a time I thought as a child and young person, if God is holy how on Earth can we be holy? But now, seeing that it means being ‘set apart’ I can understand that YHVH does not want us to be like the rest of the world, someone serving the gods of this world. 1Pe 1:13 Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, set your expectation perfectly upon the favour that is to be brought to you at the revelation of יהושע Messiah,

1Pe 1:14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance,

1Pe 1:15 instead, as the One who called you is set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behaviour,

1Pe 1:16 because it has been written, “Be set-apart, for I am set-apart.”

Now I can understand what Kepha is talking about when he says ‘as obedient children’ keeping the commands of Elohim. By keeping the commands we can aspire to “Qadosh-ness”, “set apartness” not the unachievable “holiness”. Now, through the study of Torah, I understand what Sha’ul is talking about here: 2Co 6:17 Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says יהוה, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. How do we know what is clean and unclean? Torah!

Verse 3 – Look at what happens in verse 3, obeying our father and mother is placed in the same sentence as keeping the sabbaths. Exo 20:12 “Respect your father and your mother, so that your days are prolonged upon the soil which יהוה your Elohim is giving you.

This command is number five but made equal to number 4 and it is the first command from Elohim that we have that brings a promise “long life is a reward for obedience”. Wait a minute, maybe this changed after the coming of our Messiah? No! Mar 7:8 “Forsaking the command of Elohim, you hold fast the tradition of men.”

Mar 7:9 And He said to them, “Well do you set aside the command of Elohim, in order to guard your tradition.

Mar 7:10 “For Mosheh said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

Mar 7:11 “But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me, is Qorban (that is, a gift),” ’

Mar 7:12 you no longer let him do any matter at all for his father or his mother,

Mar 7:13 nullifying the Word of Elohim through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such traditions you do.”

Also, don’t blame it on Sha’ul: Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Master, for this is right.

Eph 6:2 “Respect your father and mother,” which is the first command with promise,

Eph 6:3 in order that it might be well with you, and you might live long on the earth.”

Col 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all, for this is well-pleasing to the Master.

Of course, parents, this presupposes that you trained your children in Torah: Deu 6:6 “And these Words which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart,

Deu 6:7 and you shall impress them upon your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,

Pro 1:8 My son, heed the discipline of your father, And do not forsake the Torah of your mother;

Pro 6:20 My son, watch over your father’s command, And do not forsake the Torah of your mother.

Pro 6:21 Bind them on your heart always; Tie them around your neck.

Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he turns not away from it.

You can see how important this is to our having a relationship with our heavenly Father. It is as if He is saying, “If you don’t or won’t obey your earthly parents how do you think that you can have a relationship with me?”

Sabbaths: Here is a spiritual eye chart so that you can check your spiritual vision and, remember you want it to be 20/20: Eze 20:20 And set apart My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, to know that I am יהוה your Elohim.’

And, what are His Sabbaths? Answer: Wayyiqra 23.

Dear family, there should be an urgency in all of our studies because we can see the world falling apart around us, just as it was described in the Torah, prophets and B’rit Hadasha. There should be an urgency in all of our studies and conversations with unbelievers because, time is growing short. The Ruach Hakodesh touched our hearts and gave us a “love for the truth”: 2Th 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood,

2Th 2:10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth, in order for them to be saved.

We were born into the fourth kingdom, the final kingdom of mankind, as mentioned in Daniel 7. How do I know that? Look: Dan 7:23 “This is what he said, ‘The fourth beast is the fourth reign on earth, which is different from all other reigns, and it devours all the earth, tramples it down and crushes it.

Dan 7:24 And the ten horns are ten sovereigns from this reign. They shall rise, and another shall rise after them, and it is different from the first ones, and it humbles three sovereigns,

Dan 7:25 and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time.

Let me give you some quotes: “The Convert’s catechism of Catholic Doctrine” pg. 50, third edition “We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

Cardinal Gibbons, “The Catholic church by virtue of her divine mission changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”

“A doctrinal Catechism” by Stephen Keenan, pg. 174: “Have you any other way of proving that the church (Roman Catholic) has power to institute festivals of precept? They responded with, “Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her- she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”

Verse 4 – Do not turn to idols and the word used here is a little different than what we see in other Scriptures: H457 – אֱלִיל – ‘ĕlı̂yl – el-eel’ – Apparently from H408; good for nothing, by analogy vain or vanity; specifically an idol: – idol, no value, thing of nought. ((Does this ring a bell?))

1Sa 12:21 and do not turn aside after worthless matters which do not profit or deliver, for they are worthless.

1Sa 12:22 “For יהוה would not cast away His people, for His great Name’s sake, seeing it has pleased יהוה to make you His people.

Verses 5-8 – I know what you are thinking, “Hey, it says it is okay to eat leftovers.” That is not what the subject is, the subject is the peace offering. The offering that made it possible for us to have a covenant relationship with YHVH, Yeshua the Messiah: Rom 5:1 Therefore, having been declared right by belief, we have peace with Elohim through our Master יהושע Messiah,

Col 1:19 Because in Him all the completeness was well pleased to dwell,

Col 1:20 and through Him to completely restore to favour all unto Himself, whether on earth or in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of His stake.

Col 1:21 And you, who once were estranged and enemies in the mind by wicked works, but now He has completely restored to favour

Col 1:22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you set-apart, and blameless, and unreprovable before Him,

Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the belief, founded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the expectation of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed to every creature under the heaven, of which I, Sha’ul, became a servant,

Now, look closely at the prophecy contains in these Scriptures: Lev 19:6 ‘It is eaten the same day you slaughter it, and on the next day. And that which is left on the third day is burned with fire.

Lev 19:7 ‘So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable, it is not accepted,

Do you see the prophecy here? The hair on my body is standing on end. (Just pretend there is some on my head doing the same thing.) Okay, here is a clue: 2Pe 3:7 And the present heavens and the earth are treasured up by the same Word, being kept for fire, to a day of judgment and destruction of wicked men.

2Pe 3:8 But, beloved ones, let not this one matter be hidden from you: that with יהוה one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Got it?

Next comes the Howdy Neighbor:

Verses 9-10 – Don’t be selfish but rather be generous. Don’t reap the corners of your field but instead leave food standing in the field so that those who are less fortunate can sustain themselves because of your generosity. Not only do we see a clear example of this in the Book of Ruth but, we also see a picture or foreshadowing of the redemption of the Bride of Messiah portrayed by Boaz’s redemption of Ruth.

Verses 11-18 – Do not steal, cheat or lie.

H1589 – גָּנַב – gânab – gaw-nab’ – to deceive: – carry away, secretly bring, steal (away), get by stealth.

H3584 – כָּחַשׁ – kâchash – kaw-khash’ -to be untrue, in word (to lie, feign, disown) or deed (to disappoint, fail, cringe): – deceive, deny, dissemble, fail, deal falsely, be found liars, (be-) lie, lying, submit selves.

H8266 – שָׁקַר – shâqar – shaw-kar’ – to cheat, that is, be untrue: – fail, deal falsely, lie.

Notice anything about these three words?

We will discuss this section in more detail.

Verse 19-22 – Do not mix! Don’t mix your livestock, seeds or threads. (Are we in Babylon or what?) What else should we not mix?

In verse 20 we see that we should abstain from inappropriate sexual relations with a female servant. Do we see any parallel with things going on in today’s world?

Verse 23-25 – Trees and their fruit. Is this just about trees and their fruits?

Verse 26 – Notice the association or correlation between eating meat with blood and practicing witchcraft or magic.

Look at the word for divination or witchcraft: H5172 – נָחַשׁ – nâchash – naw-khash’ – properly to hiss, that is, whisper a (magic) spell; generally to prognosticate: – X certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) X enchantment, learn by experience, X indeed, diligently observe.

Gen 3:1 And the naḥash was more crafty than all the lives of the field which יהוה Elohim had made, and he said to the woman, “Is it true that Elohim has said, ‘Do not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

Verse 27 – Look carefully at the location of the cutting of the beard or hair. What came before it? And, what comes after it? These are pagan practices. And so is the rounding of the hair on your head and cutting the corners of your beard. ((Ezek. 5))

Verse 28 – Cuttings in the flesh for the dead, tattoos were also associated with pagan worship practices and also tattos were a sign of slavery. (Such as slavery to a pagan god.)

Verse 29 – This one has a obvious double meaning. Clearly it is saying “Don’t prostitute your daughter or in modern language don’t pimp out your daughter.” But what other meaning can prostitute or whore have? Serving another god. Which god(s)?

Verse 30 – Remember, we started with the Sabbath and we are once again exhorted to guard (shamar) YHVH’s Sabbaths. Maybe these Sabbaths are very important.

Verse 31 – Do not use mediums, soothsayers, spiritualist, “spirit guides”.

Verse 32 – Pro 20:29 The comeliness of young men is their strength, And the splendour of old men is their grey hair.

Verses 33-34 – Do not oppress the strangers among you. There are to be treated as native born. There is no need for 2 systems of law, Torah and Noahide Laws.

Verses 35-36 – No false weights!

Verse 37 – Guard my laws and DO them.

Ahavah

Lesson date: 03/02/5860AA

Day 42 in the counting of the Omer
The 6^th Sabbath in Counting 7 Sabbaths

Please remember how Leviticus began, assembling the tabernacle for the very first time:

Think of how impressed the Children of Yisra’el must have been. All the work and toil of slavery for the Egyptians and now, they knew who their Elohim was, the Great “I AM”:

I AM יהוה

I יהוה your Elohim

I AM יהוה your Elohim

We see these three phrases used in this one chapter collectively 16 times. Do you see why I call this YHVH’s bona fide statement? HE does not say “I am God not does HE say that I am the Lord.

So let’s review what we have learned in Vayyiqra so far: Chapters 1-7 teach us how to make an offering for a particular sin; Chapters 8-9 teach us about the consecration of the priests; Chapter 10 – Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu are killed for offering strange fire on the golden altar of incense; Chapter 11-15 we see what I call the Safety Briefing: then, starting in Chapters 16-18 we are taught how to be Set-Apart and then in Chapter 19 we are called – The Qodeshim – The Set Apart Ones. What? How?

Simple, if we are the people of a Set-Apart Elohim and we serve HIM then, we must be Set-Apart as well: Lev_11:45 ‘For I am יהוה who is bringing you up out of the land of Mitsrayim, to be your Elohim. And you shall be set-apart, for I am set-apart.

Do you see the gravity of this relationship? Selah.

Next, we are told that we WILL be set apart. This is not an option but rather a precondition to having a lasting and loving relationship with our Creator and Father in Heaven. “You must do this first and then you can have a relationship with YHVH.” The main word we see being used is “qodashim” the plural form of H6918 – קדשׁ / קדושׁ – qâdôsh – BDB Definition: 1) sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart and in Greek in the LXX is “hagiasmos” which is normally translated “saints”: (KJV) Rev_14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The doctrine of the “church” has made the word “saints” or “holy” into an unachievable office title of those that are faithful out of the definition of those that our Father wants to have a relationship with and we see it right here in Wayyira 19. If we keep the commands of Elohim we are Set Apart, Qadoshim or saints. YHVH wants us to be set apart from the rest of the world by being obedient to His Commands: 1Th 4:3 For this is the desire of Elohim: your set-apartness! – that you should abstain from whoring,