Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 24

Lesson date: 8/28/5856AA

Shalom Mishpakha,

Each shabbat, while studying the Scripture, I constantly seem to learn humility. Many times I have “attacked” a particular chapter, sure in my own mind that I knew exactly what the particular Scripture meant and why it was where it was in Scripture. Welcome to Chapter 24.

Once again I am amazed at the intermission that we are taking in Chapter 24. Chapter 23 gives us the Appointed Times and Chapter 25 teaches us the Sabbatical year and Jubilee Cycle so, 24 should be along the same line, right? Wrong! I think Chapter 24 is a warning to us today and it is actually saying something to the effect of, “Proceed at your own risk!”. I will break it down as I saw it speaking to me.

Lamps and The Oil! (Verses 1-4)

As I mentioned above, Chapter 24 is an intermission or perhaps a Selah moment and it functions as a warning. Here is the first warning I saw, “Oh, foolish virgin.” (Mat. 25:1-13). Notice the language used: Command – H6680 – צָוָה – tsâvâh – tsaw-vaw’. This word carries a militaristic connotation to it and it is for ALL the Children of Yisra’el. That means you and I today. “Command (H853) the children of Yisra’ěl. ((H853 – אֵת – ‘êth))

Rev 1:11 saying, “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’ (H853), the First and the Last,” and, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven assemblies of Asia – to Ephesos, and to Smurna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodikeia.”

Rev 2:1 “To the messenger of the assembly of Ephesos write, ‘He who is holding the seven stars in His right hand, who is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, says this:

What are we to bring continually? (Ps. 119:44) Clean, pure, clear olive oil. How do we get this oil? Pressure.

The clearest oil is taken on the first pressing. The finest oil will be olives picked by women and children, so that the olives are not bruised prior to pressing, placed in a cotton bag and placed under the pressure plate, which is the round cylinder near the two upright stones in the picture above. At a point about midway down the pole a stone weight was hooked to the pole to apply pressure. By increasing the pressure, by moving the stone further down the pole, more oil is extracted, but it will have more bits and pieces of olive in the oil. The oil is then strained through layers of fine cloth to further clarify the oil. The oil must be clean, clear and pure: H2134 – זַךְ – zak – zak – From H2141; clear: – clean, pure.

Why do you gather the olives for the oil? Just before Sukkot? Remember, the Feast of the Ingathering: Exo 23:16 and the Festival of the Harvest, the first-fruits of your labours which you have sown in the field; and the Festival of the Ingathering at the outgoing of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labours from the field.

The Garden of Gethsemane is only mentioned directly by name twice in Scripture: Matthew 26:36 and Matk 14:32 but, it is alluded to several times in the reference to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Yeshua gave the “Sermon on the Mount”, prayed until blood flowed from the pores of His skin, was betrayed and ascended into heaven. What is the importance of Gethsemane? It is where Shelomoh erected a “high place” and lead Yisra’el and Judah away from YHVH (1Kings 7-11). It is also where King David fled from his rebellious son Absalom with his followers 2 Sam. 15:13-30 and it is also where YHVH will place His Foot, arrayed for battle and will be King over Earth (Zech 14:1-9).

What does Gethsemane mean? H1660 – גַּת – gath – gath – Probably from H5059 (in the sense of treading out grapes); a wine press (or vat for holding the grapes in pressing them): – (wine-) press (fat).

H8081 – שֶׁמֶן – shemen – sheh’-men – From H8080; grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed); figuratively richness: – anointing, X fat (things), X fruitful, oil ([-ed]), ointment, olive, + pine.

Gethsemane = olive oil press. Located here? The Mount of Olives, less than 1,000 yards (or paces) from Yerushalayim (Acts 1:12), just across the Kidron Valley from the Temple and the only place east of the city that looks down on the temple where Yeshua could have looked down on the temple site and pronounced judgement (Torah of Leprosy) upon it (Mat. 24:1-3; Mar 13:1-3; Luke 21:4-5).

Oil represents 2 things in Scripture: the annointing (of YHVH through the Ruach) and Torah. The parable of the 10 virgins (Mat. 25:1-12) show that both groups, 5 wise and 5 foolish were equal in status, both groups were virgins and therefore eligible. The 5 wise virgins had abundant oil and the 5 foolish only had enough oil for the moment. G1637 – ἔλαιον – elaion – el’-ah-yon Neuter of the same as G1636; olive oil: – oil.

The 5 foolish virgins did not have enough clean, pure, clear olive oil with them in their time of trouble, just before the Bridegroom came.

Let’s break it down: the Children of Yisra’el, which would include us, are commanded to forever bring clean, pure, clear oil (Torah/ Ruach) before the High Priest (Yeshua (Heb. 3:1)) in order that the Light will continue to burn (illuminate): Rev_2:5 “So remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works (Torah), or else I shall come to you speedily and remove your lampstand (light) from its place, unless you repent.

This is why I say the first 4 verses tell me “Oh, foolish virgin.”

Psa 119:105 Nun (Nun for Ner) Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

2Sa 22:29 “For You are my lamp, O יהוה, And יהוה makes my darkness light.

The Bread (of the Set-Apart Place) Verses 5-9:

Mat 4:4 But He answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.’ ”

Luk 4:4 But יהושע answered him, saying, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Elohim.’ ”

Each cake consisted of 2/10’s of an ephah or, roughly 4 pounds each. These cakes were not small and had to be arranged every Shabbat on the golden Table of Showbread, two rows of 6 each, representing all the tribes of Yisra’el. That would include us, once again. But, this was to be done in the Set-Apart Place, the Dwelling Place.

1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a Dwelling Place of Elohim and that the Spirit of Elohim (Oil?) dwells in you?

1Co 3:17 If anyone destroys the Dwelling Place of Elohim, Elohim shall destroy him. For the Dwelling Place of Elohim is set-apart, which you are.

Six represents man (Mankind), arranged in 2 rows and 2 represents man and woman anointed with frankincense. Frankincense is synonymous with incense: Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be prepared before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

Mal 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My Name is great among nations. And in every place incense is presented to My Name, and a clean offering. For My Name is great among nations,” said יהוה of hosts.

We have discussed how the Golden Altar of Incense represented the prayers of the saints but there are two more characteristics of frankincense we need to look at. First, is the fact that it represents “whiteness” because when it burns it leaves a fragrant clean white smoke and second, the Hebrew word comes from the feminine form of the word heart “lebaw” H3826.

Stay with me while I try to put this together: Each Shabbat men and women will be arranged in the Set-Apart Place (heart), in whiteness and consume the Bread of Life. Am I close?

Rev_7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

Rev_7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Rev 3:4 “Nevertheless, you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with Me in white, because they are worthy.

Rev 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be dressed in white robes, and I shall by no means blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I shall confess his name before My Father and before His messengers.

How do we accomplish this?

Put Away Blasphemy – Verses 10-16

Look carefully at what we are being told in this tale. Most of the time we do not see a woman’s name unless it is important to the story and her name is Shelomith. Is it a coincidence that her name is the feminine form of Shelomoh – Solomon? What do we know about Shelomith? Her father was a Mitsrian and her mother was a Yisra’eli from the tribe of Dan. Is it a coincidence that Dan was the first tribe to turn to idolatry long before the other tribes? What is the name of her son? Why?

Please indulge me. Is it a coincidence that Shelomoh married the daughter of pharoah and built a pagan altar on the Mount of Olives (Gethsemane) and starting serving other gods there?

Is it a coincidence that the word used for blaspheme is naqawb – H5344 is only used 5 times in Torah and three of those times are in Chapter 24? I bet it is a coincidence that the word “naqawb” also means to puncture, to put holes in, to perforate or to pierce.

Zec 12:10 “And I shall pour on the house of Dawiḏ and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim a spirit of favour and prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son. And they shall be in bitterness over Him as a bitterness over the first-born.

In the KJV we see Shelomith referred to as an “Israelitish” woman. Did Shelomith bring with her, out of Egypt, some of the things that her father had taught her about the pagan gods of Egypt and taught them to her son. Personally (my opinion), I believe we are being told that we cannot mix Yisra’el with Mitsrian. We cannot defile YHVH’s Name with pagan worship practices. Look at how our covenant with YHVH begins: Exo 20:1 And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying,

Exo 20:2 “I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.

Okay? Do you see where this is going and how?

Let’s look at Verses 17-23 for the answer.

One of the most famous quotes that people will remember is: Lev 24:20 ‘Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he inflicts a blemish upon him, so it is done to him.

I know people are thinking, “Jesus did away with that when He came or when He died on the cross”, right? No, He did not: Mat 5:38 “You heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’

Mat 5:39 but I say to you, do not resist the wicked. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

Please note that Yeshua does not say, “It is written…” like He did when He confronted Hasatan.

Lam 3:30 Let him give his cheek To the one who strikes him – He is filled with reproach.

Who is the “him”, “his” and “he” in this verse? Lam 3:24 “יהוה is my Portion,” says my being, “Therefore I wait for Him!”

Lam 3:25 יהוה is good to those waiting for Him, To the being who seeks Him.

Lam 3:26 It is good – both to wait and to be silent, For the deliverance of יהוה.

The person doing the slapping is YHVH. He is Good, Righteous and He gives retaliation. Deu_32:35 Vengeance is Mine, and repayment, At the time their foot slips; For near is the day of their calamity, And the matters prepared are hastening to them.’

What we call justice He calls Right-Ruling. It was Yeshua who took Torah off of the written page and placed upon our hearts: Pro_23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Mat 5:21 “You heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.

Mat 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is wroth with his brother without a cause shall be liable to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raka!’ shall be liable to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to fire of GěHinnom.

He did this in Chapter 5 of the book of Matthew; Mat 5:1 But when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountain. And when He was seated His taught ones came to Him.

That mountain was the Mount of Olives, at a place called Gethsemane. It was there that Yeshua taught pure, clean, clear Torah, not the traditions that the people had heard all their lives but in fact the Living Torah was teaching the message of the Written Torah, not man’s traditions.

Chapter 24 is a Selah moment, an intermission. It says, “think on these things before you go to Chapter 25 and most certainly Chapter 26.” It says to me, “Oh foolish virgin. If you do not have enough pure, clean, clear oil for your lamp and eat from the Bread of Life and put away the blasphemy of Egypt and accept My Right-Rulings, you won’t make it.”

Ahavah,

Lesson date: 04/08/5860AA

Shabbat Shalom Mishpakha,

Vayyiqra/Leviticus is about becoming YHVH’s people. The tragedy that took place in Chapter 10 brought sadness to camp with the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Starting in Chapter 11 we are taught how to live and lead a set-apart life and then we come to Chapter 23 wish could be entitled “The Sabbaths of YHVH”. What comes next? Oil!

The one thing I never anticipated finding in my study of Torah was humility: H6038 – עֲנָוָה – ‛ănâvâh – an-aw-vaw’ – From H6035; condescension, human and subjective (modesty), or divine and objective (clemency): – gentleness, humility, meekness. Each shabbat, while studying the Scripture, I constantly seem to learn humility. Many times I have “attacked” a particular chapter, sure in my own mind that I knew exactly what the particular Scripture meant and why it was where it was in Scripture. Welcome to Chapter 24.

Lamps and The Oil! (Verses 1-4)

Rev 2:1 “To the messenger of the assembly of Ephesos write, ‘He who is holding the seven stars in His right hand, who is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, says this:

What are we to bring continually? (Ps. 119:44) Clean, pure, clear olive oil. How do we get this oil? Pressure.

Even though olive oil has a beautiful emerald green color it is the blending of the olives which gives it its richness. In southern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa each family has a perfect blend, according to their own tradition. Let’s just simplify the equation and say that it is 50/50, which means green to ripe olives. This blend usually begins to occur in some places as early as the end of September. In more northern latitudes it may be in the middle of October and usually goes until the middle of November. Why blend the olives? The green olives give the trademark color of green but it is the ripe berries that provide the fruitness in the taste and smell. Too many green olives the olive is too bitter and too many ripe berries and the olives are fruity tasting and smelling but won’t last as long and will turn rancid before the next harvest.

On our first trip to an olive orchard I cautioned Von to not taste a green olive if they offered her one, which they did, but to insist on tasting a dark olive so as to enjoy the delicate and fruity flavor of a ripe olive, which she did. The owner of the orchard asked her how she knew to taste the dark berry rather than the green berries and she said, “My husband warned me.” That’s what husbands are for, right?

The clearest oil is taken on the first pressing. The finest oil will be olives picked by women and children, so that the olives are not bruised prior to pressing, placed in a cotton bag and placed under the pressure plate, which is the round cylinder near the two upright stones in the picture above. At a point about midway down the pole a stone weight was hooked to the pole to apply pressure. If you look very closely, there is a dark spot on the pole that comes out from the press. This is the initial position of the press. By increasing the pressure, by moving the stone further down the pole, more oil is extracted, but it will have more bits and pieces of olive in the oil. The oil is then strained through layers of fine cloth to further clarify the oil. The oil must be clean, clear and pure: H2134 – זַךְ – zak – zak – From H2141; clear: – clean, pure.

When do you gather the olives for the oil? Just before Sukkot? Remember, the Feast of the Ingathering: Exo 23:16 and the Festival of the Harvest, the first-fruits of your labours which you have sown in the field; and the Festival of the Ingathering at the outgoing of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labours from the field.

The Garden of Gethsemane is only mentioned directly by name twice in Scripture: Matthew 26:36 and Matk 14:32 but, it is alluded to several times in the reference to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Yeshu’a gave the “Sermon on the Mount”, prayed until blood flowed from the pores of His skin, was betrayed and ascended into heaven. What is the importance of Gethsemane? It is where Shelomoh erected a “high place” and lead Yisra’el and Judah away from YHVH (1Kings 7-11). It is also where King David fled from his rebellious son Absalom with his followers 2 Sam. 15:13-30 and it is also where YHVH will place His Foot, arrayed for battle and will be King over Earth (Zech 14:1-9).

Gethsemane = olive oil press. Located here? The Mount of Olives, less than 1,000 yards (or paces) from Yerushalayim (Acts 1:12), just across the Kidron Valley from the Temple and the only place east of the city that looks down on the temple where Yeshu’a could have looked down on the temple site and pronounced judgement (Torah of Leprosy) upon it (Mat. 24:1-3; Mar 13:1-3; Luke 21:4-5).

Oil represents 2 things in Scripture: the annointing, of YHVH through the Ruach, and Torah. The parable of the 10 virgins (Mat. 25:1-12) show that both groups, 5 wise and 5 foolish were equal in status, both groups were virgins and therefore eligible. The 5 wise virgins had abundant oil and the 5 foolish only had enough oil for the moment. G1637 – ἔλαιον – elaion – el’-ah-yon Neuter of the same as G1636; olive oil: – oil.