Lesson date: 09/19/5860AA

Have you ever felt that you have been assaulted by the Scripture? The last couple of weeks have been that for me. YHVH’s Word is Truth and Truth disintegrates lies, traditions and deceptions which cannot stand the test of time. So, after working on Matthew 9, I was looking forward to a nice “bland” chapter in Torah. Oh well, maybe next time.

Verses 1-2 – Stop! Hello! Say what? Wait a minute. There are thousands of Levitical priests. How is Aharon and his two sons supposed to be able to monitor everything that they do? Are Aharon and his sons being held to an impossibly high standard? No more so than Yeshu’a was and who is our High Priest.

Heb_2:17 So in every way He had to be made like His brothers, in order to become a compassionate and trustworthy High Priest in matters related to Elohim, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

Forgive the modern parlance but, if Aharon and his sons screwed up, people could and would die. It is that simple. Have you ever held the lives of others, very innocent people, in your hand and said, “I am willing to take on this burden of life and death.” It is an ugly feeling and if you ever doubt yourself, and someone dies, that is something you will have to live with forever. Your perceived failure will wake you from your sleep many years later and always cause you to doubt yourself.

We have gotten through the rebellion of Korah but this goes to the very heart of it: Num 16:9 “Is it little to you that the Elohim of Yisra’ěl has separated you from the congregation of Yisra’ěl, to bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the Dwelling Place of יהוה, and to stand before the congregation to serve them,

“Korah, is it not an honor to be able to serve the needs of the Almighty? Isn’t that enough for you?”

That more or less sums it up. Whenever we think we are too good to serve the needs of our Creator and, represent Him before the qahal, we have a bad thing going on somewhere inside us. This cuts to the very heart of Korah’s rebellion: Isa 14:11 Your arrogance has been brought down to She’ol, and the sound of your stringed instruments; the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.’

Isa 14:12 “How you have fallen from the heavens, O Hělěl, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the ground, you who laid low the nations!

Isa 14:13 “For you have said in your heart, ‘Let me go up to the heavens, let me raise my throne above the stars of Ěl, and let me sit in the mount of appointment on the sides of the north; ((Why the north?))

Isa 14:14 let me go up above the heights of the clouds, let me be like the Most High.’

Isa 14:15 “But you are brought down to She’ol, to the sides of the pit.

Gen 3:4 And the naḥash said to the woman, “You shall certainly not die.

Gen 3:5 “For Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.”

Ministering to YHVH is a tremendous blessing and responsibility but, we have to truly care for YHVH’s people. I bet your thinking, “Hey! I’m no Levite, right?” 1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light,

“Hey Dude, it is not my responsibility.” Gal 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so complete the Torah of Messiah.

Gen 4:9 And יהוה said to Qayin, “Where is Heḇel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s guard?” Yes!

Mat 20:25 But יהושע called them near and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations are masters over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

Mat 20:26 “But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you, let him be your servant.

Mat 20:27 “And whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be your servant,

Mat 20:28 even as the Son of Aḏam did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

G1249 – διάκονος – diakonos – dee-ak’-on-os – Probably from διάκω diakō (obsolete, to run on errands; compare G1377); an attendant, that is, (generally) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specifically a Christian teacher and pastor (technically a deacon or deaconess): – deacon, minister, servant.

This strikes at the heart of my days “trying” to teach. Many times I asked,  “Why do you want to be a preacher, pastor, etc.” Two out of three times the response was, “It is an easy way to make a living. You don’t have to get sweaty or dirty and you can wear nice clothes every day.” You won’t believe this but I had one Baptist pastor admit to me that it was for the women. ((My word not his.)) He admitted that he had slept with over 40 women in his congregation and there were more waiting in line. Come to find out later, there had also been some men.

Verse 2 is somewhat unique in its construction, it begins ואת = And(H853). Where else have we seen this very same thing?

Verses 3-5 – Is this type of activity “guarding the Charge/Duty?” No! Absolutely not. 1Sa 2:22 And Ěli was very old, and had heard all that his sons were doing to all Yisra’ěl, and how they lay with the women who were assembling at the door of the Tent of Appointment.

Guarding is our old friend Shamar but look at Charge and Duty. Charge = H4931 – משׁמרת – mishmereth

BDB Definition: 1) guard, charge, function, obligation, service, watch 1a) guard, watch, house of detention or confinement 1b) keeping, preserving 1c) charge, injunction 1d) office, function (ceremonial) Part of Speech: noun feminine

Notice anything about mishmereth? Let’s break it down: M/SH/M/R/T now look again M/SH/M/R/T = Shamar (H8104). Mishmereth is derived from Shamar.

Duty = H4931 – משׁמרת – mishmereth – BDB Definition: 1) guard, charge, function, obligation, service, watch 1a) guard, watch, house of detention or confinement 1b) keeping, preserving

1c) charge, injunction 1d) office, function (ceremonial) Part of Speech: noun feminine. Wait a minute, these look like the same words but they are used to convey two separate and distinct thoughts. They are and remember that. We do this in English as well.

Gen 2:15 And יהוה Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Ěḏen to work it and to guard it.

Yep, same word, shamar. Our task may seem insignificant but when you look at the role that Adam played in the fall of man when he failed to “guard” the Garden. It seemed insignificant but it was hugely important.

I want to take this down another level so let’s re-examine verse 3a in relation to verses 4 & 5: Num 18:3 “And they shall guard (?) your charge, and the duty of all the Tent,

Now 4a & 5a:

Num 18:4 “And they shall be joined with you and guard (H853) the duty to the Tent of Appointment,

Num 18:5 “And you shall guard (H853) the duty of the set-apart place and the duty of the slaughter-place,

If (H853) is simply the definite article of the direct object what is the difference in the 3 sentences? Possession is stated in verse 3 and not the other 2? Otherwise the structure of the 3 sentences is virtually identical. The possession is expressed after the verb and is the soffit form of the Kaf (which looks like a long 7 at the end of mishmereth. I will try to make the time to get a Hebrew keyboard or program but until then please be patient.)

One more thing and I promise I will try to leave this section: H3867 – לוה – lâvâh – BDB Definition:

• to join, be joined 1a) (Qal) to join, be joined, attend 1b) (Niphal) to join oneself to, be joined unto 2) to borrow, lend 2a) (Qal) to borrow 2b) (Hiphil) to cause to borrow, lend to

Jer 50:4 “In those days and at that time,” declares יהוה, “the children of Yisra’ěl shall come, they and the children of Yehuḏah together, weeping as they come, and seek יהוה their Elohim.

Jer 50:5 “They shall ask the way to Tsiyon, their faces toward it, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to יהוה, in an everlasting covenant, never to be forgotten.’

Zec 2:11 “And many nations shall be joined to יהוה in that day, and they shall become My people. And I shall dwell in your midst. And you shall know that יהוה of hosts has sent Me to you.

(Sound familiar?)

Isa 14:1 Because יהוה has compassion on Ya‛aqoḇ, and shall again choose Yisra’ěl, and give them rest in their own land. And the strangers shall join them, and they shall cling to the house of Ya‛aqoḇ.

(Know who these people are?)

From the word Lavah we get another word Levi: H3878 – לוי – lêvı̂y – BDB Definition: Levi = “joined to” 1) the 3rd son of Jacob by Leah and progenitor of tribe of Levites

Verse 6 – We see two words use to convey a thought [‘abad ‘abodah] H5647 & H5656. ‘abad meaning “to do” and ‘abodah meaning service. Coincidentally, right between them is H853.

Lev 25:55 ‘Because the children of Yisra’ěl are servants to Me, they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.

The word for servants is ‘ebed H5650 also from the root word H5647.

Verse 7 – Any stranger coming near the slaughter-place is put to death. The word for gift in verses 6 & 7 is [mattanah]. Do you see a parallel in the giving of the Levites to Aharon and someone else? There is a chapter in the B’rit Hadasha were we see it repeatedly. Which one?

Verses 8-11 – Instructions for what to do and how to eat the contributions of the Children of Yisra’el.

Verses 12-13 – During the counting of the Omer we are reading that the “first-fruits” are brought as an offering. What was brought was supposed to be the best. It was required to be the best, not last years fashions, leftovers or second-hands. To be a tithe or contribution, it had to be the best. Can we give something other than the best. You can give a “free-will” offering over  and above the tithe and contribution, yes. But, the “free-will” offering is not a substitute for the tithe or contribution. It is anything you wish to give in addition to the others not in place of the others. Your tithe could be something simple, like your time. Do you give YHVH 10% of your time? When you give it to Him is it your best time or are you so tired that you say your prayer and go to sleep. Do you contribute your time to do Yah’s Will and is it your best time? Or, is it all that you had left that day? These questions are questions to me, myself and I.

Look what happens when we try to “store” up our contributions and tithes in Nehemiah 13. In the SBC this is what we call a “business meeting”.

Verses 14-18 – Ransoming of the first born.

Verse 19 – How was all of this accomplished? Lev 2:13 ‘And season with salt every offering of your grain offering, and do not allow the salt of the covenant of your Elohim to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you bring salt.

Our old friend, the Salt Covenant. Still have doubts about how powerful the Salt Covenant is: 2Ch_13:5 “Do you not know that יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ěl has given the reign over Yisra’ěl to Dawiḏ forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?

Think of salt this way; there is coarse ground salt, rock salt, blocks of salt and you can grind them down to the finest levels and you can still taste the salt. Now think about Torah that same way. You can read big sections of it as “Parashas” or you can read a couple of chapters or you can spend hours on one or two verses. I like really fine salt. It is hard on my teeth to try and chew chunks of salt on my “meat” and in my “bread”. I like fine salt so that the flavor enhances all the “meat” and “bread”.

Salt – H4417 – [melach] and it come from H4414 which means to rub together (grind), rub to pieces or to rub in salt.

We all know that salt preserves but salt can also sting and burn and the same applies to Torah. It preserves us in Yah’s Word, and it preserves the richness and fullness of the Covenant but there are times when I read Torah it can sting my pride, my attitude and it might even burn them. It isn’t the salt’s fault, it’s mine. I may have gotten salt in a cut to my pride and it started to burn. Maybe my eyes burned with salty sweat because I was watching, looking at or doing something other than what Yah wanted me to do. Maybe I was doing it during His Time and the salt was a reminder that I was supposed to give Him the first-fruits of my time. Maybe it was His Appointed Time and I did not keep it and that is why the salt burned my eyes so much. Maybe I said something and there was so much “seasoning” in what I said that the salt burned my mouth and made my tongue swell up and feel rough and coarse.

Col 4:6 Let your word always be with favour, seasoned with salt, so that you know how you ought to answer each one. (I would like to add the word “properly” just before seasoned.)

Salt is a curious thing. It adds so much flavor to things but then a pinch of salt can go a long way. Enough rambling about salt. Well, not yet.

The problem today is we place no or very little value on salt. It used to be so important that people were paid with salt, hence the phrase “worth their salt” and the word “salary” comes from the word “sal” which means salt. Salt was worked for, hard to come by and had to be protected from water, that would wash away or water down the salt, to where is no longer resembled what we had worked so hard to accomplish. In the modern world salt is easy to come by and is kept in little shakers so we can get just enough, just right, like Goldilocks. Unfortunately, people are going on “salt-free” diets and removing salt from their lives and even coming up with salt substitutes. I’ve been to a lot of churches that are “salt-free” and are using a salt substitute. And, every once in a great while they will introduce a little salt into their teaching, like tithing taken from this very chapter, contributions or maybe even from  the covenant of salt itself in Exodus 20. The rest of the time it is salt-free, for their blood pressure, I guess. Okay, I’m sorry.

Verses 20-21 – Aharon is told he will not have an inheritance in the land. Yeshu’a told us: Joh 8:23 And He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.

Our Messiah didn’t have an inheritance in the land either.

Many years ago I had the great pleasure of reading a book by Henry Clay Trumbull simply titled The Covenant of Salt. It is a wonderful read and goes into the history and background of the salt covenant. I would encourage you to read this book if you want a better understanding of this very important aspect of Scripture. You can buy it off of Amazon for your Kindle for a dollar, but not today, wait until tomorrow.

Dr. Trumbull was a military man and served during the Civil War, traveled extensively in Egypt and Judea and wrote about his finding of, what he believed to be Kadesh Barnea. In all he wrote 38 books and most of these are about his travels but also his experiences in his growth and faith. He  also has a very good book, still available, simply called The Blood Covenant. Another very excellent book.

This is not a commercial for Amazon or a Dedication to…someone but it was more of a reflection on someone whose life story added immeasurably to my life.

Ahavah vberakhot,