Just Spit it Out
Welcome to our third parasha in Leviticus. It is called Shemini and begins in Leviticus 9:1 to 11:47. By now you should know a little more about the offerings. So let's begin now on the eighth day. The Tabernacle has been erected permanently now and it's time for Aharon and his sons to begin their Priestly calling in life. Aharon offers up a sin offering and a burnt offering on behalf of himself and the people. For himself, Aharon offered up a calf. The people's offering was a goat. He also killed a ram and a bull for a Shalom Offering for the people. Of course there was also a grain offering. At the end, we see that YHVH came down in a fire that consumed the burnt offering and the fat. When the people saw this, they shouted and fell on their faces. But just when the joy of the inauguration had reached its peak, tragedy struck. Aharon's two oldest sons, two outstanding sons of the nation, performed an unauthorized service and lost their lives. But the reaction to their deaths by Aharon attributed even more to his greatness. The Scriptures say that Aharon 'held his silence'. Can you imagine that? We know the High Priest was not to touch a dead body, not even their own son. That is why Moses appointed two of Aharon's relatives to carry out their bodies. Their names were Misha-el and El-tzapan, sons of Aharon's uncle Uzziel. You will notice they never touched their bodies, but carried them out in their coats. Today 'we' are YHVH'S Priests, so should we be out handling a dead body in a funeral home, I think not!! Even if it's a close relative, look but don't touch! Notice that Moses told Aharon and his other two sons not to remove their turbans, or tear their clothes over this death. If they had, it says they would die also.
Pretty good incentive not to do something I'd say:. He told them to go into the Tabernacle and not to come out for a period of time. Do I believe they mourned in the Tabernacle out of sight, yes, I do. But that's my opinion and you know how I am with my opinions:. It doesn't mention how the mother of the sons reacted, but I'm pretty sure it was not like Aharon and his sons did. But it doesn't tell us for sure if Aharon's wife was even alive at this time. So we can only imagine here. As to why these two sons died, we have several speculations. One is they offered up an offering that was not called for. Another says they went into the Most Holy Place where they shouldn't have been. Still another says they were drunk with wine when they did the offering. Being that after this incident, Moses tells Aharon and his sons not to drink wine, or strong drink before entering the Tabernacle, I tend to go 'partially' with that reason. But we do know the sons did wrong, because they were not offering one of the five commanded offerings when this happened. So there may be more than one reason they died! Now there was a problem with Aharon and his sons. Moses and Aharon had to come to an agreement on this problem. This was whether or not Aharon and his sons were to eat of the sin offerings as usual. Should they eat the offerings in a state of mourning? There were three goats that were offered up that day as sin offerings. Two of these offerings would never be done again. One was the offering for the tribe of Judah (Num. 7:12), one was for the inauguration of the Tabernacle on the eight day and one was for Rosh Kodesh. They came to the conclusion that Aharon and his sons should eat of the offerings that would never be offered again, but they would not eat of the one that would be offered each month. If an offering was done on the New Moon (otherwise known as Rosh Kodesh), why are we so ignoring that particular festival in this day and time in which we live? (Num.28:11) A lot of people don't even know what Rosh Kodesh is, much less to honor it.
Yet YHVH thought it was important enough to have them offer up sacrifices for it every month. On the day a close relative dies, the mourner is known as an onen. The laws governing his status right then are more strict than usual. Although the High Priest (Kohen Ha Gadol) is required to perform his service at the Tabernacle/Temple even as an onen, the other Kohen are forbidden to do so. This was the controversy that Aharon and Moses were dealing with. Two of the offerings were called kodshei shaah, which were offerings that would never be done again. The other one was kodshei doros, offerings that would be done again in the future. Now we are going straight into the clean and unclean animals to eat. I bet you can't wait:. It's really not as hard as people believe it is to determine what is kosher and what is not. I've seen this kosher deal carried way to far by the Jewish people. They make everything from iced-tea on down being classified as kosher or non kosher. Example; is there meat in iced tea, is there meat in the ice cubes in the tea? If not, then why would you even debate such things as this being kosher or not? In Leviticus chapter eleven, you can find out all you need to know about eating kosher. Does the animal have cloven hooves and chew its cud, then it's clean (kosher/fit) to eat, provided it is killed properly. The blood must be drained out of the meat! Just because you are eating beef only, doesn't mean you are keeping kosher. If you don't have access to kosher meat, then soak your meat in salt water before cooking it. That pulls the blood out. At least then YHVH sees that you are at least trying to keep his commandments. A pig might have cloven hooves, but it certainly does not chew its cud. YHVH will NEVER BLESS a pork chop on your table, so you might as well quit saying the blessing over it:. As a matter of fact, you are told not to even TOUCH its dead body! But there are so many turkey meats today to use as alternatives, you won't really miss your pork that much. You can get turkey bacon, turkey ham, turkey baloney, turkey sausage, you can even get turkey pepperoni. YHVH will love you for switching over, however, the turkeys won't be to fond of you:. The fish that have both fins and scales are alright to eat. Catfish are UNCLEAN. A farm fed catfish is still a catfish. If the farm can make it grow fins and scales, then you can eat it, otherwise STAY AWAY from it. Any bird that eats flesh is unclean. Any creeping thing is unclean. So don't eat rattlesnake meat:. If you want to eat any type of flying creeping thing that goes on four feet, you'd better make sure it has legs above its feet to leap with on the ground. No frog legs, no ants, no snails. In some countries, chocolate covered ants are considered a delicacy, YHVH considers them unclean. The Scripture says if you even touch one of these unclean animals that are dead, you should wash your clothes and be unclean until evening. So if you have kids who like to pick up dead bugs and look at them, please try to discourage that:. Even if one of these unclean creatures falls in your container or clothing, it makes that item unclean. You have to put it in water until evening. If it's an earthenware vessel, it must be broken. If any substance is in that vessel it falls into, it becomes unclean also. So you can see that distinguishing between what is kosher to eat and what is not, is really not that difficult to do. YHVH is not trying to be difficult in telling us what to eat and what not to eat. Really, He's looking out for your health! The animals and fish that He told us not to eat are carriers of disease. The unclean fish are bottom eaters and eat all the refuse. Do you want to eat all that refuse in return? Some animals will eat rotten flesh, how about a plate of them on your table? So decide which is more important to you, that plate of ribs/pork chops/sausage etc. or your health and obedience to YHVH? If you are reading this while eating that pork barbeque sandwich, then just spit it out:! Start walking in Torah for your physical AND spiritual well being!!! See you next time. Shalom
Pretty good incentive not to do something I'd say:. He told them to go into the Tabernacle and not to come out for a period of time. Do I believe they mourned in the Tabernacle out of sight, yes, I do. But that's my opinion and you know how I am with my opinions:. It doesn't mention how the mother of the sons reacted, but I'm pretty sure it was not like Aharon and his sons did. But it doesn't tell us for sure if Aharon's wife was even alive at this time. So we can only imagine here. As to why these two sons died, we have several speculations. One is they offered up an offering that was not called for. Another says they went into the Most Holy Place where they shouldn't have been. Still another says they were drunk with wine when they did the offering. Being that after this incident, Moses tells Aharon and his sons not to drink wine, or strong drink before entering the Tabernacle, I tend to go 'partially' with that reason. But we do know the sons did wrong, because they were not offering one of the five commanded offerings when this happened. So there may be more than one reason they died! Now there was a problem with Aharon and his sons. Moses and Aharon had to come to an agreement on this problem. This was whether or not Aharon and his sons were to eat of the sin offerings as usual. Should they eat the offerings in a state of mourning? There were three goats that were offered up that day as sin offerings. Two of these offerings would never be done again. One was the offering for the tribe of Judah (Num. 7:12), one was for the inauguration of the Tabernacle on the eight day and one was for Rosh Kodesh. They came to the conclusion that Aharon and his sons should eat of the offerings that would never be offered again, but they would not eat of the one that would be offered each month. If an offering was done on the New Moon (otherwise known as Rosh Kodesh), why are we so ignoring that particular festival in this day and time in which we live? (Num.28:11) A lot of people don't even know what Rosh Kodesh is, much less to honor it.
Yet YHVH thought it was important enough to have them offer up sacrifices for it every month. On the day a close relative dies, the mourner is known as an onen. The laws governing his status right then are more strict than usual. Although the High Priest (Kohen Ha Gadol) is required to perform his service at the Tabernacle/Temple even as an onen, the other Kohen are forbidden to do so. This was the controversy that Aharon and Moses were dealing with. Two of the offerings were called kodshei shaah, which were offerings that would never be done again. The other one was kodshei doros, offerings that would be done again in the future. Now we are going straight into the clean and unclean animals to eat. I bet you can't wait:. It's really not as hard as people believe it is to determine what is kosher and what is not. I've seen this kosher deal carried way to far by the Jewish people. They make everything from iced-tea on down being classified as kosher or non kosher. Example; is there meat in iced tea, is there meat in the ice cubes in the tea? If not, then why would you even debate such things as this being kosher or not? In Leviticus chapter eleven, you can find out all you need to know about eating kosher. Does the animal have cloven hooves and chew its cud, then it's clean (kosher/fit) to eat, provided it is killed properly. The blood must be drained out of the meat! Just because you are eating beef only, doesn't mean you are keeping kosher. If you don't have access to kosher meat, then soak your meat in salt water before cooking it. That pulls the blood out. At least then YHVH sees that you are at least trying to keep his commandments. A pig might have cloven hooves, but it certainly does not chew its cud. YHVH will NEVER BLESS a pork chop on your table, so you might as well quit saying the blessing over it:. As a matter of fact, you are told not to even TOUCH its dead body! But there are so many turkey meats today to use as alternatives, you won't really miss your pork that much. You can get turkey bacon, turkey ham, turkey baloney, turkey sausage, you can even get turkey pepperoni. YHVH will love you for switching over, however, the turkeys won't be to fond of you:. The fish that have both fins and scales are alright to eat. Catfish are UNCLEAN. A farm fed catfish is still a catfish. If the farm can make it grow fins and scales, then you can eat it, otherwise STAY AWAY from it. Any bird that eats flesh is unclean. Any creeping thing is unclean. So don't eat rattlesnake meat:. If you want to eat any type of flying creeping thing that goes on four feet, you'd better make sure it has legs above its feet to leap with on the ground. No frog legs, no ants, no snails. In some countries, chocolate covered ants are considered a delicacy, YHVH considers them unclean. The Scripture says if you even touch one of these unclean animals that are dead, you should wash your clothes and be unclean until evening. So if you have kids who like to pick up dead bugs and look at them, please try to discourage that:. Even if one of these unclean creatures falls in your container or clothing, it makes that item unclean. You have to put it in water until evening. If it's an earthenware vessel, it must be broken. If any substance is in that vessel it falls into, it becomes unclean also. So you can see that distinguishing between what is kosher to eat and what is not, is really not that difficult to do. YHVH is not trying to be difficult in telling us what to eat and what not to eat. Really, He's looking out for your health! The animals and fish that He told us not to eat are carriers of disease. The unclean fish are bottom eaters and eat all the refuse. Do you want to eat all that refuse in return? Some animals will eat rotten flesh, how about a plate of them on your table? So decide which is more important to you, that plate of ribs/pork chops/sausage etc. or your health and obedience to YHVH? If you are reading this while eating that pork barbeque sandwich, then just spit it out:! Start walking in Torah for your physical AND spiritual well being!!! See you next time. Shalom