Vayiqra/Leviticus
CHAPTER 26
3. "‘If you walk in My statutes [b'chuqothai], guard My commandments, and carry them out,
If: when we do our part, which shows Him we are serious about the relationship (v. 9), He will do His part. Statutes: Rulings that remain in effect permanently, as contrasted with mishpatim (judgments) which apply on one occasion, i.e., must be tailored specifically to each situation. Walk in them: not simply be aware of them, but participate in them, letting them bring change in us.
4. "‘then I will give you your rains in their [proper] season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the tree of the field shall give its fruit,
In season: Rain out of season could wash away crops or topsoil, or make already-harvested grain rot. There are many proverbs about how irritating something that comes in the wrong season is, and in this
case it could be a matter of life or death. And if we do not receive rain at the right time, the crops will not grow as they should. If we are acting out of season, our fruit will fail also. Water is a symbol of the teaching of the Torah, which is best learned "in season"--at the times when the feasts are to be celebrated. The Torah teaches us how to walk in season. The Counting of the Omer, between Passover and Shavuot, is the time to take stock of who we are meant to be so that we can bear the most fruit. Don’t just count the days, but consider what adds up in our lives and what does not. Although it is a season for growing, you will not learn the lessons of the season if you do not plant anything. You must prepare yourself so that when the rain comes, something will be there to grow. In other seasons, the things He gives us to do are the “rain” that will bring the fruit we need in each season. He rains down strength at Shavuoth. Yom Teruah is a thunderstorm that gets our attention. Repentance is the desired fruit at Yom Kippur, and unity and joy at Sukkoth. He even gives us some bonus rains: deliverance at Purim and victory at Hanukkah.
5. "‘and your threshing will last until the vintage, and the vintage will last until the time for sowing, and you will eat your bread until you have enough, and will dwell securely in your land.
Last until: or "overtake". The harvest would be so abundant that you would still be harvesting one crop when the next was ready, as in the Garden of Eden when there were no seasons, only a perfectly-balanced climate and environment. Amos 9 uses the same language in regard to the return of the House of Yosef. But until "that day" when everyone sits under his own vine and his own fig tree, the seasons outlined in Torah are signs for us that point the way there.
6. "‘Moreover, I will grant peace in the Land, and you will relax, and no one will make you tremble from fear. And I will rid the land of harmful beasts, and no sword will pass through your Land.
Relax: Aramaic, "dwell undisturbed". It would be a mixed blessing to have plenty but always have someone trying to steal it. We who have lived in a land with few major security threats have much less of a feel for how wonderful this would sound to a nation used to ruthless marauding bands where there was no international court of appeal and there were dangers on every side. There is clearly something wrong in the Land of Israel now, because there are certainly “wild beasts” there. YHWH says it could be otherwise: we will not even have to be concerned for security on any front if we walk in His ways, not worrying about what the Gentile worry about. (Mat. 6:31) What a heritage to give our children! So let’s “grease the wheels” by adopting that mindset now.
7. "‘You shall also put your enemies to flight, and they shall fall by the sword before you;
8. "‘five of you shall chase away a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
9. "‘For I will turn My face toward you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
What we sow, we reap. If we walk out our part, YHWH will keep His promise and increase the fruit we bring forth.
10. "‘And you will eat provisions that you have had stored up for a long time, and you will clear out the old in the face of the new.
Provisions that you have stored up: Aramaic, "old grain", the supply remaining from the last harvest. Archaeology has shown that storage pits under the house were very common in Israelite cities. Ancient dried grain, figs, and dates have even been found in them. Does this mean to get rid of the old—that “Old Testament”—because we have something new? No, it says to eat the old first. We can both be sustained by the ancient revelations which we kept locked away for so long through our own erroneous thinking, and are only now rediscovering, and also partake of the spirit behind the letter--the "new treasures" as well (Mat. 13:52), but we must partake of the old before we can receive those, for we must make room for new understanding, and that only comes through partaking of the “old”. We cannot understand the “New Testament” properly until we take the “Old” fully into ourselves. Our bread must be made according to the recipe of our righteous ancestors, for it is the necessary foundation for what we need to do today. Before we can experience the greater exodus of Yirmeyahu 16:14, we must return to the memorial of the ancient exodus that YHWH has prescribed. Many do not know there are old storehouses (they are told to start reading in the book of John), but what they think is new grain is really empty calories—sugar, not the true “bread of life”. And those who have been learning the ancient ways have not fully absorbed them. But the matzah we make for Passover must, according to Torah, be from the old grain; we are not permitted to eat of the new harvest until the firstfruits are brought AFTER Passover. (Lev. 23:14) This is the perfect picture, for Passover is about “feeding” our children what our forefathers stored up for us. (Ex. 13:6ff) The result will be that there will come a day when we will receive a new story, a greater exodus (Yirmeyahu/Jer. 16:14ff, and Yirm. 23:7ff adds the detail that it is the House of Israel in particular that will be brought out of all the nations into which we were exiled). What more could we ask for? This is like a dream--the best one could ever hope for in a world where there are still enemies. Yet there is more...
11. "‘I will also set my dwelling place in your midst, and my soul shall not abhor you.
12. "‘And I will [continually] walk among you and be your Elohim, and you will be My people.
Walk among you: This hearkens back to the Garden of Eden! If we walk in His instruction, we will see the Kingdom come on earth, not in Heaven, as if He had made some mistake in creating the earth and had to take us somewhere else instead. If we do things rightly, He is the one coming to camp among us. Heaven thus comes to earth. After that, why would anyone want to go to Heaven? To get away from YHWH?
13. "‘I am YHWH your Elohim, who has brought you out from the land of the Egyptians, from being their slaves, and I will break the bars of your yoke and let you walk upright.
An ox-yoke consisted of a bar placed over the neck and reins under the neck held firmly in place by pegs that anchored the reins tightly into two holes at each end of the bar. Pictures in Egyptian tombs show the slaves who built them actually wearing oxen-yokes to carry their load, because this helped them balance it well. If He merely removed our yoke, someone could put it back on us again, so He goes further and breaks the yoke. The remainder of this chapter tells of the terrifying things YHWH can do to those who reject Him and His commands. We will not focus on them at this time, because we have been through them and know that the threats were real. But we are at the stage now where we can leave those patterns behind and experience the foregoing, so that is where we must concentrate.
…
CHAPTER 27
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, and tell them, ‘When a man makes an extraordinary vow, by your valuation the souls shall belong to YHWH:
Extraordinary vow: This is a very unfamiliar concept today, but all of Torah has lessons for us, even if we have to dig deep to find them. This unusual command can be understood if we slow down, and especially if we read it in Hebrew. It has to do with coming before the priest and vowing a person, whether oneself or someone else over whom one has authority, to YHWH. One cannot vow what does not belong to him. One could not vow someone else’s children—or the Brooklyn Bridge! One must have the authority to make this promise. One might simply dedicate his child to YHWH at birth. Or, a very faithful slave might do something great and his master would “pay YHWH” what that person is worth. One’s children might be spared an impending disaster, and out of gratitude one turn him or her over to YHWH--not physically, for this would become an undue burden on the priesthood if all of these were, like Shmu’el, actually turned over to the custody of the Temple. They could not all be fed from the altar. Rather, one would dedicate the person to YHWH—declare that he belongs to YHWH—and then redeem him, that is, “get them back” by paying the silver at which the person is valued to the priest in their name or for their sake. Yet the person is still “wonderfully distinguished” (another way of translating this word for “extraordinary”). This high-level honor is where we can see the connection to ourselves today. Putting a value on one’s soul is a foreign concept to most of us, but here it is in YHWH’s Torah. It is a statement of how important YHWH is, and it says this person is somehow worth setting apart to YHWH. It is his soul (nefesh—life force or motivating force) that is vowed. So what is a soul worth? Very few people today have ever thought in such terms, but the next few verses tell us very precisely:
3. "‘Your valuation shall be like this: for the male from twenty to sixty years, your valuation shall be fifty sheqels of silver, according to the sheqel of the sanctuary.
Though the modern sheqel is a currency, and it did eventually turn out that way in ancient times, it was chiefly a unit of the measure of weight, the equivalent of a fraction of an ounce, against which silver was weighed. There were different types of sheqels, which is why the “sheqel of the sanctuary” is specified. In 1,800 B.C.E. it was recorded that a sheqel was worth the weight of one bushel of grain. The vow is not vague or haphazard, but for a purpose. One is saying, “May this person’s soul be put in the place where it is most valuable to YHWH” so his full value can be realized. An appraisal is conducted. But if the values are already listed for a person in each category, how is it that they are being evaluated? Couldn’t the priest just “look at the chart”? The fact that the values have already been given suggests that the evaluation means more than just finding the value. The Hebrew term comes from a word meaning “to arrange in order” or “set in battle array” (i.e., prepare us for battle). It is based on one’s place in the army of YHWH Tzava’oth (the “commander-in-chief of the armies”). In fact, the people in this first category are those who are eligible to go to war, with those from fifty to sixty years old being the ones who train the younger warriors. Twenty is the age at which one becomes responsible for his actions to the fullest extent. Who is His army? Israel. Elsewhere, we see that each one is worth a half sheqel (Ex. 30:13), yet here some are worth 50, 30, 15, etc. So something different is being counted there. When it comes to our relationships with one another, we never know who else will make us a complete sheqel, so we need to be joined to all of Israel. Even the laziest, most rotten Israelite can bring us to completeness, whether it is by his willingness to pull us out of a ditch or simply by our realizing through seeing him that we never want to turn out the same way, which motivates us to improve ourselves. Being counted among Israel gives us our most basic value, but no one should be content with this. One’s service brings added value. Generals are worth more than privates, for there are far fewer of them. Avraham, Moshe, and Y’hoshua have much greater value than the average Israelite. These men worth fifty sheqels are worth 100 souls. Not that they should be arrogant; it means they should be able to take responsibility for 100, possibly being “rulers of 100”. Just consider how many a soldier is protecting while he is in battle. And Avraham and Sarah “acquired souls”—not in the Christian sense, but we should still be hunting souls: How many people have you invested in? Are you satisfied with how many people you have affected positively? How do you add value to a human being? By making him a productive part of Israel, or showing him how he can bless Israel if he is not part of it. No one is as valuable as he should be if he is not in the right position. During the Counting of the Omer from Passover to Shavuoth, we especially need to “weigh ourselves out” to determine how profitable we are to Him. (Compare Mat. 25:14ff.) If you are not sure who you are or where you fit, start serving somehow and your role will show up.
4. "‘and if it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty sheqels.
This is the age of fruitfulness for a woman, and her service is to produce faithful children who continue in His path. She is connecting their souls to Israel, adding to their value by investing time, knowledge, wisdom, and care in them. The woman actually runs the household day to day. She is busier with them than her husband is, so she is given responsibility for fewer souls. One’s value can be increased by adopting others, even if one’s own children are few or forsake YHWH.
5. "‘If [the person] is from five to twenty years old, your valuation shall be twenty sheqels for the male, and ten sheqels for the female.
One can look at a child and see a fairly clean slate; he is not set in his ways or jaded. This is the age of potential, so it is not valued as highly as those who are actually doing the work, but it is valuable still, because aptitudes are being developed now that the “recruiter” will be looking for. If we raise the children’s value now, they will be worth much more later.
6. "‘And from a month old up to five years, your valuation shall be five silver sheqels for the male, and three silver sheqels for the female.
These children are the raw materials, so they are not worth much yet in terms of ability to serve. But one’s traits are usually determined by the time he is three years old. This is the time when he is learning what to fear, like, or respect, and what not to. If he is loved and taught properly at this stage, he can become very valuable to YHWH. So one cannot start too soon. The patterns can be changed later, but only with much more difficulty. The sooner we set our children apart unto YHWH and support them in that, the less it costs us. It is less costly to this person to be shaped specifically for the task he was chosen for. He has no baggage to leave behind, as compared to one who is older and more set in his ways, and thus has more habits, possessions, or practices to give up in order to be the clean vessel ready to be used by YHWH. If the child is raised in Torah from earliest days, there is not even a sense of giving anything up to follow YHWH, because this is all he knows. Teaching them is a greater investment than teaching adults.
7. "‘And from sixty years and above, your valuation shall be fifteen sheqels if it is a male, and ten sheqels for the female.
If one waits until he is old to be set in order, like a field sold not long before the yovel, he has fewer cycles left to be useful, but is counted as more valuable than a child, who has many left, because of their knowledge and experience. But it is more costly to change his ways and separate from the life he is used to than if one starts down the right path while a child, though one may appreciate the truth more if he has had to fight and dig to find it.
8. "‘But if he is too poor [to pay the price at which] you value [him], then he shall present himself before the cohen [priest], and the cohen shall set a value on him; according to the ability of the one who vowed [to pay], the priest shall set a value [tax] upon him.
Poor: The term means one who has had his treasures taken from him, and this perfectly describes Israel of both houses. So we need to be stood before the priest so we can be set in order again with the tool of the Torah. Even if we have been worthless up to this point, we can still become valuable to YHWH. Ability to pay: literally, according to the mouth of the reach of his hand. In Hebrew, too, our actions do indeed speak louder than our words! They tell our real story and define who we really are. It is best not to make promises one cannot keep, but YHWH knew there would be moments of euphoria when great intentions well up within us and we “bite off more than we can chew”, though indeed one “cannot get blood from a turnip”. But YHWH does not say, “Just don’t worry about it.” The priests may be able to locate resources one is overlooking. Moshe did not recognize the potential that was in the rod in his hand until YHWH showed it to him. (Ex. 4:1ff) As he reached for the tail of the snake that had initially made him fearful, it became the symbol of his authority. Before the people would accept his authority, he had to be convinced of it. Boxers are measured by how far they can reach. The priest judges not just by what we can reach, but how far we are willing to reach. One may have shorter arms, but still try harder and accomplish more than those who have greater potential but do not use it.
9. "‘And if it is a beast from which men [may] bring an offering to YHWH, any such thing from among them which is given unto YHWH shall be holy;
10. "‘he may not replace it or exchange it, a healthy animal for a bad [one], or a bad animal for a healthy [one]. But if he shall exchange any one at all, then [both] it and the one substituted shall be holy.
If this applies to possessions, how much more to our lives? Whenever we promise to turn over any part of ourselves to YHWH, that part belongs to Him, and if we decide we want them back, we are stealing from Him, so there is a penalty to pay. He takes them both, because He does not like those who are double-tongued.
11. "‘But if it is an unclean beast, from those which cannot be brought near as an offering to YHWH, then he shall present the beast before the cohen,
Unclean beast: such as a donkey, which can be redeemed. Israelites would own few other unclean beasts.
12. "‘and the cohen shall set a value on it, according to whether it is healthy or not. As you, the cohen, set the value, so will it be.
How can an unclean beast be consecrated to YHWH? The idea behind these verses seems to be that someone made a vow to YHWH along the lines of, "Get me out of this situation, and I will give you..." Sometimes the vow is rash and he actually needs the use of the thing he vowed to give, so he can pay a certain amount of money to have it back, but he has to pay a 20% fine (v. 13, etc.) for again profaning something that was made holy. There are exceptions; some things cannot be used in the Temple, and some things can never be bought back (v. 10), because they are too holy.
13. "‘But if he is to redeem it at all, he must add one-fifth to your valuation.
YHWH makes sure it is not worth our while to keep something that we had previously wanted to give Him. There is a high price to pay for profaning it again—far more than it is worth. It is always costly for us to remain selfish. So concentrate on being valuable to YHWH; see what you can add to the Kingdom. Take stock of who you are and who you are an example to, and make them worth more to YHWH.
Commentary on
Parashat B'Chuqothai
What is a
Soul Worth?
