Parashat B'Chuqothai

(Leviticus 26:3 - 27:34)

If: when we do our part, which shows Him we are serious about the relationship (v. 9), He will do His part. Statutes: Heb., chuqoth-- laws governing all creation, spiritual as well as physical, such as the feasts that coincide with the natural seasons. [Asher Eder]. The ideal is that hearing the commands will make us want to carry them out, and when one reads the next few verses, who would not want to obey an Elohim like this? Walk in them: not simply do them, but become them--let them bringing change so we can become more and more like Y'shua, who embodied them. Doing is to lead to observing (learning from) His commands, which leads us to His heart--the Spirit of the letter--which in turn makes us want to carry them out even more fully, which is not accomplished until all of Israel is living them. So once we start obeying, we need to teach others to do the same too. Y’shua said that as we seek first His Kingdom, our other needs would be met as well, since YHWH knows what they are. Part of this is only natural, as we walk in His cycles, our truest needs will become apparent, and what is in season on His calendar is what we need most at that time. AT Passover, our greatest need is liberation, and that is what He teaches then. At Yom Kippur, it is a covering over our sins that we need most. He gives what we need when we need it:

In season: 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. Though we may not want rain on a particular day since we have other plans, if we do not receive it at the right time, the crops will not grow as they should. 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. Trees are symbolic of people as well; their fruit, watered by Torah through the festivals, is a lifestyle that produces righteousness. He knows when we need the adversity that best brings that about.

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. But until "that day" when everyone sits under his own vine and his own fig tree, the seasons are signs for us that point the way there. This constant involvement with the land will enable us to see the pictures of what He wants our lives to be, and this leads to the kind of security that He wants as opposed to the type sought by men who build the tower that gives them the illusion of being in control.

Relax: Aramaic, "dwell undisturbed". 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. Harmful beasts can also metaphorically include evil spirits, especially when we read about the patterns of "seven more" below in light of Y'shua's statement that an ousted evil spirit will try to bring back seven more spirits if the right measures are not taken. (Mat. 12:45)

If the enemies with swords even try to enter, they will be scared off if you simply "flex your muscles".

9. "‘For I will turn My face toward you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

Turn My face: Aram., "turn with My Memra [living Word]..." (that is, Y’shua). Establish: or confirm; i.e., re-establish. Y’shua indeed re-established the covenant (Mat. 5:17; Luke 22:20) and will bring all of this about in a fuller way when His Kingdom is fully present in physical form.

Long-lasting provisions: Aramaic, "old grain". 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. But we can also partake of the spirit behind the letter--the "new treasures" as well. 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...

This is the goal of all of the commands, because they are what allow us to begin to think in the patterns by which He thinks, and to know His mind. Physical security is nothing if we are not of one mind--if we do not also form a community He can come to dwell amidst. This would be the Kingdom itself, were it accepted. Y’shua said that He would be present among even two or three who gathered in His Name.

Walk among you: This hearkens back to the Garden of Eden! A nation that did obey Him and thus come to know Him intimately would be an oasis of peace, freedom, and joy in the desert of the "normal" patterns of this fallen age.

From being: or, "so that you will no longer be". Walk upright: or "straighten up".

15. "‘and if you reject My statues and your soul abhors My ordinances, so that you will not carry out all of My commandments, so that you annul My covenant,

Annul: or "break"; Aramaic, "alter". This is what we have done more frequently.

Sudden terror: unexpected attacks that will cause us to panic; LXX, “perplexity”. This is the opposite of confidence in YHWH. Wasting lung disease: LXX, "the itch" (or scab). Consume away: Aramaic, "obscure the vision of". When we want to look at ourselves, we cannot see anything else. (Ex. 10:23) Cause the soul to pine away: i.e., it will be a life of constant depression.

Struck down: Aramaic, "shattered". Part of the curse is to be terrified of things that do not even exist; it is the logical conclusion of such a state of mind.

After: Aramaic, "in spite of". Listen: i.e., obey. Still: His intent in all of this is to make life outside of the covenant as hard as it can be so there will be motivation for stubborn people to come back into the valuable things they once had. The same pattern is seen in the plagues in Egypt and in the book of Revelation where over and over it is said, "Still they refused to repent!" If we refuse to be taught by His punishment, we will wish we had done so, since He said He would bring it again either in seven ways or seven more times. This is why it has taken until our day for the exile of the Northern Kingdom to near its end. Angus Wootten calculates from 734 B.C., when the majority of the Northern Kingdom became vassal to Assyria, Y’hezq’El/Ezekiel (4:4-5) was told to lie on one side for 390 days for the number of years YHWH would punish Israel, and the other side for 40 days for Judah's years. In Jeremiah 16 YHWH doubled Ephraim's sentence (to 780 years), but here it also says that if our ancestors would not repent, He would increase their punishment seven times (to 2,730 years). So there are two sentences running concurrently for Ephraim. The first ran out in 46 A.D., right when Paul began his missions to the Gentiles. Individuals from Ephraim began responding to Y'shua, and Hosea's judgment of "no pity" was no longer in effect. But Hosea's other sentence--that of not being a people--was not up... until right around 1996! If we begin counting from 722 B.C., when the capital city of Samaria was finally destroyed, we come out to 2008, so in any case we are within the time frame when the curse is lifting and Efrayim is realizing again that he is to be not just a group of redeemed individuals, but the corporate people of YHWH. But it is not automatic; v. 24 and v. 28 reiterate this sevenfold multiplication, so if we do not respond rightly this time, we are in for another 19,110 years of this treatment—or 133,770 years if our descendants do not get it right at that time! This may be why Yehudah’s punishment, which Y’hezq’El said was only 40 years, turned into such a long exile.

Iron and brass: symbols of stubbornness (Isaiah/Yesh. 48:4; Jer./Yirm. 6:28); they would not yield rain or crops.

21. "‘But if you walk casually in relation to Me and will not listen to Me [or obey], I will add seven [more] plagues upon you according to your sins,

Walk casually: LXX, "perversely", but the Hebrew term comes from a word meaning "a chance encounter", as if to say they were just accidents, part of the normal ebb and flow of life on earth, and things would eventually improve. But with all the promises made if one would obey, they were meant to make one sit up abruptly and ask if and where he had gone wrong when ANY of these things came upon him. The Torah is all about relationships, and these things are not punishment but chastisement--a means of keeping us from going further away when you have exhausted all the better reasons to come back. The roadblocks get tougher and tougher, because after the 49th step there is no more covenant (cf. Heb. 10:26), and that is where they are heading (v. 15). After that, someone has to die for the covenant to remain in effect--and that is exactly what happened. But it is better to die and be unable to go further into sin than to go that far.

He is removing everything that competed with Him for our affections and priorities.

In opposition to Me: in one sense, when we kept Sunday as "sabbath", YHWH stayed home. Was the spirit that was meeting with us really His? In another way, yes, He met us where we were, but we must realize that where we were was not acceptable to Him, and move on from there.

Seven more times: As of 1996 we have completed the former sentence of "seven times". (Based on the 390 years sentenced in Y’hezq’El 4.) Now we are at another crossroads; what will we do with this open door? Perhaps this also relates to the plagues in Revelation that come in sevens, His final attempt to get some recalcitrants of the House of Yoseyf to recognize who they really are, stop sitting on the fence, and repent.

Gathered together: to escape the armies outside the walls. But it will be "out of the frying pan, into the fire"--a worse thing will await them in the place of supposed safety, because there is no hiding from YHWH. Pestilence: Based on the word for "talk" or "declare", so it may imply the "plague" of an informer who gives away the secret to how to enter the city.

Ten women…one oven: i.e., there will not be a need for many ovens, because there will be so little to bake.

28. "‘Then I will walk in furious [boiling] opposition to you; I Myself will also discipline you seven [times] for your sins,

29. "‘and you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat!

All of these—even this--took place when Israel’s cities were under siege by their enemies. YHWH was not exaggerating. The devil did not do all of this to Israel; it was YHWH’s judgment--a sober warning to us as we re-enter His covenant.

Corpses...monuments: both the same word in Hebrew, in an interesting play on words. Both refer to a lifeless body or form.

32. "‘And I will bring the land to [such] desolation [that] your enemies who settle there shall be appalled at it.

Appalled: or horrified, made desolate. Indeed, until His people began to return, it had become scarcely more than desert in some areas and malaria-infested swamp in others.

Scatter: the word also means "sow"; Hoshea brings out both meanings by naming his son "Yizra'el"--Elohim will scatter, or Elohim will sow. (Hos. 1:4-11) A sowed harvest will later be reaped, and that was the blessing within the curse. By Y'shua's time, the fields were "white unto harvest". Ruins: Go there today and you will see many such cities, but they are being reestablished and resettled (cf. Isaiah 61:4).

From the beginning of the United Kingdom, for 490 years the people did not obey the command about leaving the land fallow in the Sabbatical year. The Babylonian captivity ended after exactly 70 years, fulfilling YHWH's promise to the day.

36. "‘And as for those who are left alive of you, I will send timidity into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a leaf driven [by the wind] will send them running, and they will disappear as if running from a sword, and they will fall [on their faces] when no one is chasing them.

37. "‘And one of them shall stumble over another as if [running] in front of a sword, when no one is pursuing, and you will have no power to resist your enemies.

38. "‘And you will be exterminated among the Gentiles, and the land of your enemies will burn you up.

What could be a better description of the Holocaust? But these promises must also have been fulfilled in many other ways for the Northern Kingdom, who left the covenant first.

Rot away: putrefy, pine away; Aramaic, "wither away".

But if they: LXX, "And they shall..." Admit to: literally, "throw up their hands for"; Aramaic, "confess". Guilt of their ancestors...treachery: or treason--betrayal of one's NATION. Yirmeyahu 16 clarifies that this means admitting that our fathers inherited lies. Half-truths, yes, but still not true. The key to our returning is that we right their wrongs rather than continuing to let their effects continue. Walked in hostility: Aramaic, "acted stubbornly"—i.e., were interested only in doing things their own way.

If their...heart should...: Aramaic, "Only then will their foolish heart break down..." Accept the punishment for: or "pay for”, “satisfy the debt for".

All of these covenants were the same one in essence, with some further detail or focus added upon each renewal. Note that he lists them backwards, just as we are moving back to our roots. We can pick up where our ancestors left off, and be to YHWH what each of the patriarchs was.

Compare Hoshea 8:12, where the House of Efrayim counted His Torah "a strange thing". Still many “believers” cringe at any mention of the “Law”, and this is how Y'shua judges who will be counted greatest and least in His Kingdom. (Mat. 5:19)

45. "For their sakes I will bring to remembrance the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations; I am YHWH."

Ancestors: again, the covenant was renewed with the specific focus being on returning to the Land.

CHAPTER 27

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: When one makes a promise that turns out to be impossible or unwise to fulfill. But one is still required to fulfill any vow made to YHWH. (Num. 30:2) He has a debt to fulfill. So YHWH allowed someone to pay in silver what he vowed, and here He is prescribing what must be paid. The first category speaks of humans under one’s authority that one has dedicated to YHWH. Perhaps the person who was given to YHWH does not wish to be devoted to YHWH’s service, so this is what his or her superior must then pay in lieu of their service. (“Value of the souls” refers to how much the energy one would have made available is worth to YHWH, and what one must therefore compensate Him with.)

Twenty to sixty years: One could enter the army of Israel from age twenty (Num. 1:3), and Levites could enter the service of the Tabernacle until fifty (Num. 4:23), so assumedly until sixty he could still serve or train others to fight. Only those of the age to go to war were counted in the census described in the first chapter of BaMidbar (Numbers). Those who will make war on behalf of Israel are of most value to YHWH.

Thirty sheqels is the price for which Y'shua was sold, and he was evaluated by the chief priest (Mat. 26:14). A field (representing the whole world) was also purchased with it! The fact that it is the price of a woman hints that it was a bride price, and this stands to reason since his bride was the one needing to be paid for, not he.

Anciently one was not counted fully responsible for his actions until age twenty. So this is the age of potential, and while very valuable, one’s potential might still go unrealized. So this person is not worth as much to YHWH as the only who can actually do something with his potential—and does.

This person represents raw material, because whether he will be of higher value to YHWH depends completely on how he is taught, how he is prayed for, and how he is blessed. Almost every trait of personality is formed during this stage of life. It is just as likely a child will be raised improperly as properly. The idea becomes clearer when we know that this term for “evaluated” also means “set in order”. 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. Dedication to Him is not difficult for the child, since it is all he has known. The longer we wait, the more expensive it is.

The price jumps back up here after the list had gone from highest to lowest. This person is worth more than the toddler, but less than the youth, because the question must arise as to why these persons waited so long to be set in place. This person still has some time left to give to YHWH, but not nearly as much as one who is set in place in Israel while much younger. There are far fewer cycles left in order for him to gain value to YHWH by being trained as an Israelite warrior. With several notable exceptions (like Kalev, who was willing at forty and so was allowed to fulfill his potential after eighty), the adage generally holds true that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Persons of this age are often less willing to try new things, and thus

The Northern Kingdom was long without the water of the Word and the bread of community; our punishment was to be no longer His people, receive no mercy, and be scattered (Hos. 1)—which is poverty indeed. The priest we need to come to in order to be set in place again is Y’shua. Much to the chagrin of modern Christian doctrine, it is what we do—what we set our hand to—that determines where we will be positioned in His army. (Deut. 28:8) What his hand can reach: i.e., what he can afford. But He judges more by what one is willing to reach for—and in what direction--than by what he can reach already. He can lengthen the hand that takes the initiative to reach in the right direction. Moshe was obedient to reach out and take by the tail something he “knew” would bite him (Ex. 4:4) so that all Israel would benefit, and in doing so, his hand reached the throat of the Pharaoh the snake represented, for Pharaoh was what he had run away from forty years before he ran from this snake. So while he was set-apart, he was in no way passive. Those who are may end up as “potato-peelers” in YHWH’s army. We need to aspire to greater things than that.

This does not include the firstborn; that is YHWH’s already by default. (v. 26) One’s beast is also a picture of himself—the beastly parts. Some of his inclinations are noble, yet they must be turned over to YHWH in order to be used for I the way He prescribed rather than what seems most logical. Who could fault someone for wanting to be a missionary to the neediest? Yet today his willingness is needed more in seeking the lost sheep of the House of Israel, which is YHWH’s priority.

We might, when under affliction, promise to turn something over to YHWH, but then when the pressure is off try to negotiate it away by offering something lesser in exchange. But YHWH does not let us get away with making such deals. Instead, now that both areas needing reform are identified, we are responsible to give up the second as well as the first! What we have promised to YHWH is no longer ours; we have no right to it anymore, and to keep benefiting from it is stealing. Some things can never be bought back, because they are too holy, while some can never be used in the Temple, and a different set of rules applies:

Other inclinations within us are selfish, and at war with the selfless ones. (Rom. 7) We are not expected to turn them all over to YHWH at once, but each one as we become aware of it. Leaving some things behind requires discipline in learning what YHWH actually says about it and accountability to a community who is also committed to getting to the roots of what YHWH wants removed from our lives.

13. "‘But if he redeems it at all, he must add one-fifth to your valuation.

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. All selfishness has a price to be paid. If you hold back what YHWH is requiring of you, you will end up with more trouble than it is worth.

15. "‘And if the one who consecrated his house wants to redeem it, he shall add one fifth to the price of your valuation, and it shall be his [again].

16. "‘And if a man consecrates to YHWH [part] of a field from his ancestral heritage, then you shall value it according to the [amount of] seed [that can be grown] in it: a chomer shall be valued at fifty silver sheqels.

Chomer: 100 omers (the yield of 100 sheaves of grain). From this valuation we derive the fact that an omer (which symbolizes one person) is worth half a sheqel (each person's temple tax, as in Exodus 30:13ff.) Ten men, one congregation, is YHWH’s tithe of the whole world. 50 sheqels is also the price for a choice warrior (v. 3), so one person who fights for Israel is worth the same to YHWH as the whole (rest of the) world!

18. "‘But if he consecrates his field after the yovel [year], then the cohen must calculate for him the price according to the years that remain until the yovel year, and it shall be deducted from your valuation.

19. "‘And if the one who consecrated the field ever wants to redeem any of it, then he shall add one-fifth to the price of your estimation, and it shall be confirmed to [be] his.

Confirmed: perhaps by checking the records of property ownership.

21. "‘But when it is released in the yovel, it shall become holy to YHWH like a devoted field; it shall become an inheritance for the cohen.

Devoted: The Arabic word harem comes from the same root--meaning something off limits to everyone else. But in Hebrew it often has the special meaning of being dedicated to destruction. (See note on v. 29.)

These could not be sold permanently, but had to be returned to the clan that owned them at least once every fifty years.

24. "‘In the year of the yovel, the field shall revert to him from whom it was bought, to whom it had belonged as an inherited possession.

25. "‘Now all your value-estimations shall be according to the sheqel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall [equal] the sheqel.

26. "‘However, a firstborn from [among] the animals, which is a firstborn unto YHWH, shall no man consecrate, whether it be ox or sheep; it [already] belongs to YHWH.

The same holds true for a firstborn of human beings. They already belong to YHWH. However, He took the Levites in exchange for all the firstborn (Numbers 3:12) with the payment of five sheqels. Thus, after the five sheqels had been paid to redeem Shmu'El (Samuel), he was no longer considered Hannah's firstborn, and thus he could be dedicated to YHWH after all. When Y’shua said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to YHWH the things that are YHWH’s” (Mat. 22:16-21), He identified what was Caesar’s by whose “image and inscription” were on the coin. But YHWH’s image is on mankind (Gen. ), and though a high priest specifically had YHWH’s Name inscribed on some of the paraphernalia of his service, every Israelite is to have YHWH’s commands written on our hearts (Deut. 11:18) He was trying to shift their focus to the fact that they were YHWH’s vessel and they had in them items of their own which made them unfit for His use. If they are His, what right did they have to be so concerned about financial and political security?

28. "‘In any case, any devoted thing which a man consecrates to YHWH, from anything that belongs to him, whether man or animal or inherited field, shall neither be sold nor redeemed; it is most holy to YHWH.

29. "‘No devoted thing which is dedicated by a human being may be ransomed; [it] must certainly be put to death.

There are things in our lives that must simply be done away with; there is no negotiating with YHWH to have them back.

Note that the tithe had nothing to do with money, but only agricultural products.

32. "‘Now concerning the tithe of the flock and the herd: of all that pass under the rod, the tenth shall be holy for YHWH.

In the process of bringing the Body (which is also called "one bread", 1 Corinthians 10:17) to maturity with the "measure of the fullness of the stature of the Messiah" (Eph. 4), the job of the pastor/shepherd is to thresh (break the grain-head away from the stalk from which it grew and loosen the husk from around the kernel so the "teacher" can winnow). Yeshayahu/Isaiah 28:27-29 gives us more details about how this is to be done. The tool that both the shepherd of the flock and the one who threshes use is the rod (cf. Psalm 23:4), or a reed (Yesh./Isa. 42:1-4). The same instrument used to protect the sheep also keeps them in line: a shepherd will even break the legs of the sheep that habitually wanders, and then carry it on his shoulders, where it can become intimately attached to the shepherd and realize that he really does need him. The way a shepherd counted his sheep as they entered the narrow doorway to the fold was to have them walk under a rod. In Y'chezq'El/Ezekiel 20:37, when YHWH promises to restore the scattered House of Israel from among the nations (breaking us away from what we grew up on--the world, and from the hull of useless relationships), He will cause us to "pass under the rod" and then it will mean He is purging out the rebellious ones, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (Mat. 25:32ff; see also Rev. 11:1 and 21:5 for the measuring reed as an instrument of judgment. This separation is the essence of holiness.) But it is part of the process of re-entering His covenant. Y'shua's role as the Beneficent Shepherd (Yochanan 10) is outlined in Ezkl. 34.) Here, all the sheep are to be counted by tens, and every tenth one, good or bad, is to be set aside as for YHWH, being devoted for priestly use or consumption. Y'shua, who is called the Lamb of Elohim, was born in what the Mishnah says was a Levitical shepherd's field at Migdal Eder (Mic. 4:8) in Beth Lechem-Ephratah (5:2, the fruitful part of Bethlehem, not downtown like the traditional site chosen by the guesswork of Constantine's mother).

This simple rule made it impossible for anyone to create loopholes; it allows for no dispute, like Y’shua’s unbending rod of iron.

For the descendants of Israel: Aramaic, "to relay to the Israelites."