Holy Inside and Outside
For Parasha Shemini
By LovingNeighbor 4-6-2007

This weeks Parasha is in the book of Vayikra also called Leviticus, and is called Shemini which means 'Eighth'. In this weeks parasha:

- On the 8th day Moshe tells Aharon the offerings to make so the glory of YHWH will appear
- Aharon and his sons offer the calf for their sin offering
- Aharon and his sons offer the ram for their burnt offering
- Aharon offers the peoples goat for a sin offering
- Aharon offers the peoples calf and lamb for their burnt offering
- The special minkha for the 8th day consecration was burnt upon the altar
- Aharon and his sons offered the bullock and the ram for the peoples peace offering
- Aharon waved the breast and right shoulder of the peace offering before YHWH
- Aharon and Moshe blessed the people and the glory of YHWH appeared
- Fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the offerings
- Nadav and Avihu offered incense and strange fire to YHWH and YHWH devoured them with fire
- The bodies were carried outside the camp and Aharon and his sons were told not to grieve
- Aharon and his sons are told not to drink wine or strong drink when serving in the tabernacle
- Moshe tells Aharon and his sons to take the portions of the offerings that are theirs and eat them
- Moshe asks Aharon and his sons why they didn't eat the goat of the sin offering
- The laws of clean and unclean animals are given
- The laws of clean and unclean water creatures are given
- The laws of clean and unclean birds are given
- The laws of clean and unclean creeping things and other animals are given
- The laws of touching unclean carcasses are given
- You shall not defile yourselves with unclean things but you shall be holy as YHWH is holy
- Haftarah - David learns to fear YHWH and yet serve him without hesitation.

In this weeks portion we see a pattern that forms and it is best described as the Door. The door has two purposes to send things out or let them in. In this weeks portion we see that in Lev 10:16 the phrase diligently sought is in hebrew d'rash d'rash or search search. This is the exact center or heart of the torah. Now in this portion there are two authorities being shown, one is the authority of YHWH and the comparison is His authority compared to the priests, and the second is with Aharon and his sons. We are going to see a universal message and pattern of teaching in this parasha. I believe YHWH is setting the example for us to follow. Let's look at the pattern of events that happen in this portion.

Aharon is told to do the specific sacrifices for the 8th day consecration so that the glory of YHWH would appear. This glory or spirit of YHWH dwells in the holy of holies or in the heart of the tabernacle. and the priests which are on the outside must be holy(ie they were cleansed for 7 days), and they must bear fruit of holiness (do the specific actions requested of them). This reminds me of what John said to the pharisees when he said bring back fruit worthy of repentance. This is to say if you are claiming to be holy show the actions of holiness. Messiah explains this when he says a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit, and any tree that does not bear fruit is cast down. So the two things needed are to be holy and to do the holy things that prove it. These two concepts were now put on the priests. If they were to have the glory of YHWH dwell in the heart of them, they had to first be holy, and then do the holy things for the glory to dwell within the tabernacle. If they are the fruit and the tabernacle is the tree, they must be good fruit for YHWH to dwell among them as the tree or if they are not holy He will not dwell among them. Messiah states this clearly when he says if you were Avraham's sons you would have Avraham's works. So YHWH is working on the priests and their fruits. This is an outside job. Their works are represented in all the ordinances of the tabernacle and it's service. They represent the outside. The outside is first cleansed like in the water baptism and in the obedience to the letter of the law. This creates the unity with the spirit of the law so it may dwell among you without you being echad or one with it you can't be attached to it because you will know a tree by it's fruit. If you are unholy fruit YHWH can not dwell among you. So in this pattern we see the priests having to cleanse the outside first by learning to do all the outward holy things. Without this YHWH's glory does not dwell inside and in my opinion can't dwell inside without destroying the uncleanness around it. If you are clean you can dwell in the fire and not be consumed. If there is impurity in you it will be consumed and if you are the impurity you will be consumed. I believe this is because His word is true and there is no falsehood in Him.

So now lets look at Aharon's sons, They in comparison are like the priest of their father. The father represents the inside and the children are the outside or fruit. If a father does not teach them righteousness then he reveals himself as a bad tree. There is no escaping this. Aharon states would the sin offering be accepted if he ate it when the proof was his sons were not holy and thus in my opinion proving he was not holy either. If he is not holy how can he atone for the sins of Yisra'el. This goes back to the children of Yisra'el representing the outside or sons of the priesthood. The priesthood is in authority over them and are to be holy so that they can both teach the children and atone for them when they sin. If the father is a sinner how can he teach and expect his son to be holy. We get this in Lev 11:45 Where YHWH says be holy for I am holy. In my opinion it's like He is saying be my sons, bear my fruit so I may be your tree and nourish you through my roots and I will be your strength. The pattern follows through each structure, there is always the greater and lesser. But the main pattern we see is if the inside is clean the outside will be clean. Elohim created things after their kind. Like produces like. So since we know YHWH is holy we must be holy to be joined to him. Now the reverse is true. If we as rulers over anybody don't teach them and lead them by example they will not bear good fruit and they reveal our flaws. We give ourselves too much credit. What if YHWH judged us by just examining our wives or our children. Would we do well. See the pattern is if you want to be joined to YHWH you must be holy, if your not, You are just not joined to him. But if others are joined to you they reveal what kind of tree and leader you are. Don't blame them, change yourself and you will be able to change them, but if you are flawed you cannot expect more from your wife or children than you do. This is one of the flaws of the pharisees. They were not holy and yet expected a higher level of holiness than even they could keep from others. It's like the circumcision of acts 15. They expected grown men to circumcise themselves when they themselves never did such a thing as an adult.

Nadav and Avihu could not draw near to YHWH as He cleansed their unholiness. He is holy and anyone drawing near to Him must be holy. The closer you get to him the holier you must be. and the more unrighteous you are the further away you are from Him. Look at this pattern with Messiah who mediates for us. He is more holy than us and stand between us and Elohim just like the priests stood before YHWH and the people. This I believe is why Aharon could not mediate for the sins of the people at that time because he was not holy enough. This shows a tie between us and our wife and children and the direct link of why we must wash our wives in the word to present her blameless before YHWH. It all hinges on the concept of Echad and why I believe Messiah said he desired His disciples to be one with Him as he was one with the Father. This required a high level of holiness and that starts with a dose of fear. Like Uzzah who touched the ark and Nadav and Avihu, they were not precise in their holiness. David feared YHWH because he didn't want to make a mistake, but later realized that YHWH wasn't just looking for a reason to kill you, but that He desired to bless you but you had to be holy and do things as He commands. That is my interpretation of why David was afraid after Uzzah was killed for touching the ark and yet Oved Edom was blessed for having the ark with him for three months. The big message I got from this parasha is that you need to have fear if you are not being holy, but if you are and you respect that when YHWH says he wants something done a certain way you better do it that way then you will be blessed. This ties into the concept of clean and unclean foods in that if you eat clean foods you will be holy and aligned with and at peace with YHWH and he may dwell among you, but if you bring abomination before Him you will be consumed. This is why eating and everything we do is important. Just as it says every idle word will come into judgment, so will every item we put in our mouth and every item that comes out. The outside and the inside will be judged and in the end it will not only determine who we are joined to, but it will impact all those who are joined to us. May we cleanse the inside and outside of the cup with precision, fear, and gladness. Shalom!