Behar/Bechukotai On the Mountain/In My Statutes
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:1- 27:34
What is striking
about this Torah portion is that HaShem tried to speak to the children of
Israel and they were afraid, and from then on it was always through a
mediator. This image sets the seen for a
time to come that another mediator greater than Moshe was to come and also
mediate but in a much larger scale and significant at that. Right through out the time before our
messiah’s revelation to the world a common theme is apparent. Always there is
the first messiah a mediator speaking to the children of Israel, as a shadow of
The Messiah, Moses mediated between YHVH and Israel.
The Torah portion
relates to the mountain and to the statues, what is interesting is that right
from early times of the calling of the chosen people there is a similitude of
mountain to kingdom. In this case we can
look and draw a comparison of Mount Sinai to what was to come the kingdom of
HaShem. He speaks to the children of
Israel, His newly formed kingdom on earth made of chosen people to be a nation
of priests to the nations. From the
mountain HaShem speaks to His willing subjects, as it was expected of this new
kingdom of priests, this priestly nation to speak to the nations i.e. from the
mountain (Israel) to the nations. One
thing is for sure that what is written in Torah is not just a mere recounting
of events, nor is just a historical documentation, which it is, but is far
beyond that. The Torah is more than a
book more than history is a living entity that became flesh. Torah was pointing
to Messiah, and that is how our forefathers attained salvation by grace on
Messiah to come, it continues to point towards Messiah in the past some 2000
years ago and it is how we attain salvation through Messiah for what he did for
us, a redemptive sacrifice.
So what is this Torah
what is its purpose, how do we define Torah?
It is not and has never been a book of laws it is not Law but
instruction, a constitutional document, a covenant or Ketuvah asset of
governmental laws as well a moral guide.
In our western mind
the term Law invokes a set of rules that bind an individual and must be fearful
of the establishment that enforces it. But is this what the Torah all about?,
from the title of this Torah portion it seems so at face value, but if we look
a little deeper we find that it is not the case. Yes there are statues and ordinances, but
this are more than man made laws that we often fear, these are Holy guidances
that empower the individual, to a holy, set apart lifestyle, full of
self-control, honesty benevolence and generosity to our fellow man.
It is from this same
Torah that the Sages of old, drew the Ethics of The Fathers. One just has to look at one of the teachings
of the fathers and we see the Torah permeating through it, “The world stands on
three things: Torah, the service of God, and the deeds of kindness” HaShem
instituted all these things not for the sake of a legalistic life, but rather
as a way of protecting us, if we live in His word and follow His instructions
as a loving and dutiful son/daughter we will find that it is not a legalistic
lifestyle at all but rather a life of relationship with our heavenly Father.
The statutes in this
Torah portion reveal the relationship between one another and to the
relationship towards land possessions on this earth at a specific location on
earth. It also relates to perpetual
commandments established for our benefit, and also the land we live on or
should live on. Not only are we to keep
a Shabbat but also the land is to keep a Shabbat and we are to be the ones
facilitating this. Above all things what
struck me the most and I did not see this until not too long ago, we do not own
land we are stewards of it, in our current mind set that we are victims of, we
buy and sell as we will own material items for the eternity. We are conditioned to live and exchange and
in a way with an arrogant attitude towards the land animals etc. We are mere stewards of these things that we
are entrusted; we only get to use these things that HaShem allow us to interact
with. This is evident from this Torah
portion, where the land is an inheritance it belongs to HaShem, we only allowed
benefiting from the potential of the land and nothing else so long as we work
it and take care of it. We could say
that is a symbiotic relationship, we trust and fellowship with HaShem and the
land is good to us we turn our backs on Him and the land stops being our source
of prosperity.
In our current time
it seems arrogant of the nations trying to divide and redistribute the land of
Israel with those outside the covenant, and amongst themselves, when in reality
it does not belong to them nor to any other living being of this earth but it
belongs to HaShem and to him whom He chooses to entrust, the land is only
permitted to be fruitful to that person. We are to trade to potential of land
but not the land as it always reverts back to the family line that HaShem has
entrusted. In the spiritual realm the
same applies, as those entrusted with revelation of Torah to teach are the ones
that are given the right to share and exchange with others as guided by the
Ruach. Everything that the Torah reveals
has a spiritual and a physical application nothing is in a vacuum, except us in
relation to HaShem if we choose to ignore His guidance His Torah.
This Torah portion is
full of conditional promises, follow my statues and or commandments, and the
land will be fruitful. If we are able to
see that there is life in these words, we would live such fuller lives. The concept of Shabbat years and resting for
a full year sound appealing but are we willing to step out and trust in
HaShem’s promises, and are we willing to live as he teaches us. Another big
commandment is to be generous and care for the destitute if he cannot support
himself. This is a big issue in the
Torah, even Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for not looking after the needy
and destitute, although moral corruption was high, even higher was the
abundance yet the lack of care for the needy and destitute, Ezekiel 16:49: Lo,
this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, arrogance, fullness of
bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of
the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened.
So we come to the
other side of the coin, we often like to dwell on the promises of prosperity
and abundance, however where there are promises of blessings there are also
responsibilities, and here in the Torah the promises are conditional do Tov,
good/functional or do rah, evil/not functional and for rah, the conditional
absence of a blessing is punishment. These we know quite well, our forefathers
failed to hid the warnings sent by HaShem and we still are paying the price we
are dispersed through the diaspora, in foreign countries being aliens amongst
the nations. Leviticus 26:39: Those of you who are left will pine away
in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their
fathers shall they pine away with them. But HaShem is so good that even with
punishment there is also a promise, he will remember the covenant with our
forefathers and He will return us to His land our inheritance, Baruch HaShem
(Blessed be His Name) may it be so in our lifetime. The statutes and
commandments, given in Mt Sinai, in them there is life, in them there is
Messiah, in them is the age to come.
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