Pleasing to God. Lev 8:18-25


Leviticus  ויקרא   8:18-21 - Vayikrah  

פרשת צו  Parashat Tzav “Command”


(18)  ויקרב את איל העלה ויסמכו אהרן ובניו את־ידיהם על ראש האיל

Then he brought forward the ram of burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the ram’s head,

(19) וישחט ויזרק משה את־הדם על המזבח סביב

and it was slaughtered. Moses dashed the blood against all sides of the altar.

(20) ואת־האיל נתח לנתחיו ויקטר משה את הראש ואת הנתחים ואת הפדר

The ram was cut up into sections and Moses turned the head, the sections, and the suet into smoke on the altar;

 (21) ואת הקרב ואת־הכרעים רחץ במים ויקטר משה את כל־האיל המזבחה 

Moses washed the entrails and the legs with water and turned all of the ram into smoke. 

עלה הוא לריח ניחח אשה הוא ליהוה כאשר צוה יהוה את־משה

That was a burnt offering for a pleasing fragrance, an offering by fire to יהוה —as יהוה (God) had commanded Moses.


This section of Torah is called “Tzav” - "command", God is telling Moses to command that they do these things.   "Tzav" is the root in the middle of the word "Mitzvah", like "Bar Mitzvah... Son of the Commandment". There are different words for "commandments" in the Torah, a study for another day.


What does God like? In this pos-modern age, where a world view of "multiculturalism" declares that there are not absolute truths and each culture, or every individual can have "their own truth", I have a question:


What Pleases God?


I think the answer will surprise and maybe displease almost everyone.


God likes the fragrance of animal sacrifices


The Esertt haDevarim are the "Ten Commandments" which are both actions AND attitudes of faith.   TZAV, here is the core word for MITZVOT, commandments, as in Bar Mitzvah, a son of the Law and I think it implies things you DO, though others may expand on that. (Fire away, Hebrew scholar friends).


This couple of chapters is about the commandments of how to have a Jewish service.   You know what our service LOOKS like.  We sing, we read from the Torah, we sing some more, and we hear a message, we pray, and of course, have coffee and eat celery sticks afterwards. 😉   


These couple of chapters are the pattern God lays ouf ro what a religious service should look like. In fact it's the FIRST religious service in the Bible.   It’s not like our service or any other Judea Christian service on earth. Why? It’s a system of animal sacrifices. There’s no mention of music.   No "sermon". No celery sticks. Among the essential components, prominently featured, are these four animal sacrifices:   


  • the burnt-offering (olah), 

  • the sin-offering (chatat), 

  • the guilt-offering (asham), 

  • the peace-offering (shelamim).


This portion is about the first type of sacrifice, a ram offered as an OLAH עולה (= goes up) that ascends to God becomes a ...

REYACH NICHOCHA.   ריה ניחוח … A SOOTHING / PLEASANT AROMA.    


Perfumers have use the word "SILLAGE" to describe fragrance of a woman's perfume that lingers in the air after she departs.  THIS REYACH NICHOCHAH is such a fragrance, soothing and pleasant to God, that lingers, and ascends (olah) to God.  It is mentioned TWENTY times in scripture, that’s how important it is.   And the word "nichochah ניחוח"  never means any other type of “pleasant”. it is only about this fragrance of a burnt offering to God.  THATS how important it is to have this fragrance that pleases God as a feature of our coming to Him. 


And there is a surprising tie-in that clarifies a much-quoted New Testament verse by Paul.  


Oooooo How can I be sure my prayers reach God like that, to have Him pleased with our prayers?


The sacrifices we are commanded by God ended.  Why:

  • First, the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, the one place these sacrifices could be made.    

    • Of course, rabbinic Judaism was created to try to practice a faith that is centered around the temple and sacrifices to substitute for the Temple. But face it, the practice of Judaism today would be unrecognizable to Temple-era Jews.  

  • Yeshua the Messiah came and offered HIMSELF as that blood sacrifice for sin, guilt, and peace, an OLAH, a way to ascend and reach God.  


Rav Shaul, Paul, suggested a new way forward.  

… present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,  well-pleasing*** to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1


Sacrifices… washing with water... ***pleasing to God.   Paul knew all about Temple sacrifices.  Of course he was referring to the "reyach nichocha" - the please aroma of sacrifice


Surprisingly, the same approach and a new way forward is suggested in the Haftorah portion for today, Ezekiel 36:24-29.   It also intertwines the future of the Land of Israel, to which the Jews of Lev 8 text were headed,  and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Yeshua himself will brings, that washes us

For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will WASH YOU, sprinkling clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:24-29 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Great Invasion

Image
  The Babylonian Captivity A tragedy of extraordinary proportion At a time when Israel has been invaded and a massacre against her has been perpetrated, it is a good time to revisit one of the great tragedies in Israel's history and God's plan for her restoration.   This Psalm, composer unknown, shows that the Captivity was a stain on the consciousness of the nation for generations.    By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion. Psalms 137:1 Tens of thousands of skilled people were taken prisoner in the first invasion (2 Kings 24:14,) and the second wave was far more violent and extensive in forced deportations.     Many were left behind as vassals.   There has always been a continuous presence of Jews in the Land.  Yet this Tragedy of forced immigration and bloodshed was a gigantic scar on the psyche of the people of Israel There are also similarities to the Oct 7th invasion which I can't help but note. ...
Read more

Shavuot, Sukkot, and the Joyful Widow

  God set the planets on a perfectly balanced course around the sun, establishing the ecosystems of the earth in balance.   When He wants to tell us the story of our salvation, the story is going to be a masterpiece.   The setting, the background, everything a master story teller could compose will be in order.   God makes that story a work of art     If God wants to end the hold of sin over man for eternity, would he just do so on a random day?    Or would He select Passover, when the blood of the sacrificed lamb is put on the doorpost of each person's house, causing death to “pass over” us.  That IS the message of Yeshua’s life on this earth, and being the suffering servant of Isaiah 53:  death passing over.   Several other holidays were specifically chosen to set the stage.     Understanding widows.   The word is “almanah”  אלמנה.  “Widows” in scripture are women.  In fact ha...
Read more

Timeline: The Babyloniian Captivity

  The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, lasted for several decades. Here is a general timeline of the major events: 605 BCE: The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II defeats the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish, establishing Babylonian dominance in the region. 597 BCE: Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem and deports the first wave of Israelite captives, including King Jehoiachin. This marks the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. 586 BCE: Nebuchadnezzar II destroys the city of Jerusalem and the First Temple. Many more Israelites are taken into captivity, and the majority of the population is exiled to Babylon. 562 BCE: Nebuchadnezzar II dies, and his son Amel-Marduk (also called Evil-Merodach) succeeds him as the king of Babylon. 560 BCE: Amel-Marduk is overthrown by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who becomes the new king. 556 BCE: Neriglissar dies, and his young son Labashi-Marduk takes the throne, but his reign is short-lived. 555 BCE: Nabonidus seizes power an...
Read more