Other Laws:
1 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses:
2 Tell all the people of Israel: 'I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos). You must be holy because I am holy.
Separated from the world, the people of God were required to be holy, for His character, His laws, and service were holy. (See 1 Peter 1:15).
3 You must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
keep my sabbaths--The duty of obedience to parents is placed in connection with the proper observance of the Sabbaths, both of them lying at the foundation of practical religion.
4 Do not worship idols or make statues of gods for yourselves. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
5 When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the LORD(Jesus), offer it in such a way that will be accepted.
6 You may eat it the same day you offer it or on the next day. But if any is left on the third day, you must burn it up.
7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is unclean, and it will not be accepted.
8 Anyone who eats it then will be guilty of sin, because he did not respect the holy things that belong to the LORD(Jesus). He must be cut off from the people.
9 When you harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don't harvest all the way to corners of your field, and don't gather the ears of grain left by the harvesters.
10 Likewise, don't pick all the grapes in your vineyards, and don't pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. You must leave those things for poor people and for people traveling through your country. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
The right of the poor in Israel to glean after reapers, as well as to the unreached corners of the field, was secured by a positive statute; and this, in addition to other enactments connected with the ceremonial law, formed a beneficial provision for their support. At the same time, proprietors were not obliged to admit them into the field until the grain had been carried off the field; and they seem also to have been left at liberty to choose the poor whom they deemed the most deserving or needful (Ruth 2:2,8). This was the earliest law for the benefit of the poor that we read of in the code of any people; and it combined in admirable union the obligation of a public duty with the exercise of private and voluntary benevolence at a time when the hearts of the rich would be strongly inclined to liberality. (Jamieson)
11Do not steal from, defraud or lie to each other.
12. Do not swear by my name falsely, which would be profaning the name of your God; I am The LORD(Jesus).
13 You must not cheat your neighbor or rob him. You must not keep a hired worker's salary all night until morning.
14 You must not curse a deaf person or put something in front of a blind person to make him fall. But you must respect your God(Elohim/Theos). I am the LORD(Jesus).
15 Do not be unjust in judging - show neither partiality to the poor nor deference to the mighty, but with justice judge your neighbor.
16 Do not go around spreading slander among your people, but also don't stand idly by when your neighbor's life is at stake; I am the LORD(Jesus).
Meaning of the word for slander is unclear and may mean liar
17 Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbor frankly, so that you won't carry sin because of him.
18 Forget about the wrong things people do to you, and do not try to get even. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the LORD(Jesus).
love thy neighbor as love yourself-- Jesus quoted this. The word "neighbor" is used as synonymous with "fellow creature." The Israelites in a later age restricted its meaning as applicable only to their own countrymen. This narrow interpretation was refuted by our Lord in a beautiful parable (Luke 10:30-37).
19 Obey my laws. You must not mate two different kinds of cattle or sow your field with two different kinds of seed. You must not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material mixed together.
This also was directed against an idolatrous practice, namely, that of the ancient Zabians, or fire- worshippers, who sowed different seeds, accompanying the act with magical rites and invocations; and commentators have generally thought the design of this and the preceding law was to put an end to the unnatural lusts and foolish superstitions which were prevalent among the heathen. But the reason of the prohibition was probably deeper: for those who have studied the diseases of land and vegetables tell us, that the practice of mingling seeds is injurious both to flowers and to grains. "If the various genera of the natural order Gramineæ, which includes the grains and the grasses, should be sown in the same field, and flower at the same time, so that the pollen of the two flowers mix, a spurious seed will be the consequence, called by the farmers chess. It is always inferior and unlike either of the two grains that produced it, in size, flavor, and nutritious principles. Independently of contributing to disease the soil, they never fail to produce the same in animals and men that feed on them" [WHITLAW].
Although this precept, like the other two with which it is associated, was in all probability designed to root out some superstition, it seems to have had a further meaning. The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that "wool, when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister" [WHITLAW]. (See Ezekiel 44:17,18).
20 If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave intended for another man, and she has neither been redeemed nor given her freedom, there is to be an investigation. They are not to be put to death, because she was not free.
21 In reparation he is to bring a ram as a guilt offering for himself to the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation (church)
22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of guilt offering before the LORD(Jesus) for his sin that he committed; and the sin he committed shall be forgiven him.
23 When you enter the land and plant various kinds of fruit trees, you are to regard its fruit as forbidden - for three years it will be forbidden to you and not eaten.
24 In the fourth year the fruit from the tree will be the LORD(Jesus)'s, a holy offering of praise to him.
25 Then in the fifth year, you may eat the fruit from the tree. The tree will then produce more fruit for you. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
26 You must not eat anything with the blood in it. You must not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.
27 You must not cut the hair on the sides of your heads or cut the edges of your beard.
28 Don't cut gashes in your flesh when someone dies or tattoo yourselves; I am the LORD(Jesus).
tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It it probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden, for they were signs of apostasy; and, when once made, they were insuperable obstacles to a return. (See allusions to the practice, Isaiah 44:5, Revelation 13:17, 14:1).
29 Do not dishonor your daughter by making her become a prostitute. If you do this, the country will be filled with all kinds of sin.
30 Keep my Sabbaths, and revere my Most Holy Place. I am the LORD(Jesus).
31 Do not go to mediums or fortune-tellers for advice, or you will become unclean. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It was applied in the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who pretended to have communication with the invisible world. The Hebrews were strictly forbidden to consult them as the vain but high pretensions of those impostors were derogatory to the honor of God and subversive of their covenant relations with Him as His people.
neither seek after wizards--fortunetellers, who pretended, as the Hebrew word indicates, to prognosticate by palmistry (or an inspection of the lines of the hand) the future fate of those who applied to them. (Jamieson)
32 Stand up in the presence of a person with gray hair, show respect for the old; you are to fear your God(Elohim/Theos). I am the LORD(Jesus).
33 Do not mistreat foreigners living in your country,
34 but treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
35 Do not cheat when you measure the length or weight or amount of something.
36 Rather, use an honest balance-scale, honest weights, an honest bushel dry-measure and an honest gallon liquid-measure; I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos). I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them: I am the LORD(Jesus).
I am the Lord--This solemn admonition, by which these various precepts are repeatedly sanctioned, is equivalent to "I, your Creator—am your Deliverer from bondage, and your Sovereign God and Savior! This is Jesus who has establish these laws-- and did not abolish them! (Matt 5), He has the power to punish the violation of them." It was well fitted to impress the minds of the Israelites with a sense of their duty and God's claims to obedience.
laws. - There are some ceremonial precepts in this chapter, but most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are explanations of the ten commandments. It is required that Israel be a holy people, because the God of Israel is a holy God. To teach real separation from the world and the flesh, and entire devotedness to God. This is now the law of Christ; may the Lord bring every thought within us into obedience to it! Children are to be obedient to their parents,Turn not from the true God to false ones, from the God who will make you holy and happy, to those that will deceive you, and make you for ever miserable. Turn not your eyes to them, much less your heart. They should leave the gleanings of their harvest and vintage for the poor. For Christians to have their fortunes told, to use spells and charms, or the like, is a sad affront to God. They must be grossly ignorant who ask, What harm is there in these things? Here is a charge to young people to show respect to the aged, ver. 32. Religion teaches good manners, and obliges us to honour those to whom honour is due. A charge was given to the Israelites to be very tender of strangers, ver. 33. Strangers, and the widows and fatherless, are God's particular care. It is at our peril, if we do them any wrong. Strangers shall be welcome to God's grace; we should do what we can to recommend religion to them. Justice in weights and measures is commanded, ver. 35. We must make conscience of obeying God's precepts. We are not to pick and choose our duty, but must aim at standing complete in all the will of God. And the nearer our lives and tempers are to the precepts of God's law, the happier shall we be, and the happier shall we make all around us, and the better shall we adorn the gospel. (Matthew Henry)
Leviticus 20 “and He called” 20
1 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Say to the people these things: If a person in your country gives one of his children to Molech, that person must be killed. It doesn't matter if he is a citizen or a foreigner living in Israel; you must throw stones at him and kill him. (Matthew 21:44, Acts 7:58).
3 I will be against him and excommunicate that person from his people, because he gave his children to Molech. He showed that he did not respect my holy name, and he made my Holy Place unclean.
4 If the people of the land look the other way when that man sacrifices his child to Molech and fail to put him to death,
5 But I will be against him and his family, and I will cut him off from his people. I will do this to anyone who follows him in being unfaithful to me by worshiping Molech.
6 I will be against anyone who goes to mediums and fortune-tellers for advice, because that person is being like a prostitute to me. So I will cut them off from the people.
7 Be my holy people. Be holy because I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
8 Keep my laws. I am the LORD(Jesus), and I have made you holy.
9 Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother, so he has brought his own death on himself.
Punishments for Sex Sins
10 If a man has sexual relations with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery and must be put to death.
11 If a man has sexual relations with his father's wife, he has shamed his father, and both the man and his father's wife must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
12 If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is not natural. They have brought their own deaths on themselves.
13 If a man has sexual relations with another man as a man does with a woman, these two men have done a hateful sin. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
14 If a man has sexual relations with both a woman and her mother, this is evil. The people must burn that man and the two women in fire so that your people will not be evil.
15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal as well.
16 If a woman approaches an animal and has sexual relations with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
17 If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees has sex with her, and she also has sex with her brother, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people; he has uncovered had sex with his sister, he shall be subject to punishment.
Notice this is not a capital crime! Important when it comes to David's son and daughter later on. Also, notice this is a post Sinai regulation.
18 If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, both the woman and the man must be cut off from their people. They sinned because they showed the source of her blood.
19 Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister or your father's sister, because that would shame a close relative. Both of you are guilty of this sin.
20 If a man has sex with his uncle's wife, he has disgraced his uncle sexually; they will bear the consequences of their sin and die childless.
21 If a man takes his brother's wife, it is uncleanness; he has disgraced his brother sexually; they will be childless.
22 Remember all my regulations and rulings and act on them, so that the land to which I am bringing you will not vomit you out.
23 Do not live by the regulations of the nation which I am expelling ahead of you; because they did all these things, which is why I detested them.
24 I have said that you will inherit their land, which I will give to you as your very own; it is a fertile land,m flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), and I have separated you from other people and made you my own.
25 Therefore you are to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and between clean and unclean birds; do not make yourselves detestable with an animal, bird or reptile that I have set apart for you to regard as unclean.
26 So you must be holy to me because I, the LORD(Jesus), am holy, and I have set you apart from other people so that you can belong to me.
27 Any man or woman who is a medium or a fortune-teller must be put to death. You must stone them to death; they have brought it on themselves.
Leviticus 21 “and He called” 21
Rules for Priests
1 The LORD(Jesus) said to Moses:
Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,
2 except for his nearest relative: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother;
3 he may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister who has never married and is therefore dependent on him.
4 He may not make himself unclean, because he is a leader among his people; doing so would make him unclean.
5 Priests must not shave their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies.
This is what Catholic priests do shave moon shaped bald spots on their heads. This is a Babylonian ritual!
6 They must be holy to their God(Elohim/Theos) and show respect for the name of God(Elohim/Theos), because they present the offerings made by fire to the LORD(Jesus), which is the food of their God(Elohim/Theos). So they must be holy.
7 A priest is not to marry a woman who is a prostitute, who has been profaned or who has been divorced; because he is holy for his God(Elohim/Theos).
8 Rather, you are to set him apart as holy, because he offers the bread of your God(Elohim/Theos). Think of him as holy; I am the LORD(Jesus) who makes you holy, and I am holy.
9 If a priest's daughter makes herself unclean by becoming a prostitute, she shames her father. She must be burned with fire.
10 The high priest, who was chosen from among his brothers, had the special olive oil poured on his head. He was also appointed to wear the priestly clothes. So he must not allow his hair go uncombed or tear his clothes.
The High Priest tore his robes in front of Christ! He broke the Law.
11 He must not go into a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even if it is for his own father or mother.
12 The high priest must not go out of the Holy Place of God(Elohim/Theos), because if he does and becomes unclean, he will make it unclean. The special oil of God (Elohim/Theos) used in appointing priests was poured on his head to separate him from the rest of the people. I am the LORD(Jesus).
13 He [the High Priest]must marry a woman who is a virgin.
14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute. He must marry a virgin from his own people
15 so the people will respect his children as his own. I am the LORD(Jesus). I have set the high priest apart for his special job.
10-15. he that is the high priest among his brethren . . . shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes--The indulgence in the excepted cases of family bereavement, mentioned above [Leviticus 21:2,3], which was granted to the common priests, was denied to him; for his absence from the sanctuary for the removal of any contracted defilement could not have been dispensed with, neither could he have acted as intercessor for the people, unless ceremonially clean. Moreover, the high dignity of his office demanded a corresponding superiority in personal holiness, and stringent rules were prescribed for the purpose of upholding the suitable dignity of his station and family. The same rules are extended to the families of Christian ministers (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6). (Jamieson)
16 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:
17 Tell Aaron: 'If any of your descendants have something wrong with them, they must never come near to offer the special food of their God(Elohim/Theos).
18 Anyone who has something wrong with him must not come near: blind men, crippled men, men with damaged faces, deformed men,
19 a broken foot or a broken arm,
20 hunchbacks, dwarfs, men who have something wrong with their eyes, men who have an itching disease or a skin disease, or men who have damaged sex testicles.
21 No descendant of Aaron can have something wrong with him, he cannot come near to make the offerings made by fire to the LORD(Jesus). He has something wrong with him; he cannot offer the food of his God(Elohim/Theos).
22 He may eat food of his God (Elohim/Theos) and also any holy food.
23 But he may not go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place, and he may not go near the altar, because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my Holy Place unfit. I am the LORD(Jesus) who makes these places holy.
24 So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron's sons, and all the people of Israel.
As visible things exert a strong influence on the minds of men, any physical infirmity or malformation of body in the ministers of religion, which disturbs the associations or excites ridicule, tends to detract from the weight and authority of the sacred office. Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred office. In all these regulations for preserving the unsullied purity of the sacred character and office, there was a typical reference to the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7:26). (Jamieson)
Leviticus 22 “and He called” 22
1 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Direct Aaron and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the people of Israel which they set apart as holy for me, so that they will not profane my holy name; I am the LORD(Jesus).
"To separate" means, in the language of the Mosaic ritual, "to abstain"; and therefore the import of this injunction is that the priests should abstain from eating that part of the sacrifices which, though belonging to their order, was to be partaken of only by such of them as were free from legal impurities.
3 Tell them: 'If any one of your descendants from now on is unclean and comes near the offerings that the Israelites made holy for me, that person must be cut off from appearing before me. I am the LORD(Jesus).
4 If one of Aaron's descendants has a harmful skin disease, or if he discharges a body fluid, he cannot eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. He could also become unclean from touching a dead body, from his own seminal emission,
5 or who has touched a reptile or insect that can make him unclean, or a man who is unclean for any reason and who can transmit to him his uncleanness
6 the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening. That person must not eat the holy offerings unless he washes with water.
7 He will be clean only after the sunset. Then he may eat the holy things; the offerings are his food.
8 But he is not to eat anything that dies naturally or is torn to death by wild animals and thereby make himself unclean; I am the LORD(Jesus).
9 They shall keep my laws that I have given, so they will not become guilty. Be careful, and they will not die. I am the LORD(Jesus) who has made them holy.
10 Only people in a priest's family may eat the holy offering. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker cannot eat it.
11 But if the priest acquires a slave in a purchase, that slave may eat the holy offerings; slaves who were born in his house may also eat his food.
12 If a priest's daughter marries someone who is not a priest, she must not eat any of the holy offerings.
13 But if the priest's daughter becomes widowed or divorced, with no children to support her, and if she goes back to her father's house where she lived as a child, she may eat some of her father's food. But only people from a priest's family may eat this food.
14 If a person eats holy food by mistake, he must add one-fifth to it and give the holy food to the priest.
15 No one shall profane the sacred donations of the people of Israel, which they offer to the LORD(Jesus),
16 causing them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their sacred donations: for I am the LORD(Jesus); I will make them holy.'
17 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:
18 Tell Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel: 'A citizen of Israel or a foreigner living in Israel might want to bring a whole burnt offering, either for a vow he has made or for a special offering he wants to give to the LORD(Jesus).
19 If he does, he must bring a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep or the goats; so it might be accepted for him.
20 He must not bring anything that has a blemish, because it will not be accepted from you.
21 If someone brings a fellowship offering to the LORD(Jesus), either as payment for a vow the person has made or as a special offering the person wants to give the LORD(Jesus), it might be from the herd or from the flock. It must be healthy, without blemish, so that it will be accepted.
22 You must not offer to the LORD(Jesus) anything that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, that has running sores or any sort of skin disease. You must not offer any animals like these on the altar as an offering by fire to the LORD(Jesus).
23 If an ox or lamb is smaller than normal or is not perfectly formed, you may give it as a special gift to the LORD(Jesus); it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a vow that you have made.
24 An animal with bruised, crushed, torn or cut genitals you are not to offer to the LORD(Jesus). You are not to do these things in your land,
25 and you must not take such animals from foreigners as sacrifices to the LORD(Jesus). Because the animals have been hurt in some way and have something wrong with them, they will not be accepted for you.'
26 The LORD(Jesus) also said to Moses:
27 When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must stay seven days with its mother. But from the eighth day on, this animal will be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to the LORD(Jesus).
28 However, no animal is to be slaughtered together with its young on the same day, neither cow nor young lamb.
29 If you want to offer some Thanksgiving offering to the LORD(Jesus), you must do it in a way that he finds acceptable.
30 It must be eaten on the same day and not leave any of the meat for the next morning. I am the LORD(Jesus).
31 Remember my commandments and obey them; I am the LORD(Jesus).
32 You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel: I am the LORD(Jesus), who has made you holy.
33 I am He who brought you out of Egypt to be your God(Elohim/Theos). I am the LORD(Jesus).
Laws concerning the priests and sacrifices. - In this chapter we have divers laws concerning the priests and sacrifices, all for preserving the honour of the sanctuary. Let us recollect with gratitude that our great High Priest cannot be hindered by any thing from the discharge of his office. Let us also remember, that the Lord requires us to reverence his name, his truths, his ordinances, and commandments. Let us beware of hypocrisy, and examine ourselves concerning our sinful defilements, seeking to be purified from them in the blood of Christ, and by his sanctifying Spirit. Whoever attempts to expiate his own sin, or draws near in the pride of self-righteousness, puts as great an affront on Christ, as he who comes to the Lord's table from the gratification of sinful lusts. Nor can the minister who loves the souls of the people, suffer them to continue in this dangerous delusion. He must call upon them, not only to repent of their sins, and forsake them; but to put their whole trust in the atonement of Christ, by faith in his name, for pardon and acceptance with God; thus only will the Lord make them holy, as his own people. (Matthew Henry)
Leviticus 23 “and He called” 23
The Annual Feasts or Holy Days of God
A Christian cannot fully understand the plan of God and Christ's early mission without understand the Holy Days! These annual festivals, when understood, makes clear the entire plan of salvation that God has planned for us. Pagan days like Christmas, Easter or Halloween simply hide the truth of God and Christ Jesus. See note on annual Holy days at end of Leviticus
1And the LORD(Jesus) spoke unto Moses, saying:
2 'You will announce the LORD'S(Yahweh) appointed feasts[holy days] as holy assemblies. These are my special feasts.
Sabbath:
3 Work is to be done on six days; but the seventh day is a Sabbath [of complete rest], hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any kind of work; it is a Sabbath for the LORD(Jesus) in all your homes.
4 These are the appointed feasts of the LORD(Jesus), the holy meetings, which you shall announce before their proper dates.
Passover:
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the LORD's(Yahweh) Passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread[Matzoh] to the LORD(Jesus); seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
7 On the first day you shall hold a holy sacred assembly; don't do any kind of ordinary work.
8 For seven days you shall present burnt offerings to the LORD(Jesus). On the seventh day is a holy sacred assembly; don't do any kind of ordinary work.
9And the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses:
10 Tell the people of Israel: 'You will enter the land I will give you and gather its harvest. At that time you must bring the first bundle of grain from your harvest to the priest
First-fruits:
11 On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the LORD(Jesus) so it may be accepted on your behalf.
First-fruits falls on the twenty second day of the first month. It is the eighth day of Passover and yet another feast when bread with yeast may be eaten. It is from this day and not from Passover, that the count to Pentecost begins.
12 That same day you must sacrifice a year-old male lamb with no physical defects as a whole burnt offering to the LORD(Jesus).
13 A grain offering must go with it consisting of three quarts of choice flour mixed with olive oil. It will be an offering given to the LORD(Jesus) by fire, and it will be very pleasing to him. Along with this sacrifice, you must also offer one quart of wine as a drink offering.
14 You are not to eat bread, dried grain or fresh grain until the day you bring the offering for your God(Elohim/Theos); this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.
Feast of Weeks also known as Pentecost
15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day the bundle of grain was lifted up as an offering, count off seven weeks.
The seven weeks plus a day equals fifty days to the FEAST OF WEEKS which is known as Pentecost, which is Greek for fiftieth.
16 Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later, and bring an offering of new grain to the LORD(Jesus).
17 You must bring bread from your homes for waving-two loaves made with one gallon of fine flour, baked with leaven -as firstfruits for the LORD(Jesus).
18 Along with the bread, present seven lambs without defect one year old, one young bull and two rams; these will be a burnt offering for the LORD(Jesus), with their grain and drink offerings, an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for the LORD(Jesus).
19 Offer one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs one year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 The priest will lift up these offerings before the LORD(Jesus), together with the loaves representing the first of your later crops. These offerings are holy to the LORD(Jesus) and will belong to the priests.
21 That same day, you must stop all your regular work and gather for a sacred assembly. This is a everlasting law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live.
NO WORK ON PENTECOST
22 When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I, the LORD(Jesus) am your God(Elohim/Theos).'
23 And the LORD(Jesus) spoke unto Moses:
Feast of Trumpets: (also see Ezra-Nehemiah: Neh 8:9)
A festive time!
24 Tell this to the Israelites: 'On the appointed day in early autumn, you are to celebrate a day of complete rest. All your work must stop on that day. You will call the people to a sacred assembly--the Festival of Trumpets--with loud blasts from a trumpet.
On the first day of the seventh[holy] month is a special Sabbath called the feast of Trumpets. Trumpets means “sounding the alarm” and is a foreshadow of the beginning of the Tribulation. When you see trumpets, think NEWSCASTER!
25 You must not do regular work on that day. Instead, you are to present offerings to the LORD(Jesus) by fire.'
26 And the LORD(Jesus) spoke unto Moses, saying:
The Day of Atonement:
27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy sacred assembly for you; and you shall deny yourselves(fast), and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD(Jesus).
Deny yourself has always been taken as to fast. It can also mean, as I believe to deny yourselves any pleasures on the day including sex, or anything you normally like to do.
28 You are not to do any kind of work on that day, because it is Yom-Kippur(Day of Atonement), to make atonement for you before the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
29 Anyone who does not deny himself on that day is to be cut off from his people;
30 and anyone who does any kind of work on that day, I will destroy from among his people.
31 You are not to do any kind of work; it is an everlasting law through all your generations, no matter where you live.
32 This will be a Sabbath day of total rest for you, and on that day you must humble yourselves. This time of rest and fasting will begin the evening before the Day of Atonement and extend until evening of that day.
From the evening of the ninth until the evening of the day. The day begins at dawn
33And the LORD(Jesus) spoke unto Moses, saying:
The Feast of Tabernacles or Shelters or Booths or Tents!
34 Tell the Israelites to begin the Festival of Tabernacles on the fifth[15th day of the month] day after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the LORD(Jesus) will last for seven days.
Hebrew word Succoth meaning temporary tents
The Bible tells us that Jesus Tabernacled with us! See (2 Corinthians 4:6, 7).
35 On the first day shall be a holy sacred assembly; you shall do no regular work.
The Last Great 8th Day:
36 On each of the seven feast days, you must present offerings to the LORD(Jesus) by fire. On the eighth day, you must gather again for a sacred assembly and present another offering to the LORD(Jesus) by fire. This will be a solemn closing assembly, and no regular work may be done that day.
“closing assembly” the final time the entire church meets before the feast ends
37 These are the LORD's(Yahweh) appointed annual feasts. Celebrate them by gathering in sacred assemblies to present all the various offerings to the LORD(Jesus) by fire--whole burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrificial meals and drink offerings--each on their proper date.
38 These festivals must be observed in addition to the LORD's(Yahweh) regular Sabbath days. And these offerings must be given in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you make to accompany your vows, and any freewill offerings that you present to the LORD(Jesus).
These are Special HIGH Sabbaths talked about in the Gospel of John, misunderstood by most.
39 Now, on the first day of the Feast of tabernacles, after you have harvested all the produce of the land, you will begin to celebrate this seven-day festival to the LORD(Jesus). Remember that the first day and closing eighth day of the festival will be Sabbath days of total rest.
40 On the first day you are to take choice [citrus/sweet]fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate in the presence of the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) for seven days.
41 You must observe this seven-day festival to the LORD(Jesus) every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations.
42 During the seven festival days, all of you who are Israelites by birth must live in temporary tents[lodging].
43 This will remind each new generation of Israelites that their ancestors had to live in tents when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I, the LORD(Jesus) am your God(Elohim/Theos).'
44 So Moses gave these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the LORD(Jesus) to the Israelites.
See notes at end of Leviticus on Feasts of the LORD.
Leviticus 24 “and He called” 24
1 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses:
2 Order the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.
3 Aaron shall set it up in the Holy Tent, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the LORD(Jesus) regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
4 Aaron and the priests must tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand continually in the LORD(Jesus)’s presence.
5 You are to take fine flour and use it to bake twelve loaves, one gallon per loaf.
6 Place the bread before the LORD(Jesus) on the pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two rows, with six loaves in each row.
This is called shewbread, the bread that david ate.
7 Put some pure frankincense near each row to serve as a representative offering, a special gift presented to the LORD(Jesus).
8 Every Sabbath day this bread must arranged before the LORD(Jesus). The bread is to be from the people of Israel as a requirement of the eternal covenant.
9 The loaves of bread will belong to Aaron and his descendants, who must eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy. It is the permanent right of the priests to claim this portion of the special gifts presented to the LORD(Jesus).
10 A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the people of Israel; and the Israelite woman's son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp.
11 During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of the LORD(Jesus) with a curse. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.
12 They kept the man in custody until the LORD(Jesus)’s will in the matter should become clear to them.
13 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses:
14 Take the man who cursed outside the camp, have everyone who heard him lay their hands on his head, and have the entire community stone him to death.
15 Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God(Elohim/Theos) will be punished for their sin.
16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD(Jesus) must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the name of the LORD(Jesus) must be put to death.
17 Anyone who murders a human being shall be put to death.
18 Anyone who murders another person’s animal must pay for it in full—a live animal for the animal that was killed.
19 If someone injures his neighbor, what he did is to be done to him,
20 break for break, eye for eye, tooth for tooth -whatever injury he has caused the other person is to be rendered to him in return.
The Eye for an Eye line!
21 He who kills an animal is to make restitution, but he who murders another person is to be put to death.
22 You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).”
ONE LAW FOR ALL!
23 After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did just as the LORD(Jesus) had commanded Moses.
Leviticus 25 “and He called” 25
Forward on Sabbath Years and Years of Jubilee
Not only is there a weekly Sabbath, there is an annual Sabbath every seven years, and every fifty years there is a Jubilee Sabbath. Let us take a look at the Jubilee and Sabbatical Years.
The Ministry of Jesus Christ and Jubilee./ Isaiah 61:1-11 compares the Millennium with the Sabbatical or Jubilee years. See also Isaiah 58:6. In Luke 4:16-21, the Savior began His ministry by preaching a "Jubilee" message. Although some have erroneously said that this sermon was on Pentecost as claimed by proponents of the "Sabbaton Theory," the Jubilee message, and not a Pentecost message, was clearly given. Since Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement, it is most likely the Sabbath on which this message was given, was Atonement, and not Pentecost. True liberty can only be had by accepting our Savior as Master and Lord. Since it is likely that Jesus gave this sermon in A.D. 27 some have concluded thereby that A.D. 27 was a Jubilee year.
Cast in the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is a part of the Jubilee call: " . . . Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." On July 8th, 1776, the bell rang out summoning the people to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Our nation did not obey the Law of Jubilee, and about fifty years after the War of Independence, the bell cracked and has not been rung since! Periodic depressions have occurred about every fifty years -- from The Digest of Divine Law, pages 109-110
In Josephus' book, Antiquities of the Jews, 3:12:3, he describes Biblical laws relative to the Sabbatical year and Jubilee. Antiochus besieged Judas Maccabeus and the Temple during a Sabbatical year, 12:9:5. During the war between Ptolomy and Hyercanus, it was a sabbatical year, 13:8:1. Taxes were not paid to Caesar during the seventh year, 14:10:6. In 15:1:2, Josephus says when Herod the Great plundered the wealthy and even robbed the dead for silver and gold to give to Anthony, that it was a Sabbatical year. In the thirteenth year of Herod the Great, there was a great famine and pestilence (15:9:1). In Whiston's footnotes to Josephus, he says this famine was worse than the famine of the days of Ahab, and even worse than the days of Jacob, and that this was a Sabbatical or Jubilee year.
The significance of the Sabbatical and Jubilee year is not limited to the rest of the land and rejuvenation of the soil. It is to remind us, as does the weekly Sabbath, that the Eternal is the Creator. Just as it took faith for Israelites not to farm on the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, so today it takes faith to trust Him for sustenance. Man is not the sole owner of the soil, and he does not hold property in perpetuity but only under the Almighty's trust, Leviticus 25:23. We own nothing by inherent right, for like the children of Israel, we were slaves in spiritual "Egypt," Deuteronomy 15:15. Out of gratitude to the Eternal for our liberation, we must extend liberty to our debtors and servants.
The word translated "release" in Deuteronomy 15:1 can also mean "dropping." The seventh year is a year of dropping, or cancellation, of debts. What better time than the seventh year to settle old scores with people, to "bury the hatchet." We were on spiritual death row, waiting for execution in the lake of fire. Then, the Almighty in His great mercy, called us and forgave us. Through His Son the Messiah, all charges were dropped against us. This should be a cause for rejoicing.
If our nation observed the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, it would be tremendously blessed, instead of cursed like it is now. There would be no crushing debt nor an imbalance of the very rich and the very poor. Land values would be relatively stable, and inflation and depressions would not occur. The Law of God would be taught in detail every seventh year, which would result in good government and prosperity. But we will have to wait for the millennium for the good results of national obedience to the Almighty's laws.
According to William Whiston's footnotes to Josephus, 24 B.C. was a Sabbatical year, and 23 B.C. was a Jubilee year. This would mean that A.D. 27 was a Sabbatical year, and A.D. 28 was a Jubilee year. If this is true, then 1977 was a Sabbatical year and 1978 a Jubilee year. Sabbatical years would occur in 1985, 1992, 1999, 2006, 2013, 2020 and 2027, with the next Jubilee in 2028. I am not certain if these dates are real or not, but they give the reader a starting point to consider both when our years will possibly be, and maybe a real clue to the year of the death of Jesus. We do know that he announced His ministry in a Jubilee year. A note to my family, I find 1977 and 1978 significant, as that was the timeframe of my conversion to the real God. I came to know God was real in October of 1978 and struggled with Him through much of 1978-79, and was baptized in Jeckell Island Ga. During the Feast (GTA's dates) in 1979.
The Jews today are in confusion as to Sabbatical years and Jubilee years. True fifty-year Jubilee years were only counted during Temple times. Some Jews believe that every 15th and 65th years of the world era are Jubilee years. Thus, 1955 and 2005 would be Jubilee years. And 1976 and 1983 would have been Sabbatical years. The year A.D. 1979 equals 5739 A.M. (anno mundi, year of the world, Jewish year computation) or 3,760 years difference. However, Sabbatical years are counted from 3829 A.M. on, the year of the destruction of the Second Temple which was a Sabbatical year (A.D. 69). Whiston's schedule would have A.D. 70 as a Sabbatical year. This means that the Jewish shemittah is every seventh year, without a separate 50th year. The year 1980 would be a seventh year (5740 divides evenly by 7).
Why are the Jews confused? Because they did not obey God. They admit that when the First Temple stood, full fifty-year cycles were used. The next year after the Jubilee was the first year of the next fifty-year cycle of seven seven-year cycles. Because the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were exiled, tradition says, the Jubilee was no longer in effect, because it was for " . . . all the inhabitants thereof," Leviticus 25:10. The Jubilees were not properly calculated, and a 49-year cycle was instituted where the "Jubilee" year was also the beginning year of the next seven year cycle. Jubilee is counted by the Jews exactly as they count Pentecost. Hence, Jews observe Sivan 6 as Pentecost (see Encyclopedia Judaica, article "Sabbatical Year and Jubilee," pages 579-580).
Around 153-105 B.C., an apocryphal book, the Book of Jubilees, was written. It divides the history of the world into "Jubilees" of 49-year periods, seven weeks of years. The biblical idea of the Jubilee year, the 50th year following the seven weeks of years (Leviticus 25:8-12) is ignored. Thus, the Jews accepted this erroneous idea and are confused as to the true Jubilee. As the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1962), article "Jubilee, Year of," admits, the so-called Book of Jubilees completely disregards the original and true Jubilee Year. Yet Jews believe the Son of David will come on the last Jubilee. "The precept of the Jubilee is often regarded as one of the basic precepts of the Torah! There are seven basic precepts: offerings, tithes, shemittot, Jubilees, circumcision, honor of father and mother, and study of the Torah (Judaica, page 582)."
An article written by an unknown Radio Church of God author in the 1950's agrees with the Jewish concept, that Jubilee years cannot be kept, because upon the Jews' return from captivity, there was no divinely appointed inheritance. Jews were living on land of other tribes which never returned from captivity. The article states that Jeremiah 34:1, 8-16, shows that October 586 B.C. to October 585 was a Sabbatical year. The author states that the seven-year cycles were observed after the return, with no intervening 50th Jubilee year. The year A.D. 69 was said to be a seventh year. And 1952, 1959, 1966, 1973, 1980, 1987, 1994 and 2001 were thought to be Sabbatical years. You can examine various sources, and see that there are different ideas of when the Sabbatical and Jubilee years occur.
When is the Jubilee year? When is the Sabbatical year? The issue is of major importance. Israel went into captivity for not obeying this law. This is a major area Herbert W. Armstrong never understood. Neither do we understand when we are to begin the Jubilee count. If God will send modern Israel into captivity for the same reason as ancient Israel, knowledge must be increased, and Israel must be warned, Amos 3:7, Daniel 12:4, John 7:17. We look forward to the time when we will understand, and witness the fulfillment, of the Land Sabbath and Jubilee year.
The Sabbath Year
1 While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord spoke to him:
2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: 'When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the LORD(Jesus).
3 For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops,
4 but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the LORD's(Yahweh) Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year.
5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land.
6 But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you.
7 Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.
The Year of Jubilee
8 You are to count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all.
9 Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land.
10 And you shall make holy the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.
These words: “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” are on the Liberty Bell!
11 This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines.
This is the year of debt cancellation, the same year Christ came to cancel all debts. Will it also be on a Jubilee year that he returns? The answer seems to be yes. He is coming at the last trump, that same trump that blows on the Day of Atonement during the Jubilee Year! A special Day of Atonement!
12 It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own.
13 In this year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property.
14 When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another.
15 When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee.
16 The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests.
17 Show your fear of God(Elohim/Theos) by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
18 If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations.
19 Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.
20 But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’
21 Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years.
22 When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.
23 The land is not to be sold in perpetuity, because the land belongs to me -you are only foreigners and temporary residents with me.
24 Therefore, when you sell your property, you must include the right of redemption.
25 That is, if one of you becomes poor and sells some of his property, his next-of-kin can come and buy back what his relative sold.
26 If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back,
27 he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land.
28 But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.
29 If anyone sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back.
30 But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
31 But a house in a village—a settlement without fortified walls—will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall forever have the right of redemption of the houses in the cities belonging to them.
33 And any property that is sold by the Levites—all houses within the Levitical towns—must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.
34 The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.
35 If a member of your people has become poor, so that he can't support himself among you, you are to assist him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue living with you.
36 Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God(Elohim/Theos) by letting him live with you as your relative.
37 Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him.
38 I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God(Elohim/Theos).
39 If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you are not to make them serve as slaves.
40 Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.
41 At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors.
42 The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves.
43 Show your respect for God by not treating them harshly.
44 Concerning the men and women you may have as slaves: you are to buy men- and women-slaves from the nations surrounding you.
45 You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property,
46 passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.
47 If resident aliens among you prosper, and if any of your kin fall into difficulty with one of them and sell themselves to an alien, or to a branch of the alien's family,
48 they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother,
49 an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back. They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered.
50 They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next Year of Jubilee—whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time.
51 If many years remain, according to them will he refund the amount for his redemption from the amount he was bought for.
52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption.
53 The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly.
54 If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time.
55 For the people of Israel belong to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
Jubilees is all about forgiveness of debt, in our case, our debt is our sin! Jesus paid for our debt on the cross and now we belong to Him. When he returns, He sets all free from their bonds. A special Jubilee for all mankind!
Leviticus 26 “and He called” 26
Blessings for Obedience (also see notes in Deuteronomy 28)
Blessings for Obedience (also see notes in Deuteronomy 28)
Forward: This chapter is for ISRAEL. This is for Great Britain, and The United States of America for today as much as it was in the days of Moses! This is our message. These are our warnings and blessings!
1 Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).
2 Keep my Sabbaths, and revere my sanctuary; I am the LORD(Jesus).
Blessing for obedience:
3 If you follow my statutes and keep my Commandments and observe them faithfully,
4 I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.
5 Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.
6 I will grant you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.
What a perfect picture of the USA in the 1850'5-1950's!
7 In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.
Until Vietnam, we didn't lose a war!
8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.
9 I will turn toward you, make you productive, increase your numbers and uphold my covenant with you.
10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!
I remember as a child reading the World Book Encyclopedia and looking at the vast stores of grains in warehouses the size of little cities! We were the food basket to the entire world!
11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you.
God has been with us! He was welcomed by our fathers before us and it is God, and not our form of government that has made us so rich and the envy of the world!
12 I will walk among you; I will be your God(Elohim/Theos), and you will be my people.
God has walked with us! He has been here! He can walk with you today! Be His friend, obey Him and he will walk with you too!
13 I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.
Punishments for Disobedience
This has been our fate now for almost 50 years! We have forgotten our God and GOD's LAWS, and we are reaping our reward for it... Read that “reward” below.
14 However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,
15 and if you break my covenant by rejecting my statutes and treat my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my Commandments,
16 I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your alien enemies will eat them.
17 I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!
Like President Obama and others to come, plus the Liberal Left who hates us! They despise who we really are! Now these, our enemies are ruling over us!
18 And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.
SEVEN TIMES = 7 times a time (a year) or 7 X 360 = 2520 years!
19 I will break the pride you have in your own power by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.
20 All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.
Famine coming to the USA!
21 If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.
22 I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.
23 And if, in spite of all this, you refuse my correction and still go against me;
24 then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.
25 I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.
The invasion by our enemies in our own soil! Like 9-11
26 I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.
27 If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,
28 then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.
29 Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
Cannibalism
30 I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.
31 I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.
32 Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.
Even our enemies will be shocked!
33 I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.
Our fate is that we will be overtaken by our aliens living among us and selling us into slavery, winding up in other foreign lands.
34 Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.
35 Yes, as long as it lies desolate it will have rest, the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths, when you lived there.
36 As for those of you who are left, I will fill their hearts with anxiety in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will frighten them, so that they will flee as one flees from the sword and fall when no one is pursuing.
PANIC ATTACKS.. Mass panic attacks will be caused by TERRORISM! Terrorism = panic!
37 Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.
38 You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.
39 Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies’ lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
We will be captives, probably Europe and the Middle east
40 But if they confess their sins and the iniquity of their ancestors, in that they committed treachery against me and, moreover, that they continued hostile to me—
41 so that I, in turn, continued hostile to them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their sins,
42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43 For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually hated my laws and despised my decrees.
44 But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the LORD(Jesus) their God(Elohim/Theos).
45 For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God(Elohim/Theos). I am the LORD(Jesus).'
46 These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the LORD(Jesus) gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.
This chapter contains a general enforcement of all the laws given by Moses; by promises of reward in case of obedience, on the one hand; and threatenings of punishment for disobedience, on the other. While Israel maintained a national regard to God's worship, sabbaths, and sanctuary, and did not turn aside to idolatry, the Lord engaged to continue to them temporal mercies and religious advantages. These great and precious promises, though they relate chiefly to the life which now is, were typical of the spiritual blessings made sure by the covenant of grace to all believers, through Christ. 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. Every good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the Father of lights. 2. Peace under the Divine protection. Those dwell in safety, that dwell in God. 3. Victory and success in their wars. It is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few. 4. The increase of their people. The gospel church shall be fruitful. 5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all Good. 6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances. The way to have God's ordinances fixed among us, is to cleave closely to them. 7. The grace of the covenant. All covenant blessings are summed up in the covenant relation, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and they are all grounded upon their redemption. Having purchased them, God would own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off. (Matthew Henry)
Leviticus 27 “and He called” 27
LAWS ON VOWS-TITHES:
1 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses:
2 Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate someone to the LORD(Jesus) by paying the value of that person,
3 the value you are to assign to a man between the ages of twenty and sixty years is to be fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds], with the sanctuary shekel being the standard,
4 The price for a woman twenty to sixty years old is about twelve ounces of silver.
5 The price for a man five to twenty years old is about eight ounces of silver; for a woman it is about four ounces of silver.
6 The price for a baby boy one month to five years old is about two ounces of silver; for a baby girl the price is about one and one-half ounces of silver
7 The price for a man sixty years old or older is about six ounces of silver; for a woman it is about four ounces of silver.
8 If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford to pay the required amount, take the person to the priest. He will determine the amount for you to pay based on what you can afford.
9 If your vow involves giving an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the LORD(Jesus), any gift to the LORD(Jesus) will be considered holy.
10 You may not exchange or substitute it for another animal—neither a good animal for a bad one nor a bad animal for a good one. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy.
11 If the animal is an unclean one, such as may not be used in an offering to the LORD(Jesus), he must set it before the priest;
12 He will assess its value, and his assessment will be final, whether high or low.
13 If you want to buy back the animal, you must pay the value set by the priest, plus twenty percent.
14 If someone dedicates a house to the LORD(Jesus), the priest will come to assess its value. The priest’s assessment will be final, whether high or low.
15 If the person who dedicated the house wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus twenty percent. Then the house will again be his.
16 If someone dedicates to the LORD(Jesus) a piece of his family property, you are to value it according to its production, with five bushels of barley being valued at fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds].
17 If the field is dedicated to the LORD(Jesus) in the Year of Jubilee, then the entire assessment will apply.
18 But if the field is dedicated after the Year of Jubilee, the priest will assess the land’s value in proportion to the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. Its assessed value is reduced each year.
19 If the one consecrating the field wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to your valuation, and the field will be set aside to revert to him.
20 But if he does not want to buy it back, and it is sold to someone else, the field can no longer be bought back.
21 When the field is released in the Year of Jubilee, it will be holy, a field specially set apart[g] for the LORD(Jesus). It will become the property of the priests.
22 If someone dedicates to the LORD(Jesus) a field he has purchased but which is not part of his family property,
23 the priest will assess its value based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. On that day he must give the assessed value of the land as a sacred donation to the LORD(Jesus).
24 In the Year of Jubilee the field must be returned to the person from whom he purchased it, the one who inherited it as family property.
25 All the payments must be measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel, which weighs two-fifths of an ounce.
26 You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the LORD(Jesus), for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belong to him.
27 But if it is an unclean animal, he may redeem it at the price at which you value it and add one-fifth; or if he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at the price at which you value it.
28 However, nothing consecrated unconditionally which a person may consecrate to the LORD(Jesus)—whether a person, an animal, or family property—must never be sold or bought back. Anything devoted in this way has been set apart as holy, and it belongs to the LORD(Jesus).
29 No person who has been sentenced to die, and thus unconditionally consecrated, can be redeemed; he must be put to death.
30 One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD(Jesus) and must be set apart to him as holy.
The Law of the TITHE Tithe is old English for 10%
31 If someone wants to redeem any of his tithe, he must add to it twenty percent.
32 Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the LORD(Jesus) as holy.
33 You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back.'
34 These are the commands that the LORD(Jesus) gave through Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
Zeal for the service of God disposed the Israelites, on some occasions, to dedicate themselves or their children to the service of the Lord, in his house for life. Some persons who thus dedicated themselves might be employed as assistants; in general they were to be redeemed for a value. It is good to be zealously affected and liberally disposed for the Lord's service; but the matter should be well weighed, and prudence should direct as to what we do; else rash vows and hesitation in doing them will dishonor God, and trouble our own minds. (Matthew Henry)
CLEAN and UNCLEAN FOODS:
The Bible has much to say about what is good for us to eat and what foods are bad for us. However, unlike many who follow these laws, and others who do not, falsey assume that the Bible's laws on which animals are clean or unclean is just a suggestion and not a law. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God is not suggestion what we should not eat, He is commanding us what not to eat! We are to keep holy! The following is the best article yet on the diet.
Is All Animal Flesh GOOD FOOD? by Herbert W. Armstrong
Were all animals made clean? What about the unclean animals shown to Peter in a vision? Here is a straightforward Bible answer, giving the New Testament teaching. This subject is important to your health and well-being! AFTER THOUSANDS of years of human experience on earth, it seems there still is nothing people know less about than food.
Observe a little baby. It seems to think that anything and everything its little chubby hands can get into its mouth is good to eat and everything baby gets his hands on goes straight to his mouth! How often must young parents take things away, and try to teach the lovely little bundle of humanity that everything one's hands can touch is not necessarily good for the digestion!
We're Just Grown-up Babies! Well, one might wonder if any of us has grown up! Most of us adults still seem to think that anything we can stuff in our mouths is good for food. About the only difference between us and the baby is that baby puts into his mouth whatever looks good, while we employ the sense of taste in deciding what goes into our mouths.
Your stomach is your fuel tank. Your automobile's tank is its stomach. You wouldn't think of pouring just any old thing that will pour into the "stomach" of your car. You know that your car was not made to consume and "digest" fuel oil, water, milk, or kerosene. Yes, we are very careful what we "feed" our automobile--and totally careless and indifferent about what we feed ourselves and our children!
What happens to the food you eat? In the stomach the digestive process takes place. And, once digested--if you have eaten fit and digestible food--a portion of the essential minerals and vitamins--the life-giving properties in the food--filter through the intestinal lining into the bloodstream to replenish and build up decaying cells, to provide energy, body warmth, good health.
Your body is wonderfully made! It is the most wonderful mechanism in the world. But, just as you must use the right kind of gasoline in the gas tank and the right kind of oils and greases in the other parts of your car or impair its performance, so you must put the right kind of food into the most delicate mechanism of all, your body.
If you tried to oil a fine watch with axle grease you wouldn't expect the watch to keep good time. And when you put into your stomach all kinds of foul things which the Great Architect who designed your human mechanism never intended, you foul up your body and bring on sickness, disease, aches, pains, a dulled and clogged-up mind, inefficiency and inability--and you commit suicide on the installment plan by actually shortening your life!
The God who designed, created, and made your body has revealed some essential basic knowledge about which meats will keep that body functioning in tip-top shape. Why does humanity refuse His instructions?
You Are Eating Poison!
You don't eat every plant that grows out of the ground. Some things that grow are poison, not food.
But did you know there are many kinds of poisons? Potassium cyanide will kill you very quickly. Some poisons will result in death within a few hours or a few days. But very few seem to know there are other poisons people mistakenly eat as foods which result in premature death after continuous usage for, say, ten, or thirty, or fifty years.
The only difference between these poisons we falsely call foods and potassium cyanide is the relative number of minutes, hours, or years it takes to accomplish its mission.
Just as every plant that God caused to grow out of the ground was not designed for food, so it is with animal flesh. Some will say, "Well, if swine's flesh isn't supposed to be eaten as food, what did God create swine for?" You might as well ask, what did God create weeds and poison vines for? Everything may have been created for a purpose, but not everything for the purpose of eating.
Now some believe that in the original creation--in the Garden of Eden God did not intend any animal flesh to be eaten. God's revelation on that point is vague, and many have argued it both ways. However, God has clearly revealed that certain animal meats may be eaten as food now, in this age, and Jesus who came to set us an example did eat flesh as well as vegetables and fruits, and so do I.
What the Great Architect of Your Stomach Instructs
When the first written revelation of God came to man through Moses, God instructed man as to which kinds of animal flesh man ought or ought not to eat. You will find this list in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
This is a basic law--a revelation from God to man about which kinds of flesh will properly digest and assimilate in the human system, and which will not. It is not a part of God's great spiritual law, summed up in the Ten Commandments. Neither is it part of the ceremonial, ritualistic, or sacrificial laws later abolished at the crucifixion of Christ.
It is necessary to recognize that God is the Author of all law, and there are countless laws in motion. There are laws of physics and chemistry. You know of the law of gravity. There is the great immutable spiritual law to regulate man's relationship to God and to fellow men--the law of love--the Ten Commandments. God gave His nation Israel civil statutes and judgments--national laws for the conduct of the national government. Israel was His Church, under the Old Covenant. And for the dispensation then present God gave Israel rituals and ceremonial laws for the conduct of religious services, laws relating to typical and temporary sacrifices, meat and drink offerings--temporary substitutes for Christ and the Holy Spirit. Those laws, of course, ended when the Reality came.
And then, we must realize, there are physical laws working in our bodies, regulating our health. This meat question has to do with these laws.
I know of men who make a hobby of bitterly accusing others of sin for eating pork, oysters, and clams.
Let us get this straight and clear!We usually speak of sin in its spiritual aspect. That is the aspect in which it is considered in the New Testament. The Bible definition of it is this: "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4).
The penalty for violation of that spiritual law is death--not the first or physical death, but the second, of spiritual and eternal death in the "lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14).
Now the eating of wrong food is not a transgression of this spiritual law, and is not a sin. To violate the physical laws of health often brings the penalty of disease, disability, pain, sickness, and sometimes the first death. It is not necessarily spiritual sin.
That is what Jesus made plain, as recorded in Mark 7:14-23. Here Jesus was speaking of spiritual defilement, not physical health. Not that which enters into a man's mouth, but the evil that comes out of his heart, defiles the man spiritually. What defiles the man--and he is speaking of defiling the man, not injuring the body--is transgression of the Ten Commandments--evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, blasphemy (verses 21-22). These things have nothing to do with the physical laws of health. He was making a point concerning spiritual defilements, not physical health.
Specifically, on the physical level, He was referring to a possible particle of dirt which might get on the food from dirty and unwashed hands--He was not here speaking of clean or unclean meats at all.
No Change in Structure of Animal Flesh at Cross: The animals whose flesh properly digests and nourishes the human body were so made in the original creation. No change was ever made in the structure of men's bodies at the time of the flood, or at the time of Jesus' death, or any other time. Neither did God make some sudden change in the structure of animal flesh, so that what once was unfit for food will now digest properly and supply the body's needs.
The unclean animals were unclean before the flood: Notice, before the flood, Noah took into the ark of the clean animals, to be eaten for food, by sevens; but of the unclean, of which he was not to eat during the flood, by two's--only enough to preserve their lives. The inference is inescapable that the additional clean animals were taken aboard to be eaten for food while Noah and his family were in the ark. Prior to the flood, clean animals were usually offered as sacrifices. Those who ate the sacrifices often partook of the animal flesh, but vegetables were the main constituent of diet. After the flood God gave Noah not merely the green herb--vegetables--as the major part of diet, but of every type of living creature--clean animals, clean fish, clean fowl (Genesis 9:3 and Leviticus 11).
Genesis 9:3 does not say that every living, breathing creature is clean and fit to eat, but that "as the green herb have I given you all things." God did not give poisonous herbs as food. He gave man the healthful herbs. Man can determine which herbs are healthful, but man cannot by himself determine which flesh foods are harmful. That is why God had to determine for us in His Word which meats are clean. Since the flood every moving clean, healthful, nonpoisonous type of animal life is good for food--just as God gave us the healthful, nonpoisonous herbs. This does not give us permission to do as we please!
Not Ceremonial Law
The instruction in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, then, is not some ritualistic regulation for the Mosaic period only. Why do so many people have the idea that God is some great unfair monster who imposes foolish hardships on His people? Whatever God instructs us is for our good, not some nonsensical restriction for one period to be changed around some different way for other people of a different period.
Now for some specific instruction concerning mammals: "These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox [beef], the sheep [lamb], and the goat, the hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg [antelope], and the wild ox, and the chamois [mountain sheep]. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine [hogs], because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh (Deut. 14:4-8).
Horsemeat is not fit for humans because horses not only do not have divided hoofs, but they also do not chew the cud.
Similarly, swine flesh--pork, ham, bacon, sausage, rabbit meat, etc.--is simply not fit for human consumption. The same is true with oysters, lobsters, clams, crabs, shrimp, crawfish, dogs, snakes, rats, and skunks.
The only seafood fit for food are fish having both fins and scales. Halibut has both and is clean. Catfish is a skin fish--unclean.
It's all a matter of what we have become accustomed to doing. It seems strange and horrifying to hear that some Orientals eat mice as a delicacy. But many Orientals are horrified to hear that we eat nasty, slimy, filthy oysters! But some human grown-ups, like little babies, will eat anything they can get their hands on and stuff into their mouths.
At so-called "quality" grocery stores in large towns and cities, specializing in rare delicacies, you can purchase "delicious" canned rattlesnake--if you care for it.
So far as I am concerned, you may have my portion if you wish to try it. I do not care to eat it for the same reason I do not eat slugs, skunks, cats, or eels-- for the same reason I do not eat poison ivy or weeds. Yes, and for the same reason I do not put fuel oil mixed with sand in the gas tank of my car!
The day will come when we will at last learn that eating greasy hog flesh and other unfit "foods" has been a prime cause of cancer and other deadly diseases.
What About Peter's Vision?
But what about the sheet containing unclean animals which was shown to the Apostle Peter in a vision (Acts 10)? Did this vision change the entire composition of all unclean animals, or of the human apparatus, so that these unfit things suddenly became nourishing food? Not at all!
The purpose of this vision was NOT to change God's food and health laws which have been inexorably in motion from the beginning, but to show Peter "that I should not call any man common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). Why? Because the Jewish people had been taught to regard Gentiles like unclean animals--to have nothing to do with them.
It is time you fully understood this vision. It may well affect your health, happiness and eternal life. Open your Bible to the tenth chapter of Acts. Notice that Cornelius was an Italian soldier--an uncircumcised Italian--a Gentile by race. To the strict Jews, he was to be regarded as an unclean man. But God looks on the heart. Cornelius gave "much alms" to the Jewish people (verse 2). God remembered his alms and revealed in a vision that he should send some of his servants to Joppa to contact Peter.
In verse 9, we find Peter was a man of prayer. While praying on a housetop, Peter became very hungry. Just before noon Peter fell into a trance. In vision he saw heaven opened and a sheet was let down to the earth. This sheet contained "all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air" (verse 12).
Notice this carefully, This sheet contained every type of animal imaginable, including wild animals--lions, tigers, hyenas, monkeys, skunks. And creeping things--snakes and lizards, vermin and spiders. And fowl like vultures and crows and eagles!
Peter was shocked by the sight of all these creatures. Then, of all things, God commanded Peter to kill and eat of these creatures! What did Peter say?
"Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean" (Acts 10:14).
Peter had lived day and night with Jesus for over three years. He certainly understood from Jesus' teaching that there were some creatures which are simply not fit for human food. That is why when this vision came ten years after the rituals and ceremonies were abolished at the cross, Peter refused to eat. He knew that God's law of clean and unclean meats was still in full force and effect!
Now notice what the voice from heaven told Peter when he refused to eat: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (verse 15). It does not say that what God cleansed were these revolting unclean reptiles, fowl and wild animals. It does say that what God cleansed is not to be called common! But what did God cleanse?
What God Really Cleansed: In this vision which Peter saw, the voice from heaven spoke three times, then the sheet was received up into heaven again. And what did Peter do? "Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean" (verse 17). He did not immediately assume like so many people that God suddenly changed His laws ten years after the crucifixion! Now notice what happened "While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, 'Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I hay sent them'" (verses 19-20).
The voice from heaven in the vision spoke unto Peter three times because three Gentile men--two servants and a soldier (verse 7)--were at that moment on their way see him. Peter went with them to see Cornelius. This is when Peter understood the vision! He confessed in verse 28 "...God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean."
"What God cleansed" were not those unclean animals, but those Gentile men, formerly regarded unclean by the Jewish people.
Those unclean animals in Peter's vision were used to symbolize the Gentile races of men. The Jewish people had been forbidden to associate with them because of their abominable practices. But now the wall of spiritual separation had been broken down and salvation was extended to the Gentiles. Peter finally realized that this was the meaning of the vision and said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him" (verses 34-35).
Yes, to be accepted with God, we must fear Him and work righteousness. What is righteousness? "...All thy commandments are righteousness" (Psalm 119:172). And among those commandments are the laws which tell us which kinds of flesh are clean and which are unclean!
Would You Eat Skunks and Rats?: But suppose God had been trying tell Peter--and us--that he should eat all the things contained in the sheet that was let down in vision. Would you eat those "creeping things"--lizards, snakes, spiders? Would you eat skunks and hyenas? Of course you wouldn't! Why? Because you have your own law of what you think is clean and unclean!
Common sense tells us that God did not intend for us to eat every creature. But we just aren't willing to let our Creator tell us which meats will give us lasting health and strength, and which ones are injurious to our bodies, and will eventually bring on more sickness and disease. It is time we let God tell us what is clean and what is unclean instead of using our faulty human reason!
Some people, however, still want to argue with God. One text they will bring up is found in I Timothy 4:1-5. Read it carefully.
Notice that these "doctrines of devils" include "commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving...." By whom? "Of them which believe and know the truth." What is truth? Christ said, "Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17). Then the Bible itself reveals the truth concerning which meats are good for food. We should not refuse to eat any food which, according to truth, God created to be eaten with thanksgiving. But this does not mean that all meats are healthful and fit for the human body.
Notice that the false doctrine is commanding to abstain from meats which are thankfully received by those who believe and know the truth--who know God's Word. But God's Word--the Holy Bible--tells us that there are some meats which are "unclean," and are not to be received with thanksgiving!
Now consider what verses 4 and 5 tell us: "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. "What does it mean to be SANCTIFIED by the Word of God and prayer?
"Sanctify" is a word meaning to make holy, or set apart for a right use or purpose--to set apart as fit for human food.
Now which meats has God sanctified for human food? The only passages in all the Bible showing which meats God sanctified are found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
Here you find that it is the "clean"--healthful--meats which are good for food. These are the only meats that can be received with thanksgiving and prayer!
There is not a single scripture showing that God ever set apart as fit for food any unclean creatures--snails, oysters, clams, snakes, octopuses, eels, horses, rabbits, or swine! Yet people eat these creatures without realizing the harm they are doing to their bodies.
Paul Instructs Vegetarians: Paul's letter to the saints at Rome is often quoted as supposed proof that any kind of flesh food is good to eat. But is this what Paul really taught? Turn to the beginning of the 14th chapter of Romans. Notice what the apostle is writing: "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye"--don't dispute with him and sit in judgment on him because of his weak understanding of the faith, Paul continues. "For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak, eateth herbs [vegetables only]" (Romans 14:1-2).
Of whom is Paul writing? Of those who were vegetarians, as well as those who believed in eating both flesh foods and vegetables.
Paul was confronted with the same problem that we encounter today in carrying the Gospel to the world. You would be surprised at the number of people who do not eat meat or even any animal products--milk, butter, cheese, eggs. Some have meatless days or days on which they will eat fish only. These are all people who, because they are weak in the faith, abstain from those clean meats which God originally sanctified or set apart in His Word for man's physical nourishment.
The question confronting Paul was not that Christians at Rome contended that all unclean animals had now been cleansed by God--the common false assumption of today--but the real issue, according to verse two, was over the vegetarian belief held by some that no meats whatsoever should be eaten.
Paul was straightening out the brethren on this matter, telling them that none of those clean meats which had been created by God to be received with thanksgiving should be refused. He pointed out to them, however, that it would be wrong for the vegetarians to eat meat if they had doubts about it, thereby defiling their weak consciences. For he wrote, "...Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:22-23).
We must follow what God has revealed to us to be right according to the Word of God. This does not mean that our consciences always tell us what is right--not at all. We have to continually study to learn what is right and wrong. But God thinks more highly of a vegetarian who might sincerely and conscientiously deny himself the clean meats, because he does not know the full truth, than He does a person who would do the right thing according to the letter, but who really believes in his heart that he is doing wrong.
So "to him"--the vegetarian--"that esteemeth anything to be common, to "him"--the vegetarian--"it is common." That is, it seems so to him. But it is not common in fact, nor to us, for we know that all clean meats are good for food. That is why Paul wrote: "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing common of itself" (Rom. 14:14).
Notice that in this verse Paul used, according to the margin of the King James Version, the Greek word for "common," not the Greek word for "unclean." Why?
"Common" Does Not Mean "Unclean": Many have carelessly assumed that Paul is writing about unclean meats in this 14th chapter of Romans. He is not! He is writing about the difference between vegetarians who regard that clean meats are common, and those who know that clean meats are of themselves not common. In the Greek there are two different words used which are often carelessly translated "unclean" or "common." Notice that in Acts 10:14 both of these words are used. The Bible does not repeat itself foolishly. Therefore these two words mean entirely different things.
The Greek word for "unclean" is akarthatos. It means "unclean and impure by nature." The Greek word for "common" is koinos, which means "polluted through external misuse." (See any of the Lexicons.)
Paul used the Greek word for "common" throughout Romans 14:14. He did not use the Greek word for "unclean." In other words, Paul knew that no clean foods which God has sanctified are by nature polluted, but vegetarians who were weak in the faith--weak in understanding God's Word--thought meats should not be eaten. To such a vegetarian--"to him," not to others--that meat seemed to be polluted. His conscience defiled the meat for him; he would become upset if he were to eat meat. But that does not make the meat polluted in fact or for everybody else.
Notice Paul's conclusion: "For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure"--that is, all things that God sanctified and gave us to eat are clean --but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth..." (verses 20 and 21).
Paul is not recommending eating unclean meats! Quite the opposite. He is recommending not eating any meat at all in the presence of a vegetarian brother if he is offended!
When Is "Clean" Meat "Common"? The only circumstance in which clean meats are ever common or polluted is when the clean animals have died of themselves or when the blood has not been properly drained. That is why the apostles and elders who gathered at Jerusalem forbade the use of meat from strangled animals and meat with the blood in it (Acts 15:20). This is New Testament teaching for today! Such animal flesh was called "common" because it could be given to strangers or aliens in Old Testament times if those people wanted to eat it. They were the common and polluted people--the Gentiles--not the chosen and clean people, Israel (Deut. 14:21).
In New Testament times, clean meat offered to idols was prohibited if it had been polluted by strangulation or if the blood were remaining in it. Otherwise the meat was permitted to be eaten if it did not offend anyone.
Paul devoted the entire 8th and 10th chapters of I Corinthians to instructions on not raising the question of meats offered to idols. "But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake" (I Cor. 10:28). In other words, if clean meats offered to idols were not polluted, you could eat of them unless it offended someone. Under those circumstances the meat became common, not to you, but to the other person who raised the question about idols. Notice:
"Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other" (verse 29).
That is why Paul said in Romans, "But to him that esteemeth any thing to be common [margin], to him it is common" (Rom. 14:14).
Prophecy for the Future
What does the Bible say the people would be doing today? Notice: They that eat "swine's flesh"--that is what most people are doing today--"and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together"--in the wrath of God--"saith the Lord" (Isa. 66:17).
This is the fate of those who lust after the foods which God forbids us to eat because those meats will harm us. This is the fate of those "whose God is their belly" (Phil. 3:19).
Is it any wonder today, that with all our scientific knowledge, we have more doctor bills, more sickness than ever before in the history of the world? It is time we returned to God and began to obey His laws. He is our Creator. He made us. He knows what our bodies were made to utilize as good, healthful foods. He set the laws in motion regulating clean and unclean meats. It is time we began to obey them as Jesus and the apostles did!
God forbids also the eating of animal fat, or blood (Lev. 3:17; 7:23-27). Butter, olive oil, and some vegetable oils and shortenings are acceptable, but animal fat should be cut off before eating meat. Cheaper hamburger is not good because it is mixed with much fat. Lard should never be used. These things will wreck any stomach in time.
What About Fish and Fowl?
The Bible itself defines which sea life is good food: "Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas and in the rivers, them shall ye eat (Lev. 11:9). In verse 10 it is further clarified: "And all that have no fins AND scales in the seas...they shall be an abomination unto you."
"But which fish have both fins and scales?" is the question asked by many readers.
First, let us name the commonly known unclean fish--these art scaleless fish--which are not fit for food: catfish, eels, paddlefish, sculpins, sticklebacks, sturgeons and swordfish. These fish do not have true scales. Together with these creatures are other forms of sea life unfit for human consumption: abalone, clams, crabs, lobsters, oysters, scallops, shrimp, whale.
A more complete list of fish fit for human consumption is available on the next page. The most important clean fish--having both scales and fins are: albacore, anchovy, barracuda, bass, blackfish, bowfin, buffalo, carp, characin, cod, croaker, darter, flounder, gaby, grayling, haddock, halibut, herring, jack, mackerel, minnow, mooneye, mullet, needlefish, perch, pike, salmon, sardine, shad, silverside, smelt, snapper, sole, sucker, sunfish, surf fish, tarpon, trout, tuna, weakfish, whitefish. If any question arises, consult such books as Field Book of Fresh-Water Fishes by Ray Schrenkeisen which may be found in public libraries.
Some people, who are not competent to judge fish, have thought certain of these clean fish were without scales, but this is not true. One point to remember is that many fish have very small or minute scales near the head and the tail fin. In either case, such fish are clean and fit for food.
The second part of the question concerns fowl. Which birds are fit for human consumption? The answer is found in Leviticus 11:13-19 and Deuteronomy 14:11-20.
Each of these sections lists specific varieties of birds unfit for human consumption. No clean birds are listed. Only about two dozen unclean birds are listed out of thousands found the world over. These unclean birds illustrate the characteristics of all unclean birds. They fall into types each of which is unclean "after its kind." The question is, how do these unclean birds differ from those known to be clean or fit for human consumption? The characteristics of clean fowl are, of course, determined by the dove and the pigeon (Luke 2:24 and Lev. 1:14-17) which were anciently used for sacrifice.
By comparing the differences between these clean birds and those listed as unclean, we can arrive at the following six characteristics of clean birds: 1) they must not be birds of prey; 2) they catch food thrown to them in the air, but they bring it to the ground, where they divide it with their bills, if possible, before eating it; whereas unclean birds devour it in the air, or press it with one foot to the ground and tear it with their bills; 3) they must have an elongated middle front toe and a hind toe; 4) they must spread their toes so that three front toes are on one side of a perch and the hind toe on the other side; 5) they must have craws or crops; 6) they must have a gizzard with a double lining which can easily be separated. (Consult articles in Jewish Encyclopaedia under "Poultry," and "Clean and Unclean Animals.")
Clean birds have all these characteristics; unclean birds lack one or more of these characteristics. If a bird lacks any one of these characteristics, it is unclean. Besides the pigeon and dove, the following birds are clean: chicken, pheasant, quail, partridge, grouse, turkey, all song birds, ducks and geese. Unclean birds not listed specifically in the Bible are roadrunners, woodpeckers and the parrot family (which divide their toes so that two are on either side of a perch), aquatic and wading birds and gulls which have no crops or craws, no double lining of gizzards, and often no hind toe or no elongated middle front toe.
It may not be spiritual sin to eat biblically unclean foods. Yet, if one deliberately does it out of lust of appetite, that breaks the tenth command and becomes sin. But in all events wrong food injures the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It defiles the BODY if not the man, and if we continue to defile our bodies God will destroy us (I Cor. 3:17).
Mark 7 and Unclean Meats:
The context is really the heart of the matter of what Jesus actually means by "purging all meats" (verse 19). We take no exception to the view that after food has passed through the digestive tract, it has been purged or made clean. But how? The whole context of Mark 7 shows that it is a question of ceremonial cleanliness--not any law in the Old Testament, but instead the ritual purity which certain Palestinian sects had proclaimed on their authority. The Greek word broma (if not taken to mean "filth" as some authorities suggest) means simply "that which is eaten" or "food," and includes all kinds of food (see Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich). To limit the words "purging all meats" to flesh foods is unjustified by the straightforward reading of the Greek.
The context (verses 1-14, 20-23) deals, not with biological uncleanness, but with uncleanness supposedly incurred from the omission of ritual washing (verse 15). The kind of food the disciples ate (verses 2, 5), is not referred to, but only the manner in which they ate (verses 2, 5, 15). The context throughout shows Christ dealing with the problem of the "commandment of God" versus the "tradition of men." Another point: there is no commandment in the Old Testament that forbids eating food with dirty hands. The Pharasaical tradition is in question here, not any of God's Word.
A General List of Biblically Clean Fish:
Albacore -- (or Crevalle or Horse Mackerel or Jack) / Alewives -- (or Branch Herring or River Herring) / Anchovies / Black Drum / Bluebacks -- (or Glut Herrings) / Bluebill Sunfish / Bluefish / Blue Runner -- (or Hardtail) / Bonitos / Boston Bluefish -- (or Pollock) / Bowfin / Buffalofish / Butterfish / Carp / Chubs [Bloater / Long jaw / Blackfin] / Cod / Common Sucker -- (or Fresh Water Mullet or White Sucker) / Crappies -- (or Black or White Crappies) / Crevalle -- (see Albacore) / Flounder [Dab / Gray Sole / Lemon Sole / Summer Flounder / Winter Flounder / Yellow Tail] / Fresh Water Mullet -- (see Common Sucker) / Frost Fish -- (or Ice Fish or Smelt) / Groupers [Black Grouper / Gag / Nassau / Grouper / Red or Yellowfish Grouper] / Grunts [White Grunts / Yellow Grunts] / Gulf Pike -- (or Robalo, Snook, or Sergeant) / Haddock / Hake / Halibut / Hardtail -- (see Blue Runner) / Herring [Branch Herring (see Alewives) / Glut Herring (see Bluebacks) / Lake Herring / River Herring (see Alewives) / Sea Herring] / Horse Mackerel -- (see Albacore) / Ice Fish -- (see Frost Fish) / Jack -- (see Albacore) / Kingfish / Long Nose Sucker -- (or Northern Sucker or Red Striped Sucker) / Mackerel / Menhaden / Mullet / Muskeilunge -- (or Jacks) / Northern Sucker -- (see Long Nose Sucker) / Pickerels -- (or Jacks) / Pig Fish / Pikes -- (or Jacks) / Pilchards -- (or Sardines) / Pollack -- (see Boston Bluefish) / Pompano / Porgy -- (also known as Scup) / Red Drum -- (also known as Redfish) / Red Horse Sucker -- (also known as Redfin) / Red Snapper / Red Striped Sucker -- (see Long Nose Sucker) / Redfin -- (see Red Horse Sucker) / Redfish / Robalo -- (see Gulf Pike) / Salmon -- (Chum, Coho, King, Pink and Red) / Sardine -- (see Pilchards) / Scup -- (see Porgy) / Sea Bass / Sergeant Fish -- (see Gulf Pike) / Shad / Sheepshead / Silver Hake -- (or Whiting) / Silversides / Smelt -- (see Frost Fish) / Snook -- (see Gulf Pike) / Spanish Mackerel / Striped Bass / Trouts [Gray Sea Trouts (or Weakfish) / Lake Trout / Sand Sea Trout (or White Sea Trout) / Spotted Sea Trout] / Tunas [Albacore / Bluefin / Yellowfin / Skipjack] / Weakfish -- (see Sea Trout) / White Fish / White Sucker -- (see Common Sucker) / Whiting -- (see Silver Hake) / Yellow Perch
A General List of Biblically Unclean "Sea Foods"
Abalones / Bullheads / Catfish / Clams / Crabs / Crayfish / Eel / Lobster / Mussel /Oysters / Scallop / Shark / Shrimp / Squid / Sturgeon / Swordfish
Source: Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Understanding 'Unclean' in Romans 14
Does Paul's statement in Romans 14:14 —"I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself"—mean the early Church made no distinction between clean and unclean meats?
An understanding of Greek terminology can help us here.
It is important to realize that the New Testament writers referred to two concepts of unclean, using different Greek words to convey the two ideas. Unclean could refer to animals God did not intend to be used as food (listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14). Unclean could also refer to ceremonial uncleanness.
In Romans 14 Paul uses the word koinos, which means "common" (W.E. Vine, Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, "Unclean," p. 649). In addition to the meanings of "common" and "ordinary," as used in English (Acts 2:44; 4:32; Titus 1:4; Hebrews 10:29; Jude 3), the word also applied to things considered polluted or defiled. This word, along with its verb form koinoo, is used in Mark 7:2, 15-23, where it obviously refers to ceremonial uncleanness in the incident when the disciples ate without having first washed their hands.
Through a concordance or similar Bible help you can verify that koinos and koinoo appear throughout the New Testament to refer to this kind of ceremonial uncleanness. Something could be "common"—ceremonially unclean—even though it was otherwise considered a clean meat.
An entirely different word, akathartos, is used in the New Testament for animals Scripture specifies as unclean. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament in wide use in Paul's day), akathartos is used to designate the unclean meats listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
Both words, koinos and akathartos, are used in Acts 10 in describing Peter's vision of the sheet filled with "all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air" (verse 12), both clean and unclean. Peter himself distinguished between the two concepts of uncleanness by using both words in verse 14. After a voice told Peter to "kill and eat," he replied, "I have never eaten anything common [koinos] or unclean [akathartos]." Most Bible translations distinguish between the meanings of the two words used here. Peter used the same terminology in verse 28 and Acts 11:8 in discussing this vision.
When Paul said in Romans 14:14 that "there is nothing unclean [koinos, or 'common'] of itself," he was making the same point he had made earlier to the Corinthians, as explained in the next chapter of this booklet: Just because meat that was otherwise lawful to eat may have been associated with idol worship does not mean it is intrinsically unfit for human consumption. As seen from the context, Paul wasn't discussing biblical dietary restrictions at all.
Paul goes on to state in Romans 14:20 that "all food is clean" (New International Version). The word translated "clean" is katharos, "free from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless" (Vine, "Clean, Cleanness, Cleanse, Cleansing," p. 103). Clean meats as such aren't addressed in the New Testament, so there isn't a specific word to describe them. Katharos is used to describe all kinds of cleanliness and purity, including clean dishes (Matthew 23:26), people (John 13:10) and clothing (Revelation 15:6; 19:8, 14), "pure" religion (James 1:27), gold and glass (Revelation 21:18).
Realize also that, in both verses 14 and 20 of Romans 14, the word food or meat isn't in the original wording. No specific object is mentioned relative to cleanness or uncleanness. The sense of these verses is merely that "nothing [is] unclean [koinos: common or ceremonially defiled] of itself," and "all is clean [katharos: free from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless]."
Paul's point is that the possible association of a particular food with idolatrous activity had no bearing on whether the food was suitable for eating.
Many assume Jesus' statements in Mark 7 did away with the dietary restrictions recorded in the Old Testament. How should we understand Christ's words?
by Larry Walker
In this series of articles we have examined statements of Jesus Christ that when understood correctly are surprisingly different in meaning from the way they are commonly understood. In the case of dietary restrictions recorded in the Bible, the surprise may be the result of understanding not just what Jesus said but what He did not say in the Gospel of Mark.
Many believe that in His encounter with the Pharisees recorded in Mark 7:1-23, Jesus abrogated the laws of clean and unclean meats revealed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. In fact, many modern translations of the New Testament insert additional words into the text of Mark 7:19 to reflect this understanding. For example, the New International Version ends the verse with: "(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean')."
The New King James Version has "thus purifying all foods" and includes the marginal explanation: "NU [an abbreviation for the text used by many New Testament translations] sets off the final phrase as Mark's comment, that Jesus has declared all foods clean."
But is this textual variation correct? Does it capture the meaning of the passage in question? What exactly did Jesus mean by His statement?
Context provides the answer
One of the foundational principles for understanding a scriptural passage is to examine the context. What is the topic of discussion here? We should first notice that the subject is food in general, not which meats are clean or unclean. The Greek word broma, used in verse 19, simply means food. An entirely different Greek word, kreas, is used in the New Testament where meat—animal flesh —is specifically intended (see Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 13:8). So this passage concerns the general subject of food rather than meat. But a closer look shows that more is involved.
The first two verses help us understand the context: "Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault" (verses 1-2). They asked Jesus, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" (verse 5).
Now we see the subject further clarified. It concerns eating "with unwashed hands." Why was this of concern to the scribes and Pharisees?
The covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai was based on many laws and other instructions that ensured ritual purity. Jewish observance, however, often went beyond these in embracing the "oral law" or "tradition of the elders"—passed on by word of mouth and consisting of many additional man-made requirements and prohibitions tacked onto God's laws. Verses 3-4 of Mark 7 provide a brief explanation of the specific practice the Pharisees and scribes were referring to in this account: "For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders ..."
Notice that food laws are not in question here. The topic is ritual purity based on the religious traditions of the oral law. The disciples were being criticized for not following the proper procedure of ceremonial hand-washing prescribed by these revered religious traditions.
The Jewish New Testament Commentary, explaining the background of verses 2-4, offers a description of this custom: "Mark's explanation of a ... ritual handwashing, in these verses corresponds to the details set forth in Mishna tractate Yadayim [the Mishna is a later written version of the oral tradition]. In the marketplace one may touch ceremonially impure things; the impurity is removed by rinsing up to the wrist. Orthodox Jews today observe [ritual hand-washing] before meals. The rationale for it has nothing to do with hygiene but is based on the idea that 'a man's home is his Temple,' with the dining table his altar, the food his sacrifice and himself the cohen (priest). Since the Tanakh [Old Testament] requires cohanim [priests] to be ceremonially pure before offering sacrifices on the altar, the Oral Torah requires the same before eating a meal" (David Stern, 1995).
By the time of Christ many had made these additional practices a top priority and in so doing sometimes overlooked and even violated the fundamental principles of the law of God (Matthew 23:1-4, 23-28).
Spiritual principle of purification
After decrying the hypocrisy of this and other religious traditions and practices of the day, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. He explains that what defiles a person (in the eyes of God) comes not from the outside—by what one puts into his mouth—but from within (verse 15).
He said it is far more important to concentrate on what comes out of your heart than what you put into your mouth. Jesus explains: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man" (verses 21-23).
Some of these same qualities are listed in Galatians 5:19-21 as "works of the flesh." They are contrasted with the "fruit of the Spirit" (verses 22-23). "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness [and] self-control" are qualities of a spiritually purified heart.
The ceremonial washings and purification practices of the Old Covenant were physical representations of the spiritual purification to be offered in the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:11-14). Hebrews 9:23 tells us: "Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens [referring to the tabernacle, altar, priests, etc.] should be purified with these [ceremonial purifications], but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." So the apostle Paul writes that Jesus "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).
"Blessed are the pure in heart" is one of the fundamental teachings of Christ (Matthew 5:8).
Unwashed hands don't defile the heart
In Mark 7 Jesus explains that ceremonial washing is not necessary for spiritual purity or sound spiritual health. He points out that "whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods" (verses 18-19).
Jesus is simply stating here that any dirt or other incidental impurities not removed through elaborate hand-washing will be purged out by the human digestive system in a manner that has no bearing on the heart and mind of a person. Since spiritual purification involves the heart, ceremonial washings are ineffective and unnecessary in preventing spiritual defilement.
Several Bible scholars recognize the error of interpreting this passage as an abrogation of the laws of clean and unclean meats. Certain grammatical factors, as well as the context of Scripture, determine how to properly translate verse 19. The Greek word translated "purifying" is a participle and must agree in grammatical gender with the noun it describes. Because this participle has a masculine ending, it cannot refer to "stomach," which is in the feminine gender in Greek. Thus many scholars instead relate "purifying" back to "He said."
However, another alternative provides a better explanation. The expression "is eliminated" in the New King James Version is a euphemistic rendering of what the original King James Version translates as "goeth out into the draught." "Draught" (draft) is an archaic way to translate the Greek word aphedron, which means "a place where the human waste discharges are dumped, a privy, sink, toilet" (BibleWorks software). Aphedron is a masculine-gender noun, so "purifying" can refer to the end result of human waste, the toilet.
The Commentary on the New Testament: Interpretation of Mark explains the passage on the basis of this pertinent information: "The translation ... 'This he said, making all meats clean' makes the participial clause ['purifying all foods'] a remark by Mark ... that Jesus makes all foods clean— a remark ... that we cannot accept ... He is explaining to his disciples how no food defiles a man ... As far as this thought is concerned, Jesus expresses it already in the preceding clause: 'and goes out into the privy.' What he now adds is that the privy [the end result of the digestive process] 'makes all food clean' ... for all foods have their course through the body only, never touch the heart, and thus end in the privy ... Since the disciples are so dense, the Lord is compelled to give them so coarse an explanation. In this, however, he in no way abrogates the Levitical laws concerning foods" (R.C.H. Lenski, pp. 297-298, emphasis added).
The Jewish New Testament Commentary, in its note on verse 19, summarizes well the overall meaning of this passage: "Yeshua [Jesus] did not, as many suppose, abrogate the laws of kashrut [kosher] and thus declare ham kosher! Since the beginning of the chapter the subject has been ritual purity ... and not kashrut at all! There is not the slightest hint anywhere that foods in this verse can be anything other than what the Bible allows Jews to eat, in other words, kosher foods ...
"Rather, Yeshua is continuing his discussion of spiritual prioritizing (v. 11). He teaches that tohar (purity) is not primarily ritual or physical, but spiritual (vv. 14-23). On this ground he does not entirely overrule the Pharisaic/rabbinic elaborations of the laws of purity, but he does demote them to subsidiary importance."
Peter's testimony is significant
Can we find other biblical evidence that this view is correct, that Jesus never changed the biblical food laws? We find a telling event from the life of Peter well after Jesus' death and resurrection.
Peter is a central figure in the early Church. Jesus charged Peter to strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32). Peter delivered a powerful sermon that led to the conversion of thousands (Acts 2:14-41). His boldly claiming the name of Christ resulted in the miraculous healing of a lame man. He powerfully preached on repentance to those who gathered to witness the miracle (Acts 3:1-26). Later the mere passing of Peter's shadow over the sick resulted in dramatic healings (Acts 5:15).
Surely Peter would have understood something as fundamental as whether Jesus had repealed the laws of clean and unclean meat. Yet, years after Christ's death and resurrection, when he experienced a vision of unclean animals accompanied by a voice telling him to "kill and eat," notice Peter's spontaneous response: "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean" (Acts 10:14, emphasis added throughout).
Ironically, many believe the purpose of this vision was to do away with the dietary restrictions regarding clean and unclean meats. Overlooked is the significance of Peter's initial response. He obviously did not consider these laws as having been rescinded by Christ!
This strange vision came to Peter three times, yet he still "wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant" (verses 16-17) and "thought about the vision" (verse 19). Peter did not jump to conclusions as too many do today. He already knew what the vision did not mean. Later God revealed the true meaning: "God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (verse 28).
Peter came to realize that the significance of the vision was that God was opening the way of salvation to gentiles (non-Israelites), so Peter shortly thereafter baptized the first uncircumcised gentiles God called into the Church (verses 34-35, 45-48). Peter was never to eat unclean animals, but he did learn this vital lesson in the plan of God.
Lessons for today
The moral of this story is that food laws and righteousness are not mutually exclusive. God gave His food laws for sound reasons. True righteousness entails submission and obedience to all of God's Word (Psalm 119:172; Matthew 4:4; 5:17-19).
THE ANNUAL FEASTS OF THE LORD:
Many if not most Christians today that Christ and the early church followed Easter and Christmas. They did not. The true church of God has only followed those holidays prescribed to be observed in the Bible. It is OK to add personal and national holidays such as birthday's, thanksgivings and fourths of July, as the Jews legally began to observe Hanukkah, a celebration that Jesus even went to and partook in (John 10:22). God Almighty gave the people who worship both God the Father and the Lord Jesus the WORD special annual holidays to observe and to keep holy, as a way to show us what their plan of salvation is for us. Each day has its own earthly meaning, mostly of harvesting, yet each one has two layers of spiritual meanings as well. The Old Covenant meaning and the New Covenant meaning.
The central focus of these holy days (where we get the term holiday) is Christ! Everything pertains to Jesus Christ and His plan of salvation. Jesus is returning, and with Him returns His Law and His Holy days! Jesus Christ will require all to follow His weekly Sabbath days and His annual Sabbaths and all nations will partake in them during His one thousand-year reign on this earth? Since Christ will command all nations to keep His feast during the millennium, why do so many Christians assume that all of God's annual holy days are "done away" today? If they are "done away with," why will Christ force every living human being to keep them when returns and rules as King of King and LORD of Lords?
The Bible says, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
#1 The Sabbath Day
The first and MOST IMPORTANT Holy Day is the weekly sabbath. It begins at dawn on what we call Saturday and ends dawn Sunday morn. It is commanded to be observed always, and unlike some of the Holy Days, it must be observed today, as always! Sunday is the day that Satan devised as his day. It is not God's day, the Sabbath is. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (Genesis 1:31; 2:1-3). Jesus Christ proclaimed, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" (Mark 2:27, 28). The Sabbath was something which was made. It was made when man was. It was made for mankind, and not "just for the Jews"! Notice that Jesus Christ said He is LORD of the SABBATH day, and not Lord of "Sunday"! The true "Lord's Day" is THE SABBATH; the day of which Jesus is LORD!
#2: The Passover and #3Unleavened Bread and #4Firstfruits: ALL EQUAL CHRIST!
#2 Passover:
From Garner Ted Armstrong: How Seasonal Holidays Reveal God's Plan
When God called His nation out of slavery under Moses, it was for the express purpose of "sacrificing the `Passover'" (Exodus 3:18; 5:1-3; Exodus 12).
Egypt is a type of sin. As ancient Israel was living as captive slaves in Egypt, so each one of us has lived as a slave to our appetites; to this world, with its false, vanity-ridden, materialistic values; held captive by the sway of Satan, who is the present world ruler (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9).
Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Moses appears in two distinct shadowy roles: (1) as a type of God the Father, calling His people out of sin, breaking the grip of Satan, and granting repentance. Also, Moses typified the Father in giving the law of God from Mount Sinai. (2) As a type of Jesus Christ: as the shepherd of God's people, leading them from Egypt; as the advocate for the people before Pharaoh (Satan); and as a "redeemer," conveying them out of slavery, toward freedom.
Moses and Aaron are also seen as shadowy types of the future "two witnesses" of Revelation 11. Continually, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh (type of Satan), performing miracles (see Revelation 11:4-6). Pharaoh's two magicians, Jannes and Jambres (types of the "beast and the false prophet" of prophecy [Revelation 19:19-20]), empowered by Satan and his demons, counterfeited the miracles until the plague of the lice, when they were forced to admit, "This is the finger of God."
The perfect, helpless little sacrificial lamb is a type of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:7). The shed blood of the lamb on the lintels and door posts of the Israelites' houses is a symbol of Christ's shed blood atoning for our sins, causing the penalty of death (Romans 6:23) to pass over those who call upon Christ for forgiveness.
The death angel symbolizes God's judgments against unrepentant sinners who will not obey God (Ezekiel 9:2-11; Revelation 14:17-20). The "firstborn" are to be sanctified to God. Instead, the Egyptian firstborn, and everyone else, was lost in the most repugnant idolatrous paganism. God reaped a bitter harvest of the firstborn of Egypt as a terrible penalty for sin, but spared Israel as the "firstfruits" unto God from the earth, His own chosen people, protected under the symbol of the blood of Christ.
Once God had broken the hold of Pharaoh over the Israelites, they were hastily thrust out of Goshen. In like fashion, when one repents, receives baptism and God's Holy Spirit, former friends—sometimes even beloved family members—have no further use for a person whose new understanding makes them uncomfortable. Instead, they attempt to dissuade such a repentant sinner from accepting God's truth, talk them out of it, make them feel "out of step" with the rest of society.
When Israel was hemmed in by the wilderness, facing the Red Sea on one hand, Pharaoh's army pursuing to the rear, and steep mountains on both sides, it typifies the newly-repentant sinner contemplating baptism, as a symbol of the burial of the old man; the washing away of sin in the waters; the resurrection of the "new man," or the "new creature in Christ," to live a new and different life, free from sin.
Satan and his minions do not give up easily. As Pharaoh's armies pursued Israel, so do former friends, habits, appetites, moods and attitudes attempt to overtake the repenting sinner.
Moses had to say, "Stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Eternal!" at the Red Sea.
By a stupendous miracle, Israel walked through the Red Sea bed dry shod! When Pharaoh and his army assayed to follow, they were drowned. Paul wrote, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers passed through the sea; and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat [manna]; and did all drink the same spiritual drink [water, brought forth from the rock miraculously. Christ is the rock; the water is a symbol of God's Holy Spirit]: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).
When Israel passed through the Red Sea, a Christ-centered, New Testament type, or picture, of God's plan of redemption and salvation took place. Notice how Paul mentioned their miraculous sustenance on manna, which God sent down from heaven.
The Israelites were commanded to eat the Passover with "unleavened bread," called the "bread of haste," bread which was flat, plain—not light and fluffy, puffed up. Immediately following the Passover were the Days of Unleavened Bread.
God commanded them, "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover.
#3 Unleavened Bread
Continuing with garner Ted Armstrong:
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Eternal: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread" (Leviticus 23:5, 6).
Leaven, as an agent which spreads throughout moist dough, and which causes bread or cakes to rise when baked, lending a light, airy texture, was pointed out as a type of sin. Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:5-12).
Unleavened bread, on the other hand, pictured sinlessness; humility, an absence of vanity, pride, and sin. Christ said, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
"This [pointing to Himself] is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).
Do not all Christian-professing churches believe in Christ as Savior? Then why do they never teach the rich meaning of God's annual holy days—the plan of redemption and salvation centering around Christ and His sacrifice as pictured in each of God's annual Sabbaths?
Can anything be more New Testament oriented than the meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread?
There is an incontrovertible anti-Judeo BIAS among professing Christianity! From the earliest moments in the first century, when many Gentiles—Greeks, Romans, and others—were being converted, when the church wrestled with the problem of circumcision (Acts 15), a gradually increasing anti-Jewish bias began to emerge.
This rejection of all things Jewish took quantum leaps over the passing centuries. Though Christ Himself was Jewish, and though the apostles and the vast majority of the early church were Jewish, the Gentile leaders of the apostate church of the second and third centuries threw out the baby with the bath water: rejected God's Sabbath day; rejected God's annual Sabbaths; changed the date for the observance of the Passover, and called it Ishtar (Easter), instead; embraced the purely pagan festivals of Roman idolatry, such as Christmas, and effectively stamped out all knowledge of God's holy days.
Finally, during the days of Constantine, who had "converted" from sun worship to apostate "Christianity," the then visible church (God's true church had been forced "underground" by horrible persecutions) issued a decree that Christians were not to be found "Judaizing" by observing the Passover on the 14th of Abib, but were ordered to observe Easter, instead!
Is there anything "Jewish" about the CHRIST-centered meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread? No, nothing. Yet, you have not heard sermons preached in the Sunday-observing churches explaining the rich types and shadows of God's holy days as they pertain to repentance, baptism, the receiving of God's Spirit, the second coming of Christ to set up His Kingdom, the binding of Satan, and the final great resurrection.
Today, the Christian-professing world is lost in a sea of ignorance about God's plan! Embracing the pagan doctrines of the "immortality of the soul," and "going to heaven when you die," they fail to understand the plan of God as revealed in the progression of the seasons—fail to understand the truth about God's mercy upon the darkened races of Gentile nations who have never heard the Gospel.
#4 First-fruits
First-fruits falls on the eighth day of Passover. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote at length concerning the resurrection of the dead, because some of the Christians in Corinth taught “that there is no resurrection of the dead” (vs. 12). As one of his proofs for the Christian’s eventual resurrection, Paul pointed to the fact of the resurrection of Christ, and showed that the two stand or fall together, saying, “if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (vss. 16-17)! After hypothetically arguing from the absurd in an attempt to get the Corinthian Christians to see that their stance on the final resurrection completely undermined Christianity, Paul proceeded to demonstrate that Christ had risen, and thus made the resurrection of the dead inevitable. It is in this section of scripture that some find a difficulty. Beginning with verse 20, Paul wrote:
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-23,)
What this means that if Christ did not rise from the dead, be “Born Again” into spirit from mortal flesh, we would have no hop of the resurrection. Notice this, the word is resurrection, and not hope of going to heaven! Going to heaven when we die is not what is promised. A resurrection from the dead at the return of Christ after the tribulation is what is promised. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is what the Bible says. Everything else is paganism and not true Christianity!
Jesus was the first to rise from the dead—never to die again. All who have ever arisen from the dead, including the sons of both the widow of Zarephath and the Shunammite (2 Kings 4:8-37), the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:35-43), Lazarus, et al., died in later years. Jesus, however, accurately could be called “the firstfruits” of the dead because “Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him” (Romans 6:9). All others who previously were raised at one time, died again, and are among those who “sleep” and continue to wait for the bodily resurrection; only Jesus has truly conquered death. In this sense, Christ is “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5; cf. Acts 26:23).
Under the old law, the firstfruits were the earliest gathered grains, fruits, and vegetables that the people dedicated to God in recognition of His faithfulness for providing the necessities of life. The Israelites were to offer to God a sheaf of the first grain that was harvested on the day after the Sabbath following the Passover feast (Leviticus 23:9-14). Paul used the term “firstfruits” in this letter to the Corinthian church to reinforce the certainty of the resurrection. Just as the term “firstfruits” indicates that “the first sheaf of the forthcoming grain harvest will be followed by the rest of the sheaves, Christ, the firstfruits raised from the dead, is the guarantee for all those who belong to him that they also will share in his resurrection” (Kistemaker, 1993, p. 548). Jesus is God’s “firstfruits” of the resurrection. And, like the Israelites, God will gather the rest of the harvest at the final resurrection. Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand (by way of metaphor) that Christ’s resurrection is a pledge of our resurrection. It is inevitable—guaranteed by God Himself.
#5 Feast of Weeks or Pentecost
Fifty days after first-fruits and we come to Pentecost or Feast of Weeks (because weeks needed to be counted). This day is Church centered and not only Christ centered. In the Old Testament it is the day when God gave Moses the Law or Ten Commandments. In the New Testament, it is when the church received the Holy Spirit. I suppose the third manifestation of this holiday will occur again during the millennium when Christ writes His laws in our hearts and in our minds (Hebrews 10:16).
The Fall Feasts
There are no feasts in winter or in summer, only spring and fall. Winter symbolizes death, when the world is awaiting the resurrection and summer is the growing time, when there is no time for a feast!
#6 Trumpets
Trumpets were used to blow warnings of impending doom. When you read the word trumpet, think NEWSCASTER! That is the job of our work, to be newscasters, like Jesus Christ the greatest newscaster ever, to warn to the world the impending days of trouble before the coming of the Lord.
#7 Atonement:
Taking from: www.cofac.org
In Hebrew Yom means day, (marked from sunset to sunset, as instructed by God), and Kippur means to pardon, or condone. The word atonement carries the meaning to English-speaking people. It means to make amends or to reconcile — to become "at one".
The observance of the Day of Atonement originates all the way to the time of Moses:
"And The Lord said to Moses, "On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves [i.e. fast] and present an offering by fire to The Lord. And you shall do no work on this same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before The Lord your God." (Leviticus 23:26–28)
The Scapegoat — A Symbol of Satan
The Azazel goat, translated as scapegoat in some Bibles, was one of two goats chosen for a ceremony on the Day Of Atonement. The first goat was sacrificed, while the scapegoat was taken out into the wilderness and released. The scapegoat was not killed, just as the spirit Satan cannot be killed. Instead, all of the guilt of the people was symbolically placed on the head of the scapegoat, who was then taken out into the wilderness and released (Leviticus 16:21–22).
This goat represents the condemnation of Satan for the Satan-inspired sins of all humanity, and his being put away in a spiritual wilderness (Revelation 20:3, 10). The sending of the Azazel goat out into the wilderness was done by a man who was qualified, after the high priest had returned from inside the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle; and is a ceremonial "preview" of an angel sending Satan into the abyss which will be done after Christ’s Return from the Throne Room of God the Father, as shown in Revelation 20:1–2,
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."
The original meaning of scapegoat was escape goat, the goat that was allowed to "escape" with its life. The accepted modern meaning of scapegoat, someone who is punished for the wrongs of others, is not at all accurate for Satan. He is as guilty as guilty can be, and he deserves everything that’s coming to him.
A quick search on the Internet, using the Google image search facility (http://images.google.com) and the term "Azazel", will return a variety of images, mostly pictures of the Devil, such as this one:
There are 3 elements of the Day of Atonement that apply directly to Christians:
The first element is the fast itself. Going 24 hours without food and water is not easy (anyone who has ever done it can tell you that it can be a very uncomfortable experience). It takes genuine determination and willingness. An Israelite’s refusal to fast, which resulted in the offender being cut off from the community (Leviticus 23:29) is the Old Testament’s equivalent of a person today refusing to repent, which will result in the offender being cut off from eternal life (Luke 13:3). Fasting is outward proof that the person doing the fasting is serious about repentance, which is vital for forgiveness. It’s very significant that the first Christians, including the apostle Paul himself, who wrote a large part of the New Testament, repented and observed the fast of the Day of Atonement as a Christian Holy day (Acts 27:9).
The second element involved the high priest. Only once per year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest (Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first high priest, and after him the role was filled by his descendants) entered the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle to offer ceremonial sacrifices for the forgiveness of the people (Hebrews 9:7). That Old Testament observance was a symbol of Jesus Christ, our High Priest (Hebrews 9:11), who, after His sacrifice, resurrection and ascension, entered the Throne Room of God the Father in Heaven to make atonement for all humanity (Hebrews 9:11–12).
The third element during the Day of Atonement involved the Azazel goat, or scapegoat which was taken out into the wilderness after having had all of the sins of the Israelites ceremonially placed on it (Leviticus 16:10, 21–22). The scapegoat symbolized the condemnation of Satan for the sins of all humanity, and putting him away in an eternal wilderness, firstly for 1,000 years in a bottomless pit, and then, after he is allowed to return for a short while, into the lake of fire, from which he will never return (Revelation 20:10). The sending of the Azazel goat out into the wilderness was done by a "suitable man", after the high priest returned from inside the Most Holy Place. This symbolizes God sending Satan into the abyss which will be done after Christ’s return from Heaven.
The Day of Atonement signifies the 3 most vital aspects of Christianity:
- Willing repentance on the part of those to be saved.
- The completed sacrifice of Jesus Christ formally presented to God the Father to make atonement for the sins of the Church and of all humanity.
- The final guilty verdict upon Satan as the source of all evil, and the sentencing of him to an eternity separated from God.
So we have two sacrifices the priest made, both of which required taking the blood into the Most Holy Place, to sprinkle the blood before the Lord. The first was for himself and his household, the second for the people of Israel. In both cases the blood represents the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood, but it would appear that the first time the priest went in was symbolic of forgiving the sins of the household of the high priest. As Christ is our High Priest, and we are of His household, the first people to be forgiven are God’s people, those in His Church and who have His Holy Spirit, including all those throughout history who were given the Spirit of God. The second sacrifice was for the rest of the people of Israel; which symbolizes forgiveness of the rest of mankind.
Although there was only one sacrifice of Christ, it is first and foremost for those who will be the firstfruits at Christ’s return, and secondly for the rest of mankind. Because at present, only those who have been called and chosen by God, repented and been given the Holy Spirit, who are forgiven of their sins. The rest of mankind are still in their sins. The sacrificing of the young bull and presenting its blood before the Lord represents the cleansing of the Church now at this time; as the sacrifice was made for the high priest and his household; today Christ is the High Priest, and the Church is His household. The Church must be cleansed first, in order to prepare it for the great task in the future, as the bride of Christ, in cleansing the rest of the world.
#8 The Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day
There are seven annual holidays, and one weekly holiday, totaling to eight different holidays for God!
Many scholars believe Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles. Matthew Henry states:
It is supposed by many that our blessed Saviour was born much about the time of this holiday; then He left his mansions of light above to tabernacle among us (John 1:14), and he dwelt in booths. And the worship of God under the New Testament is prophesied of under the notion of keeping the feast of tabernacles, Zec.14:16. For,
[1.] The gospel of Christ teaches us to dwell in tabernacles, to sit loose to this world, as those that have here no continuing city, but by faith, and hope and holy contempt of present things, to go out to Christ without the camp, Heb. 13:13, 14.
[2.] It teaches us to rejoice before the Lord our God. Those are the circumcision, Israelites indeed, that always rejoice in Christ Jesus, Phil. 3:3. And the more we are taken off from this world the less liable we are to the interruption of our joys.
The Bible does not specifically say the date of Jesus' birth. We know it was not during the winter months because the sheep were in the pasture (Luke 2:8). A study of the time of the conception of John the Baptist reveals he was conceived about Sivan 30, the eleventh week.
When Zechariah was ministering in the temple, he received an announcement from God of a coming son. Adding forty weeks for a normal pregnancy reveals that John the Baptist was born on or about Passover (Nisan 14). We know six months after John's conception, Mary conceived Jesus (Luke 1:26-33).
During the Feast of Tabernacles, God required all male Jews to come to Jerusalem. The many pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the festivals would spill over to the surrounding towns (Bethlehem is about five miles from Jerusalem). Joseph and Mary were unable to find a room at the inn because of the influx of so many pilgrims. They may have been given shelter in a Sukkoth, which is built during a seven-day period each year accompanying the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Due to the difficulties during travel, it was common for the officials to declare tax time during a temple Feast (Luke 2:1).
We know our Messiah was made manifest into a temporary body when He came to earth. Is it possible He also was put into a temporary dwelling? The fields would have been dotted with sukkoths during this harvest time to temporary shelter animals. The Hebrew word "stable" is called a sukkoth (Gen. 33:17).
An estimated 50,000 Christians observe the Feast of Tabernacles today. The United Churches of God groups that observes this festival, as well as the other appointed times of God. Most of those that do observe it were at one time affiliated with the WWCG, though some associated with the Church of God 7th day and even with the 7th Day Adventist (a very small minority) also observe it, though it is not an official practice of those latter two churches.
Most ministers do not limit their observance to Jerusalem, but observe it in several hundred places around the world.
There was a feast on the eighth day after Tabernacles began. It was the end date – the leave-taking of the Feast of Tabernacles. It completed the feasts of the seventh month as well (A memorial of Trumpets (seventh month): New Year (Lv 23:23); The Day of Atonement [the seventh month] (Lv 23:26); & the Feast of Tabernacles [seventh month] (Lv 23:33).
This final day was the consummation, or great high point, of the feast. It was the eighth day – the first day of the season of rest. The day itself was to be a complete rest; no work whatever was to be done. The planting, the cultivating, and the harvesting had all been accomplished. Now it was time to rest.
That eighth day was a type of the new creation – the day that never ends – the day “when all our labors and trials are over.” It is the day of the establishment of the eternal kingdom of God in its fullness. All is completed. All is renewed. All is at rest. The true New World has begun. It is the fulfillment of the work of Christ for us.
This is supposed to be the happiest most joyous time of the year for us. A VACATION TIME to rest, have fun and be with family. It symbolizes the millennium under Christ.
The LAST GREAT DAY or the eight day of the Tabernacles simply symbolizes GOD THE FATHER coming to the New Earth to be with us. See Revelation 22.
