We are ready to begin our next installment of the “Precepts
and Principles of the Torah.” If you are not familiar with this, there are a
number of other installments in this particular series. I believe I have
twenty-two studies on the website. This will be number twenty-three “Precepts
and Principles of the Torah.”

We have been going through different sections of Yahweh’s Law
and seeking to understand, not only what it says, but the principle behind why
it says what it says, and how and what might apply to us in our day and age and
how we can apply different things to our lives.

You know, the backdrop to everything Yahweh is teaching us is
simply this: Love Him. Love one another. That is the message He is trying to get
to us.

And He could very easily have just said, “Love Me and love
each other and we will all get along just fine.” But the problem is we all have
our own ideas of what it means to love. You might have your idea. He might have
His idea.

In today’s day and age, homosexuality is love. To this day
and age, aborting your babies so that they don’t have to live in a cruel world
is love. I mean, where can you find clarity as to what love truly is– what
divine “ordained of Yahweh” love, really, truly is?

And that is why we have His Word– to clarify for us. If
there is any doubt as to what love is, it is going to teach us.

And there is also, how do we love Yahweh? I mean, even each
of us, we kind of have what they call our “love language,” right? Some people
receive love one way more so than others. Some receive love in a greater way
through physical touch, others through positive affirmation, through doing
things for them, different things.

Well, Yahweh has given us His love language, which is the
ultimate love language. He is telling us how HE desires to be loved.

Some people think it is okay to ignore His Sabbath day, for
instance, or to take His name in vain… or whatever. They might think it is
okay to take His name out of His own book and put “The LORD” in there instead of
Yahweh.

This is why He wrote what He wrote. This is why He had these
words written down– so that we would have clarity of how He really wants to be
loved.

Anyway, we want to dig in here to Leviticus chapter 17. We
are going to go through this chapter and into chapter 18, up to verse 5, in this
particular installment. And so, if you are ready, I am ready.

We are going to start with Leviticus chapter 17, and verse 1.
It says:

Leviticus 17:1 – And YAHWEH spoke to
Moses, saying,

2 – Speak to Aaron, to his sons, and to all
the children of Israel, and say to them, `This [is] the thing which YAHWEH
has commanded, saying:

3 – Whatever man of the house of Israel who
kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills [it] outside the camp,

Leviticus 17:4 – and does not bring it to
the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to YAHWEH before
the tabernacle of YAHWEH, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to that
man. He has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people,

5 – to the end that the children of Israel
may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, that they may
bring them to YAHWEH at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, to the
priest, and offer them [as] peace offerings to YAHWEH.

Pretty serious words here. We do not want to be guilty of
having shed blood, or bloodshed, imparted to us. Now what is interesting is that
this is bloodshed of an animal and not a human. I mean, people, you know, think
they can just do what they want, or whatever, but there has to be a line here
somewhere. And Yahweh is drawing it.

He is saying, “If you do not bring this to Me, then you are
guilty of bloodshed.” Rather than making an offering to Yahweh, you are guilty
of bloodshed.

Now the context here, “kill” (as far as when it comes to
killing an animal), this particular word is the Hebrew word “shachat.” And
“shachat” means: “to kill,” “to slaughter,” “to beat,” “beast for food,”
“sacrifice.” It is translated “kill” 42 times, “slay” 36 times.

Lexicon: 07819 shachat {shaw-khat’} Meaning: v 1) to kill,
slaughter, beat 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to slaughter 1a1a) beast for food 1a1b) sacrifice
1a1c) person in human sacrifice 1a1d) beaten, hammered (of shekels) 1b) (Niphal)
to be slaughtered, be slain (of food or sacrifice) n f 2) (BDB) slaughtering 2a)
word doubtful.

Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 2362 Usage: AV – kill 42,
slay 36, offer 1, shot out 1, slaughter 1; 81.

It can refer to a sacrifice and it can refer to something
that is not a sacrifice, which I found interesting.

Now the “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament” says: It
is in the realm of the sacrifice rituals that shachat finds its most popular
usage. As such, it is in the book of Leviticus that the root occurs most often,
thirty-five times.”

And so, what is going on here? Some think that this would be
a reference of eating meat of any kind in that this is a blanket prohibition of
eating any kind of meat at all unless it is offered to Yahweh.

And if I only look at this from the idea of killing, and not
from the idea of sacrifice, I could see where one might come to that conclusion
and maybe even suggest that we should be vegetarians.

However, let’s continue to read here in verse 6…

Leviticus 17:6 – And the priest shall
sprinkle the blood on the altar of YAHWEH [at] the door of the tabernacle of
meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet aroma to YAHWEH.

7 – They shall no more offer their
sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be
a statute forever for them throughout their generations.’

Now, a couple of things here. He says the purpose of this
would be that they would “no longer offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom
they have played the harlot…” And you go back to verse 4, where He says, it is
“to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices… unto
Yahweh.”

And that is the goal here, and the principle and purpose of
the command, so that the children of Israel will not be doing their sacrifices
wherever they happen to be at– whether it be a tent, or, in this case, out
there wherever they were to offer these sacrifices to other elohim.

And so, He wanted all this brought in rather than people
doing their own sacrifices wherever they happen to be. And He says, “This shall
be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.” That means it is
not going to end. This is an unending statute.

So it does not only apply to the time they were in the
wilderness, but it also applies to the time they were going to be in the land of
Israel.

Now if this were a blanket prohibition against eating any
kind of meat without offering it as a sacrifice, we would have a problem here
because we would have conflicting verses. This says it is a statute forever
throughout their generations, but then Deuteronomy chapter 12 says:

Deuteronomy 12:5 – But you shall seek the
place where YAHWEH your Elohim chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His
name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.

6 – There you shall take your burnt
offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand,
your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your
herds and flocks.

7 – And there you shall eat before YAHWEH
your Elohim, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand,
you and your households, in which YAHWEH your Elohim has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 12:8 – You shall not at all
do as we are doing here today — every man doing whatever [is] right in his
own eyes —

9 – for as yet you have not come to the rest
and the inheritance which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you.

10 – But [when] you cross over the Jordan
and dwell in the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you to inherit, and
He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in
safety,

Deuteronomy 12:11 – then there will be
the place where YAHWEH your Elohim chooses to make His name abide. There you
shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices,
your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings
which you vow to YAHWEH.

12 – And you shall rejoice before YAHWEH
your Elohim, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female
servants, and the Levite who [is] within your gates, since he has no portion
nor inheritance with you.

Deuteronomy 12:13 – Take heed to yourself
that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

So it seems to be a consistent message here.

Deuteronomy 12:14 – but in the place
which YAHWEH chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your
burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15 – However, you may slaughter and eat meat
within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the
blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim which He has given you; the unclean and the
clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike.

Now nowhere does Yahweh say bring gazelle and bring deer as
an offering to Him, but what we see here is, and some people think, “Well, this
means you can eat clean and unclean meat.”

No, what He is saying here is, whether you are in a state of
uncleanness or whether you happen to be in a state of cleanness, you are
permitted to slaughter and eat meat within all your gates. It is not a
sacrifice. And so, you do not have to be clean when you enter the temple or the
tabernacle area and make this offering.

And so, you can eat meat within any of your gates whether you
are in a state of uncleanness or cleanness. It says: “The unclean and the clean
may eat of it.” That means whoever is unclean, whoever is clean, you can eat of
it.

And He says:

Deuteronomy 12:16 – Only you shall not
eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water.

So He is saying you can kill and eat an animal within your
own gates whether you happen to be in a state of cleanness or uncleanness.

Deuteronomy 12:17 – You may not eat
within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of
the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you
vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand.

Now this is an important commandment. You may not eat within
your gates the firstborn of your herd or your flock. Remember this for later.

Deuteronomy 12:18 – But you must eat them
before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which YAHWEH your Elohim chooses, you
and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant,
and the Levite who [is] within your gates; and you shall rejoice before
YAHWEH your Elohim in all to which you put your hands.

19 – Take heed to yourself that you do not
forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 – When YAHWEH your Elohim enlarges your
border as He has promised you, and you say, `Let me eat meat,’ because you
long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.

Did you catch that? So vegetarianism, I don’t think, is
anywhere biblical. It says: “You may eat as much meat as your heart desires.”

Deuteronomy 12:21 – If the place where
YAHWEH your Elohim chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may
slaughter from your herd and from your flock which YAHWEH has given you,
just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as
your heart desires.

So we are permitted to eat meat.

Deuteronomy 12:22 – Just as the gazelle
and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike
may eat them.

So whether you happen to be in a state of uncleanness or
cleanness, you can eat them.

Deuteronomy 12:23 – Only be sure that you
do not eat the blood, for the blood [is] the life; you may not eat the life
with the meat.

24 – You shall not eat it; you shall pour it
on the earth like water.

25 – You shall not eat it, that it may go
well with you and your children after you, when you do [what is] right in
the sight of YAHWEH.

Now notice it will go well not only with you, but also your
children after you. So when we walk in obedience, we have a promise it will go
well with us and also our children after us, when we do what is right in the
sight of Yahweh. And that is what we need to do.

So we have this promise. If you have children who have grown
up and left home and have not remained in the faith, their best chance of coming
back is you doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh, because you want it to
go well with them, right?

And so, if you want it to go well with your children after
you, then do what is right in the sight of Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 12:26 – Only the holy things
which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place
which YAHWEH chooses.

So those things which would be holy, things that were vowed
offerings, sacrifices.

Deuteronomy 12:27 – And you shall offer
your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of YAHWEH your
Elohim; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of
YAHWEH your Elohim, and you shall eat the meat.

So they did partake of the offerings. Even though they
offered them up to Yahweh, they did partake of some of the meat. Some of the
meat was given to the priest. Some of it was given to them. And that was okay.

So if it was a holy thing, if it was a tithe, if it was
something dedicated to Yahweh, then they would have to bring it to Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 12:28 – Observe and obey all
these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your
children after you forever, when you do [what is] good and right in the
sight of YAHWEH your Elohim.

So these scriptures here speak directly to the requirement
that we are not permitted to make a sacrifice to Yahweh ourselves. We must bring
it to the place He chooses and the priest would make the offering.

Now that would include the firstborn of our flock. And so,
that would have to include the Passover sacrifices. Anything that is devoted to
Yahweh we have examples.

Now of late, I have been hearing more and more about people
going out and actually killing, slaughtering, sacrificing a lamb at Passover and
taking the blood and sprinkling it on the doorpost of their house. But it is
expressively forbidden in Scripture to make a sacrifice to Yahweh without taking
it to the tabernacle for that purpose.

Even in Israel, when Josiah had his Passover. In 2 Chronicles
35:7, it says:

2Chronicles 35:7 – Then Josiah gave the
[lay] people lambs and young goats from the flock, all for Passover
[offerings] for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, as
well as three thousand cattle; these [were] from the king’s possessions.

8 – And his leaders gave willingly to the
people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel,
rulers of the house of Elohim, gave to the priests for the Passover
[offerings] two thousand six hundred [from the flock], and three hundred
cattle.

2Chronicles 35:9 – Also Conaniah, his
brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief
of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover [offerings] five thousand
[from the flock] and five hundred cattle.

10 – So the service was prepared, and the
priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according
to the king’s command.

2Chronicles 35:11 – And they slaughtered
the Passover [offerings]; and the priests sprinkled [the blood] with their
hands, while the Levites skinned [the animals].

What did they do with the blood? Did they give a little cup
of blood to the people and have them take the blood and sprinkle it on the
doorpost of their house? No! They sprinkled it with their hands. They did the
sprinkling of the blood, while the Levites skinned the animals.

So the priests took the position of sprinkling the blood of
the Passover offering.

2Chronicles 35:12 – Then they removed the
burnt offerings that [they] might give them to the divisions of the fathers’
houses of the [lay] people, to offer to YAHWEH, as [it is] written in the
Book of Moses. And so [they did] with the cattle.

13 – Also they roasted the Passover
[offerings] with fire according to the ordinance; but the [other] holy
[offerings] they boiled in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and divided
[them] quickly among all the [lay] people.

So they were following Yahweh’s Word. They were following the
ordinances. They were following the Scriptures. Hilkiah had just found the book
of the Law. We are talking the unadulterated Word of Yahweh. They found the Book
of the Law in the Temple of Yahweh. And so, He blessed them with knowing exactly
what to do.

And so, in obedience to the Torah, they did not have the
animal sacrificed and the blood placed on the doorposts of houses. That was a
one-time event that occurred in Exodus chapter 12. After that time, Yahweh
commanded that they would not do the Passover ordinances in their own houses.

So, anyway, He said:

Deuteronomy 16:5 – You may not sacrifice
the Passover within any of your gates which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you;

And so, He changed that. The Exodus 12 Passover was a
specific Passover to be done in a specific way for a specific people at a
specific time, and everything that we are doing after that is a memorial of that
event. So, He says do not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, but:

Deuteronomy 16:6 – but at the place where
YAHWEH your Elohim chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice
the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came
out of Egypt.

So they were told to do it differently. And so, in obedience
to Yahweh’s Torah, they did. And we see that in Josiah’s Passover.

So, let’s read this again:

Leviticus 17:1 – And YAHWEH spoke to
Moses, saying,

2 – Speak to Aaron, to his sons, and to all
the children of Israel, and say to them, `This [is] the thing which YAHWEH
has commanded, saying:

3 – Whatever man of the house of Israel who
kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills [it] outside the camp,

Leviticus 17:4 – and does not bring it to
the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to YAHWEH before
the tabernacle of YAHWEH, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to that
man. He has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people,

He only wants the sacrifices in the places, in this case, the
tabernacle. In fact, He says that those who do not bring it to the tabernacle
have shed blood. This is an ordinance throughout their generations. So He is
very exact about what He expects and what He demands.

Leviticus 17:5 – to the end that the
children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open
field, that they may bring them to YAHWEH at the door of the tabernacle of
meeting, to the priest, and offer them [as] peace offerings to YAHWEH.

That is where He wants the sacrifices to occur. That is what
He wants. And so, that is what we need to do, right? Absolutely! That is what we
need to do.

Do we personally do a sacrifice? Do we have a tabernacle to
sacrifice things to Yahweh? We don’t. It is not standing. It is not in
existence. So, obviously, we should not be doing offerings… and for other
reasons.

But, just for clarity, I think that we need to pay attention
to what is being said here. There are people actually doing Passover sacrifices,
and Yahweh specifically says you must bring it to the tabernacle of meeting.
That is where you need to bring it.

And He charges those who sacrifice on their own, without
having brought it to the tabernacle of meeting, to be guilty of bloodshed. Wow!
I mean, I would be afraid to do that.

Now we see an example of where it was thought that men were
going to set up a place for sacrifices in a different place, a different altar–
in Joshua chapter 22, verse 9:

Joshua 22:9 – So the children of Reuben,
the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed
from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan, to
go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had
obtained according to the word of YAHWEH by the hand of Moses.

10 – And when they came to the region of the
Jordan which [is] in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the
children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the
Jordan — a great, impressive altar.

Joshua 22:11 – Now the children of Israel
heard [someone] say, Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad,
and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the
land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan — on the children of Israel’s
side.

12 – And when the children of Israel heard
[of it], the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together
at Shiloh to go to war against them.

13 – Then the children of Israel sent
Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben, to the
children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead,

Joshua 22:14 – and with him ten rulers,
one ruler each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel; and each one
[was] the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel.

15 – Then they came to the children of
Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to the
land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

Joshua 22:16 – Thus says the whole
congregation of YAHWEH: `What treachery [is] this that you have committed
against the Elohim of Israel, to turn away this day from following YAHWEH,
in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this
day against YAHWEH?

17 – `[Is] the iniquity of Peor not enough
for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a
plague in the congregation of YAHWEH,

18 – `but that you must turn away this day
from following YAHWEH? And it shall be, if you rebel today against YAHWEH,
that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

Joshua 22:19 – `Nevertheless, if the land
of your possession [is] unclean, [then] cross over to the land of the
possession of YAHWEH, where YAHWEH’S tabernacle stands, and take possession
among us; but do not rebel against YAHWEH, nor rebel against us, by building
yourselves an altar besides the altar of YAHWEH our Elohim.

20 – `Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a
trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of
Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’

So to build a sacrificial altar in any place other than where
Yahweh specifically asked it to be, is considered to be:

? “Treachery against Yahweh.” Treachery!

? “Turning away from following Yahweh.”

? “Rebelling against Yahweh.”

Based on what we have read so far, that is what it is. Now
that is simply because they had built an altar in some other location other than
the place that Yahweh chose. And so, pretty serious. Real serious.

And any animals that would have been offered there, they
would have been guilty of bloodshed according to Leviticus chapter 17.

So, let’s continue reading here, in Joshua 22…

Joshua 22:21 – Then the children of
Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and
said to the heads of the divisions of Israel:

22 – YAHWEH Elohim of gods, YAHWEH Elohim of
gods, He knows, and let Israel itself know — if [it is] in rebellion, or if
in treachery against YAHWEH, do not save us this day.

23 – If we have built ourselves an altar to
turn from following YAHWEH, or if to offer on it burnt offerings or grain
offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let YAHWEH Himself require
[an account].

Joshua 22:24 – But in fact we have done
it for fear, for a reason, saying, `In time to come your descendants may
speak to our descendants, saying, What have you to do with YAHWEH Elohim of
Israel?

25 – For YAHWEH has made the Jordan a border
between you and us, [you] children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have
no part in YAHWEH. So your descendants would make our descendants cease
fearing YAHWEH.’

That is the Jordan River.

Joshua 22:26 – Therefore we said, `Let us
now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for
sacrifice,

27 – `but [that] it [may be] a witness
between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the
service of YAHWEH before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices,
and with our peace offerings; that your descendants may not say to our
descendants in time to come, You have no part in YAHWEH.’

Joshua 22:28 – Therefore we said that it
will be, when they say [this] to us or to our generations in time to come,
that we may say, `Here is the replica of the altar of YAHWEH which our
fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it [is]
a witness between you and us.’

29 – Far be it from us that we should rebel
against YAHWEH, and turn from following YAHWEH this day, to build an altar
for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the
altar of YAHWEH our Elohim which [is] before His tabernacle.

Joshua 22:30 – Now when Phinehas the
priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of
Israel who [were] with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the
children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them.

31 – Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the
priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children
of Manasseh, This day we perceive that YAHWEH [is] among us, because you
have not committed this treachery against YAHWEH. Now you have delivered the
children of Israel out of the hand of YAHWEH.

So I hope that this puts an end to this idea that we can
personally make sacrifices and sprinkle the blood anywhere. Yahweh gave us a
commandment, a revision. He established it as a statute forever.

And besides all this, Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 5, and
verse 7, that Messiah is our Passover. It says:

1Corinthians 5:7 – Therefore purge out the
old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For
indeed Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Yahushua is our Passover. He died at the exact hour that the
lambs were being slaughtered for sacrifice in Jerusalem. And what they were
doing in the first century, historically speaking, they were taking the blood
from the Passover lambs and sprinkling them on the altar. They were not
sprinkling them on doorposts.

See, there was no Aaronic priesthood. There were no sons of
Aaron, in terms of a priesthood, at the time Exodus 12 was written. But once He
established the priesthood, He established the people through whom offerings
would be made.

And Yahushua, it says:

Luke 22:19 – And He took bread, gave
thanks and broke [it], and gave [it] to them, saying, This is My body which
is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

20 – Likewise He also [took] the cup after
supper, saying, This cup [is] the new covenant in My blood, which is shed
for you.

So when you partake of the body and blood of Messiah,
symbolically speaking, we are partaking of the Passover lamb. He is our
Passover. And so, we don’t see it as us dismissing or disobeying a command from
Yahweh to bring a lamb, because we have a lamb– Yahushua Ha Mashiach. He is our
Lamb. And so, I am content with that.

And I think one of the reasons why Yahushua gave this
ordinance for us was so that we would recognize Him as our Passover Lamb who
saves us from death, from the ruler of this world, Satan, and typified in the
Torah as Pharaoh. And the taskmasters, Pharaoh’s servants, who afflicted the
children of Israel. The demons afflict us.

And so, the whole picture is a picture of what Yahushua has
done for us. And so, after they had done the exodus, Yahweh immediately told
them, “Now I want you to bring the offerings to the tabernacle. That is where I
want them to be brought. A lamb, whatever. Bring it to the tabernacle.”

And so, the idea that we would do a sacrifice on our own
property or in our neighborhood, wherever, in any place other than the temple or
tabernacle, in my view, is simply unscriptural.

Getting back to Leviticus 17…

Leviticus 17:6 – And the priest shall
sprinkle the blood on the altar of YAHWEH [at] the door of the tabernacle of
meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet aroma to YAHWEH.

And so, that is why the Passover offerings were brought to
the priest.

Leviticus 17:7 – They shall no more offer
their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This
shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.’

So it does not change.

Now this is a curious word translated “demons”– making an
offering to “demons.” The word for this is the Hebrew word “sa’iyr,” which has
to do with “hairiness.” And it is translated “kid,” “goat.” So it is primarily
talking about a male goat, a sacrificial animal.

Lexicon: 08163 sa’iyr {saw-eer’} or sa’ir {saw-eer’} Meaning:
adj 1) hairy n m 2) he-goat, buck 2a) as sacrificial animal 2b) satyr, may refer
to a demon possessed goat like the swine of Gadara (Mt. 8:30-32) Origin: from
08175; TWOT – 2274c,2274e Usage: AV – kid 28, goat 24, devil 2, satyr 2, hairy
2, rough 1; 59.

Now some suggest that there is a connection between this goat
and the swine of Gadara– a “demon possessed goat.” But other Lexicons, like the
“Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament” [TWOT] says: “In four cases this
word was translated by the KJV “satyr” or “demon” (Lev. 17:7; 2 Chr. 11:15; Isa.
13:21; Isa. 34:14).

“There is no need to go to this bizarre translation. NIV
translates the first two instances as “goat idol,” the last two as “goat” or
“wild goat.” The NASB is similar, but uses “satyr” in 2 Chr. 11:15.”

Now there is a place where it does talk about sacrifices
being to demons and that is Deuteronomy 32:16. It says:

Deuteronomy 32:16 – They provoked Him to
jealousy with foreign [gods]; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17 – They sacrificed to demons, not to
Elohim, [To gods] they did not know, To new [gods], new arrivals That your
fathers did not fear.

And this particular Hebrew word translated “demons” is the
Hebrew word “shed” {shade}. So: shin, tsere, dalet– “shed.” And that is
translated “devil” twice.

Lexicon: 07700 shed {shade} Meaning: 1) demon Origin: from
07736; TWOT – 2330; n m Usage: AV – devil 2; 2. There are no notes for this
verse.

Kind of an interesting word there. I wondered if there was
any connection between our English word “shade” and this particular Hebrew word.
I could not find any connection, but I thought perhaps “shade,” in the sense of”
darkness,” maybe there is a connection there somehow with the Hebrew word for
“demon.” But I could not find anything solid.

Anyway, it is true that the Gentiles, when they sacrificed,
they did sacrifice, actually, to demons.

1Corinthians 10:20 – Rather, that the
things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to
Elohim, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

And so, we do not want any kind of homage being done to a
demon, do we? And the word in Greek for “demon” here is “daimonion.”

Lexicon: 1140 daimonion {dahee-mon’-ee-on} Meaning: 1) the
divine power, deity, divinity 2) a spirit, a being inferior to Elohim, superior
to men 3) evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil Origin:
neuter of a derivative of 1142; TDNT – 2:1,137; n n Usage: AV – devil 59, god 1;
60.

This word is translated “devil” 59 times. And so, it is
pretty solid as far as the meaning there.

Anyway, I thought that was kind of interesting, because the
time of year we are in right now coming up, this what is called “Christmas,” a
lot of the practices and things are rooted in the worship of demons. And Yahweh
doesn’t want us to have any part of those practices at all.

And so, if it was wrong to have adopted these practices at
one time, it never stops being wrong. I don’t care if is a thousand years later,
it never stops being wrong.

And so, a lot of these pagan idol worshiping customs and
practices have been carried over into the modern Christmas holiday. And
Scripture says don’t even have any fellowship with those things. Do not have
anything to do with it.

And that is pretty consistent with what the Torah says as
well. Smash their idols. You tear down their altars. Have nothing to do with
them. “Do not worship Me the way you worship their elohim.”

So back in Leviticus 17…

Leviticus 17:6 – And the priest shall
sprinkle the blood on the altar of YAHWEH [at] the door of the tabernacle of
meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet aroma to YAHWEH.

7 – They shall no more offer their
sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be
a statute forever for them throughout their generations.’

And this “playing the harlot” is really the Hebrew word
“zanah,” which does mean “adultery.” So, an interesting perspective.

Leviticus 17:8 – Also you shall say to
them: `Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell
among you, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,

9 – `and does not bring it to the door of the
tabernacle of meeting, to offer it to YAHWEH, that man shall be cut off from
among his people.

10 – `And whatever man of the house of
Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will
set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from
among his people.

Serious words.

Leviticus 17:11 – `For the life of the
flesh [is] in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it [is] the blood [that] makes atonement for
the soul.’

12 – Therefore I said to the children of
Israel, `No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells
among you eat blood.’

Leviticus 17:13 – Whatever man of the
children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and
catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood
and cover it with dust;

14 – for [it is] the life of all flesh. Its
blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, `You
shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its
blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.’

So very serious repeated warnings over and over again in the
Scriptures about eating blood and how Yahweh does not want us to do that. It is
forbidden.

Now what about the meats that we get today? Do you ever go
and get some ground beef there at the grocery store and in the package you can
see this red liquidy stuff floating around in there, and you think, “Well, they
must not have drained out all the blood when they killed the animal, so we have
to get all this blood out of there”?

And some people believe that that redness of the meat is
blood. But that is not true. It is not true.

According to the USDA, it says: “Many people think the red
liquid in packaged fresh beef is blood. However, blood is removed from beef
during slaughter and only a small amount remains within the muscle tissue. Since
beef is about 3/4 water, this natural moisture combined with protein is the
source of the liquid in the package.”

Another witness. According to Mercola’s web site, it says:
“The red juice that often collects in a package of red meat is not blood, as
many assume. Most of the blood is removed during processing and any that remains
is usually contained within the muscle tissue.

“The red liquid, instead, is a mixture of water and a protein
called myoglobin… [it is a protein]… whose purpose is to help ship oxygen to
muscle cells. Myoglobin is deeply pigmented, which is why the more myoglobin a
meat contains, the darker (or redder) the meat will be.

“After kosher slaughter, meat must be “koshered” before it
becomes acceptable for consumption. The process of koshering removes any blood
that may remain in meat. To kosher a beef carcass, only the forequarter is used.

“Although there is no Biblical prohibition against the use of
a whole carcass, the process of deveining beef is less complex in the
forequarter. First, veins, arteries and certain nonacceptable fats are removed
from meat by highly trained specialists.

“After deveining, the meat is soaked in cold water, salted,
then allowed to drain for a period of time to aid in the removal of blood from
the meat. Following the draining process, the meat is rinsed in cold water.
Meats must be washed every 72 hours following slaughter until koshered.

“If beef is not koshered by the 13th day after slaughter, it
becomes non-kosher. Once koshered, meat can be held refrigerated or frozen until
used.” – Elizabeth Boyle, Ph.D. Department of Animal Sciences and Industry,
Kansas State University.

And so, that is the process of a kosher slaughter, according
to the way that the Jews do it.

Now according to another expert, or at least a
self-proclaimed expert, it says: “The Torah prohibits us from eating blood, and
we therefore take two approaches to ensure that free blood no longer remains in
the meat.

“The first step is to remove all of the large arteries and
veins, where the blood coagulates after slaughter, a process that is also
referred to as Nikkur. [Bruised meat or other coagulated blood must also be
removed.] The second step is to purge the meat itself from extraneous blood.

“This is generally accomplished by a process commonly known
as Kashering. This process involves soaking the treibored meat in cool water for
one half hour, covering it with coarse salt and letting it drain for one full
hour, and then carefully rinsing it three times to remove all remaining salt.” –
Zushe Yosef Blech MK Vaad News & Views, November 2003.

That is according to a magazine I had picked up. Now, I know
for myself, I never went through this vein removal. I never did that when I
slaughtered a steer many years ago. I could not even begin to tell you how it is
done, and from what I understand, it takes a specially trained person to even
recognize those things.

The same with chickens. And I don’t know how you could detect
any blood in chickens anyway, at least any that I have ever slaughtered. But,
curiously, I have received kosher chickens that I did see what I thought was
blood in the meat. And I don’t quite understand why that is.

And so, do we need to go to these extremes in order to remove
the blood completely from the meat? I don’t know of any scripture that mentions
cutting veins, using salt, as far as what Yahweh is asking us to do. What I do
see Him saying is that we are supposed to “pour out its blood and cover it with
dust.”

So it seems to be that this pouring out is what He is wanting
us to do. And I wonder, honestly, I do wonder, even if they went through all
their kosher efforts, if you had a lab tear apart that meat, I would question
whether or not all the blood was really completely out.

I mean, maybe they would find some blood cells there under a
microscope. I would be surprised if they did not find any blood cells in the
meat.

And I have koshered meat before with salt. And it seems like
I don’t know how many times you have to go through the process of salting, and
it seems like no matter how many times you put it in the water, you still find
red water.

And I don’t know if that is just because of the myoglobin or
what it is. I don’t know. But I look at this and I wonder how far do we have to
go? Is it just the pouring out that He asks us to do?

Even in Gentile slaughter houses, they know that if you leave
blood in the meat, it will spoil the meat, and they hang their meat and let it
drain. And they hang it for a certain period of time to get all the blood out.

Some exceptions to that would be people who eat blood
bologna, and things like that, that are just absolutely disgusting. But it seems
to me that He is telling us that when you slaughter an animal, drain all the
blood out. That is what I am getting it says.

But then on the other side, if you eat any blood, you are
going to be cut off.

Leviticus 7:26 – `Moreover you shall not
eat any blood in any of your dwellings, [whether] of bird or beast.

27 – `Whoever eats any blood, that person
shall be cut off from his people.’

I wonder, though, are they getting every microscopic blood
cell out of the meat themselves? I am not 100% sure they are. So, what do you do
in that circumstance? I guess I leave that to your conscience.

I am not sure… if I were to slaughter an animal, I would
just about have to go to school in order to get all the veins and figure out
“this has to go here.” I don’t know if that is exactly what Yahweh is asking us
to do. And when you get into very small animals, like pigeons, and things like
that, they are going to have veins.

They are going to have veins, but because they are very, very
small, where would you find a vein in a pigeon or even a chicken? I just do not
know.

But there is a prohibition against eating blood, and this
includes a commandment that Yahweh specifically mentioned, in what is called the
New Testament, in the book of Acts.

Acts 15:19 – Therefore I judge that we
should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to Elohim,

20 – but that we write to them to abstain
from things polluted by idols, [from] sexual immorality, [from] things
strangled, and [from] blood.

Now, this is in Acts 15, verses 19 through 20. So there are,
actually, interestingly, two of these (strangled and blood) talking specifically
about and related to not eating blood in the meat.

And so, this prohibition was important enough to the early
disciples that they would include two commandments against this eating blood.
Because if you have a strangled animal, the blood is not being poured out.

But this commandment, actually, pre-existed anything Yahweh
had written there in Leviticus 17. It was all the way back to Genesis 9, verse
4. Yahweh says:

Genesis 9:4 – But you shall not eat flesh
with its life, [that is], its blood.

Now for some reason Christians think they can go ahead and
eat blood (blood bologna, or whatever else they have going, blood pudding, and
different things that are just to me very disgusting). And yet, Yahweh
specifically said, even in the New Testament, even before the Torah was given–
not to eat blood.

So to what extant does Yahweh require us to remove the blood?
He simply says, in Deuteronomy 12:16 – “pour it on the earth like water.”

Deuteronomy 12:15 – However, you may
slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires,
according to the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim which He has given you; the
unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike.

16 – Only you shall not eat the blood; you
shall pour it on the earth like water.

Deuteronomy 15:23 – “pour it on the ground like water.”

Deuteronomy 15:22 – You may eat it within
your gates; the unclean and the clean [person] alike [may eat it], as [if it
were] a gazelle or a deer.

23 – Only you shall not eat its blood; you
shall pour it on the ground like water.

So I have some serious doubts that we have to go through
deveining and salting, and all these things. And every slaughter house that I
know does this already. They pour it out. I don’t know if they cover it with
dust, but they do pour it out.

So back to Leviticus 17. It says:

Leviticus 17:15 – And every person who
eats what died [naturally] or what was torn [by beasts, whether he is] a
native of your own country or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and
bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Then he shall be clean.

16 – But if he does not wash [them] or bathe
his body, then he shall bear his guilt.

And so, we are not supposed to eat something that died of its
own accord, whether it was torn by a beast or died naturally, it just simply
died. And if you did eat them, you would be considered unclean. It says you
should wash your clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Now slaughter houses, some might suggest, maybe are not
making sure that they are killing the animal. In other words, would they take a
dead animal and slaughter it? I just do not think so. I think that would cause
major meat spoilage if it died of itself and then you tried to drain the blood
out. So I think that would be a problem either way.

I know the Jews, they do inspections. They do organ
inspections. They make sure the animal is healthy before you are eating the
animal. Now, if you want to be on the safe side, I do think the Jewish people go
above and beyond what Scripture may ask us to do, but you can be pretty sure
that it is going to be done correctly.

And so, you may feel more comfortable with the way they are
doing it– a kosher slaughter house. Although, I have seen some examples of
corruption even in kosher slaughter houses as well. So… I don’t know.

But, anyway, back to Leviticus, chapter 18. We are in chapter
18 now.

Leviticus 18:1 – Then YAHWEH spoke to
Moses, saying,

2 – Speak to the children of Israel, and say
to them: `I am YAHWEH your Elohim.

3 – `According to the doings of the land of
Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the
land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you
walk in their ordinances.

Yahweh does not want them practicing their ordinances.

Leviticus 18:4 – `You shall observe My
judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I [am] YAHWEH your
Elohim.

5 – `You shall therefore keep My statutes and
My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I [am] YAHWEH.

Yahweh says this in many places. He says, “… if a man does,
he shall live by them,” which I find to be an interesting thought. But there are
other ordinances– the ordinances of the land of Egypt, the ordinances of the
land of Canaan. “Those ordinances,” He says, “you cannot live by those. My
statutes, My judgments, you can live by those.”

And we find this interesting thing, in Ezekiel 20, verse 11.
He says:

Ezekiel 20:11 – And I gave them My
statutes and showed them My judgments, `which, [if] a man does, he shall
live by them .’

And it says: Ezekiel 20:13a – “Yet the house of Israel
rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they
despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ ”

Interesting.

Nehemiah 9:29 – And testified against
them, That You might bring them back to Your law. Yet they acted proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments, But sinned against Your judgments,
`Which if a man does, he shall live by them .’ And they shrugged their
shoulders, Stiffened their necks, And would not hear.

Now, when we reject Yahweh’s Law and we start following man’s
ordinances, there is going to be some law we are going to follow. I mean, we all
have standards by which we conduct ourselves. Even people on the streets in
gangs and stuff have rules that they live by, certain laws that they follow.

No one really is one-hundred percent completely crazy
lawless. They all have certain ways, certain limitations, to their immorality.
And so, inevitably, we will find ourselves walking in statutes that we cannot
live by when we reject Yahweh’s laws.

Ezekiel 20:23 – Also I raised My hand in
an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the
Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries,

24 – because they had not executed My
judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their
eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.

25 – Therefore I also gave them up to
statutes [that were] not good, and judgments by which they could not live;

Interesting. So He gave them over to statutes and laws that
they could not live by.

And that is what happens when we reject the statutes and
ordinances of Yahweh. And that is why tradition is so, so popular in mainstream
Christianity and mainstream Judaism. Because a rejection of the laws of Yahweh
inevitably will create a void that will cause us to go toward other laws, toward
other ordinances, toward other statutes.

And so, that is how we get tradition. And when man is the
lawgiver, then man gets the attention, right? Right. And that is even more so
why people want to follow ordinances other than the ones of Yahweh.

“Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe” (Lev. 18:1). He is saying not to
do these ordinances in the land of Canaan, not to do the ones in the land of
Egypt, because you cannot live by them. Whereas, Yahweh’s ordinances– “he shall
live by them” (Lev. 18:5).

What does this mean, “live by them”– if you do them, you
will “live by them”? Yahushua was asked the question, in Luke chapter 10, verse
25:

Luke 10:25 – And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?

26 – He said to him, What is written in the
law? What is your reading [of it]?

27 – So he answered and said, `You shall
love YAHWEH your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your strength, and with all your mind,’ and `your neighbor as yourself.’

Luke 10:28 – And He said to him, You have
answered rightly; do this and you will live.

What He was asked specifically was, how to inherit eternal
life. That is life that is forever. That is what He was specifically asked.
Yahushua says do these commandments and you will live.

So when Scripture is saying “live by them,” He is really
saying “have eternal life by them.” “Do these things and you will live.” “Do
these things and you will inherit eternal life.” That is what it is saying.

So if we would choose to obey the ordinances and laws of
Yahweh, we would have eternal life. And Paul backs this up also.

Romans 10:5 – For Moses writes about the
righteousness which is of the law, The man who does those things shall live
by them.

And in Galatians 3:12, he says:

Galatians 3:12 – Yet the law is not of
faith, but the man who does them shall live by them.

So in these two contrasts, Paul is clarifying for us, really,
it is not even possible for us to live– to have eternal life– by our obedience
to Yahweh’s commandments, because none of us have done these things. We have all
failed, at some point in our life, to do them. And therefore, we cannot have
eternal life by our obedience to the commandments.

Our own righteousness will not be sufficient. That is what is
being taught here. So, let’s look at the context of Romans 10.

Romans 9:30 – What shall we say then? That
Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness of faith;

31 – but Israel, pursuing the law of
righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

32 – Why? Because [they did] not [seek it] by
faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling stone.

Yahushua is the stumbling stone that they stumbled over,
right?

Romans 9:33 – As it is written: Behold, I
lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on
Him will not be put to shame.

So if we are going to seek righteousness, we are going to
have to seek it by faith– the righteousness that comes by faith.

So we need to seek it by faith. It is not our own
righteousness then. It is faith that Yahweh is going to bring us HIS
righteousness, so that we can be made righteous, in spite of the fact we have
not done them. We cannot live by them because we have not done them.

So Israel was pursuing the law of righteousness, but they
have not attained it, because they did not seek it by faith. They sought it by
the works of the Law.

What can the Law do? This is the work that the Law can do:
The Law can tell us what righteousness is. The Law itself cannot make us
righteous. The Law itself cannot make us obedient to it. And so, if we are
seeking righteousness by what the Law is able to do, we are going to find
ourselves condemned, because the Law condemns us.

We have all broken at least one command. That is what he is
saying here. So we have no choice but to seek righteousness by faith. So we
pursue the law of righteousness– and we attain to righteousness– by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4 – Behold the proud, His soul
is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

That is eternal life. We cannot have eternal life except by
faith. This is an Old Testament teaching here. This is from the book of Habakkuk
the prophet. And this is an Old Testament teaching, that “the just shall live
(that is, have eternal life) by his faith,” not by our obedience to the Law of
Yahweh.

We cannot have eternal life by our own righteousness.
Otherwise, we find ourselves boasting, “Look at how righteous I am. Therefore, I
deserve eternal life.” And that is why he says “the proud, his soul is not
upright.” But the just, the one who is declared righteous, shall live by his
faith.

So this is not a Pauline teaching. This is a teaching that
goes back into the Prophets.

So back to Romans 10…

Romans 10:1 – Brethren, my heart’s desire
and prayer to Elohim for Israel is that they may be saved.

2 – For I bear them witness that they have a
zeal for Elohim, but not according to knowledge.

3 – For they being ignorant of Elohim’s
righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted to the righteousness of Elohim.

This is so important for us to understand. This will unlock
Paul’s writings for us. Israel was ignorant of Elohim’s righteousness. They did
not know and they did not understand. “They are just ignorant. They do not know.
So let’s have mercy on our Jewish brothers. They are ignorant of it. They do not
know about it.”

And, in fact, probably all of us do not fully understand it,
because how many of us, even though you have understood and you came to faith in
Messiah, maybe did not understand what Paul was really saying here.

That is, Yahweh’s righteousness, HIS righteousness (based on
what we read in the Torah, based on what we read in the Prophets), it is HIS
righteousness that saves us and causes us to “live”– have eternal life.

And so, it is only through that righteousness that we can be
saved, not our own righteousness. We cannot make it using our own righteousness.
We will never make it.

Now, if we are ignorant about Yahweh’s righteousness, like
Israel was, and we do not submit to that righteousness for that reason, really,
we have no choice but to try and establish our own righteousness. The problem
with that is the second you do it, the Law is going to stand there and condemn
you.

None of us have been Law keepers in the sense that we have
never failed one time. And so, we cannot establish our own righteousness by what
the Law is giving to us. It can only tell us what righteousness is. If our lives
matched up with it perfectly, yes, we could be declared righteous by the works
of the Law.

But so far, there has only been one man that has been able to
do that, and that is Yahushua the Messiah. And even He could only do that
because Yahweh’s righteousness was in Him. He said, “I do not even do the things
on My own. My Father in Me does the works.” He was fully yielded to the Father’s
will.

And so, the Law does not make us righteous. It only shows us
what righteousness actually is. And so, Paul goes on to say:

Romans 10:4 – For Messiah [is] the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

“For Messiah [and what He has done for us] is the end of the
Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

He is NOT saying, “The Law is done away with. You can disobey
it now.” He is saying, “When Messiah came, that ended this idea that the Law
could make you righteous. HE will make you righteous.” That is Yahweh’s
righteousness dwelling in Messiah.

So Messiah is “the end of the Law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS” to
everyone who believes. We have discarded the idea that the Law is going to give
us righteousness. And we have submitted to the righteousness of Elohim through
Yahushua the Messiah.

He is not saying, “The Law has ended. Disobey it now. It does
not matter.” That is not what he is saying. He is saying the Messiah is the end
of the Law for righteousness. And the context tells us why he says that. The
context tells us.

Romans 10:5 – For Moses writes about the
righteousness which is of the law, The man who does those things shall live
by them.

Have we done those things? No. Therefore, we cannot live by
them. We cannot have eternal life by them.

The Law cannot make us righteous. But now you believe. You
know Messiah. He makes you righteous. It does not say it is the end of the Law
and you can disobey it. It is the end of the Law for righteousness.

The context was they were ignorant of Elohim’s righteousness.
They were trying to establish their own righteousness through Law keeping.
Messiah came along and showed us the Law is not going to make you righteous. He
will make you righteous.

Now some people will say this word translated “end” means
“end goal” or something like that. I am not totally sold on that idea. It
doesn’t really fit the context very well. And so, I think that trying to
establish our own righteousness, rather than Messiah being our righteousness, is
really what it is talking about.

And so, rather than the Law being our righteousness, Yahushua
is our righteousness. And we see this in the Prophets many times.

I mean, this particular word translated “end” is 35 out of 42
times translated “end.” So I do think it means “end” just like it says.

But I want you to notice here some of the Prophets and what
they talk about– this “righteousness.” In Isaiah 59:15, Yahweh is speaking
though Isaiah, and He says:

Isaiah 59:15 – So truth fails, And he
[who] departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then YAHWEH saw [it], and it
displeased Him That [there was] no justice.

16 – He saw that [there was] no man, And
wondered that [there was] no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought
salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.

Interesting. He was upset with the situation on the earth.
There was not a single man who was an intercessor. And the one who would depart
from evil would become prey for others. There was no justice. So He saw the need
for an intercessor. He saw the need for one to bring justice. And so, His own
Arm brought righteousness.

Go back to Isaiah 53, now.

Isaiah 53:1 – Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of YAHWEH been revealed?

2 – For He shall grow up before Him as a
tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him, [There is] no beauty that we should desire Him.

Who is He? He is the Arm of Yahweh– Messiah.

Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected
by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were,
[our] faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely He has borne our
griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by
Elohim, and afflicted.

5 – But He [was] wounded for our
transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for
our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

6 – All we like sheep have gone astray; We
have turned, every one, to his own way; And YAHWEH has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.

That is Messiah. All over the Prophets. This is what we need
to tell our Jewish brothers. Let’s not be ignorant of Yahweh’s righteousness.
Let’s seek it. Seek His righteousness.

It is only through the Arm of Yahweh that righteousness will
be brought to us because our iniquities will be laid on Him. And Yahweh’s
righteousness, which was in Messiah, will be within us.

Consider Isaiah 45, verse 22. Yahweh says:

Isaiah 45:22 – Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth! For I [am] Elohim, and [there is] no other.

23 – I have sworn by Myself; The word has
gone out of My mouth [in] righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me
every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.

What is going to be the oath?

Isaiah 45:24 – He shall say, `Surely in
YAHWEH I have righteousness and strength. To Him [men] shall come, And all
shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him.

Only through Yahweh can I have righteousness and strength. So
only through Yahweh am I able to be righteous. And only through Yahweh do I have
the strength to walk in righteousness.

Isaiah 45:25 – In YAHWEH all the
descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.’

In Yahweh. There is that word (justified). “The just shall
live by faith.” To be justified means to be declared righteous. That is what the
word means.

And so, only through the righteousness that comes from Yahweh
are we able to be just. And the just shall live by faith in that righteousness
that comes from Yahweh through the Messiah Yahushua, upon whom the iniquity of
us all was laid. He is that Arm of Yahweh that was revealed that brought us His
righteousness and sustained Him.

It makes it all line up perfectly, really. It is amazing!

And so, the way in which we would receive salvation was
already revealed in the Prophets long before Paul ever came along and explained
anything to us. That is one reason I like to share these things, because some
people think Paul came up with this new doctrine and these new ideas, and all
this.

But, no! Messiah IS the end of the Law for righteousness.
Because the Law cannot make you righteous. So we haven’t done the Law, but the
fact that we are not good, the fact that we have not kept the Law of Yahweh,
cements the fact why we need the Messiah.

And once we have the Messiah, it does not mean “go ahead and
disobey the Law now.” I mean, that is why the Messiah had to die for us to begin
with, right? Don’t continue in sin that grace may abound.

So we have that promise through Messiah that we will be made
righteous. But we do have to repent.

And so, that is why Paul quotes Leviticus 18, verse 5. It
says if a man does them, he shall live by them. That means have eternal life by
them. Since we have not done them, we cannot live by them.

Similar things are said in Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3:10 – For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed [is]
everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book
of the law, to do them.

So if you are “of the works of the Law,” in other words, what
does the Law do for you? It shows you what righteousness is. That is what it is
doing. It is explaining to you: “This is what righteousness is.”

If you are relying upon this Law to save you and tell you how
righteous you are, you will be under the curse, because somewhere, somehow,
there has been something that you have not obeyed in the Law of Yahweh.

And, therefore, since you did not continue in all things
which are written in the book of the Law, to do them, you are automatically, the
first time you disobey the Law of Yahweh, under a curse.

Galatians 3:11 – But that no one is
justified by the law in the sight of Elohim [is] evident, for the just
shall live by faith.

That means declared righteous. Not by the Law. By faith. He
is quoting, again, Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4.

So Yahweh laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Galatians 3:12 – Yet the law is not of
faith, but the man who does them shall live by them.

13 – Messiah has redeemed us from the curse
of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed [is]
everyone who hangs on a tree),

He became a curse for us. That is why it says (Isaiah 53:6):
“Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

What an awesome act, that Yahweh would not lay on us our own
iniquity, but that He would lay on the Righteous One, Yahushua Ha Mashiach, all
that iniquity.

That does not mean you are free to ignore what Yahweh says in
the Law. It simply means the Law required works, and what we need in order to be
justified is faith. The fact that the Law is not the source of our righteousness
does not cause the Law to be null and void.

Do we then make void the Law through faith? That is the
question.

Romans 3:31 – Do we then make void the law
through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

The word “establish” in the Greek: 2476 histemi
{his’-tay-mee} Meaning: 1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set 1a) to
bid to stand by, [set up] 1a1) in the presence of others, in the midst, before
judges, before members of the Sanhedrin; 1a2) to place 1b) to make firm, fix
establish 1b1) to cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place.

So it stands up. It is not abolished. It is established by
our faith. Now what does it mean to make void the Law?

We find that Greek word: 2673 katargeo {kat-arg-eh’-o}
Meaning: 1) to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative 1a) to cause a
person or thing to have no further efficiency 1b) to deprive of force,
influence, power 2) to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul,
abolish 2a) to cease, to pass away, be done away…

2b) to be severed from, separated from, discharged from,
loosed from any one 2c) to terminate all intercourse with one.

Isn’t this what people say the Law is now? Paul says the
opposite. Do we render it idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative? Do we cause
it to have no further efficiency? Do we deprive it of force, influence, power?
Do we cause it to cease, to put an end to it? Do we do away with it? Do we annul
it? Do we abolish it?

Do we cease it to have power in us? Do we say it is passed
away with, it is done away with? Have we been severed from it, separated from
it, discharged from it, loosed from it? Certainly not! he says. On the contrary,
we cause it to stand.

So our faith in Messiah does not render the Law inoperative,
done away with, or any such thing. And so, just the opposite is being taught by
Paul than what is commonly believed today.

I am reminded of a verse in the Psalms.

Psalms 119:126 – [It is] time for [You] to
act, O YAHWEH, [For] they have regarded Your law as void.

Well, brothers and sisters, let us not regard Yahweh’s Law as
void, inoperative, done away with, passed away. Let us regard it as something
that stands, something that has a place. It does not give us salvation. It
simply teaches us the right way to live. It has never stopped doing that.

And so, we are going to continue to study it, so that we
might understand it, so that we might apply it to our lives. And like the
psalmist wrote, in Psalm 19, which it amazed me that Neil quoted this today for
our prayer:

Psalms 19:8 – The statutes of YAHWEH [are]
right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of YAHWEH [is] pure,
enlightening the eyes;

9 – The fear of YAHWEH [is] clean, enduring
forever; The judgments of YAHWEH [are] true [and] righteous altogether.

10 – More to be desired [are they] than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Psalms 19:11 – Moreover by them Your
servant is warned, [And] in keeping them [there is] great reward.

I believe that. There is reward in keeping the Law of Yahweh.

Psalms 1:1 – Blessed [is] the man Who
walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 – But his delight [is] in the law of
YAHWEH, And in His law he meditates day and night.

The reward:

Psalms 1:3 – He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

The good fruit. And whatever he does shall prosper that it
may go well with you and your children after you.

Yahweh says He will reward us. He will make our way prosper
when we meditate on His Word. There wasn’t a New Testament when those words were
written, brothers and sister. Only the Law of Yahweh, just as it says.

So in spite of the fact that the Law of Yahweh has been
maligned and treated as a burden, set aside by mainstream churches, and ignored
by the world that Yahweh created, let us cleave to the words of the psalmist and
say: “It is time for You to act, O Yahweh, for they have regarded Your Law as
void.”

It is time for us to say with the psalmist: “Let Your Law be
our meditation day and night. Your Law is true and righteous. They are words
that warn us, that teach us, that instruct us, that enlighten us.” And more to
be desired are His words than the riches of this age, the sweetness of honey.

His words are worthy of study. His words are worthy of our
time, worthy of delighting in, worthy of understanding, that we might understand
the true way of love, the true way of light, the true way of truth.

If you ever want to know, how did Yahushua walk, what was He
like, how did He live His life– study the Torah, and you will know, because He
kept every commandment to perfection. Study the Torah, and you will know. If you
want to live like Him, study the Torah, the Law of Yahweh, and you will know.

It is not possible to love Him and hate the Law at the same
time. You cannot hate the Law and love Yahushua at the same time. If we love
Yahweh’s Law, we will love Yahweh’s Son, because He is that Word of Elohim
incarnate. He is the manifestation of Yahweh’s Law on the earth today. So let’s
not regard it as void.

Let us ask Yahweh to act in reestablishing His Law, in our
hearts, in our minds, where it belongs. And then we will live– THEN we will
live– like that Savior we love so much.

So as you do so, my brothers and sisters, may Yahweh bless
you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.