THE LANGUAGE OF THE OFFERINGS

Ephesians 2:14

For he is our peace …

The beginning of Leviticus presents us with five types of offerings to approach God each carrying a different message. We have lost their meaning in translation, but their imagery still reveals their message. These offerings are the physical outward expressions of the longings of the inward heart of man in seeking to approach Hashem in full communion.

The sin and guilt offerings are mandatory (Lev. 4; 5:15). The Passover lamb and the daily perpetual offerings fall under these categories. There is a difference between the two. The sin offering concerns itself with our natural state of being a sinner, while the guilt offering is for sins involuntarily committed (there are not offerings for voluntary sins (Heb. 10:26)). The difference is that we are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners and that from the time of our birth. We may have never killed or stolen, but we may have thought or wished it at times through coveting. There is a teaching in Judaism that the last of the Ten Commandments is the reason why we break the nine others. Both God and priest share in these offerings; he who offers doesn't.

After we have acknowledged our innate sinful state and the sinful actions and thoughts that result from it, we have the burnt or ascent offering called the olah עולה, (Leviticus 1:3). It is the only offering that is to be totally dedicated to God; no one but Hashem gets to partake of it. It is a voluntary offering. After we have cleansed ourselves from sin, the olah represents our desire for complete utter abandonment to God; a strong desire to perpetually abide with the Hashem. After dedicating our lives to God comes the meal offering. The meal offering is also a voluntary one; now that we’ve dedicated ourselves to Hashem, this offering  represents our walk with God. Only priest and God share in it.

After admitting to our sinful nature, confessing our faults, and dedicating our lives to walk with Hashem, we celebrate the peace offering, the one we all look forward to as it expresses the completion of our union with Hashem. This is the one we get to share in, along with God and the priests. Peace offerings usually consisted of lavish parties.

Fellowship with God has always been expressed by a meal; it was true on Mount Horeb and it will be true at the end of the age (Exod. 24:9-11; Rev. 19:9). That is why the most spiritual thing we can do in this world, the highest act of spirituality we can practice on this earth, is to have a peaceful and joyful meal with our families. It represents our union with God.

It is no wonder that in this day and age of the soon return of the Master (blessed be his name), the enemy (cursed be his name!) works like mad to break up families. The breakdown of the family unit in Western societies is a tool in the Adversaries' hands against God’s plan. For decades now, the devil's biggest attacks have been against the family units. First he got everybody distracted away from the daily dinner table and into T.V. and so many evening school activities, and now the very idea of family is being redefined; ugh!

May our Master soon return, even in our days,  that we may recline with him at that peace offering meal with all our brothers and sisters (Rev. 19:9) and start the work of bringing sanity back to this world!

THE KORBAN THAT 'COMES NEAR' FOR US.

Hebrews 4:14, 16                                                           

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Yeshua the Son of God, … Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

During our whole narrative in the Book of Exodus, Moses had unlimited access to Hashem. Now that the Tabernacle is completed and that the glory of Hashem fills it, Moses cannot go in (Exod. 40:34-35). What happened? This is the great paradox concerning the glorious presence of Hashem inhabiting among us; God is to live within us but the sinful nature we contracted through disobedience in Eden forbids us communion. Hashem therefore must ‘tweak the system’, find a loophole so to speak, in order to make fellowship happen.

In the first verses in the Book of Leviticus, the Almighty reveals his plan and says, “The man who approaches me needs to bring Me a ‘token of approaching’ from his flocks or from his herds” (Lev. 1:2: Literal translation by me). It is unfortunate that for ‘token of approaching’ most English texts use the word ‘sacrifice’, as it does not convey the idea meant in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word used here is Corban קורבן, a Hebrew word left un-translated from Hebrew in the Mark's narrative of the life of Yeshua (Mark 7:11). What is a Corban?

The Torah teaches that life is in the blood, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement (covering) for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement (covering) by the life" (Lev. 17:11), so the blood of a biblically clean animal is brought forward instead of ours which is corrupted by sin. The Hebrew word Corban is actually a derivative from the Hebrew verb lekarev לקרב, to approach or to come near. Therefore the animal brought forward to the altar not a gift nor a bribe to gain brownie points with God, but a token that helps us come near to Hashem by proxy.

It seems that from the time of Abel through the Levitical service to today, both in Heaven and on earth, the principles of approaching Hashem have remained the same; in essence, we don't. We only approach the Almighty God Creator of Heaven and earth by proxy, through the agency of an acceptable token. In the Tabernacle/Temple on earth through the agency of a clean animal; in the throne in Heaven, through the agency of Yeshua the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 5:6; 13:8; John 14:6).

The Torah (as in Hashem's commandments found in the five books of the Pentateuch) is truly a tutor which teaches us this principle (Gal. 3:24). In a sense this confirms the idea that, "I am ADONAI, I change not" (Mal. 3:6).

May we all grow close to our Agent, Yeshua HaMashiach  המשיח ישוע ; as we confess him on earth, He confesses us to his, and our Father (Mat. 10:32; John 20:17).