Shavuot by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on May 21, 2013

Shavuot 2013

This week marks the finishing of the counting of the omer, and as the anticipation has built over the weeks we now find ourselves right on the cusp of experiencing the festival of Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks!  As one of the Holy festivals of Yahweh, there are many layers wrapped within this day that can only be found by digging into it.  This day marks the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, the outpouring of the Ruach at Pentecost, and it was also one of the three pilgrimage feasts where all were commanded to come up to the House of Yahweh!

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BeMidbar by D. Mathews

Posted by MannafromHeaven on May 13, 2013

BeMidbar – Numbers.

Numbers 1: 1 – 4:20.

I.       This book’s title in English, ‘Numbers’, seems a contradiction to its’ Hebrew name, BeMidbar, simply because we’ve been taught to disassociate the two; numbers and letters. However, in Hebrew each letter is a number, their message is both consistent and therefore even more comprehensive! The book is replete with numerals, hence the focus in English – but, if what we postulate is true – then these same numerals enhance the message. So let’s start with some numbers and see if this ‘adds up’ (sarcasm mine).

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BeMidbar by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on May 13, 2013

Bemidbar 2013

 This is an exciting week in the Torah cycle because it begins the 4^th book of the Torah, Numbers also known as Bemidbar/”In the Wilderness”!  It covers Numbers 1:1-4:20.  It is important to note that this journey is the blueprint for the future greater exodus.  Every lesson taught to Israel will as well have to be grasped by those who choose to be in the camp of the righteous.  Have you ever wondered what was the significance of this journey, and why an 11-day trip turned into 40 years?  The generation that left Egypt missed the lessons, but what’s the crucial point that all the lessons can be summed up within?  The answer to that question can be found in the name of the very location where they wandered!

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Emor 2013 by D. Mathews

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 29, 2013

Emor – Speak:

Leviticus 21:1–24:23.

I.       Wow! This is an exciting yet sobering title: Emor – Speak, #559, translated, אמר ‘amar, to say or to speak. Our first encounter with this word back in Bereshit-Genesis, gives us a frame of reference to understand its’ latent power, linking it forever with the ‘speaking’ that releases YHVH’s word or light into creation. Every subsequent use is thus somehow connected to Gen. 1: 3: And Yah said, let there be light and there was light. It is up to us to find that common thread.

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Emor 2013 by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 29, 2013

Emor 2013

Emor/”Say!” covers Leviticus 21:1-24:23 and begins with the commands given specifically for the priests!  Moses is instructed to speak/emor to the priests regarding the restrictions they are to operate under so that they would keep themselves from being defiled.  These passages have the tendency to alienate most today due to the fact that we don’t see the Levitical Priesthood operating in a Temple, yet Revelation 5:10 – “And hast made us unto our Elohim kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”  If we are to fulfill this verse and operate as priests in the earth, then that means as well that we must operate under the restrictions of being a priest!  So it would seem our failure to rule and reign might be connected to our inability to operate within these rules.  It’s also important to note that this parshah covers Leviticus 23, the chapter which details all of the Mo’edim or appointed times – could these rules regarding the priesthood (which now as well pertain to each of us), be a factor in whether we’re able to enter into the Mo’edim?  Let’s see!

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Acharei Mot/Qedoshim by D. Mathews

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 22, 2013

Acharei Mot/Qedoshim:

Lev. 16:1 – 20:27.

I.       This week presents an unusual set of circumstances in that we have the 2^nd – Double Torah Portion in a row. Since nothing occurs by accident, the focus on a dual message continues. These are the 29 & 30^th Portions. The total – 59 – represents the gematria of an interesting word, #5079, נדה niddah, to be impure, unclean, as in a women’s menstrual cycle, or by contact with a dead body. The Torah specifies that the impurity must be cleansed by water. This is fitting because our title begins with the phrase, ‘Acharei Mot’ – after the death, specifically, the death of the two sons of Aaron. Though speaking of these two, the directive is to all Israel and infers their unholy condition is somehow tied to death: Therefore, we need to preface our study with the examination of these two (dead ones) for perspective.

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Acharei Mot & Kedoshim 2013 by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 22, 2013

Acharei Mot & Kedoshim 2013

Once again this week we are blessed with a double portion to explore!  Acharei Mot/”After the Death” covers Leviticus 16:1-18:30 and Kedoshim/”Holy Ones” covering Leviticus 19:1-20:27.  The previous parshahs dealt with the laws of niddah and how to be made clean again.  These seem to continue in that same theme, the whole focus being to teach and instruct us how to approach and live in the presence of a holy Elohim!  We are reminded and called within these verses to be holy as He is holy.  So often the idea of “holiness” seems to be a lofty concept, something we really don’t grasp or know how to put into words.  Yet its here that Yahweh actually defines what holiness is, it brings it down to our level of understanding.  After instructing Israel how to approach into the Holy of Holies (once a year on Yom Kippur due to the actions of Nadab and Abihu), Israel then is commanded to be holy, a command which is followed by many commandments that actually reveal how to be “holy”.  The interesting thing is that the majority actually deals with our everyday lives and how we treat each other!

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Tazria & Metzora by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 15, 2013

 Tazria & Metzora

This week we have a double portion, Tazria/”She conceives” covering Leviticus 12:1-13:59 and Metzora/”Leper” covering Leviticus 14:1-15:33.  From the surface, these seem like very different topics, yet here in the Torah one leads right into the other.  Both portions deal with the laws regarding something that would make an individual ritually unclean and impure and the process they would then have to go through in order to be restored or considered ritually clean again.  With the absence of a Temple and the fomenting of the idea that anything is allowed in the House of Yahweh because He loves us and no one’s perfect anyway, we’ve come to the point in both traditional Christian churches as well as the Hebrew roots community where we have lost the significance of being in a ritually unclean/impure state – niddah!  Its important to connect the ritual laws to the spiritual, everything in the natural was teaching Israel how spiritually they could become impure and how those situations must be handled seriously yet delicately lest the whole camp become unclean!

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Sefirat Ha’Omer by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 9, 2013

 Sefirat Ha’Omer 2013

Having celebrated Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, we have still yet one more Spring Feast still on the horizon, the Festival of Shavuot!  This means that we have entered the very unique time frame on the Calendar of Yahweh known as Sefirat Ha’Omer, or the counting of the omer!  With our eyes most often focused on the festivals themselves, it can be easy to miss the significance of the days in between, the 7-week gap between the start and finish of these Spring Feasts.  Yet with Yahweh’s constant attention to details, this too becomes important in understanding the mysteries wrapped up within His calendar.  In this time period, we see a switch from one harvest to the other, Passover/Unleavened Bread/Yom HaBikkurim focus on the barley, yet Shavuot deals with the wheat harvest.  Why is this significant? Whether we understand this or not, this particular “ritual” of counting the omer also happens to be a commandment, starting at Yom Habikkurim/Feast of Early First Fruits and ending finally at Shavuot.  The count has begun – shall we take a closer look?

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Chag HaMatzot by B. Scott

Posted by MannafromHeaven on Apr 1, 2013

Chag HaMatzot: The Festival of Unleaved Bread

This past week we’ve celebrated and looked into the divine appointment that is Passover, learning of our redemption via the lamb, Yahweh’s intent to once again gather His chosen out of Egypt, and how our history foretells our future as well (the end declared from the beginning)!  But though Passover is probably one of the most well known of the Festivals, it is only a part of the whole that makes up the “Spring Feasts”.  It is the launching point that leads us into the week of Chag HaMatzot or Unleavened Bread as well as a minor festival often overlooked known as Yom Habikkurim or Early First Fruits.  Each of these feasts are divine appointments on the calendar of Yahweh, each are significant on their own yet fit together as puzzle pieces revealing the totality of Yahweh’s plan for creation! 

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