Leviticus Bible Study:

Tzav (Command)


The Scriptures for this week’s study:



QUICK SUMMARY OF THIS TORAH PORTION:

Parsha in 60 Seconds Presents Tzav


ARCHIVE OF OUR STUDIES:

2013 Broadcast:

2014 Broadcast:

VHC Week 25 - Torah Portion: Tzav (Command)

2021 Broadcast:

2021 Virtual House Church - Bible Study - Week 25: Tzav


STUDIES DONE BY OTHERS:

Command (Torah Portion: Tzav) 2015 - 2016


Ardelle’s “Your Living Waters”
Torah Commentary:


Workbook Discussion Questions:

How does this week’s Torah Portion Relate to the Haftarah and Brit Chadasha Portions?

 

 

What did you find most interesting about this week’s reading?

 

 

What is the general theme of this reading and how does it apply to our lives today? 

 


Notes From This Study:

1 Corinthians 10:11
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.



The story of the night priest (Lev. 6) and the “thief in the night”

By focusing only on the New Testament, we have lost so much in terms of our understanding of God, His Son and the ultimate plan for mankind. Realizing this, I can no longer consider myself to be a “New Testament, Bible Believing Christian” but rather a “FULL Testament, Bible Believing follower of Yeshua!”

By studying the Torah (as the First Century Believers did), we can learn a lot – including the meaning behind the oft quoted, “thief in the night” idiom. It comes from the Book of Leviticus:

The LORD said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altarThe priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it.

The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

– Leviticus 6:8-13 (NIV) [emphasis mine]

Notice the repeated statements that the fire must not go out! This was a command of God. So, the priests had to take it very serious! A tradition was therefore developed involving the priest of the night watch and the High Priest. Early in the morning, before dawn, the High Priest would return to the Temple to prepare everything for the daily sacrifices. He did so in a stealthy manner in order to “check on” the night priest to ensure he had done his job right.

Consider what this on-line source has to say about this issue:

The high priest would begin to walk around the temple looking for the priest.  If the priest was found to be asleep, the high priest would go over to the altar and gather some of the orange hot coals from the altar in a fire pan and bring them over to the sleeping priest and gently place them under the sleeping priests’ garments.

FYI, these weren’t fire retardant garments the priests wore either.  It is said that the priestly garments after being soiled were actually taken off and tore into strips and were used as wicks in the menorah in the temple.  So they lit up pretty easily. So the garments of the sleeping priest would soon be ignited in flames and the only thing that the slothful priest could do is shed all the garments and go home burnt, wounded, shamed, and naked.  This was an important lesson to the priest.

[emphasis mine]

In the above passage of Leviticus, we learn that they are to put on linen (highly flammable) clothes, with linen garments that clung close to his body. This was serious business! And this is what Yeshua means to emphasize in the time of Great Tribulation when He said,

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

– Revelation 16:15 (KJV)

From reading the Torah, we can get a much greater understanding of lots of things concerning the Messiah, including some of the idioms used in reference to the Last Days, like coming “as a thief in the night.” The obvious implication is that we are to be awake, sober and alert so that when our High Priest, King and Bridegroom returns, we are ready for Him – which brings us back to the Parable of the Ten Virgins.

 

Just Two Commandments?

What About the 613?

Still confused about the so-called 613 Commandments? Check out this amazing interactive resource
to learn more about this often seriously misunderstood issue:


Another Valuable Resource to Have:

Hebrew Alphabet Chart:


 

The Tribulation Protection Plan:

Exodus 34:21-24 (NLT)

21 “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.

22 “You must celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season. 23 Three times each year every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out the other nations ahead of you and expand your territory, so no one will covet and conquer your land while you appear before the Lord your God three times each year.

Leviticus 26:3-13 (NRSV)

3 If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, 4 I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.5 Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and live securely in your land. 6 And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land. 7 You shall give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you; and I will maintain my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Also listen to John William Galt (the voice of the movies) reading Psalm 91:

The Psalm 91 Protection Plan: A comfort for those in troubled times