Acharei Mot / Kedoshim Slides (PDF)
Acharei Mot Slides (PDF)
Acherei Mot Notes (PDF)
Overview of Acharei Mot (“After the Death”) Leviticus 16:1 – 18:32
This week we return to where we left off three weeks ago…before our break for Passover/Unleavened Bread Portions. So this week’s Portion is the culmination of all the previous chapters in Leviticus. Those chapters taught us how to draw near to Yehovah and His Holiness through the Sacrificial System; to identify the proper diet for our bodies (external); and cleansing from the external manifestation of sin (internal) through the laws of clean and unclean. In short, we now know how to achieve holiness. Chapter 16 is the act of the High Priest entering into Yehovah’s Presence to atone for all Israel. Three weeks ago (in Sh’mini) we saw what happened when Nadav & Avihu made an unauthorized entry into the Most Holy Place; this week we see the correct procedure for the High Priest to enter it and live to tell about it.
Chapter 16 Yom Kippur
This chapter details the sequence of offerings that must be presented to Yehovah in order for Him to postpone their deserved death penalty for the Sin of the Golden Calf. The High Priest must first present a bull for a Sin Offering for his own sins, for the sins of the Levites, and for the cleansing of the Holy Sanctuary. Once those Sin Offerings were accepted, then (and only then) could the High Priest offer the goats as a Sin Offering for all Israel. Two identical goats were the single Sin Offering. One goat was chosen by lot to be the Scapegoat, Azazel – “the goat that goes away.” That goat had the sins of all Israel symbolically placed upon him by the High Priest and was led out of the camp into the Wilderness to be thrown from a cliff to insure that he didn’t wander back into the camp a few days later with the sins of Israel still upon him. The other goat – the goat “to the LORD” – was sacrificed and his blood taken into the Most Holy Place to atone for the people.
This procedure only covered (atoned for) the sins of Israel for the year; like a credit card that costs us nothing as we spend during the month, but payment is required at the end of the month. The New Covenant that we have with Yehovah through the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua does more than cover sins; it casts them as far away from us as the East is from the West never to be remembered again! This is a far better Covenant!
Please refer to the notes to see the similarities between the two goats of the Yom Kippur Offering and the two birds for the cleansing of the leper. And also see elements of the Yom Kippur service in the Book of Revelation.
Before we leave this subject, I want to point out the connections to the Purim story in the book in the Book of Esther. Queen Vashti had a failed attempt to approach the King: she didn’t appear when summoned; Nadav & Avihu tried to enter when they were not summoned…the opposite situation from Vashti. But Queen Esther was successful in her approach to the King – just like the High Priest – they both followed the rules. Esther fasted (as is done in Yom Kippur); she wore her queen’s garments (the High Priest also had special Yom Kippur garments to wear). She also had a sin to atone for – not telling the King her true identity – and she, in effect, offered herself as a sacrifice. Entering into the presence of the King without being summoned was done under the penalty of death, yet she entered his throne room and waited for him to respond by pointing his scepter at her – signaling that her “offering” was accepted. She then confessed her sin by telling him of her Jewish identity and asked him to save her from Haman’s destruction…and then to also save her people (the same sequence of Offerings on Yom Kippur: first to atone for the sins of the High Priest & Levites, then to atone for the sins of National Israel.) And finally, both events involved selection by lot: for Purim (which means “by choosing lots”) Haman selected the date of the slaughter of the Jews by lot; and the scapegoat was also chosen by the High Priest by choosing lots. I think this is a fascination connection to these two events.
Chapter 17 Special Sacrifices
During the Exodus Journey, every animal that a person killed for food for his family must be done at the Tabernacle…otherwise it would be considered an animal that was sacrificed to a foreign god. This ruling was later changed in Deuteronomy 12:13-15 for when they are settled in The Land; this is one of several examples where Torah instructions changed!!
The chapter ends by repeating Yehovah’s prohibition to eating or drinking blood.
Chapter 18 Unlawful Sexual Relations
This prohibits all sexual relations within a family:
Father Mother
Sisters Aunts
Uncles Grandchildren
Daughters-in-law, Sisters-in-law
Step-daughters
Other Sexual Prohibitions:
Woman & her Daughter & Grandchildren
Woman during her monthly cycle
Neighbor’s Wife
No sacrifices to Molech
No Homosexuality
No Bestiality
These two chapters form the basis for the Council of Jerusalem ruling concerning Gentile converts to Christianity. Peter had argued that in order for a Gentile to become a Christian, he first must convert to Judaism. Paul, on the other hand, argued that was not necessary. The final Council ruling for a Gentile to become a Christian is to abstain from things offered to idols; from sexual immorality; from eating meat that was not slaughter according to Kashrut principles; and from eating or drinking blood.
The Haftarah Reading (Amos 9:7-15)
The Haftarah Portion comes from Amos, the Prophet sent to the Northern Kingdom. Here he reminds Israel of God’s Mercy as He delivered them from Egypt; he then prophesies that, because of their un-holiness, God will destroy the Kingdom & disperse them throughout the world; and he ends with God’s promise to gather them back into The Land in the End of Days. We read Amos 9:7-15:
“Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, O children of Israel?” says the LORD. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the LORD. “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” says the Lord who does this thing. “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.”
The Brit Chadashah reading from the Book of Hebrews compares the More Perfect sacrifice of Yeshua, our High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek, with the Levitical Priest’s Yom Kippur Offering. We read from Hebrews 9:11-15:
“But Messiah Yeshua came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”