Tazria Slides (pdf)
Tazria Notes (pdf)
Overview of Tazria (“Conceive” or literally “Give Seed”) Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59
Last week’s Portion ended with a long list describing clean and unclean animals; they are symbolic of external nature of sin within us. This week’s Portion talks about the internal nature of sin represented by uncleanness from childbirth and the physical manifestation of sin represented by “leprosy.” King James translates this condition as ‘leprosy’ although it goes far beyond Hansen’s disease which today we call ‘leprosy.’ This condition not only affects people but also things (in chapter 14) so it is much more than just a skin condition; it is a sin condition. Mankind is S-I-N Positive!
Last week we learned about animals that are classified as either clean or unclean according to their diets; clean animals eat only the fruits and herbs that Yehovah commanded man to eat; unclean animals eat other animals (that may or may not be clean themselves) or are scavengers. This week we see that people also are either clean or unclean. This has nothing to do with the outward cleanliness of our bodies; if our bodies are dirty we take a shower and we are clean again. It’s all about our inward spiritual condition.
Greek thought (and we are all immersed in Greek thought whether we are from the Church or from Judaism) says there are just two conditions: good and evil. On the other hand, Hebrew thought says there are four: evil; common, which further separates into clean and unclean; and holy. This week’s Portion focuses on how to move from unclean to clean within that ‘common’ group; the Book of Leviticus focuses on moving from common to holy; and the entire Bible focuses on overcoming evil. So we have to throw off that Greek mindset that says we are either evil or good; God wants us to be more than just good (or common) – He wants us to be holy, set apart from the world!
Chapter 12 Purification After Childbirth
When a woman gives birth to a child she is considered unclean for 40 days after the birth of a boy, and 80 days after the birth of a girl. There is no Biblical explanation for this time difference but the rabbis have concluded that the female has the greater capacity to produce life than the male does; when she is pregnant with a female, more of the mother’s ability to produce life transfers to that female in her womb; therefore more recovery time is required for the mother to regain that life-giving ability that was lost in the transfer to her daughter. It’s a convoluted thought, but it makes sense to me.
Notice that on the eighth day the male child is circumcised. Why not on the seventh or the ninth?? Medical science has discovered that the blood-clotting enzymes of Vitamin K and Prothrombin are at their highest levels on the eighth day; this is the safest day for circumcision to occur. Is this just a coincidence? I think not!! Yehovah created us and He knows how to take the best care of us.
Also notice the offerings that the mother is to bring (not because the child is a sinner, but rather because of the mother’s uncleanness): a lamb for a Burnt Offering and a bird for a Sin Offering (remember this use of birds in the purification process when we get to chapter 14 – the purification of a leper). Or in the case of the very poor: two birds were offered – one for the Sin Offering and the other for the Purification Offering. We see in Luke 2:21-24 that Miriam and Yosef brought two birds for her purification after giving birth to Yeshua. Was that because they were poor and couldn’t afford the more expensive lamb – probably. But, more importantly, they did bring a lamb…the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!!
Chapter 13 Diagnosing Leprosy
This is one of the longest chapters in Torah with 59 verses…and they all describe the bodily conditions associated with the condition called “leprosy.” If you are interested in oozing scabs with white of black hair, then feel free to read all about it here! But, beyond these symptoms, there are three important principles to apply:
- The Priest does the diagnosis – not a medical doctor. This “leprosy” therefore is a spiritual condition and not just a physical one.
- These laws call for quarantining the patient – a concept that, once implemented, put a stop to the Bubonic Plague in the Dark Ages in Europe.
- This disease can affect the patient’s clothing, which must be burned to prevent the spread of the disease.
These principles form the basis of modern medicine.
The Haftarah Reading (II Kings 4:42 – 5:19)
The Haftarah reading is about the healing of Na’aman the leper who was great Assyrian military general who also was afflicted with leprosy. In one of his conquests he captured an Israelite girl who told him (through his wife) of Elisha the Prophet who could heal him. He got a leave of absence from the King of Assyria to travel to Israel to find Elisha and be healed of his leprosy.
We read from II Kings 5:5-15:
“Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, ‘Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.’ And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. ”So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
In the Brit Chadashah, we see Yeshua healing a leper.
Remember the sequence from the Torah Portions: first comes the healing, then comes the cleansing. Notice here the faith of the leper: he doesn’t ask Yeshua for healing, but for the cleansing that must follow the healing! We read from Mark 1:40-44:
“Now a leper came to Him (Yeshua), imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Yeshua, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Just as Yeshua healed then, so does God heal today! We read from I John 1:8-9:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive (heal) us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”