Torah For Today

Tzav

Leviticus 6:8 – 8:36

This week’s portion is= by Dr. Jeffrey Feinberg

<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This week's pa= rashah--TSAV!--Command!--directs the Kohanim (priests) to tend to the offerings = of God's people. The first service of the morning requires the priest to extra= ct glowing ashes from the altar, taken from the olah, a most-holy fire offering (Lev. 6:2-3). To obtain these ashes, the priests sp= end the entire night tending the fire on the altar and watching it consume the whole/burnt offering (Lev. 6:2, 5-6). In this way, the nation literally shi= nes as a "light to the nations" and a "light that shines through= the darkness."

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A= nother name for the olah is the "ascent" off= ering, since all of it ascends in smoke to the heavens. Every morning and just bef= ore evening the priests begin and end the day offering the most-holy olat tamid--the twice dai= ly olah--on behalf of the nation. There can be NO indivi= dual offerings acceptable upon the altar until the priests offer the national olah on behalf of a corporate and united nation. If we don't hang together as a nation, we will surely hang separately--thus the priests offer the olah, day in and day out, and= the olah burns through the night with "the fire of t= he slaughter-site kept-blazing upon it" [Fox, Lev. 6:2].

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O= ne verse in Torah calls the olah expiatory (Lev. 1:4). A= lmost always, the category of "expiation" is reserved for "out-of-communion" offerings that restore one to fellowship; these are the hatta't (sin or "cleansing") = and the asham (trespass or "reparation") offerings. However, an "in-communion"

offering, the olah, can "atone" or "effect-ransom" for impure thoughts that are nursed but have yet = to bear the fruits of an unwholesome thought life.

A= ccording to Stone (p. 545, n3), "anyone who wishes to elevate his spiritual level" could atone for such thoughts by bringing an olah to God's altar.

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O= ne is reminded of a parallel principle in Yeshua's instruction, "If you are offering your gift on the Temple altar and you remember there tha= t your brother has something against you, leave your gift where it is by the altar, and go, make peace with your brother. Then come back and offer your gift&qu= ot;

(= Mt. 5:23-24). After all, "whoever nurses anger against one's brother will = be subject to the judgment" (Mt. 5:22). One might ask, "what if the anger can be justified as righteous indignation?" Key manuscripts omit= the additional Greek word ekei<= /span>, that connotes "justifiable reasons." Rathe= r, nursing anger consumes the one who nurses it as an ungodly fire--"vengeance is mine," says the Lord, "I will repay!&quo= t; (Dt. 32:35, Ro. 12:19-21).

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A= re you ready to offer yourself as a living sacrifice? Are you ready to follow Avraham (called to ascend Moriah= and bind his son there as an olah)?<= /span>

C= an you willingly turn your most prized hopes and dreams to ashes on God's altar? A= re you ready to take every thought captive to the Holy One (2 Cor.

1= 0:4-7). Will you be a light that burns brightly and exclusively for God?=

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