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Drash for 4/14/2021 Emor
Emor – Say..
Leviticus 24:15 You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
Ezekiel 44:15 “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood,” declares the Lord God. 16 “They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep My charge. 17 It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house.
Matthew 26:63 But Yeshua kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64 Yeshua said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 66 what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”
The purpose of the Drash is to tie together the Torah, the Hebrew Prophets, and the Apostolic scriptures to show it is a seamless account.
The title of this week’s passage - Emor - means to speak or say, and it is specifically addressing the priesthood. It starts off with these words: “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:”
It is a continuation of last weeks’ portion – Kidoshim – holy ones – by listing many commands incumbent on the Kohanim ("priests"), the Kohen Gadol ("High Priest"), and the Temple service. It speaks of ritual impurity that the priests are to avoid, and who they can and cannot marry.
In chapter 23 we have a familiar list of all the annual Holy Days set by God and how to observe them. It ends with the penalties for murder, injury, property damage and blasphemy. All in all, there are 63 Torah commands in this Parasha.
The Haftara repeats many of these same requirements for the temple and priests, but it is for the new (or renewed) Messianic Era temple which does not have the same measurements as the first or 2nd temples.
The Apostolic writings portion again revisits the theme of blasphemy; this time with the High Priest Caiaphas charging our Master with it.
It is clear from the text that God takes the idea of blasphemy (speaking against God or doing anything to bring dishonor to HIS name) very seriously.
Lev 24:11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 They put him in custody so that the command of the Lord might be made clear to them. 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him. 15 You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
The very next verse says that if someone kills a person, he is to be put to death. So it seems God considers blasphemy in the same category as murder. And our Lord took it up another notch when He said in Mark 3:29 and Luke 12:10 that blaspheming the Holy Spirit was unforgivable.
NO REMEDY FOR THAT SIN WHATSOEVER.
We would be here all day if we try to unpack what He meant by that, as it has been debated for centuries. Another time perhaps. My point is God takes it very seriously.
So, was Caiaphas right in calling our Lord’s statement blasphemy?
Apparently Caiaphas thought so, and if that was truly his opinion, he was absolutely right in calling for HIS death. As the text reads: He who blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
But DID our Lord actually blaspheme?
It is easy to say NO on this side of the Resurrection. But before? Our Lord often told those he healed and delivered to not tell everyone about what happened. So an itinerant rabbi goes around preaching and healing people. How was that different than Choni or Shimon bar Yochai who performed miracles in the first century, or the “sons of the pharisees” who drove out demons as our Lord referenced in Luke 11.19? None of them claimed to be Messiah or claimed Divinity. For them to do so WOULD have been blasphemy. What Caiaphas and the other did NOT see was our master actually WAS divine, so claiming it was just a matter of fact, and NOT blasphemy. The only ones who understood that were the 11 and that was by revelation. When Peter said “Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living GOD” our Lord told him that flesh and blood had not revealed that to him. He got it. Not many outside of the 12 did. So to everyone else what HE said would have been blasphemy and required the death penalty.
OF course Isaiah 53 tells us that was God’s plan all along, for Messiah to die for sins and then be raised back to life.
Years ago I was in a passion play and there was an interesting dialog between the disciples following the news that HE had been raised to life. Peter is skeptical but John is convinced. John says:
Remember when [Yeshua] said He was going away. He told us that the world would not see Him, but we would. When He prayed He said “Father, glorify your Son.” Maybe this is what He was talking about. Maybe the Father HAS raised Him from the dead. Think of what this would do the Pharisees and Sadducees. Think of what Pilate would say! The people would immediately be convinced that He is Messiah!
While we may not know if Pilate ever heard of the resurrection, or if it had any lasting effect on Caiaphas or other leaders, it certainly convinced many of His Messiahship. By Shavuot there were at least 120 solid believers, and 3000 more came in that day. A few weeks later there were 5000 men.
So the take-away from this portion is to be holy, sanctify HisNAME instead of blaspheming it, And serve the Messiah.
Shabbat Shalom!
Emor – Say..
Leviticus 24:15 You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
Ezekiel 44:15 “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood,” declares the Lord God. 16 “They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep My charge. 17 It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house.
Matthew 26:63 But Yeshua kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64 Yeshua said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 66 what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”
The purpose of the Drash is to tie together the Torah, the Hebrew Prophets, and the Apostolic scriptures to show it is a seamless account.
The title of this week’s passage - Emor - means to speak or say, and it is specifically addressing the priesthood. It starts off with these words: “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:”
It is a continuation of last weeks’ portion – Kidoshim – holy ones – by listing many commands incumbent on the Kohanim ("priests"), the Kohen Gadol ("High Priest"), and the Temple service. It speaks of ritual impurity that the priests are to avoid, and who they can and cannot marry.
In chapter 23 we have a familiar list of all the annual Holy Days set by God and how to observe them. It ends with the penalties for murder, injury, property damage and blasphemy. All in all, there are 63 Torah commands in this Parasha.
The Haftara repeats many of these same requirements for the temple and priests, but it is for the new (or renewed) Messianic Era temple which does not have the same measurements as the first or 2nd temples.
The Apostolic writings portion again revisits the theme of blasphemy; this time with the High Priest Caiaphas charging our Master with it.
It is clear from the text that God takes the idea of blasphemy (speaking against God or doing anything to bring dishonor to HIS name) very seriously.
Lev 24:11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 They put him in custody so that the command of the Lord might be made clear to them. 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him. 15 You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
The very next verse says that if someone kills a person, he is to be put to death. So it seems God considers blasphemy in the same category as murder. And our Lord took it up another notch when He said in Mark 3:29 and Luke 12:10 that blaspheming the Holy Spirit was unforgivable.
NO REMEDY FOR THAT SIN WHATSOEVER.
We would be here all day if we try to unpack what He meant by that, as it has been debated for centuries. Another time perhaps. My point is God takes it very seriously.
So, was Caiaphas right in calling our Lord’s statement blasphemy?
Apparently Caiaphas thought so, and if that was truly his opinion, he was absolutely right in calling for HIS death. As the text reads: He who blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
But DID our Lord actually blaspheme?
It is easy to say NO on this side of the Resurrection. But before? Our Lord often told those he healed and delivered to not tell everyone about what happened. So an itinerant rabbi goes around preaching and healing people. How was that different than Choni or Shimon bar Yochai who performed miracles in the first century, or the “sons of the pharisees” who drove out demons as our Lord referenced in Luke 11.19? None of them claimed to be Messiah or claimed Divinity. For them to do so WOULD have been blasphemy. What Caiaphas and the other did NOT see was our master actually WAS divine, so claiming it was just a matter of fact, and NOT blasphemy. The only ones who understood that were the 11 and that was by revelation. When Peter said “Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living GOD” our Lord told him that flesh and blood had not revealed that to him. He got it. Not many outside of the 12 did. So to everyone else what HE said would have been blasphemy and required the death penalty.
OF course Isaiah 53 tells us that was God’s plan all along, for Messiah to die for sins and then be raised back to life.
Years ago I was in a passion play and there was an interesting dialog between the disciples following the news that HE had been raised to life. Peter is skeptical but John is convinced. John says:
Remember when [Yeshua] said He was going away. He told us that the world would not see Him, but we would. When He prayed He said “Father, glorify your Son.” Maybe this is what He was talking about. Maybe the Father HAS raised Him from the dead. Think of what this would do the Pharisees and Sadducees. Think of what Pilate would say! The people would immediately be convinced that He is Messiah!
While we may not know if Pilate ever heard of the resurrection, or if it had any lasting effect on Caiaphas or other leaders, it certainly convinced many of His Messiahship. By Shavuot there were at least 120 solid believers, and 3000 more came in that day. A few weeks later there were 5000 men.
So the take-away from this portion is to be holy, sanctify HisNAME instead of blaspheming it, And serve the Messiah.
Shabbat Shalom!