First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

VAYIKRA (LEVITICUS)

A whole book of the Bible is devoted to underscoring the fact

that Biblical (as opposed to Talmudic) Judaism is a faith

requiring shefikhat dahm (shedding of blood) for the SELICHAT

AVON. On Mt. Sinai the L-rd made it clear that He could not be

truly honored as G-d without blood (7:37-38). We were bought at

great price, and all the blood of bulls and goats pointed to the

blood of the Lamb of G-d who takes away the sin of the world.

When we meditate on this book we see at what great price of blood

the world was redeemed. For, as in the institution of the Brit

Chadasha (Matt. 26:28), so the Sinai Covenant was instituted by

blood sacrifice (Ex. 24:3-8). In Leviticus we see that this is

emphasized with no less than eight types of offerings: the sin

offering [CHATTAT] (Lev. 4:1-35; 6:24-30) to atone for specific

unwitting sin; different animals or offerings were required,

depending on the rank of the offender--ruler, kohen, or common

person, poor person, very poor person; the offerer laid his hand

on the victim and identified with it (as we must identify with

Moshiach); this blood alone was put on the horns of the incense

altar (4:16-18) in the Holy Place; on the Yom Kippur, this blood

was taken into the Kodesh HaKodeshim and manipulated as for a

leprous unclean people (Lev. 14:7; 16:14). The kohen performed

ritual eating with part of the meat in the Beis Hamikdash area;

the Moshiach's Seder looks back to this since we are Brit

Chadasha kohanim (Yochanan 6:49-58).

Next, the guilt or trespass offering [ASHAM] (the same word is

predicted about the Moshiach in Isaiah 53:10) to atone for

unwitting sin requiring restitution (this was also eaten; read

Lev. 5:14-6:7; 7:1-7; whenever G-d or someone else was defrauded

or cheated of what was rightly his, this sacrifice was necessary.

Like the leper who, because of his uncleanness, defrauds G-d of

acceptable service and needs the cleansing blood applied to his

ears, hands, and feet (see 14:12-14), so we, who have defrauded

G-d of much service because of our uncleannesses, need the blood

of the Moshiach applied to our whole being.

Next, the holocaust [OLAH or burnt offering] to atone for

unwitting sins in general; the kohen had to keep the fire burning

continuously (Lev. 6:8-13) because the victim had to be burned

completely and there were sacrifices morning and evening. In the

L-rd's work the minister has to keep the fire of spiritual

awakening burning continuously by not neglecting the Word and

prayer and other ministry duties (see Acts 2:42; Heb. 10:25).

Next, the cereal offering [MINCHAH] to secure or retain good will

(not a blood sacrifice but fine flour, olive oil, and

frankincense offered along with such); unless the offering was

for his own sin, the kohen could eat part of it (6:16; 1:9), and

this was one of his "mitzbe'ach rights," just as we have certain

mitzbe'ach rights at the Table of the L-rd that unbelievers have

no right to share (Heb. 13:10).

Next, the peace offering [SHLOMIM] or fellowship offering to

render thanks to G-d; the kohen took the sacrificial meat and the

cakes or wafers and gave them back to the repentant choteh to eat

wherever he chose. This is a picture of the privileges and

benefits that accompany the ministry of the laity and also points

to the Moshiach's Tish.

Next, the drink offering [NESECH] was denied the kohen and

completely poured out, just as our lives must be wholly expended

for the L-rd (see II Tim. 4:6) and we must not get involved in

civilian pursuits (II Tim. 2:4); (in addition there was the thank

offering [TODAH] for a blessing received,

Next, the vow offering [NEDER] upon completion of a vow, and the

freewill offering [N'DAVAH]"from a glad heart" (a voluntary

offering, such as was given at the three major feasts: Pesach,

Shavuos and Sukkot).

In some of these sacrifices, hands are laid on the victim, which

must be without flaw, and the victim then, with this physical

contact, becomes (through the gracious gift of saving emunah) a

substitute, and a vicarious kapporah is thereby appropriated for

the choteh (see Leviticus 1:4). With the touch of the hand and

the emunah of the believer, the sin transfers to the victim whose

bloody death expiates (removes) the chet from the choteh and

propitiates (appeases) the wrath or anger of G-d against sin.

Thus the sin is covered or atoned for. In Leviticus 4:1-3 we see

that sin doesn't get off scot-free...somebody has to pay. We see

the bull come forward to pay, just as later we see the perfect

victim, the filial Word of G-d the man Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach

Yehoshua, come forward to pay (as foretold in Isaiah 53). In

Leviticus 4:15 we see the zekenim of the community lay their

hands upon the head, just as later they unwittingly laid their

hands upon the head of the eternal Word Himself, the Moshiach

Kohen-Lamb. In this respect the Moshiach's death was not only an

Asham it was also a Chattat that is, a sin offering for the whole

community. In fact all of the sacrifices find their fulfillment

in the death of the Moshiach. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol

lays both of his hands on the head of the victim, confesses over

it all the perverse sins and transgressions of the people,

transfering them to the head of the doomed victim, who will bear

[NASAH] them away outside the makhaneh (camp) to the wilderness

where it will die (notice Lev. 16:22 and Isaiah 53:12 "He bore

the sin of many"). The covenant of salt referred to in Lev. 2:13

symbolizes permanence, which is an aspect of both salt's

preservative quality and G-d's covenant love for his people.

G-d spoke to Moses about such critically important matters from

the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting) (Lev. 1:1). And the chesed

Hashem is emphasized in the fact that Aaron, although he had made

a golden calf for the people and was completely unworthy to be a

minister (like Shliach Kefa and Rav Sha'ul), and although he in

no way earned by zechus the personal relationship to the King of

Kings that the Covenant offered, nevertheless, the grace of G-d

was such that G-d revealed to Moses how He wanted to be

worshipped in the Mishkan. Then G-d had Moses ordain Aaron and

instruct him to perform the holy duties of a kohen as are written

out in this book, the book of Leviticus. Nevertheless, not many

should become teachers and engage in the kohen's service of

teaching, since those who teach will be judged with greater

strictness (Ya'akov 3:1), and Leviticus warns us several times

about what will happen to kohanim who are careless in their

duties. In Leviticus 4:31 it says, "Thus the kohen shall make

atonement for him and he shall be forgiven." The perfect Word of

G-d, who came to Moses with this oracle, Himself came later as

our eternal kohen (Psalm 110:4) and made expiation for us with

his own flawless life poured out in a bloody death so that we

could be forgiven. This is "the ram of the guilt offering" (Lev.

5:16) that G-d promised to provide for Abraham (Genesis 22:11-14;

Isa. 53:l0). Leviticus 9 promises the glorious Presence of the

L-rd will appear to you if the enjoined sacrifice is accepted

(9:1,5-7, 23); Yehoshua is the Word of G-d's Presence appearing

among us as Immanuel (God-with-us). Notice I Cor. 15:5f says "he

appeared.

In chapter 10 we see that two kohanim went beyond what is written

and the L-rd permanently retired them from their S'MICHA

(ordination), just as many great spiritual leaders, involved in

the "illicit fire" of wine, women and financial corruption, have

likewise been ingloriously defrocked and wiped out of the

ministry by the L-rd. If we know the Moshiach and we are kohanim

who have entered the Tent of Meeting, then why do we break the

law and drunkenly crave wine (Lev. 10:9)? If you are in the

L-rd's ministry, you cannot go anywhere you want or do anything

you want; you must not go outside the entrance of the Tent of

Meeting lest you die" (10:7). We must not touch anything

unclean, lest we grieve the Ruach Hakodesh and break our Rev.

3:20 communion with the L-rd, to which Lev. 10:17 points. If

anyone thinks that he is so gifted and invaluable to the L-rd

that he can get away with secret sin, he should remember that G-d

had for kohanim only Aaron's four sons and G-d put half of them

to death! No man is indispensible with G-d; all of us can be

eliminated and replaced (G-d replaced the whole people of Israel

in the wilderness); so we should meditate on this book and fear

G-d. G-d seems to be saying in Lev. 10:2-3, "Offer right

sacrifices, O ministers, or you will be sacrificed." The

eye-witnessed detail in Lev. 10:5 reminds us of Acts 5:1-11 where

two other ministers committed high-handed sin. Aaron's sons

deliberately shunned the fire from G-d (Lev. 9:24) and offered

unholy fire (10:1) of their own choosing.

In chapter 13, we see that G-d's minister must examine the flock

and sometimes infected members must be quarantined and dealt with

apart from the others. Suppose you as a spiritual leader

interviewed a lonely bachelor with a history of fornication and

suppose he was seeking admission to your ministry because he was

"lonely" for lady companionship. Would you see this as "leprosy"

and quarantine him? Or would you play the Jewish matchmaker and

rush to "meet his needs?" We need to make sure that all of us

keep our "itch" (Lev. 13:30) under the examination of the Lord's

body through faithful submission to the House of G-d where we've

been called. Lev. 16:2 tells us about the Parokhet (or curtain

veiling the Kodesh HaKodashim) and about the Aron Kodesh (the

Holy Ark) and regarding the atonement cover or Kaporet where G-d

Himself appears. In Rom. 3:25 the word (ilastE/rion is the word

for Moshiach's sacrifice of atonement, and it is a direct

reference to this Greek word which is also found here in the

Septuagint translation of Lev. 16:2. So Yehoshua is where G-d

appears in holy sacrifice. Yehoshua sprinkles the nations in a

cosmic Yom Kippur sacrifice, according to Isaiah 52:15, since he

is the cosmic and eternal kohen of Psalm 110:4. Aza'zel is

generally translated "scapegoat" in Lev. 16:10. It cannot mean

demon (see Lev. 17:7).

In chapter 18 polygamy (18:18) and homosexuality (18:22) are

condemned and sexual sins are made one of the grounds for exile

which is threatened (compare 18:25 to 18:28; also 26:34). Since

the illicit and incestuous unions in Leviticus 18 seem to be

referred to in Acts 15:20 and Matthew 19:9, a case can be made

that Moshiach Yehoshua allowed no other grounds for divorce and

remarriage (other than porneia). Porneia would have been the

grounds for the annulment of Yosef's marriage to Miryam had she

been guilty of this kind of sexual deception during the

engagement period (see Matthew 1:19), and in that case had he

remarried he would be considered married only once (I Timothy

3:2). Other than these types of exceptions, Yehoshua considered

the marriage vow indissoluble. If one intends to be a leader in

G-d's work and if one knows that his calling entails it, one

should seek ordination, not necessarily a prestigious academic

degree. The Bible says nothing about prestigious degrees (except

that Moshiach Yehoshua condemns the idolatrous and caste-creating

use of titles in the L-rd's House -- Matthew 23:5-12), but it

says plenty (even in Leviticus) about ordination! Do you think

someone should not have to possess a medical license (that can be

revoked if they engage in malpractice) if they want to be a

doctor or a medical healer of bodies? If this is true, why do

you think you should be able to lead in the L-rd's work without a

similar recognized appointment holding you accountable for your

moral and doctrinal integrity? Just as Exodus gives minute

details for the building of the Mishkan, so Leviticus gives

minute details for how the kohanim are to be ordained so they can

be overseers who inspect the worshippers according to the exact

laws and regulations protecting the holiness of G-d's people.

G-d wants quality control and quality control inspectors to

insure holiness in his worshippers. This is why Shliach Sha'ul

lays down qualifying principles for the standards ministers must

keep (see 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1). Anti-clericalism is the

renunciation of the ordained ministry and is a reaction against

clericalism, wherein the clergy is turned into a caste system

that abuses ministerial privileges and lords it over the laity.

But anti-clericalism is itself a sin against G-d's Word because

G-d does want mesharetim (ministers, servants) and G-d does want

them authorized and accountable to those who appointed them.

In Lev. 8:22-32 we see the ordination ceremony. Moses

officiates. (See also Ex. 29:19-34 and its description.) Notice

that a man cannot ordain himself. Aaron and his sons are

dependent on the G-d who called them to dress them in the holy

garments of a kohen using his "dresser" Moses. The minister's

hands, ears, end feet are made holy and sanctified and

consecrated for avodas kodesh by the purifying blood. From now

on, everything the minister touches, or listens to, and every

place he frequents must be part of his holy business as a kohen

because it is all under the blood (see Lev. 8:23,30). The

minister's hands have been filled with holy work and he must be

about G-d's holy business (see 8:26-28). G-d will uniquely

sustain the minister in all this (Ex. 29:33), but the minister

must eat the offering G-d provides in the place where G-d assigns

him (8:31-36) and not journey out in his own stubborn will to

minister wherever he pleases. To do so might mean the death of

his ministry (see Lev. 8:35). These are some of the many deep

spiritual truths in Lev. 8, and there is a sense in which these

truths apply to both lay and ordained ministers, though the

specific teachings regarding ordination are emphasized.

In Leviticus 26:39-45, G-d promises he will expel and return the

Jewish people to the land of Israel as part of his moral dealings

with the world. Therefore, how can anyone write a treatise on

ethics and leave such matters out entirely? Shliach Sha'ul

didn't in his treatise on ethics called the Letter to the Romans

(Romans 9-11).

G-d is a land leaser and a leaser of harvests, according to

Leviticus 25:13-24. The Holy Land belongs to Him, and even the

Jewish people are aliens there resident with G-d. He will throw

unclean tenants out of his Holy Mishkan (dwelling, tabernacle)

and off of His Holy Land (Admat Hakodesh). Therefore, we must

repent of all our uncleanesses and tremble at His Word.

Against the rationalizing reductionism of the Midrash (Leviticus

Rabbah vii), Leviticus does not say the study of the Torah will

fulfill the imperatives of its commands. Leviticus 17:11 demands

divinely acceptable sacrificial blood, not mere Torah study.

Those who say that Leviticus gives no warrant for a Messianic

re-interpretation of its text should remember one important fact.

If a later canonical prophet of the Holy Tanakh points to the

Torah and gives it a typological Messianic meaning (as Isaiah

does by apocalyptically applying the word (asham) from Leviticus

to the Davidic Servant of the L-rd in Isaiah 53:10 and the word

NAZAH "sprinkle" from Leviticus to Isaiah 52:15), then a

Messianic re-interpretation of Leviticus is in fact implicit in

the Tanakh, and is not merely read in gratuitously by Messianic

believers. In the Torah, and especially in Leviticus, blood was

always associated with G-d's saving covenant and Holy Word, and

the Sovereign L-rd enthroned above the atonement cover over the

ark of testimony cannot be approached without biblically

prescribed blood acceptably mediated (note the Kohen Gadol on Yom

Kippur -- Lev. 16).

Since G-d is holy, there is no shadow or unclean thing in Him.

He is living; the unclean are dead. He must cover or remove or

atone for sin to stay in contact with unclean sinners seeking His

fellowship. We cannot experience His presence in congregational

worship unless we approach Him with acceptable sacrifice removing

our uncleanness. We bring the sacrifice he requires to his House

but not merely to the minister; we bring this sacrifice to the

L-rd Himself as the worshippers do in the book of

Leviticus. Meditating on Leviticus can help any believer

maintain a sacrifice of holiness: a clean mind, a clean body, a

clean house, clean clothes, and clean contacts (see Leviticus 15)

because we have been made clean and then holy or set apart for

exclusive service in Yehoshua, and every aspect of our lives must

reflect this. However, the dirty, the poor, the helpless are not

excluded from G-d's concern and neither should they be from ours

(19:14,32; 25:17,36,39-43).

Jewish feasts are Pesach and Chag HaMatzot, Shavuos (variously

called First Fruits or Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest,

Rosh Hashanah (Trumpets) or the Jewish New Year, Day of Atonement

(Yom Kippur), Tabernacles or the Festival of Booths (Sukkot) (see

the reference to this festival's esrog and the lulav or palm

branch in Lev. 23:40), with its concluding day, technically a

holiday in itself, Shemini Atzaret, the Eighth Day of Assembly

referred to in Yochanan 7:37 and Lev. 23:39. (Purim is in Esther

and Channukah is predicted in Daniel 8:11 and mentioned in

Yochanan 10:22). The Jewish people rest on Shabbat (pronounced

Shabbos by Ashkenazic [European-origin] or Yeshiva-trained Jews).

Seven weeks after Pesach is Shavuos, the rest period for

harvesters, and this period is supposed to be literally counted

day by day from the waving of the sheaf (Hebrew Omer -- Lev.

23:10) by the kohen when the coming harvest is dedicated to the

L-rd until Shavu'os? when the harvest arrives. (In the Brit

Chadasha the Lamb of G-d was offered at Pesach and the Harvest

arrived seven weeks later at Shavu'os?). The nation itself rests

on the seventh month at Rosh Hashanah. Every seventh year is a

sabbatical when the land is to rest, and every seventh seven of

years everything is to rest, slaves are to be released, etc--this

is the year of Jubilee (see the 70 weeks of sevens in Daniel 9

when the Messianic Age brings in the final rest.) [On Shemittah

see Deut. 15:1f]

The Ner Tamid, or perpetual light above the synagogue ark and its

Torah scroll derives from Lev. 24:2.

Notice this key verse.

"You shall be holy because I am holy" (Lev. 19:2). The word

"holy" is a key word in Leviticus, appearing there more than any

other word. But Leviticus 19:15 is the "kingly law" of Yehoshua:

"You must love your neighbor as yourself." (Also see Deut.10:19.)

To love our neighbor there are times when we must with gentleness

and love, respecting his dignity as a creature in the divine

image, nevertheless rebuke him. G-d warns that we will incur

guilt ourselves if we don't rebuke him (Lev. 19:17). Sins of a

deliberate, willful, "high-handed" nature (remember Korah? --

Nu.16) could not be atoned for (Num. 15:30-31) and the book of

Hebrews uses this fact to warn the apostate against any

deliberate, willful renunciation of the L-rd. Deliberate

idolaters, Shabbos-breakers, blasphemers, murderers, adulterers,

false-witnesses and the like who disobeyed the Aseret HaDebrot

(the Ten Commandments) with a high hand were put to death in the

Sinai Covenant dispensation, and their sins were not atoned for

(see also Heb. 5:2; 6:4-6: 10:26-31; Deu. 17:12; Ps. 19:13).

This is why Shliach Sha'ul is quick to point out that his violent

crimes against the Messianic Jews were done in ignorance (I Tim.

1:13). The way some of the Pharisees are speaking against the

Ruach Hakodesh prompts Moshiach Yehoshua to warn them about

sinning beyond the reach of atonement and forgiveness.

Moses completed the building of the Mishkan (a type of portable

royal pavilion-palace for G-d to dwell in as His people traveled

with Him toward the Promised Land of new life) just as G-d showed

him on the holy mountain of Sinai, exactly one year after the

Exodus (Ex. 40:l7). But, just as G-d sometimes gives us

something first and only then shows us what to do with it, Moses

did not receive all these detailed instructions in Leviticus

until the month following the completion of the building of the

tabernacle. Lev. 27:34 tells us that these are the mitzvot? that

G-d gave Moses during the year that the people of Israel were at

Mount Sinai. These were given to insure the purity of the kohen

and the nation of kohanim, and to insure that G-d's House would

be kept clean enough for such a holy G-d to dwell there. The

decontamination process we see in Lev. 14:34 for houses infested

with dry-rot or fungus is necessary for these houses to be

inhabitable by a clean and holy people; similarly the Day of

Atonement provides a function to make it possible for G-d to

continue to dwell in His House in the midst of His people.

G-d made sure the book of Leviticus was included in the Bible so

that the people might be "no more dull of understanding" when it

comes to His Holy Covenant faith, His Holy presence, His

holiness, and His acceptable sacrifice.

I Yochanan 1:7 sees the death of the Moshiach as a sin offering.

Yochanan 1:29 sees it as a vicarious burnt offering, and Hebrews

sees it "outside the camp (Lev. 4:12; Heb. 13:13). The author of

Hebrews proves that Yehoshua was a kohen, for only kohanim could

offer the blood. As Ps. 110:4 and Isaiah 53 was fulfilled in our

Moshiach Kohen so this verse in Lev. 1:20 was fulfilled in Him:

V'Chiper Aleichem HaKohen V'Nislach Lahem. The kohen shall make

atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. The Kohen Gadol

was anointed with oil (Lev. 8:10-12) just as the coming Moshiach

("Anointed One") Kohen would be the king anointed by the Ruach

Hakodesh (Isa. 42:1; Ps. 110:4).

Everything starts when you are confronted by sin (Lev. 4:28).

Then there is the vicarious part (you must touch Moshiach

Yehoshua -- Lev. 4:29) and the mediatorial part (the kohen makes

the kill and offers the blood, which is what He did).

When the kohen changes clothes, this typifies our regeneration as

kohanim of the Brit Chadasha (Lev. 6:10; Rev. 1:6).

Notice Lev. 9:l-6 gives us the order of G-d's salvation in that

first there is sacrifice and suffering, then there is theophany

and glory. This is one of the passages Shliach Sha'ul is

referring to in I Cor. 15 when he says the Moshiach died, was

buried and appeared, according to the Scriptures. Which

Scriptures? Scriptures like these in Lev. 9:1-6. Lev. 14:34 says

that Israel has been given to the Jewish people as a homeland but

Lev. 26:32-39 makes the point that by no means will they have

unconditional security in Israel if they sin in their unbelief in

the Scriptures (see 18:24-25,29; 20:22-26). The land will cry

out as it did against Cain and vomit them out.

This is a summary of some of the Mitzvot or commandments and

other points of interest to us in the book of Leviticus.

The Mikveh is variously prescribed in Lev. 15.

The key purpose of much of Leviticus is given in Lev. 15:31,

"Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separated from their

uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by

defiling my mishkan that is in their midst. The law of kashrut?

(fit, proper foods) comes from Lev. 17:13 and 11:1-47.

Why many ultra-orthodox Jews wear the Pa'ot is given in Lev.

19:27.

Hebrews 10:25 was written with Lev. 19:30 in mind.

Astrology, New Age practitioners and every kind of occult lure is

rejected by Lev. 19:31; 20:6,27.

Sacrificing children (as in abortion) to the G-d Molech is

forbidden in Lev. 20:2-5.

Homosexuality is forbidden in 18:22 and 20:13.

Modern day Israeli jurisprudence needs to study Lev. 24:22 and

19:34 and look more kindly on Gentile believers? who want to live

in the Holy Land. Also see Ex. 12:49.

Lev. 27:30 mentions the tithe called Ma'aser meaning one-tenth.

LEVITICUS 16:14-17

14. And he (Aaron the Kohen Gadol) shall take of the blood of

the bull, and sprinkle (see Isa. 52:15, same word) it with his

finger on the front of the atonement cover; and before the

atonement cover shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger

seven times.

15. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for

the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that

blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it upon

the atonement cover and before the atonement cover.

16. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because

of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of

their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for

the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in

the midst of their uncleanness.

17. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the

congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy

place, until he come out, and have made en atonement for himself,

and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.