- Vayikra / Leviticus 12:1-15:33
- Yesha’yahu / Isaiah 66:1-24
- Melachim Bet / 2 Kings 4:42-5:19, 7:3-20
- Mattityahu / Matthew 8:1-4, 23:16-24:2, 30-31
The Mishkan (Tabernacle) and then later the Bet HaMikdash (Temple) was at the centre of the lives of bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel). It defined who they were by the G-d they worshipped, and by the way they worshipped Him. It was the focus of their social lives. A demonstration of that were the Shalamim (Peace) offerings, that were basically communal barbecues: the Shalamim offering was a thanksgiving offering and thanks was given to HaShem for almost every joyous occasion.
Communal barbecues were happening on a daily basis. The Mishkan/Temple also served as the community meeting place: the social club (a place to be seen), as well as a place to worship G-d, and for some it served as their religious status symbol. You can, therefore; imagine how serious and tragic it must have been for someone to be barred from the Mishkan or Temple.
An example of how seriously bnei Yisrael took their participation in the Temple, and its services is shown to us in this story from the Brit Chadashah.
Yochanan (John) {9:19} They asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" {9:20} His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: {9:21} but by what means he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself." {9:22} These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jewish leadership: for the leadership had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He (Yeshua) was Mashiach, he should be excluded from the assembly.
Thus being excluded from the Temple and its services was therefore a fate worse then death to any of bnei Yisrael (chidren of Israel).
Now here, as we read the double portions of Tazria/Metzorah, we find other examples of how bnei Yisrael could be excluded from participating in the Mishkan/Temple services.
Vayikra {13:2} When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aharon the Cohen (Priest), or unto one of his sons the Cohenim (Priests): 13:3} And the Cohen shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the Cohen shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.
Can you imagine the anxiety a person must have suffered when he discovered a blotch or a swelling on his body? Now, prior to entering the Mishkan or Temple, the worshiper would have to confess the problem to the Cohen. To the social embarrassment of the patient, the Cohen would then be obligated to undertake the extensive task of making the appropriate investigation and diagnosis. The Cohen was assigned the task of questioning or perhaps even inspecting each person as they entered the courtyard of the Mishkan/Temple to insure their ritual purity and safeguard the temple from being defiled. The anxiety of the one afflicted, yet undiagnosed, must have been great. I believe, this can be compared to someone discovering a lump on his body, suspecting cancer, and having to wait days for the results of a biopsy! I am sure those seven days were not very pleasant for any Israelite. Now, add to this the prospect of being excluded from the social and religious life of the community, and you can understand how getting afflicted was a serious affair!
The person’s exclusion from the Mishkan/Temple, however; was not necessarily because these prescribe conditions were communicable diseases, except perhaps leprosy, but because the condition rendered that person ritually unclean. Therefore, that person could not come into the presence of a holy G-d. Anyone who had a skin disease, or came into contact with anything that made him ritually unclean could pass on that uncleanness to others, and to the Mishkan/Temple itself! Why was there this strictness when it came to the Mishkan/Temple? Because HaShem has divided everything in the Word into two categories; those things that bring and symbolize life, and those that bring and symbolize death. HaShem is life, therefore; that which representes death can not come into His presence. In fact Yeshua told us:
Yochanan {10:10} ."I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Yeshua came to heal us of all our diseases so that we could present ourselves:
Romim (Romans) {12:1} "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of G-d, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto G-d, which is your reasonable service."
Skin diseases, afflictions, issues of blood and/or mould, as described in these two Parashot, are associated with corruption and decay, are synonymous with death. Anything that represents death cannot come into the presence of a holy G-d, who Himself is life. For this reason HaShem instructed the Cohenim in the methods of detecting and dealing with ritual uncleanness. This gives us a little insight into how HaShem expects his people to come into His presence. To this very day, HaShem expects us to come into his presence with holy reverence! However, you will notice from the opening paragraph of Parasha Tazria that the condition of ritual uncleanness only applied to entering the Mishkan/Temple and participating in its services.
Vayikra {12:1} HaShem spoke unto Moshe (Moses), saying, {12:2} "Speak unto bnei Yisrael, saying, If a woman had conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. {12:3} In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. {12:4} She shall then continue in the blood of her purification three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled."
Notice specifically the words ".shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary,." This prohibition applied only to one coming in contact with any instruments used in the Mishkan/Temple service, or for entering the Mishkan/Temple itself. Therefore, although this law and others like it are valid today, because they are still in HaShem’s law book (Torah), they do not have any application. There is no Mishkan or Temple which contains the Shechinah (visible presence of the glory of G-d) for someone to defile with his/her uncleanness. Therefore, a woman in any form of impurity can still enter a synagogue and worship, just as can anyone with a skin disease or other form of prescribed ritual uncleanness contained in Torah. Although every person is free to make his own choices, when it comes to the application of these laws, we must not make them into something they are not. That would constitute religious legalism, something Yeshua taught us against.
Mattityahu (Matthew) {23:23} "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone {23:24} Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."
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