Download - Parashah 28 M'Tzora

8/18/2019 Parashah 28 M'Tzora

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Parashah 28: Tazria M'tzora (Person

aff l icted w ith tzara'at)

Parashah 28: M'tzora (Person afflicted with tzara'at) Leviticus 14:1 through

15:33. Haftarah (Writings and Prophets): 2 Kings 7:3-20.

B'rit Hadasha (New Testament): Matthew 9: 20-26; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:42-48;Hebrews 13:4.

Summary & Overv iew

TORAH

o Leviticus 14:1 | Purification of Lepers and Leprous Houses

o Leviticus 15:1 | Concerning Bodily Discharges

This Torah Portion fall in the season of Passover and is part of the time of“Cleaning the House” emphasising the true meaning of Unleavened Bread. Thismatches the topic of cleansing the Leper and how the preparation UnleavenedBread represents the seeking and removal of sin form your life. We will keepthis in mind as we continue our study on the cleansing of tzara'at . Last week welooked at what leprosy represent to us today and how it can manifest in ourlives. This week we will look at the cleansing process and how the House ofYHVH can be affected by this plague.

Pr iesthood and Leprosy

It must have been awesome to serve as aPriest in the days of the Tabernacle whereyou get to go into the Presence of YHVHand get exposure to all the hidden things.On the other hand, there is the part of this job description that is not so appealing;dealing with people’s issues, especiallythings revealed in this Torah Portionwhere they had to examine people’s skindiseases in order to declare them clean orunclean.

Spir i tual App l icat ion : This shows us twotypes of people in a Congregation, one type like to serve YHVH and spend timein His presence all day long. Their faith is for their own benefit and they do notcare much about people on the outside. Then there are people who areservants of YHVH who are brave enough to get their hands dirty, who deal withall the people issues and dynamics within the Congregation.

We all are part of the Body of Messiah and have a part to play. Your faith isabout other people, not about yourself. It’s about getting people into theKingdom and looking after those already in the Kingdom, serving the Body ofMessiah. We find the opposite in most Congregations; the majority of members just like to be “spiritual entertained” and not serve the people within the Body orreach people in the world.


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Cleansing the Leper

Let’s look at the Commandments for the Priesthood regarding the cleansing ofan affected person. It starts with inspecting the person and what he/she must dowhen affected.

Lev 13:45-46 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear tornclothes, let their hair be unkempt, [ c ] cover the lower part of their face andcry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease theyremain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.

First of all, if the Priest inspected them and they were infected by leprosy, theyhad to proclaim their unclean state in public, shouting “unclean, unclean!” asthey left to stay in isolation outside the camp for a period of time.

Q – Have you ever wondered what they were doing outside the camp?

Imagine yourself in that person’s shoes, going through something like that. It

was probably embarrassing to walk out shouting “unclean, unclean!” with part ofyour face covered. That is exactly what sin does, it embarrasses you whenfound out. After you have been humiliated and humbled, you experience a placeof isolation where you did a lot of introspection and repentance. This is whereYHVH’s Spirit work in you, to bring all those hidden things to the surface so thatyou can deal with them. Sin will embarrass you, humble you, isolate you and letyou search hidden parts inside of you and lead you to repentance with the helpof the Spirit. Let’s see what they went through before being accepted back intothe camp.

Lev 14:3-9 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priestshall look, and, behold, if the plague ofleprosy be healed in the leper;

4 Then shall the priest command totake for him that is to be cleansed twobirds alive and clean, and cedar wood,and scarlet, and hyssop: 5 And the

priest shall command that one of thebirds be killed in an earthen vesselover running water: 6 As for the livingbird, he shall take it, and the cedar

wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,and shall dip them and the living birdin the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 7 And heshall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seventimes, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird looseinto the open field. 8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes,and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may beclean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroadout of his tent seven days.

The Priest took two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop; the one bird waskilled and its blood was mixed with water in an earthen vessel. The live bird,

with the cedar, scarlet and hyssop was dipped into the water and blood.

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Then the Priest sprinkled the water and blood mixture on the affected person.The live bird was then set free and the person was set free back into thecommunity.

This sound similar to the offerings at the Feast of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement where one goat shed its blood and the other goat set free into the

wilderness. This is a picture of Messiah Who shed His Blood and water thatcame from his side after the soldier pierced Him to see if He was dead. We willnow look at each of one these symbols to find the deeper meaning behind theritual cleansing of the leper.

Bird is the Hebrew word “tsippowr ” that comes from the root word“tsaphar ” that means “to go in a circle, to dance in a circle, to turnand return”. This word is first used in Scripture in Jud 7:3 in the storyof Gideon where YHVH reduced the number of His army from 22000 down to 300. He reduced their numbers by asking those whowere afraid to “turn and return”, not to be part of His army.

Spir i tual App l icat ion : This shows us that the two birds representtwo camps, one who is ready to be used by YHVH in battle and theother camp is too afraid. The person who had leprosy was of the camp whocould not be used in battle and had to “turn and return” (tsippowr) or repent inorder to be enlisted back into YHVH’s army. The bird that died was a symbol ofthe “old man” or sinful person who died (repented) and is now ready to be setfree and released back into the service of YHVH. This teaches us that someonewith “leprosy” or sin in their lives cannot be used by YHVH. YHVH’s soldiers liveretentive lives and strive towards holiness. They are people who repentimmediately after they have sinned and does not allow sin to fester and growstrong in their lives. YHVH is not interested in quantity but rather quality, for us it

is all about numbers and we think the more people in the Congregation thebetter, but YHVH rather have a few good men than having a very large armyconsisting of sick leprous soldiers.

Cedar is the word “'erez ” that comes from the root word “'araz ” thatmeans “to be firm, to be stable” and this is what YHVH expects fromHis people, to be firm and stable in their faith, the opposite of

someone with leprosy or sin in their lives.

Scarlet is the Hebrew word “towla” that means worm, the“coccus ilicis” worm that turns red when it dies. This is asymbol of the Blood of Messiah that was shed onPassover so that we can be covered because of our sinful leprous

fallen nature.

Hyssop is the Hebrew word “ezwob” that was the plant that is usedmost of the time in sacred purifications. This was first used inScripture in Exo 12:22 in the time of the Exodus where they appliedblood to the doorpost of their homes on the first Passover. Hyssobwas used here to apply the water and blood mixture to the leperafter their leprosy has healed so that they can be declared clean.This connects the Cleansing Ritual to the Passover symbolismwhere the blood on the doorpost caused “death could pass over”

and set the person free so that he/she could be restored “back tolife” into the Community.


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Leprosy in the House

Lev 14:34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give toyou for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the landof your possession;

The Sages teach that leprosy come on yourbody because of your mouth, then it can comeon your clothing because of pride and if itcomes on the house because of a hiddenblessing to the people inside that house. Thecontext of this verse is about gifts YHVH gaveHis people, part of possessing the land of milkand honey, they got leprosy in their houses.What happened was when Israel overcomethe Canaanites, they lived in the houses thatwere already build. When leprosy appeared on

the wall, they ripped the stones out in order to get rid of the leprosy and replaceit with new stones. When they removed these leprous stones, they sometimesfound hidden treasure behind it. If it wasn’t for the affliction of the house, thepeople in the house would never have received that blessing or treasure.

Spir i tual App l icat ion : We learned last week that leprosy was given to Israel byYHVH as a “gift” and when you embrace that gift, it will turn what you perceiveto be a curse, into a blessing. If YHVH does not reveal to you what is wrongwith your tongue, your actions or your house (family), then you will keep onliving with that curse, caused by your fallen nature and that sin will become partof your personality. People are not born to be evil, YHVH has a greater plan for

each one of us. Some people choose to live their lives in a fallen nature,saturated with sin and that defines who they are and not what YHVHintended them to be.

Behind every sin in your life there is a hidden blessing or treasure, thatcomes from your Father, that He wants to give to you if you deal withand remove that sinful habit. Every dark cloud has a silver lining andevery bad situation has a hidden treasure behind it, revealing who youcan be and what YHVH wants you to become. Your greatest gift issometimes covered and hidden behind sin and this is Satan’s plan to keepyou bound up behind that sin so that you will never blossom and walk in thepurpose and gifts YHVH planned for your life.

Q – What is the area in your life the enemy has control over?

The sin you struggle with the most is normallyrelated to the area in your life where there is thestrongest gifting. The Enemy is trying to keepyou in a leprous state so that you will cover thatsin with something else so that you will not beexposed. One sin normally covers another sin,like a lie cover hidden actions. Face your fearsand deal with those sins and ask YHVH to helpyou through the cleansing process so that youcan prosper in that area of your life. There are somany attacks on the people of YHVH to try to stop their gift ing and calling.


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You must not hide if this is true in your life, deal with it before it destroys you.Confess your sin because hidden sins hides “hidden callings” or treasures inyour life.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to oneanother, and pray for one another so that you may be

healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man canaccomplish much.

Most people feel embarrassed to ask someone to praywith them if they have sin in their lives. For you to getrid of sin you have to bring it to the light. Sin will festerand become greater and greater as you keep oncovering and hiding it and you will decay spiritually.

You need to invite YHVH as ask His intervention in your life before the sinbecomes too great for you to handle.

It is good to confess your sin to YHVH in private through prayer but James

advise us to confess our sins to one another. This is the best way to bring thedarkness into the light and the best way to do this is to find someone who isolder and wiser than you, someone you can trust, so that he/she can pray withyou and can get it out in the open.

This verse does not mean to confess someone else’s sin to one another, that iscalled slander and you will bring a plague into your life. Be aware of this so thatyou will not speak against your brother or sister who have confessed their sin toyou in confidentiality.

Remov ing Rejected Stones from the House

Lev 14:38-40 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of thehouse, and shut up the house seven days: 39 And the priest shall comeagain the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague bespread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest shall command thatthey take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast theminto an unclean place without the city:

Elders within a Congregation have 2 jobs; one is to feed the sheep, the otheris to protect the sheep from “unhealthy

infected people” as well as from wolvesdressed in sheep’s clothing. Thechallenge is to discern whether it is asheep with a mild condition of leprosyand when it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.Last week we have looked at thedifferent kinds of leprosy and the more

serious untreatable case was the leprosy of the head or the mind. Paul gives usvery clear guidance how to deal with such people and when to remove andreject them from the Congregation or Fellowship.


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1 Cor 5: 1-11 It is reported commonly that there is fornication amongyou, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles,that one should have his father's wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and havenot rather mourned, that he that has done this deed might be taken away

from among you. 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit,have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath

so done this deed, 4 In the name of our Master Y’shua the Messiah, whenye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our MasterY’shua the Messiah, 5 To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destructionof the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Master Y’shua.6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens thewhole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a newlump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah our Passover is sacrificed

for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither withthe leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread ofsincerity and truth. 9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with

fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, orwith the covetous, or swindlers, or with idolaters; for then must ye needsgo out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keepcompany, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous,or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or a swindler; with such an oneno not to eat.

Paul mentioned six types of “leprous stones” that needs to be removed and castoutside the City or Congregation. These are people who calls themselves“Brothers” but have some of the following traits:

1. Forn ica tor or immo ral person : The word in Greek is the word “pornos”and that is where the English word“pornography” got its meaning from. Thisis anyone who indulges in sexualimmorality acts like sex before marriage,sleeping around, married person cheatingon their spouse, pornography andhomosexuality. Paul lists this as thenumber one problem because it is ahidden sin that becomes an addiction and

lifestyle that eventually destroys relationships. How many Pasters and

Churches have you heard of that has been destroyed or affectedbecause of this? People who practice these deeds needs to be removedfrom eth Assembly and not be tolerated because it will spread and affectothers within the Assembly.


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2. Covetousness : This is the Greek word “ pleonektēs” that means “ toclaim more than ones due, eager to havemore, greedy of gain”. This is someonewho always wants more and sometimesat the cost of someone else. This notnecessarily only applies to food,possessions and money, but also topeople or followings, trying to makethemselves the centre of attention. Thisrelates to social circles and to spiritual

groups where someone wants to be “on the stage”, in the limelight andwant to be seen. Another form of this is when they play Mr. or Mrs.Know-it-all whose greed is with attaining knowledge and you cannot tellthem something because they are the go-to-person if you want to knowanything. When you want to share something you have learned, theyshut you down and tell you something they know from their wealth of

“overweight knowledge”. Covetousness applies to spiritual leaders aswell where they fall into this trap of counting people, seeking a largerCongregation than other Congregations. It sin is rooted in a competitionspirit that always compete against everyone else in order to possessmore, get more attention, have more followers or have more money orthings than needed. Paul advises us not to fellowship with such peopleand not to keep company with them.

3. Idolaters : Comes from the Greek word “eidolon” that means “idol, imageor likeness” and has to do with worshipping any deity other than YHVH.There is a warning in Scripture that is “you become like the one you

worship”. Young people today imitate Hollywood starsand music stars, dressing like them, trying to look like

them and act like them. They adore and worship thesefamous people to such a point that they become likethem. This is the opposite of what YHVH asked us todo, to worship Him and become like Him.

This also has to do with people who get caught up withthings that becomes obsessions and this obsession takesup the place for YHVH in your life. Like the big rocks in a jar, put YHVH first and then there will be enough time forthe things you need and want to do.

Then there is the trap of entertainment. A lot of peoplefall into this trap where they spend all their time money

and energy on being a-mused or entertained. “Muse” means to think orto consider something thoughtfully. A-Muse is the opposite of muse andmeans “not to think” and watching movies, television or being on yourFacebook all day is good example of this form of idolatry. People loosethemselves in the world of entertainment because they cannot deal withreality and eventually becomes an addiction. Believers having thisproblem only want to be entertained by the music in the church and themessage and rarely mean anything to anybody. People that worship

themselves, someone else or things other than YHVH and who wants tobring in this kind of “Spiritual Entertainment” worship needs to beremoved from the Assembly.


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4. Railer o r revi ler : This is someone who attacks others verbally. In 1 Cor4:12 Paul uses this word as the opposite of“to bless someone” and falls into thecategory of cursing someone. People willnormally use a weapon when they are

violent and want to hurt someone, a revilerwill use their tongue. This kind of personwill shout you down and give you a piece oftheir mind without listening to reason ortrying to talk things out. They will abuse

others verbally and always have the last say. In a family setup they arethe abusive parent who communicate with violent words and threats andcause emotional scars within their children. Within the Congregation theyare the ones that always argue a point and can never find commonground, always trying to argue their point in order to be right. This is avery dangerous type of leprosy and will contaminate the peace within the

Congregation and needs to be removed.

5. The Drunkard : This is not only someone who is under the regularinfluence of alkanol or a substance. It isthe Greek word “methysos “and meansto be so full of something so that youlose focus and rationality. If someone inthe Congregation has an addiction, theyneed help and support. If they do notwant to be helped or fail to corporate,they need to be excommunicated. There

is another problem that creeped intochurches today and that is when people

seek to be drunk in the presence of G od or drunk in the Spirit. This iswhere they become emotionally overwhelmed and do things that younormally will not expect in a church. There is no such thing to be drunk inthe spirit, the Word teaches us to be filled with the Spirit and not becomedrunk with wine. One of the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control and is the opposite of becoming drunk, lose focus and rationality.There are examples in Scripture where people fell in the presence ofYHVH, He then told them to stand up before He talked to them. TheSpirit of YHVH will help you to become Holy and not becoming drunk or

do all sorts of weird stuff that is not a great testimony for someone in theworld.

6. Swind ler or Thief : This word comes from the Greek root word “harpazō “that means “to snatch away” and isfound in Matt 13:19 in the Parable of theSower where the evil one will snatchaway the seed from the ones who do notunderstand it. This is someone in theCongregation who does the work of theevil one and who snatches away the

truth from the ones who are still learning.John 10:12 uses this word in the contextof wolves among sheep.


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These people are doing the enemy’s work where they oppose the Truth byinterrupting the message with arguments and questions that are sowingconfusion amongst new believers. They are normally very passionateregarding their views and sounds very convincing. People like this is theworst kind and have leprosy of the mind and should be removed as soon aspossible because they will break up a Congregation or Fellowship.

There are three additional passages Paul taught that are stones that need to beremoved. People having these attributes should not be tolerated within theCongregation and you should withdraw yourself from such a person.

7. The Tithe Seeker : Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Master Y’shua the Messiah, that youwithdraw yourselves from everybrother that walks disorderly, and notafter the tradition which he received ofus. 7 For yourselves know how ye

ought to follow us: for we behaved notourselves disorderly among you;8 Neither did we eat any man's bread

for nought; but wrought with labourand travail night and day, that wemight not be chargeable to any of you: 2 Thes 3:6-8

The context of this passage is in regards to working; anyone who can workbut do not, are “walking disorderly”, not working to earn their living. Paul setthe example of someone who do ministry work and does not rely on thecharity of the people. Money will always place a stumbling block in the wayof spreading YHVH’s Word. People who earn a living by preaching theGospel is causing leprosy on the stones of the House of YHVH. A lot orministers of the Word today preach Tithing to support their ministries butthis is not the example Paul set for the Church in the absence of the Templeand the Priesthood. Some people may be of different view on this but wehave to try to imitate the First Century Church example not to fall into thetrap of creating a Business selling the Gospel. You should withdraw yourselffrom people like this and not follow someone who is not earning their wonwage.

8. Strange Doctr ine Teachers : As I asked you to abide still at Ephesus, when

I went into Macedonia, that youmight charge some that they teach noother doctrine, 4 Neither give heed to

fables and endless genealogies, whichminister questions, rather than godlyedifying which is in faith: so do.

5 Now the goal of the commandmentis love out of a pure heart, and of agood conscience, and of sincere faith: 1 Tim 1:3-5

Strange doctrines are based on the Truth but connects to many rabbit trails,introducing fables and manmade interpretations that lead people away fromthe basic Scriptures.


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They use multiple verses out of context to weave together a beautifulpicture and concept they want to convey, but normally contradicts Scriptureelsewhere.

The other issue is when people dwell on things that are not important, likefor instance genealogies, conspiracy theories, even spending too much

time on the Hebrew Aleph-Bet. Teaching these things out of balance,spending too much time on it will take away the opportunity to teach thebasic Scripture and truth as presented. Going through the Torah Cycle orstudying the Books of the New Testament adds more value that knowingabout what the Pope is up to and why we should not trust theGovernment. These topics are fruitless and you should not get entangledwithin a group that makes these their main discussion points. Thesestones are affected and cause leprosy in the House of YHVH and shouldbe removed.

9. People who argue over the Word : People like this is similar to the

Reviler we have looked at previously.

Tit 3:9-11 But avoid foolish questions, andgenealogies, and contentions, and strivings aboutthe Torah; for they are unprofitable and vain.10 A man that is a heretic after the first andsecond admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he

that is such is undermined, and sins, beingcondemned of himself.

It is profitable to have good discussions regardingthe Word, even discuss differences but if it leads to disputes and arguments,

then it is vain and worthless. People like this normally live and talk Torah all thetime, saying the right things but they believe to be the Sword of the Spiritincarnate and cause divisions, bashing people over the head with the Truth.They are normally abrasive and dominating claiming to hear form YHVHdirectly. This is one of the greatest abominations in the eyes of YHVH causingdiscord among the Brethren. Don’t tolerate this behaviour in the Congregationand remove them to leave after the second warning. You will know a person bytheir fruit, if they are building up the Kingdom or causing divisions and disputes,breaking down the Kingdom and House of YHVH. Remove these leprousstones as soon as possible.

Any Congregation or Fellowship is a House and if there are any of theseleprous stones found in the midst of the House, they have to be removed andreplaced with stones without leprosy. All of us must guard our hearts so that wewill not get some form of Leprosy, even one of the six types we looked at here,so that YHVH’s House can be clean without spot or blemish in order for Hiswork to continue, to reach out to lost souls so that they can become part of theHouse of YHVH.


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Searching for Leaven in the House

The problem with leprosy is that it spreads andpeople with leprosy will normally infect others andcause issues or a split within the Congregation.Those infected members will then go to join other

Congregations where they will take their“infection” with them and make the “stones” ofthat House leprous. This is the time and theSeason for searching out the leaven and leprosyin your house and the House of YHVH. If you findany leaven or leprosy, go our High Priest, Y’shuaand present yourself to Him in humility with a repentive heart, so that He can doa work in you and take you through the cleansing process so that you can bedeclared clean and useful in His Army.

Ps 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know

my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me inthe way everlasting.

Pract ical App l icat ion : Take a piece of paper and write down all the leaven inyour life, all the possible symptoms of leprosy in you. Then write down friends orfamily members’ names that you know who have leprosy. Then lastly, writedown any leprous stones that you know that is in the Congregation orFellowship you attend. Take this list with three sections and present it to Y’shua,our High Priest in prayer and ask Him to help you to overcome those issues inyour life, the lives of the people you know as well as within the Congregation. Ask YHVH to reveal all the blemishes to every infected person so that they will

repent and make their lives right with YHVH. Lastly, pray for the Congregationor Fellowship and ask YHVH to remove the leprous stones so that the treasuresbehind them may be revealed and that His Kingdom with prosper and His Bridecan be prepared and His Army will be healthy and effective.

This is what needs to happen every year leading up to Passover as part ofpreparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is all about the preparationand removing the leaven and leprous stones from your life and form the Houseof YHVH.

Ps 127:1 Unless YHVH builds the House, they labour in vain who builds it.

Y’shua is the High Priest of His Father’s House and we are the living stones thatrepresent it. He is the Builder who choose the stones and who take awaystones in order for His House to contain His Glory. The way you conduct yourlife will dictate whether you will be a chosen stone or a rejected stone. Thechoice is yours, choose life.

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