Torah portion: Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Shimini (‘Eighth’)

On first sight, our portion this week seems to concern the long-past sojourn of the Children of Israel through the wilderness, with little relevance or application to today. We could easily skim-read it, thinking to spend our time better in the New Testament. This would be a mistake.

We learn much about God that is still relevant today from these portions of the Torah. Malachi 3:6 is one of the Bible texts verifying that whatever we learn of God from the ‘Old’ Testament is valid for all time: “I am the Lord, I do not change…”

Approaching God

This is what the Lord said of himself:

By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified… (Lev 10:3)

Our portion covers the beginning of the ministry of the Levitical Priesthood who, in an ordered way, were invited into the presence of God within the Tabernacle.

As part of this Thought for the Week series, we have considered in recent weeks how the Tabernacle was a type and shadow to help us understand how Yeshua later opened the way for fellowship with God. We are the royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9) and we are told to “enter boldly into the Most Holy Place” (Heb 10:19-22).

The ministry of the Priesthood is defined in Leviticus 10:8-11. The Priests were to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, and between the clean and the unclean, in order to teach the statutes of God to the Children of Israel.

It was failure of this ministry that later led to the judgment of God and contributed to Judah’s captivity (Ezek 22:23-31). The fiery judgment on Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, for offering profane fire, gives the judgment on the Priests highlighted in Ezekiel 22:31 an extra significance: “'I have poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,' says the Lord."

Our Calling and Responsibility

In consideration of these things, what might be our prayerful meditation this week? We have not yet seen the fire of the Lord descend on the ungodly of our generation, but that should not lessen our desire for the holiness of God to be manifest in our families, our fellowships and in the world around us.

We, as Priests of the New Covenant, are as much responsible for the condition of the Church in our day as were the Priests of the Old Covenant for upholding the holiness of God among the Children of Israel.

There is, unfortunately, much that should cause us to be concerned in both Church and nation at this time. Let us therefore meditate on this and turn our concerns into intercessory prayer that God will forgive us our sins and cleanse us once more.

Author: Clifford Denton