PARSHAT SHEMINI (Eighth) by Raphael ben Levi
Lev 9:1–11:47; Num 19:1-22; 2 Sam 6:1–7:17; Mark 9:1–13
Our Torah portion begins on the eighth day following 7 days of careful preparation after the construction of the Tabernacle was completed. Priests were appointed and trained and “…on the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.” (Lev9:1)
Earlier on in the Book of Exodus, with all the highs and lows experienced by the Israelites they now arrived to celebrate this pivotal event as the Glory of God filled the entire Tabernacle in full view of all the people. The Shekinah Glory dwelt in their midst as a visible sign of God’s covenant with them and a type and shadow that would be the Holy Spirit’s seal upon every true believer in Yeshua.
At this point with the priestly garments made, the shifts of the priests arranged, the offerings and duties organised in minutest detail, here in the middle of the celebrations when expectations were at their highest something totally unexpected occurred. Aaron’s two eldest sons appointed to serve in the sanctuary were destroyed by the holy fire of God which consumed them.
Scripture is very explicit: “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” (Lev.10:1-2)
This tragedy should have been avoided. Sometimes bad things such as a natural disaster can happen that are out of our control known as a “force majeure”, an act of Heaven. But, this was different – a terrible yet avoidable tragedy. Nadab and Abihu “…offered unauthorised fire” [zarah – something of another kind]. There are many examples in Scripture of the holy fire of God manifested. Should a believer choose to lead a careless life filled with conscious rebellion, falsehood, deception, or selfish agendas driven by the fear of man, such a person will ultimately harvest at best that which will turn to ashes as with wood, hay and stubble.
Number 8 represents covenant and new beginnings as we see mentioned here in this Torah portion concerning the functioning of the tabernacle and sacrificial system established for the Israelites. God’s provision was perfect – it was a new beginning or season (because it came directly from Him) but the system itself was still inadequate because it only provided a temporary solution for sin. Heb.10:1-10: explains it well:
“Even with its steady stream of sacrifices offered year after year, there still was nothing that could make (the peoples) hearts perfect before God. For if animal sacrifices could once and for all eliminate sin, they would have ceased to be offered and the worshipers would have clean consciences. Instead, once was not enough so by the repetitive sacrifices year after year, the worshipers were continually reminded of their sins, with their hearts still impure. For what power does the blood of bulls and goats have to remove sin’s guilt?… And then (Yeshua) said, “God, I will be the One to go and do your will.” So by being the sacrifice that removes sin, he abolishes animal sacrifices and replaces that entire system with a newer covenant. By God’s will we have been purified and made holy once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Yeshua, the Messiah!”
This passage makes a powerful statement. God knew ahead of time the inherent sinfulness of man and in the fullness of time provided a permanent solution by sending us Yeshua as a propitiation for sin. Death could not hold Him and He rose from the dead on the 3rd day, on the 1st day of the week on the 8th day.
Let’s take a brief look at the significance of the number 8 in Scripture. There are 8 individual resurrections recorded in the Bible in addition to those specifically connected to Yeshua:
- 3 in the OT
- 3 in the Gospels
- 2 in the NT – one in Acts 9 (Tabitha in Joppa) and also Acts 20 (Eutychus)
And the 3 instances of resurrection recorded in the OT directly correspond to those 3 contained in the Gospels:
- The son of a widow (1Kings 17:17-25) and the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-18)
- The son of the woman of Shunam (2Kings 4:32-37) and the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:35)
- An adult In Elisha’s tomb (2Kings 13:20,21) and Lazarus (John 11)
It is also interesting that the miracles Elijah performed in total were 8 although the miracles of Elisha were 16 because he received a double portion of anointing from Elijah. The Greek name for Yeshua ‘Ihsous’ has a gematria of 888 and so also are many more examples.
One of the most important applications represented by the gematria 8 is that when we are born again we become new creations: old things are passed away, behold all things become new. This is more than a one-off event but rather a continuous act of consecration unto God as we are changed from glory to glory.
Strangely, part of this is to know how to fail well – to understand our own limitations and the unlimited potential we hold in Yeshua (“I can do all things through Yeshua who strengthens me…”) The genius of God is that He can use everything, including our past failures to draw us ever closer to Him! Through Him alone we become ‘more than conquerors’ in Messiah and because of this we are the world’s greatest optimists!
There is a story about a child who woke up in the morning of the first day of Hanukah and raced into the garage where all the presents were being kept. But instead of seeing a pile of presents spread out for him he saw only a heap of horse manure. This was problematic because he had learnt as a believer to be an incorrigible optimist. When a short while later, his parents came looking for him they saw that undeterred he was enthusiastically shovelling the manure saying under his breath, “Wow, with all this manure, I know I am eventually going to find a pony underneath!”
In God’s kingdom, people do not become leaders because they are great. They become great as they learn how to nurture a servant heart even as Yeshua demonstrated in John 13. This kind of leadership is sacrificial and not for the squeamish. If you accept the call to godly leadership, you must be willing to be misunderstood, criticised, opposed, accused and even rejected. Most people consider ourselves inadequate for the task as did some of the greatest leaders in the Bible. Moses did. So did Aaron. So too the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel. But the key is our willingness when faced with impossible challenges to say Hineni, “Here I am” even when we find ourselves in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The people who can sway crowds with their charisma and oratory are rarely among the greatest. They are among those who frequently end up as dictators and tyrants and use their power of speech and influence to acquire more dangerous forms of power.
God never chooses people who speak with their own voice, telling the crowds what they want to hear. He chooses those who are fully aware of their inadequacies, who stammer literally or metaphorically, as with Moses – who told people what they didn’t want to hear, but what they had to hear to save themselves from catastrophe. What Moses thought was his greatest weakness was, in fact, one of his greatest strengths. Sometimes our weaknesses are like that and what we consider to be our strength can potentially be our greatest weakness. This point was well made in the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic”
Moses and Aaron had in different ways to wrestle with themselves. Moses was not a natural leader. Aaron was not a natural priest. Moses’ most important qualification was his humility not any natural talent. Aaron had to understand that his own experience of sin and failure discovered in the incident with the golden calf, transformed him into the representative of a people conscious of their own sin and failure.
Feelings of inadequacy can be bad news or good news depending on what you do with them. They may drive us into a state of abject helplessness but our own innate sense of inadequacy can also draw us closer to God. As King David said: “My sacrifice [i.e. what I bring as an offering to You] O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (Ps. 51:19). He penned these words after he committed adultery and murder at a point when most people would have just given up. When the apostle Paul pleaded with God for Him to remove his thorn in the flesh he was told, “My grace is sufficient for you for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (1Cor.10)
But, here is the point from a Divine perspective; God had faith in Aaron even when Aaron lacked faith in himself. That is the role God Himself played more than once in Moses’ life. And so too with us when we allow God access by actively surrendering ourselves to Him. He has faith in us and that should be sufficient because He sees the finished product rather than the work in progress – silver purified in the refiner’s fire, seven times – the pearl that was formed through constant attrition – pure gold that was established in the furnace of affliction.
When I was much younger I would question why God would allow me to experience the fullness of my own inadequacy? I hated that feeling yet in the fullness of time I look back in quietness and confidence knowing that God permitted it to happen purposefully in order to protect me from myself. The Master Potter needed to rebuild that which was flawed and it was a messy business! A famous 18th century chassidic sage, Nahum of Braslav, shared the following story with his disciples.
“When I appear before the Heavenly tribunal and I am asked, ‘Why did you not lead your people like Moses?’ I shall not be afraid. When I am asked, ‘What were you not like David who worshipped me and shepherded your people?’ I will be calm. When they query, ‘Why were you not like Elijah who spoke the truth and brought forth justice? Even then I will not shake. Ah, but should they ever ask me, ‘Nahum of Braslav, why were you not Nahum?’ It is then I will tremble from head to toe!”
God doesn’t want us to be anything less than what He created us to be. Our individuality is a gift and hallmark of our uniqueness which we surrender at our peril. Yet, it only resonates with true greatness when we allow it to be crafted by God. Rom 12:2 warns us not to be conformed to the world – to mould us in its groove – but to allow Him to transform us through the renewing of our mind.
“A person was strolling in the gardens of an insane asylum when he met a young man who was reading a philosophy book. His behaviour and his evident good health made him stand out from the other inmates. He sat down beside him and asked:
‘What are you doing here?’
He looked at the person, surprised. However, since he was not one of the doctors, he replied:
‘It’s very simple. My father, a brilliant lawyer, wanted me to be like him. My uncle, who owns a large emporium, hoped I would follow his example. My mother wanted me to be the image of her beloved father. My sister always set her husband before me as an example of the successful man. My brother tried to train me up to be a fine athlete like himself. The same thing happened at school, with the piano teacher and the English teacher—they were all convinced and determined that they were the best possible example to follow. None of them looked at me as one should look at a man, but as if they were looking in a mirror. So I decided to enter this asylum. At least here I can be myself.’”
To seek to emulate any person other than Yeshua is at best precarious. Scripture reminds us that, “…no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid—which is Yeshua the Messiah. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work—what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss—he himself will be saved, but as through fire. (1Cor.3:11-15)
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb.12;1-3)
