Parasha Tazria Metzorah 5784 (2024) reading:

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 12:1-15:33
Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5
Mattityahu (Matthew) 17, Luqa (Luke) 17

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The following text is a written version and may differ slightly from the video dialogue.

Shalom and welcome to Nazarene Israel. My name is Norman Willis, and this is our midrash for Parasha Tazria Metzorah.

Word of Elohim over heresy

In general, everything is going much better in the comments section, and we appreciate the good suggestions and questions. But just to clarify, this is the channel for people who believe the written Torah, the Tanach (or the Original Covenant), and the Brit Chadasha (or the Renewed Covenant).

Our one and only Rabbi, Yeshua, was adamantly against the whole Zugot pairs tradition that later turned into the Talmud, because He saw it as a replacement of Yahweh Elohim’s words (which is exactly what it is)! So, this is the channel for people who want to focus on Elohim’s words and do the things Elohim says.

(And if you want to focus on the words of men, there is a whole big, wide YouTube out there. I am sure you can find some channel where they want to put the words of men over the words of Elohim, but that is not us here.)

And as we have mentioned many times before, Daniel 9:26 tells us that Mashiach Nagid had to come just before the second temple was destroyed.

Daniel 9:26
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

So, we also obey Mashiach Nagid’s words in the Brit Chadasha, because Mashiach Nagid came right on time, and we do not want to ignore the words of One Like Moshe!

And we are sorry, we do not want to offend anyone, but we do not see the Mishna, or the Gemara, or the Zohar, or the Cabala as belonging to the same class of literature.

If you read the Tanach or the Brit Chadasha, you can read the same Spirit all throughout the canon, even when the authors or the eras change. You have Elohim speaking to His people, either directly, or through His servants–and then you have the leaders exhorting the people to do what Elohim says to do. Perfect!

But then we read the Talmud, and you have this rabbi arguing with that rabbi! And it is like a bunch of Buddhists all trying to “one-up” everyone else! And they give conclusions that typically contradict what Elohim says in the Tanach.

We just do not see how it can possibly be the same spirit if there are contradictory instructions.

So, please do not try to argue with us from the basis of Talmud, or Zohar, or Cabala, because we do not see those as being from Elohim. We see those books as being from men. And we see those as having a different Spirit, because they command different things than Scripture commands.

And if you believe that the Talmud is a legitimate expression of the Tanach, then ask yourself why the Talmud teaches things that are the opposite of what Elohim teaches in the Tanach.

The Talmud says Joseph’s son Ephraim will not return. The Tanach says Ephraim will return. And the Sanhedrin knows who Joseph is enough to hijack my computer and arrange a meeting. But they do not want to admit that, (even though everyone saw me), because it would mess up their schtick that Yahweh Elohim gave them the authority to rewrite His marital covenant Torah!

So, they know that we are Joseph, but they do not want you to know that, unless we agree to give up the Tanach for rabbinic Talmud also. (Elohim forbid!)

You know, we do not try to make an argument that Judah should believe in Yeshua from the Brit Chadasha, because Judah does not accept the authority of the Brit Chadasha. (It would be like a Muslim trying to make a point from the Quran, when we do not believe the Quran.)

What we believe in is the written Torah of Moshe, and the Tanach (which points back to the written Torah), and the Renewed Covenant (properly interpreted from a Hebraic point of view).

And we will also listen to the serious intertestamental literature (such as Enoch 1, Jubilees, and the Dead Sea Scrolls). Only, please do not make insistent arguments from the Talmud, or Cabala, or the Zohar, or anything like that, because we do not see those as valid expressions of the Spirit of Elohim. And we do not see those as valid records of Yahweh’s voice, because their conclusions and recommendations conflict with Yahweh’s voice!

(You cannot expect Joseph to listen to books that argue that we no longer exist, even though Elohim says we do!) Do you understand what I am saying? We are just not going to listen to that. Because anything that contradicts the word of Elohim, anyway, is heresy! (By definition!)

And if you want to replace the words of Elohim with human words, something is seriously wrong.

Abraham Accords

When we get to the Abraham Accords mega series, we will talk about Elohim’s plan to bring Avraham’s three descendants (Judah, Ephraim, and Ishmael) together in the end times.

And is it not interesting that Jews, Notzrim (or Christians), and Muslims all at least hypothetically agree on the authority of the Torah of Moshe? There are some caveats, but we all at least hypothetically agree that the Torah of Moshe is reliable.

So, if you want to have a respectful discussion, great! But can we please have a respectful discussion on the basis of what books we believe in common? That way we can build on what books we believe in common, instead of someone attacking us over books that we do not believe?

We include quotations from the Brit Chadasha for our own people, but when we talk to brother Judah, we try to make our arguments from Elohim’s words in the Tanach. (The only problem is that you guys do not read the Tanach. And that makes it kind of hard!)

Anyway, please do not hassle our contact staff, or my assistant, by making arguments from other books that we do not believe here. (It just does not make sense.)

Oh, and before we get going, for the southerners (southern kingdom of Judah) among us, if you are abusive, or you curse, my instructions are just to block you (the same as we would with any Josephite).

And for the one brother who thought he had us because I said that Yeshua came to overthrow the Zugot-pair Rabbinical Order (that later became the Talmudic Order), and then I said that Yeshua is our one-and-only Rabbi, the difference is, Yeshua preaches Tanach, and the “Rabbinical Order” per se preaches Talmud. And the Talmud of men seeks to replace the Tanach of Elohim.

It is a Korach’s Rebellion that made it. That is all it is. It is Korach’s Rebellion 2.0! It is Nadav and Avihu 3.0! It is the priestly tribe of Levi deciding he is too cool to obey Yahweh’s voice, and now he wants to do things his own way.

And what Yeshua wanted in the first century was for Judah and Levi to go back to obeying Yahweh Elohim’s words in the Torah of Moshe, and in what would later become the Tanach. He utterly refuted the replacement of Yahweh’s words that would later become the Talmud!

Torah portion

Okay. Praise Yahweh you are here. Let us get started. We have lots of clean food for rumination and reflection this week, for both houses. You will be chewing the cud all week! And we are going to try and bring you some things from a direction that you may not have considered before.

If you are from the East, probably you are used to the concept the energy is matter, and matter is energy. And if you are a Westerner, probably it will sound extremely strange to you. But let us remember that the land of Israel lies in the Middle East (not in the Midwest.)

Purification after birth

For our Torah portion let us begin in Vayiqra (Leviticus) 12. And we always get a lot of questions on chapter 12.

In chapter 12, Yahweh effectively tells us that when you have a male child, the mother is in purification for 40 days, and when you have a female child, the mother is in purification for 80 days.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 12:5
5 ‘But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her customary impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purification sixty-six days.’

And I am not sure about Judah, but a lot of Ephraimites seem to have a lot of emotional issues surrounding the fact that the mother continues in purification for twice the time for a daughter, as for a son. And I think people are looking at this all the wrong way.

To me what this says is that a mother needs to spend twice as much time with a daughter because there is an important bonding that goes on from mother to daughter that is perhaps not necessary between mother and son. Because the son will pattern off the father later, but the daughter needs that strong bond with her mother right from the start.

So, the daughter gets twice as much time with mom, right from the start. (Does that break any Torah principles or precepts?)

I do not know if that helps anyone, but I do not think we necessarily need to read any gender role value judgments into Vayiqra 12. (I do not think it is called for.)

Leprosy

Now in Vayiqra 13, we get into a whole lot of laws about leprosy. Biblical leprosy is different than what we think of as leprosy today. And Strong’s does not tell us too much.

H6883 צרעת
tsâra‛ath
tsaw-rah’-ath
From H6879; leprosy: – leprosy.

H6879 צרע
tsaw-rah
A primitive root; to scourge, i.e. (intransitive and figurative) to be stricken with leprosy — leper, leprous.

[Strong’s Concordance]

As we see, biblically, to be stricken with leprosy is to be ‘scourged’. But that begs the question, “Scourged by whom?” “Who is the One doing the scourging?” And the answer in this context must be Yahweh. Because Yahweh is in control of everything. He is the script writer. And nothing happens without His say so.

But if this is helpful, leprosy is kind of like what we would call a “malignancy”. And by that we mean some kind of disease that spreads, causing infection or sickness. And you can have leprosy in a human body, or on a wall, or in a garment. But it is something spreading, and something malignant, that is making things worse.

Just as a joke, you could call ‘woke culture’ a plague, a tzaraat, or a malignancy. You could call prosperity gospel a plague, a tzaraat, or a malignancy. You could call the Lunar Sabbath a plague, a tzaraat, or a malignancy.

They are unhealthy things that just keep spreading and infecting more people. (And that is a joke, but it kind of works!)

Atonements for leprosy

We are not going to get into all the various judgments, but there are rituals to atone for each condition. And in each ritual is an atonement for the sins of the past, and a promise or a commitment to do better in the future, so that the plague will not need to return.

And it is very interesting how Yahweh’s medicine works.
In all other medical systems, you take chemicals or herbs, or you do exercises, or stretching, or what-have-you.

However, in Yahweh’s medical system, the thing is to isolate a spreading or a malignant condition, one supposes so that the afflicted person can focus on prayer, so as to get into harmony with Elohim, so we can hear His voice, and then do what He says.

Because Elohim already told us way back in Shemote (Exodus) 15:26 that if we would diligently heed the voice of Yahweh our Elohim, and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, that He would put none of the diseases on us which He brought on the Egyptians. For He is Yahweh who heals us.

Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

But notice very carefully that all of that is predicated upon us diligently heeding the voice of Yahweh our Elohim, and doing what is right in His sight, and hearing and obeying His commandments and His statutes. (Which means more than just reading them!)

Healing requires hearing and obeying His voice

We get prayer requests for health, and we will always pray for you. But it is like Ephraim cannot wait to forget the fact that Yahweh wants a two-way relationship!

He is happy to provide for us, and to heal us, if we will do our part! And we believe this was the purpose of shutting the patients up, was so that they could spend uninterrupted prayer and listening time with Yahweh. Because when we get right with Yahweh Rophe [Rapha], He wants to heal and bless us!

And this is something that is so difficult to say. I am a person with scoliosis, autism, and a head injury from a parachute drop. So, you could ask, “Who sinned, me or my parents?”

But the point is not really to fix blame, the point is to figure out how to draw closer to Yahweh Rophe [Rapha], and get right with Yahweh, so that He will heal us, and bless us.

And since I was called to repentance in 5759 (1999), I have had to repent of a lot of things. And I imagine I will have to repent of more things before I am done. I do not imagine that I am already perfected, or anything like that. But rather, the closer I come to Yahweh, the better my health gets. The more I try to serve Him, the happier and the better I feel.

So, the point is not to pull a “holier than thou” attitude on anyone, but to testify that the relationship Scripture speaks of is true. When we draw closer to Yahweh, Yahweh draws closer to us. Why would not our health get better?

Spreading plague in a garment

Vayiqra 13:47 also shows us that a garment can have some kind of a leprous or malignant plague in it, that spreads, and makes things worse.

Vayiqra (Levitcus) 13:47
47 “Also, if a garment has a leprous plague in it, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment,”

We do not know, but this can be some kind of a mold, or a mildew, or some other kind of infectious plague. And again, the solution is to isolate it, wash it, give it time, and inspect it.

It is kind of what you do with your children when they show bad behavior. You isolate the plague by sending it to its room. And if you need to you can tell the child to take a bath (and soak his head). And then you observe the child to see when everything is better, and the child has returned to his senses. (Same principles.)

Spreading plague in a house

Now, in Vayiqra 14:35, Yahweh tells us what to do when there is a plague in a house, and you have a leprous house.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 14:35
35 “and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’”

And you say, “What? A leprous house? What? Does it have white spots on the paint, or what?”

Well, remember that biblical tzaraat is not just talking about skin. Rather, it is talking about some kind of infection. Or some kind of malignancy.

And for example, if you have ever been in a house with black mold, black mold can be deadly.

One time I visited some believers, and they had a daylight basement with a concrete retaining wall, and there must have been some kind of spring behind the wall, because the concrete had black mold all over it.

So, you do not just live with it! You must do what it takes to get rid of the plague, or else your house is considered unclean, and is therefore not fit for human habitation.

(And black mold can kill you! And in the case of the retaining wall, you must dig the wall out, and find some way to put in better drainage, or else the house will continue to be unclean. And it will continue to be a hazard to human health.

But noticed that in all these remedies for leprosy, no matter whether it is for human skin, for leather or fabric, or even for a house, there is a ritual involved in cleansing.

You do not just fix the problem and then you are done. Rather, you fix the problem, and then you make the appropriate ritual to Elohim. And the ritual generally contains an apology for having done wrong in the past, and a promise to do better in the future.

Discharges

And now we come to Vayiqra 15:2, and we are told that if we have any kind of a discharge from our body, then that discharge is unclean. (And this is just a good general rule.)

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:2
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.’”

The body is a living thing, and when it gives off some kind of discharge, the idea is to get it away from you, and from other people.

And let us say a man is injured in battle (Father forbid), or he is injured on the job (Father forbid), and he has a wound filled with pus. (And maybe a scab.) Verse three tells us that no matter whether his body runs with his discharge (meaning it is oozing) or whether his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is obviously unclean.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:3
3 “And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness.”

And we can also be talking about a hospital situation here, but the idea is the same.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:4
4 “Every bed is unclean on which he who has the discharge lies, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean.”

You isolate the patient, wash him, and observe him. And in so doing, you also give him plenty of time to spend praying with Yahweh, to get the spirit right. And that is the purpose of all the cleansing rituals is to get the spirit right. It is not just that you offer some doves, or some pigeons and Yahweh likes dead animals.

If you want to know more about the spiritual significance of the offerings here, we have a study on the website, and in Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume 4, called, “Yeshua cleanses an unclean world.”

And we talk about the cleansing rituals for leprosy, and for ritual uncleanliness, and how it was Yeshua’s job to be that ritual sacrifice, for purification, and for a releasing from sin.

Spiritual beings

We want to dive a little bit deeper into this concept. And again, this might sound strange to westerners, but easterners will be familiar with the concept that we are not material beings in a material world who are having some disconnected spiritual experience.

Rather, the spiritual existence is the reality, just like the heavenly is the reality in Scripture. And then we have a manifestation of the spiritual reality here in the material world.

And that means we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And we need to bear firmly in mind at all times that Elohim is 100% in charge of everything that goes on in the material realm.

In B’reisheet 17:21, Elohim established His covenant with Yitzhak, which Sarah was to bear to Avraham as a miracle son of her old age.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 17:21
21 “But My covenant I will establish with Yitzhak, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”

And it is like Yeshua said in Mattityahu 10:29.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 10:29
29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”

Back in the first century you could buy two sparrows for a copper coin. So, sparrows are cheap. And yet, no sparrow on earth falls to the ground apart from the will of our good heavenly Father. And that means that although we do have free will, that does not change the fact that Elohim is still completely in charge of all things.

Effectively, He lets us choose what He wants us to choose. And if you have questions about that, we have a study on the website in Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume One, called “About Predestination” (or Predetermination).

It is a very humbling concept. And more humility leads to better faith.

Manifesting health

But just to dip our toes in the concept about how we are living in a spiritual world (or an energetic world), the famous Jewish scientist Albert Einstein had his famous equation, E=MC squared. Which means that the amount of energy in a given situation is equal to the amount of mass, times the percentage of the speed of light it is moving at, to the squared power.

Disregarding the speed for the moment, can we see that energy equals matter? And that matter equals energy?

Sir Isaac Newton had the idea before Einstein, that light and matter were related. And before that, Eastern medical systems like Chinese medicine had postulated that the body is essentially a moving manifestation of spiritual energy.

And that in order to heal the body, the thing you really need to realize is that the spiritual energies are “stuck” or not flowing correctly. And that if you simply relieve the obstructions in the flow of the spiritual energies, the body will start to manifest health.

And we see this kind of thing in passages such as Luqa 8:43, where the woman who had an irregular flow of blood for 12 years had spent all her livelihood on physicians, but she was not healed by any of them. So, in faith she came from behind Yeshua, and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped

Luqa (Luke) 8:43-44
43 “Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,
44 came from behind and touched the border of His [Yeshua’s] garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.”

In verse 46, Yeshua tells us that He knew someone touched Him, because He perceived power (or spiritual energy) going out from Him.

Luqa (Luke) 8:45-46
45 And Yeshua said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Kepha and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”
46 But Yeshua said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

Then the woman saw that she was not hidden, so she fell down, and she confessed why she touched Him, and how she was healed immediately when she did touch Him.

Luqa (Luke) 8:47
47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

And Yeshua said to her, “Daughter, be a good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in shalom.”

Luqa (Luke) 8:48
48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Is it fair to say that faith can straighten out our spiritual energies? Is it fair to say that faith can bring us closer to Elohim, and when we draw closer to Him spiritually, He draws closer to us, and heals us? (I know that is how it has been in my life.)

Energy is the basis of matter

Before Yahweh called me to this, I was studying natural medicine, specifically Chinese medicine. And in Chinese medicine and in Ayurvedic medicine they have known for a long time that the human body and other animals and plants have energy fields.

It is understood that energy is the basis of matter, and therefore, all living beings give off an energy field. And in modern times, western scientists have figured out how to capture these electromagnetic fields on film.

For example, on the left is what they call a Kirlian (or bioenergetic) photograph of a plant leaf. And here in the center image is another Kirlian photograph of a Dusty Miller leaf. And then, on the far right is a Kirlian photograph of a common garden Astor.

And they all have energy fields that can be detected by science, and recorded on film, etc.

And I could not find any royalty free images, but the human body (and other animals) also have these kinds of energy fields. And it is Yahweh who has given us these energies. And some cultures have studied these energies, and how to manipulate them for human health, etc., which is helpful if your energy is not right with Yahweh.

But the main point is to do like the woman with the flow of blood. Do what it takes to get your energy right with Elohim. And when your energy is right, there is no wrong energy to manifest problems or disease.

And this I believe may be the purpose of giving the leprous person (or the person with the discharge) plenty of time alone with Elohim, is so they have time to get right with Elohim through prayer. Because there is nothing more important than being right with Elohim. And if we are right with Elohim, and our energy is right, then problems will stop manifesting on their own.

The right attitude (spirit)

For another example, our spirits (or our attitudes) have a huge role to play in our immune defenses. For example, if you feel good, you are a lot less likely to catch a cold, or the flu.

In fact, I had a doctor one time tell me that, when he first started medicine, he had a family practice. And he saw all sorts of sick children all winter. And that they would just cough right in your face, and things like that. And he said he did not get sick because his immune system was super high, “Just because it needed to be”.

And that right there is an admission that our attitude has a huge impact on whether or not we get sick. Because with the right attitude, our immune defenses are up.

Anyway, we do not want to get too deep into that here. But our prayer is that everyone will take the best care that they can of their natural health, and especially their spiritual health, because of all the plagues that are coming up in the end-times.

And the main thing is what Yahweh tells us in Shemote (or Exodus) 15:26, which is that if we will listen and diligently heed the voice of Yahweh our Elohim, and do what is right in His sight, and to give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, He will put none of the diseases on us which He had brought on the Egyptians. For He is Yahweh who heals us (when we obey Him)!”

Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

But we must actually obey Him! We do not get any special credit for knowing what we are supposed to do, and then we do not do it! (Because to him who knows to do good, but does not, to him, it is sin.)

Ritual cleaning (gender-specific)

Okay, as long as we are here, we should talk about ritual cleanliness for both men and women. So, gender-specific. And PG13. But make sure that you talk with your children about these things before they hit puberty if you can.

Help your children get the correct sense of perspective on these things. Because I will guarantee you that you want your children to learn about these things from you rather than from their friends at school. Or from the popular culture. (Or who even knows what they are teaching in classrooms now!)

Male discharge and marital relations

Starting in Vayiqra 15:16, if a man has an emission of semen, (or seed), then he shall wash all his body and water, and be ritually unclean until evening. And any garment or any leather on which there is semen, it shall be washed with water, and be clean until evening.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:16-17
16 ‘If any man has an emission of semen, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening.
17 And any garment and any leather on which there is semen, it shall be washed with water, and be unclean until evening.’

Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water and be ritually unclean until the evening.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:18
18 “Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.”

One thing that means is that you do not have marital relations on the Sabbath, because a seminal emission makes you ritually unclean, and you want to be ritually clean when you come before Yahweh. (And we will see how important it is at the end of this chapter.)

Now we talk about this in Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume 1, in our study, “About Ritual Cleanness“. And there we talk about the relationship between spiritual health, physical health, and ritual cleanness.

And one thing to bear in mind is that ritual uncleanliness is not sin. It just means that for one reason or another, you are not ritually clean, and you need to perform the ritual for purification and cleansing before you can be clean again (and partake of the rituals of Yahweh).

Because as we will see, Yahweh wants us to be spiritually clean at all times, and ritually clean when we come before him. So, you do not just cohabit with your wife, and then come before Yahweh in the Temple (or Tabernacle).

You can pay marital attention to your wife on normal days, but on the Sabbath and feasts, Yahweh wants our attentions on Him. And He wants us to be ritually clean (at least on the Sabbath and high days).

What that means is that if you are going to cohabit with your wife on the Preparation Day, you need to get a shower or a bath before the Sabbath or the high day begins.

Female discharge of blood

Now, verse 19, if a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:19
19 ‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.’

Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be ritually unclean, and also everything that she sits on shall be ritually unclean. (And this is whether there is blood on it, or not.)

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:20
20 “Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean.”

Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be ritually unclean until evening, (whether he got blood on him or not).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:21
21 “Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.”

And whoever touches anything that she sat on should wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be ritually unclean until evening, (whether he got any blood on him or not).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:22
22 “And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.”

If anything is on her bed, or there is anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening, (no matter whether it had any blood on the object, or not).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:23
23 “If anything is on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening.”

Verse 24, now it starts to get interesting.

If any man lies with her at all, so that her menstrual blood impurity is on him, now he shall be unclean for seven days. And every bed on which he lies shall be unclean. So, if he gets the blood on him, now it is a seven-day contamination.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:24
24 “And if any man lies with her at all, so that her impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.”

This is why it is customary in Orthodox Judaism for the husband and wife to have separate beds. Or if you have the funding, you can have a small bed for the husband when it is her time, (or however you work that out).

But you do not want to ignore this, because while ritual impurity is just part of life, ignoring Yahweh’s rules for ritual impurity is sinful. (Because ignoring His Torah is a sin.)

Irregular flow

Now, in verse 25 we talked about the situation of the woman with the discharge of blood that we just talked about with Luqa 8.

If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if her cycle runs beyond her usual time of impurity (and there is a normal range there), all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. So that means she shall be ritually unclean.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:25
25 ‘If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean.’

Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be ritually unclean to her as with the bed of her regular monthly impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean in the same way.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:26
26 “Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity.”

Whoever touches those things shall be unclean, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:27
27 “Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.”

But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:28
28 ‘But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.’

And verse 29, let us not forget the atonement.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:29-30
29 “And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
30 Then the priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before Yahweh for the discharge of her uncleanness.”

What this says is that while there is no sin with normal menstrual impurity, there is sin if the bleeding is extended outside of its normal range.

And it always seems hard to say that, because usually you are talking to someone who is suffering a loss of blood, and maybe they have been through trauma, and it is a hard situation.

So, you do not want to accuse anyone of anything. But what this says is that there is some misalignment with Yahweh. There is something in which we are not obeying Elohim’s voice, and the record of all the things that Elohim ever said.

And I say this as someone with both birth defects, and developmental defects, and a head crash due to a bad parachute injury. I know that in some way or another, I am not walking exactly as Elohim wants me to walk. And as I learn more, and learn how to walk closer to Yahweh, my health improves.

Ritual cleanness: temple vs synagogue

But now let us come to verse 31 and we will see the ‘why’.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:31
31 “Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their [ritual] uncleanliness, less they die in their [ritual] uncleanliness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them.”

The question comes up, what about the synagogues? And this is an ancient debate as to whether to treat the synagogue like a miniature temple, or whether to treat it like the study hall that it is. And our answer to that is to treat it like the study hall that it is.

Let us say you cannot go into the temple or tabernacle because you are ritually unclean for whatever reason. You should still be able to go into the synagogue, because in the second temple era, the synagogue was not thought of like a miniature temple. The temple was the temple, and the synagogue was the study hall.

And the question always comes up, because it is a practical matter, and we all need to know what to do at a practical level. And the question is, “What do we do if we try to be ritually clean, but for whatever reason, we are not ritually clean on the Sabbath, or on the high feast days?”

And it is the subject of a lot of debate. But without unpacking too much stuff here, we would say that you should not go into the temple or tabernacle (because that would be to violate Vayiqra 15:31).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 15:31
31 “Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their [ritual] uncleanliness, less they die in their [ritual] uncleanliness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them.”

But you should or could go to the synagogue, because the synagogue is not the temple. (You do not need the sacrifice of the ashes of a red heifer before you can go into the synagogue.)

Anyway, we have a lot more information on that in our study, “About Ritual Cleanness”, which you can find in Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume 1.

Haftarah portion

For our Haftarah prophetic portion, let us come to Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:1.

Naaman humbles himself before Yahweh

We read about Naaman who was the commander of the army of the king of Syria, and that he was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him, Yahweh had given victory to Syria. And that he was also a mighty man of valor, but at the same time, he was a leper.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:1-3
1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet [Elisha] who is in Shomron [Samaria]. For he would heal him of his leprosy.”

Long story short, Naaman comes to Elisha, and then in verse 10, Elisha sends a messenger to tell Naaman to go and wash in the Yarden seven times, and his flesh would be restored to him, and he would become clean.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:10
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Yarden [the Jordan] seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”

Naaman gets furious, because he is all proud. He thought Elisha would surely come out to meet him, and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his Elohim, and wave his hand over the place of sickness, and heal the leprosy. (Meaning, it had to be presential, in-person, customer service!)

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:11
11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his Elohim, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’

If Elisha is going to do this by virtual office, how come Elisha made him come all the way there? What? Naaman could not just have bathed in the rivers of Damascus, the Abanah and the Pharpar? Why make someone important like him come all that way, when the rivers of Damascus are better than Yahweh’s river Yarden? (That Elisha has got some nerve, right?)

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:12
12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

Well, Naaman’s servants talk him into it. And in verse 14, Naaman went down and dipped seven times in the Yarden (the Jordan), according to the saying of the man of Elohim; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:14
14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Yarden [the Jordan], according to the saying of the man of Elohim; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

And who would guess that this is because Naaman humbled himself to obey Elohim’s voice! (Even though Naaman did not hear Yahweh’s voice himself, still he was still able to hear Yahweh’s words through His prophet Elisha.) So, one way or another, Naaman humbled himself to hear and obey the voice of Yahweh, and Yahweh cleansed him.

Naaman’s spirit improved, and closer to Yahweh, so there was no longer any reason for his skin to be leprous.

Obedience conquers disharmony

And I do not know how many ways we want to say it. We do not want to get all “new age”, but this is one of those areas where the new age people have also figured out the biblical truth (although they use different words).

But the simple fact is that when we honor Yahweh by obeying Yahweh, there is no disharmony with Yahweh, so there is no reason for the flesh to manifest a disharmony with Yahweh. That is why prayer and listening (or prayer and meditation, or rumination) should be our very first stop if we have medical issues.

And let us remember that Yahweh’s protocol is typically to set the afflicted person or thing apart, and then wash the afflicted person or thing, and then observe the afflicted person or thing, to see if it gets any better over time.

And prayer and listening is the key part of this regimen, because the goal is to get our spirit back in line with His Spirit. And not coincidentally, that is also the first step in Hebrew prayer.

In Esavite-Christian prayer, you just ask Yahweh for whatever you want. But in Hebrew prayer, first you pray to be conformed to His will. Then you may pray for those things that you need to fulfill His will. But the focus is not on being served. The focus is on serving Him, the way He wants to be served.

ESAVITE PRAYER
• Ask Yahweh for whatever you want.
• No conditions.
• Self-focus

HEBREW PRAYER
• Ask Yahweh to conform us to His will.
• Obedience to and desire to fulfill His will.
• The focus is on pleasing Yahweh.

Naaman converts

In verse 17, Naaman converts.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:17
17 So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other elohim, but to Yahweh.”

Then in verse 20, Elisha’s servant Gehazi decides to defile himself spiritually, and he ends up with leprosy.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:20
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of Elohim, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as Yahweh lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”

By verse 27, Gehazi I had already defiled his spirit, and now his body began manifesting the defiled fruits of a defiled spirit.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 5:27
27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.

That is how it works. The more you align yourself with Elohim, the more Elohim wants to bless you. And the more you corrupt your alignment with Elohim, typically speaking the more corrupted your health will become.

Brit Chadasha portion

And now let us come to our Renewed Covenant portion.
And there are so many passages we could talk about here. But let us go to Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:15 where a man asked Yeshua to have mercy on his son.

The NKJV reads that the son was ‘epileptic’. So, we looked that up and it is Strong’s Greek 4583.

G4583
selēniazomai; σεληνιάζομαι
Middle or passive voice from a presumed derivative of G4582; to be moon struck, that is, crazy: – be lunatic.

[Strong’s Concordance]

And then it says that the reading of ‘epileptic’ or ‘epilepsy’ is because they used to think that epilepsy might fluctuate with the moon. But nowadays they doubt that meaning, because the ancient Greeks knew nothing about epilepsy. So, if you track it back to the Greek, it reads ‘moonstruck’.

And the Sepharad manuscripts from Hebrewgospels.com also have “lunatic”. So, I do not know, maybe a Lunar Sabbath keeper? (That is a joke. Such as it is.)

But so, in verse 15 the man says, “Adon, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So, I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:15
15 “Master, have mercy on my son, for he is an lunatic, [NKJV reads ‘epileptic’] and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.”

Verses 17-20,

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:17-20
17 Then Yeshua answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”
18 And Yeshua rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then the disciples came to Yeshua privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 So Yeshua said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Faith and humility are necessary for healing

Faith is obviously the key here. But what most of us do not realize is that to increase our faith, we need to increase our humility. We need to increase not just our knowledge of His word, but our performance of His word. And we will talk about that in just a moment, but here we need to take a short side tour, because in verse 21, Yeshua tells us that this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:21
21 “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Prayer and fasting are both means of humbling ourselves. They are both means of becoming more humble. And as we are going to see in just a moment, it is humility that leads to real faith. And it is not our prayers that He answers, but our prayers of faith. So, faith is the key thing, but faith is based and grounded upon real humility.

Humble servants

Now let us hit Luqa 17, and then we will discuss them both together.

Luqa (Luke) 17:5-9
5 And the apostles said to the Master, “Increase our faith.”
6 So the Master said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7 And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep [meaning he is working for you], will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?
8 But will his master not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and then afterward, you will eat and drink’?

9 Does he [the master] thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.”

Okay, so this is just letting us know that just like His Father, Yeshua works His servants hard. So, if you are going to make the decision to be a real disciple, be prepared for a lot of real work. And be prepared for a lot of real dedication and commitment. (Because that is what it is like.)

Luqa (Luke) 17:10
10 “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done only what was our duty to do.'”

But what does that mean to us in real terms? It means that our Master is busy, busy, busy at spiritual war, and it is our job to serve Him and support Him in that.

He takes us on as a Proverbs 31 war bridal candidate, that He sprung from prison in Egypt, and now we are supposed to be grateful for the opportunity to help Him bring the rest of our fallen brothers and sisters in mankind back into submission to Him, according to the plan that He outlines in the prophecies in the Tanach.

And that is a lot of work! We can believe that building Yeshua’s kingdom is a lot of work! So, do not let it affect your faith, if it is a lot of work, to serve Him. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light in comparison to the man-made Talmud — But that does not mean it is not there!
There should not be a moment in our day when we are not actively listening for His voice and trying to obey it.

Do we think it is supposed to be easy to build a unified, global, spiritual government according to Yeshua’s instructions? Do we think it should be easy to get the rebellious house of Ephraim (and those of the southern kingdom who sojourn together with us) together as a unified body following Yeshua’s original Christian-Jewish halacha?

Do we think it is supposed to be easy to get the Saturday Night Live people and the Rebellion salesmen to give up teaching their heresies, and get them to adopt Fivefold unity on a single foundation of clean doctrine? (Have I got news for you!)

Brothers, is it humble for the house of Levi to say that they read Elohim’s words, and then do something else? Is it humble for the house of Joseph to say that they read Elohim’s words, and then convince themselves that they do not need to obey them? (That they do not need to do anything, no matter what the Renewed Covenant says?!?!)

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20 tells us how all the ministries are supposed to unify on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets (or apostles and elders), and that this is how the body is supposed to maintain its doctrinal alignment, and stay relevant, because it functionally builds Yeshua’s kingdom in His absence.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Mashiach Himself being the chief cornerstone,

Do we think that is easy? And if so, how is our faith?

Mattityahu 28:20 tells us to immerse true disciples in His name, who are eager to do all that Yeshua has commanded us, to serve as examples for the rest of the people.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 28:20
20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amein.

Do we think that is easy? And if so, how is our faith? Are we doing everything Yeshua said to do? And if not, then how is that discipleship? And how are we going to escape, if we are going to disobey the instructions of One Like Moses?

What prevents His miracles?

And before we get into our discussion, we just want to bring up quickly Mattityahu (or Matthew) 13:58, which tells us that Yeshua did not do many mighty works in His hometown of Natseret because of their unbelief.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:58
58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

So, if we do not have the kind of belief that leads to us reading Scripture carefully, and training ourselves to carefully obey what we read, then we should not expect a lot of miracles or mighty works. Because in various places, Yeshua either ‘would not’ (or some translations and some places read ‘could not’) do miracles, because we had a lack of faith.

And that is the same as with Yahweh. If we do not already have faith, and we are already not doing as much as we can, why should He do stuff for us? What? Is He in the habit of rewarding laziness? (Not the last time I checked–and His word does not change!)

When healing does not happen

So, I will try to remove the names and identifying details. But one time I was contacted by this brother to come give a teaching. And the reality is that they were setting an ambush for me, and I did not know it. (Welcome to autism.)

At the end of the ambush, where they had just totally trashed and ignored everything I said, then the man whose house it was wanted me to heal his daughter of epilepsy.

And this is one of those things as an autistic person, sometimes you do not rightly know what to do, so the only thing to do is to wait until you know what to do (but by then it is too late).

And this brother and his wife went to the far side of the room, and they were saying all kinds of negative things about their daughter. And I could see that the daughter was aware that her parents were saying basically all sorts of curses over her.

And I tried. I have had a few cases where I pray for people, and they get better. And then I have had other cases like this one where Ephraimites are rude, or they are not even trying to do what Elohim says to do, and the results are very mixed.

And I am not claiming to be anything special, but I also cannot really take responsibility when people do not want to do their parts. If Judah and Levi want to replace Elohim’s words with their own words, and still they expect Him to bless them, I cannot be held responsible for what happens.

And if Ephraim wants to read Elohim’s words, and talk all about them, and do none of them, and still they expect Elohim to bless them, and give them eternal life, I cannot be held responsible.

Deliberate disobedience while asking for healing

And for another anonymous illustration, we had another sister (just recently actually), and again I will try to leave out all the names, and the identifying details, because this is a sister we would love to have repent, and receive humility and repentance unto life. And to health.

But recently we had this one sister approach us. And like 20 years ago she was a supporter (and we will talk about the details in Parasha Beha’alotcha), but she left because she wanted my approval to keep the second Passover (which falls a month after the normal time) instead of the first Passover.

And the ruling is no. And I have no authority to depart from what is written in the text. And Yahweh clearly says in Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:2 that the children of Israel (that is us!) are supposed to keep the Pesach in its appointed time. That is the idea that we all celebrate it together as a single family nation.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:2
2 “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.”

Verse 3 tells us He wants us to celebrate it on the 14th day of the first month, at twilight, and that is the appointed time for the nation.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:3
3 “On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.”

Now the problem is that in Bemidbar chapter 9:6, it says that the second Passover is for if you are ritually unclean because someone died (which is something you have zero control over), or say you are away on a far journey (like you are a merchant trader and you are away on business, and you really do not have a choice), or maybe you are in Corinth or something, and you are unable to keep the first Passover.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:6
6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moshe and Aharon that day.

In ancient times, you might not even know exactly when the Pesach is, because they did not have electronic communications back in those times. So, the idea is very clear that you should want to keep the Pesach as a nation.

Because it is not 77 million individual stories here in Ephraim. It is the story about how Ephraim stick of Ezekiel 37:16, so that we can be joined together with our brothers and sisters in the stick of Judah.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:16
16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’”

So first, we must get it together amongst ourselves. And then we must help Judah. And then once we have got things together with Judah, then we can be used to help Cousin Ishmael.

And if we will humble ourselves, and realize that these things take work, it will show more faith, and that faith can take mountains and cast them into the sea. (And in prophecy, a mountain is symbolic of a government system. And in this case, a Mystery Babylonian Democratic government system.)

If we will work together in faith the way Mashiach Nagid says to do, His kingdom will be built, and it will cast Mystery Babylon into the sea.

And like it says in Daniel, a stone will be cut out of the mountains without hand and will strike the image on its feet of iron and clay (which is Christianity and Islam, respectively), and break them in pieces.

Daniel 2:45
45 “Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great Elohim has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

And verse 35, Then the stone that was cut out of the mountains without hands, that struck the image became a great mountain (or a great government called Yeshua’s kingdom) and it filled the whole earth.

Daniel 2:35
35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain [Yeshua’s Kingdom] and filled the whole earth.

Here is the difference. That cannot happen when you have 77 million individual Ephraimites going 77 million different individual Ephraimite ways. But Ephraim is a rebellious house, and he does not want to humble himself, to put Elohim first.

So, what does that do to our internal energies, inside? What does that do to our immune system? And if we place ourselves first, when we were created to serve Him, and He sent His Son to come buy us back, what does that do to our energies inside?

And when we do not want to submit to Elohim’s Torah, and yet we call ourselves “Torah obedient”, what kind of disruption does that cause in our relationship with Yahweh Elohim? What kind of damage does that do to our spirit (and our spiritual energies)? And since matter is energy, and energy manifests as matter, what happens to our immune system?

“Master, why could we not heal them?”

Well, I do not want to give too many details, but this sister just so happens to have a bad skin affliction. And she does not want to obey Elohim’s word.

She wants to rewrite the commandments to suit herself. And she wants leadership to rubberstamp what she wants, as if that would mean Elohim would respect it.

Well, not surprisingly, this sister wanted prayer, and we offered her prayer, and we would like to ask you all please to pray for her also. No names, please just pray for the Ephraimite sister who thinks that Yahweh should bless her and heal her even though she is saying that she is keeping all His commandments, when really, she is not.

And there is more we could say, but I do not want to give any identifying information. But I think she is indicative of the vast majority in Ephraim, who really believes that Yahweh Elohim owes them something for nothing. And that they should be able to do miracles and mighty works even though they are not willing to humble themselves to the point of helping to build a unified kingdom for our King.

Give Yahweh your all

And there is a lot more we could say, but I think everyone gets the idea.

Just remember, eventually, 10% of us are going to wake up and serve Him the way He wants to be served. And those are the people He will take great delight in. And we pray that you will be part of the 10% that He takes to Himself forever.

It is not easy. And it is not free. But is there anything more satisfying than to give our all to our Elohim, who gave His all for us?

Shabbat shalom!

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We thank Yahweh Elohim for your love for His kingdom.