Distinguishing Between Holy and Unholy

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Well, you know, as children we all have to learn the difference between clean and unclean.

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It is drilled into us by our mothers who make sure that we take our baths and wash our hens.

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Well, the same principle spiritually, we must learn the difference between the holy and

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the unholy.

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And this is a major part of the laws and regulations found in the Torah.

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So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional.

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When I seek to share this, it's a little inspiration and bring a little peace to the

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close of your very busy week.

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This week's Torah portion is called Shemini, and it is literally the eighth day in English,

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and the verses are Leviticus 9 through chapter 11.

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So we read here about the service of the priest begins, and Aaron, the high priest, goes

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in and makes sacrifice on behalf of his sin, and then on behalf of all the people.

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He follows it exactly as he was instructed by the Lord perfectly, and then following

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his obedience is an amazing moment.

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We read about in Leviticus 9 verses 23 and 24, and Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle

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of meeting and came out and blessed the people.

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And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before

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the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar.

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When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

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This was the reward of obedience, of admiring the holy and keeping the unholy out of things.

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So this story is then followed by this story about profane fire.

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And I think of Aaron, he came out of just this high, this moment of seeing the glory

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of God fall, and the people falling on their faces, because he had been so obedient to

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do things exactly the way the Lord had prescribed.

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And he immediately sees his own sons trying to create the fire of God themselves in their

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own power, and it's something that they pay for with their lives.

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Poor Aaron, he went from an absolute high to an absolute low.

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But the meaning of this is found in verse 3 of chapter 10, right after their death.

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This is what the Lord explains, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy,

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and before all the people, I must be glorified.

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Now that may sound a little prideful or arrogant of our God, that he is so important that he

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be glorified.

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That's not at all what this means.

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It means he is holy, and he cannot have fellowship with the unholy, and therefore we as his people

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must learn to distinguish between holy, which allows us into his presence, and the unholy,

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which will keep us from his presence.

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Right after this, just in verse 10 and 11, the Lord speaks to Aaron and he says, do

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not drink wine or intoxicating drink.

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You nor the sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, that

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you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you

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may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand

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of Moses.

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So we follow this in in chapter 11 where we give the dietary laws, what are known as the

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kosher laws or kashrut.

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And I'm just going to say very quickly, there's really no reason behind some of these rules

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on what foods are clean and what foods are unclean.

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People have tried to say, well, it's a healthier way of eating because this animal is that

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or this animal is that.

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And in some cases that's true, but in some cases it has nothing to do with health.

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So there's not a really easy explanation.

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I've even heard an explanation on some of the dietary laws were to distinguish the children

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of Israel from the pagans.

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And that's true for some of them, but not all of them.

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So the real point about the kosher laws is it's just a means of obedience that will mark

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you as belonging to him, you being the children of Israel.

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And it'll make them different from the world around them.

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It will help them to distinguish between clean and unclean, which then spiritually helps

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them to distinguish between holy and unholy.

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And that is a very good thing.

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So with that, I want to wish you a Shabbat Shalom.