Parashah Kedoshim - Holy People

This past weeks parashah is on being holy. Now I know you all read it like you were supposed to , right? I hope so because we won't have too much time to cover it this coming week because we will be having in the upcoming parasha four chapters instead of two in Kedoshim and they are important chapters so I want to take some time with them. Also we will be having a video on some pretty interesting news regarding soon future events!

So for this parasha, I would just like to give you some questions and thoughts to ponder.
This reading is from Leviticus 19:1 thru 20:17, both chapters in full.

It starts out like this:

1 ADONAI said to Moshe, 2 "Speak to the entire community of Isra'el; tell them, 'You people are to be holy because #1. I, ADONAI your God, am holy. 3 "'Every one of you is to #5. revere his father and mother, and you are to #4 keep my Shabbats; I am ADONAI your God. 4 #2. "'Do not turn to idols, and do not cast metal gods for yourselves; I am ADONAI your God.

In this introduction we see that HaShem is reviewing once again some of the commandments written in stone. But they aren't in order. I will put the coresponding number to the commandment by the review above so you can see.

Something to ponder: why did he mix up the order from #1 to #5 to #4 then to #2? This is directly after telling them that they should be holy. Do you think that as regarding Holiness, these things are uppermost to HaShem?

Verse 5 harkens back to the unacceptable offering that Cain made. HaShem is sure to make us understand to make it so it will be acceptable. then he goes on to speak of the eating of a sacrifice and how it isn't to be kept longer than two days, because then it becomes detestable and the person eating it profanes that which is holy.

Something to ponder: Do you think this has more to do with the surrounding nations practices? or something to do with death? As in three days in the grave?

More follows on what to do to be holy:

Leave food for the hungry, the stranger, the poor, the widows when you bring in your harvest of field or orchard as this is G-d provision for them. ( the V'ahavtah comes to mind)
Do not steal (# Lie ( #9) or defraud each other
Do not swear by my name falsely ( #3)
Do not oppress or rob your neighbor by keeping back wages until morning (#
Do not speak a curse to a deaf person or place a stumbling block in front of the blind
FEAR G-D~!
Judge fairly, not showing partiality, but with justice, judge your neighbor
Do not slander, spread gossip about your neighbor
do not stand by and not defend your neighbor when their life is at stake.
do not hate your neighbor/brother in your heart, tell him your rebuke with truth so you aren't sinning because of him

Something to Ponder: Yeshua spoke of many of these things, how many verse in the gospels can you find where he is speaking of these things? I will help you get started by this one.

From Matthew 5

Quote :

21 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Do not murder,'l and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, `You good-for-nothing!' will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, `Fool!' incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom! 23 So if you are offering your gift at the Temple altar and you remember there that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift where it is by the altar, and go, make peace with your brother. Then come back and offer your gift.

The next few verses contain agricultural, husbandry and weavers instructions which all have to do with Holiness.

Quote :

19 "'Observe my regulations. "'Don't let your livestock mate with those of another kind, don't sow your field with two different kinds of grain, and don't wear a garment of cloth made with two different kinds of thread.

Three things are mentioned here

1. Livestock mating with other than it's own kind
2.Sowing a field with two different kinds of grain
3.Wearing a garment made with two different kinds of thread.


Let's go over these one by one, as I think a very important lesson is being taught here.

1. Livestock, now I used the sterns translation above but other translations better explain that this means to not cross breed. Above it says to not let them, but the wording actually means you are not to cross breed them. I think most animals know of their own kind and probably would not do this, left alone, so the word means to not cause to lay down or lay down with. To cause, meaning to cause them to do what is not natural, which HaShem had not programmed into them. This as well as the others hearken back to the creations when He put within each creation a seed so it could reproduce itself 'After it's own kind'. We must too remember that to do this, to cross bred isn't just against his commandment and his creation but it also makes one unholy.

Even in animals that may appear similar to our eyes, HaShem has made very great difference. For a most well known ancient cross bred or mixed kind, let's look at the Mule. It is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. If the opposite is done the result is called a hinney.

The result is a animal that is large and used for labor, but it's character is changed. I am sure you have heard the cliche` as stuborn as a Mule? something else that is different on the microscopic level. donkeys have 62 chromosomes, whereas horses have 64.

Besides all this the fact remains that when G-d made the animals he declaired them good, so there was nothing to improve on, and it is his creation, we honor that by leaving it alone.

2. Sowing a field with two kinds of grain

This too can be seen as a mixing or cross-breeding , in the plant world it is usually referred to as hybridization. Man has done this for ages and continues to do so , always thinking he can improve on G-ds creation, yet we see time and time again that it isn't true and not only that but it can be detrimental if not downright dangerous. If you don't believe that take a look up on google on Montsanto and GMO's and you will get an eye opener.

We see Yeshua speak about the one who sow two different kinds in the field in his parable of the tares and wheat. I heard a teaching on this recently in relation to men, how they can be of mixed seed which can be physical and/or spiritual. G-d has made things perfect , anything less and it isn't his creation, this is why there are so many commands regarding separation. From the Holy and profane.

3.Wearing a garment made with two different kinds of thread.

Actually this is a very poor translation, it should read ( from the Masoretic text JPS)

Quote :

neither shall there come upon thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together.

'Mingled' is a key word here,

Here's the KJV

Quote :

neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

This is a more accurate translation as it shows the English for the Hebrew word Sha`atnez. Many who read it in different bibles are confused to thinking it means any combination of fibers, but it is a specific mixture the L-RD is telling us not to use.

Many have commented on this and my understanding is as such, the one, linen comes from a plant, called flax. And the other is wool, which is a fiber but comes from a sheep. So as you can see they are two different creations, and on different days even ( flax day 3 and wool, day 6). He separated them at the creation, and there is a lesson there to not wear them. But also we see the priests did have garments made of this mixture which can be another reason, to not let the common man wear that which belongs to the priest.


Flax is beaten to make it soft and