Welcome to Oaks Of Righteousness Ministries

Adrian’s Midrash (A-Drash)

This Week’s Torah Portion: Emor “Say”

Leviticus 21:1-24:23

Prophets:

Jeremiah Ezekiel 44:15-31

Gospel:

Luke 18-20

As I was studying this weeks portion, I was trying to contemplate whether to minister out of the Torah itself, or out of the Apostolic Writings (Luke). Hmm! What shall I do? There were a lot of passages that spoke to me, but since I have been giving you some teachings on Yeshua in the Passover, I thought it would be nice to compare the meaning of Passover and the words of Yeshua himself.

This lasting ordinance (Passover), from generation to generation, has an everlasting impression. Not only remembrance, or mighty works of which YHWH destroyed the gods of Egypt (Numbers 33:4), or the deliverance from bondage to freedom. All of these are the darts, which lead to the bull’s-eye. And that bull’s-eye is the lamb. There were specific instructions given to Moses to communicate to the people. Here is a quick list: (1) The Lamb had to be spotless. (2) It had to be male. (3) It had to be one-year-old. (4) It had to be brought into the household for four days to be inspected. (5) It could not have any broken bones. (6) On the eve of the fourteenth, the lamb was to be declared “spotless” and then it was to be roasted by fire. And, (7) It had to be eaten throughout the night, none of the meat was to remain until the next morning.

Yeshua enters Jerusalem on the 10^th of Abib (Aviv-Nisan) which is exactly when the people shouted, “Baruch haba baShem YHWH (Adonai),” which is, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh (Master/Lord)” (Luke 19:38a). At this some Pharisees argued saying, “Teacher (Rabbi), rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” (parenthesis mine, v. 39). Yeshua responds back by saying, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” I have no doubt that if not one person blessed the King (Messiah) as he entered into Jerusalem, the rocks would have indeed cried out!

For four days the Sadducees and Pharisees tested him, and scrutinized him, but could not find fault in him. The Paschal lamb would be inspected by the high priest, which was to be the final sacrifice for Passover. He then would declare the lamb spotless and say, “I find no fault in him.” And then, just after the priest put the animal to death according to Kashrut (Kosher) laws of the first-century as the final sacrifice was complete, the high priest declared for everyone to hear, “It is finished (completed)!” Yeshua, our high priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:7-10), voiced he last words, “It is finished!” (John 19:29) just before he died.

The most amazing aspect of the Passover lamb, was how the sacrifice was offered. Here is the how the Mishnah describes it:

7:1 A. How do they roast the Passover offering?

B. They bring a spit of pomegranate wood,

C. and stick it through [the carcass] from the mouth to the buttocks.

D. “And one puts its legs and entrails inside it,” the words of R. Yose the Galilean.

E. R. Aqiba says, “That would be a kind of cooking.

F. “But: one hangs them outside [the carcass].” (bold mine.)¹

Now, in order for Yeshua to fulfill even the tiniest of the messianic prophecies, the timing of his coming had to be precise. The Romans used crucifixion for a relatively short time, about four to five hundred years; yet, there were many ways a person could be punished via stoning, crucifixion, beheading, and, at times, flogging to the point of death. However, the Passover lamb had to be roasted upright. Yeshua was not stoned to death for blasphemy, nor was he beheaded, nor was flogged to the point of death (however, he was flogged to the point of no recognition), and amazingly, he did not get even one broken bone in the process.

No, Yeshua died like the Passover lamb, upright on a cross, a crown of thorns on his head with his side pierced (entrails), and when he was all done, offering up his own life so that we might receive the forgiveness of sins, he shouted, “It is finished” to complete the process. And, in so doing, he fulfilled all the prophecies of the Passover Lamb. I encourage you to put this to the test so that you may be convinced; not by my words alone, but by your own study.

Shalom!