Urim and Thummim

Leviticus 6:8-8:36 ...."Command!" is what the LORD told Moses.

Chapter 6 is more detail about the sacrifices we read in Chapters 1 - 5.
Chapter 6 is where we read about Urim and Thummim...something I have been wondering about for a long time. What are they? I read that they meant 'light and perfections'.
Some commentaries I read don't mention Urim and Thummim so much. Mysterious...

The sacrifices that pleases God

Leviticus
Chapter 1 Burnt offering
Chapter 2 Grain offering
Chapter 3 Peace offering
Chapter 4 Sin offering
Chapter 5 Guilt offering

Studying the Old Testament is very fascinating, but sometimes I dwell in it too much. The Messianic reading schedule has the New Testament portion to go with the books of Moses and I am glad!!

Hebrew 13:16 (New Living Translation)

¹⁶ And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Moses led the chosen people out of Egypt. It is celebrated as the Passover. The Jews count the days after that for 49 days. Then they celebrate Shovuot = "weeks" = Pentecost. They celebrate the receiving of the ten commandments. The law was given to the people through Moses. In Acts, we read that the Jews were gathering on that day. They were celebrating Shovuot. We call it the Day of Pentecost.

Jesus was crucified during the week of the Passover. After he was resurrected, he spent time with the disciples and others for 40 days before he ascended. Then the Day of Pentecost = Shovuot came, and they received the Holy Spirit! The day of Pentecost was 49 days after Passover. The Day of Pentecost came right after Jesus ascended.

Just like God's presence never left the Jewish people in the desert (by the pillar of fire and the cloud in Exodus, and by the fire and the smoke in Leviticus), Jesus never left the disciples! Even after the resurrection Jesus was with his people, and right after he ascended, the Holy Spirit was sent down, and he has been within us since then.

I had never thought of the time frame until today. It is awesome.

The Day of Pentecost

As I was looking at different websites, I learned that there was no special portion of the Scriptures that the Jewish people read on the day of Shovuot. They usually have special scriptures for certain festivals for all other festivals and they skip the regular reading, but none for this day! When I read that, it made me love the day of Pentecost even more. The Lord chose to send the Holy Spirit upon the people on the celebration day that is not as significant ( in people's eyes) as other festivals! Just as Jesus was born in an insignificant place quietly, He sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Shovuot. It is so God. The Lord certainly loves us all but I am grateful that He loves insignificant people (like me!).

Gift from God on a Saturday morning

After my graduation from a business college in January I tried very hard to find a job. There was one hospital I wanted to be a part of because their motto was based on the gospel of Jesus. But the door stood there as a giant wall and did not move. Then another hospital invited me in after the second interview. This is really my first professional full-time job because up to this point I have always worked for either my family or someone I knew. Naturally I was anxious. Then suddenly a lot of things happened in my life and my family's life. Why now? But it was now. My husband had one of the hardest week in his life during this time. I was stressed and could not function well for a little while...I was overwhelmed and my body simply refused to do all those things. I tried to do them but it was difficult.

After one event was over, I went to the woman's Bible study. The scripture we read was from the book of Job. Someone asked me if I felt like Job. I had no doubt the answer was "No," because even though it was a difficult time, it was not at all like Job, but our Father reminded me of what happens when we go through a tough time. It was revealed to me right when we were reading Job 42 in the Bible study!

⁵ I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes. (Job 42:5 NLT)

Because of this verse, I remembered that we choose to walk closely to God more when we go through hard times. Because we walk close to God, we experience God. I believe Jacob experienced the similar situation. God used to be his grandfather's and his father's God. But after his hardships, God became his God.

Leviticus 1 and 2

The significance of Leviticus chapters one and two:

• small alef ... God called Moses in the small voice.
• an offering for the burnt offering was to be brought by one's voluntary will.
• the smoke was 'sweet savor' or 'soothing aroma' for the LORD.
• it was an atonement...
• People brought an offering according to what they could bring.

The Hebrew word for for 'burnt offering' is olah. "Olah" also means "ascends".

These things above give me the image of our Father who is love.

• Jesus went to the cross, not by force, but by his voluntary will.
• His sacrifice was pleasing to God, a sweet savor for the LORD.
• His sacrifice was for us.
• Jesus ascended.

Leviticus!

ויקרא

This is the title of the first part of Leviticus. It says "and He called." It is read "Vayikra."

The whole book of what we call "Leviticus" is titled "And He Called" in Hebrew.

Leviticus 1:3 is interesting.
I found an interesting website. When we compare different translations in one page like this we notice that the Hebrew word that means "of his own voluntary will" is not translated. I think this word's presence makes a big difference in understanding who God is. Immediately I thought of a verse from the Bible: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Book of Hebrews). We call our God and Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever but we think God in the OT is not a loving God. He has always been a loving Father! My desire is to know my Father and Jesus who was sent by our Father more from the entire Bible.

I learned that it is well known that the letter Alef (the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet), the one on the far left above, is written in a smaller size than the rest of the letters in the Torah.

Let's look. This website shows the English text on the right and the Hebrew text on the left. In the first verse, you can see in this one that the letter alef is written in a smaller size. (Hebrew is read from right to left.) Our Jesus is humble...

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0301.htm

I hope that whoever comes to this blog can see it. It is totally God.

I learned that there are special-trained scribes who copies every little thing in the Torah. If the reader find an error, then the scroll would be given to the special place and the scribes would correct it. So every little thing counts. It is not an error that this letter is written smaller than other ones. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (KJV)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. " (NLT)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."(NIV)

I learned that this small alef represents the LORD's small voice calling Moses from behind the tabernacle. The LORD is in many little things, not just in the big thunders and lightnings.

This is one of the unimaginable joy that God must have hidden in the original language. If our Father gives us the ability to read the original language and the help of the Holy Spirit, I can not imagine what kind of joy is available to us! We will fall out of our chair!!

Matthew 13:52 explains perfectly what those people are like. Those people can experience the unimaginable joy from both the OT and the NT.

Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (KJV)

Road to Emmaus

One of my favorite images from the Bible passages is the "Road to Emmaus".
After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, two disciples were on the way to Emmaus (= bath water). Then Jesus appeared and joined them in their conversation.

Luke 24 (KJV) "And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? "

The two disciples' hearts burned within them as they were shown the secrets of the Bible from Jesus!

After Jesus ascended, he sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us. Then, it makes sense to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us when we read the Bible. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, we see Jesus. When we read the Bible just as a regular book, nothing burns inside us because we don't really get to know Him. But when the Holy Spirit shows us something in the Bible personally, then something inside burns. This is available to all of us who want to have it.


The passage says

"...while he opened to us the scriptures?"

Which scriptures?

Luke 24:27 "... beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

No one has ever said to me clearly, but I always believed that when the authors of the NT encourage us to read the scriptures, they must have meant the Old Testament because they were the beginning of the New Testament, and the NT part of the Bible was not available.

The New Testament portion of the Bible is not contained in the book-form. The ending of the book of Acts still continues...still now. F.B. Meyer said something very interesting!

The division of the narrative is indicated in the enumeration of the widening concentric circles of v.8: Jerusalem, chapters 1-7; Judea and Samaria, 8:1-12; the uttermost parts of the earth, v.13 and onward to the end of the book, which has no formal termination, because the Acts of the Holy Spirit by the Church have continued throughout the Christian centuries and are not yet finished. There are some illustrious chapters still to be added by the pen of the angel scribes before the divine program is finished.

- quoted from F.B. Meyer Bible Commentary by Tyndale

May our hearts burn within us! Dear Holy Spirit, please teach us more!

Happy Easter!