This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when He commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Leviticus 7:37-38, NKJV
We started this current series with a quote, by Jesus Himself, regarding His mission – to fulfill the Law and the Prophets:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matthew 5:17-18, NKJV
We have explored, in depth, the meaning of His statement as it relates to the 10 Commandments. Now we turn our attention to another aspect of the Torah, the Levitical Law. This aspect of the Law is very challenging for many to understand, or even to relate to, due to the progression of most of the world away from the concept of the sacrifice, a concept that pervades the Levitical Law. Today, many of the people groups of the world see the concept of animal sacrifice as, at best, strange, and to a large degree, as cruel and abhorrent. For this reason, the Law that we are about to explore will be a challenging one for many to study. I urge each of my readers to continually consider the source of Scripture and to keep in mind His complete and total love for His creation, including His plan to redeem mankind for Himself. Let this sustain you throughout the next phase of our study.
God is the Creator. He is the Potter, and all of the matter of the universe is His clay. All of creation was made by Him, for His glory. As such, it is only right for us, His creation, to worship and glorify Him. This is the surface reason for the Levitical Law. I use the word “surface” because as we have in the past, we will find that there is a much deeper meaning behind these passages.
We will start in the 7th chapter of Leviticus to introduce the concept of the Levitical Law, and then move back to the first chapter to get into the details. In Leviticus 7, God wraps a bow around the preceding chapters by telling us what we have just read:
This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when He commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Leviticus 7:37-38, NKJV
Here we see the different aspects of sacrificial law:
- Burnt offering,
- Grain offering,
- Sin offering,
- Trespass offering,
- Consecrations, and
- The Sacrifice of the Peace offering.
We will examine each of these aspects of the Levitical law in the order mentioned. However, it makes sense to quickly examine how God introduces this list to us:
“This is the law…”
In Hebrew, this is written: hr`oTh^ taz
The verse begins simply enough: “This”. Such a simple word. Why would we bother to even explore it? This is not the type of word that we have studied before. It does not seem to be difficult or complex. Yet, this is just the type of place that our awesome God takes joy in hiding beautiful truths! I lived in the desert for much of my life. During this time, my greatest desire was to move away from this environment. It was simply too arid and dry for my family and me. One day, as I was looking out the window of my place of business, I noticed that the cactus outside was blooming. And I seemed to feel the Lord saying to me, “Take a look”. As I did so, the pure beauty of that one bloom truly captured me in a way that I cannot even describe. And it was in that moment that God helped me to realize the pure beauty that only He can hide in the simplest of things. So let’s take closer look at this seemingly simple word!
“This”, in Hebrew, is taz (zoth). Interestingly, taz is the feminine version of another Hebrew word, hz#, which is a permutation of the word “sheep”, or any member of a flock. But we’ll set this aside for now (maybe you will want to think about this on your own!), and look solely at the word at hand, taz.
Let’s begin by looking at the letters themselves. (Note: my thanks to Rabbi Chaim Bentorah, author of Hebrew Word Study; Beyond the Lexicon for providing many of the following insights into the Hebrew letters!)
z (Zayin) Zayin means “arms” or “weapons”. You can see its meaning in the shape of the letter. It is a sword, with the handle or hilt at the top, and the blade pointing down. A sword can bring warfare, or bring peace out of warfare. Weapons are used to settle disputes, and when handled rightly by those in authority, they symbolize justice and protection. In the book of Ephesians, we see that the sword represents the Holy Spirit, and in Hebrews 4, it is compared to the Word of God, a two-edged sword that cuts between soul and spirit:
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12-13
As the seventh letter of the aleph-beth, and the letter that takes on the number 7, we can see rest (the Sabbath), perfection and completion in the zayin. Notice, again, the shape of the letter zayin, z. There is a vertical line, depicting the blade, and a horizontal line depicting the hilt. But can you also see the vertical and horizontal members of the cross where our Savior died? In the cross of Christ, we see the ultimate zayin: the Father giving us protection and rest through the ultimate weapon that puts an end to sin and death, bringing all things to completion and peace to those under His protection.
a (Aleph) We have studied aleph before. It means strength, power and authority. As the first letter in the aleph-beth, the aleph is representative of God Himself, and of the relationship between Heaven and creation. It also represents unity, including the unity of God with His people (and, indeed, all creation) through Christ as the ultimate provider of unity. The aleph is considered the leader of all the Hebrew letters.
t (Taw, or tav) Taw is the twenty-second and last letter of the aleph-beth. It has the value of 400, and means a “mark” or “sign”. It can also signify a musical note. As a sign, or musical note, it’s role is to communicate. The taw makes things known. As a sign is often seen externally but denotes information relating to something internal, the taw can be seen as an external covering that is recognized as representative of internal significance. As such, the taw represents truth – as both warning and directional in nature.
One fascinating passage that relates to the taw as a mark (using its spelled name: wT) describes the mark placed on the foreheads of those that are passionate about God’s holiness and the holiness of His dwelling place, and that mark’s role in the lives of these special people:
Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark (wT*) on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
Ezekiel 9:3-6
Do you see protective nature of the t? It protects God’s people even (and especially) from the wrath of the Living God.
Let us now take an interconnected view of the word we are exploring, taz). We have the zayin, which represents the sword of the Spirit; the weapon that brings peace and rest. Next, we have the strength and power of God Himself, the leader of all creation. And finally, we have the signpost, or mark that communicates truth. In essence, the word taz) (zoth) represents the weapon that God wields that communicates the truth of His holiness and authority. And what is that weapon? For that, we have to look at the word that follows taz) in our passage:
hr`oTh taz
The word following taz is hr`oTh (ha Torah, or “the Law”). So what is the weapon that God uses to communicate His truth and holiness? The weapon that brings peace to creation, but only through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus on the cross? The Torah.
Did you notice any other interesting details regarding our word “this”? The first letter, z symbolizes a weapon bringing peace. But where and when does it bring peace? From the a to the t, the first to the last, the beginning to the end. And do you remember what Jesus said? “I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.” Every jot and tittle. From the beginning to the end. Praise His HOLY name!
As a small side note, it is very interesting to explore the first mention of the word taz). Let’s take a look:
And Adam said: “This (taz) is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
Genesis 2:23
Could there be any more wonderful use of the word “This”? “This” is the most beautiful creation that God could have possibly made in the eyes of man. “This” was the help-meet – the life partner of man. And she came out of man – as part of him.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24
Just as the woman came out of the man, and made him complete, the Torah came out of the living God, and shows His perfection and His holiness. And as such, it points to our own imperfections and shows our need of salvation – a salvation that can only come through the Son and Savior Jesus Christ, the one that perfectly followed the Torah and gave Himself as the righteous and holy sacrifice, becoming sin for us that we should become the righteousness of God. Selah.
In the next several sessions, we will explore the nature of this Law (hr`oTh taz) to understand what Jesus fulfilled in His role as our Lord and Savior.
Until then, may God richly bless your study of His holy Word!
YouJi