Leviticus 24: This chapter pertains to seemingly miscellaneous things near the end of Leviticus. This chapter concerns oil for the lampstand and fine flour for the showbread. Elohim has specific instructions for these items and He expects them to be taken care of properly.
Elohim could have taken care of these things Himself. Why didn’t He? He wants us to participate in service to Him. How many of us want to serve Him? If we are looking for things to do to help in service to Elohim, the first thing to do is obey Torah. After that, just keep your eyes open. There’s plenty of oil for the lampstand or flour for the showbread that needs to be done.
The lampstand is a wonderful picture given to us of Messiah. It was solid gold and had seven branches on it which hold seven lamps. The lamps were there to give light and show the beauty of the lampstand.
It is the responsibility of the High Priest to keep the lampstand burning. He was to trim the wicks and keep them full of oil. If one was not giving out good light, he was to get rid of it and replace it with a good lamp.
We know that Yeshua Messiah is now our High Priest. That means He is maintaining the lampstands and making sure they are burning bright. That is the picture we have of Yeshua Messiah in the Revelation (Rev. 1:9-12). Yeshua is dressed in priestly garb and maintaining the lampstands in the heavenly tabernacle (Rev. 1:13-19). We are told that the lamps represent the assemblies of Yeshua Messiah. (Rev. 1:20). (The fact that lampstands represent assemblies give us a hint as to the identity of the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:3-4).
Messiah is maintaining His assemblies.
(Lev 24:1 NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(Lev 24:2 NASB) “Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.
Lev 24:2: The people were to furnish the oil for the lampstand. They were all to participate in service to Elohim. The oil was not to be pressed out, but beaten out. It was to be the finest grade.
(Lev 24:3 NASB) “Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
(Lev 24:4 NASB) “He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually.
Lev 24:4: Aaron was in charge of the maintenance of the lampstands (Ex. 30:7-8).
Yeshua Messiah is among the lampstands today. He is filling them with the oil of discipline and correction and judging those that merely blow smoke instead of giving light.
(Lev 24:5 NASB) “Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake.
(Lev 24:6 NASB) “And you shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.
(Lev 24:7 NASB) “And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the LORD.
Lev 24:7: The oil speaks of the reproof of the Father and the bread speaks of Yeshua.
Fine flour speaks of the perfection of Messiah. The frankincense speaks of the pleasing fragrance of His sacrifice. The bread speaks of Yeshua and the fellowship we can have with Him.
(Lev 24:8 NASB) “Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel.
(Lev 24:9 NASB) “And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the LORD’S offerings by fire, his portion forever.”
Lev 24:9: The bread would stay on the table for a week. It was changed on the Sabbath. Ahimelech gave some of this bread to David and his men when they were need of it (1 Sam 21:4-6). Yeshua reminded the Pharisees of that incident when His disciples were critisized for eating grain on the Sabbath.
The bread and the light mentioned here both speak of Messiah.
(Lev 24:10 NASB) Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp.
(Lev 24:11 NASB) And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)
(Lev 24:12 NASB) And they put him in custody so that the command of the LORD might be made clear to them.
Lev 24:12: The one who did the blaspheming is a young man or boy of mixed nationality whose mother was an Israelite from the tribe of Dan and whose father was an Egyptian. There was a mixed multitude that left in the exodus from Egypt (Ex. 12:37-38).
This is one of the main reasons it is wrong to marry an unbeliever. One problem is with the offspring of the marriage. They don’t know if they should follow the father or the mother. Even if they make the right decision, they will always look back and wonder if they made the right decision.
This boy got into a fight. That is easy to envision because he is not really a member of either camp. During the fight, he blasphemed Elohim. Israel considered Elohim’s name extremely sacred. Jews take this so seriously that they have not pronounced His name for centuries. Because of this, all we know is that the name consisted of the consonants YHWH. To this day, we don’t know for certain if we are to pronounce it “Yahweh” or some variation thereof But this boy apparently knew how to pronounce it.
(Lev 24:13 NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(Lev 24:14 NASB) “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him.
(Lev 24:15 NASB) “And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he shall bear his sin.
(Lev 24:16 NASB) ‘Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
Lev 24:16: Elohim handed down the verdict of guilty. The penalty is death by stoning. All those who heard the blasphemy must place their hands on the head of this boy. This places the crime on his head by the witnesses of it. The death penalty for blasphemers was established for both Israelites and strangers.
(Lev 24:17 NASB) ‘And if a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death.
(Lev 24:18 NASB) ‘And the one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life.
Lev 24:18: Life is precious in the eyes of Yahweh. The death penalty protects the lives of the people.
If an animal is killed, that animal is to be replaced.
(Lev 24:19 NASB) ‘And if a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him:
(Lev 24:20 NASB) fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.
(Lev 24:21 NASB) ‘Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death.
(Lev 24:22 NASB) ‘There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God.'”
Lev 24:22: This law is known as lex talionis. It means an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. One law applied for both Israelite and stranger.
We have grown very soft over the years on this. For once, I would like to see a protestor instead of carrying a sign which says “Thou shalt not kill” carry a sign which says “He that kills any man shall surely be put to death.”
(Lev 24:23 NASB) Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. Thus the sons of Israel did, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Lev 24:23: The name of Elohim is sacred and must be protected.
This entire chapter of strangely organized orders, speaks of Messiah in a very direct way.
Patrick McGuire