We are leaving the subject of Tabernacle / Temple regulations. This is the first chapter of Torah that deals with forbidden sexual relationships.

The beginning of this chapter is similar to the giving of the Ten Commandments. Moses, emanating the glow from being with God, speaks in the Name of God, saying, “I am Yahweh your God. . . You are to perform My (mishpatim) judgments and keep My (huqqot) statutes, to live in accord with them”.

This is a prophetic picture of the manner of “that prophet” to follow who must be heard – Yeshua, who came in the Name of Yahweh.

“¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.” – Deuteronomy 18:18-19.

Egypt, from where Israel was leaving, and Cannan, where they were going, were among the most decadent places in the world. God promised the land of Canaan to Israel, and would destroy the current inhabitants because of their sin. Israel was forbidden to follow either the practices of the Egyptians or the current Canaanites. God was commanding the establishment of a Holy People in a Holy Land. It was even forbidden (v.3) to make oneself look like the other people or follow their promiscuous practices. This includes that we are not to adopt any practices that are based upon other religions. (Other religions have many practices that are copies or corruptions of God’s regulations, so we must be careful not to think all similarities are based upon these other religions.)

V.4 “Keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am Yahweh your God”. Statutes are the commandments of which the reasons are beyond our understanding. They include kashrut (food laws) and ritual defilement. We are taught here that it is not for us to make personal decisions on such matters – which would make us our own gods. The Hebrew word huqqot (statutes) comes from the root huq, to engrave: many commentators have noted that this means God’s statutes are permanently engraved, as in stone.

God will ultimately establish a Holy People in a Holy Land. It will be through Yeshua. It will be by writing His law on their hearts, to be kept perfectly and whole heartedly. All sinners will be destroyed.

In the world today, evolution is the favorite replacement for God. If we just evolved, then let us eat, drink, and be merry. Let us seek all the pleasure we can find, for that is all there is to life, and then we die. We go back to the primordial soup, and perhaps in a few billion years we will evolve into something greater.

Unplanned children that complicate our pleasure, and the handicapped, and the elderly, can be disposed of, because there is no quality of life for them, and that is all that matters. (That is really an excuse, because most of them would like to live: but to hedonists, they are a bother.)

Long ago, God said (in effect) to a world of such people, “OK, you like primordial soup, I’ll give you soup,” and he opened up the hot-springs of the earth, along with the clouds above, and made them soup. Now, for those who will not learn from their lesson, there awaits a roasting in fire.

A much-talked-about subject today is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” What good people? There has only been one good person to whom bad things happened, and we all know why. Our normal life span has been changed from eternal, to a thousand years, to seventy years – not because we are good people. Now, aren’t you joyful that you came out to hear how bad you are?

So, what is the point? Paul makes the point: God has included all as disobedient, that He might show His mercy (Romans 11:32); “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” – Titus 3:5.

(Jeremiah 10:2-3) “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; for the customs of the peoples are delusion.’ ”

(V.21) “The shepherds have become stupid and have not sought Yahweh; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.”

(Psalm 83:1) “O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. 2 For, behold, Thine enemies make an uproar; and those who hate Thee have exalted themselves.”

These are the forbidden relationships enumerated in today’s Torah portion: (Verse 6 indicates (by the plural) that it applies to both men and women.)

mother or step-mother (even after death of father),

sister or half-sister,

aunt (even if half-sister of father, or uncle’s wife, even after death of uncle),

daughter-in-law,

sister-in-law,

wife’s sister – while your wife is alive (even if divorced from her),

and a neighbor’s wife.

Also forbidden are homosexuality and bestiality, and offering one’s children to false gods.

(1 Corinthians 5:1-2) “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles . . . . And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst.”

(V.9-11) “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and in the Spirit of our God.”

Today it is popular to accept all religions as equal – all are falsely said to worship the same god. Laws and customs are being changed to accept fornication and homosexuality – we exalt open practitioners to highest offices. Dishonesty is largely accepted and even expected – the love of power and money rules.

But, if we are washed and made holy instruments for God, led of His Spirit, then we walk a different path, growing in understanding of Gods instruction. In times past we were Gentiles who walked according to the desires of the flesh; now we walk in the light, if so be that we are redeemed.

(1 John 2:4-6) “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.’ ”

The member of the congregation who is blatantly defying God’s instruction is to be excommunicated. The purposes are to bring repentance, and to show others the seriousness of such actions. This action is not to be taken by the authority of an individual who carries some title, but by a duly chosen bench of judges, after entertaining proper witness.

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Leviticus 18:7 states that the nakedness of one’s father refers to one’s mother.

“You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.”

This is taken to explain Genesis 9:22.

Ham came out of a society so corrupt that God destroyed the earth with a flood. Afterwards, he occasioned upon his father and mother, in their tent, in a drunken, unclothed state. He took advantage of the situation to commit incest with his mother. For this he and his descendants were condemned to servitude.

Like calling all religions equal, we try to call other groupings equal, such as racial and gender groups. Various groups do not commit crimes in the same percentages, nor do they major in the same types of offenses. Inequality should not be equated with superiority / inferiority, and just treatment does not always mean equal treatment.

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We are to learn just judgment. We are to learn to love our neighbor, who is created in the image of God. We are to seek the welfare and prosperity of others, not our prosperity at their expense.

And, we are to be holy, as God is holy: we are to be set apart for His service, to be a light to the world. We are to seek to bring others up to God’s standard of holiness. We are not to accept the world’s standards. Our young people do not need to dress like the world, as advertisements for sex. Money should not be our major goal in life, as it is for much of our world. We have good reason to be ‘different’.

Yeshua came to be our Priest, making atonements for our sins. He came to be our Prophet, the light of the world, to teach us Torah ways. He is coming to be our King, if we have accepted His rule in our lives.

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