Weekly Drash - Emor

Compliments of First Fruits of Zion
reprinted by permission of FFOZ

Parasha: Emor

Keeping the Festivals

Emor - אמר : "Say"
Torah : Leviticus 21:1-24:23
Haftarah : Ezekiel 44:15-31
Gospel : Luke 18-20

Thought for the Week:

The biblical festivals can be understood as a messianic blueprint. They lay out the pattern of redemption because they truly are God's appointed times for interacting with man. In that regard, they are the appointed times of Messiah. To study the festivals is to study the future. To study the festivals is to study Messiah.

Commentary:

It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. (Leviticus 23:21)

Imagine being one of those early believers keeping the festivals. Imagine being among the disciples when they kept the feast of Passover one year after the death and resurrection. Think of what that must have been like-to keep the Passover in remembrance of Messiah. The Master's death and resurrection imbued all the rituals that they had performed since childhood with new life and additional meaning. The death of the lamb became a solemn reminder of the death of the Savior. The matzah of the seder meal became a reminder of the Master's body. The cup of the seder became a reminder of His blood-the cup of the new covenant. The bitter herbs became a reminder of their heartbreak on that fateful day. Think of what it must have been like on the anniversary of the resurrection during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. "Remember," they would say, "at this time last year, He appeared in our midst." As they counted the days until Pentecost that year, they would have remembered the days that the risen Yeshua walked among them. Nine days before Pentecost, the disciples probably recollected, "On this day, one year ago, He ascended from the top of the Mount of Olives." Imagine regathering with the believers in the Temple on the second Pentecost after the ascension. The disciples would have said, "Last year, there was only about 120 of us gathered together. This year we are thousands and thousands, all zealous for the Torah." To those early believers, it must have been perfectly clear that the festivals are all about Messiah.

The appointed times of the Lord are like annual rehearsals for the appointed times of redemption. They are like the blueprints for the work of Messiah. The spring festivals of Passover, Unleavened Bread, the Omer, and Pentecost all received a messianic fulfillment in the Master's first advent. The fall festivals of the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day all point toward His second coming. They are a "shadow of what is to come." (Colossians 2:17) Even so, come quickly, Yeshua!

Shavuah Tov! Have a Good Week!

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