Dr Hollisa Alewine – TZAV (A Hard Saying)

Yeshua is that living Word, and he is what gives life to the world. He came into the world in flesh so we could see that work and what it means to submit the mouth, the altar, the threshold of the mouth, to the work of the Holy Spirit, transforming the world. The altar is also known as the shulchan Adonai, or the table of Adonai. Adonai calls the sacrifices, "My sacrifices, My bread," or the korbani lachmi. Yeshua identifies himself as that bread of life. Adonai doesn’t literally eat the sacrifices, but His supernatural fire consumes them, and He “eats” the intention of the heart. That is what “feeds” Him, our devotion and desire to return to Him. In Jewish literature, there is a reference to the fire of the altar appearing in the shape of a lion when it consumed the sacrifices. This altar fire was initially lit supernaturally; it was the Levites’ and priests' job to make sure it never went out. Humans do not create the fire, but they tend it and guard it. This memory of the fire taking the shape of a lion reminded me of a commentary about Samson’s Riddle and the sacrifice offered by the priests: ‘this is the sacrifice of Aaron’ (Lev 16:3). “Usually, the people supply sacrifices, while the priests perform the rite. The priests are later allowed to eat part of the sacrificial meat. The priest may thus be described as ‘eating’ [the food supplied by] other people. In the case of the sacrifice in question, the priests offer a sacrifice of their own, therefore being themselves eaten [by God]…LevR connects this verse with Samson’s riddle ‘from the eater comes out food’ (Judg 14:14). The one who eats others, namely the lion, is now being eaten, namely, containing honey. The lion becomes a metaphor for the priests, who usually ‘eat’ others, but in the case of this sacrifice, they are the source of food for others.” An offering of a living creature shows a strong resemblance to the human being. The beasts and human being were created on the Sixth Day, but the human spirit was to rule over the animal soul. Beasts were to reproduce after THEIR kind. Human beings were to conform to the image of Elohim and reproduce after HIS kind. The point is to subdue, discipline, and humble the craving and sinning soul...for sin derives from nothing but a beastly, animal root. (Sefer HaChinnuch §116) The sacrifice of an offering repairs the human heart and “the defect of the erring animalistic spirit and the eminence of the intelligent spirit, now rectified and clear.” (ibid §120)