From Par’sha Kedoshim
Leviticus 19.1-20.27
This is Yosef Boleware and I’d like to welcome you to another podcast of HaTikvah Ha Mashiach Ministries. This podcast focuses on answering the question, “What does it mean to be holy.”
In Genesis 17.1 YH’VH appeared to Avram (Avraham) when he was ninety-nine years old and told him, “I am El Shaddai - walk before Me and be perfect”. Many years later His Son, Messiah Y’shua, instructed His followers, “Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in the Heavens (Shamayim) is perfect.” Mattityahu 5.48 Growing up in a world where it was commonly taught that believers were simply sinners saved by grace and that no one could ever master the sin that so easily entanglesHebrews 12.1 us, these commandments sounded almost impossible - at least until we learned the meaning of the Hebrew word for perfect.
In the Tanakh, perfect is translated from the Hebrew word tamim - תָמִֽים - which means to be blameless - your sins have been forgiven. It is from a root word (תמם) that means to cease; require nothing more. So what we understand from the Hebrew text is that YH’VH, as El Shaddai, the “All-sufficient One”, called upon Avraham to repent of his sins and to walk blamelessly before Him by guarding and doing His commandments and trusting in Him for the faith and strength to do so. 
This is a bit of a conundrum for many who argue, “but the Torah wasn’t given until Mount Sinai”, so how could Avraham keep His commandments? The simple answer is that YH’VH told him to keep His commandments so He evidently had taught them to our Patriarch. In Genesis 18.19, YH’VH told the two messengers who had accompanied Him when He came to address the sins of Sedom, Amorah, Admah and Zeboiim, that He had known Avrahm and that “he commands his children and his household after him, to guard the Way of YH’VH, to do righteousness and Right-Ruling…”   
Later, when YH’VH appeared to Yits’chaq (Isaac), He promised Yits’chaq that He would increase his seed like the stars of the heavens and give all the lands (of Yisra’el) to his seed because “Avraham obeyed His Voice and guarded His Charge: His commands, His Laws and His Statutes.”Genesis 26.4-5 The “Way of YH’VH” had been revealed to men years before it became necessary to record them in stone on Mount Sinai and have Mosheh write the “Book of the Covenant” in Exodus chapter twenty-four.
Messiah Y’shua made it clear that learning to be perfect, blameless, as our Father is blameless, is not an option for those who graft into the “seed of Avraham”. Just be clear, grafting into the seed of Avraham means to become a Hebrew, a part of YH’VH Elohim’s chosen people Yisra’el. That’s a tall order, but understand, it is not an impossible one. The Messiah did not set His followers up to fail. Through Him we have been given the power and authority to persevere and overcome, to be like Father Avraham, and Walk blamelessly before El Shaddai. And it is because He is El Shaddai and because His Son gave His life that we can be blameless - not sinless, but blameless. The way to be perfect for us is the same as it was for Avraham; we must sincerely repent of our sins and return to guarding and obeying His Charge: His Laws, Commandments and Statutes.
Once we understand that we are to be perfect, which means to be blameless and blameless doesn’t mean sinless, we find out that we re also called to holy. In Leviticus 19.1-2, which is beginning of the Torah portion entitled K’doshim, YH’VH spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ěl, and say to them, ‘Be set-apart, for I, YH’VH your Elohim, am set-apart.” Most English Bibles translate this passage as, Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.’” We are to be holy. Does this sound like the Messiah came to give His life to atone for our sins only to have us remain sinners, albeit saved by grace. Does it sound like the Messiah and His Father taught that we cannot stop sinning no matter how hard we try and can we be holy, or set-apart, if we are still sinning? Has both Father and Son set the bar so high that we cannot hope to accomplish that which They have commanded us to do; we are doomed to fail? The answer is an adamant No! Being unable to master sin and keep and teach others to keep even the least commandments are man’s thinking, man’s teachings, - not our Father’s and not His Son’s. 
Granted, learning to walk blamelessly and be holy before YH’VH and Messiah Y’shua is not something that will happen quickly. It is something we must work at  every day - and I would argue it is among the most important things for us to work at - if we are to be blameless and holy? Can we truly be k’doshim - holy ones - to our Father? If you believe Father and Son, the answer is yes; if you believe man, the answer is no. Either way, before you decide who to believer, it is important to understand what it means “to be holy”. 
Some believe holy means to somehow be consecrated in a heavenly, or spiritual, sense. It’s somehow mystical and has an aura of being something beyond human capabilities, but to a Hebrew it is something very different.
Holy is translated from the word qadesh קֹ֛דֶשׁ, which means to be set-apart. YH’VH is set-apart, but what is He set-apart from if not from the ways of this earthly world, man’s ways and sin? As He explained to the prophet Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares YH’VH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55.8-9  What man has somehow forgotten is that our Father calls on us to rise up to His standards, not bring Him down to man’s standards - which are nothing more than excuses for not obeying Him. 
This week’s Torah portion reveals some of the ways we must live in order to be set-apart, or, as Yochanan said, to become the children of ElohimJohn 1.12 
Keep in mind that most Hebrew words are formed from three-letter root words, called a shoresh, which means root. The root word of qadesh is the ק,ד,ש which means to prepare for a task; to dedicate all one’s resources. Since being set-apart - holy - is something YH’VH requires of us, it must be something we can accomplish.
What is the task we must be prepared to undertake that will require all of our resources to accomplish? One passage that answers that question is Exodus 19.5-6:  ‘And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine – and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation - a holy nation.’ 
Kepha, the Apostle Peter, repeated Yah’s word in his first letter to those in the dispersion of his day. He wrote to them, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”
If we are to be His set-apart (holy, qadosh) nation above all the other peoples of the earth, then we must learn to diligently obey Him and guard His covenant - the Covenant established at Mount Sinai that was renewed with us through the Messiah’s crucifixion and resurrection. Remember, the definition of holy, or set-apart, qadesh, is to not only prepare for this task, but that we dedicate all our resources to accomplishing it. As YH’VH declared in Deuteronomy 6.4-5, Hear O Yisra’el, YH’VH Elohim, YH’VH is One! And you shall love YH’VH your Elohim, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. As we study some of the commandments in Leviticus 19 and 20 ask yourself what is more important in your life than loving YH’VH Elohim with all your heart, soul and might - just as the Messiah does.

Beginning in Leviticus 19, Par’sha K’doshim lists some of the things YH’VH requires of His chosen ones. Judge for yourself whether or not it is possible do what He has commanded.

vs. 3 : Each one of you should revere his mother and father.
vs. 3: and guard My Sabbaths. This includes the annual Sabbaths as well as the weekly Sabbath. Notice that verse three concludes with I am YH’VH your Elohim. YH’VH represents our Father’s attribute of mercy while Elohim is His attribute of strict judgment. When He says He is YH’VH our Elohim it indicates that when we guard His commandments He tempers His judgment with mercy.

vs. 4: Do not turn to idols nor make might ones (gods) for yourselves. The Hebrew text actually reads not to make the mighty ones for yourselves. 

vss. 9-10: Do not completely reap the corners of your fields or gather every grape from your vineyards - leave some for the poor and the ger. Ger refers to a gentile who is grafting into the Hebrew people and becoming a part of the Mount Sinai covenant. In most cases the ger has had to leave everything behind - his family, religion and possibly even his work - to become a Hebrew. He would come into this covenant with little or nothing and YH’VH was making sure he was provided for.
The command not to oppress the ger is repeated in Exodus 22.21, 23.9 and Zekaryah 7.10.

vs. 11: Do not steal, from the Hebrew ganav, which means to kidnap. Being set-apart from the world means we are not allowed to take anything that doesn’t belong to us.

vs. 11: Do not lie, translated from תְשַׁקְּר֖וּ (t’shaq’ru) which can mean to deal falsely, to lie deliberately or express a falsehood.

vs. 11: Do not deceive one another, which is from the same root word as lie.

vs. 12: Do not swear falsely by His Name and so profane the Name of your Elohim. Everything we do and every word we speak is an expression to the world of the value we place on being in covenant with YH’VH Elohim and of our love for Him and Messiah Y’shua. We should endeavor to never say or do anything we would not say or do in His presence - which we always are.

vs. 13: Do not oppress your neighbor or rob the wages of him who is hired. I’ve often been asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Neighbor is from the root that means to tend or to satisfy needs. In Genesis 26.26 it is translated as friend while in Genesis 4.2 it refers to someone who is tends sheep. Neighbor is different from a brother, which is from אח, although a brother could be your neighbor as well.

vs. 17: Do not hate your brother in your heart - which could and should include anyone who is also in covenant with YH’VH. The root word for hate in this verse can mean hate, but it can also mean to reject.

vs. 17: Reprove your neighbor for certain and bear no sin because of him. Yah had much to say about being a watchman in the writings of Yechezqel. To see someone sinning and not warn them - even if they don’t listen - is to share in their sin. John, in 1st John 5, warned about doing more than just praying for someone sinning sins unto death - we must go to them and warn them.

vs. 18: follows up on verse 17: Love your neighbor as yourself. Would you want to die in your sin? 

vs. 19: Guard His laws

vs. 26: Do not eat blood. This commandment is found several times in the Tanakh, beginning with Genesis 9.4

vs. 26: Do not destroy the corner of your beard, which is not a prohibition against shaving. 
Leviticus 14.8-9: once a kohen has declared a metzora, which is a person afflicted with a skin disease that is often mistranslated as leprosy, is clean, he is required to shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shaves off. 
Numbers 6.18 - when a Nazarite completes his vow he is required to shave the hair of his head as well. 
Not destroying the corner of your beard refers to a pagan practice of plucking out the hair so that it does not grow. 

vs. 30: Guard His Sabbaths - which is the seventh day of the week

vs. 31: Do not turn to mediums or seek after rpiritists to be defiled by them

vs. 32: Rise up before the grey- headed and favor the face of an old man and you shall revere your Elohim. There was a day when parents taught their children to stand when an elderly person entered the room and to say “yes sir” or “no sir” or “yes ma’am” or “no ma’am”. They weren’t just teaching us to be polite, they were teaching us to guard one of Yah’s commandments - whether they realized it or not.

Vs. 37 sums up what enables a person to be holy, set-apart, as YH’VH our Elohim is holy, set-apart: And you shall guard All My laws and ALL My Right-Rulings, and do them. I am YH’VH. When the Hebrews and the mixed-multitude stood before YH’VH Elohim at Mount Sinai and heard the Words of His Covenant they declared, “All that YH’VH has spoken we shall do, and obey” Exodus 24.7 (also 19.8 & 24.3)

In addition to these laws, YH’VH’s laws include, providing for widows and orphans, returning lost items to their owners (finders keepers, loser’s weepers is not of YH’VH Elohim), eating clean diets and avoiding eating unclean animals, not committing adultery and other forms of sexual misconduct. 
Imagine what this world would be like if everyone simply guarded and kept YH’VH’s commandments?
Traditionally it is taught that there are 613 commandments in the Torah, but no one is required to keep all 613, if that is an accurate accounting. You are only required to keep the ones that apply to you, and it is your responsibility to know the ones that do. 
As you study His commandments ask yourself two questions:
1. Which of His commandments that apply to you are to hard for you to keep.
2. If you find one that applies to you that is too hard for you to keep, ask yourself why it is too hard for you to keep - and be honest with yourself.
Being “holy” is not some mystical state one hopes to achieve in the World to Come. Being holy, set-apart, is a decision we make in this life - a decision to be set-apart from the world by guarding His commandments and walking in covenant with Him.


This is Yosef Boleware and thanks for listening. If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me at mravyosef@gmail.com. Have a blessed Sabbath. Shalom, shalom.