This week’s Parasha (weekly Torah reading) is called “holy” and it is rightly named, as the entire section of Scripture is “bookended” by the famous command “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
These two chapters of Leviticus are filled with practical words from God on how to live a holy life. In the very center of these words from God is the phrase made famous by our Messiah, Yeshua, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (19:18). And just in case anyone wondered how to define “your neighbor,” God Himself in this same chapter defines this by emphasizing to “love the stranger that lives in your midst” (19:33-34).
In reading Leviticus 19 in context the words of Yeshua seem all the more clear in His story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). We are to love those who are in our path of life, whoever they may be!
Taking this principle of “loving your neighbor as yourself” one step further, there is an amazing connection in this week’s reading from the prophets, Amos 9:7-15. These verses are quoted in the New Testament in the book of Acts. When the Apostles were determining how to handle the Gentiles that were coming to faith in Yeshua they quoted Amos 9 as a fulfillment of prophecy of the Gentile nations that would believe in God and be added to His people (Acts 15:13-19). Jew and Gentile worshiping together is an Old Testament teaching!
God’s desire for His people, Jew & Gentile alike, is to walk in holiness and to love one another!
Shabbat Shalom!
Torah Portion: Lev. 19:-20:27
Haftarah Reading: Ezekiel 20:2-20; 22:1-19