In the Torah portion of Kedoshim we learn about leaving the fruit of the tree for three years before harvesting it, we learn about the sin of sorcery, we learn about the commandment of not trimming the corners of a beard, we learn about the Shabbat and the Temple, and finally we learn about the mitzvah to keep all of the commandments of the Lord. All of these things, from keeping the Shabbat and going to the Temple to not trimming the corners of your beard, all of these things have a connection to the Messiah.
It says in Leviticus 19:24:
“But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.”
It says in the Torah that by leaving the fruit tree and the vine unharvested for three years, the harvest will be increased. During the first three years, the owner left the crop unharvested. In the fourth year, the farmer would bring the fruit produced to the Temple. In the fifth year, the owner could eat the fruit freely. The same rule applied to vines in a vineyard.
The imagery of this commandment might have influenced what Yeshua said about the vine and the branches, as it says in John 15:1-3:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
The first three years during which the fruit isn’t harvested corresponds to the first three years that Yeshua spent teaching his disciples. During this time they were not yet ready to bear fruit, but after three years of Yeshua teaching them, Yeshua told them, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." During those first three years Yeshua walked with them, lived with them, spoke with them, and taught them. In John 15, in the third year, the time had come for the disciples to produce fruit of their own. In the next year the disciples had greatly increased in number in the Temple courts, corresponding to the fruit of the fourth year which was brought to the Temple. Finally, The fruit of the fifth year could be compared to the gospel spreading from Yerushalayim to the whole world.
It says in Leviticus 19:26 and 31
“You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.”
"Do not turn to mediums or spirit-ists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them"
Yeshua took a firm stand against witchcraft and the kingdom of Satan. He didn’t tolerate anything demonic. His authority over the spiritual world could not be challenged. It says in Matthew 8:16: "He cast out the spirits with a word." The sages of Yeshua’s time accused him of practicing sorcery to cast out spirits, as it says in Matthew 9:34: "The Pharisees were saying, 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."' Yeshua refuted these accusations, stating that if casting out demons was black magic, then the Pharisees themselves, who actively practiced exorcism, would also be guilty of black magic. There was never any proof to back up the accusation, nor was this accusation brought against Yeshua in his trials before the court of Caiaphas. If there had been even a shred of evidence to confirm this accusation, it would have surely been brought as testimony against Yeshua, yet it wasn’t. Nevertheless, this accusation stayed with Yeshua, with writings even as late as the Talmudic Period having several veiled (and some not-so-veiled) passages insinuating that Yeshua performed miracles by means of sorcery. As it says in (b.Sanhedrin 107b:
“And a master has said, ‘Jesus the Nazarene practiced magic and led Israel astray.’”
Passages like this prove that the Jewish community didn’t deny that Yeshua performed miracles, and in reality, Yeshua was the opposite of a sorcerer. Occultism attempts to manipulate the spiritual world through spirits. Yeshua commanded both the spiritual and physical world on behalf of God. He had no need to call on spirits to do his work.
It says in Leviticus 19:27:
“You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.”
Like all Torah observant men in Yeshua’s time, Yeshua had a beard and some form of pe’ot (sidelocks), in keeping with the commandment of refraining from trimming the sides of the head or the edge of the beard. In this passage, the corners of the head refers to the hairline near the ears and the corners of the beard refers to the chin. These "corners" correspond to the corners of the field which can’t be harvested, which have to be left for the poor. Isaiah 50:6 prophesies about the beard of Messiah:
“I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.”
The Torah groups observance of the Shabbat and reverence for the Sanctuary together in Leviticus 19:30:
“You shall keep My Shabbats and revere My Sanctuary; I am the LORD.”
This juxtaposition is intentional. Both the Shabbat and the dwelling place of God created a Holy, set apart space within a certain medium. The Shabbat was a sanctuary in time, while the Temple was a sanctuary within space.
Yeshua honored the Shabbat, healing on it, teaching on it, and reading Torah on it. Yeshua honored the Temple, going there daily whenever he was in Yerushalayim, as was he had done since the age of twelve. When he saw that the Temple was being misused for profit, He overturned the tables of money-changers and merchants. When the Messiah comes, he will observe and re-establish Shabbat, and he will rebuild the holy Sanctuary.
The laws of holiness end with one final Mitzvah, in Leviticus 19:37:
"You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them."
Yeshua kept all of the statutes and ordinances of God as they applied to him. His perfect walk in the Torah created righteousness, righteousness that God places on those who place faith in Him. As Yeshua’s disciples, we strive to walk in as perfect a path as he did, following the Torah as best as we know how. We share Yeshua’s righteousness by identifying with him, and following his path, for "we are members of His body" (Ephesians 5:30). It says in 1 Corinthians 6:15-17:
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah? ... the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
The disciples of Yeshua are "holy ones" because we are believers and followers of the Holy One. We bless God, the Holy One, three times every day, with the following traditional blessing (in Shemoneh Esreh 3):
“You are holy, and your Name is holy, and holy ones will praise you every day, blessed are You, LORD, the Holy God.”
In Kedoshim, we learn about many things. From waiting for the fourth year before harvesting fruit, to the commandment about keeping every commandment, it all points towards the Messiah.
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