AbovePerfection

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Sh'mini, which means "8th Day". The reading portion includes Lev. 9 through Lev. 11. The title comes from Lev. 9:1: "It came to pass (haya/hava/ava - exist, become (like), be established, to be finished/existence, shall be, become, breathe, the breath of living creatures, to live/ negatively, the root ava mentioned above includes the meaning: lust, greatly desire, covet, be greedy, crave, long for, turn aside) on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel." There is a positive and a negative meaning associated with the phrase "It came to pass", as we can see. Breathing life is created, existence is established, or the opposite of life - the darkness of heart that leads to sin and death is established.

     We see here in the meaning of the Hebrew of this verse that something became alive and breathing, came into existence on the eighth day. "Eighth" in Hebrew is semini. It is an ordinal number, showing a progression in order like sixth, seventh, eighth, and so on. The root words connected to semini: semone and samen, refer to "a surplus above the perfect seven" and "fatness, plenteousness". There is also a root word, saman, which can mean to shine from fat or oil, or, in a negative sense, to be covered in the grossness of fat, and to cover the heart with fat to render it callous so as not to heed the words of the prophet (see Isa. 6:10). Again, we can have a positive or negative result when going "above the perfect seven". The abundance above the seven can work two different ways depending upon the heart of the person. In another reading portion from this Sabbath, Solomon wrote of a man having great plenty in every way, "but his soul be not filled with good (tob - goodness, beauty, favor, gladness, joy, delight, merry, agreeable, to do rightly)". It would have been better, Solomon wrote, if that man had been a stillborn child rather than to not to see this goodness. He calls it vanity and an evil affliction (Eccl. 6:1-6). Good and goodness are part of the character and name of God (see Ex. 34:5-7, Ps. 23:5-6). Psalm 23 is an "eighth day Psalm" to me, incorporating the eighth day blessings of abundance, which are those blessings that result from exceeding above the perfection of "seven". We will read about those blessings and where they come from later.

     However, we see a problem today. We have a very prosperous society, but there is sickness of heart and mind, an evil affliction as Solomon wrote, because we consume the bounty, the fatness, but we as a society have systematically and deliberately removed the knowledge of the goodness of God. Without being able to incorporate that goodness, having all of earth's riches sickens the soul rather than gladdens it. Without the goodness that is rooted in God, Solomon wrote that man has no hope or future regardless of how much wealth he has or how long his days are (v. 10-12). Rather than the eighth day blessing, we are living the eighth day curse. Let's now see what happened on the eighth day in Lev. 9.

     The eighth day in Lev. 9 marks the beginning of the priests' ministry, after Aaron and his sons spent seven days of consecration, being set apart as holy. So in numeral order, the eighth day is above or beyond the perfection of the seven of consecration. This priestly ministry started with peace offerings, sin offerings and burnt offerings made to the LORD to make atonement for the priests and the people. This eighth day would be a special day: "...for today the LORD will appear to you...and the glory of the LORD will appear to you." (v. 4, 6). From the sacrifices, Aaron's sons "presented (masa - find, attain, suffice, deliver, secure, to meet, to encounter, to detect, to discover, to come to, obtain knowledge of, be in possession of) to him the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) blood, which he sprinkled all around on the altar (mizbeah/zabah - altar/to slaughter, kill, sacrifice, to slaughter in divine judgment)." (v. 18).  After the offerings were completed, the LORD kept His promise: "Then Aaron lifted (nasa - lift up, bear up, carry, forgive, be exalted, take up) his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down (yarad - descend, sink down, go down alive into Hades [see Ps. 55:15-16], those who go down to the grave) from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces." (v. 22-24). This was an awesome eighth day event. The glory and fire of the LORD answered their offerings.

     The Hebrew word for blessing used above as Aaron blessed the people, also contains the meaning "to curse": (barak - bless, salute, kneel down, cause to kneel, be blessed, be adored, also to break down, to curse, to imprecate some evil on one by calling upon God, blaspheme, impious words against God, to wish ill). As we have seen above, the eighth day can have a dual meaning. What made the eighth day above such a wondrous event? 

     We can see the hint of the presence of Jesus Christ in this eighth day event. He is in the offering. He is in the knowledge of the blood. He is in the descent of Aaron from the brazen altar of sacrifice, just as Jesus descended into the realm of death and the grave after offering Himself as a sacrifice for us. There He led captivity captive, took the keys of authority over death, hell and the grave, and "ascended far above all the heavens". (see Ps. 68:18-19, Eph. 4:7-10, 1 Pet. 3:18-19, Jn. 20:16-18, Rev. 1:17-18). The eighth day to us must be all that is contained in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ into the realm far above the highest realms: the realm of all glory, which He has delivered to us (Jn. 17:22-24). It is from this realm of glory above the highest realms that He blesses us with all of the riches and abundance, particularly spiritual riches, of that glory realm (Phil. 4:18-29). The word "above" in Hebrew is al, meaning, "over, in addition to, above, excess, pre-eminence, state of rest, on high, the Highest". The root word, ala, of "above" gives us a deeper understanding of this highest region: "offer up, bring, come, cause to ascend, go up, light, increase, raised, arose, to be taken up into, go up over, exalted".  The al "above" is the place of God (Gen. 28:12-13). We have the scripture also from Paul: "...to know the love of Christ which passes (hyperballo - beyond anything, surpass, exceed, excel) knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fulness (pleroma - fulness, abundance, copiousness) of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above (hyper - beyond, more than, above, very chiefest) all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Eph. 3:19-21). What a wonderful eighth day calling to which we have been called! Paul tells us to "walk worthy of the calling to which you were called...". (Eph. 4:1).

     We have seen the duality in meaning of the eighth day, which can be either abundant blessing, or abundantly empty and hopeless life, a curse. The dividing line between the two, as we saw in the Hebrew meanings of Lev. 9 above, is the new and abundant life of glory in Jesus Messiah/Christ (see Jn. 10:7-11), or the vanity and evil of a life without Him and the work of salvation which He completed (Eph. 2:12-13). 

     We see this duality again immediately after the glory was experienced on the eighth day. This is what occurred: "Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane (zur - estranged, gone away, turn aside, depart, stranger, foreigner, enemy, loathsome, alienated, prostitute, adulterer, falsehood, lie) fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. And Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all people I must be glorified." (Lev. 10:1-3). These two priests, who had experienced the eighth day blood and glory, approached the LORD in a manner that did not respect His holiness and glory. By doing so, the LORD did not recognize them as priests, but as strangers, and destroyed them. Jesus mentioned the same thing about some of those who will claim to know Him and serve him doing spiritual works in His name. To them He will say: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." (see Mt. 7:21-23). Jesus will not accept "strange fire" from us, a fire mixed with something loathsome and foreign to the Lord. Are we coming before the Lord with strange fire?

     Moses had two kinsmen of the dead priests to carry their dead (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) brethren from the front of the sanctuary, and out of the camp (v. 4-5). However, to Aaron and his two remaining sons who were still serving in the tabernacle, Moses gave a serious warning not to defile their holy priestly robes with signs of mourning for the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) burning which the LORD had kindled, or to come out of the tabernacle "...lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.' And they did according to the word of Moses." (v. 6-7). We want the anointing of the Lord, the priceless Holy Spirit, but do we understand the standards by which the Lord commands that we wear His anointing? Paul wrote: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Cor. 3:16-17, see also 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

     As those who are part of the eighth day new and abundant life in Messiah/Christ, which is above the perfection of seven, we also have been made priests by God (1 Pet. 2:9-10). We are purposed to be blessed, as we offer our pure worship to God. We are here to bring God's eighth day glory among His *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega people. Our golden bowls of incense are not filled with strange fire, but prayers, declaring the new song: "You (the Lamb, Jesus) are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." (Rev. 5:9-10).

     Let's learn to walk worthy of this exceeding abundance from above that has been given to us from God through the death, burial (descent), resurrection and ascension of His Son.

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which is the name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

     If you would like to know more about the eighth day and its calling and blessings, you can pray with me: "Dearest Father, You have called me into Your eighth day abundance through our Savior, Your Son, Jesus. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit to lead me into the new life of glory and priestly ministry before You. You said that You have filled me with all fulness of God. Through Christ, I have been joined to You in the highest realm, the realm of glory and exceeding abundance. This is the substance of Your Kingdom, and this is the calling and purpose to which I have been called. Help my understanding so that my offerings to You in holiness will bring forth Your glory in the earth. I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."